Bangalore, Mar 25 (IANS): The US-based IT infrastructure services provider Mindlance plans to expand its operations in India for strategic alliances with local partners to provide cost-effective solutions, a company official said Wednesday.

"As we are looking for a pan-India presence and strategic alliances with OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and product firms, we will be hiring 600 people this year and 2,550 people next year to have a headcount of about 4,000 by 2011," Mindlance India chief information officer and business head Kamal Sharma told reporters here.

Promoted by Indian-born Vikram Kalra, the New Jersey-headquartered firm manages, optimises and automates IT operations for its Fortune 1,000 clients worldwide across verticals.

"We have adapted a client engagement model, where vertical specific presales skills are deployed to analyse customer business problem and help vendors to achieve the right solution for their clients. Our enterprise level alliances and delivery capabilities serve Fortune 1,000 customers worldwide," Sharma said.

Mindlance has signed a multi-year deal with Toyota Boshoku Automative India Ltd. to deploy its flagship solution for reducing the cost of IT operations by 50 percent in the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese auto component maker.

"Our solution can handle the increasing SAP data in different environment and improve disaster recovery requirement for business continuity," Sharma pointed out.

As part of its expansion plans, the company will open offices in Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune and Chennai, which in addition to the existing offices in Bangalore and Gurgaon in the NCR (national capital region) will cater to domestic clients.

"In India, we have 35 customers primarily in the IT/ITeS, manufacturing and education verticals to whom we provide managed services, storage and consulting," Sharma noted.

The company plans to ramp up its offerings in remote infrastructure managed services (RIMS), storage, security, messaging and consulting services.