NEW DELHI: Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd has announced its plans to set up its international Development and Support Center in Nuevo Leon in Mexico, where it a wholly owned subsidiary, Sasken Communication Technologies Mexico.

Sasken Mexico's 12,000 sq ft development and support centre in Monterrey, in the Apodaca Industrial Park will be able to accommodate 100+ engineers. The process for hiring the required engineers has already been initiated. The facility will be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2006. This center will focus primarily on Embedded System Software Development.

"Mexico has excellent infrastructure and its advanced technical education system, backed by support from Nuevo Leon Government, provides a favorable climate for an industry-academia partnership. Sasken's new facility will provide an opportunity for local engineers to work on projects hitherto unavailable; these will primarily be in the embedded software domain, and with customers who are world leaders in telecom and next-generation wireless technologies," said Rajiv Mody, chairman & CEO, of the company.

The Mexico center is part of the company's "Near Shore Strategy" to cater to the needs of its customers in the Americas.

The company's activities in Mexico will include Embedded System Software Development - specifically related to operating systems, multimedia and applications for mobile handsets important to community and local companies.

The company plans to collaborate, with the local academia and industry in Mexico, to plant the seeds for a sustainable growth strategy for software development.

"We believe that Sasken's near shore centre is an important step in sharing the learnings, and bringing the Indian experience of becoming a software powerhouse to Mexico," added Mody.