Tech Leaders of Tomorrow

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Switzerland-based Nivio was founded by 25-year-old Sacchin Duggal, whose parents emigrated from India to England. Duggal, who was trained as an information systems engineer at Imperial College in England, says he was drawn to his parent's homeland. So when he and his college friend, Saurabh Dhoot, had their "lightbulb moment" and decided to form Nivio, they turned to programmers in India to help them realize their dream.

Nivio provides access, via any standard Internet browser, to a full-featured personal Microsoft (MSFT) Windows desktop. That means people with old or cheap PCs can use sophisticated, state-of-the-art programs, running remotely, as well as store data and share files with other users. It also allows individuals and small businesses to temporarily "rent" the use of an expensive program such as Word or Excel without having to buy it.

Rolling Out Kiosks

The company also has launched a low-cost computing device called the Nivio Companion, a $100 box that plugs into a computer monitor or TV and can gain access to Nivio's Windows desktop. Nivio doesn't plan on staying in the hardware business, says Duggal. The company would prefer that its software services be bundled with established manufacturers' computing devices. It hopes to strike deals to get a "Nivio Inside" sticker on machines made by others.

The company is headquartered in Switzerland because of data security. Since users store all of their data with Nivio, rather than on their own computers, they need reassurances, says Duggal. The company already has customers in places stretching from China to Brazil and is about to launch, in partnership with mobile-service provider Bharti Airtel, the rollout of Internet kiosks across India that will be powered by Nivio.

Nivio has some stiff competition, including Google Apps. But Duggal says Nivio's approach is superior because it comes closer to giving users a familiar desktop and applications. In any case, he says his goal isn't merely to beat the Silicon Valley-based search engine giant. "If we make it to Google's size, I would be happy but I wouldn't be satisfied," he says. "If we do this right, we should be the world's biggest software company." Spoken like a true tech pioneer. It's that kind of moxie that helped previous Tech Pioneers to get where they are today.

To meet the rest of this year's Tech Pioneers, see our slide show and special report.

Schenker is a BusinessWeek correspondent in Paris.