more on Tech: A 'hostile environment' for US natives????

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari () OLTECO com>
Date: May 6, 2005 1:51:55 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Tech: A 'hostile environment' for US  
natives????


    More on this topic, now the buzzword is "low-cost geographies":

Sun Microsystems Expands 4 Facilities [outside US]
- By S. SRINIVASAN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, May 6, 2005

(05-06) 08:29 PDT BANGALORE, India (AP) --

Sun Microsystems Inc. said Friday it is expanding four of its
engineering facilities outside the United States to save on costs,
though the computer and software maker has no plans to cut additional
jobs at its Silicon Valley hub.

The four research and development centers are in the Indian city of
Bangalore, the Chinese capital of Beijing, Russia's St. Petersburg
and the Czech Republic capital, Prague.

"We are over-invested in high-cost geographies like the U.S., and
underinvested in low-cost geographies like India," Stephen Pelletier,
the company's senior vice president of global engineering, told
reporters in Bangalore.

Pelletier said the company will not lay off programmers in the United
States - but won't hire many, either.

"We are not pulling out," he said. "We are going to have a big
presence in the Silicon Valley for a long time."

But the ability to quickly hire a large number of programmers in
India and other low-cost locations justified the company's plan to
consolidate its worldwide research staff in those places, he said.

The company has reduced its staff to about 30,000, from roughly
43,000 four years ago. However, it has cash reserves of $7.5 billion
- enough for expansion.

Sun Microsystems, headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., employs
nearly 1,000 software engineers at its Bangalore center - a number
that will double in two years, Pelletier said.

The other three centers will see similar growth in employee numbers,
Pelletier said, without giving details.

Scores of multinational firms outsource software programming,
engineering design and routine office functions to countries such as
India, where skilled workers are plentiful and wages are low.

Sun Microsystems, which thrived through the 1990s Internet boom, has
fallen on tough times in recent years. It has sought ways to control
rising costs, particularly in research and development.

URL:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/05/06/ 
financial/f082939D76.DTL



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