The Hindu Business Line : Text messages in 11 regional languages

Bangalore, Feb. 10 If you thought text messages are what love-crazy teenagers make them out to be, the time is here for you to think afresh. Mr T. Murali Krishna Reddy, Managing Director, Geneva Software Technologies Ltd, has bold plans to give it a complete image makeover.

Mr Reddy, who has developed software that allows users to send text messages in 11 regional languages, said the company is in talks with various State governments to use this technology to send disaster alerts.

The software can be used on most mobile phones, even the very basic models, and the recipient need not have the software installed on his phone, Mr. Reddy said. This makes the technology very accessible, he added.

The company has been in talks with the Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu governments to implement the natural disaster information system, Mr Reddy said. He said the pilot project was carried out in Chennai in February, 2006. He said the company spent Rs 30 crore to Rs 35 crore on developing this software.

He said the project had been developed with the help of the Department of Science and Technology, the Natural Disaster Management Authority and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. The first implementation would be in the Krishna basin where nearly 900 villages could be affected by floods, he added. They would expand it to the coastal regions later, he added.

The emergency alert system would include public address system in addition to text alerts. Mr Reddy said government bodies and non-government organisations would be the takers for this product. He said a one-time set-up cost would be charged.

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