At a
time when India had a total of just 250 computers, Shiv Nadar, the founder of
HCL, led a young team of eight people who passionately believed in the growth
of the IT industry. That vision in 1976, born out of a Delhi “barsaati”, (akin
to a garage start-up), resulted three and a half decades later into a global
transformational technology enterprise.
Over the years, HCL witnessed many firsts which legitimized its
status as a pioneer in modern computing. The most significant of these was the
development of the first indigenous micro-computer in 1978 - at the same time
as Apple and three years before IBM's PC. This micro-computer virtually gave
birth to the Indian computer industry. The 80's saw HCL developing several
know-hows in multiple areas of technology. HCL's in-depth knowledge of UNIX led
to the development of a fine grained multi-processor UNIX in 1988 - three years
ahead of Sun and HP.
HCL’s journey of 35 years has been truly transformational with
the enterprise creating valuable Joint Ventures and alliances with marquee
partners such as Hewlett Packard, Cisco, Perot Systems, Deutsche Bank and NEC
Corporation, amongst others, to drive strategic growth.
After a strong focus on manufacturing for over two decades, HCL
Technologies was spun off as the information technology and software services
arm of the enterprise, with listing in 1999.
Presently, HCL Enterprise
comprises two companies listed in India, HCL Technologies (www.hcltech.com) and HCL Infosystems (www.hclinfosystems.in). Over a period
of time, both HCL Infosystems and HCL Technologies have emerged as institutions
in their own right with HCL Technologies emerging as a leading player in the IT
services sector.
Today, HCL is a $6.2 billion global behemoth with 90,000 professionals
from diverse nationalities, operating from 31 countries - including over 500
points of presence in India alone. From designing India’s first PC at the same
time as global IT peers in 1978, to working on the Boeing Dreamliner's airborne
systems today, HCL has stayed a true pioneer of innovation and technology
excellence. HCL’s range of offerings spans Product Engineering, Custom &
Package Applications, BPO, IT Infrastructure Services, IT Hardware, Systems
Integration, and distribution of ICT products across a wide range of focused
industry verticals.