CEO visits to India have a reputation of being gala events. When Microsoft
chairman Bill Gates vis- ited India, T-shirts printed with Bill Gates Live! I
was There were given away. Sun Micro’s Scott McNealy’s visit wasn’t any
less high-profile–with unending back-to-back meetings in the industry and a
very high-profile, high-volume developer forum.
In contrast, the first-ever visit of an IBM CEO to India was almost a
clandestine affair. IBM India wouldn’t confirm if he was coming or not, when
it was confirmed that he was in fact here, there were no press meets and no
galas. There were a few photo-ops where he refused to speak to reporters. The
three-day visit–May 4 to 7–was meant to be a "learning experience"
for Palmisano. He spent the entire time in closed-door meetings with employees,
customers, partners, state and central government heads. According to Abraham
Thomas, MD of IBM India, "Palmisano had heard a lot about India recently.
He came to check it out for himself."
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Palmisano is believed to have come in part to tune into the sensitivities of
local customers and government officials. And in part to evangelize–on Open
Source software systems, Linux and the company’s latest e-business on demand
initiative. He spoke to IT minister Arun Shourie about Open Source, particularly
Linux. "IBM is sourcing a lot of work to India and it is very good for the
country that the company is taking keen interest. He spoke highly about India’s
work culture as well as the advantages of open source software," the
minister was quoted as saying.
The IBM chief also met Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna.
Later, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to promote an
e-learning initiative based on Open Source technology. Under the agreement, IBM
will develop an e-learning platform for Board for IT Education Standards for
higher technical and educational institutions in Karnataka. IBM will also, along
with BITES and IIIT (Bangalore), set up an IBM Center of Excellence at Hubli for
the development of Open Source software. Palmisano also addressed employees at
the Delhi and Bangalore offices and spoke of the company’s ‘E-business-on
Demand’ initiative.
IBM in India / Some Milestones
1992:
IBM enters India through a JV with the Tata Group. The JV is christened Tata
Information Systems Ltd (TISL)
1995:
Accredited ISO Tickit 9001 (ISO9001:2000 in Year 2001)
1997:
TISL becomes Tata IBM, IBM Global Services launched–offers a range of IT
services from IBM including networking services, outsourcing, education, system
integration, consulting, SW development and HW design. Solution Partnership
Center set up
1998:
January: IBM School of Enterprise-wide Computing launched at IIIT, to offer
short-term courses to the public and credit courses on enterprise-wide computing
to graduates/undergraduates
April: IBM India Research Laboratory in New
Delhi, located in the sprawling IIT campus of
1999:
September: IBM India Ltd formally launched–after government approves Tata’s
divestment plan.
November: IBM India launches PC manufacturing
in Pondicherry. IBM Global Services India achieves CMM Level 5 Rating.
2000: June:
Global e-business software center set up in Gurgaon to offer IBM’s customers a
range of services
November: IBM Global Financing launched to
provide flexible financing programs to fund IT requirements of Indian customers
2001:
India Software Development Labs established in Pune and Bangalore to
develop, enhance and support key IBM products and technologies with a committed
investment of $100 million. The state-of-the-art facility is playing an
important role in IBM’s Linux strategy
2002: June:
IGSI recognized as the "Top MNC Software Services Exporter" and
"Top Foreign Equity Company" in Karnataka for Year 2001-02 by STPI,
Bangalore chapter
July: MAIT names IGSI ‘Distinguished IT
Exporter’ for 2001-02
July: Dataquest, India’s leading trade
magazine, rates IGSI as the Top MNC Software Services Exporter for Year
2001-2002
November: IGSI Exports Services assessed at
People Capability Maturity Level 5 (Version 2.0) by SEI, one of the few
organizations in the world to gain this achievement
2003: January:
IBM India Research Labs floats ‘Technology Center" at its facilities to
showcase business applicability of cutting edge technologies to organisations in
India and Asean