Sun Microsystems begin operations in Visakhapatnam

As part of its expansion to tier II cities in India, the $ 13 billion US-based Sun Microsystems launched its operation in Visakhapatnam on Thursday in tie-up with Locuz Enterprises Solutions Limited (LESL).

Systems, servers, design work station, "sparc" processors, advanced micro devices known as "opteron" and webservers are some of the products the firm would market, said Sun Microsystems India's (SMI) regional director-south Ganesh Mahabala.

Talking to newsmen, he said the city and other areas in the region had a large number of business units making it an attractive market from an IT infrastructure consumption point of view.

The Vizag operation would take care of the entire coastal Andhra Pradesh, he said, adding that after Hyderabad this was second place in the State where SMI's activity was launched.

With a large customer base like the BSNL, ONGC, banks, pharmaceutical industries, educational and research institutions and manufacturing industries in hand, the company hopes to exceed its 15 per cent market in the country during 2006-07, he said.

LESL vice-president (business) Durganadh K. Venkata of the Hyderabad-based IT company, a joint partner of SMI, said with the tie-up the company targeted to achieve 16 per cent growth this fiscal. LESL is a $ 7 million company and has operations in major cities of the country, he said.