"Our systems are designed specifically for one purpose and that is to make java applications scale well."

---Pramod Thangali,
Managing Director of Azul Systems India

"...the focal point is we engineer products and engineering requires a certain discipline. Part of the discipline comes from the process and the other part from the individual. In my experience, without discipline, all the process of the world isn't going to help."

---Mr. Arun Maheshwari,
CEO of TriVium India Software Pvt. Ltd.

"Every major player in migration is talking to us for some partnership or alliance, and almost every company that has some porting or migration need is working on engaging us for the migration services."

---Manjunath M,
CEO,
S7 Software Solutions

"Centillium is first in coming out with 12Mbps, 24 Mbps ADSL solution to market."

---C.S.Mohan,
Vice President & General Manager,
Centillium India Private Limited.

"There has been an exponential increase in the complexity of designing of multi-million gate ASICs."

---Mr. Sundar Raman,
Director and General Manager,
QuantumThink Technologies Pvt Ltd.

"Aventeon has been selected as one of the most successful Top 100 High-tech companies in Europe"

---Krishanu Seal,
Chief Systems Architect and MD,
Aventeon.

"Riverstone being rated #1 in IP/MPLS service delivery technology"

---Mr. Sathya Narayanaswamy,
General Manager,
Riverstone Networks India Private Ltd.

"Celstream is a process-driven organization"

---Greg D'Souza,
Vice President-HR,
Celstream Technologies Private Limited.

"The semiconductor market is continuing to grow at a very healthy rate although we do see variations in growth cycles"

--- C Dayakar Reddy,
MD,
Moschip Semiconductor.

"Optical Edge Devices to be the cornerstone of growth of the Optical Networking Market"

--- Dr. Kumar N. Sivarajan,
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer,
Tejas Networks India Ltd.

"WCDMA is the natural evolution of world dominating mobile system GSM"

--- Mickey Nasiri,
VP,
UbiNetics.

"Network security is threatened by carriers of worms, adware, spIM and spyware"

--- Sridhar Vutukuri,,
Vice President and Country Head, India,
FaceTime Communications, Inc.

"Worldwide the DSL subscriptions have been on a high growth phase"

--- Anupam Singh,
Vice President,
Conexant Systems.

"The next generation technologies and open operator and/or OEM application platforms will allow for the 3G revolution to flourish"

Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) is an approved 3G standard that uses 5 MHz channels for both voice and data, offering excellent voice capacity and a peak data rate of 384 kbps.

--- Shekar,
GM,
Prairiecomm Technologies (I) Pvt Ltd

"ILM technologies enable organizations to dynamically and seamlessly manage corporate information according to its changing value over time"

Storage Area Networks (SANs) have the ability to save company money, hasten backups and help consolidate the data center.

--- N Ramachandran,
GM- Storage Industry Group,
Mindtree Consulting Pvt Ltd.

“Having an optimal Design Flow is a key requirement of a design company or group”

The future for Electronic Design Automation (EDA) firms has seldom looked so bright.

--- Nachiket Urdhwareshe,
CEO,
SoftJin Infotech Private Limited

“One has to accept that the world of work is changing”

The furore over outsourcing has gathered steam over the last couple of months.

--- Mark Hillary,
Technology manager and
Independent outsourcing consultant

“Our technology companies need to focus on marketing”

Networking bridges those distances. Though I entered with no expectation, maybe that is why it has been a pleasant experience.

--- Mahesh Murthy, Entrepreneur
Passionfund

"Internationally, India is going to be dead in the water unless it begins to show innovation"

Indian brains need to be applied to the conception and development of innovative products and services, and quickly.

--- Atul Chitnis, Partner
Exocore Consulting, Bangalore

"Our intent is to address the security market through whatever it takes"

The market for security-related hardware, software, and services is expected to swell to $45 billion in revenue by 2006, according to IDC..

--- Mr. Rakesh Singh, GM
NetScaler, Asia Operations

Start-up Watch

"Young company with a mature mind"

Three years earlier, like-minded industry veterans from leading technology companies came together to fill gap found in IT services space, a good blend of consulting capabilities and process oriented execution under one leadership.

--- Mr. Vinod P. Deshmukh
Sr. Vice President and CTO, MindTree Consulting

"In today's market, pure product play is very risky"

Telesoft is a product start-up with a high passion quotient. In 1998-99 the company built a softswitch which pipped giants such as Fujitsu, Nortel and NTT DoCoMo in the marketplace.

--- Mr. Vinod Chandran
Chief Operating Office, Telesoft

"Few Indian companies offer total ownership in chip design"

2002 has been the worst ever year for the global chip sector hammered by the slowdown and lowered IT spends. Undeterred by the shrunken market and fast-disappearing prospects, Avedis Microsystem made its debut in May, making it one of the few hot technology start-ups of this year.

--- Mr. Sunil Kalarickal
CEO Avedis Microsystems

"There is a misconception that BPO means easy money"

Indian BPO players are on a high. Recent joint projections by Nasscom- McKinsey indicate that the IT-Enabled Services segment will generate Rs. 81,000 crore (US$ 17 billion) in revenue and employ over 1 million people by 2008.

--- Rajdeep S. Puri
Vice President
Operations First Ring

"Software exports will touch Rs. 13,000 crore"

For the IT industry struggling to survive, the last one year has been irredeemably bleak with growth rates crashing from quarter to quarter.

--- Mr. B. V. Naidu
Director, STPI

Growth and Profitability in tough times

In 2000, caught in the worst ever business crisis, Firestone was forced to recall 6.5 million failure-prone tires. Later research proved that the Firestone problem was as early as August 1998 and the company could have prevented the damage had it known that people were already beginning to talk about its tires on the Net.

---Dr K. R. V. Subramanian
CEO, AnswerPal

"Bluetooth is not a wishful market"

By 2005, analysts such as Vision Gain predict that all new multimedia mobile devices will be manufactured with Bluetooth as the standard. A rip-off from science fantasy fiction, Bluetooth promises communication between a gamuts of devices.

--- Mr. Basker Subramanian,
CTO and founder Impulsesoft

"Musharraf is serious about disciplining jehadis"

High -level visits from US and UK to the sub-continent followed by President Musharraf's promise to permanently clamp down on terrorists have brought India and Pakistan back from the brink.

--- Dr Sreedhar,
Institute of Defence Studies

"We need to take the lid off the entire bureaucracy called education"

India's garugantan education machinery churns out scores of graduates every year. Yet apart from a few institutions such as IITs and IIMs, Central universities and now the III-Ts, India's educational sector is chronically sick.

--- Prof Sadagopan,
Director III-T,

"HR is drawn to outsourcing for reasons other than cost reduction"

Responding to the increasing business imperatives of the new economy, the traditional HR department has been subject to a drastic image makeover - from a cost-consuming, administrative backstage functionary to a strategic business partner contributing directly and significantly to the company's bottomline.

--- Mr. Leo Fernandez,
India Life Hewitt

"We wanted to make sure we did not miss being in Asia's Silicon Valley"

The latest US company on the block to shift base to India to leverage its cost effectiveness is New-Jersey-based content and IP rating billing and settlement solutions provider, Apogee Networks.

--- Mr. Balaji Pitchaikani
Apogee Networks

"The industry's problem is that we are trying to copy the Americans too much"

Formed in 1986, Sonata Software is India's oldest medium enterprise. At a corporate level, the SEICMM Level 5 certified company forms a fairly decent story to tell.

--- Mr. Srikar Reddy
Sonata Software

"There is no such thing as an ethical hacker"

In 2001, computer users faced a seemingly endless onslaught of viruses. Code Red Nimda and Scrim pinpointed the vulnerability of networks and our helplessness to tackle them.

--- Mr. Subramanya Rao
Proland Software

"Even a slowdown can be advantageous if you want to take advantage of it"

Challenge is a way of life for Ishoni Networks. Two-and-a- half-years back, Ishoni's India office decided that it was not going to be a mere service company and play second fiddle to its US counterpart.

--- Dr Vivek Mansingh
Ishoni Networks

"HR cannot afford to get divorced from business realities"

In a span of less than five years, Aztec Software from being a little known start-up became the darling of the markets when it went public last year. A fortnight back, rocked by uncertainties in the market, the company was forced to lay off 35 employees. True to the Aztec work ethic, the company did not mask the layoffs behind a flurry of excuses as most other Indian companies have.

--- T. K. Anand
Aztec Software

"Things are going from bad to worse"

Last year flush with VC funds, internet companies in a battle for visibility blared out their existence from gigantic billboards dotting the urban landscape. Recruitment ads shed their stodgy image and became brand statements in their own right.

--- Mr. Vikram Satyanath
Enterprise Nexus

"Failure is not a dirty word in VC lexicon"

Nasdaq's downward spiral has triggered a bloodbath in the tech sector. As start-up corpses begin to litter the tech field, VCs are surprisingly stoic.

--- Mr. Vijay Angadi
ICF ventures

"New paradigm of work"

"I feel every company in the future will have distributed people. Why have a work force at all," he questions passionately. No, this is not the stuff dreams are made of or what we all though we would do when we were 14-year olds before we got trapped in a cubicled existence."

--- Vinai Kashyap
Kelsar Technologies

"Being laid-off is akin to standing at the edge of a precipice with nothing in front of you"

Less than a year ago, HR managers of India Software Inc. raged reckless battles to lure techies to their fold. Indian techies never had it better - inflated salaries, stock options, signing bonuses, paid vacations and relocation expenses were deemed an integral part of the pay package.

--- Dr. Gideon Arulmani
The Promise Foundation

Short Take

"HIPAA is a big opportunity but not for every player in the market"

Healthcare informatics space in the US has been relatively recession proof and is expected to touch $60 billion by 2004.

--- --- Dr.Saji Salam,
Consulting Manager, HL7 Inc

"Hyderabad has an international face but reputational build-up will take time"

In the last five years, Hyderabad has transformed itself from the once somnolent city of Nawabs to an aggressive player in the technology industry.

--- --- Colonel M. Vijay Kumar, Director, STPI, Hyderabad

"The next 18 months will separate the good from the 'once-upon-a-time' companies"

Company Watch

"Gunning for 50 per cent growth"

Founded in 1997 CoreObjects is a product development engine for robust, scalable software. The mid-sized company has carefully crafted a differentiated strategy from its contemporaries as a product-centric rather than a project-centric company.

--- Sanjay Bhaduri
President CoreObjects

"The overwhelming evidence is in favour of good HR practices in IT"

Since Nasdaq first hit the skids last April and fortunes of IT companies, riding on the dotcom boom, nosedived, the IT industry that had earlier waged wars too woo and retain talent responded by slashing salaries, issuing pink slips, withdrawing offers to freshers and freezing recruitment.

--- Prof. J. Phillip
Director XIME

Company Watch

"We are optimistic about the next three quarters"

LG Soft India (LGSI) is a part of the US $80 billion LG Group. Despite the LG brand name, the company has had a chequered history, first hit by the Korean crisis then by the US downturn.

--- Mr. Shubho Kundu
General Manager
LG Soft India

Invest Kerala

Hip, Hep & Happening Kerala

The latest State to jump on the Indian IT badwagon is Kerala, God's own country. Shrugging its somnolent backwater, non-happening imageand armed with a brand new IT policy and a more than supportive government, the State is pulling all plugs to attract IT investments in the State.

--- Mr. Rajiv Vasudevan
CEO, Technopark

"Future of animation in India is brilliant"

"Kinetic Art is the first new category of art since prehistory. It took until this century to discover the art that moves. Had we taken the aesthetic qualities of sound as much for granted as we have taken those of motion, we would not now have music.

--- Bill Dennis
CEO, Toonz Animation India

Start-up Track

"Organisations need to understand what is happening tomorrow"

In an intensely competitive globalised economy, strategy-generation and accurate decision- making have become increasingly complex and an imperative for businesses to succeed.

--- Subhash Gupta
Founder and Chief Scientist
Zelante Solutions

"It's a good time for VCs to invest, as no one else is"

VCs may still be hurting from their matri-money with upstarts in the 'got an idea get a million era' but are not calling it quits.

--- Sumir Chadha
Founder IVCA

Company Watch

"Domestic markets hold poor lure for VCs"

In a country where PC penetration is as low as five per 1,000 people, Inabling Technologies stormed the domestic technology market in August 2001 with its indigenously produced revolutionary e-mail device for the rural market, the I-station.

--- Mr. Narsimha Prabhu
Chief Technology Officer
Inabling Technologies

"If Hyderabad has 10 jobs, Bangalore has close to 100"

In the late Nineties, a 400-year old city closely identified with its laid-back Nawabi culture discovered the power of Silicon and made a pitch to transform itself from Hyderabad to Cyberabad.

--- Mr A. K. Menon
CEO Options

"There is nothing demeaning about working in a call centre"

The IT-enabled services opportunity in India is expected to cross $20 billion by 2008, according to a recent Nasscom report. The sunrise sector with a humongous potential to offer employment to collegiates has also become the victim of many misconceptions.

--- Mr. G. V. Giridhar
General Manager - HR
ITES

"India is not merely a low cost production centre"

Realising India's immense potential in IT and BT, UK is trying hard to lure Indian investors by pitching itself as an attractive and preferred hi-tech investment gateway to Europe.

--- Mr. Stephen Metti
Head of India and Australia
Team of Invest UK.

HR Focus

"It's the little things that make a vital difference at Subex"

In February 2002, Subex Systems bagged the award for Organisation with Innovative HR practices at the All India HRD Congress.

--- Mr J. M. Prasad,
Subex Systems,

"Our intent is to address the security market through whatever it takes"

The market for security-related hardware, software, and services is expected to swell to $45 billion in revenue by 2006, according to IDC..

--- Mr. Rakesh Singh, GM
NetScaler, Asia Operations

Start-up Watch

"Young company with a mature mind"

Three years earlier, like-minded industry veterans from leading technology companies came together to fill gap found in IT services space, a good blend of consulting capabilities and process oriented execution under one leadership.

--- Mr. Vinod P. Deshmukh
Sr. Vice President and CTO, MindTree Consulting

"In today's market, pure product play is very risky"

Telesoft is a product start-up with a high passion quotient. In 1998-99 the company built a softswitch which pipped giants such as Fujitsu, Nortel and NTT DoCoMo in the marketplace.

--- Mr. Vinod Chandran
Chief Operating Office, Telesoft

"Few Indian companies offer total ownership in chip design"

2002 has been the worst ever year for the global chip sector hammered by the slowdown and lowered IT spends. Undeterred by the shrunken market and fast-disappearing prospects, Avedis Microsystem made its debut in May, making it one of the few hot technology start-ups of this year.

--- Mr. Sunil Kalarickal
CEO Avedis Microsystems

"There is a misconception that BPO means easy money"

Indian BPO players are on a high. Recent joint projections by Nasscom- McKinsey indicate that the IT-Enabled Services segment will generate Rs. 81,000 crore (US$ 17 billion) in revenue and employ over 1 million people by 2008.

--- Rajdeep S. Puri
Vice President
Operations First Ring

"Software exports will touch Rs. 13,000 crore"

For the IT industry struggling to survive, the last one year has been irredeemably bleak with growth rates crashing from quarter to quarter.

--- Mr. B. V. Naidu
Director, STPI

Growth and Profitability in tough times

In 2000, caught in the worst ever business crisis, Firestone was forced to recall 6.5 million failure-prone tires. Later research proved that the Firestone problem was as early as August 1998 and the company could have prevented the damage had it known that people were already beginning to talk about its tires on the Net.

---Dr K. R. V. Subramanian
CEO, AnswerPal

"Bluetooth is not a wishful market"

By 2005, analysts such as Vision Gain predict that all new multimedia mobile devices will be manufactured with Bluetooth as the standard. A rip-off from science fantasy fiction, Bluetooth promises communication between a gamuts of devices.

--- Mr. Basker Subramanian,
CTO and founder Impulsesoft

"Musharraf is serious about disciplining jehadis"

High -level visits from US and UK to the sub-continent followed by President Musharraf's promise to permanently clamp down on terrorists have brought India and Pakistan back from the brink.

--- Dr Sreedhar,
Institute of Defence Studies

"We need to take the lid off the entire bureaucracy called education"

India's garugantan education machinery churns out scores of graduates every year. Yet apart from a few institutions such as IITs and IIMs, Central universities and now the III-Ts, India's educational sector is chronically sick.

--- Prof Sadagopan,
Director III-T,

"HR is drawn to outsourcing for reasons other than cost reduction"

Responding to the increasing business imperatives of the new economy, the traditional HR department has been subject to a drastic image makeover - from a cost-consuming, administrative backstage functionary to a strategic business partner contributing directly and significantly to the company's bottomline.

--- Mr. Leo Fernandez,
India Life Hewitt

"We wanted to make sure we did not miss being in Asia's Silicon Valley"

The latest US company on the block to shift base to India to leverage its cost effectiveness is New-Jersey-based content and IP rating billing and settlement solutions provider, Apogee Networks.

--- Mr. Balaji Pitchaikani
Apogee Networks

"The industry's problem is that we are trying to copy the Americans too much"

Formed in 1986, Sonata Software is India's oldest medium enterprise. At a corporate level, the SEICMM Level 5 certified company forms a fairly decent story to tell.

--- Mr. Srikar Reddy
Sonata Software

"There is no such thing as an ethical hacker"

In 2001, computer users faced a seemingly endless onslaught of viruses. Code Red Nimda and Scrim pinpointed the vulnerability of networks and our helplessness to tackle them.

--- Mr. Subramanya Rao
Proland Software

"Even a slowdown can be advantageous if you want to take advantage of it"

Challenge is a way of life for Ishoni Networks. Two-and-a- half-years back, Ishoni's India office decided that it was not going to be a mere service company and play second fiddle to its US counterpart.

--- Dr Vivek Mansingh
Ishoni Networks

"HR cannot afford to get divorced from business realities"

In a span of less than five years, Aztec Software from being a little known start-up became the darling of the markets when it went public last year. A fortnight back, rocked by uncertainties in the market, the company was forced to lay off 35 employees. True to the Aztec work ethic, the company did not mask the layoffs behind a flurry of excuses as most other Indian companies have.

--- T. K. Anand
Aztec Software

"Things are going from bad to worse"

Last year flush with VC funds, internet companies in a battle for visibility blared out their existence from gigantic billboards dotting the urban landscape. Recruitment ads shed their stodgy image and became brand statements in their own right.

--- Mr. Vikram Satyanath
Enterprise Nexus

"Failure is not a dirty word in VC lexicon"

Nasdaq's downward spiral has triggered a bloodbath in the tech sector. As start-up corpses begin to litter the tech field, VCs are surprisingly stoic.

--- Mr. Vijay Angadi
ICF ventures

"New paradigm of work"

"I feel every company in the future will have distributed people. Why have a work force at all," he questions passionately. No, this is not the stuff dreams are made of or what we all though we would do when we were 14-year olds before we got trapped in a cubicled existence."

--- Vinai Kashyap
Kelsar Technologies

"Being laid-off is akin to standing at the edge of a precipice with nothing in front of you"

Less than a year ago, HR managers of India Software Inc. raged reckless battles to lure techies to their fold. Indian techies never had it better - inflated salaries, stock options, signing bonuses, paid vacations and relocation expenses were deemed an integral part of the pay package.

--- Dr. Gideon Arulmani
The Promise Foundation

Short Take

"HIPAA is a big opportunity but not for every player in the market"

Healthcare informatics space in the US has been relatively recession proof and is expected to touch $60 billion by 2004.

--- --- Dr.Saji Salam,
Consulting Manager, HL7 Inc

"Hyderabad has an international face but reputational build-up will take time"

In the last five years, Hyderabad has transformed itself from the once somnolent city of Nawabs to an aggressive player in the technology industry.

--- --- Colonel M. Vijay Kumar, Director, STPI, Hyderabad

"The next 18 months will separate the good from the 'once-upon-a-time' companies"

Company Watch

"Gunning for 50 per cent growth"

Founded in 1997 CoreObjects is a product development engine for robust, scalable software. The mid-sized company has carefully crafted a differentiated strategy from its contemporaries as a product-centric rather than a project-centric company.

--- Sanjay Bhaduri
President CoreObjects

"The overwhelming evidence is in favour of good HR practices in IT"

Since Nasdaq first hit the skids last April and fortunes of IT companies, riding on the dotcom boom, nosedived, the IT industry that had earlier waged wars too woo and retain talent responded by slashing salaries, issuing pink slips, withdrawing offers to freshers and freezing recruitment.

--- Prof. J. Phillip
Director XIME

Company Watch

"We are optimistic about the next three quarters"

LG Soft India (LGSI) is a part of the US $80 billion LG Group. Despite the LG brand name, the company has had a chequered history, first hit by the Korean crisis then by the US downturn.

--- Mr. Shubho Kundu
General Manager
LG Soft India

Invest Kerala

Hip, Hep & Happening Kerala

The latest State to jump on the Indian IT badwagon is Kerala, God's own country. Shrugging its somnolent backwater, non-happening imageand armed with a brand new IT policy and a more than supportive government, the State is pulling all plugs to attract IT investments in the State.

--- Mr. Rajiv Vasudevan
CEO, Technopark

"Future of animation in India is brilliant"

"Kinetic Art is the first new category of art since prehistory. It took until this century to discover the art that moves. Had we taken the aesthetic qualities of sound as much for granted as we have taken those of motion, we would not now have music.

--- Bill Dennis
CEO, Toonz Animation India

Start-up Track

"Organisations need to understand what is happening tomorrow"

In an intensely competitive globalised economy, strategy-generation and accurate decision- making have become increasingly complex and an imperative for businesses to succeed.

--- Subhash Gupta
Founder and Chief Scientist
Zelante Solutions

"It's a good time for VCs to invest, as no one else is"

VCs may still be hurting from their matri-money with upstarts in the 'got an idea get a million era' but are not calling it quits.

--- Sumir Chadha
Founder IVCA

Company Watch

"Domestic markets hold poor lure for VCs"

In a country where PC penetration is as low as five per 1,000 people, Inabling Technologies stormed the domestic technology market in August 2001 with its indigenously produced revolutionary e-mail device for the rural market, the I-station.

--- Mr. Narsimha Prabhu
Chief Technology Officer
Inabling Technologies

"If Hyderabad has 10 jobs, Bangalore has close to 100"

In the late Nineties, a 400-year old city closely identified with its laid-back Nawabi culture discovered the power of Silicon and made a pitch to transform itself from Hyderabad to Cyberabad.

--- Mr A. K. Menon
CEO Options

"There is nothing demeaning about working in a call centre"

The IT-enabled services opportunity in India is expected to cross $20 billion by 2008, according to a recent Nasscom report. The sunrise sector with a humongous potential to offer employment to collegiates has also become the victim of many misconceptions.

--- Mr. G. V. Giridhar
General Manager - HR
ITES

"India is not merely a low cost production centre"

Realising India's immense potential in IT and BT, UK is trying hard to lure Indian investors by pitching itself as an attractive and preferred hi-tech investment gateway to Europe.

--- Mr. Stephen Metti
Head of India and Australia
Team of Invest UK.

HR Focus

"It's the little things that make a vital difference at Subex"

In February 2002, Subex Systems bagged the award for Organisation with Innovative HR practices at the All India HRD Congress.

--- Mr J. M. Prasad,
Subex Systems,

WiQuest Communications, Inc. is the leading consumer solutions company designing and developing complete WiMedia-based ultra high speed, ultrawideband (UWB) platforms. WiQuest's complete solution portfolio includes chipset, software and manufacturing designs. WiQuest's world class technology and technical support enable a new class of "off-the-shelf-production" wireless connectivity to PC, digital entertainment, consumer electronics and mobile systems - enabling The New Frontier of Wireless™.

Founded in September 2003, WiQuest's strong team comprises hundreds of years of collective industry semiconductor and systems experience, resulting in dozens of successful high-volume product implementations including Wireless LAN, DSL and Ethernet solutions. The company is an active contributing member of the WiMedia Alliance and the USB Implementers Forum.

In this month's interview, Mr. Shekar, Managing Director of WiQuest Semiconductors India Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, shares his outlook on the operation and future plans of the company.