CRN - September 15, 2012 issue by UBM India

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contents

September 15, 2012 l Volume 1 Issue 22

Cover Story If your current business is not doing as well as it should, here are six options you might want to consider

26 Cover Design : Deepjyoti Bhowmik

NEWS Analyses

Channel Chief

Tulip woos partners for data center services

Panasonic bets big on B2B business

Asus to re-launch AIOs in mid-October

VMware eying DC refresh opportunities 10 Vidyo wants partners for video conferencing solution

WatchGuard charts aggressive strategy

READ More Opinion

Feedback

Channel Buzz

New Products

Shadow Ram

Get Personal

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18 Market Focus The debate continues A Finance Ministry notification gives legal backing for parallel imports, provided they do not violate certain laws; this leaves the door open for interpretation

22 Special Focus

Editorial 14

Minoru Usui, President, Seiko Epson, talks about the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goals for India and its strategy for the inkjet market

DRAAS in demand Disaster recovery as a service is picking up owing to increased need for regulatory compliance and growing need for business continuity among organizations

Role Model Driving service excellence Jayessh Mehta, MD, Future Businesstech, believes, among other things, that excellent service is the only way to get repeat and referral business. His flourishing company proves he has the right set of beliefs

starting line MUST

Tulip woos partners for data center services

Panasonic bets big on B2B business

n RAMDAS S

Read

Panasonic India is betting big on its B2B business (System Sales Division, or SSD). It has introduced high definition video conferencing (HDVC) solutions to its product portfolio. The SSD offers commercial displays, projectors, surveillance and security cameras, printers, Panaboards (interactive boards), scanners, PoS solutions, telephones, fax machines, EPABX and broadcast products. In FY2012-13 the company intends to double its SSD sales; the division contributed nearly five percent of Panasonic’s revenue in FY2011-12. “SSD has grown 40 percent YoY. We are expecting a turnover of `655 crore in FY2012-13, which will be 10 percent of Panasonic’s overall revenues,” said Rizhkant Zha, Director, SSD, Panasonic India. The SSD has grabbed projects from government and hospitality segments. It is executing security and surveillance projects for the CM’s Office, Delhi; the Karkardooma Court complex; and Delhi city. It is deploying solutions at 19 hotels of the Taj Group. In addition, Rizhkant Zha it is implementing commercial display projects for various RBI offices and at the Tirupathi temple. The HDVC launch is in line with the company’s aim to broaden its product range. “We want to garner revenue of `300 crore from our video conferencing (VC) solutions over the next one year,” Zha said. Panasonic is targeting the medical, IT/ITeS, manufacturing and education verticals for its VC solutions with 3D technology; these are available in two models, KX-VC 300 and KX-VC 600, and priced between `1,68,000 and `4,86,000. The company has Neoteric as its ND, and is eying more than 100 partners for its VC solutions. Informed Zha, “While we will leverage our existing AV partners, half of the partners will be new. We also have aggressive marketing plans. Besides, we will conduct a series of partner events in metro and tier-1 cities.” n — Amit Singh

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ulip Data Services, a subsidiary of the Delhi-based `2,500 crore Tulip Telecom, is offering multiple business options for channels to use the infrastructure and services at its Bengaluru-based data center (DC), Tulip Data City. Spread across a 4-acre campus, Tulip Data City is considered to be the third-largest tier-3 DC globally, and the largest in Asia; it offers 9,00,000 square feet (sq ft) of built-up space. “The center is provisioned with up to 66 KV line power available from two substations on a high-tension format (7.5 MW). As of today the center has obtained government sanction for receiving up to 40 MW power, and it has up to 7.5 MW available while the usage is only around 4 MW,” said Sanjay Bhutani, CEO, Tulip Data Services. “We have six levels of physical security, a 1,500-seat capacity for service professionals, and have maintained N+N redundancy for every component used inside and outside the DC.” Bhutani informed that Tulip is offering all kinds of DC services including co-location, hosting, DR, virtual servers, cloud services, remote hands, seats for network operating centers, bandwidth, and rental of DC floor space. “We have two tiers of partnerships, wholesale and retail. Wholesale partners hire our DC floor space and set up their own infrastructure; the base starts at 1,000 sq ft. Retail channels hire individual racks.” He added that Tulip hopes to reach 70 percent capacity utilization though wholesale partners and 30 percent through retail partners. Channel facilitation is managed by the core channel team at Tulip. “So far we have trained up to 350 systems integrators (SIs) in pre-sales and post-sales services,”

“We want partners to sell our data center services like co-location, hosting, DR, virtual servers, cloud services, remote hands, bandwidth and rentals” Sanjay Bhutani

Chief Executive Officer Tulip Data Services

informed Satish Vishwanathan, SVP, Tulip Telecom. Bhutani said that at present only 18 percent of the installed capacity is being used, but added that in three years the facility would be completely utilized. “We already have a number of large global vendors (such as IBM and HP) signing for wholesale partnerships. We want Indian SIs to recognize the opportunity for setting up DC-based services for their customers, and we are keenly looking at associating with more partners.” Continued Bhutani, “Another reason why partners should choose us is that we have five smaller DCs in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai (two) and Kolkata which act as nodal DCs and DR facilities.” He said Tulip will be launching two more large DCs in Delhi and Mumbai in two years. The company has launched channel initiatives for specific services such as back-up, storage, infrastructure and platform over cloud as part of the Tulip cloud platform. “We offer margins between 10 and 25 percent which I believe are better than the industry average. We will soon be launching a portal so that partners and customers can use our cloud services on a pay-asyou-go basis.” n

starting line MUST

Asus to re-launch AIOs in mid-October

VMware eying DC refresh opps

n ABHIJEET MUKHERJEE

Read

With the launch of a new server virtualization suite and enhancements for existing products, VMware is targeting opportunities in data center (DC) technology refresh. The company has announced the availability of VMware vCloud Suite, an integrated product that combines tools such as vSphere Enterprise Plus, vCloud Director, vCloud Connector, vCloud Networking, vCenter Site Recovery Manager and vFabric Application Director. Ganesan Arumugam, Director, Partners & Alliances, VMware India said, “We have unveiled our vision of a software-defined data center (SDDC). Here all infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service, and the control is entirely automated by software. The vCloud Suite brings together what customers need to build, operate and manage cloud infrastructure— virtualization, software-defined DC services, policybased provisioning, DR, applications and operations management.” vCloud is available in three versions: Standard Ganesan Arumugam ($4,995 per socket), Advanced ($7,995 per socket) and Enterprise ($11,995 per socket). Arumugam said that globally DCs are looking at technology refresh. “We and our partners will focus on enabling DCs to be cloud-ready.” He also explained that VMware is betting heavily on software-defined networking and network virtualization, a reason for acquiring Nicira in July 2012 for around $1.05 billion. Meanwhile, VMware has dropped its pricing model based on vRam entailment which had met with mixed reactions. “Based on the feedback, we have taken a call to move to a pricing model that is purely socket-based,” Arumugam informed. The company is offering vSphere 5.1 Essentials Plus. It vSphere Storage Appliance, which allows a server’s internal storage to provide the same functionality as shared storage resources, making it possible to use advanced VMware vSphere features. n — Ramdas S

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sus Technology will re-launch its AIOs by mid-October 2012. The company will unveil four SKUs in the first phase—two 20inch, one 22-inch and one 27-inch. In the second phase, by December 2012, the company will launch seven SKUs— two 20-, 22- and 27-inch, and one 24-inch (aimed at SMBs). All the SKUs will be based on Intel processors with prices starting at `26,000 for the entry level and `1.10 lakh for the 27inch models. Asus aims to sell 3,000 units in Q42012, and 9,000 units per quarter by Q12013. “We had launched our AIOs in FY2008-09,” recalled Vinay Shetty, Country Head, Component Business, Asus Technology. “Back then the market was immature and we had to pull back the products. Now the market is getting aware of AIOs, their usability, and starting to adopt them in households as well as in commercial set-ups. We are therefore entering the market with a new strategy; we are targeting senior executives, medical practitioners, professionals and students.” Shetty said that the thrust would be on the 27-inch touchscreen model specifically targeting gamers and media professionals. “The AIO market is growing at 7 percent per annum, and we expect substantial growth in our marketshare.” For the GTM, Asus will continue to work with its 136 partners. The company will also engage with 27 exclusive and trained retailers. Asus will adopt a 2-pronged strategy for its metro and nonmetro customers. “We will work with local partners in Class C and D cities, and make the products available in select retail

“Our focus will be more toward the smaller cities because the real market for AIOs lies there and not in the metros which are already saturated” Vinay Shetty

Country Head, Component Business, Asus Technology

stores in metros. Our focus will be more toward the smaller cities because the real market for AIOs lies there and not in the metros which are already saturated,” Shetty said. The company will spend around `55 lakh on ATL and BTL activities by Q42012-end, while by 2013-end it will spend `2.2 crore. Asus expects its partners to make at least 10 percent profit on the AIOs. The company will train the partners under its Sales Promotion Incentive Fund program, conduct road-shows, and set up demo centers at retail outlets. Besides, Asus has plans to bundle other products with its AIOs for the end-consumer. “We intend to bundle printers and external HDDs with entry-level products, while with the premium products we plan to offer endconsumers a 3 nights/4 days domestic trip during Diwali. For partners, the regular incentive schemes, international trips and other gifts on volume sales will continue for AIOs as well,” added Shetty. For post-sales Asus has Digicomp; it has plans to appoint another service provider soon. It will offer a 1-3 year onsite warranty for the AIOs. Asus presently has 48 service centers. n

starting line MUST

Vidyo wants partners for video conferencing solution

WatchGuard charts aggressive strategy

n SONAL DESAI

Read

While continuing its attention on SMBs and SOHOs, WatchGuard Technologies is increasing its focus on enterprise customers. The company garners 60 percent of its business from SMBs, 20 percent from SOHOs and the rest from enterprise. “We are looking at 25 percent growth in the current fiscal and aim to double the contribution from enterprises to 40 percent in the next year,” said Mohit Puri, Country Manager, India & Saarc, WatchGuard. The company is banking on the XTM 1050/2050 and the XTM 8 series for customers in government, BFSI, education and manufacturing. “We have observed 39 percent YoY billings growth for our enterpriseclass firewalls. This year we have grabbed many big-ticket projects in government and BFSI, especially co-operative banks. We also picked up campus network security projects in education,” Puri revealed. On the SMB and SOHO front, it offers the XTM 2 and 3 series, and recently introduced the 5 series for businesses with 50-500 employees. WatchGuard Mohit Puri currently has three NDs (iValue Infosolutions, RAH Infotech and Cyberstar India); 10 national SI partners; and 100 regional SI partners under the Associate, Professional and Expert levels. The company expects to add 10 more regional and 4-5 national SIs. “We are expecting most of the additions from SonicWall partners who fell out with the company after its acquisition by Dell,” said Puri. WatchGuard recently organized a partner meet in Kolkata around its enterprise and SMB product ranges. “We will conduct partner meets in Chennai in September, Delhi in October and Ahmedabad in December this year,” he informed. The company recently introduced an incentive program on the XTM 8, 5, 3 and 2 series. Partners can win `350-11,600 on each appliance with a 1-year subscription and `500-12,800 with a 3-year subscription. n — Amit Singh

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oftware-based video conferencing (VC) solutions provider Vidyo is banking on consumerization, improved connectivity and the proliferation of devices that support VC as the main drivers for its growth. Ruchir Godura, VP, India & South Asia, Vidyo, said that new trends (such as the increased use of Skype by consumers) are driving innovations in VC. “Besides, people have access to hi-end laptops, smartphones and tablets, thereby making the technology device-agnostic.” Vidyo is driving the change in VC (which has traditionally been a proprietary hardware-based solution) to a software-based or cloud-based service. “The VC solutions offered by many companies are similar, except for different packaging and pricing. We developed the fundamental technology that gels with all hardware platforms and networks, and provides high-definition VC for up to 100 multi-point conferences,” Godura said. The company, in partnership with Sify, recently launched VidyoWay, a free interconnectivity service to support multi-vendor, business-quality VC for multiparty or point-to-point meetings. Explained Godura, “We develop the technology and sell it through service providers such as Sify or regional SIs like the Fourth Dimension Technologies. Chennai, Houston Technologies, Delhi, and Orego Solutions, Hyderabad. The company has seen some success in the healthcare, education and government segments in India. “In healthcare we deployed our technology for ICU solutions developed by Philips Healthcare. It enables relatives and doctors to monitor the health of patients in the ICU through videos. We are running

“We developed the technology that gels with all hardware platforms and networks, and provides highdefinition VC for up to 100 multi-point conferences” Ruchir Godura

Vice President India & South Asia, Vidyo

pilots at a few other hospitals. We are also tapping opportunities for smart classrooms in the education segment,” Godura informed. Its largest customer in the government segment is NIC, which purchased 10,000 user licenses from Vidyo and is providing VC as a service to PSUs and governments. The company, which already has around 50 regional SIs on board, is scouting for more partners to sell its solutions across the country. “We need partners who can sell our solutions and provide integration and support services,” Godura said. “Some SIs have started using our APIs and are developing their own applications for their customers. For example, some partners deploying SAP and networking solutions, are weaving Vidyo as a VC component. We are interested in working with such solution providers who can add value.” Vidyo, which recently opened an office in Gurgaon, is now drafting marketing strategies for India. “We have set up a demo center in our office, and are also building a team. We have a few successes against our name; as the market moves from the conference room to desktops, the addressable opportunities will multiply,” Godura stated. n

edit opinion Keep your eyes and minds open dhaval valia

ast fortnight, at the partner conference in Goa, I had the opportunity to speak to several enterprise VARs who provided good insights about the current market sentiments and the customers’ IT spending. Most enterprise VARs have seen an average drop of 20 percent business in July and August as compared to the same period last year. While the mood of the customers was cautious six months back, it is now gradually turning to pessimism. There is an increased scrutiny of their IT spend, and most partners agreed that CIOs and IT managers are looking to invest in technologies and services that save costs or offer ROI visibility. Overall, the partners too have accepted that there will be a business downturn over the next 6-12 months. Most are hoping for the roll-out of some economic policies that would spur the economy, but they also believe that this may be unlikely considering the happenings at the Center. However, partners selling to the government are relieved with the improvement in the monsoons which will pull most of the threatened regions out of a drought situation. This, according to them, will ensure that the central and state governments will not have to divert their IT funds to drought relief. Payment cycles continue to be an area of much concern for all partners these days, with the accounts receivable cycle in many cases exceeding 60 days. Many partners spoke about issuing IPC 138 to several of their customers because payments haven’t been forthcoming even after 120 days. However, the upside of the economic slowdown is the availability of talent in the market at rational salaries. Partners are also focusing on improving productivity and optimizing costs. In my assessment, the economic conditions will witness a further downturn at least for the next six months. Nevertheless, plenty of opportunities still exist for partners in managed services; advanced technologies such as security surveillance, unified communications, storage and back-up; and security solutions for regulatory compliance. Application modernization and migration is another area where a few partners have seen good gains. In this edition of CRN we present six opportunities which can provide the necessary cushion to the partners’ business in the current economic scenario, and help them in both topline and bottomline growth. Partners should also remember that every prolonged economic slowdown or recession has led to business model transformation and the emergence of new technologies. So keep your eyes and minds open to new models and opportunities. n E-mail CRN Executive Editor Dhaval Valia at dhaval.valia@ubm.com 14

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Volume 1, Issue 22

Managing Director Printer & Publisher Associate Publisher & Executive Editor Group Commercial Director Contributing Editor Assistant Editor Principal Correspondent Senior Correspondent

: : : : : : : :

Sanjeev Khaira Kailash Pandurang Shirodkar Dhaval Valia Salil Warior Ramdas S Sonal Desai Abhijeet Mukherjee (Mumbai) Amit Singh (Delhi)

Design Art Director Senior Visualiser Senior Graphic Designer Graphic Designer

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edit opinion Is it curtains for DMRs? Robert Faletra

s Edmund Burke, the 18th century British statesman, said, “Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it.” I believe direct market resellers, or DMRs (box-pushing corporate reseller), are going to be an extinct species in 5 years, and a quick recap of the open sourcing model of the 1990s (a sales model not to be confused with the open-source software model) reveals why. In the early days of the PC industry, major PC manufacturers had a closed sales model that prevented distribution from carrying their products. Preferring instead to sell through franchisees and the few company-owned store chains of the day, the manufacturers limited access to their product. That all changed when first Compaq and later IBM and others authorized the broadline distributors to carry and sell their systems. With systems readily available from multiple outlets at better pricing, resellers had options other than buying only through the franchisors and, within a few years, a dozen or so multi-billion-dollar companies were out of the market. Names like ComputerLand, Intelligent Electronics, Inacom, BusinessLand, and others that once graced the front page of CRN were gone seemingly overnight. The reason was a business model change they were ill equipped to deal with. Business model changes are much more difficult to adjust to for large players than a technology change. As the franchisors began to falter, what we now call the DMRs began to gain strength and today carry a powerful position in the market. But there is a new business model change afoot that is challenging the future of DMRs the same way open sourcing challenged franchisors. This time it is a technology shift as well: cloud computing. Cloud computing is forcing IT suppliers to sell to multiple decision-makers. More importantly, it’s about solving problems—not supplying product. The DMR business model is all about reselling products at a low cost. So what is a DMR that has built a business on lowprice delivery of product with little value-add but which commands rebates and lots of marketing dollars from manufacturers to do? They have to make a decision to get out of the model they have and either become a distributor or a mega-VAR because over the long term. They need to transition their customer approach from, “What can I get you?” to “What problem can I solve?” Fortunately for the DMRs, the cloud model is evolving much more slowly than the open sourcing model of the 1990s. But they need to pick their poison and shift or we will begin to see the signs of extinction in a few years just like we did with the franchisors 20 years ago. n Email Robert Faletra at robert.faletra@ec.ubm.com 16

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CRN Xcellence Awards Your recent edition on the CRN Xcellence Awards was interesting and thought-provoking, with inspiring profiles of the winners. While the write-ups will inspire us all to achieve the same heights, it also provided a few strategies we could pursue. Amit Shah CEO, Shreeji Enterprise, Mumbai

ADCTA-Dell tussle Your recent story on the ADCTA-Dell tiff over parallel imports is praiseworthy. Dell has been misleading channels about the legal grounds, and also fooled custom officials by

misrepresenting the facts, but the notification from the Ministry of Finance is quite clear that it’s fairly legal to import products and sell them in the market. Dell’s reservations around warranties tailored for specific countries/ markets are laughable. It offers an international warranty in almost all major countries, so what’s special about India? Why can’t an international warranty be applicable here? Dell cannot enjoy 4050 percent margins over international markets and then say that parallel importers (who are just making thin margins) are unethical. Sudhir Chopra (via email)

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

Advertiser Index Company name

Smartlink Smartlink Emerson LG Compuage-Odyssey Rashi Netgear Eaton Dell HP K7 Schneider Fujitsu Disk Storage NEC Lenovo Socomec Compuage-Creative Fujitsu Scan Snap Symantec Seagate Dell Interop IFSEC Plustek Trend Micro Viewsonic Biz IBM EMC

Page No Web site

Sales Contact

1 www.digisol.com helpdesk@digisol.com 2 www.digisol.com helpdesk@digisol.com 4 emersonnetworkpower.com marketing.india@emerson.com 5 www.lg.com serviceindia@lge.com 7 www.compuageindia.com odyssey@compuageindia.com 9 www.rptechindia.com feedback@rptechindia.com 11 www.netgrar.com sales.india@netgear.com 13 www.eaton.com/powerquality/india EatonPowerQualityIndia@Eaton.com 15 www.dell.co.in dell.co.in/vostro 17 www.hp.com hp.com/in/printer 19 www.k7computing.com enterprisesales@k7computing.com 21 www.SEreply.com in-care@schneider-electric.com 23 www.sg.fujitsu.com marketing-india@ts.fujitsu.com 25 www.nec.com/expresscluster enquiries@necindia.in 28-29 www.lenova.com 31 www.socomec-ups.co.in info.ups.in@socomec-ups.co.in 33 www.compuageindia.com info@compuageindia.com 35 www.ScanSnapit.com Rohit.Grover@in.fujitsu.com 37 www.getnorton.com anupam@fortune-it.com 39 www.seagate.com www.seagate.com/goflexsatellite 41 www.dell.co.in dell.co.in/vostro 43 www.interop.in salil.warior@ubm.com 45 www.ifsecsouthindia.com pankaj.jain@ubm.com 51 www.plustek.in salesindia@plustek.in 52 www.trendmicro.co.in avneet.kaur@trend-micro.in 53 www.in.viewsonic.com sales@in.viewsonic.com 54 www.indiaantivirus.com sales@indiaantivirus.com 55 www.ibm.com response@in.ibm.com 56 www.emc.com VSPEXIndia@emc.com

channel chief “We will cross `1,000 crore by 2014” Minoru Usui, President, Seiko Epson, spoke to Abhijeet Mukherjee about the company’s goals for India and its strategy for the inkjet market What was the agenda for your India visit? We wanted to announce to the partner community as well as existing and prospective customers that now onward, even as we consolidate our consumer business, we will focus more on the small, medium and large enterprise business. Currently, the ratio of our printer revenue contribution from consumer versus enterprise is 45:55; we want to increase the enterprise share, and that will happen very soon. We will leverage Micro Piezo, our proprietary technology, to take our inkjet printing solutions to the SMB and enterprise segments.

What is the market that you envision for Epson, and what are the steps that you have taken to streamline your India growth? India for us is a huge potential market with a strong economy compared to the global economic scenario. Overall, we expect to garner revenue of `800 crore this fiscal, of which our printing business would contribute `350 crore. We are aiming to sell 15 lakh printers in FY2012-13. As per the latest Gartner report, the inkjet printer market declined 3.3 percent in Q12012 compared to the first quarter of 2011. In this segment Epson is the only company that grew its marketshare by 3.7 percent, and accounted for 35.6 percent marketshare. In order to streamline our processes in India, we created the new position of President in March 2012 and appointed Toshiyuki Kasai as the first President of Epson India. With India being a priority market, it no longer requires reporting to the regional hub at Epson Singapore but will now be reporting directly to Seiko Epson Japan.

Epson has said that it wants to garner `1,000 crore in revenue by 2014. Considering the slowdown, are you still optimistic about achieving this? Though we are committed to earn `1,000 crore in India revenue for Epson by 2014, we are pretty sure that we will achieve that number before the committed time. This is because despite the economic slowdown we are growing at a steady pace. Currently, our average growth is close to 20 percent, and by March 2013 (the end

“With India being a priority market, it no longer requires reporting to the regional hub at Singapore but will now be reporting directly to Japan” 18

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of our fiscal) Epson India expects to grow by close to 30 percent. What will help us is the success of the three printer categories launched last year—the L and K series. Our newlylaunched WorkForce printers will also add substantially to our growth. In printers alone we expect to grow by 40 percent in the current fiscal. The company intends to expand into unrepresented markets in the east and north-east, HP, Punjab, Rajasthan and UP. We will also pursue SMBs and very small offices with our low-priced products.

What will contribute to this growth? In the projector category, Epson garnered 13 percent in volume marketshare with revenue of `70 crore in FY201112; we expect to touch 18 percent marketshare with revenue of `100 crore and intend to increase sales from 24,000 units to 45,000 units in the current fiscal. Scanners, large format printers, industrial printers and point of sale products contributed `280 crore to the turnover. For growth in the projector category we will leverage on our HD-ready, full HD, 3D and Apple docking projectors. In printers we will continue to leverage on Ink Tank technology products.

What changes have you introduced to your product portfolio? This year we launched our WorkForce and WorkForce Pro printers enabling solution providers to add the printers to their list of Epson offerings for SMBs and enterprises. The new WorkForce Pro C series consumes only 70 percent of the power as compared to the laser printers of competing vendors, and reduces total printing costs by up to 50 percent. The cost reduction is enabled by features such as automatic double-sided printing and extra-large cartridge capacity. With our L series of inkjet printers based on the Continuous Ink Supply System, customers get affordability with monochrome printing at 10 paise per page and color printing at 20 paise per page. In addition to this, our K series of monochrome printers meant for the SMB market also offers low-cost printing. What is more, we have plans to launch a number of new models within the WorkForce, L and K series by 2013. At the moment I can only say that we will launch four new models in the L series by March 2013.

You are betting big on the inkjet market. But

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channel chief companies such as Kodak and Lexmark have shut shop. What gives you the confidence that Epson will do well in inkjets? There are two reasons why inkjet vendors are shutting shop. First, most of the inkjet printer vendors focus on the consumer segment which is fast declining. This is also clear from a recent Gartner report. We are therefore gradually moving toward the enterprise segment which is quite robust and growing in India. In addition, seeing the decline in demand from the consumer segment, we have expanded our business to label printing, textile printing, LCD color filter printing equipment and other newer segments. Second, companies such as HP and Lexmark are not OEMs for printers, and that is why they have limitations in terms of innovations. We have our own manufacturing units and are constantly innovating our designs and technology. Our Micro Piezo technology can match the quality, cost and print speed of a laser printer. Moreover, our technology is environment-friendly because it does not emit heat and consumes only up to 70 percent electricity.

So what would be your channel strategy for the enterprise? Our first priority is to integrate our current partners into the enterprise fold and also streamline our supplies. We will appoint new partners in the first half of 2013. At present we have close to 300 Epson Accredited Partners and 6,500 resellers spread across 150 cities in India; I think this is sufficient. We are creating greater awareness about our products through our nDimension program across these 150 cities, of which 50 cities have already been covered. We will

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are two reasons why inkjet vendors are shutting shop. Most vendors focus on the consumer segment which is declining and they dont have OEM businessâ&#x20AC;? focus on demo programs for our partners to equip them with product know-how. This will be in addition to the regular ATL activities with increased focus on print and outdoor. We have a marketing budget of close to `60 crore for FY2012-13.

Managed print services (MPS) do not seem to be high on your agenda though most of your competitors have specific strategies around them. That is not so. If customers want to opt for the MPS model we do provide them the service through any of our 450 SI partners in the country.

Social media and mobile cameras are two of the major factors impacting the printing business. How are you dealing with the new trends? We are facing this challenge globally, and that is the reason we have expanded our printing business to the SMB and enterprise segments. Moreover, we have built in several applications which facilitate e-printing and i-printing; in other words, we have cloud and Web printing in our new printers. These applications include email, Google Cloud Print, iPrint for Android devices, and AirPrint for Apple devices. Social-media-savvy consumers can use these printers to meet their printing requirements. n

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a brand of

market focus the debate continues

A Finance Ministry notification gives legal backing for parallel imports provided they do not violate certain laws; this leaves the door open for interpretation. Clearly, the last word on the subject has not been heard n AMIT SINGH

he debate on authorized versus parallel imports is an old one and is unlikely to go away anytime soon. At one end you have the IT vendors who are intent on preserving their brand and business interests; on the other end there are the entrepreneurs who see no reason not to play the price arbitrage game to make good money. It is difficult to estimate the exact size of the parallel imports of consumer IT products in the country. “Usually, in a year’s time-frame, the figure is well within the 5-10 percent mark. Parallel imports affect a wide range of product categories from mobile PCs to TFT monitors to projectors,” says S Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India. While the reasons for parallel importing are diverse, they normally range from excess inventory to cancellation of a big project to temporary market situations to forward selling. The primary reason however is the price difference which exists in the same product line across geographies. “There is a huge price difference compared to the overseas market, so retailers are able to make about 10-15 percent margins on similar models available in India,” explains Swarn Singh, Secretary, All Delhi Computer Traders Association (ADCTA). Adds a Mumbai-based retailer on condition of anonymity, “The price difference is up to 40-50 percent, and retailers make 10-12 percent margins on parallel imported products.”

The vendor-partner tiff The recent past has seen several exchanges between vendors, partners and associations. While pressing charges against some of the parallel importers earlier this year, Dell managed to get an Indian customs notification

“We cannot label a business unethical as long as it is legal. Retailers do disclose information about the origin of products and warranty to customers” Swarn Singh, Secretary, All Delhi Computer Traders Association

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to confiscate goods imported by parallel importers. However, ADCTA got a clarification from the government which provided protection for parallel imports. On August 16, 2012 Dell released a caution notice in a leading daily following an ex parte interim injunction awarded in its favor by the Delhi High Court in a case against an importer, Pioneer Computronix. The notice cautioned the public against buying Dellbranded products from parallel importers. However, Singh of ADCTA says, “Dell has been misleading both the public and channels on the issue of parallel imports. A Ministry of Finance Notification Circular No. 13/2012-Customs clearly covers all aspects of parallel imports. In a nutshell, you can import any goods into the country as long as they are sourced legally, and the goods are new and genuine.”

Legal view Till May 2012 there were different legal interpretations on the subject. However, the Ministry of Finance notification had come clear on the matter that parallel imports are legal if they do not violate existing acts such as the Trade Marks Act, 1999; Designs Act, 2000; Patents Act, 1970; Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999; and Copyright Act, 1957. Though this more or less clarifies that parallel imports are legal, legal experts state that there are loopholes which a vendor can exploit. “While prima facie the notification is in favor of a parallel importer and legalizes parallel imports, a vendor can approach the court and claim that a parallel importer is violating one of the acts. Whether a vendor gets relief or not would depend on the specific legal position of the case,” explains K Radhakrishnan, a leading advocate based out of Bengaluru. Adds KR Jayaram, National Head, Channel Sales & VP, Material Management Department, ECS Group, “Vendors cannot legally restrict parallel imports so far as the products are not altered and relevant duties and taxes are paid on them.” “Moreover,” points out Pawan Jajodia, CEO, Mohit Electronics, a Kolkata-based retailer, “according to the Competition Commission of India, parallel imports must be supported because they increase competition in the market.”

market focus “Parallel imports hurt the sales of authorized channels, lead to inventory pile-up, credit defaults and also warranty issues”

“Parallel traders benefit from the investment of vendors and authorized distributors. They hurt the brand image by not providing appropriate service support”

Sanjay Agrawal

Sudhir Arora

Director, Mainframe Computers

Ethically speaking On the ethics front, partners as well as associations stand divided. While many understand the vendors’ pain over their brand image and market spend, others opine that parallel imports are fair because of the price benefits they deliver to consumers. Partners who source products from authorized channels complain of business losses due to parallel imports. “In places where parallel imported products are in abundance, the authorized channel gets hurt badly because of the loss of customers and business,” says Sanjay Agrawal, Director, Mainframe Computers. Fumes Sudhir Arora, Director, Computer Gallery, an Indore-based sub-distributor, “Parallel traders take benefit of the investment, marketing and brand creation of the vendors and authorized distributors. They hurt the brand image by not providing appropriate service support.” “We accept the legality of parallel imports, and the government and courts are the competent authorities to decide on that. But vendors do invest in operations and infrastructure in the country. Products that are sold through parallel imports do not consider such costs, and this does not seem to be fair to the vendor,” comments B Hari, President, Computer Association of Eastern India. However, Kailash Gupta, President, Rajasthan Computer Traders Association (RCTA), differs. “Branding and marketing is a global effort. Moreover, the customer is the king, hence buyers have the right to decide where they want to buy (a product) from. Vendors can only inform consumers about the consequences over the warranty.” “We are not causing any harm to the brand because the product is not tampered with and has the genuine branding. And as the product is initially sourced from the vendor company, they cannot say that it is a revenue loss,” argues Aditya Gupta, Director, Pioneer Computronix. “Moreover, is it ethical on the part of the vendors to charge a 40-50 percent premium against international markets?” Singh of ADCTA adds that every businessman has a right to make profits. “We cannot label a business practice as unethical as long as it is legal. Besides, the retailers are not cheating customers, and disclose the information about the origin of the product and the warranty.”

Us versus them Vendors are unanimous in their opinion that parallel imports are a malice and should be done away with. They are sending mailers to partners urging them to refrain from parallel imports. Warning alerts are also being continuously communicated.

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Director, Computer Gallery

While the products sourced through parallel sources do carry international warranties, vendors refuse to support and service these products. According to a Dell statement, “Unauthorized imports misguide and misrepresent customers and are not adequately supported by warranties in the country of sale and cause serious inconveniences and losses to our customers and endanger our brand reputation.” Retorts Mahinder Aggarwal, President, ADCTA, “Parallel imports cannot be deemed unauthorized because it is permissible as per the law, and cannot be viewed as smuggled because all the duties and taxes are paid. Has Dell US authorized Dell India to refuse warranty on the goods sold abroad and imported into the country?” “We do not claim that the warranty is offered by any vendor, and communicate to the customer that we will be offering the post-sales support on our own. We usually keep 2 percent of the shipment only for this purpose,” informs a Delhi-based partner on condition of anonymity. On the darker side, a few partners have alleged that they received threatening calls from vendors to stop their parallel imports business.

Any way out? A number of channel partners say that vendors need to show less aggression toward channel partners who deal in parallel imports. They say that vendors should rather keep their own house in order. Remarks Jajodia, “The quality of service support in geographies like the US and Singapore is far better than in India. At the same time, the spending on marketing in those regions cannot be less because the competition is high there as well.” “Parallel importers are ultimately helping the Indian consumer by selling products at internationally competitive prices. Many a time parallel importers pay higher duties and taxes than the vendors,” says Aggarwal. Partners believe that significant pricing disparities in international and Indian markets will continue to create opportunities for the parallel channel. “If that means reviewing their pricing structures, vendors should do that. Why should an Indian consumer pay 30-40 percent higher than the price abroad?” questions Hari. Adds Gupta of RCTA, “If vendors are really serious about curbing parallel imports and have the larger good of their authorized channels at heart, why are they not controlling the source? Most of such products enter India through vendor-authorized sources in other markets.” n — With inputs from Ramdas S

cover story

If your current business is not doing as well as it should, here are six options you might want to consider n SONAL DESAI & RAMDAS S

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cover story Application Migration Besides the revenue associated with the software, application migration creates opportunities for selling new hardware and infrastructure. The global market is said to be worth around $120 billion

ccording to a study by Forrester Research, the global application migration market (AMM) is perceived to be around $120 billion in 2012, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.5 percent. The research firm says that the biggest driver for app migration has been cloud computing, and almost 50 percent of the AMM is driven by enterprises and SMBs abandoning archaic applications and moving them on to the cloud. “The AMM represents one of the biggest opportunities for the systems integration channels. Apart from the revenue associated with the software, it also presents a business opportunity for selling new hardware and infrastructure,” points out Anoop Nambiar, Country Manager, (BPO), IBM India. Application migration does not necessarily mean that partners need to have software expertise. Vendors such as IBM and HP have partner-ISV alliances that focus on the AMM. Nambiar says that individual teams qualify ISVs, and along with channels identify potential customers. Mumbai-based Paramatrix Technologies has a 70-member team for its application migration practice. Says Mukesh Thumar, MD, Paramatrix Technologies, “This is a business where you cannot afford to make a mistake. Most migration projects start at a point where the customer is unhappy with the existing system, or the system has failed, or it has become archaic. If the migration fails then there is no migration, and since it involves a lot of customization and manpower it is costly for the service provider.” The IBM Software team has also been enabling its channels to look at the opportunity. Microgenesis, a Bengaluru-based IBM software partner, says that 20 percent of their revenue comes from customers who require support in migrating applications to newer platform. “We also offer training in products that we sell (such as IBM Websphere, Rational and DB2), and this often results in new assignments and projects,” says Manoj Tharian, MD, Microgenesis. Explains Nitin Dang, Country General Manager,

India, Micro Focus, “We are focused on application modernization. Our tools are used by partners to migrate legacy applications to the latest technologies.” Last year Mumbai-based VDA Infosolutions aligned with Micro Focus; this resulted in a nearly `5 crore application modernization order from a private bank. “Application modernization is a focus area for us. We have identified a number of potential customers, and now have a team that is focused on this market,” says Deepak Jadhav, Director, VDA. Microsoft has been driving business application migration for many years. Says Devesh Aggarwal, CEO, Compusoft, Mumbai, “Over the years we have migrated a number of applications from legacy platforms or thirdparty software to Microsoft Dynamics and other software. For example, Furtado’s Music had an in-house ERP which we migrated to Microsoft Dynamics; now more than 50 users across 18 branches can seamlessly access the applications.” Partners such as the Delhi-based Team Computers and Mumbai-based TechGyan have been focused on migrating office and messaging applications to Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365 respectively. “Customers tired of managing infrastructure see cloudbased applications as a viable alternative. Migration to SharePoint is also a business that has generated us customers,” says Suresh Ramani, CEO, TechGyan. Migrating to open source and Linux is another opportunity that partners such as Chennai-based Futurenet Technologies are focusing on. “Many customers recognize that free software, though free, still needs support. We have the technical expertise to do it, and we have customers who have successfully migrated from legacy platforms to Linux with us,” says Ashok L, CEO. n

“You cannot afford to make a mistake. If the migration fails then there is no migration, and since it involves a lot of customization it is costly for the service provider”

“Furtado’s Music had an inhouse ERP which we migrated to Microsoft Dynamics; now more than 50 users across 18 branches can seamlessly access the applications”

Mukesh Thumar

Devesh AGgarwal

MD, Paramatrix Technologies

CEO, Compusoft

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cover story Enterprise Mobility Healthcare apps for medical reps, video streaming, financial offerings for the BFSI segment, and of course antivirus. Only a few of the enterprise mobility solutions available in the market

lobal Industry Analysts estimates that the global market for enterprise mobility will exceed $173.9 billion by 2017. In India the estimates made by Zinnov puts the figure at $224 million in 2012; this is expected to grow at a CAGR of 40 percent to cross $1 billion in 2015. The figures are excluding device costs. The Indian mobile value added service market is set to reach $6.1 billion (`33,280 crore) by 2013 at an estimated growth rate of 28 percent. The market is currently at $4.8 billion (`26,000 crore) and grew 32 percent from $3.6 billion (`19,700 crore) in 2011 according to the Internet & Mobile Association of India. According to a study sponsored by US-based distributor ScanSource Communications, which specializes in mobility solutions, over a period of time mobility will offer a larger opportunity than the cloud for the systems integration channels. The study says that the speed at which technology changes in enterprise mobility needs more persistent support from a solution provider compared to most pieces in cloud computing. “We feel that enterprise mobility is one of the biggest opportunities for our channels and for us. It presents a far more complex challenge for the CIO than regular PC-based networks. Apart from a large number of devices, there are updates of mobile operating systems once every nine months or so, making support a complex affair,” explains Nandakumar KS, VP, Sales, Kaseya India. Kaseya has already started shipping a tool for monitoring and managing Apple iOS-based devices, and has released monitoring tools for the Android, BlackBerry and Microsoft platforms too. Informs Nandakumar, “By November we should be launching a full-fledged solution

“Enterprise mobility is more complex than regular PC-based networks. Apart from a large number of devices, there are updates of mobile OS once every 9 months or so”

“Currently under our AMS business we manage 35,000 end-points that are largely PCs. However in two years we forsee our AMS to be driven by mobile device management and we expect the number of mobile devices under management to exceed the number of PC end-points”

NandaKumar KS

Sarfaraz Dani, National Business Manager, Managed Services

VP, Sales, Kaseya India

which will support devices across all major platforms.” Says Sarfaraz Dani, National Business Manager, Managed Services Organization, Value Point Systems, Bengaluru, “Over the last couple of years we have built a reasonable-size business for AMS which stands at 35,000 end-points. Presently the biggest interest of our customers is in managing mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. In two years we can expect the number of mobile devices managed to reach or exceed the number of PC/laptop end-points.” SIs are also rolling out new solutions. Pune-based Computer Home has integrated a financial application with Android-based mobile phones. The financial application has been integrated with the customers’ ERP at the back-end. Explains Milind Dhongade, Director, Computer Home, “We have developed mobile applications for our BFSI customers. Today we are supporting 10,000 internal users of three large customers who collectively contribute 15-20 percent of our services revenue.” VMware is enabling partners to develop mobile applications that could be offered over the cloud. Security antivirus software vendors are building solutions for the enterprise mobility markets. Hyderabad-based Shell Networks has started a division that focuses on enterprise mobility applications. “The team is small, but we are seeing huge opportunities. Every aspect of computing today has an element of mobility. In addition, the buzz around mobility ensures good margins,” says AL Srinath, CEO, Shell Networks. Ahmedabad-based Innova Systems, a BlackBerry Enterprise Partner, is bundling healthcare applications (it acquires from local ISVs) with the BlackBerry platform and reselling them to customers in the vertical. The company is currently selling applications to medical representatives working for large pharma companies in Gujarat. Says Deepak Braganza, Country Manager, LifeSize India & South Asia, “The 3G subscriber base will grow to 200 million by 2016, while the 4G subscriber base will become 67 million by 2017. Mobile-based video streaming will revolutionize today’s UC and standard video communication markets.” n

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cover story GRC and SIEM The market is comparatively small, but setting up a practice in these areas often helps a partner to pick up business which is 5-10 times the cost of a GRC and SIEM solution

overnance, risk management & compliance, or GRC, is the umbrella term covering an organization’s approach to avoiding business and technology conflicts, wasteful overlaps, and gaps. Security information and event management (SIEM) solutions provide real-time analysis of security alerts generated by network hardware and applications by monitoring, notifying, event triggering and compiling reports. Though GRC and SIEM are two different practices, they are often related since a GRC implementation frequently demands setting up an SIEM system, hence a number of consultancies offers services in both. The combined size of the GRC and SIEM market is estimated at less than $5 billion globally by Gartner. However, setting up a practice in these areas often helps a channel partner to pick up business which is 5-10 times the cost of a GRC or SIEM solution. “Consulting in GRC and SIEM often results in a partner moving up the value chain as far as the customer is concerned. The relation becomes very strategic, and can be used to leverage bigger deals,” says Vishak Raman, Senior Regional Director, India & Middle East, Fortinet. CA, McAfee, Symantec, IBM and RSA are some of the vendors offering tools and knowledge frameworks in this space. “For all services we leverage the Symantec Partner Program. Our Specialists and Master Specialists have access to our research, tools and even IPs; they also have the chance to work on products in their alpha and beta stages,” says Anand Naik, MD, Sales, Symantec. According to Naik, Symantec leverages its channels

to deliver the services in a co-delivery model. The Symantec Control Compliance Suite Risk Manager module offers executive-level dashboards which can illustrate high-level metrics such as risk by business unit, or risk scores for mission-critical business processes. “Master Specialists play a big role in the services since they handle authentication, appliance, licenses or virtual applications (managed security services) to manage SIEM. The scope for partners starts with assessment through data capturing, solution architecting, and implementation and support services,” informs Naik. He says that the service pie attached is 5-6 times the cost of the tools associated with the project. Mumbai-based Essen Vision Software has set up a services unit with professionals with consulting backgrounds, and has over the past year billed around a dozen customers for GRC and SIEM. “RBI has provided strict guidelines on GRC and SIEM for the BFSI segment, and BFSIs need to adhere to the new guidelines in the next 12 months. Even those banks which are ISO 27001-certified have to comply with the new standards prescribed,” says Ronny Ferrao, Chief Operating Officer, Essen Vision Software. Essen recently implemented a tool which checked for compliances in the business and technology practice of an ITeS company. “In the first phase, against the customer’s expectation of meeting 60 percent of the compliance needs, our tool is helping it to meet 82 percent of the needs,” says Ferrao. He hopes that at the end of the project the billing would exceed $200,000. Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Seclore has set up a practice for the life cycle management (LCM) of GRC and SIEM projects. “The LCM opportunity for a partner starts with identifying the GRC objective and orienting the customer by taking a consultative approach. Next, the partner helps define controls into the process. Once the process is in place, it needs continuous monitoring to figure out the challenges in these process flow controls. The cost of consulting and allied services typically range from `8 lakh-10 lakh for an enterprise customer,” says Vishal Gupta, the Founder-CEO, Seclore Technology. n

“Consulting in GRC and SIEM often results in a partner moving up the value chain. The relation becomes strategic, and can be used to leverage bigger deals”

“RBI has provided strict guidelines on GRC and SIEM for the BFSI segment, and BFSIs need to adhere to the new guidelines in the next 12 months”

Vishak Raman, Senior Regional Director, India & Middle East, Fortinet

Ronny Ferrao

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COO, Essen Vision Software

cover story Networking Services Services in demand include dashboard information, optimization, planning, testing, security auditing, and IPv4 to iPv6 migration. Figure out network virtualization too, because VMware and Citrix have already started rolling it out

utside of deployment and support, IDC estimates the networking services market to be worth around $90 billion. “The traditional market size is around $30 billion, and both are converging. Apart from regular support, customers are now in need of services that go beyond break-and-fix. They want to know more about their network, they want to optimize their network usage, and with applications growing bandwidth requirements are also scaling up. All this presents an opportunity for our channels and for us,” says Amitabh Patney, VP, Services, Cisco This, Patney says, has led to a number of niche services that network solution vendors can start billing to their customers. Cisco wants a share of the pie, and is regularizing its services channel programs to motivate partners to address the opportunity. There are 50 million Cisco devices powering networks globally, many of them not under warranty. “Older devices need to be upgraded, or the system OS needs to be patched. There are also concerns regarding the inter-operability between older and newer devices. Customers need solution providers who can present them with specific information and chart future network growth plans,” adds Patney. This has led to a number of new services including dashboard information services, network optimization, planning, testing and security auditing. According to K Subrahmanya, Director, Central Data Systems, Bengaluru, “Today, post-deployment services are often more than 10 percent of the cost of the hardware. Customers are keen to cut down costs, and see services as the way to go.” Subrahmanya says that vendor certifications help a long way in convincing

“Apart from regular support, customers are now in need of services that go beyond breakand-fix. They want to know more about their network, they want to optimize their network usage”

“Today, post-deployment services are often more than 10 percent of the cost of the hardware. Customers are keen to cut costs, and see services as the way to go”

Amitabh Patney

K Subrahmanya

VP, Services, Cisco

customers to accept value-added services. Manpower constraints at the customer-end are also forcing customers to outsource network management. “Customers are increasingly realizing that managing networks and infrastructure by themselves is not really resulting in any gains. Last year a customer lost some people, and there was no one to manage their network, and we bagged an FMS order,” says Anatharaman Varayur, MD, Webcom Information Technology. Webcom partnered with network testing tool vendor Fluke Networks to deliver network testing services, and sold tools worth `2 crore to a defense PSU. Other partners are exploring ways to offer network management services on an opex model. “We are in discussions with several clients who all want network optimization based on real-time data. We are presently exploring several alternatives to existing software systems. Some of the customers need their data available on a SaaS model, others are willing to have it covered under regular AMS/FMS contracts,” informs KV Jagannath, MD, Choice Solutions, Hyderabad. Another service opportunity which is opening up is IPv4 to IPv6 migration. “The transition is a multi-year process. It’s important for enterprises to begin the IPv6 journey as soon as possible, hence it’s important for channels to be ready,” explains Prakash Krishnamoorthy, Director, HP Networking, HP India. HP is also betting on the software defined networking (SDN) standards which it’s promoting, and says that channels will generate opportunities in services. “With open standards and open API, network administrators need not worry about support from proprietary vendors. Network solution providers can easily set up teams which can build applications and create dashboards using SDN,” Krishnamoorthy adds. One skill-set which networking service providers may need to soon start acquiring will be around virtualization because virtualization vendors such as VMware and Citrix have started rolling out software that supports network virtualization seamlessly. n

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cover story Storage-as-a-service What attracts customers to SaaS is the opex model and the pay-as-yougo basis. Partners should look at back-up, archival, surveillance and even disaster recovery to drive growth

ne of the fastest-growing services market today is around storage. With the data boom across enterprises, customers are realizing the importance of reliable and secure storage. This is one of the reasons that IDC, in its Q22012 quarterly tracker, has mentioned that Storage-as-aService (SaaS) will witness the highest growth among all cloud computing services. “As business organizations continue to generate vast amounts of data and seek optimum methods to store and protect them, the growth of storage capacities delivered through SaaS offerings will outpace traditional storage architectures,” forecasts Brad Nisbet, Program Manager, Storage & Data Management Services, IDC. “With SaaS capacity growing over 65 percent from 174 petabytes in 2007 to over 2.1 exabytes in 2012, the market is full of opportunity.” SaaS is not just about the cloud. In fact few expect primary storage to move on to the cloud. “At least as far as latency exists, we do not see primary storage moving to the cloud or transforming to a services model,” says Anil Valluri, President, India & Saarc, NetApp. “However, back-up is certainly moving to the cloud, or to a vendor-managed data center (DC). Not every customer is keen to duplicate infrastructure, and customers are looking at SaaS models for back-up and even DR.” While other cloud computing paradigms offer channels great opportunity in toplines, vendors feel that SaaS offers the biggest opportunity in services revenue. “Few customers will opt for a storage strategy that is only cloud-centric or fully hosted. Most of them will opt for a hybrid model that will enable channels to

“Back-up is certainly moving to the cloud, or to a vendor-managed data center. Not every customer is keen to duplicate infrastructure, and customers are looking at SaaS models for back-up and even DR”

“Customers need 30-45 days of back-up but do not want everything to be stored within their premises. They opt for an opex model and pay on a monthly basis”

Anil Valluri

Anatharaman Varayur

President, India & Saarc, NetApp

build services,” predicts Srinivas Rao, Director, Presales & Solutions, Hitachi Data Systems. Rao feels that customers will start classifying data according to its critical importance, and that they would like a partner who could act as a broker of services as well as be a consultant to them. SK Lau, Director, Pre-consulting, Quantum, agrees. “Customers need a primary back-up inhouse and a secondary back-up outside the organization. This could be through a cloud-based service provider or an SI offering the service from its own infrastructure or DC.” Sandeep Vahi, CEO, Compton Computers, Delhi, has been offering network back-up services since last year. “We have started offering customers back-up-asa-service and are charging per TB of data per month. It definitely works out to be more profitable than selling storage hardware. Customers are happy that they are being billed on an opex model.” Archival and surveillance are two of the biggest growth drivers. Email archival is a market that is expected to take off following the Supreme Court verdict in the Vedanta Aluminium vs Trimex International case which recognized corporate email as valid proof in court. Also, in the winter session of parliament this year, the cyber law bill (around the need to archive emails for up to three years) is likely to be tabled. Tulip Data Services has launched a surveillanceas-a-service that is currently being marketed through channel partners. The DC vendor is offering not just surveillance video that can be accessed over the Internet, but also daily, weekly and monthly back-ups on a pay-as-you-go model. “Customers need 30-45 days of back-up but do not want everything to be stored within their premises. They are willing to opt for an opex model and pay on a monthly basis,” says Anatharaman Varayur, MD, Webcom Information Technology, Bengaluru. According to Varayur, smaller customers are even willing to take storage services on an FMS model. n

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MD, Webcom Information Technology

cover story Unified Communication IT/ITeS, telecom, BFSI, manufacturing, government and healthcare will be the biggest investors in UC this year. Mobility and BYOD are the two key trends that will drive the consumerization of UC

Frost & Sullivan study in 2011 of the Indian Unified Communications (UC) market showed an increase in awareness about emerging trends in the industry such as social collaboration, virtualization, cloud communications and mobile conferencing. The overall spending on UC in India was estimated at $522.7 million in 2011 and is expected to grow to around $590 million in 2012. The market is also expected to grow at 11.8 percent CAGR till 2017. According to Parminder Saini, Industry Manager, Information & Communication Technologies Practice, South Asia & Middle East, Frost & Sullivan, “Most enterprises have transitioned from legacy to pure IP-based communication systems. Real-time and multi-modal communications have facilitated the adoption of various on-premise applications, and we now see movement in the adoption of cloud-based UC solutions.” According to the research firm, sectors such as IT/ITeS, telecom, BFSI, manufacturing, government and healthcare will be the biggest investors in UC this year. “Changing business models due to travel costs and time constraints are spurring organizations to adopt UC solutions that enable live communication sessions,” explains Uday Birje, Country Manager, Network Consulting & Services, HP India. Birje has been wooing HP channels to help it deliver UC services through a codelivery model. “At HP we are banking on our channels for deployment and support in several projects,” says Birje. “We are constantly looking out for SIs with skill-sets around supporting UC whether it’s Cisco, Microsoft or Avaya. Our division is vendor-agnostic, and offers some of the biggest opportunities for channel partners to be

involved in some of the largest projects.” Mobility and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) are two key trends that will in many ways drive the consumerization of UC. “Mobility and BYOD will be a big driver for UC. However, one aspect that CIOs are not ready to compromise on is security, and a lot of enterprises are reassessing their security posture and framework in relation to the new devices,” observes Kshitij Mishra, Head, UC & Collaboration, India Region, Huawei Enterprise. What should interest channels is the emergence of the services model around UC. According to a Forrester Research study of deployment models, till 2013 the demand for managed services will grow significantly, outpacing the traditional deployment model of buying and then managing UC and collaboration technology on-premise. Ahmedabad-based solution provider SAI Infosystem has set up a JV with BSNL to roll out different communication services across the country. “We have already started video telephony services over broadband in 10 states across west and north India. Our goal is to achieve a pan-India coverage offering multiple services within UC over the next two years,” says Sunil Kakkad, CMD, SAI. Vapi-based Enjay IT Solutions has launched a hosted solution with an IPBX-based Asterix, a custom CRM called Enjay CRM based on free open source software Sugar CRM, and a mobile connectivity application called Panaroma. “We are offering our solutions with both onsite and hosted models, with flexible payments on a monthly, quarterly and half-yearly basis,” says Limesh Parekh, CEO, Enjay. Vidyo, a video communications provider, has a strategy to sell video communications as a service. “We develop the technology and sell it through service providers such as Sify or regional SIs like the Chennaibased Fourth Dimension Technologies, Delhi-based Houston Technologies, and Hyderabad-based Orego Solutions. Sify is our sole service provider in India; it provides Vidyo solutions to its enterprise customers through our technology that is hosted at its DCs,” says Ruchir Godura, VP, India & South Asia, Vidyo. n

“Real-time and multi-modal communications have facilitated the adoption of various onpremise applications, and we now see movement in the adoption of cloud-based UC solutions”

“We have started video telephony services over broadband in 10 states across India. Our goal is to achieve a pan-India coverage offering multiple services within UC over the next two years”

Parminder Saini, Industry Manager, ICT Practice, S Asia & ME, Frost & Sullivan

Sunil Kakkad

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CMD, SAI Infosystem

special focus

DRAAS in demand

Disaster recovery as a service is picking up owing to increased need for regulatory compliance and growing need for business continuity among organizations n SONAL DESAI

undreds, and maybe thousands of files were reduced to ashes in the fire that gutted three floors of Mantralaya (the Maharashtra state government head-office) in Mumbai on June 21, 2012. While the government managed to save around 3.5 crore pages which had been scanned for back-up, there is no account of the information lost in the files which were consumed by the flames. A recent study, Insights: Disaster Recovery & Back Up commissioned by CA Technologies, showed a rise in investments for the purpose in the Asia Pacific, with 67 percent businesses indicating increased spending for data management (DM) and disaster recovery (DR). According to research firm NetScribes, the DR and business continuity (BC) segment is driven by the BFSI, manufacturing, IT/ITeS, energy, government and services segments. Telecom and airlines also constitute a market for back-up. The RBI has played a significant role in driving the regulation that requires banks and non banking financial companies to put a DR strategy in place. Regulatory authorities in other verticals are also drawing up similar DR strategies.

DRaaS making inroads Cloud-based DR is making its way into IT environments, especially in SMBs. “We are seeing a lot of interest for Back-up-as-a-Service (BaaS), and DR-as-a-Service (DRaaS) from SMBs and large enterprises which are looking for options to protect their applications and data which reside either in private or public clouds,” says Vijayant Rai, Director, India & Saarc, Nimsoft & Data Management, CA Technologies India. Kalyan Banga, Manager, Product Development, NetScribes, notes, “DRaaS is set to rock the stage with the

“We are offering our white-label DRaaS services starting at `4,500 per month and are seeing an increased demand from both small and mid-market customers” Sanjeev Gupta

Managing Director, Albion Infotel 40

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increased acceptance of the cloud in the next 3-4 years. The payper-use model will act as a boon, especially for SMBs; it will help them to reduce upfront costs on DR, and provide the flexibility for expansion.”

Growing interest Three months ago New Delhibased Albion Infotel started offering its DRaaS, named Albion DataSafe, and it has already acquired eight customers in India and 25 in the US. “We are also developing a model for partners through which they can resell our DRaaS,” informs Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Albion. The company offers its DRaaS on the configuration of the server required. For a basic server with a single processor, 2 GB of memory, 60 GB of storage and 5 GB of data transfer allowed, the company charges `4,500 per month. “At the higher end, a server with 8 CPU, 18 GB memory, and enterprise-level security and firewall is available for `18,000 per month,” adds Gupta. Mumbai-based Panache Infotech, which sells thin clients, PCs, PoS and digital signage solutions, and which has entered managed services, has developed a DR application for the SMB segment. The application enables data management for DRaaS, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Server protection-as-a-Service (SPaaS). Nikesh Sakaria, MD, CDP, is betting big on DRaaS. At a newly developed data center in Lower Parel, central Mumbai, Sakaria has started offering DRaaS to his existing customers, most of whom are from the BFSI segment. “Compliance is driving many customers to DRaaS. SEBI has mandated that BFSI companies should have two DR sites—one near site and a secondary site which is far away. We are providing DRaaS for asset management companies with as few as 100 users to as many as 500 or more,” Sakaria says.

Ready to take a dive While some have already tested the waters, others are planning to get in. “We should be ready to come out with a DRaaS in 3-6 months. We are evaluating different software and services, and will target SMBs,” informs Haresh Gada, Director, Network Techlab. Adds KV Jagannath, MD, Choice Solutions, “We are targeting customers who have a Microsoft or Oracle ERP in place, and who understand the importance of DR.”

special focus “Compliance is driving many customers to DRaaS. SEBI has mandated that BFSI companies should have two DR sites—one primary and another secondary”

“We are seeing a shift in how BC and DR are being looked at. They are becoming an integral part of the organization’s IT strategy as well as IT spending priorities”

Nikesh Sakaria

Narayana Menon K

Lead, Marketing, APAC & Middle East, Sanovi

Managing Director, CDP

The company has unofficially launched its DRaaS, and is running pilots with two customers. It will officially launch the service on October 1, 2012. “We are also talking to third-party vendors for data centers. We will develop the NOC and SOC in our office,” he adds. Many partners are offering BaaS in their cloud portfolio. New Delhi-based Compton Computers offers BaaS to more than 400 customers. “Of these, about 200 we have added in the last fiscal. We display the security and encryption through PoC at our end; this helps us to convert about 60 percent of the leads,” informs Sandeep Vahi, CEO, Compton.

Vendor strategies Vendors are launching new products and services to tap the market and empower their partners. EMC is banking on its end-to-end managed services to provide DRaaS. PK Gupta, Senior Director & Chief Architect, Back-up Recovery Systems, APAC & Japan, EMC, says that service providers can offer DR through managed services, as a hosted model, or as a cloud. He says that the channel can provide DR as a managed service and charge per GB, host the DR on an SP’s data center and get revenue for the back-up, or resell the service as a cloud on a per GB usage model. EMC recently partnered with Tulip Telecom which provides end-to-end managed on-demand storage services and BaaS from the Tulip Data City in Bengaluru. Tulip’s cloud-based service offerings are powered by EMC’s VNX unified storage, and Avamar and Data Domain technologies for storage, back-up and recovery. CA Technologies is working with more than 150 partners for data management, and plans to grow its partner base by 30 percent by the end of 2012. The vendor is pitching its ARCserve high availability and replication solution. ARCserve D2D On Demand provides SMBs a solution which offers robust onsite data protection and includes bundled and integrated public cloud storage for offsite file protection. InMage is positioning ScoutCloud as a single, comprehensive framework that offers the underlying data replication and recovery technology and recovery automation along with a multi-tenant customer management portal for MSPs and cloud providers. Explains Ramesh Mandava, VP, EMEA & APAC, InMage, “ScoutCloud leverages Continuous Data Protection (CDP) technology to offer data protection and recovery technology for use on cost-effective TCP/IP networks. Leveraging CDP also means that the MSPs and cloud providers offering RaaS have the freedom to define their

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RPO and RTO SLA tiers without being constrained by the product’s technical limitations.” Symantec’s Storage Foundation High Availability and Veritas Volume Replicator High Availability and DR technology enable customers to protect their data and applications in one go. According to Anand Naik, MD, Sales, Symantec India & Saarc, “With this solution, IT organizations will benefit by realizing improved recovery time and recovery point objectives for business critical applications in the event of an on-premise outage.” The company is preparing its partners through a special competency on data back-up and DR. NetMagic, which works with more than 100 Elite partners, has announced a partnership with Ingram Micro to expand the reach of its offerings to partners in tier-2 and -3 cities. “We have created standard product packages that partners can sell. The NetMagic partner program will enable partners who want to add a managed services portfolio and solutions,” informs Vijaykumar Kulkarni, Senior Manager, Product Management, NetMagic. Riverbed’s cloud storage gateway, Whitewater, is a device that sits inside a data center and acts as a local gateway to the remote cloud storage service provider. “It addresses major pain-points such as encryption of data sent offsite; speed of back-up and recovery; bandwidth required and the associated cost of networking; and the physical volume of data and associated storage cost,” says Robert Healey, Marketing Evangelist, Riverbed Technology.

Challenges Gupta of Albion points out that the acceptability of the cloud is still an issue, especially among SMBs. “We are still in the transformation phase, and working hard for the acceptance of cloud services. Even a PoC for data security does not help much to convince a data-conscious customer.” Narayana Menon K, Lead, Marketing, APAC & Middle East, Sanovi Technologies, says that “The business impact of DR is often overlooked because people primarily associate disasters with the natural ones. But we are now seeing a major shift in how BC and DR are being looked at; they are becoming an integral part of the organization’s IT strategy as well as IT spending priorities.” According to Menon, another major challenge is cost. “There is always the doubt of investing in something that might only be used in case of an emergency. This is also indicated from the percentage of IT budgets spent on DR.” n — With inputs from Amit Singh

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role model Driving service excellence

Jayessh Mehta, MD, Future Businesstech, believes, among other things, that excellent service is the only way to get repeat and referral business. His flourishing company proves he has the right set of beliefs n AMIT SINGH

ayessh Mehta, MD, Future Businesstech, always had this dream to start his own business. In order to get first-hand experience he joined his cousin, Vijay Doshi, at his company, Mahavir Computers, as a partner, and later on started Future Businesstech. The business, which started with `1 lakh borrowed from a friend, and traded in printers and PCs, has now been transformed into an end-to-end solution provider with clients that include Titan Industries, Sonus Networks, Heerama Marine Contractors, Eka Software, Gokuldas Exports, Columbia Asia Hospitals, ABB and HAL.

The journey Born and brought up in Amravati, Maharashtra, Mehta completed his BE-Mechanical from Bengaluru in 1984. Ready to take the tough route to success, he decided not to join his father’s construction business and instead established a branch of Mahavir Computers at Bengaluru, trading in IT peripherals and consumables. Later, not satisfied with a partnership business, Mehta formed Future Computers in July 1990 and signed up with Godrej for printers; he also started assembling PCs. “I leveraged on my IT business experience and relationships with vendors and customers of Mahavir Computers. In a short span of nine months in FY1990-91 we made revenue of `11 lakh.” In 1992 he was joined by his brother, Sameer Mehta, who handled the services and HR processes. Jayessh also established Future Computer Services for the PC assembling business. By FY1993-94 the company expanded its portfolio to break into enterprise accounts. “Godrej printers started losing their market due to quality issues, hence we resorted to Panasonic and HP printers; we also added branded PCs from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Besides, we increased our sales and service

“Our expansion in Chennai, Mumbai and Pune gave us good results in FY2010-11. Collectively the branches added about 15 percent to the revenue” 44

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resources to 12 to target enterprise customers,” recalls Mehta. This enabled the company to clock revenue of `1.8 crore in FY1993-94. A big change came in 1996 when Mehta merged Future Computers and Future Computer Services to form Future Businesstech, and decided to focus more on solution-driven projects for end-customers. “It was the time when large distributors such as Redington were starting business in India, hence it was risky to depend on reseller accounts. We set a 1998 deadline to completely stop our reseller business.” Future therefore partnered with Boca and Multi-Tech for modems, added servers from DEC, and started building competencies and resources. The company took on several projects in networking, and together with PC and server sales raised its revenue to `8 crore in FY1996-97. By 2002 Future had partnered with vendors such as Cisco and Tyco. Also by that time DEC was acquired by Compaq, which in turn merged with HP. “Hence,” explains Mehta, “we partnered with HP for servers, storage, PCs and printers. We started taking large turnkey projects. Siemens was one of our major customers that contributed about 40 percent to the revenue.” In 2002 the company established a DR site entailing server, storage and replication software worth `2.4 crore for Siemens in the US. It implemented a flight schedule management project entailing server, storage and desktops worth `4.5 crore for Bengaluru International Airport in 2005. From November 2006 to May 2007 the company established IT telecenters with PCs, printers, fingerprint scanners, barcode scanners, UPS and networking worth `14 crore at 800 locations for the Nemmadi Project of the Karnataka Government. The company also partnered with Microsoft and APC in 2005, and with VMware in 2006. It executed a VDI project worth `1.3 crore entailing 235 thin clients and servers for Siemens in 2006, and an Exchange Server deployment project worth `70 lakh with server and storage for Eka Software in 2007. Future ventured into data center build-up in 2008, and executed a project worth `1.3 crore entailing designing, cooling, power conditioning, racks and

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role model 1993

Lessened focus on Godrej, signed on Panasonic and HP for printers

1996

Formed Future Businesstech to focus on solutions-driven projects

2002

Current business

MILESTONES

Bagged its first large project from Siemens for `2.4 crore

2005

networking for Net ProActive Services. During the recessionary period of FY2008-09, the company increased its focus on the government and PSUs, and formed a separate team for them. It executed an IT infrastructure project valued at `1 crore for Hindustan Aeronautics in 2009. Future also entered managed services for AMS from Kaseya, and managed print services from HP in 2009.

Implemented a flight schedule

and facility management services `55 lakh. “We currently have 21 customers on MPS, of whom four were added in the last fiscal. For AMS we have 23 customers, of whom 11 were added in the last fiscal. Moreover, we have 16 engineers deployed onsite for six customers,” informs Mehta.

Best practices ‘Sales through excellent service’ is the motto that Mehta offers for customer retention. He emphasizes that excellent service is the only way to get repeat and referral business. The company has replaced Tally with SAP CRM. “We have stopped using Tally and have moved completely to SAP. It offers us better visibility into the customers’ infrastructure requirements, and projects a roadmap for customers,” says Mehta.

2012

2011

2009

2008

Future Businesstech grew its management project for BIAL revenue from `28.56 crore in Ventured into data center FY2009-10 to `40 crore in FY201011 to `42.5 crore in FY2011-12. build-up; executed a project Mehta attributes the growth in for Net ProActive Services the last two fiscals to deep-selling, a good response from its branches, Forayed into automated and the focus on large enterprises, managed services and governments and PSUs. “Our managed print services geo-expansion in FY2005-06 in Chennai, Mumbai and Pune gave Future growth Recorded a turnover of us good results in FY2010-11. Future Businesstech is targeting `42 crore in FY2011-12 Collectively they added about 15 revenue of `100 crore this fiscal percent to the revenue.” riding on virtualization, its services Partnered with AllTimeIT SMB customers contributed portfolio, its added expectations Solutions for cloud services 55 percent to the turnover with from its branches, and the cloud projects ranging from `2 lakh to competencies it is building. `70 lakh. Enterprise accounts “With the addition of more sales contributed the balance 45 percent. “ABB is an account personnel in branches, we expect a contribution of `6 which has given us business of about `6 crore in the crore from each branch,” says Mehta. last two years,” Mehta discloses. The company has partnered with AllTimeIT The company implemented an IT infrastructure Solutions for private cloud deployment in enterprises, project worth `2.5 crore for the Karnataka police. It and expects about `10 crore from this source this fiscal. also completed a server implementation project worth Future wants 30 percent of its turnover to come from `1.5 crore for the Center for Artificial Intelligence and services in the next two years. It will consolidate its cusRobotics in 2010. tomers in SMB and IT/ITeS, and expand in the education, In 2011 Future set up an inter-operability lab with government and PSU verticals. “Besides five resources for networking and telecom solutions from Avaya, Cisco government and PSUs, we have deployed resources targetand HP for `4 crore at Sonus Networks. ing engineering colleges for campus networking and IT It executed a surveillance project worth `80 lakh infrastructure projects,” Mehta informs. for The Leela Palace, Chennai, and another one for `62 lakh at the Suraj Inn, Surat. It also completed a business On a personal note continuity and DR project worth `40 lakh for Ascent Mehta considers NR Narayana Murthy as his role model Consulting. because of his straightforward approach and fortuneIts services portfolio added 9 percent to the revenue. sharing with employees. Authorized services for HP contributed about `2 He says collective achievement is his leadership crore, MPS from HP added `1 crore, AMS `40 lakh, mantra. “A boss says ‘Go!’; a leader says ‘Let’s go!’” Mehta is spiritual, and visits the Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram in Dharampur (near Valsad) 5-6 “We have moved completely to SAP. times a year for meditation and peace. When he is free he likes to spend time with his It offers us better visibility into the family, read spiritual magazines or play cricket. customers’ infrastructure requirements, and “We have a cricket team in the office and organize tournaments with customers and vendors,” he says. n projects a roadmap for customers” 46

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tech focus

apps to ease BYOD headaches

Small devices offer limited resources. But, thanks to the cloud, handhelds can access stored data from anywhere without having to carry it around. The CRN Test Center looks at 10 cloud apps, each offering ways to leverage the cloud for information, storage, synchronization and productivity n Katie Hoss

PocketCloud for Android, iOS

The client-side app makes cloud-based file sharing as easy as creating a folder. Files saved to a Dropbox folder are automatically kept in sync between the machine, device and the cloud. Dropbox offers 2 GB of free storage and includes background transfers over Wi-Fi, wireless data plans and storage of credentials in a secure Account Manager.

Looking for a stable way to connect and control a Mac or Windows desktop from a mobile device? Consider downloading PocketCloud onto your Android or iOS device. Linking to systems running Linux, Mac OS X (10.6) and Windows (7, XP, Vista), PocketCloud provides the ability to view files, launch apps and access any resource available to the host machine over Wi-Fi and 3G/4G mobile networks. It connects to machines running RDP or VNC remote protocols using their IP address or hostname. In addition to the normal interface of the system being controlled, PocketCloud automatically activates the soft keyboard when needed and employs a circular multifunction touch pointer for quick access to host OS functions.

Google Drive for Android, iOS

Dropbox for Android, Blackberry, iOS Looking for cross-platform compatibility between multiple devices? Dropbox is a free app that is compatible with Android, Blackberry and iOS. It permits direct transfers of pictures, videos, email attachments and other files from a mobile device to an existing Dropbox account and is compatible with Mac OS X and Windows.

Google Drive is another online file storage system that is particularly geared towards Android. What sets it apart is the ability to collaborate with other people, which is made possible through Gmail accounts. Collaborators are allowed to view, comment or edit documents, and changes are visible in real time. 5 GB of free storage is offered. The organized storage method arranges files, which also can be made available offline, into folders and subfolders. Files received as attachments can be quickly viewed, zoomed and printed from a browser without the originating application. Photos of printed text can also be converted to a Google document. Google Drive for iOS is currently limited to read-only.

Office2 for iOS

PocketCloud allows the mobile to connect and control applications, files and resources on your desktops, by using Wi-Fi and 3G or 4G mobile networks

Office2 enables users to take Microsoft Office documents stored on a PC and edit them on iOS devices. It leverages Microsoftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SkyDrive cloud storage system and allows files to be downloaded, created, edited, saved, sent, printed, uploaded and transferred locally or via Google, Dropbox and Box.net.

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tech focus It also can read and create PDF documents. With the tracking feature, users can collectively receive, record, reject and accept edits without relying on an Internet connection. Office2 is available for the iPad at $7.99 and at $5.99 for other iOS devices.

ReadyTalk is a Web conferencing app that can be used for accessing virtual presentations, Webinars and training sessions. However its only available on iPad

LaborSync for Android, iOS Furthering the paperless era is LaborSync, an app that allows employees to clock in and record their working hours and GPS location through a smartphone. The cloud-based application records job activity and generates reports with an interactive map showing the employee’s whereabouts and total time spent on individual jobs. It provides messaging, notes, remote device configuration and automatic clock out based on GPS location. The free app includes a 14-day full-featured trial, after which the cost is $10 per month per employee. This paperless timesheet app can help save time and especially money by using Android or iOS devices.

LogMeIn for Android, iOS LogMeIn is a remote desktop app for Android and iOS devices. It enables mobile remote control through a Wi-Fi or 3G data connection to any net-connected computer running Mac OS X or Windows. Features include the ability to access files, launch programs, send and retrieve email, and access any resource available to the host computer. Other features include file sharing, system management, data backup, business collaboration and on-demand customer support. Connections are authenticated with a 256-bit encryption key through the LogMeIn server. The free app includes access to two computers. The pro version starts at $20 a month and includes access to as many as five computers with dragand-drop file transfer from device to host computer as well as streaming of HD video and sound.

Agora Briefcase for Android, iOS The security of file sharing is not something to be taken lightly. Angora Briefcase for Android and iOS is a cloud-based service that allows companies to push files out to devices or to share file content without releasing the documents and risking unauthorized distribution or deletion of the originals. The app links the device with a company’s back-end system, making files available with just a click or two. Numerous file formats are supported, including PDF, multimedia PDF, m4v and mov. Files can be set for downloading or viewing only, and they can be set for offline access. Files also can be placed securely on

GPS-enabled LaborSync records job activities and generates reports with an interactive map showing whereabouts and time spent by employees on individual jobs 48

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a remote device, shared for a time and then removed. A full-featured trial version is free and includes 100 MB of file sharing space.

ReadyTalk for iPad Offering a portable alternative to laptop and desktop systems is ReadyTalk Mobile for iPad, an iOS version of the popular Web conferencing tool that can be used for accessing virtual presentations, webinars and training sessions. Free for the iPad, the simple-to-use app needs only the ReadyTalk access code to begin. Audio is provided through ReadyTalk Broadcast Audio, or it can be made available by dialing in by phone with the same provided access code. While in a conference, audio may be recorded and a virtual raise hand button is provided. ReadyTalk Mobile for iPad includes the same features as the browserbased versions, including the ability to view slides and share the presenter’s desktop applications, video clips and images. After a meeting, surveys and follow-up emails are sent to the participants, allowing them to provide feedback.

Waze for Android, iOS Waze is a free GPS app that taps the misfortune of some motorists to help steer others around traffic jams with hands-free voice commands and turn-by-turn navigation. By using input from other Wazers, cloudbased intelligence offers alternate routes to help avoid slow movement and alert drivers of road hazards, police activity and other traffic conditions. It also provides ETA estimates based on upcoming road conditions, and pop-up notifications offer drivers the option to specify the cause of their particular slowdown. A recent update adds directions to gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants and other attractions. There is even a chat feature for fellow Wazers. Location data can be shared via text or email, and the app provides the option of checking into Foursquare.

Prezi for iPad The Prezi Viewer is a free app for iPad that accesses beautiful, dynamic presentations created on the Prezi cloud-based service. Prezi presentations are like movies filled with media that are controlled by the iPad’s dynamic multitouch gestures. Editing capabilities allow for typos to be fixed on the go; however, the ability to create new projects is not yet available. The restrictions of slide after slide no longer apply, and the Prezi Viewers interactive interface and zooming method can be used to engage audiences in a very un-PowerPoint sort of way. n

channel buzz Rashi treasure hunt

ashi conducted a treasure hunt for its partners in Delhi on August 19, 2012. 62 partners and their families participated. The event—flagged off by Ranjiv Kapoor, Director, Sales, Samsung Mobiles— included solving cryptic clues while driving around the city to find 11 historical locations. Samsung had announced 25 prizes for the event, the first prize being a Samsung Tab 7300. Other prizes included a Samsung Tab P3100, smartphones and feature phones. “The event was a good way to mix family and work. The amount of participation ensured that the event was

a full-fledged success,” said Sanjay Aggarwal, DGM, Mobile & Networking Business, Rashi Peripherals. “The effort was appreciated by the partners and their spouses and children. It was a splendid chance to interact with the families.” Added Aman Gupta, MD, Gateway Peripherals, “It felt like we were participating in a TV game-show. We hope that Rashi will continue to organize such events and that we will be a part of them.” Inderpal Singh, Owner, Rajdeep Photo, described the event as an adventurous family-oriented tour enjoyed by the kids. n

n Sunny Oberoi, Owner, Oberoi Enterprises, receiving the 2nd prize from Chirag Agarwal, Branch Head and Sanjay Aggarwal, DGM, Rashi

n Sunil Arora, Executive Director, Arora Sons, won the 1st prize

n Ranjiv Kapoor, Director, Sales, Samsung Mobiles, flagged the Rashi Treasure Hunt

n Ranjiv Kapoor wishing the participant

n Aman Gupta, MD, Gateway Peripherals, receiving the 3rd prize from Sanjay Aggarwal

Vardhaman wins new Intel award

ardhaman Technology recently won Intel’s Embedded Hero Award. The award, which made its debut this year, was accepted by Nikit Rambhia, CEO, and Amit Rambhia, Director,

International Sales, Vardhaman Technology, at the recent Intel Channel Conference 2012. Vardhaman sells thin clients, small form factor (SFF) PCs, PoS terminals, digital signage and

n (L-R) Nikit Rambhia and Amit Rambhia of Vardhaman Technology, receiving the award from Srinivas Tadigadapa, Director, Enterprise Solution Sales, Intel

embedded hardware through its Panache brand. Said Amit, “Over the years Vardhaman has created a niche and enjoyed a reputation as a leader in the embedded and SFF segment. This award confirms our leadership.” Added Nikit, “The award demonstrates that Vardhaman continues to be a versatile turnkey manufacturer with an ability to fuse basic concepts into new products.” “The award also strengthens our resolve to penetrate deeper into embedded market”, affirmed Nikit. “We are getting into backend enablement of products and are also helping product companies on the embedded front as we understand the power requirement, need for product stability and the form factor.” n

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

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New Products D-Link cloud routers

Fujitsu ultrabook

ith its new Lifebook U772, Fujitsu has upgraded its ultrabook to business class. The ultrabook is powered with Intel vPro for advanced manageability and security, a fingerprint sensor, and full disk encryption SSD drives. The 14-inch Lifebook U772 is less than 16 mm thin, weighs 1.4 kg, comes with a red or silver shell, a frameless display, and is secured by advanced theft protection technology. It offers optional built-in 3G/ UMTS or 4G/LTE support for mobile connectivity, and supports anytime USB charge functionality. The ultrabook is priced at `75,900, comes with 1-year international warranty, and is available through resellers. n

-Link has launched its cloud router 1200 (DIR636L) and 2000 (DIR-826L) that support speeds up to 300 Mbps and 600 Mbps respectively. They include mydlink cloud services to manage, configure and integrate SharePort mobile functionality for sharing files and multimedia stored on an attached USB device. The routers incorporate Gigabit Ethernet ports and cylindrical housing. The DIR-636L and DIR-826L are priced at `5,100 and `6,000, come with 1-year warranty, and are available through retail outlets and partners. n

Antec enclosure

ntec has launched its Three Hundred Two enclosure, the latest addition to the gaming series in the Indian market. The Three Hundred Two has a perforated front bezel, top and rear TwoCool fans, and four optional fans (including a 120 mm CPU exhaust fan behind the motherboard) for cooling. It uses eight expansion slots for up to three 12.5-inch (318 mm) graphics cards. The enclosure has a removable, washable PSU and front intake air filters. It also has a cable management system with four holes and 3 cm space behind the motherboard tray, plus three 5.25-inch and six 3.5-inch tool-less drive bays. The product is priced at `4,200, and is available through channel partners. n

Asus ultrabooks

sus has launched its S series of mainstream ultrabooks based on third-generation Intel Core processors, as well as the thin and light F series. The S series weighs 2.4 kg, has an in-built optical drive, and is equipped with Intelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ivy Bridge processor. Powered with Asus SonicMaster Lite technology, it comes with a 15.6-inch HD LED backlight glare display, 0.92 megapixel camera, and 500/750 GB HDD for storage. The Asus F501A-XX187R is a thin and light 15.6inch notebook with an Intel Core i3 processor. It has Windows 7 Home Basic, 500 GB 5,400 RPM HDD, VGA - Intel HD 4000, HDMI, and 0.3 megapixel Webcam. The Asus S56CA-XX030R and S56CA-XX056R are priced at `46,999 and `52,999 respectively. The Asus F501A-XX187R is priced at `35,999. The products come with a 1-year onsite warranty, and are available through channels. n

The products featured here have not undergone any benchmarking or testing. The trailers contain information provided by vendors and distributors. To feature your companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products in CRN, send write-ups with photos to editor@ubmindia.com

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shadow ram GET

Fingers crossed for the big UP deal

echnical bid meeting for the supply of 18 lakh laptops in UP was recenty held. With details of the bidding process and configuration almost finalized, PC OEMs have started chalking strategies to bid for the tender. The tender is expected to open on October 1. Based on their experience in the ELCOT deal, many OEMs had requested the government authorities to include the rupee-dollar fluctuation as a clause, or include it in the Force Majeure clause, but officials refused. This tender is for the supply of 3.5 lakh laptops. “We will see 5-6 suppliers being selected. We do not expect any vendor to bid a very low price considering what happened in government deals in the past,” said a senior executive of a PC OEM. The configuration finalized for the tender is an AMD A4 processor or an Intel Pentium Dual Core with 2 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, and a dual boot of Ubuntu and MS Starter edition. Added the executive, “The current retail price of such configuration is around `22,000, so we expect bid prices around `16,000.” n

Personal

“I want to complete my PhD” Maurizio Grassi, CEO, Defenx, an antivirus vendor, has 30 years experience of which he spent the last 15 managing technology companies in Europe, North America and Asia.

Maurizio Grassi

If not in the IT industry: I want to complete my PhD in Innovation Management and would love to spend some time teaching and interacting with young students.

Biggest passion: Creating wealth for me, my family and my team. Gadgets I can’t live without: My iPad. Weekends are for: I love to travel with my family around India. Favorite holiday destination: Anywhere with my family. Hate the most: Selfish and arrogant executives. Favorite movie: Matrix: The Trilogy. Role model: My friend and Guru Massimo Paoli who died last year. Ultimate ambition: Creating wealth, and being innovative, fair and balanced. Wildest thing I have ever done: When I was 20, I climbed the Matterhorn, one of the highest snow peaks in Europe. Thing I most want to do in life: Be a good man and educate my children well. If I became the PM: I will never become the PM. I am not good in politics. Celebrity I would like to spend a day with: The Indian PM, to learn about politics in India. One person I would like to meet and why: I would give anything to live again a full day with my friend and Guru Massimo Paoli. 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

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