The Hindu Business Line : Northgate Tech to raise $60 m for expansion

The company, which has three subsidiaries — Axill Inc, Axill Europe and Globe7, is poised to create another one in Hong Kong to exclusively cater to television content and online gaming services. Northgate is considering the option of listing on the London Stock Exchange and the services of global consultant PWC has been enlisted.

Addressing a press conference hereon Friday, the CMD of Northgate Technologies, Mr Venkat Meenavalli, said "while the move to raise funds would be finalised within couple of months, we expect to list on the London Stock Exchange by the end of this year.

The company manages a large data centre in Stratford, London, for its overseas operations.

TV feed thru SIP

"We created the London data centre as the telecom rates are a lot cheaper compared to India and the region.

"The company's subsidiary Globe7 Inc has tied up with Lycos Inc of the US, powering its SIP (session initiation protocol) technology that extends voice, video, IPTV with video on demand.

This is coupled with its other offerings for the Internet based advertising. We have a revenue share model," Mr Meenavalli said.

Fund raising plans

The company is in the process of holding parleys with some more service providers. During the year, the company had raised about Rs 43 crore through a private placement offer which was participated by Merrill Lynch, the Citigroup and India International Fund. The current fund raising plans would help expand the services footprint, he said.

TV feed via SIP tech

SIP or session initiation protocol helps people make telephone calls over the Internet through desktops and laptops. Using the same technology, Northgate now offers television feed to its subscribers. It is this technology, which Lycos offers to its users globally.

The company's softphone technology has had over 2.5 million downloads in one month, and the company expects to reach out to about 25 million within a year.

It is now planning to offer this facility for smart phones and pocket PCs.

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