Radstone First To Establish Direct Presence In India

Move marks determination to offer optimum customer support Towcester, England: 2nd August 2006:   Reinforcing the company’s commitment to providing the best possible support to its customers in India and throughout the Asia/Pacific region, Radstone Embedded Computing today announced that it would open an office in Bangalore, the fastest growing city in India, in August.  Radstone becomes the first military embedded computing company to establish a direct presence in India. “The market for military embedded computing in India is at a very exciting and challenging stage, and is a strategically vital one for us,” said John Umney, Director of Sales for Radstone Embedded Computing.  “This move marks our determination to offer our customers the best possible service by providing support that is more responsive, being in the same time zone and physically closer.  It is a significant first step, and we expect to commit even further resources to this new operation over time.” The new Radstone office in Bangalore will provide customer service and support not only for India, but for customers located throughout the Asian subcontinent as well as Australasia.  For the financial year 2006 - 2007, India has announced its intention to raise defence spending to Rs 890 bn ($19.5 bn) – close to 3% of GDP – from the previous year’s Rs 820 bn ($17.9 bn), an increase approaching 8%.  The country’s $700 bn economy is growing at around 7% per year.  Among the programs under consideration for further research by the Indian government are technologies for the development of a robot army;  next-generation propulsion;  camouflage; and precision-guided munitions.  Modernization of the armed forces is high on the agenda of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.  Heavy emphasis has been placed on the highly innovative indigenous engineering resource within the military arena in India that will allow the development of platforms and capabilities in-country.  High profile programs,  such as the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) - otherwise known as ‘Tejas’ - which has been designed by ADA and is currently due to move to mass production by HAL, emphasize the Indian Government’s commitment to self-reliance.