F5 Networks opens CoE in Hyderabad

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F5 Networks president and CEO Francois Locoh-Donou (right) at the inauguration of India’s first Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: US headquartered F5 Networks opened its first centre of excellence for product development in India in Hyderabad on Thursday. The company that works in the space of multi-cloud application services has opened the CoE at more than 90,000 square feet with a seating capacity of 440. Currently, it has employed 200 people and in less than two years it plans to double the headcount to 400 employees at the Hyderabad centre.

The CoE, according to the president and CEO of F5 Networks Francois Locoh-Donou, will play a crucial role in adopting new operating models, infrastructure options and services to set the pace for digital transformation initiatives for the company’s customers around the world. “The centre will assist in the development of our core solution areas and advance our cloud capabilities. The products developed by the team here will be used by our 25,000 clients globally,” he said.

 

With about $2 billion in revenue, F5 was started in 1996 and since then it has expanded its operations to about 60 countries with about six countries having seven R&D sites. On being asked why they chose Hyderabad as the destination for setting up their India R&D centre, Ravi Kasinadhuni, vice-president and India site lead said, “In 2017, we had set up a team that would help us in setting up a R&D centre in the country. We visited a lot of places and finally we zeroed on Hyderabad mainly due to three factors – good infrastructure, access to strong engineering talent and business friendly environment of the government.”

Without divulging details on the investment made in the Hyderabad centre, Locoh-Donou informed that the company spends over $350 million annually on R&D globally and Hyderabad will offer connection to several markets around the Asia Pacific region. He also informed that the company is working closely with clients in India specifically in the areas of financial technology, telecom and public sector.