However, the time frame for the launch here or the kitty for this country are not known at this point of time. He said the fund was focussed on software development companies and had no exposure to pure play Internet ventures. Speaking about Oracle 9i, the company's senior director for Internet platform marketing Mr Stephen Illingworth said the two-phase launch had already been kicked off with several modules of the Internet application server (9i IAS) already available for testing, while the core database would be ready by early next year. On the migration from the earlier 8i platform, Mr Dasgupta said Oracle's registered support customers would not have to pay for upgrades.

Mr Illingworth said pricing models were undergoing dynamic changes with the arrival of the application service provider. "We are moving from products to software services with revenue models that are constantly changing," he said. On the wireless Internet, he said, "we know by 2003, the majority of devices connected to the Internet will not be PCs," although, he added that current WAP-enabled cellphones did not offer a user-friendly interface. He however said the future of the Internet business model lay in the mobile devices space. "In China you have 15 million PC users growing at 30 per cent and 60 million cell phone users growing at 45 per cent. Which market do you want to be in?" On India plans, Mr Dasgupta said the second phase expansion of the Bangalore development centre had been kicked off and would be completed within 18 months with an investment of $15 million. Following the expansion, the present manpower pool of about 700 would go up to around a thousand, he said.

Both Mr Illingworth and Mr Dasgupta were in Bangalore for the company's iDevelop conference for software developers. This year Oracle is conducting 23 iDevelop meets to showcase its emerging technologies and applications to developers around the globe. Two of these conferences were scheduled in India, including the one held in Mumbai last month. Developers can register for free on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) for the latest technology updates and freeware from Oracle. There are currently over 1.2 million developers (growing by roughly 4,000 a day) on the OTN with 64,000 from India.