Infosys bags Euro 31 m Alstom contract

To set up R&D unit with 300 staff

Infosys Technologies has bagged a Euro 31 million three-year contract to set up a research and development facility for Alstom, a French engineering group that makes power plants, locomotives and ships.

Alstom will use the centre to make its power plants more efficient and to "customise and localise" them for various markets, senior executives from the companies told reporters here on Tuesday.

This represents a "step up" from an existing one-off projects-based relationship between the two companies, Nandan M Nilekani, managing director and chief executive officer of Infosys, said.

Philipe Joubert, an executive vice president of the Alstom Group, said, the centre will employ some 300 staff in three years. At that time, Alstom could spend up to a fifth of its power business' R&D money in India, Joubert, president of that business, said. How much that fifth would be, he wouldn't say.

Infosys' engineers will start with making existing processes of the power generating plants more efficient, but go on to use mathematical modelling and computer aided design software to make the plants more "environment friendly", Charles Soothil, a vice president for technology. They will also work with proprietary software supplied by Alstom.

Soothil, responsible for Alstom Power's "New Equipment R&D Strategy and Future Technology", said the idea is to get more power per unit of fuel used, irrespective of the type of fuel. Alstom has sold power plants in India whose combined installed capacity is 2,500 MW, a company release said.

The company's power plants account for a large chunk of all electricity produced worldwide. They include three large nuclear power stations in China.

The contract brings Infosys' product life cycle and engineering solutions greater visibility, which is the "independent business unit" that will be at the core of this project. Work will start with an initial strength of 60 engineers, an Infosys statement said.

Worldwide, Alstom Power had some 1,200 R&D staff, "excluding product engineering" spread over 18 centres, Soothil said. So, The Infosys centre, at its Electronics City campus, will be one of the largest, he said.

Alstom Power was formed in the year 2000, when Swiss-Swedish power equipment maker Asea Brown Boveri sold its stake in ABB Alstom Power, a 50:50 joint venture company, to Alstom.

After nearly going bankrupt in 2003, Alstom, the maker of TGV fast trains and the Queen Mary 2 ship was bailed out by the French government with an ¤8 billion soft loan.