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