Kerala Special: IT Players in the Fray

SunTec Business Solutions

The first CMM Level 5 transaction billing company is a leading provider of
transaction value management solutions for the telecom and financial services
industries. The company's CEO, Nanda Kumar says, "We leverage our
extensive domain experience, acquired since our inception in 1990, to
successfully deliver timely and cost-effective solutions. Our concept of
relationship-based pricing has been endorsed by industry leaders and innovators
across the globe". The company's product offerings, the TBMS-T suite for
telecom, and the TBMS-F suite for financial services, provide comprehensive
solutions for measuring and monitoring transaction value.

IVL Group

IVL India is a 100% Software Export Company involved in developing and
implementing software solutions in SAP R/3 and e-business applications. Located
at the Technopark, Trivandrum, IVL provides offshore development, turnkey
project solutions, and consultancy. Its products OptiTrade Exports, Imports,
Excise, Insurance and Forms Tracking Add-on modules for the SAP R/3 and Oracle
domains have been well received in the Indian market.

US Technologies

US Technology provides end-to-end IT services for Fortune 500 companies. It
uses the hybrid global sourcing and delivery model to provide IT and business
process outsourcing services through state-of-the-art facilities in Trivandrum.
According to company sources, its hybrid global sourcing and delivery model
allow it to start with detailed understanding of its clients' business
practices in addition to understanding their technology environments. Its
operational model typically includes US based senior project managers,
architects, business analysts, test engineers and subject matter experts with an
average of 15 plus years of US Fortune 500 or Big 5 consulting experience.

NeST Group

A significant year for NeST, the company has consolidated its different
technology activities under one company, SFO Technologies for better management
control. It acquired a state-of-the-art laser transmitter/receiver design and
manufacturing company in Sweden. This acquisition will help the Group to become
a significant global player for laser products for telecom application with many
key accounts. The second acquisition was a semiconductor emulator company in
Ireland, which provides product capability to the Group for embedded services
and access to many key accounts in Europe. The group entered into VLSI field by
setting a modern VLSI Center at Technopark, Trivandrum and offshore VLSI Center
for Fujitsu, Japan.

M-Squared Software and Services

Incepted in 1995, the company is in the field of medical transcription and
software development. It provides wide range of software products and IT-based
services that are designed and developed for clients across the globe. With its
global presence, the company is a leading player in medical transcription
services, software development and engineering services in Kerala. The company's
transcription process is a quasi-hospital where it processes electronic medical
reports with precision. It also customizes its transcription services to the
business processes.

Calpine Technologies

Calpine is a company focused on the niche area of life sciences. The company
provides solutions for biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biomedical technologies,
life systems technologies, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, and food processing,
environmental and biomedical devices. Jigo G. John, CMD of the company says:
"We provide enterprise solutions, desktop software, scientific databases,
and professional services for biotechnology, drug discovery and chemical
research, including software, databases, and websites which enable customers to
create, analyze and communicate chemical, biological, and scientific information
more effectively."

Allianz Cornhill Information Services

ACIS is an offshore facility and a captive unit of Allianz Cornhill insurance
having IT and ITES services and functions from the Technopark. ACIS is a CMMI
Level 3 company, and provides systems development and production maintenance
services to Allianz Cornhill-UK on Mainframe, Oracle and Web arena. ACIS is also
a pioneer in the ITeS industry in Kerala and is ISO: 9001-2000 certified for its
business processes. ACIS has around 500 employees and started its operation in
Technopark in 2002. ACIS COO, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, says, "We decided on
Technopark for our operation by doing a due diligence on whole lot of advantages
this place offers. Today, this place has come a long way and we are extremely
satisfied by the facilities this place offers to the IT companies."

Geotrans Technologies

Geotrans offers IT and GIS services to clients across the globe and provides
services in the areas of application development, IS implementation, location
based services and GIS based portal development. The company has presence in
India, the UK and Middle East and has an entirely separate, dedicated training
and R&D wing. Geotrans is probably the only company in Kerala to work on
elements of GIS and integrating it into conventional IT systems. The company is
capable of integrating GIS with large ERP systems to provide complete integrated
solution to its clients. KV Sudeep, VP, Marketing, says: "We are a one-stop
shop for end-to-end mapping solutions. We ensure GIS smoothly merges into
existing IT systems, thus value adding and opening up new horizons for analysis
and decision-making."

IND-SIGMA Infotech

The Indian operations of the company started in 2005. It's based in Kochi
Infopark and also in DLF IT Park in Chandigarh. The Indian operations of the
company work closely with US development teams of the company and work on its
key product, Sigma Commerce, a multi-channel direct marketing management system,
and provide support to legacy products. Says Mukund Krishna, MD of the company:
"We came to India to enhance our IP, and Infopark in Kochi offered us the
world class infrastructure that fosters an ambience suitable for high end
software development work". Through its product Sigma Commerce, the user
can manage every step of the enterprise by integrating commerce, customer
service and business process together.

Toonz Animation India

A major provider of animation to top US and European producers is also South
Asia's biggest animation studio. Launched in 1999 in Technopark Trivandrum,
the company's clients includes the biggest names in media and entertainment
like Marvel, Hallmark, Paramount, Disney, and Cartoon Network. With its
international production systems, 24/7 schedules, cutting edge communication
infrastructure, cost effective service pricing and advantages of time
difference, Toonz has emerged as the preferred one-stop studio for entertainment
majors in America, Europe and Asia.

Shrikanth G

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in