Rolta takes principal membership in OGC

MUMBAI, April 13, 2007. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC® (http://www.opengeospatial.org) announced that Rolta India Ltd. has joined the OGC as a Principal Member.

Principal Members have authority over the development, release and adoption of OpenGIS® Specifications through their voting rights in the OGC Planning Committee (PC). PC Members also evaluate and provide guidance on market direction and Consortium focus, have approval authority for OGC policies and procedures, and vote to elect members of the OGC Board of Directors.

"Rolta is a global company which employs an innovative geospatial business model that fully exploits the internet and OGC Web Service standards", said David Schell, CEO & chairman of the OGC board of directors, "Beyond bringing invaluable technology requirements into OGC's standards process, Rolta's principal membership significantly enhances the relevance of OGC's standards activity in global markets. In particular, we look forward to Rolta taking a leadership role in promoting the benefits of interoperable geoprocessing in the Indian market."

Dr. R. Siva Kumar, Head of the Natural Resources Data Management Systems (NRDMS) and National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Divisions of the Indian government Department of Science & Technology, and a member of the OGC board, said, "Rolta is a company that advances India's tradition of excellence in geospatial technologies, technologies that play a key role today in our country's rapid build out of new physical infrastructure. Rolta also shows that companies in the developing world who offer sophisticated technology services, including geospatial services, can do remarkably well in markets in developed nations."

Ben Eazzetta, President of International Operations for Rolta, said, "Standards, and the OGC, are important vehicles for globalization. Most of our customers and partners around the world have oriented their IT operations toward open standards, and one reason is that standards enable them to do business with companies like ours that know how to leverage standards to open their geospatial data to the enterprise level and provide extraordinary value." Mr. Eazzetta is a current board member of the consortium.

About The Open Geospatial Consortium: The OGC® is an international industry consortium of more than 335 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http:// www.opengeospatial.org.