K.T. Jagannathan

CHENNAI: Cybernet-SlashSupport (CSS), which provides tech support, software testing and development and remote infrastructure management (RIM) services, has announced that it has opened a new IT services facility in Chennai.

The facility is located on a leased two-acre infrastructure at Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), near Tambaram. This is also Cybernet-SlashSupport's first expansion into a SEZ (Special Economic Zone). The new facility has been set up at an investment of $4m and will become fully operational in September.

CSS, which employs around 5,000 professionals, also has an offshore facility in Coimbatore. The company has two facilities in the U.S., a near shore facility in Poland and a redundancy centre in Singapore.

"We are at an exciting phase of growth and seeing good traction from customers in the U.S. and Europe for our OpEx (Operating Expense) optimisation solutions. This expansion has been necessitated by the overall growth in the business, especially in the infrastructure management services space," a release quoted Shiva Ramani, CEO, Cybernet-SlashSupport, as saying.

The current expansion in the MEPZ is a part of CSS's ongoing strategic plan to have facilities across the city that will substantially reduce commuting time for employees to their work places. The new facility is expected to house 350 people over the next six months.

Last week, the company announced its expansion into the Middle East market. The company set up a new offshore NOC (Network Operating Centre) in Chennai in June this year. In mid 2007, CSS received funding of $25m from a consortium led by Goldman Sachs.