By Neora Shem Shaul

Recently the Ne’eman Foundation of the Technion reported that Israel was short of 3,500 electronic engineers. Other reports give even higher figures in the field of programming. It is clear to everyone that this gap is not going to be closed soon.

The outsourcing way, which temporarily solved the problem, has stopped because the groups doing the work found they could not find enough workers. The Israeli "Curry" company thought about the problem and remembered the ‘Global Village’ which is daily shrinking. They have found a new way to overcome this problem. With the aid of the Internet the solution is simple: three computer experts sit at one end of the world, define an idea and the needs of a client, and they manage at a distance a team of Indian software developers sitting on the Asian sub-continent who translate the idea into lines of code and a real software product.

Doron Goldberg, Uzi Dvir, and Oren Air, are senior programmers with experience in developing their own start-up. They are now using this method in a pilot operation for executing programming work for such well known Israeli companies as Aladdin, Mercury, New Dimension and Checkpoint.

This week I met with Curry personnel, who described their method of working. "We will undertake any project that requires three months work, or more, per employee. At the start we sit with the client, listen to what he requires, and prepare a detailed plan of technical specifications required of the system. Together with the client, this document is built up in an interactive way. After this has been done we prepare a quotation of how much it will cost, together with a time schedule, This is done in conjunction with the team in India chosen for the job".

"The team is chosen on the basis of their expertise in the specific field and suitability for the client’s requirements. There is always personnel available in India, and our Indian partners have 300 programmers available, each has a university degree, or two, and practical experience. The contact with the Indian development team is on a daily basis via a secured Internet line".

"The Indian programming group is in fact another branch of the company’s development wing. The manager of the project is always an Israeli, who fully understands the client’s language. Quality control tests at the end of the project, according to the parameters set in the beginning, are performed in India. The integration takes place in Israel at the clients premises, and is done by the project manager".

"Globes" : What is the level of know-how in India?

"We have found companies there that are at the leading edge of the technology, and they concentrate on communication protocols, Java, Activex, and other most advanced technologies. We also met there the highest quality personnel, in terms of both education and professional experience. We examined finished products and projects that they had executed for US companies. We met with the nicest, most diligent people who it was simply a pleasure to work with. The first project started six months from signature of the working agreement with the Indians".

At this stage Curry is undertaking projects for some leading Israeli companies, but its dream is to concentrate on start-ups that are "thirsty for inexpensive personnel, require more than others, and need rapid development. It is just these companies who have no chance of finding top quality people". This new model is ideal to provide an Israeli start-up company with quality development which they could not afford themselves due to lack of resources and experience.

Curry does not yet have an Internet site, and they say this will be corrected very soon. What they do have on the net is a page briefly describing their operations, with details of where to contact them (telephone, fax and Email).