Mumbai: In a move that further highlights the importance of India as a research and development hub, US-based telephony network solutions provider Veraz Network Inc is planning to invest $5 million in its Pune facility for furthering of its R&D initiatives. The company intends to make the investment in phases and before the end of this calendar year.

The company intends to increase its R&D activities in the country, which would help in expanding its services and offerings to its customers and add to its overall revenues from the Asia-Pacific region. A part of the investment would also be used as salaries and as investment for equipment and technology, apart using part of it for its ongoing operations in the country.

According to Amit Chawla, executive vice president, global marketing, Veraz Networks, India is a key market for the company, and is next only to the US, its home country. India had contributed over 15 per cent of its total global revenues in 2004. Russia and Israel are its other important markets, he says.

The company is also planning to double its R&D personnel from the present 65 staff to 130, which would also be completed by the end of this year. Veraz Networks' country manager Yogesh Bijlani said the increased headcount would be stationed in Pune.

The company would also open a project office in Mumbai and is looking for a location to set up the office, and is also planning to concentrate on call centre and BPO operations with the launch of its Call Centre Network Compression solution, he said.

Chinese telecom major Huawei Technologies ($100 million turnover in 2004), Sun Microsystems ($1.9 billion), Synygy Inc a US-based 'enterprise incentive management' solutions provider (Rs50 crore) and Motorola ($85 million) are some of the companies that are planning to invest in R&D centres in the India.

Veraz Networks, headquartered in California, is privately funded by US-based ECI Telecom, Argonaut Private Equity, Battery Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers among others.