PENTASOFT TECHNOLOGIES The Magic Of Five

The

erstwhile Rs 70-crore Pentafour Communications registered a turnover of Rs 404

crore in its new avatar of Pentasoft Technologies, thereby moving from rank 75

to rank 20 and entering the DQ Top 20 club. This also marked a 485% leap over

its previous year’s turnover.

The story goes like this. There were

two companies–Pentafour Software and Pentafour Communications, both under the

chairmanship of V Chandrasekaran. Pentafour Software catered to the software

export market, particularly the film and broadcasting industry, while Pentafour Communications

was involved with enterprise, engineering and education in the export as well as

domestic markets. During the last fiscal, Pentafour Software decided to hive off

all the business software projects to Pentafour Communications in order to give

its multimedia business a special focus. It changed the name of the multimedia

entity to Pentamedia Graphics. And the business software segment that was

acquired by Pentafour Communications was re-christened Pentasoft Technologies.

Pentasoft

Technologies achieved a milestone when it acquired the business software

division of Pentamedia Graphics at a cost of $205 million during the last

fiscal. This major restructuring was done with the objective of positioning

Pentasoft as a total IT solutions provider with a global reach. With this

restructuring, the company’s business activities now extend into three broad

areas–enterprise, engineering and education, or E3. On the engineering front,

the company set up ‘3CRC,’ a division specializing in the three Cs of CAD,

CAM and CAE. 3CRC also established a newly packaged course in multimedia with

the brand name Imedia. It also tied up with Unigraphics Solutions for

distribution, implementation and support services for iMAN, an enterprise data

management product. Also, in view of the scope of growth of the engineering

software services, Pentasoft is considering turning 3CRC into a 100% subsidiary.

The education and training division

oversees the computer software training courses that are offered through the

international network of ‘Pentasoft Centers of Excellence.’ During the last

fiscal, the company expanded its network and had 30 own training centers and 120

franchisee centers across the country. Pentasoft also extended its training to

cover areas of CAD, embedded applications, architectural design, web technology

and business intelligence applications. A significant achievement was also the

test of NetGuru, an internet-based learning engine. In the ensuing year, the

company will focus on internet-based training through the NetGuru portal in

association with Mt Sierra College, USA. PentaSoft also tied up with IBM UK and

IBM Gulf as partners in training. It also launched 104 computer-based training (CBT)

packages, apart from having 46 IBM authorized training centers across the

country. Last year also saw the expansion of Pentasoft’s training in the US,

Singapore, Malaysia, the UK and Dubai.

For 2000-01, the company has decided to

put more thrust in the internet and web-related applications. Some of the key

areas identified are web and internet technologies, telecommunications and

networking, OOPS technology, and database and related technologies. The company

will also focus on integrating engineering with electronics in the areas of

automobile, aerospace and heavy engineering. It also plans for internet and

application service provider operations in the country through its tie-up with

MTNL. With a separate focus on the business software segment, Pentasoft is

looking at aggressive growth through its E3 mantra. DQ