Chennai, June 17 (IANS) Nasdaq listed Cognizant Technology Solutions, a Chennai based IT solutions company, Thursday announced the acquisition of Paris based Galileo Performance, an IT testing and consulting company, for an undisclosed sum.

Galileo offers optimization of business performance to French corporates through IT system measurement, management and testing.

"The acquisition will enable Cognizant to offer testing services to the French market. The addition of French speaking consultants will help us better," Francisco D'Souza, Cognizant's president and CEO said.

Outsourced testing services have been growing significantly as this lowers the cost of quality assurance, software maintenance and ensuring tighter alignment of IT with business objectives and risk mitigation.

Industry research firm IDC has forecast a five-year combined annual growth rate of 19 percent for discrete global testing services, reaching an estimated $17.7 billion by 2013.