ACADEMIA

The new facility will focus on the full spectrum of engineering work that is currently done in the U.S. -- Juniper Networks, the data networking company, today announced the opening of a new technical center in Bangalore, India two year after it started operations at two smaller, dispersed facilities. The new Bangalore facility will focus on the full spectrum of engineering work that is currently done in the U.S. The center's laboratory will support Juniper Networks product development by testing systems for the company’s solutions. "Today's announcement reinforces our growth momentum in the Indian market,” said Sridhar Sarathy, managing director, Juniper Networks, India operations. "In fact, 10 per cent of the overall engineering workforce in Juniper is based in India, and they work on all product lines as the US R&D center." Built with an investment of US$8.5 Million, the centre features a high-performance network infrastructure and leading-edge technology and telephony systems. It complies with the international and Indian technology standards, including climate control requirements, security operations and network requirements, and power back-up systems. It includes labs which can support 500 racks of high end networking equipments used by development and test engineers. The facility seats the company’s 300 Bangalore employees and can accommodate growth up to 675 employees. Sam Srinivas, Juniper Networks, Chief Technologist for India operations, said there was strong demand for a professional center that is recognised throughout the industry. "With the IP networking sector in India growing rapidly, and professional testing a much sought-after resource, we are confident that this center is well-positioned to serve that need," said Srinivas.