The economic downturn has slowed the rate at which major IT services providers have expanded their offshore delivery centers in 2009. However, India remained the most popular location for new sites.

London – November 26, 2009 – The world’s 50 largest IT services vendors have slowed the rate at which they established new offshore delivery centers in low-cost locations in 2009.

However, new research from Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) found that India continued to be the most popular location for new sites, ahead of the Philippines, China and Brazil.

PAC found that the top fifty suppliers have opened a combined total of 33 new delivery centers in the first 11 months of the year, compared to a total of 49 in 2008 and 35 in 2007.

Nick Mayes, Senior Consultant at PAC, said: “IT services vendors have reigned in their capital expenditure in the last 18 months and have focused on maximizing the use of their existing delivery sites. However, demand for low-cost delivery has not diminished, and in parts of continental Europe, and the UK public sector, we are seeing significant adoption of global sourcing for the first time.”

India accounted for ten of the 33 new sites to be opened this year, and there was a continuation of the trend of new development being focused on emerging cities outside of the traditional hot spots of Bangalore and Mumbai. This year has seen new centers established in Kolkata (Tech Mahindra), Lucknow (TCS) and Coimba-tore (Cognizant).

The Philippines ranked as the second-most popular location for the top 50 players, with six new sites opening in 2009, including four by contact center services pro-vider Convergys. There were three new delivery sites opened in China (Accenture, HP and Dell), and two sites apiece in both Brazil and Mexico. However, there was only a single site opened by one of the top 50 in Eastern Europe – Capgemini’s new support center in the Romanian city of Iasi.

There was also a continuation of the trend for North American vendors to open delivery sites in locations in the US, with a lower salary levels than main commercial centers. Lockheed Martin, CGI Group and IBM have respectively unveiled new delivery sites in Arizona, Alabama and Iowa, which will partly support public sector contracts. The Obama administration is keen for new government technology pro-jects to drive domestic employment.

About Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC):

PAC is a global market research and strategic consulting firm for the Software and IT Serv-ices Industry (SITSI). PAC helps IT vendors, CIOs, consultancies and investment firms by delivering analysis and advice to address a range of growth, technology, financial and operational issues.

Our 30+-year heritage in Europe – combined with our US presence and worldwide re-sources – forms the foundation of our ability to deliver in-depth knowledge of local IT mar-kets, anywhere. We employ structured methodologies – undertaking thousands of annual face-to-face interviews on both the buy and sell side of the market, as well as a bottom-up, top-down approach – to leverage our research effectively.

PAC publishes a wide range of off-the-shelf and customized market reports – including our best-selling SITSI® program – in addition to our suite of strategic consulting and market planning services. With 16 offices across all continents, we deliver the insight that can make a difference to your business.