Spreading their Reach Date:   Tuesday , May 01, 2007 India’s first commercial satellite launch successful In a quantum leap forward, India successfully conducted its first launch of a commercial satellite when an indigenously built rocket put an Italian AGILE astronomical satellite into a 550-km equatorial orbit. The polar satellite launch vehicle PSLV-C8 lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and placed the 352-kg AGILE into orbit to catapult India into an elite group of just six nations that have the capability to launch commercial satellites. What was also significant about the launch was that a European nation had picked the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the launch ahead of more experienced players like France and Russia that between them have launched over 800 space missions. The US, China and Japan are the other nations with similar capabilities. TCS to set up new center in Hyderabad India’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) thursday announced its plans to invest four billion rupees to develop a state-of-the-art development facility on 75 acres of land on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The proposed facility, which will employ 15,000 people, will come up in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) promoted by Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) near Hyderabad international airport. In the first phase, likely to be completed by 2009, it will accommodate 3,000 people. The company plans to add another 5,000 employees by 2011 and 7,000 in the third and final phase thus taking the total headcount of TCS in Hyderabad to 25,000. IBM targets SMBs, launches Goa center As a part of IBM’s expansion, it plans to enter in 14 new cities. This would enable IBM to cater specially to the unique requirements of the various SMB clients spread in the state of Goa and neighboring markets. With over 3000 SMB customers in India, IBM’s operations in Goa will target various clients in Government, Healthcare, Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Construction and Process Industries. The Global Small & Medium Business (GSMB) unit is the fastest growing sector in IBM India. The company has invested in the development of products and services specifically priced and designed for the SMB marketplace under the brand name ‘IBM Express Portfolio’. The portfolio comprises hardware, software, services, solutions and financing. IronPort to start R&D centre in Bangalore IronPort systems, a provider of email and web security products, which is being acquired by Cisco in an $830 million deal is setting up captive research and development team in Bangalore. This R&D centre will have a team of 75 engineers in its first year of operations. Scott Weiss, CEO of IronPort has said that the company proposes to ramp up the R&D headcount to 150 by 2008. He further stated that the R&D centre would develop products for small and medium businesses right from product design, development to quality assurance among others. The company expects a revenue of not less than $10 million from the Indian market this year, a growth of 100 percent. Companies announce revenues With the financial year drawing to a close for most companies on March 31, there were a slew of announcements on their revenues and forward-looking statements. Significant among the revenue announcements was the profits garnered by Infosys, which beat analysts’ expectations. Here’s taking a look at the revenues of four prominent players: