Monday, July 14, 2008

Crouching Tiger?

I happened to visit the Bangalore campus of India's second largest IT services provider, Infosys last week and .... WOW! The India IT story really sunk in and I felt that I must recount the experience of my visit.

There is the usual check-in formality at the security at the gate with one exception. They actually take your picture, type in basic details into a computer and out pops a professional looking badge that you can wear during your visit. I was impressed!

We were told that the person we had come to see was located in building 48 (Building 48! As in buildings 1, 2, 3, ..... , 48, 49 ...????). A golf cart picked us up at the security gate and drove us to our destination. The place looks like a university campus - paved walkways, large buildings, well-manicured lawns, greenery, bicycle stands etc. Buildings range from old brick and cement buildings to new glass and steel structures. We passed by the food court that looked like it could seat a thousand people. Turns out, that this was one of several. Our escort pointed out that over 10,000 people worked at this campus.

There was a full-size Coffee Cafe Day (Indian version of a Starbucks), a huge basketball and volleyball court and a massive indoor gym.

Apparently, there is an identical size campus in Chennai and another one that is three times the size of this one in Mysore!

Next day, I was reading the financial results of Infosys for the second quarter - 21% YOY growth for the second quarter, $4B in annual revenue for year ending March 2008 etc. etc.

I get it. No, really, I get it now!

3 comments:

Cindy/Snid said...

yeah... and this is why we are here instead of in California. Luckily, I like India!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the makings of a Microsoft! With all those buildings gotta assume some amazing stuff is happening in there.

mick

Anonymous said...

bang(ing)lore.

They actually take your picture, type in basic details into a computer and out pops a professional looking badge that you can wear during your visit. I was impressed!
- I found this in Chennai at Perot Systems - MNC.