Techies' Paradise

They call their organization techies' paradise. The tag has been given by
the employees themselves, thanks to the technical strengths they possess and the
freedom with which they experiment-given their passion for knowledge and
technology. Chinmoy Panda, CEO of Mindfire Solutions, is proud of his company's
philosophy and also the resilience with which it has stood the test of time. The
company has been around for the past six years, making it not only one of the
many companies which bloomed in the spring of the dotcom boom, but also one of
the few that survived the harsh winter of the dotcom bust.

The Road Less Taken

Mindfire operates in specific technologies, some mainstream and others off-road.
It is a leading offshore provider for publishing and printing software, game
titles, graphics, and image processing software. The company's USP lies in
being one of the largest development partners of Apple in India. Wireless and
gaming are the new thrust areas, which keep Mindfire's development centers
buzzing with activity. The company also has a few firsts to its credit. Chinmoy
says, "We were the first Xbox registered developer in India and delivered
the first Java/J2ME game for Nintendo."

The company believes in identifying specialty areas and harnessing these by
competence. As Chinmoy says, "In generics, fight with the big firms does no
good. You have to think different, spot areas that are not serviced from India,
and establish yourself."

Migration

Tech development for Apple includes the migration of Windows products to
Apple platforms. This service is rendered in a major way for the publishing
industry, where the Apple Mac is preferred. A curious turn seems to have come
about from the success of Ipods, sales of the Apple Mac have gone up in
countries like the US, Germany, and Japan. And this can only be good news for
the company. Migration services today account for a third of its business and
this slice of the pie just keeps growing bigger.

The Wireless Wagon

Healthcare is the vertical India is clearly eyeing as the next big thing
after BFSI and telecom. But what is Mindfire without a different angle? Here
too, it is creating wireless solutions that are innovative. It has created
solutions that wirelessly integrate with the hospital's database to provide
patients' medical reports to on the move doctors. These solutions have
workflow optimization built in and address healthcare regulatory requirements
and standards. Very recently, Mindfire announced a $1 mn multi-year contract
with a US healthcare major.

Mindfire has also set its eyes on the gaming industry, one of the
fastest-growing sectors today, Chinmoy adds, "Gaming is a serious business
today. We are on our way to marking our forté in the world of mobile
gaming."

Explaining his rationale behind the company's thrust on mobility, Chinmoy
says, "With the high replacement percentage in mobiles today, we can keep
developing new software and keep selling it to the same people all over again.
This is unlike PC users, who would still be happy with the same PC five years
later. It is only a matter of time that the handheld would become the new
workstation."

Success Journey

Mindfire has two centers-in Delhi and Bhubaneswar-which employ a total of 150
techies. 'Intense Testing' is a fully owned subsidiary of Mindfire
Solutions, which started off as an independent offshore testing service firm in
2004. Also, to establish a single destination for software porting
professionals, enabling community interaction, and establishing porting as a
separate discipline, these techies from Mindfire manage an interactive learning
platform called 'portinggurus'.

Chinmoy wants to see Mindfire as one of the fastest-growing software
companies. Mindfire's fiery journey to the way up can be measured by the fact
that it saw more than 100% growth in revenue in 2004, and has already raked in
1.5 cr in the first quarter of 2005—06. All the best, Chinmoy.

Jasmine Kaur, New
Delhi