Invensys to set up new development centre in Hyderabad

Gaurav Patra / New Delhi

Invensys, one of the leaders in management of production and energy resources, plans to set up a new software development centre at Vanenburg IT Park, Hyderabad. The 35,000 sq. ft. facility will be operational soon. The new facility will host over 130 people working for Invensys Manufacturing and Process Solutions (IMAPS). The facility will be the only development centre in the world where the company has its employees working for its product management divisions such as Foxboro, Simsci-Esscor and Wonderware in one place.

To augment its operations Invensys will further add nearly 400 people to its development centre. The Hyderabad team will operate in development work and quality assurance (QA) for London-based Invensys’ overseas operations, primarily in the US, where the company has six large centres. The group will also cater to the IT applications space in the initial stages.

“India has a huge software talent pool and very good engineering institutes. Invensys has been working with Indian software companies for some time now and we have been impressed by the productivity and quality consciousness of Indian IT professionals. This prompted us to start our software development centre in India,” said Aniruddha Dasu, general manager, Invensys, India Development Centre. He further said that when Invensys’ senior management visited Baan India Development Center (Invensys owned Baan till July, 2003), they were impressed by the work that was being done out of Hyderabad and Mumbai and this also has prompted Invensys to start its software development centre in India. Till date the company has already invested more than $7 million and they will invest another $2-3 million in the near future.

Dasu feels that in the days to come the Invensys IDC will be key to the growth of the company. “Our people in India will be working collaboratively with their Invensys development and marketing colleagues in the West to build leading edge products. There are many skills that Indian developers hold which are critical for our growth programmes,” he said. Knowledge management and dynamic simulation are just few examples of the core competencies that Invensys is building in India.

Over the next 12 months the Invensys IDC will double in size and invest over $2.5 million in infrastructure, facilities and people. By December 2004, the organisation will grow to nearly 450 people. “We also expect that by December 2005 an additional 150 people will be added and will also invest in infrastructure to meet our growth plans,” said Dasu. Currently, Invensys’s Simsci-Esscor, Foxboro and Wonderware units are working at the Hyderbad IDC and in the near future Dasu expects that other groups like Triconex and ImServe will also start working there.