Jewels in the Crown

Though Dataquest does not claim this to be a comprehensive list of IT
companies in Kerala, it includes some very interesting companies embarking on
innovation. And while this time we primarily focused on Kochi and Tiruvanan
thapuramareas of maximum growthit should not imply that other cities in the
state are lying dormant. However, with many of these companies seeking SEZ
status to foster their further growth, it would be interesting to note how a
Left government tackles the issue, lest another Nandigram erupts.

UST Global: Focusing on Kochi

Part of the $6 bn Comfro Group, US Technologies (UST) started operations in
India in 1999. It was recently re-christened UST Global as a strategic plan to
give more emphasis to its operations in Europe and Asia. The company is a
provider of end-to-end IT services and BPO solutions for many Global 2,000
companies. After starting in Chennai, UST established bigger development centers
in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. The Kochi operations at Info Park started in
December 2007. USTs Kochi center head Sunil Balakrishnan says, We have big
plans for the Kochi center as there is huge growth opportunity, and the center
is very well connected.

UST Global plans to map further growth by hiring close to 2,000 people in 24
months. The Kochi center would be the main focal point of USTs hub and spoke
expansion model, where offshore development centers are established in close
proximity to relatively untapped centers that have high IT potential. USTs
Kochi center currently staffs close to 250 employees. In fact, the company is
already the largest IT company in Technopark in terms of head count. It has also
recently unveiled its plans to grow the operations in Thiruvananthapuram. The
company is now strongly grounded in Kerala, especially partnering close to 20
engineering colleges in the state to tap fresh talent from the market.

We have big plans for the Kochi center as there is huge growth opportunity, and the center is very well connected Sunil Balakrishnan, head, USTs Kochi center

UST, which predominantly caters to the US and European markets, at this point
prefers not to talk about its plans for the domestic market. However, it has
huge targets, aiming to achieve $650 mn in revenues by 2009 and $1 bn by 2010,
informs Balakrishnan. The company has plans to go for an IPO in the first
quarter of 2009.

Accolades have not been late in coming. The company was recently included by
Gartner in the coveted 2007 North America Offshore Applications Services Magic
Quadrant report. A Forrester Research too showcased UST Global in it report on
global IT services companies as a leading mid-tier player.

SFO Technologies: Dare to Manufacture

SFO Technologies, part of the Kerala-based NeST Group, grew by over 40 % this
year. This highly-diversified company has dabbled in the areas of manufacturing
services, products and technologies, engineering and software and systems
integration. The company has products, services and solutions ranging for
verticals like healthcare, communication, industrial, and transportation.

SFO targets the billion-dollar club in another four years and has preferred
to take the inorganic route. The strategy is already in motion with SFO
acquiring Ashling Microsystems, a leading supplier of embedded software
development tools, in 2006. Another significant acquisition was Northlight, a
Swedish company that helped SFO to foray into the global market of laser
products for telecom applications.

Another important plan on the companys agenda is to set up its own hardware
manufacturing park in Kochi. The timing could not have been any better. Backed
by its global experience of 18 years, the company is walking fast toward its
dream project of giving Kerala an exclusive world-class electronic hardware
manufacturing park and fulfilling its commitment of developing business in the
state. It is expected to come up at the end of this year in Kochi, in
association with Kinfra with a SEZ status.

Besides promising to create employment for 12,000 people during the next five
years, the company intends to adopt eco-friendly, solar powered infrastructure
for this park. Senior VP, SFO Technology, UN Shafi, says, The biggest strength
of Kerala lies in its people, and we plan to use that to the hilt. The group
also entered into the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) field by setting up a
modern VLSI center at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram and an offshore VLSI center
for Fujitsu, Japan.

IBS Software Services: Monogamy Pays, Sometimes

One of Keralas leading IT solutions providers, IBS has achieved ten years
of steady and sustained growth in 2007. The steadfast vision of the company to
remain faithful to the niche vertical of travel, transportation and logistics
and stick to an inorganic growth path allowed IBS to post a y-o-y growth of
47.5% in the last ten years.

Opening its innings with humble beginnings at Thiruvananthapurams Technopark,
IBS now flaunts an impressive list of clientele of seventy customers, which
includes some of the leading airlines, busiest airports, best cargo transporters
and oil and gas companies across the world. The company has three branches in
the US and, in all, is doing business from eleven global centers around the
world.

The somewhat tough but conscious decision to remain domain specific,
especially in these days of verticalization, stemmed from its chairman and
managing director, VK Mathew. Says Mathew, We are very strong and have about
fifteen products that address different process areas of this vertical.
Moreover, there are hardly any product companies focusing in this domain. We
have the competence and we want to stay here as we are truly global. The
companys fifteen products and other customized solutions manage the
mission-critical operations of airlines, airports, cruise lines, oil and gas
companies, leisure resorts, and seaports across the globe.

Mathew claims that some of the biggest airlines in the domestic market too
have started to look at the company. The domestic aviation industry clocked a
growth of 40% last year, so there is enough room for us to grow here, he feels.
Talks are already on with the likes of Jet Airways, Air India, Paramount,
Kingfisher, Indigo, among others.

As a part of its plan to expand within Kerala, IBS opened its fully owned campus in Technopark. IBS also has plans to set-up campuses within the state, in cities like Kochi and Kozhikode VK Mathew, chairman and managing director, IBS Software Services

As a part of its plan to expand within Kerala, IBS opened its fully owned
campus in Technopark. This campus is expected to give IBS the much-needed push
to roll out its aggressive growth strategy, as it aims to get into the next
phase of growth to become a Rs 1,000-crore company by 2010. IBS also has plans
to set up campuses within the state, in cities like Kochi and Kozhikode.

The company, at the same time, is looking further north, toward Bangalore,
for setting up its development center, and eastwards at Chennai. IBSs total
headcount world-over is close to 2,000. Another commendable fact is that the
company has managed to keep its attrition levels as low as 4%. It has plans to
grow to a 4,000-employee count by 2009, of which a huge push is expected to come
from India, especially Kerala.

Focuz Infotech: Seeking Funds for Growth

A part of the Focuz Innovations Group, Focuz Infotech is a total IT solution
provider offering products and services on the Linux platform. It is also a
national service and solution partner for IBM, and is associated with other
vendors including Sun Microsystems and Novell. It has a varied clientele of 150
customers. Most of our products have registered 40-50 installations, says
Rajesh Kumar, COO, Focuz Infotech.

Some of the innovative products include Digital Library, Tech Focuz Research
Governance, Tech Focuz U Governance, and Tech Focuz Internal Management. Kumar
informs, We are trying to get VC funding of close to Rs 20 crore as we have
plans to unveil our global expansion roadmap. So far, Focuz has 175
installations in India, but the real challenge is to take this number to 1,000
installations, says Kumar. Focuz sees a huge opportunity in the domestic market,
specifically with its product of digital libraries.

The company also plans to strike a change in the strategy, as it has plans to
move into an SEZ. It currently has the development division in Kochi, while it
has over fifteen hardware and peripherals channel partners across the state. The
hardware retail market is, however, emerging only now. The company has plans to
substantially ramp up the manpower count in sales and marketing department.

Calpine Tech: Another Monogamous Champion

In its fifth year of operation, this entrepreneurial venture, started by
Jigo G John, now the CMD, Calpine, continues to stick to its original vision of
staying domain centric. Life science is a domain where Calpine has a strong
focus. In fact, not many companies in Kerala or even across the country have a
focus on life sciences.

Innovation certainly has been a key to the companys steady growth. Calpine
Technologies is an out and out export oriented software development company
catering to clients spread over fourteen countries across the globe. The
companys center at Infopark in Kochi is an offshore development site. Besides
this, the company has been sharply focusing on enabling a healthy work
environment.

Also Watch Out for

SunTech: SunTec is a leading provider of relationship-based pricing and
centralized billing solutions for banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI),
communication, media and entertainment (CME) and utilities industries. The
company is known to leverage from its extensive domain experience acquired since
its inception in 1990. The company happens to be the worlds first SEI CMM Level
5 transaction billing company.

Toonz Animation India: Although Indias exposure to cartoon animation is very
little, one company which stands out in this segment with international
certification for its quality work is Toonz Animation. Promoted by the
Toronto-based Comcraft Group, Toonz is a 100% subsidiary of Multitech Investment
of Mauritius. It is a major provider of animation to the top US and European
producers and is also South Asias biggest animation studio. Launched in 1999,
in Technopark, the companys clients include the biggest names in media and
entertainment like Marvel, Hallmark, Paramount, Disney, and Cartoon Network.

IVL Group: A 100% software export company, IVL India is a business technology
consulting company specializing in SAP implementation, integration,
optimization, development and knowledge services. It designs, delivers and
manages business critical enterprise solutions to help customers reduce cost,
improve service and deploy strategy, using world leading ERP solutions of SAP.

Urvashi Kaul

urvashik@cybermedia.co.in