The latest companies to open offices in Austin: TataConsultantcy Services, Asia's largest information technologyconsulting firm and the fourth fastest-growing consultantcy in theUnited States, and Silicon Perspective Corp., a leading supplier offront-end physical design solutions.Tata has opened an office at1009 South Mays St. in Round Rock. The office will mainly serve asTata's research and development center for developing Linuxoperating system technologies, working closely with Dell ComputerCorp.

Tata could only find about 1,000 feet to lease in the city'stight real estate market, explains Christopher Hudson, regionalmanager of the Round Rock office. At some point, the company willrelocate to larger offices to accommodate plans to increase itsstaff by 25% in the near future, he adds.

Silicon Perspective Corp. also faced obstacles in finding space,settling on space at 610 Brazos."The Austin market is fairly tightright now, so we shopped around for a while to find this space,"says Michel Courtoy, vice president/marketing at Santa Clara,CA.-based Silicon Perspective. It too could only find 1,000 sf.Expansion plans hinge upon "how fast our business picks up in theAustin area," Courtoy explains.