Dell Computer Corp. has set up a software development facility in Bangalore, India, to design, develop, and test software for enterprise-system products, company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell announced Tuesday at a press briefing here.
“We are also looking at further opportunities to take advantage of the large, skilled labour pool that you find in India,” he said.
Software and services account for about 42 per cent of Dell’s revenue. ” We are not developing operating systems, nor applications,” said Dell. ” We are developing systems software that go with our products.” The software development centre will also develop software for Dell’s own information-systems requirements.
The Round Rock, Texas, company is also evaluating moving some of its internal business processes to India, according to William Amelio, Dell’s president for the Asia-Pacific region and Japan.
The company already operates a customer-support centre in Bangalore, called Dell International Services, offering technical support via phone and email to its customers in the U.S., Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. “Since we started this facility a little over a year ago, we have grown the number of people from about 180 to 800,” said Dell.
Dell dismissed reports making the rounds of the Indian press that the company was considering assembling computers in India in partnership with Bangalore-based computer maker Wipro Ltd. Dell’s manufacturing facilities are generally located where there is a large base of suppliers of materials required for computer manufacture, which India does not have, added Dell.
