IBM-Telelogic to extend embedded offerings

BANGALORE, INDIA – IBM's acquisition of Telelogic AB, a leading provider of software to develop technical systems and enterprise architecture, has opened doors for the company to gain a foothold in the embedded space.

IBM announced the closure of Telelogic acquisition during April this year. Telelogic has over 8,000 customers globally, and has its operations in 22 countries. In India, Telelogic has a strong headcount of around 300 people who will be integrated into IBM India towards the end of 2008. Telelogic will report into the IBM Rational Software unit.

According to Ken King, vice president and Telelogic Integration Executive, IBM Software: “With the acquisition closure, Telelogic has become ‘an IBM company’. The integrated product and technology roadmap will illustrate incremental value to our systems and IT customers across Telelogic and Rational. India has a unique advantage with this acquisition as we gain not just from the business perspective but also from the strong skill-set that Telelogic has here.”

King says: "This is a strategic acquisition for IBM. Together, IBM and Telelogic will provide a comprehensive offering for defining, modeling, building, testing and delivering the software used in systems in the aerospace and defense, telecom, electronics, automotive and other industries. Currently, we are studying the market with regard to complex embedded systems - especially in the manufacturing space which involves mechanical, electronics and software components."

With software being at the heart of embedded devices and systems, Telelogic becomes an important element of IBM's software and systems development and delivery strategy.

"The software element is growing big in India. More and more innovations are being done in software elements. But what has to be taken note of is that market for embedded systems is not disciplined here. The quality issues are not that serious," he feels.

Also, there is a need for discipline in the software development process and software development cycle, i.e., how the software integrates with the hardware. With these marketing conditions we see the rise in need for these modern tools from the customers. It helps us solve the problems for our customers. Assets like system architecture and enterprise modeling help us address their pain points.

Advantages Telelogic brings to IBM
"Telelogic has brought in its rich skills and user experience to IBM. We are not only infusing their assets but capabilities of the people as well. Telelogic has also brought in its customer relations. Companies like Toyota, Boeing and even the government are looking at us to understand their business needs," says King.

Together, IBM, Telelogic, and business partners will help customers deliver high quality systems to the market faster while reducing costs. Customers will benefit from the combined technologies and services of both companies, providing them a wide range of software and system development capabilities, along with support from a worldwide sales and services organization, he adds. "Customer relations, skills and assets from Telelogic will definitely help us in penetrating this market."

On Indian market
"From IBM's perspective, we can tap the Indian market with ease as we have a huge market reach with more than 70,000 people. There are more than 3,000 people in the software development wing alone, says King.

According to him, the growth in India and the market reach IBM has in India is very complementary. "India is strong in research, space and government sectors. Use of embedded system in these sectors is continuing to grow. Further, with various MNCs in the automobile, healthcare, medicine and electronics moving to India, there is vast scope for this space," King adds.

IBM's footprint in the embedded space
King says: "Managing complexities across the lifecycle is a continuous problem for lot of companies. Now, we are able to plug this through this innovation. What happened in the IT space is happening in the embedded space today. The focus is on aerospace, defense and automobile industries in India. With a lot of offset coming back with defense and with a lot of sub contracting being done by the sector, we see more activity in the embedded space. We are looking at a big growth in the automobile industry as well."

Telelogic's market research helps the growth with other partners of the market as well. We also contrive internal opportunities for business partners. As regards the R&D investment here, we will leverage with our research teams for innovation. Telelogic fits well into service oriented architecture (SOA), systems architecture and enterprise architecture.

As regards the product lifecycle management (PLM) capabilities, Telelogic's assets will help IBM's PLM in a compelling way. This will help decrease the complexities in managing the whole process in the PLM, says King.

We are going to be the leader in this space. Telelogic has seen a growth of 8-10 percent in 2007. This acquisition may help it double the growth by 2009-10, he adds.