IT Park/IT SEZ Project Hyderabad

[rizwan3]

Virtusa aims at $211 m revenue

Rosaiah inaugurates company's Advanced Technology Centre

New campus will have 3,000 staff

in phase-I

Hiring will continue from the local

pool of talent


BETS ON INDIA: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Virtusa Corporation, Kris Canekeratne (left ) with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister


New campus: (from right) Mr Kris Cenekaratne, Chairman and CEO of Virtusa, Mr Roger Keith Modder, President, Asia, and Mr Samir Dhir, Senior. Vice-President and Centre Head, at the inauguration of the new facility in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: Global IT services company Virtusa Corporation is confident that its renewed growth phase will continue with guidance for 2010-11 pegged at $211 million with a growth rate of 27 per cent.

The company, headquartered in Massachusetts, the U.S., has 4,000 professionals world-wide with two-thirds of them working out of India.

Interacting with media, after Chief Minister K. Rosaiah inaugurated its Rs.75-crore Advanced Technology Centre at IT SEZ in Nanakramguda here on Wednesday, Virtusa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kris Canekeratne said, “we had just been through a tough economic environment in the U.S. But we believe that the U.S., which accounts for 76 per cent of our total revenue, will continue to be significant spender on IT.

“Our U.S. clients continue to source services with us.”

The first six months of the current fiscal had been stronger and the first quarter revenue was $51.4 million with 38 per cent growth as against $37.4 million in the corresponding period last year. The second quarter revenue is expected at $53 million.

The new campus, spread over six acres with a built-up area of 1.50 lakh sq. ft. in the first phase, can accommodate 3,000 employees as against its present strength of 1,500. Its second phase for two lakh sq. ft. to be taken up later with an outlay of Rs.27.50 crore, would accommodate another 3,000 employees.

Mr. Canekeratne said in tune with the company's growth plans, hiring would continue from the local pool of talent from engineering and MBA colleges, he said.

The company, with 53 per cent of its revenue from banking, financial, insurance services, was now focussing on acquiring local clients.

[rizwan3]

UK company Latens' global R&D unit now in Hyderabad


Hyderabad, Sept 29

The UK-headquartered software solutions provider for the entertainment and broadcasting sectors, Latens, on Wednesday announced the setting up of a 10,000 sft global R&D facility in Hyderabad at an initial cost of about $3 million.

The Hyderabad facility, which is its second after the one in the UK, will be working on existing products and the company's future products globally. It is one of the largest content protection companies in the field of IPTV with about a 100 customers.

Mr Rahul Nehra, Regional Director-Asia, said the facility would be ramped up in phases with fresh investments and recruitments. “Initially, we will be recruiting at least 100 professionals. Latens has identified Hyderabad as its global hub for development of its range of broadcasting products — this hub will cater to its global product development and will be the largest facility for Latens worldwide,” he told presspersons here.

The centre will work on technologies that revolve around next generation software conditional access, middleware and set-top boxes integrations. “As we go along the road, we will be involving ourselves with newer technologies in context protection,” he said.

The company provides a unified software security solution for conditional access, covering DTH, IPTV and Internet. Latens customers in India include Reliance Digicom, Dish Media Networks and Home TV-DTH. “We are in talks with two national-level DTH operators and we expect to sign a deal within the next four to six weeks,” Mr Nehra said.

[soccerhero]

Even before take-off, jail BPO bags 2nd project
TNN, Sep 29, 2010, 04.32am IST
HYDERABAD: It is raining projects at the maiden BPO unit at Cherlapally central prison even as the date of its inauguration has been postponed by a month.

The latest to commit work to the country's first BPO unit in a prison is Secunderabad-headquartered Thrinaina Informatics Limited. The company is soon expected to enter into an agreement with the state prisons department, and intends to use the BPO workers for digitisation of books. With an impressive clientele including British Library and Qatar Heritage Foundation, Thrinaina is looking at giving more work to the prison BPO unit over a period of time.

"We would not outsource work to them, rather make them a franchise where we guide them at each step. Initially, we are looking at engaging them in work in the domestic sector, and depending on the skill level of those manning the BPO, they stand a chance of being involved in international projects on a later date," said C S N Mohan, CEO of Thrinaina Informatics Limited.

The company is looking at two payment options for the prison BPO workers. While the one payment mode they have in mind is the amount proportional to the quantity of work (number of units) delivered, another is a monthly salary structure which gives priority to quality.

"The challenge here is to get qualitative work done by the BPO workers. As the project revolves around digitising books, we would ideally want a certain aesthetic sense also to go into it," said Mohan.

This will be the second project for the prison BPO workers, the first being census data compilation. The BPO unit, which was initially slotted for an August 15 and then October 2 inauguration, now stands a chance of getting started only around November 1. This is because the DG and IG (prisons and correctional services), Andhra Pradesh, C Gopinatha Reddy, will be out of country until mid-October. "The equipment is in place and we should be able to start the pilot project at Cherlapally prison in November," said Reddy.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/6648386.cms

[rizwan3]

Tech Mahindra's merger move may push it into Big 4

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Sept. 30

The imminent merger of Mahindra Satyam with Tech Mahindra, the roadmap for which would be announced on November 15, would make the duo enter into the Big-4, pushing HCL Tech to the fifth position. (HCL's revenue for 2009-10 was put at Rs 5,078 crore.)

The synergies of competencies – Mahindra Satyam with IT services capabilities and Tech Mahindra's telecom-based IT services – could help the duo increase its bargaining abilities.

The duo, when merged, would be a Rs 10,000 crore-company, leaving the other players in the same league such as MphasiS and Patni far behind.

Mahindra Satyam's 2009-10 revenue was put at Rs 5,481 crore, while Tech Mahindra's for the same period was about Rs 5,000 crore. It would have an employee base of 52,000 – 35,000 in Tech Mahindra and 27,000 in Mahindra Satyam.

The Wednesday disclosures by Mahindra Satyam showed that the number of employees was 27,000 and not at 46,000 as inflated by Mr Raju when he was at the helm.

MphasiS, a close six in the Nasscom's Top-20 IT exporters list, has 38,275 employees and clocked revenues of Rs 4,000 crore for the nine-month period ended July 31, 2010.

Sharing resources

Soon after picking 42.5 per cent in Mahindra Satyam, Tech Mahindra had started a rationalisation process to avoid redundancies in work. They had also begun sharing infrastructure in key foreign locations in order to reduce expenditure on infrastructure.

“Though a formal roadmap for merger would be kicked off in November, we have already begun a process that would help us integrate the two organisations. The formal process is to address the legal and statutory obligations,” a Mahindra Satyam executive told Business Line.

[rizwan3]

Facebook launches Hyderabad centre

Security concerns of the users being addressed, says the website's global online operations director

All efforts being made to secure users' trust for the site

It has 15 million users, developers and advertisers in India

Perfect setting: Facebook's director online operations and head of India office Kirthiga Reddy, global online operations director Don Faul, director user operations Manoj Varghese and international growth marketing manager Meenal Balar at the newly inaugurated centre in Hyderabad on Thursday.

HYDERABAD: Users of Facebook, one of the leading social networking sites, can rest assured about the security of information they share with family, friends and colleagues.

Facebook, a leading social networking site, has announced ambitious plans to hire “lot of talent'' across functions for its Hyderabad operations.

The networking site, with over 500 million active users, is looking at tie-ups with local brands in addition to global brands like Samsung, Motorola and others for developing compelling applications.

The social networking site is spending huge amounts in “seeing patterns” in the content being sent on the site. “We have invested sufficiently in ensuring that the network is safe,” Facebook global online operations director Don Faul has said.

Mr. Faul was responding to queries on concerns expressed on the security front regarding the vulnerability of social networking sites to become conduits for transmitting virus and incapacitating crucial systems.

All efforts are being made to check authenticity of users and investments are being made to secure users' trust for the site for sending information besides keeping the site spam-free.

Facebook commenced its Indian operations by formally launching its Hyderabad centre, the first centre outside the United States, on Thursday. “We are seeing a tonne of momentum with our 15 million users, developers and advertisers. It is an incredible time to start operations in India,” director online operations and head of India office Kirthiga Reddy said.

With these 15 million users, who the company claims to be “really influential users”, the company is eyeing to rope in more advertisers as well as bring in more software developers.

With more than 500 million users worldwide, Facebook has 35 million users updating their status on a daily basis, while another 55 million status updates are being posted each day.

While more than 2.5 billion photos are uploaded each month, more than 3.5 billion pieces of content is being shared each week.

There are an estimated 1.6 million active pages including 7 lakh pages of local businesses and Facebook has more than one million developers and entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries.

More than 65 million active users access Facebook on their mobile devices and people using

Facebook on their mobiles are found to be 50 per cent more active on the site than the non-mobile users.

[rizwan3]

CA Technologies opens centre in Hyderabad

To spend $1 billion on R&D, mergers and acquisitions

Has capacity to house 1,000 more members

To invest in emerging markets, BRIC countries

HYDERABAD: CA Technologies, a leading IT management software and solutions company, has decided to spend $600 million on R&D (research and development) during the current year with focus on becoming one of the top companies in cloud computing and virtualisation management segments.

The company has set aside another $500 million and is on the look out for mergers and acquisitions of technology companies “that can bring in new technologies”. CA Technologies claimed that there were about 250-300 companies, including public and private firms, across the globe on its radar.

The New York-based company has opened a state-of-art India Technology Centre at Hyderabad, with over 2.5 lakh sq. ft. built area involving an estimated $30 million investment. The new campus has the capacity to house an additional 1,000 members on top of the current headcount of 1,600 and the single largest R&D facility expected to develop about 30 per cent of the company's global products. Chief Executive Officer William McCracken told reporters that the technology provider, with 55 per cent revenue from North America and 45 per cent from the rest of the world, was focussed on reversing the trend. It had decided to make substantial investments in the emerging markets, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries in particular, with a strategy to lead the virtualisation management and cloud computing segments.

“Cloud computing is rapidly growing and we are in a good position to move into one of the top positions. This is the primary area,” he said. The company was aiming at developing technologies internally and created platform for that. At the same time, the platform “will allow us” to bring technology from outside that could be integrated.

Asked about U.S. President Barack Obama's statement on banning outsourcing which States like Ohio had already adopted, he said CA Technologies would not be impacted by the move as “we don't provide services”.

On the significant reduction in the IT spend, he said while the IT spend worldwide was around 7 per cent, CA Technologies was expecting to grow beyond that with major portion of the revenues coming from mainframe technologies.

[rizwan3]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...0552011900.htm
Frontline Consulting Services plans $20 m investment

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Oct. 4

Frontline Consulting Services (FCS) Pvt Ltd, an arm of the US-based IT solution and products provider FCS Inc, is planning to invest $20 million in setting up a in the Special Economic Zone at Kokapet near here.

The proposed campus of FCS, which was allotted 3.5 acres in Kokapet SEZ recently, is likely to be operational over the next two-three years and would accommodate around 1,500 professionals, Mr Sreenivasa Hosamane, Country Head (India) FCS, said at the inaugural function of FCS own facility in Cyber Gateway here recently.

Mr Vikas Handa, CEO – FCS, said the company had strategically aligned itself with Oracle Corporation partnering at various levels.

“This has resulted in innovative product solutions like demand signal repository and manufacturing analytics for the retail and manufacturing sector,'' he said.

FCS, which was present in Hyderabad since 2008, had invested $5 million in the new facility.

[rizwan3]

IT Companies flocks back to Hyderabad. HCL, American Info Serve, Verizone, Pro Karma, Mind Tree Takes up Fresh Space

Hyderabad News. DC 06.10.2010

Hyderabad continues to receive fresh investments in the Information Technology (IT) sector even as the uncertainty over the state’s bifurcation continues.

HCL Technologies’ application for expanding its Hyderabad campus has been cleared. The company has taken 99,000 sq. ft. of office space and promises to provide employment for 886 people in stages.

On Tuesday, the unit approval committee cleared applications of seven companies that have promised to provide 2,000 jobs in total.

American Info Serve has taken office space in both the Lanco and Navayuga IT SEZs. Verizon Games Limited will set up its office in the Lanco SEZ. Pro Karma, Compugain, and Mind Tree are also opening offices in Hyderabad. Kony Labs has taken 19,500 sq. ft. of office space and will provide 170 jobs.



Several IT companies are shifting from Bengaluru because of the rising costs there. Others have offices in Bengaluru but are expanding to Hyderabad.

“We have given 77 letters of permission in the last six months. Of the total 109 SEZs sanctioned, Andhra Pradesh has got 57 IT SEZs, 43 of which are already notified,” said a senior official in the IT department.

[rizwan3]

ICICI @ Hyderabad




Wave Rock @ Hyderabad



Boulder Hills





Source:Youtube

[rizwan3]

‘Rayadurg land will be another major hub'

HYDERABAD: With the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation winning the case in the Supreme Court pertaining to ownership of land earmarked for Hyderabad Knowledge City, the development stalled for the last four years is expected to gain momentum.

The 424.13 acres of land in Rayadurg (Ranga Reddy) in the vicinity of Madhapur and Gachibowli would soon emerge another prime cluster of information technology, R&D and retail on the lines of Hi Tech City and Financial District, said B. P. Acharya, Principal Secretary, Industries.

The land was allotted to APIIC in 2005 by the government for development as part of resource mobilisation. Though over 100 acres of land was already auctioned to DLF IT Park, Futures Group, Salarpuria and ITC in phases, the projects could not move ahead because of legal dispute.

Strategic location

Even then the auctions evoked good response because of the strategic location of the land and the last auction to ITC group fetched the government Rs. 25 crore an acre.

The APIIC, for its part, promised to refund the amount to bidders if it lost the case, said Mr. Acharya who was the Managing Director then.

The land valued at Rs.10,000 crore would be another source of revenue for the government looking to boost its revenues. After four years of efforts, government stand had been vindicated.

[rizwan3]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/6731015.cms

Pyro inks contract with IBM for products and solution

HYDERABAD: Pyro, a city-based mobile technology services company, has entered into a strategic partnership with Global IT major IBM for development, testing and management of its products and solutions.

The USD 19 million contract has been inked for a period of five years, and this will include value added services from IBM in the telecom industry domain, the company said in a release.

"IBM's proven technology expertise will also enable us to increase our resource utilisation, adopt best industry practices, and change methodologies effectively," said S M Reddy CEO of Pyro Group.

"The engagement gives IBM an opportunity to help Pyro strengthen its market presence by enabling the company to focus on its core business," said Vanitha Narayanan Managing Partner Global Business Services IBM India/South Asia.

[ranga]

Originally Posted by rizwan3

‘Rayadurg land will be another major hub'

HYDERABAD: With the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation winning the case in the Supreme Court pertaining to ownership of land earmarked for Hyderabad Knowledge City, the development stalled for the last four years is expected to gain momentum.

The 424.13 acres of land in Rayadurg (Ranga Reddy) in the vicinity of Madhapur and Gachibowli would soon emerge another prime cluster of information technology, R&D and retail on the lines of Hi Tech City and Financial District, said B. P. Acharya, Principal Secretary, Industries.

The land was allotted to APIIC in 2005 by the government for development as part of resource mobilisation. Though over 100 acres of land was already auctioned to DLF IT Park, Futures Group, Salarpuria and ITC in phases, the projects could not move ahead because of legal dispute.

Strategic location

Even then the auctions evoked good response because of the strategic location of the land and the last auction to ITC group fetched the government Rs. 25 crore an acre.

The APIIC, for its part, promised to refund the amount to bidders if it lost the case, said Mr. Acharya who was the Managing Director then.

The land valued at Rs.10,000 crore would be another source of revenue for the government looking to boost its revenues. After four years of efforts, government stand had been vindicated.

Times are different now.Telangana problem and the EMAR scandal involving APIIC will be a bad publicity for this project.I am not sure that the Rayadurg land will be sold at very high rates.

[hyd]

I think 4cr for non commercial (non-core business ) seems more likely.
Companies with intention of commercial exploitation(Hotels, Malls, Apartments) May bid till 8-11 cr

It is senseless on part of govt to think land as a revenue source.
The double standards are causing troubles like sompeta

I think roshaih will be no different and sell instead of allotting to genuine companies

Originally Posted by ranga

Times are different now.Telangana problem and the EMAR scandal involving APIIC will be a bad publicity for this project.I am not sure that the Rayadurg land will be sold at very high rates.

[rizwan3]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/6781369.cms

20 Oct, 2010, 06.49PM IST,ET Bureau
Hyderabad-based IMIMobile acquires UK's WINplc

Hyderabad-based IMIMobile, provider of mobile technology company has just acquired WINplc, at a cost of $26 million, its first major overseas acquisition. The UK-based WINplc, a mobile content and services company has revenues of about $60 million. Vishvanath Alluri, CEO and founder of IMIMobile, said the move will give the combined entity access to major European Mobile operators, as WIN already has both technical and customer relationships with Tier 1 European operators.

The combined entity will have a workforce of about 650, and provide managed mobile services to over 100 operators and business in 70 countries. Graham Rivers, WIN’s CEO will stay on as executive director of IMImobile in the new structure. Mr Rivers said that the two companies fit together very well, and The new entity will target European telecoms and media companies, facing stagnant markets with a range of solutions designed to reduce costs and increase revenue in non-voice mobile operations, IMIMobile brings global scale to WIN’s European expertise.

IMIMobile is a private held company funded by private equity investors including Sequoia Capital, UK-based Spark Ventures, and US-based Firstmark Capital. WINplc has been delisted as a result of the acquisition. Mr Alluri said that the acquisition was financed by its PE investors, internal accruals, and debt of USD 9 million.

IMIMobile provides managed mobile services to customers like Star, Idea, Orange and MTN. WIN specializes in providing companies with customer management and communication solutions, and its client list includes names like T-Mobile, Orange, Cenrical AOL , Vodafone, and E-On. Based in Buckinghamshire, it also has offices in Greece and Kuala Lumpur.

[rizwan3]

http://www.businesswireindia.com/Pre...sp?b2mid=24410

[rizwan3]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...2752232200.htm

European co TrustPort, Zoom tie-up for Indian operations

Hyderabad, Oct. 26

European security software provider TrustPort on Tuesday announced its entry in the Indian market through a tie up with Hyderabad-based network and security solutions firm Zoom Technologies.

The company has drawn up plans to invest €2 million over the next two years to strengthen its presence in the Indian market and set up a knowledge centre in Hyderabad.

“We have decided to make Hyderabad the hub of our operations in India,” Mr Vladislav Nemec, Chief Executive Officer, told presspersons.

Zoom Technologies will apply its domain expertise in the market to expand the reach of TrustPort's products, including anti-virus and Internet security solutions. Its latest offering, Total Protection, includes automatic media control, data protection by encryption, data shredding, anti-spam, personal firewall and anti-phishing.

The 25-seat Hyderabad facility will be undertaking research on different viruses, besides offering product installation, configuration and troubleshooting services to its clients.

Mr Nemec said TrustPort is aiming at garnering about 15 per cent share of the Indian security solutions market in the next three years. The domestic market for security software solutions is currently pegged at $94 million, which is expected to touch $ 120 million by 2011-12.

Mr M.H. Noble, Managing Director of Zoom Technologies, said there was an increasing level of computer crime and malicious software trend, with more than 200 viruses emerging every day globally.

“The market is moving towards multiple-engine based solutions,” he pointed out.

[rizwan3]

http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/03/stor...0361080500.htm

VenSat sets up VenSat America

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: VenSat Tech Services Pvt Ltd., a fast growing provider of animation, visual effects, motion comics and 2D/3D conversion services, on Tuesday announced its new US business entity, VenSat America.

VenSat which began active production in December, 2009 and shot to fame with its visual effects in the recently released highest grossing films of the year, ‘Robo' and ‘Dabangg' , also delivered a full –length animated motion picture for a major European entertainment group and all visual effects for ‘Land of the Astronauts' for Studio Cineville, in the US.

The city-based firm which secured US $ five million from IndoUS Venture Partners, invested another two million dollars and set up studios in Chennai and Hyderabad. . Satyanarayana Mudunuri and Venkatesh Roddam, Executive Directors of VenSat, said the new firm to be based in Los Angeles and New York City would be headed by Ken Silverman.

[rizwan3]

http://www.cbre.co.in/inet_newsmanag...Q3,%202010.pdf

India’s Office Rent Market Firming Up Q3,2010

[rizwan3]

http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/12/stor...1263301800.htm

Google to set up centre of excellence

Overall headcount

in India is close

to 2,000

HYDERABAD: Google, the internet search giant, has announced plans to invest heavily in cloud computing by setting up a centre of excellence.

The new centre, to be based in Hyderabad, would focus on cloud computing and develop applications for Google clients worldwide. The company has announced plans to significantly enhance its headcount in the coming days to meet its requirements.

“We will hire hundreds of engineers. They will be generalists, not specialists as it will suit our requirement,” Google India's head of engineering Peeyush Ranjan told reporters here on Thursday. Google at present has 300 engineers working on cutting edge products in its Hyderabad and Bangalore centres and the company's overall headcount in the country is close to 2,000.

Cloud computing was set to bring paradigm shift in businesses as more and more enterprises were looking for deploying the technology which facilitates anytime and anywhere access on any device. Over one-lakh enterprises, small and medium businesses in particular, in India were using cloud technology at present.

On the Hyderabad centre, he said it was already working on several important areas like Google Applications and it would be the Google's largest centre for cloud computing playing a significant role in the development of cloud-based technologies.

Google unveiled WebP, the image compressing technology that was set to compete with Jpeg format widely used on the net at present. The open source downloadable application was set to become the de facto standard for images as its new (lossy) image compression technology would reduce the storage size of images significantly by removing details that did not make visual impact and, thereby, make the web much faster.

[hyd]

Are they building it in kokapet sez?

Originally Posted by rizwan3

http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/12/stor...1263301800.htm

Google to set up centre of excellence

Overall headcount

in India is close

to 2,000

HYDERABAD: Google, the internet search giant, has announced plans to invest heavily in cloud computing by setting up a centre of excellence.

The new centre, to be based in Hyderabad, would focus on cloud computing and develop applications for Google clients worldwide. The company has announced plans to significantly enhance its headcount in the coming days to meet its requirements.

“We will hire hundreds of engineers. They will be generalists, not specialists as it will suit our requirement,” Google India's head of engineering Peeyush Ranjan told reporters here on Thursday. Google at present has 300 engineers working on cutting edge products in its Hyderabad and Bangalore centres and the company's overall headcount in the country is close to 2,000.

Cloud computing was set to bring paradigm shift in businesses as more and more enterprises were looking for deploying the technology which facilitates anytime and anywhere access on any device. Over one-lakh enterprises, small and medium businesses in particular, in India were using cloud technology at present.

On the Hyderabad centre, he said it was already working on several important areas like Google Applications and it would be the Google's largest centre for cloud computing playing a significant role in the development of cloud-based technologies.

Google unveiled WebP, the image compressing technology that was set to compete with Jpeg format widely used on the net at present. The open source downloadable application was set to become the de facto standard for images as its new (lossy) image compression technology would reduce the storage size of images significantly by removing details that did not make visual impact and, thereby, make the web much faster.