Have Bat, Will Hit

Adobe’s Indian R&D center has been playing a crucial role in the

company’s global development activities. The company now wants to further

strengthen its development focus in the country. Adobe has already invested $10

million in its new R&D campus in Noida for over 400 engineers. It also

announced an investment of $50 million to be made over the next five years.

"India has some key competitive advantages — talented professionals in

the technical and management field, size, cost and knowledge of English.Â

It is up to the industry to constantly provide new services and reinvent itself

to add value," says Shantanu Narayen, executive vice president of worldwide

products for Adobe.

Although the company is closely monitoring the slack market situation, it

seems firm on its expansion plans. "There is no doubt that the IT industry

has gone through turbulent times in the recent past owing to general recession

in the US economy. Unfortunate events like 9/11 or the Indo-Pak tension have

only further added to the woes. But we have not altered our business or

investment plans in India," says Narayen.

Exploring Opportunities



With the growing proliferation of handheld devices and broadband access, the

publishing industry has also moved on from the era of desktop publishing to the

next generation of publishing–network publishing, which means making reliable,

visually rich information available to anyone, anywhere, on any device.Â

Adobe wants to tap these emerging growth areas by meeting the increasing need of

both enterprise and creative professional customers. The acquisition of Accelio,

was part of the company’s strategy to enhance its product portfolio in the

area of digital workflows for enterprise customers. The company also wants to

tap the growth in the digital camera/imaging and digital video market segments.

Apart from strengthening its hold on publishing software products, the

company has identified new growth areas in ITeS and IT services sectors. The

focus on services is a part of Adobe’s move to transition from a software

products company to an enterprise company with end-to-end solutions. According

to Narayen, "Call centers and BPO are two examples of how the Indian

industry has added to its advantage in offshore software development.  As

long as Indian companies continue to focus on such areas by adding value, I am

confident that they will stay competitive."

India focus



Adobe’s recently formulated expansion plans are a result of a strategic

initiative taken by the company. A few months ago, the company had formed a

group of senior professionals from the India team to look into new product and

business opportunities. The group worked closely with product managers and

customers across the world to identify growth areas. "The move reaffirms

the faith of Adobe in the capabilities of Indian engineers and in the India

development centre," says Adobe India MD Naresh Gupta.

The company has come a long way since it established its first India R&D

center in Noida in 1998. Today the India Campus constitutes 10% of Adobe’s

engineering team and plays a critical role in virtually every Adobe product. The

India team is responsible for the development of Adobe products like PageMaker

and the Acrobat Readers for mobile devices. In addition it is driving key core

technologies in the areas of image and video compression, and file format

translation software. Products that the team in India has been responsible for

include PageMaker 7.0, PhotoDeluxe 4.1, and the Acrobat readers, which are used

to spread information to the next generation of devices including Palm, PocketPC,

and Symbian. 

Shweta Verma in New Delhi