PacSoft Solutions Ltd, a little-known Bangalore-based IT company, has for the first time designed and developed a software product Lyceum on Microsoft .NET platform for schools across the country and the international market.

As part of its marketing strategy to promote its .NET platform in vertical sectors, Microsoft India has collaborated with PacSoft to develop Lyceum modules that will enable schools to provide education and learning methods over the Internet across multiple delivery channels such as mobile phones, PDAs and Tablet PCs.

"The Lyceum product has been developed by PacSoft in partnership with the Microsoft .NET Technology Center in Bangalore to offer anytime access to mentors by students and evaluation of their performance even by parents," declared Microsoft India managing director Rajiv Kaul on Tuesday.

Developed at a cost of $1 million over the last 12 months, the Web-based Lyceum version 2.0 has 12 core modules to allow front and back office management in educational institutions, and facilitate teachers, students and parents easy access to learning resources at any place and at any time.

"Lyceum on .NET is India's first education management product built end-to-end on .NET technologies. It enables a high level of software integration through the use of XML Web Services to help connect applications over the Internet, mobile devices such as Tablet PCs and cell phones," Kaul stated.

To promote and popularise the next generation software product among the end-users, the Rs 15 crore (Rs 150-million) PacSoft has also launched a customisable portal christened My-Lyceum.NET.

"Lyceum on .NET is an illustrative example of how Microsoft technology can be integrated into the existing education modules to provide an innovative learning experience to students, teachers and parents on any device to usher in a new connected learning community," Kaul asserted.

According to PacSoft managing director Ali Sait, those schools, which are already working on the earlier 1.0 version, can easily upgrade to Lyceum on .NET at Rs 15,000, while the first-time institutions can deploy the latest product at Rs 25,000, with access charges to the Web being user-specific.

"We already have about 1800 educational institutions across the county as our clients using the Lyceum version 1.0, and connecting about 3 million students, 6 million parents, 360,000 teachers, and 90,000 vendors in 255 geographical locations.

The .NET version will enable schools to not only reduce their operational expenses by 25-30 per cent, but also reach out the maximum number of stakeholders to interact with each other and access information on curriculum, examinations, fee payments and learning tutorials," Sait disclosed.

A 24/7 call center and technical help desk that are being set up in the next few months will support the users of Lyceum on .NET and My-Lyceum.NET. The portal will also feature services like Web Jockey to assist users in navigation.

"Our game plan is to offer value added services relevant to each stakeholder in an academic community without compromising on functionality or features of .NET technology," Sait affirmed.

The wholly-owned private company is targeting a 100 per cent growth with the new product during the ensuing fiscal year 2003-04. "We hope to achieve a turnover of Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) by promoting Lyceum on .NET in the first year of its sales.

Microsoft India will also assist PacSoft in marketing Lyceum in the international markets through its overseas' offices. A beginning has been made in Singapore and Dubai where educational institutions have shown keen interest in deploying the product.

Kaul told rediff.com that the global company's .NET technology center was also involved in similar projects with various partners to promote the use of the Internet platform in other verticals such as telecom, financial services and various utility services of governments.