Offshore OptionOffshore Option

Consulting firm Headstrong Corp. has merged with outsourcing provider TechSpan Inc. with a plan to provide a full range of offshore-outsourcing services. The combination creates a $100 million company with about 900 employees.

Many clients looking to outsource want a one-stop source for consulting and infrastructure facilities, says Kevin Dougherty, president and CEO of the new company, which keeps the name Headstrong. "Our clients were asking for expanded capabilities." Arjun Malhotra, Headstrong's chairman and formerly TechSpan's chairman and CEO, says the company will network Headstrong's data center in the Philippines with TechSpan's facilities in Bangalore and Delhi, India.

The sites will act as backup facilities for one another. "If there was a problem in one geography, we will be able to switch customers to the other," Malhotra says. Headstrong will specialize in application-development outsourcing, but the company is "looking very seriously" at entering the fast-growing business-process-outsourcing market, Malhotra says. Headstrong's customers include the Bank of New York, Morgan Stanley, and Star Alliance.