WebEx Communications Inc, the California-based web communications services major, would be setting up its first $250,000 node in India by September this year.
These nodes are a combination of routers and switches that manage transfer of data, voice and video on the web in order to provide an online environment that stimulates the full spontaneity of face-to-face meetings.
The company is mulling over Bangalore and Hyderabad as the location for the node. Currently, all traffic from India is being handled through their node in Hong Kong.
Announcing the company's tie-up with Bangalore-based CyberBazaar India Private Limited as a communications partner, Subrah S Iyar, the chairman and CEO of WebEx Communications Inc, said: "Each node can handle up to 10,000 calls, beyond which we distribute traffic to other nodes located in Australia and London. The node located in India would help in smooth traffic management."
WebEx has about 7,600 clients which includes some of the biggest names like Microsoft, Boeing, GE and Intel among others.
According to the figures published by Frost & Sullivan, the company provides 64 per cent of the world's web conferencing services and was also named as the fastest-growing technology company over the last five years by Forbes magazine.
In India, nearly 90 per cent of the customers who have availed WebEx's services through resellers, utilise it for interaction outside the country. WebEx would now be marketed in India through CyberBazaar.
Officials at Johnson & Johnson add that with the use of WebEx solutions for project co-ordination with counterparts in the US, the company has been able to save nearly 80 per cent of their travel expenditure.
Having ended the last financial year in December 2002 with $140 million turnover and a net profit of $12 million, this Nasdaq-listed company is hoping to register $180 million turnover this year.
With a CAGR of 186 per cent, the key contributors to its revenue are the hi-tech companies, followed by knowledge-based companies. For the first quarter ended 31 March 2003, the company registered $41.8 million revenues.
WebEx's other communication partner include AT&T, British Telecom and WorldCom, while its solution partners are SAP, PTC and Yahoo.
