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Business News/ Companies / People/  Adobe tweaks expansion of Noida campus
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Adobe tweaks expansion of Noida campus

Adobe tweaks expansion of Noida campus

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New Delhi/Bangalore: After waiting almost four years to secure vacant land next to its existing campus in sector 25-A of Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, the Indian arm of US-based software firm Adobe Systems Inc. has given up plans to expand at the site. The company has purchased land instead in sector 132 of Noida where it will build the new facility spread over 7.5 acres.

The company has earmarked around $100 million for expansion in Noida and Bangalore, which together make for Adobe Systems’ largest research and development (R&D) centre outside the US.

Around $50 million will go into the new Noida campus and the rest will be used for expanding the Bangalore facility, Adobe India’s managing director Naresh Gupta said.

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“We are building it in phases and the total capacity of the centre will be designed to meet our requirement for the next 3-5 years," he said.

Gupta did not say whether the existing campus will be shut once the new one comes up around mid-2012. But he said that the company’s objective was to consolidate business operations at one place to make them more efficient.

The $100 million earmarked for infrastructure expansion isn’t part of the $200 million that Adobe had committed to India in 2006.

“We have already spent that $200 million fund on building capabilities and skill sets," said Gupta.

The company, which undertakes product development out of its campus in Noida and Bangalore, proposed to set up a centre of the same scale next to its three-acre campus in Sector 25-A. But it had to shelve the plan in the wake of delays by the Noida Authority in allotting land.

According to Adobe’s annual report for fiscal 2008-09, India is the only location, apart from San Francisco on Townsend and Waltham, where the company doesn’t lease or sublease its properties and instead owns them.

“The Board of Directors has approved facilities expansion for our operations in India, which may include the purchase of land and buildings," the report says.

The company has similar plans for expanding its Bangalore centre. Paul Weiskopf, senior vice-president, corporate development, at Adobe, who was recently in India, said the company is increasingly using its research and development (R&D) teams in India not only for the firm’s traditional suite of imaging and document software, but also for integrating content creation and deployment across devices.

“We now have 1,700 people, mostly in Noida and Bangalore," he said, adding that about 35% of Adobe’s engineering talent worldwide is in India. “We have now close to 20 products that are managed entirely out of India, like Illustrator, Captivate, Photoshop elements, and Framemaker," he said.

“In terms of innovation, we have generated over 200 patent filings for Adobe out of India, and we have recently opened an Advanced Technology Lab. Plus, there is a lot of work on forward-looking fundamental research and innovation," said Weiskopf.

While India is yet not a big market for the company in terms of sales, it continues to increase its employee base in the country for R&D.

“Our new Noida campus should be ready by 2012 — land has been purchased and plans for construction are well under way. We have plans to expand in Bangalore as well. India is a large and growing market in its own right and in terms of talent, so it is certainly one of the many markets we are looking at," said Weiskopf.Adobe’s India research and development centre was started in 1997 and has since grown to be its second largest R&D campus worldwide.

In the last fiscal, the company reported revenues of $2.9 billion globally, out of which Asia contributed $634.4 million, most of which came from Japan. Adobe doesn’t report its India revenue seperately.

Surabhi.a@livemint.com

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Published: 24 Oct 2010, 10:56 PM IST
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