INFOSYS

'Infosys Technologies Limited' (, ) is a multinational information technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It operates nine development centers in India and has over 30 offices worldwide. Infosys' annual revenues for the fiscal year 2006-2007 exceeded US$3.1 billion with a market capitalization of over US$30 billion. Infosys' income was at Rs. 3,773 crore ($920 million) and net profit was at Rs. 1,079 crore ($263 million) for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. ^[1] Infosys and its subsidiaries employ over 75,971 professionals (as of June 30, 2007) worldwide and it is one of India's largest IT companies.^[2]

Contents

History

Timeline

Key industries

Initiatives

Research

Global offices

Asia Pacific

Americas

Europe

Notes

References

External links

History

Infosys was founded on July 2, 1981 in Pune by N. R. Narayana Murthy and six others: Nandan Nilekani, N. S. Raghavan, Kris Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh and Ashok Arora^[3], with Raghavan officially being the first employee of the company. Murthy started the company by borrowing Rs.10,000 from his wife Sudha Murthy. The company was incorporated as "Infosys Consultants Pvt Ltd.", with Raghavan's house in Matunga, north-central Mumbai as the registered office. In 1983, Infosys moved its headquarters to Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka. In 1987 Infosys got its first foreign client, Data Basics Corporation from the United States.
In 1999 Infosys attained a SEI-CMM Level 5 ranking and became the first Indian company to be listed on NASDAQ. In 2001 it was rated "Best Employer in India" by Business Today,^[4] and in 2002 Business World named Infosys "India's Most Respected Company".^[5] Infosys won the Global MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises) award, for the years 2004 and 2003, being the only Indian company to win this award.^[6]

Timeline

★ 1981: Founded on July 2 by seven software professionals: N. R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, N. S. Raghavan, Kris Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh and Ashok Arora

★ 1987: First international office in the US in Fremont, California, now its US headquarters

★ 1993: Became a public limited company in India with an initial public offering of Rs. 13 crores.

★ 1996: First office in Europe in Milton Keynes, UK

★ 1997: Office in Toronto, Canada

★ 1999: Listed on Nasdaq

★ 2000: Opened offices in France and Hong Kong

★ 2001: Opened offices in United Arab Emirates and Argentina

★ 2002: Opened new offices in Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland

★ 2002: Started Progeon, its BPO (business process outsourcing) subsidiary^[7]

★ 2003: Acquired 100% equity of Expert Information Services Pty Limited, Australia (Expert) and changed the name to Infosys Australia Pty Limited.

★ 2004: Set up Infosys Consulting Inc., U.S. consulting subsidiary in California, U.S.

★ 2006: July 2, Infosys celebrated its 25 years^[8]

★ 2006: Became the first Indian company to ring the NASDAQ Stock Market Opening Bell

★ 2006: August 20, N. R. Narayana Murthy retired from his position as the executive chairman^[9]

★ 2006: Acquired the 23% stake Citibank had in its BPO offshoot Progeon, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Infosys and changed the name to Infosys BPO Ltd.^[7]

★ 2006: December, became the first Indian company to make it to Nasdaq-100^[11]

★ 2007: April 13, Nandan Nilekani stepped down as CEO and made way for Kris Gopalakrishnan to occupy his chair effective June 2007

★ 2007: July 25, Infosys bags multi-million dollar outsourcing contract with Royal Philips Electronics in the area Finance & Accounting services strengthening its European operations. ^[12]
During the 14-year period from 1993 to 2007, the share issue price of Infosys has increased 3000-fold. An investment of Rs. 9,500 (100 shares at an issue price of Rs 95) in the initial public offering of Infosys in 1993 (Rs. 9,500 was approximately $300 according to the 1993 exchange rate) would now be worth Rs. 29,440,000 ($665,235 according to the 2007 exchange rate) after adjusting for stock splits and bonuses. This is excluding the dividends that the company has paid out.^[13]

Key industries

Infosys serves various industries through its vertical business units, such as:

★ Aerospace and Automobile (AnA)

★ Banking & Capital Markets (BCM)

★ Communication Service Providers (CSP)

★ Resources, Energy & Utilities (REU)

★ Hi Tech & Discrete Manufacturing (HTDM)

★ Insurance, Healthcare & Life Sciences (IHL)

★ Media and Entertainment

★ Product Lifecycle and Engineering Solutions (PLES)

★ Retail, Distribution & CPG (RETL)

★ Transportation & Services (TnS)

★ Independent Validation Solutions (IVS) - provides software testing services.

★ IT Infrastructure Management Services (IMS) - manages core networks, data centers and servers of clients.

★ Real Estate

★ Life science
In addition to these, there are business units aligned to clients' geographies, such as EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa), APAC (Asia-Pacific) and CAND (Canada). There are also horizontal business units such as ES (Enterprise Solutions), which specializes in ERP and package implementation and works with clients across industries and geographies and SI (Systems Integration), which provides integration services to clients.

Initiatives

In 1996, Infosys created the Infosys Foundation in the state of Karnataka, operating in the areas of health care, social rehabilitation and rural uplift, education, arts and culture. Since then, this foundation has spread to the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Punjab. The Infosys Foundation is headed by Mrs. Sudha Murthy, wife of Chairman Narayana Murthy.
Since 2004, Infosys has embarked on a series of initiatives to consolidate and formalize its academic relationships worldwide under the umbrella of a program called AcE - Academic Entente. Through case study writing, participation in academic conferences and university events, research collaborations, hosting study trips to Infosys Development Centers and running the InStep Global Internship Program, the company communicates with important stakeholders in the academia, recognizing the fact that the message extends beyond campuses, to customers, shareholders, partners and other stakeholders associated with academia.
InStep – Infosys’ Global Internship Program, is one of the key components of the Academic Entente initiative, and offers live, dynamic projects to interns from the top universities around the world. InStep recruits undergraduate, graduate and PhD students from business, technology, and liberal arts universities to take part in an 8 to 24 week internship at one of Infosys’ global offices.
Through InStep, the company leverages the diverse experiences of global talent to bring in fresh ideas and create a more multicultural environment. Interns gain exposure to a flat world company and an international business environment. The skills gained and networks formed over the course of the internship serve as valuable tools for interns in their future career endeavors. It also provides them a chance to explore career opportunities with Infosys.
For more information log on to http://www.infosys.com/InStepWeb/default.htm
In 1997 Infosys started the "Catch them Young Programme", to expose the urban youth to the world of Information Technology by conducting a summer vacation programme. The programme is aimed at developing an interest and understanding of computer science and information technology. This programme is targeted at students in Grade IX level.^[14]

In 2002, the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and Infosys started the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award. This technology award recognizes enterprises and individuals who have transformed their businesses and the society leveraging information technology. Past winners include Samsung, Amazon.com, Capital One, RBS and ING Direct.

Research

One of the major initiatives taken by Infosys in terms of research was to develop a corporate R&D wing called Software Engineering and Technology Labs (SETLabs). SETLabs was founded in 2000 to carry out applied research for the development of processes, frameworks and methodologies to effectively capture customer requirements and to iron out common critical issues during a project lifecycle.
Infosys publishes a peer-reviewed quarterly journal called ''SETLabs Briefings'' which has articles written by the researchers at SETLabs on various current and future business-transforming technology management themes. Infosys has a RFID and Pervasive Computing Technology practice which is providing RFID and wireless services to clients.^[15] Infosys along with Motorola developed an RFID interactive mirror for Paxar. ^{[16] [17]}
SETLabs has created about five to six frameworks in the domains of business modelling, technology and product innovation. ^[18]

Global offices

Asia Pacific

★ India: Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Mangalore, Mysore, Mohali, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh, Vishakapatnam (proposed) ^[19]

★ Australia: Melbourne, Sydney

★ China: Beijing, Shanghai

★ Hong Kong: Hong Kong

★ Japan: Tokyo

★ Mauritius: Mauritius

★ UAE: Sharjah

★ Philippines: Fort Global City, Taguig

Americas

★ Canada: Toronto

★ USA: Atlanta (GA), Bellevue (WA), Bridgewater (NJ), Charlotte (NC), Detroit, Fremont (CA), Houston, Lake Forest (CA), Lisle (IL), New York, Phoenix (AZ), Plano (TX), Quincy (MA), Reston (VA)

★ Mexico: Monterrey

Europe

★ Belgium: Brussels

★ Denmark: Copenhagen

★ Finland: Helsinki

★ France: Paris

★ Germany: Frankfurt, Stuttgart

★ Italy: Milano

★ Norway: Oslo

★ The Netherlands: Utrecht

★ Spain: Madrid, Burgos

★ Sweden: Stockholm

★ Switzerland: Zürich

★ UK: Canary Wharf, London

Notes

1. Infosys Technologies Q1 Revenues Grew by 25.1% Year on Year, Sequential Growth Flat
2. Infosys Overview
3. The amazing Infosys story
4. India's Best Employers: The Top 5 R. Sukumar
5. BW Most Respected Company Awards 2004
6. Infosys recognized as a Globally Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise for 2004
7.
8. IBM is legacy, Infosys is the future Shishir Bhate
9. Narayana Murthy bids adieu to Infosys
10.
11. Infosys Makes it to Nasdaq 100, Infosys Press release.
12. Infosys Awarded Multi-Year Global BPO Contract by Royal Philips Electronics
13. The wealth that IPOs hide
14. Summer fun
15. [1]
16. http://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services/4339342-1.html
17. http://www.gizmag.com/go/7212/
18. [2]
19. Visakhapatnam Information Technology

References

★ Infosys Overview

★

★ A twist to the tale

External links

★ Infosys official website

★ Infosys Blogs

★ Infosys Technologies Ltd: Company Overview at Reuters

★ Infosys Technologies Ltd: Financials at Google Finance