CSS ventures into IMS; consumer service also on the cards

Cybernet Software Systems (CSS) Group, the San Jose headquartered IT services company with offshore facilities in Chennai, has recently ventured into the infrastructure management services (IMS) space. The company is eyeing the US, Europe, Australia and Japan markets for this business and claims to offer end-to-end services for enterprises. 



“We got into IMS about 18 months ago, providing service for our existing customers, but kept a low-profile till date. Now, CSS is ready for a major take-off. Our aim is to become top three player in the country by 2008,” said Shiva Ramani, co-founder and CEO of CSS Group.



The company claims to have built its own solution-Network Management Services (NMS)-based on the open source platform for IMS business. “It took more than one-and-a-half years to build NMS and the product is an outcome of our own experience in the industry, over the last nine years. CSS strength in enterprise services, consumer services and product lifecycle services have jointly contributed for IMS kick-off,” he pointed out.



CSS is already into remote infrastructure management (RIM) services on the enterprise side, which is contributing nearly 5 percent of the company's total revenue. With IMS rolling out, the company expects the contribution to go up to 25 percent to touch $50 million by 2008. “CSS as a group will clock a turnover of $ 200 million during the same time,” hoped Ramani.



The company's direct presence in the US and recent foray into the Australian market are expected to give it the necessary thrust for the business. Japan is the only region where it is banking on partnership and has forged alliance with NTT Communications Corporation (Japan), a leader in data and IP services. CSS targets mainly BFSI, SAS (Software As Service) and logistics segments in business.



Talking about the opportunities in the Indian market, Ramani said, “India is yet to mature for IMS business and presently, the companies here are still in the acquiring and deploying stages of IT infrastructure and applications. The third stage is the managing part which will mature over the years.”



CSS is also working on a novel initiative of providing IMS for consumers. Explaining the concept, Ramani said, “Now, IT consumers in the western market (US and Europe) spend more money on telephone bills seeking technical support from vendors for the various devices they bought and networked with the PC. To avoid this, we are going to offer them a comprehensive service of managing their IT infrastructure for a nominal charge of $5 per month. We are sure this will be a big hit in the market, since both consumer and vendor will save money by not spending on telephone bills and investing more on help desks, respectively.” According to Ramani, the US and European countries have an installed PC base of more than 400 million.



Last year, the group registered a turnover of $70 million in business and this year, it projects to be a $100 million company. CSS Group comprises of Cybernet Software Systems (for software services); SlashSupport (for technical support); ReadyTestGo (for testing services) and Synaptris (a product company).