Fountains dance to his tune

Most tourists visiting Mysore visit the famous Brindavan Gardens next to the Krishnaraja Sagar dam on the Cauvery. The most popular part of this garden is the musical fountain, where the water "dances", rising and falling, in harmony with the music and changing lights.

The fountain has been there for long, but when the garden was revamped a couple of years ago, the musical synchronisation of the fountain was expanded and improved. It now plays to more than 20 Kannada, Hindi and English tunes, "dances" to a combination of 16 musical patterns which include 28 songs in seven packages.

The revamp is the handiwork of BNA Technology Consulting, a Bangalore-based provider of IT infrastructure management solutions.

The brain behind BNA is V Ranganathan, managing director, and alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who founded the company 15 years ago. He has a track record of innovation and is the man behind the award winning solution that solved the vexing queue problem at Tirumala temple in Tirupati.

He also designed the solution that helped the Delhi government cross last mile hurdles in implementing CNG dispensation as it raced to meet the Supreme Court deadline.

"We consider innovation and value addition and innovation the key to our success," says Ranganthan. BNA Technology reported a Rs 19 crore turnover and Rs 1.42 crore net profit in 2005-06. The company is looking at a Rs 40 crore turnover for 2006-07, of which Rs 8 crore will come from the musical fountain division.

In 1980, after a post-graduate course at the IISc, Bangalore Ranganathan joined a start-up dealing with deployment of large video/telephony networks in India. This firm morphed into Building Network Automation in 1989.

Brindavan Gardens is one of over 40 musical fountains installed by the company. Other prominent installations are at Wonderla (an amusement park) and Sammy's Dreamland near Bangalore, Veega amusement park in Kochi.

BNA is making a foray into the UAE with a volcanic fountain. It will simulate volcanic eruption using water, light and sound. The deal has been inked in partnership with Global Systems. The company is also venturing into other West Asian countries, Egypt and Africa this year.