Muthu Nedumaran led a fast moving corporate life in top notch IT companies like Sun Microsystems and Oracle before he gave it all up to chase a dream. Today, his company, Murasu Communications has established itself as a regional leader in the provision of language solutions for the mobile industry. We talk to the guy who is driven by a passion for regional languages.

Kashminder Singh

MW: How did Murasu Communications get started?
MN: Back when I was working for others, I developed a Tamil language software in my spare time. Languages and fonts have been my passion from an early age. In 2001, I decided that it was time to focus solely on that passion. I continued to develop Tamil software and in 2004, we officially launched our Tamil mobile application which allows you to send and receive text messages in Tamil. Since then we have been working on similar solutions for various other languages such as Khmer and Malayalam.

MW: Was it a big change to move from a cosy corporate life and becoming an entrepreneur?
MN: Not really. The companies I worked for, although they were big MNCs, taught us to work independently. When I left to work for myself, it was a smooth change. I did everything in the beginning. I was the software architect, the developer, marketing person, everything. It wasn’t easy but it was fun and I have no regrets.




MW: Is that still the same in your company?
MN: Almost. I am still the main guy. In fact my lab is in my home in Klang. I have an admin person in my KL office and my helpdesk is run by a home based person in Penang. I have a few liason people in the countries we operate in but beyond that Murasu is still a very lean company.

MW: You started as a PC developer. What made you move into mobile applications?
MN: Everything sort of came together at the right time. I had the competency being a Java expert and then I came to know of the Maxis MDP programme. This programme was the catalyst to Murasu’s success. I had access to testing facilities, I got valuable support in areas like branding, marketing and in how to get my product out into the mobile market. Best of all, the MDP programme gave me visibility which I could never have got on my own. Murasu is one of the success stories of the Maxis MDP programme.

MW: Tell me why your application is so successful. I hear that even Apple has licensed your application.
MN: In software development, they say that writing the application is 10% of the job and the other 90% is debugging, updating and support. I choose to pay close attention to the writing part of software development so that there are fewer problems later. My language applications are very easy to use. Anyone can send and receive Tamil SMSes in just a few minutes after downloading my application. Also my application can work in just about any phone these days as it is built on the mobile Java platform.

MW: What else are you working on?
MN: Murasu will be focussing on two directions. We will expand horizontally by developing more languages in the Asian region and also expand vertically by building more content for the various languages.

MW: That sounds like a lot of work. Do you have time for other things?
MN: Working from home allows me to spend quality time with my family. Other than that, I am blessed because I love what I am doing so it’s not work to me at all. I also plan to repay my obligation to the Maxis MDP programme by offering to share my experience with newer participants at gathering of the MDP community.

MW: I see you carry more than one phone. How many phones do you own?
MN: I am very lucky. I carry two or three phones at any one time. At the moment I am carrying the Nokia 6230, Nokia 3200, SE S700i and SE K500i phones. I also have more than a dozen other phones in the lab.

What’s your take on 3G?
MN: I am a Maxis 3G user and I think 3G is a very exciting development. It is creating a lot of new opportunities for developers.