Altair bets big on India for growth

Altair Engineering, specialising in advanced engineering software and grid computing technology, is betting big on India for growth.

The company's second largest development site and the biggest outside of the US is located in India. With engineering consulting and advanced computer-aided engineering solutions fuelling its growth, Altair has chalked out plans to increase its presence in the country.

The company employs in excess of 1,000 personnel worldwide of which 300 are based in India. Recently, Altair moved into a new campus in Bangalore, which can create an additional 250 high-end engineering positions in India.

It will be home to Altair India's executive management comprising the company's three lines of business "� product design consulting, advanced engineering software and grid computing technologies.

"We needed a facility in Bangalore that would support our domestic growth, as well as explore additional opportunities in emerging markets for our global product engineering consulting and established software development organisation," said James R Scapa, President and CEO, Altair Engineering.

According to Scapa, India is the fastest-growing region for the privately-held company with a growth rate of 62 per cent.

"Altair India contributes about 7 per cent of our overall revenue. It is also demonstrating leadership within the APAC region as well as the global business on various units like data management, grid computing. Altair India is now focussed on growth, both in terms of the teams in India and the sales coverage within India / ASEAN markets," he pointed out.

Apart from the US and India, the company's software development sites are located in Germany, Sweden, China and Italy.

"India is our second largest development site and will soon be the largest. The team has evolved from supporting numerous teams in the US and Europe, to now leading a number of project initiatives," Scapa added.

He said Altair has experienced growth worldwide during the past five years. Recently, it acquired a company in the business intelligence space "� HiCare "� based in Italy.

"Combined with our other acquisitions like PBS GridWorks for grid computing , we are developing a solution line that will expand our customer base into a whole range of new verticals like life sciences, oil and gas, scientifc computing, animation besides our traditional markets related to automotive and aerospace," he said.