Despite a slowdown in the United States' IT sector, Bangalore -- India's Silicon Valley -- is witnessing boom time.

Events like Bangalore IT.com 2003, which claims to be Asia's largest information and communication technology jamboree, provide proof of this. The IT extravaganza is attracting big sponsors and widespread participation.

More than two months ahead of the event, leading corporates like TCS, IBM, Intel, AMD and Ramco Systems have confirmed the sponsorship of various aspects of the event.

The sixth annual event of Bangalore IT.com is scheduled to be held at The Palace Grounds from November 1-5, 2003.

"We are very happy with the response we have got from corporates this year. It is overwhelming and very encouraging and proves the enormous value addition that this event provides to these companies," said Vivek Kulkarni, IT secretary, Karnataka government on Tuesday.

"Not only does this event provide an opportunity to do business, exchange information and showcase the latest products and technologies, it is a cornerstone for many companies to understand the business and establish themselves in this market," he said.

The Karnataka government, in partnership with Software Technology Parks of India, initiated Bangalore IT.com to facilitate business between technology companies across the globe.

Bangalore IT.com 2003 will have 20,000 sq mts of exhibition space for technology companies to showcase their products and network with others.

This year, Bangalore IT.com has already sold 33 per cent of the exhibition space as compared to the 10 per cent sold during the same time last year.

The mega meet includes topics such as open source, regulators summit, global outsourcing forum, knowledge summit, e-governance and a mentoring clinic.

The open source summit would cover areas like 'Open source: boon or bane,' 'Building open source competence,' and 'Open source for the education sector.'

The regulators' summit would look at areas like the IT landscape in Karnataka where the government representatives would discuss challenges, sustainable infrastructure, potential sites for new start-ups. There would also be a panel of participating bodies that would discuss issues like tax and IT infrastructure and HRD infrastructure.

The Global Outsourcing Forum to be conducted by IDC would include sessions like outsourcing opportunities in the new global landscape, winning strategies for offshore providers in Europe, business services, staying ahead of changing customer needs and IT services, and moving up the value chain.

The knowledge summit would cover areas like WiFi technologies, enterprise applications: returns on investment, e-security / business continuity and technologies on the horizon.

The e-governance summit would have sessions on learning from success: sustainability and replicability, the developmental impact of e-governance: opportunities and risks, public private partnerships.

The mentoring clinic would look at industry-academic viewpoints, challenges of entrepreneurship and one-to-one interaction between mentors and mentees (entrepreneurs).

"A major draw has been the conferences at the event, which create an avenue for industry leaders to discuss, dissect and plan strategies and technologies. This year we have identified several relevant topics like outsourcing, open source, e-governance and entrepreneurship among others. We have invited speakers from around the world to deliberate on these issues and have received an excellent response there too," says B V Naidu, Director, Software Technology Parks of India.