Sierra to take the acquisition way to expand into SAP

Sierra Atlantic Software Services Ltd, with headquarters in California and
Global Development Center in Hyderabad, is on an expansion spree. Sierra, which
is into offering packaged enter-prise application from vendors such as
PeopleSoft, Sie-bel, Oracle and SAP, is planning to exp-and into SAP in a major
way by acqui-ring a company that has SAP skill competency.

In yet another development, Sierra is contemplating setting up yet another
development center besides the Hyderabad facility. It has short-listed Chennai
or Bangalore as the next hot spot for Sierra.

Sarath Sura, MD, Sierra remarked that with the company’s major theme for
this year being "growth", it hopes to grow by 40 percent for the
coming financial year with these initiatives. Sierra, according to Sarath, had a
fairly matured practice in Oracle, Siebel and PeopleSoft. "By acquiring, we
can make a head start rather than building our own practices." The company,
which is looking at acquiring companies based in India or the US, expects to
complete the acquisition by this year-end. The acquisition can happen either in
cash or stock or a combination of both.

"By expanding into SAP in a big way, we would turn to be one of the
companies offering all the major packaged enterprise application," he said.

Elaborating on expa-nding its development center either to Banga-lore or
Chennai, Sarath remarked that though Sierra has short-listed these two places,
it con-siders Chennai as the better option of the two. "Though both
Bangalore and Chennai are rich in talent pool, but we are considering Chennai
more seriously, since Bangalore has more noise with the presence of so many
companies," he explained. The new facility to come up within this financial
year (Jan-Dec) will accommodate 150-200 people.

Globally, Sierra is going to expand its workforce to about 900-1,000 people
this year. Currently, it has a headcount of 550 people.

Nisha Kurian

Chennai (Cyber Media News Service)