Panasonic plans tie-up with local cos for telecom gear, software

KOLKATA: Panasonic Asia Pacific plans to develop software for its communications hardware, including IP telephones, in India. Currently, it is in talks with three local companies to develop such software that would be bundled with its communication devices sold world-wide. Panasonic Asia Pacific is a 100% subsidiary of $76-billion Matsushita Electric of Japan, popularly known as Panasonic.

“We are in talks with three local companies that are into developing specialised software for communications devices. It will be a technical tie-up and we will work to develop solutions for PBX switches and for writing IP software solutions for soft phones. Panasonic in India is planning to transform itself into a communication solutions provider. The software will be initially sold in India, and subsequently, will be bundled with solutions marketed the world over,” Chander Mohan Kohli, COO of Panasonic Asia Pacific (India Branch) said. He spoke to reporters last week during a whistlestop tour to the city to unveil Panasonic’s range of office automation software.

Though Mr Kohli declined to name local companies, he said: “The companies are located at Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The tie-up with them will be for different fields of communication. These will include developing software for computer telephone integration (CTI), applications for call centres, and different verticals like hotels, etc.”

“Currently, nearly all software that goes into our hardware is developed in Japan. As India is emerging as a major IT hub, it makes sense to develop these in India,” Mr Kohli said.