CRN India - July 1, 2012 Issue

The legacy approach to networking in the data center - stacking switches as far as the eye can see, will never meet today’s data center demands.

The solution isn’t about adding another switch, it’s about an entirely new approach to networking.

introducing Qfabric:™ the revolutionary new solution, designed to meet and exceed the exponential demands facing data center networks, now and in the future. the Qfabric solution flattens switching layers in the network down to one. this achieves dramatic new levels of data center performance, reliability and scalability– results that are simply unachievable by any other measure. in fact, Qfabric delivers real, quantifiable network efficiency:* 27% fewer devices, 90% less floor space with power and cooling reduced by 77% compared to the industry standard. it’s time for Qfabric. it’s time for a new network. to learn more, visit juniper.net/in/en/products-services/data-center-fabric

+ Þ Inbound Response Management Priya Sharma v:1800 209 3062 f:022 66765553 *Product comParisons are based uPon Product information that is Publicly available for cisco’s nexus 7000 series and nexus 5000 series Platforms for a 6000 x 10Ge Port confiGuration and standard industry estimates. © 2012 JuniPer networks, inc.

contents

July 01, 2012 l Volume 1 Issue 17

Cover Story While a few sectors such as BFSI and telecom hog all the limelight, 10 low-profile verticals could be money-spinners in future.

Ignore them at your own risk

20 Cover Design : Deepjyoti Bhowmik

NEWS Analyses

Channel Chief

Kaspersky to target corporates

8

Extreme to refocus on India

8

Digilink to triple SI partners

10

AOC wants to increase marketshare 10 eScan pens new strategies

12

Acer to position Gateway at entry level

12

Sunil Sharma, VP, Sales, India & Saarc, Elitecore Technologies, spoke to Sonal Desai about the company’s performance, strategies and initiatives

17 Special Focus SIEM gains traction Due to regulatory compliance and the increasingly complex threats to network security, the SIEM market is expected to grow by 20 percent in 2012. Even so, challenges remain

18 Role Model

READ More

The man who prefers gadgets to gems Hailing from a family of jewelers, Champakraj Gurjar set up Maxtone Electronics, now one of the foremost RDs in India

30

Editorial 14 Opinion

16

Feedback

16

Channel Buzz

34

New Products

35

Shadow Ram

38

Get Personal

38

6

Computer Reseller News

01/07/2012 www.crn.in

Tech Focus Microsoft Surface vs Apple iPad Microsoft Surface has the technical bases covered to compete with Apple’s iPad

32

starting line MUST

Extreme to refocus on India

Kaspersky to target corporates

n RAMDAS S

Read

Kaspersky Lab, which was so far focused on the consumer segment, is now targeting the SMB and corporate segments in India. The company is banking on its recent partnership with Tech Mahindra to penetrate these sectors.

“There is a huge SMB base in India, and the corporate base is also larger than in China,” said Bernie Bengler, Director, Cloud Services/SaaS, Kaspersky Lab, APAC. “We looked at different regions and developed tier-2 partners to tap the segment. We understand that one cannot sell AV boxes to large enterprises—downloading the licenses is the easiest option. And with many corporates opting for the private and public cloud, managed and cloud security is a big draw.”

Kaspersky has classified partners into four categories: those who have sold its products once, those who sell its products often, the 10 percent who provide 80-90 percent of its revenue, and security-focused organizations which are not dealing with the company. “We want to increase our Bernie Bengler partnerships with the last group,” Bengler added. “We will work our way up from the SMB to the large corporate. In India we have hired key account executives to tap corporate accounts, and have increased the team strength by 600 percent over the last two years. Our investment in sales-driven events (for CIOs) and participation in channel-driven events will continue. We will use the latter as a platform to share thought-leadership and corporate strategies.”

Bengler said that Kaspersky has a portfolio of 70 products for the corporate sector. “We have antivirus, firewalls, gateway, email and Web security products for Exchange, Lotus, Macs, Linux and management control. Our push to offer cloud or hosted services will remain partnerled. For instance, in Europe we closed a deal of 50,000-60,000 users through a partner. In India we are training partners in current trends.”n — Sonal Desai

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Computer Reseller News

01/07/2012 www.crn.in

E

xtreme Networks has roped in a new management team for the country, and is planning a fresh approach for the Indian market as part of its realigned global strategy of going after niche verticals. The high-end networking specialist said it will build a channel strategy around high-performance computing, virtualization and data center, and will announce a fresh channel program.

Extreme has replaced Jitendra Gupta, who moved to Juniper Networks in January this year, with Cisco veteran Chiradeep Rao who joins as the Regional Director.

Admitting that the company lost focus 2-3 years back, David Ginsburg, Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer, Extreme Networks, said that the new global management has a different set of priorities. “It is important to acknowledge that we went off track in setting our goals. However, over the past 3-4 quarters we have managed to get our priorities right, and have decided to focus on a few verticals as well as the solutions market.”

He said that while the data center market will continue to be one of the key focus areas, highperformance computing needs across several verticals from education to oil & gas exploration is triggering the demand for highperformance switches and routers.

“We are identifying customers and mapping them with partners to work out a GTM strategy to address opportunities in the space.

We are the technology leaders in 10G and 40G networking, and we believe we are perfectly positioned to address the space.”

Extreme Networks has also beefed up its networking portfolio by making very aggressive price cuts across several enterprise product lines. Ginsburg said that

“Our solutions offer 30-50 percent better TCO compared to the competition for customers planning to implement a TCO strategy” David Ginsburg

Senior VP and CMO, Extreme Networks

the company is trying to knock off its image of being a premiumpriced vendor, and said that its enterprise wireless access point range now starts at as low as $274, a price-point which is lower than those of its competitors such as Cisco, Aruba and Ruckus.

Another market that Extreme is targeting is the BYOD. Extreme had recently overhauled its Intelligent Mobile Edge BYOD campus solutions with a new line of 802.11n wireless LAN access points; it also cut the prices of its Summit series of network switches.

“Our solutions are proven to offer 30-50 percent better TCO compared to the competition for customers planning to implement a TCO strategy,” Ginsburg said.

“Education is a vertical where we see BYOD soon becoming a key driver for the evolution of a newer network architecture.”

He said that Extreme has already achieved huge penetration in the education and R&D segments. “70 percent of the NITs are our customers, as are half the IITs. Our top priorities include getting partners to re-focus on emerging opportunities and reach the message of our new technology leadership story to customers.

We expect to roll out new partner programs later this year.”n

starting line MUST

AOC wants to increase marketshare

Digilink to triple SI partners

n abhijeet mukherjee

Read

Digilink by Schneider Electric has upped its ante for the enterprise and mid-market and is planning to triple its SI partner base in the next three years.

Under this initiative, the company is introducing an SI Loyalty Program in July for SI partners catering to enterprises, mid-market and the government.

Said GB Ravichandra, Director, Network Connectivity, Lifespace Business, Schneider Electric, “We plan to increase our SI base from the current 300 to about 1,000 by 2015-end. Partners can leverage on the Actassi brand for enterprises. Moreover, being associated with Schneider presents an opportunity for partners to offer APW racks, APC power and cooling solutions, and infrastructure management solutions beyond structured cabling. SIs can also leverage on the APC customer base which has a large presence in data centers.”

The company will recruit partners under the Platinum, Gold, Silver and Select tiers. “We will have GB Ravichandra national and regional SIs catering to the enterprise and government segments, and small SIs for mid-market and small businesses,” he explained.

For expansion of its reseller channel base catering to SOHOs and small businesses, Digilink is running its Network-160 annual seminar series.

The company has already covered eight Class A cities—Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Delhi.

“This is our first public interface after the acquisition last year,” remarked Ravichandra. It is our initiative to connect with existing reseller partners as well as to expand the base from the current 6,000 to 10,000 in the next two years.

Down the line we will cover about 47 Class B and C cities by August 2012.”

These efforts are in line of the company’s strategy to expand its presence from the current 200 cities to 350. The company is also encouraging Digilink partners to cross-sell other products available in the Schneider portfolio. n — Amit Singh

10

Computer Reseller News

01/07/2012 www.crn.in

A

OC India is on an aggressive growth path with the aim of garnering 26 percent share of the monitor market in 2012.

According to an IDC report, in Q12012 AOC sold more than two lakh monitors and achieved a leadership position with 21.9 percent marketshare followed by Samsung with 20.2 percent.

Said Saurabh Grover, Director, Monitor Business, AOC India, “Despite hard times with the HDD shortage, a volatile rupee, and a hike in the prices of components, we managed to acquire substantial marketshare.

We expect to continue with the growth momentum and have 26 percent marketshare by the end of the year.”

The company expects this growth on the back of new product lines, a stronger channel, and better marketing activities.

AOC has a mixed distribution system with Compuage as its ND reaching out to 40 percent of the total market in India and the rest taken care of by RDs such as Park Network, Elcom, Creative Peripherals and Aldous Glare. The company is soon to reach out through LFRs, and is in final-level talks with one of the leading large retailers where it wants to showcase its highend range like 3D and Razor monitors.

AOC wants to penetrate tier-2 and -3 cities, and increase its reseller base from the current 2,500 to 3,500 by the next quarter. The company plans to focus on the Delhi and Kerala market this year. While AOC sold 6,000 units in May 2012 in Delhi—the highest in the last six years—it sees Kerala as another potential market.

In terms of products AOC is soon to launch its monitor TVs in the 22-24 inch range; it

“We expect to continue with the growth momentum and garner 26 percent marketshare by the end of the year” Saurabh Grover

Director, Monitor Business, AOC India

expects a 5 percent contribution from them in the quarter. The company started replacing its LCD monitors with LEDs from April 2012. It plans to lessen its dependency on the 15.6 inch monitor from a 40 percent sales contribution to 35 percent because of reduced margins.

The company will also launch its 22 inch and 27 inch IPS monitors, and 23 inch 3D monitor. The focus this year will be on its 23 inch 3D and Razor monitors.

AOC will do aggressive marketing in terms of ATL, and wants to make its presence felt through hoardings in metros; it will do a lot of demos for its 3D monitors in the key markets of the top 10 cities. In addition, it will conduct at least five roadshows per month, and increase its marketing budget by 25 percent compared to last year.

The company has also streamlined its post-sales service and wants to reduce the TAT to less than 24 hours from the current 48 hours. It provides a 3-year onsite warranty, wants to increase the number of franchisee service centers from 80 to 115 by the end of the year, and has a 20-people call center open seven days a week. n

starting line MUST

Acer to position Gateway at entry-level

eScan pens new strategies

n AMIT SINGH

Read

eScan has appointed Savex as its national distributor for the consumer segment. “With its network of 41 offices across India, Savex will add value to our business. Our synergy with Savex will enhance eScan’s availability in Class B and C cities, thus maximizing our market penetration and revenue. We expect an increase in our revenue by 3-4 times by the end of FY2012-13,” said Sunil Kripalani, Senior VP, Global Sales & Marketing, eScan.

For the corporate segment the company has appointed special business heads with experience in national sales of IT software solutions.

It recently appointed Leo Veluthukaran as National Head for the banking, telecom and ISP verticals; Ravi Shankar for the education vertical (pan India) and corporate verticals (in the south and east).

These executives will work closely with national and regional SIs such as Orient Technologies, Team Computers, Value Point, Webcom Technologies and Excel Frontline.

Sunil Kripalani Jayesh Shah, Director, Technical, Orient Technologies, said that the SI would promote eScan along with its managed services offerings. “We are looking at growing the eScan business to 10,000 licenses in this financial year, up from the 2,000 licenses we have been selling so far. We are in the process of integrating eScan with all our product offerings.” eScan has bagged hi-profile customers such as Donear Suitings, Bassein Catholic CoOperative Bank, Iron Mountain India, Snowcem Paints, Jaslok Hospital, Laqshya Digital Media and GTL. “We aim to expand our sales team in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Plans are also afoot to carry out marketing activities across the country,” Kripalani said. n — Sonal Desai

12

Computer Reseller News

01/07/2012 www.crn.in

A

cer has planned to reposition its Gateway brand of notebooks for the entry-level segment. The move is aimed at filling the gap created by the discontinuation of its entry-level eMachines brand.

While planning to discontinue the existing high-end SKUs of Gateway, the company will introduce Pentium Celeron-, Pentium Dual Core- and Core i3based SKUs for `20,000-26,000 in the JAS quarter.

Acer will also target the entry-level space with its value line under the Aspire brand.

The company has spruced up the Aspire range by launching 30 models under the E, V3, V5, M and S series of notebooks.

Of these, the E and V series are targeted at the entry-level segment.

“With the Aspire range we will address the requirements of both the premium and value-conscious customer,” said S Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India.

“While the Aspire range will continue to be our main focus catering to both the entry-level and premium segments, we will re-position our Gateway brand specifically for the entry-level,” Rajendran informed. “We aim to ship about 55,000 notebooks per month in 2012. Of this, 80 percent will be from the Aspire range, 15 percent from Travelmate and 5 percent from Gateway.”

E series notebooks featuring Core i3 processors are priced at `24,749-31,000. The V5 series powered by second-generation Core processors and Nvidia GeForce GT series graphics has prices ranging from `27,999 to `42,999. The V3 series featuring second-generation Core processors, up to 2GB Nvidia GeForce graphics and Dolby home theater V4 is priced at `37,99962,999.

“We have planned to refresh the branding of Acer Malls and Acer Points, and train the sales personnel of partners” S Rajendran

Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India

Acer has also introduced the Aspire One netbook range with an Atom processor priced at `16,00018,000.

To target the premium segment there’s the Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 series, an ultrabook range with an optical drive for DVD and powered by second-generation Core processors and Nvidia GeForce GT640M graphics; it starts from `51,999. The S series starts from `54,999.

Acer will spend about 2 percent of its turnover for marketing which will include, besides channel development, extensive electronic and print campaigns to be started in the next two weeks. “We have planned to refresh the branding of Acer Malls and Acer Points, and train the sales personnel of partners,” said Rajendran.

The company recently concluded its Olympics scheme for partners under which 20 partners will be sent for a 5-day trip to see the forthcoming London Olympics. 40 other partners will be offered trips to Switzerland and Sri Lanka.

The company stood at the No 4 position in the notebook market with about 14 percent share in the last quarter. It is targeting 20 percent share in the next 2-3 years. n

edit opinion Volume 1, Issue 17

What is your blue ocean strategy? dhaval valia

W

ay back in 1998 one of my cousins was employed with a diamond cutting and polishing firm in my hometown Bhavnagar. Having a diploma in computer science, his job was to instal diamond cutting laser machines that had a CNC computer interface.

Over the next two years that he worked with the company, he deployed two such laser machines in Bhavnagar and three in Surat, each costing upward of `1 crore. He also worked to set up analog surveillance at the firm’s two facilities.

Today he runs a small manufacturing outfit producing what in their trade lingo is called computer bindis and tattoos which are supplied to companies such as Unilever and Garnier to be bundled with their brands.

He employs 15 people but has 40-odd networked PCs and 60 CNC machines that cut the bindis and tattoos. In all, over the past eight years that he has been running this business, he would have spent close to `1.5 crore in creating this set-up.

According to my cousin, there are at least 30 such units (many much bigger than his) in Mumbai alone. That would conservatively make this lesser-known opportunity a `50 crore plus business.

Are we as IT partners exploring such unique opportunities in the market or are we just going after the same customers everyone is going after?

It reminds me of a best-selling book, The Blue Ocean Strategy.

The book argues that lasting success comes from creating blue oceans (untapped new market spaces ripe for growth) and not from the bloody red oceans (markets which are saturated and flooded).

I am sure many of you would have read this book; if not, I would recommend you read it. It is a lengthy book but just skimming through it is revelation enough.

In this edition of CRN we have highlighted the 10 microverticals that are not the highest IT-spending verticals and may not figure in analyst reports. Yet they promise unique and significant opportunities.

A few smart partners have identified these blue oceans and are making merry of the opportunities.

As IT infrastructure products get commoditized and new paradigms such as cloud computing and consolidation take root, the lasting success of a partner business will come from creating its own blue ocean. n E-mail CRN Executive Editor Dhaval Valia at dhaval.valia@ubm.com 14

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01/07/2012 www.crn.in

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edit opinion Microsoft’s tablet advantage Robert Faletra

M

icrosoft’s decision to build its own tablet and sell it directly marks a sea-change in IT and an admission that the market has shifted while Microsoft stood by and held on to an old model that requires significant adjustment. The announcement is more interesting for what it says about the industry, and is a first step by the company to build a vertically integrated product for business.

While the very successful Xbox is a vertically integrated product with every element controlled by Microsoft, the tablet is the first time the OS monopolist has stepped into the business market with a complete product. This, of course, means its traditional OEM partners may or may not step forward with a Windows tablet of their own.

The reality is this shows how the market is changing.

HP, Dell and other traditional OEMs that licensed Microsoft software have jumped into the software business themselves.

Microsoft’s lateness to markets has also contributed to OEMs finding it necessary to look elsewhere for suppliers.

More importantly, the challenge is positioning for Microsoft, which has for many years come from the top down, whereas Apple has come from the bottom up. Microsoft used its ubiquity as an advantage in the earlier days to get those business users to want the same experience at home. Apple is doing just the opposite by getting business users who want to use the same devices at work as they do at home, the socalled consumerization of IT. Microsoft has no advantage in the consumer arena, but it does have a huge advantage with its Surface tablet in business. It has a well-defined value-added channel that could put thousands of salespeople on the street making a compelling case for how integration of a Windows tablet into the network is a better option in terms of compatibility, security, etc.

For Microsoft to catch up in the tablet space it has to properly leverage its channel. That is where it should be putting its effort. It is not cool in consumer, and every month that goes by without shipping a product (remember, we still do not know when the availability will be there), Apple gains share.

The fact that Microsoft hastily called a press conference to announce a tablet was seemingly a case of back-to-thefuture where it is trying to stall the market by making an announcement that it is not ready to ship yet. The strategy here is to try to get businesses to wait and see what Microsoft brings to the market.

All things considered, the small glimpse we have had of the Microsoft tablet looks to be an interesting offering. The integrated keyboard is a good idea and one that is sure to increase the pressure on using the tablet as a laptop replacement. But in the end, it is the sales channel that can get Microsoft in the game at this point. I am just not sure that Steve Ballmer realizes it. n Email Robert Faletra at robert.faletra@ec.ubm.com 16

Computer Reseller News

01/07/2012 www.crn.in

Accounts receivables

India’s largest virtual expo

The interview of PS Neogi, President, Redington India, was an eye-opener.

It was clear that the next level of distribution is value-added distribution.

Of course, distribution has become a challenging business, and to take it to the next level one has to work harder and take it to upcountry markets. I believe that small distributors with a regional presence have a great opportunity in this scenario because of their grass-root-level presence.

However, in an economy that looks weak, partners have to keep a stringent control on credit.

Any recklessness on this front may jeopardize the business.

The coverage of the CRN Virtual Expo in your recent issue was an eyecatching one. The kind of subjects explored explains the knowledge-gaining opportunity one would have missed by giving the event a skip. The large number of attendees the event attracted proves that virtual events will soon be a reality. We have not heard of any other virtual platform attracting such a large gathering. Moreover, hearing from such renowned experts and industry leaders broadens your perspective to grow your business.

It was an event not to be missed by any chance— that too at the convenience of your own desk.

Anshuman Pandya AP Systems, Surat

Archit Saxena via email

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

Advertiser Index Company name

Page No Web site

Sales Contact

Smartlink

1 www.digisol.com

helpdesk@digisol.com

Smartlink

2 www.digilite.co.in

helpdesk@digilite.co.in

Juniper

4

Priya Sharma

LG

5 www.lg.com

serviceindia@lge.com

Compuage-Odyssey

7 www.compuageindia.com

odyssey@compuageindia.com

HP-PSG

9 www.hp.com/in/zworkstations

in.contact@hp.com

Cisco

11 www.ciscos.in/build

www.ciscospanishconquest.com/tnc.php

Fujitsu Lifebook

13

marketing-india@ts.fujitsu.com

Seagate

15 www.seagate.com

CLS

www.juniper@dnbindia.in

www.sg.fujitsu.com

26-27 www.crn.in/lsummit

www.seagate.com/goflexsatellite salil.warior@ubm.com

Quick Heal

36

www.quickheal.com

info@quickheal.co.in

HCL

37

www.hclpos.co.in / www.hcl.in

wecare4u@hcl.in

Biz

38 www.indiaantivirus.com

sales@indiaantivirus.com

HP-IPG

39 www.hp.com

in.contact@hp.com

Kaspersky

40 www.sakri.in

sales@sakri.in

channel chief “We will train 1,000 engineers this year” Sunil Sharma, VP, Sales, India & Saarc, Elitecore Technologies, spoke to Sonal Desai about the company’s performance, strategies and initiatives How has the company performed in the last 12 months?

In the last 6-9 months since I joined Cyberoam we have registered 35 percent YoY growth in revenue. Our growth strategies were well-planned. Our focus on the education sector over the last six years has started bearing fruit, and we are currently the undisputed leader in this vertical. As of today we are present in 200+ universities. We have introduced many features ensuring protection for universities from hacking and malicious attacks.

Some of our bigger customers in the segment include BITS Pilani, AMU, Jammu University, the DAV Public School and ICFAI. We also have institutions which use a lower range of Cyberoam appliances. All these projects have been deployed by tier-1 to tier-3 partners.

Education is our main revenue grosser with 35 percent followed by the government at 15 percent, IT/ ITeS at 12 percent, with the rest contributed by others.

Cyberoam has been changing its strategies for the enterprise segment. Why is that so?

No, that is not the case. We were largely focused on the SMB and SOHO segments because we saw a lot of traction for our products there. However, over the last six months, we have started entering the enterprise segment.

We will not claim that we are strong today, but we will definitely have our presence in this arena by the end of this year.

As of now we are also looking at the BFSI, government and defense segments. We have developed solutions for BFSI and are approaching CIOs in a focused manner.

Netgenie generated a lot of interest during and some time after its launch. However, it has since taken a backseat with partners and end-users complaining about its high pricing.

We have reduced the pricing for home users and have brought the MRP to `5,490, but we have not made any changes to the pricing for the SOHO segment. Their response to the product has been fantastic, and we decided to retain the same policy and pricing for the segment.

“Our focus on the education sector over the last six years has started bearing fruit, and we are currently the undisputed leader in this vertical”

Cyberoam received a lot of flak from partners during this year’s Channel Champions Survey. Partners alleged that the company does not have a proper strategy, and that there were not enough training sessions or certification programs in place.

Thanks for your inputs and feedback, but our internal statistics tell a different story.

Regarding partner training and certification, I believe there was some lack of clarity in communication.

Last year we had designed training programs for every quarter, and trained 508 engineers from partner organizations, a 55 percent increase compared to the year before. This year our pre-sales team has set a target of training more than 1,000 engineers from partner organizations.

We also recently kicked-off our nationwide channel meet program across New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

Secondly, we have re-arranged our partner tiers into Platinum, Gold and Authorized. We have set a target of `2 crore (metros) and `1 crore (Class B and C cities) for Platinum partners and `50 lakh for Gold partners. No targets have been set for Authorized partners.

Currently we have 600 partners in India, of whom 50 are Platinum and Gold partners. Our aim is to improve the quality of lead that we provide to these partners, and that is where our automated deal registration will help.

We will map the opportunities to the Gold and Platinum partners, and even help them with onsite presales. We have also launched the Platinum Support Service (PSS) to tackle priority-based queries and enable customers to deal with internal vulnerabilities. PSS is a top-up support package which can be added to our existing support services.

After the acquisition of SonicWall by Dell, Elitecore is luring SonicWall partners to its fray.

We have had many SonicWall partners expressing their concerns about the acquisition of SonicWall by Dell, and also about the sudden hike in the renewal prices.

That is when we realized that Elitecore could be a great relief to them being an established player which has a development engine integrated in its DNA. We have some SonicWall partners joining us from Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad; Elitecore welcomes all of them whole-heartedly, hoping and looking forward to a mutually beneficial relationship. We aim to sign around 100 more SonicWall partners by the end of the year. n

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special focus SIEM gains traction

Due to regulatory compliance and the increasingly complex threats to network security, the Indian security information and event management market is expected to grow by 20 percent in 2012. Even so, challenges remain n AMIT SINGH ccording to Frost & Sullivan, the SIEM market in APAC grew about 21 percent from $93.4 million in 2010 to $112.9 million in 2011, and is estimated to reach $242.7 million in 2014.

“The Indian SIEM market stood at about $12 million and is expected to grow at about 21 percent in 2012,” says Damanjit Singh Uberoi, Chief Solutions Architect & Evangelist (South Asia), HP Enterprise Security Products.

In India the SIEM market is primarily driven by regulatory compliance and secondarily by threat monitoring. Continuous attacks on network infrastructure coupled with their increasing complexity are causing end-users to adopt newer network security solutions.

According to Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Regional Director, India & Saarc, Check Point, “As enterprises realize that threats have become more severe and complex, the demand for SIEM tools is expected to grow to more than $1 billion worldwide between 2012 and 2015.”

Adds Vaidyanathan Iyer, Country Manager, Security, SWG, IBM ISA, “BFSI and telecom will be the two leading segments in the immediate future. Service providers and pharmaceuticals would also be important segments.”

Last year RBI issued guidelines on IT governance, information security and cyber fraud for the Indian banking industry. “Because SIEM tools are a way to ensure compliance, every bank is in the process of deploying, or has already deployed, SIEM,” notes Kartik Shahani, Country Manager, India & Saarc, RSA.

A

Mid-market push The next level of push is expected from SMBs, specifically mid-market organizations. According to a study by AMI Partners, Indian SMBs will spend $161 million for beefing up their IT security solutions this year.

“While large enterprises prefer on-premise solutions managed by onsite consultants due to compliance requirements and the critical nature of the SOC function, we are seeing increasing interest from both enterprises and SMBs in the managed security services (MSS) model,” remarks Anand Naik, MD, Sales, India & Saarc, Symantec.

Vendor strategies Vendors are promoting SIEM technology as a platform, and to differentiate themselves from competitors they add more functionality to their offerings. For instance, vendors integrate SIEM with other solutions such as vulnerability assessment, intrusion prevention systems, file integrity monitoring, security configuration assessment and data access monitoring.

RSA is integrating its SIEM technology with its storage; governance, risk & compliance (GRC); and security portfolio. IBM has integrated its SIEM products with its identity and access management offerings.

Symantec sells SIEM to enterprises that use its end-point security products, and has integrated its SIEM with IT governance and GRC offerings.

“As threats become more severe and complex, the demand for SIEM tools is expected to grow to more than $1 billion worldwide by 2015”

“BFSI and telecom will be the two leading segments in the immediate future. Service providers and pharmaceuticals would also be important segments”

Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu

Vaidyanathan Iyer

Regional Director, India & Saarc, Check Point 18

Says Ajit Zanjad, Head, Emerging Technology Group, MIEL e-Security, “SMBs, specially small businesses, will take another 2-3 years to realize the importance of SIEM solutions. However, mid-market businesses are highpotential customers for SIEM.” “While 10 percent of our SIEM customers are SMBs, we expect the number to increase in the next 2-3 years,” says Manoj Gupta, MD & CEO, Grid Infocom.

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Country Manager, Security, SWG, IBM ISA

special focus Next-gen SIEM “The trend is toward next-generation SIEM, which is intelligent log usage and business analytics tools interwoven with SIEM tools. The events are not treated in isolation—the cause is treated, not the effect. This brings in a great degree of proactive approach in the deployment,” explains Iyer.

“Next-gen SIEM solutions are offering analytic and forensic abilities to create a proactive anomaly detection and remediation facility,” adds Shahani.

Opportunities for partners On-premise deployment. “An on-premise SIEM solution for about 100 devices with 500 events per second (EPS) capacity and 300 GB internal storage may cost about $10,000,” informs Shahani.

While security contributes about 65 percent of the revenue of MIEL e-Security, SIEM solutions add about 10 percent. “We recently deployed a SIEM solution for Hyundai with service revenue of `12 lakh. We connected about 100 devices including servers, routers, switches and critical application servers. Appliances worth `50 lakh were sourced globally,” informs Zanjad. MIEL also executed an overseas deployment and integration project worth `15 lakh for MTN in Ghana. Another overseas assignment executed was for the Telecom Authority in Saudi Arabia with deployment revenue of $50,000.

Fourth Dimension Technologies also has SIEM deployments to its credit. “We recently deployed a SIEM solution worth `40 lakh with two appliances of 2,500 EPS capacity at an auto-ancillary organization in Chennai,” informs N Jagannathan, Director & CEO, Fourth Dimension.

While on-premise deployment is the primary mode of operations for Grid Infocom, the Gurgaonbased organization also offers solutions in the opex model. “The capital investment in terms of product cost, implementation and services are our investment for which we get monthly payment,” says Gupta. The partner organization is expecting SIEM to contribute about 35-40 percent of its security revenue in the current fiscal.

Managed security services. Managed service providers are offering log management capabilities, taking logs from the customer premises to a security operations center, and doing the archiving and reporting from there.

Explains Sanjiv Patki, COO, Allied Digital, “Since skilled resources are required to manage the analysis and remediation of the SIEM, many large organizations and mid-market businesses are opting for MSS.” He discloses that under the pay-as-you-go model prices may range

TIPS for implementation Include multiple stakeholders. When developing requirements, be sure to collect them from the range of groups that may benefit from collected log data.

Emphasize correlation capabilities. SIEM systems normalize logs from various systems; this helps you to see in a readable format the most important data you need from those logs.

Weigh deployment options. While software is the traditional form factor, vendors have increasingly come out with all-in-one appliances. There are also many blended offerings in which a server performs the real-time analysis, correlation and monitoring, and an appliance covers log collection.

Consider storage capacity. Another consideration is how much data the system will store especially when regulations may require data to be online for a particular length of time. from `10,000 to `25,000 per device per month depending on the number of devices to be covered.

MSS contributes about 5 percent of the total revenue of Allied Digital which aims to double it in 2012.

Cloud as potential enabler. Although the idea is still at a nascent stage, cloud providers are planning to market SIEM solutions as a security-as-a-service (SaaS) offering. “We have been approached by various cloud service providers willing to offer our security services through their cloud,” informs Patki. Adds Bakthavatsalu, “Partners can make margins of 10-20 percent on reselling our SaaS. Margins can go up to 30-40 percent depending on the level of involvement. Charges may be as low as $25 per month for 25-50 users or may go up to $200 per month.”

Challenges Although SIEM is gaining steady traction, proper understanding of the technology is lacking. “The prevailing market perceptions about the complexities involved in its implementation is impeding the adoption rate of SIEM solutions,” comments Uberoi.

Zanjad says that sizing the solution, developing business-use cases, formulating correlation rules, planning the implementation, integrating with the existing infrastructure and fine-tuning for false positives are crucial for the successful running of the solution.

Other challenges faced by partners include the need for a high level of technical expertise, the integration of the appliance with other systems, hiring and retaining certified resources, and long and complicated sales cycles.n

“An on-premise SIEM solution for about 100 devices with 500 events per second capacity and 300 GB internal storage may cost about $10,000”

“Since skilled resources are required to manage the analysis and remediation of the SIEM, many organizations are opting for MSS”

Kartik Shahani

Sanjiv Patki

Country Manager, India & Saarc, RSA

COO, Allied Digital

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cover story

While a few sectors such as BFSI and telecom hog all the limelight, 10 low-profile verticals could be money-spinners in future.

Ignore them at your own risk n RAMDAS S & SONAL DESAI

E

ven as manufacturing, government, telecom, BFSI and education are some of the largest verticals that contribute to the overall IT market pie, there are several key verticals which are emerging as potential money-spinners for partners in the immediate future.

While some of these verticals have been around for a long time as significant contributors to the Indian IT segment, they are now seeing major upheavals which are making them increasingly interesting for the channel.

There are others verticals which are considered to be largely unspoilt by technology, and which are suddenly waking up to the possibilities of IT. “Over the past few years we have seen the emergence

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of several new segments that now have the potential to grow to become significant contributors to the IT market.

It should interest partners since vendors are hoping to address these opportunities mostly through partner engagement,” says Jyothi Satyanathan, VP, Mid-market & Inside Sales, India/SA, IBM. Atul Bhandari, VP, Value Engineering, Industries & Customer Advocacy, SAP India, agrees. “We have seen several micro-verticals emerge to become significant market segments. We are actively engaging with our partners for different GTM strategies to address such opportunities.”

CRN looks at the top 10 emerging verticals, in alphabetical order.

cover story Cooperative Banks & Micro-finance THE micro-finance sector is estimated to have 5,00,000 units, almost 70 percent of which are not computerized. Micro-finance is expected to cater to the people who do not have a savings/current account in a bank.

There are 2,000+ cooperative banks which have between them over 22,000 branches. The RBI’s mandates (such as Know Your Customer) have compelled cooperative banks to prepare a data trail on all transactions—for which they need to invest in servers, networking and storage.

Technologies in demand by micro-finance and rural banking include smart cards, POS terminals, net banking and mobile phone banking. Also in demand are PDA- and tablet-based computing solutions.

“In most cases (of micro-finance), small merchants with business places act as some of kind of ATM centers with smart-card readers. The customer comes in with a smart-card, swipes it, and deposits or withdraws money.

The total cost of implementation is typically less than `15,000 per center, while the smart-card costs `100-200,” explains Mahendra Verman, Director of the Mumbai-based SilverByte Solutions.

“The cooperative banking sector is adopting technology fast, and we are seeing opportunities in WAN/LAN deployment, IT security and surveillance” AL Srinath, CEO, Shell Networks The Center for Scientific Research is known to be testing the waters in rural UP and Rajasthan for mobile micro-finance solutions which use tablets with biometric software for authentication.

Several partners believe that the cloud is the future for micro-financing. “The Federation of Cooperative Banks in Gujarat has come together and signed up with application software solution providers such as TCS, CA, MindTree and HCL to provide specific solutions over the community cloud,” informs Apurva Dave, CEO, Innova Systems, Ahmedabad. Similarly, cooperative banks in Kerala are contemplating the implementation of corebanking solutions off the cloud. l

Dairy & Poultry India has emerged as the largest milk producer in the world with an annual production of 110 billion liters. According to the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (AH&D), India is likely to be among top three consumers of poultry by 2017. While dairy farms are spread across the country, 70 percent of the poultry farms are in AP, Karnataka, TN and Maharashtra. AH&D estimates that around 20,000 dairies are likely to deploy technology.

The number of poultry farms which are likely to use technology is estimated to be less than 1,000.

Many state governments have allocated funds to automate dairies. The National Project for Cattle & Buffalo Breeding is one such program that has already funded around 100 high-tech farms last year.

“Till a few years back we did not see much use of technology in poultry and dairy farming. That is

“RFID tags are being used not just for identifying the animal but also for getting info about milk production capacity” Satheesh Nair,

Director, Stickman Consulting

changing now,” observes PA Sathyaseelan, Senior Director, Enterprise Solutions, Dell India.

Intelligroup, an NTT DATA company, has developed Poultry360, a solution for the poultry and livestock industry. Bhalchandra Bhosale, Senior VP, Intelligroup, says that the centralized data, financial management processes, and industry-specific functionality of Poultry360 have yielded positive operational outcomes.

Besides, geo-tracking with GPS technologies is being used especially for milk delivery vans. “We are implementing barcoding solutions for a small dairy.

The dairy owners barcode the trucks once the milk has been filled. On reaching the destination the [receiving] suppliers check the barcodes before unsealing the trucks,” says Dave of Innova.

Technologies being implemented in dairies include optimization software for automated milking pipelines, cattle feeding lines and shed management.

“Genomics and artificial intelligence are also being used to develop high-quality breeds,” adds Devada Menon, Professor, University of Agriculture, Thrissur. l

Sector Snapshot

Sector Snapshot

Industry size*: NA Industry data*: 40,000 scheduled rural bank branches, 22,000 cooperative bank branches, 5,00,000 micro-finance units Demographics*: Pan India IT spend*: 0.5-2 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: Core banking, software, CRM, surveillance, smart cards, cloud

Industry size*: `1,80,000 crore Industry data*: 20,000 dairy farms, 1,000 poultry farms Demographics*: Pan India for dairy, southern states and Maharashtra for poultry IT spend*: 0.5-1.5 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: ERP, milk pipelines, RFID, GPS-enabled transport solutions

* Source: Eprobe Research, RBI

*Source: Ministry of Agriculture

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cover story Energy

Gems & Jewelry

The growing difference between India’s demand for and supply of energy resources has prompted the government to encourage private investment in both renewable and conventional energy production. Since 2010 the Ministry of Power has given permission to almost 400 companies to set up power plants across the country.

“While there are fewer energy companies compared to other sectors, the size of these companies and their commitment to IT is large,” points out Jyothi Satyanathan, VP, Mid-market & Inside Sales, India/SA, IBM. “While the industry average for IT deployment is between 0.5 and 1.5 percent of revenue, we estimate that the power sector would allocate at least 3-4 percent for IT.” Alexander Chachava, President, Leta Group, said that in the last couple of years the company has signed many deals for 500-1,000 nodes with mid-market organizations such as Southern Power Distribution Company.

For its smart-grid solution for the power industry, IBM is working with some tier-2 partners to help power companies optimize their power distribution.

DR and BCM specialist Sanovi Technologies is deploying DR implementation projects under the eGovernance Projects’ Accelerated Power Development & Reform Program (APDRP). The company is working

Over the past four years the gems and jewelry industry has seen high growth. The total exports of gems and jewelry is estimated by the Gems and Jewelry Export Council to have been worth around $43.5 billion in 2010-2011. The consumer demand inside the country has also been robust despite the prices of precious metals shooting up; India continues to be the largest consumer of gold with 20 percent of the overall global marketshare.

The gems industry is largely based out of diamond hubs such as Surat and Jaipur, while the gold jewelry market has players spread across the country but especially in southern states such as Kerala.

The biggest demand from the industry over the past few years has been for security solutions. The diamond industry has graduated beyond CCTV surveillance cameras and is now using high-definition IP surveillance cameras that can capture and identify

“The gold industry has unique requirements such as twicea-day auditing and multiple changes in prices during the day that need to be accounted” SR Nair, MD, Team Frontline

“We are helping power companies migrate to an IP-based digital system. Power will become one of our largest customer segments” Gunjan Shah,

Director, Insight Business Machines

with the state electricity boards in Rajasthan, UP, MP and Karnataka to ensure that they have a robust DR plan in place.

To curb the loss of power due to theft and T&D losses, the Ministry of Power has directed the states to quicken the pace of the restructured APDRP. In APDRP projects, impetus is given to IT-enabling the sector on an integrated platform. The IT platform will assist in capturing and validating the energy and revenue model together.

Mumbai-based Insight Business Machines is working with major power companies to facilitate their expansion plans and digitize their energy meters. l

Sector Snapshot Industry size*: `4,30,000 crore Industry data*: 600 power companies Demographics*: Pan India IT spend*: 3-5 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: Fraud detection, power leakage, IMS, ERP, CRM * Source: Ministry of Power

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diamond sparkles from the physical stones. “From the manufacturing process to retailing, the gems and jewelry industry deals with extremely high value products, therefore even small quantities of shrinkage resulting from theft or carelessness can result in huge losses,” points out Sudhindra Holla, Country Manager, Axis Communications.

Networking and IT security are also seeing an increase in demand. “The diamond industry does not have the concept of a CIO, and works on personal relationships. While bigger diamond corporates have implemented SAP for ERP, they are few in number,” says Rajesh Mehta, Director, Transit Geo, Surat.

IBM is seeing demand for analytics from this segment, and has been positioning its Cognos tools for the market.

Since most players in this segment have shown tremendous growth, they are increasingly allocating more money for technology. l

Sector Snapshot Industry size*: `4,30,000 crore Industry data*: 2,50,000 showrooms, 28,000 processing units, 6,000 offices Demographics*: Southern states and Gujarat for gold; Surat, Jaipur and Mumbai for diamonds IT spend*: 1-5 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: Security, surveillance, analytics, auditing, cloud, video conferencing *Source: Gems and Jewelry Export Promotion Council

cover story Healthcare & Wellness According to ratings agency Fitch, the Indian healthcare market is all set to double from the $50 billion of 2011 to $100 billion in 2015. Wellness is the fastest-growing segment of the market, and Fitch expects the segment to get more organized over the next few years and evolve into a vertical of its own.

In the hospital segment, the maximum growth will come from smaller boutique hospitals and clinics which have less than 100 beds or offer no in-patient services.

“It is likely that the healthcare industry will adopt the cloud faster than other segments,” remarks Girish Krishnamoorthy, former MD, Kaseya India. “It is currently facing growing economic and regulatory pressures which make its IT infrastructure ripe for a radical change and ideal for the cloud.”

Meanwhile, TCS has identified healthcare and wellness as one of the four segments to target for its cloud platform iON. Comments L Ashok, MD, Futurenet Technologies, Chennai, “Healthcare is booming as we are attracting patients from even European countries. Most hospitals are reluctant to set up their own data center infrastructure and are willing to outsource key services, including DR. They could adopt the cloud for things like managing

“The wellness segment is working like the retail segment—it wants to create loyalty programs, and is deploying CRM solutions” Pawan Khuranna,

CEO, QuantM Net Technologies

patient records.”

Hospitals are also deploying surveillance and access control solutions. “Over the past year healthcare has been a fast-growing segment for physical access control. On registration, many hospitals are offering patients smartcards where all key information is stored,” says Ranjit Nambiar, Regional Director, HID India.

Pradeep Jhawar, MD, Bard Roy Infotech, Kolkata, sees opportunity in converged solutions for the healthcare segment. “At present the solutions are in silos, but we see many hospitals opting for full-fledged ERP systems for managing their business over the next few quarters.” l

Leather The Indian leather industry, which till a few years back involved mostly human labor, has seen automation on the factory floor. The Indian industry accounts for 10 percent of the global production of leather goods.

In 2008 the government had earmarked `600 crore to set up five integrated leather parks at Chennai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Agra and Tada with plans to set up 10 more parks.

With an industry turnover of $7.5 billion, the export of leather and leather products touched $3.84 billion in 2010-11 says the Council of Leather Exports (CLE). The industry is expected to continue growing because of the presence of the largest livestock (21 percent) globally.

According to CLE, there are 10,000 companies each employing more than 500 people. The leather industry is focused around hubs such as Kanpur, Agra, Chennai and Kolkata. Category-wise, the industry is further sub-

“Leather is a virgin market for technology, and is all set to become a major user of technology” PA Sathyaseelan,

Senior Director, Enterprise Solutions, Dell

divided into tanneries, footwear, bags and accessories.

Ramco has developed an ERP solution for the footwear market. Partners are also positioning cloudbased offerings for the tannery market. M Siddiqi, CEO, MS Technologies, an Agra-based solution provider, is planning to host his ERP for tanneries on the cloud and offer the solution at `3,000 per user per month.

Chennai-based BSG Leatherlink is also taking the cloud route. After developing specific products for different segments of the leather industry, BSG is offering its solutions on a pay-as-you-go model.

Samadhan, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, has launched an ERP solution for the leather industry based on Dynamics NAV 2009 and named it Leather Export Samadhan. “India’s share in global exports is a meager 2.2 percent. One of the reasons for this is the backwardness in terms of technology adoption. I believe our solution will be a milestone in enabling the leather industry to achieve efficiency,” says Manoj Tiwari, MD, Samadhan. l

Sector Snapshot

Sector Snapshot

Industry size*: `2,75,000 crore Industry data*: Over 50,000 hospitals/clinics/wellness centers with less than 100 beds Demographics*: Pan India IT spend*: 0.5-2 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: CRM, patient records management, cloud, security, surveillance and IT audits

Industry size*: `45,000 crore

* Source: Fitch, Indian Medical Association

Industry data*: Over 10,000 units Demographics*: Chennai, UP, Kolkata IT spend*: 0.5-1.2 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: ERP, cloud, unified communications, e-commerce *Source: Leather Export Council

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cover story Media & Entertainment According to PwC, the Indian E&M industry could grow from `64,600 crore in 2010 to `1,19,890 crore in 2015. Television accounts for nearly 50 percent of this segment, while print is expected to account for nearly 30 percent of the market with films at 11 percent and the Internet at 9 percent.

Drivers include the large Indian consumer market which is increasingly seeing a lifestyle change, mobile and broadband growth, and growth in the global audience for Indian films.

Vendors see entertainment (especially the TV media) investing heavily in state-of-the-art animation and production facilities. This is expected to trigger demand for high-performance computing, storage and networking infrastructure.

According to Chiradeep Roy, Regional Director, Extreme Networks, “Media could be a growing market for high-speed switching and networking because digital media is taking over from analog.”

“For us, media and entertainment are fast emerging as key sectors that are expected to invest in scalable storage as they create archives and produce rich content,” says Sunil Brid, Area Sales Director, EMC India.

Storage vendor Spectra Logic’s biggest installation in India is at Star TV where it provided a 2,000-slot tape

“Over the past three years we have had several wins from media and entertainment companies for HPC clusters and storage clusters” Sandeep Vahi, CEO, Compton Computers solution with three frames of its T-950 library.

MIEL e-Security also won a deal to provide a data protection and ILM solution to Star TV for archiving digitized TV software. “The solution was deployed with a DR system in place to meet all compliance and regulatory requirements. Our longer-term mandate includes conducting regular DR drills, and security and compliance audits,” informs Anuj Gupta, Director, Sales, MIEL. “Content management, especially in local languages, is one of the growing sub-segments, hence there will be considerable investment in content management systems,” predicts Denis Dorval, VP, Sales, APAC, Alfresco. l

Industry size*: `70,000 crore Industry data*: 7,000+ media companies Demographics*: Pan India IT spend*: 0.5-1.2 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: CMS, storage, archival solutions, video conferencing * Source: PWC

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According to a Fitch study conducted in 2011, the Indian retail market is worth around $468 billion and poised to grow to $768 billion by 2014. While 5 percent of the market is addressed by the organized sector, the rest is largely dominated by kirana stores or big departmental stores.

Billing solutions through POS billing printers are expected to be the largest commodity product line for the kiranas. There are several vendors in this space including HCL and TVSE. “The POS solutions space is the first step in automation for a small retailer, and we are positioned to address these opportunities,” says PB Ganesh Kumar, Head, Sales & Marketing, Chennai, TVSE. Moving up the value chain, ERP, analytics and surveillance systems are on the menu for retail customers. “While surveillance has been around in retail for a long time, retailers are now adopting

“Retail companies cannot afford to have billing counters not working because it results in immediate customer dissatisfaction” Nanda Kumar, VP, Kaseya India IP surveillance to analyze customer behavior and footfalls, and then compare the results with actual sales,” says Gunjan Shah, Director, Insight Business Machines.

Persistent Systems has developed a cloud-based e-commerce platform, KLISMA. The platform can also be used as a customer management solution by mall owners. “Since our pilot launch, over 20 national retailers, 200 local retailers and 100,000 consumers have come on to the KLISMA platform,” says Ajay Aggarwal, Chief Customer Experience Officer, KLISMA. “Most of our customers in the retail segment are investing in data warehousing and mining solutions,” says Rajeev Krishnaswamy, Director of the Mumbaibased Infobahn Technical Solutions. “Since Oracle has acquired ATG, we believe there is a compelling offer which we can take to the market.”

Others believe that if IT can be offered on a cost per transaction basis many retailers would be glad to adopt cutting-edge solutions. l

Sector Snapshot

Sector Snapshot

24

Retail

Industry size*: `26,20,000 crore Industry data*: 40,00,000+ retailers Demographics*: Pan India IT spend*: 0.5-2 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: Billing solutions, micro ERP, supply chain management, IMS, surveillance and cloud *Source: Fitch

cover story Textiles

Travel & Tourism

The Indian textile industry is tipped to cross the $100 billion mark despite adverse situations in its biggest export market, Europe.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry says that progressive policies (such as the National Fiber Policy) by the Ministry of Textiles have been instrumental in helping the textile industry to grow. The depreciation of the rupee is expected to further boost the export trade.

While large textile companies have been deploying technology over the past two decades, the vast majority of SMB textile companies have been reluctant to adopt IT because of the prohibitive cost of software.

The Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), through a special purpose vehicle called G-Tech Info Solutions (managed by two erstwhile channel partners) has collaborated with top global vendors including Microsoft, Wipro and SAP to form a common cloud computing platform. This will automate and simplify processes across manufacturing, logistics, finance, HR, and customer and vendor relationships for over 4,000 SMBs in Tirupur.

“Garments alone do a business of $9 billion out of India. It is no big deal to increase exports by 15 percent if this system is implemented in other clusters in the country,” believes Sanjay Kumar Gupta, CMD, G-Tech Info Solutions.

“A free-of-cost TexCloud license is being offered for first-time users of IT. An enterprise license would be priced at `1,000-1,500 per user” Moin Shaikh,

Director, Innovative Telecom & Systems

“Previously, a SAP implementation would have meant an investment of `50 lakh plus. The cloud model that we now use is unique and not available in any other part of the world—companies have to pay just `3,500 per month for the service,” says A Sakthivel, President, TEA. Moin Shaikh, Director, Innovative Telecom & Systems, Surat, is following suit. He is providing competition with a cloud-based platform for the textile industry. Built on top of Microsoft Azure, the application, TexCloud, is already in the beta phase.

Textile companies are also looking at e-commerce solutions and seeking to deploy both B2C and B2B portals to reach customers across the globe. l

The travel and tourism market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9 percent over the next five years. India is also set to invest in infrastructure especially around tourist locations, and funds in both central and state budgets have been allotted to promote tourism.

The industry has seen eager deployers of IT over the past few years. While air travel has been completely automated, bus and taxi operators have also started investing in or aligning with e-commerce portals which allow the planning and booking of trips. As a matter of fact, 35 percent of the e-commerce revenue in 2011 came through the travel and tourism segment in the country.

According to SR Nair, MD, Team Frontline, “The travel and tourism segment is heavily investing in CRM, e-promotions and hospitality management solutions.”

“Providing Wi-Fi in vehicles, hotels and tourist

“Because the travel and tourism industry has seasonal spikes, its interest in an on-demand computing model is substantial” Devesh AgGarwal, CEO, Compusoft locations is helping the wireless market to grow,” points out Sudhakar Bhosupally, Country Head, Ruckus Wireless India.

In addition, traditional travel booking packages have been replaced by dynamic booking solutions that take in real data shared by associates (as well as the competition) and determine pricing.

“Business Analytics is slowly finding a place in the tourism segment as operators are designing campaigns as well as tourism packages based on data analysis,” says Pradeep Jhawar, MD, Bard Roy Infotech.

Elitecore Technologies is offering its 24onlineEverywhere, an end-to-end Wi-Fi Internet solution, to various hotels in India.

Mumbai-based Vardhaman Technology has worked with an ISV to provide a complete thin client-based solution to the Taj Group for the interactive TV systems in their hotel rooms. “We see a lot of traction for interactive TV systems from hotels,” says Amit Rambhia, Director, Vardhaman. l

Sector Snapshot

Sector Snapshot Industry size*: `5,75,000 crore Industry data*: 12,50,000+ units Demographics*: Gujarat, South India IT spend*: 0.5-2 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: Implementation of cloud-based ERP solutions, supply chain and unified communications * Source: Ministry of Textiles

Industry size*: `5,55,000 crore Industry data*: 1,00,000+ businesses Demographics*: Pan India IT spend*: 0.5-2 percent of annual revenues Opportunities: e-commerce, billing & ticketing solutions, analytics, Wi-Fi and security *Source: Ministry of Tourism & Culture

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25

Presents

July 26-29, 2012 | Holiday Inn, Goa

The $1.5 billion enterprise VAR marketplace The CRN Leadership Summit is the most influential platform to network and engage with India’s 100 leading tier-2 systems integrators and enterprise VARs. The composite annual turnover of the top 100 enterprise VARs present at the Summit will exceed $1.5 billion*. CXOs of the leading enterprise VAR organizations are handpicked through a comprehensive awards nomination process from across 15 cities.

The 3-day Summit is strategically planned to create multiple networking and interaction opportunities for technology companies to achieve and optimize their channel expansion and engagement objectives. *Aggregate annual turnover of 105 enterprise VARs present at CLS 2011 was `7,560 crore

Platinum Partners

Gold Partners

Technology Track Partners

Conference Communicate your company’s strategic technology and market initiatives

Solutions Pavilion Showcase latest products, solutions and services through display and live demonstrations

CRN Xcellence Awards Backed by a comprehensive Jury process, the awards will be presented in 35 categories

www.crn.in/lsummit

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market focus challenging times Ahead

A tsunami in Japan, floods in Thailand, the rise in excise, multiple taxes, a falling rupee. How much bad news can the hardware industry take? n AMIT SINGH & ABHIJEET MUKHERJEE

T

he Indian IT hardware industry, with an estimated turnover of `70,000 crore, suffered in FY201112 due to supply-line disruptions caused by the Japanese tsunami and Thai floods which increased the prices of key components.

“However, the biggest negative is the rupee depreciation, and the industry has been bleeding for the last three months with all IT hardware companies in the red; this is because the industry has an import content of over 85 percent,” says Alok Bharadwaj, President, MAIT, and Senior VP, Canon.

The exchange value of the rupee against the US dollar has depreciated by approximately 24 percent from `45 in May 2011 to `56 in May 2012.

Further, the finance minister increased the excise duty by 2 percent in the last budget; this added to the cost of procurement. The present excise duty stands at 12 percent.

While HDD vendors such as Seagate and WD have resumed their manufacturing in Thailand, they say that supplies will normalize only by Q32012.

Increased input costs “Forex fluctuations and the excise duty hike have resulted in the overall increase in the cost of imports by 7 percent,” says Suresh Pansari, MD, Rashi Peripherals.

While the prices of branded finished products are being supported by the vendors who are absorbing the input costs, the system building market is badly affected. “The component market which was marred by the HDD shortage since October 2011 has reduced by about 40-50 percent compared to the pre-

“The IT hardware industry has been bleeding for the last three months because it has an import content of over 85 percent”

“Forex fluctuations and the excise duty hike have resulted in the overall increase in the cost of imports by 7 percent”

Alok Bharadwaj

Suresh Pansari

President, MAIT, and Senior VP, Canon

28

October 2011 period,” asserts VK Bhandari, Chairman & MD, Supertron Electronics.

However, Sony has revised its product prices across the board by approximately `3,000. “We have safeguarded ourselves from forex fluctuations for the time being, but I am not sure of the situation in the coming quarters,” says Masaru Tamagawa, MD, Sony India.

“Dell and Lenovo have increased prices across the board by 3-5 percent. Our component distribution business has reduced by about 35 percent in the last two months,” adds K R Jayaram, National Head, Channel Sales & VP, Material Management Department, ECS Group.

According to George Thomas, CEO, Aldous Glare, Apple has also increased the prices of its notebooks by 5-10 percent.

Yet many vendors are holding back. “We have been in a wait-and-watch mode, and hope that in the next couple of months the situation will be back to normal,” says Tushar Sighat, CEO, D-Link India.

Adds SM Ram Prasad, Deputy GM, Consumer Product Group, Epson India, “So far we have acted as a cushion between high prices and consumers, but if the rupee continues to depreciate we would be compelled to hike prices.”

Despite an impact of 10-12 percent on input costs, some vendors are unable to hike prices because their competitors have not done so. “We cannot alone pass on the hike to the end-consumer because the hike will impact our growth and revenue,” explains Saurabh Grover, Director, AOC Monitors.

“But if the situation continues,” remarks Thomas, “we can expect a price hike of 12-15 percent.”

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MD, Rashi Peripherals

market focus “We have observed 10-15 percent reduced demand and are therefore sitting on inventory worth ` 8 crore against the normal ` 5 crore-6 crore”

“Many customers hold back payments due to the confusion about taxation. This results in negative cash-flow and partners end up with losses”

George Thomas

Biren Shah

CEO, Aldous Glare

Chairman, ISODA

Global price drop

Software taxation maze

According to analysts, though many MNC vendors dropped the prices of their products, the end-consumer in India has been unable to reap the benefits. Flash prices are one example. Says Nidhi Sethi, Director, Sales, Flash, Kingston India, “Flash prices have dropped globally and that should help in India.

However, we have not been able to pass on the benefits to the customers due to the rising dollar rate.”

A new provision in the Finance Bill 2012 has introduced 10 percent withholding tax at the point of import with retrospective effect. This means that buyers in India of software that carries a copyright from overseas will have to pay a withholding tax on their purchases effective June 1, 1976.

Although the government has addressed the doubletaxation issue in the current Finance Bill, under the Income Tax Act it is considering software payments as royalty subject to royalty tax.

TAIT is cooperating with ISODA on the matter, and has demanded that the government provide a standard declaration process for TDS at a single source, nullify withholding tax with retrospective effect, remove software as a royalty, and create a new category of TDS on the resale of services with a lower TDS rate.

Partners are expressing discontent over the delays in payment from the customer-end due to the prevailing confusion about software taxation. “Many customers hold back payments due to the ambiguity about taxation. Some of them deduct 10 percent TDS on the ground of payments made for services. This results in negative cash-flow and partners end up with losses,” complains Biren Shah, Chairman, ISODA.

The ‘S’ word Retailers are witnessing a slowdown in business because of the reduced footfalls. “We used to sell 80 desktops and notebooks on an average per month in 2011, but during the JFM quarter this year sales have deteriorated drastically,” complains Milind Kulkarni, Partner, Techguru Computers, Nashik.

“Though we stand by our target of `350 crore for the current fiscal, we may fall short of our target for Q22012 by 10-15 percent,” concedes Thomas.

Inventory issues Due to slow or delayed purchasing by consumers, the demand from retailers has reduced, leading to inventory build-up with distributors and sub-distributors. “We have observed 10-15 percent reduced demand from retailers and are therefore sitting on inventory worth `8 crore against the normal `5 crore-6 crore. We are moving slow on new purchases,” Thomas discloses.

Adds Jayaram, “We moved about 10 percent of our inventory into aging inventory, and are clearing it by offering attractive schemes.” Partners are also asking vendors to reduce their quarterly targets to ease inventory. Subsequently, “many vendors have decreased their quarterly targets. For example, AOC has reduced by 20 percent the normal target of 1,200 units per month for the AMJ quarter,” Jayaram informs.

Delayed payment cycles Most sub-distributors are struggling with delayed payments and extended credit cycles.

“The impact of delayed payments from resellers on capital rotation is colossal. Currently, most resellers are paying after 45-60 days, which is impacting our bottom-line,” fumes Kishore Makhija, CEO, Priyanka Computers, the Raipur-based sub-distributor.

Agrees Jayaram, “Despite our strict credit terms, about 20 percent of our payment transactions are delayed by 15 days. For others, about 35-40 percent transactions are affected by delays.”

Partners’ way out Partners are expecting vendor support for demand generation through promotional activities.

Vendors like Dell, HP and Lenovo are quick to support their partners. “Lenovo is offering additional incentives of about `500 per unit to sales personnel.

It also offered a free additional 1-year warranty on notebooks,” informs Jayaram.

Partners have also started their own localized schemes. “We took our reseller partners for a 2-day trip.

We are also encouraging them to sell more through gift schemes,” says Makhija. SAC Infosystem is offering 5 percent cash-back on the purchase of most brands. “Our sales have doubled in May-June against the previous two months,” informs Jayaram.

Expectations from the government MAIT has demanded exemption from countervailing duty and special additional duty on imported raw materials for the next four months. The association is also insisting on the extension of 35 percent abatement to all IT hardware devices (particularly laptops, printers and scanners) which are presently given 20 percent abatement. n

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role model

The man who prefers gadgets to gems Champakraj Gurjar hails from a family of jewelers. But he was fascinated by electronic gadgets. Turning his passion into a profession, he set up Maxtone Electronics which is today the foremost regional distributor in the country n ABHIJEET MUKHERJEE

C

hampakraj Gurjar, MD, Mextone Electronics’ fondness for electronic gadgets led him to become what he is today—a soughtafter regional distributor of IT hardware and software. His activities are spread across the length and breadth of the country, and his services are in demand by most IT vendors.

While the Indian channel calls him Champakbhai out of love and respect, people abroad simply call him Raj. A BCom from Mumbai University, Gurjar refused to take the well-trodden path of his family which was into the jewelry business. “I was fascinated by electronic devices since childhood.

Post-graduation I knew that I would be an entrepreneur and indulge in my passion. I started with manufacturing consumer electronic goods such as TVs and VCRs, and supplied those to domestic and MNC brands,” says Gurjar.

From 1986 till 1994 he imported PCB boards. In 1994 Gurjar formally founded Maxtone Electronics.

He continued importing PCB boards from Taiwan and sold them in India under the brand name HIS. He then added more products like VGA and graphics cards.

“Back then we had no competition. We were among the top 100 importers and paid the highest duty to Mumbai Customs. The business did very well, and we earned revenue of `120 crore in the first year itself,” he recalls.

Maxtone joined hands with Intel in 1996 and became a component supplier to the company. (Intel had not yet entered the Indian market at that point of

“We, in association with Intel, have introduced DIY AIOs which partners can sell and make a substantial margin” 30

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time.) Maxtone soon became the largest supplier of motherboards to Intel, and closed that fiscal with revenue of approximately `200 crore.

“Post-1996 the IT market gradually started changing, and the impact of liberalization was visible as MNC brands started entering India,” says Gurjar. “Our business was also affected because many companies started importing components directly. Although Asus, Gigabyte and Mercury did not have an office in India, they started selling their own brands.”

From 1996 to 1999 Maxtone focused on partner engagement, conducted training programs for its reseller partners, and organized international trips as part of promotional schemes.

This helped Gurjar’s business to grow at a CAGR of 30 percent.

In 1999 he started distributing Compaq, and in a short span of time became very strong in the west. By then the turnover of the company had reached `300 crore.

Meanwhile, the assembled market had started going down, and by 2002 it was no more as lucrative a business as it had been in the early 1990s. “The OEMs ventured into India with their full-fledged notebooks, desktops and accessories, and it was difficult for PC assemblers to compete with them,” recalls Gurjar.

Maxtone was badly hit during the recession of 2008-09 when its balance sheet shrunk. Revenue fell by 30 percent and stood at `350 crore. “We had stopped selling Compaq in 2007 because after HP acquired the company its policies started impacting our business interests. We signed up with Lenovo, which replaced Compaq in terms of product and sales numbers.”

Those were indeed tough times. But while other organizations began downsizing, Gurjar opted to retain his staff. In fact he opened more branches in Pune, Nagpur, Jaipur, Raipur and Kolkata, and increased his focus on Class B & C cities.

Role model 1994

Current business

MILESTONES Founded Maxtone as a regional distributor of PCs

1996

In 2009 Gurjar added more brands (Sony Vaio, Microsoft) to his portfolio, and became Microsoft’s largest partner in the same year. Meanwhile, Maxtone removed Lenovo from its portfolio because the company’s policies impacted its business.

Joined hands with Intel to become its motherboard supplier

the partner community. In addition, as Chairman, COM IT, he has been working to make the IT industry more energy efficient. “It takes a lot of time to sit with Bureau of Energy Efficiency officials and finalize norms which suit the partners. Earlier they had come up with norms but that did not work out because they impacted the community negatively,” says Gurjar.

Gurjar’s office surprises visitors with the number of awards lined up. In 2008 Maxtone won the Best Contributor Toward Intel Business Award. In 2010 it won the Best Authorized Distributor Award and Best SMS&P Distributor of the Year Award from Sony. In 2011 it won the Highest Growth in the Distributor Category Award from Sony.

2012

2010

2009

2008

1999

In FY2011-12 the company clocked revenue of `380 crore. Today, it has Started distributing 17 distribution branches spread Compaq PCs across the country.

Maxtone is Associated Partner Opened branches in Pune, for Microsoft, selling its paperless licenses to SMBs. It is Component Nagpur, Jaipur, Raipur and Supplier to Intel, Premium Partner Kolkata, and increased focus to Sony, and also sells HP spares. on Class B & C cities In addition, it has launched its own white-box AIOs to help Recession hit Maxtone; the channel grow the DIY market. revenue fell by 30 percent.

“In the last couple of years many partners committed the mistake Future business Added brands such as Sony of supplying to corporate Maxtone expects to clock revenue Vaio and Microsoft customers cheap quality power of more than `400 crore by the equipment in desktops, thus end of FY2012-13. It expects to Won the Best Authorized spoiling their reputation. To help grow by another 40-50 percent by Distributor Award and the partners, especially the SI FY2013-14.

Best SMS&P Distributor of the community, we, in association The company is now eying with Intel, have introduced DIY the distribution of flash drives, Year Award from Sony AIOs which partners can sell and and is in the final stages of talks make a substantial margin,” with Sandisk. Gurjar also has a Clocked revenue of `380 says Gurjar. vision to import customized crore. Introduced DIY AIOs in The company is also importing tablets for students and people association with Intel keyboard PCs and selling them in the hospitality and FMCG under the Maxtone brand. In these industries.

PCs, the CPU, HDD, mouse, USB, “We are in talks with a USDVD writer and all ports are stuffed in a keyboard that based company to create specialized content for weighs less than a kilogram. students so that education becomes fun. We plan to Maxtone currently sells 600 keyboard PCs per provide schools and colleges with specialized content month, and wants to scale up the numbers to 4,000 per through our branded tablets. We are also in talks with month by the end of the year. some state governments for the free distribution of It also sells 4,000 AIOs per month and wants to scale tablets,” he informs. this up to 10,000 units per month by the end of the Gurjar plans to increase the number of distribution year. Partners are making a margin of at least 20 percent branches from 17 to 27 if the new products (like the on each of these products.

DIY AIO and the keyboard PC) click. He also wants to While Sony contributes 15 percent to Maxtone’s open specialized IT LFRs. overall revenue, Microsoft and Intel contribute 25 percent each. HP’s spare parts business contributes On a personal note another 5 percent, while the rest is contributed by its Gurjar goes to the gym thrice a week. He also makes white-box business. time to play badminton and cricket.

As the President of TAIT, Gurjar has always been at Gurjar is fond of cars, and has one—like the Lancer, the forefront of voicing and addressing the concerns of Wagon R, Swift Dzire and his old Jeep—for every occasion, but his personal favorite is the BMW which he uses for vendor meets.

“I am very fond of driving, and whenever I am out “We are in talks with a US-based company of Mumbai I ask my driver to take the passenger seat to create specialized content for students while I take the steering. It relieves me of stress,” he says. n so that education becomes fun”

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tech focus Head-to-Head

Microsoft Surface

Apple iPad

Microsoft Surface has the technical bases covered to compete with Apple’s iPad n Edward J Correia

M

icrosoft’s announcement of an iPad killer device called Surface has once again proven the company’s ability to surprise the world.

What emerged from the secretive press conference in Los Angeles was the revelation of two tablet devices: an Intel Core-based tablet called Surface for Windows 8 Pro that is set for availability along with Windows 8 (widely expected this fall) and an ARMbased device dubbed Surface for Windows RT, expected about 90 days later. During the press event, Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft, seemed uninspired—perhaps even angry—as he described a device specifically designed for people who want to “create and consume... to work and to play...on the couch, at their desk and on the go.”

Perhaps Ballmer believed (as we did about a minute into the second segment of the announcement) that the announcement may have been premature. Presenter demeanor aside, Surface is a strong product, and specfor-spec is a worthy competitor to the Apple iPad 3.

CPU, GPU and memory The first computer to brandish the Microsoft name will be equipped with a quad-core processor. The Surface for Windows RT tablet will be built around the Tegra 3 system-on-chip by Nvidia. The Tegra 3 includes a GeForce GPU and supports a maximum resolution of 2,560x1,600 pixels.

Apple’s A5X custom SoC, which powers the iPad

Microsoft did not announce details about distribution except to say that Surface would be sold through its own stores and online outlets, and not through the channel 32

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3, packs two Cortex A9 cores with four PowerVR graphics cores. Both the A5 and A5X circuits include ARM Cortex-based dual-core processors that are designed according to Apple’s performance and power specifications.

If more is better, the clear advantage goes to Surface for Windows RT, which more than doubles the number of processor cores of iPad and offers plenty of graphics horsepower. Both are available with 64 GB of memory.

Display Both tablets will include a 10.6 inch HD display with Microsoft’s ClearType sub-pixel rendering technology behind Gorilla Glass 2.0 from Corning. According to Michael Angiulo, Corporate VP, Windows Planning, Hardware and PC Ecosystem, Microsoft, technology in the custom-made display makes it impossible for the human eye to distinguish individual pixels when held at the optimal distance of 17 inches, less than an arm’s length.

Apple makes similar claims about the 9.7 inch Retina display, which it unveiled in a 2011 iPhone, added to the iPad 3, and now offers on its Macs too. Apple says that at 264 pixels per inch, Retina’s pixel density closely matches that of the human retina and doubles that of the iPad 2. Microsoft was not specific about the maximum pixel resolution of Surface for Windows RT, but since it claims a 16:9 HD display, we have to assume it is at least 1,920x1,050. Since the iPad 3’s specified resolution is 2,048x1,536, we would give this one to Apple.

Dimensions Regarding physical dimensions, Microsoft provided only the weight and thickness of its Surface devices; the exact length and width are unknown. The RT version tips the scales at 676 grams and is 0.36 inches (9.3 mm) thick.

tech focus The lightest iPad 3 model weighs 652 grams and is 0.37 inches (9.4 mm) thick. So at first glance one might say the dimensions were a wash until you remember that Surface includes a keyboard, screen cover and kickstand.

Communications Again, Microsoft was short on details when it came to Surface communications. There is Wi-Fi, of course, and Redmond played up the dual MIMO (multiple-input, multiple output) antennas that give Surface the best possible Wi-Fi experience regardless of angle. There was no mention of Bluetooth connectivity or a cellular option.

The version of iOS released with the iPad 3 allows it to be configured as a Wi-Fi hotspot for as many as five devices. What is more, iPad 3 is equipped with Bluetooth 4.0 high-speed, low-energy protocols plus 3G/4G options for AT&T and Verizon networks.

Inputs and outputs Criticized for their lack of a hardware keyboard, Microsoft provides a simple solution with its tablets: Touch Cover and Type Cover. “The vision is to let you produce content when you want it, how you want it, as fast as you have always done it,” said Panos Panay, GM, Surface.

The magnetically-attached keyboard is easily removed, doubles as a screen cover, folds under the Surface, and automatically disables when not in use.

When connected, the Metro screen’s background color changes to match the keyboard. Both keyboards include

a touchpad with multi-touch gestures and dedicated function keys. Keyboards this tightly integrated with iPad cost $100+.

Surface also delivers USB, Micro HD video and microSD slots. It also has a magnetic power connector that is similar to the MacBooks’ patented MagSafe. The iPad’s only connector is the proprietary 30-pin dock connector and headphone jack.

Surface vs iPad bottom-line There are still many Surface unknowns; Microsoft did not announce pricing or details about distribution except to say that it would be sold through its own stores and online outlets, and not through the channel. We also do not know when it will be available; rumors of the Windows 8 release date are all over the calendar.

What we do know is that the iPad is available now and people like its user interface, are satisfied with its processor and battery performance, and appreciate the quantity and diversity of its apps. None of those things are true of Surface. According to Microsoft claims, Surface will offer specs superior to iPad in terms of CPU, GPU and memory, and include inputs and outputs that iPad users have had to pay extra for. Microsoft was silent on whether it would offer cellular options for Surface.

Entering the tablet arena, Redmond faces some technical challenges, not the least of which will be the execution of a consumer marketing campaign against one of the largest, most powerful consumer-device makers in the world. n

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33

channel buzz Western Digital’s green drive

n WD Green volunteers with Khwaja Saifuddin and JAAZ founder Jaazbia Khan (center)

W

estern Digital (WD) recently launched a Green Drive in New Delhi and major IT hubs to spread awareness around the World Environment Day. The company partnered with JAAZ, an initiative by Lucknow-based Jaazbia Khan.

The first phase of tree planting commenced on June 18, 2012 in the presence of Khwaja Saifuddin, Senior Director, Sales, South Asia,

n WD volunteers participating in the green drive in New Delhi

Middle East & Africa, WD. The company, along with its partners, planted close to 100 trees. It also distributed newspapers in jute bags to partners in major IT hubs. The bags carried messages with tips on how to save fuel and create a greener planet.

WD volunteers also distributed leaflets containing messages about fuel conservation at traffic signals in Delhi and NCR. The company

ASIRT’s second Techday

n Sanjay Mehta, Co-Founder, Social Wavelength, Chetan Shah, Chairman & Kshitij Kotak, President, ASIRT, share a light moment

A

SIRT, which conducted its second Techday on May 25, used a unique method to help partner-members recap the developments of the first Techday which was held on April 26.

Chetan Shah, Chairman, ASIRT, conducted a quiz and asked impromptu questions about the first Techday. After the warmup, Ninad Nawaghare, Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Forensic Accounting Professional and Cyber Security & Incident Response Professional made a presentation on

n Ninad Nawaghare, Cyber Forensics Expert, discussing cyber threats

opportunities in cyber forensics.

HP took the opportunity to present its e-printers to ASIRT members and announced special offers for the members.

The chief guest on the occasion was Sanjay Mehta, Co-Founder, Social Wavelength, who gave a presentation on social media marketing; he deciphered the social media world and outlined strategies for ASIRT members. Mehta also shared the essence of his extensive social media understanding and experience. n

extended the drive on its social networking pages on Facebook and Twitter to engage online users.

“Environment-friendly products that consume less power or reduce harmful emissions are available in the market at affordable prices. Our objective is to remind consumers to make the green choice when purchasing any device,” said Saifuddin. n

G-Tech Solutions wins Fujitsu award

n Rajnikant Trailokya, CEO, G-Tech Solutions, with his Fujitsu Fastest Growing Value Partner of the Year trophy

G

-Tech Solutions has won the Fastest Growing Value Partner of the Year Award during Fujitsu India Channel Directions 2012, which was held on June 21-22 in Goa. Said Rajnikant Trailokya, the CEO of G-Tech Solutions, “This award recognizes our commitment to the company. It symbolizes our achievement of implementing the entire Fujitsu product range across the manufacturing and finance segments.” n

To feature your company’s events in CRN, send write-ups with photographs to editor@ubmindia.com 34

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new products Epson ultra-bright projectors

HP Envy ultrabooks and sleekbooks

H

P has launched its Envy range of ultrabooks and sleekbooks. The HP Envy Ultrabook, Envy 4, is available in 14 inch and Envy 6 is available in 15.6 inch diagonal display sizes, with third-generation Intel Core processors.

They offer up to eight hours of battery life.

The Ultrabook systems include an mSATA solid-state drive along with Intel Rapid Start technology, Intel Identity Protection

E

pson has launched two new series of ultra-bright projectors—the EB-Z8000 series and EB-Z10000 series— which are ideal for large venue projection or presentations in bright ambient surroundings.

The projectors feature brightness of up to 10,000 lumens, resolution of 1,920x1,200 pixels, and contrast ratio of 5,000:1.

The projectors are fitted with Epson home theater projection technologies that include an Epson cinema filter, a Faroudja DCDi video processing chip, super-resolution technology and frame interpolation.

Epson’s proprietary 3LCD technology offers full-time color projection with three separate LCD panels (red, green, blue). The EB-Z8000 and Z10000 series are equipped with the proprietary Epson Original Cooling System which uses a Peltier-effect heat exchange semiconductor circuit to cool the LCD panels in order to preserve brightness and picture quality.

The pricing of the EB-Z8000 series ranges from `567,299 to `916,499, while the EB-Z10000 prices range from `669,199 to `683,699.

technology, Intel Smart Response and Intel Smart Connect technologies.

The HP Envy Sleekbook, available in 14 inch and 15.6 inch diagonal displays, offers eight hours of battery life. The Envy Ultrabook range is available at a starting price of `57,990 and Envy Sleekbook range at `41,990. They come with 3-year warranty, and are available with HP authorized distributors.

HCL AIOs WD network storage

W

estern Digital has launched its WD Sentinel DX4000, a complete network storage solution for SMBs in the capacities of 4 TB, 6 TB, 8 TB and 12 TB. The solution includes the Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials operating system software and the Intel D525 dual-core Atom CPU. The WD Sentinel DX4000 is a centralized shared storage and automatic server-based backup and restore solution for up to 25 devices, both PC and Mac, in a network.

It offers complete data protection with built-in hardware and software redundancy for all the connected devices. In addition, the DX4000 small office storage server acts as the on-premise cloud storage for the SMB. The DX4000 small office storage server is available at an MSRP of `64,499 for the 4 TB solution, `69,999 for the 6 TB, `89,999 for the 8 TB and `99,999 for the 12 TB. They come with 3-year limited onsite warranty, and are available with WD authorized distributors.

H

CL Infosystems has launched the new Beanstalk range of AIO PCs—Beanstalk AD1V0027 and Beanstalk AD1V0028. Powered by second-generation Intel core processors, both models offer 18.5 inch LED screens and 2 GB DDR memory. The AIOs come with a pack of DVDs with original games, educational content from Britannica Student Library, and a Hungama coupon for free song and video downloads.

The AD1V0027 and AD1V0028 are priced at `33,696 and `37,908 respectively. They come with a 2-year warranty, and are available with HCL authorized distributors.

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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35

shadow ram Losing out to the big boys M

id-market SIs are lamenting that they have lost professionals to major SIs and service providers such as TCS, Wipro, Accenture, IBM and HCL which are on a hiring spree. According to an HR consultant, head hunters have been given a list of partners to go after by national SIs, and this has resulted in serious attrition.

“Unlike a few years back, when most large companies hired from tier-2 software services companies, their preference seems to have shifted to smaller SIs. The reason being that unlike a few years back when midmarket resellers mostly employed hardware troubleshooting and networking specialists, they have started investing in professionals with skill-sets in Microsoft, VMware, Citrix, Cisco and SAP,” the consultant explains.

He says that professionals from the mid-market are easier to lure than those from larger companies.

A channel head of a leading MNC notes that if this trend continues it would seriously affect the business of the partners. Almost 1,00,000 professionals are expected to be hired this year by the top five national SIs. n

GET

Personal

“I’ve carried $5 million in cash” Rohit Chaudhary, Co-Founder and CEO, eTechies, has total experience of close to 18 years in sales and marketing.

He has been associated with brands such as Amul, Olam International, Wipro BPO, Quatrro BPO, Optical Media and Moser Baer.

If not in the IT industry: Nowhere else

Rohit Chaudhary

Biggest passion: Long drives and music

Behind the wheels: Nissan, Range Rover Gadgets I can’t live without: iPod, hi-fi deck Weekends are for: Work. There will be enough time to relax later Favorite holiday destination: Taj Fisherman’s Cove, Chennai Hate the most: Lack of ownership and passion to perform Favorite movies: Padosan and Hera Pheri Favorite stars: All those who entertain and make me de-stress Role model: All passionate individuals Ultimate ambition: To be successful and satisfied Wildest thing I have ever done: Carried (for distribution to sellers) $5 million in cash in the dickey of my car during my commodity sourcing days in West Africa Thing I most want to do in life: Drive the length and breadth of India If I became the PM: I would resign ASAP. I am poor in diplomacy, and straight talk will not get me anywhere in politics Celebrity I would like to spend a day with: All hard working and ambitious people I work with or do not work with are celebrities One person I would like to meet and why: Sachin Tendulkar for his grit and determination Deepest and darkest fear: Failure n

38

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— CRN Network

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