Looking to strengthen their presence in tier-II and tier-III towns for fueling growth in India, Reliance Communications and Intel have joined hands to offer instant and uninterrupted Internet connectivity with Intel-powered PCs.

As a start, Reliance announced the joint programme with Intel under which users purchasing systems from Genuine Intel Dealers in 11 cities/towns of Karnataka would be offered Intel-powered PCs with Reliance wireless products to avail of Internet connectivity.

With its pan-India CDMA2000 1X network, Reliance wireless products enable anytime, anywhere, high-speed internet connectivity on PCs, laptops and other computing devices through its Netconnect service platform, its officials said.

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An Indian software programmer is at the centre of a Robin Cook novel-like scenario in Boston, where a measles outbreak has led to authorities distributing 23,000 doses of vaccine costing $400,000 (Rs1.8 crore) across the city.

They have also ordered hundreds of people working in three buildings, including the city’s tallest skyscraper where the programmer went to work, to stay home until they can prove they are not susceptible to the disease.

The programmer, whose name has not been made public, flew in from India on April 26, and began showing symptoms of measles —cough, fever and rash — on May 5. The disease soon spread to six more persons in the same building.

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The San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News, on Monday, have independently listed six Indians among Silicon Valley’s 100 highest-paid executives.

Leading the group is Abhijit Talwalkar, President and CEO of LSI Logic, who earned a phenomenal $22.235 million in 2005.

Even at that compensation level, Talwalkar is only at No 10 on the list, which is led by Yahoo’s CEO Terry Semel, who earned $56 million in salary, bonuses and stock options. Following Talwalkar in the Desi list is Shantanu Narayen, president and COO of Adobe Systems, maker of the popular Photoshop and Acrobat Reader software. His earnings were $11 million for the financial year 2005. He comes in at No 33.

Close on his heels at No 35 is HP’s quiet achiever Vyomesh Joshi, who was once tipped to replace Carly Fiorina as the tech giant’s CEO after she was unceremoniously sacked by the Board. His earnings for the year were $10.8 million. Joshi is Executive Vice-President of the most profitable division at HP — the Imaging and Printing Group.

Rajiv Dutta, who is Internet auctioneer eBay’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer is ranked at No 38, with total earnings of $10.6 million. A distant No 84 is Sanjay Mehrotra, who pocketed a cool $7 million. Mehrotra, who is currently executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Sandisk, actually had a 36 per cent drop over his last year’s earnings, the report said.

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