Two UF seniors stood side by side with their feet planted on the carpet and hands raised in the air like goalies. They swatted at the air, trying to hit a virtual ball on a TV screen.
Jonathan Hernandez and Anibal Castineyra were playing Possiball, a Kinect-like game they developed during their internships with Mindtree.
The business consulting firm Mindtree celebrated the anniversary of its first year in Gainesville on Thursday by showing off projects like Possiball to some of its local partners.
The game “is really just a tool to make the office environment better,” said Hernandez, a computer science major.
Located in Innovation Square across Southwest 13th Street from campus, the firm helps businesses become more tech-savvy and helps them develop a better online presence.
Mindtree “partners with its clients to come up with new ideas for the businesses to grow, using technologies like ... online media or digital marketing in order to make them more competitive,” said Paul Gottsegen, the branch’s senior vice president.
During the event, a Mindtree executive led a group of clients through the third-floor office space in the Ayers Technology Plaza for a backstage tour to demonstrate the company’s inner workings.
Visitors were shown entire walls used as whiteboards littered with colorful ideas written in dry-erase marker. Employees worked at computers while sitting on exercise balls, slowly bouncing up and down while they typed. Another group of employees “attended” a meeting via video chat with another team in Texas.
Most of the global company’s employees are located in India, Gottsegen said, but the company is taking strides to make a bigger impact in the U.S.
It has already added more than 100 jobs to the Gainesville community, according to a press release. Along with adding Fortune 500 companies to its clientele, Mindtree is expected to expand its business in Gainesville next year.
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 10/25/2013 under the headline "Mindtree celebrates jobs, first year"
