Sierra Atlantic mulls centre

Kolkata in race with Bangalore, Chennai for 300-seater software development hub

US based Sierra Atlantic is looking at the possibility of setting up a development center in Kolkata and would like to begin with a 300 people software development center.

The company however is yet to arrive at a decision and is also looking at centers like Bangalore and Chennai "" a decision would be taken in the second half of the current calendar.

In the first stage the company will hire office space and would in the subsequent stage move on to owned space.

In a parallel development Sierra Atlantic has lined up a total investment of $14 million at its existing facility at Hyderabad and has firmed up plans of hiring a total of 2,500 people in the next couple of years.

At present Sierra Atlantic has around 780 employees mostly software engineers at its R&D centre in Hyderabad. The expansion would be finance from internal accrual.

The investment in the current and the next year would be made in phases where as many as 1,600 people would be shifted to its new office space being erected in the first phase. In the second phase which was expected to be completed next year the company would hire additional 1,000 people.

Thrust, at present at Sierra Atlantic is on recruitment and the company is looking for professionals with manufacturing background as well as software exposure.

"The ideal situation would be where an employee would have been involved with implementation of software package while in a manufacturing company," explained Sanjoy Khendry, vice president, Sierra Atlantic.

Talking about growth patterns, Khendry said that Sierra Atlantic grew at around 45 per cent last year while it expected to grow at the same pace this year too.

"We have grown at a pace that is higher than the industry and we hope to keep this pace," Khendry informed.

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India foray

• Sierra Atlantic is looking for professionals with manufacturing background as well as software exposure
• It has lined $14 mn for its Hyderabad facility and plans to hire 2,500 people in the next couple of years