The Hindu Business Line : MAQ Software to expand India arm

MAQ Software, a software product and services company, plans to expand its India subsidiary at an investment of about $1.5 million. It will ramp up headcount and expand the services portfolio by targeting domestic companies, particularly banks and insurance sectors.

The Director of MAQ Software, Mr Vikram Kumar, told Business Line, "The Seattle-based company has developed a range of products for marketing, manufacturing and related areas including the financial services market aimed at bringing in operational efficiencies. We have so far invested about $0.5 million and have decided to invest about $1.5 million in India - particularly in infrastructure - and pave way for expansion of our services offering. We are privately held and internally funded and expect to meet the expansion plans through our own resources."

Founded by former Microsoft Corporation managers, MAQ Software, with a development cum support centre in Mumbai, has developed Web and Windows-based solutions for customers focused on high technology. . Through its technology centres in Seattle and Mumbai, MAQ Software was able to accelerate development, deployment and management of business systems, Mr Kumar said.

The company's clients include Microsoft Corporation (for Xbox and Office applications), OEMs and companies in healthcare and manufacturing.

"Having been closely associated with Microsoft, we are aligned to their solutions offering and are in a position to offer offshore custom software development in XML Web Services, .NET and other technologies," he said.

MAQ Software, along with the Sports Games Studio team at Microsoft, helped develop XSN sports world championship - an online tournament in the console video games industry. This game combines Internet, e-mail and Xbox live to invite gaming from across the world.

"We started with a product for the marketing department, which aims to help corporations cut down on costs. This is mainly aimed at technology companies, but other areas such as manufacturing and healthcare too benefit from such an application. For instance, within India, we expect to tap the banking and insurance sector, where efficiencies could mean savings. Our product and services are being evaluated by a few domestic banks, FMCG players and other sectors," Mr Kumar said.