US' Speedera opens shop in India to cut sales costs
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 09 September 2004, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: US-based Internet storage firm Speedera Networks Inc, which competes with Akamai Technologies Inc, said on Thursday it launched Indian operations to lower global sales costs and win customers. Officials of privately-held Speedera, which rents out computer storage and Internet distribution software, said 16 sales and marketing staff from an Indian team of 40 would help drive European sales. India's low-cost English-speaking workers are known for back-office and software coding work but could also help boost sales efficiency, Speedera's chief executive officer Ajit Gupta told a news conference. Sales and marketing costs often make 25 per cent of a company's budget, and sales that need technical expertise could be done by Indian staff who earn only a tenth of their US counterparts, he added. "We can sell from India. It is not just engineering that we can do out of India," said Gupta, whose company has high-profile investors including Oracle Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co, Deutsche Bank and a Bank of America Corp subsidiary. Speedera was looking to double its headcount in India, said Gupta. The company currently has about 65 of its more than 100 staff in the United States, he said. Speedera also announced a partnership with Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) to provide Internet infrastructure services for the Indian market.

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