TANA hosts IT seminar with Ponnala Lakshmaiah

Dallas, Texas: Hon. Minister for Information Technology & Communications Mr. Ponnala Lakshmaiah addressed a large gathering of over 100 Telugu IT Company CEOs and other professionals with a presentation 'Advantage Andhra Pradesh ' The Most Preferred IT Destination'.

In a program that was co-hosted by TANTEX and IT Serve Allinace at FunAsiA, Richardson, Texas on Sunday evening, over 100 IT professionals from AP had an interactive session with Mr. Ponnala. The program was called to order by Ram Yalamanchili (Treasurer, TANA) who warmly welcomed the Chief guest and other attendees. Mr. Satish Mandava of ITServ Alliance gave the mission and objectives of the organization and stressed the need for cohesiveness in order to serve the members.

Mr. Nagendra Bandaru, Chair, Science & Technology Forum of TANA requested the visiting IT Minister Hon. Mr. Lakshmaiah Ponnala to establish special green technology and healthcare technology parks to fuel the growth of Information technology. Mr. Rahul Reddy, attorney representing Reddy & Neumann PC provided some interesting statistics about the immigrant community and urged the government of Andhra Pradesh to work with the US Consular Office to put pressure to deal with student visa issues, especially those from the Tri-Valley University.

Mr. MVL Prasad, a technology entrepreneur, who was instrumental in bringing Mr. Ponnala to Dallas had the honor of introducing the Chief guest of the evening. In his introduction he said traced the humble beginnings of Mr. Ponnala from a remote village in Warangal district, the first to get decent education in his local community leading to Bachelor of Engineering (mechanical) from Osmania University then leading to Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering at Oklahoma State University in 1969. He further shared Mr. Ponnala's abundant engineering experience at various US companies developing control systems and finally leading to return to India in 1978. He mentioned that Mr. Ponnala went to India to serve the rural community, development of poultry, dairy and allied industries, entry into politics, winning 4 Assembly elections, serving as Cabinet ranking minister for three different portfolios since 1991 to present status as Minister of Information Technology & Communications with additional responsibility for Energy ministry also.

Mr. Ponnala delivered his keynote address on the current state of the IT industry in Andhra Pradesh. He went on to explain the phenomenal growth of the IT industry where the exports grew over 100 times and employment over 20 times during the past 10 years. He has requested the IT entrepreneurs to think about Andhra Pradesh for their new investment. In fielding several questions from the audience about the need to promote IT in Tier-2 cities and the need for improved infrastructure. Mr. Ponnala answered them all well to do all the needful. He reiterated the value of education and vowed to help educate and train rural graduates with specialized technical skills to meet demands of today.

Mr. Prasad Thotakura, President-elect of TANA reiterated TANA's continued focus on serving the Telugu community with result oriented programs and enabling a new breed of ambassadors to bring the community together. He has introduced the core committee members of TANA and explained the reasons for focusing on Information Technology while there are many other distractions in the state at the moment. Mr. Thotakura presented a memento Mr. Ponnala on behalf of TANA and TANTEX. Mr. Ponnala presented recognition trophies to Mr. Rahul Reddy of Reddy & Neumann PC, Mr. Rama Rao Mullapudi of XT Global, Mr. Ram Bobba of Premier IT Solutions, Ms. Shabnam Modgil of FunAsiA for their support of the event and the community.

Mr. Ponnala was felicitated by Mr. Satish Manduva of ITServ Alliance and Mr. NMS Reddy, President of TANTEX, various committee members of TANA lead by Mrs. Manjulatha Kanneganti, Mr. Ramki Chebrolu and Mr. Rajesh Veerapaneni. Finally, Mr. Aravind Reddy Muppidi, Regional coordinator of ATA and Mr. Rao Kalvala, Regional Vice President of NATA were among those who felicitated the IT minister with a bouquet of fresh flowers.

The event came to an end with vote of thanks by Mr. NMS Reddy, TANTEX President who thanked the chief guest for taking time to address in spite of his busy schedule, all the attendees & volunteers, the financial support of the sponsors; XT Global, Premier IT Solutions, ITServ Alliance and Reddy & Neumann P.C., staff & management of FunAsiA restaurant, Mr. Venkat Mulukutla of TV9, Mr. Rajendra Narayandas for video coverage, Armale Studios for digital photography.