IBM launches fourth facility in Chennai

 CHENNAI: IBM today announced two initiatives in Tamil Nadu, to open its fourth facility here, which will provide services to domestic and international clients and the launch of the IBM ‘Re-inventing Education’ program in India with the Corporation of Chennai.

The new facility will be situated at the DLF Park in Guindy. The facility will enable IBM to scale its existing Application Services and Global Services Delivery center in India to meet growing client demand. The new facility will be operational in early 2007 and will have the capacity to house 3,000 employees.

Shanker Annaswamy, managing director of IBM India and Stanley Litow, president, IBM Foundation, earlier met with the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, who welcomed the decision.

Maran said: “The information technology industry is fueling future growth in Tamil Nadu. I am delighted that a globally respected company like IBM has chosen to invest and partner with us in development of our state and offer new opportunities for the talented workforce here.”

IBM’s ‘Re-inventing Education’ program in India focuses on professional development and training for teachers to help meet national objectives of education reform. This program will be initially implemented in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, over a two-year period involving more than 30 schools and reaching out to over 7,000 students in grades six to ten. The key objective of this program is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the middle and secondary school sector through the development of new curriculum and teaching methodologies.

With a focus on Mathematics and Science, the program aims to ease the transition of students from primary to secondary education and contribute to student retention.

Shanker Annaswamy, managing director, IBM India said: “These announcements reiterate IBM’s commitment to India, to growing our business and contributing to Indian society. The skill sets in India allow IBM to accelerate the development of innovative technology solutions for our clients both domestically and across the globe.

"IBM is focused on driving its education initiatives and Corporate Citizenship programmes in India through contributing technology, talent and resources to address social challenges in communities, he said.

"IBM's Community initiatives in Tamil Nadu leverage IBM's expertise in technology to contribute to education and children and societal issues. Access to IBM's re-inventing education program will contribute to mathematics and science learning in schools, while helping to reduce the digital divide," he added.

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