Owning the technology

Now big consumer products companies like Sony and Toshiba are beating a path to his door, desperate to buy his superior digital signalling technology to give them an edge in such products as portable media players, camcorders, and video phones.
Mr Rajam and his engineers now have 100 major customers worldwide, holds 31 patents, and employ 200 people in India, the US, Britain, and Taiwan.
And Ittiam get royalty payments of several dollars per unit every time their clients sell a product containing their software.
Mr Rajam's company didn't have the luxury of guessing wrong about what the next big thing in consumer products would be.
His company can only afford to develop two or three products at a time, and each one has to be a winner.
But so far his bets have been spot-on.
And his next project?
Improved digital CCTV cameras which can scan thousands of hours of images by computer without human intervention to tackle crime and disorder.
According to Rishi Sahai, managing director of venture capital advisers Indusview, there has now been a sea change in attitudes to venture capital investment in India, with a flood of foreign investors looking for opportunities not just in software and IT, but also in real estate, retailing and telecommunications.