Yahoo’s new Glue search tool

In a bid to personalise internet search, Yahoo India, on Thursday, announced the beta version of their new tool ‘Glue’. While displaying the regular search, ‘Glue’ allows the most relevant information of the search to appear along side the original links, so that users can learn the most basic things about their search term.

Besides basic information about search term, users can also get other relevant nugget from the web, such as blogs, video and web-feeds that can enhance the users’ understanding of what the search term represents.
‘Glue’ works with a special set of algorithms different from the ones used for regular search that reads into the intention of the search and tries to collate the best set of information from the web. Understanding the user’s intentions of the search is mostly based on what previous users had searched for. Available in Yahoo India’s page (yahoo.in), “Glue” is expected to remain in its Beta version for some time.

ARM to set up VLSI test lab in City

ARM, on Thursday, announced that it has incorporated a VLSI test lab in its design centre in Bangalore. The new VLSI test lab will provide analysis of VLSI libraries and ARM physical IP to correlate design to silicon behaviour.  This activity has increasingly become a partner requirement prior to SoC tapeout as technologies have increased in complexity and mask costs have escalated.

       The  VLSI test lab will focus on silicon validation of ARM physical IP (memory compilers, standard cells, power management kits, general purpose I/Os and specialty I/Os) designed at cutting-edge technologies that include 65nm and 45nm processes across all leading foundries.   Establishment of the test lab completes the requirements to enable the ARM India  to provide a full complement of design services, the company said.

Canara Bank   insurance JV gets licence

Canara Bank, HSBC Insurance (Asia-Pacific) Holdings Ltd and Oriental Bank of Commerce jointly announced on Thursday that the licence has been granted by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to jointly launch a life insurance company in India.

The new company, to be called Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited, has already been capitalised at Rs 325 crore (approximately US$81 million).

Jubilant buys  Speciality Ltd

Jubilant Organosys Ltd, an integrated Pharmaceutical industry player and the largest Custom Research and Manufacturing Services Company in India, on Thursday, announced that it has acquired Speciality Molecules Pvt Ltd, a niche manufacturer of speciality intermediates with manufacturing facilities located in Ambarnath, Mumbai.
The purchase consideration to acquire 100 per cent stake is Rs 19.95 crore on a debt free, cash free basis. The acquired company is engaged in the business of developing, manufacturing and selling of speciality intermediates, which include primarily pyridine derivatives that are used in pharmaceuticals and other life science industry.

The acquisition will be accretive to Jubilant’s earnings from the date of acquisition and will strengthen Jubilant’s ability to provide comprehensive offering of pyridine derivatives to the customers in life science industry.

Ashok Leyland Q4 net up 5 pc

Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland, on Thursday, reported 5.28 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 180.57 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, compared with Rs 171.52 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The total income rose 11.51 per cent to Rs 2,573.61 crore from Rs 2,307.9 crore in the year-ago quarter.

For the year-ended March 31, Ashok Leyland reported 6.35 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 469.31 crore, compared with Rs 441.29 crore in the last financial year. The total income for the year ended March 31, 2008 rose to Rs 7,803.12 crore from Rs 7,238.98 crore last year.