Dell launched a new research and development (R&D) facility today in Bangalore, India, that can house up to 1,000 employees. The new facility aligns with Dell's plans to make India a hub for the development of enterprise products such as servers, storage and software. Dell already has 600 engineers working in Bangalore on systems software, hardware design and validation and testing for its enterprise products. The Bangalore facility is the company's largest R&D center outside the United States for enterprise products, said Brad Anderson, senior vice president of Dell's business product group.

Other Dell R&D centers in Asia are in Shanghai, Taipei and Singapore. While the Shanghai center focuses on desktop design, the Taipei center does notebook design, and the center in Singapore works on Dell's printing and imaging products.

Starting with software development in 2001, Dell has set up groups in Bangalore specialized in systems software, hardware design and testing. The aim is to do end-to-end product development in India, said Vivek Mansingh, country manager and head of the R&D center. A dual-socket server is currently being designed entirely from India.

Dell did not, however, disclose when the 1,000 staff would arrive at its new 200,000 square feet facility. The company has so far invested US$150 million in setting up its R&D operations in India.

Besides its R&D operations, Dell also runs call centers from various locations in India to support its customers worldwide. Its manufacturing plant in Chennai in south India is scheduled to start production in July.