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Vishwanath Kulkarni

BANGALORE, Feb. 3

THE recent entry of major software development companies such as Infosys and Wipro Technologies into software testing is expected to lend credibility for this emerging growth area. Small companies, which hitherto dominated the independent verification and validation space, are not, however, much worried about this latest development.

While some feel that the entry of big development houses would bring more advanced technology, investment and processes into the sector, others are of the opinion that it could curtail the growth opportunities for small companies.

The increase in e-commerce and the rush for businesses to operate in an online environment has created a huge demand for independent software testing services, which has forced many a development company to look at this area. Not just the big companies, even the medium sized ones like Bangalore-based Kshema Technologies, have forayed into this space.

Mr Prakash Mutalik, President and CEO of RelQ Software, said: "I do not think there will be any sort of competition from these big development companies. However, the entry of these shows the increasing demand for independent testing services and would lend credibility to the emerging field".

"Moreover, the market size is too big," says K. Ramesh, Director -Marketing and Delivery, of the Chennai-based AmitySoft Technologies Pvt Ltd, adding that "it has enough room for every player". However, "the entry of biggies may curtail our growth opportunities as we may find it difficult to bid for large projects as we are unable to match the size of these companies," he added.

The market for software testing tools was also expected to go up, as the demand for tools was likely to increase with more and more development houses taking to testing, said Mr Ramesh. AmitySoft has a tie-up with RadView to distribute the latter's testing tools in India.

Software testing needs domain expertise and the small companies, which have been operating for some time now, had created a niche for themselves by developing competencies, Mr Ramesh added.

Moreover, the prevailing slowdown has forced software companies to increasingly resort to third party testing of their products and solutions. Product testing itself is becoming more and more stringent in this tight market, as vendors have started to feel the threat of losing clients over small errors.

According to Bharat Gera, President and Managing Director, ThinkAhead Advisory Services, a product testing company, "Big companies would be able to bring in more investment and processes. Existing small time companies with a focussed approach definitely have an edge as it takes time for them to build specific strengths."

The global testing market was estimated to be between $2-3 billion, said Mr Ramesh. The fact that there are a handful of companies, which offer testing services globally, gives an edge to the Indian companies. The average size in terms of headcount of small testing company varies between 20 to 30 people. The only big company in this area is the Bangalore-based RelQ Software, which has a team of some 300 plus people. "We are planning to add some 200 more in the next few months," said Mr Mutalik.

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