Crn 01 august 2013 all pages by UBM India

contents

August 01, 2013 l Volume 2 Issue 19

Cover Story Over the past five years several government policies have negatively impacted the IT industry. While some good policies have failed due to lack of proper execution, many have been restrictive, thus stifling the overall growth of the industry

24 Cover Design : Deepjyoti Bhowmik

NEWS Analyses

Channel Chief

HP devises aggressive server GTM

Kaspersky overhauls distribution

Cisco Capital to get aggressive in India

HP launches new MPS program

Brother adopts regional distribution model

Editorial 12 Opinion

Feedback

Channel Buzz

New Products

Shadow Ram

Get Personal

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16 Special Focus Driving demand Targeted attacks, APTs, Web application and server protection, IPv6, cloud security and mobility are driving the demand for network security

17 Role Model

Bimal Raj CEO, Smartlink Network Systems, speaks about Digisolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey from a newly launched brand to its growing acceptability among partners and customers

The cloud architect Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Albion Infotel was quick to identify cloud as the next big opportunity and has built a strong portfolio offering services not just to Indian customers, but globally

Tech Focus Top 10 BYOD Risks From lost devices to cloud storage services, the risks imposed by employee-owned mobile devices could expose sensitive corporate data or, worse, enable an attacker to gain access to the corporate network

starting line MUST

HP devises aggressive server GTM

Kaspersky overhauls distribution

n RAMDAS S

Read

Kaspersky Lab has discontinued its partnerships with TechMatrix and iValue InfoSolutions, and reappointed Comguard as its enterprise VAD. “While our commercial business grew 20 percent in the last fiscal, TechMatrix and iValue could not further our mid-market and enterprise push. Since Comguard is a renowned security VAD and also our distributor in ME, it will add more value to our commercial business,”said Altaf Halde, MD, South Asia, Kaspersky Lab. It may be recalled that Kaspersky had appointed Comguard as VAD in 2011 but discontinued the partnership because it was focused on enterprises while Kaspersky had started its SMB push. Kaspersky wants to increase the B2B contribution to more than 30 percent in the current fiscal against 15 percent in FY2012-13. It is also expecting to double its marketshare in commercial business from the current 5 percent to 10 percent in the current fiscal. The vendor will address SMB customers (10500 users) through its existing VADs, Sea Altaf Halde Infonet and eCaps, and mid-market (500-1,000 users) through Sea Infonet, eCaps and Comguard. However, Comguard will be exclusive for the large enterprises (more than 1,000 users). The company will use Comguard’s installations in the Middle East as references to target verticals such as government, education and manufacturing. Kaspersky has a bouquet of products including security solutions for virtualization, mobiles, systems management, mail and file servers, Internet gateways, storage and collaboration targeted at mid-market and enterprise customers. Meanwhile, Comguard has plans to leverage its partnerships with other security players as well. “We have a large portfolio of security products from players like WinMagic, GateProtect and Array Networks. Partners will see an additional benefit in bundling Kaspersky solutions with other security products,” said Ajay Singh Chauhan, CEO, Spectrum Group, of which Comguard is a part. n — Amit Singh

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P is all set to refresh its server GTM strategy in the country following updates to its product line. Over the past two quarters HP announced several new products including Project Moonshot, a hyperscale, high-density, lowpower architecture based on Intel’s Atom processors. Other announcements included newly updated MicroServers, new blades, and tower and rack servers on the Proliant Generation 8 architecture. “By August partners will see major changes in our product lines,” said Vikram K, Director, Industry Standard Servers & Software, HP India. The first of those changes will be a swift end to the existing Proliant Gen 6 and Gen 7 product lines. Vikram said that over the next 2-3 months almost all these products will be taken off the price list. “We have already asked our enterprise partners to focus on Gen 8 servers. There will be no major fresh stock of older servers available.” He stated that the gaps in the product line during the transition will be addressed because HP has already announced new models. These include the ML 350e G8 replacing the popular mid-market tower server ML 350 G6, and the ML 310e G8 which will replace the entry-level server HP ML 110 G7. The new rack servers such as HP DL 320e G8 will replace the DL 120 G7, while the DL 380e G8 will replace the DL 180 G6 and DL 360 G7 models. However, the biggest story will be around HP’s Moonshot servers; the company will start educating its partners through the HP Partner PreSales Center. 25 partners have already been roped in to promote these servers.

“Over the next five years we see the market opening up for networks of less than 10 or 15 users, and this is where we will pitch the MicroServer” Vikram K

Director, ISS HP India

According to Vikram, Moonshot servers use 89 percent less energy, take up 80 percent less space, and cost 77 percent less than traditional servers. “The high-density server market in India is still in its infancy, hence we are educating channels about the value proposition of highdensity servers which offer incredible power savings. Channels also need to understand the concept of specialized servers for specialized workloads.” In the next quarter HP will try to work with partners to look at the Web hosting market as the first vertical; later, the vendor will start looking at other verticals. Vikram said that the number of partners empowered to sell Moonshot will double by year-end. He forecast that the new G8 MicroServers will do better than the previous generation because they ship with all standard server features such as Dual NICs, ILO and rackable chassis; they also sport Intel processors. Prices are expected to be more than `30,000 on the street. “Over the next five years we see the market opening up for networks of less than 10 or 15 users, and this is where we will pitch the MicroServer.” n

starting line MUST

Read

HP launches new MPS program HP is pushing its managed print services (MPS) through partners to target SMB and enterprise customers. The company has launched the HP Bundled Page program which offers an all-inclusive bundle of supplies, maintenance and services. Partners can offer enterprise-grade MPS to their customers in two models. Explained Nitin Hiranandani, Director, Printing, HP, PPS India, “Partners can provide supplies, consumables and software-based services while the customer owns the hardware. Or partners can buy hardware through HP Financial Services and offer it to customers on base charges per month on hardware and click charges on actuals.” The program enables partners to access the HP ExpressDecision Portal which provides them with proposal and quotes for cost-perpage pricing, client invoicing and reporting, device monitoring, and account and contract management. “We will provide presales and implementation support. Moreover, the HP Services team will Nitin Hiranandani support partners in areas where they don’t have a presence,” Hiranandani added. HP has rolled out the program in Delhi and Mumbai, and will extend it to other metros by 2013-end and other top 10 cities in 2014. Said Hiranandani, “SMBs are now demanding MPS because it allows them to move from a capex to an opex model and provides savings of up to 20 percent.” The company has enrolled about 15 partners so far and is looking for more with a services mindset. IDC says the APEJ MPS market was worth $530 million in 2010 and is expected to reach $990 million by 2014, while, according to the Photizo Group, India is the fastest-growing market for MPS in APAC. Meanwhile, AMI Partners believes that about 18 percent of the total printing business from SMBs in India comes from MPS, and that by 2015 almost 60 percent of the printing business will transform into MPS. n — Amit Singh

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Cisco Capital to get aggressive in India n Ramdas S

isco Capital wants partners to offer financing as an option especially when they pitch for large projects since the company believes that this will help them to win customers faster. The company therefore plans to educate its channels in the country to offer financing options. Said Scott Griggs, Senior Marketing Manager & Head, Partner Marketing, Cisco Capital, APJC, “Around 30-40 partners have been readied to offer finance as an option. We have provided them with training, collaterals and tools to qualify leads.” Cisco Capital has over $9 billion cash and assets which are open to financing. Cisco recently commissioned the Forrester Group to conduct a study among large SMBs and enterprises in markets such as India, China and Australia to understand the mindsets of customers, and has used the study to fine-tune its GTM strategy. “Our study reveals that approximately 30 percent of Indian enterprises are planning to seek external funding for their technology investments, and that nearly 60 percent of them would want to work with a channel partner on funding options,” said Griggs. The study also revealed that 78 percent of companies would consider financing options at or before the proposal stage. According to Griggs, IT-ITeS and manufacturing are the two sectors most likely to seek external funding. The Forrester study indicated that around 70 percent of customers would like financing options for procuring server, storage and networking hardware. While more enterprise customers are considering borrowing money for setting up data centers, smaller

“We have readied 30-40 partners to offer finance as an option. We have provided them with training, collaterals and tools to qualify leads” Scott Griggs

Head, Partner Marketing Cisco Capital, APJC

enterprises are looking at funding for communication projects. Cisco funds projects where at least 70 percent of the project cost would be accounted for by Cisco equipment. “The rest of the cost can be complementary products or even services, but not from direct competitors of Cisco. Typically we are looking at funding in excess of $20,000,” Griggs informed. He said that while there are financial institution-backed funding options available to customers, funding through a vendor financing arm would work out cheaper in most cases. “We understand the risks of IT projects very well, and since there’s a huge market for refurbished Cisco equipment—a business which Cisco drives in many markets—we can cover risks better and offer better financing options.” Cisco, which used to sell refurbished equipment to SEZ/ STPI entities as per DGFT guidelines, has stopped the business in India. “At present we have suspended the import of refurbished equipment into India in order to acquire the necessary clarity and approvals about the new guidelines as per the new e-waste Initiative adopted by the Government of India,” Griggs explained. n

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edit opinion Government apathy

Volume 2, Issue 19

dhaval valia

any believe that the Indian IT industry developed because of the absence of government intervention in its initial years. Government officials were clueless about this industry, and as a result there were no policies to ruin the sector. However, as the industry flourished, the government began looking at ways to control it through policies and taxation. In the past five years there have been several policies and initiatives rolled out by the government which have stifled the growth of the industry. While some of these policies have been good, bad execution on the part of the government has resulted in more woes than benefits. The most prominent issue is the double taxation of software. In spite of several Supreme Court rulings against double taxation, the government has continued to levy both ST and VAT on software. Now, after almost four years, the government has appointed a committee to look into the issue, but will it be worth anything considering that general elections are due next year? Another policy which is in fact good and has been welcomed by many in the industry is the Compulsory Registration Order which requires most IT products to be certified by the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) before they are sold. While the policy is apt because it curtails the dumping of cheap products, its execution is flawed. There are over 8,000 IT product models that require BIS certification but only eight certification labs. So far less than 25 of these 8,000 models have been certified even though the final deadline for BIS compliance is near. To make matters worse, the certification fee is high—`1.25 lakh per model. According to one estimate, the industry will have to spend `1,200 crore-`1,500 crore annually for BIS compliance. Another startling fact is that an estimated `800 crore is lost annually because of multiple ministry permissions required for importing spares meant for RMA. For a manufacturer to get spare parts, permission needs to be sought from both the Directorate of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Last year the delay for a few manufacturers in getting approvals and sanctions for RMA parts was about six months. Many of them had to import fresh spares rather than order replacements from their factories abroad. Such policies and regulations are impacting the IT penetration in the country. If these policies and regulations are simplified and properly executed it will benefit the end-customer because the prices of products will come down. We have several politicians who talk about how IT is an enabler for better governance. However, there is very little they seem to be doing to address the issues hampering the penetration of IT in India. n E-mail CRN Executive Editor Dhaval Valia at dhaval.valia@ubm.com 12

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Joji George Kailash Pandurang Shirodkar Anees Ahmed Dhaval Valia Ramdas S Sonal Desai Abhijeet Mukherjee (Mumbai) Amit Singh (Delhi) Deepjyoti Bhowmik Yogesh Naik Shailesh Vaidya Jinal Chheda, Sameer Surve Samta Datta Viraj Mehta Nilesh Mungekar Nitin Lahare Aditi Kanade Yogesh Mudras Satyendra Mehra Jagruti Kudalkar

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starting line Brother adopts regional distribution model n abhijeet mukherjee

“With the RD model we will be able to approach our partners directly with consistent MDF and take faster decisions in large deals”

rother, the Japanese printer manufacturer, plans to increase its marketshare in mono lasers and MFPs from the present 4 percent to 10 percent in FY2013-14; the market size is estimated to be around `14,000 crore. The company recently revamped its distribution model, introduced new products, and enhanced its post sales support. “In India we expect significant growth in the demand for mono laser printers, and aim to grab a share of 10 percent in FY2013-14 and 25 percent by FY2016-17,” said Yoshiji Matsui, MD, Brother International (India). The company has recorded a CAGR of 30 percent since 2007. It expects growth of 40 percent in the current fiscal. To increase its penetration in tier-2 and -3 cities, in May 2013 the company revamped its distribution model from national to regional. Now the company bills directly to its regional distributors (called Brother Premium Partners, or BPPs) with its resellers (called Brother Select Partners, or BSPs) working directly under them. “With the regional distribution model we will be able to approach our partners directly with

Yoshiji Matsui

Managing Director Brother International (India)

consistent market development funds and take faster decisions in large deals,” explained Matsui. At present the company has 100 BPPs and 260 BSPs. While it wants to double the BPP numbers, it intends to increase the number of BSPs to 600 by the end of the current fiscal. Brother will provide training and certification to its new partners through its new partner program called the Brother Premium Partner program and Brother Select Partner program. The training programs include product and sales training. The company recently introduced a new range of mono lasers

and MFPs comprising one singlefunction laser printer priced at about `5,000 and two multi-function printers priced at `9,090 and `13,100. To encourage its partners to push its products Brother has come out with a quarterly scheme for BSPs and a monthly scheme for BPPs based on their performance. In order to ensure faster delivery the company set up nine new warehouses in the country in January 2013; this brings its total to 17 warehouses. To increase its brand recall among prospective customers and the channel Brother is planning a series of road-shows in addition to high-decibel promotional activities. For this it has allocated a budget of around `5 crore. In addition, the company has enhanced its post sales support. It has close to 120 post sales service centers which cater to 260 locations. Most of its dealers and subdealers double as its authorized service partners. “At present we have an average TAT of three days which we want to reduce to the next business day across cities. We have also introduced Web-based logins and email logins,” Matsui informed. n

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edit opinion The startup advantage Robert Faletra

e are in the midst of a true technological revolution very similar to what we saw in the early days of the industry and the number of startups I am seeing is almost unprecedented. For solution providers young and old, there is a unique opportunity to gauge the new supplier base and capitalize on the need by those vendors to build channel relationships and sales. Within a stone’s throw from my own headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts, there are seemingly hundreds of storage startups. Some of these companies already have built a brand and a following among small businesses and are trying to move up to midsize accounts as well as the enterprise. Startups are the lifeblood of this industry and are the reason why technology continues to get pushed forward so quickly. Over the past decade, a lot of that innovation was stifled by a tendency to sell the companies rather than take them public. But the tide is shifting, and we are seeing more companies wanting to get to the public market rather than merely be swallowed up by the big players. Solution providers can benefit by taking on newer suppliers that fill a unique niche. I am a believer that solution providers of all sizes need to find some time to seek out and vet these potential new suppliers. One way to approach this is to look at areas of competency today and look to add complementary products. For instance, if your business has a strong physical infrastructure storage practice, can you add a cloud element by evaluating a newer player? If you’ve concentrated on server virtualization, can you move more into virtual desktops with additional products? One of the advantages of working with a smaller startup company is that your large established big-name suppliers tend to dismiss them and, as a result, don’t get as nervous about your efforts there. That means less tendency by them to put the pressure on you to pull back your efforts. One of the downsides to working with a startup, however, is that you are going to have to carry the ball, as it may not have the resources to support you in the way you’ve been supported in the past. You also need to watch the health of any startup to be sure you are not putting your customers at risk with a company that may not be around in the long term. But it’s an exciting time in the world of startups, and it’s a world you should think seriously about how to participate in. n Email Robert Faletra at robert.faletra@ec.ubm.com 14

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CRN Channel Confidence Survey

HP relaunches MicroServer

It is good to know that despite the market slowdown, IT retailers and distributors have grown well according to the CRN Channel Confidence Survey 2013. I believe most of the IT retailers and distributors are now looking at tablets and smartphones. However, there is competition in this space as customers prefer to buy from a telecom store than an IT store. Also there are many brands in the tablet market which makes it difficult for partners to know what to stock. I believe that selling tablets isn’t going to be as easy as many think and IT retailers will need a strategy to navigate the transition in the PC market.

I read with interest about HP relaunching the Proliant MicroServers. Many features incorporated in the new MicroServers such as new management features, extra Ethernet port are much better than its predecessor. However the pricing may be an issue. If HP is serious about making the microserver a success in the Indian market it needs to get the pricing right. In my view the current pricing of `30,000-`40,000 will not be accepted. The sweet spot pricing would be `20,000-`25,000. If HP aggressively prices the microserver they will be able to create a new segment and grab substantial market share from small businesses.

Sheel Kumar Singh via email

Usman Khan via email

Send your feedback at editor@ubmindia.com or post your views on www.crn.in

Advertiser Index Company name

Smartlink

Page No Web site

1 & 2 www.digisol.com

Sales Contact

helpdesk@digisol.com

Brother

4 www.brother.in

customercare@brother.in

Sony

5 www.sony.co.in/vaio

sonyindia.care@ap.sony.com

Canon

1800 180 3366

Checkpoint

9 www.checkpoint.com

indiasales@checkpoint.com

Netgear

11 www.netgear.com

sales.india@netgear.com

Avnet

IBM

www.canon.co.in

www.hp.com

1800 3003 3003

19-20-21 avnet.TSIndia@avnet.com

solutionpath.india@avnet.com

22-23 www.ibm.com

www.ibm.com/systems/no_compromise/in

Resellerclub - Directi

www.rchostingsummit.com

CLS

31 www.crn.in/Isummit

anees.ahmed@ubm.com

RDP

info@rdpcomputing.in

TP-Link

37 www.tp-link.in

sales.in@tp-link.com

Abacus (Zion)

enquiries@abacusperipherals.com

Cubix

39 www.cubixindia.com

marketing@cubixindia.com

Biz

40 www.indiaantivirus.com

sales@indiaantivirus.com

Epson

think@eid.epson.co.in

Kaspersky

42 www.kaspersky.co.in

www.rdpcomputing.in www.abacusperipherals.com

www.epson.co.in

www.rchostingsummit.com/register

sales@sakri.in.

years, INTEROP has made quite an impression Be a part of the expanding imprint by participating in our Mumbai & Colombo editions. Contact us today to book your position. Salil Warior | M: +91-99875-80188 | E: salil.warior@ubm.com Surajit Bit | M: +91-98734-45423 | E: surajit.bit@ubm.com Venkatesh Raman | M: +91-99875-50472 | E: venkatesh.raman@ubm.com

Mumbai, 20-22 November, 2013 | Colombo, 4-5 September, 2013

channel chief “We want to grow our enterprise business” Bimal Raj, CEO, Smartlink Network Systems, spoke to Abhijeet Mukherjee about Digisol’s journey from a newly launched brand to its growing acceptability among partners and customers What were the performance highlights of Smartlink in FY2012-13? Overall, Smartlink Network Systems grew 66 percent and clocked revenue of `121 crore in FY2012-13. Of this, `103 crore came from Digisol networking products and Digilite’s components portfolio; the remaining came from our services arm, Digicare. Actually, FY2012-13 was the first full year of operations for Smartlink and our newly launched brands. In FY2011-12 we were largely in a discovery phase wherein we were trying to size the market, position our brands, and put in place our GTM. We sold 2.5 lakh Digilite motherboards in the last fiscal. In networking we gained substantial marketshare in the consumer and SMB space, and created strong brand recall for Digisol. On the enterprise front we launched new products and created a strong team. We managed to win some large projects from nationalized banks and PSUs; this we will use as referrals to gain customers in the coming months.

What is your big focus area in the current fiscal? The key focus is to gain traction in the enterprise space and for this we are not leaving any stone unturned. Starting this year we have expanded our enterprise sales team with 30 members on-boarded. In the past three months we have overhauled our portfolio with cutting-edge features. All our newly launched Layer-2 and -3 switches are SDN-ready. In addition, a majority of our products feature PoE. We are aggressively engaging with SI partners. We are confident that with our value proposition and programs we will be able to create a strong partner network. SMBs are another focus area for us; we have recently entered the NAS space with 2-bay and 4-bay boxes. We see significant growth in NAS in the current fiscal with an addressable market of around 30,000 units. Our NAS boxes are performance-intensive, and have integrated cloud capability. By contrast, our competitors offer it as an option or charge a premium. Our NAS offerings are also optimized for both data and video, and therefore suitable for IP surveillance, thus

“We grew 66 percent and clocked revenue of `121 crore in FY2012-13. Of this, `103 crore came from networking and components; the remaining came from services” 16

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making it an affordable solution.

Tell us something about your new partner initiatives. We are focused on building our solutions partner base from the present 140 to 220 by year end. For this, we will conduct training programs in 30 cities which will enable us to recruit quality SIs. We will conduct programs that include hands-on training for our nextgeneration networking products and IP surveillance.

What is your strategy for the consumer space where the market has become fragmented? The consumer market has become competitive with many players selling products at very low prices. Our strategy is to launch new products rather than focus on traditional products. If you have noticed, we have launched several new mobility and lifestyle products. We are spending marketing dollars to increase awareness and demand for these products. We also want to expand our portfolio outside connectivity solutions. Our plan is to venture into the tablet market; we will launch our tablets by August 2013. We aim to make `15 crore from the tablet business in the current fiscal. We will operate in the `7,000-10,000 range, offering the same features and product quality as MNCs. On the channel front, our tier-1 channel, which consists of 20+ regional distributors, is doing a good job. Our focus this year is to strengthen our tier-2 partners.

With global numbers in desktops deteriorating, how do you see Digilite doing? I agree that the global PC market is expected to decline over the next 3-4 years, but in India, where the penetration is low, we expect it to grow at 10 percent rate. The assembled market too is declining for various reasons and this has a direct implication for our component business. However, there are still many opportunities to grow. For example, Intel’s exit from the motherboard business opens a new opportunity for us. Also, some Taiwanese brands like MSI are winding up their business in India which further opens up the market. Our aim is to garner more marketshare here. We have done well with our AMD motherboards where we have become the No 2 player. Over the next two years our aim is to be among the top three players in the Intel motherboard space. n

special focus driving demand

Targeted attacks, APTs, Web application and server protection, IPv6, cloud security and mobility are driving the demand for network security. Expect opportunities worth `1,600 crore during this fiscal n SONAL DESAI

he network security market in India stood at `1,406 crore in FY2012-13, and is expected to be `1,638 crore in FY2013-14. According to RS Market Research Solutions, large enterprises contributed 44.3 percent of last fiscal’s total, the mid-market 8.2 percent, small businesses 15 percent, and the government and education segments 32.5 percent. “While the IT-ITeS segment has to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, India-specific regulatory mandates are also an increasing concern. The Information Technology Act of India, and RBI, in 2012, introduced several compliance measures. Over the next two years Indian FSIs will need to comply with these mandates,” observes Pinakin Dave, National Manager, Channels & Alliances, McAfee India. According to Manatosh Das, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research, targeted attacks, APTs, Web application protection, Web server protection, cloud security, mobility and encryption are the major trends driving the demand.

Targeted attacks and APTs According to CERT-In, an estimated 14,392 websites were hacked in 2012 till October. “2012 saw an increase in targeted attacks, and the trend will continue. Such attacks make it difficult to ensure effective incident response because hackers attack any hardware on the way out,” Dave cautions. Ashok Prabhu, CEO, ValuePoint TechSol, Bengaluru, agrees. “Many of our large enterprise customers have allowed employees to use social media, but they are unable to track the origin and persistence of zero-day attacks. We are deploying context-aware intelligent network security solutions for these customers.”

Web application and server protection Money and spying are the two main motivators for cyber

attacks targeting Web servers. “Consider a scenario of high performance networking. How many data centers have the capability to mitigate advanced targeted attacks, zero-day vulnerabilities and malwares, and provide CXOs visibility and control over their DCs?” asks Vishak Raman, Senior Regional Director, Fortinet, India & Saarc. Hyderabad-based Locuz Enterprise Solutions has set up PoCs with select customers for identity and access management (IAM). “So far we have deployed five projects, each worth $50,000. The lead-time for these projects is 3-5 months, but once deployed IAM acts as a gateway between the user and the applications,” says Durganadh Venkata, Senior VP, Business Development & Operations, Locuz. In a project worth $100,000, Gurgaon-based ACPL Systems consolidated the firewall of a large BFSI customer which was scattered over 60-70 different locations. “The RoI was clear. We conducted a network audit and showed the company not only the source of attacks but also the kind of attacks that were entering their network. Once the solution was deployed, the malicious attacks stopped,” informs Vishal Bindra, CEO, ACPL, Delhi.

IPv6 The Indian government recently updated its IPv6 roadmap which details some pilot projects and a new set of deliverables to make a complete transition to IPv6 by 2017. Since IPv6 requires a major upgradation of the network infrastructure, security is a major concern. “The exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, the evolution of IPv6oriented technologies, government initiatives to push the transition to IPv6, year-on-year explosive growth of mobile devices, and the emergence of the Internet of Things will boost network security in a big way,” forecasts

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special focus “The exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, evolution of IPv6, and the emergence of the Internet of Things will boost network security in a big way” Diwakar Dayal, Lead, Security, Borderless Networks Sales, Cisco India & Saarc

Diwakar Dayal, Lead, Security, Borderless Networks Sales, Cisco India & Saarc. In addition, organizations with multiple location presence are looking at GRC, SIEM and database security to comply with multiple regulations. Remarks Prabhu, “They have invested in tools, but don’t have the means to implement a solution. For instance, I know many large enterprise customers who maintain compliance data in Microsoft Excel sheets. They are now scouting for GRC solutions but want a costeffective mechanism.” Venkata adds, “Many enterprises which are up for upgrade are evaluating IPv6, and that is a huge opportunity. Migration to IPv6 requires a customer to revisit his security infrastructure and may even require an overhaul if the networking is too old.”

Cloud security According to Ashish Dhawan, MD, Asia, Juniper Networks, strict IT budgets, an increasing number of SMBs, broadband penetration and enterprise mobility are prompting cloud service providers to look at cloud security in a holistic manner. Bindra explains that data privacy and the need to adhere to regulations, especially by customers in the pharma and manufacturing segments, or multi-group companies which have adopted SaaS, are forcing cloud service providers to invest in network security. Locuz, which has a cloud services portfolio, helps customers in security assessments before they move to the cloud. “We are running PoCs with six customers whereby we are helping them to assess their network security. Once they come on board, detailed network security assessment projects starting at $10,000 add to our services revenue pie,” reveals Venkata.

Mobility Ambarish Deshpande, MD, India Sales, BlueCoat, quotes from a recent survey which the company undertook. “We learned that organizations wanted to enable a BYOD policy but were hindered by the fear of data leakage.” Adds Dhawan, “Mobile devices are an attractive target for cyber-criminals, but organizations cannot restrict customers or internal stakeholders from accessing mobile devices. Instead, organizations need to improve security by exerting greater control over their mobile exposure.” The need of the hour is context-aware intelligent security solutions that recognize the user’s behavior based on the device and the role of the user. Raman notes that many large enterprises are testing the waters with sand-

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“Many CIOs are not conversant with network security. They have to work with constrained budgets, and therefore, do not provide for network security in their budgets” Vishal Bindra

CEO, ACPL

boxing as a built-in feature.

Challenges

Even as vendors launch new products to satisfy their customers’ need to protect their network from newer and persistent attacks, they admit that partners need to adopt a solutions-based approach to bag large-ticket deals. They also believe that partners will have to up their ante, train their executives, and develop adequate skill-sets to participate in bigger projects. Says Raman, “Many partners do not invest in skillsets because of the fear of losing the resource to a rival or vendor. But network security is a complicated process, and partners have to invest significantly to participate in larger projects. They need to develop a reputation.” According to Sunil Sharma, VP, Sales & Operations, Cyberoam, “Educating customers is vital. A partner will be able to do that only if he is clear about the concepts. Once he can convince customers about the importance of network security he can up-sell and cross-sell solutions. This would help him to form long-lasting relationships.” Partners however complain that they do not get adequate support from vendors, who prefer to work with tier-1 systems integrators in large-ticket deals. They also accuse vendors of leveraging the ignorance of CIOs to push their products to meet targets. Comments Bindra, “A majority of CIOs are not conversant with the concept of network security. Many have to work with constrained budgets, and do not even provide for network security in their IT budgets. If anything goes amiss, they change the product—without going into the reason behind the problem.” “Network security requires consistent monitoring, and only a security administrator can do the job, especially because it involves frequent changes in policies,” counsels Moin Shaikh, Director, Innovative Telecom & Softwares, Surat. Prabhu feels that although CISOs have a holistic understanding of network security, a majority of them buckle under the pressure of limited budgets and focus only on adhering to compliance and regulations. “The lament is that many CISOs compromise on network security and are happy to buy UTMs,” says Bindra.

Conclusion Network security is a vast open field which offers innumerable opportunities to partners. It is now upto partners how they leverage on the opportunities, and develop profitable business models from them. n

cover story

Over the past five years several government policies have negatively impacted the IT industry. While some good policies have failed due to lack of proper execution, many have been restrictive, thus stifling the overall growth of the industry n RAMDAS S

everal government initiatives and policies rolled out in the past few years have left the domestic IT industry in the doldrums. While some say that the domestic IT industry has for many years received step-motherly treatment compared to software services, others complain that the government has been indifferent to their demands. In fact some industry leaders fear that the country is returning to the License Raj, and the overall mood is rather sombre. “There’s no doubt that the License Raj is returning with a number of licenses and registrations required. Many measures have been half-baked, and the end-result is an extremely unfriendly business environment,” says Champakraj Gurjar, MD, Maxtone Electronics, Mumbai. While the government provides legitimate reasons for several of these measures, there seems to be a clear lack of understanding of many of the ground realities.

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Says Siril M, Business Manager, India, Foxconn, “While some initiatives such as the Compulsory Registration Order, excise-based on MRP, and the Electronic Waste Act are in the best interests of consumers, there are a lot of loopholes to support red-tapism, or the finer details do not take into account the interests of the people involved in the business.” “The biggest inflation in our business is the money we are paying for different compliances instituted by the government,” remarks Kshitij Kotak, CEO, Fortune Grecells, Mumbai, and President, ASIRT. “Our auditor and tax consultant bills have gone up six times in the past few years.”

Compulsory registration order In September 2012 the government issued a gazette notification which recommended that all electronic

cover story products sold in the country need to have a Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) certification. The move was said to be necessary following complaints from both consumers and industry. The categories to which this applied included laptops, tablets, plasma/LCD/LED televisions, optical disc players, set-top boxes, microwave ovens, video games, scanners and printers. “It’s the government’s responsibility to ensure that electronic products sold in the country are meeting the necessary environment, safety and health standards,” asserts J Satyanarayana, Secretary, Department of Electronics & IT (DEIT), Government of India. While the goals are noble, DEIT has failed to set up enough labs and comprehensive deadlines. As of the third week of July 2013, of the 1,400+ products which were sent for BIS certification only six received certification. The government has already extended the deadline twice and a new date of October 3, 2013, has been announced by which all electronic products need to get certified. What is hampering the process is the lack of qualified labs which can issue certification quickly. While the number of labs has been increased to eight, the processes are cumbersome and BIS has taken more than six weeks to issue the six certifications. “We welcome the move by the government to opt for BIS certification because it promotes genuine products and will help the Indian consumer,” states Amar Babu, MD, Lenovo India. “What bothers us is the lack of enough labs and clarity on certain rules which are hampering the process.” There are also some rules which are bothering manufacturers. The BIS requires that each model and sub-model be certified based on the factory of origin. The minutest changes in sub-components used also need a separate certification. “Today, most manufacturers source the same model from multiple factories depending on global demand, and there will be minor differences in some of the components used. It’s also difficult to predict in advance from which factory a particular product is likely to be sourced,” argues S Rajendran, CMO, Acer India. In addition, BIS demands that minor changes such as an additional USB 3.0 port instead of a USB 2.0 will need fresh certification. Says Sushmita Das, VP, Business, Kobian India, “With the average lifespan of a SKU being less than 6 months, BIS certification will lead to higher costs and delays in launching new products.” Many partners fear that the BIS’ requirements will wipe out their chances of sourcing and building their own brands, not the least because the certification of each model will cost `1.25 lakh. While for a major brand

What the industry wants from the government Compulsory registration order Increase the number of certifying labs and cut down on delays in issuing BIS certifications. Remove stringent conditions around certifications and smoothen processes. Remove some of the product categories such as high-end computing solutions like storage and servers since these products sell in smaller quantities, are expensive, and require a considerable amount of competence on the part of the certifiers. Reduce the cost of certification from `1.25 lakh to help the small importer/brand owner compete with larger players. MRP-based excise system Increase the MRP rate of abatement for all IT retail products from 20 percent to 40. Remove PCs as a category from the MRP-based excise system. Double taxation on software Bring clarity on what constitutes software with a clear demarcation of different forms of software and the taxation laws applicable to them. Remove double taxation on licensed software so that enduser prices are lowered. Simplify laws for direct software imports by channels, especially around electronic licenses and withholding taxes. Unified tax structure Abolish the inter-state central sales tax because it is counter-productive for local manufacturing. Introduce the GST so that multiple taxation-related issues are resolved. This would allow more businesses to grow across states. DGS&D norms Reduce barriers to DGS&D registrations to allow maximum participation from different partners. Pass the Public Procurement Bill in Parliament to bring in transparency. Reduce the ERV clause period to one year so that all DGS&D contracts fall under ERV. like Samsung or Lenovo the amortization of this cost would mean a few rupees (and in some cases, a few paise), for many smaller importers hoping to build a brand it could mean additional costs of a few hundred rupees. “BIS, according to me, will wipe out the small brand owner. It will be difficult to compete with a large MNC brand,” says Gurjar. In addition, the industry wants many product categories such as high-end servers and storage to be removed from the certification requirements since it

“There’s no doubt that the License Raj is returning with a number of licenses and registrations required. The result is an unfriendly business environment” Champakraj Gurjar MD, Maxtone Electronics

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cover story “The biggest inflation is the money we pay for different compliances. Our auditor and tax consultant bills have gone up six times in the past few years” Kshitij Kotak

CEO, Fortune Grecells, and President, ASIRT

questions whether local labs are capable enough of certifying such products. “Most products sold in India are also sold globally, and in regions such as Western Europe the demands of quality are far more stringent than here, so the entire exercise is often repetitive and time-consuming,” says Das. There are two major dangers which the market sees if the BIS does not speed up issuing certificates. There could be a shortage of products which would increase their average selling prices. There’s also the risk of channels being levied with heavy penalties if they are caught with inventory without BIS certification. At the current pace many are willing to bet that even the October 2013 deadline will be pushed into 2014.

MRP-based excise system India moved to an MRP-based excise system in 2005, with IT retail products coming under the ambit in 2009. Prior to this, excise was calculated on input and import costs and not on the final MRP. The government, based on recommendations from different task forces, moved to an MRP-based excise system to protect consumer interests and to stop revenue leakage. However, the industry has issues with the rate of abatement which has been fixed at 20 percent. “Given the increase in excise duties and sales tax, and the rise in the cost of warehousing and transportation, the government should increase the MRP rate of abatement for IT products from 20 percent to 40 percent. While the total postmanufacturing costs account for more than 40 percent of the sale price, the abatement percentage prescribed is 20 percent which is significantly lower than the costs incurred,” says JV Ramamurthy, President & COO, HCL Infosystems, and President, MAIT. Ramamurthy says that other similar industries such as consumer electronics enjoy a 40 percent rate of abatement. “In the end, channels suffer because their margins are also affected.” Meanwhile, some players feel that PCs and laptops must be brought back under the input cost-based excise system considering the fluid nature of the industry. As Ramamurthy puts it, “Unlike other products, a computer’s price changes based on a number of factors such as changes in memory or disk drive prices, and also based on configuration changes. With an MRPbased excise system partners are often forced to sell the product at above-MRP prices.” Over the past few years many industries such as cement and steel have managed to get amendments regarding the abatement; however, similar demands from

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“While we welcome the government’s move to opt for BIS certification, what bothers us is the lack of enough labs and clarity on rules hampering the process” Amar Babu

MD, Lenovo India

the IT industry have fallen on deaf ears so far. With the PC market showing signs of negative growth, PC vendors put this demand on top of their wish-list.

Double taxation on software Software channels have been crying foul for more than four years ever since the government started interpreting software as services. Over the past few years, through the efforts of software vendors and associations such as ISODA, several issues have been resolved but many remain. The biggest of them is the double taxation in the form of the central service tax and the state governments’ VAT on packaged software, and paper and electronic licenses. “For nearly three years we had the challenge of channel partners receiving payments with the TDS cut; this affected our cash flows. Luckily that’s a thing of the past with the new amendments in the last budget. However, dual taxation does increase software prices in a country where piracy is so rampant,” says Biren Shah, CEO, Adit Microsys, Ahmedabad, and Chairman, ISODA. While many vendors continue to demand the removal of dual taxation, a major challenge for software channels is around the different government departments’ interpretation of software. “Department officials still do not understand what constitutes software, and this is creating a lot of challenges for partners,” says Harinder Salwan, CEO, Tricom Multimedia, Mumbai. This creates further complexities when independent partners have to import software. According to Shah, “The Indian law is clear that royalty needs to be charged on software and that the buyer needs to withhold tax worth 20 percent of the value. But few vendors overseas will even listen to such an argument. In such cases partners need to pay the whole transaction value and then deposit 20 percent with the government for withholding taxes, which further increases costs.” One hope for the software channels is the newlyappointed panel led by Parthasarathi Shome which is studying tax-related issues or disputes, and is interacting with different industry groups. ISODA will be presenting industry grievances to the panel.

Multiple taxation Major IT associations such as TAIT, CMDA Pune and ASIRT backed traders in Maharashtra against the state government’s move to introduce local body tax (LBT). Their grouse was not just against the tax but also the laws associated with it. Most vendors backed the traders because generally

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cover story Can India be an IT manufacturing base?

lthough the government has announced several initiatives to create a domestic IT manufacturing environment, things have failed to take off. Yet there are many partners and vendors who believe that India can become a global manufacturing hub. “The biggest need is the will to change, and offer singlewindow clearance to global manufacturers. Our suppliers keep telling us they want to come to India because China is turning out to be expensive,” says Champakraj Gurjar, CEO, Maxtone Electronics, Mumbai. Tax reforms should be the first goal. The impact of the inverted duty structure makes direct imports by endcustomers, or the trading of computers, more advantageous in comparison to the manufacture of computers in India. The prevailing rates of countervailing duty and special additional duty on inputs for IT hardware products result in an increase in the cost of a finished product that is manufactured in India. Basic customs duty (BCD) on IT accessories is also proving to be a big hurdle for companies wanting to set up a manufacturing base here. While IT products and IT peripherals are exempt from this duty, BCD on certain major IT accessories continues to be levied. Says JV Ramamurthy, President & COO, HCL Infosystems, “If IT accessories are imported along with the IT product they get classified along with the main IT product and rightly enjoy exemption from the levy of BCD. However, if the accessories are imported independently for manufacturing purposes there’s a tax on them.” India should learn from some of its neighbors, remarks S Rajendran, CMO, Acer. “Thailand built a base with nearly 20,000 factories which made parts for global disk drive manufacturers, forcing almost all large disk drive OEMs to set up shop in Thailand. We have similar costs, and maybe better skilled workers, here in India.” Rajendran adds that the government needs to go out and woo manufacturers, targeting the top three or four in each segment. “We have succeeded with automobiles. Today, India has very competent auto component manufacturers.” He advises that the country needs to bet on technologies three years ahead. Sanjeev Verma, President, Global Sales & Business Operations, AGC Networks, agrees. “The Indian PC market holds huge potential. The government needs to show commitment and set up a task force with the clear mandate to go and deliver, and woo the best brands in the world. Our local market is good enough for most brands if the atmosphere for manufacturing is optimal.” n

India should learn from its neighbors. Thailand built a base of 20,000 factories forcing large OEMs to set up shop in the country. We have similar costs, and better skilled workers

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“With the average lifespan of a SKU being less than 6 months, BIS certification will lead to higher costs and delays in launching new products” Sushmita Das

VP, Business, Kobian India

octroi and other local levies have impacted the vendors’ business too. “You create an environment for two things. One, a rise in corruption, because the law itself is draconian, using which a local municipal or corporation official can barge into your premises and create an atmosphere where bribing could happen,” explains Kotak. “You also create an imbalance among the community because there will be some unscrupulous small trader who will avoid the tax and thus beat a honest business entity on price.” Vendors agree that multiple entry taxes have been the bane of the IT industry, and that despite having such a large market manufacturing in the country has been hampered. “A major deterrent is inter-state CST. The inter-state sale of manufactured products attracts CST at 2 percent. As against this, traders/direct importers can import goods into the state of consumption and avoid the CST. While this affects manufacturing, the prevalence of multiple taxes is making business complex for most,” says Sudhir S, MD, Inspan Infotech. Many feel that implementation of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) could be the right step. “The number of taxes paid by businesses is very high,” points out Rahul Khurd, Secretary, CMDA Pune. “LBT, VAT, CST, PF, service tax, professional tax, Maharashtra labor tax, work contract tax...the list is long. Organizations are spending more time in compliance than actually running their business. A uniform single tax is a must. GST needs to be implemented immediately. It will relieve us from 14 taxes, and free trade in the country will be possible.” Shah goes to the extent of saying that “Even if the GST is 16 or 17 percent it does not matter as long as we are dealing with a single government entity.”

Relaxing DGS&D norms With 15 percent of the Union Budget allocated for public purchases, and with an estimated 18-20 percent of IT purchasing enabled by the government, a pressing need is to regularize and relax the rules to participate in

“Given the increase in excise duties and sales tax, the government should increase the MRP rate of abatement for IT products from 20 percent to 40” JV Ramamurthy, President & COO HCL Infosystems, and President, MAIT

cover story “Dual taxation increase software prices. Even if the GST is 16 or 17 percent, it does not matter as we are dealing with a single government entity”

“We have been meeting the department heads and advocating the need to simplify procedures so that less energy is spent to qualify for DGS&D contracts”

Biren Shah

Anwar Shirpurwala

CEO, Adit Microsys, and Chairman, ISODA

Executive Director, MAIT

DGS&D contracts. About four years ago the government had proposed a public procurement policy, which, despite being accepted by the government, is yet to be enabled and implemented. While the Public Procurement Bill was tabled in the Parliament, it’s yet to be passed by it. Says M Raman, former Director General, DGS&D, and a key architect of the policy, “To ensure proper utilization of public funds a public procurement policy needs to be in place to regulate and ensure transparency in the procurement process. Another key goal is to reduce the barriers for participation in open tenders.” One of the demands of the IT industry has been to reduce the paperwork around the DGS&D’s approval of products and prices. “We have been meeting department heads and advocating the need to simplify procedures so that less energy has to be spent in qualifying for DGS&D contracts,” says Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT. Another demand is to include an exchange rate variation (ERV) clause in government and public sector procurements which come under DGS&D. Explains Shirpurwala, “Since DGS&D is a referral price for many contracts, we want the ERV clause to be applied to DGS&D price-lists too. At present the ERV clause is mandated only for projects that span 18 months. Since DGS&D rates are usually locked for one year, we want the government to bring the mandate down to one year.”

Ease the imports of spare parts Because of multiple regulations, it is presently difficult for any manufacturer sourcing products overseas to send back goods which need to be replaced or repaired. For a manufacturer to get spare parts, permission needs to be sought from both the Directorate of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. These stringent regulations have meant that most manufacturers are losing heavily on warranty replacements since they often need to source the parts separately and not through replacement options from their factories. Last year the delay for a few manufacturers in getting approvals and sanctions alone was about six and half months. Most of them had to import fresh spares rather than order replacements from their factories abroad. Complains J Ramesh, VP, Ralco Synergy, Chennai, “The rules are so complex that many of us factor in RMA costs on sales, and scrap goods which cannot be serviced instead of shipping them back to overseas suppliers and taking support.”

Shirpurwala says that after MAIT lobbied hard the government has agreed to allow vendors to apply for permissions from both ministries simultaneously. “This has reduced the delay in getting the necessary approvals to two and half months. Still, we need a much smoother and faster system so that the cost of warranty support can be reduced.” An estimated `800 crore is lost annually because of multiple ministry permissions required for importing spares meant for RMA. The industry wants the government to bring in a framework and a single-window clearance system for approvals.

Other demands One of the concerns of manufacturers is a clause in the National Cyber Security Policy draft submitted by DEIT which demands that cyber security brochures be placed inside any hardware products sold in the country. Many in the industry feel that the clause would be a logistical nightmare for manufacturers since they source their products from factories from many countries in the Far East. “Also, a paper brochure will hardly assure any goals because consumers have the habit of scrapping printed material,” says Shirpurwala. Another issue is regarding ewaste management and hazardous waste. Explains Hari Nair, CEO, ER3 Solutions, Bengaluru, “At present the central government has left it to the local state governments’ pollution boards to form rules and regulations regarding ewaste. But many of them are not competent enough, and the ewaste management business—where India can do well—is a non-starter. We need a central policy and a proper framework in place.” Clarity on laws pertaining to parallel imports is yet another issue. Manufacturers want a clear government stand to protect their interests and their channels. However, so far the government has not taken any position and has left it to the courts.

Conclusion Channels and vendors are not demanding that the government cut taxes, nor are they urging the government to roll back initiatives which are in the public interest. Their demands are all about fine-tuning policies, correcting anomalies, creating proper policy frameworks, and reacting faster to industry needs. Rajendran sums it up well. “The domestic IT industry is no more a sunrise industry, and it needs help badly. All we are requesting the government to do is to create an environment that’s business-friendly so that the entire ecosystem can survive.” n

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role model The cloud architect Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director of the `121-crore Albion Infotel has always been ahead of the technology curve. He was quick to identify cloud as the next big opportunity and has built a strong cloud portfolio offering a wide array of branded services not just to Indian customers, but globally n amit singh

elhi-based Albion Infotel has earned a distinct identity in the IT channel through its solutionfocused approach. The company is one of the few partner organizations offering white-label cloud and managed services through channel partners. Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Albion, says that he was able to explore new ideas and tread into new territories thanks to his academic background. “I took military science as an elective subject during graduation at Agra University, and thus learned to make strategies and win wars. The situation in the IT industry today is not much different from a war.”

The beginning After a two-year stint with a partner of the EBM Division of Godrej Boyce, Gupta started his business under the name of Creative PC Solutions in 1994. Unlike many beginners, Gupta refrained from reselling and instead focused on systems integration. “We took a consultative approach, educated the customers about their IT infrastructure, and helped them to architect their IT strategies. The idea was to offer end-to-end solutions.” For this the company made an investment of `70,000 to acquire skilled resources, and expanded the team from three people in the beginning to 10 by 1996. “We also trained our resources in-house for end-to-end implementation. Our efforts paid off, and we acquired customers in the enterprise, government and PSU segments in the first year of operations itself,” he recalls. The company implemented projects for NTPC, the Airport Authority of India (AAI), KTI India and CES Technologies. It executed a project worth `6 crore involving networking, servers and desktops at 32 NDMC schools in 1997. Informs Gupta, “We did repeat business of more than `30 crore for the Parliament between 1998 and 2002, and about `5 crore with AAI from 1998 to 2004.”

“I studied military science in college, and thus learned to make strategies and win wars. The situation in the IT industry today is not much different from a war” 30

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In 1996 the company entered retail in partnership with Compaq and opened three stores between 1996 and 1998. However, it had to wind up the retail business due to very high competition and decreasing margins. “In 1998 we were selling 700-800 PCs per month and were honored by Compaq as its largest reseller. But we exited the business in 2001 because it was not sustainable due to heavy discounting on margins,” Gupta explains. The company then re-invigorated its commercial focus, entered the virtualization space in 2005, and signed-up with IBM and VMware. “We realized that customers were not getting a RoI that corresponded to their investments, and saw virtualization as a means to reduce their hardware spending,” says Gupta. Albion implemented virtualization solutions for NTPC, NHPC, Power Grid and All India Radio. The company converted itself into a private limited organization and renamed itself as Albion Infotel in 2001; in 2012 it became a public limited company.

Services focus Albion became cautious because of increased competition in the integration space, and decided to expand its service portfolio beyond AMCs. In 2006 it decided to develop software applications for the cloud and managed services for consumer and SOHO customers on open source, and appointed a dedicated team of six people for the same. “The idea germinated from our observation that employees working on certain applications in organizations were looking for similar features in applications even at home, but at a lower cost. In addition, SOHO customers were demanding enterprisegrade applications and manageability at low cost. However, the Indian market was not ripe for this, hence we targeted the US.” The company developed a bouquet of offerings including Albion email and Albion RemoteView for managed services. It tied up with consultants in the US and introduced its cloud and managed services in 2010end. “We hosted our servers and applications at the Ctrl S data center. We also offered managed services developed on our platform with remote management and pro-active maintenance facilities to customers,” adds Gupta.

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Organised by

role model 1994

Started the business under the name of Creative PC Solutions

1997

Bagged a project worth `6 crore from NDMC institute

1998

Bagged projects worth `30 crore over 5 years from the Indian Parliament

2001

Renamed itself as Albion Infotel

2006

Developed applications to be offered as SaaS

2010

Ventured into the US market for cloud services

2011

Current business

MILESTONES

Invested $2 million to upgrade its cloud infrastructure

2013

The company analyzed the competition in the US market and positioned its services about 35 percent lower. “In-house development of applications with lower cost of human resources enabled us to aggressively priceposition ourselves in the US market. We targeted customers through online campaigns and acquired about 15,000 customers by 2011,” he reveals. Continuous learning from customer feedback and upgraded applications and services led the company to graduate to target customers in Britain, Canada and India. It also refined its existing applications and added Albion CRM and HRMS to target SMB and enterprise customers globally. Additionally, in 2011, Albion started offering SMB and enterprise customers IaaS services such as hosted contact center, application hosting, co-location and virtual private server.

Registered a turnover of `121 crore

Albion grew 93 percent from `33.7 crore in FY2010-11 to `65 crore in FY2011-12 and about 86 percent to `121 crore in FY2012-13. While 70 percent of its turnover came from SI and solutions, the cloud and managed services contributed the rest. Gupta credits the growth in the cloud business to expansion in the British, Canadian and Indian markets. “We doubled our cloud business YoY and acquired customers in new markets by adding SaaS offerings like advanced antivirus (Albion Secure), computer management (Albion eComputect) and child protection (Kidsguard4U), besides commercial offerings like the Albion DataSafe cloud backup and DR solution.” The company has 55,000+ international and 8,000 domestic users as customers for its cloud and managed services. According to Gupta, the entry into the SMB and enterprise space led to exponential growth in its services business. The company has 2,000 SMB, 23 government and PSU, and 15 large enterprises as customers. In FY2011-12 Albion spent $2 million to upgrade the capacity of its hosted data center at Ctrl S and to set up another hosted data center in the US. In the SI field the company executed projects for customers such as the National Human Rights

“We have a customer-first approach to provide solutions without any vendor bias. This gives confidence to the customer that we are concerned about his pain-points” 32

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Commission, the Steel Authority of India, and DMRC. Moving forward, Gupta is increasing his focus on the services business. Of the targeted revenue of `165 crore in FY2013-14 he expects 50 percent to come from services. “Many a time we deliver SI projects at minimal margins which is affecting our profits, hence we are spending energy on expanding the services business for a healthy bottomline; the services business gives predictable revenue.” Albion has aggressive plans to expand its SaaS portfolio and will introduce a newer version of Albion DataSafe in August 2013. On the SI business front, the company will decrease its focus on governments and PSUs and target only the private sector due to long payment cycles and cumbersome bidding processes. “Project delays due to red-tapism and long payment cycles affect our working capital, hence private players are safe customers since we have some control on payment terms.”

Best practices Gupta is a firm believer in the customer-first approach. “We have a clear policy to maintain transparency with core employees and customers to establish long-term relationships. Moreover, we position the solution for customers without bias toward any product, and we take a consultative approach. This gives confidence to the customer that we are concerned about his pain-points and not merely furthering a vendor’s agenda.” The company finds its strength in full-blown service offerings which it leverages for customer retention. “Services enable us to be in constant touch with our customers; it also benefits our solutions business. At every stage, be it presales or post sales, we take customer feedback and suggestions,” says Gupta. Albion has always been strict about credit terms and does not extend open-ended credit. “We never work with any private entity without an advance, which is up to 100 percent for new customers,” reveals Gupta.

On a personal note Nature inspires Gupta since he feels that it is a perfect balancer. He is an active organizer of events to generate awareness about the latest trends in the industry. Recognizing his initiatives, the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry has appointed him Chairman of its IT Committee. Being a family man, Gupta finds any destination perfect where he can spend time with family and friends. While he plays golf daily, on weekends he prefers to watch Hindi films. n

tech focus BYOD Risks Facing

10 The Enterprise

TOP

From lost devices to cloud storage services, the risks imposed by employeeowned mobile devices could expose sensitive corporate data or, worse, enable an attacker to gain access to the corporate network n Robert Westervelt

hreats to the enterprise posed by an employeeowned mobile device can be as complex as a sophisticated malware attack designed to snoop on an employee’s browsing activity or as simple as a lost phone in a taxicab. The threats are forcing security teams to introduce new policies to reduce the risk. Enforcing them without impacting productivity is a balancing act.

Lost or stolen devices Lost or stolen devices are the biggest risk to organizations that allow employees to connect their personally owned device to the corporate network. Some businesses have implemented ways to remotely wipe any corporate data, such as email and contacts, from a lost device. Pushback from employees who don’t want to give their employer unfettered access to their device has prompted companies to take a closer look at containerization. By containerizing business data on the device, IT teams can have the ability to selectively wipe corporate data if the device is lost or stolen.

Android malware rising Security vendors that monitor mobile malware trends have seen a steady increase in mobile malware targeting Google Android devices. The bulk of the threat is made up of SMS text messaging Trojans targeted at consumers, but enterprises are not immune. Security firm Kaspersky Lab recently identified Red October, a targeted attack campaign that had a mobile malware component. F-Secure also detected Zeus and SpyEye banking Trojans that attempt to take advantage of a victim’s mobile device.

By containerizing business data on the mobile device, IT teams can have the ability to selectively wipe corporate data if the device is lost or stolen

Cloud-based storage services Dropbox and other storage services offered on mobile platforms could be a concern for data leakage. Employees could use these storage services to store company data if organizations fail to put restrictions on sensitive data or fail to have an enforcement mechanism restricting the use of mobile cloud storage apps. Also, if a company doesn’t provide an approved storage solution, technically savvy users might bypass security controls altogether. In addition to Dropbox, Google, Apple and Microsoft have cloud-based storage capabilities aimed at consumers.

Too many permissions The good news is that Apple, Google and Microsoft have restrictions that force mobile application makers to request permission to access device resources, such as the camera and contacts. The bad news is that most users typically fail to read the fine print and almost always grant permission during the mobile app install process. Security experts say apps with too many permissions can be a concern for data leakage. Granting too many permissions could expose contacts, email addresses and device location data to unscrupulous people.

Adware, spyware Many freely available mobile applications collect as much data of the device owner as possible in an effort to sell the data to advertising networks. A mobile application is considered adware or spyware by security vendors when it collects data without requesting the owner’s permission. Some apps also install aggressive ad-driven search engines on the device to send users to specific advertiser websites.

Email exposed If the device owner fails to implement a PIN code to lock the device, a smartphone or tablet that falls into the wrong hands could give an unauthorized person unfettered access to email until the device is reported lost and the

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tech focus data is wiped. Some organizations are implementing policies to prompt users to sign in every time they check their email on their device. Others push out security updates in nearrealtime to the device.

Certain mobile apps can enable employees to trick network access control checks or at the very least enable the device owner to access corporate email, calendar items and contacts

Wireless access points Some employee devices are configured to identify and attempt to connect to any open wireless access point to retrieve data from the Internet. While most businesses provide secure access points for guests, open wireless points at some hotels and residences can put device owners at risk of man-in-the-middle attacks and other threats that enable an attacker to snoop on their activity. To mitigate this threat, organizations can take advantage of technology designed to force wireless users to use a VPN when accessing corporate resources.

applications running on the employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s device.

Vulnerable software, devices

Jail-breaking and rooted devices

Employees can expose corporate data by failing to apply software security updates on their devices. Further complicating the issue is the software update process for some devices. Apple broadly pushes out software updates to iPhone users, while Google Android devices are more dependent on the carrier and device maker for updates, sometimes leaving known vulnerabilities available to attackers for an extended period of time. In addition, businesses have no control about software coding errors in third-party

Employees who demand the latest and greatest technology may also be technically savvy enough to jailbreak or root their device firmware. Tools have helped automate the process, getting the job done with a few mouse clicks. Jail-breaking removes the limitations imposed by the device maker, often eliminating restrictions designed to improve security of the devices. Rooting gives the device owner administrator-level permissions, enabling them to install and run apps that could be potentially malicious in nature. n

Restrictions can be bypassed Organizations that restrict certain devices from network access may find employees using a workaround to tie into corporate resources. Certain mobile apps can enable employees to trick network access control checks or at the very least enable the device owner to access corporate email, calendar items and contacts.

Call for Free Demo

1800 200 2444 ZERO Thinclients from RDP. 34

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channel buzz ASIRT forms SI consortium

he Association of Systems Integrators & Retailers in Technology (ASIRT) recently concluded its Techday. During the event ASIRT announced the formation of a consortium of 16 of its members in order to foster collaboration. The objective of the consortium is to create a platform for partner collaboration. These 16 partners will collaborate and leverage each other’s expertise and skillsets to meet the solutions requirements of their customers. If a member doesn’t have a particular skill-set or resource he can collaborate with another partner to get the skilled resource. ASIRT has created a guide on the dos and don’ts for the members to follow to maintain business hygiene. “This is just the beginning. We plan to add more members to the consortium. We also plan to have a separate consortium of retailers soon,” said Chetan Shah, Chairman, ASIRT. The 16 consortium members are Durga Computers, Enjay Solutions, Software at Work, Xpress Computers, Maxnet Computers, PH Teknow, Apex Enterprises, Ambit Systems, Fortune Grecells, Biztran Software, Thukral Systems, Janitor Data Systems, U&IT, Durga Computers and Magnamious Systems. A highlight of the event was the workshop on social media conducted by Sanjay Mehta, CEO, MAIA Intelligence. Mehta provided a guide on best practices in using social media platforms to create social reputation, as well as business opportunities. He also spoke about how to create a fan following. “Today, the most valuable asset a person possesses is the number of contacts he

n Chetan Shah, Chairman, ASIRT, explaining the rules of the consortium to the members

n ASIRT members attentively listening to tips on effective use of social media

has. Entrepreneurs should understand that having a huge database of contacts is a great asset. Someone active in the social media with a huge database of friends can utilize it for growing his business.” n

Konica blood donation camp

onica Minolta Business Solutions recently concluded a blood donation camp in New Delhi. The camp was organized with the help of the Rotary Blood Bank and the Hemophilia Federation of India. Several channel partners participated in the one-day camp. The Rotary Blood Bank is the second largest public service initiative taken up by the club in Rotary District 3010. It organizes voluntary blood donation camps in and around Delhi to encourage the voluntary blood donation movement. Thanking the partners, Tadahiko Sumitani, Managing Director, Konica Minolta, said, “We highly appreciate the kind gesture extended by all of you by volunteering for blood donation. Your presence and participation made our CSR initiative a big success.” n

n Tadahiko Sumitani, MD, Konica Minolta, donating blood

To feature your company’s events in CRN, send write-ups with photographs to editor@ubmindia.com

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New Products Lenovo ThinkPad L430

enovo has launched a new notebook, the ThinkPad L430, powered by Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. Targeted at enterprise customers, the notebook comes with 4 GB RAM and 500 GB hard drive. The drives have self-encrypting features for data security. A BIOS port lock helps to disable all input and output ports remotely without any additional hardware. The notebook has a 14-inch HD display with an LED backlit anti-glare glass and runs on Windows 7 OS. It comes with Lenovo Enhanced Experience 3 and Rapid Boot technology. Its Quick Connect option can connect Wi-Fi and wireless WAN in less than five seconds from wake. The digital microphone with new conference and private Internet microphone call settings is integrated for Web conferencing. For graphics it has the Intel HD Graphics 4000. The device is powered by a 6-cell Li-Ion battery. The product is priced at `42,000 exclusive of taxes, and carries a 3-year onsite warranty. n

HP SlateBook X2

P has launched its new convertible called SlateBook X2. It sports a removable 10.1-inch display with 1,920x1,200 resolution which also turns into a tablet. It is powered by a 1.80 GHz quadcore Nvidia Tegra 4 processor with 2 GB RAM and 64 GB SSD storage. The SlateBook runs on Android Jelly Bean and includes rear and front cameras. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, an audio jack, a USB 2.0 port, 1 SD card slot and an HDMI port. The SlateBook is priced at `39,990, and carries a 3-year onsite warranty with 1-year accidental damage protection. n

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3

amsung has launched its new Galaxy Tab 3 in India. The 8-inch tablet is available in two variants, one— the 311, with 3G voice and data capabilities, and the other—the 310, with Wi-Fi. The tablet has a display of 1,280x800 resolution, is 7.4 mm thick, and runs on Android Jelly Bean. It is powered by a 1.5 GHz dual core processor and comes with 1.5 GB RAM. The tablet has a 5 MP rear camera and 1.9 MP front camera; it also has 16 GB internal storage expandable up to 64 GB via a MicroSD card. The device sports a powerful 4,450 mAh battery. The tablet allows one to work on two apps simultaneously by splitting the screen into two. Its reading mode technology optimizes the display for readability in a variety of lighting conditions. The Galaxy Tab 3 311 is priced at `25,725 while the 310 is priced at `21,945. Both carry a 1-year warranty. n

Seagate HDD Terascale

eagate recently launched its new enterprise-class HDD, the Seagate Terascale HDD, which is optimized for emerging cloud infrastructures and large-scale data centers. Ideal for system builders, the hard drive comes in 4 TB capacity in a 3.5-inch enterprise-class SATA HDD. It provides data centers with the storage scalability they need to meet demands in low workload, 24x7 replicated environments. The drive lowers costs by operating at 4.8 watts. Equipped with Seagate’s Instant Secure Erase technology, the Terascale saves money and time by reducing drive erasure times from hours to milliseconds, thus providing quick, safe and easy drive disposal or re-purposing. It also features a low-cost 6 Gb/s SATA interface for easy integration with lower-cost SATA infrastructures. While the pricing is available on request, the product carries a 3-year warranty. n

The products featured here have not undergone any benchmarking or testing. The trailers contain information provided by vendors and distributors. To feature your company’s products in CRN, send write-ups with photos to editor@ubmindia.com

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shadow ram Indian government wants to make microprocessors

he Indian government is looking at various options to encourage manufacturing of semiconductors in India including microprocessors. One of the options includes setting up of a public sector enterprise for the purpose. According to our sources, AMD has expressed its willingness to provide the x86 license at a low price, and help the IITs in design and development. This was one of the reasons Finance minister P Chidambaram announced major sops for setting up fabs in the country in the FY2012-13 budget. According to our sources, the government strategy is to build a large captive market for locally produced semiconductors, and by insisting that microprocessors produced in India be used in products bought by the government and the PSUs. However there are several macro-economic reasons hampering the execution of the policy. The unstable rupee and an election year, where the focus is to push populist schemes are delaying the government plan. n

GET

Personal

“I want to do something good for the society” Guneet Singh, 30, Head, Channel Sales, Portronics, has five years experience in the IT industry in channel sales. He started his career with the company in 2008. If not in the IT industry: I would have been in the insurance industry. Biggest passion: Work.

Guneet Singh

Behind the wheels: Swift DZire.

Gadgets I can’t live without: My notebook and mobile. Weekends are for: Family and friends. Favorite holiday destination: McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala, Goa and Kerala. Hate the most: Jealousy among people. Favorite movie: Any movie which can minimize stress. Favorite stars: Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. Role model: My father. Ultimate ambition: To be most effective and efficient. Wildest thing I have ever done: Never tried it yet. Thing I most want to do in life: Want to do something good for the society. If I became the PM: Perform more than promise. Celebrity I would like to spend a day with: Ratan Tata. One person I would like to meet and why: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as he maintains calm in tough conditions. Deepest and darkest fear: Nothing. n — CRN Network

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