Would Telesoft consider building an end product from India, the way it built the softswitch in 1999?
We cannot build a product away from the market. For instance, the most successful technology product in the Indian market is Tally. Every accountant who needs it is right there and company can incorporate customer feedback into the product. You can only build a product close to the market. You cannot have R&D away from the market. The key product management team will have to be in the marketplace. For instance, to build the softswitch, we set up a US subsidiary. We moved 30 of our engineers to Dallas when everyone was moving work to India We went to the marketplace and that’s what helped us build a full-fledged product. Once that happened we entered into partnerships with Motorola and Cisco. We beat Nortel and Fujitsu and NTT DoCoMo. We won major clients. We received major investments from Motorola. This could not have happened if we were operating from Bangalore. Also, there’s a big difference between a technology and a product. Most companies today brand their IP as products. A produ
