NEWS

Wipro inks deal with Lockheed Martin
ndtvprofit.com, August 23, 2007 (Bangalore)

By Sunanda Jayaseelan

It's a business waiting to take off even as global aviation majors look to increase the outsourcing and research and development work done in India.

One company that is expecting to benefit is IT major Wipro, which has recently signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin to set up a centre in Delhi, doing work on cutting edge aviation technology.

"This is a network centric operations lab both a simulation and demonstration lab, wherein problems from defence and civil agencies bring in and do simulation," said VR Venkatesh, Senior VP - Business Unit Head, Embedded & Product Engineering Solution, Wipro.

Although both Lockheed Martin and Wipro refuse to discuss the exact nature of the partnership, the size of this deal is highlighted by the fact that Wipro expects that revenues from its aviation vertical will grow to about 5 - 10 per cent of total revenues in the next three - five years, which pegs the business at $150 million, making it the fastest growing vertical.

Lockheed Martin for its part says that it is still in talks with Indian IT majors like Infosys, Satyam and Wipro as it steps up its presence in India.

"Wipro represented an opportunity for collaboration for opportunities in network centric work. It offers an opportunity for military and civil work and we wanted to partner with a premier company in India. So we are investigating both large and small companies," said Ray Johnson, Senior VP & CIO, Lockheed.

The aviation industry in India comprising manufacturing, outsourcing, IT and high end KPO work is expected to touch about $3 billion in the next three- five years and Wipro with its core strength in product engineering and IT capabilities seems to be the ideal fit.