LG Soft to recruit for its India R&D center

BANGALORE: LG Soft India (LGSI), promoted by the $81 billion LG group announced its plans of investing 20% of its profits in R & D activities in India. The focus of the R& D center is to foray into the new paradigm of pervasive computing. The decision to focus on pervasive computing comes from the fact of leveraging its existing technology groups-Enterprise technology group, Convergent technology and Product Content group.

The company has also planned to increase their manpower to a total of 300 and plans to recruit senior engineers, designers, architects and managers. The bulk of the recruitment is expected to be based at their Bangalore center. Over the next three years, the company plans to scale up to 700 from the present 225.

Said LG Soft India, President and CEO, Anilesh Seth, "Given the technical expertise that lies within the company, our decision to invest in R & D to the tune of $200 thousand in the area of pervasive computing highlights the unique blend of communication technology, application development expertise and content. These are the areas that we are uniquely positioned to deliver".

According to him, having broken even in the year 2001 and ending the year 2002 at 17% PAT, the company plans to grow further and be more profitable in the comings years. It is expected to make inroads into more European countries particularly the Scandinavian countries, through their Convergent Technology group and since it has a good customer base in France, a good technology hub, this too will form the focus market.

As part of their strategy, the company plans to tap the pervasive computing market through a multi-fold future plan. This includes focusing on developing Intellectual Property (IP) of their own, apart from the investing in R & D. It expects to pursue plan for an inorganic growth in terms of acquisitions or IPO or strategic investment. In terms of acquisitions, the company would be looking at enterprises with specific technology expertise and a strong customer base.