The advantages offered by offshore development centers (ODC) and global development centers (GDC) to the IT services of remote clients are discussed. ODC perform a variety of tasks including application development, software maintenance, product implementation, and application management, acting as a virtual extension of client's IT development and maintenance departments. At the same time, ODC leverage the expertize and infrastructure of the offshore partner. This relationship frees the client from the complications of setting up its own facility offshore, freeing precious management bandwidth from tasks such as manpower recruiting and human resource management.