VMware plans to invest Rs 400 cr

US-based VMware, which specialises in virtualisation solutions from the desktop to the data centres, will invest $100 million over the next two years to strengthen its research and development (R&D) operations in India.

The company operates two R&D centres in India "" Bangalore and Pune. They support new and ongoing research and development across the company's entire portfolio of solutions for data centre and desktop virtualisation.

The company recently moved into an 82,000 sq ft centre in Bangalore which houses close to 500 employees. The centre also includes a 4,000 square foot computer lab.

"We intend to double our engineering staff strength to over 1,000 over the new two years. The Bangalore development centre will assist the company in evolving global products," said VMware President and CEO Diane Greene.

The $1.3 billion company entered India in 2004. With offices in five cities, VMware employs nearly 700 people in India.

It has tie-ups with IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Madras, NIT-Trichi, NIT-Surathkal, Indian Institute of Science and the RV College of Engineering. Greene said the growing engineering talent pool in the country was one of the reasons for the company expanding its R&D operations in the country.

The company is eyeing the Indian and Chinese markets for growth. It has over 300 customers and 160 channel partners in the country. "India is also one of our fastest-growing markets where we have increasingly important system integrator partners. For these reasons, we are now substantively increasing our investment in India," Greene added.

She pointed out that the company grew by 88 per cent in 2007 and was targetting 50 per cent growth this year.