Date:30/10/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/10/30/stories/2004103002291900.htm

Back Microsoft-Sonet tech education pact

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , Oct. 29

MICROSOFT Corporation India has announced that it had signed an MoU with Sonet (Society for Networking for Excellence in Technical Education), a non-profit organisation that works with the Department of Technical Education for Andhra Pradesh, to facilitate technical education.

Under the agreement, Sonet and Microsoft India would, in collaboration, develop and offer online training courses, deliver technical seminars and conduct faculty development programs for over 100 State engineering colleges in the next one year.

With the introduction of these courses, students will now have access to training on latest products and technologies. The courses will currently focus on .NET, Visual Studio .NET, Windows Server 2003 and some upcoming products such as Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr Krishna Rao, Executive Secretary, Sonet, said, "Our aim is to increase access to technical education across the State of Andhra Pradesh, and to this end we have made investments in ensuring that we have the best infrastructure in place."

Ms Sheila Gulati, Director, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Corporation India said, "With students and the academic community, our aim is to make technology and related skills easily accessible.