Gurgaon (Haryana), Dec.1 (ANI-Business Wire India): In another strategic move that allows for broader global coverage and language support, Annik, one of the leading research outsourcing companies in India, has started operations in China.

The Shanghai facility will service three major Asian markets - Japan, China and Korea - with local language support capabilities.

This strategic investment allows Annik's customers to expand their scope of work with Annik.

China has been seen as a strategic location both in terms of the domestic market and the ability to provide support in multiple Asian languages by many large companies.

This center is the first initiative in providing such operational capabilities across Asian geographies and languages. Annik has been providing support for some western European languages from the India center.

The Shanghai center adds Japanese, Mandarin and Korean to the list of languages now supported by Annik and provides the company an established footprint in key markets where it expects growth for its services.

The Shanghai facility is fully operational and can scale up as required by our customers. "Our customers are all around the world. This operational model helps us provide regional services and quicker turnaround", says Sandeep Bhatia (COO).

"As we grow, we will look at an ideal mix of onshore and offshore talent to optimize our service delivery model".

Commenting on this move, Rahul Sahgal, CEO of Annik said "We are proud of this important milestone in the growth of the company. This expansion reaffirms our commitment to our clients to expand our scope and coverage from purely English and Western European countries to other strategically important markets where there is tremendous opportunity for growth of Annik services".

On another note, Annik has been named one of the Fast 50 Technology companies in India in a study conducted by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. This is the second time in 3 years that it has been recognized for this award. It has also been selected in the Fast 500 Technology companies for the entire Asia Pacific region three years in a row.

Founded in 2000, Annik has been a pioneer in Market Research Outsourcing and Data Analytics in India. Known for domain expertise and technical knowledge providing creative solutions, Annik has helped researchers work more efficiently and effectively.

With more than 400 employees and 24 x 7 operations, we are in a unique position to support clients around the world.(ANI)

Washington, Dec 30 (ANI): NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity are all set complete the fifth anniversaries of their memorable landings on Mars in January 2009.

While Spirit had landed safely on Mars on January 3, 2004, Opportunity touched down on the surface of the Red Planet 21 days later.

"The American taxpayer was told three months for each rover was the prime mission plan," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"The twins have worked almost 20 times that long. That's an extraordinary return of investment in these challenging budgetary times," he added.

The rovers have made important discoveries about wet and violent environments on ancient Mars.

They also have returned a quarter-million images, driven more than 13 miles, climbed a mountain, descended into craters, struggled with sand traps and aging hardware, survived dust storms, and relayed more than 36 gigabytes of data via NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.

To date, the rovers remain operational for new campaigns the team has planned for them.

"These rovers are incredibly resilient considering the extreme environment the hardware experiences every day," said John Callas, JPL project manager for Spirit and Opportunity.

"We realize that a major rover component on either vehicle could fail at any time and end a mission with no advance notice, but on the other hand, we could accomplish the equivalent duration of four more prime missions on each rover in the year ahead," he added.

With Spirit's energy rising for spring and summer, the team plans to drive the rover to a pair of destinations about 200 yards south of the site where Spirit spent most of 2008.

One is a mound that might yield support for an interpretation that a plateau Spirit has studied since 2006, called Home Plate, is a remnant of a once more-extensive sheet of explosive volcanic material. The other destination is a house-size pit called Goddard.

For Opportunity, the next major destination is Endeavour Crater.

It is approximately 14 miles in diameter, more than 20 times larger than another impact crater, Victoria, where Opportunity spent most of the past two years. (ANI)