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The PII upgrade plan

A staff writer in Bombay

Pay the difference and upgrade to PII. That's what HCL is ostensibly offering.

HCL Infosolutions Ltd, the $ 600 million group's distribution wing, today announced this, the 'HCL Technology Upgrade' programme for all personal computer owners in India.

T O D A Y

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Computer owners can enhance critical features of their PCs including data integrity, performance, reliability and visual quality while retaining most of their original hardware.

Designed as a box-upgrade, this offer includes the replacement of the existing microprocessor with Intel's latest Pentium II microprocessor, of the existing RAM with SDRAM and incorporation of the new USB board capable of supporting up to 127 peripherals. The upgradation of these critical components ensures investment protection against obsolescence "for the mid-term".

According to an Indian Market Research Bureau study, 75 per cent of the PCs across the top 23 cities of India are sub-Pentium machines and a quarter of these were sub-486 machines.

The upgrade programme, launched to address higher performance and functionality needs of PC owners, may be availed through HCL Insol's 800 resellers in 300 cities. And the service will be available at the customer's premises itself. The upgrade costs approximately Rs 36,000, which is much cheaper than buying a new computer, HCL sources said.

This is part of HCL's strong marketing and distribution initiatives. The company introduced the Busybee, an affordably priced range of personal computers in October 1996 and later, in 1995, BeanStalk range aimed at the home market.

HCL Corporation is a transnational group with interests in computers, networking, office automation equipment, medical electronics, computer education and software services. It has tie-ups with a host of international giants including Hewlett-Packard, James Martin & Co, Perot Systems Corporation, General Instrument Corporation, Microsoft, and Toshiba.

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