JOIN USNetApp, the $5.55-billion global major in storage and data management, on Wednesday unveiled its Global Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, with an investment of more than Rs 1,000 crore.
The new engineering facility also houses the company’s first startup accelerator programme titled “Escape Velocity” that will help nurture technology startups. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated the centre along with the state Industries Minister R V Deshapande.
According to NetApp CEO George Kurian, the innovations that will come from our Bengaluru Global Centre of Excellence will help customers around the world get ahead of the competition by enabling their data-powered digital transformation strategies.
“The centre will enable NetApp to handle increasingly multidisciplinary and collaborative work which will enable the free flow and cross-pollination of ideas,” said Kurian. The new campus, spread over 15 acres, will become the largest R&D centre of NetApp in the world. The campus now has around 2,000 employees and can accommodate 3,300 employees.
NetApp started its India operations in 2000, and the R&D centre in 2003. “The centre helped us lead global teams and build breakthrough innovations. It has caused us to invest much more broadly towards expansion of other capabilities like global shared services centre, customer support centre, global service delivery centre, and others,” said Kurien.
On the startup accelerator programme, Kurien said the company can bring its expertise and infrastructure to enable a range of storage and data management capabilities through the startup ecosystem here in India.
“On this facility, with our world-class employees and talent, and the ecosystem that we have built through relationships and partnerships, NetApp can come up with breakthrough ideas on how to make the digital world through data management better, faster, cheaper and more differentiated,” he said.
Kurien said, the company will soon recruit startups for the Escape Velocity Programme, and has the game plan to fund them.