IBM to open SOA Leadership Center in India
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 11 December 2007, 20:30 IST
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Bangalore: IBM today announced plans to open a SOA Leadership Center in India designed to address the growing demand for skills needed to solve customer business challenges using Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). The center will be set up in Bangalore and would be the first of its kind in Asia Pacific and the fourth of a series of SOA Leadership Centers planned across the world. The center will become fully functional during the first quarter of 2008. The SLC center in Bangalore will be staffed by IBM’s Global SOA experts and will focus on three key areas: SOA education and training; SOA implementation support; and SOA exhibitions and demonstrations, thus benefiting IBM customers, Business Partners and University students. The SLC will offer training and instruction from leading SOA experts; certification and joint education programs with top local universities; as well as access to industry models and SOA best practices and proven methodologies based on the IBM’s worldwide experience. Further strengthening IBM’s commitment to India and SOA, the Leadership Center will serve as a focal point to harness the SOA skills and expertise from IBM product and services teams & IBM Business Partners. The center will work closely with universities to address skill shortages evident in fresh graduates. According to industry firm Springboard Research, shortage of SOA skills is one of the biggest hurdles to faster SOA adoption in India. "Opening this center is a direct response to what our customers in India are demanding," said Panini Dwivedi, Country Manager - WebSphere, Software Group, IBM India/ SA. Springboard Research’s latest report expects the SOA market in India to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40 percent from 2007-2010 making it the fastest growing market in the regions. According to the same report, IBM remained the leading SOA vendor in the Asia Pacific region. Evangelizing SOA and its benefits in the global market place, IBM has witnessed increasing interest from customers towards SOA adoption in India. Intense competition, rapid advancements and heavy scaling especially in the telecom and banking space is driving companies to be nimble which in turn is facilitating the adoption of SOA. IBM is currently working on making IT architecture SOA-enabled with Bharti, DLF, BSNL, Delhi International Airport and State Bank of India to name a few. The Center will provide a venue for customers and IBM Business Partners to see SOA solutions in action through SOA proof of concepts to demonstrate the potential benefits of SOA in a customer's existing IT infrastructure. The Center will also help address SOA skills through relationships with local universities. Through these relationships, IBM is helping to shape the curricula and provide opportunities for students to develop the proper skills to succeed with SOA in their chosen fields when they enter the workforce. Local students can have the opportunity to serve as interns at these centers, work hands on with technologies that support SOA and attend education sessions delivered by IBM experts.

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