The Hindu Business Line : Ixia plans Rs 4.5-cr facility in Bangalore

Bangalore, Sept. 2 Business is now moving from California to India for Ixia, an $165-million firm that tests networks before a roll-out. Expansion plans are afoot, with a Rs 4.5-crore investment in a new facility in Bangalore.

A total of 150 staff at Kolkata and Bangalore work on sales, research, training and customer support. The team in India is specialised in performance and functional testing of high performance IP communication devices and networks.

Growing demand

With the roll outs of triple play, expansion in telecom and broadband networks in the sub-continent, Ixia is seeing rising demand for its product — a device that emulates subscribers of a network, their usage patterns and performance of the network, said Mr R.W. Sam Bass, Executive Vice-President, Operations, Ixia.

The Optixia series is used by network equipment firms such as Nortel, Juniper, Internet service providers, carriers (operators) and even research and development labs. It has 60 clients, including CDOT and ITI. It competes with Agilent and Spirant. Eight per cent of the company’s total sales are directed to India.

However, most of the equipment is shipped by its customers over to their research labs here, said Mr Vic Alston, Senior Vice-President, Product Development, Ixia. “This trend will continue,” he said.

Looking at acquisitions

The company is looking at acquiring firms with turnover in the range of $20 million to $80 million. “An Indian presence is a must. We are looking at both multinationals and Indian firms.

“Firms that have capabilities in wireless-to-IP data transmission will be valuable. We could also look at acquiring intellectual property technology developed by a company with a team of 10-15 developers,” he said.

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