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NEW DELHI: With India standing at the threshold of adopting 3G, Dilithium Networks, supplier of 3G multimedia solutions, has entered the country by setting up a global R&D center.
Dilithium plans to tap the immense opportunity that would be created with 3G services being provided in India. The company's products include multimedia transcoding gateways, 3G-324M protocol analysis test tools, protocol stacks and video telephony client solutions.
Dilithium Software Technologies India Pvt. Ltd Engineering VP and GM Sanjay Singh said, “We have set up an R&D center in India to take advantage of the engineering skills available here. It is also easier to scale up in India. India is likely to deploy 3G services in 2006, and given the large potential market, it is important that Dilithium develop local technical and support capabilities in advance of these launches.”
He added, “Till the spectrum issue is resolved, no operator would go in for 3G. By the third or fourth quarter next year, I expect 3G services to happen in India. Services like video mail, video telephony, video helpdesk, video streaming, etc. can be provided on a 3G network. I feel that in India the killer application would be video streaming. The first operator to launch these services according to me would be BSNL.”
The company is talking to Indian content providers, mobile service providers, equipment manufacturers, etc. It is also planning to set up a small group to generate ideas for developing innovative applications on 3G suited to the local taste. For this it plans to work together with Indian content providers.
The company's India R&D center is working on a project on video streaming. Currently, the company plans to support the sales and marketing of its solutions from Singapore and starting January 2006, it would look at setting up a sales and marketing presence in India.
“The company's commitment to India is very high and we would invest in IP and R&D centers. We have come here not due to the cost differential but because of the talent base here. We are a product company and would also look at setting up a manufacturing base in India in future,” Singh said.
Apart from offering solutions, Dilithium also provide support to its customers through its global support system (GSS) team. “I expect the Indian engineering team to play a major role in providing support. We plan to have a sales and support team in India and maybe operate a 24x7x365 call center in India.
We currently employ 11-12 people in India, which would increase to 14-15 by December 2005.”
Replying to a question on competition, he said, “The entry barrier in terms of the technology expertise we have is very high. We went into video telephony long before it become fashionable. We have developed a lot of algorithms and are in the process of patenting them. To bypass our patents and achieve the same video quality will take time.”
The company claims that its AnswerFast Plus technology reduces the call session set-up time to less than one second, which is comparable to voice calls. Present 3G video telephony handsets on the market today typically take five-eight seconds for the voice and video channels to be established.