| Microsoft's
Hyderabad campus to house 3200 pros |
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Microsoft Corporation recently
unveiled the Microsoft Campus in Hyderabad. Expansion
plans include a rise in the headcount from the
present 800 to over 3,200 by the end of 2006 in
keeping with the Campus size as well as Hyderabad’s
skilled resource pool.
While the Hyderabad development
Centre helps the Company in core product development,
thereby contributing to the world's IT industry
as a whole, Microsoft has also contributed to
the growth of rural India. Localizing in vernacular
languages has also helped in bringing IT to users
in rural areas of India. Ballmer in fact confirmed
that the project was a continuation and an extension
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's investments
of $400 mln in India over three years.
Spread over 28 acres,
the campus is the largest outside the US, housing
employees across its three units-the India Development
Center (IDC), the Global Delivery Center India
(GDCI) and the sales & marketing organization.
While phase I of the facility has the capacity
to host 1,600 people, phase II would add another
1,600. The foundation stone for the phase II center
is also being laid as part of the inauguration
event.
| Microsoft
is not the only company investing
in Hyderabad. Commenting on Microsoft’s
contribution to rural India, Chief
Minister Y S Rajashekara Reddy also
announced the setting up of a fabrication
unit in Hyderabad, with investments
of $2.6 billion on the part of a South
Korean company.
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| $
3.1 bln fabrication unit being setup in Hyderabad
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| P June Min,
Chairman, Intellect Inc. announced the setting up
of a fabrication unit in Hyderabad at the CII's
two-day e-hardware summit. Intellect will sign a
MoU with the government of Andhra Pradesh shortly
and the foundation will be laid in February 2005.
Actual chip making is likely to commence by July
2006.
The unit to be
named Indian Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
(ISMC), would come up in two phases, Phase I involving
an investment of $600 mln of which $160 mln would
be in the form of equity-$80 mln from Indian and
$80 mln from foreign players. Phase II would be
set up with an investment of $2.5 bln after two
years of setting up of the first phase.
The proposed
fab will manufacture chips, wafers that would cater
to the consumer electronic market. The semiconductor
chip market for consumer electronics in India is
around $900 mln and is expected to grow to $1.2
bln by the time ISMC is likely to start production
in 2006. The Company plants to address nearly 70-85
per cent of the market share.
Seoul based
Intellect is a promoter of such fabs and has already
set up eight similar units across the world with
two facilities in China alone.
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| Quantum,
Wipro partner for Engg. & design |
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| Quantum Corp.
and Wipro Technologies have ventured into an alliance
whereby, Wipro will provide engineering and software
design services to augment Quantum's internal storage
systems resources.
The new agreement
is an extension of an ongoing relationship between
the global data storage company-Quantum and the
global IT services division of Wipro Limited, whereby
Wipro has been providing high-end storage solutions
for the past four years using Quantum products.
Now Wipro’s expertise in developing feature
enhancements will enable Quantum to gain efficiencies
by adding continuous customer-driven innovation
to its products.
Recently
Quantum launched its eight-city "Best of Breeds"
road show in India, along with other vendors, including
Veritas, Hitachi Data Systems and Ingram Micro,
to showcase its range of products. Quantum has also
opened a second service hub in Mumbai to meet the
growing product demands, and plans to continue increasing
its local sales and service employees.
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