The Hindu Business Line : Google opens centres in Hyderabad, Bangalore

THE Google founders, Mr Larry Page and Mr Sergey Brin, are currently in India to announce their two technology development centres one each in Hyderabad and Bangalore — with the latter focussing on research and development.

After the recent IPO by the US-based search major, the Co-Founder and President - Products, Google, Mr Larry Page, and the Co-Founder, President - Technology, the Russian-born Mr Sergey Brin, have been touring some of their global offices. They commissioned a centre in Dublin, Ireland, and now are in India to oversee their centres. They see services also getting localised catering to special requirements, particularly advertisements.

Google Hyderabad is its second centre in India and will be home to engineering, online sales, operations and human resource functions. The Google's ADWorlds that supports the global advertising related activity and generates revenues for the corporation would be supported from here.

Addressing a select media meet, the duo, who toured parts of Hyderabad in an autorickshaw to explore the city environs, said "engineers hired into the Google Hyderabad engineering centre would mirror Google's other engineering offices, with the same scope of work, hiring standards and the company's unique culture. They are part of the worldwide efforts to create best search experience for Google users and can expect to tackle some of the most interesting challenges in computing today."

The company chose Hyderabad due to its large technology talent pool, competitive economic environment and infrastructure. While refraining to give any further details on the number of people they would hire here and the investments proposed, they said it would depend on their ability to find the right talent. On the other hand, several employees of Google, engaged in research and development, chose to locate a centre in Bangalore.

On Monday, the duo called on the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and discussed technology issues. Dr Kalam, they said, was extremely knowledgeable and made a few suggestions. "On our part, we explained how Google could be used as a research tool for students and researchers.'' The other meeting with the Prime Minister did not materialise.

On the possibility of commercial launch of Gmail, the duo said they were still in the stage of testing it and constantly improving its features. However, there is no firm date or time when they expect to launch it for common use. "Our search engine now supports over 100 languages, including some of the Indian languages, and users are growing by the day. We were predominantly a US centric company and have taken to expansion in other areas including Russia. While we are yet to decide where to expand, we are exploring the possibility of locating centres in China, Japan, and other countries in the region,'' they said.