Parametric to up R&D headcount

A product life cycle management company, Parametric Technologies, is planning to expand its research and development (R&D) by increasing its staff strength by 100.

James Heppelmann, executive vice-president and chief product officer, Parametric, said though India as a market was a small for Parametric, the company wants to change this and make the country a major centre within the PTC network.

"Pune is home to Parametric's largest R&D centre for worldwide with 600 employees and we will see further growth in the coming year," he said.

Happelmann said, "As cost reduction and time to market are becoming critical, engineering companies are increasingly outsourcing their services to India. We are familiarising Indian companies with western business practices and making sure bottlenecks can be ironed out. Besides, when companies outsource they need to update their software infrastructure and create demand for the software in the process."

The $721 million company hopes to become a $1 billion company by 2008, with an annual growth rate of 12.5 per cent.

"Growth may come through acquisitions, among other things, as we strengthen our current products and get robust enterprise content management offerings. With ECM solutions we will diversify into new segments like pharmaceuticals, government, publishing and financial services for growth," said Heppelmann.