Pillai told eFE that the company had already submitted two bid applicationsto two large ISPs to manage and implement security solutions for theirpayment gateways. ``We are in talks with these two ISPs and a final decisionis expected in a couple of months,'' he said. Industry sources believe theseISPs are Satyam Infoway and VSNL. Pillai said the company was planning tomanage and provide Net security solutions to atleast four large ISPs andpayment gateways in the country. All these were at a pre-bid stage and afinal decision would be taken within three or four months, he said.

In order to implement the system effectively, HCL Comnet has also identifiedsome large banks in the country. Pillai said, the company was consideringjoint ventures with a couple of overseas firms for product and solutiondevelopment. To this end, the company was currently in talks with four firmsin the US. The joint venture would be ``pure technology tie-ups'' or atechnology-cum-financial arrangement, he said. ``Currently we are workingout the sharing pattern of the partnership. It can be a revenue sharing orvalue-based pricing arrangement with our partners or a combination ofboth,'' Pillai said. The joint venture was expected to provide the companyexposure in terms of reach and technology. ``With this, we will be able toadd value to our products solutions aimed at world markets,'' Pillai said.

HCL Comnet also has plans to introduce products and solutions under its ownbrand across the globe within a year. He said the company's network andsecurity audit division-e-secure-had tied up with 15 large firms in thebanking, ISP and dotcom segments in India. The division was currentlyworking for 8 firms overseas, he said. ``Security is a vital issue asvulnerability is high on the Net,'' he said. Recently, the companyintegrated all its solutions-e-connectivity, e-security, e-enterprisemanagement and e-business-into a single package with a view to providingtotal turnkey solutions. The package was recently made available to theoverseas market and eight companies were using it, he said. Besides Globeset(for secure electronics transaction on the Internet for credit cards), thecompany has tie-ups with leading global vendors of intrusion detectionproducts (Internet Security System), virus-wall (Trend Micro),authentification (RSA Security Dynamics), high capacity and load balancing(Stone Beat).

According to Pillai, the global Internet security solution market was around$1 billion in size and was growing at 150 per cent per annum against India'sRs 60 crore industry with an annual growth of 100 per cent. In thepre-dotcom period, the segment had a growth rate of only 50 to 60 per cent,he said. Of the total global credit card population, only 2 per centtransactions were conducted on-line and of these 50 per cent were falseclaims and frauds, Pillai said.