Sony Europe signs up with Indian outsourcer

Sony Europe is outsourcing several of its core IT development functions to India-based Satyam Computer Services.

Satyam announced SAP application development, enterprise application integration and testing services for the European wing of the Japanese electronics giant will be carried out at the Indian outsourcer's new offshore development centre (ODC) in Bangalore.

According to Satyam, the move will "enable the Sony Infrastructure Services team to focus on core activities, such as platform enhancement, optimisation and innovation", as Satyam will handle IT development for Sony sales and distribution, warehouse management, finance and business intelligence systems.

Satyam's European vice president, Som Sarma, said the company has been "setting up development centres for companies of the status of Sony for several years", giving a deal with General Electric seven years ago as an example.

Sarma called the Sony deal a "milestone" for ODCs. "The fact that Sony has decided to go ahead with an investment inside Satyam shows the maturity of offering such a service at such a high level," he said. He added that the centre was expected to employ between 55 and 80 staff by the end of the financial year.

Sarma said: "The larger the ODC gets, the more [cost] benefits the company gets from a risk management on the people perspective," adding that a growing ODC would mean Sony "would not feel the pinch" if a staff member leaves.

Sony has had a poor year financially, largely caused by the delayed release of the PlayStation 3 console and the hugely expensive recall of millions of laptop batteries after some caught fire.

A Sony spokesperson said the story was "not something that Sony wants to comment on".

David Meyer writes for ZDNet UK