Source: infotech.indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: A slowdown in the US is having an equal and opposite effect on the Indian legal process outsourcing (LPO) sector. LPO firms are reporting a rise of over 200 per cent in revenues in the last 12 months.

LPOs are seeing a dramatic rise in litigation, intellectual property infringement work and bankruptcy related document-drafting.

“We have seen a dramatic rise in business from the litigation and IP infringement verticals in the last three months, as organistaions look to make money due to brand or IP infringement since there’s a slowdown in consumer spending in the US.

We have ramped up our headcount correspondingly by almost 50 per cent and plan to scale up more in the coming months,” says Sanjay Kamlani, CEO of Mumbai based Pangea3.

The rise in new business from litigation is due to a crash in stocks post the sub prime crisis on the Wall St reet, which led many stockholders to sue companies.

US based companies are also looking to cut costs and offshore legal work to India, as lawyers are one of the highest paid professionals in the US.

“A junior lawyer on the US east coast (where the major stock exchanges are located) makes about $1, 65,000- $2, 00,000 per year. The same work can be done at one-tenth the cost in India. As companies look to cut costs, we see a rise in our toplines,” says Matthew Banks, senior vice president, Legal Services, Integreon. Mumbai based Integreon has about 420 associates in the LPO business and has seen over 200 per cent rise in revenues in the past 12 months.

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Source: www.foxbusiness.com

PARIS —-Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that Sunrise, the second largest telecommunications provider in Switzerland, is outsourcing the operation of its mobile, fixed and data networks to Alcatel-Lucent as of August 1, 2008. By entrusting Alcatel-Lucent with its network, Sunrise will be able to ensure the long-term high quality deployment and management of the network as well as significantly save operational costs. The contract includes the transfer of 290 employees. The value of the agreement is approximately 340 million euros over 7 years, depending on the final scope of the project.

Sunrise decided, after careful consideration, to outsource primary components of its network to Alcatel-Lucent. This contract sets the stage for the Sunrise telecommunications network to be maintained in a cost effective, high quality manner. This relationship also ensures the development and fast deployment of new user-oriented services and solutions. Sunrise will continue to carry out key roles such as network planning and customer service. The network infrastructure including all telecommunication systems remains totally owned by Sunrise.

With Alcatel-Lucent, Sunrise chose a trusted partner with significant outsourcing experience in Switzerland and worldwide. Network operations and outsourcing for carriers and enterprises is a strategic area for Alcatel-Lucent’s services business. Alcatel-Lucent will leverage the experience gained from designing, deploying, operating, maintaining and expanding more than 70 networks supporting more than 140 million subscribers worldwide.

“We are pleased that with the Sunrise network operations outsourcing contract we are now serving a total of 3.6 million Swiss customers. The selection of Alcatel-Lucent demonstrates the trust that Sunrise has in our expertise and service quality,” said Andy Williams, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s services business. “As our business continues to grow, locally and internationally, we look to continue building our managed services capabilities, and therefore develop an even broader knowledge base.”

The network operations outsourcing contract includes the Sunrise division’s operation, maintenance and expansion. The 290 employees will receive equivalent conditions as they had at Sunrise, and will be able to work in the same geographical region.