BANGALORE: Motorola India Electronics Ltd. (MIEL), the wholly owned subsidiary of the $35-billion Motorola, Inc, is investing $40 million to set up its largest design and software park in Whitefield on the outskirts of Bangalore. The software park will offer end-to-end solutions in converging technologies.

Being the first offshore software development center of Motorola Inc’s global software group, MIEL designs semiconductor chips and develops solutions and systems for communication providers. MIEL was also one of the first Indian IT companies to have achieved the SEI-CMM Level 5.

The upcoming software campus, spread over 500,000 sq. ft., will focus on developing next generation wireless communication products, including GPRS, WAP applications and advanced electronic systems. Announcing the global company's India plans, Motorola Asia-Pacific managing director Mohan Kumar said that the first phase of the new technology center with an area of 150,000 sq. ft. would be up by 2003 at an investment of $12 million.

"By 2005, the second phase will add another 350,000 sq. ft. to enable us to house around 2,500 design and software professionals under one roof. In addition, the 14-acre campus will have other state-of-the-art facilities, including recreation, childcare, healthcare and transport system," Kumar added.

When completed, the Motorola park will be the second largest IT park in the Silicon Valley of India, after the Infosys campus. At its three software development centers (two in Bangalore and one in Hyderabad) and two IC design centers at Gurgaon in Haryana, and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, MIEL now has about 1,400 techies working on converging technologies.

Kumar has projected a revenue of Rs. 1.6 billion at the end of this calendar year for the subsidiary, translating into about 50 per cent growth over its previous year's turnover of Rs. 1.05 billion. The parent company has so far invested $40 million in its Indian operations for software development.

As Motorola's leading R&D center, the Indian subsidiary provides design and software technology for its 17 other development centers worldwide. "In fact, many of the heads of these centers have had their stint first at the Indian software center before going abroad for pioneering new developments in the wireless domain, including protocols," Kumar added.