When Satyam showed the way

Though blamed for tainting the image of the Indian IT sector now, Satyam Computer Services was indeed the first IT firm in the country to use communication technologies to turn pygmy software companies into a billion-dollar industry.

In his latest book 'Transcending Boundaries', author Deepak Chopra said that Satyam was one of the pioneers in using satellite-based data communication, which enabled the Indian software industry to take a quantum jump in the 1990s.

Satyam, which came under the scanner after its founder B Ramalinga Raju confessed to cooking the company's account books for years, was the first Indian software company to use dedicated satellite links in 1992. In the 1990s, IT firms suffered due to lack of high-speed data links.

"A Hyderabad-based startup, Satyam Computer Services, which had signed up its first major offshore customer in June 1991, applied to VSNL for a dedicated satellite link in August that year," the book said.

Using this link, Satyam wanted to execute a re- engineering contract, worth one million dollars, for John Deere Corporation by remotely working on Deere's IBM mainframes located in Chicago.

Following this, many other IT firms started using the dedicated satellite links.

Chopra's latest book is the tale of how a country that exported spices and gems became a frontrunner in the knowledge-based sector and turned into a favoured investment destination for American technology giants.

A detailed researched account of the computing and information technology industry spanning half a century, the book discusses the genesis of computers in India; how the initial IBM monopoly was broken ...

How the innovative use of communication technologies turned small software firms into billion-dollar companies; the role of liberalisation in the IT revolution; and finally, whether this miracle can be sustained in the future.