Agreement Heralds New Opportunities For Irish Software Industry In India

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

25 January 2006

The Irish Software Association (ISA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with its Indian equivalent NASSCOM in a bid to identify business opportunities for Irish companies to sell their products and services.

“The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding is very significant and will enhance partnerships between Irish and Indian software companies," observed Ireland's Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheal Martin who was present at the signing.

"I know that the Irish Software Association and its Indian equivalent, NASSCOM have also agreed to continue to work together for the mutual benefit of the software industry in both countries," he added.

The signing of the MoU between representatives of the Irish and Indian software industries coincided with a major Irish governmental and trade mission to India, headed by Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, design to foster closer economic and trade links, particularly in the high-tech industry sectors.

Twenty Irish software companies have taken part in the trade mission including Qumas, SteelTrace, Prime Carrier and Fineos among others.

"India is a very large and daunting market to small Irish companies, but the strong entrepreneurial culture of the indigenous Irish software sector means we have an appetite for the massive opportunities that are out there," noted ISA Chairman, Bernadette Cullinan, at a presentation.

Ms Cullinan added that there were "massive opportunities" for both Indian and Irish software companies who were prepared to forge closer links.

Some of the potential new market opportunities for Irish companies discussed at the roundtable meeting included:

• The licensing of technology to improve existing products and services.
• Access to large scale testing laboratories, which are widely available in India but not in Ireland.
• New collaborations with companies that can provide a quicker route to market for Irish product companies that need to orient their offerings towards a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) method. This method has become part of the way many of the largest Irish and international customers for software now approach their purchases.

"We believe that the MoU provides a framework to help move us along the road to achieving that goal of enhancing scale and provides an effective link between the Irish and Indian software sectors so this commitment from both governments and the software industry will pave the way for future collaboration," stated Ms Cullinan.

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