Cognizant buys French IT company Galileo Performance

IT consulting and BPO services provider Cognizant said yesterday that it has acquired French IT testing consulting services provider Galileo Performance, for an undisclosed sum.

New Jersey-based Cognizant run by Francisco D'Souza, said, ''The acquisition will enable Cognizant to bring world-class testing services to the French market, and the addition of French-speaking consultants will help us better serve our customers in the region.''

Paris-based Galileo specialises in the measurement, management and continuous optimisation of IT system performance.

Galileo will expand and complement Cognizant's fast-growing global testing practice, currently among the world's largest with more than 10,000 testing professionals, while strengthening Cognizant's existing business presence in France, said Cognizant.

''New virtualised business and technology architectures require that quality assurance and testing organisations transform themselves into full lifecycle partners, working with business users, developers and others within and outside of the client organisation to champion software quality,'' said Sumithra Gomatam, senior vice president and Global Head of Cognizant's Testing Practice.

Cognizant, which had revenues of $3.279 billion in 2009, provides a range of information technology consulting and business processing outsourcing (BPO) services, including business and technology consulting, complex systems integration, application development and maintenance.