The virtual lab (based in Bangalore) will go on stream in two phases by end-February and would be accessible in the company's Mumbai and US offices followed by other offices within the country.

"The lab will be a `proof of concept centre' for companies looking at using the net to deliver services by leveraging the Internet," Heda said.

The virtual lab would have the necessary infrastructure and technology in place to proof networks and simulate real network situations.

"Scalability, security, performance, bandwidth and speed requirements, voice and fax over Internet protocol on the network can be simulated in this virtual test bed. This makes it possible for the customer to evaluate the suitability of the network arrangement before he actually makes an investment," Heda said.

Thecompany was looking at large corporates (with intranets, extranets and supply-chain management requirements), ISP (Internet service providers), ASP (application service providers) and Internet data centres for the technology lab, he said.