Mainframes are Mainstay for Maintec

The year was 1998. When everyone who was some one in the IT industry thought that Mainframes were beginning to get out of frame, there were a couple of gentlemen who differed. And that has made all the difference today.

Maintec Technologies Private Limited is today a sought-after destination for scores of professionals who wish to train in operating mainframes. Ask Masteck, Mphasis BFL, Accenture, Technosoft, Visual Soft, Infosys, Kanbay, Mindtree, Phoenix Global Solutions, Tata, Wipro, and IBM who form the client-base. For, Maintec is an authorized training partner of IBM Global Services (India) Ltd to specifically impart training, both to the general public as well as corporates.

But why Mainframes? “ In this life of mine, Mainframes are here to stay,” says Naveen V, Managing Director, Maintec, with cool confidence. “Mainframes service 90 percent of core applications today. Huge companies may today opt for other frills and accessories, but when it comes to the backend database, it is only mainframes that would do. It is absolutely robust with very wide-ranging applications,” he says.

Naveen should know. His institute has completed 224 training programs, in the last three years, training 800 students and 1350 professionals in the process. Early on, he realized that Mainframes would be the core revenue generator, though eventually the company diversified into developing products for the banking, hospitality and inventory management and payroll software as well.

What is a Mainframe? “ A Mainframe is a continually evolving general purpose computing platform incorporating in it architectural definition the essential functionality required by its target applications,” defines Lance H Voughan, in a weighty project paper, Webopedia calls Mainframe “ a very large and expensive computer capable of supporting hundreds, or even thousands, of users simultaneously. In the hierarchy that starts with a simple microprocessor (in watches, for example) at the bottom and moves to supercomputers at the top, mainframes are just below supercomputers. In some ways, mainframes are more powerful than supercomputers because they support more simultaneous programs.”

“I usually define a Mainframe as 300PC’s put together,” says Mr. Naveen, suddenly making our lives so much simpler! Naveen V Managing Director, Maintec-Strategic IT Solutions, says, “we are the only company to have set up a live IBM Mainframe infrastructure right away. Even IT majors like Wipro and Infosys took over two decades to have a full-fledged Mainframes set-up…”

Mr. Naveen has reasons to smile. His company, one of the first institute to provide Live IBM Mainframe training, is now all set to launch its strategic off-shore IT solutions and service centre in Hyderabad.

The institute at Hyderabad, he says, too will offer comprehensive training on IBM Mainframe, Mindrange, Microsoft and Internet segments, applicable to an individual or an organisation. “There is certainly a growing demand for IBM Mainframe Professionals. Students are sure to have a rewarding career in this field,” he says.

Asked if the India-advantage factor is bound to continue, given China’s growing muscle in the IT sector, hem says, “ China’s pitch has always been over the cost factor. Whereas India has focused on quality of work, project completion time, returns on investment etc, besides cost, while talking to clients overseas. This is bound to pay off in the long run.”

After IT-savvy Hyderabad, Maintec’s next stop on the expansion route is Pune, from where it plans to reach out a client in Maharastra and the neighboring states. Singapore and Germany, “both Mainframes hubs,” are also very much on the company’s radar. And because the company doesn’t “wish to be susceptible to the market’s vagaries”, the company has its fingers in many pies, including Software development, internet training, products, consulting, besides its core competency.

But right now, Naveen is particularly keen on talking about his company’s participation in India’s “biggest hotel business exhibition in Kolkata conducted by Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI)”. That, he say’s would be a great place to showcase his products for the hospitality industry. Topnotch, Mr. Naveen claims, is fully integrated Hotel Management Software that covers all aspects of the hotel business, including multiple restaurants, bars and kitchens. Restura on the other hand is an integrated Restaurant, Bar and Restaurant Management Software that is suitable for any Restaurant from a small inn to a five star restaurant by comprehensively covering all aspects of the restaurant business.

That, and the fact that Maintec was one of the few companies projecting Mainframes in the recently-concluded Bangalore’s annual IT fest, Bangalore IT.com, is why the Managing Director seems so upbeat. “We have been there when it mattered most,” is all that he says summing up his company’s credo.