Zylog Systems Ltd is foraying into VoIP with a tie-up with an American company.

Chennai: Zylog Systems Ltd, the Chennai-based IT company, is foraying into Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) with a tie-up with an American company. It will soon apply with the government for a VoIP licence and plans to invest around Rs 12 crore in the venture.

Through the VoIP service, a customer can make international calls from a home-based PC, laptop or any handheld device using a router, Sudarshan Venkatraman, Chairman and CEO of Zylog, told Business Line recently. For a subscription fee, the company will offer unlimited international long distance calls to the US, he said.

So far, the VoIP service has been provided by US companies such as Vonage. In a couple of months, the company will finalise its strategy on the new service. Zylog hopes to have around 10,000 subscribers by the end of the first year of operations, he said.

Eyes acquisitions

Meanwhile, Zylog is eyeing a couple of more acquisitions in the UK and Middle East. It plans to acquire the UK-based Anodas Software Ltd for $ 3.5 million and is closing on a company in Dubai and another in Bahrain, according to Sudarshan Venkatraman.

Anodas supplies systems solutions, consultancy and administration services to insurance companies in Europe. It has clients like Hiscock Insurance Brokers, and has developed 18 modules of various products in three European languages. Zylog will take the products across Europe and later into Asia Pacific, Venkatraman said.

Zylog is in the final stages of negotiations to acquire a company in Dubai for $ 6 million and another company in Bahrain for $ 4.5 million.

By T.E. Raja Simhan