DT May Issue

14 : COVER STORY

Celebrating

TECH INNOVATIONS & INTERNET AFFORDABILITY FUELLING GAMING MARKET IN INDIA

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VOL - 10 , I S S U E - 5 , M AY 2 019

06: LAUNCH PAD Publisher & Editor Executive Editor Consulting Editor Assistant Content Manager Content Coordinator Office Coordinator Consulting Art Direction

Rajeev Ranjan

ECS Launched New Range of AI & Alexa Enabled Devices for Indian Market

Jyoti Janda NK Goyal Jai Prakash Suraj Rawat Raju Thapa Vikas Sharma

Visualiser

Akriti Arora

Production Head

Rajiv Singh

Marketing Executive

Balvinder Singh

Circulation

Harish Chander

Printed, Published and Owned by Rajeev Ranjan from S-560, IInd Floor, School Block-2, Shakarpur, Delhi-92. Magazine printed at Sangat Printers Pvt. Ltd. C-105, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi. Editor Brajesh Kumar. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, is prohibited. Every possible care has been taken to print this magazine as the content have been sourced from in house writers, as well from other reliable sources including freelancers and content writers. We can not be held responsible for any mistakes or errors. We do not take responsibility for its absolute accuracy. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi only. While care is taken prior to acceptence of advertising copy, it is not possible to verify its contents, Digital Terminal cannot be held responsible for such contents, nor for any loss or damages incurred as a result of transactions with companies, associations for individuals advertising in its newspapers or publications. We therefore recommend that readers make necessary inquiries before sending any monies or entering into any agreements with advertisers or otherwise acting on an advertisement in any manner whatsoever

Editorial & Marketing Off ice

14 : COVER STORY Tech Innovations & Internet Affordability Fuelling Gaming Market in India

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS 20

Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India

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Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston Technology India

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Sunil Grewal, Director, GIGABYTE Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd

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Anand Subramanya, Director, Product Marketing, Dell India

BRAND CONNECT 28

ASTRUM

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TP-LINK

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UNISTAL

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RAPOO

SUCCESS STORIES Address :

News Dot Media Pvt. Ltd. 179 - A, 4th Floor, Jeevan Nagar, Opp - Tikona Park, MaharaniBagh, New Delhi- 110014

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info@digitalterminal.in, editorial@digitalterminal.in

Image Courtesy: www.freepik.com

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Iris Computers Growing Consistently & Aims Big Market Share By 2020

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Supertron Remains the Backbone of Indian IT Distribution System

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Acro Engineering to Reach 6000 Plus Retail Partners in India by 2020

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF JOURNEY WITH YOU ALL !!

RAJEEV RANJAN

JYOTI JANDA

Publisher

Executive Editor

We started Digital Terminal 10 years ago to fill the dots between brands and partners. Since then we worked towards the goal to provide best news & information platform for entire ecosystem and contribute towards overall growth of ICT market in India.

We succeeded in achieving those set goals. Now we have turn 10-year-old media house and proudly serving ICT industry since we born. Today, we are among India’s Top three Technology media house who have consistently performed well despite all challenges. The publication initially focused on print magazine only, but with emergence of digital era, we gradually built 360-degree approach by establishing strong digital presence, effective events and best Video platform. That’s the reason Digital Terminal are now called India’s Only 360-degree Tech News Platform.

Huge love and support from all of you, are the two main reason behind the immense success we got during this 10-year journey.

We started as Digital Terminal but you all renamed us with love as DT. Now DT has become one of your favorite destination for all sort of information related with technology advancement.

We proudly say, ‘When it’s IT, you will find first on DT’. We just worked hard to accomplish our vision but at every stage each one of you supported in many ways to take this journey ahead. It’s not our success, it’s success of yours as each one of you are our stakeholders.

As we step into next birth year, we feel more responsible now as true media house. We had proved our mettle and we will continue to do that for continuous growth of entire community. Again, on behalf of entire DT family, I thank you all from bottom of my heart for supporting us across this 10-year journey. Looking forward much more effective next 10 year in service of ICT market. Keep blessing & supporting DT!!!

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Digital Terminal, DT leading and a well-known technology publication in India has geared up to celebrate its 10th Anniversary.

It’s really a proud moment for all of us. The journey from 2009 to 2019 is itself a landmark to celebrate with all stakeholders who have trusted us, supported us and invested in us to help grow bigger and bigger. We have earned this trust gradually since 2009 with real hard work, dedication and commitment to contribute for the growth of ICT market. We have witnessed this huge transformation in Technology market and will continue to contribute for its future growth. Ten is just a passing number, we are very much sure continue this momentum of serving the market players with excellent media related services.

To make this celebration bigger, we have brought this anniversary special issue in the month of May 2019. With this issue, we really want our readers to be part of this much awaited celebration. This special issue has brought up all warm wishes which we had got from market leaders. We are very much overwhelmed by getting those messages which shows our strong bonding with entire ICT fraternity.

This issue will also fuel the growth of gaming market among channel partners as we had compiled exclusive story on esports growth in India. In last few years, we have seen tremendous opportunity for gamers to make their name in this domain and win huge cash prizes.

They are opting gaming as a serious career option now days. So, all these positive sentiments are increasing the demand of gaming hardware across India which will continue to rise in years to come.

These entire prospects are very encouraging for tech partners.

Again, I would like to thank you all for the tremendous support during all these 10 years. We will continue to serve you better each passing year. Thanks For Your Love & huge Support !!!

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ECS Launched New Range of AI & Alexa Enabled Devices for Indian Market ECS Amazon Alexa builtin Mini PC: As Artificial

Intelligence plays a seemingly important role in today’s life; ECS now brings Amazon Alexa built-in Mini PC integrated with AI technologies to the ubiquitous market. Besides this, the brand aims to produce and design cost-efficient and advanced platforms in the coming times. The LIVA M520 new generation of LIVA PC with Intel AI engine built-in, features low power consumption design, 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity, RS232 headers extension to provide the powerful live-streaming analytics solution through realtime artificial intelligence. LIVA M520 can help you gain access to the AI platform faster and easier.

ECS has pioneered the art of bringing in the latest into the computing space in the last From left to right: Rajshekhar Bhatt, Country Manager India, ECS, Ken Cheng, Sales Director, IMS Division, ECS, couple of years and is now Stacy Liu, Associate Vice President-Sales Division, ECS and Wendy Hsieh, Sales & Marketing Division, ECS taken a giant leap towards making the life smarter by value adding new features and technologies to these Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) launches a portable 10-inch display and a 2.1 channel LIVA One with Alexa, LIVA M520, Whirlwind and of sound dock with DTS sound certification to computing solutions.

Bora to bolster the existing range of products in provide high-quality sound for audio and video. “With India picking up a rapid pace in India. Keeping the Tagline “Live Smart with ECS’s The portable 10-inch display of Whirlwind is transforming itself to a digital economy, the New Range of AI & Alexa Enabled Products”, designed with an intuitive interface for people to Indian consumers and the government sector the brand sees to deliver high-end AI & Alexa easily manage and monitor many home devices are witnessing significant adoption of AIEnabled Products to the Indian masses. The such as thermostats, door locks and lights. With based solutions. At ECS, we are committed to event also witnessed the latest AI-based a user-friendly interface that simplifies the aid this transformation with our cutting-edge solutions, capable of catering to the demands of applications/platforms for smart living. system operating process, Whirlwind can make consumers” quoted Rajshekhar Bhatt, Country monitoring and managing the devices much Manager at Elitegroup Computer Systems Artificial Intelligence has become an essential easier.

Co. Ltd. part of the technology industry today. Smart living is becoming a new trend in modern ECS Bora: A portable Bluetooth speaker society; in sync with the latest technological supporting Amazon Alexa voice control via “Our solutions are tailored for various Industry advancements towards AI based smart living, mobile phone APP. For better sound experience, verticals in India, we would like to see Indian ECS brings in the latest series of Products across Bora is built in the full range driver to deliver high customers leveraging our innovative products multiple platforms such as Amazon Alexa, quality of sounds. With high-efficient battery to make their lifestyle more convenient.” added Google Assistance or Windows Cortana to help built-in, ECS Bora Bluetooth Speaker can keep Bhatt. people accomplish daily tasks, entertainment, working at least 12 hours without charging. home devices control and more via simple voice Through this voice integration, the ECS voice Moreover, ECS also showcased the complete LIVA Mini PC Family including mini-size Q series, control. smart device can control your smart home, cost-efficient X series, energy saving Z series, managing compatible lighting systems and AI built-in M series and high-performance The new series of products include: other smart devices throughout the home to One series for different applications like home create an improved way of smart living. entertainment, smart office, retail, schools, ECS Whirlwind: An AI built-in device combining digital signage and more.

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YOUR UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT IS THE REASON TO CELEBRATE

INDIA’S LEADING TECH NEWS MEDIA HOUSE CELEBRATING 10TH ANNIVERSARY

SERVING ICT INDUSTRY SINCE 2009

Digital Terminal has completed 10 successful years in the ICT industry and now we are all set to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. DT on a mission since its inception is serving this industry very honestly from the past 10 years.

The journey was not so easy during these years, but endless support from our stakeholders made this a fruitful journey. We thank each one of you who trusted us and supported us in all our initiatives and making us India’s Leading Tech News Media House. We have been continuously catering this industry with our 360-degree approach and keep innovating to reach more people across all verticals. Our platform print, online, Social, Video and Events are most sought media platform for ICT players. Our consistency in providing quality content on time keeps us on the track of growth. We always support vendors and partners to deliver their messages to our large readership base through all possible medium. We believe & assure you that, we will continue to work towards collective growth of ICT market in India. This 10-year journey has been phenomenal and we have miles to go now. We are sure to get your continuous support and blessings always. To make the celebration even bigger, DT received many warm wishes from top industry leaders on 10th Anniversary. Below are the few of those lovely messages:

ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

“

Digital Terminal being one of the leading IT industry portals, has come a long way and has been able to build a strong base of readers throughout the country. On its 10th Anniversary, Acer would like to convey its heartiest wishes and hopes that the publication thrives for the upcoming decades. DT understands the need of IT brands and channel partners and the articles and coverage reflects high standards and its relevance to the industry. The portal has become an integral part for the IT channel partners as it gives them entire information and news to stay competitive in the market.”

“

“First of all congrats to Team DT, Rajeev, Jyoti & all concerns on completing 1 decade in media industry in such competitive times for ICT as well as media industry.

This speaks of faith which readers & advertisers puts on Digital Terminal.

They are not just one print media & online platform for ICT industry, in fact Team DT always thrives to support ICT industry & all its stake holders & value chain partners. DT works on certain ethical business practice & we get the same feeling whenever we interact with them or their team members. We wish them many more years of success. All the best.”

Rajshekhar Bhatt

Chandrahas Panigrahi

CMO and Consumer Business Head Acer India

“

Digital Terminal has emerged as one of the leading and pioneering online portal serving the IT industry for 10 successful years. With constant efforts to update IT fraternity with latest information, the magazine has helped big IT firms to stay competitive in the market. DT understands the need of IT players to effectively promote their brand and products for better promotions, awareness and to boost sale. Being the leading manufacturer of storage and memory products, we have developed a sustainable relationship with the magazine and together we have successfully communicated with readers about the latest development in our product portfolio. We take this opportunity to congratulate Digital Terminal on their 10th anniversary and encourage them to continue with their endeavor.

Vishal Parekh Marketing Director Kingston Technology India

WWW.DIGITALTERMINAL.IN

“

“Heartiest congratulations to Digital Terminal on your 10 year milestone. Our association with the publication has been very enriching and engaging and it is always an insightful experience connecting with the DT team. Also, the rich and varied content on the ICT industry makes for an interesting read for the Indian IT fraternity. On your 10th anniversary, we at Sophos would like to take this opportunity to wish you further success on your future endeavors.”

Sunil Sharma Managing Director Sales Sophos India & SAARC

Country Manager - India ECS

“

From the time Konica Minolta first ventured into the Indian market in 2010, Digital Terminal has been one of the most reputed sources of the latest industry news and market developments. Over the years, we have relied on the in-depth market insights delivered by Digital Terminal to take key short-term and long-term strategic decisions. We have also participated in various annual DT properties, such as the DT Yearbook and the DT Awards, and have been recognised for our technological innovation and leadership position in the print and printing domain. It delights us to see Digital Terminal celebrate its 10-year anniversary, and we wish it all the best for its future growth and success.

Kuldeep Malhotra

Vice President, Sales

Konica Minolta Business Solutions India Pvt Ltd.

“

Digital Terminal has been serving the IT industry extremely well and is known to be one of the leading publications that have continued to expand their readership strength. Its in-depth knowledge in terms of IT industry and market makes it the life-line for IT channel network to stay updated in the highly competitive market. Now that the magazine has completed 10 challenging years and entering the landmark 11th year, team eScan wishes them a very pleasant journey and look forward to continue the association with the magazine in serving the IT community at large and stake holders.”

Sunil Kripalani

Senior Vice President (Global Sales and Marketing)

eScan

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ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

“

Digital Terminal is a leading IT publication, which provides latest technology updates and unbiased analysis from industry experts. DT has the wide readers’ coverage and reach, which helps the brands increase their visibility in the market. DT has come a long way in a short span of time, marking its presence in both print and online space. As DT is celebrating its successful stint of 10 years in the industry, we congratulate the team for their remarkable journey and wish them good luck for their future endeavor.

“

DT has achieved enormous growth and has built prominent goodwill in the community, and understands the need of IT players of every sector to effectively promote their brand and products. Working with DT provided us with remarkable opportunities from the time we entered Indian market and also has focused on giving the complete information and news to stay competitive in the market. We wish you and your team a heartiest bunch of congratulations on completing 10 years of successful business. We are sure of many more such glorious years.

Rajesh Goenka

CMD Astrum Holdings Ltd

Heartiest Congratulations to Digital Terminal Team for successful completion of 10years of the magazine. It is the sincere effort of Rajiv and Jyoti along with other members that you are growing year by year. The magazine overall look and feel has also matured with time. We wish the Magazine greater success to reach new heights in the years ahead. All the Best to Team DT!!

“

Mukesh Chaudhary

Manoj Jain

“

Congratulations Digital Terminal on your 10th year anniversary! Thank you for always being a reliable source of in-depth content, when it comes to the IT industry.

Thank you for all the support that you have given to ESET over the past few years. As one of the leading IT News Magazines in India, we look forward to more great stories in the years to come”

Parvinder Walia Sales & Marketing Director – APJ ESET

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Managing Director Doel International Pvt. Ltd

It’s being a great pleasure to associates with DT. It’s given us a good platform to promote our brand across various vertical. We really love to work with them as they are the bunch of young, energetic, dynamic and passionate team with never die spirit. From Rapoo we wish the entire team best of luck for the 10th Anniversary and touch the zenith of the success in future.”

Vice President Microtek International Pvt. Ltd.

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Sudip De

Manoj Pansari

Director, Sales & Marketing RP tech India

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DT as we all know. Digital Terminal as India knows. In such a short span of time, DT has crossed all boundaries and excelled in IT and Mobile industry. The young and skilled team, their affable nature, their warmth, their responsiveness, their accommodating nature, their smile rubs on us and makes our brand aware. Kudos to the group and the team under the able leadership of Rajeev and Jyoti. The magazine has grown in leaps and bounds and can only fly high from here, Congrats to the team. Well done.

Country Head, India & SAARC Rapoo

“

On behalf of everyone at Tally Solutions, I congratulate Rajeev Ranjan and his team at Digital Terminal for completing 10 years. We are proud to be associated with DT and have seen it grow leaps and bounds over the last decade in bringing technology to a wide spectrum of readers. We hope they will continue to grow, shine and lead conversations for the next 10 years.”

Joyce Ray Business Head- India Tally Solutions

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ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

“

Throughout our relationship with DT, we have had healthy and rewarding interactions. We have worked with DT not just as content contributors but also as consumers. It has led us to learn more about everyday innovations in terms of IT and manufacturing. It has been an absolute pleasure to be associated with them and we look forward to a bright and healthy future with DT and its team!!

“

Congratulations Digital Terminal and all the DT employees on your 10th anniversary! It has been our pleasure to work with you. It is quite an accomplishment.

Appreciate for bringing such good content to all readers.

Looking forward to the next 10 years!

Green, Chang-Ching Lin

Himanshu Jain

Regional Marketing Manager MSI

CEO ANT Audio

“

TP-Link congratulates Digital Terminal on completing the successful 10 years. We wish them more success in year to come. Digital Terminal has been doing extremely well from past 10 years and their proficiency is their key to success. They are one of the most reliable source of transparent content in IT industry. DT’s online website is one of the popular platforms for channel partners. They are very strong on social media platform as well. We as a leading networking brand has always trusted this media due to its hold among ICT community. DT’s events are also helping this industry to grow further. In short, they provide all essential support to the stakeholders to grow their business. It’s a great pleasure for us to work with Digital Terminal.

Bijoy Alaylo, VP SoHo Sales, TP-Link India

“

Congratulations to Rajeev, Jyoti & Team DT for completing 10 Successful Years!!! It seems yesterday and I still remember the 2009 – 2010 days when you had approached me at New Delhi with DT credentials then and I saw a definite spark and professional in you and thought your publication is going to last long with big stamp on ICT Industry!!! I can vouch, In the Growth of ICT industry and now adding Telecom to IT, Digital Terminal played a major role by providing all the required information for brands and channel partners without any clutter. For us DT has become essential platform to share our message to our channel partners across India. The Annual events of DT were always most sought after events among all and it always provided an insight into channel needs and Industry vision with mutual admiration and understanding among Channels and Principals. I wish Digital Terminal more success in the years to come.

“

Digital Terminal is one of the prominent media houses who has been serving the ICT industry since last ten years. Despite changing landscape in print media, DT has done extremely well in last few years. TP-Link has always partnered with DT to boost its channel reach across India by placing effective marketing communication in the magazine. In the era of digital world, online platform has become best place to visit and have complete update on technology advancements across all verticals. Their understanding about emerging trends across technology industry and skills to present towards the IT fraternity is excellent. I wish DT huge success in years to come.

Savio Almeida, General Manager-Marketing, TP-Link India

“

ASRock has been associated with Digital Terminal since Long, and it’s the moment of both pride and ecstasy to see DT growing Ten year old and maintaining the pace of being one of the Leading Tech magazine in the country.

The crisp yet informative contents developed by DT are always appreciable. DT’s effort to cover all aspects of IT industries are commendable, it always keep me updated with the latest trends of the industry. I would like to acknowledge the sincere efforts of Mr. Rajeev (Editor in chief) and his team, and wish them a very bright future ahead!!!

Jagannath Patnaik CEO NNR IT Solutions

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Dinesh Kumar Manager Business Development – India ASRock Incorporation

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SUCCESS STORY

Iris Computers Growing Consistently & Aims Big Market Share By 2020 Sanjiv Krishen, a well-known IT leader since the early 90’s, has always made headlines by achieving impossible goals during his professional career. After establishing Iris Computers as the backbone of an Indian IT distribution ecosystem, Sanjiv sold the company to Dragon Group, a Singapore based company a few years ago.

But the company was not growing as per his expectations under this global leadership. To save his dream company, he bought back Iris Computers in 2017 from Dragon. Within a year after taking charge, the company is doing extremely well again and is on the path to become a leader in the Indian distribution business.

Sanjiv Krishen, Chairman, Iris Computer Ltd.

A Dream, Conquered IT business in the early 90’s was not a common goal like today. Very few people in India showed the courage to establish an IT distribution company, as opportunities were very few. The IT revolution in India was at the initial stage at that time. But Sanjiv had great farsightedness and was aware of its potential. He founded Iris Computers Ltd to offer distribution services to larger global brands who were looking for partners to spread their business in the Indian market. “Iris Computers was started in the year 1996 to help IT brands establish their products in India. We helped brands like Compaq, HP, IBM, Acer, Dell and APC to sell their PCs in India. Within a few years of initial challenges, we established ourselves as a key distribution house who had nurtured a huge channel network across India,” says, Sanjiv Krishen, CMD, Iris Computers Ltd. The dream which Sanjiv saw was conquered finally. For almost two decades, Iris Computers remained a leading distribution house in India and had almost all leading ICT brands under its large product offerings. Iris showed consistent business growth for almost 20 years.

Turning Point Dragon Singapore, a John Sculley company, had acquired controlling stake in Iris Computers through Inflexion Point in the year 2013. Requiring fresh investment 12 I

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for further expansion of the company Iris Computers tied up with Dragon, Singapore for additional limits. However, in September 2016 Dragon closed down in Singapore and was unable to fulfil its obligations. Sanjiv Krishen brought the company back into his hands to save his dream. He bought back Iris Computers in 2017 from Dragon. His key concern was to save Iris employees, to save the Company and build a stronger relationship between brands and resellers. Sanjiv also brought back his old team into action for making a quick breakthrough. Apart from Sanjiv, the original management team of Kamini Talwar, Som Arya, Sameer Chaudhary and Himanshu Chawla laid out the plan to push the growth cycle. The company started grabbing big orders within a few months in their second innings. So, the wellplanned strategy worked successfully and the company started recovering lost glory.

Consistent Growth Describing their journey and growth, Sanjiv Krishen, Founder & CMD, Iris Computers said, “Since 1996, we, at Iris, have thrived on our reputation as a top-notch IT Distributor, with our solutions covering a wide range of IT categories. Driven by a team of highly skilled professionals and supported by a robust infrastructure, we have expanded our footprint in 35+ markets through 27 subsidiary offices.

With our revenue at over Rs 1300 Crore FY 2018-19 reflecting a 30% growth over the

previous year, we are projecting to reach Rs 1600 Cr in FY 2020.”

Vision by 2020 Iris Computers has already chalked out a strong ‘go to market’ strategy to achieve their set targets. Sanjiv Krishen said, “By 2020, we are planning to deep dive into tier 3 & 4 cities. Our target will be to open more well-equipped warehouses & offices and also to add manpower in many more cities. Apart from adding manpower, we are also very seriously thinking about adding some new age product lines, so that we shall be able to give a complete umbrella of IT products.”

They are also focusing on getting into Government business, both direct as well as through GEMs with branded PCs. Some of the ideas already explored and tapped into are: · Robotics · Solar Panel powered Tube wells · Computer Rental Services · Microsoft Cloud Services · Mobility It is important for Iris Computers to work towards steady and sustainable growth.

“To achieve this, IRIS has channelled its energies towards increased profitability and generally running a tighter ship. The months ahead will show even stronger positive results,” concluded Sanjiv Krishen.

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Tech Innovations & Internet Affordability Fuelling Gaming Market in India

Growth of eSports in India Indian gaming Industry has gradually picked up the momentum and today we are seeing customers specifically asking for gaming PCs which cost much more than the conventional PC. E-sports and exposure to global gaming events and LAN gaming is enhancing the gaming experience for Indians. “The Indian gaming industry has been continuously evolving over the past few years, and availability of better PC hardware for gaming has definitely helped to bring more people to PC gaming. While the 14 I

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factors like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) will push the boundaries even higher.

In addition to this, the Indian gaming industry has been advancing from casual to serious gamers thus we see a massive scope by reaching out to bulk of untapped gamers across Tier I and Tier II cities. Our range of Nitro and Predator gaming product cater to budding gamer to hard core professional PC gamers.

Our range of gaming products have propelled Acer to be the No.1 PC gaming laptop brand in 2018 and this is a testament to the faith our customers have shown to us,� said

Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India.

In India, there are gamers today playing different genres of games and aspiring to become professional athletes. According to

Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston WWW.DIGITALTERMINAL.IN

COVER STORY

eSports Industry in India is still at the nascent stage as it is not a massive industry if we look at the global benchmarks. But it is at the forefront of many industries across the world and has high potential if we look at the young population and increasing trend of gaming in the country. The growth of the PC gaming market is majorly propelled by the increased sales of PCs in tier I and II cities of India and its affordability. Availability of low-cost internet allows teenagers to connect online and play popular games and compete globally. Growing roots of advanced gaming cafes across major cities in India is another major growth driver for this industry to grow at good pace. Moreover, technological advancements in gaming sector i.e. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) are expanding the popularity of gaming among people as it gives a real-time experience to them. Leveraging these enormous opportunities, leading brands are planning big for Indian gaming market. India has become a prominent destination for gaming organizers to organize big gaming events such as India Gaming Show, Indian Gaming League, ESL Gaming, and etc. The curve of the Indian gaming industry chart is relentlessly moving in an upward direction. By gathering crucial opinion from all stakeholders, DT has come up with Gaming growth opportunities story to educate technology partners about it’s potential in years to come

Technology & HyperX India,

“The pool of professional gamers is dramatically expanding as emergence of premium gaming tournaments has allowed them compete for unprecedented prize pools and create a sustainable revenue stream. While the Prize pool of Indian tournaments cross way beyond

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INR 5 crore, globally tournaments are a good benchmark which offer prize pools which are way bigger than other forms of reputed international sporting events like IPL & FIFA. Key endemic brands like HyperX have made its support clear with its investments in terms of money, energies & direction. We in fact helped introduce India to Worldly professional eSport events like ESL India Premiership (2016) and DreamHack (2018) and extending their supports to gamers. By empowering gamers from all gaming genres with exceptional gaming peripherals, HyperX is closely working

towards enhancing their gaming potential to compete professionally.”

“Indian

e-sports industry is gaining momentum in the past few years along with global widespread of battle royal genre based games like PUBG and Fortnite. Esports has become a

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global phenomenon not only to professional game teams but also to hundreds of millions of fans via their mobile phones, tablets and computers” stated Sunil Grewal, Director,

GIGABYTE Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd.

“AORUS as a premium gaming brand powered

by GIGABYTE also sees the steady growth in hardware demand in gaming motherboard, GTX / RTX graphics card and gaming peripherals in India as gamers and fans in India are increasing significantly in the past years. GIGABYTE as the worldwide leader manufacturer in gaming hardware is very excited to be one of the growing factor in E-sports industry and will work more closely with the community to benefit the community and industry in India.”

“The E-Sports/Gaming Market in India is growing rapidly.

By 2020, India’s mobile games market alone will be worth over $1 billion.

India is poised to become one of the world’s leading markets in Gaming Sector. Currently valued at $890 million, the Indian Gaming Industry is estimated for the annual growth rate of 14.3 per cent with mobile gaming taking the lead at 71% share. The proliferation of inexpensive smartphones and high-speed internet is a primary catalyst for this rapid growth of the gaming industry here followed by World’s largest Young population.

Though the Industry (ESports) has a very strong potential; one of the reason why it shall be recognized for Olympics too, but still it’s in a very nascent stage in India, as against the other countries” says, Mukesh Chaudhary, Head,

India & SAARC, Rapoo.

Manoj Pansari, Chairman & Managing Director, Astrum Holdings Ltd said, “eSports

as an industry is poised for a healthy growth over the next three years. A survey has predicted a 5.3% growth rate for the Asian eSports market, while in the Middle East the growth will be as high as 9.4%. This growth and explosion are driven by none other than the young people of today. The growth is attributed to the factors like the improved internet speed, smartphone penetration, government digital push and highest youth population. These factors put together e-sports in India in the right territory for growth. Voot, Hotstar, Youtube and Twitch are keeping the eSports’ passionate new generation engaged.”

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“In India, e – Sports grew between 2012 and 2018, when the smartphones became the primary mode of internet usage, enabled by an increased internet penetration and volume of budget devices.

This rise in internet and mobile volumes has contributed significantly to the evolution of online gaming consumption/ e sports in India” added Sudip De, Managing Director, Doel

International Pvt. Ltd.

“The Gaming industry has grown rapidly in the last five years. Awareness and the public’s willingness to participate has taken a massive leap in terms of numbers. The infrastructure for the industry is also in place to support this growth. The primary factor at this moment is undeniably the growth of mobile gaming. It involves a resource which is readily available to almost all Indians i.e. a Smartphone. The evolution of gaming café’s has also contributed to the growth of this industry as they provided the infrastructure to support said growth.

For many, acquiring a gaming PC is not something that they could afford; Gaming café’s helped to bridge that gap. Free-toplay games have also driven more people to try gaming as it reduces t h e cost of participation. Games like Fortnite, Apex Legends and PUBG mobile have paved the way for the evolution of such a format” concluded

Himanshu Jain, Co-Founder & CEO, Acro Engineering Company.

Mujahid Rupani, Co-founder and C.E.O, Cobx

Gaming added, “The Indian e-sports industry has come a long way from where it began.

From being a leisure activity to becoming a serious business opportunity the industry has flourished beyond imagination. This growth of the industry can be attributed to the development and innovation in various sectors like technology, telecom, etc.

The need to go beyond the boundaries of their own sector has helped the e-sports industry grow. For e.g., today due to affordable internet options

and packs people are able to play high-end games on their phones. Adding them to the gaming population. Taking advantage of the easily accessible internet connections PUBG penetrated deep into the Indian terrains. Even people from tier 2 and 3 cities were spotted playing it. Thus, exposing more and more people to this segment. In coming days too, with AI and other technologies in place and with the growing interest of both endemic and non-endemic brands the e-sports industry will level up with traditional sports.”

Green, Chang-Ching Lin, Regional Marketing Manager, MSI commented

“MSI had led the gaming hardware industry in over 100 countries in past decade.

India is always our main focus in SEA region.

With growth of popularity and engineering talents, more and more global technology brand has started their business in India. This may bring a huge profit for all of the brands in this ecosystem, including MSI. We have held abounds of gaming event at least 3 times a month in the past. We aim to provide more esports opportunities to all people, and let everyone enjoy it. With few years’ experience in India, we found the attendee keep gaining in each month. And even more big tournament including DreamHack, ESL One … appear in India. Gaming industry is growing extremely fast in India.”

“There has been tremendous growth in the gaming segment in the past few years. In fact, desktop growth is predominantly because of the gaming uptake due to higher affordability and accessibility to various gaming solutions.

Also with professionals increasingly getting into the gaming, the demand is shooting up globally and i n India” stated Rajesh Goenka, Director, Sales

and Marketing, RP tech India.

Future of eSports in India

“Gaming is a very compelling brand of entertainment in India and, with the current rate of technological innovation, there’s a huge potential for this industry. Newer hardware technology developments are engaging consumers with a more interactive and cinematic experience which has taken gaming to a completely new level” said Chandrahas

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LAUNCH PAD COVER STORY

Panigrahi, Acer India. “We foresee massive opportunities in Indian gaming market as India has world’s largest youth population, thus is poised to become one of the world’s leading markets in Gaming Sector. The Indian esports market is projected to become five-fold by 2021. In the coming years, India will need to realize the rapid growth to play on par with the global market and such a reality is already here with eSports being the major buzzword among the next generation of gamers from India.”

market is forecast to grow to $1.1 billion in 2020 where as the global revenue is likely to increase to $151.7 billion in 2021.”

the most comprehensive product line. MSI is working on providing the most comprehensive entertainment for the gamers.”

Rajesh Goenka, RP tech India said “Indian

“The fact remains that India got to professional gaming stage much later and comparing Indian Gaming to the world isn’t right yet. Looking at the social landscape, full integration of gamers into mainstream existence may take some time but the initial building blocks are already in place. High engagement quotient of this interactive platform has attracted healthy number of youngsters aspiring to become professional eSports athletes. Due to the rising popularity of eSports tournaments, the industry is witnessing increased participation from casual as well as serious gamers leading to cultivation of a competitive environment. It is expected that by the time eSport will become an official discipline in Asian Games 2022, India will have an increased participation. We see a huge growth in Indian gaming scenario as people are rapidly transitioning from causal to serious gaming willing to invest in gaming technologies to upgrade their performance.

Gaming solution providers have identified the immense potential of Indian gamers have and purposefully working towards nurturing their growth” commented Vishal Parekh, Kingston

“With the ecosystem growing and evolving every year, we see a bright future for gaming in India. Gaming in India is an incipient industry and has a long way to go. We hope to see more professional players, more streamers and more parents supporting their kid’s dream. We shall see more companies and brands invest their time and resource in the gaming industry” said

Manoj Pansari, Astrum Holdings Ltd.

Technology & HyperX India.

By 2020, the current E-sports audience will be over 200 million and exceed $1.5 billion in USD in revenue by 2020 with annual growth rate of 32 percent in worldwide market. With growing technology infrastructure, internet and gaming media along with parents accepting E-sports as career, we believe that E-sports will grow in India” said Sunil Grewal, GIGABYTE Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. “We observed that more people interested in high-end PC and seek for premium graphic cards. AORUS are engaging activities and offline events to bring latest technologies and products to gamers. By 2020, we foresee more international gaming events will come to India. In 2018, Dream hack first hold in India, and ESL just finished the tournament itself in Mumbai in 2019.

Mukesh Chaudhary, Rapoo added, “There is a huge potential in gaming market in India.

India already leads the world in mobile game downloads and gaming companies are working upon to effectively monetize this large group of gamers. Globally, eSports is already a big phenomenon considering US, Korea, China and many European countries. Indian esports Industry is emerging and the Indian gaming WWW.DIGITALTERMINAL.IN

Sudip De, Doel International Pvt. Ltd. stated,

“In India, e – Sports is slated to become A USD 1 Billion Revenue generator. With the advent of AR and VR, we have seen this vertical grow at a massive speed.”

“We are very optimistic about the future. It has taken a long time but now, everything is now in place and the time is right. This industry at its current state presents a great opportunity to invest. It is the newest frontier of entertainment that takes place in the digital realm and at the global scale. By the year 2020, we expect the Indian gaming industry to take center stage in the global esports and gaming arena. In terms of revenue generation and also in terms of competitive talent” added Himanshu Jain,

Acro Engineering Company.

Mujahid Rupani, Cobx Gaming commented, “The future looks promising for the industry with more and more innovation be it in terms of new games or technological advancement flowing in. As mentioned a lot of brands are taking a keen interest in this industry now like Yes Bank, Monster Energy, Flipkart, Sony, etc are now sponsoring large scale tournament.

In terms of investment, a lot of big names like Reliance Jio, Nazara Technologies, Route Mobile, Ronnie Screwvala, etc have invested huge money in this industry. Recently, Times Internet/Group invested in a gaming company.

Breaking the stereotype of only endemic brands being interested in this industry. With this growing popularity, we are sure that we will soon ditch the 17th rank and speed up in the coming years.”

Green, Chang-Ching Lin, MSI stated “India is

surely becoming one of the biggest market in Asia. As previously mentioned, more tech brand and gaming event come to India, it’ll be a peak for growth in 2020 with these coming. The research also point out that India is expected to reach 310 million gamers in by 2021. We can see that many Indian players have good skills. With more opportunities coming, we will soon see India pro teams among tier 1 teams. However, though there’s an enormous opportunity in gaming field. Gaming brand should find out more method to fulfil the entertainment that all the gamers expect for. MSI always produce

Gaming industry growth will be faster than the global growth because our base is relatively smaller.”

Key Challenges to Face “Esports in India is still in the developing stage and the market at this point is posed with a lot of challenges. One of the major challenges in India is that the domestic market is still dominated by casual gamers. With lack of resources as well as infrastructure, gaming developers in India often remain isolated from the latest technologies and development kits that are likely to be witnessed in India gaming industry during the forecast period” says Chandrahas Panigrahi, Acer India. “Additionally, the knowledge of people towards e-sports is also at its nascent stage, so along with developing the platform for promoting esports, people also need to be educated at the same time on its various possibilities. For a vertical to grow, challenges form a very important part as once its been overcome the scope is enhanced and the market becomes ripe for its growth.”

“The number of professional gamers is increasing in India but there is still a dearth of world class eSport athletes as little progress has been made in creating a development pathway or formalized training, which has led to a lack of education around eSport athletes.

The lack of contribution of endemic brands in empowering the eSports athletes is also a major issue that needs to be resolved as soon as possible” commented Vishal Parekh, Kingston Technology & HyperX India. “Lack of initiatives to institutionalise a Government body to fuel the growth of gaming is also reason behind the slow progress of gaming. However, few brands like us, are taking purposeful efforts to strengthen the ecosystem for gamers by creating more avenues for gamers to enhance their game play. Lack of world class gamers which exist in India can also limit the growth of the gaming industry and hence we have contributed to the growth of the Gaming infrastructure by sponsoring and helping nurture world class teams which go towards developing the Indian gaming community. We are all passionate about gaming and extend our support to gamers by empowering them with top notch peripherals. In association with CII, HyperX is closely working to improve the domestic gaming scenario.”

Sunil Grewal, Director, GIGABYTE Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. stated “The

major challenges for E-sports to grow in India are lack of infrastructure, internet stability and unavailability of Indian game servers. The

I MAY 2019 I 17

COVER STORY

stable internet and local game server help the gamers to have much better gaming experience in U.S.A, Korea, European and South East Asian countries.”

much more than that. There is a lot more career option in this industry compared to traditional sports. It will help in creating more and more job opportunities.”

“Youngsters, who are the major percentage of those who like to play games, are often not aware about various gaming products that are available in the market. Also, lack of adequate gaming infrastructure and the high cost of gaming software are also major deterrents to the growth of the industry. Piracy is also rampant in Indiacoupled with that, high duties and taxes have also pushed up the cost of gaming consoles. Another challenge is to build the brand of individual esports teams when they are not rooted in their community in the same way as traditional sports teams. These have been some of the constant challenges from the time of inception for E-sports in India” added Mukesh Chaudhary, Rapoo.

“As a gaming brand, we not only produce the devices but also aim on turning the concept of Gaming into E-Sport. However, E-Sport culture is not only built by gaming content or hardware.

People rely on internet for competing and having interaction with each other. Once it raise speedy internet penetration, more residents in different cities can experience the joy of e-sport. We are hoping to see more E-Sports tournaments as well.

Practice and experiences make it perfect” added

Manoj Pansari, Astrum Holdings Ltd. said

“The major challenge at the moment is Lack of Infrastructure. Right now, the Gaming system is not mature. Except some few publishers, there are no big publishers that locally has a presence in India. Also just like other sports, e-sports does not have academies to help budding Gamers develop their skills. Overall, there is a lot to catch up and the industry is still in its nascent stage.”

Sudip De, Doel International Pvt. Ltd.

commented, “However, the average gamer(s) remained at fractions of the developing and developed global counterparts the development ecosystem has evolved in line with the exponential growth of consumption. However, Investments in gaming companies continued to remain low.

In recent past, India has seen large in-roads of online entertainment with global online video companies entering the market. These companies have contributed significantly to the Indian consumption and spend behaviour.”

“The gaming industry in India has faced many challenges. Although most of them have been overcome but some still remain. The stigma around gaming as caused many misconceptions around the gaming industry. It is imperative that the source of such issues are addressed and rectified. Which is why we plan to hold more inclusive events to engage people and let them know more about the positive impacts of gaming” stated Himanshu Jain, Acro Engineering

Company.

Mujahid Rupani, Cobx Gaming said, “There are no major challenges as such, only that the industry is very dependent on infrastructures which are improving now. Here when we say infrastructure is are talking about the FTTH and FTTP. In metro cities these technologies are already available however, now they have been deployed in tier 1 and tier 2 cities. Hence, better infrastructure will lead to speedy awareness of the industry. Gaming is still considered to be a casual activity when it is 18 I

I MAY 2019

Green, Chang-Ching Lin, MSI.

Rajesh Goenka, RP tech India commented “CPU supply and supply of inferior gaming laptops by some vendor are the major challenges in the current scenario.”

Evolving Growth Opportunities “Changes have been occurring rapidly and dramatically in India’s digital ecosystem. India, with 1.3 billion people and two-thirds below the age of 35, the world’s largest youth population, is poised to become one of the world’s leading gaming markets. Historically, games did not gain a foothold in India due to the lack of access to gaming consoles and PCs, and the low social acceptance of this entertainment medium” added Chandrahas Panigrahi, Acer India. “This is all changing now as the Indian games industry is at the cusp of a major transformation as gaming is now seen as a lucrative and viable profession. As the eSports explosion continues, the need for gaming PCs in new form factors is driving demand. The fusion of allied sectors like game development, animation & designing is also very important not only from Make for India point of view but also from Make in India prospective. Interestingly, we have huge youth workforce which can help in development a co-creative ecosystem around gaming.”

“Emergence of premium gaming tournaments is acting as a driving force behind the changing face of the gaming industry and professional gamers are the key stake holders inspiring new age gamers to follow their path of success. Fueled by the desire to achieve excellence in the gaming tournaments, aspiring gamers are sharpening their gaming skills and upgrading themselves with the latest technology. Gaming tournaments and such allied events, also offer a platform for brands and technology partners to showcase their best-in-class range of products, which would further fuel growth in this industry” said Vishal Parekh, Kingston Technology & HyperX India.

“Ever growing prize pools is also a motivation for gamers to shift their focus from casual gaming to serious gaming, and better utilize available infrastructure like Gaming Cafes. HyperX is taking cautious efforts to develop a better infrastructure for gamers by collaborating with gaming cafes and

tournaments. Rising competitive environment has pushed gamers to practice harder and enhance their skill sets. We see a bright future for Indian gamers, pool of professional gamers will expand and soon there will be an increase in participation from Indian gamers in the global tournaments like Dreamhack and Intel Extreme Masters.”

“Gamers are looking for better gaming experience through advanced PC hardware including motherboard, graphics card, monitor and peripherals. AORUS has become one of the favourite gaming hardware brand among Indian gaming community through our development and engagement with gaming community. We strive to meet the demand from gamers and also encourage the industry partners to engage in this growing sectors to making this pie bigger in India” said Sunil Grewal, GIGABYTE Technology (India)

Pvt. Ltd.

Mukesh Chaudhary, Rapoo commented “Yes, the scope and opportunities are many. Due to growing support in the form of Cafes, Tech Partners, Brands coming with exclusive range, eSports will rival the biggest traditional sports leagues in terms of future opportunities, and between advertising, ticket sales, licensing, sponsorships and merchandising, will bring tremendous growth areas for this nascent industry.”

Manoj Pansari, Astrum Holdings Ltd. added

“The booming opportunity in digital gaming has prompted investors and companies to keep a keen eye on India and be a part of the next big game that’s about to sweep the market.”

“Consumers are steadily gaining confidence to adopt digital payments and online content for entertainment services. Increased trust and perceived value of online entertainment is likely to provide the necessary impetus to online gaming going forward. Indian developers have seen an influx of investments and this is expected to improve further. Motivated with the evolved consumption, latent potential, sufficient capital and skilled manpower, Indian developers are expected to focus on the local market. The focus in near term will continue to be on developing games for mobile devices” said Sudip De, Doel

International Pvt. Ltd.

“As mentioned earlier, the time is just right. There industry audience are maturing and are willing to spend more. This makes this opportunity more lucrative than ever before. India is potentially the biggest market that the world has ever seen.

Many people who have become avid gamers with PUBG mobile are looking for ways to scale up their gaming experience. As PC gaming can be expensive, Gaming cafés have been instrumental in enabling gamers to have a fulfilling PC gaming experience at a fraction of the cost” stated Himanshu Jain, Acro

Engineering Company.

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INTERVIEW

“With Partner Support We Are No.1 PC Gaming Brand in India” Gaming market in India has gaining good traction since last few years. Leading brands have come in full support to emerging gamers and boost awareness about latest innovation. Acer being number one in this domain is working continuously towards bring best solutions for gaming community. In a recent conversation with DT, Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head of Acer India, shared his entire game plan for this market.

Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India

DT: What are your plans to support growth of gaming market in India in coming months?

Mr. Chandrahas: Indian gaming Industry has gradually picked up the momentum and today we are seeing customers for gaming PCs which cost much more than the conventional PC. E-sports and exposure to global gaming events and LAN gaming is enhancing the gaming experience for Indians. The Indian gaming industry has been continuously evolving over the past few years, and availability of better PC hardware for gaming has definitely helped to bring more people to PC gaming. Being the No. 1 laptop gaming brand in India, Acer is constantly innovating and re-innovating its products to provide our end customers the required machine. Acer has been working towards building strong foothold in the Indian gaming industry. The company has achieved many milestones in the gaming industry by launching an array of innovative gaming products in India.

In 2018, the company introduced exceptional powerful gaming laptops, desktops and accessories like Acer Predator Helios 500 laptop, Predator Orion 5000 desktop, Cestus 510 gaming mouse and Predator gaming chair.

In IFA 2018, Acer also launched the Predator Thronos which is a gamers cave in itself. 2019 will witness more path breaking products in laptops, desktops and accessories across price points. Our products are re-defining PC gaming and our fans can look forward to another exciting year.

DT: How do work with gamers to boost their confidence in taking gaming as serious career opportunities?

Mr. Chandrahas: Since the last two years, we’ve

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been hosting the Asia Pacific Predator League, one of the biggest gaming tournaments in Asia completely hosted by Acer. Besides this, we also host gamers’ meet globally, to connect with the gamers’ community to encourage educate and support them to take up gaming as a profession by equipping them with knowledge and the tools. Acer is also working our ecosystem partners to do initiatives which will boost the overall gaming industry in India.

DT: What all products do you have to offer serious gamers?

Mr. Chandrahas: We have two series of gaming PC’s, one is Predator and the other is Nitro.

Predator is at the higher end, specifically designed for professional gamers while the Nitro Series is mainly for the casual to beginner gamers. We also have launched a series of Predator and Nitro accessories like mouse, headset, bags and mouse pads, which would give a holistic experience for gamers. To add on to the list, Acer’s Predator Orion Desktop is currently one of the most powerful gaming desktop in the market. Acer gaming monitors are also extremely popular in the market with features especially built around the gamer in mind.

DT: How do you support your channel partners to make them more aware about upcoming huge business opportunities in gaming Industry?

Mr. Chandrahas: Our partners have trusted

Acer as a brand who offers powerful and stylish range of gaming laptops and desktop.

With their support we have become the No.1 PC gaming brand in India for 2018. We work closely with them to sell our gaming range

products, through their support; we see a great traction in the India gaming market.

More and more gamers got chance to experience our products and understood our clear superiority against other brands. Our partners undergo frequent trainings and demos to help understand the differentiators and USPs of Acer gaming products. They play a crucial role in positioning Acer as a leader in the technology segment and has remained the key medium for us to reach our audience.

We are extremely grateful to them for believing and supporting us throughout our journey.

DT: How do you maintain your market leadership and keep working to capture more market share in near future?

Mr. Chandrahas: When we launched Predator series in India, our aim was to bring in exceptional products for both serious gamers and enthusiasts that too at an unbeatable price range. We got overwhelming response from reviewers, tech experts and customers when we launched predator series laptops and accessories in India for the first time. Acer quickly became the No.1 PC brand in the Indian gaming market. This is a result of Acer’s strong focus on innovation and commitment in offering cutting edge gaming products to Indian customers. Acer India has been at the forefront of pushing PC gaming envelop with our Predator and Nitro series and we are grateful to our fans, our partners and our customers for their constant support that has helped us achieve this milestone.

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CHANNEL BUZZ

Compuage Successfully Organized Partner Meet in Chennai Compuage along with Vasavi computers Academy organized 2 day off site channel partner meet at Peter’s park Yealagiri Hills, Chennai in March, 19.

The objective of the meet was to showcase Asus range of products to the upcountry channel fraternity and share technical advantages available with Asus. Speakers from Asus and Compuage

conducted technical training sessions and solved one on one queries of the partners.

Over 45 channel partners from upcountry locations attended the same and got hands on experience, product know how for the latest Asus notebooks. Speaking on the Occasion, Atul H Mehta – Chairman& MD, Compuage said “These meets consistently help us understand the market needs and challenges giving us the opportunity to help channel grow. Upcountry locations are equally important in our business segment and empowering them with more such business opportunities is our motto.”

DIGISOL Hosted “STEP UP” SI Training Program in Nagpur DIGISOL Systems Ltd. recently conducted a training program for System Integrators- STEP UP in Nagpur. The agenda of this program was to give first-hand knowledge to the System Integrators in the region on the latest products and technology provided by DIGISOL. STEP UP is a DIGISOL property designed to educate System Integrator Engineers in Tier I and Tier II cities about the innovative DIGISOL products available in the market and how these products are designed to meet the current IT Networking Industry demands. The event held at Tuli Imperial, Nagpur was attended by 50+ System Integrators. Post the training, System Integrator Engineers were awarded with certifications.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Mandar Joshi, Vice President Sales, DIGISOL Systems said, “We are thrilled to see an overwhelming

response from System Integrators in Nagpur. SI partners are very crucial for our business and we believe in growing with our partners, and continue to support them in taking the latest innovation to the customers.

Going forward, we will be hosting Step Up for our SI partners in various Tier I & Tier II cities.”

TechnoBind Partners with Cyber Security Player ESET TechnoBind announced a new strategic agreement with ESET, a global leader in cyber security, to distribute ESET's award winning enterprise solutions. With the boom of 'Digital India'- a flagship initiative launched

by Government of India, to make citizens digitally connected, we can see a great push of digitization in SMB space. Organizations should deploy a full-fledged endpoint security stack with advanced threat detection and attack prevention mechanisms. This partnership will give organizations as well as individuals' access to complete endpoint security solutions, among a myriad of other solutions, to secure critical data. Mr Parvinder Walia, Sales and Marketing Director for ESET Asia Pacific and 22 I

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Japan said, "We are delighted to be partnered with TechnoBind for our endpoint security solution. India is a critical market for ESET, with a massive potential for cybersecurity solutions. We believe Technobind's hybrid distribution model will help strengthen ESET's go-to-market strategy, as well as reinforce the channel network in India." TechnoBind aligned with ESET to deploy overall endpoint security product lines. This partnership helps TechnoBind to deep dive into SMB market, not only in the metro cities but also foray into Tier - 2 cities.

With the extensive understanding of current market scenario and having technical skills to address the disruptive security challenges,

TechnoBind aligned with ESET to deploy overall endpoint security product lines. This partnership helps TechnoBind to deep dive into SMB market, not only in the metro cities but also foray into Tier - 2 cities.

Speaking on the tie-up with ESET, Mr Prashanth G J, CEO at TechnoBind said, “ESET has been a leader in offering endpoint security solutions for the SMBs and individuals. We are excited to announce the partnership with ESET and strive to maximize ESET’s Endpoint security portfolio presence across various verticals. We strongly believe this association will yield us good results this FY.”

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INDUSTRY NEWS

GIGABYTE Showcases AORUS Extreme Gaming PC and Monitor in Mumbai

GIGABYTE Technology Co. Ltd showcases its latest AORUS extreme gaming systems in Mumbai. A press event is held to showcase top-notch AORUS series gaming products including AORUS AD27QD monitor, C621 AORUS XTREME motherboard, Z390 AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE 5G Premium Edition Bundle with Intel® CoreTM i9-9900K, AORUS RTX 2080 Ti XTREME series graphic card, and AORUS RGB AIC NVMe SSD. GIGABYTE also showcases its C621 AORUS XTREME motherboard which smashes single processor computing performance with the astonishing feat of having all 28 cores running stable at 5GHz+. For extreme overclockers and gamers, GIGABYTE offers extreme performance in Z390 AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE 5G Premium

Edition bundle which delivers all cores at the frequency of 5.1GHz and higher on Intel® CoreTM i9-9900K processors pretested and paired with this Motherboard. This flagship motherboard features top-of-theline heat dissipation with striking aesthetics, drawing out the best performance from Intel® CoreTM i9-9900K processor which has been handpicked and pretested for high frequency overclocking, this ensures that every Z390 AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE 5G bundle can hit 5.1GHz at all cores for next level overclocking and performance.

AMD Launches Ryzen Embedded R1000 SoC

At the Taiwan Embedded Forum, AMD announced the Ryzen™ embedded product family is growing with the new AMD Ryzen™ Embedded R1000 SoC. Building upon the success of the Ryzen™ Embedded V1000 SoC, the AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 SoC provides embedded customers with dual core, quad-threaded performance, as well as the ability to run fanless, low power solutions for 4K displays; while providing leading-edge security features. Customers like Advantech, ASRock Industrial, IBASE, Netronome, Quixant and others are already working on Ryzen Embedded R1000-based products. As well, Atari© is using the high-performance Vega 3 graphics and ‘Zen’ CPU architecture in the AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 SoC to power the upcoming Atari VCS™ game system. The AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 supports up to three 4K displays at up to 60 FPS, while providing H.265 Encode/Decode (10b) and VP9 decode capabilities. This enables OEMs and ODMs to deliver a compelling visual experience.

Zebronics Introduces New ‘Moving Monster 2x7 Plus’ Speaker Zebronics has launched a powerhouse speaker dubbed Moving Monster 2x7 Plus for the much added thump so that you can have a party anytime, anywhere.

The speaker is a style statement by itself with RGB lights that will make this speaker a showstopper at any party with its modern design and a powerhouse of every party when it’s all about the High fidelity audio.

Holi parties with the Zeb-Moving Monster 2x7 Plus is about to get a lot more trendy especially because it has features like a karaoke function along with a recording feature so you can replay your own singing with music. Apart from karaoke there are features like multi-connectivity 24 I

I MAY 2019

options like BT/ USB/Micro SD/ AUX, with two rings of RGB lights which gives out the ultimate party vibe. The speaker also gives you a complete control by giving you individual controls for volume, bass, treble and comes with a built-in radio too.

Speaking on the newest launch, Mr. Pradeep Doshi, Director – Zebronics says, ”Make every special occasion an event with our powerhouse speaker Moving Monster 2x7 Plus that comes with a karaoke feature so that you and your loved ones can make memories.”

The speaker is available at leading stores across India.

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INFOCUS

Microtek is Undisputed Market Leader in India Microtek International is a leader in providing the best power solutions to huge customer base across India.

The company has very successful journey in India and having a wide range of portfolio to cater all sort of power solutions requirement to any consumer across the country. Microtek has grown exponentially and presented across all major cities in India. It has large number of distributors and retailers that ensures growth in the market. Being Vice President, Mr. Manoj Jain has been working closely with his team to attain maximum growth and success.

There Successful Decades Microtek has a good market visibility and a large network of partners across India which cater to the wider audience. Microtek has proved itself by becoming a leading manufacturer in the field of batteries and UPS. It has a large network of channel partners and retailers which led Microtek to massive success. Manoj Jain, Vice President, Microtek International Pvt. Ltd. said, “We have seen our brand growing steadily over the last 3 decades. Starting as a Monitor and IT Peripherals company, we diversified with time and converted into Power Products Company by focusing on Inverter and UPS segment. Within this time we have launched a complete range of stabilizers, a complete range of solar products and recently launched wires and cables. By this, we have been able to establish MICROTEK as the Highest Selling, No. 1 Brand in Inverter/UPS in India. As the Brand has grown by leaps and bounds with time, similarly our Channel Partners network also has grown drastically and we have presented more than 65000 Distributor and Dealers all across India.”

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Channel Partner’s Support Channel partners are true strength for Microtek and they have helped company in establishing their market leadership status. Talking about partner’s role in company’s success, Manoj says, “Our Channel Partners have been our strength in this successful journey. As we have grown, along with we have ensured that all our channel partners are duly rewarded for their performance, they get channel incentive schemes from time to time as well as target achievement incentives. We ensure that they have a reasonable profit margin at all times.”

Targets 2020 Their mission 2020 is to increase their product portfolio and turnover.

“We have already Launched Microtek Wires and Cables and soon we are going to launch a complete range of Microtek MCB/ELCB Protection switches and Distribution Boards. By 2020 we want to establish our market share in the electrical segment,” concluded by Manoj.

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Tally.ERP 9 is the ideal software for your business. It is used by over a million businesses across India. Tally.ERP 9 is designed with flexibility to handle all of these. With Tally.

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BRAND CONNECT

Astrum see Huge Potential to Grow Multi Fold in Indian Market Astrum is among few brands who has been helping people to get worldwide access to new technologies. Astrum has put all the efforts to break the trade-off between innovation, quality and cost. Astrum is known to provide robust, reliable – yet affordable high tech devices all around the globe. Astrum t Astrum is among few global brands that have been introducing consumers to new technologies. Astrum has put all the efforts to break the trade-off between innovation, quality and cost. Astrum is known to provide robust, reliable – yet affordable high tech devices all around the globe. Astrum in India has seen massive growth with vision and industry experience of Hong Kong based Mr. Manoj Kumar Pansari-Chairman & Managing Director of Astrum Holdings Limited. Manoj Kumar Pansari who is serving as Chairman of Astrum Holdings Limited.

The Journey Astrum journey in India specifically has been quite exciting. They have seen tremendous growth and potential in last few months. Commenting on success of Astrum brand in India, Manoj Kumar Pansari, says, “Our global range of products which is quite popular in many countries worldwide has been well accepted and appreciated in India too. This also signifies that Indian consumer is shifting from low price bracket to good quality at reasonable price segment” said Manoj Kumar Pansari, Chairman, Astrum Holdings Limited. “We at Astrum are committed to bring new innovative technology at reasonable and affordable price to consumers not only in India but globally. As the trend of smart phones and 4G/5G is growing, which is generating demand and interest for smart gadgets in India, we at Astrum are focusing on this growing segment. All our efforts in developing new products and manufacturing going towards futuristic products. India accessories market is growing by 30-35% year over year and this growth rate is expected to be higher in coming years, Astrum surely will be a part of this India growth story and journey. We see a huge potential for Astrum to grow multi fold in Indian market and have its share in and space in India accessories market.”

Achievements

Astrum as a brand and also its products 28 I

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are highly appreciated in Indian markets at all regions, apart from that the confidence of channel on our brand is extremely high.

“We understand this can be termed at big achievement for us and we thank all our channel partners, consumers and team for same. Having said that, the expectations from Astrum is also very high in maintaining that confidence and growth. Our teams from innovations to production, production to quality control, quality control to marketing and marketing to sales are fully aware and share the responsibilities. As much we enjoy our success and achievements, we also enjoy the challenges thrown on us to keep innovate and bring new products. With all the success in our stride we also feel there is still a huge potential for Astrum in India market and many growth opportunities we have. There are segments like Smart Gadgets, Audio & Power categories we are going to launch new and aggressive products in coming months. We already have wide range of products in these categories but our new range will give us the edge over others,” added by Manoj.

Channel Partner’s Support Astrum’s value-added partners have been the most important and strong pillars for their growth journey in India. Appreciating partner’s effort, Mr. Kumar says, “I am personally very grateful to them for all the support and their confidence on Astrum.

They have been part of our success and

Manoj Kumar Pansari, Chairman, Astrum Holdings Ltd.

they will be part of our growth journey too. Our partnership is only going to be stronger and more profitable than before, that’s our commitment to them.

“Our partners suggestions are helping us improve and making our brand even stronger” commented Manoj Kumar Pansari.

Targets by 2020 They have planned a higher growth in India for FY 19-20 compare to previous year. This growth plan is based on the overall initiatives they are taking in India in terms of global innovation centre and the production unit coming in Tirupati.

“We have already acquired 5 acres land in Tirupati and soon construction will start on same. Mean time our current production facility will start production very soon; this production unit will give us the advantage of not only Make in India products but also reduce the lead time. We will be able offer more innovative products at more affordable prices to Indian consumer. Our innovation centre setup is taking shape in India and within next few weeks it will be ready to start innovating new and smart technology for the world. These new initiatives of its kind will help Astrum develop own technological products than manufacture them too. Having already a strong team of quality control and products will be an added advantage for us,” concluded by Manoj.

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SUCCESS STORY

Supertron Remains the Backbone of Indian IT Distribution System VK Bhandari who is CMD of Supertron Electronics Pvt. Ltd. is a very dynamic leader and he is known in the industry for his vision, determination and right decision-making capabilities. He started Supertron Electronics in year 1993 to help the region with quality technology devices. He has decades of experience and leading the company through his exceptional leadership quality. Supertron is a well-known national distribution house in the country and it has wide range of products across all verticals.

V. K. Bhandari, CMD, Supertron Electronics Pvt Ltd.

How it Began Year 1985, young Mr. Vishnu Kumar Bhandari arrived in Kolkata to study Jute Technology to fulfill his grandfather’s dream, but soon after he realized that Jute is not his cup of tea, his energetic inner mind was futuristic and he was able to foresee that Information Technology is the next big thing across the globe.

Immediately Mr. Bhandari dropped the idea of Jute Technology and joined an IT company and worked till 1990, by that time he realized the future prospect of IT Hardware business.

In 1991, Mr. V.K. Bhandari felt that eastern India needs a quality IT distribution house from where he can serve all major local IT dealers/resellers who requires a distribution house with a product range along with strong and efficient service and replacement support for which he formed a small proprietorship company called Supermatic Computer.

At that point of time Government has liberalized IT import rules and to bring world class technology product in India, Mr. V. K. Bhandari opened Supertron Electronics Ltd in the year of 1993 as an Import and distributor company with support of 3 energetic persons under him.

Achievements & Recognitions Today Supertron is one of the leading IT distribution company in India and able 30 I

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to establish the company amongst top 5 national IT Hardware distribution house with more than 1400 employees and 3500 crores turnover with 53 branches across Pan India.

Mr. V. K. Bhandari is one of the founder member of Computer Association of Eastern India (COMPASS). He has served as a V.P. for three years from 1994-1996 and was elected to the post of President for three years 1997-1999. His hard work and dedication again saw him being elected president of COMPASS for another three years from 2004-2006.

27 MNC brands & offering world class products to the channel. The company has strengthened its position among the leading distribution houses in India.

Supertron thrives to establish as a leader with focused and value added IT & Telecom distributor in India.

Year 2010, Mr. V. K. Bhandari has won the “Life Time Achievement Award” from “COMPASS”. In 2016 Economic Times from Times of India group has awarded Mr. Bhandari as “Bengal Corporate Award” along with 3 prestigious awards from Dell.

V. K. Bhandari, CMD of Supertron Electronics Pvt. Ltd. said, “We have created a niche for ourselves in the market with our offerings. One of the key differentiator is our penetration & reach. We are not only logistic partner for our vendors but we add value in distribution by creating market for brands & work as an extended arm for vendors. We work very closely with our vendor basis their requirement play role as National Distributor or Regional distributor. Our service & support has enabled the partners to work with Supertron comfortably.”

Growth Chart

Vision

The distribution house has witnessed phenomenal growth approx. 60% percent over the last five years. The company has a pan India presence with 34 full-fledged branch offices and 19 satellite offices across 29 states backed by a strong network of 27 Service Centres. Supertron has strength of 1464 Employees.

“Our endeavour is to offer best products & services to our channel partner & to be the first choice for vendor & partner basis our differentiation in value added approach and also to provide end to end solutions.

We are strengthening our organization as a leader with focus in value added distribution as an end to end solution provider in IT & Telecom distribution in the country. Our focus would also be in large enterprise solution space” added V. K. Bhandari, CMD of Supertron Electronics Pvt. Ltd.

Supertron caters to over 15000 channel partners spread across the country.

Supertron’s growth & success is because of its strategic tie ups with more than

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INTERVIEW

“HyperX Has Always Played an Instrumental Role in Cultivating a Gaming Culture in India” HyperX, a leading brand in India’s gaming market space, supports entire ecosystem of gaming community and helping this market to grow further. Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director at Kingston Technology & HyperX India is leading the charge from the front and has helped brand in achieving huge success since its roll out in India. Mr. Parekh in an exclusive chat with DT, shared his entire game plan.

Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston Technology India

DT: What are your plans to support growth of gaming market in India in coming months?

Mr. Vishal: HyperX has been supporting the Indian Gaming Community by helping the mobile gamers have a better experience by selling products at tournaments through their flash sales where it is affordable for these gamers. Other than this, the brand has started to support talent in the Indian gaming community by announcing their First eSports team sponsorship in India, exclusively with the HyperX Peripherals, SSDs and Memory products. In addition, HyperX has been the proud sponsor of over 20 gaming teams globally and the main sponsor of the Intel Extreme Masters and Dream hack festivals. We at HyperX, have always strived our level best to design the products to meet the most rigorous demands of professional gamers to give them the winning edge and help gamers stay on top of their game. We do plan to keep the gaming spirit alive in the near future.

DT: How do you work with gamers to boost their confidence in taking gaming as serious career opportunities?

Mr. Vishal: The number of professional gamers is increasing in India and adequate effort is being taken for the betterment of infrastructure that can help them to congregate, practice and sharpen their gaming skills. HyperX, the gaming

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division of Kingston Technology, and brand leader in gaming and eSports products are the choice of top-rated gamers, tech enthusiasts and over lockers worldwide. HyperX has already been collaborating with Gaming Cafes where they provide their world class peripherals which enhances their gaming experience without spending a lot of their money. The products are available on most online channels. HyperX has recently become the official sponsors of the professional esports team Entity Gaming in India. This is the company’s first sponsorship for a professional esports team in India.

DT: What all products do you have to offer serious gamers?

Mr. Vishal: Over the past few years there has been a boom in the gaming industry. Keeping this in mind, HyperX has made substantial investments by promoting initiatives like ESL and extending their support to gamers. The Pulsefire FPS Pro utilizes the ergonomic design to comfortably fit in the hand and not slip when victory is on the line. With this, one can set up the mouse just the way one likes with its six programmable buttons in the easy-touse HyperX NGenuity software, and save your config directly to the onboard memory. Omron switches provide crisp, tactile feedback so that the clicks have been registered. Extra-large skates give the Pulsefire FPS Pro a solid base for smooth, controlled gliding that allows you to both track and flick with ease. This mouse also helps gamers that play in FPS mode by being accurate due to its pristine design. The ergonomic design makes it easier for serious gamers to be on top of their game at all times.

HyperX NGenuity is powerful, easy-to-use software that allows you to personalise your HyperX products.

DT: How do you support your channel partners?

Mr. Vishal: As a matter of fact, every half yearly the technology changes and most of the accessories gets upgraded in a year’s time.

HyperX constantly upgrades their technology and also keeps their channel partners in the loop so that they have the necessary information to educate their customers. HyperX has always believed in extending its support to our channel network and create benefits for the end users. Be it availability, a good computing or gaming user experience, high quality products, or our excellent after sales service, we have fine-tuned our engagements according to the evolving needs of both, our partners and the end users.

DT: How do you maintain your market leadership and keep working to capture more market share in near future?

Mr. Vishal: HyperX is the market leader in the segment that we operate in, which is in the area of providing best-in-class peripheral and accessories for the Gaming industry. We have also recognized the needs and demands of the different stakeholders that constitute the gaming eco-system, namely the Professional Gamers, Channel Partners, including the Gaming Cafes and finally the casual gamer. HyperX also recognizes the need to help promote world class gaming events like the ESL and Dream Hack, by being one of the key sponsors for these events. HyperX further understands that to continue to build on this platform of market leadership, one has to have a 360-degree view of the Gaming industry and help nurture and build an eSport loving culture, where various domains and platforms connected it are also displaying an exponential growth.

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SUCCESS STORY

Acro Engineering to Reach 6000 Plus Retail Partners in India by 2020 Acro Engineering, a well-known distribution company has been serving the industry since its inception. The company is led by Himanshu Jain who is Director of Acro Engineering. He is a very dynamic leader with a rich experience in Indian IT distribution space. He is leading the company to reach new milestone every passing year. Headquartered in Delhi, Acro Engineering is today leading partner for high end technology products across India. The Company has 13 branches pan India, of which it has at least one in every region in India, including north, south, east and west and these are supported by a channel of over 300 ACRO Channel Partners, which gives it a presence in almost every city and town in India.

Over the years, the company has expanded globally due to its outstanding marketing strategy and visionary leadership.

The Commencement The Indian technology industry was at the nascent stage in the early days when Acro Engineering Company was started. The company showed an excellent strategy to expand its reach to a large audience and sell the products with ease. Today Acro Engineering is one of the prominent distribution houses which is serving the industry through their continuous efforts and skills. AEC has spread its footprints across all the regions in India. Further talking about how they started the distribution business, Himanshu Jain, Director, Acro Engineering said, “When I came back to India after my global MBA, I was surprised to see that our country was so far behind when it came to computer hardware availability. With the visible potential of the Indian workforce, setting up the distribution infrastructure was the obvious choice. Of course, we started out small but over the last five years we have seen exponential growth in demand for computer hardware.”

The Journey In its journey over the years in India, Acro Engineering performed really well and formed its robust distribution infrastructure.

The company is successfully operating its business in the industry and has a large network WWW.DIGITALTERMINAL.IN

of channel partners that helps Acro to maintain its leadership. Himanshu Jain shares the journey of Acro Engineering, “In all honesty, the beginning was not easy, I remember having to travel across the country with a CoolerMaster cabinet and a travel bag in the other. We were operating on a shoestring budget and we were facing many rejections at that time. But as always, persistence was the key. We had to stick to our commitments and provide support to our partners at every step of the way. Today we have over 4200 counters in India and we work around the clock to provide them support at every step. This dedication has rewarded us and our team in many ways, and that encourages us to push further to provide support and reward our partners accordingly.”

Business Model Acro Engineering caters all the regions of India with gaming products of leading brands including HyperX, ASUS, MSI, LG and many others. Commenting on the product range, Himanshu Jain said, “Acro Engineering Company (AEC) one of the leading distributors of highperformance computing hardware in India. AEC has also been the first distributors in India to bring gaming hardware to the Indian market. It has been dealing with major brands like Cooler Master, MSI, LG Monitor,

Himanshu Jain, Director, Acro Engineering

Steelseries, Razer, Gamdias, HyperX, Hercules, Ant Esports peripherals & Gaming Chair, G. Skill, XPG(Adata), INNO3D, ASUS Monitor, Mini PC, Server MB, Work Station MB and tinker board; many of which are available exclusively with us. With AEC’s HQ in New Delhi, It coordinated with 13 branch offices and distribution centers across India to serve more than 4200 counters. Along with that robust network, AEC also provides Marketing and warranty services to many of its partner brands. Recently AEC has also started to venture into the lifestyle segment with Ant Audio which is a UK based audio accessory provider.”

Growth & Vision “Thanks to the rapid growth of the gaming industry and the growing popularity of Machine Learning, we have experienced consistent annual growth of 40% and our team is highly motivated to push that even further. For the last financial year, our revenue had breached the 200 Cr mark” said Himanshu Jain, Director, Acro Engineering.

He further added, “In 2020, our primary goal is to extend our reach to more than 6000 retail partners in India and we also look forward to breaching the 300 Cr mark for our annual revenue. We also want to extent.”

I MAY 2019 I 33

BRAND CONNECT

Traditional Partners are Key Strength for TP-Link Success in Indian Market TP-Link is an undisputed market leader in providing networking solutions for enterprise and homes. When TP-Link entered in Indian market, it was not easy to gain foothold and give competition to other existing tech giants. But TP-Link made it very simple by just providing quality networking devices and gain massive growth in short span of time. Today TP-Link has a large network of potential channel partners who have made the reach of TP-Link across wider areas of India. With the help of various strategies and programs to grow in the subcontinent, TP-Link has maintained its leadership position in the market. Since Bijoy Alaylo took the charge as VP for SoHo Sales, he brought several potential schemes and policies which resulted into unprecedented growth.

Bijoy Alaylo, VP SoHo Sales, TP-Link India

Milestones Achieved TP-Link has gained tremendous success in last few years. The brand has set the benchmark by providing best quality products to large customer base at an affordable price point. TPLink has come a long way deep inside the Indian market with the help of exceptional support from its partners and trust of its consumers. Bijoy Alaylo, VP SoHo Sales, TP-Link said, “We of course have made it to the top at a fast pace and able to maintain the growth even in the toughest time for the networking industry. Not counting in one particular achievement, TP-Link has been able to create a stable growth environment for its partners in the past and currently been able to give its partners a product mix and variety to reach into different segments of the networking industry. We as a team always strive to give more strength to our connected partners which we feel is the greatest achievement till date.”

Channel Bonding In today’s digital era, where online distribution system in any industry has affected traditional partners.

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But brands have always understood the importance of such partners and hence stayed stronger with them in every situation. In IT, still traditional partners play a key role in establishing any brand. These channel partners are still the strongest part in the overall IT distribution ecosystem. Bijoy Alaylo added, “We at TP-Link always give the traditional partners the credit to our success. As profitability is concerned we believe there is always an 80-20 ratio in the top selling vs profit scenario and TP-Link has a large number of product portfolio where partners can choose where they want to invest their efforts to earn better. This is apart from the regular schemes and incentive programs we run in the Channel.

Growth is what partners do business for and we ensure if any partner shows willingness to put full focus on TPLink we have growth structures and guidelines ready for them to scale up.”

Strategies to Grow Business The competition has increased many folds and it is very complicated for the companies to operate business as they used to do sometimes back. Many companies do quality compromises to

keep their products under affordability range but TP-Link has never compromised with its quality. Bijoy Alaylo said, “Our mission YOY remains to be the same, run a stable market – give opportunity to partners willing to invest in the brand – keep deep diving in the Indian market to reach more and more consumers / clients. Our new introductions like the GPON / Business WiFi Solutions / Mesh WiFi Solutions will be the largest contributors to the next year target.”

TP-Link has been able to maintain their leadership position since long time due to their well-planned marketing strategy for Indian market. The brand’s strategy to bring latest and innovative technology solutions for everyone’s networking need has really worked in their favour. Taking their legacy and commitment for Indian market, TP-Link has rolled out many such innovative products in the market, which will definitely fuel their ambition to capture larger market share. By 2020, the brand has already set their agenda to continue dominating Indian market by offering wide range of solutions to all verticals.

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BRAND CONNECT

Unistal has Always Believed in ‘Channel First’ Approach Started in 1994, Unistal had a very challenging phase during their initial days of starting the business. Unistal did all the possible task to sustain and worked according to the changing landscape of the ICT industry. Alok Gupta has seen many challenges at the time of starting Unistal and fought with all to give his company a better future. Today Unistal is a 25 years old leading IT company with a team of more than 200 members and 5000 channel partners across India.

Conclusion of Challenging Days Unistal had a very humble start in 1994 and was started as a startup than with just 2 employees in a 30 sqft rooftop cabin. “It’s been 25 years and we have grown to more than 200 member’s strong team with over 20,000 sqft office space. Like any other company, we have faced many challenges and tackled them successfully” said Alok Gupta, Managing Director and Co-Founder at Unistal Systems Pvt. Ltd. “At present, we have 51 products in our data security product folio with more than 5 million licensed users and more than 5000 channel partners in India. We are also into the Oil & Gas domain where our company has completed more than 75 projects and captured around 90% market share in India for Pipeline Construction Management Services (PCMS). The company has also mapped a network of more than 26000 KM pipelines including more than 5000 KM for City Gas Network & Assets and achieved more than 1000 months of PCMS execution experience.”

Milestones Achieved So Far Gradually, Unistal has become one of the well-known companies in the ICT domain with a huge customer base across India and globally. Alok Gupta added “We have recently completed 25 years of serving excellence as an Indian company in the data security domain. In this journey, we have achieved many feats in India and abroad. Some of our achievements are mentioned below; 36 I

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• More than 5 million licenses in India for our products • Our product Data Recovery gets Prime Minister’s Office as our first client in 1994 • 51 Products for Data Security and Data Recovery • More than 5000 channel partners in India • Catered to more than 200 thousand Data Recovery cases including for RAID servers • OEM tie-ups with HP and Acer • Retail tie-up with Dell for Dell Exclusive Stores • Distribution tie-ups with Supertron Value of Traditional Partners Traditional channel partners are an integral part of any IT business and they help any business to grow consistently.

For Unistal as well, channel partners are the major reason for them to succeed in India. Alok Gupta said, “Channel partners are core to our business growth from the start and we are fully focused on expanding and building a strong channel ecosystem in India. We have always taken as ‘Channel First’ approach for our products. With our regional distributors in East, West, North and South of India, now we have a Pan India presence. In order to reward Partners contribution, we roll out numerous schemes from time to time. These various incentives and offers not only strengthen our relationship with the partners, but we also make sure that it will lead to mutual business growth and profits. We aim to add more partners

Alok Gupta, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Unistal Systems Pvt. Ltd.

from our various exciting schemes to make Unistal a successful brand name.”

On A Mission The company has registered a successful 2018-19 FY and now they are aiming for 200 percent growth in 2020. “We have lined up many exciting plans for the year 2020, including the launch of new products and solutions. Apart from gearing up our sales, we are looking forward to expanding our presence in many untapped markets. Apart from the metros, Tier- II and Tier- III cities will be our focus. In these regions, we intend to connect with some new partners and resellers as well. We will also come up with many new schemes and offers for our existing and new partners” revealed

by Alok Gupta.

“With the launch of one of our flagship products, the enterprise version of Protegent/Activity Reporter, we aim to address the challenges of data theft and data security for the enterprises.

This product will cater to the needs of modern day enterprises. We are also making significant investments in digital marketing practices to reach our prospective customers directly. With new age digital practices and by leveraging the power of social media and online platforms, we are well on course to utilize these mediums and maximize growth for our company and the products. With our online sales, we want to have our presence in every nook and corner of the country,” concluded by Alok Gupta.

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INTERVIEW

“We Are Striving to Provide Gamer’s Best Solution to Help Them Win the Games” The eSports market has great potential in India from the past few years. The popularity of games like DOTA, CSGO, PUBG, and others among Indian youths has helped this market to grow at good pace. Gamers are taking this as a full-time profession and leads to increase in number of serious gamers across all cities. The popularity of eSports tournaments is gradually rising in India and this has also fueled growth of eSports industry. The demand of gaming PC and its component has increased drastically and eventually there are lot of scope for brands who are playing into this domain. AORUS, a premium gaming brand powered by GIGABYTE, true market leader in offering best quality components to gamers across India. Mr. Sunil Grewal, Director, GIGABYTE Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. revealed his overall product and channel plans with DT in a recent exclusive interaction.

Sunil Grewal, Director, GIGABYTE Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd

DT: What are your plans to support growth of gaming market in India in coming months?

Mr. Sunil: AORUS as a premium brand powered

by GIGABYTE, we continually dedicating to use on and offline channels to engage with the gaming community. We focused on research and development and came up with AD27QD world’s first tactical gaming monitor, Z390 AORUS Xtreme Waterforce Motherboard, AORUS RGB M.2 NVMe SSD … targeting enthusiastic gamers. Besides, we hold multiple icafe events introducing the latest products and technologies. At the same time, AORUS can get real-time feedback from gamers.

DT: How do work with gamers to boost their confidence in taking gaming as serious career opportunities?

Mr. Sunil: GIGABYTE, as a PC hardware company, we are striving to provide gamer’s best solution to help them win the games. With this initiative, we provide the best products

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to assist the gamers and encourage their confidence while playing. Furthermore, through holding offline events, team AORUS interact with gamers directly. We have local community manager and event manager, who can help us to engage with hardcore gamers. Whoever has an interest in the gaming community and want to feedback any ideas or concept, can talk to them. On AORUS social media, we also post the popular content from the community to let more fans engage and grow with AORUS.

to make them more aware about upcoming huge business opportunities in gaming Industry?

Mr. Sunil: We have great communication with our channel partners. When there is a new product launch, we not only work with certain Youtubers or media but also give products to them for review or content creation. With this corporation, our partners can know our product more and grow their channels at the same time.

DT: What all products do you have to offer serious gamers?

DT: How do you maintain your market leadership and keep working to capture more market share in near future?

Mr. Sunil: AORUS developed a variety of product lines. We had motherboard, graphic cards, monitor, SSD, case, keyboard, mouse, memory, mousepad, and other peripherals. AORUS not only want to be a product company but also want to create a gaming eco-system to help Indian Gamer’s to grow.

Mr. Sunil: Communication and open-minded is important. With gamers, influencers, Youtubers, media, partners, we continually communicate with them and get some feedback from them.

In this way, we know what the good things are and what the things we may need to improve are.

DT: How do you support your channel partners

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BRAND CONNECT

Rapoo Eyes to Become No. 1 Brand in The Indian Accessories Market by 2020 The digital gaming has come a long way in India as today gaming is not limited to our homes but it has become one of the most opted career options for youth. The gaming sector is on the boom and growing very significantly. Rapoo is one of the market players that offer gaming devices & peripherals under affordable price range. Rapoo has performed really well in India during last few years under the leadership of Mukesh Chaudhary, Country Head for India & SAARC at Rapoo. Riding on the recent success in India, brands now eyes to capture major market share by 2020.

Mukesh Chaudhary, Country Head, India & SAARC, Rapoo

Journey and Achievements The gaming industry is flourishing rapidly and some of the factors like the smartphone gaming, console gaming, PC gaming also availability of low-cost internet supporting the growth of the gaming market in India. By leveraging the emerging opportunities, Rapoo offered quality gaming products and earned a large base of consumers.

Mukesh Chaudhary, Country Head, India & SAARC, Rapoo said, “Rapoo’s journey has been quite exciting but yes with its own share of challenges. We have established a very strong benchmark in the Industry with its products that define quality and design excellence, credited for its distinctive technology.

The Brand has also successfully entered the Audio space, and has got a very strong response for its Headphones and Speakers. The Brand inspite of the very strong and dynamic competition, has seen a strong YOY growth.”

“India is a vast market and that has been a given. With the immense potential that the country brings, it also brings the challenge to reach the audience effectively. Inspite of which, Rapoo has been extremely successful in meeting the partner’s expectation, taking them in to confidence and helping their business to grow along with the brand.

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Additionally, we have always been at par with the consumer expectations and have delivered products matching the Indian needs with global standards.

Last but not the Least, the audience expectations and acceptance to the Gaming arm of Rapoo, reaffirms the Brand’s growth Plans for India” added Mukesh Chaudhary.

Support of Traditional Partners Indian market is still dominated by traditional markets. Though LFR (Large Format Retail) and E-Commerce is growing rapidly, traditional market will lead the business due to geographical distribution and consumer buying behavior. Therefore, Traditional route shall always have stronger importance at Rapoo. Mukesh Chaudhary said, “For us, we have always been a channel friendly brand that believes in growing with the partners. Apart from the expert advice on market trends and global situations, we help them grow. We are having a great relationship with our traditional partner across the country.

We always tend to set the KPIs and match it with rewards creating a WIN – WIN partnership. Also, we do not look for instant gratification. Along with the partners, we look at cross – sell and upsell opportunities within the ecosystem, that allows partners to maximize footprint in a customer. We always

provide the best possible solution to our partner to grow the business. In sync with the Brand Motto, ‘Together we grow’.”

Strategy & Targets for 2020 “RAPOO has strongly translated its Global footprints to India. With the cutting-edge Industrial design and international – standard quality, Rapoo with its offerings, has been successful to present innovative and state of the art technologies at the right value to Enterprise and Retail Segments. We also aim to surpass the industry standards with every new innovation while maintaining the signature reliability of all our products” commented Mukesh Chaudhary.

He further added, “Our mission goes simple, to be established as no. 1 Brand in the Accessories segment by 2020.

RApoo in India has already progressed in that direction with innovative product offerings, competitive price range for the end customer & Omni channel strategy to tap the untapped market. Apart from the peripheral products, we shall also be focusing on eSports and gaming accessories in India aggressively with VPro. eSports & Gaming accessories is currently a huge market in India, and is buzzing with action.”

I MAY 2019 I 39

INTERVIEW

“We Believe In Creating an Ecosystem for the Gaming Community” Today PC gaming has become a very lucrative career option for gaming enthusiasts and it has provided a great opportunity to brands who are catering to this market. The large gaming events are being supported by these leading brands and provide required platform for young gamers to showcase their skills. Dell always remains ahead in taking such opportunity and invest a lot to help community grow further. DT recently interacted with Anand Subramanya, Director of Product Marketing at Dell, India to know more about their role in shaping up the future of gaming market in India.

Anand Subramanya, Director, Product Marketing, Dell India

DT: What are your plans to support growth of gaming market in India in coming months?

Mr. Anand: PC gaming has seen a resurgence in popularity with gaming enthusiasts, and this shift can be attributed to factors such as young population, quality of game play, availability of top-end hardware and software, and improved internet bandwidth. Armed with more than two decades of rich legacy in gaming, we have a strong portfolio of products catering to the needs of gamers across the spectrum, i.e. from casual gamers, to enthusiasts to professional gamers. We have been working closely with partners like NVIDIA to provide a platform for the Indian gaming community to bond, interact and explore new avenues in game play and experience. One of the key initiatives, ‘GamerConnect’ received phenomenal response, where more than 17000 gamers, across tier 1 and tier 2 cities, got the opportunity to experience best in class Alienware and Dell Gaming devices and accessories apart from opportunity to connect as well as learn from the professionals about gaming as a profession.

DT: How do you work with gamers to boost their confidence in taking gaming as serious career opportunities?

Mr. Anand: We believe in creating an ecosystem for the gaming community, by offering the latest technology and innovation to the existing ecosystem, while also reaching out to enthusiasts. Dell believes that the Indian PC gaming industry has great potential for growth, not only in for the growth of esports, but also in creating job opportunities, and offering

40 I

I MAY 2019

lucrative career avenues. We collaborate with gamers and partners in the ecosystem, to provide purposeful technology and innovation to the spectrum. We have partnered with Team Brutality, one of India’s leading e-sports organizations and provide them with Alienware and Dell gaming systems as they compete in prestigious esports events in India and around the world. We also conduct multiple community engagement initiatives with college students viz. Campassdors and Dell Futurist, where professionals interact with the students and educate them, answer their queries about the career options in the gaming industry.

DT: What all products do you have to offer serious gamers?

Mr. Anand: Our engagement over the years with amateur and professional gamers has given us an insight into their evolving tech needs. Our wide portfolio of Alienware and Dell Gaming series caters to what gamers want most performance and function. Our latest path breaking product - Alienware Area51, is world’s most powerful and upgradable gaming laptop.

It is a true desktop replacement where gamers can upgrade its desktop grade processor, latest NVIDIA RTX graphics, and manage most of the performance parameters with Alienware Command Center.

The all new Alienware m15 is the thinnest and lightest 15” Alienware laptop, for gamers onthe-go who prioritize light weight and thinness for mobility along with the performance. Dell has also updated its G-Series, with an all new G7, for those who are looking for an affordable yet powerful gaming system offering an immersive gaming experience.

DT: How do you support your channel partners to make them more aware about upcoming huge

business opportunities in gaming industry?

Mr. Anand: We work very closely with our channel partners, who play a key role in being the face of Dell to our customers. We conduct regular training and enablement programs for our channel partners, to educate them about the recent developments as well as the potential of the gaming industry. We believe that our partners’ businesses grow when we invest in training our channel partners the Dell way, we also have started a pilot program ‘Project Suits’. With this program, we are using professional gamers to train channel partner and their sales promoters on the need identification of a gaming customer and enable the sales personnel to answer their queries.

The core idea is to leverage the full breadth of Dell’s gaming portfolio and our reach through our channel partners to ensure that we can satisfy the growing needs of our customers by providing them with the best customer experience.

DT: How do you maintain your market leadership and keep working to capture more market share in near future?

Mr. Anand: Alienware has been a pioneer in the gaming industry before any other players and we are proud to have contributed to the growth of the entire gaming ecosystem with innovative products. Innovations in both hardware as well as software in our products provides our customers winning edge in their games.

Tobii eye-tracking technology, Alienware TactX Keyboard, Alienware Command Center, Cryo-Tech v2.0 which is an advanced thermal technology that maximizes overall performance and keeps these machines cool, are some of the innovations that we have brought for our customers.

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