Historical Archive

Kirloskar Computer Services Limited — Bangalore, India

CADD & GIS Department

1987 — 2000

10+Years of Operation
3 Daily Shifts
USA  Global Clients
GISPioneers in India

Who We Are

About KCS

Kirloskar Computer Services Limited (KCS) was incorporated on October 30, 1981, headquartered at Industrial Suburb Rajajinagar (near Yeswanthpur Bus Stand), Bengaluru a pioneering technology company at the forefront of India's digital revolution.

The CADD & GIS Department, operating from 1987 to 2000, was one of the most distinguished divisions within KCS. Based in Yeswanthpur, it served as a critical hub for international geospatial projects and set benchmark standards for technical precision and professional discipline in the country.

Through its landmark collaboration with Pacific Intelle-Data (PID) of California, USA, the department demonstrated that Indian engineers could deliver data with the zero-error tolerance demanded by U.S. government agencies and utility giants — helping establish India as a global hub for GIS and Engineering Services.

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Precision Mapping

Parcel maps and large-scale topographical data for global entities.

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Quality Control

Rigorous A0 plotter overlay verification for boundary accuracy.

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Process Automation

Early adoption of AutoLISP for optimised workflow speed.

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GIS Standards

Implementation of international geospatial standards with U.S. experts.

Company Profile

Full NameKirloskar Computer Services Limited
IncorporationOctober 30, 1981
Entity TypePublic Limited Company
CINL72900KA1981PLC004467
Registration No.004467
ROCBangalore
Department Active1987 – 2000
Primary SoftwareAutoCAD Version 1.4
Operating Model3-Shift Rotational (24 hrs)
International PartnerPacific Intelle-Data, California

Portfolio

Projects

Landmark International Collaboration

The partnership between KCS and Pacific Intelle-Data (PID) of Sacramento, California was a defining chapter in the early era of high-end GIS outsourcing. PID secured high-security U.S. contracts, defined digitizing standards, and relied on KCS engineers in Bangalore to execute precision "heads-up" digitization.

Key Principals: Chris Avery (Principal/Executive) · Ken Morgan (Technical Liaison/Project Lead)

U.S. Partner
Pacific Intelle-Data
Sacramento, California

🏆 The Turning Point — GEOTRAC & FEMA

The FEMA flood maps digitization and Flood Zone Determination (FZD) projects, sourced through GEOTRAC Inc. of Norwalk, Ohio — a national flood compliance company serving the U.S. mortgage and banking industry — marked a defining moment in the department's history.

Daniel White was the key contact who brought these projects to KCS. These two projects — FEMA flood map digitization and Flood Zone Determination (FZD) — single-handedly brought the department back from financial loss to profit.

Key Partner
GEOTRAC Inc.
Norwalk, Ohio — USA

🏙️ U.S. Telecommunications Telecom

Pacific Bell (PacBell) Maps — One of the seven "Baby Bells" created after the 1984 AT&T breakup, serving over 15 million access lines across California. KCS digitized their Outside Plant (OSP) telephone infrastructure and network maps.

AT&T Maps — Outside Plant (OSP) mapping; digitizing the physical grid of the American telecommunications system.

Bell Atlantic Maps — Regional telecom infrastructure across Mid-Atlantic states, including OSP networks and service boundaries.

BellSouth Maps — Multi-state telecom grid mapping across the southeastern United States.

NYNEX Maps — High-density metropolitan telecom infrastructure mapping across the northeastern U.S.

🏛️ U.S. Government & Municipal Federal / City

USGS Maps — The "Gold Standard" of mapping: topographical features, contours, and hydrography for the primary U.S. federal land science authority.

FEMA Flood Maps & FZD — Digitization of Flood Insurance Rate Maps for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (Washington D.C.), and Flood Zone Determination (FZD) work — both sourced through GEOTRAC Inc., Norwalk, Ohio. These were the projects that turned the department from loss to profit.

Sacramento City Maps — High-precision municipal mapping of land use and urban planning layouts for California's state capital.

City of Redding — Utility Maps — Digitization of utility maintenance maps for the City of Redding, California — including locations of utility poles, road signs, and infrastructure assets for maintenance management and tracking.

Rutgers University — Building Plans — Digitization of building plans provided on paper into AutoCAD for Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. One of the first projects personally worked on by the department's founding draftsmen.

⚡ Energy & Utilities Energy

Chevron Maps — Land parcel and exploration maps for one of the world's largest energy companies, where accuracy in lease boundaries was legally critical.

🇮🇳 India — Domestic Projects National

Survey of India (SOI) — Digitization of paper maps for India's National Mapping Agency under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. Maps included land contours, roads, and rivers — one of the most prestigious domestic GIS projects undertaken by the department.

MTNL — Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Mumbai — Digitization of telecom infrastructure maps for MTNL's Mumbai circle — one of India's most prestigious government telecommunications organisations.

🌍 Department Overview

Department specialised in Digitisation — converting physical paper maps into high-accuracy digital drawings to international GIS standards.

Operated two regular shifts6 AM to 2 PM and 2 PM to 10 PM. When project deadlines demanded additional hours, a voluntary night shift from 10 PM to 6 AM was arranged. Draftsmen chose to contribute their time — it was never compulsory. This spirit of dedication came entirely from the team itself.

Culture of endurance, accuracy, and continuous learning; staff often voluntarily took additional night shifts to accelerate professional growth.

The Team

CAD Draftsman Colleagues

The CADD & GIS Department brought together a remarkable group of CAD Draftsmen whose dedication to precision and international standards laid the groundwork for India's global reputation in GIS. This page honours every colleague who was directly involved in the project work — remembered here by name and initials.

 

 

ESK

E. Senthil Kumaran

ESK · The Author
CAD → Asst. Engineer
GSR

Raghunath Sharma G S

GSR
CAD Draftsman
EKV

E.K. Vijaya Kumar

EKV
CAD Draftsman
SGK

Girish Kumar S

SGK
CAD Draftsman
ARN

Arun

ARN
CAD Draftsman
SSK

Senthil Kumar S

SSK
CAD Draftsman
BSR

B. Srinivas Bharadwa

BSR
CAD Draftsman
BKH

Harish

BKH
CAD Draftsman
VRJ

Jaishankar Ramappa V

VRJ
CAD Draftsman
RAJ

Rajeev

RAJ
CAD Draftsman
SJR

Jayaram S

SJR
CAD Draftsman
VLM

Murrli Krishna V L

VLM
CAD Draftsman
HND

Dinesh Kumar H N

HND
CAD Draftsman
KNH

Harish K N

KNH
CAD Draftsman
KGK

Gopi

KGK
CAD Draftsman
BSS

Suresh B S

BSS
CAD Draftsman
PAB

Anthony Benedict P.

PAB
CAD Draftsman
SRC

Ravi Chandra

SRC
CAD Draftsman
KJP

K. J. Prakash

KJP
CAD Draftsman
SAT

Satish Kumar

SAT
CAD Draftsman
MPK

Pramod Kumar M

MPK
CAD Draftsman
RGP

Guruprasad

RGP
CAD Draftsman
GDN

Dwarakanath G

GDN
CAD Draftsman
HMC

Chandershekar H M

HMC
CAD Draftsman
MRR

Ravi Kumar M R

MRR
CAD Draftsman
MKR

Ravi M K

MKR
CAD Draftsman
RSB

Ganaraj Bhat

RSB
CAD Draftsman
TCV

Viswanath

TCV
CAD Draftsman

The Team

Management

The CADD & GIS Department brought together a remarkable group of engineers and technical professionals whose dedication to precision and international standards laid the groundwork for India's global reputation in GIS and digital mapping. This page honours the team who made it possible.

Parth

Mr. Parth Amin

Managing Director

Executive
San

Mr. Santhanam

Secretary

Executive
SAM

Mr. S. A. Mahajan

Operations & Mentorship Manager

CAD Operations
Sripad

Mr. Sripad

Personal Manager

Human Resource
Mani

Mr. Mani

HR Manager

Human Resource
Muthu

Mr. Murali Muthaiah - Muthu

Programmer & Process Enginnering

Technical
BNH

Mr. B. N. Harish

Programmer & Process Enginnering

Technical
BMS

Mr. BM Srinivas

Programmer & Process Enginnering

Technical
Madhu

Mr. Madhusudhan

Shift Supervisor

Technical
HNK

Mr. H. N. Krishna Murthy

Technical Guidance

Technical
RSB

Mr. Ramachandra S. Bhatt

Technical Guidance

Technical
Ken

Mr. Ken Morgan

Technical Liaison / Project Lead

PID — USA
Chris

Mr. Chris Avery

Principal / Executive

PID — USA

Leadership

Management - Influencers

Parth

Mr. Parth Amin

Managing Director — KCS

Oversaw the executive direction of Kirloskar Computer Services Limited, guiding the company's strategy during a transformational period in Indian IT. Under his leadership, the CADD & GIS Department secured landmark international contracts and built India's early reputation in precision GIS outsourcing.

San

Mr. Santhanam

Secretary — KCS

Provided critical administrative and corporate governance support at the executive level, ensuring the organizational framework that allowed the CADD & GIS Department to operate at international standards throughout the 1987–2000 period.

Sam

Mr. S. A. Mahajan

Operations Manager & Mentor

Managed day-to-day operations of the CADD & GIS Department, implementing the rigorous three-shift rotational schedule and fostering the "apprenticeship" culture that defined the department. His mentorship directly shaped the technical capabilities of a generation of Indian GIS engineers.

HNK

Mr. H. N. Krishna Murthy

Technical Guidance Lead

Provided deep technical guidance to the department's engineering teams, ensuring that AutoCAD-based digitization workflows met the zero-error tolerance requirements of U.S. government and utility clients. A foundational figure in building the team's technical excellence.

RSB

Mr. Ramachandra S. Bhatt

Technical Guidance Lead

Collaborated alongside Mr. Krishna Murthy in providing technical mentorship and quality oversight. His expertise ensured the department's output consistently met the demanding specifications of international geospatial clients such as USGS and FEMA.

Ken

Mr. Ken Morgan

Technical Liaison — Pacific Intelle-Data, USA

The direct technical bridge between U.S. clients and the KCS team in Bangalore. Reporting to Chris Avery at PID, Ken Morgan ensured that every AutoCAD output from India perfectly matched the specifications of American infrastructure clients — a role central to the partnership's success.

Infrastructure

Technology Stack

🏆 Pioneering Firsts in India

KCS was the first organisation in India to own and operate the following equipment — all imported directly from the USA, with no technical support available in India. The team learned entirely from manuals while simultaneously running these machines at full commercial capacity on live international projects:

Both HP and Houston Instruments recognised KCS as an official reference site — bringing potential customers from across India to Bangalore to witness this equipment running in live professional production. This was not a demonstration — it was real work, real projects, real deadlines, running across two shifts every single day.

The department never stood still. From 1987 onwards, every significant technology upgrade released in the United States was adopted immediately — not for show, but put straight into live production use on international projects. All hardware was imported directly from the USA with no local technical support. The team learned everything from scratch using only manuals — and delivered international-standard output from day one.

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AutoCAD — First in India, Continuously Upgraded

KCS was among the first organisations in India to use AutoCAD, starting with Version 1.4 in 1987. Every new Autodesk release was adopted — from R9, R10, R11, R12, R13, R14 through to AutoCAD 2000 and 2000i. Also used AutoCAD Map (Autodesk) for GIS-integrated drafting.

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Esri GIS Software

Alongside Autodesk products, the department adopted ArcCAD and ArcGIS by Esri — the industry-standard GIS platforms — as work evolved from pure CAD drafting into full professional GIS operations, placing KCS at the forefront of the industry.

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Computers — XT to Pentium

Started with XT machines with monochrome monitors. Upgraded progressively to colour monitors, then to Intel Pentium in 1993 — the same year as the global launch, making KCS one of the first in India to operate them. HP used KCS as a live reference site for Pentium workstations.

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Operating System — DOS to Windows

Started on DOS — typing every command on the command prompt. Witnessed and adopted every major transition through to Windows, keeping pace with every OS upgrade of the era as it arrived from the United States.

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Storage — Floppy Evolution

Witnessed the complete storage evolution: from large flexible 5.25" floppy disks to the smaller rigid 3.5" floppy disks. Each new format was adopted immediately, ensuring maximum compatibility with US clients.

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Digitizers — A4 to A0 (First in India)

Started with A4-size Houston Instruments digitizing tablets and upgraded through A1 to full A0-size — the largest available. KCS was the first in India to operate A0 digitizers. Houston Instruments used KCS as a reference site for these machines.

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Printers & Plotters — A4 to A0 Colour (First in India)

Started with A4 monochrome printers, progressed through larger formats to Houston Instruments A0 plotters and ultimately the HP A0 256-colour plotter — all firsts in India. Both HP and Houston Instruments brought customers to KCS to witness these machines in live use.

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Houston Instruments — Reference Site

Houston Instruments plotters, printers and digitizers were the professional CAD hardware standard of the era. All imported from the USA, all self-maintained using only product manuals. Houston Instruments used KCS as an official reference site in India.

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GIS International Standards

Implemented U.S.-developed geospatial and topological standards under the technical guidance of Ken Morgan of Pacific Intelle-Data (PID) — ensuring all output met the zero-error tolerance required by international clients.

📷 The Department in Action

CADD & GIS Department, Kirloskar Computer Services, Bangalore 1989

CADD & GIS Department — Kirloskar Computer Services Limited, Bangalore, 1989

E. Senthil Kumaran and Jayaram S at the digitizer

E. Senthil Kumaran (seated) and Jayaram S (standing) — digitizing paper maps at KCS, Bangalore