Advantage Pune

Been there, done that

This young company—with a name that exudes youth—is in fact headed by a veteran. The man who has seen it all in the Indian information technology field. T N Sundar, founder and Chairman &Managing Director of Netpro Technologies Pvt. Ltd, began his tryst with IT long before the industry got its current recognition and glamour.

K R Venkatraman	T N Sundar

Sundar began his IT journey 40 years ago with IBM. The technology available then was the “Machine Accounting” unit record systems programmed through control panels and Data fed through the Punch Cards. Then came the 2nd generation IBM 1401’s, the ICL 1901’s etc., followed by the mini computers from Digital and Data General to usher in on-line transaction processing and the arrival of 4th Generation Computers.

After spending 12 fruitful years at IBM Sundar had the opportunity of being the co-founder of Datapro. A pioneer in the popularization of IT among the industry as well as society, Datapro saw a steep rise in business and recognition. Sundar played a very vital role in the emergence of the IT industry in Pune.

After a 20 year-stint in Datapro he was head hunted by PictureTel USA, the world leaders in Video conferencing to become their Director and country head for the South Asian region. When PictureTel was bought over by Polycom in the US he left them on a separation plan to be back in Pune and start Netpro along with his past associates K R Venkatraman and Rahul Arora.

Netpro, when it was setup in early 2003, had a clear agenda to leverage the promoter’s skills and experience in software solutions development and Enterprise solution marketing. The first task on hand was to get the ISO 9001: 2000 certification to reflect Netpro’s commitment to the Quality process.

Netpro chose the Microsoft .Net technology and developed a “Contact Management” product framework called “Tentacle”. The product was launched along with Microsoft windows 2003. Tentacle is installed for a mission critical marketing application for a 200-user environment (to be enhanced to 500) at Idea Cellular. A predecessor version of Tentacle is installed and running for over two years at Tata-AIG Insurance. Netpro would be enhancing this IPR to build on to a low end CRM to be implemented in several domains.

On the solution marketing and services front Netpro has been very successful in setting up a Business Intelligence practice around ProClarity (from ProClarity Inc U.S.A) Proclarity has been installed in large organizations such as Blue Star, Wipro BPO or Jet Airways. Netpro has also offered consulting service for ProClarity outside India and sees this as a potential export growth area.

Netpro also markets and services Altiris, an IT life cycle management solution (from Altiris Inc U.S.A.). Altiris has been installed in organization including Atlas Copco, 3G Global Services, Wipro, HP and TCS. Netpro has certified and trained Altiris engineers who have done several assignments outside India. Once again this is a potential growth area for export earnings.

On the Software Export front Netpro manages an offshore development center for their customers “Vadim Software” from Canada, where product development work on MAGIC (Rapid Application Development Tool from Israel) is undertaken. Netpro has set up GNet group - an LLC joint venture company (50:50) with GCI systems USA (revenue $60 million) based out of Minneapolis USA. GNet will address the North American market for Business Intelligence(BI) consulting, Software projects on .Net and MAGIC technology. Netpro will exclusively manage the ODC in India.

Netpro is looking forward to be a niche market player in the BI space, specialized software development in .Net and Magic and promote their own product Tentacle with a team size of 60-plus people by the end of this year. K.R.Venkatraman CEO & Director of Netpro with his vast experience is driving this initiative.