Hyderabad: Pegasystems Inc, a US-based software developer, Tuesday announced the opening of a research and development facility here.

The Nasdaq-listed company is setting up the centre with an initial investment of $5 million and plans to increase it to $200 million in the next five years.

The facility will initially employ 100 highly skilled engineers. "We plan to increase this by five to 10 times in the coming years," Pegasystems founder and CEO Alan Trefler told reporters.

"This will provide Pegasystems with a global research, development and training footprint and will bring greater technology innovation in the BPM (business process management) sector," Trefler said.

The rented facility spread over 25,000 square feet is coming up in the special economic zone in Gacchibowli area of the city. Pegasystems already has 40 people working in the city for the past one year.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-headquartered company hopes that the R&D facility would play a key role in its global BPM initiatives.

Trefler said the company was looking forward to tap the enormous skills and talents available in India. "We are not here just to save cost but we are excited about the enormous skills available here," he said.

Quizzed on the financial meltdown, Trefler said it had no impact on Pegasystems. "Many banks, insurance and telecom companies feel that this is the time to increase their BPM investment," he said.

Trefler said Pegasystems grew 32 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal as compared to the first nine months of 2007, when it registered a 29 percent growth.

The company earned $162 million in revenues during 2007.