Mumbai: HCL Technologies Ltd will enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a long-term strategic partnership with Crane Aerospace & Electronics (Crane).

Under the deal, HCL will work as an extension of Crane''s engineering team delivering high value services, including software, hardware, and mechanical engineering, for full product lifecycle development from the company''s existing offshore development center (ODC) in Bangalore and facilities in Chennai.

The signing will take place at Crane''s facility in Burbank, California where both companies will announce their strategic intent to expand the existing dedicated ODC team to include over 100 engineers. HCL will provide engineering services to support Crane''s product lines in cabin, landing systems, sensing & utility systems and fluid management across several aircraft programmes.

According to Shami Khorana, corporate vice president of the company and president of the US subsidiary HCL America Inc, "This is a key engagement for HCL. We have been associated with Crane for more than two years and have had a very successful relationship. We began by executing small partial lifecycle projects, which has now been scaled up to include full lifecycle development projects culminating in the setting up of a dedicated ODC. We are excited about this recent plan for expansion and will continue to deliver transformational value to Crane through the ODC relationship."

HCL began its engagement with Crane in late 2004 with a verification and validation project on the 777 brake systems control unit. Towards the end of 2005, The company set up a dedicated ODC for Crane that focused on providing software development as well as hardware (logic devices) and software verification and validation services. HCL''s services are now being extended to include full lifecycle product development.