Indian IT outsourcer opens UK 'innovation' lab

Indian IT company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has opened a new research and development lab in the UK for customers to test and experiment with new technologies.

The 'innovation lab' was opened this week in Peterborough by TCS customer British Airways (BA).

Mike Croucher, head of IT delivery at BA, said innovation that provides a real competitive advantage and customer benefits is "invaluable".

Special Report: Inside India

In February silicon.com's Steve Ranger visited the Indian tech hotspots of Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. Click on the links below to see photo galleries of the cities and companies visited.

♦ Satyam's IT campus
♦ Hyderabad's tech parks
♦ Bringing tech to rural India
♦ High-tech on the streets of Pune
♦ Pune - the new Bangalore?
♦ Boom town Bangalore
♦ Bangalore's Electronics City
♦ SAP and Wipro in Bangalore

TCS has staffed the new lab with business process analysts and technology and R&D specialists, and said the site will provide an environment where its customers can develop, incubate and pilot new systems and the latest technologies before deploying them across the enterprise.

The new UK lab is a collaborative effort with TCS' partners IBM and Microsoft and will be a central hub connected to the other 18 TCS innovation centres located in India and around the world.

AS Lakshminarayanan, VP and country manager, UK and Ireland, at TCS, said in a statement: "This lab provides customers with a unique opportunity to experience a high degree of certainty before committing to big-budget implementations."