Zoom, which is trying its best to shake off the perceived image that it is a Chinese company, is upping the ante in its own 'go local' plan by announcing its new technology centre in Bengaluru.
Though California-based, Zoom had been seen as a Chinese company because its founder and CEO Eric Yuan hails from that country.
But Chinese companies are under fire various reaons across the globe, and more so in India because of the border skirmish between the two Asian countries. And Zoom, though its usage has surged dramatically in the global lockdown, has been feeling the heat, and it has been at pains to point out that it is not a Chinese entity.
At a virtual press conference (inevitably on its own platform), the top rung of Zoom India went out of the way to dispel any misgiving on that front and unveiled India-specific plans.
Aparna Bawa, Chief Operating Officer, Zoom, said in as many words: “We are a US company, we are listed on the NASDAQ and we have our headquarters in San Jose, California."
Zoom, it may be recalled, had also faced an Indian Home Ministry advisory agaisnt its use.
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India is in the thick of it
In the bargain, the video conferencing app company announced the opening of its new technology centre in Bengaluru. Its top brass also made it clear that they would increase hiring of the local talent.
The new technology centre will provide support to Zoom's existing R&D centres and engineering team based in San Jose. Zoom will shortly start hiring for the various teams that would work in the new centre (it will be work from home for them too till the pandemic situation eases.)
Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering, Zoom, sounded gung-ho when he said India has the talent for a company like Zoom to tap into.
“We have a world-class team, but to keep up with the growth and to keep up with the needs of the markets that we are addressing, we need to grow,” he added.
Zoom, which has two data centres in the country, said it is planning to triple its strength in its Mumbai office.
"We are proud to provide our services for free to over 2,300 educational institutions in India during the COVID-19 pandemic, and look forward to continuing to work with the people and government of India hand-in-hand," Eric S Yuan, CEO of Zoom, said in a statement.
Growth zooms
Zoom said that from January to April, it saw a 6,700 percent growth in free user signups in India while the paid user base has grown by at least four times. Its top staff made it clear that there was enough room for further growth as the way to do office work seems to have changed permanently.
Zoom India personnel however refused to divulge specific details on the number of its users or the split between paid and free users. Nor would be they be drawn into a discussion on the numbers of enterprise users and education users.
Anyway, keeping in mind the increased demand an all-in-one appliance under its new Zoom for Home category designed to enhance the video conferencing experience has been launched. The first-ever Zoom for Home device, dubbed the DTEN ME, is produced by partner DTEN, and the device comes with a 27-inch screen. Other features include three built-in wide-angle cameras for high-resolution video; an 8-microphone array for sharp audio in meetings and phone calls; and a touch display for interactive screen sharing, whiteboarding, annotating, and ideation.
"We welcome competition"
Inevitably, there were questions about Zoom facing increased competition in India, especially from Jio which has launched a similar product JioMeet. Aparna Bawa said: “What makes Zoom special is multifold and it’s not just the UI. We have a tremendous architecture on the back end that allows us to deliver such high quality and video and audio over the globe.”
We welcome competition, she added for good measure.
