Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Solectron firm to expand India operations

Force Computers Inc, a subsidiary of electronics parts maker Solectron Corp, plans to expand its Indian software operations to be close to Asian manufacturing bases, its president and chief executive officer said on Monday.

"We are looking to expand close to where the manufacturers are," Ajay Shah told Reuters in an interview.

Solectron, which makes advanced software-embedded components used by global clients like Cisco, Lucent and Nokia, is the world's largest contract manufacturer in electronics and has manufacturing bases in Malaysia and China.

Shah said prototype development required close interaction between software engineers and manufacturing facilities, and the geographical proximity would boost efficiency and also help Force's customers move faster into the market with end products.

Shah and his wife Lata Krishnan founded Smart Modular Technologies, which was acquired by Solectron two years ago for about $2.0 billion.

The US-based engineer of Indian origin later took charge of Force, a German company which Solectron acquired in 1996.

While Smart Modular specialises in components like memory modules, Force makes electronic boards that go into equipment.

Smart Modular had a Bangalore software centre, now merged into Force, which specialises in software-embedded products figuring in telecoms networks.

Its Bangalore unit, which had 12 engineers in 1997, now has about 50.

"We hope to double or triple that over the next couple of years," Shah said.

Shah said Solectron was increasingly helping its customers move faster by developing in anticipation crucial processes and modules that could go into the end products, and also getting more involved in the conceptualistion of the end products.

Bangalore now had a range of companies offering diverse skill sets in engineering and software, with whom Force can work and leverage their expertise, Shah said.

Tell us what you think of this report