The days of training institutes churning out COBOL and Java programmers died with the end of the Y2K boom and the subsequent dot com bust. Though C, C++, and Visual Basic are still perennial favourites and .NET is the new kid on the block, the troika on top of the popularity charts in 2002 are Linux, embedded systems and multimedia. But, are the private training institutes geared up to meet the demand for manpower?

The Linux bandwagon

Though Microsoft would not like to admit it publicly, it is indeed true that the Linux brigade is beginning to emerge as a serious alternative to Windows as an alternative OS. India has, in fact, indigenously developed its own Linux distribution, Aryabhatt. But the lack of adequate Linux training facilities in India is seriously hampering the development of other Aryabhatts. However, things are definitely looking up in 2002. Red Hat India, the Indian arm of the world’s most popular Linux distribution, leads the pack in this sphere. Says Shankar Iyer, manager-training, Red Hat India, “We currently offer three modular programmes, viz, RH 003 B (Understanding Linux), RH 133 (System Administration) and the RH 253 (Networking and Security Administration). However, the number of courses would at least double in 2002, coinciding with the release of newer versions of Red Hat.” The thrust of the new courses would be on desktop productivity orientation, security and most importantly kernel programming.

Besides its own training programmes, Red Hat would continue its tie-up with NIIT CATS to offer courses in Red Hat Linux. The tie-ups with Mindrome Technologies in Mumbai, Brains Computer Education in Kanpur and Delhi, Linux Learning Centre in Bangalore, Spider Systems in Pune and Indian Institute of Rural Automation (IIRA) in Jalandhar are also being renewed, and is to sign new partnerships with another 50 odd partners by April 2002. Even Mumbai-based Karrox Technologies would be adding to its training courses on Caldera Linux, though there is still a lack of systematic training facilities on other distributions like Slackware, Suse, Corel and Mandrake. Consequently, there is a huge deficit between the demand and the actual number of Linux certified professionals, an anomaly which is unlikely to be addressed in 2002. Currently, the number hardly exceeds 200 though the demand is for at least 10,000, which would up by at least 50 percent in 2002. Even the addition of new courses will not generate more than 1,000 professionals. Hence, the coming year would call for some drastic measures if India has to live up to its Linux dream.

Everything’s multimedia

Digital content development, or more plainly the multimedia industry, currently employing 27,000 people, would be the sector to perk up the training industry in 2002. With a market estimated to reach Rs 35,000 crore, and requiring about 60,000 professionals, there is serious doubt whether training institutes can churn out the required numbers. The coming year will see more and more Hollywood contracts, more animation in Bollywood films, and addition of special effects in TV channels. But are there going to be sufficient training institutes just to throw up this number, leave aside maintaining standards? The answer, unfortunately, is a resounding no.

One of the biggest players in the multimedia training arena in 2002 would definitely be Arena from the Aptech stable. Arena is set to expand to over 40 countries in the next 12-18 months. It offers training in areas like multimedia, animation and Web engineering for job opportunities in areas like printing, fashion, films and television. But then, Arena career courses would only generate about 20,000 professionals, falling well short of the requirements. To meet this huge demand for animators, Arena is also setting up the Arena Animation Academy in Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad, with more than 50 centres planned to come up by April 2002. All these academies are Authorised Training Centres for Discreet, the market leader with state-of-the art animation applications like Combustion, Edit and Inferno, vital for post-production work like compositing and editing. These academies would also offer specialisation in Maya for 3D Animation, as well as Animo and US Animation for 2D Animation.

Mumbai-based Zee Interactive Learning Systems (ZILS), The Workstation from Tasa, Edit and Image are some of the other leading training institutes that are trying to bring up numbers. Even C-DAC is offering an animation training course in Mumbai and Pune. Some foreign trainers are also getting involved. Vancouver-based VFS is aiming to train 3,000 animators annually, and is entering into a multimillion dollar deal with Modi Enterprises (KK Modi Group) to offer courses for 400-700 students in classical animation, 3D and new media. Another trend that will be grow in the coming year is that of production houses spawning off in-house training facilities into a separate training business offering course packages for 200-300 animators. Apart from creating a separate stream of revenue, this would also ensure them a captive pool of talent. Ketan Mehta’s Maya, with its Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) would be training around 800 people in over 14 cities across the country. Bangalore-based Compudyne Winfosystems, Mumbai-based The FX Factory and Crest Communications are some other production houses that are jumping onto the training bandwagon in 2002.

Embedded training

While Linux and animation are now quite well-known, embedded technology training could turn out to be a dark horse in 2002. Industry analysts estimate that over 54 percent of future software development will be in the embedded technology space. But just like its peers, even training on embedded technology is going to be woefully short of demand. The market for smart cards alone is poised to grow to 2.5 billion units by 2003, according to research firm Gartner Dataquest. Add to this auto navigation systems, which is another huge market with more than a million systems being added every year. While 4.5 million were sold last year, the number is sure to cross the 5 million mark in 2002. And with lot of outsourcing work coming to India, more than 2,500 companies are involved in working in this space. All this adds up to a huge demand for professionals trained in embedded technologies.

At present, there a very few high-end training institutes in the area of embedded technology and the situation is unlikely to change radically in 2002. Boston Education and Software Technologies Limited (BEST) would continue its alliance with the Nagpur-based Soft Embedded Technology Private Limited (enSoft). Through this alliance, BEST and enSoft propose to deliver training tools for embedded software services. BEST proposes to launch a course titled ‘Diploma in Embedded Systems,’ initially on a pilot basis, at its training centres in Mumbai and Pune and then introduce it in centres across the country.

Even Micromax Informatics is looking to fill this huge gap in 2002 by producing and providing skilled project manpower to the global embedded technology industry. Its Software Excellency Centre (SEC) would focus in the coming year on imparting training on domains, which have not yet been explored fully in the Asia Pacific region. This would be done through its four centres in New Delhi, Noida, Pune and Mumbai. It would also attempt to impart training in embedded systems on world class RTOSs like VxWorks and Tornado tools.

(With inputs from Srikanth RP)