IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced plans to open a SOA Leadership Center in India designed to address the growing demand for skills needed to solve customer business challenges using Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). The center will be set up in Bangalore and would be the first of its kind in Asia Pacific and the fourth of a series of SOA Leadership Centers planned across the world. The Centre will become fully functional during the first quarter of 2008.

The SLC center in Bangalore will be staffed by IBM’s Global SOA experts and will focus on three key areas: SOA education and training; SOA implementation support; and SOA exhibitions and demonstrations, thus benefiting IBM customers, Business Partners and University students. The SLC will offer training and instruction from leading SOA experts; certification and joint education programs with top local universities; as well as access to industry models and SOA best practices and proven methodologies based on the IBM’s worldwide experience.

Further strengthening IBM’s commitment to India and SOA, the Leadership Center will serve as a focal point to harness the SOA skills and expertise from IBM product and services teams & IBM Business Partners. The center will work closely with universities to address skill shortages evident in fresh graduates. According to industry firm Springboard Research, shortage of SOA skills is one of the biggest hurdles to faster SOA adoption in India.

"Opening this center is a direct response to what our customers in India are demanding," said Panini Dwivedi, Country Manager - WebSphere, Software Group, IBM India/ SA. He added "IBM has helped thousands of early SOA adopters around the world successfully overcome some of today's most challenging business problems using SOA. Now the SOA Leadership Center can help customers develop the skills and knowledge to help enable them to use an SOA to attain business goals. Partnering with local universities will also be a major focus of the center, with a goal of building SOA skills in the emerging work force in India."

Springboard Research’s latest report expects the SOA market in India to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40% from 2007-2010 making it the fastest growing market in the regions. According to the same report, IBM remained the leading SOA vendor in the Asia Pacific region.

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