Set up in 1984-85 by SICGIL, a premier company in the industrial gases segment, the company is well known for its Integra 4 RDBMS products. The low-profile company earlier had a joint venture with the US-based Santa Cruz Operations (SCO) for Integra. The venture was however called off in early 1995 and since then the company has been going it alone. Cosoft is the only Indian company that has a strong presence in the RDBMS segment. According to Bhumgara, the company has managed over 1,800 licences till today despite competition from world leaders like Oracle, Sybase, Ingress, Informix etc.

As part of its future plans the company recently unveiled a total branch automation software called BankOn. The product, according to Bhumgara,provides for the entire operations of typical bank branches. The package gives unmatched versatility when it comes to features, ease of use and maintainability. The use of powerful 4GL tools allows quick customisation and enhancement, thus reducing the cost substantially in the long run. The company has already bagged an order from the South Indian Bank for the same, she added. ``We will be focusing BankOn more at the cooperative and rural banks. We are not in competition with existing software like Banc 2000. There will be tremendous growth in cooperative and rural banking in the coming years,'' said Bhumgara.

Cosoft is also working on a new version of Integra 4 viz, Integra 4.4. The new features that the company will incorporate in this will be triggers and recovery. This will make the version more compatible to various challenges, she said.

It is also in talks with several leading infotech companies for possible joint ventures. It is also currently working on a version of Integra that will run onWindows NT. Initially, Integra operated on Unix platforms.Consultancy is another area that the company is pinning its hopes on for the future. ``We plan to be a solution provider in the next few months. Our aim is to provide the best solution that suits the customer's needs.'' She, however, clarified that Y2K was one area that the company was not pursuing.

``We have no intention to be in the Y2K business. We will instead focus on developing ERP solutions.'' The company, which was earlier based in Bangalore, decided to relocate itself in Chennai for administrative reasons. Bhumgara was confident that Cosoft would double its turnover by next year.

``We are still in the process of implementing our plans. Once these are through we will see a quantum jump in business and subsequently our bottomlines.'' The company is a fully-owned subsidiary of SICGIL and is headed by Farooque Dadabhoy who is also the chief executive officer of the parent firm.