contents
June 15, 2012 l Volume 1 Issue 16
Cover Story From new licensing models to application streaming, we examine nine prominent trends in the virtualization market
26 Cover Design : Deepjyoti Bhowmik
NEWS Analyses Xerox spruces up SMB product portfolio
Channel Chief
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Trend Micro eying consumer segment 8 Citrix banks on cloud to drive SoC in India
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Lenovo eyes top consumer spot
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F5 to launch Unity partner program in India
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SAP bets on HANA for database
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PS Neogi, President, Redington, India’s second largest IT distributor, talks to Ramdas S about the changing channel trends
18 Special Focus Storing more in less How storage vendors are innovating to help data center managers cope with big data and the information explosion
22 Role Model
READ More
The man with two passions George Thomas, CEO, Aldous Glare Trade & Exports, started as a small-time reseller of printers. Thanks to sound management practices, he today presides over a `245 crore company
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Editorial 14 Opinion
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Feedback
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Channel Buzz
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New Products
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Shadow Ram
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Get Personal
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Tech Focus
10 can’t-miss products from computex The 2012 edition saw the launch of new ultrabooks, Windows RT and 5G-ready chipsets. We bring you the hottest stuff
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NEW
SL-2029
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SL-2030
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SL-2031
SL-2032
NEW
SL-2033
NEW NEW
ODSP 3350 USF (3.1)
ODSP 5500 USF (5.1)
starting line MUST
Xerox spruces up SMB product portfolio
Trend Micro eying consumer segment
n AMIT SINGH
Read
Trend Micro is gearing up to increase its consumer antivirus (AV) marketshare from the current 5 percent to 20 percent by 2014. To achieve this the company will introduce new products and undertake strong channel and marketing activities. The consumer segment currently contributes 10 percent of the company’s revenue; Trend Micro plans to increase this to 35 percent by 2013. The company recently launched its new Titanium Internet Security (TIS). Prior to this Trend Micro had only one product, Titanium Maximum Security (TMS). TMS is a topline product; with TIS the company plans to hit the mass market and increase its penetration to Class-D and -E cities. “With the new product we are targeting basic AV users who have limited Internet usage. At the moment we are able to tap only 30 percent of the TAM with TMS; the newly-launched TIS will help us tap the remaining 70 percent TG,” said Amit Nath, Country Manager, India & Saarc, Trend Amit Nath Micro. In terms of GTM, Trend Micro will primarily focus on the ND and RD distribution structure. It will also focus on small format retail stores with a limited presence in LFRs which will act only as points for branding. In the next three years the company will increase its channel strength from the current 900 resellers to 5,000. “We want to reach out to tier-2 and -3 cities, and penetrate every small town with the Titanium brand. We are hiring partners for the same,” added Nath. To support the expanding channel Trend Micro is recruiting senior-level managers, and plans to increase their numbers by three-fold this year. For marketing Trend Micro will leverage the radio heavily. It will also organize online activities (including contests over Facebook) as well as 30 road-shows by the end of 2012. n — Abhijeet Mukherjee
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X
erox has strengthened its printer portfolio with the launch of A4 laser printers and MFPs for SMBs. The recently-introduced entrylevel Phaser 3010 monochrome printer, available for `5,700, delivers 20 ppm. The Phaser 3040 delivers 24 ppm. The WorkCenter 3045 MFP offers 24 ppm speed for `10,000. The Phaser 6000 and Phaser 6010 color printers, available at `16,952 and `20,350, deliver 10 and 12 ppm for color and 12 and 15 ppm for black & white respectively. All these products are covered by a 1-year onsite warranty. “We will further spruce up our portfolio for SMBs by launching about 10 new A4 laser printers and MFPs, as well as entry-level A3 MFPs, by the end of 2012,” informed Vipin Tuteja, Executive Director, Technology, Channels & International Business, Xerox India. “In the MFP portfolio, entrylevel A3 MFPs with prices starting from `45,000 is the highest growth category for us.” According to Tuteja, enterprise customers are high-revenue generators but provide low margins because of increased competition, hence the company is increasing its focus on its SMB customer base, which is growing rapidly. “Since it is a scattered market, we are targeting it through partners focused on this segment with a customized plan according to the region or city. We are planning to expand coverage in the top-200 tier-1 and tier-2 cities across the country.” To create inroads into the SMB customer base, the company is looking for SIs and volume partners catering to the segment, and aims to add 70 partners by the end of 2012. “We are not blindly going for the numbers; we will make sure that existing partners
“We conduct online training programs apart from classroom training, and have recently re-designed the partner portal, making it more channel-friendly” Vipin Tuteja
ED, Technology, Channels & International Business, Xerox India
grow and that internal competition is not there,” Tuteja said. To mobilize its channel partners as well as key decisionmakers in SMBs, Xerox conducted 11 road-shows in Q42011. “We covered Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai, Kochi, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Mumbai and Kolkata,” Tuteja informed. “We are in the process of kicking off our Real Business Live campaign this year, and have already covered Siliguri.” The vendor also recently introduced its Olympics Challenge 2012 for its partners; based on their performance during AprilJune 2012, partners can get to watch the London Olympics in an all-expenses paid trip from August 6-9, 2012. Said Tuteja, “We will introduce another reward and recognition program shortly. To enable our partners, we conduct various online training programs apart from classroom training, and have recently re-designed the channel portal, making it more channel-friendly.” To manage its partner base effectively, Xerox has increased its Partner Business Managers to over 50, and has also recently appointed a Head SI Channel Manager specifically for SI partners. n
starting line MUST
Citrix banks on cloud to drive SoC in India
Lenovo eyes top consumer spot
n SONAL DESAI
Read
According to the latest report by IDC, in Q12012 Lenovo India became the No 1 PC vendor in the country in terms of unit shipments with an overall marketshare of 15.8 percent. The company now plans to replicate this success in the consumer segment. From a consumer marketshare of 9.5 percent in FY2010-11 the company garnered 11.9 percent in FY2011-12. The consumer business grew by 40 percent in 2012 compared to 2011. The consumer PC market is led by HP with close to 16 percent share followed by Dell with around 14 percent while Lenovo is in third place. “Going forward we want to gain a leadership position even in the consumer segment,” said Rajesh Thadani, Director, Consumer BU, Lenovo India. “We want to leverage our global strategy of Protect & Attack in the consumer segment as well. While we will protect our strength of being the leader in the enterprise vertical, we will attack newer Rajesh Thadani opportunities in the consumer and SMB segments. To do this we have formed a three-pronged strategy—product, branding and marketing—for the consumer segment.” The consumer business contributes 40 percent of Lenovo’s revenue, followed by SMBs which contribute 10 percent. The major chunk, 50 percent, comes from the enterprise segment. Lenovo has a dominant position in Gujarat, West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It needs to ramp up in Mumbai and in the south. In 2011 Lenovo made investments to open 1,000 Lenovo Exclusive Stores (LES) and LESlites, and reached out to 600 cities and towns. “This year the focus will be to ensure the profitability of these stores, train the partners to provide an improved consumer experience, and create better brand awareness through 360-degree marketing activities that will focus primarily on TV,” informed Thadani. n — Abhijeet Mukherjee
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n a bid to make desktop virtualization mainstream, Citrix Systems is launching its HDXready System-on-Chip (SoC) in India this month. According to Prashant Subramanian, Executive Director, Quadra Systems, and a Citrix partner, the offering, to be priced under $100, will benefit BPOs, contact centers, manufacturing, financial services and the education sector. So far the barrier to the adoption of thin client or desktop virtualization was the cost of the thin client. The SoC initiative is in line with Intel’s on-board graphics card. The technology and the pricing will enable partners to commoditize the product. Citrix is working with ARM vendors to develop the SoC which provides a faster experience—such as decoding the visual information which comes from the Citrix server— and incorporates the information offering end-users a better experience, a low power footprint and therefore reduced TCO. Said Nabeel Youakim, VP, Products & Microsoft Alliance, Citrix Systems, APAC, “It is a strategic move. The Indian market is slow in uptake, and only large customers have opted for virtualization so far. With SoC, we are offering endusers a set of capabilities that deliver a high-definition desktop virtualization experience for any application, device or network. The technology provides network and performance optimization over any network, including lowbandwidth and high-latency WAN connections.” The technology also enables a broad ecosystem of vendors to create new high-performance HDX clients and new form-factors at low cost. “Customers will be able
“With SoC we are offering capabilities that deliver a high-definition desktop virtualization experience for any application, device or network” Nabeel Youakim
VP, Products & Microsoft Alliance, Citrix Systems, APAC
to see 30 percent savings in terms of the cost and management over a traditional PC,” Youakim said. “The new reference design will be available initially for standards-based ARM solutions, but will be extended to include x86-based implementations,” Youakim stated. “We have taken the SoC approach to build a new class of high-performance, lowpower, low-cost devices.” Texas Instruments and NComputing are building the chips which other partners can integrate into their devices. Citrix has entered into OEM partnerships with other principals such as Dell, Fujitsu, VXL, HP, Wyse, LG and dvon IT. Citrix is betting on the cloud as the main driver for SoC in India. Added Youakim, “We have some partners who provide ‘as-aservice’, and are now looking at Cloudstack (Citrix’s open-source cloud computing platform for building and managing private and public cloud infrastructure) to catch up with Amazon.” Citrix will provide customization for each service provider. From a partner point of view, Subramanian opined that the technology enables partners to earn more margins. “It will allay the fear of large investments among end-customers, and lead to mass adoption.” n
starting line MUST
F5 to launch Unity partner program in India
SAP bets on HANA for database
n SONAL DESAI
Read
SAP is banking on HANA, its in-memory application platform, to capture the database market in India. “We have emerged as the fastest-growing provider of database. With the demand for HANA’s in-memory, Sybase IQ and relational database rising, we will overtake others in the space,” predicted Peter Gartenberg, MD, SAP India. Gartenberg is looking at SAP’s 190,000 global customers, of whom 170,000 are using SAP applications for growth. “All these 170,000 application customers will eventually be on our database platform.” Speaking about the company’s efforts to promote HANA he said, “If customers buy HANA, we take 30 percent of the license fee and credit it to their consultancy fee. Right now we are the fourth-largest database company behind Oracle, IBM and Microsoft. Each quarter we are adding 20 new customers who are running SAP applications on our database. HANA too is seeing early adoption. With the current growth rate we aim to Peter Gartenberg be the No 2 end-toend solutions provider in 2013.” To achieve this target SAP is expanding across geographies (within India), industries and offerings to application partners. Globally, 3,000 customers are evaluating HANA, and deals worth one million euros are in the pipeline. “I will not be surprised if we cross two million euros by the end of the fiscal,” Gartenberg said. In India the company is scouting for opportunities in the government segment. It is also targeting opportunities in BI on top of HANA. Said Gartenberg, “HANA for BI Analytics is a runtime license targeted at accelerating BI Analytics by using HANA with the existing BI systems. The HANA Edge edition is a full-use license for the SMB market for operational and agile datamarting use cases. Both these SKUs are today sold only via our partners.” n — Sonal Desai
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5 Networks is launching Unity, its global partner program, in July-August 2012 in India. Anil Pochiraju, MD, F5, India & Saarc, said that the new program will enable certified partners to earn 1.5-2 times higher margins than those offered by other OEMs. “Partners will no longer look at us as a switch provider, but as a solution to ease customer pain-points. They will be able to build their own consulting service around the F5 product portfolio.” Under the new partner program, for a Gold status a partner has to get two technical and four sales executives accredited, and for a Silver status one technical and two sales executives accredited. Product training and certification will also be mandatory, Pochiraju said. A Gold partner should have certification in two products, and Silver in one product. The exams are conducted by Promatri, and open to partners and customers. “Most of the time we subsidize the cost of certifications. In India we will run a quarterly certification bootcamp and provide free training. Partners will have to pay $120 per module for the certificate,” informed Pochiraju. He said the new program gels with the company’s new GTM. He further said that the company will increase its focus on service providers. “With the Traffic acquisition we are seeing a lot of traction in LTE deployment. We will continue to innovate in the SP space and build efficiency in core infrastructure.” Added Pochiraju, “Although we work with telcos, large SIs, global SIs and managed service providers, even our biggest clients are serviced through a
“What sets us apart is our ability to provide vertical-specific solutions. For example, in telecom, we have 18 solutions that go in core” Anil Pochiraju MD, F5 Networks, India & Saarc
tier-2 partner. Presently their role is limited to that of a reseller, but we have started involving some partners in the larger infrastructure opportunities in their regions. The certifications will enable greater participation from these partners.” In India the company is aligning its business model with its global pattern. “Globally, 25 percent of our revenue comes from telcos, 25 percent from BFSI, the government contributes 17-19 percent, and the rest comes from e-commerce, social networking and online gaming. We are replicating the same structure in India.” According to Pochiraju, F5 has 60 percent of the existing carriers in the telco segment as its customers, seven of the top 10 in BFSI, all the top 10 tech majors globally and three of the big five in India. “We have 47 percent marketshare globally,” Pochiraju said. “Our closest competitor in the application delivery space has 27 percent. What sets us apart is our ability to provide verticalspecific solutions. For example, in telecom, we have 18 solutions that go in core; in banking we have 24 solutions. We are sure that this portfolio will help us penetrate the Indian market deeper.” n
edit opinion Volume 1, Issue 16
The virtual era dhaval valia
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n the last two editions of CRN, we have highlighted the solutions opportunities in the increasingly slowing marketplace. We wrote about trends and opportunities in the server and storage solutions space, and in the current edition we have highlighted the opportunities in virtualization. All these three technology elements are linked to each other as they address the compute infrastructure demand of the customers. Consolidation has been a key theme among Indian customers—large and mid-size— for the past five years. It is the first step to virtualization and many organizations that have consolidated in the past couple of years are now looking at virutalizing and further consolidating. One of the roadblocks for virtualization adoption has been the licensing models followed by software vendors. Desktop virtualization for instance has always been at a disadvantage because of the so-called ‘double virtualization taxation’ which software vendors such as Microsoft have been insisting on. VMware too has introduced a memory entitlement-based licensing model instead of the regular CPU-based pricing model. Clearly vendors need to find the right licensing if they want to amplify the adoption of virtualization. To me the emerging concept of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is what will further accentuate the adoption of virtualization. According to various research, by 2015 nearly 45-50 percent enterprise users will carry two devices to work. To accommodate BYOD, virtualization is going to be key. Client virtualization provides IT managers the flexibility to bring just about any device inside an organization. As long as applications are only accessed and data does not leave the organization infrastructure without being tracked, organizations should be comfortable with the idea of BYOD. Consolidation and virtualization I believe will be the single biggest opportunity for enterprise VARs going forward. Particularly in an economy that is slowing, customers will continue to look at consolidating their IT infrastructure and management costs. As I mentioned earlier, do not underestimate the power of IT consumerization. It is the most disruptive change after the Internet and within the next 5-10 years there will be a paradigm workplace transformation which will lead to a major shift in the IT ecosystem. Amidst these changes virtualization will be the key trend and opportunity and I am sure it will compel vendors to review and revise their licensing models sooner than later.n E-mail CRN Executive Editor Dhaval Valia at dhaval.valia@ubm.com 14
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Managing Director Printer & Publisher Director Associate Publisher & Executive Editor Group Commercial Director Contributing Editor Assistant Editor Principal Correspondent Senior Correspondent
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edit opinion The startup advantage Robert Faletra
W
e are in the midst of a true technological revolution very similar to what we saw in the early days of the industry. The number of startups I am seeing is almost unprecedented, and, while we are seeing consolidation in the partner base, there are thousands of new solution provider organizations being formed as part of this revolution. For solution providers young and old, I believe there is a unique opportunity to gauge the new supplier base and capitalize on the need by those vendors to build channel relationships and sales. Creative destruction is a fact of life in high-tech, and many of these startups are exploiting a weakness among the larger players. It is the reason we see so many of them being acquired by the big brands that face “The Innovator’s Dilemma” described so well by Clayton Christensen in his book of the same title. Startups are the lifeblood of this industry, and are the reason why technology continues to get pushed forward so quickly. Solution providers can benefit by taking on newer suppliers that fill a unique niche. I am a believer that solution providers of all sizes need to find some time to seek out and vet these potential new suppliers. This will result in few new additions, but those that are brought on can be very important for growth. In addition, it is important for no other reason than to stay current with what is happening in the market and be able to talk intelligently about the latest trends with customers. One way to approach this is to look at areas of competency today and look to add complementary products. For instance, if your business has a strong physical infrastructure storage practice, can you add a cloud element by evaluating a newer player? If you have concentrated on server virtualization, can you move more into virtual desktops with additional products? One of the advantages of working with a smaller startup-type company is that your large established bigname suppliers tend to dismiss them and, as a result, do not get as nervous about your efforts there. That means less tendency by them to put the pressure on you to pull back your efforts. One of the downsides to working with a startup, however, is that you are going to have to carry the ball, as it may not have the resources to support you in the way you have been supported in the past. You also need to watch the health of any startup to be sure you are not putting your customers at risk with a company that may not be around in the long term. But it is an exciting time in the world of startups, and it is a world you should think seriously about how to participate in. n Email Robert Faletra at robert.faletra@ec.ubm.com 16
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From antivirus to total security
The potential in home networking
The CRN article on antivirus was a good read. The challenges highlighted in the story are indeed a big concern as most resellers do not have a good profitability selling antivirus and Internet security products. Many vendors start by providing reasonable margins to grab market share, and once their brand is known they forget their partners who fight cut-throat competition to sell the products. Most of these products are sold only because there is demand and not because they add to our revenue. It is high time vendors keep the partners’ interests in mind.
The article on the potential in home networking was well-written, and caught hold of the trends in home networking which is a growing market with high growth prospects. The growth is further highlighted by consumer buying patterns that are shifting toward wireless access. We have been observing increased demand for wireless routers as many consumers have more than one IT device. Home users as well as SOHOs are leveraging cloud computing in remotely accessing their devices. They are also using it for remote surveillance.
Rohit Pal Kolkata
Sikha Singh via email
Send your feedback at editor@ubmindia.com or post your views on www.crn.in
Advertiser Index Company name
Smartlink Smartlink Emerson Microsoft Compuage-Odyssey Rashi LG Eaton NEC Dell Fujitsu Scanner Compuage-Edifier Dell Fujitsu Lifebook Seagate Dell Interop CLS Virtual Expo Western Digital Trend Micro Forward HCL Symantec Acer Biz IBM Iomega
Page No Web site
Sales Contact
1 www.digisol.com helpdesk@digisol.com 2 www.digilite.co.in helpdesk@digilite.co.in 4 emersonnetworkpower.com marketing.india@emerson.com 5 www.microsoft.com/piracy inpiracy@microsoft.com 7 www.compuageindia.com odyssey@compuageindia.com 9 www.rptechindia.com response@rptechindia.com 11 www.lg.com serviceindia@lge.com 13 www.eaton.com/powerquality/india EatonPowerQualityIndia@Eaton.com 15 www.necindia.in enquiries@necindia.in 17 www.Dell.co.in nitin_phadnis@dell.com 19 www.sg.fujitsu.com/scanner Rohit.Grover@in.fujitsu.com 21 www.edifier-international.com info@compuageindia.com 23 www.dell.co.in www.dell.co.in/details 25 www.sg.fujitsu.com marketing-india@ts.fujitsu.com 29 www.seagate.com www.seagate.com/goflexsatellite 31 www.dell.co.in dell.co.in/vostro 34-35 www.interop.in salil.warior@ubm.com 39 www.crn.in/lsummit salil.warior@ubm.com 43 www.crn.in/virtualexpo salil.warior@ubm.com 48 www.westerndigital.com wddirect.india@wdc.com 49 www.trendmicro.co.in avneet.kaur@trend-micro.in 50 www.forwardindustries.com vinayendra@rxinfotech.com 51 www.hclpos.co.in / www.hcl.in wecare4u@hcl.in 52 www.fortune-it.com sandeep.dhar@fortune-it.com 53 www.acer.co.in 54 www.indiaantivirus.com sales@indiaantivirus.com 55 www.ibm.com response@in.ibm.com 56 www.iomega.com/vssolutions indiasales@iomega.com
channel chief “Accounts receivables is a major issue” PS Neogi, President, Redington, India’s second largest IT distributor, talks to Ramdas S about the changing channel trends Redington seems to be increasingly focused on enterprise IT distribution and the value added distribution market. Is that a conscious move? That may be just an impression. We have a long history of participating with our vendors in their VAD portfolio, having pioneered the internal structure of a distributor for addressing the unique requirements of this role. In fact we were the first to develop an effective business and sales structure to generate revenue from what started being termed by our vendors as the “Redington managed distribution” space. In this SMB/midmarket part of the customer segment we act as the vendor’s arm to independently support our partners to access business. This started in 2002, and since then we have become what we believe the distributor of choice for any vendor looking for a focused VAD approach in India. We continue to augment our VAD portfolio by selectively adding to new vendor portfolios.
Redington is known to be keen to invest in IT retail. Will that not affect your position as a distributor? Let me clarify that we have no plans to enter IT retail, and that we will not compete with our partners. While we may explore opportunities in the IT retail sector purely as an investor and minority shareholder if a meaningful option presents itself, we are unlikely to engage directly in this space. As a broad-based, mainstream national distributor, we believe that our primary responsibility is to help the partner community develop the opportunities to address different business segments.
The cloud is expected to be a game changer in IT distribution. What’s Redington planning to do to help growth in a cloud economy? We are engaged with most of our vendors to explore the role that a distributor can play to effectively support them in their GTM strategy for the cloud business space. While we feel that more widespread user acceptability of cloud computing may still be a little distance away in India, we already have a team headed by one of our seniormost colleagues formulating and executing our strategy in this space. You will soon hear the specifics. We feel that distributors will have a bigger
“While we may explore opportunities in the IT retail sector purely as an investor if a meaningful option presents itself, we are unlikely to engage directly in this space” 18
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role to play in the cloud economy.
Many vendors want distributors to reach partners in the smaller towns and cities. What are Redington’s plans to expand into the upcountry market? This is nothing new, and has been an ongoing exercise at both the vendors’ as well as the distributors’ end for as long as I can remember. While it might have received a degree of increased urgency in the past few years with more and more vendors seeing value in such an exercise, geographical broad-basing has always been one of the major focus areas of a national distributor. Simply put, for a distributor it is an inevitability because the growth in mature geographies will not continue at the same pace at all times for all products; hence, for our own growth, we have to continuously look at geo-expansion. It can be in two forms. It can be by way of direct sales and warehousing infrastructure in additional locations, or, if the business metrics do not permit such an investment, develop business with partners in more T-3 and -4 towns with one of the large cities as the hub. Our approach to new vendor acquisition is adding value to our offerings to our partners. In both the value as well as volume space, the emphasis is on identifying serious gaps and meaningful niches and attempting to address them. What I am in a position to share is that we have 55+ billing locations at the moment. On an average we do business with 6,000+ partners on a quarterly basis out of a partner base of 20,000+.
Redington is well known for its credit control policy. How is the credit control situation in an economy that looks weak? While we may have at one time taken the lead in formulating and establishing channel credit policies, in my opinion, today, all the major distributors have such controls/norms in place. Given the absolute explosion in the quantum of credit being extended by every distributor, it is not only absolutely essential but a matter of survival. The thing to understand and appreciate is that our channel partners have also matured and developed to a great degree over the years, and by and large they understand and appreciate the requirement of controls and due diligence on the part of the distributor. Accounts receivables (AR) is a major issue—there is no running away from the fact. I would be less than truthful if I did not say that all of us wish our partners would put more of their equity in their business, but essentially, today, the
channel chief issue of AR crops up due to the extremely tight overall liquidity situation. The problem is that the entire ecosystem needs to wake up to the fact that we sink or swim together. The entire business-chain must move to healthier business practices that give appropriate weightage to due diligence at all levels of the vendor-channel eco-system.
“We look forward to our partners bringing in healthier business practices, increasing their due diligence, and ensuring that the customer pays for the product he buys”
What is your advice to Indian partners?
of zero information sharing, so we cannot comment on the services business.
We respect our partners for having been directly and primarily responsible for taking IT to the doorstep of the common man and the small and big business. If I were to make just one observation—we look forward to all our partners bringing in healthier business practices at every level, increasing the due diligence that they do, and making an attempt to ensure that the endcustomer—whether an individual or a company—pays for the technology and the product that he/she is buying, pays the correct and fair value for it, and pays it on time. The AR issues which we face as a distributor are not our issues alone. They directly impact our ability to support our partners. They increase the cost of doing business across the board and diminish our ability to keep investing in the business and adding value to our partners.
Redington has a successful services arm. How much of it is channel-driven? What needs to be done to drive the services business through partners? The warranty/post-warranty/AMC and facility management business is run as a completely different organization within Redington. It is independent, and has nothing to do with the distribution business. It is a completely arms-length operation with a corporate policy
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How has channel financing evolved? What should partners do to qualify for business financing? Ever since the inception of Redington’s fully-owned NBFC—Easyaccess Financial Services (EAFSL)—both the number of partners taking advantage of this facility as well as the total funds deployed in assisting IT partners have increased. While I am not at a liberty to disclose the extent of funds deployed, I can share that over 165 partners across the country are currently on its books. While evaluating a partner’s requirement, EAFSL takes into account its payment track-record, scale of business, the reasons for requiring financing support and the ability of the partner to service the financing support once approved. Partners must demonstrate a good payment track-record with its distributors, share its financials transparently, share the specific reason for availing the credit line, and the business plan which would support its timely repayment. EAFSL is an NBFC governed by strict RBI regulations, and as such has set norms and procedures to follow. The partner would therefore also have to agree to the required documentation, and, if required, the securitization of the loan. n
special focus Storing more in less How storage vendors are innovating to help data center managers cope with big data and the information explosion n Ayushman Baruah
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s data continues to grow exponentially, data center managers are facing huge challenges to efficiently manage their data and storage. According to a study by IDC in association with EMC, digital information in India will grow from 40,000 petabytes to 2.3 million petabytes over the current decade (2010 to 2020)—twice as fast as the worldwide rate. As a result, enterprises of all sizes will face an increasing challenge to store, protect and manage the rapidly-growing digital information, and comply with backup requirements. This data explosion, referred to as big data, has created the need and appetite for innovation in storage, giving rise to multi-tiered storage, fluid data and storage virtualization. According to industry estimates, the average utilization rate of storage in most data centers is only about 40-45 percent. This indicates that much of the storage capacity in data centers is underutilized. “One of the most serious concerns of data center administrators is how to take care of the growing size of data, the rack space, floor space, and power and cooling requirements. The storage component, which has the maximum mechanical parts, requires maximum power and cooling,” says Rajesh Awasthi, Director, Cloud & Telco, NetApp India. Awasthi defines storage efficiency as the ability to store the maximum amount of data in the smallest possible space at the lowest possible cost. “It is nearly impossible to predict how long any data file will be retained on disk. All data begins its life on primary storage. Whether it is a database entry, user file, software source code file, or an email attachment, this data consumes physical space on a disk drive somewhere within your primary storage environment. The creation of data on primary storage begins a chain of events that lead to storage inefficiencies,” he says.
Vendor offerings Traditionally, there has been a gap between the management of storage and the management of data. Data management, which includes the management of files, file systems and structured data, has often been a separate discipline from the management of the underlying storage infrastructure. Data administrators have historically concerned themselves with the redundancy,
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performance, persistence and availability of their data. On the other hand, storage administrators have focused on delivering physical infrastructure that satisfies the data’s requirements. Typically, the storage is first configured, and then within the constraints of the configured storage data management takes place. If the storage requirements of the data change, the data must be migrated to a different storage or the underlying storage must be reconfigured. Either process is disruptive, and requires multiple domain-specific administrators to work on it closely. Oracle attempts to address such gaps with solutions such as the Oracle Enterprise Manager. According to an Oracle whitepaper, “Offering a single console to manage multiple server architectures and myriad operating systems, the Oracle Enterprise Manager’s capabilities include asset discovery, provisioning of firmware and operating systems, automated patch management, patch and configuration management, virtualization management, and comprehensive compliance reporting. An open, extensible system that can be integrated with existing data center management tools, the Oracle Enterprise Manager manages across the entire infrastructure stack.” According to the paper, the Oracle Enterprise Manager allows data center staff to observe and take action against energy misuse, and supports viewing energy consumption in terms of real dollars. The performance of spinning disk-based storage device (which showed no significant improvement) was another challenge that remained unaddressed for many years. That situation has changed thanks to flash-based storage devices. For instance, 4 milliseconds can be considered a representative response time for small spinning-disk reads. Flash-based devices can deliver the same read in 0.4 milliseconds. Oracle’s new Database Smart Flash Cache feature leverages this I/O breakthrough offered by flash-based storage devices. “Flash cache is a technology available inside the servers, and it’s like bringing storage inside the servers,” says Mitesh Agarwal, CTO & Director, Systems, Oracle India. EMC has also recognized that with the increase in the scale and scope of storage, administrators are compelled to reduce their labor requirements while maintaining
special focus “Data de-duplication delivers an improved return on investment by reducing storage infrastructure and management for both backup and archive”
“With fluid data technology you can optimize efficiency, agility and resiliency to slash storage costs up to 80 percent, and scale on a single platform”
Deepak Varma
PA Sathyaseelan
Regional Head, Presales, South, EMC India
complete control over the complex, rapidly growing infrastructures. “Dynamic workloads make it difficult to provide predictable, consistent performance levels. What these administrators need is an underlying infrastructure that provides full visibility, is self-managing, and is able to quickly adapt to change in tiered environments, or automated storage tiering,” says Deepak Varma, Regional Presales Head, South, EMC India. For organizations to take full advantage of these multitier environments, EMC created the Fully Automated Storage Tiering, which automates the movement of data within a storage system as a replacement for the significant amount of manual storage administrative tasks. “This kind of storage intelligence allows users to move content between various tiers of storage in a nondisruptive fashion, ensuring application availability at all time,” Varma adds. EMC recently introduced a new server flash caching solution, VFCache. According to EMC, VFCache and EMC flash-enabled storage systems improve application performance by leveraging intelligent software and PCIe flash technology; testing resulted in up to 3x increased throughput while reducing latency by 60 percent. The company sees huge adoption of data deduplication technology among Indian enterprises to manage their information storage and backup more efficiently. Traditional backup solutions store data repeatedly and incrementally, expanding total managed storage by 5-10 times. “Data de-duplication helps address this and delivers an improved ROI by reducing storage infrastructure and management for both backup and archive. It also addresses environmental issues by reducing the data center footprint for backup along with the attendant energy and power savings. Apart from the savings, de-duplication enhances the efficiency of a newage data center,” Varma informs. Dell too has big plans for the data center space. According to PA Sathyaseelan, Executive Director, Enterprise Solutions, Dell, “Dell has moved from the edge of the data center to the core of the data center.” Dell has been aggressive in its storage strategy with a series of acquisitions in the past. It acquired EqualLogic in 2007 and Compellent Technologies in 2011, both of which contribute significantly to the company’s storage portfolio today. In 2005 Compellent introduced a technology innovation (referred to as fluid data) which defied the rigid boundaries of conventional storage. “Part of Dell’s fluid data architecture, the Dell Compellent Storage Center is an all-in-one storage array that always puts data in the right place at the
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Executive Director, Enterprise Solutions, Dell
right time at the right cost. With fluid data technology you can optimize efficiency, agility and resiliency to slash storage costs up to 80 percent, scale on a single platform, and secure data against downtime and disaster. Best of all, with fluid data, your storage dynamically adapts to your business needs,” says Sathyaseelan.
Storage on demand As data continues to increase, the management of both data and storage is getting complicated and expensive, which is why many companies are outsourcing it to specialized players who can manage it in an opex-based model. For instance, in September 2009, Max Healthcare and Dell Services entered a 10-year agreement under which Dell would manage all IT operations for Max including infrastructure management, data hosting and applications portfolio management. As per IDC, though data in India will grow twice as fast as in the rest of the world in this decade, the staff managing this data will grow by only 1 percent. This is a clear indication of the need to automate data centers. The concept of co-hosting or co-locating the data centers to external providers as part of their IT requirements is another trend that’s fast picking up. A case in point is EMC, which recently partnered with Tulip Telecom. As per the agreement, Tulip will provide end-to-end managed on-demand storage services and backup-as-a-service by using EMC unified storage and backup and recovery technologies from Tulip Data City in Bengaluru. Tulip’s cloud-based storage and backup service offerings are powered by EMC VNX unified storage, EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain technologies for storage, backup and recovery, enabling Tulip to offer enterprises managed services to address the growing complexities related to storage and backup of data. With the increase in data volumes and government regulations, storage costs are mounting. Consequently, storage is becoming a challenge which is forcing companies to rethink their existing approach. High-end storage comes at a premium, and using top-shelf storage for all data assets is no longer a cost-efficient solution. This is driving organizations to look at different approaches to data storage such as intelligence-based automated tiering where the management of data in turn manages the storage. Organizations are also looking at cloud-based storage services providing storage on demand. n Courtesy: www.informationweek.in
cover story
From new licensing models to application streaming, we examine nine prominent trends in the virtualization market n SONAL DESAI & RAMDAS S
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irtualization and its many flavors has been one of the most dominating and influential technologies that has evolved over the past five years. While the technology has gained wide acceptance, it is also seen as a key element behind the cloud computing wave that is sweeping the IT landscape today. Indian IT partners have started adopting the technology and are building successful business practices around it. In this article we take a look at key trends in the virtualization market.
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New licensing models
One of the complaints that partners have is licensing. While desktop virtualization has always been at a disadvantage because of the so-called ‘double virtualization taxation’ which software vendors such as Microsoft have been insisting on, VMware complicated matters further by choosing a memory entitlement-based licensing model instead of the regular CPU-based pricing model. “Product vendors need to simplify licensing policies and cut costs further if we need to really amplify the
cover story “With KVM, subscribers of Red Hat Enterprise Linux can easily deploy both VDI infrastructure as well as server virtualization”
“Open source is emerging as not just a cost-effective alternative but also as an equally secure and stable alternative”
Harish Pillay, Global Community &
Prakash Advani
Technology Architect, Red Hat
Regional Manager, Asia Pacific, Canonical
growth of the adoption of virtualization,” states Vipul Dutta, CEO, Futuresoft, a Delhi-based solutions provider. Ganesan Arumugam, Director, Channels & Alliances, VMware India, defends the company. “Our decision to switch to a VRAM-based licensing model was based on feedback from customers, and we changed the memory entitlements based on feedback after the launch. The idea was to align our pricing model based on the cost benefits of virtualization rather making it a function of the physical assets of the server which a customer is using,” he argues. While some partners still find it complicated, VMware had conducted training programs across major cities where a significant amount of time was spent on educating them about the new licensing model. “VMware vSphere 5 licenses are simple license keys that contain encrypted information about the VMware vSphere edition (or kit) purchased and the processor quantity,” adds Arumugam. “These license keys do not contain any server-specific information and are not tied to a specific piece of hardware. This means that the same license key can be assigned to multiple VMware vSphere hosts as long as the sum of physical processors and the memory entitlements do not cross the licensing terms.” According to Arumugam, with the new licensing model a customer who needs only basic virtualization need not pay anything, while someone who needs significant benefits of virtualization ends up paying a fair share of the cost benefits.
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Open source alternatives
Many free open source alternatives have emerged in the virtualization space. Most are centered around KVM, XenSource, Oracle’s Virtual Box and OpenViz. Red Hat has thrown its hat in the virtualization and cloud computing ring, building a bunch of subscription services around KVM and also launching its cloud virtualization platform OpenShift. “We are hoping to make inroads in both the desktop and server virtualization market by providing customers with a more comprehensive choice. With KVM, subscribers of Red Hat Enterprise Linux can easily deploy both VDI infrastructure as well as server virtualization,” says Harish Pillay, Global Community & Technology Architect, Red Hat. XenSource, the developers of the Xen Virtualization platform, was acquired by Citrix three years ago. OpenViz is the core within Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, a commercial virtualization solution offered by Swiss company Parallels. KVM is a hypervisor which is now the mainline Linux
kernel. Although the host machine needs to be Linux, it supports Linux, Windows, Solaris and BSD guests. It runs on x86 and x86-64 systems with hardware supporting virtualization extensions. “To make it easier for users to deploy desktop virtualization, Red Hat offers Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization. Now you can easily deploy a Fedora or Windows XP or Windows 7 on a secure highperformance hypervisor platform. Our platform is naturally cheaper than using VDI solutions from the competition,” adds Pillay. The advantages of open source alternatives include— apart from lower licensing costs—the absence of the locks associated with other software. “You have the option to run KVM across hundreds of servers, and pay only for support. Partners with expertise can build services and a practice without paying even a paisa to an outsider,” points out Satheesh Nair, CEO, Stickman Consulting, Bengaluru. However, the lack of expertise is holding partners back from open source alternatives. That is what vendors such as Canonical, Red Hat and Attachmate are betting on with their support platforms. “Canonical is keen to explore opportunities, and offers very flexible packages for partners looking at virtualization services. Open source is emerging as not just a cost-effective alternative but also as an equally secure and stable alternative,” says Prakash Advani, Regional Manager, Asia Pacific, Canonical.
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Access controls for virtualized applications
One of the biggest trends in virtualization has been around access controls. As enterprises have started moving toward virtualization, there is also demand for security around virtualization. According to Soughat Ghosh, Solutions Strategist, Security, CA Technologies, organizations are looking at the same level of security for their privilege users on virtual environments as physical security. CA’s Control Minder is essentially a base functionality which discovers and manages privilege users and sends audit reports. “The other thing we do is network segregation,” informs Ghosh. “We develop virtual images and classify them. We put a rule and say that this class cannot talk to the other one. We are seeing a lot of traction from banks. The interest is largely because instead of doing detection control we are doing preventive control. If you provide customers with base functionality, it is set for life and the chances of errors are minimal.” The company has also pitched Control Minder to prospects in the telecom, government and defense
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cover story segments. “A key challenge for most organizations which are increasingly opting for teleworking staff is remote desktop security. No enterprise CIO wants data to move out of the organization without permission,” says Sunil Cherian, VP, Array Networks. Others see VDI as the solution to the problem. “Virtual desktops essentially help you to keep data secure within the organization with the right set of controls and policies,” says Kaushal Velluri, Director, Channels & Alliances, Citrix India.
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Bring your own device
IDC believes that one of the biggest trends that is set to change the way enterprise IT works would be BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device (to the workplace). “The consumerization of IT and its impact on enterprise technology culture is driving the concept of BYOD,” says Sitaram Venkat, Director, Enterprise Solutions, Dell India. According to Uttam Majumdar, President, Locuz Enterprise Solutions, “By 2015 the enterprise mobility market will be worth around $28 billion, 97 percent of enterprise users will carry two devices, and there will be 1.1 billion cell-phones and 300 million tablets worldwide.” BYOD is influencing the adoption of virtualization. Virtual desktops and applications are interlinked. “If
you want to use an iPad, smartphone, tablet or any other portable device, VDI is the way out. Standard laptop providers such as HP and Dell are also getting into VDI,” remarks Rahul Meher, MD, Leon Computers, Pune. He opines that organizations across the board are opting for applications such as social networking, cloud-based mail, IM and ERP on BYOD. “The access is not limited to the CXOs; it extends to the salesforce as well.” One of the technologies making BYOD possible is virtual desktops. “The availability of virtualization permits IT managers to allow just about any device inside an organization. As long as applications are only accessed and data does not leave the organization infrastructure without being tracked, you are comfortable with the idea of BYOD,” says Arumugam. There are also business benefits. According to a study conducted by research firm Good Technology among users in North America, BYOD programs generally shift costs to the users. With the worker paying for most, or all of the cost of the hardware, voice/data services and other associated expenses, companies save a lot of money—as much as $80 per month per user. “One of the reasons managements want their workers to use BYOD is that there is worker satisfaction,” says Vishal Vasu, Director, Dev Information Technology, Ahmedabad.
VDA helps KPIT Cummins consolidate and virtualize using vblock
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ith more than 7,000 employees and operations in 10 countries, KPIT Cummins is a technology consultant to global manufacturing companies especially in the automotive, energy & utilities, industrial equipment and semiconductor segments. KPIT has deployed three Vblocks for private cloud, DR for VDI infrastructure and cloud for a test and development environment. According to M Marulkar, Head, IT Infrastructure, and CISO, KPIT Cummins, the company is hosting 1,200 virtual desktops, Corporate applications such as SAP ERP, Vikas Save project management, configuration management, Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Microsoft Lync are on the first Vblock. “The second Vblock, expected to go live next month, will be used as a DR for VDI. The third Vblock, also expected to go live next month, will host VMware vCloudDirector and VMware Service Manager for setting up a self service portal for test and development infrastructure,” Marulkar says. As part of an infrastructure optimization and consolidation initiative, at the beginning of 2011 KPIT decided to virtualize its core applications, deliver on-demand services to its users, increase IT efficiency and simplify management. “Although we have closely monitored and optimized end-user asset utilization, in 2-3 years we were not able give flexibility to users to work from anywhere using any of their devices without compromising information security. That
is when VDA Infosolutions proposed VDI,” Marulkar explains. The Vblock infrastructure comprises VCE, a solution from VMware, Cisco and EMC. It was imperative for the consultancy to reduce the proportion of the asset count to users. “We suggested VDI as the technology to take care of the same and additional needs,” says Ashutosh Deuskar, Director, VDA. VDA implemented 800 VDIs for KPIT out of the total 1,200; the balance 400 will be rolled out soon. Within a few months of deployment KPIT has seen a drop in the asset:resource ratio from 1:18 to 1:10. “We are in an advanced stage of setting up a DR solution for VDI and VM server on Vblock, which is the first case in India,” says Vikas Save, Director, VDA Infosolutions. While the tangible benefits would be available in three years, KPIT has already witnessed a drop in electricity bills by 20 percent and faster turn-around time to roll out new software and applications. Since the deployment of VDI, KPIT has upgraded to the latest editions of corporate applications and has included Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Lync 2010, SAP portals, CA Service Desk Manager and other configuration management systems. The company is planning to migrate 400 more users in the coming months, and 600 more by 2013. n
KPIT has already witnessed a drop in electricity bills by 20 percent and faster turn-around time to roll out new software and applications 28
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cover story “We are seeing a lot of traction from banks. The interest is because instead of doing detection control we are doing preventive control”
“Virtual desktops help you to keep data secure within the organization with the right set of controls and policies”
Soughat Ghosh
Kaushal Velluri
Solutions Strategist, Security, CA Technologies
Ghosh of CA remarks that BYOD presents a very holistic picture in which all devices are connected in some way through the network and controlled by access control deployed inside the DC. “However, not many ask whether they can deploy a layer of defense on the device. The only other thing we have seen is mobile device management (MDM).” From an access control perspective, if you can control information inside the door it is good for now, and that is where MDM works. The banking industry is thinking of putting MDM around phones, and even not-so-tech-savvy segments such as manufacturing are thinking of putting control policies in place.
Director, Channels & Alliances, Citrix India
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New alternatives to VDI
While desktop virtualization is said to offer considerable savings in terms of TCO, the prohibitive upfront costs are discouraging customers. This has prompted a number of alternatives which have the same goal—to reduce the cost of managing the desktop by virtualization. Software startup Wanova uses de-duplication to implement virtualization. What it does is essentially maintain a single copy of the software, which is made available to multiple users without administrative or user intervention. If the software needs to be updated across hundreds of users, Wanova will allow you to do the same, and the software update will be synchronized across all users.
virtual REALITY CHECK Vipul Dutta, CEO, Futuresoft Solutions, talks about the new concepts and trends in virtualization and the relationship between a vendor, partner and customers
C
ustomers are looking to spend less and achieve more. Concepts such as virtualization (server and desktop), BYOD, SaaS and cloud are supposed to offer a better ROI at lower TCO. However, in most cases (barring very specific strategic instances), their ROI and TCO do not look as good in reality as they do when the concepts are being promoted. Especially in server virtualization and VDI, the capex investment on servers, end-user devices, storage components, solution software, integration, application re-engineering (in some VIPUL DUTTA cases) and eventual sustenance for supporting the new environment is making it costlier upfront. Product vendors need to simplify licensing policies, cut costs further, and add onsite post-sales support to reduce the TCO for the client in the long-term. This will set the foundation for large-scale adoption and additional business for OEMs and partners alike. OEMs must educate customers about the business benefits (computing value, which is tough from an ROI stand-point) which have greater value in the long run. The high availability of the system, scalability, predictable costs for future growth, business continuity, platform standardization, and faster roll-outs are direct contributors to the productivity of the organization. Software vendors should look to evolve the end-user
support model in line with the established hardware support model. Vendors can charge for post-sale support with a care-pack model instead of claiming a flat subscription and looking to charge separately for an upgradation from the customer when he is looking for it. This will contribute toward reducing the TCO and improve ROI. The OEM’s endorsed service delivery will strengthen the customer’s belief and reduce their management costs resulting in a reduction of TCO. Vendors can utilize the certified incumbent partners or certified service partners for execution in an oncall support/service model. This will add to the sustenance for partners who would have otherwise invested in very high cost resources to manage only a limited set of direct engagements. Likewise, storage vendors need to contribute by reducing the upfront capex by 30-40 percent and opex (subsequent capacity increase) by 30-40 percent. This will enable customers to transition most of their user base to a virtualized environment. This is easier said than done. High cost has been the single biggest reason for slow adoption, and unless there is a combined effort by all parties involved to reduce the cost these will continue to be concepts adopted by large enterprises—and even for them in bits and pieces. n
High cost has been the biggest reason for slow adoption, and unless there is a combined effort to reduce the cost these will continue to be concepts adopted by large enterprises
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cover story “If you want to use an iPad, smartphone, tablet or any other portable device, VDI is the way out”
“Traditional VDI has its own challenges because of prohibitive licensing costs as well as the extra investments an organization needs to make”
Rahul Meher
JOHN GLENDENNING
MD, Leon Computers
Senior VP, Worldwide Sales, Virtual Computer
Virtual Computer, which was recently acquired by Citrix, also offers an alternative called Intelligent Virtual Desktops. “The traditional VDI has its own challenges because of prohibitive licensing costs as well as the extra investments an organization needs to make in storage and servers,” says John Glendenning, Senior VP, Worldwide Sales, Virtual Computer. “Our solution essentially virtualizes the desktop using the hardware resources of the desktop, and also reduces the overall licensing costs because you need to acquire a license for both the desktop and server/storage in the case of traditional VDI.” There are thin client vendors like 2X and NComputing which are offering virtualization around Microsoft Windows Terminal server. However, there are limitations to thin client-based terminal services when it comes to performance. “Parallels offers container-based virtualization which significantly brings down the cost of operations,” says S Sriram, CEO, iValue Infosolutions. Ashok L, CEO, Futurenet Technologies, Chennai, defends traditional VDI. “If a customer is planning to deploy 500 new desktops I can easily convince them to opt for desktop virtualization. The upfront licensing costs as well as other infrastructure costs would be cheaper than buying the desktops with licensed software. From day one the customer would start saving in terms of power and management costs.”
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DR, high availability, storage virtualization
The disaster recovery and high availability segments are embracing virtualization because of the inherent benefits that the technology brings. “Perhaps no other product line is gaining the benefit of virtualization the way the storage industry is gaining,” remarks Deepak Varma, Regional Head, Presales, EMC India. “Virtualized storage is typically block-level rather than file-level, prompting the virtualized storage to look like a single drive to users in the network. This makes it easier to manage heterogeneous environments.” A real transition has taken place with live migration becoming the standard of all popular server virtualization platforms. Prior to virtualization being used in storage, the migration of applications data from one physical server to another meant that the application needed to be brought down, or switched to a read-onlymode, and then copied. “But with virtualization, and especially live migration of virtual machines, there is no downtime. This makes it ideal to implement storage virtualization for storing almost all kinds of enterprise
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data,” says Srikanth Karnakota, Director, Server & Cloud Business, Microsoft India. Adds Srinivas Rao, Director, Pre-sales & Solutions, Hitachi Data Systems, “Virtualization often makes storage provisioning easier, adds value to storage, and eases the traditional pain of managing or allocating storage resources among various applications and users.” High availability is another market where virtualized environments are preferred over traditional computer clusters. In the case of mission-critical applications, high availability solutions from various virtualization vendors have been proven to reduce resource costs considerably.
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Network virtualization
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Hybrid clouds
Network virtualization is defined as the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity. Cisco and HP have already started shipping network switches and routers which simplify the management of network and storage environments, and provide visibility and control over network and storage traffic in virtualized environments. “In this cloud era, clients need to be able to deploy applications on the fly to any device and any user accessing the network from anywhere with guaranteed quality of service levels,” says Sanjay Jotshi, Director, Networking, HP India. HP has introduced a concept called Virtual Application Manager, and has also offered a VMware plug-in which helps network managers automate network policies for VMs. Microsoft has also partnered with hardware and networking vendors such as Cisco, HP and Hitachi. In addition, security vendors have stepped up the momentum. “In many IT/ITeS companies there is a demand for network and security policies for different teams depending on the individual projects the teams are working on, hence our firewalls and UTM devices can be virtualized for the specific needs of the team,” says Vishak Raman, Regional Director, Fortinet.
A hybrid cloud is a composition of at least one private cloud and at least one public cloud. The most common reason for customers to bet on a hybrid cloud is the benefits associated with both private and public clouds. Public clouds offer great economies of scale while private clouds offer privacy. Industry analysts feel that clients would like to keep missioncritical applications on a private cloud and non-critical
cover story “Perhaps no other product line is gaining the benefit of virtualization the way the storage industry is gaining”
“The best example of application streaming is Office 365, where we are streaming the software over a browser”
Deepak Varma
Srikanth Karnakota, Director, Server & Cloud Business, Microsoft India
Regional Head, Presales, EMC India
applications on a public cloud. Private clouds can also be less susceptible to a disaster compared to a public cloud. While the hybrid cloud has been a great idea, it has never caught on in enterprises. This is primarily due to the unavailability of management infrastructure that can manage private cloud and public cloud infrastructure together. However, as more integration tools are emerging, some industry leaders expect hybrid clouds to gather steam.
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Application streaming
Traditional application virtualization is evolving into the new concept called application streaming. It involves pieces of the application’s code, data and settings which are delivered when they are first needed instead of the entire application being delivered before startup. Running the packaged application may require the installation of a lightweight client application over protocols such as HTTP.
“For a customer we recently deployed Windows 7 desktops with limited features based on a template of Windows Server. Only the features that are necessary are exposed to the end-user, and in terms of ROI the customer is seeing good productivity. We expect the users to be more focused with the limited set of features,” says Ashok. Adds Velluri, “Consider the example of a few hundred users who want to use only MS Excel. You can stream the application in a virtualized environment. Upgrading across multiple clients is also a breeze—with a single click you can roll-back or install it.” “One of the key advantages is that license management is simplified, with a clear picture provided to the IT manager on the numbers deployed and numbers available,” says Nair. It is also possible to cache parts of the application locally. Adds Karnakota, “The best example of application streaming is Office 365, where we are streaming the software over a browser.” n
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role model THE MAN WITH two passions George Thomas, CEO, Aldous Glare Trade & Exports, started as a small-time reseller of printers. Thanks to sound management practices over the years, he today presides over a `245 crore company—but still finds time for soccer n Amit singh
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n economics graduate from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, George Thomas, CEO, Aldous Glare Trade & Exports (AGTE), has two passions—soccer and work. So passionate is he about his company that he named his son Aldous and daughter Glare. Thomas started as a small-time reseller of printers; today he is one of the biggest distributors in south India with more than 3,000 partners spread across Kerala, Karnataka and TN. Headquartered in Kochi, AGTE has branches in Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore, Chennai and Bengaluru.
The beginning Coming from a family of farmers, starting a business was not easy. To understand the nitty-gritty of the business, Thomas worked as a software programmer in a software development firm for two years after completing his PGDCA in 1989. He also worked as freelance software programmer after leaving the job in 1992. Thomas formed AGTE in 1995 by reselling HP printers. “Redington started its India operations in 1993 and was expanding base in the south. We were the first company from Kochi to be associated with Redington and still have strong relations,” he says. The company expanded its printer portfolio by including Godrej printers in 1997. Till early 1998, AGTE was reselling printers as well as offering system components and software development on demand. A major turnaround came in 1998 when Thomas took a 3-month break to analyze his business. “I realized the need to remain focused in order to take the business to the next level. Since distribution was our core business, I decided to discontinue other businesses.” The company downsized its employee strength from 40 to five. Expanding its focus on distribution, AGTE included Epson and Wipro printers as well as Samtron (Samsung) and Microtek monitors in its offerings. Thomas also transformed the execution of business into a team effort. “I empowered the core team and made
“While we do not compromise on the quality of manpower, we are not overstaffed either. Our goal is to keep the cost of operations to less than 1 percent of our revenue” 36
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them responsible for their respective tasks. I also distanced myself from daily operations and focused only on strategic tasks,” he explains. This approach enabled the company to grow its revenue from `1.5 crore in 1998 to `5 crore in 1999. In 1999 AGTE strengthened its portfolio by including Intel processors and motherboards, and Mercury cabinets and keyboards. The company also became an exclusive sub-distributor for Samsung HDDs and drives in Kerala. These partnerships helped AGTE garner `30 crore in 2002. Explains Thomas, “Samsung, Intel and HP were growing at a rapid pace and that enabled us to grow. Moreover, selling only through partners facilitated expansion since partners were comfortable buying products from us unlike other distributors who also had their own retail outlets.” The company saw another turnaround in January 2003 when it stopped operations for three months to introspect on its strengths and weaknesses. “We realized that we were just reselling and fulfilling the requirements of customers with little or no sales efforts,” Thomas recalls. AGTE restarted operations in April 2003 with renewed focus on developing its sales strength by offering some lesser-known brands. It started distributing Maxtor HDDs, Frontech cabinets and keyboards, BenQ monitors and keyboards, and the Microsoft mouse. The company also discontinued distributing all the other brands except HP and Intel. In 2006 the company partnered with Samsung, Epson and Acer for notebooks and monitors, Compaq for PCs and notebooks, and Canon and TVSE for printers. It also became the regional distributor for Lenovo notebooks.
Current business AGTE grew its topline by 57 percent from `111 crore during FY2009-10 to `175 crore in FY2010-11 to `245 crore in FY2011-12. Growth in the last two years was triggered by a plan to expand into the other southern states. “We realized that our growth would be limited if we confined our presence to just Kerala. This prompted us to set up offices in Bengaluru and Coimbatore in FY2009-10 and in Chennai in FY2010-11,” says Thomas. In FY2010-11 the company became a tier-1 distributor for Asus notebooks and HCL PCs and tablets. It also became an exclusive distributor for AOC and Viewsonic
Role model 1995
Partnered with Redington to resell HP printers
1999
MILESTONES
Forayed into the component business
2003
monitors in Kerala. AGTE also came up with the Retail Partner (RP) program and Exclusive Regional Partner (ERP) program in FY2010-11. An ERP gets exclusivity for a small town and region, and the company ensures that all its resellers in that area buy through that partner. AGTE-managed channel schemes were another driver for growth. In 2010, during Onam, a scheme called ‘Buy & Fly to Malaysia’ was launched; it saw more than 20 partners flying to Malaysia. Besides, around 15 partner events were conducted during the year across Kerala alone.
Partnered with Maxtor, Frontech, BenQ and Microsoft
and HP Channel Excellence award in 2006; Intel - King of Kerala and Acer No 1 Notebook Partner in 2007; Toshiba Champion of Champions award in 2008; CRN - Best Sub-distributor South in 2009; and Seagate - Best Sub-distributor and CRN Outstanding Performance-Distribution award in 2011.
Future strategy
2012
2011
2010
2009
2006
The company aims to garner `1,000 crore in FY2015-16 riding on its exBalanced push-pull portfolio; tensive plans for geographical and revenue rose to `55 crore portfolio expansion. AGTE is now focusing on tier-1 relations with Set up branches in Bengaluru vendors including the lesser-known and Coimbatore brands. It has also started an import business and is currently importBest practices Became tier-1 distributor of ing Apotop memory modules, SSDs AGTE has a Website for partners and Mac accessories from Taiwan. Asus and HCL to inform them of price changes of “We will soon introduce tablets, over 500 fast-moving SKUs; the site Started ERP program for reAIOs and storage products sourced is updated daily. The implementafrom global markets,” informs tion of Tally ERP in late FY2009-10 distribution in small towns Thomas. paid rich dividends with timely The company believes that tabreports on collections and aging Started its servicing division, lets and smartphones will outnumstocks. The strict practice of collectAG Care ber notebook and PC sales in the ing post-dated cheques and ensurnear future. ing that stocks which have aged AGTE also started AG Care, its servicing division, in beyond 30 days are cleared on a priority improves the 2012 to provide warranty support for Asus, Chirag Comrotation of cash. puters and Apotop. The company also focuses on keeping costs low by The company will open a branch in New Delhi soon maintaining a lean, mean and efficient team. “While we and in Mangalore and Hyderabad later in this year. In addo not compromise on the quality of manpower, we are dition, it will open a branch in Mumbai in 2013. not overstaffed either. Our goal is to keep the entire cost Thomas also expressed his desire to enter IT manuof operations to less than 1 percent of revenue,” says facturing after FY2015-16. Thomas. In no branch are stocks planned for more than seven days, and the sales target to clear 25 percent of the stock on the day it lands has helped lower inventory. On a personal note About 10 percent of the net profit every year is investThomas considers Redington as his role model organizaed for soft-skill and technical training, holding quarterly tion. “Being associated with Redington since the beginmeetings of business leaders, and employee-oriented ning gave me the opportunity to observe various ups and recreational activities. downs with the company. During our association we Thomas says that being a coach you need to trust your learned many things and copied many of their working team. “I empower them completely to execute on the models.” field the conceptualized strategy. I have created a strong He considers soccer as his first love, and has been to team of second-line managers, and empowered them to soccer tournaments in Milan, Barcelona and Liverpool. take all the decisions, including signing cheques.” He has also witnessed soccer World Cup matches in Riding on such practices, the company won various 2002, 2006 and 2010. awards including Epson - Top Performer South India In addition, he loves watching action movies such in 1999; Samsung - No 1 Performer Kerala in 2001; as Gladiator, Rocky and Braveheart, and drama like The CRN - Best Sub-Distributor National in 2003; Intel - Top Pursuit of Happyness and The Shawshank Redemption. Performer Kerala in 2004; Compaq Best Sub-distributor Besides this, he also likes to read management books such as Good to Great, Built to Last and Great by Choice by James Collins, as well as biographies on Alexander, “I have created a strong team of Napoleon Bonaparte and Barack Obama. While Thomas does not like driving a car, he wishes second-line managers, and empowered to own a corporate jet by 2020. His dream holiday locathem to take all the decisions, tions are Peru and Brazil, and a perfect weekend is time spent with family and friends. n including signing cheques”
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tech focus
10
Can’t-Miss Products From Computex
The 2012 edition of Computex, which recently took place in Taipei, saw the launch of new ultrabooks, Windows RT and 5G-ready chipsets. We bring you the hottest stuff n Kristin Bent
Acer’s Iconia tablets get a Windows 8 makeover There was no shortage of Windows 8 at this year’s Computex, and Acer was one of the first to showcase the upcoming OS with the debut of its new Iconia W510 and Iconia W700 convertible tablets. Both the 10.1 inch W510 and 11.6 inch W700 are powered by Intel, tout multi-touch capabilities, and can be twisted and turned into a variety of viewing options. The W510 can be coupled with a detachable keyboard to be used as a traditional clamshell notebook, as a straightup tablet or as a third form factor called presentation mode that involves bending the screen backward to prop up on the keyboard. The W700 is not inherently convertible, but it comes with a multipurpose cradle that allows for different viewing angles.
Microsoft, Quanta on the Private Cloud Fast Track During a Computex keynote address, Steven Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President, OEM Division, Microsoft, unveiled the software giant’s new partnership with Taiwanese PC maker Quanta. The alliance will yield new servers, storage and networking equipment, coupled with Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization platform, and designed to facilitate the rollout of private clouds in the enterprise. “This is the ability to take our server technologies, marry them with the hardware technologies of the ecosystem of our partners here in Taiwan and around the globe, and build essentially a private cloud in a box,” he said. The new offering is part of Microsoft’s larger Private Cloud Fast Track program, which offers a number of solutions intended to reduce the costs, complexity and security risks associated with private cloud deployments.
Asus grows its Transformer lineup Taiwanese PC maker Asus used Computex as a stage
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for unveiling a modified version of its Android-based Transformer Prime tablet running Microsoft’s Windows 8 and flaunting a new half-notebook form factor. The Transformer Book, as Asus called it, runs on Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors and comes in 11.6 inch, 13 inch and 14 inch models. The hybrid device can be used either as a tablet or traditional notebook (with the help of a detachable keyboard), and has 4 GB of DDR3 dual-channel RAM. Asus also introduced its Taichi dual-screen notebook that can be used as a clamshell when opened or as a tablet when closed.
Qualcomm Snapdragon chips reach smart TVs, notebook PCs Qualcomm Snapdragon processors have grown to be a staple in the mobile market where they can be found in a number of today’s hottest smartphones including Samsung’s recently launched Samsung Galaxy S III. The San Diego-based chip maker proved that the Snapdragon brand has its place in the notebook and smart TV markets as well. Qualcomm introduced its new Snapdragon S4 Prime lineup, optimized for next-generation smart TVs and poised to reach clock speeds up to 1.5 GHz. Its new Snapdragon S4 Pro lineup, on the other hand, is designed for ultra-thin computing devices, including traditional clamshell notebooks. It is widely believed that these Snapdragon-fueled notebooks will play host to Windows RT, a variant of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 OS that is optimized specifically for low-power ARM-based platforms.
AMD debuts new Brazos 2.0 E-series APUs Even amid all the ultrabook hype, AMD showed its love for traditional notebook and desktop PCs this week with the launch of its new E-series APUs, codenamed Brazos 2.0. The new E2-1800 and E1-1200 processors are said
Platinum Partner
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July 26-28, 2012 | Holiday Inn, Goa
The $1.5 billion enterprise VAR marketplace
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The CRN Leadership Summit is the most influential platform to network and engage with India’s 100 leading tier-2 systems integrators and enterprise VARs. The composite annual turnover of the top 100 enterprise VARs present at the Summit will exceed $1.5 billion*. CXOs of the leading enterprise VAR organizations are handpicked through a comprehensive awards nomination process from across 15 cities. The 3-day Summit is strategically planned to create multiple networking and interaction opportunities for technology companies to achieve and optimize their channel expansion and engagement objectives.
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tech focus to deliver a 35 percent boost in PC battery life compared to what was offered by its predecessors, along with 10 times faster data transfer rates and clock speeds up to 1.7 GHz. AMD said the new chips will yield a richer multimedia experience and are targeted at the entry-level PC market, meaning notebooks and desktops selling for $499 or less. The US-based chip maker did not entirely shy away from all the next-gen computing buzz; it also showed off a Windows 8 convertible prototype based on its low-power A-series APUs.
Ivy Bridge defines a new ultrabook era Ultrabooks have taken the tech industry by storm, with some OEMs—including Dell, HP and Lenovo—making them the centerpiece of their sprawling PC portfolios. But at Computex Intel changed the game by adding a list of new features expected to launch with next-generation ultrabooks based on its third-generation Ivy Bridge processors. In addition to new security features such as the inclusion of Intel’s anti-theft and identity protection technology, many Ivy Bridge-based ultrabooks will come in multi-touch and convertible form factors.
QNAP unveils 400 TB NAS solution, new SAS interface Network attached storage vendor QNAP offered an alternative to the ultrabook craze by showcasing its first NAS expansion solution, which touts up to a 400 TB storage capacity, along with a new SAS interface optimized specifically for high-end SMBs. The expansion can be coupled with QNAP’s TS-x79 series Turbo NAS, the JB-1200U and JB1600U to provide a more flexible solution for IT teams looking to grow storage capacity incrementally as budget allowances and growth requirements change. By providing the option to add more storage as SMBs need it—rather than locking them down to a certain capacity from the start— the NAS expansion solution eliminates the need for IT to invest heavily in storage allotments during initial setup.
Broadcom paves the way for 5G SoCs While most of the mobile world seems to still be warming up to the concept of 4G networks, semiconductor maker
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Broadcom revealed what it says is the industry’s first system-on-a-chip (SoC) capable of delivering 5G Wi-Fi. The US-based chip maker said its new SoCs are designed to work hand-in-hand with its own 5G WiFi 802.11 ac solutions, including its BCM4360, BCM4352 and BCM43526 chipsets, and they are the first out of the gate to combine a high-performance processor, a Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch, GbE physical layer transceivers, USB 3.0 and traffic accelerators on a single processor. The result of this combination will be a connectivity that enables multiple users to simultaneous stream videos, along with high-bandwidth application downloads that are 10 times faster than they were on previous networks.
Fujitsu unveils new family of Lifebooks Fujitsu contributed to the ultrabook hoopla by ushering in a new line of consumer- and enterprise-focused Lifebooks. Both the 14 inch Lifebook U772, which is optimized for in-home use, and the more business-friendly 13.3 inch Lifebook UH572, run on Intel’s third-generation Ivy Bridge processors and Microsoft’s Windows 7 OS. The higherend U772 boasts a 0.69 inch profile, weighs 3.15 pounds, and offers up to seven hours of battery life. The slightly larger UH572 has a 0.71 inch profile, weighs 3.5 pounds and gets six hours of battery life. In accordance with Intel’s updated list of must-have ultrabook specs, both Lifebooks come equipped with the chip maker’s anti-theft and vPro Technology.
LaCie introduces 4 big rack office for SMB storage LaCie unveiled a new storage offering specific to SMBs. The company took the wraps off its new 4 big rack office solution designed to provide data protection and secure data sharing for small businesses. The solution, which runs on an Intel 64-bit Atom processor and has 2 GB of RAM, comes equipped with a pre-configured RAID 5 array on four disks and automatic backup for up to 10 PCs and three Macs. LaCie said both in-office and cloud-based file sharing is supported, and, as an add-on, 4 big rack is offered with up to 100 GB of Wuala secure cloud storage for three months. The new solution is powered by Windows Home Server 2011, so setup should be fairly straightforward for any SMB familiar with the Windows environment. n
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India’s largest
virtual expo is super hit
The second edition of the CRN Virtual Expo received exhilarating response with 1,275 channel partners attending the interactive show over the two live days and spending a whopping 5,182 hours at the conference and exhibition n CRN NETWORK
T
he second edition of the CRN Virtual Expo saw the participation of 1,275 partners over the two days of the expo, May 30 & 31, 2012. The event had 14 live and three ondemand presentations from industry leaders, analysts and consultants. The interactivity of the virtual platform ensured deep and qualitative engagement for exhibitors and partners. Each visitor spent an average of about four hours on the presentations with an average of 218 attendees per session. Partners got the opportunity to witness the innovations and channel schemes introduced by exhibitors at the virtual booths. They also connected with their peers and principals. The virtual show witnessed participation from several vendors including Canon, Digisol, APC, HP and NComputing, and was ably supported by leading channel associations including AIT, ADCTA, ASIRT, CMDA-Delhi, CMDA-Pune, COMPASS, FITAG, IAMCP, ISODA, JCDA, MPCTA, NCTA, PCAIT, RCTA and TAIT. Here are the highlights of the presentations made during the two days of the CRN Virtual Expo.
Emerging trends in the printing industry
Mohammed Nasir
The first live presentation from Mohammed Nasir, Senior Manager, Laser Product Division, Canon, was viewed by 274 unique partners. Nasir said that despite the tough economic conditions the printing industry is expected to reach new heights with 140 billion prints by 2014. “This is supported by the fact
Unique visitors: 1275 from 196 Indian cities Visitors on two live days (including repeats): 1,684 Videos/documents/viewed or downloaded: 5,145 Average attendee per live conference session: 218 Average visitor per booth: 204 Average time spent by attendees: 4:03 hours Total hours spent by all attendees: 5,182 hours
that of the Indian population using the Internet, 75 percent are young with high printing needs.” He added that Canon grossed revenue of `1,650 crore in 2011; the company is targeting `2,000 crore in 2012. “We see opportunities both in the consumer as well as B2B segments. We offer features such as easy Web printing, Google cloud print, Apple air print and an intelligent touch panel for tech-savvy and mobile consumers.” The company has opened 56 Canon Image Square stores as a one-stop-shop for consumers to experience the company’s innovations. For the B2B segment Canon offers additional features like UniFlow, cloud printing and autoduplexing, as well as options in document management services (DMS). “We have recently extended DMS to our partners under the Capturing Print Share program. It is an evolving business in India, and presents a huge service opportunity for partners,” Nasir said.
Consumer-catalyzed upheaval in tech channels Tirthankar Sen, Senior Analyst, Partners & Ecosystems, Forrester, highlighted recent research
testimonials “The Expo was beautifully conceptualized and executed, and the technology platform is amazing. Its interactivity and features along with various traffic drivers like rewards, CRN Quiz, created great buzz. Congrats to CRN for an exceptional event”
“We had good traction at our virtual booth. This is a good platform for us to interact with the channel community, and we look forward to expanding our footprint across digital platforms”
Sanjeev Bhavnani
Navinder Singh Chauhan
Founder, Mentorpreneur Advisors
GM, Marketing, Digisol Computer Reseller News
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which predicted that the hardware business moving through partners will see a substantial drop with cloud computing leading to the consolidation of infrastructure. “Multiple channels and GTMs are evolving to reach the customer with the advent of the cloud and mobile devices Tirthankar Sen such as smartphones and tablets. The physical location of a vendor or a partner no longer decides how much business he can do,” Sen said. “Trends are moving in a direction where power is shifting toward consumers, people are talking more of opex models, hardware is moving toward the cloud, and the thin line between channel types is fast blurring as partners are trying to fit into each other’s shoes,” Sen remarked. He said that partners need to evaluate the MSP and HSP business models, leverage vendor programs as tools to transition their business, and lessen their dependence on hardware and software reselling.
Building robust network infrastructure Venugopalan Thiruvengadam, Head, Service & Sales, Digisol, said that market dynamics are fast changing hence partners need to come up with a wide range of networking solutions. “Be it homes, SOHOs or SMBs, or solutions for educational institutions, shopping complexes or manufacturing units, Venugopalan partners need to talk the language of Thiruvengadam customers, understand their requirements, and provide solutions accordingly.” Thiruvengadam spoke about Digisol’s Stallion brand of chassis switching solutions, Mustang managed switches, Azteca Web-managed switches, Blazer unmanaged switches, Breton KVM switches, Skyros IP surveillance and Caspian VoIP products. He said that products like DGWN3150N can make a notebook Wi-Fi-enabled without any physical layer or hub. He also spoke about the DG-BR4000NG which can wirelessly connect to any ISP access point.
Understanding opportunities within the Indian SMB landscape Neha Jalan Goenka, Senior Associate, AMI Partners, said that out of the 4.28 million SMBs in India 1.77 million have a PC. “We expect this to grow to about 2.47 million PC SMBs by 2015, which is a clear opportunity for IT partners.” According to her, about 77 percent of small businesses
DEMOGRAPHICS Region-wise participation North 24%
South 31%
East 9%
West 36%
Participation by type of city Class D & E cities 15% Class A cities 42%
Class C cities 18%
Class B cities 25%
Participation by type of visitors Owner / Chairman / CEO / President / Partner
49%
Technical Management 15% Sales & Marketing Managers 15% Department Management 11% Finance & Operations 3% Others 7% Base: 1,275 unique channel partners
No of cities: 196
testimonials “We received many inquiries about our products; generating such interest is important. The technical support for the presentations was good, and made sure that we were up and running without any problems”
“It is a useful, knowledge-centric event that creates a win-win synergy for participating companies as well as delegates. The format was non-intrusive, and partners could attend at their convenience”
R Sasikumar
Inderpal Singh
Technical Consultant, Workstations, APJ, HP 42
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CEO, Aman Technologies, Jammu
THANK YOU for your continuous support in making CRN Virtual Expo India’s largest IT Channel Virtual Event Thank you Speakers Biren Shah Chairman, ISODA
Chetan Shah Chairman, Association of System Integrators & Retailers in Technology (ASIRT)
Hitender Grover National Program Manager, SMB, APC by Schneider Electric
KV Jagannath MD and CEO, Choice Solutions Limited
Lokesh Jain Certified Financial Planner & Associate Trainer, Brianna
Mohammed Nasir Sr. Manager, Laser Product Division, Canon
Neha Jalan Goenka Senior Associate, AMI Partners
Nitin Mehta Associate Director, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
R Sasikumar Technical Consultant, Workstations, APJ & Japan, HP
S Sriram CEO, iValue Infosolutions
Sanjiv Bhavnani Founder, Mentorpreneur Advisors
Tirthankar Sen Senior Analyst, Partners & Ecosystems, Forrester Venugopalan Thiruvengadam Service and Sales Head, Digisol
Uttam Majumdar President, Locuz Enterprise Solutions
Now view the sessions ON DEMAND | Log on to virtualexpo.crn.in Thank you Partners Gold Partners
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p a r t n e r s
Thank you Associations
Association for Information Technology
Federation of Information Technology Association of Gujarat
NorthWest Computer Traders Welfare Association
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do not have a full-time internal IT person. “SMBs therefore see partners as guides. They want them to understand their business goals, identify their IT needs and provide solutions.” Encouraging partners to adopt the cloud business, Jalan predicted Neha Jalan goenka that about 200,000 SMBs will adopt cloud services by 2015. She informed that the number of partners offering cloud services has increased by 34.5 percent in 2011 against 2010. “While about one-third of cloud partners resell cloud offerings, one-fourth develop cloud-based applications and one-fourth provide RMITS. Of the various cloud business models, RMITS offers the highest average margins followed by providing cloud infrastructure and offering cloud consulting services.”
HP workstation solutions world: At the forefront of workstation computing R Sasikumar, Technical Consultant, Workstations, APJ, HP, informed that the recent launch of the Z Series of workstations was in line with specific customer requirements, and reflected HP’s ability to invest in R&D, identify customer problems and find R Sasikumar solutions to them. “The Z1-AIO workstation, Z420, Z620 and Z820 machines are not only high on performance but also have a modular design and are easily serviceable,” said Sasikumar. HP’s 27 inch Z1 professional workstation comes with Xeon processors, Nvidia graphics, adjustable mounts, three USB 3.0 ports, firewire ports and a Blu-Ray drive. The Z420 comes with 4-, 6- and 8-core Intel Sandy Bridge processors, eight memory slots, and 3x3 TB hard disk drives. It also allows remote management through Intel’s vPro technology. While the Z620 comes with 4-, 6- and 8-core CPUs with 3xGen3 slots and up to 12 memory slots, the Z820 is the highest standard workstation from HP and comes with two processors of 16 cores, 16 memory slots, 512 GB of internal memory and 6xGen3 slots.
Track your industry-specific KPIs and improve the result for managing a successful business In his presentation, Lokesh Jain, Certified Financial
Planner and Associate Trainer, Brianna, identified the balance sheet and profit-and-loss (P&L) account as the starting points for successful financial management. He said that the P&L account is not only about bottomline and topline growth but also about Lokesh Jain controlling costs. “We should control costs incurred for materials, employees, marketing, borrowing and tax liability,” he advised. He emphasized that an organization must strive to not only achieve higher sales and profits but also to create a balance between profitability and liquidity because “one-third of all businesses fail in the first three years due to their inability to maintain the liquidity essential to meet short-term obligations.” Jain identified cash flow as the key to survival. He encouraged partners to identify their own set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success. “The most common KPIs are profit as a percentage of sales, credit period, sales as a percentage of enquiries, and the cash cycle.”
Smart solutions for SMBs and SMEs Hitender Grover, National Program Manager, SMB, APC by Schneider Electric, said that energy demand is expected to double by 2050, hence we need to cut our energy consumption and CO2 emission by half to avoid dramatic climate changes. “The next 15 Hitender Grover years therefore belong to energy management and power conditioning—where APC has a large role to play.” Grover encouraged partners to join its partnerdriven transaction business. “If 10-12 percent of your business is not coming through power management solutions, there is an opportunity for you to align with us,” he said. The company offers two UPS models of 600 and 700 VA for consumers. For SOHOs it offers models with 800, 1,000, 1,100 and 1,500 VA capacities. The 1,000 and 1,500 VA models come with LCD display, automatic voltage regulation and PowerChute 3.0 network shutdown software. For SMBs APC offers a UPS range from 750 to 20,000 VA. Under its Smart UPS range it offers line-
testimonials “I liked the one-to-one interaction with vendors which helped us get clarity on certain issues. Such events will help dealers as well as manufacturers to move ahead with their business objectives”
“It is a great initiative CRN has taken to assemble IT partners, systems integrators, service providers and vendors on a single platform for a Web conference. I congratulate the CRN team”
Vijay Bhalerao
Abhijit Chatterjee
Unisoft Computrade, Pune 44
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CEO & CIO, Abhi Technologies, New Delhi
interactive UPS from 750 to 5,000 VA, and online UPS from 1,000 to 20,000 VA.
Tips for small resellers to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace Chetan Shah, Chairman, ASIRT, said that resellers need to make full use of tools such as customer referrals, value-adds, cost-effective branding and communication methods. He suggested taking referrals from satisfied customers. “But there Chetan Shah is a catch here. Resellers first need to deliver and satisfy the customer, and then only ask for a referral. In short, they should first earn the right to ask for a referral.” Resellers have to surround products with pre-packaged services such as installation, setup and post-sales services so that they become a differentiator in the market. “One needs to build one’s own brand as a niche category,” he advised.
Managing profitable IT partner business in the new economy In his interactive session, S Sriram, CEO, iValue Infosolutions, advised partners to create a niche in order for their business to be sustainable and profitable. Stating that the opportunities for IT partners are immense, Sriram pointed out that enterprises S Sriram are looking at cloud platforms as enablers to create innovations at a lower cost. Application-as-a-service is also helping smaller companies. Sriram said that partners need to pitch the right product to the right customer. He added that partners should not shy away from dropping or decreasing focus on not very profitable vendors or customers. “Instead, study customers and vendors who provide 70-80 percent of the revenue, study their domain, and adopt a vertical-specific approach.” The VAD offered a valuable piece of advice to earn recurring revenue. “Do not club all your services and offer them on a platter. Instead, separate the offerings, invest in resources and technologies, and create a niche. Then deepsell these services to existing customers.”
Evolving IT landscape: Imperatives for IT channels to realign to survive and succeed KV Jagannath, MD & CEO, Choice Solutions, offered practical solutions to his peers in the tier-2 community. He asserted that the need of the hour is disruptive thinking. “You should learn to identify customer requirements for the next two years, and change KV Jagannath your approach from being productfocused to being customer-focused.” Jagannath urged partners to adopt a consultative approach to selling. According to him, partners need to evolve and convince customers and vendors about their readiness to sell new technologies and solutions. “Build your own business model, develop strategies to change your environment, and map opportunities,” he added. Jagannath advised partners to adopt technologies that suit their organizations. “Everything is lucrative, but you need to assess whether you have the DNA to pull it off in practice.”
Workplace transformation: Opportunities for partners Uttam Majumdar, President, Locuz Enterprise Solutions, illustrated how new pervasive technologies are putting extra pressure on IT organizations, and suggested methodologies which partners can adopt to address the issue. He said that new ideas Uttam Majumdar and products such as BYOD, desktop virtualization, mobile phones and tablets have become disruptive to the way enterprise IT management teams think and work. He highlighted the need for a Universal Services Broker which would facilitate applications based on the policies of end-users irrespective of the devices they use. “There would be a number of mobile applications, cloud-based applications and legacy applications that would be filtered using pre-set policies and made available to users depending on the devices they use. With 37 percent of users carrying their own devices, enterprise apps will need to co-exist with personal apps.” Majumdar suggested that virtual desktops, enforced access controls and constant auditing can
“It was a pleasure for our members to be part of the CRN Virtual Expo which enabled them to gain knowledge from analysts, partners and industry leaders”
“It was a really innovative event. My team and I had an excellent experience attending an entire expo virtually while sitting at our desks”
Yogesh Godbole
manish kulkarni
Director, Alpha Computers & Services, Pune
President, CMDA, Pune
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View On-Demand
virtualexpo.crn.in
reduce TCO considerably. “IT budgets may not grow much, but the number of users, devices and applications will grow, and so will their complexity. Using a framework which is automated, compliancebased, and policy-enforced is the right solution.”
Global economy: Threats and opportunities for IT channel Sanjeev Bhavnani, Founder, Mentorpreneur Advisors, said that while the cuurent economic outlook is gloomy, new markets are opening up for Indian SIs. He suggested initiatives such as focusing on the services business, targeting software services exports, Sanjeev Bhavnani paying attention to bottom-lines, leveraging cloud platforms, and moving up the value chain to start a consulting practice. “SIs must work with finance leasing companies to fund projects. New technology to create key business differentiators will be fundamental to success,” said Bhavnani. Pointing out that customers will opt for opex models over capex, he urged partners to evolve toward the services business rather than just selling products. “Distributors and consumer-focused resellers should look at sourcing cheaper products from emerging markets to bring in new customers. Retailers must invest in e-commerce technology and target new markets. Tablets, and applications around tablets, will be another area of interest for consumers,” Bhavnani added.
Post-budget: Software taxation in India Biren Shah, President, ISODA, said that double taxation of software has become a maze in which software dealers are completely lost. He said that the problem started with the 2008 budget, which classified software as a service and recommended VAT as well as Biren Shah service tax. “Despite continuing efforts by various associations, the situation has worsened with every subsequent budget.” According to Shah, the budget of 2012 multiplied the problems by considering software payments as royalties and necessitating a withholding tax on all such payments. “However, the Finance Minister has
announced that cases where the assessment has been completed by April 2012 will not be opened, and that TDS will be procured at a single level. We are waiting for the circular for clarity,” Shah said. He expressed discontent over the delays in payments from customers due to the prevailing confusion. “Many customers refuse to understand the applicability of multiple taxes and hold back payments. They also deduct 10 percent TDS on the ground of payments made for services; this results in negative cash flows so partners end up with losses.” Shah said that software licenses should be considered as goods subject to only VAT. He also sought the removal of tax withholding for the import of software licenses, and the lowering of TDS wherever service tax is applicable.
Enterprise IT investment trends survey 2012 Nitin Mehta, Associate Director, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young, shared the results of a survey of over 184 CIOs which identified business continuity, cost reduction, improving IT function effectiveness, BI and information security as the top five priorities of CIOs for Nitin Mehta FY2012-13. From a sectoral perspective, automotives, chemicals, professional firms and services will focus on business continuity; utilities and automotives will focus on cost reduction; IT/ITeS, infrastructure, media and entertainment have identified IT function effectiveness as a key priority; automotives and BFSI will focus on BI; and professional firms and the services sector will focus on information security. Discussing the findings of the survey, Mehta said that IT consolidation is a key priority for IT/ITeS companies which face the challenge of increasing their revenue and operating margin without increasing their headcount. BFSI companies have identified mobile computing as a key priority. Infrastructure sector companies will explore cloud computing as a key initiative in FY2012-13. Mehta also said that mobile applications; budgeting, planning & consolidation applications; and CRM applications will lead the application landscape evolution. “Cloud services will continue to gain momentum, but the progress will be slow because CIOs are still skeptical about using public cloud services,” he concluded. n
testimonials “I kept working through the day, but also listened to the presentations on the CRN Virtual Expo. We need to have such online events regularly”
“Generally, exhibitors have apprehensions about the attendees on any virtual platform. However, the CRN Virtual Expo attracted a huge number of serious attendees, thus signifying awareness about the event”
Priyadarsan Roy
Mohammed Nasir
Director, Netzary Infodynamics, Bengaluru 46
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Senior Manager, Laser Product Division, Canon
new products Boxlight ProjectoWrite projectors
Belkin dual-band range extender
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oxlight launched its new projector series called ProjectoWrite which is targeted at business executives, academicians and style-conscious youth. The ProjectoWrite is the first portable interactive projector built on a stand-alone unit. It is an interactive plug-andplay device that can be plugged to a PC, saves software and responds to 4-point calibration. The projector comes with a camera with I/R filter which enables the user to actively interact with the image with the help of the wand and light pen. Other key features include writing on the images or text with colors and highlighting tools, short throw and long throw projection, and capability to save and edit images and drawings to image folder on the PC. It also has advanced antitheft features. The product is priced at `69,000, comes with a 5-year warranty on projectors and 2-year on lamps, and is available from Boxlight’s authorized distributors.
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Netgear ReadyNAS video surveillance suite
Envent’s case protector for iPhone 4
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E
etgear has launched its ReadyNAS Surveillance, a comprehensive IP surveillance solution incorporating surveillance software, storage, switching and network management. The new Netgear ReadyNAS Surveillance network video recorder software includes intelligent search, digital watermark and e-mapping technology, and supports up to 16 simultaneous cameras including megapixel and HD models. The company’s ProSafe smart and managed switches feature ProSafe hallmarks, VLAN support, Power over Ethernet, QoS and stacking technologies. The suite is priced between `12,000 and `8 lakh, is available on a free 30day trial basis (16-camera license), and will be available through Netgear’s authorized distributors.
elkin India launched its dual-band range extender that ensures uninterrupted Internet connectivity to all the devices. The simultaneous dual-band technology provides speed of up to 300 Mbps on 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz bands, and extends the Wi-Fi coverage of the existing router allowing users uninterrupted coverage in homes. The multiple Ethernet ports allow users to connect up to four Internet-enabled AV devices, enabling them to bring the Web to their home theater system. The range extender is equipped with multi-beam antenna technology that delivers a high-powered signal for HD movies and large data from multiple devices. The product is priced at `4,599, comes with a 3-year warranty, and is available with Belkin authorized distributors.
nvent launched its boost case for iPhone 4. The newly launched fuel-boost case is a light weight and ultra-thin protective battery case that doubles the original battery life of the iPhone 4. The fuel-boost case is built with an easy grip protective shell so it looks and feels like a protective case with its power boost hidden discreetly inside. The battery technology detects the iPhone 4 with a toggle on/off. It also has an optional manual on/off switch. The case is available in black and white, and comes with a high-capacity rechargeable battery with a blue LED that indicates battery life. The case has a battery capacity of 1450 maH with 240 hours standby and five hours talk time. It also enables four hours of Web browsing with 18 hours of audio and five hours of video playback. The product is priced at `799, comes with a 2-year warranty, and is available with Envent authorized distributors.
The products featured here have not undergone any benchmarking or testing. The trailers contain information provided by vendors and distributors. To feature your company’s products in CRN, send write-ups with photos to editor@ubmindia.com
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shadow ram GET
Hectic channel movements
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he last few weeks have been hectic in terms of executive movements in the IT channels. To add to that we hear that Alok Tandon, EMC’s channel head has exited, and so has NetApp’s channel head Surajit Sen. While there is still no news about where Tandon has joined, Sen has joined NetApp’s archrival EMC to head its backup and recovery solutions business. Neeraj Sharma, HP IPG’s former India head, is said to be moving to an Asia Pacific role as Rajeev Srivastava has taken over the mantle of the integrated HP Printing and Personal Systems Group. The other significant movement is that of the MD of a leading IMS platform vendor who resigned in late March and is soon expected to join TCS in a very senior role. According to market sources, he is expected to drive TCS’ cloud offering iON. There are also rumors that several executives at IBM are due for either promotions or transfers, and a few announcements are expected in the next couple of months. Meanwhile, Kapil Sood has joined Tektronix India as Managing Director. Sood was earlier Vice President, Systems Business, Oracle. n
Personal
“I want to slash all duties” Ripunjay Gajjar, Country Head, Forward Industries, has more than 12 years experience in sales in the IT industry. Before joining Forward he was associated with Belkin India If not in the IT industry: I would have joined the Indian Navy.
Ripunjay Gajjar
Biggest passion: To excel and evolve at the professional and spiritual level.
Behind the wheels: Pajero. Gadgets I can’t live without: My iPhone and Sony Vaio. Weekends are for: Relaxation and outings with family and friends. Favorite holiday destination: Driving along the RohtangLeh-Kargil-Srinagar route. Hate the most: Hypocrites. Favorite movie: Satte pe Satta, Lamhe and Pretty Woman. Favorite stars: Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Michael Douglas. Role model: Rajeev Chaudhary (ex-VP, Sales, SES), my mentor who has given me the right direction, motivation and guidance. Ultimate ambition: To obtain complete spiritual awakening. Wildest thing I have ever done: Still waiting for it. Thing I most want to do in life: To stick to my passion. If I became the PM: Slash all the duties, cut state-level taxes on fuel, and introduce a pension and free medical care for every citizen. Celebrity I would like to spend a day with: Madonna. I am very impressed with the way she has kept herself so energetic and lively at 53. One person I would like to meet: Michael Jackson. Deepest and darkest fear: Obesity. n
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— CRN Network
RNI NO. MAHENG/2011/39915 Postal Reg. No. MH/MR/NORTH EAST/193/2010-2012 Posted at Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai Due Date 2nd, 3rd & 16th, 17th Of Every Fortnight Now with
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