IBM acquires land in Bangalore for software development campus

IBM acquires land in Bangalore for software development campus

The Hindu

Chairman and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano discusses expansion plans with IT Secretary


Bangalore: International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is setting up a software development campus in Bangalore as part of its expansion plans in India.

Away from the media glare, Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, IBM, who arrived here on Tuesday for a four-day visit (his third so far), met Information Technology Secretary, M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, on Wednesday over lunch and discussed the expansion plans.

Confirming the meeting, Mr. Shankaralinge Gowda told The Hindu: "IBM is setting up a campus on BEL Road. It has acquired land there. The company is expanding in a big way in Bangalore."

He, however, declined to give details such as the investment involved in setting up the campus. IBM also refused to comment.

At present, IBM functions out of four leased facilities in Bangalore from where its global services, business transformation, software laboratories and the application management services wing are run. It has over 25,000 employees on its rolls in India, the bulk of whom are in Bangalore.

IBM is the second IT major to announce the setting up of a campus in Bangalore after the communications networking major Cisco Systems revealed that it would develop an integrated campus here with an investment of $800 million. This announcement was made during the visit of Cisco Systems President and CEO, John T. Chambers, this month.

Focus on growth

"Mr. Palmisano's India visit is in line with IBM's continued focus on strategic emerging growth countries (such as India, China, Russia and Brazil) as a way to drive revenue growth and gain market share and as an important talent base for its growing service delivery business and research and development initiatives," an IBM spokesperson said.

Mr. Palmisano has also visited Global Service Delivery Centre (GSDC), which provides both local and global clients with command centre services, data centre services and IT helpdesk services, and through it's modern infrastructure, enables clients to tap into virtually limitless computing power on demand, while paying for it on a per-usage basis.

Low-profile visit

His low-profile visit to India gains importance as IBM is transforming itself into a globally integrated company. It is a natural progression from an international company, which sells products overseas, and a multinational, which may replicate headquarters operations overseas, to a globally integrated company wherein work moves seamlessly around the globe.

"India is an important part of IBM's globally integrated company model and also as a centre of excellence in a number of areas, including business process outsourcing, delivery services, research and software development," the spokesperson added.