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Microsoft’s
India Development Centre in Hyderabad was a big boost to AP’s
software ambitions. Today, the centre is doing so well that
Microsoft is pumping in big bucks and depending heavily on
its expertise for global R&D. Pankaj Mishra reports
 Srini
koppolu wants the IDC to be as important as Microsoft’s
main R&D centre in Redmond
For
those in the Indian IT industry who lamented the kind of work
being outsourced to Indian subsidiaries of MNCs like IBM,
Microsoft and Oracle, this is heartening news. Official sources
at Microsoft’s India Development Centre (IDC) state that
the centre has graduated to a level where it can suggest its
own product ideas to Microsoft’s HQ at Redmond, USA.
In fact, the IDC has initiated the process of identifying
product opportunities and a core team has started working
on this plan. Efforts are underway to increase annual investments
in the centre. “Today, the IDC is a self-contained unit
in itself with program managers, testing professionals and
developers. We usually wait for the charter to come from Redmond
for working on any new product or solution. With the kind
of expertise we have garnered, we are in a position to suggest
our own products.
Everyone from Bill to Steve is excited about the group,”
says a beaming Srini Koppolu, managing director, MS IDC. According
to him, all the vice presidents in various product groups
at Redmond are looking at leveraging the IDC.
Sources reveal that the centre is looking at increasing annual
investments that presently stand at $20 million a year. Microsoft
will invest close to $40 million every year from early 2003.
Koppolu is also planning to increase the headcount from 120
to 400 by 2003. “My aim is to establish a Redmond in
Hyderabad with 40 to 50 professionals in each product group.
It is too early to comment on what kind of products we are
planning to get into, but we are already working on several
projects,” says Koppolu. The IDC can get into an area
like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), but Koppolu denies
any immediate plans to do so. The IDC already holds a place
of strategic importance for Microsoft’s .Net initiative.
“Our focus has been on UNIX migration, VJ#, and we have
been working on the whole Java stack,” adds Koppolu.
Koppolu is working aggressively on developing a second line
of executives at the centre. One of the aims of the IDC is
to develop and nurture managers who are capable of holding
strategic positions at Microsoft. “We have been particular
about this since 1998 and so far 15 lead managers who hold
key positions in Microsoft have emerged from the IDC,”
says Koppolu. Microsoft has only two product groups situated
outside Redmond one in Israel and the other in Hyderabad,
India.
Microsoft India Develop-ment centre started in August 1998
as a software development centre of excellence with ownership
of technology and products that empower people any time, any
place and on any device. From a beginning of 20 people, and
two products, the IDC had transformed into a fully integrated
organisation by March 1999 with 120 people, ten from the Microsoft’s
software development hub at Redmond, five from other software
companies in the US and the rest from India. The India development
centre is an extension of Redmond. The teams in IDC are like
any other product groups in Redmond. “The vision of IDC
is to conceptualise and develop software products, enhance
expertise and on key technologies, provide an intellectually
stimulating work environment and grow the centre fast without
making any compromises on our vision,” says Koppolu.
Microsoft’s India Develop-ment Centre develops various
software on platforms ranging from Windows Services for Unix
(SFU); interoperability and migration platform on Windows
to components for Windows Network Appliance Server (SKU) for
Compaq, Maxtor and IBM as OEMs. The development of these products
resulted in Microsoft IDC’s launch of SFU 2 in April
2000 and the upcoming release of SFU 3 in Q1 2002. In line
with the software facility at Redmond, the centre develops
Java tools based upon the Visual Studio.NET concept as well
as add-ons for Microsoft Outlook XP.
The IDC is spread over 50,000 square feet of office space
with state-of-the-art IT infrastructure ranging from a 2 MB
dedicated earth link with multiple redundancies, video conferencing
and remote access services.
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