IBM has set up a services delivery operation in India that will focus on infrastructure services to its clients worldwide.

The company already delivers some infrastructure services to large customers covered under multi-year contracts from its Global Development Centers (GDCs) in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The new infrastructure services delivery operation will focus on smaller customers, particularly small and medium size businesses (SMB), said Ganesh Margabandhu, vice president for global delivery of integrated technology services at IBM India. "Our focus will be on projects rather than on long-term annuity business," he added.

The services will be delivered from a new GDC that IBM opened Thursday in Chennai in south India.

The Chennai center will initially offer server consolidation, middleware services, and site and facilities services for IBM’s global clients and will be later expanded to also include IT strategy and architecture, network services, business continuity and resiliency, security and privacy, and storage and data services.

The center will initially offer design and implementation of the infrastructure, though later it may also offer remote infrastructure management services, Margabandhu said.

As the business for infrastructure services delivery from India expands, the company may also look at other locations in India, besides Chennai, for delivering these services, Margabandhu added.

Some of the delivery of infrastructure services will have to be done on-site at the client premises, which will be handled by local IBM teams, Margabandhu said.

The new GDC in Chennai also houses the delivery of application services, and is equipped to have up to 2,500 staff, IBM said.

IBM now has GDCs in six locations in India, with many locations having more than one GDC. The company had 53,000 staff in India as of January this year.

IBM’s chairman and chief executive officer, Sam Palmisano, announced last year in Bangalore that the company will be investing $6 billion in India over the next three years. The new investment would go primarily for staff costs, new service facilities, and on education programs, the company said.