U.S.-headquartered Zoom Video Communications on Tuesday announced opening of a new technology center in India, while also committing to hire ‘key talent’ here over the next few years.
“This commitment represents a growing strategic investment in the country, where Zoom already has one office in Mumbai (which is expected to triple in size) and two data centers in Mumbai and Hyderabad,” the company said, adding that the move is a direct response to Zoom’s increased level of adoption by users across India.
With consumers turning to video conferencing solutions to interact amid COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom Video has seen a 6700% growth in free user sign ups in India between January-April 2020. To cash in on the rising demand for such products in the country, Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio recently launched its JioMeet video conferencing solution for users, followed by rival Bharti Airtel partnering with U.S.-based telecom services provider Verizon to introduce BlueJeans in India. Other video conferencing solutions available for users include Google Meet, Skype and Cisco Webex.
“This expansion into Bangalore will supplement Zoom’s existing R&D centers and support Zoom’s engineering leadership, which is based at its San Jose, California headquarters,” Zoom said.
It added that it selected Bangalore as the location for the centre because of the exceptional engineering and I.T. talent. The company will immediately begin recruiting DevOps engineers, I.T., Security, and Business Operations headcount in the area. Employees will work from home until the pandemic-related remote work has subsided.
“India is a strategically important country for Zoom and we expect to see continued growth and investment here. We are proud to provide our services for free to over 2,300 educational institutions in India during the COVID-19 pandemic, and look forward to continuing to work with the people and government of India hand-in-hand...This facility will play a critical role in Zoom’s continued growth” Eric S. Yuan, CEO of Zoom, said.
Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering for Zoom added that the technology center in Bangalore, will be an innovation hub for the company’s communications platform.
“The launch of a technology center in Bangalore represents Zoom’s strategy of developing its cutting-edge communications technology in multiple locations globally. The center will play a vital role as a source of innovation for Zoom, leveraging some of India’s most talented professionals,” the company said.
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