SME Channels March issue

PLUS

Symantec relies on 4 point agenda for business growth.

/05

www.smechannels.com

india’s first IT magazine for sme business Volume 01

|

issue 01

sme buzz

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march 2010

/26

Need for Collaboration Today is Higher Than Ever...

|

Rs. 25/-

sme chat

sme chat

/18

Avaya Connect Launched to Empower Channel Partners

/16

SME segment Continues to be key focus area for IPG

are

you ready

for the SMEs?

Time has come to change the attitude and hand hold them to create a major impact /20

PLUS

Uniline to Foray Into Home Inverter Market in FY 2010.

/09

www.smechannels.com

india’s first IT magazine for sme business Volume 01

|

issue 01

Feature

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march 2010

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Rs. 25/-

sme chat

/12

Cyberoam to Grow Multiple Times this Year

/32

Success of WD TV Live Media Player proves the audience’s acceptance

sme chat

/30

Endpoint security is the major concern for SMEs

My experience

editorial

vendors, wake-up to the call of smes sanjay mohapatra editor@smechannels.com

Dear Friends Welcome to SMEChannels. I owe my gratitude to all the industry friends and well wishers for encouraging me to take up a responsive position of being the mouth piece of such an industry, which is vibrant these days.

SMEChannels is just not another magazine rather it is the first magazine for representing the SME solutions. Today, SMEs are at the tipping point of growth where they see themselves as very important constituent to India’s GDP and are definitely the substantial contributor to the country’s economy and generator of maximum number of employment, yet their requirement is not understood by the business enablers clearly.

SMEChannels as the first magazine will endevour to bring out the pain points of the SMEs at the same time unfolding a plethora of solutions, announcements and viewpoints of IT and communication enabler companies. It will be a platform to connect the vendors with its business partners to reach out to the customers.

The magazine is very important for the reason that it not only addresses the SME but also focuses the millions of branch offices, remote offices and satellite offices of the large enterprises, PSUs, BFSIs and the government sector from the IT perspective. Today, every large enterprise has adopted the distributive environment in order to optimize the services, this is where they require a different treatment from the IT and communications vendors.

SMEChannels addresses the industry from the solution perspective not from the enterprise perspective by various sections including cover story to bring out a large issue related to any vertical IT segment or market, SME Buzz to talk about the corporate vendors or channel partners or even emerging markets. Similarly, SME Chat focuses on bringing out view points of industry spokespersons and their channel partners and guest talk talks about the independent view point of the leaders of the IT industry. Besides, magazine covers maximum news of the vendors and their solutions and product review section talks about the products’ quality vis-à-vis its pricing.

Complement this effort, SMEchannels.com and the news service are two efforts to bridge the gap between vendors and the partners making them aware of the latest happenings reaching out to at least 45, 000 subscribers.

In this issue, we have covered the pain points of SMEs from the stand point of technology usage and taken view points of business enablers and building block providers as the cover issues. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Do write into me/us, your feedback will surely help us for moving towards the larger goal.

ASUS Eee PC on AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 processor Part of the Eee PC Seashell Series, ASUS Eee PC 1201T netbook on AMD MV-40 CPU and RS780MN chipset is one of the very good products, which offers superior processing and graphics performance.

Stylishly designed incorporating cues of the Eee PC Seashell series; it also has a large ergonomic chiclet keyboard for unsurpassed comfort to keep your fingers at ease during long hours of working. In spite of the large screen and all the processing muscle, the Super Hybrid Engine lets the netbook deliver a battery life of up to 6 hours.

Specifications With 12.1” Widescreen display with HD 1366 X768 resolution, it vouches for long battery life, the netbook comes with AMD MV40 processor, 2 GB RAM and 320 GB HDD. final wording Priced at Rs.21,490/-, this netbook is value for money for the students and mobile executives. overall rating

sme channels march 2010

1

contents

MAR Volume 01 issue 01

2010

ER COV RY STO

india’s first IT magazine for sme business

Publisher: Sanjib Mohapatra Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Mohapatra Executive Editor Smruti Chaudhury Copy Editor Neil D’Souza Designer: Ravi Kumar Visualizer: Sharada Prashad Lead Visualizer: Manash Ranjan marketing Senior Manager: M Raj Executive- Marketing: Rajat Kumar Circulation and Printing: Panchanan Bhoi SALES contacts Delhi 6/101, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas Phone: 91-11-46151993 / 9958358954 email:raj@smechannels.com New Delhi-110016 Bangalore Subrat S 136/9, Ground Floor, Eden Crest Apartment Grape Garden, Ejipura Vivek Nagar PS Phone: 91-11- 9886107294 Bengaluru-560047 Mumbai Hemal Shah B/14, Neel Ashish Phone: 022-9819597604 92, J.P.road, Andheri (West) Mumbai - 400058 Chennai ThagaPandian No-27, Rajan Street, Kodambakam Phone: 044-43066990

Are You Ready for the SMEs?

Chennai - 24

/20

One of the large contributors to the country’s economy but under estimated and misunderstood. Time has come to change the attitude and hand hold them to create a major impact.

Kolkata S Subhendu BC-286, Laxmi Apartment, Kestopur Phone: 91-11- 9831006527 Kolkata-700101 editorial office

SME CHAT

Ajay Rawal /16 Country Category Manager, Commercial Volume – LaserJet, Imaging & Printing Group, HP India

Bejoy Antony /18 Director Channels & Strategic Alliances for Avaya –India & SAARC Region

Govind Ramamurthy /30 CEO and MD, eScan

SME Buzz Cyberoam to grow multiple times this year /12 Avoids internal competition by intentionally keeping partner numbers low...

Need for colloboration today is higher than before /26

march 2010

info@smechannels.com Bangalore 136/9, Ground Floor, Eden Crest Apartment, Grape Garden, Ejipura Vivek Nagar PS news@smechannels.com

Polycom Choice Partner Programme to ‘go live’ on 1 July 2010

Printed and published by Sanjib Mohapatra from 6/101-102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas Phone: 91-11-46151993 / 9958358954

more inside

New Delhi-110016

Editorial~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 01

Sushil Bandi /32

Book Review~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Country Manager, Western Digital (India)

Product Review~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 34

sme channels

Phone: 91-11-/41055458

Bengaluru-560047

Snippets~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 04

2

Delhi: 6/102, Kaushlya Park, New Delhi-110016

11

Guest Column~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 36

Printed at Ratna Offset, F-29/2, 1st floor, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi 110020, India.

All rights reserved. No part of this public can be reproduced without the prior written permission from the publisher.

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Ken Cheng, Manager, Pan India Sales Dept., Sales & marketing Division, Channel Business Unit, Elitegroup Computer Systems

ECS to Garner 15% Market Share With a focus on IT channel market in India, ECS is all set to go aggressive. Today the company is operating through Rashi Peripherals and SES in India. However, ECS

is more aggressive through Rashi.

Ken Cheng, Manager, Pan India Sales Dept., Sales & marketing Division, Channel Business Unit, Elitegroup Computer Systems,

says, “Rashi is carrying 4 high-end mother board families, where as SES deals in entry-level motherboards because they are more active in tenders. Rashi is more experi-

enced and have more branches.

They take care of ECS brand from the support perspective also.”

The strategy for the company is to launch more products in the Indian market. Very recently they have launched S6M2 - SATA 6Gbps expansion and U3N2 - USB 3.0 expansion cards, ECS H57 and H55 Motherboard Series based on the latest Intel Core i5 and Core i3 processors with Intel HD Graphics technology and motherboards supporting AMD next generation 6-Core CPU. Ken adds, “We are happy with the capability of Rashi Peripheras as they take care of RMA and warranty. They provide 3 years warranty on ECS mother boards.

We also support them in terms of product training and hand holding on the technology.”

Last year, because of the shortage in the chipsets and market downturn, the company was not able to support the partners. Ken wants that the contribution of channels to their motherboard business will be at par with that of the OEM in India, which so far is tilted (80% to 20%) in favor of the latter. However, the company wishes to garner a market share of 15% in the Indian market for the 2010 fiscal.

Kingston targets SME Business with SSDNow V Series Kingston has started shipping its second generation SSDNow V Series solid-state drive (SSD) from February 15.

Targeting mainstream consumers and small and medium businesses, the new Kingston SSDNow V Series offers higher performance than its predecessor and supports Windows 7 TRIM functionality while maintaining pricing.

Capacities are 30GB, 64GB and 128GB and the drive comes as a standalone unit or with a bundled solution for desktop or notebook systems.

“Kingston has really increased the performance on the new second generation SSDNow V Series drive without raising the price, and maintaining pricing will be huge for our customers,” said Nathan Su, of Kingston.

4

sme channels march 2010

Snippets

Symantec relies on 4 point agenda for business growth Symantec like many other IT companies in India relies heavily on the channel partners in their go to market approach. Therefore the person who takes care of channel development in Symantec is key to its business growth. After the exit of Ajay Verma, Vineet Sood is the new Director for Channel Development at Symantec India and the entire responsibility is on his shoulder to drive the business through channel.

Vineet believes that success of the partners leads to the success of Symantec. He says, “One single agenda of ours is to make partners more successful. We will continuously invest in resources and tools to make our community stronger. They should be able to distinguish themselves in the market.”

Symantec believes that it is the combined efforts of Symantec and partners deliver the services to the customers, which the user appreciates. The customer understands the product he is buying from the company is not the piecemeal solutions rather the total solutions. By doing so, the customers reduce the TCO. To empower the channel partners, the company offers several tools. They have symantec partner net, which offers a lot of tools to them. There are white papers, online tools, quotations, etc. online, which enables the partners to understand Symantec technology. Symantec University is another initiative, which offers a lot of learning tools. Here the partners’ learn a technology of Symantec so that they become more confident. There is another programme called SymBrain.

Simmtronics New Mobo focuses on Mainstream Market Priced at Rs 3,400 and supported with 3 years warranty, SIMM INT G-41 E (J) is the new motherboard from the house of Simmtronics.

As a mainstream motherboard, it is based on Intel G41 Chipset and focuses on Video and Graphics intensive applications.

The Intel G41 Express Chipset delivers optimized 3D graphics performance and supports Microsoft DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0 and OpenGL 2.0. Manufactured at Roorkee, Uttranchal, SIMM INT G-41E(J) is powered by next-generation Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500, and includes built-in support for smooth high-definition video playback without the need for add-in video cards or decoders and enhances the customer experience.

Indrajit Sabharwal, Managing Director, Simmtronics Semiconductors Ltd., says, “By launching Motherboard SIMM INT G-41E(J), we are fulfilling our commitment to provide the latest main stream Motherboards. ”

my point

“We are happy to see significant enhancement in funding for education and rural and urban infrastructure, which will drive demand for Information Technology.”

Manoj Chugh

President, India and SAARC, EMC Corporation

ZyXEL ZLD v2.20 firmware provides more features ZyXEL launches the new ZyWALL ZLD v2.20 firmware solution for its Unified Security Product Series. The update provides customers with more comprehensive features for easy deployment, unbeatable performance and low operating costs.

The new ZyXEL ZLD v2.20 firmware provides more than 90 improved and new features to help users deploying the ZyXEL Unified Security products with even less effort. The benefits and additional enhancements not only guarantee better security, but also offer all necessary mechanisms to enforce network protection.

Unveiled at CeBIT 2010, the new ZyWALL firmware ZLD 2.20 received great feedbacks from booth visitors.

Transcend DDR3 Kits for Intel Core i5 Transcend launches 4GB aXeRam DDR3-2000 memory kits for Intel Core i5 platforms in India.

The XMP-ready DDR3 kits are designed to operate at a blazing-fast clock frequency of 2000 MHz with an exceptionally low voltage of just 1.65V. Featuring memory bandwidth up to an incredible 32GB/s, Transcend’s new aXeRam dual-channel memory kit is rated at 2000MHz with timings of 9-9-9-24. Priced at Rs.13,500, it comes with Lifetime warranty.

Strontium Memory for Mac and iMac Strontium focuses Macbook, Macbook Pro and iMac systems by launching a new memory module christened Mac Memory These memory modules are 667MHz and 1066MHz solutions, available as 2GB single piece, 4GB single piece, 4GB (2 x 2 GB modules) kit or 8GB (2 x 4 GB modules) kit.

Utilizing performance IC’s from Hynix, Samsung and Micron, Mac Edition SODIMMs from Strontium help unleash the high performance potential of Apple platforms. Available with life time warranty, these modules are available in a price range of Rs3300 to Rs.21750 for various capacities.

sme channels march 2010

5

Snippets

Allied Telesis leverages India support centre for cashing customers’ confidence Already known for its product strategy, Allied Telesis has recently invested substantially on its support set up in India. The company has seen good amount of traction in most of the vertical markets and in order to support growth, the company has launched a support centre.

Subhasish Gupta, Country Manager (India & SAARC), Allied Telesis, says, “It was a natural extension of our operation in India. Our Customers are very happy these days owing to our support centre in India. This is controlled from Bangalore and supports 55 locations.”

As per Subhasish, the company has spent half a million in this facility.

The secret of the company’s growth in India is its solution approach. Allied Telesis is focused on most of the verticals but especially heavy industries, entertainment, education, hospitality sector and government business are what attract them the most. Subhasish adds, “Today, companies like Bhushan Power & Steel, Jindal Steel, etc., are becoming larger base for Allied Telesis solutions.”

These companies after building the core network are moving out to distributive computing set Subhasish Gupta, Country Manager (India up by opening branch offices, townships, etc., where Allied Telesis fits in. Similarly, in the hospitality & SAARC), Allied Telesis sector, Allied Telesis is actively present in IPTV solutions.

Having said that, the company is also focused on Indian SME sector though the contribution from this sector is not much. Towards this, the company is getting more into distribution channel by training the partners on Allied Telesis solutions and understanding their requirements. The good thing about the company is that it offers good bottom line and very selective about the partner engagements in every geography. At present, Allied Telesis is represented by four distributors in India i.e. Inflow Technologies, Netplace Technologies, Interface Connectronics and Tecnomic Marketing. .

Cyberoam Enhances SSL VPN Delivery Mechanism for Remote Offices Cyberoam offers flexibility to the customers in terms of its SSL VPN security by bringing out three flavours. The company offers the security as an integrated solution along with VMware based virtual appliance, a Dedicated Appliance and a Software Installation.

With this launch, Cyberoam enhances its delivery mechanism in the remote office security solutions space for SSL VPN security platforms fitting into typical pattern of meeting their individual security guidelines and infrastructure.

Organizations are increasingly demanding more flexibility of choice in their solutions purchase so that they fill current gaps in the security infrastructure rather than simply lie on top of existing solutions. In this scenario, they find the “virtual appliances” model very attractive because these help in achieving greater ROI and optimal utilization of hardware making the business operations more eco-friendly.

Cyberoam’s SSL VPN solutions allows clientless browser-based access to geographicallydistributed networks through common web browsers, with an “in-office” experience for internal applications.

6

sme channels march 2010

Brocade and McAfee to Cooperate on Network Security In a bid to deliver a broad set of fully interoperable end-to-end network security solutions, Brocade and McAfee have entered a strategic partnership. As part of the deal, Brocade will work in conjunction with McAfee to integrate critical security capabilities into the Brocade family of networking products.

The pairing of leading-edge Brocade networking products with McAfee’s extensive security capabilities enables customers to deploy and maintain highly reliable and secure network environments – from endpoint to the edge and the core – that are protected against a wide range of security threats, including malicious activities, data breaches, network intrusions and policy violations.

As a part of an open technology architecture approach, Brocade and McAfee are collaborating on a set of jointly designed, interoperable solutions developed specifically to address the network security needs of enterprise customers.

FortiAP offers Secure Access Available in Q3, FortiAP family of products are Fortinet’s new thin access points (AP). Comes in two variants - FortiAP-210 and FortiAP-220, these products support the latest IEEE 802.11n standards, and are designed to provide wireless networking capabilities for mid-enterprise and service-provider customers with a total user-base or distributed networks of 250-5,000 users.

The FortiAP line will work in conjunction with Fortinet’s FortiGate multi-threat security appliances, acting as the thin access-point controller, to provide a single platform that combines high-performance wireless networking with the industry’s broadest integrated network protection.

Snippets

Dus Ka Dum of Emerson Emerson Network launches ‘2010(Dus) ka Dum’ offer for its channel partners across India. The scheme is applicable on the sale of Emerson products ITON series, LIEBERT GXT MT SERIES, Super 400 D series and Powerbank UPS systems.

“The scheme is aimed at driving partners to push the sale of UPS systems and create a profitable proposition for themselves with a well planned purchase pattern for Emerson products,” says Ankesh Kumar, Senior Product Manager (Channel) & Head – Marcom Emerson Network Power (India) Pvt. Ltd. Clearly, the objective this Q1 is to push small & micro range of UPS to consumers, which is evident with higher point brackets stacked against products like GXT MT 6kVA, 10kVA, Powerbank 6kVA and Super 400D 10 & 20kVA. Channel partners can look to fetch as many as 40 points for sale of 1 unit of MT 6 kVA with maximum of 200 points for Super 400D 20 kVA. As part of this scheme, channel partners can buy Emerson UPS systems and earn points. The partners can then exchange the points against the prizes, which could include a lot of products starting from Jabra Bluetooth head set till LG42” LCD TV, Apple Mac Book or evern refrigerator.

Uniline to Foray Into Home Inverter Market in FY ‘10 Unline Energy System, the Delhi-based power solutions vendors, looks at FY 2010-11 as a progressive year.

The company is all set to embark upon three-pronged strategy to address the market.

It includes entering into solar UPS systems, manufacturing, higher capacity UPS and foraying into domestic user inverter market.

R. K. Bansal, Managing Director, Uniline Energy R. K. Bansal, MD, System, says, “We have the product of international Uniline Energy System standard and we have already supplied higher KVA systems to the organizations so it is not difficult for us but the interesting part is that we are very likely to enter into domestic user inverter market.”

Why not? The company has two state-of-the-art manufacturing plants - one at Okhla, New Delhi and another at Parwanoo (H.P.). Specially the latter one is responsible for the inverter manufacturing and the company has offices virtually in every state and dealers in ever location to cater products to the markets.

Mr. Bansal, maintains, “Although we have a very strong base of IT channel partners but we will focus on the dealers specialized in electrical products. We will also target the consultants and electrical contractors. We will enable them and train them on the technology.”

He adds, “For each of the product lines, we will have different strategy and channel partners. It is equally easy and difficult task for us to deal with the electrical channel as they already are dealing in various inverter brands from a long time but their number is high unlike the IT channel partners, who are very restricted in number.”

Executive movement

India PC Market down by 4.8% in CY 2009 The downfall of the market is primarily because of the downslide of Desktop PC market which has gone -8.1% in the year, where as Notebook PCs have grown with very slim margin of 3.3%. (figures in no. of units shipment)

52,08,046

Notebook PCs CY 2008

8

sme channels march 2010

Total Client PCs CY 2009

Source: IDC India

Desktop PCs

23,91,609

3.3% 23,15,214

56,64,436

-8.1%

75,99,655

79,79,650

-4.8%

Praveen Sahai has been appointed as director of sales for Iomega in India and SAARC. Symantec announces the appointment of Vineet Sood as head of channel and alliances in India.

YV Verma is the new COO at LG, he was primarily the head of human resource, over the past few years.

Micro Village announces the appointment of V.R. Kirubakaran as Director – Business Development for their India & SAARC operations.

Milind Tamhane is the New VP for ITS Sales at Digilink

Snippets

Champion to launch Desktops in April Champion Computers, Delhibased distributor and channel partner for Western Digital, Transcend, Samsung, Intel, Imation, Seagate, etc. has come a long way from being a trading partner for the branded components and peripherals to be a branded PC player in the country.

3-4 months back, Champion Computers had forayed into PC segment by launching Champion band UMPC. Priced at around Rs.13, 500 for the entry level models, these mobile computers are based on Intel Atom processor and 160 GB SATA drives. All PCs are withWiFi inbuilt and 1 year warranty support. These notebooks are focused on the students and executives, who look for a second notebook.

The advantage of the company is that it has

branch offices across 14 locations in the country, which are also capable of supporting the partners on the products. It also has at least 2-3 dealers in each city. Leveraging the strength, Kapil wishes to launch desktops and mainstream notebooks in the month of April 2010.

Under Champion brand, the company has a lot of peripherals and components including memories, flash products, keyboards, motherboards, casings, SMPS, etc.

In terms of marketing the products, Champion is also participating in various trade shows and exhibitions across the country. At the same time, the company also does not lose the opportunity to incentivize its partners by offering various schemes.

digest GlacialStars launches IceLight GlacialTech unveils Ice Light case fan with LED function. “IceLight” twister bearing LED fans comes with all features expected from GlacialStars “Twister” technology including detachable fan blades. GlacialStars Ice Light case fan makes your PC stand out and refined.

GlacialStars IceLight comes in two different types- blue and coloured to match your choice and colour scheme of your PC.

eStorm 10 city CXO series launched Empowering CxO community towards ‘Maximizing the IT impact with minimal budgets’, iValue has rolled out iValue eStorm, a focused customer CXO series event starting from Bangalore later in nine other cities across India over the year 2010. Among the vendors,

HP gets cosy with SMBs HP goes all out for addressing SMBs in India. It is believed that the SMB market constitutes 8 million businesses and accounts for 30 per cent of the total commercial IT spend in India.

Keeping this high rise growth trajectory of the sector, HP has unveiled a series of state-of-the-art products and solutions specially designed to leverage IT for business growth, achieve sustainability through green IT and create immersive experiences for better customer intimacy.

Sunil Dutt – VP & GM – Personal Systems Group, HP India, says, “We at HP understand if the organizations have innovative technologies and customers’ understanding in the right place, there is no dream which is too big and there is no market which is too small.”

Huawei-Symantec, Loglogic and Parallels are the major vendors participating along with iValue for these customer series events.

Dell acquires KACE to help SME companies In order to expand Dell’s system management solution basket, Dell is about to acquire KACE, a leading systems management appliance company with solutions tailored to the requirements of midsized businesses and public (government, education and healthcare) institutions. KACE provides comprehensive and affordable solutions through the awardwinning KBOX systems-management and deployment appliances which carry a wide range of capabilities. These appliances are ideally suited for midsized operations that

Rashi to distribute Targus products

Lenovo Bundles Sophos Solutions

Targus, a mobile lifestyle products vendor, appoints Rashi Peripherals as its National Distributor for its entire range of products.

Targus will leverage its global leadership position and continuously develop the channels in India through Rashi. Rajesh Goenka, VP – Sales and Marketing, Rashi Peripherals, said, “Partnering with Targus is a value add for our distribution kitty. We will now be able to provide world class laptop and PDA accessories to the Indian consumers through our supply channel. We will work closely with the Targus India team to facilitate branding and marketing of the products.”

Sophos and Lenovo shake hands to offer Sophos security and data protection technology bundles with Lenovo Think-branded PCs to corporate customers. Lenovo will also promote Sophos’s threat protection solution.

“We‘re excited to work with Lenovo to offer Sophos’s proactive endpoint security to their customers especially as businesses are bombarded with an increasing number of sophisticated threats and tighter regulations to secure confidential data,” said Mike McGuinness, senior vice president of worldwide sales and field operations at Sophos.

typically are staffed by IT generalists.

Websense rolls out global MSSP Programme Websense has kicked off managed security service provider (MSSP) program. The dramatic rise in Web-based and blended attacks is driving the adoption of security solutions that address the need for security that enables expanding use of Web-based applications, online collaboration tools and email in order to utilize, exchange and share data. With the growth in adoption of Web, email and data loss prevention technologies, organizations are increasingly looking to managed security service providers to manage and support these new IT security systems in their enterprise.

sme channels march 2010

9

Snippets

Intel Pushes Out Vpro For Core i5, i7 Processors Intel has announced a new VPro platform for its Core processors to make remote maintenance and management of PCs easier in an enterprise.

Laptops and desktops with vPro technology enable IT administrators to use hardware-based technologies to manage and secure PCs through a wired or wireless network. The new vPro technologies will be in systems with Intel’s Core i5 and Core i7 processors, which were announced earlier this year, Intel executives said.

The vPro platform includes new hardware that can solve a larger number of problems than prior vPro platforms. The technologies could help reduce support costs and the number of support visits to desktops, said Rick Echevarria, Vice President of the Intel Architecture Group.

The new platform includes KVM Remote Control, which gives support personnel better control of PCs remotely.

Lenovo Debuts First All-Partner Offer Lenovo has celebrated the launch of its latest ThinkPad Edge Series and ThinkPad X100e with an exciting new offer, Wings2Fly, for its entire partner community of over 70,000 in India.

Wings2Fly was Lenovo’s first all partner offer for the partners to win a three-nights-and-four-day holiday package to Dubai, on the purchase of a bundle of 23 Think-branded PCs, comprising 20 ThinkCentre desktops and 3 ThinkPad notebooks during February.

D-Link Xtreme N DIR-685, a Real Extreme Router Focusing the home segment, D-Link introduces all-in-one home router that combines powerful 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity with network attached storage (NAS), USB device-sharing, digital photo frame, Internet content player, FTP server and Green technology in a sleek, compact desktop design.

The D-Link Xtreme N DIR-685 sports a stylish upright design for easy viewing of the vibrant 3.2-inch LCD screen powered by FrameChannel that displays device status via graphical gauges, and serves as a digital photo frame by showing digital photos, streamed video, weather forecasts and other live stream Priced at Rs.15,000, D-Link N DIR-685 will be available throughout the country with 1 year warranty soon.

Trend Micro offers Hosted Service for Small Business

Epson Revenue up by 20% in 2009

Trend Micro has rolled out a hosted service for small businesses using its Worry-Free Business Security products. Part of this, the company will give the channel partners the breadth and depth of solutions for their customers.

They are designed to help alleviate some of the cost, margin and productreliability challenges channel partners face, especially in tough economic times.

Worry-Free Business Security Services sets up and installs in three easy steps so that a partner s cost of sale dramatically reduce. As a hosted solution, and through the benefits of Trend Micro Worry-Free Remote Manager, partners have the ability to provide on-going services at zero cost for multiple customers from one interface, explains Amit Nath, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro.

On the occasion of its annual nDimension Awards for Epson Certified Channel Partners (ECC’s), in Goa, Epson revealed that it has grown by approximately 20% during the year and closed the year 2009 with a market share of 20% in Inkjet printers, 55% in Dot Matrix printers (No. 1) and 15% in Projectors (No. 1).

At the presence of 140 partners from around the country for 3 days in Goa, Epson presented its road map and plans for each of the product categories. On this occasion, there was an exhibition of all the Epson products placed in the actual potential user settings.

10 sme channels march 2010

book review

Developing Web APPLICATIONS in PHP and Ajax Following step-by-step instructions this book takes the readers to the web development.

By Smruti C info@smechannels.com

details author BM Harwani publisher McGraw Hill price Rs. 425 Pages 415

A

MP (Apache, PHP and MySQL) and AJAX are among the most popular programming languages as they support a variety of databases and help develop websites rapidly and economically. The growing demand for them thus brings in the dire need for a systematic understanding and use of those tools for developing highly responsive websites and fully functional web applications.

Written from the author’s vast teaching

and research experience, developing web applications in PHP and Ajax caters to this need of professionals, trainings web developers and students. The author has tried to keep the treatment of topics simple and have explained every statement used in the manipulation of database tables via PHP scripts. Once the reader has a firm grasp of the technique of updating database tables, s/he can easily understand the steps involved in developing a shopping Cart project.

The book explains features applications of PHP, PHP scripts, PHP frameworks and instructions for installing Apache server, PHP and MySQL servers. It also discusses functions of AJAX, steps for installing Ajax, and step-by-step procedure of developing an AJAX – based shopping cart project. It also demonstrates the use of NuSoAP tool kit for developing servers- and client- side web services and consuming publicly available web services.

There are all total 12 chapters and there is an index section to guide the users to go to the individual pages easily. In each of the chapter there are step-by-step instructions. The book also has very elaborate picturesque explanation of each step of development making the development very interesting.

Written by BM Harwani, it is surely helpful for the developers. Harwani is the MD of Microchip computer education (MCE), Ajmer. He holds a BE degree in computer engineering from the university of Pune and a ‘C’-level master’s diploma in computer technology from DOEACC.

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sme channels march 2010

11

SME Buzz

Cyberoam

cyberoam

to Grow

Multiple Times

this Year

Avoids internal competition by intentionally keeping partner numbers low but in case it is so the company has a proper system of lead locking through deal tracker By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com

Facts about Founded

:

1999

Headquarters

:

Ahmedabad

Key people

:

Hemal Patel, Nikhil Jain, Tushar Sighat

Industry

:

Network security, Internet security, Security appliances

Products

:

Cyberoam (UTM) - Unified Threat Management Appliances (Includes Firewall, VPN, Antispyware, Antispam, Intrusion-prevention system, Content Filtering Bandwidth Management, Multilink Management, On Appliance Reporting over a single appliance); Cyberoam Central Console (CCC); Cyberoam SSL VPN Appliance; Cyberoam Endpoint data protection Suite (Data Protection & Encryption, Device Control, Application Control & Asset Management); Cyberoam iView (Intelligent Logging and Reporting) – Open Source

Limitations

:

Cyberoam UTM does not provide anti-virus and anti-spam, IPS & Content Filtering with purchase of basic DPU. It needs to purchase as subscription. The sheer number of features can be overwhelming for small offices

Employees

:

400+

Website

:

http://www.cyberoam.com/

12 sme channels march 2010

S

ecurity is one of the prime concerns for all types of enterprises - be it small enterprise or very large enterprises. But in case of the large enterprises, they are able to handle the security issues by virtue of their rich pocket and manpower where as small to medium enterprises become victim of that. Neither they do have deep pocket nor can they actually manage the impact. So any kind of security issues, directly impacts the bottom line of the companies. In this given condition, security vendors should be proactive in terms of their solutions to address the issues. It is more for the reason that the market is too limited and too competitive to be adamant.

Every one is saying that the market is really large but the reality is that the market where the real transaction happens is limited and there are many players to take the same pie. It is those vendors to thrive in this market who have innovative approach to the market.

Cyberoam

Cyberoam, the home-grown security solutions vendor, which has taken the solutions from India to the global market, is one of those vendors who have thrived on being close to understanding the security need of each of the enterprises categories.

The flagship products of the company are UTMs, which are purely Identity based and provides high performance. These are affordable and provide lower TCO. In the SSL VPN solutions space, Cyberoam is among very few providers to bring maximum choice in flexibility with three modes of delivery – dedicated appliance; virtual VMware based appliance and software installer in customer machines. All these technology are developed in-house with the objective simplifying the increasingly complex task of successfully deploying its UTM appliances at client location, while at the same time reducing support queries.

Cyberoam differentiates on its ability to bring security solutions that specifically address the business challenges faced by organizations.

Hemal Patel, CEO, Elitecore Technologies, says, “We put a lot of effort in researching their requirements, and bring focused solutions for the same.

For example when we knew that our customers wanted high performance to enable business continuity, we introduced multi-core software architecture in our CR200i and CR300i appliances.

Multi-core processing increases performance as they rely on more than one processor core for computing tasks. The enhanced multi-core aware architecture makes parallel execution of multiple network sessions possible.”

Cyberoam provides the UTM solutions in the industry that is based on user identity. Cyberoam UTM embeds user identity in the firewall rule matching criteria offering instant visibility and proactive controls over security breaches, thereby eliminating dependence on IP addresses.

Cyberoam also offers User-MAC Address binding that binds the username to the computer preventing unauthorized network access

SME Buzz

by abusing someone else’s network rights. This delivers greater security and data confidentiality.

Cyberoam’s identity-based security links all the UTM features offering a single point of entry to apply policies for multiple features, delivering truly unified controls with ease-of-use.

He adds, “Of late, our foray into SSL VPN solutions in a big way reflects business trends for demand in the remote security solutions space, offering our partners the opportunity to participate in a big way.”

2010 is very important for the company, although in the past two years when the entire industry had witnessed negative growth Cyberoam had a very positive growth.

The strategy is very clear to grow multiple times this year. Looking at the optimism in the market place, Cyberoam has adopted a multi-pronged strategy.

From the Product perspective, the year 2010 has started with two key product launches. The first

sme channels 13 march 2010

SME Buzz

Cyberoam

one was Cyberoam iView logging and reporting appliance introduced for SMEs and enterprises, bringing with it offerings such as terabyte storage space, single point network visibility and easy to deploy functionality. This appliance launch came on the heels of growing SMB-enterprise demand for dedicated logging-reporting solutions that offer visibility into user activity across distributed networks while meeting regulatory compliance requirements.

The second launch event was around Cyberoam’s latest SSL VPN offering in virtual platform, as well as through a dedicated appliance and a software installer in customer machines, thereby providing more flexibility of choice to organizations in purchasing secure remote access solutions that meet their individual security guidelines and infrastructure.

Cyberoam will continue to add several new products to its security portfolio this year. Across our flagship product Cyberoam Unified Threat Management range of appliances itself, we will introduce key feature enhancements which would improve performance and capacity across all our appliance range, from SOHO/ROBO to SME and enterprise segments.

SSL VPN is another key focus area, since the global market size for SSL VPN products was estimated at $500 million in 2008, and will continue to show remarkable growth in the light of several

organizations increasingly depending on mobile workers for their business needs. Providing them with secure access to corporate networks is a huge priority for them From the Marketing and Sales perspective, the company is highly committed to strengthen our product presence in India with partner program initiatives such as increasing the number of Tier-I partners, and equipping them with the right amount of skills-set to sell, manage, integrate, plan and implement Cyberoam solutions.

Hemal maintains, “Since, we are bringing in so many different product launches this year, we will continue to build “Partner loyalty” programs with measures such as partner portals, training in sales and technology, strategic marketing programs, business planning, attractive discounts, and investment incentives designed to build awareness.”

He adds, “We are also planning several major security events and partner roadshows for our partners including key distributors, resellers and system integrators across India, allowing them to witness new introductions in the Cyberoam product family, and how it is relevant to their own revenue growth.”

Similarly, from the training and certification perspective, Cyberoam’s training and certification programs aim to broaden their scope with more training workshops to make sure sales

or technical professional working with a channel partner dealing in Cyberoam products are better capable of advising their customers in security matters and in effectively securing their networks.

The complete go to market of the company is through the channel partners. In return, Cyberoam delivers high margins and profit earning opportunities which includes share in support contracts.

Hemal says, “We shall continue to bring high levels of technical support, training and marketing. Cyberoam support to them is not limited to just training and lead generation, but extends support to important prospect meetings as well as guiding key installations. We enable our customers every step of the way, to solve their technical problems.”

Apart from conducting road shows and workshops as part of its partner recruitment drive, this year’s focus will be also include: l Reinforcing Cyberoam Partner Loyalty Program: the company will aim to increase partners who are mostly attached to Cyberoam products in their profile. This would be done through attractive schemes as well as Gold, Platinum membership profiles. l Increasing Tier-I Partners: the company will continue to increase our numbers of partners in Tier-I cities while helping them with co-mar-

cyberoam product road map This year the company is paying more attention towards SME and enterprise seg-

SSL VPN and Endpoint Data Protection

ments with sharper focus on their specific security requirements, with an aim

Since, enterprises hold valuable information, data Leakage prevention is another key con-

to improve performance and capacity across all our appliance range. With each

cern for which the Cyberoam recently introduced its Cyberoam Endpoint Data Protection

increasing version release, Cyberoam brings in significant new enhancements and

suite. Also, the company has developed focus for enterprises is SSL VPN offerings in a big

bug fixes to improve the quality, reliability and performance of its UTM appliances.

way, since there is a proliferation of mobile workers in enterprises who demand secure, remote access multiple locations including home, client networks, public kiosks, hotspots

Greater Flexibility in Choice for SMEs

over varied devices like laptops, mobile devices and home and public desktops.

For the SME customers, the company had succeeded in its 2009 efforts at introducing new powerful models such as CR200i and CR300i. This enables them to

New Technologies Support

improve their choice criteria in matching the right solution within their unique

Cyberoam UTM, in keeping with industry trends, is slated to support the following

security and performance requirements. In order to address rising performance

technology areas in the coming future:

requirements of this high growth segment, we will bring new offerings.

1. IPV6 – Continued concern over the eventual exhaustion of publicly available IPv4 addresses is causing many organizations to more seriously plan their move

Greater Flexibility in Choice for Large Enterprises

to the IPv6 standard in the near term. The performance requirements to support

Present trends in enterprise security continue to suggest the need for dependable,

increasing its capacity to support IPV6, with ground-breaking performance.

high performance security that meets their gigabit

this new standard are also very high. Cyberoam UTM, is therefore, working towards 2. Virtualization/Cloud Computing – Cyberoam is aware that organizations

requirements in addition to centralized net-

in the future would be increasingly running applications on the cloud so it is work-

work visibility and control over distributed

ing towards making its security solutions scalable to accommodate their needs.

offices. We plan to improve their purchase flexibility with newer appliances.

14 sme channels march 2010

With the launch of Cyberoam SSL VPN virtual appliance based on VMware platform, we have already made a strong headway in this space.

Cyberoam

SME Buzz

final question

Which products are going to drive your market?

Hemal Patel, CEO, Elitecore Technologies

According to Frost & Sullivan, the integrated security appliance industry in India will continue to hold promise for 2010, with Y-o-Y growth of 30~35%. Therefore, Cyberoam Unified Threat Management appliances will continue to dominate our total sales strategy. A UTM sports features such as firewall, VPN, anti-virus, anti-spam, IDS and IPS, content filtering, bandwidth management, multiple load balancing and gateway failover over a single platform.

Moreover, the UTM market has been found favoring hardware appliances rather than software applications. Some other reasons favoring the continued expansion of UTM hardware appliance products in India are

Blended Threats Point solutions are no longer sufficient to protect the enterprise from blended attacks.

Therefore, organizations need a unified approach that protects their networks and business users from blended attacks and technology misuse while decreasing their operating costs.

Ease of installation and use Software-based security products require multi-vendor support, a server (one vendor), server operating system (Windows, Linus, Unix, Solaris etc.) and then the security software itself. Appliances based solutions are from a single vendor.

Higher TCO for point solutions All-in-one security appliances offer reduced TCO by minimizing the number of security solutions deployed and cost savings in management and implementation overheads such as training, maintenance, installation and upgrades.

Deploying an appliance-based solution ensures that the product is hardened for the application that it is meant for.

keting activities and lead generation campaigns, comprehensive sales and marketing materials, regular technical updates and training with technical certification. l Partner Portal: A dedicated partner portal is being developed and made more interactive, so that partners are able to interact live with our support team. l Training and Other Activities: With the onset of so many products under the Cyberoam banner, the need to equip our partners with the right skills-set to operate these products is high on our priority list. Accordingly, our training programmes will be inclusive of these trends.

To cope with the growth of this year, Cyberoam will keep looking for new partners, especially in untapped regions and are looking forward to a sizeable increase in partner strength this year.

It should be noted Cyberoam avoids internal competition by intentionally keeping partner numbers low but in case it is so the company has a proper system of lead locking through deal tracker that completely does away with the problem of one partner unjustifiably missing a deal because of another.

Support is always a concern for every organization and more for the SME organizations.

Keeping this in mind, Cyberoam offers a post-sales support facility which extends across web support through a customer account, a chat support through Live chat facility, email support and telephonic support with toll-free number.

For partners, in addition to these, the company is planning to have a dedicated partner portal for technical assistance related to product demo and proof-of-concept.

Cyberoam Support Programs offer a comprehensive range of support services that best suit partner needs. Basic, Advanced and Premium levels of support give increased value and benefits based on your organizational requirements.

Partners can log into the Cyberoam support, site http://www.cyberoam.com/mcontracts.html and get more info on this.

Finally‌ Apart from our UTM products, the company has now increased its security product presence in several other categories including remote access solution, endpoint data protection and loggingreporting appliances. Out of these, Cyberoam sees huge anticipated demand in remote access solutions space. According to Gartner, the market for SSL VPN products alone was at $500 million in 2008, and with an increase in mobility requirements for VPN, we will see continued surge in demand for our new offerings in SSL VPN products.

sme channels 15 march 2010

sme chat

Ajay Rawal, Country Category Manager, Commercial Volume – LaserJet, Imaging & Printing Group, HP India

“SME segment continues to be key focus area for IPG” HP is one of the largest organizations for fulfilling most of the IT requirements of every organization, and for SMEs, they are one of the preferred organizations too from the perspective of imaging and printing solutions. SME Channels wanted to have a thorough understanding of the company’s approach and spoke to Ajay Rawal, Country Category Manager, Commercial Volume – LaserJet, Imaging & Printing Group, HP India. Excerpt

What is HPs overall strategy for SME segments in 2010?

As a part of our strategy for SME clusters, HP has launched a 360 degree initiative to encourage companies to adopt technology that makes a difference to their business. The HP colour printing solutions can help companies save up to 25 percent over a period of three years.

SMEs can save space by using a single printing solution that enables black and white printouts from a colour printer at the same cost as that on a mono LaserJet, which eliminates the need to buy two printers for the office.

Our key initiatives for customers include the availability of the company’s much-indemand laser printers – both monochrome and colour printing solutions – at best prices. HP is also organizing free service camps for those who own HP’s laser printers across the country till Jan 31, 2010.

Valid in the cities of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, the service camps will enable customers to get their HP printers checked at no cost, and replacement of parts will also be a part of this customer care initiative.

16 sme channels march 2010

For those who are looking to begin the year with a brand new printer, HP will also offer buy-back programs where customers can exchange their old HP LaserJet for a brand new one.

Additionally, there are attractive offers on purchase of select cartridges. Those who opt to buy two toner cartridges with for their HP LaserJet P1007/P1008, the company is offering one year additional warranty on the printer.

To ensure that we are where our customers are, we have also expanded our presence in the region by partnering with retail and micro retail outlets. As the demand for HP printing solutions grows in the SME clusters, we will continue to build our strategy to support our growth across the country.

Some of the key initiatives being undertaken with channel partners include setting up of HP demo zones for customers in the retail shops, ongoing trainings for partners to update them on the latest HP laser technology and roadshows that will give channel partners an opportunity to explore the possibilities that HP’s LaserJet portfolio creates for customers

What are HP’s market expectations with this initiative?

As a market leader in printing industry in India, HP has consistently worked towards identifying, understanding and addressing needs of customers. With today’s customer and channel initiatives, HP is further reinforcing its commitment to delivering the best printing experience.

We strongly believe we understand the customer requirements better, and offer him ‘THE BEST’, which is a key differentiator for the brand.

This places us in an advantageous position to optimize the growth in SME segment.Is HP focusing the business clusters, if yes, whether the partners are empowered to deliver?

The SME sector in India is currently focusing on cutting costs, and obtaining more value from their IT investments making every rupee spent count. SME segment continues to be key focus area for HP’s Imaging and Printing Group (IPG). HP’s solutions enables SMEs to optimize their printing environment driving down printing costs, reducing energy consumption, while helping them leverage print management tools and renew their printer fleet. Channel partners

sme chat

“Channel education will continue to be an intrinsic part of our strategy and we will focus on increasing our engagements with them” form an integral part of the HP fraternity in India. To ensure that they are ahead of others when it comes to understanding technology and the dynamics of the imaging and printing business, we at HP regularly undertake initiatives such as training programs, roadshows, seminars to ensure that partners are in sync with HP’s product strategy.

Companies can depend on HP and our channel partners to help them with immediate and near-term ways to cut their operating costs, optimize and enhance productivity in

their output environment. During the past six months, HP India has conducted numerous channel programs to engage and educate its business partners on virtues of its product portfolio.

Could you share details of the channel education programmes that you are introducing in Punjab?

We have ongoing initiatives to educate our channel partners on the latest technologies that HP has to offer. Some of the key initiatives that are being undertaken with them for the ‘best-sellers’ initiative include: l Set up of HP demo zones in the retail shops that will not only enable channel partners to experience the technology, but also provide a better experience to customers who visit the retail shop l Ongoing trainings for partners to update them on the latest HP laser technology, and the best way of selling those to customers l Roadshows that will give channel partners an opportunity to explore the possibilities that HP’s LaserJet portfolio creates for customers

How many partners are SME focused?

We have a large base of Business and Premier Business Partners who focus on the mid market space. HP Sales engagement, trainings and programs enable these partners to focus on the SME segment.

What is the overall channel strategy for HP this year?

Our channel strategy has evolved around our core strategy to provide best products, service and support to our customers. We have spent a great amount of time in choosing our partners who fit into this strategy. We have tied-up and rolled out our products with partners who offer expertise in select areas, which has worked for us. And, as the industry evolves, we will plan our product distribution strategy in a way that is most effective in providing our customers with the best printing experience. Channel education will continue to be an intrinsic part of our strategy and we will focus on increasing our engagements with them through forums where they can learn more about our products.

sme channels 17 march 2010

sme chat

Bejoy Antony, Director Channels & Strategic Alliances for Avaya – India & SAARC Region

“Avaya Connect Launched to Empower Channel Partners“ SME market is one of the thriving markets in India. Their contribution to the country’s economy is substantial. To grow their business, quality communications infrastructure is absolutely necessary and Avaya can understand their requirements better. To delve deep into the vendor’s preparedness, SME Channels had a chat with Bejoy Antony, Director Channels & Strategic Alliances for Avaya –India & SAARC Region. Excerpt.

How does Avaya perceive the SME market in India and what is the market size of the same?

According to a study by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners in January 2010, SMBs in India took requisite steps to increase revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009. These SMBs are set to spend US$4.49B on ICT in the next three months, as per AMI Partners. At Avaya, SMEs are defined as organizations with up to 250 employees and it’s definitely a growth area for us in India. We are focused on designing, building and marketing complete communications systems for the SME segment.

What is the company’s preparedness for addressing the SMEs? As mentioned, SMEs are a critical segment for us and our efforts are centered towards providing efficient solutions to their business needs. We have an SME Sales team focusing just on this segment.

We have also recently appointed two national level distributors in Redington and Bharti

18 sme channels march 2010

Teletech to give us the reach in cities where we are not directly present. Both these distributors, along with their channel partners, will sell our Unified Communications and Contact Center solutions across India.

What are the products ranges you have for the SMEs? Avaya IP Office: Avaya IP Office offers small businesses a scalable, state-of-the-art solution for telephony, messaging, networking, conferencing, customer management, and unified communications. Avaya’s IP Office helps deliver the following results: Connectivity and reliability: With personal extensions, transfer capability, paging, and auto attendant for after-hours, employees can receive calls more quickly and efficiently. They can access messages either by phone or by computer. The system has proven to be highly reliable, with virtually no outages or downtime Enhanced user satisfaction and productivity: Employees experience greater productivity with more efficient tools for serving their customers.

They are no longer frustrated by lost or garbled messages retrieved from the answering machine, and they appreciate being able to prioritize calls on their PCs. The off-hours duty person can screen calls Outstanding customer service: Customers reach company personnel quickly and receive answers to their inquiries in expedited fashion.

All calls are answered in person during business hours. During after-hours, routine messages are recorded in individual voicemail boxes, rather than on a message machine that serves the whole company; emergency calls are routed directly to the on-call person. These enhancements help the company to deliver on their promise of superior customer service 24/7, which is essential for gaining new business and retaining customers Investment protection: The IP Office solution offers scalability to meet almost every future need of the business What is your channel strategy for the SMEs? The New Avaya, post Nortel Enterprise acquisi-

sme chat

“We have recently appointed two national level distributors in Redington and Bharti Teletech to give us the reach in cities where we are not directly present”

tion, has been moving towards a high-touch, channel centric (HTCC) sales model.

We have also launched our Channel Partner Program called Avaya Connect recently. Partners can take advantage of enhanced technical and marketing benefits through the Avaya Connect Partner Program, which helps them attract and serve customers better.

We also have a slew of marketing initiatives in the pipelines, one of which is being rolled out as we speak. We are organizing a 6 city roadshow for channel partners to showcase the integrated product roadmap to the partner community. A demo for IP Office is also being organized for our SMB Channels, which will surely enable the partners to deliver maximum value.

How are you empowering the partners to address the SMEs? In the last few months, we have conducted sales/ presales training for our partners in various cities.

We have also conducted live demos of IP office in cities which are being covered in our 6 city roadshow across India. Besides this we are encouraging our partners to register and participate in our online self paced learning portal “Avaya University “. To meet the needs of SME customer base we are engaging with our national distributors on effective stocking of voice & data products.

What is your support strategy for them since they are quite dispersed in presence?

Our endeavor to support SME customers is entirely partner leveraged. Many of our partners have invested in Demo gear and spares to meet the entry levels of post sales support requirements of end customers. For sales /presales support we have launched our India specific “Partner Help Desk” with local toll free numbers for easy partner access.

This help desk is capable of supporting the partners on the following aspects • Avaya Channel Programs • Avaya Application & Tools • Pre Sales - Products & Solutions • Avaya Marketing programs • Avaya Channel Services Programs • Technical Design Assistance.

sme channels 19 march 2010

COVER STORY

Pain Points

you ready

are

for the SMEs?

One of the large contributors to the country’s economy but under estimated and misunderstood. Time has come to change the attitude and hand hold them to create a major impact.

By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com

I

ndian SMEs are the focal points today. As per a study, 95 per cent of the enterprise units are SMEs, 40 per cent of the industrial output is driven by the SMEs. This sector is responsible of 70 per cent of industrial employment. Last but not the least 35 per cent of the exports is done by the SMEs. These companies represent various vertical industries including, auto ancillaries, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, textiles, retail, engineering, logistics, Software and IT services, handicraft, travel and tourism etc. Given this fact, penetration of IT is very low – (only 15-18%) in this sector. There are a lot of issues in this sector.

They always lack quality manpower, they do not get

20 sme channels march 2010

updates about technology and most of them do not have presence in internet to showcase their products to the global customers.

When these enterprises contribute so much to the national progress, they should deserve best of the breed technology to be globally competitive. They need enterprise solution for their floor management, inventory management, supply chain management, etc. They should integrate CAD & CAM in their designs, better tool on collaboration front, etc. On the above they should be present in the internet to be able to showcase their products to the global customers. They should increase their business relationship, operational efficiency, employee productivity,

customer responsiveness, cost containment, network security and their agility to react to competitive pressures and high speed business changes. Therefore, the opportunity for the IT vendors and their partners is very high with this segment. They need to understand the hard pressed aspect of the organizations and adopt a different business practice. It is about all building block providers to fine tune to tap maximum opportunity.

The first issue is IT infrastructure. George Paul, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems, says, “SMEs face several challenges from capital to markets to people, from selection of appropriate technology for business to knowledge and access to

Pain Points

COVER STORY

Out of the total Rs.94,185 crores Indian IT market, the SME opportunity is Rs.16,953 crores.

sme channels 21 march 2010

COVER STORY

Pain Points

“Right approach for a vendor and its partners for the SMEs is to Create a customized Go – To – Market model and be closer to customers.”

George Paul, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems

new technology with adequate financial aid and stay in sync with the changing trends. In order to tap the business opportunity, right solution for the partners is to grow their business by moving up in the value chain and provide complete ICT solutions.”

He adds, “With increasing competition and globalization they need to incorporate latest technology in their production process, as well as in their marketing and management function to gain efficiency and consistency. Adopting flexible IT by going for SAAS / Cloud computing will help SMEs take the advantage of complex and latest technologies at affordable cost.”

He maintains, “Right approach for a vendor and its partners for the SMEs is to Create a customized Go–To–Market model and be closer to customers in the value chain. Vendor should provide opportunities to Channel partners to take complete bouquet of its offerings and its alliance partner’s range of ICT Solutions to SMBs and also to end customers. This would help the partners to grow their business by moving up in the value chain and provide complete range of solutions.

HCL has an Enterprise Commercial Channel (ECC), an initiative for inclusive growth strategy for our business partners and SMEs. In line with the company’s objective of strengthening its footprint all over the country towards addressing SMB segment, ECC not only extends HCL and its alliance partner’s range of ICT solutions to SMB’s but also provides opportunities to Channel partners to take complete bouquet of HCL Infosystems ICT Solutions to end customers. And, through Enterprise Commercial Channel, the company addresses this need by empowering Channel to act as a knowledge resource for SMBs. Power management is another issue for the SMEs. APC defines organizations with 100-499 employees as SMEs. Ravichandra G.B. - Director, Enterprise Business, APC by Schneider Electric, says, “While many mid-sized enterprises are getting more aggressive in adopting new technology initiatives such as cloud computing, replication and de-duplication, it

22 sme channels march 2010

is still a long way off for majority of SME organizations in the country before they understand the complete benefits of new age technology and to see the immediate need in investing in it.”

“While most SMEs need a datacenter owing to their growing capacities, convincing them to own one is still a challenge. The humungous infrastructure demands a lot of investment and mid-sized businesses do not believe in investing and spending that kind of money on IT. Some

“While most SMEs need a datacenter owing to their growing capacities, convincing them to own one is still a challenge. ” Ravichandra G.B., Director, Enterprise Business, APC by Schneider Electric

of them still do not understand the difference between a server room and a datacenter. This is a huge challenge as well as a great opportunity for IT vendors,” he adds.

For them the power backup and data restoration are another pain points. Good data availability and secure power backups have become critical because so many SMEs rely on their data to run business efficiently.

They typically have small budgets and little or no dedicated IT staff. Hence, cost and simplicity of running the solution are important for the power protection solutions offered to them. With increasing sophistication and dependence on IT for business continuity and growth, they are constantly looking at ‘pay-as-you-grow’ scalable models and ‘plug and play’ solutions with optimized TCO. This is exactly what we specialize in.

APC being the largest power backup provider has a large base of partners who focus on the mid market space. The company has recently rolled out a channel landscaping program wherein they grade partners based on their competency levels and the environment they operate in. APC Elite partners have been trained through sales engagement, trainings and programs and are enabled to provide solutions to the SME community with minimal supervision from the company.

APC will continue to focus on increasing its partner base in this category owing to its burgeoning growth. The company’s 40 city channel partner program was one such effort in this direction. This will mean covering more geographies, especially tier 2 and 3 cities where there is substantial growth and huge IT and power challenges.

The strategy for APC revolves around the products, which is tailor made to keep the MTTR as low as possible by favourable company SWAP warranty policy. Built-in redundancy solutions ensure zero business downtime, and the nationwide service support availability.

For the SMEs, networking solution is also a big challenge. They are also the fastest growing segment for Cisco India. Networking is the foundation on which technology infrastructure investments are built. The SMB segment is adopting both foundation networking technologies and advanced technologies such as Wireless, Mobility, Security and IP among others. In fact the rate of adoption of advanced technologies in the SMB segment is higher than in the enterprise segment. As per B. Raghavendran, Vice President, Channel Operations and Commercial Strategy, Cisco India & SAARC, the SMEs do have a lot of pain points including awareness about technology; they do not have finance, use obsolete technology, owner led, etc. With speedy access to data and effective communication they can more easily expand globally. A secure voice/data network

COVER STORY

Pain Points

“Cisco has launched Select certification program and SMB specialization for its channel partners who will focus on the SMB market. ” B. Raghavendran, Vice President, Channel Operations and Commercial Strategy, Cisco India & SAARC

points to keep in mind while addressing the smes l Take solutions approach. l Focus on Service component and technologies (remote infrastructure management/Software as a service/Cloud) l Create User relevance with applications/ content l Solutions around line-of-business

foundation helps check e-mail, voice mail, and faxes from one inbox. Employees can hold impromptu meetings online with colleagues, partners, suppliers, and customers with a single phone number.

They need something, which is integrated like the Integrated Services Router (ISR), which gives the benefits of voice, data and video. It does away with diverse sets of hardware and literally is a ‘small office’ out of a box.

“SMBs are opting for integrated security appliances combining a host of functions such as anti-virus, firewall, VPN, content filtering, IDS/ IPS, etc. ” Ms Sudha Jagadish, COO, Dax Networks

The Cisco SMB Class Secure Network Foundation is a cost-effective networking solution that delivers the connectivity, simplicity, security, and scalability required to optimize business operations. The Cisco Business Communication Solution, apart from converging voice and data technologies onto a single network, features simplified products, applications and management tools, a lifecycle services approach, financing options, and comprehensive, built-in security for the entire business. With enhanced capabilities in the areas of voice, security, and mobility and investment protection, Cisco SMB Class Solutions meet business needs now and into the future.

He adds: “Cisco will continue to innovate, design and develop products and solutions for the growing needs of SMB globally and in India.”

In order to address this market, Cisco has a strong channel network with over 900 resellers in 100 cities and has announced its plans to identify 300 channel partners, specifically certified to cater to the SMB customers especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. This gives Cisco a nationwide footprint for its networking products and solutions.

Additionally, Cisco ensures that the partners are equipped with the right skills and constantly updated on new technologies especially developed for SMB sector through its partner training programs across the nation. This helps partners to service customers efficiently and resolve their queries quickly.

Cisco’s leasing options are particularly beneficial for SMBs since they can invest in the information technology by making payments on a monthly or quarterly basis, thereby allowing them to maintain consistent and balanced operating and capital expenditures.

As per Ms Sudha Jagadish, COO, Dax Networks, a lot of investment is going to come on the way of Mobility, Transparency, Integrated security, Unified communications, Virtualization, Storage, Infrastructure management, etc. and Dax is ready with these solutions and channel strategy.

l Collaborate partners l Being flexible enough to change your business plan when required l Focusing on long term relationships than short term gains l Partnering the customer in the entire lifecycle of the datacenter l Focusing on key drivers like virtualization, green DC, enterprise efficiency, server consolidation, energy consumption etc l Offering lower TCO to customers – pay as you grow model l Move towards becoming a trusted advisor for your customer

As per her, SMBs are looking for customized solutions and products that would cater to their unique customer requirements and applications. SMB customers are more prone to deploy solution-based offering than a mere product.

To empower Dax channels, they are offering the extensive ‘solution based’ approach, which can be tailor made to suit the specific customer’s main business line. This gives an edge to Dax partners in providing solutions which can turn as business enabler.

Since Dax products are offered complying with industry standards, the company ensures that its customers are delivered Higher SLA so that the turnaround time is brought to minimum.

She also adds, “SMBs are opting for integrated security appliances that combine a host of functions such as anti-virus, firewall, VPN, content filtering, IDS/IPS in addition to network monitoring tools. The demand for video, conferencing, IP telephony, Wi-fi and other technology will surge.”

Storage is one of the critical areas of concern for the SMEs. Arun Rawtani, VP- Strategy & Productivity, India & SAARC, EMC Corporation, says, “Most Small businesses today are grappling with explosive storage growth with their increas-

sme channels 23 march 2010

COVER STORY

Pain Points

“The Indian SMEs have typically had a conservative attitude towards technology, but this is changing rapidly. ” Vishak Raman, Regional director for Fortinet SAARC and Saudi Arabia

ing interface in email, digitized documents, video and rich media etc. Most SMEs function by way of storing their critical data on desktop and laptops and share data/information on CDs or USB drives making their critical information difficult to manage, protect and also the process proves to be more tedious and expensive.”

Consolidating storage in one or more locations is one of the prime requirements that each and every SME should adopt. The current “accidental architecture” of IT today increases procurement, management costs, and complexity while making it difficult to meet service level agreements. This makes IT less responsive to the business and creates the perception of IT being a cost center. To meet the needs of the business, SMEs need to adopt SAN or NAS. SAN uses separate networking technology and requires a certain amount of specialized expertise where as NAS is on Ethernet, it is simple and meant for sharing files between users.

EMC Channel Partners are a very important stakeholder for them in their go to market approach to any of the customers. At present the company has 200 partners in India. They in fact have a two-pronged strategy for driving EMC’s channel initiatives: enhancement and enablement.

Arun maintains, “With regard to enhancement, we will look to double the existing the number of channel partners and significantly increase our presence in India. We are also looking at improving our footprints in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

This is in line with our foray into the commercial and SME markets.”

The other key element in its partner strategy is in partner enablement. EMC believes that along with having leading edge products, it is essential to enable the partners so that they are skilled enough to gauge the market and decide how to sell and where to sell. Every quarter the company conducts partner enablement programs in 6-7 cities, to get partner sales force accredited and certified.

What EMC really looks at doing is to simplify its cutting edge technologies into products which

24 sme channels march 2010

can be easily sold by our partners. EMC Velocity Partner Program has all the ingredients in terms of training our partners and providing them incentives to help them move up the value chain.

EMC provides SMBs with automated tools for monitoring, troubleshooting, optimization, capacity planning and reporting to manage complete storage environment which does not require them to have understanding of all components and applications, thus enabling them in managing

“Technologies like Virtualization, Consolidation, De-Duplication, Enterprise Content Management are gaining a lot of attention and traction.”

Arun Rawtani, VP- Strategy & Productivity, India & SAARC,EMC Corporation

backup even without any access to 24X7 operations and skilled workforce.

Technologies like Virtualization, Consolidation, De-Duplication, Enterprise Content Management are gaining a lot of attention and traction in the SMEs and are committed to train and enable out partners to convey the value proposition of these emerging technologies to the customers.

EMC has market specific storage bundles for SMB in India. These bundles are approved configuration and make it easy for customers and partners.

Next to come is security. It is really critical from the SME stand point. Vishak Raman, Regional director for Fortinet SAARC and Saudi Arabia, says, “The Indian SMEs have typically had a conservative attitude towards technology, but this is changing rapidly. A robust IT infrastructure is one of the key enablers of this differentiation and many SMBs have now recognized this fact and are definitely overcoming their resistance and inertia towards adaptation of technology.”

He emphasizes on four points for the SMEs from the security point. The first one is ensuring effective passwords to be used. Setting passwords that can be set to your children, pet or even your own household name could lead to compromised situations. Another common problem would be to leave default passwords for various networking equipment untouched. This is akin to leaving one’s main door unlocked, so do make sure that passwords get changed at the earliest possible opportunity.

Secondly, discourage employee downloads from non-trusted sources. In the current generation of antivirus software is really only as good as the latest virus definitions. With new malware appearing all the time, it would not be inconceivable to be infected with a new virus or worm not previously known to the security vendors. As such, more robust security could be achieved if employees are trained not to download unknown applications or games from non-trusted sources.

Third one will be selecting security solutions with growth in mind. So it makes sense to shop for security solutions that are able to grow in tandem as your SMB hires new employees or opens new branch offices. And the final one is not to neglect back-ups. Despite one’s best efforts, security incidents might nevertheless occur due to inexperience, negligence, or sheer bad luck. It would be naïve to be unprepared when such breaches might leave your SMB reeling from some form of data loss or corruption. When that happens, the availability of a backup is vital. A vendor must be able to offer end-to-end business management solutions which address the requirements of the SMBs by offering a comprehensive suite of applications that will have options to integrate

Pain Points

with other applications or legacy system, rapid and low-cost implementation, flexible technology and offerings, flexible pricing, packaging and deployment options and Internet and wireless device accessibility. A vendor must also be able to provide with a strong support network necessary to service the client, pre and post implementing the solution. Fortinet SMB solutions are designed keeping these requirements in mind.

Fortinet India works on a partner centric financing model with Ingram Micro and our ecosystem of resellers/partners. Depending on the nature of the deal, we will make arrangements to find the right financing solution for customer with a suitable reseller.

From the stand point of support, the Fortinet FortiCare Support Service provides technical assistance for all Fortinet products. These include FortiGuard Analysis and Management Service (FAMS), FortiAnalyzer, FortiClient, FortiDB, FortiGate, FortiMail, FortiManager, FortiScan, and FortiWeb. Anil Gupta, Head - National Sales, eScan, says, “Endpoint security is the major concern for SMEs and today endpoint solutions are targeted more towards enterprises. Data loss or virus infection through portable storage devices can be detrimental to the bottom lines of the SMEs. The effective solution that addresses this major threat is eScan Internet Security Suite for SMEs.” eScan Antivirus and Internet Security Suite for SMBs/SMEs provide them with comprehensive protection and multi-layered security normally available in an enterprise level product. eScan’s proactive protection combined with endpoint security and asset management ensure that SMEs. eScan has tied up with various VARs and SIs who cater to the SME segment. The company also trains and educates the support and installation engineers on the various Information Security Threats thereby making them AV specialists apart from providing both pre and post sales support to all our channel partners.

“Endpoint security is the major concern for SMEs and today Endpoint solutions are targeted more towards enterprises.”

Anil Gupta, Head - National Sales, eScan

Last but not the least is the intelligent communications. Bejoy Antony, Director Channels & Strategic Alliances for Avaya –India & SAARC Region, says, “Technology adoption can provide SMEs the required competitive edge in the market and as Vendors it is upon us to help them understand this.” SMEs are an important market for us and Avaya technologies are well suited to address the issues that plague this segment. The biggest challenge that SMEs face is of lack of finance, difficulty in attracting the right talent and the inabil-

“SMEs have started realizing role of technology in reducing cost of production and delivering high quality products to survive in Global Set-up.”

Sajeev Nair, Head Product Management, Matrix Telecom Pvt. Ltd.

COVER STORY

ity to differentiate between investment and an expense when it comes to technology adoption.”

Avaya being the largest provider of inteligent communication solutions offers a plethora of product for the SMEs including Avaya IP Office to offer SMEs a scalable, state-of-the-art solution for telephony, messaging, networking, conferencing, customer management, and unified communications. It helps deliver connectivity and reliability, enhanced user satisfaction and productivity, outstanding customer service and investment protection.

Many of Avaya’s partners have invested in Demo gear and spares to meet the entry levels of post sales support requirements of end customers.

Sajeev Nair, Head-Product Management, Matrix Telecom, says, “SMEs have started realizing role of technology in reducing cost of production and delivering high quality products to survive in Global set-up. Investment in technology upgradation is no longer seen as ancillary; rather a trend has been developed to adopt new hardware and software solutions to improve efficiency and encourage innovative ideas to emerge.”

From the perspective of Matrix, the company evolves products to suit their particular applications. The company follows different product and pricing strategies to address end users, channel partners, service providers and DGS&D segments. They maintain to differentiate product quality. This implies bringing a wide range of products with various features and applications that cater to the specific needs of the SME market.

And, especially the company designs products focusing on the needs of a very specific market niche.

Matrix markets its products primarily through its strong distribution network of channel partners. Over 500 channel partners spread across the globe are marketing, selling and supporting Matrix products. The Matrix marketing team works closely with these channel partners to ensure that the products serve the communication needs of customers faster and longer. It enables its channel network with frequent marketing, sales and technical trainings on different products that cater to the SME segment.

Finally…

It is for sure that SMEs are the important constituent of any organizational growth. It is up to the channel partners to take the philosophy of their principals down to their practice in approaching this important segment. Similarly, the role of vendors is to equip the partners with the right solution and knowhow. Hopefully, the combination of both the constituents will surely rock in the hard times.

sme channels 25 march 2010

SME Buzz

Polycom

need for

collaboration today is higher To help partners maximise their opportunities, Polycom is introducing the Polycom Choice Partner Programme, which will ‘go live’ across the Asia Pacific region on 1 July 2010.

Facts about Founded

:

1990

Headquarters

:

Delhi

Key people

:

Neeraj Gill

Industry

:

Unified Communications

Products

:

Telepresence Solutions, Video Conference Systems, Conferencing Infrastructure, Recording and Streaming, Security and Remote Access, Accessories, etc.

Revenue

:

US$1.1 Billion (FY 2008)

Employees

:

2500 worldwide

Website

:

http://www.polycom.co.in

26 sme channels march 2010

than ever By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com

T

oday’s enterprises are facing tough times in terms of managing cost.

It is not only the recurring cost of installing and managing the IT and non-IT infrastructure but also the cost of communications and collaboration takes a lot of investment from them, which with the current market situation does not gel well with the profitability of the enterprises. Therefore, today, enterprises are adopting more to the virtual way of managing the communications, collaboration, meetings, tie ups and discussions than making it a physical way. It is more important for the reason that branch offices are spread across geographies and for their internal and day to day communications they need solutions, which keeping the cost down solves the problem.

Apart from this, the global security concern has made it more compelling for the enterprises to adapt to solutions. The virtual solutions come in various modes i.e. video and audio conferencing,

telephony and IP-based collaboration. Today, all these technologies have been integrated tightly and merged into a single integrated entity called Unified Communications (UC). When SMEs are making good work in the country sustaining a lot of backlash, it is UC to help them reduce their pain points but the mindset needs to be changed quickly as vendors are ready to hand hold them in cooperation with their partners.

Polycom, the leading provider of UC solutions is also a leading player to enable the SMEs. Neeraj Gill, Managing Director, Polycom India & SAARC, says, “There is a significant rate of adoption of visual communication solutions in the SME sector as well. Small and medium sized businesses prefer to deploy technological solutions that have a direct impact on their profitability margins by delivering better price-performance advantage and are scalable enough to handle their future information-centric requirements.

Simultaneously, companies want their executives

Polycom

SME Buzz

n

to utilise time effectively and be more productive to address increasing competition. The key benefit of a video conferencing solution is that it can be compared to a face-to-face meeting, thereby making it more impactful.”

As the leader in visual communication, Polycom is expanding the market for visual communication with a range of new solutions like the Polycom QDX 6000, Polycom VVX 1500, and the Polycom CX5000 that will drive new applications and put high performance video conferencing and collaboration capabilities within reach of smaller organisations, small office and home office environments, and new industries.

One of the best case examples of SMB adoption of video collaboration is Reliance Web Worlds, which offers Video Conferencing across 241 locations in India. Having witnessed strong ROI from such meetings in public rooms, the company sees the SMB segment increasing in-house video conferencing facilities as an extension to public

rooms.

He adds, “We foresee the consistent demand for new and innovative forms of visual communications driving mainstream adoption and making it a central element of our personal and professional lives. The need for collaboration today is higher than ever.”

Polycom has been the leader in voice, video and telepresence solutions since the 1990s. And, India continues to be one of the most important markets for Polycom. Besides sales and marketing offices at Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, Polycom has its R&D facilities at Hyderabad which focuses on best-of-breed solutions.

Polycom will continue to drive greater alignment with end customers; work with our partners and strategic alliances like Microsoft, IBM, Juniper and Avaya to provide best-of-breed and interoperable telepresence, video and voice solutions in the overall UC landscape.

Indian business of Polycom is purely through

the channel partners. Seeing the potential of corporate, government, SMB and SOHO segments, Polycom offers a well-defined strategy for targeting those sectors. It includes aligning with channel and distributors to reach out to the sectors.

Polycom has a two-tier channel structure, which includes the major distributors for the country, who further have resellers to cater to the end-customers.

To help partners maximise their opportunities, Polycom is introducing the Polycom Choice Partner Programme, which will ‘go live’ across the Asia Pacific region on 1 July 2010. The first phase of the APAC programme – the Polycom Choice Partner Programme for Solution Providers – is designed to strategically align solution provider partners with the needs of customers, and to invest appropriately with partners to achieve mutual business growth.

Targeted at value-added resellers, systems integrators and service providers, the Polycom Choice

sme channels 27 march 2010

SME Buzz

Polycom

interview

What is your product road map?

Neeraj Gill, Managing Director, Polycom India and SAARC

Today, enterprises are choosing to transition to UC in incremental, prioritised steps because they want to protect IT investments, reduce costs, maintain efficient use of infrastructure resources, and they want open standards in a mixed environment. The platform-agnostic approach is important because various platforms need to work together in mixed environments and end users need a seamless UC experience where they can use any communication tool, anytime. The true VALUE of UC comes from the actual user experience – the human interface and solutions given to work teams to allow real time interaction and increased productivity and efficiency. This is where Polycom comes in. Polycom enables a multi-vendor UC approach with interoperable video, telepresence, voice, and content.

Enterprises who want flexibility, choice, and investment protection and who don’t want to tie themselves down to a single-source vendor choose Polycom’s solutions and its strong ecosystem of strategic and channel UC partners.

Polycom is the vendor of choice for Microsoft,

Partner Programme for Solution Providers establishes a framework to support the business model of solution provider partners in a Unified Communications ecosystem, and enable them to grow their businesses with Polycom training, sales, marketing, and technical support in addition to a range of other exclusive benefits.

The Polycom Choice Partner Programme for Solution Providers is underpinned by an objectives-based model that allows partners to measure their abilities and advance within the programme. Polycom Registered Choice Partner Level is the entry level for the programme, and partners can then rise to higher levels – Gold and Platinum – by completing a business plan, investing in specialisations and achieving certain levels of revenue performance.

28 sme channels march 2010

Polycom enables people to meet face-to-face in life-like realism anywhere, anytime, etc. Polycom’s HD video and telepresence solutions help organisations reduce travel Polycom strategy is pretty clear this year. It will continue to strengthen its relationship with the industry leaders in Unified Communications and major Service Providers to help drive mainstream video adoption within two to three years.

Polycom enables a multi-vendor UC approach with interoperable video, telepresence, voice, and content. Enterprises, who want flexibility, choice, and investment protection and who don’t want to tie themselves down to a single-source vendor, choose Polycom’s solutions and its strong ecosystem of strategic and channel UC partners.

From a broader product perspective, Polycom offers three product lines telepresence solutions, video conferencing solutions and voice solutions.

From personal telepresence solutions stand point, Polycom offers a complete portfolio of high definition telepresence solutions over IP networks. With the implementation of Polycom HD Voice, HD Video and HD Content technologies, the telepresence experience goes beyond your typical visual communication. Each environment is calibrated and tuned so that people are lifelike and true-to-size, giving the illusion of being together in the same room. Through supporting IP network and services, each suite is guaranteed the highest level of quality and reliability. And, most importantly, every Polycom telepresence solution is standards based and fully interoper-

SME Buzz

Polycom

IBM, Broadsoft, Avaya, HP and Juniper and gives customers the flexibility to choose from multiple mission-critical UC platforms and best-of-breed solutions.

Polycom Telepresence Solutions From personal telepresence solutions to immersive telepresence solutions, Polycom offers a complete portfolio of high definition telepresence solutions over IP networks. With the implementation of Polycom HD Voice™, HD Video and HD Content technologies, the telepresence experience goes beyond your typical visual communication. Each environment is calibrated and tuned so that people are life-like and true-to-size, giving the illusion of being together in the same room. Through supporting IP network and services, each suite is guaranteed the highest level of quality and reliability.

And, most importantly, every Polycom telepresence solution is standards based and fully interoperable with all standards based video communication solutions.

Polycom Video Conferencing Solutions Polycom video solutions, with supporting infrastructure and management tools, deliver powerful, high definition visual communication experiences across desktops, meeting rooms, lecture halls, immersive environments, and more. Organisations utilise our integrated portfolio of standards-based offerings to increase efficiency, extend knowledge, share content and accelerate decision-making across departments and geographies. Seamlessly integrated with industry-leading workflow applications, Polycom video solutions leverage intuitive user interfaces and centralised management application to speed enterprise adoption and increase ROI from the end user to the CXO. Polycom Voice Solutions Voice quality is critical to the success of your meetings. From a single phone line and wireless communications to large installed voice and video systems, Polycom voice solutions make audio sound clear and natural. Calls are more productive and efficient when participants can hear clear, crisp voice quality – even during simultaneous conversations. Polycom brings unprecedented price and performance to voice conferencing and collaboration, making it an affordable productivity tool for more employees and organisations. That’s why enterprises around the world use Polycom voice

able with all standards based video communication solutions.

Polycom video solutions, with supporting infrastructure and management tools, deliver powerful, high definition visual communication experiences across desktops, meeting rooms, lecture halls, immersive environments, and more.

Organisations utilise its integrated portfolio of standards-based offerings to increase efficiency, extend knowledge, share content and accelerate decision-making across departments and geographies. Seamlessly integrated with industryleading workflow applications, Polycom video solutions leverage intuitive user interfaces and centralised management application to speed enterprise adoption and increase ROI from the end user to the CXO.

solutions to enhance collaboration and gain a competitive advantage, all while reducing costs.

Polycom telepresence & video conferencing solutions help organisations to immediately increase their productivity by enabling geographically dispersed work teams to meet instantly and effectively – promoting consistent strategy execution, informed decision-making and cutting time-to-market cycles.

What will be Polycom’s competitive advantage over the competition?

Polycom has been the established leader in voice, video and telepresence solutions since the 1990s. Polycom has the largest installed video and telepresence user base globally, with more than 900,000 systems sold. Polycom also has the most-comprehensive suite of video solutions, spanning from desktop and mobile environments to the industry’s only fully immersive telepresence suite. Additionally, Polycom is committed to industry standards-based solutions, making it the partner of choice for leading UC vendors, Service Providers and third-parties. As a result, Polycom solutions support a host of work styles and applications in organisations of all sizes.

Polycom High Definition (HD) video and telepresence solutions uniquely combine HD voice and HD content-sharing, as well as HD video, to deliver a virtual meeting experience that replicates – even betters – an in-person meeting.

simultaneous conversations. Polycom brings unprecedented price and performance to voice conferencing and collaboration, making it an affordable productivity tool for more employees and organisations. That’s why enterprises around the world use Polycom voice solutions to enhance collaboration and gain a competitive advantage, all while reducing costs.

In terms of support, the onus lies with Polycom directly to offer pre-sales and post-sales support.

And finally, from a single phone line and wireless communications to large installed voice and video systems, Polycom voice solutions make audio sound clear and natural. Calls are more productive and efficient when participants can hear clear, crisp voice quality – even during

Finally…

Polycom takes pride in the fact that an investment in its products delivers fast, proven ROI, a consistently superior end-user experience, and impressive productivity gains. And this is what the SMEs want.

sme channels 29 march 2010

sme chat

Govind Ramamurthy CEO and MD, eScan

“Endpoint security is the major concern for SMEs�

Security is one of the major concerns of the SMEs. They look upon the vendors and partners to take care of this by providing a scalable, easy to install and easy to manage solutions. MicroWorld is one such organization, which understands the pain points of the SMEs in the security space. Govind Ramamurthy, CEO and MD, eScan spoke to SMEChannels as to how his company is ready to tackle issues. Excerpt

Today SME segment has emerged to be a big market for every vendor, how do you see SME market in India from security point of view?

Currently, portability of data with facilities like Wi-Fi and the use of portable devices like laptops, smart phones, and USB drives have given way to opportunities of various data leaks. A standalone antivirus without endpoint security will not suffice. Endpoint security is a major challenge while securing the network. Understanding this requirement, MicroWorld has come out with solutions that has endpoint solution integrated rather than a standalone solution.

SMBs are growing at a tremendous rate and they also require corporate level protection.

In this tough economy, SMEs have realized the importance of Information Security as theft of confidential information or intellectual property can have a direct impact on their growth.

Also, with adoption of data protection laws that requires high levels of data security have forced the SMEs to do a rethink on their information security needs and now they are looking for solutions that not only offer value for money but also proactive protection for their both the perimeter

30 sme channels march 2010

and endpoints, securing their data from all Information Security threats and vulnerabilities.

their confidential information assets and intellectual property.

What kind of solutions do they need and do you have those solutions?

Like large corporate, small and medium sized enterprises also require corporate level protection.

Therefore, last year we had launched SME centric products that provide corporate level protection at SME level price as SMEs today understand that ensuring business continuity is essential to increase their growth and bottom lines.

Endpoint security is the major concern for SMEs and today Endpoint solutions are targeted more towards enterprises. Data loss or virus infection through portable storage devices can be detrimental to the bottomlines of the SMEs. The effective solution that addresses this major threat is eScan Internet Security Suite for SMEs. eScan Internet Security Suite for SMBs/SMEs provides them with comprehensive protection and mutli-layered security normally available in an enterprise level product. eScan’s proactive protection combined with endpoint security and asset management ensure that SMEs are protected from all Information Security threats that target

What is your strategy for wooing SMES? Our Strategy is to provide SME centric solutions that can provide Enterprise level security at a price affordable to the SMEs. What is your distribution and marketing strategy?

We are implementing a two pronged strategy to increase our market share in the SME segment through channel and customer activation programs. As part of our channel expansion plan we have signed up distributors across India and now eScan is available from Kanyakumari to Phulwama.

We are strengthening our channel base that caters to the SME market through aggressive channel promotion plans.

How is your empowerment programmes for the partners?

MicroWorld ensures its channel partners benefit from competitive pricing and good margins.

Apart from this MicroWorld also provides active

sme chat

pre and post sales support to its partners. We regularly train the technical team of our partners so that they not only provide the first level of support but also can become AV specialist adding to their bottom-line.

What is your support strategy?

We at eScan, believe in providing proactive support to our customers and partners.

With the eScan Remote Support function that is now part of all our products, we pro-

“MicroWorld ensures its channel partners benefit from competitive pricing and good margins�

vide free remote support to all our customers round the clock.

What is your advice to the partners in terms of developing skill sets to focus on SMEs? In the current economic scenario, SMBs are not willing to compromise in terms of security and channel partners have the opportunity to benefit from this situation if they focus on selling security as a solution and not as a product.

sme channels 31 march 2010

sme chat

Sushil Bandi Country Manager, Western Digital (India)

“Success of WD TV Live Media Player proves the audience’s acceptance” Storage is no more restricted to the PCs, it has forayed into the space of CE and digital entertainment. Most of the storage vendors are bringing out products which can easily go with the TVs and other entertainment devices. Knowing more about WD’s strategy for this year, SMEChannels spoke to Sushil Bandi, Country Manager, Western Digital (India). Excerpt

What is your strategy for 2010 in India market?

Channel has been an integral part of WD. We will continue to focus on strengthening our channel structure and build a comprehensive distribution network across India. We will continue with our channel programs and road shows across India to impart quality training and to educate the channel partners on our new products and technology.

Which are the products going to drive your market?

2010 will see more and more usage of HD based system in Digital entertainment. The success of WD TV Live Media Player proves the audience’s acceptance. This product turns WD My Passport portable drives into Media Players. It offers consumers an effective way to unlock all the digital content from the storage device and enjoy it on their bigger screen and best sound system.

In future, consumers will drift towards products that can help them carry more data such as music, videos or photos. We will also see the launch of products with higher capacity, higher RPM, higher data transfer rates and lower failure rates on the internal as well external product line.

How different will technologically?

32 sme channels march 2010

you

be

Western Digital continuously innovates new technologies with an end objective of giving users more control over their gadgets. For instance, all our external drives have inbuilt SmartWare Software that keeps data secure through automatic backup, easy retrieval and restoration of files. Our innovative portioning method dubbed Advanced Format Technology enables the drives to run faster, support larger capacities and improve overall storage capacities by using a larger 4k sector size.

With energy costs skyrocketing and the threat of global warming, organizations are forced to take a look at its ecological impact. Thus, green storage is an emerging technology and has become a need for today’s economy. Companies like Western Digital, have understood the growing need of going green and have introduced a number of products under “Green Power” family in the market to satisfy these needs.

What will be WD’s advantage over the competition?

The Key selling features of WD has been broad product offering, Product Reliability, & customer service. n WD today has very broad product offering in Desktop, Mobile, consumer electronics, Enterprise and external drives.

n WD has the lowest rate of return in the industry. This has been proven in the field and is based on public information available on cost of offering warranty. n WD also has one of the unique customer service in India, WD Express, a door to door warranty service anywhere in India for end user, system integrator and resellers. n WD has a focused channel structure which is aimed at different customer segments and a strong regional approach. Our go-to-market strategy consists of a comprehensive distributor network and conducting channel programs to impart quality training to educate the channel partners about the company’s India strategy as well as new products and also provide them with direct contact with the company as well as an all-inclusive education campaign and service support set-up.

How about your channel strategy?

WD’s complete business is through its partners.

It’s of paramount importance to ensure that the partners accelerate growth, differentiate their business and increase profitability. This helps partners to define skill sets required to successfully sell the products.

We have launched various programs for

sme chat

“It’s of paramount importance to ensure that the partners accelerate growth, differentiate their business and increase profitability.

our channel partners. Partners benefit from an increased level of support from WD, including access to best-in-class products and services, technical support and marketing resources.

WD has invested resources in sales as well as channels to enhance support for its channel partners across the country. Since WD leverages on the channel partners to reach out to the customers, we believe that enhancing our partner skills in understanding the customer’s needs is key to reaching out to this market and implementing our strategy.

How many partners are you going to appoint this year and why?

We will continue to focus on increasing our registered partner base through SelectWD program and regularly incentivize them through the program.

How do you want to empower them?

WD offers best of the products at an affordable price to its partners and at the same time offers regular incentive programs to select WD partners which help to empower them.

How about your presence in enterprise drive market?

Western Digital’s VelociRaptor, RE4 and RE4-GP enterprise drives have been very successful in India.

Soon, we will be launching SATA3 drives in India, which have already won critical acclaim abroad.

What is your support strategy?

WD is committed to provide its partners with the highest-quality support. Some of the initiatives are given below: n Training: We conduct extensive training program to equip our channel partners with the right skills and technical knowledge. These programs are carried in Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities across the country.

We also invite partners from remote location to attend training programs at the nearest city. n Distribution Network: We have an extensive distribution network partners across the country.

WD can reach out to any city through these partners.

How do you think about SSD market in India?

Due to the price sensitivity of Indian market it will take some time for SSD to become a mainstream product, but it has a growing market in India.

What will be your thriving mantra?

WD is a channel friendly company. We believe that the partners associated with WD succeed and grow. At the same time the end users should get the best of the products at an affordable price backed with the good customer service support.

sme channels 33 march 2010

Product

review

Epson PictureMate PM310 ideal for home users and professionals

EMERSON ‘In Pulse’ 30 kVA By sanjay mohapatra editor@smechannels.com

Emerson Network Power ‘In Pulse’ is an enterprise class inverter with output rating of 30 kVA. Ideal for enterprises, who prefer noise-free atmosphere, In Pulse inverter is a high capacity industrial back-up solution offering an alternative to cumbersome and noisy diesel generator. In Pulse offers various benefits over traditional generators such as low operational cost, no manual intervention required, no noise or air pollution, low total cost of ownership and payback period, unbalanced load distribution is possible and many more. Various verticals and applications where In pulse can be used include real estate (lift, water motor, staircase lighting), retail (air conditioners, telecom (shelters), battery and electrical contracts.

The best part of the product is that it involves highdegree of research from the company at the cost of huge investment. Given the bad power condition in India, ‘In Pulse’ is surely a solace to the emerging incorporates of developing India.

For the partners, this product category has lucrative service revenue opportunities for partners. This extensive network will also provide sales and service support to its clients.

34 sme channels march 2010

Features n Back up – 30 mins to 6 hours n Remote Monitoring. n High energy efficiency n n Selection of number of batteries (from

LCD display) n High energy efficiency n n DSP based control (Quick

powerswitching) n 570X1120X750MM Tower type with

Caster Wheels

price INR 300, 000/- onwards

Contact Emerson Network Power (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Ideal for home segment and professionals, Epson PictureMate PM310 offers new functionality with large screen digital photo display. Strengthening Epson’s mini printer family, PictureMate PM310 offers users an innovative dual functionality – photo playback and photo printing.

The Epson PictureMate PM310 serves not only as a professional mini photo printer but also doubles up as an attractive digital photo frame that presents images and photo slideshows. Its user-friendly applications also allow users to personalize their images with pre-installed photo frames that include Disney character themes and print them instantly.

The best part of Epson PictureMate 310 is that it is based on inkjet technology and designed to redefine modern living. It is ultrafast and delivers high quality photographs in just 37 seconds. With an affordable price point, the Epson PictureMate 310 is a material for owning and gifting. Apart from this, it serves as an ideal gadget for family gatherings where digital photos from different cameras can be displayed and printed wirelessly with a click of a button on its remote control.

Further, the print also features a variety of pre-installed licensed Disney photo frames for users to customise their photographs before printing.

Jitendra Sonar Plost no: C-20, Road No: 19, Wagle Estate Thane (W), Maharashtra - 400604, India Tel: +91 224 6688800

overall rating

n Product: Epson picture Mate PM310 Cost: INR 14, 999 Weight: 3.2 kg Contact: Tushad Talati, Epson India Pvt. Limited Email: tushad@eid.epson.co.in Ph: 080-30515000

New Arrivals

product

logitech

wireless Presenters

Power on the go

Belkin AC Anywhere

The Logitech Professional Presenter R800 and R400 with laser pointing, wireless convenience and intuitive slideshow controls give you the confidence to move freely around the room, so that you can focus on delivering a more effective and powerful presentation.

Both presenters feature a contoured shape that feels great in your hand, so you’ll be comfortable no matter how long the presentation lasts. And, to make setup and transport easier, both presenters are plug-and-play - no software required. When it’s time to pack up and go, the receiver stores in the presenter, while a carrying case ensures that the presenter is protected.

Simply plug the 200 Wt charger into any vehicle cigarette lighter socket and the AC Anywhere will converts your vehicle’s battery DC power to AC current charging your mobile phones, iPod/iPhone, laptop, camera or any other device you would love to travel with.

Priced at only Rs.1883/- and backed by lifetime warranty, Belkin AC Anywhere can easily charge more than one device at a time. It comes with a removable pouch to hold your power adapter and cables which makes the product highly portable and convenient to use.

The AC Anywhere features a convenient On/Off switch with the power indicator and fuse protection along with an audible alarm that sounds if the vehicle battery voltage drops to the danger level.

n Product: Logitech Wireless Presenters Cost: INR 5,595 and INR 3,395 respectively Warranty: 3 years, Contact and Availability: Rashi Peripherals

n Product: Belkin AC Anywhere, Warranty: Lifetime Cost: Rs 1,883, Company: Belkin India Pvt. Ltd., Contact: +91-124-6688800

gateway

Matrix SETU VFXTH Available in various configurations - 8/16/24/32 FXO or FXS ports, SETU VFXTH is the multi-channel SIP based gateway for seamless connectivity between VoIP and POTS networks.

It offers universal and transparent call routing irrespective of type of ports – VoIPFXO, VoIP-FXS and FXO-FXS. The gateway’s superior call and signal processing capabilities ensures unrestricted flow of multiple calls with higher speed and better speech quality.

On VoIP side, it supports SIP based IP interface allowing it to connect to any existing IP network. On the POTS side it supports FXO and FXS interfaces. It can register with multiple SIP servers and IP-PBXs. SETU VFXTH can register

with the existing IP-PBX for internal calls and at the same time can also register with ITSP SIP servers for international calls. n Product: SETU VFXTH Cost: Rs.25,000 to Rs.61,000/- Company: Matrix Telecom Pvt. Ltd. Contact: Rahul Patel , Tel: +91 265 2630555, Rahul Patel <rahul.patel@matrixtelesol.com>

sme channels 35 march 2010

guest talk

Small is beautiful Thoughts on our SMEs The Indian SME segment of about 5 billion USD net worth with 11 million SME units produces over 8000 products. These constitute 95% of industrial units in the country and contribute 40% to the total industrial output.

Asoke K Laha Founder & President, CEO, InterraIT Inc. and President & Managing Director of InterraIT India

brief profile His career in high technology spans more than two decades. Previously a senior software manager in companies like Digital and GTE Communication Systems, he was also Managing Director of Cadence India, where he built a large team of skilled engineers. He won the Corporate Quality Award from Cadence and was responsible for the ISO 9000 certification earned by the Cadence India Centre. Asoke is actively involved in various prestigious industry bodies like IACC, AMCHAM and ASSOCHAM to name a few. He is a working committee member of the Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) and also represents the Noida Special Economic Zone (NSEZ) as the President of NSEZ Entrepreneurs Association.

Education He has an MSEE from the University of Saskat chewan, an MS in Computer Science in Northwestern University and BE (Hons) from Jadavpur University, India.

36 sme channels march 2010

Talking of SMEs or SMBs as they are more commonly known in the US, one invariably recalls the name of a revolutionary collection of essays in economics, Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered. The British author E F Schumacher actually borrowed the name from his teacher Leopold Kohr.

The book addressed issues of 1973 energy crisis and the emerging globalization. The book talked more of economics and the emerging and new technology needs than SMEs but it provoked people’s thoughts towards small and medium business and veered attention from big business and capitalistic conglomerates of large order. It was a literary translation of more unsophisticated terms like mom and pop shops of your next block. This also clicked with your neighborhood kid’s dream of going places. The name tag tied developing nations’ desires to retrain and prosper with the age old American dream of log cabin to White House sort.

It should be remembered that all today’s large corporations in US e.g. Microsoft, Apple was SMEs of yesterday. SMEs are agile in nature: it attracts different breed of people who are expressive, and are willing to build the organization. Significant innovations originate in SMEs. The Indian SME segment of about 5 billion USD net worth with 11 million SME units produces over 8000 products. These constitute 95% of industrial units in the country and contribute 40% to the total industrial output. The SME sector plays a significant role in developing our nation’s entrepreneurial skills and massively contributes to India’s export earnings.

In 1956 the second industrial policy came up to support the small scale sector as prime employment generating area and that still holds true. Later decades have seen the growth of Small Industry Development Corporations (SIDC) and Centres for Entrepreneurship Development (CED). There are other key helplines like National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Since 1990s the Indian SMEs have been exposed to increasing global competition due to the

forces of globalization raising the level of challenges in business.

There are other challenges and deterrents like poor infrastructure particularly in rural areas making integration of rural SMEs with mainstream urban segments difficult. There are problems of outmoded technologies and inadequate marketing and brand building.

Nevertheless the growth of SMEs is not choked.

New companies and services and products are coming out in the market and competing each other in open environment. The spirit of enterprise is hungry and is not easily discouraged.

With the emergence of information technology Indian SMEs joined the global world in true sense of the term. Unknown startups run by kids with bright ideas turned our familiar business scene quite upside down.

Technology took the front seat and the enterprising visionary like Narayan Murthy took the stage by storm.

Take for example the case of InterraIT which was born in 1997. I had had my colourful innings in the US with top MNCs and was looking for more meaningful growth. It was then that we created this company and since then we have served Fortune 500 corporations around the world from two very Indian places of Noida and Calcutta with Indian software engineers who provided successful solutions to the clients’ needs.

Today IBM or India’s Infosys is not the lone crucial player in the global scene but companies like us compete with them, the big business in our vertical, with our brains and brawn. This is the future of SME segment as a whole. The emerging trend is SMEs with niche strengths would be clubbing with each other in order to beat big brands and bite good slices off their cakes.

The dream element that made Google or Bose Corporation happen lay in the core strength of compactness of an ideal SME. Spiritually these companies are still SMEs. The SMEs, like the proverbial workers of the world so lustily hailed by Marx, are uniting meaningfully and increasingly winning in the marketplace.

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