Satyam Computer Services, a leading global consulting and information technology services company, has announced the launch of its global development centre (GDC) in Smart Village in Giza, Egypt.

Satyam is the first Indian company to establish its presence in Egypt. A
high-level delegation from Egypt visited the company’s Hyderabad headquarters to strengthen the agreement between the two parties.

With the new Egypt base, Satyam has achieved another important step towards its ‘globalisation’ plans and its aim to leverage the current boom in the region, which saw the total IT spend for the MEA region touch $35 billion in 2007, said a top official.

'The move is also a testament to the emergence of Egypt as an IT hub with the IT Services market in the country projected to reach $163 million in 2007,' said Virender Aggarwal, director and sr. vice president, Satyam Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

“As we approach an era of convergence between strategic business operations and information technology, we recognise Egypt as one among the countries in the region that are steadily moving towards the global IT market spotlight in terms of the maturity of its software offshoring industry,' he added.

'This has prompted us to establish a strong presence in Egypt through our partnership with the government to establish the GDC, which will aid in building a reputation for Egypt as a global software offshoring resource hub,” Aggarwal said.

“With the success of this venture, we are looking forward to adding value due to the proximity to our customers and contributing to the growth of the outsourcing industry in the region,” he pointed out.

The GDC in Egypt will train and deploy about 300 personnel, majority of which are locals, to handle customer engagements and serve as a major technological development and software support group for Satyam's customers in the Middle East.

Fuelled by the growth of the IT services market and the growing demand for outsourcing, Satyam has set up the state-of-the-art GDC in a bid to offer regional customers access to the global service standards of Satyam at local prices, Aggarwal noted.-TradeArabia News Service