Indian outsourcer Wipro is extending its product design services to include developing manufacturing prototypes, and even getting the product manufactured for the customer.

The company is already offering this range of services to three customers, including a vendor of set-top boxes, said Sudip Nandy, chief executive of Wipro's Telecom and Product Engineering Solutions business unit, on Friday. Wipro works with third-party manufacturers to get the products into small volume, trial production, he added.

However, as the customers ramp up production, they will handle the manufacturing, Nandy said.

Wipro, which used to make it own computers for the Indian market, converted its research and development into a "lab on hire" in the 1990s, offering product design services to technology companies abroad.

In another development, Wipro is planning to buy Motorola's minority stake in WMNetServ, a Wipro subsidiary set up in 2006 to focus on delivering network engineering services to equipment vendors and wireless operators worldwide.

Besides product development and network engineering, Wipro offers software development and testing services, and business process outsourcing services. Last year, it acquired U.S. IT services provider Infocrossing.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.