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Networking major Cisco is well on track on its $1.1 bilion investment plans announced in 2005 and of tripling its headcount in the country, chairman and CEO John Chambers said. Cisco plans to increase its India employee base to 10000 by 2010.

Speaking about the $1.1 billion investment in India, Mr.Chambers said that they were very much on target. It was very likely that they would exceed the 10000 people target, he said. Mr.chambers met Prime Minister Mr.Manmohan singh and commerce minister Kamal Nath.

Cisco’s $1.1 billion investment in India includes a $750 million investment in R&D activities, training and development by 2008. It is also earmarked $150 million for a fund to be deployed by Cisco Systems Capital, $100 million for venture capital investments in India, $50 million for a new campus in Bangalore and $100 million for customer support operations. The 3000 seat Bangalore campus, called the Globalisation Centre East, will be inaugurated by Mr.chambers.

Cisco Systems, currently has 3200 employees in India, of which 3000 are engaged in R&D. the company has also set a target of developing 20% of its top leadership team in India by 2012.

Software major Microsoft has come out in vigorous defence of desktop application software saying that preponderance of web-based services would not kill it.

Microsoft is the mojor seller of desktop operating systems and application software in the world and has just stepped onto the terrain of web-based services. It is now promoting itself as a company which can do both.

Mr.Jeff Raikes, President of Microsoft business applications division, pooh-poohed theories floated by web majors that software was dying. He said that some of their competitors liked to espouse that idea.

Mr.Raikes said that he thought that they were worried that actually people like a lot of what they had at their fingertips. He said that real success was ti user a combination.

Microsoft is facing tough competition from Google, whose web apps are getting very popular.

India’s fourth largest software services exporter Satyam Computer Servies Ltd posted a 27.9 percent rise in net profit at Rs.409 crores for the second quarter, beating market expectations.

The total revenue of the Hydrabad-based company stood at Rs.2031.7 crores, a year-on-year growth of 26.80 percent and a sequential rise of 11 percent.

Ramalinga Raju, Chairman, Satyam Computer Services said that they had been able to perform phenomenally well during the second quarter registering highest growth rate in doller terms. He said that Satyam continued its rapid growth across the sectors and regions including financial serives, energy, utilities and telecommunications, media and entertainment.

He said that the improvements in prices, new customers and greater propensity to do more things from offshore contributed to their growth. The company also announced a tie-up with Fujitsu Services, the European arm of Japanese major Fujitsu, for an outsourcing contract from Reuters, tha will be executed over 10 years.

Satyam also announced a $5.5 million acquisition of Nitor, a UK-based consulting company that manages PCs and networks for companies in the telecom, banking, pharmaceutical and media sectors.