NetScaler to expand Indian operations

NetScaler, the US-headquartered firm founded by serial tech entrepreneur B V Jagadeesh, has announced its intention to expand its Indian operations.

The company offers networking systems which enable fast and secure delivery of applications by integrating optimisation, security and switching capabilities.

The privately held company, which has raised $80 million since its inception in 1999, hopes to be profitable shortly and is expected to cross the $50 million yearly run rate within 18 months.

The Indian subsidiary, which till recently carried out R&D operations, will have its mandate expanded to include customer acquisition by adding channel partners and system integrators.

Globally, NetScaler has partnerships with IBM and Siemens while Apara Networks is the sole channel partner in India.

Said Jagadeesh: "NetScaler in India has evolved from being a pure R&D centre to a full-fledged subsidiary that is playing a strategic role in the company's core function of customer acquisition and support. We expect the Indian operations to contribute 5 per cent to our topline by end of 2005."

The company will spend its marketing dollars to go after internet-enabled companies such as Amazon and Rediff, and healthcare and automobile corporations who are increasingly adopting the web in a comprehensive way.

"With critical enterprise and customer-facing applications rapidly becoming Internet-enabled, CIOs are concerned about the performance and security of their applications," said Jagadeesh.

"Based on my recent interaction with a lot of CIOs, I am confident that the market for application acceleration and security systems will experience rapid growth in 2005 and beyond," he added.