|
|
|
            
|
SOFTWARE 10 For Tomorrow Ten Indian tech hothouses whose products, services, technologies, and sheer gumption make them potential winners of tomorrow. By Ashutosh Sinha
Hope springs eternal. And that-hope-is what each of the 10 companies featured here holds. Not one of the 10 is a pure play software services company. Some are chip design companies; others are product companies; and still others are technology solutions companies. All belong to the first wave of Indian companies seeking to make the leap from services to design, and then, from design to products. It is hard to tell, especially when one is dealing with as fickle a mistress as technology, whether all 10 will succeed, or even be around this time next year. But their technologies and the sheer audacity of their aspirations makes them companies that could well succeed at the global level. Hope... rational, expertise-driven hope, lingers on. [1] Competing In The Embedded Space Company: Adamya Computing
As the concept of the anywhere, anytime Internet catches on, access-devices will get smaller, and the complexity of chip-software will increase. Adamya, which means unsurpassable in Sanskrit, designs the platform for the features that have to be packed into the chip. If that's difficult to understand, simply think of the company as one that creates operating systems for chips. Adamya is a minnow in a market dominated by the likes of Intel, Toshiba, and Motorola, but CEO T.J. 'Yathi' Yatheendranath believes there is a niche out there for the company. Step 1 of what he confesses is a fairly long-term strategy is to build partnerships with these companies, even if it means working in areas like Digital Signal Processing, networking, and communications (these are Adamya's other touted competencies) to begin with. ''The challenge before us,'' says Yatheendranath, ''is to penetrate tier 1 companies globally''. That would mean selling directly to chip makers like Intel, AMD, and Motorola, and device manufacturers like Compaq, Palm, and Mindspring. Doing that won't be easy, but Yathi hopes that replicating the marketing alliances he has forged with companies in parts of Asia, Europe, and in the US may be the answer. Actually, says Himanshu Singh, Country Manager, Cadence India, an electronic design automation company, the task before Adamya isn't that simple. ''In product development, you need to close the loop with the customer, cut time to market, and be very sure of the technology you are working on.'' With customers like Embedded Systems Inc, which was recently acquired by Palm, Cambridge Silicon Radio, which makes wireless devices powered by single chips (it's investors include Sony and Intel Capital), and Ubicom, which builds communication protocols that power the internet, Adamya is still a toddler in the domain. But it is perhaps the only Indian company working on RTOS (Real Time Operating System), a critical element in the design of embedded systems. [2] Mind Mobiles Company: Convergelabs
Think of a simple software-driven add-on to existing second generation mobile networks that will enable them enjoy the always-on data speeds of General Packet Radio Switching (GPRS) at a fraction of the cost involved. California-based Convergelabs does just this: it provides a 24X7 Internet Protocol-based solution for wireless networks. The company has eight patent applications for products and technologies related to this. Licensing these technologies and products, claims Convergelabs' co-founder Amol Patel, will account for 80 per cent of the company's revenues. Some of the eight are attractive enough to merit a pat on the back from Vinod Sood, head of engineering at software hothouse Hughes Software System, a significant player in the telecom software space. ''Some of the ideas on which they are working are very exciting.'' The residual 20 per cent will come from services. Convergelabs believes TELCOs should focus on building their brand and enhancing service quality, leaving the actual management of the networks to Operation Service Providers (OSPs). In layspeak, the company sees itself as a virtual telecom operator that will help TELCOs select the right technology, help them launch new service offerings, identify vendors, and pick equipment. The concept of OSPs may find buyers, or it may not, but Convergelabs is betting on its products, now in the field-trial stage, to make a mark. [3] Parallel Power Company: Cradle Technologies
Cradle is the odd one out in this pack of ten. The other companies have revenues-however insignificant-to speak of; Cradle has none. What it has are: the backing of Albert Yu of Intel's Architecture Group, and ex-Digital Equipment whiz Gordon Bell; five customers (termed Godfathers within the company); and universal recognition as the company that came up with the UMS (Universal Micro System). UMS is already being touted in tech circles as the fourth fundamental single-chip computing platform after the microprocessor, the micro controller, and the digital signal processor. To recourse to tech-talk, the UMS comprises tens of processors that work in parallel, making them ideal for a range of applications in imaging, digital video, and communication. Computing devices of the future will have to perform multiple functions in the areas of like communication, and audio and video processing. This requires enormous processing power, and that is what UMS promises. From the customer perspective, UMS is probably something that will be inside every computing device that is bought from the year 2002 onwards. And unlike other chips, the UMS allows highly evolved applications to be created in software. Cradle, then, will manufacture fabless chips (which do not pack any applications), and programme them depending on the needs of the buyer. Cradle's CEO Satish Gupta believes there is more to it: ''We make it feasible for our customers to reduce their product development time and costs by half. And our chips can help them create products that incorporate domain specific features in software, thereby creating a flexible product line.'' By the middle of next year, Cradle will boast a portfolio of a variety of chips ranging in cost from $10 to $75, and targeting a wide spectrum of end users, from companies manufacturing photocopiers to video cameras to those making multimedia- or high speed networking products. [4] C-Commerce It Is... Company: eSymmetryx Technologies
If Sun Microsystems believed that the network was the computer, then Bangalore-based eSymmetryx believes that the network is the business. This conviction has manifested itself as the Collaborative Product Enterprise (CPE) methodology for which the company has applied for a patent. Targeted exclusively at manufacturing companies, the CPE browser-the initial form the technology will take-will be a web-based marketspace comprising all entities and functions involved in a product's lifecycle: vendors, dealers, customers, and sourcing, manufacturing, and product support. CEO Gerard Rego's favourite example is in the realm of digital product support: The volume of mails Boeing mails to its 600 customers every year will, if stocked up, occupy enough space as a 40 km high building; with digital product support it won't have to. With an initial focus on six manufacturing-intensive segments-defence equipment, engineering, machine tools, automobiles, aviation, and electronics-eSymmetryx has positioned itself in a lucrative niche. International Data Corporation expects the collaborative commerce technologies market to be worth around $43 billion by 2003, and the enterprise solutions one, $78 billion (the company has a finger in both). Rego's strategy revolves around (what else), collaboration: ''First we have to target large technology companies; then we have to focus on large companies in each vertical.'' That won't be possible if the company is based in Bangalore; so, Rego is relocating it to the US. Technology consultant S.S. Srikanth believes collaborative commerce could be the next big thing, but warns that ''difficulties in making a case of it to companies in the six verticals will be a significant barrier to entry''. [5] Look Mom, No Hands Company: Impulsesoft
Its existing revenues may be pretty well insignificant, but Impulsesoft was among the first companies to launch Bluetooth (the global short-range wireless standard) products and solutions. Recognition, in the form of a quick initial sale to a subsidiary of Toshiba followed. Now, that advantage is wearing thin with dozens of competitors in India and elsewhere touting a similar portfolio of products and services built around Bluetooth. ''We could compete on price,'' offers S. Srividhya, co-founder and head of R&D, but even if the company's solutions and products became bestsellers that approach wouldn't help catapult Impulsesoft into the big league. And that's where CEO K. Srikrishnan, a veteran marketer of high-tech products and services, desperately wants to be. Applications and other value added offerings hold the key to this and Srividhya says the company is working on them. But even value-addition can take a company only that far. Success in the wireless domain will not be a function of just technology; it will require marketing savvy, and the ability to build relationships with customers who use Impulsesoft's solutions as part of their own, larger offering to end-users. While Impulsesoft has broken into the silicon space by forging an alliance with the London-based Cambridge Silicon Radio, which provides communication protocols on a single chip, it will have to partner (and partner quickly) with a wireless system integrator. Still, Impulsesoft's distinction as being one of the first to enter the space it wishes to dominate earns it a respectable mention in this listing. 1 2 |
|
Issue Contents Write to us Subscription Syndication INDIA TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | COMPUTERS TODAY |
TEENS TODAY
© Living Media India Ltd |
 |
 |
