New Delhi: IT company PortWise is planning to set up a customer operation unit in India by April 2004 to provide support for its products to the global clients.

"We plan to invest between $ 2-3 million in India over the next 12 months", Kaushik Thakkar, co-founder and vice president, Strategic Development, PortWise said.

He said a large part of the investment would go for establishment of customer operations unit in India for providing support on PortWise products to global clients.

Thakkar said the proposed unit was expected to come up in early 2004.

"The customer operation unit is likely to come up sometime between January and April 2004," he pointed out.

Giving a blueprint of the company's expansion plans for India, he said PortWise was looking at setting up a sales office in the country by the year-end.

"Later next year, we may also look at a research and development structure in India," he added.

The company currently has 200 customers cutting across various segments.

"The location for the customer operations unit could either be Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore," Thakkar said.

PortWise product suite provides companies with secure remote access to corporate applications using the Internet and latest security standards.

PTI