Mumbai: vMoksha Technologies (www.vmoksha.com), the Bangalore-based offshore IT outsourcing services company, has announced that as part of its rapid growth strategy it has reached an agreement for setting up a joint venture (JV) with CDC Outsourcing, the outsourcing unit of Chinadotcom Corporation (www.corp.china.com). Chinadotcom is a leading integrated enterprise solutions company in Asia with cash reserves of $366 million as of 31 March 2003.

Chinadotcom will hold a 51-per cent interest in the JV with vMoksha owning 49 per cent. The JV aims to provide a broad range of outsourcing-related services to major software vendors and enterprises in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It will have sales and marketing offices in the US, the UK and Australia, while its centres in India and China will primarily focus on offshore development.

The JV should bring about substantial increases in outsourcing services business for vMoksha through access to the clients and relationships of Chinadotcom and its global clients. vMoksha and its partners in the US and elsewhere will also leverage this relationship to make an entry into China with their products and services. vMoksha will also provide merger and acquisition evaluation services, based on its experience, that will provide vMoksha additional outsourcing business through the JV.

vMoksha has proven capability in offshore outsourcing services, made up of product engineering, product migration, package implementation, remote maintenance and support which will be leveraged by the JV along with its China-based capabilities to access global clients.

The service offerings to be provided through the JV are designed to offer clients an unbeatable value proposition - competitive pricing, domain expertise and depth of knowledge, combined with proven delivery capability and high quality management. This JV is also expected to expand Chinadotcom''s outsourcing capability and capacity for its clients.

Once in effect, customers of both JV partners will have additional options that may better fit their requirements, whether it is a specific skill, experience, language or location. The JV will foster a close working relationship between vMoksha and Chinadotcom, where projects will be jointly bid and executed, staff will be cross-trained and methodologies will be shared.

vMoksha's proven skills and experience in managing large projects and use of CMU/SEI-CMMI (Carnegie Mellon University/Software Engineering Institute - Capability Maturity Model Integrated) compliant processes is expected to help Chinadotcom to improve the software development processes of its software development centre in China.

vMoksha, founded in May 2001 and based in Bangalore, has about 500 IT professionals, including 80 in the US and the UK. Its management team has over 500 person-years of experience in the IT industry. vMoksha has established long-term client relationships with large global clients such as S1 Corporation, PeopleSoft, IBM, Wincor Nixdorf, BOC Edwards, Nextance and other leading corporations around the world. It currently has offshore development centres in Bangalore, Pune, and Singapore.

Says vMoksha Technologies chairman Pawan Kumar: "We are pleased to announce this strategic partnership which is an important landmark for vMoksha as part of its rapid growth strategy. Along with Chinadotcom''s commitment to software development and IT outsourcing and vMoksha''s long-term relationships with global ISVs and end-user customers delivering world-class software products and services, we have together converted the potentially competitive positioning between China and India to a cooperative strategy through the JV that brings a unique price-quality value proposition to our customers. The JV will also be complementary to both companies'' existing outsourcing competencies and it should prove to be a win-win situation for both of us."

Says CDC Outsourcing managing director Herman Cheng: "We are delighted to announce this strategic partnership with vMoksha which complements our existing offshore software development centre in China. This JV is designed to provide a solid outsourcing platform in the future for our existing and new global clients who can fully utilise our expanded offshore outsourcing capability. Our clients will continue to be able to work with the local offices while having increased confidence that their projects will be completed with higher quality, lower cost, and greater transparency, such as in the case of the department of trade and industry in the UK."