Bangalore-based Infosys said it would be jointly investing some $8 million with Microsoft to develop a portfolio of industry-specific tools and services that will lower the total cost of ownership of IT based on .NET technology.
This will include an engineering tool for improving product development lifecycle management in the automotive and aerospace industries, a supply chain system for the retail sector, and a radio frequency identification system.
The two companies will also provide infrastructure services and consulting services for IT transformation projects covering IT planning, IT portfolio management, business process design, systems integration, and implementation.
At the same time, Bangalore-based Wipro announced it had been working with the company for five years, and now has some 5,000 staff working on Microsoft-related projects. It did not reveal its investment plans based on Microsoft technology, but said it has worked on projects across seven areas including business process management, helpdesk management, retail point of sale, RFID, zero touch deployment, hospital information systems, and a store manager workbench.
The announcements were made during a trip to India by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, where he also announced the software giant’s intentions to expand its software development facility in India by several hundred over the coming months. The company employs approximately 800 people at a center in Hyderabad.
The plans echo Ballmer’s statement to ComputerWire at Microsoft’s Executive Partner Summit in October when he said: There are lots of people taking advantage of offshore development in low-cost labor markets. We will grow our capability in India and China. He said these two markets represent the biggest opportunity for graduate labor in the computer sciences field, and as a result he said Microsoft would increasingly look here for future talent.
