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Aperto begins all-round ramp-up; moves to new facility
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 17 May 2007, 19:30 IST
Bangalore: Adhering to projections and prospective demands and location of the mass market in the WiMax space, builder of WiMAX base stations and subscriber units for fixed, portable, and mobile applications Aperto Networks is moving towards upgrading its India center, both in the R&D and sales and marketing space.
The first move in this effect came in the form of the company announcing its relocation to a new facility in Bangalore. While the R&D headcount of Aperto India is approximately 50 now?at par with the Milpitas R&D headcount?the company is looking to ramp up to 70 by year end and 100 by next year.
?That will make India the biggest R&D center for Aperto worldwide,? noted CEO Michael Pratt. The company is also looking at shifting its customer sales and support function to India, which Pratt reckons will not only help it cut down on costs, but also move closer to the market. It is important to note here that Gartner estimated the cumulative size of the WiMax equipment market at $21.4 billion from 2007-11. ?The biggest chunk of this market lies in India and China,? said Pratt. ?While China is a relatively bigger market, it will lag behind India in terms of the growth rate. So the thrust presently is on India,? he added.
?The Indian government as well as most Tier I service providers have shown immense interest and forward movement in deploying WiMax in the country,? said Raghu Santamavattur, MD Aperto India. Talking about the company?s new facility, he said, ?About a third of the space in the new center has been devoted to the lab. That is a pointer to the importance of India to Aperto.? The new facility is almost four times larger than the company?s previous regional headquarters and will house teams in engineering, marketing, and customer service for India and the global market.
Aperto now has two subsidiaries in India to support its engineering, sales, and marketing efforts. Going ahead, it also plans to set up a manufacturing unit in India, the announcement for which is slated for the next month or so.