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Accel Frontline was incorporated as Accel Automation in the year 1991. Five engineers with more than 50 years of combined experience in the IT industry came together with a vision to build an organization focusing on IT services. The company commenced operations by providing multi-vendor services for computers systems.

Multi-location operations commenced in 1992 with offices in Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram. Having identified opportunities in hardware infrastructure solutions and system integration, the company took over a computer manufacturing unit from Kothari group of companies in 1993 to provide system integration and product solutions.

In 1996, Accel forayed into software by setting up an application development center in Chennai. The company also expanded its operations to various parts of South India.

In 1997, the company decided to expand its service network nationally. This resulted in Accel acquiring a Delhi based company named Athreya Technologies and Industrial Development Private – an offshoot of India Telecomp, which provided a base for Accel in all major cities of North India.

In 1998, Accel acquired the services business of Network, an HCL Group company focusing in office automation products and services. This provided the company with a national footprint of 16 offices and 250 trained engineers. The company’s turnover crossed USD 10 million in 1998.

In 1999, the company raised private equity from one of India’s largest venture capital funds - ICICI Ventures. During this year Accel acquired the Systems and Engineering Services business of Fujitsu ICIM in India, which was at one time the country’s largest IT Company. The IT business of Accel was re-organized in to Accel ICIM Systems & Services after this acquisition and Accel then became the holding company. The key management team was moved from Accel & Fujitsu ICIM to Accel ICIM Systems & Services.

In 2000, Accel crossed the $25 million turnover milestone and established itself as a leading enterprise IT services company operating in the corporate segment with one of the largest network of offices in India. The company received strategic investment from Intel Capital.

From 2001 to 2003 the company focused on institutionalizing the organization and consolidating its position as a leading systems integration and infrastructure services company. The company reached a turnover of Rs 150 crores for the year ended 31st March 2003. It forged alliances with Sun Microsystems, Oracle, JD Edwards, Citrix etc, to provide Enterprise IT solutions and software services. It also started operations in Dubai and Singapore to create a market for its software services.

In the year 2004, the company forged a strategic alliance with Singapore based Frontline Technologies Corporation (FTC) and made Accel ICIM a joint venture between Accel and FTC and changed the name to Accel ICIM Frontline. FTC is a leading IT services company listed on the Singapore Exchange Main Board with a group turnover of US$ 200 Mn. Frontline has operations in five countries spread across the Far East and China.

The joint venture would help Accel ICIM financially as well as for its business expansions. As part of the joint venture agreement, Frontline invested in the equity of Accel ICIM to improve its long-term viability and profitability and introduced an array of new support offerings through the Indian arm.

The name of the company changed to Accel Frontline with effect from 01.11.2005 to reflect the new direction.

The year 2004-2005 witnessed the emergence of the Software Division as a major business unit within Accel Frontline. The company was assessed at SEI CMMi Level 5 for its Enterprise Software Solutions practice. Major long-term software contracts were awarded to the company and the manpower resource of the software group grew to more than 300 professionals in 2005.

Major steps initiated by the company to improve process quality and manpower competence resulted in the company securing ISO-9001 for its IT Services division and SEI CMMi Level 5 for its Software Division.

For the third year in a row Accel Frontline was adjudged among the top 10 IT employers in India by Dataquest in September 2005, in its national Employee Satisfaction Survey conducted for the Indian IT Industry.

Strategic Business Units

The company has organized its business into four strategic business units to help enterprises boost performance and enhance operational efficiency through optimal use of information technology. The strategic business units are aimed at giving customers the ability to choose from the best services available while the company stays focused and remains profitable in its various practice domains.  SBU 1 – IT Infrastructure SolutionsSBU 2 – Infrastructure Management ServicesSBU 3 – Enterprise Software Solutions

Frequently asked questions