Executive VP for TCS, Phiroz A Vandrevala, told ComputerWire that the Mumbai-based company is also in discussions to broaden the project to include a sponsorship arrangement with Ferrari. He said: We are not going to have the Tata badge on the car in the current deal, but we are talking about sponsorship opportunities, and hope to announce something in the next two weeks.
In what Mumbai-based TCS will be hoping to be a publicity coup as the relationship with Ferrari develops, the company will begin to provide product lifecycle management software and services to assist in the design and engineering of Ferrari’s Formula One cars. Vandrevala said TCS will replace an existing IT supplier in the project that runs for the next three years, although the value to TCS was not disclosed. He also said TCS is planning discussions about providing driver communications to Ferrari.
This is the latest effort by TCS to improve its broader public profile. In September 2004, the company opened a US-based operation to support its services provided to Hollywood. TCS’s Burbank, California-based Media and Entertainment Lab will focus on technologies that underpin new digital media processes increasingly used in Hollywood productions. TCS also claims to have ongoing projects for all of the top five major Hollywood studios.
