Borland to increase partner presence in India

Borland India, a subsidiary of US-based Borland Corporation, is planning to increase its presence in India through its partners. The company is focussing on three types of partners in India - original equipment manufacturers, training providers and consultants, apart from their existing distributors and system integrator partners.

"It is important for the company to increase and establish its presence in India which is considered to be one of the fastest growing markets in the Asia Pacific region. Borland is taking the partner program way to increase its presence in the country and is strategically focussing on OEMs, training companies and consultants. These companies would leverage our position in the market by supporting our Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tools," said Ajay Mohan, Borland India's Country Manager. 

Refusing to divulge names and numbers of the partners to be appointed in India, Mohan said that most partners appointed would be existing customers of Borland. The training partners will offer specialized courses on Borland's technology and tools. Borland is in the process of appointing franchisees and the courses are expected start in the next couple of months. Currently the company is offering the "Train the trainer" course to the faculty of training institutes.

The objective of these efforts by Borland is to increase the professional service offerings. While professional services contribute to 19 percent of Borland's Corporation's revenue, in India it is yet to take off significantly. The company is confident that this will be the year when Borland will not only offer these services but will also gain significantly from it.

Borland has appointed a technology head to form a consultant team comprising of members from within the company and outside. The technology head will also be responsible for setting up a technical support center in Bangalore for Indian customers. The company, which has its regional head quarters in Bangalore, has set up an office in Mumbai and will be setting up branch offices in Calcutta and Chennai soon. In India, Wipro Infotech, Sonata Technologies and Ingram Micro distribute, sell and market shrink-wrapped products of Borland.