Volume 19, Number 2 Article by Kumar K June, 2007
Creating IP-based Business Out of India
In conversation with Srini Rajam, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, Ittiam Systems:
By the year 2000, the Indian technology industry had witnessed two distinct phases – recognition of the talent of Indian professionals outside the country, and employment of that talent in India itself to provide world class engineering and software services. Extrapolating from this journey, it seemed clear that the next wave would bring a transition into products and technology. Ittiam Systems was started in 2001 with an eye to this future scenario, and a clear focus on the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) niche. The company achieved profitability in just its fourth year of operation and has received several awards including Forward Concepts’ Most Preferred DSP IP Supplier Worldwide for three years in a row, and the NASSCOM IT Innovation Award for 2006.
Ittiam’s experience offers several valuable lessons for entrepreneurs in developing economies aspiring to build high value technology businesses addressing global markets. Prof K Kumar spoke to Mr Srini Rajam, Ittiam’s Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, about the challenges faced by the company, including external shocks like the dotcom bust and the 9/11 attacks. Within the high risk IP model, IP and product form a continuum, with product – entailing market understanding, marketing and sometimes manufacturing – being more risky than IP. Along with the higher risk come higher rewards, and Ittiam tries to strike a healthy balance between the two. Srini Rajam underlines the need to constantly engage with partners to update market intelligence and validate one’s roadmap; with customers to incorporate their feedback in future designs so that the company’s design evoluti on also becomes the market evolution in that area; and with students in campuses to ensure mindshare among the top talent. He also discusses the main challenges of the future for the industry – ensuring scalability and market adoption of new technologies.
Reprint No 07203
