"The international markets provide us with tremendous growth opportunity with the European software market estimated at $70 billion and the rest of the world at $42 billion," Mastech Corporation president Ashok Trivedi said.

The strategy will be to access new overseas markets, provide additional services and be seen as solutions experts, he added. The company is strongly positioned to capitalise on the booming international market with the strong off-shore development facility of Mascot.

Mergers and acquisitions will form a major part of the company's future plans. The company recently acquired Quantum Information Resources, Canada's largest privately-held application development consulting firm and MC Computer Services Pty Ltd, an Australian-based information technology services provider. Mastech has also set up newoffices in South Africa and Switzerland to beef up its international operations.

With core strengths in the areas of application development, Y2K, Internet solutions, conversion/migration and application maintenance, the company will be able to provide customers with a one-stop-shop for IT solutions, he said.

According to Mascot Systems managing director S Shekar, the company has fully operational information technology facilities (ITF) in Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. The company has recently developed its newly designed Y2K proprietary testing tool, a part of the SmartAPPS Suite. The launch of this tool will assist corporations in the testing phase of all types of projects.

The company, set up three years ago, has a staff strength of around 400 which will be increased progressively, Shekar said. The new areas pursued by the company for the future include network solutions, education and training. In addition it will strengthen its presence in high value IT services like ERP and Internet solutions, hesaid.