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Tag: Dilip Mahapatra

  • Zee Interactive forms alliances with BSE, EDS

    Zee Interactive forms alliances with BSE, EDS

    Zee Interactive Learining Systems has announced two tie ups involving the Bombay Stock Exchange and Electronic Data Systems.

    ZILS claims to have invested Rs. 500 million in its business and aims at injecting another 500 million over the next two years.

    Reports state that this year the company expects revenues of Rs. 450 million. By 2005-2006 the company is looking at business of Rs. 5 billion. ZILS is aiming to grab at least 15 percent of the e-learning market in the next few years indicate reports. ZILS considers its arch rival to be Tata Infotech with both companies looking at a 25 percent market share.

    One of ZILS’s new ventures involves Bombay Stock Exchange Derivatives launching BSE’s certification on Derivatives Exchange (BCDE) web based On-Line Test at 50 Zed Career Academies of across India. The test has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

    An official release informs that this test will benefit capital markets professionals involved in the derivatives trading such as brokers, sub-brokers, dealers and salespersons in derivatives, mutual funds, foreign institutional investors. The facility will enable the market participants to comply with the SEBI guidelines. As per the guidelines at least two people should be certified in the institutions dealing with trading in derivatives.

    Speaking on the joint venture with BSE CEO ZILS Dilip Mahapatra said, ” The scope of this partnership is immense, as SEBI has made it mandatory for all brokers, sub-brokers, FIIs, Derivative Dealers, Mutual Funds and all other institutions trading in derivatives to have at least two professionals certified in Derivatives”.

    Candidates who wish to take the fortnightly test can register themselves at the nearest Zed CA centre. The list of centres for registration is available on www.zcaonline.com the release states. Certificates will be issued by BSE Training Institute to students who have successfully completed the test.

    Participants can take a demo test before the actual test. They will be given an analysis of their performance through a graphic display. The ZILS test engine known as LITMUS, also offers administrators the flexibility to set the parameters like random or sequential generation of questions, single or multiple-choice selection of answers. It also helps to program the logic of the test including the difficulty levels of the questions.

    In a related developement ZILS also announced that it would provide back end support to Electronic Data Systems. EDS claims to be a $21.5 billion US based IT services company. ZILS will create content as well as customise it for EDS.

    According to Dilip Mahapatra the contract is time bound contract with a revenue sharing arrangement. The alliance with EDS is part of ZILS’s endeavour to create a space for itself in e-learning by setting up the infrastructure to deliver, manage and access content. .

  • ZILS sights break-even; announces tie-up with Karnataka government

    ZILS sights break-even; announces tie-up with Karnataka government

    The newspapers are filled with reports about the ongoing slowdown in the infotech sector. Nonetheless Zee Interactive Learning Systems (ZILS), which is less than two years old, says that it is all set to break even by next year with a turnover of Rs 1 billion.

    ZILS is the wholly owned subsidiary of Zee Telefilms. In a Rs 20-billion information technology education market, ZILS claims to have crossed the Rs 300 million mark for the year 2000-2001 and is bullish on hitting Rs 3 billion by 2004.

    Meanwhile, the Karnataka Government has chosen the company to be its training partner in the `Mahithi Sindhu’ scheme. The Karnataka government saw value in ZILS’s credible alliances, domain knowledge, technology expertise and experience in generating multimedia content, a company spokesperson said.

    Under the `Mahithi Sindhu’ scheme, ZILS will implement computer based education in 1,000 government high schools. The company will develop software for the subject – Science from Standards VIII – X. Side by side teachers will be trained.

    All this is part of the initiative of The Department of State Education Research & Training. DSERT is a body of the Karnataka government which is responsible for implementing computer-based education to government high schools in the state.

    The software installed will be in English and Kannada. So students will find it easy to follow and they will be able to use it in an effective manner. The software will entertain and educate through interactive features, animation, voiceover, graphics, pop-up questions. There will also be video clips based on imaginative analogies and components locally available and which children notice in day to day existence.

    ZILS CEO Dilip Mahapatra had these remarks to make: The Schools Board prepares the syllabus, the course structure and conducts the examinations. We provide the infrastructure for conducting the courses. We make these courses interactive. IT education is becoming an integral part of most of the upper crust schools. We have identified 15,000 schools in the country that are imparting IT education or are planning to introduce it in the near future.”

    Besides this ZILS has already prepared customised multimedia courses in Mathematics, Science and English for Standard VIII – X. This is aimed at the CBSE, ICSE and SSC boards. Right now the company is working on preparing the course in Geography. ZILS plans to provide software to the schools abroad.

    ZILS also offers Information Technology solutions for teachers and school’s management. ZILS has developed an Internet-based software. Therefore the school’s task of track a student’s progress based on their mark sheets, home assignments, attendance and discipline records is made all the more easy.

    The company has also made its mark in the corporate world. It claims to have trained Insurance agents from companies like Reliance, ICICI- Lombard, Bajaj Allianz and Royal Sundaram. Zee Interactive Learning Systems is the training partner of Institute of Company Secretary of India (ICSI) for training students pursuing the Company Secretary course.

  • ZILS focus on Zed Career Academy

    ZILS focus on Zed Career Academy

    Zee Interactive Learning Systems Ltd, the multimedia education subsidiary of Zee Telefilms, is currently in the middle of a major drive to increase awareness around its Zed Career Academy.

     

    The initiative is part of the increased activity being witnessed in ZILS after the twin appointments recently of promoter Subhash Chandra’s son Amit Goenka as managing director and Dilip Mahapatra as COO. As director of learning centers, Mahapatra has been instrumental in expanding Zed Career Academy from 156 centres to a 300-plus strong nationwide ground network of comprehensive learning network consisting of learning web portals, multimedia and the print, supported by a network of learning centres, equipped with interactive learning, across South Asia with the capability to address a variety of learning needs, an official release states. While Mahapatra handles day-to-day operations, Goenka’s brief is to drive the business of ZILS, official sources say.

     

    And in what is termed as a long-term relationship, ad agency SSC&B has been assigned the task of handling press publicity. The main focus is on print campaigns, which are being done through inserts in newspapers. Zee organises which paper and on what date they will appear while SSC&B provides the design. The agency is positioning Zed Career Academy as a “unique interactive computer learning institute” with the tagline – Classrooms of the future.

     

    ZILS is also concentrating on below the line activities. For example, it is organising seminars in colleges. They also run show reels in cinemas, both in the suburbs and in the city. Touch screen kiosks have also been set up in some locations. The possibility of hoardings in important city locations is also being studied, the sources say. On the television front ZILS is regularly being promoted on through the Zee bouquet.

  • Zee Interactive launches virtual classroom distance education

    Zee Interactive launches virtual classroom distance education

    Zee Interactive Learning Systems Ltd (ZILS), in a pioneering effort which integrates video and television with the interactive capabilities of the Internet, today announced the launch of I-Cell.

     

    A “broadband based interactive learning technology,” I-Cell aims to bring the best of expertise to thousands of students at different centres connected via a dedicated V-SAT (very small aperture terminal) network that will help them to see, hear and speak to their teachers live.

     

    The network uses a sophisticated interactive management system customised for the learning applications. It incorporates state-of-the-art features, which ensures both students comfort and teacher control over the virtual classroom environment.

     

    Speaking at the press conference in Mumbai to announce the launch, Uma Ganesh, president & CEO, ZILS, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Zee Telefilms, said: “The V-SAT based interactive systems is yet another initiative of ZILS to achieve our vision of delivering a unique learning experience through technology to multitudes of Indians. ZILS intends to bring about a quantum change in the quality of education in the country, which is facing the constraints of expert faculty and inadequate rigour in academic delivery. An estimated 100,000 students will be able to benefit by this technology in the first phase,” Ganesh said.

     

    Besides providing a rich learning experience to the students who enroll in the over 300 Zed Career Academies, ” I-Cell ” will also be used to support distance education programms of leading universities in the country. “This will transform correspondence courses into collaborative learning actively facilitated by expert faculty in the closed subject,” Dilip Mahapatra, director, Learning Centres, said.

     

    The Interactive Learning Technology services of ZILS will also enable high-speed Internet access and download of educational content even in remote parts of the country. ZILS has built a comprehensive portal ‘zeeleam.com’ with verticals for school, colleges and corporate which will be integrated with the V-SAT network.

     

    ZILS with this technology plans to offer unique training solutions for employees of corporates, with multiple locations which will not only make the training more effective, it will also save cost of time, travel & other resources, Mahapatra said.

     

    All operations will be coordinated from a central hub in Noida, outside New Delhi, Ganesh said. Initially there will be 30 centres which will go up to 100 within a year and the aim at present is to have 300 centres, Ganesh added.

     

    ZILS organised a real time exercise with an instructor sitting in Noida for the press to show how the concept worked. The potential is certainly immense. There is however, still the problem of broadband delivery. If that issue can be resolved, ZILS is definitely a project which may prove invaluable in the furtherance of education.

     

    There are also statutory issues that have to be clarified. VSNL can take issue with ZILS over its using the Net for voice telephony. VSNL does not condone the independent use of voice on the Net at present.