SME Channels January 13

LEADERS’ CORNERIris: Iris Computers on a fast track /46

LEADERS’ CORNERCanon: SMEs to Contribute Rs.50 to 60 crore in Canon’s MDS /42

TREND SETTERAMI: Mission is To Help Enterprises Reduce Cost to the /24

IBM STORAGE GUARANTEES 50% DATA COMPRESSION /16PLUS

VOLUME 03 | ISSUE 11 | PAGES 56 | JANUARY 2013 | RS. 20/-

india’s first IT magazine for sme business

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LEADERS’ CORNERIris: Iris Computers on a fast track /46

LEADERS’ CORNERCanon: SMEs to Contribute Rs.50 to 60 crore in Canon’s MDS /42

TREND SETTERAMI: Mission is To Help Enterprises Reduce Cost to the /24

IBM STORAGE GUARANTEES 50% DATA COMPRESSION /16PLUS



03

IT enterprises across the industry give a glimpse into expectations and potential of the SMB market, the industry verticals which will see aggressive investments into technologies, and also share their channel roadmap for 2013

2013PREVIEW

SMBs TO DRIVE TECHNOLOGY SALES /34

GREAT EXPECTATIONS FROM 2013 /38

9 AMAZING TECHNOLOGIES TO INFLUENCE BUSINESS IN 2013 /28

cover.indd 1 21/01/13 11:34 PM

American Megatrends India Private Limited

Let’s build tomorrow’s technologies today!

ALWAYS AHEAD

www.inventfuture.com

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Dell GCC Engineers’ Club Now in India /23


PLUS


www.smechannels.com

WELCOMING THE NEW YEAR 2013

EDITORIAL

SANJAY [email protected]

I WOULD LIKE to wish you all a Happy New Year 2013!Even though there is not much of change in the geo political and market situation in the New Year, but surely the mood is different. The New Year always swings the mood toward positivity for everyone – be it customer, vendor or even partners. In this situation, we are seeing positivity in the air so far and it will continue until a very bad news comes. As the UPA-2 government is getting ready for 2014 election, it is expected that they would like to execute many citizen- centric projects, which are either shelved for a long time or deferred due to opposition pressure. So there is an opportunity for the IT players here for next two years. Once the government buying starts, naturally, there will be upswing of IT market in India. The private sectors will be encouraged to invest in technology. It is for sure that if government does not buy this time, then the market will turn very ugly. On the other hand, we strongly believe that there will be upward move in the global SKUs, which will have trickling effect on the APAC market, so also on India market. So the hope is on two things that the global market has to improve – particularly the US and Europe market and domestic market has to improve - particularly the government buying. If both the two things happen, it will be a bumper growth for India this year. But, if either of the two improves then it will be a normal growth for all the connected or complementing sectors. This will include grow of the IT market. We have been talking about technologies like cloud computing, virtualization, SAAS, enterprise mobility, etc. will influence the market. And, this year there will be a lot of investment on these tech-nologies. Business related to datacentre, solution creation and integration, tablet, content creation will be of great focus.I know that Enterprise India is cautious about investing but without investing in technology the growth cannot be as expected. So the advice from the research houses and consultants is that they should look at the above technology very seriously now. It will not only help them reduce cost but also enhance efficiency. Those partners who are have not taken the generation of technologies to distribute will have to look at it seriously now otherwise there will always be cash crunch. Consumer market is surely growing but it will not drive you towards the big-bang growth that you are dreaming of because the consumer influencing business will always be influenced by the service providers. You will have to focus on the enterprises and take the solutions to them. OVERALL RATING

Buffalo Launches NAS Servers for SMB/SOHO

MY EXPERIENCE

SPECIFICATIONS

It can be used as Surveillance Video

Manager. It features hot-swap SATA hard

drives option and RAID 0/1/5/6/10/JBOD

(Individual Disks).

FINAL WORDING

With 3-Year warranty and pricing around Rs.

1.5 lakh, this product is very competitive in

terms of its capability

WITH A LOT of information generated by the SOHO and SMB customers, it is ideal to have a dedicated storage solution. Buffalo Ter-aStation TS5400R series business-class rack mountable Network Attached Storage (NAS) servers are ideal for these segments. Combin-ing fault tolerant data solutions, file security and Gigabit Ethernet networking, TeraStation TS5400R allows users to deploy simple, cost-effective data storage to their office.TeraStation TS5400R Series comes with Intel Atom D2701 processor and is also equipped with business-class NAS features including file sharing and client/server backup. More-over it is available in a 4-bay, 1U form factor with storage capacities available in 4TB, 8TB, 12TB, and 16TB.

SECURITY CORNER /45

Check Point: Security During New year

ENTERPRISE /48

TVT: In The Dynamic Business Environment, Competition Does Not Fit

SME TREND /50

MyDala: Mydala Sets Eye on Rs.100 crore revenenue in 18 months

SME CHANNELSJANUARY 2013

6

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JANCOVER

STORY

2013 Preview /28

IT enterprises across the industry give a glimpse into expectations and potential of the SMB market, the industry verticals which will see aggressive investments into technolo-gies, and also share their channel roadmap for 2013

Publisher: Sanjib Mohapatra

Editor: Sanjay Mohapatra

Assistant Editor: Karma Negi

Reporters: Aparajita Choudhury

Executive Editor: Smruti Chaudhury

Copy Editor: Neil D’Souza

Web Designer: Vijay Bakshi

Technical Writer: Manas Ranjan

Satya Sagar Sinha

Lead Visualizer: DPR Choudhary

MARKETING

Senior Manager: M Raj

Marketing Executive: Rajat Kumar

Circulation and Printing: Panchanan Bhoi

SALES CONTACTS

Delhi 6/102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas

New Delhi-110016

Phone: 91-11-41055458 / 9313891660

E-mail: [email protected]

Bangalore Subrat S

NO.661, 10th Main, 5th cross, 4th Block,

Koramangala, Behind Old Maharaja,

Bangalore-560034

Phone: 9886107294

E-mail:[email protected]

Mumbai Hemal Shah

B/14, Neel Ashish

92, J.P.road, Andheri (West)

Mumbai - 400058

E-mail: [email protected]

Kolkata S Subhendu

BC-286, Laxmi Apartment, Kestopur

Kolkata-700101

Phone: 9674804389

EDITORIAL OFFICE

Delhi: 6/103, (GF) Kaushalya Park, New

Delhi-110016, Phone: 91-11-41657670 /

46151993 [email protected]

Bangalore 136/ 9, Ground Floor, Eden Crest

Apartment, Grape Garden, Ejipura

Vivek Nagar PS

Bengalore-560047

[email protected]

Printed, Published and Owned by Sanjib

Mohapatra

Place of Publication: 6/101-102, Kaushalya

Park, Hauz Khas

New Delhi-110016

Phone: 91-11-46151993 / 41055458

Printed at Karan Printers, F-29/2, 1st floor,

Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi

110020, India.

All rights reserved. No part of this publica-

tion can be reproduced without the prior

written permission from the publisher.

Subscription: Rs.200 (12 issues)

All payments favouring: Accent Info

Media Pvt. Ltd.

Editorial ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 06

Snippets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~10

Case Study ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 26

Partner Corner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 27, 44, 46

Security Corner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 45

Enterprise ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 48

Products ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 52

more inside

TREND SETTERAMI /24Mission is To Help Enterprises Reduce Cost to the Compa-nies

Elitecore /3324Online Scouts for National Disty for Hospitality Business

LEADERS’ CORNERCanon /42SMEs to Contribute Rs. 50 to 60 crore in Canon’s MDS Revenue

Zebronics /54Competition is more in Tier II and III cities

SME CHATAtrust Computer /51“To Add Value to Customers’ Business”

SME TRENDMydala /50Mydala Sets Eye on Rs 100 Crore Revenue in 18 Months

contentsVOLUME 03ISSUE 11 2013


8


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India SMBs Gung-ho on Tech AdoptionGlobalization and Market Expan-sion Advisory firm Zinnov has released its latest study on ‘Automat-ing the Indian SMB’, which analyses the opportunities and challenges in technology adoption in the growing

SMB sector in India. The study found that there is

an addressable opportunity in 10 million small and medium businesses in the country as on date, and further identified leaders

and laggards in the technology adoption lifecycle among SMBs in India. The released study said that this addressable opportunity is expected to reach 11 million by 2015, with 22% in the retail

NASSCOM, SIDBI to Assist MSME’s GrowthNASSCOM has entered a MOU with SIDBI to work together for entrepreneurship growth and development of MSME in the ICT sector in the country. As part of the MOU, both the parties will aim to coordinate the synergies in their activities to achieve this objective. NASSCOM and SIDBI will explore and work on various avenues related to entrepreneurship like policy advocacy, structuring of new risk capital and other direct credit products to create an enabling ecosystem for fostering entrepreneurship and development of MSMEs.

They will create a joint working group of five members with three nominees from SIDBI and two from NASSCOM that will undertake the necessary assess-ment and evaluation of the proposals submitted by the eligible NASSCOM MSME members. It will screen the “Eligible Enterprises” on a best effort basis within its pool of members and refer the proposals to SIDBI for evaluation, basis which these eligible MSMEs will be provided financial assistance.

sector and 20% in professional services. Manufacturing, Food and Entertainment and Education are sectors with growing potential for technology adoption.

The Zinnov study revealed that Indian SMBs are demon-strating significant potential to adopt technology, led by the need to be more efficient, improve ecosystem connect and to keep pace with the growing mobile workforce, apart from aiding payments/collections. It added that today, Accounting Solutions (45%), Order Processing (39%) and Design (32%) are the biggest areas where technology is being used, followed by Optimization (30%), People Management (24%), Procurement (23%) and Customer Acquisition (22%). The SMB market, however, does present some challenges for technology vendors.

Commenting on the study, KishanBhat, Engagement Manager, Zinnov, said, “While savvy and sophisticated SMBs on one end of the pyramid are keen to evolve as an enterprise and have well-defined business processes, there is great potential to influence the remaining 83% of SMBs in India who are in the unorganized and traditional sectors.”


10

SNIPPETSfor more log on to smechannels.com

PRODUCT | CHANNEL | CONSULTING | SERVICES

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D-Link Offers Gift-ing Ideas for this Holiday SeasonLooking at holiday season, D-Link has a host of gadgets for gifting purpose. More and more people today carry smartphones or tablets like the iPad which are regarded as personal/ private device. With a little help from D-Link portable router, these devices can be turned into a tool for sharing. Just plug in USB stick into the router, and all the files are waiting right there with the SharePort Mobile app. The users can easily stream movies, music etc. directly on any device or copy for later enjoyment. It’s a lot faster and simpler than uploading everything to Facebook first, or figuring out how to establish a direct connection between smartphones.

Portable routers also solve another common problem, Internet connectivity on the road. Outrageous roaming fees for data and bandwidth caps are everywhere, and Wi-Fi in airports and hotels can be expensive. With a portable router, however, one wired or wireless connection can be shared among several mobile devices. The AIO Mobile Companion (DIR-505) plugs in to the wall, while the Pocket Cloud Router (DIR-506L) can be powered from a USB port on a computer or its built-in rechargeable battery.

“The need to justify the expense of

accumulating and managing huge

volumes of data has led many organizations to consider monetizing or productizing their information assets.”

DOUG LANEYRESEARCH VP, GARTNER

MY POINT

Schneider Exhibits Products at Elasia 2013Schneider Electric showcased its range of energy efficient products at Elasia 2013, in Bangalore International Exhibition Centre from 4th to 6th January 2013. The product showcase included Acti 9, EasyPact CVS, EasyPact MVS, Prisma and Blokset panels, PCP & PFCM products from its Power business, Wiring Devices and Lighting control solutions from its Lifespace business, Remote Monitor-ing Solutions and Galaxy UPS from IT Business, Energy Management Solutions and also the recently introduced Premset panel from its Infrastructure business.

Shrinivas Chebbi, Country GM and President (India & SAARC), Schneider Electric IT Business, said, “If we become more energy efficient, we can save 25% energy consumption which can be used to electrify million homes.”

Dell’s “Project Ophelia” Promises Cloud On-the-GoDell has unveiled a solution that it says extends the value of cloud client computing to the next level, enabling people to manage the increasing convergence of their work lives and personal lives by using a compact, portable device to access not only secured professional assets, but also personal content via the cloud. The ultra-compact multimedia-capable device, called Dell Wyse“Project Ophelia”, is slightly larger than a USB memory stick and enables users to convert any capable TV or monitor into a functioning interactive personal display device without using a computer, tablet or smartphone.

Buffalo Launches NAS Servers for SMB/SOHOBuffalo has launched TeraStation TS5400R series business-class rack mountable Network Attached Storage (NAS) servers designed for SMB and SOHO users. Combining fault tolerant data solutions, file security and Gigabit Ethernet networking, TeraStation TS5400R allows users to deploy simple, cost-effective data storage to their office, announced the company’s press release.

TeraStation TS5400R Series comes with the Intel Atom D2701 processor and is also equipped with business-class NAS features including file sharing and client/server backup. Moreover it is available in a 4-bay, 1U form factor with storage capacities available in 4TB, 8TB, 12TB, and 16TB.

Hiroshi Honda, Country Manager (India), Buffalo, said, “With the new TeraStation TS5400R joining the TeraStation 5000 family, Buffalo continues to provide best-of-class data manage-ment solutions for businesses with growing data storage demands. Buffalo is committed to bring performance, reliability, and ease of use to our SMB customers, and the TeraStation TS5400R proves that.”

Digisol Rings in New Year with HappinessDigisol celebrated the festive season of X-Mas and New Year with its channel partners. The objective of the activity was to create a strong connect and a festive mood with its channel partners and welcome X’Mas and New Year with a new zeal, claimed the company.

This activity is being done in twenty cities across India covering more than 2,500 channel partners. The company’s press release said that Digisol Spreading happiness has been receiving tremen-dous response from channel partners across the country. The activity which started on 22 Dec 2012 and will go on till 29 Dec 2012.

Navinder Singh Chauhan GM (Marketing), Smartlink Network Systems Ltd, said, “This is Season 7 of our Spreading Happiness initiative, in the past we have done X’Mas, Holi, Maker Sankranti, Uttrayan, Ugadi, Lohri and now we are again back with X’Mas and New Year. This is all about sharing the good moments and spreading happiness and bringing smiles to the faces of our esteemed channel partners. They hardly get time because of their busy schedule and we try to bring happy moments closer to them.”


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eScan Bags 3rd Microsoft Gold PartnershipeScan has achieved Microsoft Gold Partnership consecutively for the third year. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, eScan has established its proficiency with Microsoft technologies and proven its ability to satisfy the needs of its customers claimed the company.

Rohini Sonawane, COO, eScan, said, “eScan has been an active participant in the Microsoft Certified Partner program and has always successfully satisfied the requirements of Microsoft customers. As a result, they have received positive feedback from large private enterprises and public organizations. Prompt reaction to the customer needs, high professional ability, expertise and effectiveness of eScan allowed the company to receive the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Security Solutions status.”

HP Launches Cloud-Enabled Flow MFPsHewlett Packard Indian has launched a new class of flow multifunction printers with features and workflow capabilities that enhance office efficiency and help businesses streamline their document workflows. With this latest print-ing innovation and solutions, HP will help enterprises and SMBs stay competitive and lean, announced the company’s press release.

The new cloud-enabled printers are designed to change how businesses capture, digitize, manage, consume and share data.The high-performance, intuitive desktop MFPs feature a large touchscreen for easy task execution along with enterprise-class manageability, security features, and solution extensibility.

The new range Flow MFP consists of HP LaserJet Enterprise Flow 500 MFP M525c and HP LaserJet Enterprise Color Flow MFP M575c.

CANON IMPARTS BENEFITS OF OFFICE AUTOMATIONCanon along with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized a national seminar on “Office Automa-tion & Imaging: Enabling the Next Big Leap”. The seminar witnessed the presence of eminent people from the government, corporatist and customers-at-large. The summit was a platform for sharing the benefits of office automation & imaging products and a platform to exchange new ideas amongst the vendors and users.

Alok Bharadwaj, SVP, Canon India, said, “With augmented demand in transparency and accountability focus on TCO reduction, government and companies today are increasingly aware of the need for improved office automation. They are adopting technological practices that will improve productivity, reduce waste and eliminate redundancy while minimizing environment impact. We feel that office automation and imaging will streamline the complete office infrastructure and will help in increasing productivity.”

The inaugural session addressed the need for technology adaption in government which will empower and help in increasing productivity. It will also enable the Government to be more accountable and transparent.

Actis Tech Enables SMEs to Slash OpEXActis Technologies has unveiled Virtual Office Solutions for corporate India. A virtual office is a combination of off-site live communication and address services. Actis’ Virtual Office Solutions include technologies like Virtual Meeting, Virtual Presentation, Webinars, Intranet, and Skill Mapping.

Abhimanyu Gupta, Director, Actis Technologies, said, “The conservative boundaries of office rooms have opened up to new dimensions. The major beneficiaries of this groundbreaking automated management technology are SMEs, budding entrepreneurs, and large corporations”.

The applications for Actis’ Virtual Office Solutions are multiple and cost effective. Virtual Office helps in reducing the travelling costs and thereby reducing carbon footprint. Virtual Office solutions can provide large corporations with flexi working options for employees, thereby reducing attrition rate.

Kaspersky Security for Linux Mail Server UpdatedKaspersky Lab has announced a key update for Kaspersky Security for Linux Mail Server, the corporate solution for Linux and FreeBSD mail server protection. The new zero-day, exploits and targeted attacks shield (ZETA Shield) technology protects computers against unknown malware, exploits and advanced persistent threats, new anti-spam updates service technology uses push technology directly from the Kaspersky cloud to deliver real-time updates and new cloud-assisted content reputation filtering tech combats unknown spam to enhance the spam capture rate and reduce the number of false positives.

Asus Showcases Products at CESAsus launched ROG ARES II graphics card and ROG RAIDR Express SSD at CES. The graphics card comes with dual AMD HD 7970 GHz Edi-tion GPUs and 6GB of GDDR5 video memory.

The company also launched E2KM1-I Deluxe Mini-ITX motherboard that provides a solid energy-saving foundation for home theater PCs. It is pre-configured with a dual-core AMD E2-2000 processor and Radeon HD 7340 DirectX 11-compatible graphics capable of 1080p Full HD video playback.

ECS Announces Modmen PC Modding CompetitionElitegroup Computer Systems has announced worldwide Modmen PC modding competition and tied up with Thermaltake, G.skill and various media partners. The Grand Prize winner will become a Taiwan millionaire, announced the company.

ECS further informed that the top 10 case modders will be determined by a combination of online votes and ECS’ own modding judges. The modder with the most votes will win US $1,000.

Alok Bharadwaj, SVP, Canon

India


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Lenovo Unveils Multi-mode IdeaPad in IndiaLenovo has launched IdeaPad Yoga- 13-inch and 11-inch in India. The Yoga is a spectacular multi-mode device that has the unique ability to flip and fold, while offering the user versatility by transforming effortlessly from an ultrabook into a media-friendly tablet in a quick, singular motion claimed the company’s press release.

This 1.54 kg Yoga 13 features powerful 3rd generation Intel Core processors, 0.6 inch frame and eight hours of battery life. The keyboard flips 360° all the way to beneath the display to transform into a tablet. The 1.25kg Yoga 11’s size features 10 hour battery life, Windows RT and its Nvidia Tegra 3 processor enables to do office tasks as an Ultrabook in laptop mode.

Rajesh Thadani, Director (Consumer Business Segment, Lenovo India), said, “Lenovo is one of the first players to embody the convertible design and touch interface in a single device- the IdeaPad Yoga, while providing an optimized Windows 8 experience to the end user. The product is targeted at individuals who want to enhance their performance at work and play through one extraordinarily light device that offers flexible multi-modes.”

IBM STORAGE GUARANTEES 50% DATA COMPRESSIONIBM announced a 50% guaranteed data compression accompanied with equivalent savings as part of its on-going storage offerings during this holiday season. These Diwali Dhamaka offerings will now extend all through the on-going holiday season during December 2012.

Capitalizing on the growing opportunities in storage, this offer is designed for customers to acquire the extra storage capacity without adding costly drives and reduce cost per Terabyte through IBM Real time compression on Storwize V7000. Real-time Compression on active primary data enables more storage capacity in the same physical space.

Announcing the offer, Sandeep K Dutta, Country Manager (Storage, Systems & Technology Group), IBM India/SA, said, “Continued data growth and economic pressures are driving the rapid adoption of compression technologies. Real-time Compression in IBM Storwize V7000 addresses these challenges. Due to its popularity, we are now extending this Diwali Dhamaka offer all the way up to the holiday season in December 2012. It will help our business partners address the market opportunity and drive high-margin sales.”

Business Partners can get Storwize V7000 with 16GB of cache, 10.2 TB of capacity, with flash copy and compression software with 3 year warranty on hardware & 1 year on software for just Rs 14.95 lakh and pay monthly price of Rs 1.25 lakh in 4 quarterly instalments. The program is available for first system in customer environment, up to 2 compressed enclosures (equal to 4 uncompressed).

EXECUTIVE MOVEMENT

Cisco has introduced Jeff White as President of India & SAARC, assuming leadership for Cisco’s sales and operations in the region. White will also

take on the role of Leader of a new India Board, which comprises senior executives from Cisco’s headquarters as well as India.

NXP Semiconductors an-nounced that Hans Rijns and Dave French will jointly take responsibility for the NXP R&D function per immediate effect.

Hans Rijns is appointed Chief Technol-ogy Officer. He will combine this role with his current position as SVP & Head of Research.

CA Technologies has announced the ap-pointment of industry veteran Pratip Ba-nerji as Director of Sales to head its BFSI (Banking & Financial Services Industry) business in India.

Sandeep K Dutta, Country

Manager (Storage, Systems

& Technology Group), IBM

India/SA

WORLDWIDE IT SPENDING TO REACH $3.7 TRILLION IN 2013WORLDWIDE IT SPENDING IS PROJECTED TO $3.7 TRILLION IN 2013, A 4.2% INCREASE FROM 2012 SPENDING OF $3.6 TRILLION, ACCORDING TO GARTNER, INC. THE 2013 OUTLOOK FOR IT SPENDING GROWTH IN U.S. DOLLARS HAS BEEN REVISED UPWARD FROM 3.8% IN THE 3Q12 FORECAST.

WORLDWIDE IT SPENDING FORECAST (US$ BILLIONS)

Data Center Systems

Enterprise Software

IT Services Telecom Services

Overall ITDevices

627

141278

881

1,661

3,588

666

147296

927

1,701

3,737

Source: Gartner (January 2013)

2012

2013


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SNIPPETS


www.qnap.com

Copyright © 2013 QNAP Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

TS-469LTurboNAS

The new era for home entertainment

Easy installation

HD Station

Enjoy a Full HD movie experi-ence on the big-screen TV via HDMI.

HappyGet

Easily back up online videos to the Turbo NAS and play music playlists with the Chrome web browser.

TV Station

Enjoy online TV watching, recording, and playback.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

IN_01_hd_station_Full_21(W)x30(H)cm_Print.pdf 1 2013/1/18 下午 07:35:47

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Microsoft Files Rs.5.71 Crore Claim Against Delhi Based KK Software Microsoft has filed a copyright civil suit before the Delhi High Court for permanent injunction and damages against defendants Kamlesh Kumar Jha, the owner of M/s KK Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi and others defendants, for allegedly indulging in software piracy and counterfeiting of Microsoft products.

As part of the civil claim, Microsoft has claimed a loss of Rs. 5.71 Crores against Jha and KK Software Solutions, which is the value of the illegal and infringing Microsoft software seized by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) during the raids carried out at the premises of the defendants in Decem-ber, 2009, basis the Criminal Complaint filed by Microsoft.

WatchGuard’s Enhanced XCS Solutions for SMBsWatchGuard Technologies has announced the availability of its enhanced Extensible Content Security (XCS) solutions for small and mid-sized businesses. The XCS 280 and XCS 580 models offer the same trusted content protection with 50% better price/performance over previous models, claimed the company’s press release.

Available to customers now, the XCS 280 and XCS 580 provides small and medium-sized businesses with a centralized management dashboard, making it easier for customers to manage security options and create reports. In addition, customers have instant access to WatchGuard LiveSecurity Plus, which provides 24/7 web or phone-based support services.

Matrix Exhibits “Office-in-a-Box” Matrix Comsec showcased its complete portfolio of telecom products encompassing range of IP-PBXs, VoIP and GSM Gateways at Convergence-2013.

Dhaval Bhagora, Product Manager, SMB Division, said, “Matrix Comsec addresses many of these needs with its new upcoming solution. To be precise, the solution is defined as “Office-in-a-Box”. The new converged solution resolves it all-communication needs over the wireline, wireless network or the internet, voice and data, the user’s urge to be more mobile, freedom from office desk extensions, the freedom to roam between networks. Name it and you find the need addressed with the new series”.

Matrix also launch new PBX which is designed and developed for Defence to address their needs of an efficient, highly advanced, and dependable communication system. It supports interfaces for CO, LD, ISDB BRI, E1/PRI (Fiber/Copper), GSM/3G, E&M, Data, and HF/VHF/UHF Radios.

DIGESTTRANSCEND’S COPY PROTECTED MEMORY CARDS UNVEILEDTranscend Information has launched SD/microSD memory card copy protection solutions. It features read-only CD emulation, customized device security, excellent compatibility and high capacity which are apt for OEM applications, announced the company’s press release.

The memory card protects pre-loaded multimedia files and ensures the safety of valu-able intellectual property by allowing access to media while preventing end users from making unauthorized copies. Moreover over this card can be customized with a card ID that is locked to a vendor’s specific host device.

KINGSTON UNCOVERS USB 3.0 FLASH DRIVEKingston has launched DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0 USB Flash drive which comes with 512GB capacity and it features read speed up to 240MB/s and write speed up to 160MB/s.

Nathan Su, Sales Director (Flash Memory, APAC Region), Kingston, said, “Our new Data Traveler HyperX Predator 3.0 allows users to store their entire digital world on a portable USB 3.0 Flash drive.”

SILICON POWER UNVEILS 64GB SD 3.0 FLASH CARDSSilicon Power has launched a new series of pro-fessional flash cards, the SD 3.0 Superior UHS-1 series. It comes with a transmission rate reach-ing at 90 MB per second and it offers a usage, ranging from SDHC, SDXC to microSDHC for all types of devices such as DSLR, Smartphones, tablets and camcorders.

SP Superior UHS-1 series is compliant with the SDA Memory Card Standard Version 3.0.1 and the Ultra High Speed Class 1 specification (UHS-1). It is available in 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB and it comes with lifetime warranty.

LOGITECH PRODUCTS RECEIVED AWARDSLogitech has declared that nine of its products have been named International CES Innovations 2013 Design and Engineering Awards Honorees.

The recognition goes to the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760, Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio, Logitech Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650, Logitech Zone Touch Mouse T400, Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, Logitech Washable Keyboard K310, Logitech Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard K810, Logitech UE 9000 Wireless Headphones and Logitech Harmony Touch.

TECHCOM UNVEILS 4.1 MULTIME-DIA SPEAKERSTechcom has introduced multimedia speakers 4.1, SSD-4400 FM. It comes with USB Reader, Hi-Fi Sound and powerful bass speakers.

It allows users to play music from FM and sources ranging from memory card to USB pen drive. It also comes with a full-function remote control, adjusts bass, volume levels, mute and more from anywhere in the room which makes it an excellent speaker for use at home or in office claimed the company. It is available in the market at a price of Rs. 1850 with one year warranty.

GIGABYTE INTRODUCES 4K DISPLAY RESOLUTIONSGigabyte Technology has introduced 4k display resolutions using multiple standard 1080p displays with Intel Collage display technology. The new collage feature is available from an Intel graphics driver update that needs to be individually implemented by motherboard companies before it is available to the user.

The company informed that using only the Intel HD4000 Graphics of any 3rd generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, Gigabyte dual Thunderbolt motherboards with the new 4K Collage Graphics driver can power an Ultra HD 4k resolution video stream across four regular displays and provides HD resolution of 3840 x 2400 pixels.

Henry Kao, VP (Motherboard Business Unit), Gigabyte, commented, “Our implementation of Intel’s new Collage display technology means that Gigabyte’s exclusive dual Thunderbolt motherboards are first to power the very latest Ultra HD resolutions across four of today’s standard displays.”


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ZyXEL Exhibits Cloud Service Solutions at CES 2013ZyXEL Communications showcased several forward-looking technologies at CES 2013, January 8-11, Las Vegas, USA. ZyXEL demonstrated cloud-based entertainment and monitoring service solutions, and leading edge broadband access technology including fixed 4G / LTE.

ZyXEL spotlighted its LTE5121 at CES 2013. The LTE5121 gateway has a high performance LTE module and MIMO antenna array that supplies up to 100Mbps (downlink) and 50Mbps (uplink) connectivity for rich, triple-play services including IPTV, voice and high speed Internet. The LTE512x series includes the LTE5121 supporting Band 4/17 and the LTE5122 supporting Band 13.

Shyam Partners Pawan Udyog for West IndiaIn a bid to cement its distribution ecosystem, Winknet, a B2C brand of Shyam Networks Limited, has appointed Mumbai based Pawan Udyog as its regional sales partner to steer its product range of Tablets, Pocket Router and 3G Data Card within the West region of the country.

Speaking on the occasion Nafis Kazim, COO, Shyam Networks Limited, said, “Winkent is India’s first B2C end-to-end broadband devices brand and the one-stop solution for consumers to access, enable and experience broadband. We are delighted to partner with Pawan Udyog as our regional sales partner for the West region. We are quite confident that with their excellent channel relations we would be able to leverage on their regional reach and highly personalised channel relationships.”

Dimension Data Listed as Leader in Magic QuadrantDimension Data, the USD 5.8 billion global specialist IT solutions and services provider, has been positioned by Gartner, Inc., in the Leaders Quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Commu-nications Outsourcing and Professional Services (COPS) 2012 report.

Compiled by Gartner analysts, the Magic Quadrant examined 21 vendors of IT services for business communications systems worldwide, employing two main evaluation criteria. These include ‘ability to execute’ and ‘completeness of vision’.

Dimension Data CEO, Brett Dawson said, “We are extremely proud to be positioned in the Magic Quadrant and be recognised for our ability to execute and completeness of vision.”

In the last 12 months alone, Dimension Data made a number of strategic investments, Dawson informed. The Group acquired the telecom expense management company, Xigo to acceler-ate its offerings in the managed communications space.

Tektronix, a manufacturer of oscilloscopes, has announced a new agreement with Convergent Technologies that will enable them to offer customers the full portfolio of Tektronix products including high performance oscilloscopes, signal generators, real-time spectrum analyzers, logic analyzers, Keithley precision test instru-ments and the MDO4000 Series.

The expanded relationship will help provide more resources in India offering customers increased support and advice when choosing a test solution for their application needs.

In announcing plans to increase channel partner support, Kapil Sood, Managing Director, Tektronix India, said, “Our expanded relationship with Convergent Technologies, will enable customers to experience better technical and application guidance for their test and measurement product needs.”

Tektronix to Expand Channel with Convergent

MCAFEE, INTEL PARTNER TO PRO-TECT CONSUMERS’ ONLINE LIFEMcAfee and Intel announced their commitment to lead in delivering innovative security solutions aimed at protecting a consumer’s entire digital life, reflecting the broad adoption and usage of personal devices.

Together with Intel, McAfee is redefining the con-sumer security experience with a focus on safeguarding consumer devices, securing personal data and protecting identities online, announced the company’s press release. This user-centric approach will deliver a comprehensive and valuable service offering that helps meet the evolving needs of consumers as they enjoy their digital lives, anywhere, from any device. The first of these personal-ized security offerings from McAfee is available in beta to partners, with a consumer version of the product available mid-year 2013.

“As consumers live their lives online and use two, three, or more different types of devices to accommodate their online lifestyles, their needs are evolving,” said Gary Davis, VP (Consumer Marketing), McAfee. “Given this paradigm shift, McAfee is relentlessly focused on keeping consumers’ online life safe so every user can fully explore the possibilities of today’s digital age. It is no longer good enough to just protect a device from a particular piece of malware; instead we need to protect what a consumer does online no matter the device or where it is used.”

“Security is an essential component of any computing experience,” said Don Harbert, GM (Security Software and Services Division), Intel.

Gary Davis, VP (Consumer

Marketing), McAfee


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SNIPPETS


Advts.indd 11 20/12/12 8:48 PM

Emerson Earns Top Ranking for DCIMEmerson Network Power has been recognized for delivering the broadest functionality in Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), an independent IT and data center management research, analysis, and consulting firm.

Additionally, Emerson Network Power’s Trellis platform was given a special award for the “Most Comprehensive DCIM Solution.” “We’re excited about receiving this important recognition by EMA,” said Steve Hassell, President, Emerson Network Power’s Avocent business.

Symantec Enables Partners on Mobility and Cloud Symantec announced the new Mobility Solution Specialization and new Cloud enablement offer-ings to enable Symantec partners to help Indian businesses accelerate their Mobility and Cloud initiatives.

Symantec’s new programs and offerings will help partners demonstrate the skills and expertise required to deliver differentiated services to solve customer challenges and drive revenue, announced the company’s press release.

Fortinet’s FortiGate Platform Wins AwardFortinet’s FortiGate platform has received Info-Tech Research Group’s “Champion” and “Best Overall Value” awards for Next Genera-tion Firewall (NGFW). The awards, published in Info-Tech Research Group’s 2012 “Vendor Landscape: Next Generation Firewalls” report, are predicated on market share, mind share and platform coverage.

Info-Tech Research Group evaluated ten com-peting platforms in the NGFW market including Cisco, Juniper and Check Point, and Fortinet was the only vendor to receive these two awards.

“Champions must receive high scores for most evaluation criteria and offer excellent value. They have strong market presence and are usually the trendsetters for the industry,” said Jessica Ireland, research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group.

In addition to winning the “Champion” award, Fortinet scored a perfect 100 percent “Value Score.”

COMGUARD AND WINMAGIC BRING CUSTOMER MEET TO DELHIComguard Networks, a part of Spectrum Group of Companies, Dubai, and WinMagic Inc.,a Canada-based data security firm, organized a customer meet in Delhi on 15th January, 2013 at Hotel Le Meridian.

The Delhi customer meet was followed by another in Bangalore on 17th January, 2013 at Hotel ITC Gardenia. Comguard-WinMagic jointly concluded a successful customer meet in Mumbai in September 2012.

The key speakers at the conference included Harish Rai, AVP- Comguard Networks; Nameet Dokare- Country Head Sales, India, WinMagic; Iain Airey- VP, EMEA & India, WinMagic; and John Thompson- Technical Consultant EMEA & India, WinMagic.

The customer meet is primarily targeted all IT heads, CIOs, CTOs, and security managers. The event aims to delve into the various aspects of data encryption and expand the business. The customer meet is also an initiative to open up more avenues in the Indian market.

Harish Rai, AVP at Comguard Networks, added, “Such kind of conferences helps creating brand visibility for the vendor, develop greater awareness on their range of products and broaden their market reach.”

Open Source Software Gaining PopularitymyOpenSourceStore.com, provider of fully customizable Open Source Software products, announced that the portal is experiencing an unprecedented increase in traffic and more than 35% of footfalls are repeat visitors looking for recommended top rated Open Source Software products for download.

“This confirms the requirement for Open Source Software and its gaining popularity in countries focusing on development. The portals engaging, well structured, simple and concise navigation abilities offer user’s greater accessibility and ensures a collaborative shopping experience,” said Devasia Kurian, MD, myOpenSourceStore.com.

Envent Appoints Kalra Electrocom as Rajast-han DistyEnvent World Wide has appointed Kalra Electrocom Pvt. Ltd as its distributor in Rajasthan for its IT and lifestyle offerings, to further enable Envent to establish its foothold in the northern region.

Kalra Electrocom is an organization that has actively been involved in the IT sector for more than two decades. Over the years, it has gained a good repute in Rajasthan. Kalra Electrocom is also a major distributor for- AOC, Epson, Odyssey, Gigabyte etc. and has an annual turnover of more than 18 crores.

Commenting on the tie-up, Vivek Kalra, MD, Kalra Electrocom, said, “We are pleased with this partnership with Envent, which is known for its extensive product range in the Indian market.”

India to Rank Second in Manufacturing CompetitivenessAccording to 2013 ‘Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index’ by ‘Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’ and ‘U.S. Council on Competitiveness’, India will once again become the world’s second most competitive manufacturing nation in the next five years, behind China. The country’s strong talent pool in the areas of science, technology and research, in conjunction with some of the lowest labor rates in the world, are cited by survey participants as significant competitive advantages that would positively impact India’s ability to conduct cost-efficient research and development.

Harish Rai, AVP at Comguard Networks


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SNIPPETS


Zoho’s CRM Gets Feature RichZoho has done major update to Zoho CRM, the company’s online customer relationship management software.

Leading the pack of new features is a new Document Library module that allows sales people to centrally store, manage and collaborate on all sales-related collateral. The MailMagnet feature reduces email clutter for sales people by filtering mails based on their active deals in Zoho CRM. The iPhone, iPad and Android app updates allow sales people on the field to instantly locate customers and leads near their current location.

Commenting on the occasion, Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist, Zoho, said, “2012 has been a great year for Zoho CRM with a complete revamp of user interface, new mobile apps, social integrations and many more powerful features. Now, we’re beginning 2013 with major enhancements to productiv-ity and mobility for our Zoho CRM users.”

Array Partners for Kaizen’s RMA ServicesArray Networks has appointed Kaizen Infoserve, engineering services provider, as their RMA service provider. Kaizen’s focused and neutral RMA services across PAN India will expand Array Networks’ support services across India, announced the company’s press release.

Kaizen Infoserve will provide support and services for the entire line of Array Networks’ products. With the strong support coming in from Kaizen, Array Networks bolsters its future plans of penetrating deeper into tier II & III India markets.

Shibu Paul, NSM (India), Array Networks, said, “Their extension in providing RMA services to customers is another step in our long term and successful journey in India. Kaizen’s RMA services will help Array to expand services in tier II & III cities.”

Dell GCC Engineers’ Club Now in IndiaDell’s Global Commercial Channel (GCC) has launched the Dell Engineers Club in India, as part of their long-term commitment to channel partners in the country. The platform will enable technical experts across the IT industry to network, exchange ideas, and share industry trends and best practices.

This club will also help train channel partners and their engineers to be knowledgeable in Dell’s advanced server, storage, security, networking and cloud solutions, announced the company’s press release.

The company further announced that Dell’s long term aim is to qualify its partners to become not just the solutions provider but to be con-sidered IT consultants for their end-customers. Ajay Kaul, Director & GM (Global Commercial Channel), Dell India, said, “Dell’s GCC busi-ness is very committed to the Indian market and the Engineers Club aims to strengthen the enterprise knowledge of our partner community, helping them become consultants for their end-customers.”

Power solution manufacturer Delta Power Solutions has bagged awards in three different categories: Ranked No.7 - Top UPS manufacturer in the industry, Delta Modulon NH Plus: Most energy efficient product and Delta Amplon Series: User’s satisfaction Award.

The company’s press release announced that the awards have been given to Delta for its achievements as one of the world’s most innovative companies for a second consecutive year. The award identifies companies in all India for their outstanding commitment to innovation and energy efficiency.

The Softdisk award night was held in Bangalore on 9th Dec 2012.

Delta Bags Industry Awards

MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 SEES GREAT TRACTIONSMBs can now avail a 90-day free trial offer of Microsoft Office 365 with up to 10 users. Companies can sign up for this new free offer till the end of February. In addition, SMBs that purchase and activate a copy of Microsoft Office Home & Business 2010 or Professional 2010, will receive a 90-day trial of Office 365 Small Business Premium for up to 5 users. Office 365 Small Business Premium combines the power of Office 365 small business services plus Office software for PCs or Macs.

Office 365 gives SMBs the confidence they need to grow, compete and focus on what they do best – serving their customers. Office 365 provides businesses with an uncompromised solution to create, collaborate and connect including business class email and anywhere access to documents with no IT hassle.

As per the company there is a great traction for Office 365 in India and customers who have adopted Office 365 are Dabur India, FICCI, Adhunik Group, Infiniti Retail, ACME Tele Power, Unilog, Gavs Technologies, Visaka Industries to name just a few. Bharti Airtel has also partnered with Microsoft to deliver Office 365 to SMBs by provisioning the service through its cloud platform, and thereby, address the growing ICT needs of SMB segment.


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SNIPPETS


In India, AMI’s 60-70% of business comes from its enterprise products and 30% from enterprise solutions, and sees a lot of traction on the storage front, asset management and help desk.

BY: APARAJITA CHOUDHURY [email protected]

SRIDHARAN MANI, DIRECTOR AND CEO, AMERICAN MEGATRENDS INDIA

“WHEN WALLGREENS WANTED TO IMPLEMENT STORAGE SOLUTIONS, THEY EVALUATED 40 STORAGE VENDORS UNDER STRINGENT PARAMETERS BUT AMI STORAGE BOX WAS CONSIDERED AS THE BEST.”

US based American Megatrends, being a hardware and software company, emphasizes on OEM & ODMs, enterprise products and solutions

space. In OEM & ODM space, the company works on BIOS, remote management, diagnos-tics, embedded and platform validation services, etc. In India it is highly focussed on enterprise products and solutions segment. In enterprise products and solutions, it’s focus is on SMBs with storage, asset management and help desk related products. In storage, it has dual controller model Ethernet based IPSAN and NAS products.

Sridharan Mani, Director and CEO, American Megatrends India, says, “With a dynamic shift from desktop to the mobile and from the server to the cloud in 2012, AMI plays a very signifi-cant role in enabling organizations to move from legacy desktop to mobile platforms and cloud platforms.”

Towards this, the company has recently signed up with ‘Future Net’ to offer disaster recovery as a service over the cloud to help organizations to have D2D2C instead of a D2D2D. So Mani expects Software as a service (SaaS), Infrastruc-ture as a service (Iaas) and Platform as a service (PaaS), etc. to pick up and more organizations will look forward to utilizing the value of the cloud and lower the TCO. And this move will also allow SMBs to reduce total cost of operations because of moving their infrastructure on cloud.

Mani adds, “AMI’s storage products have always been in the backend of the cloud systems and we are coming up with the horizontal federated and vertical federated storage solutions, which we have been successfully distributing in the market. You can expect new releases in these particular areas

in coming quarters also. Our storage is Ethernet base. We have single and dual control models that we promote in the market. We have been witness-ing good growth over the years. Last year, we released 1301, which is new and we also released 3400 which is a dual controller model and have been seeing some good traction and good success story in the market.”

As per AMI, the company always looks at how to reduce power utilization in an organization. By the first quarter of 2013, a new product will be launched in order to slash the power consump-tion. “The company is looking forward to working with partners and customers on this. The com-pany has already helped many customers success-fully moved onto the mobile platform – so also a lot of applications. “

Basically, channel partners are the ones who recognize the customer’s problems and come up with the right kind of solutions. Mani maintains, “Our partner - Future Net - not only provides the infrastructure services and solutions but also pro-vides innovative solutions like moving the data on to the cloud for disaster recovery, which basically helps the partners to provide reliable service and also ensures that they have a better mechanism to help the customers whenever there is a failure. So, earlier partners were making opportunities only with CAPEX with cloud coming in and the businesses going more for the OPEX model, the partners will have good role to play in term of having recurring revenue coming through the OPEX model too.”

AMI has more than 120 partners. These part-ners promote products knowing that it can deliver the best value for money to the customers. The technology direction is always decided by the

MISSION IS TO HELP ENTERPRISES REDUCE COST TO THE COMPANIES


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business and the choice of technology is always made by the customers in consultation with the partners.

Many of AMI partners are in Tier-II, who designs the solutions for the end-customer. They project AMI where ever the brand can give best value for money. Besides, the partner engagement team, the technical team and the developer team of the company, directly work with the partners in order to provide an ideal platform for the cus-tomers to have the best outcome. So sometimes AMI put right solution for the customers and sometimes partner come for customization after getting the orders.

In India, power problem is one of the major issues which triggers higher rate of hard disk failure, so the company educates partners on how storage is different from a server or how the stor-age have to be well kept and maintained: main-taining the temperature of the room, putting the storage box in a rack and ensuring that whenever there is a problem, a proper voltage regulator and UPS should run on it.

AMI’s new tagline is ‘Invent Future’ which is an indication of its innovations in products and the company positions these products on the basis of the requirements of the customers because though customers go for HP, Dell or IBM server

but they want the storage box from AMI which he claims is as ideal performance for the applications or the solutions. Moreover, if the solution does not fulfil the requirements the company does not hesitate to recommend the right solution even if it is of a different brand or competition brand.

AMI does not go in for low-end storage and fibre storage rather they are into Ethernet stor-age where the enterprises are looking for perfor-mance, advanced features like intelligent life cycle management, WAN acceleration and good disas-ter recovery solutions with read-write snapshots, etc. Mani avers, “We promote our products in the market on the basis of the benefits. So when the customers look for disaster recovery-based solu-tions or want to have a good WAN acceleration, they look at good performance that is comparable with EMC and NetApp. That is where we see our products gaining.”

In India, 60-70% of its business comes from enterprise products segment and 30% from enter-prise solutions. AMI sees a lot of traction on the storage front, asset management and help desk. On the corporate side a lot of traction is happen-ing on the mobility front as corporates are moving their legacy applications to mobile because they want to move from the wired environment to wireless environment. The company says it has

done a lot of work on field service automation for health care industry, where remote patient care and patient based services are automated so that the company can give better care to the patients. This, Mani says, is becoming a major challenge to the Indian market as well as to the corporate knowledge.

Hence a lot of corporates are finding it difficult to train their ground staff effectively. AMI works with lot of corporates and develops and delivers a product called Knowledge Management System which helps the corporates to have their trainings and materials uploaded into the system and these trainings and materials are nominated to various users. After this process, the corporates only con-duct tests and certifies the partners.

“This Knowledge Management System also enables several organizations to get their ISO cer-tification done properly by making sure all their employees trained effectively and it is also used by health care institutions,” states Mani.

Finally… Out of the half a billion computers worldwide, 90% of the server remote management is based on AMI. AMI focuses more on product innovations and believes in providing appropriate solutions, reliable services and value to the customers.


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LOGISTICS COMPANY RUNS ON TALLY.ERP 9

SunRise Freight Movers is a well-established transport company in India. Estab-lished in 1991, the company

offers a complete range of transporta-tion and logistics services to its clients with quality standards. Started from a single office, SunRise today has pres-ence across the country.

Geographic expansion and excel-lence in services of SunRise is attributed to its wise decision of technology imple-mentation and the heart of all technolo-gies stands firmly being Tally.ERP 9.

Ever since the company started its operations, SunRise’s finance and accounts have been running on Tally software. But in 2011 when SunRise wanted to become a full-fledged logis-tics company, it wanted an enterprise solution.

Mr. Ramakant Saraf, Managing Director, SunRise Freight Movers Pvt. Ltd., says, “Even though we were happy with Tally but we did not know how Tally would help us when we became a full-fledged logistic company. We tried a few logistics software from eTrans, Winsoft, Freight Management System by software associates, etc., wherein we were assured of integration with the Tally software at the backend but the process to update the data was com-plex. There were a lot of duplication of entries and reports were all Microsoft Excel based, we never had MIS reports. As in the transportation field the level of technology understanding expected from the ground staff is minimal, we wanted a simpler and intuitive solution.”

After not getting desired result from the software they had implemented, using a search engine, they started look-ing for a Tally integrator, who could develop the whole system on Tally, and came across M/s R K Solutions.

Mr. Ananth, Head of Operations, SunRise Freight Movers Pvt. Ltd., says, “Mr. Manigandan, the CEO of the company, and Mr. Rajesh were very confident of providing the best solution. They worked hard with us and it took nearly six months to come out with a product which could cater to our needs. We are very proud that we have logistics software based on Tally.ERP 9 that saves time and is user friendly, with no limita-tions on reporting. We are also proud to say that the software is one of the best suited solutions for those in the surface transportation business. RK Solutions have a dedicated team of profession-als which is always ready to resolve our issues in the least possible time.”

Mr. Manigandan, CEO, M/s RK Solu-tions, says, “SunRise is one of the fine clients we have. It took us 20 days to build the solution after understanding

their requirements. Further, we took three months to transfer the entire data to Tally.ERP 9 and now they have been using it for the last six months. Since they were using Tally earlier, we did not have any difficulty in making them understand about the new solution.”

Mr. Ramakant adds, “Our business is 80% process oriented and 20% accounts oriented. 80% process oriented employ-ees do not have accounting knowledge and hence all the process entry screens have been customized in such a manner that even non accounting staff can enter the details and all these process entries are stored in Tally.ERP 9 as vouchers.”

Finally…The company has been using Tally for the last 20 years and has not find any dif-ficulty in handling the new solution and neither is much training required.

CONTACTTally Solutions

AMR Tech Park II,

No. 23 & 24,

Hongasandra,

Hosur Main Road,

Bangalore – 560 068.

India.Tel +91 80

66282559; Fax +91

80 30228775; www.

tallysolutions.com

MR.RAMAKANT SARAFMANAGING DIRECTOR, SUNRISE FREIGHT MOVERS

MR. ANANTHHEAD OF OPERA-TIONS, SUNRISE FREIGHT MOVERS“All process entry

screens have been customized in such a manner that even non accounting staff can enter the details and all this process entries are stored in Tally.ERP 9 as vouchers.”

“We are very proud that we have logistics software based on Tally.ERP 9 that saves time and is user friendly, with no limitations on reporting.”

BENEFITSl Saves time l Generates data and

reports much faster l Is user friendlyl Requires minimum

training

CASE STUDY TALLY


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Case Study-Tally.indd 26 21/01/13 11:39 PM

TALLY HAS CHANGED

MY LIFE FOR A BRIGHTER

FUTURE

Tally as a brand has changed fortunes of innumerable businesses in global and domestic markets. Sitting at the core of small to mid-size businesses,

Tally has controlled the organizational decisions around finance and accounting. Especially, after the launch of Tally.ERP 9, Tally Solutions has paved the path for high growth of organizations and partners. Chennai based RK Solutions is one of such partner, which has flourished on Tally.

Even though RK Solutions started in 2006 but for Mr. C. Manigandan, the CEO of the company, the love for Tally started long before that. He says, “Tally as a brand is very close to my heart. I started liking Tally 20 years back when I was with JL Informatrix Ltd. It gave me a lot of confidence and helped me reach the highest position at JL before the company was acquired. In fact Tally has changed my life for a brighter future.”

“After JL got acquired by Tally Solutions, I obviously had a reason to do business around Tally because I had worked in various positions including product sales and marketing in JL and

knew the ways and means of doing Tally business successfully. So I started this company and later my wife too joined the company as a director,” he adds.

Today, Mr. Manigandan is a happy man as RK Solutions is a 14 member company with presence in three locations. RK Solutions has developed capability of extensive customization and Integra-tion of Tally.ERP 9 for various vertical industries. This has enabled RK Solutions to address typical requirement of a cross-section of verticals includ-ing hospitals, dairies, rice mills, hatcheries and logistics & freight management companies.

In the last six years, the company has created many success stories but as per Mr. Manigandan, there are some projects which are quite close to his heart, from which he got optimum satisfaction. These include Rural India Health Project (RIHP) - a charitable hospital which is backed up by TATA Coffee at Coorg. Similarly, Tulya Foods is a Trichy based dairy where RK Solutions implemented dairy management solution using Tally.ERP 9. Another company is SunRise Freight Movers,

Bangalore where RK implemented transport module using Tally.ERP 9, which is also unique to this transport industry. RK Solutions mission is to make the solutions very user friendly and process specific to the individual companies.

Having done hard work for the last six years around Tally in terms of customization and inte-gration, RK Solutions clocked a turnover of Rs.74 lakh in 2012. And for 2013, Mr. Manigandan has set eyes on a magical number of Rs.1 crore and in the next three years he wants to sell 50 vertical solutions per month and add 2,000 customers to his clientele list. His ambition is to make RK Solu-tions one of the Top 5 Solution Providers in India.

Finally…Mr. Manigandan concludes, “We started with three employees six years back. In a few months from now we will touch a turnover of Rs.1 crore. Tally has given us so many opportunities that we will never think of becoming a dealer or reseller of any other product or company. I am really happy about it.”

C. MANIGANDAN, CEO, R K SOLUTIONS

“WE BELIEVE IN TALLY, WHICH HAS GIVEN US SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES THAT WE WILL NEVER

THINK OF BECOMING A DEALER OR RESELLERS OF ANY OTHER PRODUCT OR COMPANY.”


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PARTNER CORNER

partner_corners-Tally.indd 27 21/01/13 11:40 PM


28

COVER STORY 2013 PREVIEW

Cover_Story-Fisrt part.indd 28 21/01/13 11:41 PM

Well, 2013 is here; a new year, a new begin-

ning, making of new resolutions, promises,

ideas, visions et al. 2012 was dominated

by cloud, big data, business intelligence,

virtualization etc.; 2013 promises more or

less no different technology but rather more

improved ones. We bring to you a low down

on the technologies which the industry

predicts will rule this year. We don’t promise

this to be a comprehensive, in-depth and

analytical view on the trends that will rule

this year, but have done our best to compile

a list based on the IT enterprises’ responses.

While the technologies will predominantly

remain the same, the year will see more

investments in technologies and services say

the industry. Only time will tell how further

these technologies will be refined and

evolved.

The technologies which will dominate the IT landscape this year is no brainer, and will be nothing but a spillover from the last year. But this year, the industry says, the technologies will evolve more.

BY KARMA [email protected]

2013AMAZINGTO INFLUENCE BUSINESS INTECHNOLOGIES


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COVER STORY2013 PREVIEW


CLOUDOf course, Cloud is going nowhere. It is here

to stay. While 2012 saw the beginning of Cloud moving into the mainstream with wide deploy-ments and “2013 will mark the year where clarity around the Cloud will drive bigger growth, more adoption both in terms of benefits (cost-savings and flexibility) and the definition of challenges to be addressed (Security, Management + Governance) predicts Microsoft.

VMware is seeing enterprises move to a hybrid cloud model, leveraging and benefiting from reli-able resources offered by our vCloud service pro-vider partners.

Dell says that as far as IT in enterprise is con-cerned there will be a rise in investment in private

cloud as customers look for automated end-to-end solutions to manage seamless virtual delivery of resources and services through the cloud.

Nevales foresees year 2013 to be about expansion of cloud computing and the struggle by the enter-prise to achieve appropriate security for it.

Ajay Kaul, Director & GM (Global Commercial, Channel), Dell India, goes, “IDC says that the public cloud market will grow 41% by 2016. Although India has been slow on the uptake of cloud so far, it is poised to be the next big thing. With uptake on cloud, vendors providing Cloud Client Computing solutions, Cloud Software and Cloud IT services will flourish. Subsequently, expenditure on hard-ware will drop with the adoption of cloud.”

The India IT services market is forecast to reach $10.2 billion in 2013, which is a 12 per cent increase from an esti-mated $9.1 billion in 2012 as per various industry analysts indicating a clear growth expected within the XaaS/Hosted services purview.

Ravishankar too agrees that organizations will increas-ingly see cloud computing and anything-as-a service (XaaS) as the “default options” when they’re considering purchasing new technology. Such technologies are making the opera-tions simpler for organizations infact opening up completely new avenues of growth in a simplified manner for them.

• SaaS: Providing organizations with an easy path to gen-erate quick time value and measurable ROI SaaS is rapidly becoming mainstream with SaaS adoption finally turning the corner. IDC is predicting $25 billion in SaaS acquisitions over the next 20 months, up from $17 billion in the past 20 months.

• Hybrid IT and cloud computing will also converge to drive further growth: Along with office tools, personal ser-vices, and entertainment venues, ERP platforms have risen to the cloud as well.

“We expect to see even more customers adopt a hybrid cloud model in 2013 as they see the benefits on offer.”T. SRINIVASAN, MD (INDIA & SAARC), VMWARE INC.

“Personal cloud will gradually replace the PC. Users will see it as a portable, always-available place where they can go for all their digital needs.”RAVISHANKAR, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, NEVALES NETWORKS

“TCO, flexibility and SLA based pay as you go pricing models contribute to these technologies being looked at more favourably.”ASHIS GUHA, PRESIDENT (GLOBAL SALES), SANOVI TECHNOLOGIESXaaS


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4 5

Microsoft predicts that in this year, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide, however rather than supersede, mobile devices will continue to live side-by-side with PC’s in an increasingly fluid network where the personal cloud replaces the notion of the personal computer.

While Gurpreet Brar, Director, SMB and Com-

mercial Channel, Printing and Personal Systems Group, HP India predicts that the growing interest in enterprise mobility is being addressed by new inno-vations in form factors – such as hybrid PCs – that will see a rapid adoption in 2013 and beyond. “On the printing side too, the rapid adoption of mobile devices in businesses is in turn driving the growth of printers with mobile printing capabilities.”

Apps are predicted to become hotter. Microsoft says the rise of everything being hosted on a ubiqui-tous cloud platform will also create a long-term shift from native apps to Web apps as HTML5 becomes more capable. However native apps won’t disappear completely as many users will retain a preference for the better user experiences and most sophisticated features.

2013 will see further “consumerization of IT predicts Microsoft. HP will con-tinue to help businesses address the BYOD and “consumerization of IT” trends by building products that can move seamlessly between personal or home sys-tems and professional or work systems.

Cisco feels that though there are issues related with security and compliance, BYOD as a concept will see more accelerated adoption in the coming year.

Brocade says the smartphone/tablet phenomenon will fuel this trend, and will drive uptake of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), wireless networking and end-point security solutions in the corporate arena.

“The rise of customized BYOD strategies will be a key differentiator for enterprises looking to cater for diverse types of employee – for instance some IT departments may only need to support mobile devices for specific workers whose jobs require them while the rest continue to use PCs,” informs the repre-sentative of Microsoft.

MOBILITY

BYODWEB APPS

“Smartphones, tablets and ultra-thin notebooks allow consumers to create, share

and enjoy digital content anytime, anywhere, and flash memory is a key enabler of these

thin yet powerful devices. With a robust growth in these devices, the demand for our

products is also expected to witness growth.” MANISHA SOOD, COUNTRY MANAGER & DIRECTOR, INDIA & SAARC,

SANDISK CORPORATION


31



6 With cloud flourishing so will virtualization as it is the catalyst for enabling transition to cloud computing. Virtualization will lower capital and operational costs enabling IT agility. “It enables data centres to save tremendous amounts of money on hardware, power, and cooling and floor space, thus garnering prominence in the coming year,” says Kaul.

Consolidation and virtualization initiatives have improved server utilization and agility, but there is still a long way to go.

VIRTUALIZATION “Some like Brocade are taking an open-standard and evolutionary approach that protects the hundreds of billions already invested in server, storage and networking.”K P UNNIKRISHNAN, APAC MARKETING DIRECTOR, BROCADE

9 Businesses are taking to Social Media with gusto for reasons beyond marketing. Globally IT companies have stepped up efforts to create integrated communication products that bring together the best of con-

ventional methods such as email, and social media.

Unnikrishnan says, “While Social Media will transform engagement models, to be successful, operators and business will need to ensure

that their back-end networks can meet user expectations. In situations such as this, even one service disrup-tion could be fatal to the customer relationship.”

IDC predicts that big data will continue on its growth path, with investment in technologies and services grow-ing to nearly $10 billion in 2013. But the focus of this investment will see an important shift in 2013, as more VC funding and M&A goes toward the upper half of the big data stack: analytics and discovery tools, and analytic applications. IDC expects predictive analytics will be a particular hot spot in the months to come.

Microsoft informs that 2013 will see the initial excite-ment around Big Data / Analytics mature and give birth to the business opportunity of ‘Strategic Big Data’, marking a shift from a focus on individual projects to an influence on enterprises’ strategic information. Big data combined with actionable analytics open up a whole new range of possibilities for business.

Srinivasan says, “We believe that virtualization will play a central role in creating that common distributed platform, and we see a growing number of enterprises in 2013 standardizing on virtualization as the platform for their big-data solutions.”

Before the computer age, Social Engi-neering meant sneaking one’s way past a company’s defenses with the gift of gab as opposed to a cleverly-worded email. Now social engineering has moved onto social networks, including Facebook and

LinkedIn informs Checkpoint.Attackers are increasing their use of

social engineering, which goes beyond calling targeted employees and trying to trick them into giving up information.

SOCIAL MEDIA

SOCIAL ENGINEERING

BIG DATA87

“After all, social networks are about connecting people, and a convincing-looking profile of a company or person followed by a friend or connection request can be enough to get a social engineering scam rolling,” BHASKAR BAKTHAVATSALU, REGIONAL DIRECTOR- INDIA AND SAARC, CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES.


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Apart from ISPs 24Online is also majorly focused on travel and hospitality and plans to take Connect Program to approx. 12 cities within a year

SAMIKSH AGGARWAL, AVP (SALES—DATA NETWORKS), ELITECORE TECHNOLOGIES.

“MAIN CHALLENGE IS EDUCATING THE PARTNERS AND CLIENTS,”

24Online is the first product of Elitecore Technologies since its incep-tion in 1999. Starting from billings for the cable operators and ISPs it has

also expanded into the hospitality sector. To cater to these markets with different requirements, it has segregated the products and categorised 24 Online into two segments one is SMS which is subscribers’ management solution for the ISPs and the other is Hospitality Internet access solu-tion for the hospitality industry specifically.

It recently held its 24Online Connect program for hospitality players, MSOs, internet provid-ers, top channel members to update them on the industry trends, challenges, requirements and open them up to the immense opportuni-ties awaiting them in the internet and hospitality industry.

The Connect Program was started in 2011 with the purpose to create more and more aware-ness about 24Online, educate people on industry trends; that’s why the platform not only serves the partners but clients too are invited.

“After launching this program we realized that even people who are were knew about the strengths of 24Online, after attending our pro-gram, became more aware on what 24Online is. Hence we felt the importance of conducting such programs frequently and updating our cus-tomers and partners. We started with Delhi and Mumbai and are going to cover more specific cities because we are seeing a trend of B cities too requiring all these solutions where we need to educate the channel partners,” informs Samiksh Aggarwal, AVP (Sales—Data Networks), Elitecore Technologies.

With approximately 150 partners promoting its products in India Aggarwal reveals that Con-nect Program will reach out to other cities too and plans to cover 10-12 cities within a period of one year. As of now it follows both direct and channel sales but the main focus remains Channel.

Besides ISP, travel and hospitality are the other main verticals. And through channels it is only focusing on the hospitality market and Aggarwal says that Neox market can definitely be there but right now it’s a secondary priority. “Our first strategy is to create awareness about 24Online, about market understanding and industry trends and only then we want to increase the number of partners in the industry. And for this we have to arrange more and more such shows.”

Recently the company launched the IP tele-phony solutions by the name of Neox which includes softswitch and IP PBX. “We haven’t done the commercial launch of Neox, but have started floating it in the market that we have solution ready with us now.”

He further opines that for hospitality IP PBX which will be useful to them. “They can host the IP PBX and provide access to each room with an IP phone. Currently most of the hotels are using analogue phones. So they can have IP phones and through IP phones they can have VoIP callings from the rooms which are very costly.”

24Online has been deployed at Brisbane air-port, UAE and now has been approved by the general civil aviation authority of Saudi Arabia and will soon be deployed at the airports of Saudi Arabia starting with Jeddah.

In hospitality the major hotels using 24Online

24ONLINE SCOUTS FOR NATIONAL DISTY FOR HOSPITALITY BUSINESS

are Radisson, Ramada, Sheraton Dubai, Oberoi Group to name a few.

With 24Online becoming an established player in the hospitality sector plans are on the anvil to appoint a national distributor. Aggarwal says, “We have reached a state where 24Online is already an established player in the hospitality sector as well. Because on ISP side we consider it as a project and in project you can’t have a distributor, you can have a partner. But in hospitality it’s a completely channel driven business, hence we are looking for a distributor.”

He further informs that they are not in a hurry to appoint anybody as its national distributor. “We have to appoint the right partner, evaluate whether that distributor can create some value for us and also for themselves or not. We can either appoint a regional distributor or a national dis-tributor, it all depends on the kind of interest we get from the partners and the size of the partners, their reach and strength.”

Throwing light on the issues of channel part-ners, Aggarwal rates lack of awareness as an important issue in the industry. “Main challenge is educating the partners and clients,” concludes Aggarwal.



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IT enterprises across the industry give a glimpse into expectations and potential of the SMB market, the industry verticals which will see aggressive investments into technologies, and also share their channel roadmap for 2013.


SMBsTO DRIVE TECHNOLOGY SALES IN 2013


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According to market expansion advisory firm Zinnov’s latest study on ‘Automating the Indian SMB’, there is an addressable opportunity in 10 million small and medium businesses in the country are expected to reach 11 million by 2015, with 22% in the retail sector and 20% in professional services.

The Zinnov study reveal that Indian SMBs are demonstrating significant potential to adopt technology, led by the need to be more efficient, improve ecosystem connect and to keep pace with the growing mobile workforce, apart from aiding payments/collections.

Rajesh Shetty, VP (India & SAARC), Cisco, says, “SMBs are shifting to mobile devices and BYOD than sticking to traditional computers and notebooks. Cloud based collaboration and video is impacting all businesses.”

HP claims to have a deep rooted understanding of the needs of the SMB seg-ment and have developed a 3-part strategic approach to enable their business goals: starting simple, working smarter, growing faster.

“We will continue to strengthen our product and solutions offering for the SMB sector with many innovations in our portfolio. One trend which will con-tinue to witness significant adoption from SMBs is a clear demand shift from products to solutions,” says Gurpreet Brar, Director, SMB and Commercial Channel, Printing and Personal Systems Group, HP India.

Talisma believes that SMEs will create products with customer experience embedded throughout the entire development process to deliver richer experi-ences. Therefore in 2013, the industry will begin to see more of SMEs embrac-ing CEM. “We are seeing more and more SMEs learning from their Tier one counterparts in using experience as a competitive differentiator through inno-vative customer engagement idea, models and practices.,” says, Rajmruthyun-jayya, MD (APAC IEMEA), Talizma Corporatiion, Pvt. Ltd.

KK Shetty, Director (India & SAARC--Enterprise & Telecom Networks), TE Connectivity India, notes, “We will see the cost of technology decreasing further. Maintaining servers and hardware will give way to a smart-phone or tablet devices, especially for the small and mid-segments.”

“We are putting in lot of efforts this year and have listed down a set of SMB accounts across all the states. Thought the transaction will happen through the channels but we are trying to directly get in touch with the customers so there is a more disciplined approach this year in terms of driving the SMB,” says Saji Kumar, Director, Product Management, Acer India.

Fuelled by growing demand for business agility and high availability/disaster recovery, virtualization has gone mainstream amongst small and midsize busi-ness informs T. Srinivasan, MD (India & SAARC), VMware Inc. “The challenge SMBs face is to do it all with a small team. In 2013 advances in cloud-based management solutions will make it even easier for companies to solve these problems and focus on growing their business.”

Industry and Investment BFSI, telecom government, education, retail, manufacturing, hospitality are some of the hot areas which enterprises say are likely to invest aggressively on technology.

HP expects a sustained demand in 2013 from sectors as varied as BFSI, retail, manufacturing, IT/ITeS and public sector, among others.

Fortinet bets on telecom and financial services as two verticals that will invest aggressively on technology, and will be its focus in 2013.

“The Department of Telecom has mandated that Indian telcos will be respon-sible for security of their own networks. Likewise, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) mandate is also forcing banks to follow the guidelines laid down by it on information security. Such government regulations have also prompted the industry to invest and implement network security solutions, and have con-tributed towards the growth of the network security market,” informs Vishak Raman, Senior Regional Director, Fortinet,India & SAARC.

Infrastructure, SME segment, upcountry market, manufacturing, education


35



“SMBS ARE SHIFTING TO MOBILE DEVICES AND BYOD THAN STICKING TO TRADITIONAL COMPUTERS AND NOTEBOOKS. CLOUD BASED COLLABORATION AND VIDEO IS IMPACTING ALL BUSINESSES.” RAJESH SHETTY, VP (INDIA & SAARC), CISCO

“THE CHALLENGE SMBS FACE IS TO DO IT ALL WITH A SMALL TEAM. IN 2013 ADVANCES IN CLOUD-BASED MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS WILL MAKE IT EVEN EASIER FOR COMPANIES TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS.” T. SRINIVASAN, MD (INDIA & SAARC), VMWARE INC.

“GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS HAVE ALSO PROMPTED THE INDUSTRY TO INVEST AND IMPLEMENT NETWORK SECURITY SOLUTIONS.” VISHAK RAMAN, SENIOR REGIONAL DIRECTOR, FORTINET, INDIA & SAARC.

“ONE TREND WHICH WILL CONTINUE TO WITNESS SIGNIFICANT ADOPTION FROM SMES IS A CLEAR DEMAND SHIFT FROM PRODUCTS TO SOLUTIONS.” GURPREET BRAR, DIRECTOR, SMB AND COMMERCIAL CHANNEL, PRINTING AND PERSONAL SYSTEMS GROUP, HP INDIA

“WE WILL SEE COST OF TECHNOLOGY DECREASING. MAINTAINING SERVERS AND HARDWARE WILL GIVE WAY TO A SMART-PHONE OR TABLET DEVICES, ESPECIALLY FOR SMBS.” KK SHETTY, DIRECTOR (INDIA & SAARC--ENTERPRISE & TELECOM NETWORKS), TE CONNECTIVITY INDIA

“WE ARE PUTTING IN LOT OF EFFORTS THIS YEAR AND HAVE LISTED DOWN A SET OF SMB ACCOUNTS ACROSS ALL THE STATES. ” SAJI KUMAR, DIRECTOR, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, ACER INDIA.


36



“WE WILL SEE GROWTH FROM ACROSS ALL THE VERTICALS THANKS TO THE GROWING DEMAND FOR SURVEILLANCE SOLUTIONS AND INCREASING INVESTMENTS.” SUDHINDRA HOLLA, COUNTRY MANAGER, AXIS COMMUNICATIONS INDIA.

“STRINGENT REGULATIONS, DEMANDING CUSTOMERS, NEED TO ATTRACT NEW CLIENTELE , REDUCE COSTS ETC. WILL DRIVE THE SECTOR TO INVEST IN TECH AGGRESSIVELY.” GAURAV KOHLI, DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, DION.

“THERE WILL BE HUGE INVESTMENT BY EDUCATION VERTICAL AS NOW MORE AND MORE INSTITUTIONS ARE MOVING TO CLOUD FACILITIES.” SUBHASISH GUPTA, COUNTRY MANAGER, INDIA & SAARC, ALLIED TELESIS.

“WE ARE PLANNING TO ADD MORE PARTNERS, WILL PROVIDE THEM EVERY POSSIBLE SUPPORT SO THAT WE CAN REACH OUT TO MASSES AND INCREASE OUR REACH.” DEEPAK DEVESHWAR, HEAD (RETAIL & CONSUMER BUSINESS), BUFFALO INC INDIA

and hospitality are the areas where the industry will invest on according to Shetty.

“We will see growth from across all the verti-cals in India, thanks to the growing demand for surveillance solutions and increasing investments by the government real estate, businesses (large and small), and hospitals,” says, Sudhindra Holla, Country Manager, Axis Communications India.

For Dion it’s the BFSI sector which is expected to be the most aggressive. “Stringent regulations, demanding customers, need to attract new cli-entele, reduce operating costs are some of the key reasons that will drive the sector to invest in technology aggressively,” remarks Gaurav Kohli, Development Director, Dion.

Allied Telesis country manager for India & SAARC Subhasish Gupta says, “There will be huge investment by the education vertical as now more and more institutions are moving to cloud facili-ties for providing quality education to students.”

Channel Road Map 2013Cisco says its growth strategy primarily involves customer centric innovation and being 100% partner-led; and is looking forward to further expand partner base in the tier-II and III cities.

HP’s vision is to continue delivering programs and solutions that they can count on. Apart from launching new and exciting channel programs for our partners by offering them a strong product mix - new products and solutions, it will be fur-ther increasing the engagement with the Channel Partners with the objective of growing the high-end product and value business mix which will help to grow their profitability.

While Axis plans to aggressively focus on the tier II and III cities which it says are the coun-try’s largest base of SMB’s. “To enable increased geographic reach, we will sign up with new channel partners in the coming year. We are also working on reaching out to resellers through ADI, with whom we signed up recently. ADI partners have a strong base of resellers and we will be tapping this for increasing our business,” says Holla.

Being a solution focussed company Allied Tele-sis has aggressive plans to launch new products and solutions into filed of building end-to-end IP networks solution. Gupta says, “Allied Telesis is continuously focusing on building solution for data centers, cloud networks and video surveil-lance networks.”

Deepak Deveshwar, Head (Retail & Consumer Business), Buffalo Inc., India, reveals, “We are planning to add more and more partners who will be working dedicatedly for Buffalo. We will pro-vide them every possible support so that we can reach out to masses and increase our reach.”


37



Like an unwanted guest the end of the year 2012 was seen as a good riddance, with unpleasant memories of a bad market, economic

slowdown, hardships faced by businesses, rupee depreciation and others. And now

the market is eyeing the New Year, 2013, with hope and eagerness of a child.

Depreciation in rupee value, high production input prices, hike in bor-rowing costs and geo graphical situa-tion were some of the key factors that overshadowed the growth but there is

While 2012 did not turn out to be a good year, majorly affected by rupee depreciation, price rise due to natural disasters across the major nations, and slow buying among the customers; the channel partners have pinned their hopes on 2013.

BY APARAJITA [email protected]

EXPECTATIONSFROM 2013

GREAT


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EXPECTATIONSFROM 2013


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FEATURE2013 PREVIEW


stability in the growth rates of China and India informs Kobian. Sushmita Das, Country Manager (India), Kobian, explains, “We expect 2013 to be a better year than 2012 and business environment is improving with the improving US economy. Thus we expect the IT industry to record a stable growth in 2013. It is also expected to be a very stable year, so growth and strategies have to be planned quarter on quarter and we are ready to face and handle any surprises.”

A V Suresh Babu, Director, I4 communication Private Limited, informs, “Economic slowdown and instability in UK and US had a massive impact on the market growth in the last two years but there is a ray of hope that first and second quarter of 2013 will see moderate market growth whereas third and fourth quarters will witness a significant market growth.”

Team Computers sees a steady market growth of 15-20% in 2013. Informs Shikher Gupta, Head (Relationships & Communications), Team Com-puters, “With lot of expansion plans by TCS, HCL and CTS, IT and ITeS segment will grow by 30% to 40%. In addition, verticals like BFSI and bank-ing look forward for considerable growth as most of the finance organizations and banks declared profits and they would surely go for expansions.”

With US showing signs of recovery, iValue pre-

dicts that 2013 will have enough growth oppor-tunities as FDI inflow helps to manage CAD challenges, back home reforms are on fast track and fiscal cliff has also been addressed. “All these factors together indicate that 2013 looks better than 2012 from all perspectives. We strongly feel there are enough and more growth opportunities when we focus to address customers business and IT challenges. iValue grew at 80% CAGR since inception despite market challenges. We are on course to grow at similar rate for 2012-13 too,” optimistically says Sunil Pillai, Co Founder and MD, iValue InfoSolutions.

According to Antec, despite economic slow-down and sales drop in other regions, India market in 2012 still saw some growth and 2013 will see a better situation in terms of PC market in India. Though last year, the overall IT industry grew at a very slow pace but Edimax claims that they achieved 10% growth.

Technologies for 2013Team Computers says that enterprise mobility, collaboration and analytics are some of the tech-nologies which drive business efficiency as enter-prise mobility provides access to applications and data to users on mobile, collaboration is in touch with customers, prospects, employees and the

entire ecosystem and analytics make decisions via real time data on move.

Following the increasing demand of video application which in turn demands more band-width, 10 G on copper and 40 and 100G on fiber technologies will drive demand in 2013. On the other hand Suresh Babu informs, “Converged data voice and video applications are increasing pro-gressively which demand very high bandwidth. Cat6 is going to be deployed predominantly and there is a growing demand for Cat6 A too.”

Cloud is one of the leading technologies and includes in its ambit categorise like IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, which makes IT profitable and manageable for many new businesses. Hosted models are also on demand in order to run critical business appli-cations such as ERP, CRM, SCM, email, etc.

“With digital data doubling every year and growing faster with each month, customers have a huge challenge managing structured and unstructured data growth and derive actionable intelligence out of it. So, some of data manage-ment offerings like storage virtualization, thin provisioning, scale out systems, automated tiered storage, de-dupe at source & destination, backup/archive of virtual instances and storage as a service will pick up steam during the new year,” says Pillai.

“MOST OF THE FINANCE ORGANIZATIONS AND BANKS DECLARED PROFITS AND THEY WOULD SURELY GO FOR EXPANSIONS.” SHIKHER GUPTA, HEAD (RELATIONSHIPS & COMMUNICATIONS), TEAM COMPUTERS,

“A LOT OF NEW OPPORTUNITY IS THERE FOR THE CHANNEL PARTNERS FOR THE MOBILE ACCESSORIES.” KEVAN LI, HEAD (SALES AND OPERATIONS), ANTEC, INDIA.

“WE STRONGLY FEEL THERE ARE ENOUGH AND MORE GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES WHEN WE FOCUS TO ADDRESS CUSTOMERS BUSINESS AND IT CHALLENGES. SUNIL PILLAI, CO FOUNDER AND MD, IVALUE INFOSOLUTIONS.


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FEATURE 2013 PREVIEW


touch screen and 3D screen whereas smart phones feature high screen resolutions, display size, applications and upgrades.

Investment in 2013Engagement with channel partners and reaching to end-users are investments that the industry will focus on. Kobian plans to invest depending on the changing face of technology and focus on the R&D to bring in state of the art technology prod-ucts, newer innovative products and additions to the existing PC peripherals series.

Seeing the growing trend in gaming and mobility products, Antec will introduces mobile accessories product like bluetooth speakers, blue-tooth noise cancellation ear phones, bluetooth receivers, USB chargers and mobile power banks. In Indian market, SMPS and PC cabinet gaining ground because of the growing standards of the specifications in PC components.

i4 Communication wants to add more infra-structure services like security surveillance, CCTV, and IBMS whereas iValue’s focus has always already been in the areas of data, network and application (DNA) management which is DNA to every business covering network secu-rity, storage and enterprise wireless offerings and will continue to add new, niche and relevant offerings in this space for partner eco system. But in 2013, they plan to highlight more on ser-vice aspects.

Sudhir S, MD, Inspan Infotech, states, “We want to invest in all the latest upcoming technolo-gies and upgrade ourselves with all the latest tech-nology in distribution business.”

Challenges in Adopting New TechnologiesAdopting any new technology in itself is a chal-lenge and to top it, it gets updated every now and then. As Sudhir S says, “New technologies get updated soon, so the stock and sell out plan should be faster in order to compete with the new technology and the knowledge should also be updated by foreseeing the future market.”

Though Antec has a strong R&D team for the AMP products, casing and SMPS but in Indian market these mobile products do not have a similar channel alignment with the current prod-ucts and therefore it says a separate network is necessary.

On the contrary, iValue says that with OEM’s commitment, understanding and long term approach, they see no challenge because their constant engagement with the top 500 accounts helps them to identify emerging needs of business and IT and they empower their internal team to effectively address customer and partner needs.

The company also invests on inside sales and mar-keting activities to help partners with leads along with brand and product promotion for reducing sales cycles.

“With newer technologies, the major challenges would be the clearance of existing products, investment and shipment,” maintains Das.

Pillai says, “iValue and vendor jointly enable identified partners across geographies for both technical and sales aspect. We look at multiple engagement models and work jointly with part-ner front end team to take the offering to the market complementing them in all aspects of pre and post sale needs.”

Babu suggests that to enable channel partners to adopt new technology, vendors should orga-nize demos and presentations to channels, initiate free training sessions for new product launches, refresh courses to build skills and offer sales incentive programs for promotion of new tech-nologies and products.

Antec organizes team of sales and marketing in India to provide education to the channel partners and helps them gain some value added services to their customers by offering them proper and vari-ous information about selecting a component.

And what the channel expects from the vendors to help them tide over the challenges are product quality, easy availability of product at competitive prices and fast and quick response to customer requirements for incorporating value changes.

As digital asset protection and management are crucial component for any business to protect and grow business, so vendors need to scan emerging threats and proactively address them in real time. Further, vendors also need to invest in post-sales technical and hardware support to ensure SLA compliance for the mission critical offerings opines the industry.

Sudhir says, “Regular update on future technol-ogy aspects and impart knowledge and training to the sales team on this are some of the improve-ments which vendors need to do.”

Finally…As a New Year resolution the industry says it wants to enhance value proposition to each of the stake holders for a win-win partnership with internal team, vendors, partners, customers and investors. Resolution also encompasses increasing channel base in all A, B, C and D cities across India and impart them adequate product information and to reach more end users through various market-ing activities.

Furthermore, with increase in product range of high quality and specification products, it wants to reinforce its services strengths and deliverables to the channels.

“WE WANT TO INVEST IN ALL THE LATEST UPCOMING TECHNOLOGIES AND UPGRADE OURSELVES WITH ALL THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY IN DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS.” SUDHIR S, MD, INSPAN INFOTECH.

The latest Windows 8 OS is also seen as a new trend to drive growth in the Indian PC segment. Antec claims says that in terms of desktop PC, there is already a change in trend towards technology users selecting a quality SMPS and computer cabi-net to save electricity bill, enhance the protection of components and better performance of the PC.

Eric Yang, Country Manager (India), Edimax Technologies, says, “Operating systems certainly plays an important role in defining IT markets. As far as networking is concerned many new tech-nologies are in place but for a start, it will take lot of efforts and cloud technologies are one of them.”

According to Gartner, mobile device sales in India are forecasted to reach 251 million units in 2013, an increase of 13.5 percent over 2012. The report says that mobile handset market is expected to show steady growth through 2016 when end-user sales will surpass 326 million units. “With this growth a lot of new opportunity is there for the channel partners in mobile acces-sories,” avers Kevan Li, Head (Sales and Opera-tions), Antec, India.

Tablets are another fastest growing product line with better core chipset and processor, higher storage, better display and connectivity. Laptop, smart phones and tablet also gain momentum because now-a-days laptops are coming with


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FEATURE2013 PREVIEW


SMEs TO CONTRIBUTE RS. 50 TO 60 CRORE

IN CANON’S MDS REVENUE

Canon is all gung ho about the SME segment and says that by 2013 at least 30% of its partners will focus on SMEs and PSUs. And will be soon launching

economically priced MDS solutions for this segment.

Canon started its MDS journey in 2009 in a formal umbrella brand of Canon MDS. The MDS pay per click model has been in India for a long time but it was mostly done

by the unorganized sectors. When companies like Canon entered, they brought in a lot of organized approach to this particular model of business as they brought in a lot of software solution to this entire approach: print software solution.

The initial stages were filled with hiccups in terms of acceptability of this solution by large corporates as the initial costs were high. But later when the realization dawned on the kind of saving it can provide, they found it was a good approach to go with companies like Canon which apart from hardware can also provide software solutions. As of now Canon has 75 customers in various verticals which are large canon MDS cus-tomers: automobile, FMCG, pharmaceutical etc.

It’s not only the large corporates which are look-ing at this kind of services, the SMEs and PSUs are also on the lookout for this kind of systematic approach to printing environment. Somewhere at the end of 2010 or start of 2011 Canon opened this MDS to its channel partners. “We tried to sup-port them with some kind of software, hardware, giving them financial support and increasing the knowledge about this kind of approach. We have somewhere around 15 top customers who are the MDS customers for Canon. So overall from 2009 onwards we have around 100 good MDS custom-

ers, who are taking MDS services from us,” reveals Bhaskar Joshi, Senior Marketing Manager (Office Imaging Solutions Division), Canon.

He says that if you are looking for a faster growth then it’s in the SME segment, even though the print volume may not be huge like large cor-porates. “We are looking for customers and there are a lot of them in the market who print some-where around 1 to 2 lakh print per month and are looking for such kind of solutions.”

Earlier there was a concept of decentralized printing in SME and but now they have realized the benefits of centralized printing and to go with MDS kind of approach; and as they aspire to become like large enterprises, they are looking for these kind of setups and have realized that they can bring a lot of changes in their organization and can do a lot of cost saving when they do cen-tralized kind of printing informs Joshi.

Canon expects that at least 30% of its partners will focus on SMEs and PSU segment in 2013.

“SME market is quite big,” reiterates Joshi, “but to be frank, no study has been done on this seg-ment. If you look at the overall SME MDS market in India, which is an organized kind of a set-up, is somewhere around $1 billion. And 50% of that is SME.”

And as for its market share in MDS he says, as per its study, is somewhere around 24-25%. MDS will be contributing somewhere around Rs. 100 crore to Canon in a year and SMEs contribution will be somewhere around Rs. 20 to 30 crore. “In

“People or companies are not going for social clouds but for their own secured clouds and SMEs are somewhat keener to go into the shared clouds.”BHASKAR JOSHI, SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER (OFFICE IMAGING SOLUTIONS DIVISION), CANON



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2013

2013, SME should at least contribute somewhere around Rs. 50-60 crore in MDS revenue for us and the machine movement will be too much in this kind of domain,” remarks Joshi.

Large enterprises look at MDS for a holistic approach and not only printing i.e. office printing but also at workflow management solution say a paperless kind of office and some automated pro-cesses, automated workflow software systems etc., which can integrate with a paper document. So Canon’s strategy per se in 2013 for the large enter-prises will be to get more workflow solutions.

In secure printing whenever a person fires a printout it will not come out. A person will have to walk up to the machine and show his access card to the machine and analyze who is the person whose printout is required. For large enterprises security is a key concern, hence secure printing are apt for them as the investment is little bit higher on these kinds of software solutions. SME, too want all these kind of things, but at an economical cost.

And to fulfill this need of the SMEs Canon’s strategy is to get some kind of economical solu-tion for them, which comes with the same fea-tures. “The users in SME segment are less, and we are working on and are going to bring these kinds of economical software solutions for them.

The second approach is to enable our partners and we are doing lot of activities to enhance the knowledge base of partners’ sales people so that they can pitch this kind of software solutions. Further it’s also planning to provide them with some financial support because as it says “MDS is not a machine field where the partners will get the money immediately,” The partner has to invest money on the machine and the software solution and eventually over a period of three years’ time, month-on-month, he will get his payment back,” informs Joshi.

Hence Canon is strengthening its financial sup-port to its partners so that they can take up such deals in the market where they have to invest their money initially.

Canon is testing and has already done a soft launch of these solutions for SMEs and a formal launch will happen sometime in January. Joshi informs that these solutions will be economically priced and will range between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 3 lakh.

Speaking on Cloud printing he accepts it’s an in-thing but large enterprises have still not accepted it because of various reasons including security. “People or companies are not going for social clouds but for their own secured clouds and SMEs are somewhat keener to go into the shared

clouds. Canon is also trying to bring this enter-prise level software solution put it in the cloud which can be shared by various SMEs,” says Joshi.

He further says that SMEs are also moving from the inkjet printers towards the laser MF copiers etc. where the initial investment is little bit higher but running cost is low so overall the cost of ownership in three years’ time is much lower.

In large enterprise Canon’s key focus areas are BFSI, telecom and pharmaceuticals, While in SME it’s looking at capturing the manufacturing units. “This is one vertical where we will be focus-ing a lot. We are also looking at education vertical in a big way as here there are lot of requirement of paper, document outflows and workflows in document printing.”

Finally…Revealing the expansion plans for 2013 Joshi says that that large enterprise are expanding in C, D and E class towns, and at the same time the man-ufacturing units are also going into C, D and E class towns because of which lot of ancillary units are coming up in these towns. “We are servicing 546 locations and by 2013 we want to service 700 locations in India and the maximum expansion of these 150 odd locations will be in C, D and E class towns.”


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If one looks at the enterprise telecom market in India, it is around US$ 800 million and out of this SME segment drives US$ 200 million market and it is growing very fast.

Reason being, a lot of new age enterprises are coming to the market. Every day a new online commerce site is opening up and doing business in India successfully. Companies like Flipkart.com, Quikr.com, Snapdeal.com, Yebhi.com, Four Interactive (Askliala), Redbus.com, Goibibo.com, Tradus.com, 99 Labels.com, mydala.com, etc. are making big impact in the market.

These enterprises are using telecom products to optimize their operations and reduce expenses.

The traditional SMEs are also investing in tele-com products which they can quickly collaborate and bring products to the market or offer solu-tions to the customer.

Not only are they investing on collaboration but they also want to automate the processes eliminating the human intervention in order to enhance the responsiveness. They are also invest-ing on IP-based security which is not only for their own benefit but also for the compliance and global competitiveness.

For example, if an SME in India wants to do business with an MNC customer, the client, first of all, wants assurance from the supplier or ser-vice provider about the right processes so that if there is any change in people, the supply chain or SLA does not get affected. It is not only about

MNCs even the Indian customers want to see the processes that the service provider has, whether they can stand on their commitment in the long run etc. In this situation the India enterprises are falling upon the third party- whether it is service provider, SIs or even channel partners - in the case of SME-level customers. On the other hand, the channel partners are seeing it as an opportunity.

Starting its business with one employee in 2003, Rasnal Telecom and Security today is an organization of 20 people. Being a one-stop-solu-tion house, and growing at a rate of 20% YoY the company clocked a turnover of 2.5 crore in the last financial year 2010-2011. And has also achieved the confidence of more than 3,000 customers.

“Telecom industry, being an important factor of India’s growth story, is poised to take a giant leap with the introduction of latest technologi-cal advancements,” says Dharmesh Jivani, CEO, Rasnal Telecom and Security. “Right from the beginning we have been promoting Matrix prod-ucts only. Today, our business has grown and we have our branches in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.”

He further adds that Matrix brand is well established in the market and people are opting for Matrix products. Delineating Matirx’s strengths he says, “Matrix’s key strengths lie in the dealer and reseller network based across the region. Moreover, the prompt and professional

after-sales support offering for customers also allows the company to build a strong bond with customers.”

He further says that the competitive edge of Matrix products against the competitors is its substance brand which is in the DNA of Matrix solutions. Substance in the form of technology, depth, genuineness and going beyond the mere outer facade and offer more values in all the areas. Matrix solutions also comes with more produc-tivity, more applications, more flexibility, more functions, more features, more cost saving, more reliability, and more support.

In terms of solutions and products, the com-pany deals with entire range of Matrix telecom products which embraces PBX, Gateways, IP Phones, analogue phones, hospitality PBX and Voice Logger. In security, the company sells CCTV surveillance, network video surveillance, access control, time-attendance, video door phones and intrusion alarm & fire alarm system.

In addition, Wi-Fi and network business are also part of the company’s product range and solutions. In telecom solutions, Rasnal Telecom offers PBX, VoIP telephony, GSM solutions, call centre solutions and building intercom solutions.

Finally…Furhter, Rasnal Telecom and Security plans to add high-end security products in surveillance system and large PBX System to its portfolio. SME

TELECOM INDUSTRY

DRIVES INDIA’S GROWTH

DHARMESH JIVANI, CEO, RASNAL TELE-COM AND SECURITY

With the increasing demand for telecom solutions in India, Rasnal Telecom and Security chooses to promote Matrix products and witnessed 20% growth in the last

financial year.


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The pre-Christmas period, apart from shopping and overall flurry also means increased security burden on enterprises’ networks. Employees

receive a significantly higher number of Christ-mas and New Year’s greetings that have different “funny“ content and may contain malicious link, malware or other form of sophisticated threats. This way the whole network can be easily infected or can cause data loss.

A recent survey conducted by the Ponemom Institute concluded that most of the companies protect their network using just basic tools as firewall or IPS solutions. Less than half of compa-nies surveyed had advanced protections to fight botnets and APTs (Advanced Persistent Threats).

“The time around Christmas and New Year, proves to show an increased security burden on Enterprise Networks. While securing network, companies often focus only on the technical matters. There is a lack of user education which is a key factor for effective security management and includes controlling access to any particular information and setting policies that is enforce-able in business operations. Proper education of encrypted data usage and new threats being discovered help prevent data loss and safeguard a company’s interests. It is essential to make the work environment conducive towards respon-sible actions and wary of how various forms of sophisticated threats can be prevented,” says Bhas-kar Bhakthavatsalu, Regional Director- India and SAARC, Check Point Software Technologies.

To ensure security that will resist event the Christmas buzz, a comprehensive approach is needed. The deployment of fundamental tech-nologies such as application control or filtering of incoming and outgoing mail is not enough. To achieve the level of protection that is necessary for 21st century it is important to stop seeing security as technology. Security is a complex business process, which incorporates three main dimen-sions – security policies, human factor and tools

To ensure security that will resist event during the Christmas buzz, a comprehensive approach is needed. The deployment of fundamental technologies such as application con-trol or filtering of incoming and outgoing mail is not enough. To achieve the level of protec-tion, necessary for 21st century, it is important to stop seeing security as technology.

BHASKAR BHAKTHAVATSALU, REGIONAL DIRECTOR- INDIA AND SAARC, CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES.

“PROPER EDUCATION OF ENCRYPTED DATA USAGE AND NEW THREATS BEING DISCOVERED HELP PREVENT DATA LOSS AND SAFEGUARD A COMPANY’S INTERESTS.”

SECURITY DURING NEW YEAR

to enforce security. Many organizations don´t want to admit that

their uninformed employees are a major threat to corporate network security. An employee who doesn´t have the basic skills and doesn´t know how to behave in the cyber world can cause a lot of damage and even the best technology cannot stop him. Clicking on a suspicious link or open-ing an infected file opens the doors for viruses or hackers to come into the company’s network. The

solution is to have regular education of employ-ees, where they learn the rules on how to behave in the cyber world and get information about new security threats. More cautious employees help to ensure safety of the network. The breach into the network can cause severe financial damage.

In the context of Christmas and New Year, attention should be drawn to fraudulent emails. Their number annually increases during this period. In many cases the recipients are addressed by their names and have attachments that look like greeting cards. This personalized email make the recipients believe it came from a person who they know and stop being cautious. It is always important to have a second thought and make sure you really know the person who sent it.

Alongside the season’s greetings, employees also receive numerous offers on gifts and dis-counts on various products or services. Opening these emails and their attachments must also be done with great caution, and it is not advisable to open those that have suspicious file name exten-sion such as “.exe”. PDF or Microsoft Office file as they may have embedded links to malicious codes or macro in them.

Another topic is gifts shopping online and paying with a credit or debit card. The number of people that use e-shops is growing and many pur-chase their presents at the last minute. They can easily become a victim of phishing attacks. Time stress makes people less cautious and they may take unnecessary risks.

It is easier to take advantage of employees’ trust and their lack of knowledge than finding new soft-ware vulnerability and using it as a gateway into enterprise network. These vulnerabilities, called zero-days, can cost tens of thousands of dollars in the hacker underground. This money can be saved if someone can be conned into installing a computer virus on their own machine. Another analogy from the real world – it is easier to make someone open his home rather than trying to open the lock.


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IRIS COMPUTERS ON A FAST TRACK In recent times, the Indian IT market has shown positive behavior. Buying may not be so great but companies with innovative product lines and investment on long turn projects have booked dividends. Iris Computers has followed that innovation and brought in many value propositions for its customers.

An experienced player in IT distribution market, Iris Com-puters has achieved many mile-stones and knows how to keep itself profitable. It has already

crossed a turnover of Rs.1200 crore and its goal is to touch Rs.1600 crore. But Iris Computers’ think tank understands that if they do the basics right the number is not far off. They know that the industry wants value and innovation. Therefore, it has tied up with Defenx, a Swiss antivirus com-pany to distribute its entire range in India.

Similarly, Lenovo’s Amar Babu has already accredited Iris to be the No.1 distributor for them as Lenovo became No.1 in the Indian PC market. In his words “Iris Computers has played a “key role in Lenovo’s success.” Lenovo with a 17% cent market share in the country, an all-time high, is already on the top. Iris has also been awarded the number one distributor in commercial business by Lenovo. “We leverage their strong capability in their distribution network. Iris gave us mindshare with channel partners,” says Amar Babu.

Sanjiv Krishen, Chairman, Iris Computers, explains, “We are a young and vibrant organization. Our secret of success is that we have young people around us. We want to be the most responsive dis-tributor and therefore people come to us. We are available from 9 AM in the morning to 9 PM in the night and 7 days a week. We are also target oriented.”

With 2,600 resellers and 247 employees, Iris Computers is present all across India with 34

offices and warehouses in places like Jammu, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Coimbatore, Ahmadabad, Guwahati, etc.

Even having such an expansive business, Iris had been battling the issue of finance and credit crunches, which of course have been the perma-nent feature of this business. However, the com-pany has shrugged that off by tying up with an investor, Inflexion Point. This company has put in Rs.8 crore, which helps Iris Computers to borrow Rs.15 crore from the bank.

Director and Chairman of Inflexion Point, John Sculley, says, “Our investment in Iris will provide us with a robust IT distribution platform in the Indian market, which will be an important part of our Asian operations. We are impressed with Iris team’s market knowledge, execution capabilities and customer orientation. Sanjiv Krishen, Chairman of Iris, brings vast experience and relationships in IT distribution to the group. We are happy to report that Mr. Krishen has agreed to continue leading the company.”

So, at the helms, Sanjiv Krishen as Chairman explains, “The biggest challenge one faces to reach certain level is money. If one wishes to do a busi-ness of one thousand crore a year, then generat-ing three crore a day is mandatory. Though Iris is associated with all the world class leaders and the volumes are very big, but the margins become small. We make 2-3% margin, which is enough to cover distribution cost and at the end of the year we make 1% margin profit. The only way to make

higher margin is to find the products which are small, as well as software related because in hard-ware there are no margins.”

Som Arya, Head (Finance), Iris Computers, says, “IT distribution industry is very low margin industry, because one can make maximum 3.5%, whereas our total expenses are of 3%, so there is hardly any profit. One of the main reasons for lower margin is the cut throat competition, as we don’t sell to the end customer directly, we sell to the channel partners, in turn they sell to the customers, and these channel partners are not dedicated to any particular distributor and they can buy from anywhere, so they always negotiate for the best price.”

Not only does Iris distributes products to the channel partners but also comes out with schemes

BY APARAJITA [email protected]

800

1,200

1,600

TURNOVER IN CRORE


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“We talk to our regional heads and launch schemes for dealers and that makes them more interested in us and on the business front they get 5 - 6% extra margins.”

KAMINI TALWAR, HEAD (OPERATIONS), IRIS COMPUTERS

“We make 2-3% margin, which is enough to cover distribution cost and at the end of the year we make 1% margin profit. The only way to make higher margin is to find the products which are small as well as software related.”

SANJIV KRISHEN, CHAIRMAN, IRIS COMPUTERS

“One of the main reasons for lower margin is the cut throat competition, as we don’t sell to the end customer directly, we sell to the channel partners, in turn they sell to the customers, and these channel partners are not dedicated to any particular distributor and they can buy from anywhere, so they always negotiate for the best price.”

SOM ARYA, HEAD (FINANCE), IRIS COMPUTERS

for dealers and educates them on the profitability of businesses. Kamini Talwar, Head (Operations), Iris Computers, says, “We talk to our regional heads and launch schemes for dealers and that makes them more interested in us and on the business front they get 5 - 6% extra margins.”

After achieving astounding success in the IT space, Iris Computers has also taken to the mobil-ity space with MTS and Samsung. Besides, the company is looking at a segment of mobile soft-ware - very cheap phones – may be at Rs.199 and known as Track My Mobile - which reduces the fear of losing mobile phone, is ‘child protector’ as it provides details of all phone calls and SMS and

‘records conversation’ without making any beep sound.

Iris Computers also participates in projects. The company has received orders of Rs. 7.5 crore from UP government through Educomp Solutions. It has bought Rs. 11 crore worth computers from Iris for 40,000 classrooms. Similarly, for one of the projects in Assam, Iris Computers has sold 12,000 laptops to schools. BEL, Bangalore has placed an order worth Rs. 9 crore of laptops as they have got a contract from government of India. Krishen adds, “As Samsung is now focusing on hotels, with their smart TV products that provides internet capability, we will also realign our strategy with

them. Similarly, Lenovo has come up with smart phones and we will also work with Lenovo to take this product forward to the market.”

Finally, Having clocked Rs.1200 crore turnover in 2012, Iris Computers is expecting to touch Rs.1600 crore in 2013. Towards achieving this, apart from becoming aggressive on brands like Lenovo, HP, IBM, HP and Samsung, the company will also bring in a number of innovative products in vari-ous domains. They will also add 300-400 channel partners and focus on improving profitability, addition of more locations, etc.


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IN THE DYNAMIC BUSINESS

ENVIRONMENT, COMPETITION DOES

NOT FITThere are many stories about enterprises being born out of American garages or college

hostels but time has come for an India story born out of bus stop discussions among strangers and taking the lead is Towards Vision Technologies.

It surely sounds weird but it is true that the core group of Towards Vision Technolo-gies have met in various places – even at bus stops. Saket Setu, Director – Market-ing, Towards Vision Technologies Pvt.

Ltd., says, “There is an advantage of working with people, with whom we do not have past connec-tion. So in past 10 years, we worked for the goal, being hundred per cent liable and responsible for our assignments.”

All the founder directors are technically quali-fied from reputed institutions. They were not born to rich parents but had the passion to do some-thing in India when most of the technically quali-fied people in the country were dreaming about their US fortunes.

It was during the worst time in the history of dot-com, when enterprises were crumbling like pack of cards, investors were pulling out investments from the market that these people, unknown to each other (Saket Setu, Abhijit Chatterjee and Bhishm Sharma), came together to create a business house, with the ability to take on large American companies not only in India but also in the global market. Later, they were joined by Victor Alexander and Sharad Agarwal.

In 2002 Towards Vision Technologies Private

Limited (TVT) was incorporated and for the next four years the company worked on creating dif-ferentiation in contact centre solutions and enter-prise solutions under the brand name C-Zentrix.

They created products and services, which were used for predictive dialing, inbound/outbound telephone calls, IVR, voice logging, IP-PBX, voice commerce and CRM applications. And, the objective of TVT was to deliver greater tangible business benefits to its clients. At the same time TVT’s dedicated support team matured to a level where they could pass on the time, effort and cost benefits to its clients.

Their first commercial transaction was with Religare which asked for a solution to support 15-20 seats to help desk call, out bound calls, voice loggings, etc. But today, they boast of a very large customer base. They are competing against com-panies like Avaya, Aspect and others and wining.

Saket says, “We have optimized our solutions and are adding value to the products with each customer acquisition. Even if you know how to use your email, you can use our solution. That really helps us.”

Today, the entire Religare group is on TVT platform using almost 1400-1500 licences. Saket maintains, “We always believed that we won’t be

able to compete with big global brands. We always had SMB solutions going out but in between we realised that for the big enterprises, the outsourc-ing model is becoming an insourcing model. People were not happy about outsourcing every-thing. They wanted to bring back some of the services to their own premises. And our solution fitted this model very well because it was cost effective, easy to use and could be customised very quickly.”

In this way TVT made inroads into the big enterprises apart from the BPOs.

While Religare was the first story, the second story was with Max New York Life Insurance, wherein they expressed their intent to use a small solution of TVT on a monthly rental basis for lead generation across India. Even though they could easily have gone for Avaya as both the companies shared the same premise in Gurgaon but they rather went for TVT. Saket adds, “After one year, when they saw the real productivity, they imple-

mented our solution for 1000+ seats pan-India and after that there was no stopping us; now our clients list is quite exhaustive.”

Till now TVT has not deliberately pursued any marketing and sales activities but depended on word of mouth and inspite of this their sales are

BY SANJAY [email protected]


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SMEs focusing on the e-Commerce. These com-panies start with small investment for 5-6 seats and enhance investment as they grow. Companies like snapdeal.com, quikr.com, yebhi.com, letus-buy.com, carwale.com, redbus.com, goibibo.com, etc., started very small with us but today their businesses have grown and so has our set ups. With this, our business has grown too.”

TVT is really happy about the growth of these companies, which is giving them growing run rate business and calls it ‘new economy business’. In this new economy business, TVT says it fits better compared to the MNC companies like Avaya and Aspect because they need a lot of customization and approval from headquarters, which is far away from the land of implementation.

TVT does not believe in offering vanilla con-tact centre solutions, its solution includes a lot of value including email, SMS, order booking engine, etc. The company believes that in the new economy, the companies want to give superior customer service. Saket maintains, “In this new situation, our platform gets integrated into a customers’ premise. You can have IVR, where you can automate it. It offers features like order book-ing, refunds, exchange. You can do robo-calling, dial out customers, play a message and take their inputs. TVT has done an innovative project with quikr.com to manage their entire miscall operations.

In the traditional industries, TVT is work-

“Today if you take competition, they cannot customize their products easily as per your request. And, customers in India do not have that much time.”SAKET SETU, DIRECTOR – MARKETING, TOWARDS VISION TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.

ing with Amity University, UEI Global, NIIT, etc. These customers have been won against the competition by TVT because of its ability to understand their requirements and map it to its products.

Saket says, “Today if you take competition, they cannot customize their products easily as per one’s request. And, customers in India do not have that much time; they want it to happen in hours not in days. ”

Now the journey of the company is becoming interesting because TVT is not stopping only at contact centre platform. It is looking at various CRM applications which can plug in tightly with its core applications because most of the today’s businesses need CRM and order booking, etc.

Saket informs, “We have also started ventur-ing into the future of voice platforms like speech recognition, voice-based authentication, speaker identification, etc. We are creating the entire voice biometric system, which can be used for authenti-cation. We wish to offer it as service to Govt., BFSI and enterprises.

Plus, the company is challenging the MNCs outside India market. TVT is already in Indone-sia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Middle East, etc. Saket says, “We are also looking at Africa. We have already set up an office in South Africa and have hired people there. Our advantage is that we are present in this geography at the same time as the MNCs. We are also looking at BRICs coun-tries. Who knows... we can also get pull from US and Europe because we have tie-ups with global service providers like TCS, Wipro and HCL.”

Even though TVT is doing a great job at the product level but in order to go global or expand its operation, the company cannot grow without the help of marketing activities.

Saket says, “We have strengthened our market-ing arm. Probably it is the opportune movement to do marketing activities…start interacting, etc. We never talked about ourselves. Now the time has come to get visibility with various platforms.”

The price of the TVT solutions are significantly lesser than the competition yet very apt and fea-ture rich and the company says it must have sold nearly 40, 000 licences in the last 5-6 years.

Finally…This year TVT is expected to touch Rs.12 crore turnover but the fact is that the company has been created without any funding. It is debt free. The company has won most of the Tier-2 BPOs and now large BPOs are also thinking of going for C-Zentrix. TVT C-Zentrix has already been asso-ciated with MNREGA, Rajasthan Govt. (through Dr. IT, Jaipur) and Delhi Govt.’s toll free no.181 dedicated for Women.

happening quite comfortably. The company’s idea was to acquire cstomers and keep them happy and let them do all the talking about the company to others. With this strategy, TVT has been able to bag most of the customers in BFSI segment, including Max New York Life, ICICI Lombard, Reliance General, Berkshire India, Bajaj capital, Raligare and NSE, etc. They are using TVT plat-forms for all kinds of callings--inbound or out bound.

Saket adds, “We also have a good account in


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Started in 2009, Mydala has evolved from a group buying site to a complete merchant marketing platform for small businesses as well as national brands

ARJUN BASU, DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER MYDALA.COM.I

t’s said that it only takes a seed to grow a dream. The birth of Mydala too began with a small idea, a relatively new concept with a set of risks involved, and this seed is growing

into a tree witnessing positive and steady growth year-on-year with a target to achieve net revenue figures of Rs.100 crore in the next 18 months.

In 2009, while talking to small businesses it was revealed that there were very few ways for a business to market themselves and the industry definitely needed a platform where merchants actually had a choice of the media plus are able to track the performance. “We also understood the behavior of consumers. Keeping these factors in mind we launched mydala as the largest user-friendly service providing most attractive and relevant offers on mobile devices, internet and TV,” says Arjun Basu, Director and Co-Founder mydala.com.

Mydala started as a group buying site provid-ing small business an alternative form to market-ing themselves via traditional marketing media. Over time, it has evolved into a complete mer-chant marketing platform for small businesses as well as national brands; its mybuzz platform (mybuzzmarketing.com) allow merchants vari-ous options to promote themselves from mobile to TV to internet. It allows small and medium/mainly local merchants to mobile enable their products/service, build a brand, get visibility and gain access to a much larger and targeted consumer base.

Prior to starting mydala.com, Basu was a Director at Capital Fusion Partners with focus on promoting new businesses and raising capital. He has also worked with Capital One Bank manag-ing a multi-billion multi-strategy investments portfolio. “My investment focus was primarily on bond trading, as well as direct investments in

commercial real estate and financial technology businesses,” Basu informs.

In 1999-2000, he co-founded and raised ven-ture capital funding for a South Asia centric finan-cial services business, which was nominated by McKinsey as one of the top Indian business start-ups. From 1993 to 1997, he was Director, BAPL (holding company of Engineers Combined/Build India Construction Limited), a South Asia centric engineering consulting, and infrastructure/real estate development and construction manage-ment firm.

“When we started mydala, it was a relatively new concept with a set of risks involved. The major challenge was finance which is the universal challenge. We were very lucky to have investors who understood the potential of our business. We got great support from our investors in the initial days of our business.”

Another challenge observed and they still face is about merchant’s understanding about online and localized marketing. Mydala constantly educate merchants about the value of the digital medium and the result so far has been very posi-tive for them.

Mydala’s current challenges include constantly innovating and building on its value proposition for both the merchant partners and user base. For that it relies heavily on its own people who need to continually challenged to help them stay steps ahead of others. “Growing smartly with a constant eye on scale with a clear definitely path to profitability in the next financial year is our focus,” he says.

Talking about its differentiative offerings Basu says, “mydala.com is a B2C platform and mybuzzmarketing.com is a merchant market-ing platform. We expand a merchant’s market outreach. We have a localized approach for mar-

MYDALA SETS EYE ON RS 100 CRORE REVENUE IN 18 MONTHS

keting. The biggest value that we offer to the mer-chant who partners with us is that we help him in acquiring more and more walk-in customers at his retail outlet.”

“We are a transaction focused online platform which also provides an effective customer engage-ment model to the market. Unlike the other platforms, this platform offers much more to consumers than listings and addresses and to the merchants we are a valuable and constant support. We provide a micro-site and everyday marketing solutions to our merchant solutions to meet their business objectives.”

He further informs that they have raised a total of 28 crores in a combination of angel funding from a group of investors including Ajay and Jayant from CX Partners in their personal capac-ity; and institutional funding from Info Edge Group, in addition to funds infused by the found-ing team. Its net sales (GMV less vendor payouts) for FY 11-12 were Rs. 6 crores.

Plans are also in the offing to develop offerings for the IT channel industry by Q1, 2013. “We want to showcase our platforms and services to the channel as a one-stop-destination for any merchant especially the small and medium enter-prises from the tier II and III markets who wish to expand their market footprint and business outreach.”

Finally...Since mydalla is a privately funded organization, the company cannot disclose the exact numbers but the company is targeting a net revenue figures of Rs.100 crore in the next 18 months.



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“TO ADD VALUE TO CUSTOMERS’

BUSINESS”

JOE CHANG, DIRECTOR (SALES), ATRUST COMPUTER

CORPORATION

Atrust Computer Corporation, the Taiwan based

manufacturer of thin clients, servers and management

software, is ready to offer new generation performance

optimized thin clients to enable India SMBs, at a

compelling cost. SME Channels spoke to Joe Chang,

Director (Sales), Atrust Computer Corporation to know

more about its future plans. Excerpts.

Give a brief on what Atrust Com-puter Corporation is all about?

Established in 2007, Atrust is a creative, profes-sional and enthusiastic team which has rich experience in designing and producing thin client, server and management software. The objectives of Atrust are to provide customers with high quality, high efficiency and environ-mental friendly products as well as comprehen-sive solutions.

What are the product lines or solutions you have?

Atrust has dynamic varieties of product which include thin client, zero client, server and man-agement software. Atrust ARM based thin cli-ents are Linux-based thin client device especially designed for a client/server computing. Atrust ARM based thin clients offer a rich computing experience where applications look, feel, and behave as local devices. These models are built on a high-performance System-on-Chip (SoC) platform and optimized for Citrix Receiver and Citrix HDX and support RemoteFX technology providing a high-definition user experience for SMB users using Citrix desktop virtualization solutions or Windows platform.

Atrust x86 based thin client support major vir-tual desktop protocols such as Citrix ICA/HDX, Microsoft RDP, VMware View and build in local browser and media player for main stream thin client users to enjoy Windows like experiences.

m300 series support Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 and Userful MultiSeat Linux 2011 that enables a host server to power multiple and independent stations, allowing users to share the computing power of one single server.

w100 is based on Teradici PCoIP engine. It offers a rich computing experience that supports high resolution, full frame rate 3D graphics, HD video and audio, dual displays and USB periph-eral connectivity.

What are the advantages of Atrust products vis-à-vis other

brands in the competition? We are strategic partner with Microsoft, Citrix and VMware and Atrust products have been fully tested and certified with Citrix (XenDesktop HDX and XenApp HDX), VMware (View), and Microsoft (RDP and Embedded) compatibil-ity. All key technologies of Atrust products are designed in-house, including logic, power, layout, thermal, BIOS, device driver and mechanical

design as well as client & server management tools and through stringent design process, Atrust delivers high quality products made in Taiwan.

Who could be your potential customers?

Major customers focus will be enterprise, educa-tion institutes, BPO, BFSI, hospital and factory. Due to project oriented demand of zero/thin client and server, Atrust is looking for system integration (SI) partners. Atrust can support SI partners to fulfill the market demand.

What are Atrust plans for India?Together with SIs, Atrust would like to

focus on solution selling and to add value to customers’ business. Virtualize desktops and apps are in great demand by SMB customers world-wide as a simple and secure method of delivering productivity tools and data to employees regard-less of location. However, cost and performance of entry level end points have traditionally been a blocker to adoption. Atrust will offer new genera-tion, performance optimized thin clients which enable SMB customers to deliver virtualized desktops and apps with the best performance at a compelling cost.


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SME CHAT

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DESIGNED FOR enterprises in a fast-paced environ-ment, it scans up to 5,000 pages a day and features A3 scanning capability, ultrasonic double feed detection and a 200-page automatic document feeder. The integrated ink imprinter allows for customization by printing a page number, character string or distinguishable mark on the back of scanned hard-copy pages and supports date, time, document count and custom messages up to 40 characters. It also helps save time by eliminating the need to manually rotate hard-copy pages with hardware page rotation.

HP’s new range of enterprise scanners is targeted at enterprises in verticals such as telecom, healthcare, banking and financial services, and government depart-ments, where business-critical workflows continue to be paper-based. For example, telecom operators or insur-ance companies process large volumes of paper-based customer applications and supporting documents. These workflows, when moved to digital through HP enterprise scanners, can be streamlined and optimized leading to reduced costs in document management, and increase in productivity.

FEATURESn 50 ppm and 100 ipm duplex sheet-

feed scanning

n Allows for tracking information and

status of unit

n Scans up to 5,000 pages a day

n Launch customized scan profiles

n Allows customization by printing page

number, character string or distinguish-

able mark on the back of scanned

hard-copy pages and supports date,

time, document count

n No manual rotation of hard-copies

n Enhances images with Kofax Virtual

ReScan Professional (VRS) technology

n Seamlessly integrate into existing

systems with ISIS and TWAIN drivers.

n Reduces start-up time with Instant

Lamp-On Scanning Technology

n On-board JPEG compression allows

fast scanning with less reliance on PC

n Convert scans into text that can

easily be edited using IRIS Readiris Pro

OCR software

PRICERs. 1,86,099

WARRANTY1 year on-site repair

CONTACTHP toll free: 1800 42 54 999 (From

MTNL/ BSNL in India)

OVERALL RATING

BY MANAS RANJAN / SATYA SAGAR [email protected]

FOXCONN 7000 series NanoPC models

AT-7300, AT-7500 and AT-7700 have been

designed to set a new standard in innovation,

performance and ease of use. The ultra-slim,

ultra-stylish NanoPC 7000 series supports

dual display design with 1080p display

standard. Featuring slim and lightweight

designs, the PC series offers a perfect balance

of portability and productivity. They also offers

the full Windows 8 experience and hence sup-

ports high-precision input for leading business,

graphics and productivity applications. The

NanoPC is around 30 times smaller than a

typical Micro-ATX PC. It is designed to fit the

back of a monitor or flat screen television by

using the VESA mounting bracket included. At

the size of a book brings unlimited possibili-

ties to your life and business activities. The

slim figure of NanoPC not only plays a part of

elegant artwork in your living room but also

works as a media center which digitalize your

life even more.

n Price: Begins with a price of Rs.22, 150 (Excluding HDD and memory) Warranty: 1 Year Contact: Anish Rahman, Director - Sales & Marketing, Email: [email protected]

FOXCONN AT-7000 SERIES NANOPCHP SCANJET N9120,

A3 DOCUMENT SCANNER


52

REVIEWPRODUCT

Products pages.indd 52 21/01/13 11:45 PM

FOXCONN 7000 series NanoPC models

AT-7300, AT-7500 and AT-7700 have been

designed to set a new standard in innovation,

performance and ease of use. The ultra-slim,

ultra-stylish NanoPC 7000 series supports

dual display design with 1080p display

standard. Featuring slim and lightweight

designs, the PC series offers a perfect balance

of portability and productivity. They also offers

the full Windows 8 experience and hence sup-

ports high-precision input for leading business,

graphics and productivity applications. The

NanoPC is around 30 times smaller than a

typical Micro-ATX PC. It is designed to fit the

back of a monitor or flat screen television by

using the VESA mounting bracket included. At

the size of a book brings unlimited possibili-

ties to your life and business activities. The

slim figure of NanoPC not only plays a part of

elegant artwork in your living room but also

works as a media center which digitalize your

life even more.

n Price: Begins with a price of Rs.22, 150 (Excluding HDD and memory) Warranty: 1 Year Contact: Anish Rahman, Director - Sales & Marketing, Email: [email protected]

FOXCONN AT-7000 SERIES NANOPC

HARD DRIVE

SCANNER

FUJITSU NEXT GENERATION ScanSnap iX500 Desktop Scanner supports the Wi-Fi and USB 3.0 interfaces and it allows users the ability to scan and save information directly from the scanner with their smartphones or tablets over the local Wi-Fi network. It delivers a scanning speed of 25 sheets per minute and is equipped with an image processing engine “GI” processor. This scanner comes bundled with business card management software “CardMinder” which supports both Windows and Mac operat-ing systems and this software also supports business cards in 11 languages including English, traditional and simplified Chinese. To improve scanning efficiency, the ScanSnap iX500 delivers a better paper feeding performance and faster scanning speed of 25 sheets per minute, a 25% increase in speed as compared to its predecessors the ScanSnap S1500 and S1500M3. ScanSnap iX500 also features some enhancements to its quick menu and other office productivity softwares such as CardMinder.

n Price: Rs. 39,500 Warranty: 1 Year Contact: Rohit Grover, Fujitsu India Private Limited, Email: [email protected] Website: http://sg.fujitsu.com/scanner

FUJITSU SCANSNAP SIX500 DESKTOP SCANNER

HGST 1TB, 7200 RPM 2.5-INCH MOBILE HDDHGST’S INDUSTRY first 1TB, 9.5mm, 2.5-inch, 7,200 RPM hard disk drive (HDD) - the Travelstar HDD is available in the Touro Mobile Pro USB 3.0 external storage solution for simple add-on storage and backup.

Both Mac and PC compatible, the Touro Mobile Pro portable external storage solu-tion provides plug-and-play simplicity and a fast USB 3.0 interface and features a smooth black, textured body for solid good looks. Placed vertically or horizontally, or even stacked, the Touro Mobile Pro fits per-fectly into any home or office environment. Housing the new HGST Travelstar hard drive, the new 1TB, 7200RPM-based Touro Mobile Pro offers high-performance and massive storage capacity for storing hours of high-definition videos, thousands of photos, songs and movies, and tons of video games with room to spare. In addition to increased local storage, the Touro Mobile Pro solution provides two levels of protection with 3GB of free cloud storage from TouroCloudBackup.com.

n Price: Rs.6599.40, Warranty: 1-Year Contact: Cyberstar Info-com Pvt. Ltd. Saurabh Gupta, Phone: 91-11- 9972580114, Email: [email protected], Website: www.hgst.com

MEMORY

STRONTIUM HAWK SSD

STRONTIUM HAWK SOLID state drives come from Hynix with Strontium branding and after sales support. These drives are based on SandForce’s SF2281 controller and SK Hynix flash. The drives are meant to be an upgrade option for consumers who are looking to buy new laptop or desktop. With over 500MB/s of read and write performance, the HAWK SSD will make Mac Books and PCs run faster. In addition, SSDs feature enhanced durability, shock-proof, silent operation and are more reliable as compared to traditional hard drives.

Strontium HAWK SSD simply makes the computer more responsive than ever. With quicker boot up and shorter lead time in applications loading, it will definitely enhance your daily pro-ductivity and ensure your system takes flight to the next level.

n Price: Rs.12,999 for 240GB Warranty: 3 years Contact: Piyuesh Pandey, Strontium Technology India Pvt. Ltd Email: [email protected]


53

NEW ARRIVALS PRODUCT

Products pages.indd 53 21/01/13 11:45 PM

Indian peripheral market in the era of post 90’s used to be less productive, where the cost of one mouse was equal to today’s aggregate price of headphone, mouse and keyboard.

But the market has progressed over the years not in terms of price but in terms of speed. Even, according to market research report, peripherals market in India is expected to reach INR 44.8 bn by 2015. Following the growth of the Indian peripheral market, Zebronics, one of the largest and fastest growing computers peripherals com-pany in India, grew 25-30% in terms of revenue.

Rajesh Doshi, Founder and MD, Zebronics along with his brother Pradeep Doshi (Sales Director) started Top Notch Infotronix India (Zebronics) in 1997 with the launch of mouse and cabinets and after two years it opened couple of branches in Chennai. Today Zebronics has a headcount of approximately 550 people.

In India, the company has a large range in Chassis different colors and varieties keeping the consumers’ requirements and cooling aspects in mind. Rajesh Doshi states, “We take care of the aesthetic part not in terms of the style of the prod-uct only but also with the finishing of the prod-ucts. We were the first to introduce colors chassis nine years back in blue and yellow.”

But in the last 5-7 years, Zebronics has changed its image and wants to be known not only for chassis but also for all the peripherals (having 60-70 models). Doshi says, “We are now planning to launch more gaming chassis and we have a chassis available from Rs. 800 to Rs. 7,000. We are trying to fill the entire slot.”

Zebronics has also launched many wireless products like wireless mouse, wireless keyboard, Bluetooth headset and Bluetooth mouse etc. Whereas, in term of revenue, wireless shows more growth, because wireless has become more affordable now with the prices down by 20%.

With the intention to augment the company’s growth, it intends to win more customer base, brand loyalty with service, introduce new prod-

Being a well recognized brand in south, Zebronics wanted to create the same brand impres-sion in north. With 70 service centers pan India, the company opened a new branch in Jammu three months back as part of strengthening its reach in tier II cities.

BY: APARAJITA CHOUDHURY [email protected]

RAJESH DOSHI, DIRECTOR (MARKETING), TOP NOTCH INFOTRONIX INDIA (ZEBRONICS)

“WE ARE NOW PLANNING TO LAUNCH MORE GAMING CHASSIS AND WE HAVE A CHASSIS RIGHT FROM RS. 800 TO RS. 7000”

COMPETITION IS MORE IN TIER II AND III CITIES

ucts and continue to update product lines not in specific but in all the product lines especially on the speakers. Doshi explains, “We have seen a positive acceptance in speakers with the kind of the product that we have brought in which give us more confident to bring in more products.”

There are many factors which consumers con-sider before buying a new product like the quality, brand education, service back, how it looks and more importantly how affordable it is. Speaking

on the USP of the product, Doshi avers, “We are trying to enhance our products not only in termsof looks but also quality and backed by our services. Zebronics has been a very well established brand in south and we want this in north too. Our com-petition is more in tier II and III cities in terms of product range and service back up. We have 70 service centers and 4 -5 in tier II cities like Jammu, Asansol, Uttrakhand, West Bengal, UP etc.”

With the increasing brand acceptance in the market, the company expanded its reach in all the major cities with 30 branches across the country and as a part of expansion, a branch was opened in Jammu three months back.

Zebronics do not market their products directly to the retail, they cater their products through the channel partners and allow them to gain decent margin on that. “Our focus and strengths is again the channel partners who has brought us to this level we wish to go ahead keeping them together.” says Doshi.

Channel partners have been placed in different zones on the basis of the product category and the company offered them support in terms of reselling the products. There are sales people to promote and explain the benefits of the products. Moreover, social media like Facebook also act as a medium in terms of updating the channel part-ners on any new product being launched.

“We don’t have national distributors, we have only regional distributors who cover those cities where we do not have much penetration,” avers Doshi.

Finally,With the strong presence in south and 30 branches in all the major cities in India, now Zebronics is planning to expand its reach to tier II and III cities by service centers. “We are registering atleast 30% growth and forseeing another 30% for the next year. Speakers showed more growth and chassis is consisting but have highest shares in the country,” concludes Doshi.


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