Bangalore: Wipro Technologies, the global IT services division of Wipro Limited, announced on May 30 that it had become the first company in the world to be certified at Level 5 of version 1.1 of Capability Maturity Model-integrated (CMMi.)

The CMMi certification bolsters Wipro's forays into high-end, knowledge intensive space that includes systems integration and intellectual property services, Chief Quality Officer Sambuddha Deb told reporters.

According to a back-ground note given by Wipro, Software Engineering Institute (SEI) realised a need to update its Capability Maturity Model (CMM) to take into account some of the areas it felt needed strengthening.

The result, it said was CMMi, that combines software development, system integration and integrated product and process development.

Deb said a team of 120 people worked for the last 10 months to achieve the CMMi certification, which covers the whole of Wipro Technologies, all verticals and all locations.

Wipro Technologies CEO Vivek Paul said achieving Level 5 CMMi certification is extremely critical for any company planning to enter the areas of total outsourcing, systems integration, and product/intellectual property development.

"It sets stringent standards on defining design requirements, design evaluation, quantitative project management, teaming and integration," said Paul, who joined the press conference by telephone from the US.

Wipro said the CMMI quality certification is considered more elaborate and rigorous than CMM. For example, it said, CMMi has 24 process areas compared to 18 of CMM and 460 practices as compared to 316 in CMM.

PTI