Sequence launches 'Made in India' program

NEW DELHI: - Silicon Valley-based chip-design software company, Sequence Design, has announced the launch of "Made in India" program aimed at fueling the development of innovative EDA tools from its India center.

At the helm of the initiative is Sequence's Center of Excellence at Noida, India, which will spearhead research and product development on advanced problems surrounding power-aware IC design for emerging applications in mobile computing. The program represents an incremental investment of more than Rs. 10 crores in Sequence's Center of Excellence during next 3-4 years.

The "Made in India" program will strive to deliver cutting edge products to Sequence's customers across the globe. Under the initiative, Sequence India's technical leaders will undertake complete ownership and development of key product lines based on the needs of Sequence's multinational semiconductor customers in India, Japan and Korea. The program also envisages broad research and educational initiatives with the leading engineering institutes in India to conduct joint research in the area of newer power reduction techniques at the chip architectural level, and mentor students in leading edge technologies.

"I am very thrilled to launch the "Made in India" program at our Center of Excellence," said Vic Kulkarni, President and CEO of Sequence Design. "The globalization of R&D is now shifting the focus from the pure back-end QA testing, bug fixes or test-bench generation to IP creation initiatives like Made in India. This program is a step to leverage local engineering talent pool and - encourage them to move to core projects. I equate "IP" to "Indian Pride"! This important initiative which will span from market requirement, product definition, R&D development to launch, is consistent with the agenda set by Honorable Dr. Abdul Kalam, President of India, for increasing the overall value created by hi-tech companies."

With a growing customer base of multinational semiconductor companies in India, especially in Bangalore's technology-rich environment, Sequence is looking at an ambitious growth in India. Sequence has invested Rs. 23 Crores in its India operations since last 5 years, earlier through R&D projects with the contracting partners, and now in its own Center of Excellence since August 2003 at Noida.

Kulkarni said that he expects to double Sequence India's strength -by 2006 to bolster the engineering, marketing, and support teams for Sequence's growing customer base in Japan and Southeast Asia.

"Sequence's low-power design tools are significantly improving how design engineers manage power and signal integrity issues around the world," said D. Krishna Kumar, General Manager of Sequence Design, India.

"I'm excited to lead the Made in India initiative to help augment the company's commitment to delivering world-class products. Some of the areas identified for advanced research work under the program are in ESL-Power development, low-power and new algorithm development."