July 25th, 2008
Offshore outsourcers likely to beef up security following Bangalore blasts
A series of bombs have exploded in Bangalore and companies that have technology operations in India are likely to need increased security precautions following what appears to be a terrorist attack.
According to various reports from Reuters and Rediff.com, nine bomb blasts have rattled Bangalore, which hosts offices of some of the technology industry’s biggest players–Intel, Qualcomm and Infosys. Sacchin Uppal has been updating and aggregating information from local press and blogs and Summize is handy too.
Here’s raw footage from CBS News:
Low intensity blasts in a span of one hour in six different places rocked the IT capital of India on Friday afternoon in which two people died and several others were injured. While the first seven blasts took place between 1.30-2.30 pm, the eighth blast took place at Hosaguddahalli, near Gopalan Mall, on Mysore road at around 5.30 pm and the ninth blast took place near the R V Engineering College on Mysore Road at 6.30 pm. The Bengaluru police have termed it as an act of terror.
Om Malik notes that these attacks are likely to reverberate through Silicon Valley. Indeed, beefed up security procedures are likely to follow and any company with operations offshore will have to revisit business continuity plans.
While the details are sparse at the moment, it’s safe to say this attack was designed to deliver an economic blow. IT is the lifeblood of India and offshore outsourcing companies have been turning cautious. These blasts aren’t going to help matters.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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