DT October Issue 2021 by Digital Terminal

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“WE AT DELL TECHNOLOGIES ARE ALIGNED WITH THE CHANGING TECHNOLOGY TRENDS” Manish Gupta, Senior Director & General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies India www. d i g italt erminal.in

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V O L U ME 12

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10 BRAND FOCUS

13 DT EXCLUSIVE “We have been in the number one position in India for the last Five years”

Micron Launches 7400 SSD with NVMe to Meet Growing Storage Needs of Data Centers

15 JUST- IN Sophos Witnessed Worldwide Growth of MSP Connect 12

BRAND CONNECT

16 LAPPY CORNER

Western Digital Launches ‘Buy, Share & Win’ Contest for its Customers

ASUS Introduces New VivoBook K15 OLED with Intel 11th Gen Processor

Mr. Jaganathan Chelliah, Senior Director Marketing, India & MEA, Western Digital

21 SPOTLIGHT Acer Launches Six New Powerful Laptops with Windows 11

Mr. Khalid Wani, Senior Director - Sales, India, Western Digital

24 FACE 2 FACE

14 EXCLUSIVE CHAT

Manish Gupta, Senior Director & General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies India.

“We are Grateful to Our Partners for Being the Core Strength of Sales for Asus Business in India”

32 EXCLUSIVE TALKS

Vinay Shetty, ASUS Regional Director Components Business, India and South Asia.

Mr. Rahul Goel, Director, Market Engineering, Canon India

Editorial & Marketing Office

Publisher & Editor : Rajeev Ranjan Executive Editor : Jyoti Janda Assistant Content Manager : Jai Prakash Consulting Art Direction : Vikas Sharma Visualiser : Akriti Arora Graphic Designer : Shubham Tomar Content Desk : Sourabh Yadav Production Head : Rajiv Singh Marketing Executive : Balvinder Singh Circulation: Ashok & Raju

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ASUS Representatives: AP / Telangana: 9652998785 Bangalore: 8123596011

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For feedback, email reachus@asus.com or info_india@asus.com

DT PARTNER SUMMIT 2021

DIGITAL TERMINAL TO DISCUSS, DEBATE & EDUCATE CHANNEL AT DT PARTNER SUMMIT 2021 Digital Terminal is all set to host the 4th edition of DT Partner Summit which will be held on 22nd October in New Delhi. Digital Terminal aims to inspire and transform tech partners for next phase of growth. Over the time DT Partners Summit has become one of the popular platforms for technology industry where we come every year to have a great discussions on key topics related with our growth, opportunities and challenges. The 2021 edition of partner summit becomes very crucial for ICT community as we all have suffered a lot so far on last one year due to pandemic. The summit will provide required platform for vendors to interact with their partners for excellent market growth. This time we are doing this Phygital as we need to take all care to protect all of us from ongoing pandemic. As DT has kept physical venue strictly for key invited attendees to follow COVID norms, it has also created digital platform to reach thousands of channel partners across India. The event will be live broadcasted on the popular social media platforms so that channel partners can be benefitted from this event. The event will witness two brainstorming panel discussions with Industry’s top IT leaders. The first panel discussion will focus on ICT business challenges & opportunities for channel partners. During this discussion, we will also talk on “Changing Landscape of Traditional Channel Business in New Normal”. In this important discussion we have Mr. Sanjeev Mehtani, Country Manager, Sales, Acer India, Mr. Ajay Kumar Joshi, Country Manager, ESET India, Mr. Pranav Pandey, Group Business Manager, Iris Global Services Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Jitender Kohli, National Head, Fortune Marketing Pvt. Ltd as panellists. Whereas in the next session, we will have discussion about opportunities in SSD & PC component business. This will pass on very important information to channel partners about the upcoming opportunities in these product domains. To discuss on the set agenda we have on the panel Mr. Rajesh Gupta, Director Sales and Country Manager, Micron, Mr. Vinay Shetty, Regional Director – Components Business, India and South Asia, ASUS, Mr. Himanshu Jain, CEO & Director, Acro Engineering Company and Mr. Kunj Gupta, Head - Enterprise Business, AVS Infotech while Mr. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal will moderate these sessions during the summit. 6

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DT Partner Summit 2021 will be organized along with prestigious DT Partner Excellence Awards 2021. The DT Partner Excellence Awards 2021 will again honor the key partners across India who have performed well in their verticals in the current year despite huge challenges they all faced due to pandemic. The award will be announced in more than 30 categories based on brand’s feedback, market report and DT’s own analysis. The audiences for DT Partners Summit 2021 will comprise of Tech Brands, Channel Partners, National Distributors, Regional Distributors, Resellers, VARs, VADs, Retailers, SIs, Business Leaders and many more.

To impart the most sought knowledge upon key verticals, DT will host multiple sessions during the summit. The panel discussion will happen around Changing Landscape of Traditional Channel Business in India and Emerging Opportunities in SSD Market for Channel Partners across India. This Summit has been supported by Dell Technologies, Crucial by Micron, Acer, Iris Global Services Pvt Ltd, ESET, Airmeet, Kaizen, ASUS, Creative Newtech Limited, Secureye, Lapcare, Fortune Marketing Pvt Ltd, Acro Engineering Company, BD Software Distribution Pvt Ltd, Technology and Gadgets (TAG), Guruji Technologies, Galax, FAIITA, India IT Channel, PCAIT, and TAIT. The event is managed by News Dot Media Pvt. Ltd. and Telecom Today is the media partner. www.digitalterminal.in

CHANNEL CONNECT

PARTNERS EXPECT BRANDS TO RE-ROLL OUT FOREIGN TRIPS SCHEMES IN 2022 Foreign Trips Schemes popularly known as FTS is the most awaited event among the channel fraternity. FTS is considered as the biggest reward conferred to partners for their outstanding business performance. Many brands organise FTS for their partners who achieve sales targets to exotic locations. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world, the future of FTS seems gloomy. Though many countries are now opening up their economies gradually for tourism, brands seem cautious about FTS. However, partners are optimistic about the scheme and expect brands to explore the possibility of re-launch in 2022. “FTS is a major reward given to channel partners and partners work very hard to qualify for the same. In the last two years, no brand announced FTS due to the pandemic. However, the situation is improving, we expect the announcement soon. If any brand announces FTS, I am sure all partners will jump on it”, said Mr. Aniruddha Menavlikar, Managing Director, Monarch Technologies (Pune) Pvt. Ltd. While a majority of partners are optimistic for FTS, a section of the channel voiced safety concerns over overseas travel. Mr. Biren Yadav, Managing Director of Mumbai based Bluecom Infotech Pvt Ltd, “FTS has always been significant for the channel community. However, they will have to wait some more time as many countries are still under lockdown like situations and have put stringent restrictions on overseas travellers. I think both brands and partners will also not like to take any risks for at least the next 2-3 years.”

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Image source - www.freepik.com

Among all the channel incentive schemes, FTS has garnered widespread popularity over the years. It is an excellent motivational tool and can be as rewarding as an advertisement. FTS also promotes healthy competition among the partners and ultimately help brands to sell more and earn more. Hence, brands also make a significant investment in FTS to attract more partners to enrol in it. “We Indians by nature enjoy exploring new destinations and if it is a sponsored tour then it is like “Sone pe Suhaga. I was part of one of such FTS and it was my best vacation. FTS is not just focused on a trip but it is also an opportunity to meet your industry peers and brand owners and strengthen your business ties with them. I wish the situation improves soon and we all get back to our normal life”, said a partner from Mumbai. RP tech India has organized several grand and successful FTS on behalf of brands for partners in the past in locations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Bali, Thailand, Mauritius, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Paris, London, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Tashkand etc. The company says that brands can explore relaunching FTS considering the present COVID-19 guidelines.

FTS in the past, hence, we understand partners’ sentiments. It is like one big family going on a vacation, exploring new cultures, exchanging new ideas and having lots of fun. FTS is not just a token of appreciation for their business achievement, it is also a platform for them to meet and network with fellow partners across India. Brands also leverage the platform to build their image among the channel fraternity. So it is a win-win for both. However, the Corona crisis has changed the industry dynamics and hence, we should consider the present pandemic condition worldwide and strictly follow the safety guidelines for everyone’s safety”, said Mr. Rajesh Goenka, Director, Sales and Marketing, RP tech India.

“We have managed several memorable www.digitalterminal.in

ENTERPRISE FOCUS

TATA TELE BUSINESS SERVICES INTRODUCES ‘EZ CLOUD CONNECT’ FOR BUSINESSES Tata Tele Business Services (TTBS) announced the launch of EZ Cloud Connect, an easy, fast, reliable, cost effective and secured Point to Point (P2P) cloud connectivity gateway. EZ Cloud Connect enables Enterprises to bypass the internet and deliver data to and from the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) by establishing a dedicated private network connection. EZ Cloud Connect provides improved and consistent network experience with greater bandwidth throughput while reducing capital and operational expenses. EZ Cloud Connect is a one-stop cloud connectivity solution that has all three elements - leased line connectivity + cross connect + cloud port bundled as a single product offering. Thus, saving an enterprise the cost and effort to deal with multiple service providers and at times sub-optimal solutions that may constraint their network performance. For Enterprises, EZ Cloud Connect is an all-in-one integrated solution

which is easy on the pocket, easy to scale, easy to manage and easy to secure. Enterprises can now experience an all new and easy way of connecting to the cloud. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vishal Rally, Senior Vice-President, Product and Commercial, Tata Teleservices said “As modern businesses are getting more digitally agile with cloud-first approach, they require seamless cloud connectivity and integration to securely and efficiently run their critical data applications. TTBS EZ Cloud Connect facilitates an easy, hassle-free and direct private network connectivity between customer’s owned / managed infrastructure and Cloud Providers, with tremendous benefits such as faster access, lower network costs, stable network latency and high data security than an internet-based connection.” EZ Cloud Connect ensures robust con-

nectivity with a predictable performance and guaranteed SLA. TTBS state of the art high-capacity network access is now extended to all major Cloud Service Providers at multiple locations across the country making it convenient for Enterprises to opt for EZ Cloud Connect. With its use cases for hybrid solutions, real time applications and high data transfers, EZ Cloud Connect is ideal for industry segments such as IT&ITES, Services, BFSI, Manufacturing, Healthcare etc.

HPE LAUNCHES NEW CLOUD SERVICES FOR HPE GREENLAKE EDGE-TO-CLOUD PLATFORM Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced a sweeping series of new cloud services for the HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform, providing customers unmatched capabilities to power digital transformation for their applications and data. This represents HPE’s entry into two large, high-growth software markets – unified analytics and data protection. Together, these innovations further accelerate HPE’s transition to a cloud services company, and give customers greater choice and freedom for their business and IT strategy, with an open and modern platform that provides a cloud experience everywhere. The new offerings, which add to a growing portfolio of HPE GreenLake cloud services, allow customers to innovate with agility, at lower costs, and include the following: • HPE GreenLake for analytics – open and unified analytics cloud services to modernize all data and applications everywhere – on-premises, at the edge, and in the cloud • HPE GreenLake for data protection – disaster recovery and backup cloud services to help customers take ransomware head-on and secure data from edge-to-cloud

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• HPE Edge-to-Cloud Adoption Framework and automation tools – a comprehensive, proven set of methodologies expertise, and automation tools to accelerate and de-risk the path to a cloud experience everywhere “The big data and analytics software market, which IDC predicts will reach $110 billion by 20231, is ripe for disruption, as customers seek a hybrid solution for enterprise datasets on-premises and at the edge,” said Antonio Neri, president and CEO, at HPE. “Data is at the heart of every modernization initiative in every industry, and yet organizations have been forced to settle for legacy analytics platforms that lack cloud-native capabilities, or force complex migrations to the public cloud that require customers to adapt new processes and risk vendor lock-in. The new HPE GreenLake cloud services for analytics empower customers to overcome these trade-offs and gives them one platform to unify and modernize data everywhere. Together with the new HPE GreenLake cloud services for data protection, HPE provides customers with an unparalleled platform to protect, secure, and capitalize on the full value of their data,

from edge to cloud.” HPE continues to accelerate momentum for the HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform. The HPE GreenLake platform now has more than 1,200 customers and $5.2 billion in total contract value. In HPE’s most recent quarter, Q3 2021, HPE announced that the company’s Annualized Revenue Run Rate was up 33 percent year-over-year, and asa-service orders up 46 percent year-overyear. Most recently, HPE announced HPE GreenLake platform wins with Woolworths Group, Australia and New Zealand’s largest retailer, and the United States National Security Agency.

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BRAND FOCUS

MICRON LAUNCHES 7400 SSD WITH NVME TO MEET GROWING STORAGE NEEDS OF DATA CENTERS The Micron 7400 SSD includes PCIe Gen4 M.2 22x80mm with power loss protection, as well as 2.5” U.3 data center SSDs in both 15mm and 7mm thicknesses. The SSD leverages the full vertical integration capabilities of Micron to bring industry-leading innovation, from controller to firmware and leading-edge NAND and DRAM technology, to world-class front-end and back-end manufacturing.

Micron Technology announced availability of the Micron® 7400 SSD with NVMe™, delivering industry-leading form factor flexibility, PCIe Gen4 performance, and leading-edge security to meet the storage needs of demanding data center workloads. With this portfolio, Micron is providing the broadest selection of mainstream data center SSDs available. Featuring seven form factors, the Micron 7400 SSD enables the transition to next-generation server architectures. Data centers continue to evolve thanks to the rapid growth of data and proliferation of applications that demand high performance. The need to process, analyze and secure data that provides valuable insights is fueling the modernization of the data center, requiring new levels of storage innovation. “Our customers need improved storage density and efficiency to run their businesses,” said Jeremy Werner, corporate vice president and general manager of the Storage Business Unit at Micron. “The Micron 7400 SSD is flexible in its ability to address myriad applications and system interoperability requirements, enabling deployments and delivering value from edge to cloud.” BROAD SSD PORTFOLIO FOR THE DATA CENTER The expanded performance and widespread adoption of SSDs in data centers are driving a requirement for new, optimized form factors to meet data-centric workload needs. These form factors deliver fast, reliable and affordable data center storage across a range of use cases. The Micron 7400 SSD includes the only PCIe Gen4 M.2 22x80mm with power loss protection, as well as 2.5” U.3 data center SSDs in both 15mm and 7mm thicknesses. It also features three different sizes of the new E1.S Enterprise and Data Center SSD Form Factor (EDSFF), enabling greater density, flash-optimized performance, and improved power and cooling options. This breadth of options means customers can move from traditional servers to dense EDSFF server designs with one 10

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SSD. Offering a wide capacity range from 400GB to 7.68TB, the portfolio supports low to high-capacity applications. It also has endurance options for one and three drive writes per day to support read and write intensive applications. The SSD leverages the full vertical integration capabilities of Micron to bring industry-leading innovation, from controller to firmware and leading-edge NAND and DRAM technology, to world-class front-end and back-end manufacturing. PCIE GEN4 PERFORMANCE THAT SCALES The Micron 7400 SSD more than doubles IOPs per watt and throughput compared to the previous generation. Backwards compatibility with PCIe Gen3 systems helps ease customer transition from Gen3 to Gen4 platforms. The drive offers support for 128 namespaces to increase scalability for virtualized environments like hyperconverged infrastructure and software-defined storage. It also supports Open Compute Project (OCP) deployments for qualified environments.8 OCP developed and published specifications that have built a thriving ecosystem, creating a standardized approach that helps reduce integration complexity and speeds time to market.

SECURITY WITH HARDWARE-DRIVEN PERFORMANCE Leveraging years of in-house security expertise, the Micron 7400 SSD offers proven, standards-based features like TCG-Opal 2.01 and IEEE-1667, and new features for data protection in-flight and at-rest. These enhancements help address emerging needs as organizations increasingly seek out better solutions to secure data in both on-premises and cloud environments. Micron developed the Secure Execution Environment (SEE) to isolate and process security transactions to extend protection against a constantly evolving set of threat models. SEE significantly improves the security of data at rest through its use of dedicated memory, secure code and a security microprocessor. “The Micron 7400 SSD offers wide appeal for deployments from edge to cloud,” said Patrick Moorhead, chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Varied applications and workloads with unique requirements can benefit from the high performance and efficiency of new form factors as well as security features designed to protect against network and physical attacks.”

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CHANNEL FOCUS

IRIS GLOBAL SUPPLIED HI POWERED UPSs WORTH RS. 12 CRORE TO DATA CENTERS AT HYDERABAD

Automation.

Iris Global has received an order for the supply of APC (now Schneider Electric) Hi Power UPS systems from a leading American Software App Company called Sales Force

Speaking to newsman, Mr. Sanjiv Krishen, Founder - Chairman, Iris Global said that

the supply of the Segment Leader products includes the best solution which can be provided for any mission critical applications. “The most important part of the transaction is that the order was received from one of the Fortune 150 company and a leading American Software Enterprise” Mr. Krishen added. He continued, “These UPSs would be in the range of 500 to 800 KVA and cost about Rs 4 crores each. They shall be installed at 3 Data Center at Hyderabad to handle their Data Traffic” Iris Global’s Partner, Mr Ratnakar Konte,

Proprietor of Systems Group, one of the fastest growing multi discipline product integration organization based out of Hyderabad who front ended the total solution with the client said “The project till date is valued at Rs 12 crore.” Mr. Konte while thanking the Supply Chain team at Iris said “Iris Global had been instrumental from designing stage and was very supportive on the product selection, consolidation in all the techno commercial aspects. They also ensured timely delivery to customer’s delight” he concluded.

CELEBRATING THE FESTIVE SPIRIT, ALL YEAR ROUND! The consumer is informed and aware now, more than ever. One must maintain a proper balance of statistics, facts and USPs while pitching or communicating about the product. Other factors for consumer identification such as Age, Income bracket etc have shifted as well. Although, if the brand is confident of their products and deliverables, the above-mentioned challenges turn out in an opportunity. For a brand like Lapcare, the current scenario is ideally optimised as they believe in providing the best to customers in terms of product, bang for bucks, after sales support and service rather than just talking the talk. The offers and benefits have never stopped from their end, keeping it joyful and pleasant for every tier of partners and consumers throughout.

As their tagline suggests, “Expect more, explore more”, the partners know for a fact that association with Lapcare does not limit the perks and advantages they would get to just a festive season, rather, it is an ever-going carnival of offers, schemes and other loyalty advantages. The organization has been benefitting the partners with schemes, lucky draws, bundled offers and numerous other ways. Partner/consumer engagement and loyalty is all that is desired.

marketplaces and shops and much more aggressive in terms of Integrated Marketing communications to keep up with the competition and fill up the holes made during lockdown.

The pandemic has changed and evolved the IT Peripherals & Accessories market in more ways one could’ve predicted. The fluidity and dynamics of the market trend are much more aggressive now. The E-comm market share is increasing and hence the marketing focus has shifted during the current festive quarter. Though at the same time Retail

Lapcare ensures customer engagement through continuous research and modification on consumer touch points, not just for the festive season but all year round.

For Lapcare, all business strategies encircle consumer engagement. Be it through offers or coming out with exciting products. All of the market communications are to be kept a dialogue rather than a one-way monologue. Deliver what is desired and improvise what is disliked.

The Behavioural shift in consumers has imposed new challenges in terms of market segmentation and product positioning.

It is a year-round festival for a country of so many colours. - Shubham Chaudhary

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The ones who would adapt to the new norms of keeping the right balance between online and offline channels in accordance with the analytics would for sure be able to keep the consumers engaged.

Though, if the current schemes are to be stated, they are a part of all festive sales on major E-commerce platforms, offering huge discounts. Also, a monthly bonanza scheme is active for retailers, treating them with exciting gifts and prizes.

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BRAND CONNECT

WESTERN DIGITAL LAUNCHES ‘BUY, SHARE & WIN’ CONTEST FOR ITS CUSTOMERS Western Digital has come up with an exciting contest for its customers, adding extra joy to this festive season. Under this amazing ‘Buy, Share & Win’ contest, the lucky customers will get a chance to win Datsun redi-GO car every 15 days on buying select SanDisk and WD products. Bringing in the festive cheer early, Western Digital is launching an exciting consumer offer to kick-start its holiday season of 2021 with the ‘Buy, Share & Win’ contest. During the six-month-long offer period, consumers will stand a chance to win a brand-new Datsun redi-GO car every 15 days on buying select SanDisk and WD products. The ‘Buy, Share & Win Contest’ goes live on October 03, 2021, and runs pan-India across retail and e-tail channels till March 31, 2022. The offer is available on purchase of SanDisk products of 128GB and above capacities, any WD external HDDs of 2TB and above capacities, and WD external SSDs of 480 GB and above capacities.* The process of submitting an entry is simple. Just scratch the sticker on the packaging of qualifying products to get the promo code and use it to register on the microsite. Once registered, one needs to share their story along with one of their happy memories. The best entry every 15 days until March 31, 2022, stands a chance to win a Nissan Datsun redi-GO car.** TALKING ABOUT THIS OFFER, MR. JAGANATHAN CHELLIAH, SENIOR DIRECTOR - MARKETING, INDIA & MEA, WESTERN DIGITAL, said, “As a consumer-centric brand, we want to be a part of our customers’ celebrations and empower them to live their digital lives to the fullest and create beautiful memories. The ‘Buy, Share & Win’ contest will enable us to become a part of their happiest moments.” MR. KHALID WANI, SENIOR DIRECTOR SALES, INDIA, WESTERN DIGITAL, ADDED, “In these tough times, our consumer initiatives like the ‘Buy, Share & Win’ contest are focused on bringing much-needed positivity and joy 12

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for our users as well as our channel partners. We are committed to our channel partners and are confident that this initiative will support them in strengthening their sales.” All of the qualifying products from SanDisk and WD will carry a prominent sticker, offering information on the contest, prize, and participation process. This is designed

to help create awareness about the offer so that consumers do not miss a chance to participate. This festive season, consumers can now gift their loved ones exciting products from the SanDisk and WD portfolios and, as a bonus, stand a chance to take home a Nissan car worth INR 4 lac.**

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DT EXCLUSIVE

“WE HAVE BEEN IN THE NUMBER ONE POSITION IN INDIA FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS” The Indian printer market has significantly grown over the last couple of years. The demand from home segment and office segment has accelerated the growth of this market. Moreover, the innovations in this space have played a crucial role which has benefited the market players achieve sustainable growth. The momentum in the printer market is poised to create a healthy business environment where brands and channel partners expect good demand for printers. Epson is one of the leading market players catering to the market with its wide product range. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently interacted with Siva Kumar, Senior General Manager, Inkjet Printers, Epson India. Mr. Siva elaborated about the market landscape, their product offerings, service support and challenges in the market. Read below the excerpts:

SIVA KUMAR: We have been in the number one position in India for the last four or five years. We have sold 5 million InkTank printers in India since the launch of InkTank printer in 2011 January. We are leading this market since last 10 years and we are number one market player in both Inktank & Inkjet market. RAJEEV: WHAT ARE THE KEY FACTORS PROPELLING THE INKJET PRINTER MARKET GROWTH IN INDIA? This growth has mainly come from the first-time buyer of inkjet printers or for the learning purpose. Even work from home segment have shown more interest in the InkTank printers. The overall inkjet market has grown in FY20 as compared to FY19. These trends will continue to drive the InkTank market further in current FY as well. Now the demand for ink cartridges has been fine. As per the Q1 2021 market report, we captured 50.85% market share in the overall inkJet market space. RAJEEV: WHAT ARE THE KEY CHANNEL STRATEGIES FOR UPCOMING FESTIVE SEASON? SIVA KUMAR: We are very much looking forward the upcoming festive season. We told our first-tier partner to work on width building across their geographical locations to enusre Epson printers’ availability across the country. We know the major buyers during this festival season are going to be the home segments. The focus is given more on entry level multifunction printers and the WiFi multifunction printers. We focus on these two models to secure high enough inventory at all our channel partners to gain the festival season market share. Secondly, Digital connectivity is very simple to connect with many people at their convenience so we are continuously keeping in touch with our channel partners and understanding their all requirements including availability of

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“

We know the major buyers during this festival season are going to be the home segments.

“

RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU SEE POSITIONING OF EPSON INKTANK PRINTERS IN INDIAN MARKET?

- Siva Kumar

stock. All these are carried out by our sales people across the country and the fulfillment happens between the first tier partner to the second tier partner. Thirdly, we continually give tools to our channel partners to push to the end customer. RAJEEV: IS THERE ANY PLAN TO ADD MORE PARTNERS IN CERTAIN AREAS OR REGIONS? SIVA KUMAR: We don’t have a fixed plan to appoint new partners. However, we have 3000 registered retail outlets spread across India. In FY’19 we used to have schemes so that the registered partners get into the schemes to achieve any of the slabs. But now there are no schemes. Those that used to sell one unit in a month also are buying directly from our first tier partner. So we were able to spread throughout the channel without any fixed number to achieve. In the recent sell out report we got from the first tier partner is that the number of channel partners have gone up from 3000 to 4000. So the additional 1000 partners have boarded on their own. This has given the advantage to Epson to spread across more channel partners. RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU BALANCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL PARTNERS AND ONLINE SELLERS WHO SELL YOUR PRODUCTS? SIVA KUMAR: We support organic growth. We do not push from our end to get more market share from the online channel. So whatever organic growth is happening online that we are able to fulfill. There is no

special push from our end to increase sales. The first preference is given to traditional channel partners because each and every channel partner speaks about the product well to the customers face to face. When it comes to customers, they already do a lot of homework to identify the right product to purchase. They go through the reviews and they check popular models offline. So offline majorly supports the popularity of the product. We support the offline channel at the same level as before online. For online we are not restricting the convenience of what customers are getting. We allow organic growth to happen online for Epson products but we continue to support our offline channel at the most. RAJEEV: HOW HAVE YOU MANAGED TO OFFER GOOD SERVICE SUPPORT TO YOUR CUSTOMERS? SIVA KUMAR: Epson is very much committed to provide best service support to our loyal customers. We have about 450 service centers across the country to handle any such service queries. Even during existing pandemic, we were able to manage well because we have very wide & strong service network across all region. The engineer does not have to travel a long way to attend the call. All the products from entry level CSS to high end products give constant service support. Based on the restriction on that particular location we are able handle the queries very well with our well trained technical team. OCTOBER 2021 I

EXCLUSIVE CHAT

“WE ARE GRATEFUL TO OUR PARTNERS FOR BEING THE CORE STRENGTH OF SALES FOR ASUS BUSINESS IN INDIA” The Indian PC and components market has witnessed tremendous growth in the last 2-3 years due to the emergence of newer verticals in Indianmarket. The pandemic has played a significant role in driving the growth of this market as the WFH and LFH segments have contributed immensely in propelling the market. Technology brands have adapted to meet the requirements of their customers and provide them with the best devices that can enhance their efficiency and productivity. ASUS is a leading brand in the Indian IT industry that caters to a diverse set of customers with a wide range of PC components like Motherboards, Graphics Cards, Newtorking products, Gaming Peripherals and lot more. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently held an exclusive conversation with Vinay Shetty, ASUS Regional Director - Components Business, India and South Asia. The discussion revolves around the current market scenario, ASUS business growth and the role of its partners. Read the excerpt below:

market leaders. I can personally say this based on feedback from many of clientele – Enterprise and Consumer - I directly engage with, that ASUS BIOS is the most well thought out and built firmware by any other Motherboard manufacturer. Our product strategy varies depending on nature of business of our clientele RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU SEE THE GROWTH OF ASUS’S PC COMPONENT BUSINESS SINCE THE PANDEMIC HAS DISRUPTED THE MARKET? VINAY: With the demand of laptops and PCs shooting up during the pandemic, in parallel, Mini PCs, components and hardware demand has gone up as well. Whilst most companies and organisations are slowly resuming offices, the peak demand may taper of a little bit but with most workplaces adopting the hybrid model work of operations we believe the demand and growth for PC components and peripherals are here to stay. RAJEEV: WHAT IS YOUR STRENGTH IN THE MOTHERBOARD BUSINESS? WHAT IS YOUR PRODUCT STRATEGY TO DELIGHT THE TECH SAVVY CUSTOMERS? VINAY: As you would be aware, our core business has been the Motherboard business ever since the inception of ASUS as an organisation. The level of R&D, components used, testing and manufacturing process to ensure products we build are built to last and that’s what makes us 14

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The quality of the products we manufacture speak for themselves, hence potential customers are confident in choosing us.

RAJEEV: WHAT IS YOUR KEY APPROACH FOR THE CONTENT CREATORS AS THEY NOW NEED MORE POWERFUL AND IMPROVED PC EXPERIENCE? HOW DO YOU ASSURE YOUR CUSTOMERS THAT THEY ARE INVESTING IN RIGHT BRAND? VINAY: ASUS is a brand that resonates with consumers be it with Mobile phones, pre-built systems, Mini PCs or even components and we are constantly innovating to cater to every type of customer. We have a very inclusive approach and our vast product portfolio mirrors this. The strong associations with our OEM partners or Key opinion leaders apart from the countless global accolades and awards we have received are a further validation. Another strong show is the quality of the products we manufacture speak for themselves, hence potential customers are confident in choosing us. RAJEEV: AS THE GAMING MARKET IS ON THE RISE SO HOW ARE YOU WORKING TO DEVELOP HIGH-END PRODUCTS TO LEVERAGE THE OPPORTUNITIES?

products from dedicated gaming phones and PC’s to Hardware components, LCD’s, Networking routers that have been manufacturing products keeping gamers – Both PC and Mobile in mind. While Mobile gaming for us developed in the last 5 years, we have been making dedicated gaming products since 2006. Last year the market definitely saw a surge in the number of casual gamers and now we have products even under our TUF Gaming banner catering to this segment. RAJEEV: TRADITIONAL CHANNEL PARTNERS PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE SUCCESS OF ANY BRAND SO HOW DO YOU RECKON THE CONTRIBUTION OF YOUR CHANNEL PARTNERS WHO SELL YOUR PRODUCTS TO LAST MILE? VINAY: Traditional channel partners have been pivotal to any IT business. We are grateful to our partners for being the core strength of sales for Asus business in India. Over the last 3 decades of successful Asus Business in India we have grown together with the partners and their contribution has been immense. The expansion of our product portfolio beyond Motherboards, Graphics cards and hardware is a testimony to their contribution. Their support is important to us and we have seen lot of partners grow with us in these years. We firmly believe in the spirit of WIN-WIN. For us to win our Partner has to win as well.

VINAY: ASUS has a sub brand – ROG (Republic of Gamers) that encompass www.digitalterminal.in

JUST-IN

SOPHOS WITNESSED WORLDWIDE GROWTH OF MSP CONNECT Sophos MSP Connect achieved 67% year-over-year billings growth in the first quarter fiscal year 2022, ending June 30, 2021, and 55% year-over-year billings growth in fiscal year 2021, ending March 31, 2021, through MSP Connect Flex, Sophos’ flexible monthly billing program. MSP Connect now supports more than 16,500 global and regional MSPs worldwide, a 54% increase since April 1, 2020, the start of Sophos’ fiscal year 2021. Sophos MSP Connect continues to experience double digit growth in Asia Pacific and Japan, achieving 74% year-over-year billings growth in the first quarter fiscal year 2022, ending June 30, 2021, and 53% year-over-year billings growth in fiscal year 2021, ending March 31, 2021, through MSP Connect Flex, Sophos’ flexible monthly billing program. New to the MSP Connect portfolio is Sophos XDR, the industry’s only extended detection and response (XDR) solution that synchronizes native endpoint, server, firewall, and email security. Sophos Intercept X with XDR and other pillar products – including Sophos Firewall and Sophos Cloud Security – share threat intelligence in real time for coordinated and automated response to threats as part of the Sophos adaptive cybersecurity ecosystem, a new open security architecture for protection. Built on a cloud-based data lake with the industry’s richest data set, the ecosystem continuously improves based on the collective input of Sophos solutions and services, partners, customers, developers, and other security industry vendors. MSPs further benefit with Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR), a fully-managed threat hunting, detection and response service that provides a dedicated 24/7 security team to rapidly identify and neutralize sophisticated and complex threats. The customizable offering provides tremendous growth opportunities for partners, and is one of the industry’s most widely used managed detection and response services, now with more than 5,000 customers. “We’re seeing unprecedented demand for integrated security solutions and services that better protect customers and enable www.digitalterminal.in

partners to expand their business,” said Barlow. “Sophos is constantly innovating, and we’re arming MSPs with the multilayered security needed for protection, visibility and compliance of on-premises and public cloud environments. Sophos’ new managed cloud security bundle, for example, provides everything MSPs need to extend their cybersecurity expertise to the public cloud.” MSPs manage Sophos solutions and services in the cloud-based Sophos Central platform, where they can oversee all customer installations – both on-premises and in the public cloud, respond to alerts, and track licenses and upcoming renewal dates via a single, intuitive interface. WHAT CHANNEL PARTNERS SAY: “A customer recently became the target of what could have resulted in a devastating breach, but we were able to quickly stop the attack thanks to the Sophos Rapid Response team, which provided critical support in an extremely challenging situation. We’ve now made it a requirement for all ITConnexx customers to implement

Sophos MTR, so that neither us nor our clients find ourselves in a similar situation again,” said Brian O’Shaughnessy, CEO at ITConnexx. “The innovation behind Sophos XDR is another game changer in how we’re able to protect our customers from today’s most sophisticated threats with an all-encompassing holistic view of their environments.” “The cybersecurity threat landscape is extremely volatile, and one of the biggest challenges we face as an MSP is in finding industry-best vendors that not only help differentiate our business, but more importantly ensure our customers are protected from the most advanced and never-before-seen threats,” said Bob Coppedge, CEO at Simplex-IT. “Sophos solutions and services provide the industry’s best protection, bar none. The enablement and education further provided through MSP Connect helps us create the bridge we need to communicate with executives – especially those who don’t always understand the intricacies of cybersecurity.”

OCTOBER 2021 I

LAPPY CORNER

ASUS INTRODUCES NEW VIVOBOOK K15 OLED WITH INTEL 11TH GEN PROCESSOR ASUS VivoBook K15 OLED offers unique design with multi-color options that are tailor-made for a younger demographic. The new VivoBook series runs on the latest 11th Generation Intel® Core™ processors along with Intel Iris Xe graphics and comes in four CPU variants – Intel i3, Intel i5, Intel i7 and AMD R5.

ASUS announced the expansion of its consumer laptop portfolio with the launch of all new VivoBook K15 OLED. This is ASUS’s first VivoBook line-up with OLED display in India, strengthening brand’s commitment to make OLED more accessible to masses by introducing it at an affordable price point. Designed especially for the Gen Z users, the all new VivoBook K15 OLED breaks the conventional form factor and comes with unique design, inspired by the themes that reflect the ideas and attitudes of today’s youth. ASUS is all set to add on to the festive spree of its consumers by uplifting their on-screen experience The new VivoBook series runs on the latest 11th Generation Intel® Core™ processors along with Intel Iris Xe graphics and comes in four CPU variants – Intel i3, Intel i5, Intel i7 and AMD R5. The laptops are designed to meet the all-rounder needs of the consumers, offering an immersive viewing experience with 15.6-inch Full HD OLED panel, three-sided NanoEdge display, 5.75 mm bezel and 84% screento-body ratio at an affordable price. Commenting on the launch, Arnold Su, Business Head, Consumer and Gaming PC, System Business Group, ASUS India, said, “ASUS has been committed towards making industry leading innovation available to masses. With the launch of the first ever VivoBook with an OLED display, we are making our promise of enabling consumers with superior quality OLED technology a reality. Like other ASUS consumer lineup, VivoBook K15 OLED too is a result of in-depth consumer insights and top-notch technology. We are certain that the new lineup

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will elevate consumers’ celebration ahead of the festive season, enabling them to easily transform from work to play while giving their productivity a big boost.” DESIGNED FOR GENERATION Z ASUS VivoBook K15 OLED offers unique design with multi-color options that are tailor-made for a younger demographic. Since the research suggests that Gen Z users greatly value aesthetics, so special consideration is given to the laptop design and colors. To further appeal to the target audience, the K15 OLED breaks away from tradition with unique designs, each drawing inspiration from themes that reflect the ideas and attitudes of today’s youth. IMMERSIVE DISPLAY AND SLEEK DESIGN VivoBook K15 OLED features an ultraportable and lightweight design, which can be slipped into one’s bag with ease and can be carried comfortably. VivoBook K15 OLED has an amazing OLED NanoEdge display that renders true-to-life colors at any brightness level, with deep blacks for enhanced realism. It’s PANTONE® Validated for superb color accuracy, and has a cinema-grade 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. The ultrafast response time ensures blur-free movies and games, and its low blue-light levels are TÜV Rheinland-certified for better eye care. The three-sided NanoEdge design features slim bezels that create an 85% screen-to-body ratio for a more immersive viewing experience, making it perfect for budding content creators.

POWER THAT EMPOWERS USERS Powered by the latest 11th generation Intel® Core™ processor, ASUS is empowering its consumers with AMD as well as Intel options across the VivoBook K15 OLED lineup. Compared with the previous generation of processors, the 11th Gen Intel Core processors provide better computing performance and can enable FHD gameplay at up to 60 fps with better battery life and mobility than previously possible. The new processors revolutionize modern creative workflows with Intel® Deep Learning Boost AI acceleration and AV1 media encoding and decoding technology. ASUS INTELLIGENT PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY (AIPT) The new ASUS VivoBook series features ASUS Intelligent Performance Technology (AIPT) that sets power limit value of the processor from 15 to 28 watts to improve performance. AIPT also dynamically adjusts power consumption according to the loading status and temperatures, to optimize power consumption efficiency, and to achieve quieter operation and cooler temperatures.

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MARKET REPORT

TP-LINK CONTINUES TO LEAD INDIAN WLAN MARKET WITH 24.4% MARKET SHARE India’s networking market, which includes Ethernet Switch, Routers, and WLAN segments, witnessed a reasonable 14.1% yearover-year (YoY) growth in terms of vendor revenues during 2Q21 (April – June), according to International Data Corporation (IDC). The increased YoY growth could be attributed to the weak base last year caused by the first wave of the pandemic. However, Indian enterprises continued to invest in network infrastructure and the overall vendor revenues grew 5.6% sequentially irrespective of the second wave of the pandemic. Switching business in India had a strong 20.9% YoY growth during 2Q21. The very high growth could be attributed to a very slow 2Q20. However, the non-DC switching business, which remained slow due to the shutdown of campuses grew by 38.5% YoY, anticipating the hybrid work trend to be prevalent in the new normal. Key industries that contributed to the switching business include professional services, telecommunications, process manufacturing, and banking. India’s router market too expanded by 18.6% YoY. Both the enterprise and service provider segments grew by 20.3% and 18% YoY, respectively. Service providers were investing in routing hardware, majorly around optimizing capacities and building edge data centers, to enable enterprise use cases. Apart from telecom, other key verticals for routing include professional services, process manufacturing, and banking. The WLAN segment declined marginally by 7.0% YoY. Consumer gateway routers declined by 23.7% after a massive spike in revenues for the last four quarters. The market was flooded with an excess supply of gateway routers which caused the eventual slowdown during 2Q21. Enterprise-class wireless, however, sustained the recovery by growing 11.5% YoY. Enterprises were investing in access points, anticipating the hybrid work scenario once offices open. Wi-Fi 6 is gradually becoming the de facto technology, thereby rapidly expanding the access layer to facilitate a variety of enterprise applications. INDIA ETHERNET SWITCH MARKET 2Q21 According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker , the 2Q21 Ethernet

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Switch market in India stood at USD 147.5 million (by vendor revenue), registering a robust YoY growth of 20.9%. The investments in 2Q21 leaned more towards non-DC switches with strong YoY growth of 38.5% while DC switching grew by a marginal 2.2%. The campus demand that was muted for the entire 2020 started to spend the pent-up demand ahead of opening offices in India. However, enterprises continued to suffer due to the ongoing chip shortages, thereby significantly delaying the lead times. Professional services, telecommunications, process manufacturing, and banking were the top verticals for 2Q21. Cisco continued to dominate the Ethernet Switch market with a 58.6% share during 2Q21, followed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper. INDIA ROUTER MARKET 2Q21 According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Router Tracker, the India Router market in 2Q21 stood at USD 81.1 million (by vendor revenue) with a robust YoY growth of 18.6%. The noticeably high growth was due to the weak base caused during the first wave of the pandemic. Both the enterprise and service provider investments in routing grew by 20.3% and 18.0% YoY, respectively. Telecom vendor investments were mostly centered around refreshes, bandwidth optimization requirements, building edge clouds, investments ahead of 5G rollouts, etc. Apart from telecom, the key investments areas included

professional services, process manufacturing, and banking. Cisco leads the router market with a 68.2% market share in 2Q21 followed by Nokia and Juniper. INDIA WLAN MARKET 2Q21 According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Wireless LAN Tracker, the Indian WLAN market had a marginal YoY decline of 7% during 2Q21, majorly driven by the consumer wireless segment. The market stood at USD 50.3 million (by vendor revenue). The enterprise-class WLAN sustained the recovery made in 1Q21 and recorded a YoY growth of 11.5%. With a market share of 24.4%, TP-Link was the market leader in the WLAN segment during 2Q21. Within the enterprise-class WLAN segment, Cisco was the market leader with a 20.9% market share, followed by HPE with 16.1%.

OCTOBER 2021 I

NEWS IN BRIEF

ACER LAUNCHES EXCITING OFFERS FOR THIS FESTIVE SEASON

Acer announced a host of festive season offers across its line-up of laptops on purchase from its exclusive retail store and online store. With laptops becoming an integral device for working, learning, and staying connected there is no better occasion than this season to gift yourself or your loved ones the power and usability of an Acer laptop. The offers include 1st year Accidental damage protection and 2 years Extended Warranty offer and exciting goodies worth up to a total Rs 14999 at just Rs 1999. Customers can also get Cash Back offers along with No Cost EMI on a range of Acer products from Acer authorized retail stores across India. Additionally, customers can avail great exchange offer Prices by trading in old laptop for a new Acer laptop. The offers are valid till November 10th 2021.

MSI BRINGS EXCITING DEALS ON ITS PRODUCTS FOR THIS DIWALI

MSI has announced great offers and huge discounts up to 48% on a range of monitor and desktop products, including gaming series, business & productivity series to celebrate the Festive Season with fans. “See Beyond the GAME, Visualize your Victory” as

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MSI defined their gaming monitor. It is time to get a better view on the battlefield and aim through the opponents as swift as an arrow. Business and Productivity Monitors come equipped with the best work from home features that offer unmatched flexibility – allowing gamers to make work from home experience as efficient and comfortable as possible. In addition to this, the brand is also hosting a “Sweepstakes Competition” for the fans who love MSI desktop products. MSI’s latest Diwali Campaign slogan ‘Spend time with your loved ones’ focuses on the joy of being together with loved ones, and shows how MSI integrates and elevates this experience of togetherness. Visit the activity page for more details, good luck.

ESET RESEARCH REPORTS FONTONLAKE MALWARE ATTACKING LINUX IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

ESET researchers have discovered a previously unknown malware family that utilizes custom and well-designed modules, targeting operating systems running Linux. Modules used by this malware family, which ESET dubbed FontOnLake, are constantly under development and provide remote access to the operators, collect credentials, and serve as a proxy server. The location of the C&C server and the countries from which the samples were uploaded to VirusTotal might indicate that its targets include Southeast Asia. “The sneaky nature of FontOnLake’s tools in combination with advanced design and low prevalence suggest that they are used in targeted attacks,” explains Vladislav Hrčka, ESET Malware Researcher who analyzed this threat. To collect data or conduct other malicious activity, this malware family uses modified legitimate binaries that are adjusted to load further components. In fact, to conceal its existence, FontOnLake’s presence is always accompanied by a rootkit. These binaries are commonly used on Linux systems and can additionally serve as a persistence mechanism.

AMD ANNOUNCES GOAL TO INCREASE ENERGY EFFICIENCY 30X BY 2025

AMD announced a goal to deliver a 30x increase in energy efficiency for AMD EPYC CPUs and AMD Instinct accelerators in Artificial Intelligence (AI) training and High Performance Computing (HPC) applications running on accelerated compute nodes by 2025. Accomplishing this ambitious goal will require AMD to increase the energy efficiency of a compute node at a rate that is more than 2.5x faster than the aggregate industry-wide improvement made during the last five years. Accelerated compute nodes are the most powerful and advanced computing systems in the world used for scientific research and large-scale supercomputer simulations. They provide the computing capability used by scientists to achieve breakthroughs across many fields including material sciences, climate predictions, genomics, drug discovery and alternative energy. The 30x goal would save billions of kilowatt hours of electricity in 2025, reducing the power required for these systems to complete a single calculation by 97 percent over five years.

VIEWSONIC PROMOTES SANJOY BHATTACHARYA TO DIRECTOR- SALES AND MARKETING – IT BUSINESS ViewSonic Corp. has recently announced Mr. Sanjoy Bhattacharya’s appointment to Director- Sales and Marketing for the Monitor segment. Mr. Bhattacharya joined ViewSonic in September 2020 as IT Business Head, as the Director of Sales and Marketing, he will now oversee the growth and strategy of the segment, manage budgets and drive sales performance. His responsibilities also include developing key marketing strategies, building relationships, and understanding customer trends for the IT business. Apart www.digitalterminal.in

NEWS IN BRIEF

from heading the ViewSonic Monitor business of the company for the Indian market, he will further support in developing ViewSonic’s business strategies and building business growth. With experience of over 30 years in the industry, he has been proficient in boosting the various segments of the IT business in the Indian market. In addition, he possesses rich knowledge of the Indian Display Industry, International Panel-Price Trends, and Channel Management.

KASPERSKY ENDPOINT SECURITY CLOUD ATTAINS 100% EFFICIENCY AGAINST RANSOMWARE ATTACKS: AV-TEST

Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud demonstrated 100% efficiency against ransomware attacks, according to a recent assessment by AV-TEST. As a result of three different scenarios and 113 attack samples, the product didn’t lose a single user file and outran 10 different cybersecurity vendors. AV-TEST examined 11 endpoint protection platforms for three scenarios: real-world ransomware attacks on user files stored in a local system, real-world ransomware attacks on user files located in a remote shared folder, and Proof of Concept of ransomware attacks on user files on a local system. The test included 25 ransomware families such as REvil, Ryuk, Conti, Lockbit, pysa, Ragnarlocker, Ransomexx and others, as well as 14 PoCs. Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud completely blocked 100% of attacks in all three scenarios with no single user file being encrypted, and threats were eliminated from the protected system. Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud scored the highest protection rate across all products tested, proving its value for businesses against this type of attack.

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ASHIS GUHA JOINS OLIVE DATA CENTRE AS CEO – ASIA PACIFIC & JAPAN Olive Data Centre announced the appointment of Mr. Ashis Guha as the CEO for Asia Pacific & Japan region. He will be based out of Melbourne, Australia, and will be working closely with Mr. Pravin Mohite, CMD, Olive Data Centre. Ashis has donned many hats in his 26 years of professional career. He brings rich technology industry leadership and executive management experience having held senior roles with global technology companies including Sun Microsystems, Brocade, NetApp, Sanovi, Wipro, and HCL. Ashis has served as the CEO of RAH Infotech in his last assignment in India. “I am excited about joining Olive and look forward to this new role. It is a great opportunity for me to bring my learnings and work towards growing and expanding the business. Olive is poised for significant change and growth, and I am looking forward to contribute and be part of this growth” said Ashis.

DELL AND MEITY START-UP HUB COME TOGETHER TO SUPPORT STARTUPS

Jitendra Vijayvargiya, CEO, MeitY Startup Hub and Sudiip Goswami, Director & General Manager - South India & Start-Ups, Dell Technologies

MeitY Start-up Hub (MSH), an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), aimed at strengthening the deep-tech ecosystem across India, has entered into a partnership with Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd. (Dell Technologies). The said collaboration shall help the start-ups by providing mentorship and training for their upskilling, access to pitching events as well as customer base, technology support in the

form of Dell products/ equipment etc. “At Dell, we are committed to ensuring smooth operations and business continuity for our customers. Our collaboration with MSH is a step further towards building an ecosystem that is aimed at making businesses much more resilient and operationally efficient. This partnership will also present exclusive offers on Dell’s Client and Infrastructure solutions to start-ups enabling them to keep their businesses agile, secure and growing, in today’s rapidly changing environment. Our solutions are designed to empower organizations to continue with their business as usual and innovate into a new future.” says, Sudiip Goswami, Director & General Manager - South India & StartUps, Dell Technologies

TAITRA LAUNCHES TAIWAN PRODUCT CENTRE IN INDIA

Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) launched the Taiwan Product Centre (TPC) in India with the aim to support its business ties and expand its market presence in India. Taiwan Product Centre aims to garner USD 25 million in sales by 2023 and hopes to assist 15 companies to have a sales channel in the Indian market. The current trade volume with TPC is in the range of 8 – 10 Million USD and the immediate aim is to pave the way for at least 5 new TPC companies to enter the market with average sales of 1 Million USD. Apart from enabling business interaction with Indian companies, TPC has also scaled up its state-of-the-art products and technology offering across their Centres in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. These Product Centres display a wide array of products from reputed Taiwan companies and thus is a strategic avenue for consumers to experience the latest innovative offerings across various industrial segments, all under one roof.

OCTOBER 2021 I

SECURITY FOCUS

WITH THE RISE OF DIGITAL ECONOMY, ORGANIZATIONS URGED TO UP CYBERTHREAT INTELLIGENCE India is witnessing exponential growth in the adoption of digital technology across sectors and institutions, enabling a large number of people to avail themselves not only of services and conveniences but also governance solutions. Digital adoption has been the hallmark of COVID-19 times, and one of the key sectors to have created value through the use of technology is the financial sector, making sure that business continued as usual. However, the rise of digital has also been accompanied by growing need for cyberthreat intelligence and protection, to proactively minimize risks and ward off cyberattacks. Threat intelligence is about identifying and analyzing cyberthreats targeting a business. IT specialists use sophisticated tools to read threats and analyse them, applying historical knowledge to identify a real threat apart from one that is not, and then applying a solution to mitigate it. The better and more comprehensive the tool, the more robust is threat intelligence. While enterprises and institutions are waking up to the actual scale of dangers posed by weak cybersecurity systems targeting not only finances but also user data, Kaspersky has urged players to take speedy steps to strengthen their cybersecurity systems as the only way to protect not only their funds and data but also their reputation and the consumer’s trust in their ability to service them. This need to step up cyberthreat intelligence was the key insight shared by the company at a recent event hosted virtually on 24th September. The event featured a virtual game night that allowed participants to become ‘cyber detective for a day’. Through the game, they understood the various key risks facing businesses and the solutions available to mitigate them. The online gaming software simulated a number of cyberthreat incidents, for which were highlighted a range of solutions. As a result, participants were reminded of the various kinds of vulnerabilities that exist in the digital world and the counter-measures required for it. While large businesses have woken up to cyberthreats, a lot more awareness is needed. Media’s role in making medium- and small-sized businesses and institutions aware of these risks and urging 20

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them to take steps in the right direction is seen as crucial. On the other hand, large businesses too need to keep investing in latest cybersecurity solutions to ensure that their systems are constantly upgraded. At the event, Kaspersky’s range of Threat Intelligence solutions were introduced: • Kaspersky offers a full suite of Threat Intelligence Services, which ensures organisations have access to latest and round the clock ‘Threat data feeds’ that cover the various threats facing them, from phishing links and malware to malicious objects that target Android and iOS platforms. The feed is sourced from Kaspersky’s own cloud infrastructure ‘Kaspersky Security Network’ which comprises web crawlers, Botnet Monitoring (its proprietary platform), email honeypots, and more. • Its threat intelligence is machine readable and actionable through automated incident response, termed as Cybertrace, a threat intelligence platform that seamlessly integrates threat data feeds in various formats as well as SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solutions. • Kaspersky offers Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) Intelligence reporting to help businesses keep in the know of the latest in

high-profile cyber-espionage campaigns in a comprehensive manner. It enables users to learn about the vulnerabilities and their solutions that are most current. • With its Digital Footprint Intelligence, the company enables businesses to monitor their online presence across various digital assets and protect them in a proactive manner through relevant information. • The Kaspersky Threat Lookup recognizes the maxim ‘forewarned is forearmed’ in its digital parlance. It provides security teams with the latest information about URLs, domains, IP addresses and more that exhibit unusual behaviour and that could potentially pose threats to an organization. This

intelligence is enriched in real time with global experts and security teams constantly adding valuable input and insights. • Kaspersky’s Cloud Sandbox goes beyond the threats that are seen, to create an instrument that detects threats that are unknown or the ones that work around the security systems of an organization, adding yet another layer of protection or sandboxing that is extremely sophisticated, way beyond even the most advanced anti-viral tools. • Finally, Kaspersky also offers Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Threat Intelligence Reporting Service as a means to constantly keep its users current about the various malicious campaigns targeting industrial organisations, delivered electronically. Dipesh Kaura (GM, South Asia) noted at the event, “In today’s world, where data is the new oil, cyberthreats can hurt businesses in more ways than one. Our digital world is a vulnerable one where only a specific few in an organization possess the skills or the ability to effectively monitor or respond to cybersecurity incidents. As a result, a comprehensive system based on intelligent infrastructure is your best bet against such attacks, which are growing more and more frequent. As a result, it is important to recognize that as an organization with digital presence, you are only as strong as your cybersecurity systems. Kaspersky lends organisations the cybersecurity edge they need to provide services in a way that inspires confidence and protects them and their consumers.”

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SPOTLIGHT

ACER LAUNCHES SIX NEW POWERFUL LAPTOPS WITH WINDOWS 11 ACER unveiled a range of laptops with the latest Windows 11 operating system aimed at consumers looking for power-packed performance in an ultra-thin stylish design built around Windows 11. The laptops also come pre-loaded with Office 2021. In-Office 2021, you’ll find new inking tools, data types, functions, translation and editing tools, motion graphics, ease-of-use features, and so much more. Speaking on the occasion Mr. Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India, stated, “We are thrilled to launch our new products with new Windows 11 OS that represent a significant leap forward in design, ease of use, security, responsiveness, and connectivity for our customers who wants to blend work, life, and passion-projects on-the-go. Acer laptops with Windows 11 give the best way to enjoy the new OS. Our close collaboration with Microsoft has enabled us to bring a wide range of Windows 11 laptops to market at the launch date and shows our commitment to our customers to bring the best to the market first.” SWIFT X: The new Acer Swift X (SFX14-41G) is powered by AMD Ryzen 5 5600U Hexacore processor. It has a base clock speed of 2.3Ghz and can go up to 4.2Ghz. For graphics, Acer has equipped this model with 4GB Nvidia RTX 3050 GPU and AMD Radeon™ Graphics come with ultrathin form-factor. Swift X comes with 16GB of ram and has 512GB of SSD storage. The display on this model is a 14-inch Full HD screen with 100% sRGB color gamut supported. It has an IPS panel with a peak brightness of 300nits supported. Acer has equipped this model with a 4-cell 59Whr battery. Price starts from Rs 86999

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SWIFT 3: Offering a balance between performance and design, two models in the Acer Swift 3 line is powered by new 11th Gen Intel Core processors and AMD Ryzen 5000U series processor. Both the laptops come with a sleek metal chassis, the latest technology including Intel Iris Xe graphics and Thunderbolt 4. The AMD Ryzen 5000U (model SF314-43) and Intel Core i5-11th Gen (model SF314-511) provide superior performance. Price starts from Rs 62999 ASPIRE 5: The new Aspire 5 comes with a wide range of color options and the slim 17.95mm body projects an ultra-modern look and has an ergonomic hinge design that increases airflow on the underneath. The Acer Aspire 5 is powered by the latest 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors and comes in 14 inch 15.6-inch screen size to address diverse computing needs and experiences. Users have plenty of power and storage to carry out their tasks with up to 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD and up to 2TB HDD. Price starts from Rs.57999 ASPIRE 3: This laptop is powered with up to Intel Core i5-1135G7 with a 4.2 GHz clock speed that lets the consumer do multitask without any lags or interruptions. Aspire 3 also comes with hybrid storage using SSD and HDD configuration which provides fast boot-up and software performance while the HDD provides ample storage for large files. The

fingerprint reader adds an extra layer of security using Windows Hello while providing a convenient way to sign-in. It is the perfect all-rounder laptop on a budget now with Windows 11. Price starts from Rs. 55999 SPIN 3: The slim and convertible Spin 3 is a 2 in 1 touchscreen laptop for productivity on the go. It comes with a 13.3 inch 16:10 display and long battery life delivers better video and web browsing. The built-in Acer Active Stylus with Wacom AES 1.0 makes drawing and writing easy, and an 11th Gen Intel ® Core™ Processor with Intel® Iris ® Xe graphics, Windows 11 that is engineered for long-lasting performance for work and play. The Spin 3 has a battery life of up to 15 hours and charges in just 30 minutes; providing 4 hours of power user creativity. Price starts from Rs. 74999 SPIN 5: The Acer Spin 5 is a unique ultra-slim convertible laptop made of sturdy aluminum-magnesium alloy in a sharp slender form, feather-light weight, plenty of versatility, powerful performance, and extreme durability for creations without limitations. With the 11th Gen Intel® Core i7 processor with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics, Windows 11 and 15 hours of battery life, up to 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD, and up to 16GB LPDDR4X RAM, experience a high level of processing power even while you’re out of the office. The 15hour long-lasting battery life is plenty for creating all day. Price starts from Rs. 99999.

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GAMERS CORNER

GET ULTIMATE GAMING EXPERIENCE WITH NEW GALAX’ GAMING GEARS

GALAXY MICROSYSTEMS LTD. announced its all-new gaming gear series designed for the PC gamers, allowing them to enjoy a seamless gaming experience alongside with GALAX’s GPU and other computer parts. As a world leading brand of GPU, GALAX strives to provide the hardcore gamers and overclocking enthusiasts with a variety choice of high-performance gaming products and the best assembled GPUs. Thus, GALAX announced the launch of its all-new GALAX GAMING GEAR series products which includes STEALTH gaming keyboard series. SLIDER gaming mouse series, SONAR gaming headset series, RGB GAMING CHAIR gaming chair series, REVOLUTION PC Case series, VORTEX WIND RGB PC cooling fan series, Thermal Grease cooling accessories series and its upcoming 22

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esports monitor and CPU cooler. Expressing pleasure with DT over this new launch, Vikas Gupta, Director, Technology and Gadgets (TAG) said, “We are excited to launch GALAX gaming gears for Indian customers. This helps in widening channel base and more stronger relationship with partners & customers. By bringing these innovative products, Galax has strengthen their position in India market. Currently Galax enjoys best five brand positioning in the Indian markt. With addition to these new products, GALAX is among few only brands who offer complete product solutions for gamers or high end PC users. GALAX portfolio is very wide which includes GRAPHIC CARDS / MBDS / CHASIS/HP/ MICE/ CHAIRS/AIO/ mechanical keyboards/ ARGB fans. GALAX will shortly launch 27inch IPS gaming monitors in India. So selling GALAX is really win win situation for all our partners.” “Galax is glad to launch much awaited Gaming Gears for Indian customers. India is an important market for Galax as we have seen tremendous growth in

gamers community who all are looking to build best performing PC at an affordable price. Gaming Gear offers products from budget segment to mid and high end. We always believe in maintaining robust quality to give best of the experience to consumer while playing Gaming, creating or consuming digital contents. With Gaming Gears we intend to connect more with consumers and partners. Now with such a aggressive product placement, we are looking to widen Galax’s reach. At Galax we believe in providing Quality, Reliable and affordable product to consumer. We see Gaming Gears launch a game changer for Galax in India. There is everlasting need of good quality products at an affordable price point, best after sales support and Galax is answer to all this,” added by Dinesh Kumar, Country Manager-India, Galax, while talking to DT. www.digitalterminal.in

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“WE AT DELL TECHNOLOGIES ARE ALIGNED WITH THE CHANGING TECHNOLOGY TRENDS” The business landscape is changing rapidly which has forced businesses to deploy the next-gen technologies. Indian businesses have been very aggressive to adopt effective digital measures to increase the flexibility, speed, and security of business operations. Organizations are utilizing modernized solutions to strengthen their IT infrastructure and gain a competitive edge. Bringing new digital strategies to lead in the competitive business space is the need of today. Dell Technologies brings advanced technological solutions to help such businesses sail through challenging business environments. Dell’s PowerEdge product portfolio is helping businesses across the sectors irrespective of their sizes. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently held an exclusive chat with MANISH GUPTA, SENIOR DIRECTOR & GENERAL MANAGER, INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS GROUP, DELL TECHNOLOGIES INDIA.

Mr. Manish spoke about the changing business landscape, their innovations and plans to grow in this market. Read below the excerpts: RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU SEE THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE WHERE DEMAND FOR EFFECTIVE IT INFRA HAS INCREASED DUE TO REMOTE WORKING? MANISH: The past year has completely revolutionized the working ecosystem across the globe. The majority of the businesses have adopted work from home or remote working models, forcing them to upgrade their IT infrastructures from connectivity to application utilization and security there has been a dramatic increase in dependency on IT. Now, as we move further in this new normal, we would witness the adoption of more and more new-age technologies that will help organizations establish a seamless operating setup. In fact, IT teams are continuously working towards the deployment of modernized solutions to increase the flexibility, speed, and security of business transactions. Currently, CIOs and IT leaders need to keep a regular check on technological shifts and bring in new ideas and strategies to support and enhance workforce productivity. Along with this, they need to deploy persistent security infrastructure with automation capabilities, to manage the increase in data transactional points. So, it won’t be wrong to say that the current landscape is a new chapter for organizations across sectors, and it would be interesting to see how businesses effectively utilize their IT budgets to set up a modern IT ecosystem, to meet their customers’ ever evolving demands. RAJEEV: CAN YOU PLEASE SHARE KEY FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS OF DELL EMC POWEREDGE XR 11 AND XR 12 SERVERS? ALSO LET US KNOW THE COST VARIABLES FOR COMPANIES WHO WISH TO DEPLOY THIS.

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MANISH: The business landscape is changing rapidly, so are our customers’ choices and demands. Hence, keeping these evolving needs of our customers in mind, we recently introduced the new PowerEdge XR11 and XR12 servers. These new servers offer 3rd generation Intel Xeon scalable processors, built for challenging edge environments, including those faced by businesses in industries such as telecommunications, military, and retail. The enhanced server portfolio enables customers to explore newage IT architecture, which would help them enjoy modern technological innovation. The PowerEdge XR11 and XR12 leverage the advantages of the Dell EMC server design in a new direction. They are ruggedized and built with distinctively shallow form factors, intended for challenging environments at the edge. These servers improve on environmental limitation of servers allowing working in non-datacenter locations without compromising on performance and reliability. Additionally, they help organizations meet the demands of digital transformation allowing for applications to be deployed at edge locations nearer to the users or nearer the source of data creation. Moreover, the XR11 and XR12 servers are also supported by Dell EMC OpenManage solutions that deliver automation and intelligent infrastructure management. RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU SEE ACCEPTANCE OF DELL TECHNOLOGIES’ POWEREDGE PORTFOLIO AMONG LARGER COMPANIES? WHICH ARE THE KEY VERTICALS / SEGMENTS WHO ARE DRIVING THE GROWTH OF THIS PRODUCT ACROSS THE INDIAN MARKET? MANISH: Our products are widely accepted and adopted by organizations across segments like professional services, telecommunications, financial institutions, high-tech

semiconductor, manufacturing, etc. These new servers are designed in a manner to address the IT requirements of businesses, irrespective of their size and operations. We at Dell Technologies are aligned with the changing technology trends and constantly develop new-age solutions to address the IT requirements of the entire business ecosystem. Organizations across shapes and sizes have realized the need and benefits of modern infrastructure and architecture and hence, they are able to find significant value in solutions offered by Dell Technologies. RAJEEV: IN RECENT TIMES WE HAVE SEEN A LOT OF NEW PLAYERS ENTERING INTO DATA CENTERS OFFERINGS. HOW DO YOU SEE THE DEPLOYMENT OF YOUR SERVERS AT SUCH LOCATIONS? HOW DO YOU REACH SUCH CUSTOMERS? MANISH: Yes, the majority of the new players in the market are entering into data center offerings due to the increased amount of data that is being generated and the need to manage the same. This move has exponentially increased the requirement of new-age server solutions as they form the bedrock of modern data centers. Our PowerEdge server portfolio is a result of our commitment to understand the problems that our customers are facing amid the changing phase of business operations, for the datacenter providers Dell Technologies offers industry leading automation and ease of management offerings that allow them to offer higher uptime to their customers. Our strength in support and service capabilities across the country also has been a source of assurance to our customers. In these times of a changing IT landscape this allows customer to stay focused on their business and partner with Dell Technologies to accelerate their Digital Transformation journey. www.digitalterminal.in

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Over the years, Dell Technologies has been a preferred technology partner for customers and with increased dependence on digital technologies in current times, we see a increased demand for our servers across segments. Additionally, our channel partners further help in reaching out to such customers and provide them with the support they need to deliver better business results. RAJEEV: WHAT ACCORDING TO YOU WILL BE THE TOP THREE KEY TRENDS IN THE INDIAN SERVER MARKET IN THE COMING DAYS? MANISH: In my opinion, some of the key server trends that have the potential to disrupt the current technology landscape are: WORKLOAD CENTRICITY – The technology landscape has witnessed multiple disruptions, forcing businesses to increase their dependency on technology. Hence, we can expect the role of IT to become more dynamic in nature, to support and create new business models. And, to achieve these innovative business models, organizations will soon deploy new-age workloads at an ever-increasing pace, making it critical for them to adopt work-load-centric server architectures, to extract maximum value. ADOPTION OF ACCELERATORS – We have entered a new decade and businesses would be relying heavily on data-driven insights to help them meet the ever-growing demands of the customers. Thus, for the same, we will see organizations deploying more server architectures, equipped with in-built accelerators (GPU’s, FPGA’s etc), that bring compute closer to data and have the ability to analyze large quantum of data in real-time.

Manish Gupta, Senior Director & General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies India

startups. In order to serve these customers, we rely heavily on our channel partners and believe they are an inevitable force for our business and its expansion. Hence, we continue to invest in developing solutions that will support them in reaching out to the target audience and provide them with the right technology needed to move ahead in their digital transformation.

RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU SEE THE CHANNEL ROLE IN MAINTAINING YOUR LEADERSHIP POSITION ACROSS THE MARKET?

We also have a unique Channel Partner Programme through which we provide our partners the required training that will help them excel in their business. According to this programme, we categorize our partners into 4 categories namely-gold, platinum, titanium and titanium black, and also enable them to expand their product offerings and build skill within their organization and provide value to their customers. Additionally, last year, in order to help our channel partners during these critical times and serve their customers better, we had announced a ‘Partner Relief Package’ to provide them with financial relief. As a part of this initiative, we’ve helped our metal tier partners build the capabilities that they need to succeed for the future.

MANISH: We have an array of products which cater to a wide range of customers across large enterprises, SMEs as well as

RAJEEV: WHAT TECHNICAL SUPPORT DO YOU PROVIDE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS? HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO SUPPORT

EDGE COMPUTING- In today’s era, edge computing possesses the power required to bring computing close to the source of data which can reduce latency and bandwidth use. As the demand for edge computing increases, the demand for new server architectures will also increase since it will be critical to provide the required performance and resiliency.

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YOUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS AMID THE EXISTING PANDEMIC? MANISH: The current situation has been challenging but it also has brought in a revolutionary change in the way business operations are carried out. Due to the adverse situation, businesses across sectors have been forced to rely on technology to maintain business momentum. Automation and remote management has been key and coupled with resilient and reliable infrastructure our customers have been able to adapt and grow in the changing enviornment. Being a leader in technology solutions, we understand the challenges our customers are facing and for the same, provide them with enhanced remote working solutions. Through constant innovation in our product portfolios, we allow our customers to stay nimble and efficient in this new era. Along with this, our technical teams and partners are regularly in touch with our customers and are analysing and fulfilling their IT requirements in real-time. As an industry leader we also see it as a responsibility to keep customers and partners informed and educated about solutions and operating models for this new world, further we also offer customized solutions tailored to our customers’ business needs.

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NEW ARRIVALS LINKSYS E9450 WI-FI 6 EASYMESH ROUTER

Linksys announced the launch of Linksys (AX5400) WiFi 6 EasyMesh router (E9450) in India. The WiFi 6 standard enables customers to enjoy faster data transfers, increased capacity, better connectivity performance in environments with many connected devices, and improved power efficiency. As the latest WiFi 6 solution for consumers increasingly demanding wireless connectivity needs, the Linksys Dual Band AX5400 WiFi 6 EasyMesh routers are now available to Indian customers in two variants, the E9450 and the E9452 for one and two packs respectively. The new E9450 Dual Band WiFi 6 router is Linksys’s latest advanced model under its updated E-series. Enhanced with the latest OFDMA and MUMIMO in WiFi 6 technology, the router will easily adapt to users’ WiFi needs so that devices will always have a full-strength signal for uninterrupted gaming, streaming and smart home device support. The Linksys Dual-Band AX5400 WiFi 6 EasyMesh™ Router E9450, provides best coverage for 1 to 2-bedroom homes, retails at SRP INR14,999/-.

REALME SMART TV NEO Realme launches new realme Smart TV Neo 32” with trending features. Realme Smart TV Neo 32” comes with bezel-less design, that brings an immersive viewing experience to users and will reduce eye strain providing the audience with a comfortable viewing experience. The realme Smart TV Neo 32” features a powerful MediaTek processor that is based on a quad-core 64-bit architecture, which provides users with excellent picture quality and a smooth experience. It is also equipped with two Dolby Audio™ enabled speakers with a total power of up to 20W that provides a cinema-like experience. Realme Smart TV Neo 32” features a built26

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veteran thermal R&D team at ASUS and engineers at Noctua.

TENDA TX3 AND RX3 WI-FI 6 ROUTER in YouTube 2021 and presets the most popular streaming media platforms. It also comprises CC Cast, through which users will be able to cast content from other devices. It supports 2.4GHz WiFi which enables the TV to be wirelessly connected and allows users to enjoy unlimited entertainment platforms. Realme Smart TV Neo 32” is priced at INR 14,999.

ASUS GEFORCE RTX 3070 NOCTUA EDITION GRAPHICS CARD

ASUS announced ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition — a graphics card built around the spirit of Noctua enthusiasts and modders. Noctua aficionados are some of the most dedicated PC DIYers, often creating custom builds with Noctua fans on every open case mount and with a distinctive Noctua cooler atop the CPU. The most die-hard fans even modify their graphics cards to use the distinctive creamand-brown hardware as replacements for their stock GPU fans. If there is any place on a system to put a fan, Noctua enthusiasts can be counted on to add one. In addition to their visual appeal, Noctua fans have smooth noise signatures, optimized airflow characteristics and high reliability, making for cool and quiet PCs that are easy on the ear while delivering sustained high performance. ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition incorporates a pair of state-of-the-art Noctua NF-A12x25 fans to move air over a massive 2.3-slot heatsink developed in partnership between the

Tenda launches its all-new TX3/RX3 Smart Wi-Fi 6 Router in India. Tenda TX3/ RX3 is a Wi-Fi 6 router with a dual-band broadcasting band, with data transfers up to 1775 Mbps (574 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band and 1201 Mbps in 5 GHz). The device is equipped with a quad-core processor and a combination of MU-MIMO and OFDMA technology, for efficient experience to many customers at the same time. What’s more, thanks to the 1024-QAM modulation, the symbol carries 10 instead of 8 bits, which allows for speeds up to 25% higher than those achieved with 256-QAM modulation in the 802.11ac standard. Devices also support beamforming technique and multilayer data transmission as part of the BSS colouring technology, which minimizes the risk of negative interference of radio waves on data transmission, resulting in higher connection stability. The whole thing is complemented by support for the WPA3 protocol and the ability to remotely control the router from the level of the mobile application.

PORTRONICS “DASH” BLUETOOTH SPEAKER

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NEW ARRIVALS Portronics brings out another exciting and valuable addition to its Bluetooth Speaker Range with the launch of “Dash Speaker” which supports USB and 3.5MM Aux connectivity as well. Dash Speaker comes with a Wireless Karaoke Mic that has a built-in audio recording feature. With ‘Portronics Dash’, the musical rhythm will never slow down as it provides up to 5-6 hours of Play-time with 4400 mAh Lithium battery capacity. So, bring up the live music sessions at home and the dance party to life with these Dynamic, Versatile and 40W Powerful Bluetooth speakers. It is enabled with the True Wireless Stereo feature. If you or someone in your circle is fond of having jamming sessions, it is time to make your gatherings more entertaining and memorable. It has a user-friendly digital display that adds charm to the product; you can easily view selected options on the screen. Portronics Dash is available in the market in 3 attractive colors Black, Grey, and Blue at a best price offer of INR 7,499.

ASROCK RX 6600 SERIES GRAPHICS CARDS

ASRock launched new Challenger series products based on AMD Radeon™ RX 6600 GPUs. Built on the 7nm manufacturing process, the new ASRock graphics cards offer support for the DirectX® 12 Ultimate API, hardware-accelerated raytracing, HDMI™ 2.1, PCI® Express 4.0, and the Microsoft® Windows 11 operating system. With a wealth of exclusive features, the new graphics cards are designed to provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate 1080p gaming experiences to the midrange market. The new graphics cards are built on the breakthrough AMD RDNA™ 2 gaming architecture, designed to deliver the optimal balance of performance and power efficiency. Offering 32 MB of highperformance AMD Infinity Cache, 8GB of GDDR6 memory, AMD Smart Access Memory™ and other advanced features, the new graphics cards are designed to bring next-generation desktop gaming www.digitalterminal.in

experiences to the midrange market. They also support the AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution open-source spatial upscaling solution, which is designed to increase framerates while delivering high-resolution gaming experiences.

F&D T-70X MODERN PARTY SPEAKER

The festive season is already around the corner – a perfect chance to create the most enjoyable and exciting moments at home. Bring home the thunder with Fenda Audio’s latest tower speaker and experience a theatre-like atmosphere right in your living room. Fenda Audio announces its latest audio flagship and feature-packed ‘T-70X’ -- a 2.0 Floor Standing Speaker. The T-70X is built to immerse you into your entertainment – be it music or movies. The Fenda Audio T-70X not only looks good and performs best. IT also packs in some of the latest technologies to create an all-rounder feature-packed audio system. Bluetooth 5.0 and Aux input for all your gadgets, USB and Card reader input for MP3/WMA playback, Mic-in for Karaoke mode, PLL Technology for uninterrupted FM Radio with 100-station memory, Optical and HDMI (ARC) inputs for your TV, LED Display, and IR Remote control – you name it, the T-70X has it.

VIEWSONIC HOME-THEATRE PROJECTORS

ViewSonic Corp. has recently announced a new series of Home-Theatre Projectors CPB701-4K and CPB701-HD. The entrylevel projectors offer high brightness of

3500 and 3700 ANSI Lumens respectively producing impressive visuals and true 4K clarity. This power-packed product CPB7014K is equipped with 4.2ms Ultra-Fast Input Lag and 240Hz refresh rate, upgrading the gaming experience to the next level. On the other hand, CPB701-HD offers Full HD 1080p resolution giving an impressive visual performance and is capable of immersive 3D viewing. The newly launched CPB701-4K and CPB701-HD Projectors are ergonomically designed and are easy to set up. The CPB701-4K projector supports HDR and HLG content producing dynamic images and bringing life to the images. With H/V keystone and side support options, the projector can provide perfectly shaped images. It is also equipped with an advanced Projector Warping Tool ensuring a precise projection even on curved surfaces. The entry-level Home Theater projectors CPB701-4K and CPB701- HD are available at an affordable price range- INR 1,99,000 and 1,00,000 respectively.

ACER CONCEPTD 7 SPATIALLABS EDITION LAPTOP

Acer announced the ConceptD 7 SpatialLabs™ Edition laptop (CN71573G), bringing eye-popping, glassesfree stereoscopic 3D to designers and developers. The mobile workstation supports creators with Acer SpatialLabs, a suite of optical, display and sensory technologies with real-time rendering capabilities to deliver a glasses-free stereoscopic 3D experience. A 15.6-inch version of the ConceptD 3 Ezel and a 16:10 version of the ConceptD 3 were also announced. It takes a truly powerful device to render 3D models in real-time, so the ConceptD 7 SpatialLabs Edition laptop has been equipped with up to an 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processor, up to an NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080 Laptop GPU, up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory and up to 2 TBs of NVMe PCIe SSD storage[]. All of this hardware powers a PANTONE®-validated UHD 4K display that boasts a wide range of color technologies to cover 100% of the Adobe RGB color gamut and reach a Delta E. OCTOBER 2021 I

SMARTPHONE SHELF Vivo Y20T Vivo expanded its youthful Y series with the launch of vivo Y20T in India. The smartphone is loaded with top-notch features that deliver an exceptional user experience. OS: Funtouch OS 11.1 Based on Android 11 RAM: 6GB + 1GB Extended Storage: 64GB Display: 6.51” HD+ Display Processor: Snapdragon 662 Processor Rear Camera: 13MP AI Triple Camera Front Camera: 8MP Camera Battery Capacity: 5000mAh Vivo Y20T comes in two attractive color options— Obsidian Black and Purist Blue. The smartphone is Priced at INR 15,490.

Oppo A55 OPPO announces the launch of the OPPO A55 in India. Featuring an unmatched True 50MP AI Triple Camera and 3D curved exquisite design, the OPPO A55 is all about striking looks and a powerful camera setup. OS: Color OS 11.1 Based on Android 11 RAM: 4GB and 6GB Storage: 64GB and 128GB Display: 6.5” HD+ Punch-Hole Display Processor: MediaTek Helio G35 Processor Rear Camera: 50MP AI Camera Front Camera: 16MP Camera Battery Capacity: 5000mAh The 4+64GB variant is priced at INR 15,490, while the 6+128 model is priced at INR 17,490. The OPPO A55 is available in Rainbow Blue & Starry Black.

Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G Xiaomi India expanded its Xiaomi 11 Series with the launch of Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G. Taking users’ experience a notch higher, Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G is designed for users seeking sleek and striking aesthetics on a smartphone. OS: MIUI 12.5 on Android 11 RAM: 6GB and 8GB Storage: 128GB Display: 6.55” FHD+ AMOLED Dot Display Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G Processor Rear Camera: 64MP Triple Camera Front Camera: 20MP Camera Battery Capacity: 4250mAh Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G comes in four classy color variants - Diamond Dazzle, Tuscany Coral, Jazz Blue, and Vinyl Black. The smartphone is priced at INR 26,999 for 6GB + 128GB variant and at and INR 28,999 for 8GB + 128 GB. 28

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SMARTPHONE SHELF Realme GT NEO 2 5G Realme unveiled the newest addition to its GT series, the realme GT NEO 2 5G, a premium mid-range that strikes the perfect balance. OS: Realme UI 2.0 Based on Android 11 RAM: 8GB and 12GB Storage: 128GB and 256GB Display: 6.62” AMOLED Display Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G Processor Rear Camera: 64MP AI Triple Camera Front Camera: 16MP In-display Camera Battery Capacity: 5000mAh Realme GT NEO 2 5G is available in three harmonious colours - NEO Green, NEO Blue and NEO Black. The smartphone is priced at INR 31,999 for 8GB+128GB variant and INR 35,999 for 12GB+256GB variant

Motorola e40 Motorola announced the latest addition to their e-series franchise with the new moto e40. OS: Android 11 RAM: 4GB Storage: 64GB Display: 6.5” HD+ Display Processor: UNISOC T700 Octa-core Processor Rear Camera: 48MP Triple Camera Front Camera: 8MP Camera Battery Capacity: 5000mAh Moto e40 provides consumers exceptional performance at an affordable price point of just Rs. 9,499.

iQOO Z5 iQOO expanded its Z series portfolio with the launch of Z5 in India. The #FullyLoaded smartphone promises to offer unparalleled performance and robust hardware specifications preferred by millennial & Gen Z consumers. OS: Funtouch OS 12 Based on Android 11 RAM: 8GB and 12GB Storage: 128GB and 256GB Display: 6.67” FHD+ Display Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G Processor Rear Camera: 64MP Triple Camera Front Camera: 16MP Camera Battery Capacity: 5000mAh iQOO Z5 is available in two elegant colour options- Mystic Space and Arctic Dawn. The smartphone is priced at INR 23,990 for 8GB+128GB variant and INR 26,990 for 12GB+256GB variant. www.digitalterminal.in

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EXCLUSIVE TALKS

“WE HAVE INVESTED SIGNIFICANTLY IN DEVELOPING A SOUND PARTNER ECOSYSTEM THAT IS SPREAD ACROSS GEOGRAPHIES” The last one year has been very challenging for almost every sector owing to the pandemic. Businesses were compelled to rethink their market approach and adapt to the new normal. Customer buying patterns also changed during this phase which led the market to increased competitiveness. In order to accelerate the growth, markets players are investing a lot in new technologies and building effective channel strategies. Canon is a leading player in the Indian market in printing space and offers state-of-the-art printing machines across all major segments. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently had an exclusive chat with Mr. Rahul Goel, Director, Market Engineering, Canon India. Rahul shared his thoughts about the industry landscape, canon’s success, and growth opportunities. Read below the excerpts:

RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU SEE THE FY 21-22 WHICH WAS BADLY AFFECTED DURING LOCKDOWN ACROSS ALL MAJOR MARKET? WHAT WERE THE MAJOR CHALLENGES FOR MARKET IN LAST FEW MONTHS? RAHUL: The pandemic has crippled businesses across the board and as it continues to spread, it is undoubtedly forcing unprecedented changes in the business environment. With multiple lockdowns implemented already, the situation on-ground remains extremely unpredictable. Having said that, at Canon, we believe that challenging situations like these present an opportunity for businesses to rethink and adapt to the changing landscape. We have taken a closer look into the situation and are devising strategies to always ensure and drive customer delight.

Mr. Rahul Goel, Director, Market Engineering, Canon India

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Not only have we seen a shift in the buying pattern of consumers, but also how service plays a critical role for consumers to make purchase decisions. The pandemic has changed the consumer outlook in many ways and their focus has completely shifted to health and safety concerns. Our agility to adapt to the increase in demand for contactless service was well received by the consumers as our service teams went an extra mile to support the customers and ensure on-site services wherever required. Additionally, remote support by our engineers was also a delight for the customers as it enabled them to operate without hiccups even in the challenging times. www.digitalterminal.in

EXCLUSIVE TALKS

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It is apparent that technology will continue to play a pivotal role in enhancing customer experience

RAJEEV: WHAT ARE THE THREE EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES FOR TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS IN INDIA? HOW DO YOU PLAN TO CATER THESE TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITY? RAHUL: If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that change is the only constant. Organizations must adapt Developing to understand the criticality of advanced customer service experience that matches their needs in constantly varying situations. As an organization, we are realizing the importance of after-sales service with regards to the overall health of a business and are adapting themselves to the evolving needs of the consumers. It is apparent that technology will continue to play a pivotal role in enhancing customer experience. OMNI-CHANNEL SUPPORT: Following the omnichannel customer service trend, companies can create a seamless customer experience and gain maximum customer satisfaction. Streamlining the customer information and messages across multiple channels is important to provide exceptional service to the customers. Businesses should equip themselves with smart collaboration and communication tools to provide superior customer experiences, CONTACTLESS SUPPORT: Due to a general desire for convenience as well as the current need to avoid risk and ensure safety, customers’ demand for digital and contactless services has rapidly grown This has prompted businesses to adopt an out-and-out contactless and touchless model customer and executive support. In line with the same and to further elevate the customer experience, we have introduced service verification OTP codes that are sent to the customers to eliminate the need for customer signatures for authenticating successful closure of their

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service requests, thereby making the entire process seamless. Automation: The continuous rise of customer support bots or chatbots can authorize companies to provide a gateway for round the clock support with automated replies that immediately assist the customer to figure out the technical fault or query. This cuts down on the waiting period and provides customers with instant yet effective solutions. RAJEEV: HOW ARE YOU CATERING TO SERVICE ISSUES AS CUSTOMER CAN’T VISIT SERVICE CENTER PHYSICALLY DUE TO CURRENT PANDEMIC? HOW DO YOU HANDLE TECH SUPPORT IN NEW NORMAL? RAHUL: In the wake of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown in the country, as per Government directives, we had to keep our service depots and call center closed. However, for our customers falling under the category of essential service providers, our service team had gone the extra mile to support the customers. We provided consumables and on-site services to these customers through various means and method, which includes remote support by Canon engineers, toner delivery through customers own transport and in many cases our engineers made site visits, taking all the prescribed precautions and permissions. The second aspect was the requirement of consumables, If the toner were exhausted, the customers that fell into the essential services category would send their vehicles to pick up the supplies. We have a service by the name of e-Maintenance. It is an integral part of our remote service portfolio and service delivery model, enabling it to offer the benefits of remote services to its customer base. We are seeing a surge in demand for such type of

services in the current day and age because customers do not want any loss in productivity. To deliver services that complement the fast-paced lifestyle of our customers and strengthen our commitment towards ‘customer delight’ in this difficult time, we developed the ME apps- Canon Care and Mobile CMP along with opening our services on WhatsApp. The mobile apps provide more flexibility and seamless value-added services for both B2C & B2B customers. RAJEEV: HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE/ SUPPORT YOUR PARTNERS/CHANNEL DURING THESE UNPRECEDENTED TIMES? RAHUL: We have invested significantly in developing a sound partner ecosystem that is spread across geographies. We have organized training sessions for partners to help them better understand the changing trends and how to adjust and cope with the new normal. We are also mindful of our channel partners’ profitability and long-term sustenance. We frequently did zoom interactions with them to understand challenges as faced by them and provided support to them in every possible way. In the B2B space, we have more than 250 direct staff operating out of more than 25 locations, through which we provide service support to our corporate and professional customers. In addition, we have a vast network of 185 Partners extending support to 1000+ locations. In the B2C space, we have wide service reach of 286 Authorized Service Center extending support to 1000+ locations covering more than 18,500 pin codes and 600 towns in India. Currently, we have 6 Master Service Centers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Cochin and Kolkata which are owned and operated by Canon. Equipped with state-of-the-art facility and equipment that can carry out complex repairs and adjustments. We also have 10 Authorized Service Franchise and more than 250 Camera Collection Point across the country so that we can reach as many customers as possible.

OCTOBER 2021 I

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