Brushing past the dot-com bust, Internet companies have come a long way. Internet is hot and will continue to boom.

This sentiment was echoed at the TiE-ISB Connect 2006 forum being held at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

With 25 million active Net users in India, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are upbeat on new investment opportunities in the Net and mobile space in India.

Highlighting that user-generated content drives business, Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman and chief executive officer, rediff.com, urged budding entrepreneurs to look at service providers and media entities in the Internet space and choose a proper alignment.

Utility services will bring in more users and more revenue, he said, adding the aim of a successful Internet company should be to see that multiple local networks can co-exist.

Breakthrough will also come from matching technology. For instance, efforts are on to translate conversation. Today, we get conversations about 64% accurate but the day the they becomes 90% accurate, call centres will become redundant as software will take over. This is a great challenge and opportunity, he said.

Whoever seizes this great opportunity can demolish call centers and establish a successful company.

Indian entrepreneurs never had it so good. "There are more VCs then entrepreneurs today. So we are looking at the best ideas to support and fund," says Sandeep Murthy, partner, Sherapalo Ventures. Online travel is booming and it is the right time to cash in on this huge opportunity.

VCs are looking at people and not just the ideas, Murthy said. He has funded three companies in India so far.

Connect 2006: Complete coverage

Upbeat about new technology in the mobile space, Paymate founder Probir Roy said it is the best time for entrepreneurs. "There is nothing that can stop you if you are focused and have clarity of vision. Technology driven start-ups will continue to boom," he said.

The social stigma of failure no longer bothers young entrepreneur. said Roy. He also pointed out that 200 students of  ISB have joined the institute's ED course. These are signs of a changing India.

According to Hitesh Oberoi, COO, Naukri.com, there are huge opportunties in the Internet space and Internet businesses are here to stay.

Entertainment will continue to be a driving force for Net business with a lot of interest in the growing media services.

Raghav Kher, founder of Seventymm, promises a lot of convenience with his online film rental scheme that is catching up in Bangalore.

A word of assurance to the budding entrepreneurs came from Google's Samir Sood. One should not shy away from doing something that has been already done, he said.

In India, it is bad to fail, but entrepreneurs will succeed only if they learn it is good to fail. Google will offer all kind of support to emerging entrepreneurs and is open to ideas coming from them, he added.