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Oracle to expand service-offerings from India

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

It's advantage India at a time when the technology industry in the US continues to reel under its economic slump and the ongoing accounting frauds over-shadow its efforts to kick-start growth in IT spending again.

With many US-based IT multinationals drawing up contingency plans to survive the onslaught, which includes either shifting their key operations to the Asia-Pacific region, or ramping up their outsourcing from high-tech countries like India and China, native IT professionals are in great demand again.

One of the many such American IT firms raring to go for the kill is Oracle Corporation, the $10.9-billion world's second largest enterprise software company, which has decided to expand its slew of service offerings to its global customers from its Indian subsidiary, Oracle India Ltd.

"We view Oracle India as a jewel in Oracle's crown, an emerald if you please, shining brightly so as to lead the way for our global family," said Oracle Asia-Pacific executive vice-president Derek Williams while launching the operations of Oracle Technology Park in Bangalore on Tuesday night.

Unravelling the global company's India plans, including expansion of its multiple operations in the next 2-3 years, Williams said the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary would set up Oracle's global Internet sales centre, launch shared services and customer support services' centres, and develop new versions and software products.

"The convergence of technologies enables us to operate efficiently and cost-effectively from growth centres like India, which has perhaps the best IT skills and huge talent for R&D activities," Williams stated, adding that Oracle had Intellectual Property Rights or patents for about 10 products, developed wholly at its Indian operations.

Charting out an aggressive growth plan for the Indian subsidiary, in which the parent company had invested substantially over the last decade, Williams told rediff.com the Internet division sales unit would also offer web-based support services to Oracle's global operations spawning about 140 countries and its customers, worldwide.

"The unit will commence its services from this September with about 70 engineers. We haven't decided its location yet. It could be in any of our six offices across India, including Hyderabad and Bangalore," Williams disclosed, but declined to spell the investment numbers.

In order to operate its slew of new service offerings, Oracle India will be ramping up its workforce to about 4,000 in the next couple of years from the current strength of about 2,225 employees, with over 1,200 working from its Bangalore operations.

"Our tech park in Bangalore is Oracle's largest such facility outside the US, housing its India Development Centre, Oracle India Support Centre, and the Oracle Solution Services India under one roof. These three divisions comprise a Centre of Excellence to support the company's global operations.

What's more, India is the only country to host three different business units of this size and scope outside Oracle's headquarters in Redwood Shores, California," Williams claimed.

According to Oracle India country manager, the 11-storey techno-park, covering an area of 213,000sq.ft, will have around 45mb bandwidth, which makes it the largest networking outside its US office. It also boasts of multi-level car parking facility, a modern cafeteria, recreational centre, including a hi-tech gym, and a well-stocked computerised library.

Admitting that the tech meltdown in the US had been impacting the bottom line of both software and hardware firms back home, Williams said Oracle was trying to make up for the set back in the US market by expanding its presence the world over, especially in the growth markets of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

"For us, India and China are the two jewels in the Oracle crown. Our China centre at Shenzen caters exclusively to its domestic market, with greater focus on the localisation of our product offerings and support services, while the Indian subsidiary works for Oracle's global market.

The Oracle development centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad operate as one virtual global team, providing Oracle the cutting edge of being closer to our customers and better time-to-market, taking advantage of the different time zones vis-à-vis Europe and the US," Williams affirmed.

Playing a strategic role in developing Oracle products and services for the global marketplace, the Indian centres contribute significantly to Oracle's global Internet strategy by designing, developing, and supporting its leading web products.

The parent company has also set up a global consulting organisation and a global support centre in India for leveraging its skills and strengths, built by emerging as a market leader in the sub-continent in relational database management systems, software development tools, packaged e-business applications and high quality client support.

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