DT April 2021 issue

GUEST COLUMN NETWORK SECURITY BEST PRACTICES TO BLOCK RANSOMWARE Authored by Sunil Sharma, MD – Sales, Sophos India & SAARC

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INTERVIEW

“We do not limit ourselves to one sole channel as both are crucial for us” Gopal Jeyaraj, Country Head India and SAARC, Anker Innovations.

Publisher & Editor : Rajeev Ranjan Executive Editor : Jyoti Janda Assistant Content Manager : Jai Prakash

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APPOINTMENTS

Consulting Art Direction : Vikas Sharma Visualiser : Akriti Arora

Redington Appoints Ex HP Vetran Rajiv Srivastava as Joint Managing Director

Graphic Designer : Shubham Tomar Editdesk : Shilpa Baghel Production Head : Rajiv Singh Marketing Executive : Balvinder Singh Circulation: Ashok & Raju

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CHANNEL CONNECT

“Micron is Growing Great Due to Price and Quality” Shailesh Jain, proprietor of Maharaja International

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MARKET REPORT

TP-Link Continues To Dominate Indian WLAN Market With 33.2% Market Share

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NEW ARRIVALS

Zebronics ‘ZEB-Smart Bot’ Smart Speaker SanDisk IXpand Flash Drive Luxe

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LAPPY CORNER

Acer Introduces Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop With Intel 11th Gen H-Series Processor

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Editorial & Marketing Office

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

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

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LAUNCH PAD

BIWIN APPOINTS FORTUNE MARKETING TO DISTRIBUTE ACER STORAGE PRODUCTS IN INDIA

RAJESH KHURANA, COUNTRY MANAGER- CONSUMER BUSINESS, BIWIN AND MANOJ GUPTA, MD, FORTUNE MARKETING BIWIN reached an agreement with Acer to bring Acer-branded memory and personal SSD storage product¬s to customers in India.

The product offerings will take advantage of BIWIN’s manufacturing capabilities and Acer’s global brand recognition to provide the latest memory and storage solutions for both professional and home users.

The new Acer-branded SSD portfolio offers a range of 2.5” SATA, M.2 SATA and M.2 PCIe NVMe drives.

The entry-level 2.5” SA100 offers performance and reliability and is available in capacities from 120 GB to 1.92 TB. The RE100 is available as a standard 2.5” SATA drive as well as in a smaller M.2 SATA form factor. With capacities from 128 GB up to 1 TB (M.2) and 4 TB (SATA) and with read and write speeds of 560 MB/s and 520 MB/s, the RE100 performs close to the SATA interface´s maximum speed and is an extremely reliable solution in terms of speed and capacity to upgrade any 6

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desktop PC or laptop to the latest SATA technology.

In terms of maximizing performance, an Acer-branded M.2 PCIe Gen3 NVMe drive, the FA100—is available in capacities from 128 GB up to 2 TB, reaching up to 3300 MB/s read and 2700 MB/s write speeds.

This exceptional performance is six times faster than standard SATA SSDs. An Acer-branded DRAM module lineup includes standard SO- and UDIMM-modules with speeds in a range from 2666 MHz up to 3200 MHz and capacities from 4 GB up to 32 GB per single module. The perfect upgrade for any desktop PC and laptop-- especially as demand is continuously growing for higher capacity memory modules.

For high-performance computing enthusiasts, BIWIN will also offer an Acer-branded HT100 module with a heatspreader and a unique design. The densities (from 8 GB up to 32 GB) and the offered speed rates (from 2666 MHz up to 3600 MHz) meet a wide range of customer needs.

For these newly launched product segment, Fortune Marketing Private Limited has been appointed as National Distributor in India.

RAJESH KHURANA, COUNTRY MANAGERCONSUMER BUSINESS, BIWIN commented, “We believe that we will be able to contribute to the Indian market through experience, expertise & strong network of Fortune Marketing. These advanced quality products will give us the opportunity to provide mind-blowing experiences to our customer like never before. We are looking forward to work closely with Fortune Marketing to promote best of Acer branded storage and memory products to market”.

On this association, MANOJ GUPTA, MD, FORTUNE MARKETING added “We are glad to partner with BIWIN for their Acer branded memory and storage products in India. Their cutting-edge technology and quality products will be a value addition to our portfolio. It will further enhance our B2B solutions range to the Indian market by offering best-in-class products through our strong distribution network’’.

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CHANNEL FOCUS

SCALE COMPUTING APPOINTS INGRAM MICRO AS ITS DISTRIBUTION PARTNER Ingram Micro India has announced a distribution agreement with Scale Computing for its range of edge computing, virtualization and hyper-converged solutions. Ingram Micro is now offering Scale Computing’s award-winning HC3 IT infrastructure platform to customers in India and the SAARC region. Scale Computing solutions are ideal for industries requiring IT infrastructure with high performance and minimal management. With all components built in, including the hypervisor, Scale Computing’s HC3 customers have no need for third-party components or

licensing. This all-in-one configuration simplifies deployment, management, and maintenance, helping streamline IT department overhead and tasks while saving time and money.

The partnership between Scale Computing and Ingram Micro will enable organizations in the region to deploy high-performance HCI and edge computing solutions where existing legacy technologies are frequently too complex and expensive to meet their needs.

NAVDEEP NARULA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MOBILITY & COMPUTE AT INGRAM MICRO INDIA, SAID, “Channel partners need to differentiate themselves in the highly competitive HCI market and Scale Computing will help them do just that with its industry-leading hyperconverged solutions that deliver enhanced performance, low cost-of-ownership and reliability. We are confident of a successful partnership with Scale Computing as we bring their innovative solutions to the Indian IT channel.”

RP TECH INDIA HOSTED “TARK SE FARK” PAN INDIA VIRTUAL DEBATE COMPETITION RP tech India concluded “Tark Se Fark League” one of its kind virtual debate competition organized for all India Champions. Attended by 200+ participants, the debate competition was aimed at enhancing communication skills, critical thinking of Champions and build team spirit among them.

Conceptualized by Mr. Rajesh Goenka, Director, Sales & Marketing, Tark Se Fark League was aimed at sharpening the communication/debating skills of Champions, understand their viewpoints on various critical business issues and encouraging healthy competition among

team players.

Highlighting the objective behind the Tark Se Fark League, MR. RAJESH GOENKA said, “Champions are a backbone of RP tech India’s success. They possess immense knowledge about business, market and have a strong network in the industry. However, a lack of communications skills hampers their performance. Also, they have a limitation in knowledge sharing among peers due to geographical factors. Champions have lots of ideas/feedback but they do not always get a platform to express their views. Taking these points into consideration, we rolled

out the Tark Se Fark League, the first of its kind virtual event in the industry. The league tested their intelligence, patience and knowledge as they faced the toughest conversations with fellow teammates”.

RAH INFOTECH RECOGNIZED AS 2020 DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR BY SKYBOX SECURITY RAH Infotech announced that it has been named 2020 Distributor of the Year

by Skybox Security. The 2020 Skybox Partner Awards honor channel partners and distributors for remarkable customer commitment, performance, growth and business excellence. RAH Infotech was recognized for excellence in delivering, integrating and building solutions enabled by the Skybox Security Management Platform.

“We are elated at the same time humbled to hear this news. This comes as a much-needed morale booster for us at the beginning of the New Year after a challenging 2020. This award is also a 8

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testimony of our continuous endeavor to offer cutting-edge cyber security solutions to address the needs of our customers across verticals,” said ASHIS GUHA, CEO, RAH INFOTECH. “At Skybox Security, we are dedicated to investing in partners and accelerating channel growth,” said SHANTANU SRIVASTAVA, VICE PRESIDENT, ASIAPACIFIC, AND JAPAN, SKYBOX SECURITY. “With an insight-driven and proactive approach to security, these solution providers are addressing the complexity and speed of business today.” www.digitalterminal.in

GUEST ARTICLE

NETWORK SECURITY BEST PRACTICES TO BLOCK RANSOMWARE Authored by Sunil Sharma, MD – Sales, Sophos India & SAARC Back in December 1989, Eddy Willems, an employee at a Belgium-based medical insurance company received a floppy disk that forever changed the cybersecurity world as it was known back then. The said disk contained malware that launched the first-ever ransomware attack. Since then, ransomware as a threat has come a long way, and continues to plague organizations across the world. As one of the most devastating attacks deployed by cybercriminals, it’s no surprise then, that when Sophos researched the impact, it found that more than one-half of organizations surveyed across 26 countries were hit by ransomware in 2019.

In the Indian scheme of things, 82 percent of these organizations surveyed admitted to being hit by ransomware, reiterating the heightened need for increased network security to help block the attack.

Below is an overview of what organizations need to know, including understanding how ransomware attacks work and guidelines for configuring firewalls and the network for the best protection possible.

BEST PRACTICES FOR FIREWALL AND NETWORK CONFIGURATION TO DEFEND AGAINST RANSOMWARE Ensure the best protection: As a part of this, an organization’s security solutions must include a modern high-performance, next-gen firewall with IPS, TLS Inspection, zero-day sandboxing, and machine learning ransomware protection.

Lockdown RDP and other services using firewall: A good practice to prevent attackers from entering a network is to ensure remote access to servers and systems is only possible via VPN and ideally using multi-factor authentication or a whitelist of sanctioned IP addresses.

Reduce the surface area of attacks: Thorough and periodic reviews of all portforwarding rules help to eliminate any non-essential open ports. Each of these open ports represents a potential opening in networks. Where possible, VPN should be used to access resources on the internal network from outside rather than portwww.digitalterminal.in

forwarding. It is also advisable to secure any open ports by applying suitable IPS protection to the rules governing that traffic.

Enable TLS Inspections: TSL inspection, with support for the latest TLS 1.3 standards on web traffic, ensures threats are not entering a network through encrypted traffic flows.

Minimize the risk of lateral movement within the network: A good way to do this, is to segment LANS into smaller, isolated zones or VLANs that are secured and connected by the firewall. When doing so, be sure to apply the recommended IPS policies to rules governing the traffic traversing these LAN segments to prevent exploits, worms, and bots from spreading between LAN segments.

Automatically isolate infected systems: When ransomware or other attack strikes, it’s important that IT security solutions are able to quickly identify compromised systems and automatically isolate them until they can be cleaned up, to prevent spread to other systems on the network.

Use strong passwords: Last, but not least, strong passwords are critical. Attackers today deploy brute-force hacking tools to enter systems, and hence passwords must be strong enough to withstand their impact. Sophos also recommend setting multi-factor authentication for VPN access, email, and other accounts that contain sensitive information.

Based on research from Sophos’ 2021 Threat Report, attackers are going to continue developing and using ransomware against organizations. The report predicts the gap between ransomware operators at different ends of the skills and resource spectrum will increase. At the high end, the big-game hunting ransomware families will continue to refine and change their tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to become more evasive and nation-statelike in sophistication, targeting larger organizations with multimillion-dollar ransom demands. At the other end of the spectrum, Sophos anticipates an increase in the number of entry-level, apprenticetype attackers looking for menu-driven, ransomware-for-rent, such as Dharma, that allows them to target high volumes of smaller prey.

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DIGITAL ECONOMY

MAIDEN WD_BLACK CUP 71.7% OF ALL PAYMENTS IN INDIA TO BE 2021 ESPORTS TOURNAMENT DIGITAL BY 2025 More than 70.3 billion real-time payments transactions were processed globally in 2020, a surge of 41 percent compared to the previous year, as the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated trends away from cash and cheques towards greater reliance on real-time and digital payments, a new global report from ACI Worldwide and GlobalData reveals.

The second installment of ‘Prime-Time for Real-Time,’ first launched in 2020, analyzes global real-time, account-toaccount payment volumes and forecasts across 48 global markets. It projects a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for real-time payments of 23.6 percent from 2020 to 2025.

According to the report, India retains the top spot with 25.5 bn real-time payments transactions, followed by China with 15.7 bn transactions. In 2020, the transaction volume share in India stood at 15.6 percent and 22.9 percent for instant payments and other electronic payments respectively, while paper-based payments had a considerable share of 61.4 percent.

This is poised to change by 2025 where share of volume by instant payments and other electronic payments is expected to rise to 37.1 percent and 34.6 percent respectively, leaving the volume of paper-based transactions at 28.3 percent.

Furthermore, by 2024 the share of real time payments volume in overall electronic transactions will exceed 50%, according to the report.

“India’s journey of creating a digital financial infrastructure has been characterized by collaboration between the government, the regulator, banks and fintechs. This has helped to advance the country’s goal of enabling financial inclusion and also provided rapid payments digitization for citizens.

The pandemic has further accelerated adoption of digital payments with many first time users adopting digital payments and significant uplift by merchants,” said KAUSHIK ROY, VP AND HEAD OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, ASIA, ME AND AFRICA, ACI WORLDWIDE. “As the industry evolves, we expect to see increased adoption across different users and volume growth driven by mass adoption, recurring payments,

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CONCLUDED SUCCESSFULLY

Image source: www.freepik.com

transit payments as well as cross-border transactions.”

As the pandemic continues to drive changes in consumer and business behaviors, banks, merchants and intermediaries across the payment ecosystem are responding rapidly, prioritizing the shift to digital to protect current revenue streams, and searching for new ones through a fully digitized customer experience.

With millions of people globally having to change the way they work and live and the way they shop and pay - mobile wallet adoption rose to an historic high of 46 percent in 2020, up from 40.6 percent in 2019 and 18.9 percent in 2018.

Countries like Brazil, Mexico and Malaysia where many people historically relied on cash are now some of the fastest adopters of mobile wallets.

“The pandemic has cast the spotlight on the importance of digital payments and robust payment infrastructures, condensing a decade of anticipated innovation into one year and creating human behavioral changes that will not reverse as we emerge from the crisis,” commented JEREMY WILMOT, CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER, ACI WORLDWIDE. “Countries with a robust digital payments

infrastructure already in place have coped better than those without when it comes to containing the economic impact of the pandemic. Real-time payments have enabled governments, working jointly with financial institutions, to accelerate much-needed disbursements and economic stimulus payments to their citizens. They have also enabled real-time liquidity to businesses that had to adapt to disrupted supply chains.”

Top 10 countries globally by number of real-time transactions in 2020: • India retains the top spot with 25.5bn real-time payments transactions, followed by China with 15.7bn transactions; South Korea is in 3rd place with 6.0bn, Thailand 4th with 5.2bn and UK is in 5th place with 2.8bn • Nigeria follows up in 6th place with 1.9bn transactions, Japan in 7th with 1.7bn • Brazil climbs into the global top 10 as number 8 due to the launch of PIX, with 1.3bn transactions driving a 58 percent YoY increase from 2019 to 2020. Expect to see the country climbing even higher next year with a 5-year growth prediction of 25.3 percent CAGR • The US ranks number 9 with 1.2bn transactions and Mexico ranks 10 with 942mn. www.digitalterminal.in

INTERVIEW

“WE DO NOT LIMIT OURSELVES TO ONE SOLE CHANNEL AS BOTH ARE CRUCIAL FOR US” The Indian smartphone accessories market is flourishing at a good pace. Anker group is currently serving the Indian market with its wide product range in this segment. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently held an exclusive interaction with GOPAL JEYARAJ, COUNTRY HEAD INDIA & SAARC, ANKER INNOVATIONS. Gopal Jeyaraj spoke about their product offerings, market landscape and market strategies to pull the growth opportunities.

Read below the excerpts:

RAJEEV: PLEASE TELL ABOUT HOW ALL FIVE BRANDS UNDER THE ANKER GROUP ARE PRESENT IN THE COMPETITIVE INDIAN MARKET. GOPAL JEYARAJ: Anker Innovations is the umbrella of the five sub-brands: Anker, Soundcore, Roav, Nebula, and Eufy, each of which caters to five distinct product segments with unique and proprietary technologies. Anker’s Smart Charging devices, which are focused on charging, provide superior technology at reasonable price points. Soundcore on the other hand, specializes in audio with a fashionable twist as per the needs of the millennials. Eufy focuses on smart home appliances and smart security, while Nebula focuses on smart projectors that fit a diverse lifestyle.

Roav is around smart car technology.

We want to have products that are more robust and technologically competitive. Due to the current situation and demand in the TWS segment as a result of the new-normal working and learning lifestyle, our primary emphasis is now on Soundcore and Eufy for the Indian Markets. In addition, the Robotic Vacuum Cleaners and Handstick segments in India are expanding, and we too have gone aggressive over this, and have launched a Robotic Vacuum and Handstick line in the Eufy Section.

RAJEEV: WHAT OPPORTUNITIES DO YOU SEE FOR SOUNDCORE IN THE INDIAN MARKET? WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR SOUNDCORE BY THE END OF 2021?

GOPAL JEYARAJ: Since the Pandemic, demand for TWS, Headphones, Speakers, and other audio products has increased.

We have done good volumes, and it seems promising too for the future times. To stay on top of the market, we will be coming up with a variety of new products, events, and other initiatives under the brand. Soon, we will announce a new product that will www.digitalterminal.in

set a significant benchmark in the Indian audio industry. Our goal is to reach out to more people and cover both Metro and Tier 3 & Tier 4 cities with high-quality goods and cutting-edge technology at an affordable price.

RAJEEV: THE AUDIO PRODUCT MARKET IS WITNESSING EXPONENTIAL GROWTH SO HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO CAPITALIZE ON THE OPPORTUNITIES? PLEASE SHARE YOUR PRODUCT STRATEGY. GOPAL JEYARAJ: All of our audio items are sold under the Soundcore brand, and we concentrate on three categories: headphones, Bluetooth speakers, and party speakers. With all of these categories, we’re attempting to position ourselves across India on all of the platforms that via which we are currently catering the consumers, so we’ll be concentrating on both the online and offline markets. Offline, we’ll try to build a foothold in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities. Whereas, via online platforms, we will attempt to reach as many States and Districts as possible. We’ve set a goal for ourselves to obtain a certain market share, and we’re working hard to achieve it.

We are covering the entire Audio Segment in the Lifestyle Category starting from Headphone, speaker and party segment with a range of TWS, Neckband, portable and large speakers, along with party speakers and woofers. We shall certainly witness a strong reach this year compared to last year. Aditionally, we have drawn aggressive Roadmaps until 2023 that we will be launching accordingly.

RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE ONLINE AND OFFLINE PLATFORMS? WHICH PLATFORM CONTRIBUTE MORE TO YOUR REVENUE?

GOPAL JEYARAJ: We always prioritize online as well as offline channels because both are important for our development. We do not limit ourselves to one sole channel as both are crucial for us; we also provide exclusive SKU’s to both channels in order avoid any dispute and to have an organic growth.

RAJEEV: DO YOU HAVE ANY INVESTMENT PLANS TO BOLSTER YOUR REACH ACROSS THE COUNTRY? GOPAL JEYARAJ: In India, we plan to expand our team. Our main emphasis will be on forming separate teams for each brand, which is also one of our major investments.

In addition, we will make major marketing investments in order to improve product awareness as well as brand awareness. We aim to maximize our business in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities as well.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERACTION

“WE AT DELL TECHNOLOGIES, HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF BRINGING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS” Today organizations are emphasizing on strengthening their data infrastructure with robust technology solutions that help them stay ahead in the competitive business landscape. CIOs and CTOs dive deep, choosing the right solution to pave the way for a rapid digital transformation journey. Organizations understand the need for technology to empower their businesses and plan to deploy new technology solutions to stay in the same order. Dell Technologies helps such organizations assess their data infrastructure and provide the right solutions to boost their growth. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal, recently held an exclusive conversation with Mr. Srinivas Rao, Senior Director, Systems Engineering, Dell Technologies. Mr. Rao talked about the current market scenario, their solution offerings and the growing role of cloud solutions. Read the excerpt below: RAJEEV: WHAT TRENDS HAVE EMERGED IN THE LAST ONE YEAR FOR INDIAN COMPANIES WHO ARE ON THEIR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WAY? MR. SRINIVAS: The past year has been a learning curve for industries across sectors. It has made businesses realise that innovation and new-age technology adoption are the key factors for their success in this digital era. Hence, digital transformation has become a necessity for businesses, looking to gain an edge over competitors.

Now, as we move towards the recovery mode, few trends that we have seen emerging in the past one year’s time are increased investments in hybrid cloud operating models, rise in edge computing to harness the true value of data and adoption of new-age technologies like AI to reimagine the division of labour between humans and machines. Not only this, but Indian organisations are also understanding the increasing requirement for real-time analysis of their data to increase efficiency and improve business outcomes.

RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU SEE THE ADOPTION OF EDGE COMPUTING IN THE NEW DATA DECADE? MR. SRINIVAS: The past year has definitely accelerated the adoption of several technologies which already existed but were long ignored. And edge computing is one such example. It is a distributed infrastructure network that allows data to be analysed and processed closer to its source hence, providing real-time valuable insights to businesses. When combined

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with existing infrastructure, this technology empowers businesses to receive greater operational efficiencies such as increased performance and cost savings.

Seeing how competitive the business landscape is becoming, we expect a rise in the demand for solutions that provide real-time insights. Businesses that have solutions that can provide them with the ability to churn out valuable insights from their data will have an advantage over others and will be able to move further in their digital transformation journey. Here is where edge computing will come into play and I believe that businesses will continue to see the benefit in harnessing the power of edge. It will ultimately help them shift their focus from maintaining their infrastructure to maintaining their business operations in the long run.

RAJEEV: WHAT ARE THE CORE BENEFITS OF DELL TECHNOLOGIES MULTI-CLOUD FOCUSED SOLUTIONS? MR. SRINIVAS: We have witnessed a new trend in business operations amid the current situation, wherein the majority of the businesses have adopted hybrid working models. Thus, they are scouting for enhanced multi-cloud solutions that are simple to use and easy to manage. The multi-cloud strategy offers businesses greater levels of automation and selfservice facility, while supporting operational goals like cost efficiency, improved security and flexibility. As we move in the data era, it is important to focus on a cloud strategy and move ahead with a data-first mindset.

At Dell technologies, we are working closely with our customers and partners

to understand what cloud suite would be the most appropriate for them by analyzing their business requirements. We offer a robust multi-cloud environment that helps IT teams focus more on driving IT and business innovations while eliminating the need to manage multiple clouds. Moreover, our multi-cloud solutions provide agility, scalability and are cost-effective. In line with the need of the hour, our solution enables businesses to achieve growth, which is difficult to accomplish by using private-only and/or hybrid cloud architectures.

RAJEEV: HOW CAN AN ENTERPRISE / SME MAKE THE MOST OF EDGE AND CLOUD COMPUTING SOLUTIONS? MR. SRINIVAS: We usually see edge and cloud environments as competing platforms but don’t realise that they are in fact synergistic in nature. Businesses that harness the power of both will be able to extract valuable data in the most intelligent way possible. They will, as a result, be able to reduce their IT spending and maximise their productivity and efficiency.

Through edge environments, SMEs can process their data in real-time and gain valuable insights that can help bring a positive impact on their business processes.

This is why edge environments are best suited for those applications that are time-sensitive and require an accelerated response time. On the other hand, while the data that is processed at the edge, loses its value after being analysed, it has the power to regain value once transferred to the private or public cloud.

www.digitalterminal.in

DT CONCLAVE 2021

STAGE SET FOR VIRTUAL DT CONCLAVE 2021 TO DISCUSS ‘CYBERSECURITY EVOLVED’ Cybersecurity remains a major concern for organizations in a digitally changing world. Being one of the most important assets, organizations are vastly improving their strategies to secure data. Since the pandemic has pushed organizations to work remotely, the significance of a robust security strategy has increased significantly.

Employees working from home most probably share vulnerable network, posing a risk of a serious data breach.

Keeping all such aspects in mind, Digital Terminal is set to host Virtual DT Conclave 2021 on April 16 at 11:00 am. This informative virtual event will be an important source for the ICT community to gain the much-needed facts and information related to cybersecurity. DT Conclave 2021 is themed at “Cyber ​​Security Evolved: Moving Towards Zero Trust Access”. The event will be streamed live on the Airmeet virtual events platform and other social media platforms including Facebook. DT Conclave will empower Indian businesses by addressing the security challenges proving to be a hindrance in the digital transformation journey of organizations.

DT Conclave 2021 will deliberate cybersecurity, the challenges and the need for how organizations can resolve them. The speaker of the event Ravindra Baviskar, Director - Sales Engineering (India & SAARC), Sophos Technologies Pvt Ltd. will emphasize how organizations can work more actively to strengthen their security framework in the current challenge. Mr. Ravindra Baviskar has 17+ years of experience in IT Security and has been with Sophos for over 14 years.

www.digitalterminal.in

The role of CIOs, CSOs, and CTOs has grown multifold over the years. They now need to pay extra attention to the security of organizations’ data infrastructure and make it more secure than before.

In addition, increasing cyber threats forced security officials to bring greater efficiency to their approach and provide additional benefits to their organization.

DT Conclave 2021 will play a key role in their brainstorming and will enable them to work in a more efficient manner.

Continuing the mission to acknowledge individuals’/industry leaders for their contribution towards building a safe digital journey, Digital Terminal will

also honor the top-performing IT leaders for their praiseworthy initiatives towards cybersecurity. DT will host DT Cybersecurity Leadership Awards 2021 during the virtual event where DT will announce the winner of this prestigious award. Amidst the ever-increasing cyber incidents, the role of IT leaders has increased as they are core strength of any organizations that take initiatives to protect their organizations from any challenge including cyber threats. So your wait will come to an end to know the winners of this prestigious honor on 16th April.

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APPOINTMENTS

REDINGTON APPOINTS EX HP VETRAN RAJIV SRIVASTAVA AS JOINT MANAGING DIRECTOR Redington India has announced the appointment of Rajiv Srivastava as Joint Managing Director of the Redington Group and Additional Director on the Board, effective April 02, 2021. The company also announced the elevation of Managing Director, Raj Shankar, as Vice-Chairman and Managing Director with immediate effect. Redington addresses 37 markets in India, South Asia, Middle East, Turkey, and Africa with an annual turnover in excess of INR 51000 crores.

Until recently, Rajiv was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), India’s premier energy exchange. During his stint at IEX, he transformed the publicly listed company into a diversified business enterprise that significantly improved shareholder value. Prior to IEX, Rajiv spent 19 years at HP, where his

final stint included the roles of Managing Director - HP India for six years, and thereafter, as Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific & Japan, based in Singapore.

As a member of the worldwide strategy board, he has played an active role in shaping HP’s global operating model.

Active in shaping the future of the technology industry in India, Rajiv has held leadership positions at trade bodies such as Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT), NASSCOM, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM). Rajiv holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and a Diploma in International Business from Helsinki School of Economics.

SEAGATE ANNOUNCED THE APPOINTMENT OF SHANKAR ARUMUGAVELU TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS Seagate Technology announced that Shankar Arumugavelu has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors and to serve on the Audit and Finance Committee of the Board, effective March 19, 2021. Mr. Arumugavelu is senior vice president and global chief

information officer for Verizon Communications Inc. and leads the company’s information technology strategy, architecture, development, and management of the information systems portfolio continued evolution of digital platforms, and operation of support-

ing infrastructure across all Verizon business units. Mr. Arumugavelu holds a master’s in Computer Science from the University of South Florida and a bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Anna University.

LENOVO PROMOTES AMAR BABU TO LEAD ASIA PACIFIC BUSINESS Lenovo has appointed Amar Babu to lead the company’s business in the overall Asia Pacific region, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, ASEAN, Australia, New Zealand, and India / South Asia. He succeeds Ken Wong, who will become President, Lenovo Solutions and Services Group to capitalize on the Group’s service-led transformation growth opportunities.

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Amar Babu is currently Vice President & Services Operations Leader, Lenovo Intelligent Devices Group, a post he took up in 2018. He was Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Lenovo Asia Pacific for three years, and prior to that was Managing Director, Lenovo India and South Asia starting from 2007.

www.digitalterminal.in

APPOINTMENTS

CROSSLOOP APPOINTS SAMEER KATOLE AS ITS CEO Crossloop appointed Sameer Katole as the CEO to lead the operations across India and Europe. Sameer will be responsible for bolstering Crossloop’s operations and leveraging his expertise to drive stronger countrywide growth. A veteran with almost 14 years of experience in the consumer durable and retail industry, Sameer has a distinguished track record of sales and

market accomplishments. He will be focusing on product, sales, marketing, corporate development and the overall growth of the brand. Sameer will bring in his experience and expertise of managing dynamic clients’ expectations and cross-functional team leadership to fuel Crossloop’s’ journey, in India as well as other potential markets.

L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES ELEVATES AMIT CHADHA AS CEO & MD Amit Chadha has taken over as CEO & Managing Director of L&T Technology Services effective April 1, in line with previous disclosures made to stock exchanges dated October 19, 2020. Prior to his elevation, he was serving the company as Deputy CEO & Whole-Time Board Member. Amit joined LTTS in 2009 and has been a core member of LTTS’ executive manage-

ment team, closely involved in the company’s listing on stock exchanges in 2016. Subsequently, he progressed to assume charge as President, Sales and Business Development, where he was responsible for helping global R&D customers and Fortune 500 companies leverage LTTS’ digital engineering offerings.

VEHERE ONBOARDS RAMSUNDER PAPINENI AS PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SALES

TERADATA ROPES IN ASHOK SHENOY AS COUNTRY MANAGER, INDIA

Vehere announced the appointment of Ramsunder Papineni as President, Global Sales. In his new role, Ramsunder will lead Vehere’s global Sales and Customer Success efforts to focus on continued acceleration and growing Vehere’s presence in international markets. Ramsunder brings over three decades of experience in the IT industry, working in leadership roles across General Management, Operations, and Sales positions. He has considerable experience in building and leading organizations with cross-functional teams and growing revenues through accelerated market development and sales. Before joining Vehere, Ramsunder served as Regional Director- India & SAARC, leading the business operations for ForeScout Technologies.

Teradata announced that Ashok Shenoy has been appointed Country Manager, India, effective immediately. In this position, Shenoy is responsible for leading Teradata’s growth in enterprise-scale multi-cloud data analytics across key verticals including Financial Services, Telcos, Manufacturing, Public Sector and Retail. Shenoy is a seasoned technology professional with more than 25 years of experience spearheading sales and regional growth for multi-national technology companies like Microsoft, Cisco and Sun Microsystems. In his new role, Shenoy will help Teradata expand its reach, build robust partner ecosystems and broaden the client base for its public, private and hybrid cloud offerings.

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CYBERSECURITY

OVER 50% OF INDIAN ORGANISATIONS FALL VICTIM TO A SUCCESSFUL CYBERATTACK IN LAST 12 MONTHS: SOPHOS Sophos announced the findings of the second edition of its survey report, The Future of Cybersecurity in Asia Pacific and Japan, in collaboration with Tech Research Asia (TRA). The study reveals that despite cyberattacks increasing, cybersecurity budgets have remained stagnant and executive teams continue to underestimate the level of damage threats can do to organizations.

INSIGNIFICANT RISE IN BUDGETS, DESPITE SIGNIFICANT RISE IN ATTACKS In India, despite having the highest percentage of companies with an independent security budget, 52 per cent of organisations say they fell victim to a successful cybersecurity attack in the last 12 months. Of these successful breaches, 71 per cent of organisations admitted it was a serious or very serious attack, and 65 per cent said it took longer than a week to remediate.

While attacks are increasing in frequency and severity, cybersecurity budgets remained largely unchanged as a percentage of revenue between 2019 and 2021.

At the same time, India reported the highest percentage of companies that have an independent security budget. Furthermore, they expect a rise in the median percentage of technology budgets spent on cybersecurity from 9 percent today to 10 percent in the next 24 months.

Adding his thoughts, SUNIL SHARMA, MANAGING DIRECTOR – SALES, SOPHOS INDIA AND SAARC, said, “Cyberbreaches are a reality that we cannot afford to ignore. Within an organisation,

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there will always be multiple threats that can exploit various vulnerabilities and launch full blown cyberattacks. The only way to stop these threats is to actively hunt for them and neutralize them.

This makes threat hunting an important function to mitigate the damage caused by cyberattacks. Hence, there is a strong need for increased cybersecurity budgets to include threat hunting in house or outsourced services like managed detection and response (MDR). Our findings show there is budget allocated for cybersecurity in India, but it isn’t enough. Indian organisations need to view cybersecurity as a value to the business and increase their budgets accordingly.”

Overall, 44 per cent of Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) organisations surveyed suffered a data breach in 2020, up from 32 per cent in 2019. Of these successful breach-

es, 55 per cent of companies rated the loss of data as either “very serious” (24 per cent) or “serious” (31 per cent). Seventeen per cent of organisations surveyed suffered at least 50 attacks, per week. As cyberattacks continue to rise, the report found that malware, AI/ML-driven attacks and nation state attacks will be the most serious threats to enterprise cybersecurity over the next 24 months.

“Ultimately, security is about right sizing the risk. If the risk increases, budgets should also increase, but in this climate of uncertainty, we’ve seen organisations take a conservative approach to security spending, which is impacting their ability to stay ahead of cybercriminals,” said TREVOR CLARKE, LEAD ANALYST AND DIRECTOR AT TECH RESEARCH ASIA.

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CHANNEL CONNECT

“MICRON IS GROWING GREAT DUE TO PRICE AND QUALITY” Over the past few years, the Indian storage solutions market has seen tremendous growth in demand. There has been a steady growth in the adoption of high-quality and robust storage solutions that have propelled the storage solutions market to touch new heights. It shows the amount of data that enterprises are currently generating. They are now holding more data than ever as a result they want to deploy very effective and reliable storage solutions to securely store their data.

cant boost since we started selling Micron’s products. We are an exclusive partner for Crucial Memory Products and we serve over 600 resellers across India. The demand for crucial SSDs and RAM is commendable and we are seeing good growth in demand day by day. The demand for Micron 240GB SSD is predominantly higher than other SSDs. The demand we get for Micron storage products comes from the assembling and corporate segments. “

Micron is currently one of the leading storage solutions brands in India and provides reliable storage solutions for its large customer base across India. Micron has achieved a fairly good market share in a short span of time and continues to grow in a challenging market scenario. Many other storage solution brands that have been serving this market for a long time but have not been able to take advantage of the opportunities exist in this market.

Micron has levelled its growth through its efficient, effective and widely deployed channel network.

“We also sell products from the rest of the brands but the response we get from Micron’s storage products is fantastic. As per me, if we see all storage brands, Micron is on the top with 60% market share. We have seen that Mumbai has always been the major IT market all brands, due to which Micron also pays extra attention to this market. Micron has also been successful in its journey as customers satisfaction level is quite high due to best quality and after-sales service by the brand. We have not seen any large complaints or issues about Micron’s product during my journey with Micron so far. I would also like to appreciate the support which we get from National Distributors RP Tech and Balaji. They have been very supportive and have not let us faced any inventory-related challenges. Despite high demand, both national distributors help in keeping demand and inventory very much balanced,” SAID MR. SHAILESH JAIN.

DT spoke to one of its major channel partners based out of Mumbai, Maharashtra. Mr. Shailesh Jain, proprietor of Maharaja International said, “We have been associated with Micron for more than 4 years now and we share a deep relationship with the brand as it has enabled us to grow at a greater pace.

Our performance has also received a signifi-

HE FURTHER ADDED, “We do more than 15 crore business with Micron products and our next target is to touch 22 crore revenue within this year. We will definitely achieve this target as demand has increased dramatically in the last one year which has accelerated the pace of our growth. Increased demand is attributed to the best quality products and affordability.

Affordability and quality are key factors driving Micron’s growth in India and that is why Micron stands out as a leader. These qualities will help Micron maintain its growth and gain a competitive edge over other players in the market. Micron’s future is extremely bright and we will continue to shape our partnership with Micron.”

MICRON REPORTS REVENUE OF $6.24 BILLION IN Q2 FISCAL 2021 Micron Technology announced results for its second quarter of fiscal 2021, which ended March 4, 2021.

Operating cash flow of $3.06 billion versus $1.97 billion for the prior quarter and $2.00 billion for the same period last year

FISCAL Q2 2021 HIGHLIGHTS

“Micron’s strong fiscal Q2 performance reflects rapidly improving market conditions and continued solid execution,” said Micron Technology President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. “Our technology leadership in both DRAM and NAND places Micron in an excellent position to capitalize on the secular demand driven by AI and 5G, and to deliver new levels of user experience and innovation across the data center and intelligent edge.”

Revenue of $6.24 billion versus $5.77 billion for the prior quarter and $4.80 billion for the same period last year GAAP net income of $603 million, or $0.53 per diluted share Non-GAAP net income of $1.13 billion, or $0.98 per diluted share

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SECURITY SOLUTIONS

KASPERSKY INTRODUCES MANAGED DETECTION AND RESPONSE SERVICE The new Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service ensures continuous machine learning-driven 24/7 protection while saving IT security teams’ resources for threat analysis, investigation and response.

Thanks to two product tiers, Kaspersky MDR is now available not only for large enterprises, but for medium-sized businesses with different levels of IT security maturity and needs. Along with the MDR launch Kaspersky also updates its approach to product portfolios with cybersecurity frameworks.

Different frameworks combine various sets of security solutions and services to enable protection from diverse types of threats.

Detecting and responding to sophisticated attacks requires specific expertise, while internal training or hiring additional experts may not always fit into the cybersecurity budget. A lack of resources can lead to untimely responses to incidents and, as a result, increase the losses of the organization. According to a Kaspersky report, for enterprises, the average cost of a data breach rises by more than $400k depending on whether a breach is discovered almost instantly or beyond seven days.

Targeted towards such organizations, Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response provides major benefits of an outsourced security operations center (SOC) and does not require specialized threat hunting and incident analysis skills from internal teams, which can be especially relevant for mid-size businesses. The service is complemented by detection technologies as well as extensive expertise in threat hunting and incident response from professional units including the Global Research & Analysis Team (GReAT).

It is also empowered with AI Analyst that enables automatic alert resolution and allows Kaspersky SOC analysts to concentrate on the most important alerts. The combination of technologies and expertise gives customers protection form threats that evade detection, for example, by mimicking legitimate programs. IT security experts can see the protection status of all assets and threat detections in real time, receive ready-made response recommendations or authorize managed response scenarios.

The service integrates several components. Kaspersky products such as, for example, endpoint protection or EDR, send their telemetry to the Kaspersky Security

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Network. This telemetry is then analyzed in the internal Kaspersky Security Operations Center using more than 700 constantly updated proprietary TTP-based ‘hunts’ tailored to the customer’s environment along with various detection engines. Since alerts are collected from all endpoints, this allows the system to detect links of one attack chain on various machines.

All detections are further validated and prioritized by Kaspersky’s threat hunting team to ensure a timely response. After investigation, customers receive incident alerts and a comprehensive guide to incident response in the dedicated MDR portal. Response options can then be initiated through an endpoint detection and response (EDR) agent. Customers can also combine MDR with Kaspersky’s Incident Response retainer to completely outsource incident investigation, forensics and elimination.

The Kaspersky MDR Optimum tier enables turnkey protection while Kaspersky MDR Expert allows access to the vendor’s SOC analysts certified and trained with OSCP, GCTI, SANS SEC560, SANS SEC660 for consultation, access to the Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal and an API for integration with existing security workflows.

With this launch, Kaspersky also introduces new frameworks to address companies’ needs in terms of threat defense and IT security maturity level. Kaspersky MDR powers each framework enabling an instantly matured IT security function while allowing mature IT security teams to focus on responding to the critical outcomes delivered.

Kaspersky Security Foundations provides

adaptive protection against broader threat landscapes targeting customers’ endpoints, mobile devices, cloud infrastructure and servers. This strong foundation will help organizations get value from security investments by preventing threats automatically.

Professional help is available whenever customers need it and is delivered as Premium Support and the redesigned portfolio of Professional Services.

Kaspersky Optimum Security framework enhances security against new, unknown and evasive threats by helping medium-sized businesses and smaller enterprises with limited cybersecurity resources to build incident response. The framework provides advanced detection mechanisms with machine learning-based algorithms and a sandbox, as well as enhanced threat visibility, root cause analysis capabilities and a wide array of response actions. The framework also suggests security awareness training programs to help organizations build a cybersafe employee culture.

“Effective threat protection is always a set of measures that must be well coordinated with each other, easy to manage and meet the needs of customers. Frameworks work just like that. Another advantage is that, unlike one specific solution, they offer a cybersecurity roadmap for the company, assuring the transition from one IT security maturity level to another when the time comes. Thus, in the case of MDR, at a more basic level of information security development, a company can receive a fully automated service. And when the expertise of its specialists grows, switch to the expert level and get involved in the threat hunting and investigation,” explains DMITRY ALESHIN, VP, PRODUCT MARKETING AT KASPERSKY. www.digitalterminal.in

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LAPPY CORNER

ACER INTRODUCES NITRO 5 GAMING LAPTOP WITH INTEL 11TH GEN H-SERIES PROCESSOR ACER unveiled its newest gaming laptop Acer Nitro 5 powered by the latest 11th Gen Intel Core H-series processor designed for ultraportable gaming. The new Nitro 5 brings together Thin Bezel design, CoolBoost Technology, industry-leading CPU performance, immersive graphics, amazing AI acceleration, and best-in-class wired and wireless connectivity to help users focus, create, and connect at new levels.

The laptop features DTS: X® Ultra dual 2W speakers, delivers outstanding audio, powerful graphics performance with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics, blur-free gameplay with a 144Hz refresh rate, and a 3ms response time to make each experience superior. The best of all is the all-day battery life, feature bestin-class wireless, and wired connectivity with Thunderbolt™ 4 and Killer™ Wi-Fi 6 AX 1650i Speaking on the occasion MR. SUDHIR GOEL, CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER, ACER INDIA, stated, “Acer Nitro series gaming comes with a rich legacy of offering powerful gaming performance and latest technology and patented cooling technology at value price points. The latest Nitro 5 comes with latest 11th generation Intel Core H35 series gaming processors which offers truly outstanding performance for the price and shows our deep collaboration with Intel to deliver the best for Indian gamers.”

RAHUL MALHOTRA, DIRECTOR – CONSUMER SALES, INTEL INDIA said, “Intel’s new line of 11th Gen Intel Core H-series mobile processors deliver a powerful combination of mobility and enthusiast-level gaming. The demand for laptops that enable work, collaboration, creation and play in ultraportable form factors continues to grow.

The Intel-powered Acer Nitro 5 packs responsiveness and performance in a sleek design that allows users to do everything from anywhere.”

DOMINATING SPECS: Control over the game world with the combined power of the 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-11300H processor and NVID20

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IA® GeForce GTX™ graphics card. Nitro 5 allows gamers to configure their laptops for maximum speed and massive storage with two slots for M.2 PCIe SSDs, up to 2TB HDD, and up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM. VISUAL TREAT: Acer’s latest Nitro 5 laptop allows users to explore games in greater detail with the brilliant 15.6-inch FHD IPS display.

Gamers can Enjoy smooth, blur-free gameplay with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 3ms response time with a screen-tobody ratio of 80% with narrow 7.02mm bezels.

COOL UNDER FIRE: When heavy use requires an added boost, chill out with twin fans, Acer CoolBoost™ technology, and quad exhaust port design to keep the Nitro 5 cool under heavy load and get consistent performance.

THE KEY TO VICTORY: Users can add things with the 4-zone RGB keyboard and take command of

the inner workings of the laptop via the dedicated NitroSense Key. WASD and arrow keys are also highlighted for quick location while the key response is immediate with a 1.6mm travel distance.

BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER: The new Nitro 5 features DTS: X® Ultra that delivers 3D spatial soundscape, allowing users to hear where their opponents are coming from with pinpoint precision.

MASTER YOUR PLAY: The new Nitro 5 comes with Planet 9 access. Planet9 is an eSports platform unlike any other filled with a community of like-minded gamers, from aspiring eSports athletes to hardcore professionals. Gamers can learn from experienced coaches, meet and match up with gamers of similar skill, or even form their team.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY: Nitro 5 featuring the 11th Gen Intel® Core™ H-series processor is available from Rs 69,999 on Acer Exclusive store, Acer Online Store, and Amazon. www.digitalterminal.in

MARKET REPORT

TP-LINK CONTINUES TO DOMINATE INDIAN WLAN MARKET WITH 33.2% MARKET SHARE Indian networking market is one of the fastest-growing markets due to the increase in demand for connectivity. In recent times, especially post-pandemic, the demand for internet connection has increased due to WFH & LFH trends.

This lead to gaining good momentum in demand across the major markets.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Wireless LAN (WLAN) Tracker, the Indian WLAN market had a YoY growth of 8.8% during Q4 2020. The market stood at USD 61.7 million (by Vendor Revenue) majorly contributed by consumer gateway routers. While enterprise-class WLAN took a significant decline of 26.3% YoY, the consumer gateway router demand picked rapidly by 57.8% YoY to support the growing demand of employees and students working out of their homes.

With a market share of 33.2%, TP-Link was the market leader in the WLAN segment during Q4 2020, followed by D-Link due to the rapid increase in demand for consumer gateway routers. Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise were the key vendors driving the market for enterprise class WLAN during Q4 2020.

Enterprise class WLAN remains to be most affected segment since the COVID-19 driven lockdown owing to the drop

in campus investments. However, the market is opening with multiple enterprises looking out to adopt cloud-driven WLAN that will enable management efficiency.

Manufacturing and professional services are the top verticals contributing to the enterprise WLAN business with investments coming from automobiles, and pharmaceutical enterprises. Business from other key verticals like government and education remained slow.

Despite a growth of 8.8% in the WLAN segment, the enterprise class WLAN segment continues to remain the most affected networking segment with a significant decline of 26.3% YoY owing to the slowdown in campus investment caused by COVID-19. However, the sluggish enterprise class market was compensated by the growth of consumer gateway routers with a staggering 57.8% YoY growth during Q4 2020. The growth in the consumer gateway routers was due to the remote working and online schooling requirements.

PCs AND PHONES IN USE TO REACH 6.2 BILLION UNITS GLOBALLY IN 2021: GARTNER The number of devices (PCs (laptops and deskbased), tablets and mobile phones) in use globally will total 6.2 billion units in 2021, according to Gartner, Inc. In 2021, 125 million more laptops and tablets are expected to be in use than in 2020.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed device usage patterns of employees and consumers,” said Ranjit Atwal, senior research director at Gartner. “With remote work turning into hybrid work, home education changing into digital education and interactive gaming moving

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to the cloud, both the types and number of devices people need, have and use will continue to rise.”

a forecasted 470 million in use in 2022.

Smartphone Installed Base Set for Upturn in 2021

In 2022, global devices installed base is on pace to reach 6.4 billion units, up 3.2% from 2021 (see Figure 1). While the shift to remote work exacerbated the decline of desktop PCs, it boosted the use of tablets and laptops. In 2021, the number of laptops and tablets in use will increase 8.8% and 11.7%, respectively, while the number of deskbased PCs in use is expected to decline from 522 million in use in 2020 to

Users’ confidence is returning in the smartphone market. Although the number of smartphones in use declined 2.6% in 2020, smartphone installed base is on pace to return to growth with a 1% increase in 2021. “With more variety and choice, and lower-priced 5G smartphones to choose from, consumers have begun to either upgrade their smartphones or

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MARKET REPORT

upgrade from feature phones,” said Mr. Atwal. “The smartphone is also a key tool that people use to communicate and share moments during social distancing and social isolation.”

The integration of personal and business lives, together with a much more dispersed workforce requires flexibility of device choice. Workers are increasingly using a mix of company-owned devices and their own personal devices running on Chrome, iOS and Android, which is increasing the complexity of IT service and support.

DELL TECHNOLOGIES RANKS NO. 1 IN INDIAN X86 SERVER MARKET The overall server market in India witnessed a year-over-year (YoY) decline of 11.2% in terms of revenue to reach $266.1 million in Q4 2020 (Oct-Dec) versus $299.6 million in Q4 2019, according to the latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, Q4 2020 (March 2021 release). The x86 server market contribution grew to 92.9% in terms of revenue, a growth of 4.8 percentage points over last year same quarter.

YoY growth in terms of revenue at 331.5%, 218.7%, and 160.6% respectively.

The highest contribution in the x86 market mainly came from the professional services, telecommunications, and manufacturing verticals. In the professional services vertical, original design manufacturers (ODM) and new-age IT companies witnessed positive YoY growth with respect to the server spend. At the processor brand level, AMD witnessed YoY revenue growth of 4.7 percentage points claiming a revenue share of 8.4% at the end of Q4 2020.

In Q4 2020, Dell Technologies emerged as the top vendor in the India x86 server market with a revenue share of 29.6%

The non-x86 server market declined YoY by 47.1% to reach $18.9 million in revenue in Q4 2020. IBM continues to dominate the market accounting for 49.4% of revenue share, during Q4 2020 with a revenue of $9.3 million. HPE came at second position followed by Oracle with a revenue share of 27.8% and 8.3% respectively.

and a revenue of $73.1 million. Top three verticals for Dell Technologies were professional services, banking, and discrete manufacturing. HPE came at second spot with a revenue share of 19.5% and a revenue of $48.2 million. Key verticals for HPE were telecommunications, discrete manufacturing, and professional services.

At number three is Lenovo with a revenue share of 10.9% and a revenue of $27.0 million. Cisco came in fourth accounting for a revenue share of 9.1% and a revenue of $22.6 million.

The x86 server market in terms of revenue declined YoY by 6.3% to reach $247.2 million in Q4 2020 from $264.0 million in Q4 2019. The contribution largely came from the custom-built server category with revenue growth of 28.7% YoY. Hyperscalers continues to spend towards building robust data centers and support the global and local customer demands.

The General-purpose server revenue declined by 13.4% due to the weakening demand across different industries.

During Q4 2020, verticals such as utilities, resource industries, and securities and investment services witnessed the highest www.digitalterminal.in

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INTERVIEW

“Kodak TV is Investing More Than 300 Cr. in The Next 3 Years” The adoption of Smart TVs has dramatically increased due to the array of great features and unlimited entertainment options. However, the TV manufactures are working on bringing more innovative and customer-friendly features to offer unmatched experience. In line to know more about the Smart TV market in India, Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal spoke to Avneet Singh Marwah, Director and CEO of Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd, a Kodak brand licensee. Avneet Singh Marwah elaborated upon all the aspects and gave deep insights about the Indian Smart TV market. Read below the excerpts: RAJEEV: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CURRENT SCENARIO OF THE INDIAN SMART TV MARKET? HOW IS THE MARKET PICKING UP GROWTH MOMENTUM IN 2021?

AVNEET SINGH: With an increase in panel pricing, there has been a major shift in the market. This has slowed down the demand of televisions. Currently, the price for a 32-inch has gone up by 350%.

Therefore, there is a shift towards the sale of larger screens.

RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE COMPETITION FROM BRANDS LIKE ONEPLUS, REALME AND MI? WHAT HELPS YOU TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH DESPITE TOUGH COMPETITION IN THE MARKET? AVNEET SINGH: The brands mentioned above, all come from the phone ecosystem and are all non-Indian manufacturing brands. We are one of the few Indian manufacturing brands that are giving tough competition to the existing names mentioned above. I think, last year has been good as the consumer sentiments were running high toward non- Chinese brands. We became the first Indian brand to get a Google android license for our televisions. This year we will be launching TVs with new innovative technologies, customized especially for the Indian customers.

RAJEEV: PM MODI INTRODUCED THE VOCAL FOR LOCAL INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE LOCAL MANUFACTURING SO WHAT STEPS ARE YOU TAKING TO SUPPORT THIS INITIATIVE? PLEASE TELL ABOUT YOUR EXISTING AND UPCOMING PRODUCTION FACILITIES WITHIN INDIA. AVNEET SINGH: For the last 30 years, we (SPPL) are manufacturing TVs in India.

We have a complete backward integrated

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system. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for the Indian manufacturing industry. It taught us to be more dependable on our very own home-grown raw materials. But when it comes to TVs, there is no alternative other than China to manufacture panels because of which 7080% of the cost comes from there. Currently, we are trying to achieve more value editions in India. Kodak TV is investing more than 300cr in the next 3 years. We are setting up a new manufacturing plant with the help of the UP government and will be increasing our capacity to over a million units.

RAJEEV: WHAT ARE YOUR OUTREACH AND EXPANSION PLANS FOR TIER II AND III CITIES? PLEASE SHED SOME LIGHT ON YOUR DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES FOR CY 2021 AND BEYOND TO STRENGTHEN YOUR PRESENCE ACROSS INDIA. AVNEET SINGH: In the last one-year, despite a spike in online, we have established an effective offline network as well. We have more than 10,000 billing counters offline. In the last 6 months, we have introduced TVs in 16 different odd states, and we are working on all major LFRs. In the next 6 months, 90% LFRs will be covered by Kodak as the offline market has realized that there is a vacuum for an Indian budget manufacturing brand with the kind of technology we are offering.

We are delivering in both tier 2 and tier 3 cities. To name a few cites where our market is increasing at a rapid phase, are Jalgaon, Nagpur, Agra, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Ludhiana, Chattarpur,

Indore Bikaner, Ranchi, Hugli, Bhatinda, and Ayodhya. These are some of the cities where we’ve seen Kodak grow significantly. By end of this year, we will be able to sell in more than 3000 cities and towns in India.

RAJEEV: WHICH NEW PRODUCTS WE CAN SEE THIS YEAR FROM BRAND KODAK? HOW DO YOU HARNESS THE NEXT-GEN TECHNOLOGIES TO DEVELOP CUSTOMER-CENTRIC TVS? AVNEET SINGH: One of the biggest disruptions for TV industry has been AI, we are working with an android team to streamline more Indian languages in Google assistant. I feel the new U.I will be a voice command as the biggest screen of your home will be now connected to your smart home devices. We will now be developing new televisions keeping work from home in mind. Apart from the content, the TVs will be business-tool friendly as well. The main concept is that our customers can work in the daytime and in the evening, our customer can enjoy their favourite OTT content. www.digitalterminal.in

NEW ARRIVALS ASROCK Z590 OC FORMULA MOTHERBOARD

ASRock announces the return of its OC Formula motherboard lineup with the overclocker-designed Z590 OC Formula built for Intel’s 11th-generation desktop processors. For years, ASRock has set the standard for overclocking with its previous OC Formula motherboards and its engineers have learnt from world-renowned overclocker Nick Shih, diligently studying what they need to break world records and perform their best. Back by popular demand from overclockers, the ASRock Z590 OC Formula is filled with overclocking-friendly specs such as SMD Type DIMM Slots, a 12-layer server-grade low loss PCB, and 16 power phase 90A smart power stage technology. The Z590 OC Formula features unique PCB Backdrill craftsmanship which removes the excess stub in multilayered printed wiring boards. This benefits extreme memory overclocking by allowing the signal to flow between layers with less loss through attenuation while also improving impedance matching. To ensure that overclockers have easy access to key performance data, the motherboard also includes an OLED display. The motherboard also features an OC button for easy control of the overclocking features.

SANDISK IXPAND FLASH DRIVE LUXE

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Western Digital announced the company’s first flash drive with dual Lightning and USB Type-C connectors, the SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe. With both Lightning and USB Type-C connectors and an all-metal casing, the SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe provides a sleek way for users to seamlessly access and move files between iPhone, iPad Pro, Mac and other USB Type-C devices, including Android phones. This new flash drive comes with two connectors, which enables a quick move of files, eliminating the need to email content from one device to another in order to upload or save. Consumers who want a heightened sense of privacy can password-protect their files and photos with the iXpand Drive app. The app can also be used to free up space on an iPhone or to automatically back up photos, videos, documents and contacts without the hassle of a slow internet connection. The SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe is available in 64GB*, 128GB* and 256GB* with MSRPs of Rs 4449, Rs 5919 and Rs 8999 INR respectively.

360 degrees IR blaster which can be used to remotely control any device having an IR remote. It has a dual far-field mic and built-in Alexa with a companion app ZEBHome available on Playstore and App store.

Once configured with the ZEB-Home and Amazon Alexa app through your phone the speaker will be connected to the wifi network and work as a standalone smart speaker. The ZEB-Smart Bot smart speaker supports high-quality dual far-field mics to listen to your commands at ease.

HYPERX PULSEFIRE HASTE GAMING MOUSE

ZEBRONICS ‘ZEB-SMART BOT’ SMART SPEAKER

Zebronics launched its first smart speaker dubbed’ ZEB-Smart Bot’ that can remotely control appliances and has built-in Alexa for voice-enabled assistance. Listen to the headlines, play an audiobook, remotely control your devices, set schedules and appointments, there is so much more that one can do with. ZEB-Smart Bot smart speaker comes in a minimalist design with media/volume controls on the top that includes a microphone mute button.

Even though the speaker looks minimalist it can get so much done as it features a

HyperX announced the release of the HyperX Pulsefire Haste gaming mouse.

Weighing in at 59 grams,1 Pulsefire Haste utilizes an ultra-light honeycomb hex shell design that offers quicker movements and increased ventilation. Pulsefire Haste features TTC Golden Micro Dustproof switches with 60M click durability, six programmable buttons and onboard memory to save a custom profile through HyperX NGENUITY software. The mouse also provides four preset DPI settings – 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 DPI – and uses a Pixart 3335 sensor for accurate tracking and native DPI settings up to 16,000 DPI. Pulsefire Haste is built with low-friction, pure virgin-grade PTFE skates for effortless glide movement.

This ultra-lightweight mouse also utilizes a HyperFlex cable designed to reduce tension and resistance for easier mouse movements with the use of light and flexible paracord material. Pulsefire Haste is customizable with HyperX NGENUITY software and allows users to personalize DPI settings, RGB lighting, button assignments, and record macros. The HyperX Pulsefire Haste gaming mouse is available for INR 3,890/- on Amazon.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

WESTERN DIGITAL ANNOUNCES ‘V-WA 50’ AWARDS TO EMPOWER WOMEN LEADERS Western Digital announced the ‘V-WA 50’ awards in partnership with the Vedica Women’s Alliance to amplify the voices of women leaders. Under this initiative, 50 professionals will be awarded for their contributions. This includes senior women professionals across various fields and men who have advocated for inclusion in their organizations. An online award ceremony will be hosted by the end of June 2021.

Through V-WA 50, Western Digital amplifies women’s voices and strengthens its commitment to a more diverse

future. The initiative aims to create a platform to bring women together who are at the top of their fields, recognise their achievements, and help create a community of winners. The ‘V-WA 50’ will commemorate senior women leaders who have excelled in their careers and made a great contribution in their respective industries.

The forum will also honour male leaders who demonstrated their support for women leaders and equality in the workplace.

CANON INDIA RANKS NO. 1 IN THE A3 & A4 LASER COPIER BASED MFP SEGMENT International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, 2020 Q4 ranks Canon India #1 in the A3 & A4 laser copier-based MFP segment for the fifth consecutive year in India. This achievement is a testament of Canon’s continued market leadership and commitment to the printing industry. As per the IDC report, Canon India ended 2020 as the market leader with a 30.7% overall market share, 30% market share in the mono segment and

35.4% in the colour segment. With this result, Canon India retained its market leadership for fifth year in a row in the overall, mono and colour A3 & A4 Laser Copier Based MFP segment. (With consideration of speed range up to 75 ppm (A4 Mono Speed) for Mono Segment and up to 60 ppm (A4 Colour Speed) for Colour Segment.)

HYPERX SETS DDR4 OVERCLOCKING WORLD RECORD AT 7156MHZ Kingston Technology announced that its gaming division’s high performance memory HyperX Predator DDR4 was used to set a new overclocking world record for the fastest DDR4 memory frequency at 7156MHz. The world record for highest frequency was set by the MSI OC Team in Taiwan using a HyperX 4600MHz Predator DDR4 8G module on an MSI MEG Z590I UNIFY motherboard using a 11th Gen Intel Core i9-11900KF @ 3.50GHz CPU. At the time of this release, the record-breaking frequency is posted on

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HWBOT, the site for PC enthusiasts looking for news, tips and information on overclocking, benchmarks and competitions. HyperX Predator DDR4 high-performance memory pairs bold and aggressive style - the frequencies available for purchase has expanded to 4800MHz along with latencies from CL12-CL19. HyperX memory modules are Intel® XMP-ready and its certified profiles are optimized for Intel’s latest chipsets and are also compatible with many of AMD’s latest chipsets.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

DELL EMC VXRAIL AND DELL EMC POWERSTORE NAMED AS ‘2020 PRODUCTS OF THE YEAR’ Dell EMC VxRail and Dell EMC PowerStore, the two best products have been named ‘2020 Products of the Year’ by TechTarget’s Storage Magazine and SearchStorage. Arrow PC Network is proud of its association with Dell Technologies as a Titanium Partner.

Arrow PC bet on the transformation of all forms in the IT sector which has been a dire necessity for organizations across the world. The push given towards transformation gave Dell and its partners like Arrow PC a chance to help organizations by providing them with

the right guidance. “Dell Technologies has been the only major vendor to win awards in two categories. Dell EMC VxRail E Series has won the Gold Award under hyper-converged and composable infrastructure category and Dell EMC PowerStore under the disk and disk subsystem category won the Silver Award.”

says Gurpreet Singh, MD at Arrow PC (Dell Technologies - Titanium Partner).

KASPERSKY NAMED AS A CUSTOMERS’ CHOICE IN THE APAC MARKET IN GARTNER PEER INSIGHTS Kaspersky share that it was rated 4.6 out of 5 by customers, with 94% willing to recommend the Kaspersky Security Awareness portfolio, including Kaspersky Automated Security Awareness Platform, to their peers. Out of 11 companies that were included on Gartner Peer Insights, Kaspersky was ranked as one of the highest two cybersecurity companies that were named a Customers’ Choice in the APAC region. With the landscape of cybersecurity solu-

tions and services becoming strikingly saturated today, customer recognition has become a key differentiator and selling point for any vendor looking to establish itself at the forefront of the market. According to the report, 83 verified customers provided feedback on Kaspersky’s product capabilities, scoring a 4.6/5 overall; a 4.7/5 for evaluation and contracting; 4.6/5 for integration and deployment; and 4.7/5 for service and support.

KONICA MINOLTA WON BLI 2021 A3 LINE OF THE YEAR AWARD Konica Minolta has been conferred with a series of awards by Keypoint Intelligence. Keypoint Intelligence is built upon two brands: Buyers Lab and Info Trends. The brand, Konica Minolta, has won the BLI 2021 A3 Line of the Year Award for its skillfully crafted MFPs that ensure the highest level of personalization, reliability, and consistency in both performance and usability. It has www.digitalterminal.in

been also recognized as the Most Color Consistent A3 Brand (2021-2023) for its A3 devices, including the new bizhub i-series, which provides consistent prints in terms of various aspects, be it business graphics, photo images, or any other output type. Last but not the least, it has also bagged the BLI Winter 2021 A3 Pick and Outstanding Achievement Award for bizhub i-series printers.

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SMARTPHONE SHELF

OPPO F19

Realme 8 PRO

OPPO announced the launch of another sleek marvel under its renowned F series - the new OPPO F19, in India. The OPPO F19 is another trend-setting minimalist sleek device under the F19 series.

Realme introduced its latest Youth Flagship realme 8 Pro, the best 108MP camera smartphone in its segment. The realme 8 Pro has been crafted with excellence, bringing trendsetting features in the camera.

OS: ColorOS 11.1 based on Android 11 RAM: 6GB Storage: 128GB Expandable Upto: 256GB Display: 6.43” FHD+ AMOLED Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 Rear Camera: 48MP AI Triple Camera Front Camera: 16MP Battery Capacity: 5000 mAh

OS: realme UI 2.0 Based on Android 11 RAM: 6GB and 8GB Storage: 128GB Expandable Upto: 256GB Display: 6.4” Super AMOLED Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G Rear Camera: 108MP Ultra Quad Camera Front Camera: 16MP In-display Battery Capacity: 4500 mAh

OPPO F19 is available in two color variants, including Prism Black and Midnight Blue. OPPO F19 is priced at Rs 18,990.

Realme 8 Pro is priced at Rs. 17,999 (6GB+128GB) and 19,999 (8GB+128GB). Realme 8 Pro comes in three colors, the Infinite Blue, Infinite Black and Illuminating Yellow.

Vivo X60 Pro+ Vivo unveiled the all-new vivo X60 Pro+ smartphone in India. With cutting-edge design from vivo and maximum imaging quality co-engineered by ZEISS, the X60 Pro+ signifies Vivo’s commitment to deliver the ultimate mobile photography experience.

OS: Funtouch OS 11.1 based on Android 11 RAM: 12GB Storage: 256GB Expandable Upto: NA Display: 6.56” FHD+ Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G Rear Camera: 50MP Quad Camera Front Camera: 32MP Battery Capacity: 4200mAh The X60 Pro+ comes in a stunning Emperor Blue color and priced at Rs. 69,990. for 6GB + 128GB variant and 21999 for 8GB + 128GB variant.

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