India’s Top Tech Parks

Technology Park can be a vague term. However, over time, internationally, the
concept has come to imply a few things that have been put together as a
definition–a Technology Park is a property-based development which has a
high-quality physical environment in a park-like setting; is located adjacent to
or at a reasonable distance from a research institute or university; and
emphasizes activities promoting growth of research, technology and knowledge
based enterprises. Briefly, a tech park is not a real estate shop. It’s a
business space provider that takes care of business needs, not just rents space.

The best of Indian tech parks actually live by this definition, with just one
key exception–Indian tech parks have been rarely associated with a university
or technology institutes.

The concept itself arose in the US in the 1950s, though there are schools of
thought that believe the timeline begins with the founding of Hewlett-Packard in
1939 by a bunch of Stanford University graduates in Palo Alto. In India, this is
a more recent phenomenon, coinciding with the boom in the IT services sector in
the early 1990s. Things have changed recently, though–with bandwidth no longer
an issue, other key factors are coming into play.

For instance, all tech parks internationally and in India struggle with one
constant dilemma–they are committed to providing not just a building, but a
community-like setting and ambience. Constraints of space and cost of land often
means that they end up being situated far from cities. And that’s the pay-off–large,
park-like settings that involve a lot of daily travel. Or a bunch of high-rise,
perhaps constricted buildings in the middle of the city. Every good tech park
tries to find the middle path. Here we take a look at how many of them in India
fare.

Sarita Rani and Yograj
Varma

North India’s Tech Park Dilemma: Can it ever Play Catch-up?

If you are a software company looking to set shop in north India, dreaming of
readily available infrastructure in an integrated tech park; to move in and
start operations in a jiffy…keep dreaming.

...For your dream will remain just that, at least for the time being. There
are no integrated tech parks in any part of north India–like Tidel Park (Chennai)
or ITPL (Bangalore) yet–not even in the NCR region. But as northern states
wake up to the IT wave that has swept across states down southern and western
India, there are a lot of initiatives underway promoting the setting up of
integrated tech parks. The Chandigarh administration is close to signing up an
agreement with Larson & Toubro for setting up the region’s first
integrated tech park–to come up by end of this year.

Rakesh Nangia, executive director of Punjab Information & Communication
Technology Corporation, says–"The government of Punjab will actively
facilitate the construction of integrated tech parks by private sector
companies." PICTC is a state-run corporation set up for promoting
IT-related investments in Punjab.

Nangia also speaks of the government’s plans to set up an integrated IT
township spread over 5,000 acres of land, with space for residential areas,
independent plots for large companies to set up their campuses, and finally,
integrated tech parks constructed in association with the private sector.
Integrated tech parks apart, many IT companies do find a few good reasons to set
up operations here. Infosys chose Mohali to set up its first development center
in the north, and Quark Media’s development center, again in Mohali, is the
company’s only point of presence in India.

TIDEL PARK, CHENNAI:  Bursting at the Seams

A newcomer to the scene, yes, but Tidel Park’s choc-a-block and bustling–look
at the facilities and you will know why...

Jointly
developed by two Tamil Nadu government agencies–TIDCO and ELCOT–Tidel
Park Chennai was built by Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company, South
Korea. A reasonably new campus inaugurated only in 2000, the park has 1.28
million sq ft of built-up area–all of it occupied.

Prominent clients at the facility include EDS, Tata Consultancy Services,
Computer Associates, Verizon and Cognizant Technology Solutions. A key advantage
is proximity to both the city center and the airport, an excellent IT
infrastructure with huge bandwidth (an 8.4-Tbps submarine cable from
Bhrati-Singtel and Dishnet DSL’s new 7.68-Tbps, which will be commissioned
soon). In addition, the park offers international digital leased lines of 64
Kbps and above. It has a 110/33kV dedicated sub-station, central
air-conditioning from ETA Dubai, a 650-seat auditorium, an 18,500 sq ft food
court, recreational facilities, and other amenities like ATMs. A key
disadvantage–while bandwidth is not an issue, parking for employees is
expensive and restricted.

Shrikanth G

PUNE INFOTECH PARK, HINJEWADI : Transport Woes Dominate

This tech park is idyllic and boasts great facilities, but transport problems
may see growth coming unstuck

Based
on a hillock near Hinjewadi, a village outside Pune, the Infotech Park is
spread over 200 acres and is a beautiful place. The STPI sells land here at
about Rs 50 per sq ft and companies set up their own buildings. The park has a
high-capacity earth station with a 9.3-meter dish for both point-to-point lease
circuits and internet connectivity. Video-conferencing is expected to be
available soon. The physical infrastructure within the park is good with wide
roads, an MSEB sub-station and a Hinjewadi telephone exchange, with 2,000 lines.
It also has two colleges in the campus–I2IT and the Symbiosis Institute of
Information Technology, offering a post-graduate course as well.

A big issue, however, is distance and a poor public transport system. It
takes over an hour-and-a-half to get there–from the city or from the airport.
The proposed international airport will be two-and-a-half hours away. Getting
there also involves crossing the highway that goes through the westerly bypass
to Bombay–an accident-prone area, especially in the monsoons. Lack o good
housing complexes nearby means almost everyone makes that trip everyday. This is
a handicap that has seen at least one company–Veritas–move back to the city.

Nanda Kasabe (Cyber News Service)

HI TECH CITY, MADHAPUR (HYDERABAD):Moving Along Smoothly

In its initial stages, MNCs loved it. Top notch facilities and active state
support have only seen that status get stronger

The
Park is owned by L&T Infocity–a joint venture between Larsen &
Toubro and the Andhra government’s Industrial Infrastructure Corporation. On
the outskirts of Hyderabad, it takes about an hour to get there by bus from the
airport and city center and about 40 minutes by car. Units are available on a
flexible leasing model in the first two phases at a competitive Rs 35 per sq ft.
Singapore-based business space solutions provider Ascendas Pte Ltd–which also
has a stake in Bangalore’s ITPL–helped set up the second phase.

Early occupiers included key MNCs like Microsoft and Oracle, who now lease
140,000 sq ft and 194,000 sq ft of space, respectively. GE Capital International
Services also has a center here. The park offers a choice of either modular
office space or large floor areas for custom interior development, with standard
plug-in facilities. Also, since it is significantly MNC-driven, infrastructure
facilities are good–fiber optic connectivity, unlimited bandwidth (including
satellite connectivity); exemption from the state government on
scheduled/statutory power cuts and 100% DG backup. The Andhra Pradesh government
is making serious marketing efforts on its behalf–these have seen 11,500 of
12,000 seats available in the first two phases already filled. The Park is now
looking at a third phase–a BPO-focussed facility called Cyber Pearl, which
should be up by January next year. When completed, Hi Tech City will offer more
than 5 million sq ft of office space.

Zia Askari

(Cyber News Service, Hyderabad)

TECHNOPARK THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State-run Wonder Boy

Yes, it is run by the government... And yet, it is among the most
professionally-managed tech parks in the country

Set
up in the early 90s, Technopark Trivandrum is one of those few
government-run parks that boasts of a CEO and a professionally-run management.
Spread over 156 acres, it offers some unique value-added facilities found
nowhere else–a business incubation center where 14 companies have been
incubated, an e-learning program where 600 courses are offered, a software
engineering competency center set up in association with Rational Software, and
an online infotech alert facility which updates its 700-odd subscribers on
latest trends and developments in the sector.

The IT infrastructure is excellent and includes fiber optic connectivity,
upto 132 Mbps of bandwidth offered at Rs 110,000 for 64 Kbps annually. The park
is reasonably accessible from the city center and the airport and offers among
the most competitive lease/rent rates of Rs 16 per sq foot. Building space is
available on renewable three-year leases, while land is offered on 25-year
leases to companies wanting to put up their own infrastructure. Interestingly,
there is also a campus-wide online communications network that enables companies
to stay in touch. However, a key disadvantage is travel within the sprawling
campus. Buses don’t ply too often inside and those without their own transport
have to leg it over long distances.

Sreekumar

(Cyber News Service, Thiruvananthapuram)

ITPL, BANGALORE: Hot, Hot with Foreign Cos

Of its 102 resident companies, 46 are MNCs–that speaks volumes of the
infrastructure... but distance is a problem

This
is what you might call the Tech Park of MNCs. The park is home to 102
companies–46 of which multinationals. These include blue chips like AOL,
Delphi Automotive Systems, Deutsche Bank, General Motors and IBM Global
Services. With 1.6 million sq ft of built-up space, ITPL seats about 9,500
employees today.

The park has excellent infrastructure–five of India’s leading telecom
service providers have physical presence here. VSNL has an earth-station with a
13-m wide satellite dish to support high bandwidth. The park has a dedicated
12.5-MW power plant that offers 100% back-up and a telephone exchange all its
own. Uniquely–there are also 51 residential apartments available where
visiting management from various companies can stay.

Founded in January 1994, ITPL is owned by three equity partners–a Singapore
consortium led by Ascendas and the Tatas, who have a 47% stake each, while
Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board holds a 6% stake. Ascendas is an
international group that specializes in the business facilities sector. Key
advantages are excellent infrastructure, ambience, scalability and a very
professional management–perhaps also the largest. And, of course, the fact
that it is in Bangalore. Key disadvantage is distance–18 km from city center
is quite some way away, especially by Bangalore standards.

TV Mahalingam

MILLENNIUM BUSINESS PARK, BOMBAY:Toss to Decide on this One

A typical Mumbai problem–slum clusters–and locational issues take the
gloss away from an otherwise decent set-up

Owned
by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, the Millennium
Business Park is located in Mahape, Navi Mumbai. A walled-off complex, its key
advantages include good physical infrastructure, flexibility in terms of
readymade structures as well as freedom for companies wanting to put up their
own buildings. It’s a spacious, secure complex with state-of-the-art IT
infrastructure and houses both IT and ITeS companies–and it offers 99% uptime
on Internet connectivity and a fairly decent power situation. Some companies
housed there, however, find the floor space design small and constricting.

The key disadvantage is location and a thoroughly inadequate public transport
system. Located at the other end of Navi Mumbai–which is in itself far from
Mumbai proper–the park is 32 km from the airport and 40 km from the city
center.

There are few public transport buses during peak hours, totally inadequate
for call center employees who work nights. The nearest railway station–Vashi–is
a half-hour away by auto. Though most companies provide their own transport to
Vashi Station and other drop points, travel from, say, Nariman point could
easily take two hours each way. The area is surrounded by slums and travelling
alone in the night on scooters or cars is not recommended.

Rinki Banerjee

RAHEJA- MINDSPACE, BOMBAY: The Blue-eyed Boy for ITeS

The list of BPO firms already parked here is signage of its popularity in
this space–but employee poaching is an issue

Located
in Malad, a western suburb of Bombay, Mindspace is well connected by both
road and rail. Situated on broad Linking Road, the main arterial road for the
western suburbs, it is not very far away from the city center. Besides, two
railway stations–Mallad and Kandivalli–are no more than five to six minutes
away. Another key advantage is that both the domestic and international airports
are just about 10 km away.

Beyond Mindspace is the sea and, as a result, temperatures here are usually a
couple of degrees lower than in the rest of the city. The park offers fiber
optic connectivity and bandwidth is not a problem with four last-mile providers–MTNL,
STPI, Hughes and Bharti. Power is not an issue–with two separate grids
provided by Tata Power and the floor plates inside the buildings being large.
The Rahejas are also setting up housing complexes around the tech park. But at
current prices, they are likely to be taken up only by senior employees.

The park is essentially dominated by ITeS companies like eServe, Daksh
eServices and Epicenter Technologies. A drawback of this–a lot of poaching of
employees within the complex. A key disadvantage–situated as it is,
scalability will be a problem.

Rinki Banerjee

VANENBURG TECH PARK, HYDERABAD: Muscling its Way to Growth

Promoted by Baan, this park denotes perhaps the largest European IT-related
funding in India. The results reflect that

Promoted
by Jan Baan of the Netherlands (of Baan fame), the Vanenburg Tech Park is a
bit further away from Hi Tech city, spread over 20 acres. It’s about 10 km
from the city center and 14 km fsrom the airport–both being within an hour’s
drive. The park currently has two phases occupied by companies like Invensys,
Baan, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Surgical Information Systems and Deloitte.
Put together, the two phases can seat around 12,000 people. A third facility,
with about 300,000 sq ft and a capacity to seat 1,500 people, is currently under
consideration. It is a beautifully landscaped area that prides itself on being
environment-friendly. Most of the large rock formations have been left
untouched, with the buildings designed around the natural landscape.

According to the park’s managing director S Ramanathan, Venenberg Tech Park
saw a total investment of about Rs 120 crore, which in itself is likely to be
the largest European IT-related investment in India. A unique feature of the
park–its focus on attracting MNC R&D centers. It has a program called
MIDAS, which offers a suite of services targeted at overseas companies planning
to expand their R&D and support activities in India. These services range
from helping in span all the tasks–beginning from the incorporation of company
to the establishment of a fully-operational R&D center.

Zia Askari

(Cyber News Service, Hyderabad)

Methodology>>>>>>>

The
survey was carried out in three stages. In the first stage, a
questionnaire was sent to technology parks themselves, seeking
information on various parameters–total area; ratio of built-up
area to total area; lease and rent rates; capacity; number of
companies in the park; distances from city center and airports; IT
infrastructure; power and water availability etc.

In
the second phase, questionnaires were sent out to the three largest
companies housed in each of these tech parks. From these companies,
we took qualitative feedback on parameters that included convenience
with respect to distances from city center and airport and frequency
of public transport; connectivity; quality of physical
infrastructure like power and water; easy access to customs and STP
officials; general ambience and building design. We also asked
companies to give an overall rating to the Tech Parks on a scale of
1 to 5–and mention key drawbacks and strengths of the park.

In
the third and final phase, our correspondents personally visited
each of these tech parks, met with the heads of these institutions
and spoke to companies housed there. A composite score from the
various parameters–both quantitative and qualitative–was then
used to arrive at the final ratings, which are presented as star
ratings with the writeups

We
also attempted to compare apples-to-apples. So single, standalone
buildings were not included in the survey, nor were places like
Mahindra City in Chennai (a completely new concept) or Electronics
City in Bangalore–essentially a real-estate holder.