Sify expects 25-30% of revenues from global IMS business

CHENNAI: Sify expects to get at least a fourth of its revenues from offshored infrastructure management services by 2010, from 7-8% at present, driving its international business.

Sify chief technology officer Bhaskar Sayyaparaju said the company already had the experience of managing infrastructure in the domestic market, getting over half of its revenues from this segment. This also gave it an immediate access to talent pool, while targeting the market abroad.

On the demand side, market opportunity for these services was huge, gave high profitability and recurring revenues. IMS market is estimated to be $100-150 billion globally. But the tapped opportunity (by India) was $500-600 million. "Infrastructure management is where application management was six to seven years ago," he said.

Sify senior vice-president, International Business, V M Kumar said the market that was emerging some years back has started galloping today. The company started focusing on this market only in the last three years. "We did not participate in this opportunity until late 2003, thanks to being owned by Satyam," he said.

The company works with 15 customers at present and expects the client base to grow on the back of further investments in front end. The primary target markets are USA, UK and the Middle East. It has offices in California, New Jersey in US and in Dubai. It will open an office in London next week.

In India, IMS market is dominated by big companies. While bigger companies project their ability to provide end-to-end solutions, some smaller companies are trying to create a separate brand for IMS services.

Sify in India is better known for its portal, broadband, and internet services, even though its enterprise business is stronger. "Fortunately, in markets abroad, Sify is a new brand, and we can associate it with IMS from day one," Mr Kumar said.