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Microsoft opening a research lab in India

By Brier Dudley
Seattle Times technology reporter

P. Anandan pitched the project idea last year.

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The center will employ around 24 researchers whose focus will include languages, mapping and technology for developing countries.

Microsoft is not opening the center in India to save money, said Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research, who added that the company will continue expanding research labs in Redmond, China, England and the San Francisco area.

"You don't start something like this because you believe it's going to be cheaper, not for basic research," Rashid said. "You're doing it because you believe you can hire great people."

A handful of researchers will transfer to Bangalore from Redmond, but most will be hired in India.

	Rick Rashid is senior vice president of research.

When the center opens next month, Microsoft will have replicated nearly every component of its business on a smaller scale in India. About 1,000 of the company's 57,000 employees work in India on sales, support, product development, testing, human resources and administration.

Rashid said Microsoft has similar "end to end" setups in China and Europe, where research labs were opened in Beijing in 1998 and Cambridge, England, in 1997.

About 400 researchers work in Redmond, 150 in Beijing, 75 in Cambridge and 31 in San Francisco and Mountain View, Calif.

Rashid expects his group will grow globally by 7 to 10 percent a year for the next few years, but it can be hard to get the top people. One reason to expand in India is to recruit top-tier scientists who don't want to relocate.

"Basically, the way I tend to look at it is we're more constrained by our ability to hire in the various geographies than the company's willingness to let us hire," he said. "I've always had more head count available to me than I've actually used.

"Our bar for hiring is pretty high and so we're trying to hire the best people we can. Frankly, if we were only trying to hire in the United States, we couldn't grow to the level we are today."

Microsoft opened a sales office in New Delhi in 1990 and a relatively small product-development center in Hyderabad in 1998.

As India became a world center for technology work, Microsoft dramatically increased its presence across the country to more than 1,000 employees. Most are in Hyderabad, where the company is building a campus that can accommodate at least 3,200 workers.

Last year, Microsoft also opened a customer-support center in Bangalore. Rashid said his group is looking for a building elsewhere in the city, closer to research institutions.

Microsoft started its advanced research group in Redmond in 1991 to produce ideas, technology and road maps for the company. But it also performs a key strategic role. By providing faculty grants, curriculum materials and prestigious internships, it raises the company's profile in academia. It also helps in recruiting premier computer scientists, some of whom prefer to work in their native countries.

In India that mission will complement Microsoft's efforts to be part of an education system that's producing a growing share of the world's technology workers. The company has hired university liaisons in India, and it's forging relationships with the government to broaden computer education, including a recent deal with the state that includes Bangalore.

Rashid, who has never been to India, said the project is the brainchild of P. Anandan, an India-born researcher who joined Microsoft in 1997.

Anandan pitched the idea to Rashid about a year ago. One reason was the opportunity to participate as India expands its graduate education programs. Another was to recruit computer scientists who are less inclined to come to the United States now that quality of life and career prospects have improved in India.

Anandan, whose expertise is computer vision and video analysis, will head the Bangalore center as managing director of Microsoft Research India.

Also relocating to India will be Kentaro Toyama, a researcher named assistant managing director of the India center.

Microsoft plans to continue recruiting Indians for jobs in Redmond, and researchers hired in India may rotate through the company, Rashid said.

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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