IBS, Atraxis to set up a joint venture

BANGALORE : The International Business Services (IBS) group, specializing in software services to the global air transportation industry, and the Zurich-based Atraxis AG have signed an agreement to set up a joint venture for taking up offshore software development services.

The IBS group has also announced plans to form a holding company of its own by hiving off the existing software development activities to the newly formed joint venture. The yet-to-be named joint venture will start operations in January 2000 and invest over Rs 20 crore, of which the Indian partner's share will be 60 per cent. It will employ 600 software professionals and hopes to generate revenues of Rs 100 crores over three years. Air transportation and banking and finance will be the major areas of specialization of the new company. The product and services portfolio will include systems delivery, project management, business consulting and technology consulting.

According to company officials, Atraxis has been setting up business operations in different parts of the world through partnerships and alliances. The business partnership with IBS would help the company achieve its offshore objectives, he said. The alliance would be of a strategic nature, different from the project-related partnership Atraxis already has in India with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).