About the Session: The Internet revolution is not new. What is new is the scale at which it is taking place. Around eight years ago, during the classic dotcom days, in India the Internet was for a privileged few. Today, this picture has changed. Broadband is readily available for around Rs. 500/month in all major cities. Internet access is available in almost all tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and thanks to GPRS, almost any cell-phone upwards of Rs. 5,000 is connected to the web. So a much bigger percentage of Indians are today “Web-Enabled” than we had ever before and this presents an enormous opportunity. But is the web relevant for everybody? This first section of the Panel Discussion titled "Realizing the Opportunity in India" - hosted by Tarun Gulati (GM-DPE, Microsoft Corporation) - will strive to exemplify the relevance of web to the masses vis-à-vis the medium of cricket - the passion of a majority of the youths in India. See legendary Leg-Break Bowler - Anil Kumble - showcase and take you on a tour of how web technology has the potential of enriching the end user experience of watching a live cricket match.

As the second era of the web phenomenon unfolds itself, as a business leader, you have several questions in your mind. Is there a real opportunity? What are the revenue models? How does one build a competitive edge and sustain that? How does a "Bricks and Mortar" business take advantage of the web?

In this second section of the "Realizing the Opportunity in India" Panel Discussion Session, we invite you to join our panel of distinguished industry leaders and visionaries to de-mystify these questions and discuss some of the most interesting solutions being built in India. Be part of an exciting dialogue about the creative and business opportunities on the Web. The technology, the design interfaces, the user experiences, the artistic horizons. Analyze the new Web phenomenon – it's reality, it's myth, and it's relevance to the Indian IT and the Indian consumer.

About the Session: As a designer, you know that every design element has a story to tell. For your most precious customers, the plain old HTML experience of yesterday is just not good enough anymore. You want to give them a more friendly, secure and responsive interface when they visit your Internet properties. Even with technologies such as Ajax and Web-Services providing the underlying plumbing, building such interfaces is neither easy, nor inexpensive.

In this session, discover how to build the user-experience you always wanted your customers to have, and leverage the power of state-of-the-art design tools to deliver some of the most compelling design work there is.

We also demonstrate how technologies like IE7, Atlas, Windows Presentation Foundation and Card Spaces bring the Internet alive by helping you leverage the power of Web-Services, Ajax and the advances made in graphics hardware.

About the Session: The Web is spreading beyond the browser – your users want to interact with your online services without opening the browser window, in new ways and in new locations. In this session we show you how your services can follow your users through Sidebar gadgets and Live Toolbar buttons. Discover how to leverage existing services by creating mashups and find out how your service can become part of other services by exposing mashup APIs, all using familiar technologies and tools!

About the Session: Listen to the Senior Vice President of the Server and Tools Business (Microsoft Corporation) talk about how Microsoft’s platform supports and runs the internet – today and tomorrow! Bob kick starts the session with a recap of the day’s sessions, and by talking about Microsoft’s People Ready Vision – the company’s promise to IT and connection to people and partners. Next Bob enumerates on the state of the business, providing insights into the industry perspective. Learn about Microsoft’s integrated platform strategy – the momentum, industry leadership and the opportunity. Bob would provide an overview of our developer tools story, the .NET 3.0 Framework, Microsoft’s Expression suit and Visual Studio, and how together these technologies provide the backbone of Microsoft’s web strategy.