DT January Issue 2022

Page No. 06

BUDGET STORY

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UNION BUDGET 2022-23: WHAT WE EXPECT FROM IT?

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17 TECH FOCUS

06 BUDGET STORY

Dell Technologies Shares Top Edge Computing Trends and Opportunities for 2022

Union Budget 2022-23: What We Expect from IT?

19 SECURITY FOCUS Sophos Reveals AvosLocker Ransomware Uses AnyDesk in Safe Mode to Launch Attacks

16 BRAND FOCUS Micron Announced Volume Shipment of 176-Layer QLC NAND and Launches 2400 PCIe Gen4 Client SSD

21

OPINION

4 Trends That Will Drive The Startup Sector In 2022

27 JUST-IN

18 MARKET REPORT

Kaspersky Discusses Improving ICT Supply Chain Resilience In APAC

TP-Link Retains No. 1 Position in Indian WLAN Market with 28.7% Market Share

26 LAUNCH PAD Microtek launches state-of-the-art energy-efficient range of inverters and home UPSs

28 COVER STORY Year 2022: Bringing More Opportunities to Accelerate Business Growth

36 BRAND CONNECT Western Digital Announced Second Winner of Its ‘Buy, Share & Win’ Contest

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BUDGET STORY

UNION BUDGET 2022-23: WHAT WE EXPECT FROM IT?

The Union Budget for 2022-23 will be presented by the Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman on 1st February 2022. The year 2021 was better than year 2020 when pandemic halted major economic growth. Indian government has been quite fair in last one year by bringing policies and support for sectors which suffered a lot due to lockdown and bad market sentiments. The government in its attempt to support the businesses and people of the country this year too, might announce favourable policies and some reliefs. We all expect that Finance Minister’s announcement will boost the economy and bring new opportunities for various sectors to grow further in challenging times. The Indian ICT industry plays very important role in the growth of economy. The key leaders have shared their expectations from the upcoming Union Budget. Read below the opinion of key leaders-

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BUDGET STORY

“WE EXPECT THE UPCOMING BUDGET TO USHER IN A BALANCED COMBINATION OF REFORMS AND REGULATIONS” “We are hoping this Budget, the government announces steps to revitalize and reorganise the economy which has been impacted by the pandemic. This can be a positive start to encourage sustainable growth and push Digital Infrastructure- 5G, edge computing, and secured data management in India. The comprehensive program for the

“development of sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem in the country” will be a boost in making India a global hub of electronic system design and manufacturing but we would like to see reforms that will drive consumption and improve consumer demand. We are optimistic about the up-

coming budget and expect it to usher in a balanced combination of reforms and regulations which will, in turn, boost Digital India, contributing positively to India’s growth story.”

- Alok Dubey, CFO, Acer India

“WE ARE HOPEFUL OF THE GOVERNMENT INCREASING SPENDS ON CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS AND TRAINING INITIATIVES” “Over the last few years, we have seen exponential growth in cyberattacks. The ongoing pandemic and work from anywhere models have further increased the attack landscape for cybercriminals. In addition to this, organizations are facing cybersecurity

resource crunch and stringent budgets.

Our expectation from the Union Budget is on two aspects: cybersecurity skill gap and cybersecurity awareness. We are hopeful of the Government increasing spends on cybersecurity awareness and training initiatives to empower cybersecurity re-

sources. Eventually, this focus will help to create employment as well as good defense against cybercriminals.”

- Sunil Sharma, Managing Director Sales, Sophos India & SAARC

“OUR WISH LIST WILL BE MORE FOCUS ON MAKE IN INDIA & SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING PUSH” “The Union Budget 2022 keeps our hopes high on some big announcements to boost the industry towards technological advancement. Ofcourse our wish list, which is of major entities in India, will be more focus on Make in India promotion and especially towards the semiconductor manufacturing

push which is a need of the hour as well an opportunity for India. For this ofcourse the infrastructure needs to be developed and some rules need to be relaxed for MNC’s to invest more towards this goal. Also the introduction of 5G in Telecom will give a par-

allel boost to our industry as well, hope to see more news on budgetary support towards this tech.”

- Bijoy Alaylo, Vice President – Channel Sales, TP-Link India Pvt. Ltd.

“THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD INTRODUCE MORE INITIATIVES TO STRENGTHEN THE EXISTING DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE” “The pandemic has accelerated digital adoption across industries, making technology a necessity for organizations to survive and thrive in today’s evolving digital-first world.

Almost every company has invested in new-age technologies, including AI, ML, big data, or IoT during the pandemic and shifted a major part of their operations online to continue serving customers and addressing their pain points at all levels. Among these tech advancements, touchless technology has taken center stage and is widely adopted by companies across all sectors, including

office printing. In the wake of the pandemic, we saw innovations in this space such as smart-card authentication and biometrics, enabling users to give print commands to the device without touching it.”

“In sync with this vision, the government should introduce more initiatives to strengthen the existing digital infrastructure, which not only ensures seamless operations remotely or in a hybrid work environment but also provides additional security to users against data breaches. The upcoming

budget should focus on augmenting data security and privacy to keep users and their devices safe from the evolving threat landscape. We at Konica Minolta strongly believe that technology will remain relevant in the coming days, and with the rapid ongoing digital transformations, agility, safety, and security will continue to play a pivotal role in the success of organizations.”

- Kuldeep Malhotra, Dy. Managing Director, Sales & OP Marketing Division, Konica Minolta

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“WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE FM TO ANNOUNCE FAVOURABLE POLICIES AND GUIDELINES” “The IT segment - especially the software and services, witnessed a major surge in the SMB segment after the global pandemic hit the world. The demand for endpoint protection tools (basic as well as advanced) has dramatically gained momentum after more users started relying online to meet their business as well as personal requirements.”

“Furthermore, mature and advanced technologies in the ENT segment such as AI, ML, Anti-Apt solutions and predictive technologies like Threat Intel have made headway

in many segments and are redefining the patterns as to how cyber defence is looked at more from a business perspective than ever before. While the Information technology segment in India is fast maturing, it looks towards the budget and the government for favourable guidelines and reliefs. Due to the positive and progressive steps adopted by the government towards creating a more adaptable and functional digital economy, we very clearly see a surge in the services segment, wherein critical and strategic cyber defence services like

Incident response, breach assessment, etc would become the need of the hour for the businesses across the length and breadth of the country.

We look forward to the FM to announce favourable policies and guidelines that encourage the attention and adoption of businesses to pro-actively invest in cyber defence mechanisms and ensure safe and secure Digital India for the years ahead.”

- Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia)

“UNION BUDGET SHOULD OFFER INCENTIVES FOR MANUFACTURERS TO PRODUCE ENERGY-EFFICIENT PRODUCTS” “We expect to see the Government taking reforms to drive consumption in order to give a boost to consumer durables industry and improve consumer demand. TVs, Refrigerators, washing machines have now become essential household goods and do not come under luxury goods. During the upcoming budget, the Government should bring down the taxes on such electronic items. Lowering the tax slab would help to offset the price pressure and increase demand for these goods thereby improving affordability among consumers thereby

helping in deeper penetration of these goods into the market and giving a boost to the entire industry. As for consumers, more tax relaxation will increase their purchasing power. Also, Government should introduce futuristic reforms bringing ‘ease of doing business’ and making India a ‘Global manufacturing hub’ by promoting ‘Make In India’ aggressively.”

“Apart from this, the Union Budget should offer incentives for manufacturers to produce energy-efficient products which

will be in line with the government’s sustainability agenda. Reduction in corporate tax and production linked incentives will help the industry tremendously. We have high expectations form the upcoming union budget. Especially after what our economy has gone through due to the pandemic, we expect the upcoming budget to be very much industry friendly and usher in positivity to India’s consumption scenario.”

- Pawan Kumar, CEO, Elista

“WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE INVESTMENTS PUMPED INTO THE DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE” “With the Union Budget coming up, we hope to see a stronger government focus on the gaming and digital transformation industry in the context of Atmanirbhar Bharat. India has the power to become a global gaming and e-sports hub creating huge employment opportunities. We expect the budget to further incentivize investments in digital technology, and particularly in the startup and scale-up ecosystem of India, which has

been one of the brightest sectors of last year. This would give the already growing space a much-needed turbo charge.”

“We would further like to see the government come up with ways on how more domestic capital can be invested in new age sectors, therefore finding a way to normalise long-term capital gains tax for private equity of 20% and match it to the long-term

capital gain for public markets which is currently at 10%. We would like to see more investments pumped into the digital infrastructure, as digital has been one of the strongest areas coming out of the pandemic and needs to be further strengthened.

Looking forward to the budget this year and hoping for the best.”

- Rajan Navani, VC & MD, JetSynthesys and President of Indian Digital Gaming Society (IDGS)

“THE GOVERNMENT MUST EASE CREDIT DISBURSEMENT TO SMALL BUSINESSES” “To become Atmanirbhar Bharat, we expect the government to control prices of raw materials, which will help more MSMEs

stay afloat during these challenging times.

Besides, the government must reduce GST rates across sectors, increase the

working capital limit for MSMEs, and ease credit disbursement to small businesses”

- Rajesh Gupta, CTO, BUSY Accounting Software

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BUDGET STORY

“BUDGET 2022 HOLDS GREAT SIGNIFICANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES THAT ARE STRIVING TO REGAIN BUSINESS MOMENTUM” “The third wave of COVID-19 has again created a sense of uncertainty amongst small businesses in India, completely disrupting their recovery plans for 2022. While a majority of these micro, small and medium enterprises are working to overcome the new challenges, the sector requires constant support from the government to attain

stability and ease of doing business. Budget 2022 thus holds great significance for small businesses that are striving to regain business momentum and attain greater financial profits this year. In addition to a robust policy for credit disbursement, there is a need for supportive measures for digital skilling,

technology incubation and upgradation of the R&D ecosystem to facilitate the digital transition of such businesses in the new world order.”

- Nikhil Arora, Vice President, and Managing Director, GoDaddy India

“WE WANT A STRONGER IMPETUS FOR REINVENTING THE DIGITAL INDIA CAMPAIGN” “This year, the government is expected to take a progressive step towards making India a hub for the manufacture and export of electronic devices. Consumer electronics product export incentives and low GST. At the same time, analysts expect import tariffs on certain components to continue to rise. I think it’s time to go beyond that, we believe that the budget needs to focus more

on value creation, including special incentives and subsidies for consumer electronics and component manufacturing. We all agree that India has strong goodwill in the world market. The country will have immense growth opportunities by taking advantage of innovative new technological aspects that facilitate the lives and governance of

its citizens. We want a stronger impetus for reinventing the Digital India campaign with better reach, faster, more efficient technology, and a planned schedule.”

- Mandeep Arora, Managing Director, UBON

“WE HOPE THAT THE UPCOMING BUDGET WILL HAVE PROVISIONS FOR STRENGTHENING THE ENTIRE SYSTEM” The year 2021 was a challenging one for every sector due to the Pandemic situation.

Hence, there’re a lot of expectations from the Central Government about its new policies, and if they would announce sops for the industries to sustain. We hope that the upcoming budget will have provisions for strengthening the entire system and take progressive initiatives such as ‘Make

in India’ & ‘Digital India’. In the upcoming budget, we are hopeful that the Government would continue extending its valuable support as initiated in the first term with the implementation of uniform GST, ‘Make in India’, besides offering a host of other initiatives that would help industries to come back to the platforms. Industries to develop

newer technology in order launch innovative products in order to compete with the current market scenario.

to

- Lalit Arora, Co- Founder, VingaJoy

“WE EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO ANNOUNCE SOME SPECIFIC SOPS FOR EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE” As the countdown for the union budget, 2022 has started, the EV industry expects it to be included in the priority sector lending list to boost e-mobility in India. We really appreciate multiple initiatives by the government to amend the faster adoption of electric vehicles. In the upcoming

union budget, we expect the government to announce some specific sops, especially in the EV charging infrastructure segment. With the promotion of clean energy priority on the governments’ agenda, we would welcome it if the government could

encourage various green technology policies and incentives to promote sustainability among EV automakers.

- Amarjit Sidhu, Executive Director, Detel

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“INDIA SAW A EUPHORIC RISE IN THE NUMBER OF UNICORNS IN 2021” “India saw a euphoric rise in the number of unicorns in 2021, adding 33 in a year making it one of the fastest growing technology startup ecosystems globally.

This growth has been on the back of overall improvement in ease of doing business, and this should continue to remain an ongoing focus and priority. Within the logistics space,

there has been a massive disruption led by a major increase in last mile deliveries.

Additionally, as Make-in-India along with the national freight corridors gains momentum, this is going to further increase demand for logistics. All of this necessitates building infrastructure capabilities that are future ready. We can achieve this

with the right focus on digitizing processes and making international trade easier, which would go a long way in elevating India’s position in the global technology and logistics arena.”

- Dhruvil Sanghvi, Founder & CEO, LogiNext

“GOVERNMENT SHOULD CONSIDER PROMOTING THE ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGIES LIKE RFID & BARCODES” “With India’s supply chain costs being one of the highest in the world, the Government of India should consider promoting the adoption of technologies like RFID, barcodes, workflow automation, and traceability solutions that will empower the warehousing and transport & logistics sectors with re-

al-time visibility and actionable insights and help them make smarter decisions swiftly.

The same can be introduced by the public sector and hospitals for similar reasons.

Through this, greater efficiency and results can be achieved, while lowering overall operating costs. As India continues its

transition into the digital economy, we need to be equipped with the right technology to achieve digital transformation, which contributes to stronger economic growth and success for India”.

- Rajnish Gupta, India and Sub-Continent Lead, Zebra Technologies

“THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD FORMULATE A POLICY THAT FOCUSES ON INDIGENIZATION IN HIGH PRIORITY TECHNOLOGY AREAS” “For the upcoming budget 2022, the government should formulate a policy that focuses on indigenization in high priority technology areas, especially in the SaaS market. As digital transformation and cloud computing gain ground, SaaS has also rapidly become the software-delivery model of choice for enterprises. SaaS subscription-based model opens numerous opportunities across enterprises, and the Indian market is well-positioned to lead the space. Indian SaaS companies are building a talent pool of professionals with SaaS-rele-

vant skills, also powering investors’ interest.

Within the overall Indian SaaS landscape, enterprise collaboration, tech events, conversational artificial intelligence, and human resources tech – continue to drive investments and interest as businesses look for solutions in a post-pandemic world. The government should recognize the potential SaaS holds for increased contribution to the GDP by restructuring the IT function within the public and private enterprises.

This can help streamline processes, build

engagement, and deliver overall effectiveness and efficiencies. SaaS adoption is expected to grow across technologies and enterprises, and the industry could reach $1 trillion by 2030. We at Netcore Cloud remain positive on the tech-driven growth opportunities in the country and look forward to some favorable measures from the center.”

- Kalpit Jain, Group CEO, Netcore Cloud

“THE BUDGET SHOULD CONSIDER EDTECH AS A POTENT TOOL THAT CAN MULTIPLY THE REACH OF EDUCATION” “The pandemic has reaffirmed the significance of digital technologies to sustain the momentum of learning. Hence, the Budget should consider EdTech as a potent tool that can multiply the reach of education.

It should prioritize scaling up allocation to the EdTech sector by 7-8% from 2021. In addition, rationalizing 18% GST in online education services would go a long way

in making e-learning more affordable and realising its benefits. Moreover, there should be a tax rebate on expenses incurred on online learning programs. This is especially important in India as we face a unique ‘employability paradox’. Against the backdrop of conducive policies such as the National Education Policy (NEP), strengthening infrastructure, ahead of the 5G rollout, will

ensure equitable access to the highest-quality education to all learners.

While NEP 2020 holds a lot of promise, much will hinge on its implementation this year.”

- Akshay Munjal, Founder, and CEO, Hero Vired

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BUDGET STORY

“WE ARE HOPING THAT THE GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES RESOURCES TO PLAN FOR THE REVIVAL OF RETAIL SECTOR” “The pandemic has been extremely straining and challenging for the retail sector. The lockdown and restrictions imposed for brief periods, mandating limitations on retailing hours, movement of people, operational days, entry basis vaccination, etc., have all resulted in retailers and establishment owners incurring heavy losses. While the festive season did boost sales and growth trajectory, statistics did indicate that things were slowly pacing back to recovery. The

new variant and the surge of cases have again slowed down business. The retail sector contributes a huge percentage to India’s GDP, ranging from an average of 8 to 10%. This industry, which is worth billions of dollars and employs millions of people, must receive a much-needed boost from the government to push it back to recovery and elevate the industry. We are hoping that the government takes the situation

under consideration and allocates resources to plan for the revival of the retail sector in the upcoming Union Budget. The allocated resources could essentially help a lot of small retailers who have been the worst affected, as well as others in the industry.”

- Mukesh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Infiniti Malls

“A REGULARISED ENVIRONMENT WILL ENCOURAGE MORE INDIANS TO START THEIR CRYPTO INVESTING JOURNEY” “Various macroeconomic developments in India and the world over the last year have led to a rise in crypto adoption in India.

Today, leading crypto exchanges follow strict self-regulatory practices to ensure customer protection. We hope the upcoming

Union Budget will bring in regulatory clarity and help standardize best practices, address misconceptions around this emerging asset class. We believe a regularised environment will encourage more Indians to start their

crypto investing journey, promoting financial inclusion in line with the government’s vision.’’

- Sharan Nair, Chief Business Officer, CoinSwitch Kuber

“BUDGET 2022 SHOULD INTRODUCE REGULATIONS THAT WILL HELP IN GREATER CREDIT ACCESS TO MSMES” “2021 was a transformative year for the fintech industry with significant technology adoption in financial services. While traditional lending still accounts as a major credit provider in India, digital lending has picked up pace with the ease of process, less paperwork and use of alternate data sources, making it a key enabler for the MSME sector.

Fintech players have already shown willingness to work with the government to curb the menace of the illegal digital

lending apps. Budget 2022 should introduce regulations that will help in greater credit access to MSMEs and curbing illegal activities while building trust in the digital lending process for the last mile. In line with the government’s goal of creating a digital economy, introducing credit schemes will incentivise the sector and help in providing timely credit to MSMEs that have struggled due to the lack of credit accessibility through traditional means of lending which has directly affected their business opportunity.

We have also seen a rise in the number of startups who have turned unicorns in the last year that showcases the potential of the startup ecosystem in India. We expect the government to introduce regulatory changes that would create an easy line of access for start-ups & MSMEs to secure credit from online lending players. This will further help in boosting our economy”.

- Lalit Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, Decimal Technologies

“UNION BUDGET SHOULD ENSURE THERE’S A SPECIAL FOCUS ON BOLSTERING RURAL DEVELOPMENT” ‘’The fintech industry has fared really well in the last two years with the pandemic playing a key role in the digital adoption of financial services across the country. With the government making strides through several initiatives including the recently set up Fintech Department and the introduction of Payment Investment Development Fund (PIDF), the sector is expecting to see more opportunities and initiatives being taken forward by the government that will help in the expansion of the market, influence

customer behaviour, and impact long term changes in the financial industry.

“As our country sets upon the goal of hitting the $5-trillion mark by 2025, I expect the digital economy to grow even further, with a majority of India’s population and small businesses adopting digital means to access payments and financial services. The rural sector will play a huge part in achieving this economic landmark, and the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23 should ensure

there’s a special focus on bolstering rural development. Exemptions on procurement of point of sale terminals, GST rates for rural banking agents remitting funds among households, and subsidies to compensate for merchant discount rate (MDR) waiver are among some of the measures that will help in promoting digital awareness and initiatives across the country.”

- Dilip Modi, Founder, Spice Money

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“WE EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO FACILITATE CONDUCIVE POLICY INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE TECHNOLOGIES” “India has 9 out of the 10 most polluted cities in the world. But our country has only 800 or so air quality monitoring stations, almost all of which are in the cities. We hope that the Finance Minister will address this critical issue in the Union Budget. Monitoring and Measurement is key and first step towards improvement. India’s projected

need is 1,600 to 4,000 air quality monitoring stations spread across tier I-III cities and rural areas. These will enable data-driven policies to create tangible improvements in air quality in the shortest possible time.

We also expect the government to facilitate conducive policy initiatives like single

window clearance to promote technologies and initiatives to combat air pollution menace and provide the citizen clean and healthy air to breath.”

- Dr. Srikanth Sola, CEO, Devic Earth

“GOVERNMENT MUST CONSIDER PROVIDING SUFFICIENT SUPPORT - FINANCIAL AND INFRASTRUCTURAL TO EMERGING START-UPS” “The Union Budget 2022-23 in India is eagerly awaited as past 2 years were full of challenges for nearly every sector. We are expecting some bigger announcements from the government in the upcoming budget. It is expected that a few key announcements from the Finance Minister will boost the economy and bring new opportunities for various sectors to grow besides increasing people’s purchasing power. The consumer technology sector is expecting some measures from the budget as the industry has been the backbone for

Digital India and start-up India. Providing the right enticements to the industry will help the country to revive the economy. The government is committed to the growth of the manufacturing sector and the strides made by ‘Digital India’, ‘Make in India’ initiatives. This evolving aspect of the IT industry brings immense business opportunities but requires special attention for its optimal utilization. So, to further encourage the electronics manufacturers and take these initiatives to next level government should

roll out new schemes and incentives. It’s high time that the budget should simplify the tax-related complexities to encourage the global trade of software products from and to India. At the same time, the government must also consider providing sufficient support - financial and infrastructural to the emerging start-ups under the start-up India program.”

- Ritesh Goenka, Group Managing Director, Just Corseca

“THE GOVERNMENT ALSO NEEDS TO ENCOURAGE INSTITUTIONS & START-UPS” “MSMEs contribute to 30% of our GDP, account for over 45% of EXIM activities and employ more than 11 Cr people - this is a testimony to the importance of MSMEs in our economy. The fact that this sector at large continues to be non-digital and heavily dependent on manual operations has exacerbated the impact that the pandemic has had on the MSMEs. In the wake of the 2022 Budget, we expect a special focus from the government to help this sector recover &

accelerate overall economic growth. This can come in the form of funding support to NBFCs to maintain liquidity & promote financial inclusion with a distinctive focus on MSMEs under priority sector lending.

In addition, reduction in GST rates and relaxation in compliance burden for MSMEs around taxes, audits & loans will go a long way in helping this sector regain its lost momentum. Moreover, we hope this upcoming budget will lay out initiatives for infrastruc-

ture development that can further promote trade & commerce in the country. The government also needs to encourage institutions & start-ups aiming to establish digital frameworks for e-KYC, online payments, digital banking & lending with a special focus on this sector.”

- Rahul Raj, Founder & CEO, FloBiz

“WE EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO SIMPLIFY POLICIES, CREATE A STRONG CREDIT SYSTEM FOR MSMES” “In this Union Budget, we expect the government to promote the start-up ecosystem in the country and announce steps that will ease raising funds and create a favourable environment to conduct business. With Covid 19 pandemic, we have witnessed an accelerated process of digital transformation. We cannot deny that the pandemic has pushed people and businesses to adopt new ways to do things and reorient their

behaviours. The government’s announcing the Drone Rules 2021 and PLI scheme for the drone industry has given a push to this industry. Many drone companies in India have signed new deals to start large-scale, commercial business-to-business (B2B) drone operations in 2022. With this budget, we will expect the government to simplify policies, create a strong credit system for MSMEs and provide better working capital

support that would help drone companies to scale up manufacturing and leverage the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. We will also witness employment opportunities which we believe are important for revival in demand post covid era.”

- Vipul Singh, Founder & CEO, Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS) 12

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BUDGET STORY

“WE HOPE THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL REAFFIRM ITS COMMITMENT TO DIGITAL INDIA” “With restrictions in place amidst the third wave of Covid, large enterprises as well as small businesses are seeing a dip in their business activities. Both corporates and taxpayers expect relief in the form of rebates in direct and indirect taxes in the upcoming budget. We also expect the introduction of simplified compliances to facilitate the ease of doing business. The Finance Ministry could also introduce special

stimulus packages to the MSME sector which is vital for economic revival. There may also be a positive surprise in the form of a relaxation of GST regulation and relief for sectors that have particularly suffered during the pandemic. The Government, to provide further impetus to business growth, could also introduce fiscal policy initiatives to build a strong digital infrastructure for

MSMEs and enterprises.

While India has one of the most dynamic technology ecosystems globally, we hope that the government will reaffirm its commitment to ‘Digital India’ through appropriate allocations and policies in this Union budget.”

- Ramanujam Komanduri, Country Manager, India, Pure Storage

“WE LOOK FORWARD TO A BUDGET WHICH OFFERS A ROADMAP FOR HEIGHTENED ECONOMIC REVIVAL” “The Indian Government is strongly focused on growth and development, and this trend has continued even during the pandemic.

Given the hybrid normal we at Barco, are creating solutions aimed at promoting seamless remote work and bolstering the economy. We look forward to a budget which offers a roadmap for heightened

economic revival, with greater spending on infrastructure and enhanced incentives for corporate capex. We believe that the country is still on track to achieve the $5-trillion vision by 2025 and expect a host of reforms aimed at empowering the start-up and entrepreneurial culture while augmenting healthcare and allied sectors. Technology,

manufacturing, and R&D comprise the future of India and we look forward to initiatives aimed at making India a global super-power in these frontiers.”

- Rajiv Bhalla, MD, Barco India

“THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO AD-TECH INDUSTRY AND TAKE FINANCIAL STEPS TO HELP INDIA’S EXISTING ECOSYSTEM” “The startup ecosystem in India has already emerged as the third-largest in the global market, which highlights the massive growth of the sector in the recent years.

Moving ahead, the ecosystem requires a more focused approach in terms of access to capital, allocation of more funds by the government, policy reforms for ease of doing business and creating a more supportive ecosystem in view of the pandemic’s impact. About the Indian ad-tech industry, it’s likely to cross $10 billion in revenue by 2030, making it one of the key contributors in terms of growth, job creation and export of services. In the global as well as Indian market, we can observe increasing ad spends over digital platforms which is likely

to reach 60% of total advertising spends in 2022. Even the Indian government’s overall spend on digital advertising - including national and state governments - has already topped 3000 crores per annum, which involves outreach, promotion, and adverts.

At the same time, today the techniques and tricks used by the bad actors in the value chain -pose a greater threat to advertisers’ reputations through Brand Safety and Brand Infringement issues, leading to about 7-8% wastage of the overall digital spends.

In this view, one of our key recommendations for the upcoming budget would be that the government should subject digital advertising expenditures to auditing in the same way that it subjects other expendi-

tures, which goes beyond determining if procedural regulations were followed and include auditing for results as well.

The government, with a vision of a $1 trillion digital economy and the massive shift to digitalization in recent years, should also pay attention to the ad-tech industry and take financial steps to help India’s existing ecosystem chart progress that will not only make India Atmanirbhar in the domain but also globally. Moreover, launching unique output-linked initiatives for the sector is crucial for India to position itself as a worldwide leader.”

- Amit Relan, Director & Co-Founder, mFilterIt

“GOVERNMENT SHOULD INCENTIVIZE NEW USERS” “UPI as a revolution from India, has reached only 20 Crore users of 118 Crore mobile subscribers in India, Government should incentivize new users, primarily the Low Middle Income and Jan Dhan Account

holders who on-board on UPI for the First time, also provide incentives to Fintech’s into Feature Phone, Voice & USSD based payments space to help absorb operational

cost of technology so that UPI revolution reach into nook and corners of Bharat.”

- Mitesh L Thakker, Founder & CEO, MissCallPay

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JANUARY 2022 I

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BUDGET STORY

“ELIMINATION OF INCOME TAX WILL GIVE MASSIVE BOOST TO LOWER MIDDLE CLASS AND MIDDLE CLASS SECTION” “India gets only 2% revenue through Income Tax but causes massive liquidity crunch in the economy. The elimination of Income tax will give a massive boost to the lower middle class and middle class section of the society. This inturn will give them a chance

to invest more in their child’s education which will help in the upskilling of our country. Massive growth and development can be achieved if the youth of our country is educated and has employable skills Current-

ly educational institutes have tax relief, the same should be continued.”

- Harsh Bharwani, CEO and Managing Director, Jetking Infotrain

“THE IT AND ITES INDUSTRY WANTS THE GOVERNMENT TO GIVE OUT BETTER INCENTIVES” “Everyone will be looking up to this year’s Budget for various relief measures. The pandemic has affected many industries, and it may continue for some time. Stimulus packages and lower interest rates have been a saving grace for the economy in the past. The IT and ITeS industry wants the government to give out better incentives, and it is expected that supportive measures may be provided at this time. Everyone

pins their hope on this year’s Budget at the industry and an individual level. We feel happy to be part of multiple platforms that increasingly see content creation and consumption. The print segment and the traditional content platform have been under pressure, and demand for digital content will only increase. Unfavourable steps from the government may dampen the enthusiasm.

Similar headwinds are seen in eCommerce,

with retail trade going digital. Physical barriers, such as lockdowns and restrictions, hamper the local stores. They are increasingly adopting the online route. Government’s stimulus to this sector will further boost its contribution to the economy.”

- Sameer Kanodia, Managing Director and CEO, Lumina Datamatics Limited

“WE HOPE THE GOVERNMENT WILL USE ‘ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT’ AND ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ PROGRAMMES TO ATTRACT FOREIGN INVESTMENTS” “As the country awaits Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to present the Union Budget for 2022-23, under the ominous time of a potential third wave, we expect the budget to be a very pragmatic one. We hope additional incentives to businesses, particularly manufacturing companies, can be a part of the budget proposals. We hope the government will use the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ programmes to

attract foreign investments, implementing cutting-edge technologies, and increasing exports in order to make India a global manufacturing powerhouse. This will also inturn help increase job prospects, which is necessary for a post-pandemic future. From a future perspective, we hope our government would place a greater focus on employing emerging technologies to emphasize the importance of using energy-efficient

solutions. We hope the government continues to support manufacturers to expand projects on innovative lighting products and other solutions which are environment friendly. These steps may also aid in defining a route toward meeting the net-zero target by 2070.”

- Kishan Jain, Director, Goldmedal Electricals

“WE HOPE THAT GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN THE DIGITAL CAPABILITY OF EACH SCHOOL” “Schoolnet India looks forward to the Budget 2022-23, as the past year has been very challenging for school education. In keeping with the National Education Policy 2020, we hope that the Government of India announces measures to strengthen the digital capability of each school, owing to the great digital divide that still exists, on a mis-

sion mode. Such a digital initiative should be holistic including access to the internet, affordable & appropriate devices, projectors, teacher training in digital pedagogy, curriculum centric multimedia content, adaptive assessments, and analytics to track progress. Given the considerable expertise of private sector in Edutech, PPP models could

be explored to execute such a mission. This will set the foundation on which the effectiveness of teaching and learning will improve and pave the path to democratise access to education.”

- RCM Reddy, MD & CEO, Schoolnet India Ltd

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BUDGET STORY

“UNION BUDGET 2022-23 NEEDS TO PUT FOCUS NOT ONLY ON INDIA’S OVERALL HEALTHCARE” The pandemic has changed the world as we knew it. In the aftermath of the contagion and the negative impact it has had on all our lives, we need to rethink how we look at mental health. The Union Budget 2022-23 needs to put focus not only on India’s overall healthcare but also categorically on India’s

mental healthcare. A substantial budgetary allocation can pave the way for infrastructure to be rapidly developed and comprehensive mental healthcare made accessible everywhere, especially in the rural areas, so that all those who need help can get it in timely manner. India’s mental health

issues have remained neglected for far too long. It is time we take concrete steps and start caring for those who are suffering silently.”

- Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust (ABET)

“DATA CENTRE OPERATORS SHOULD BE INCENTIVISED TO USE MORE “MADE IN INDIA” PRODUCTS” “Today, the government has quite a lot of proactive policies for server manufacturing, like PLI and other initiatives. Our take is that the budget should focus on a few important things for demand generation. We need to see how the local buying of made in India products is encouraged. The government should fund a scheme for tech adoption, and government purchases of high-end IT products should be encouraged/prioritized to help create more demand. Data Centre Operators should be incentivised

to use more “Made in India” products. This will help the country to achieve the PMO’s objective of achieving Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Local server technology development will help to bring cutting-edge technology to the country while also addressing the nation’s security concerns. Another thing I am looking forward to is the R&D side. There has to be a special incentive for companies investing in R&D, there must be government incentivised and facilitated collaborations between the companies and premium

Education and R&D facilities. This will be a major game-changer as the R&D and education systems will become more aligned with the real world of commercially valid products, and the industry will benefit from innovation and local enhancement of the technology to create global competence.”

- Sandeep Lodha, Co-founder, Netweb Technologies

“WE NEED TO HAVE A STABLE GST TAX SLAB TO BOOST INDIAN MANUFACTURING AND MSMES SECTORS” “We need to have a stable GST tax slab to boost Indian manufacturing and MSMEs sectors. The products should not exceed the 18% slab, as they now need to encourage consumerism to be able to improve market sentiments. With this move, India can become the world’s third-biggest market for televisions, leading to an estimated growth of 15% in the market size, increasing to up to 16 million units annually. We would like to urge the government not to change custom duties as if now, as the industry is moving towards a stable condition.”

“We would like to congratulate the Government for introducing a $10 billion PLI scheme for display panels and semiconductor chips. We would also request Financial Minister to have timelines for these projects and this shouldn’t be restricted till the Memorandum of Understanding. This could be a pathbreaking move for the electronics sector. We have seen a 10 times growth in sea fright in the recent past, along with that timeline have increased two times. There is a big syndicate in this sector, which is

causing this delay, and as a result, causing a huge loss to the economy. The Government needs to take strict measures to control the same. Government should consider lowering the tax rate on consumer electronics as this will encourage consumers to buy higher ASP products. This will also help in digital India, as consumers will opt for more tech products.”

- Avneet Singh Marwah, Director and CEO, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd

“INVESTMENT FROM GOVERNMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE BUILDING WILL BOOST ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ MOVEMENT” “Reduction on import tariff is something we are expecting, this will help us compete with countries like China, Mexico, Thailand and more. In the last two years, the PLI schemes have provided momentum to domestic

and international investments, but so the investment from the Government side for infrastructure building will boost the ‘Make in India’ movement. We have to integrate India into the global supply chain scenario,

to achieve that tariffs should be equal or less than competitive markets.”

- Vijay Kumar Mikkilineni, Head of Marketing, TCL India

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JANUARY 2022 I

15

BRAND FOCUS

MICRON ANNOUNCED VOLUME SHIPMENT OF 176-LAYER QLC NAND AND LAUNCHES 2400 PCIE GEN4 CLIENT SSD Micron’s groundbreaking 176-layer QLC NAND provides a layer count and density unprecedented in QLC NAND flash and follows Micron’s delivery of the industry’s first 176-layer TLC NAND. Additionally, Micron’s 176-layer QLC NAND enables 33% higher I/O speed and 24% lower read latency than Micron’s prior generation solution. Its replacement-gate architecture is the only mass production QLC flash storage that combines charge trap with a CMOS-under-array design.

Micron Technology, Inc, announced it has begun volume shipments of the world’s first 176-layer QLC NAND SSD. Built with the most advanced NAND architecture, Micron’s 176-layer QLC NAND delivers the industry’s leading storage density and optimized performance for a broad range of data-rich applications.

ture is the only mass production QLC flash storage that combines charge trap with a CMOS-under-array design. These improvements are driving adoption of QLC SSDs in the client PC market, which is expected to triple QLC adoption by 2023, exceeding 35%, and reaching nearly 80% bit share in 2025.

QLC NAND SSD FOR EVERYDAY COMPUTING The Micron 2400 SSD delivers industry-leading storage density in a mainstream, value NVMe SSD to enable flexible OEM solution design and provide an uncompromising user experience. With 176-layer NAND and PCIe Gen4 technologies combined, the 2400 SSD doubles the performance of Micron’s previous generation client SSD and delivers 23% faster read time for faster boot and load times.

Designed for use cases spanning client and data center environments, Micron’s transformative new NAND technology is now available with the introduction of the Micron 2400 SSD, the world’s first 176-layer PCIe Gen4 QLC SSD for client applications. The new 176-layer QLC NAND will also be incorporated into select Micron Crucial consumer SSDs, and available as a component for system designers.

Micron’s groundbreaking 176-layer QLC NAND provides a layer count and density unprecedented in QLC NAND flash and follows Micron’s delivery of the industry’s first 176-layer TLC NAND. Additionally, Micron’s 176-layer QLC NAND enables 33% higher I/O speed and 24% lower read latency than Micron’s prior generation solution. Its replacement-gate architec-

expect the new 2400 PCIe Gen4 SSD will significantly accelerate the adoption of QLC in client devices as it enables broader design options and more affordable capacity.”

“Micron’s 2400 SSD builds upon our 176-layer NAND industry leadership to drive the transition to QLC-based storage for the client market,” said JEREMY

WERNER, CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF MICRON’S STORAGE BUSINESS UNIT. “Furthering our market leadership, we

The Micron 2400 SSD is also the world’s only 2TB 22x30mm M.2 SSD. This form factor shrinks the physical space required by 63% when compared with a 22x80mm M.2 form factor, providing design flexibility and making the drive ideal for small, mobile laptop designs. It is also available in 22x42mm and 22x80mm M.2 form factors, all with common firmware to minimize design qualification efforts.

The 2400 SSD provides a robust user experience across diverse use cases enabled in part by Micron’s Host Memory Buffer technology that allows the host to flexibly optimize performance. The SSD features low-power consumption for allday, untethered computing, with active idle power being reduced by 50% from Micron’s previous generation solution.

The Micron 2400 SSD is designed to meet Intel Project Athena requirements, enabling more than nine hours of real- world battery life on laptops even when using high-definition displays.

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TECH FOCUS

DELL TECHNOLOGIES SHARES TOP EDGE COMPUTING TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR 2022

By Srinivas Rao, Senior Director, System Engineering, Dell Technologies, India The ‘do anything from anywhere’ economy requires a highly complex IT system, capable of managing the exponential data that it generates. Emerging technologies like Edge computing, 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are accelerating both the discovery of insights from data and the digitization of key business processes.

In the modern era of Edge Computing, compute platforms at the Edge will provide lightweight designs that can be successfully deployed despite spatial, environmental, power, and connectivity constraints. These designs can be secured and can support applications that require insights in real time, enabling businesses to provide enhanced experiences to their customers.

5G implementation is also playing a vital role in edge data center investments in India, and in 2022 we expect to see consumption-based models, edge computing, and a multi-cloud environments flourish. As IT infrastructure becomes more distributed, Dell’s focus will remain on simplifying and modernizing, while reducing infrastructure costs.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN 2022 COMPETITIVE ‘EDGE’ FOR DATA MANAGEMENT: As digital transformation continues across industries, modern data management is set to change. Most of the world’s data is expected to move out of the public cloud environment where non-real-time, centralized data was being managed. We anticipate that the entire data management ecosystem will develop and utilize edge IT capacity at the ingress and egress of their data pipelines, and remotely process and digest data on the edge. As the data management ecosystem extends to the edge, the number of edge workloads will continue to grow dramatically, and data management will become a new class of workload.

The combination of modern edge platforms and software-defined edge systems will be considered the best method for edge deployment in multi-cloud environments.

Moreover, software defined edge workloads will help organizations avoid unmanageable edge infrastructure sprawl that could result if each edge workload created its own dedicated platform.

As enterprises begin to deploy their data, IoT and application pipelines to the edge, software-defined packages that leverage common edge platforms of IT capacity, will offer advantages of speed, economy and efficiency as they utilize an underlying platform of stable capacity. Dell Technologies currently offers edge platforms for all the major cloud stacks, using common hardware and delivery mechanisms.

BOTTOM-LINE The future looks bright for edge computing as devices get smarter and computers run more complicated calculations and send more data. Edge computing satisfies the growing demand for quick and secure access to data, in the exact way that companies and consumers want it.

value to business outcomes. Harnessing the value of data with edge computing will not only lower workloads but optimize networks and services to deliver flexible offerings to customers. The dependence on internet-connected devices will increase, helping companies to excel in this competitive environment.

Currently, Edge computing integrating AI, IoT, and 5G, is expected to fetch added

SOFTWARE-DEFINED EDGE In 2022 we expect edge platforms to become more capable and pervasive, with workloads and even public cloud edge shifting to software-defined architectures. www.digitalterminal.in

Image Source : www.freepik.com

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MARKET REPORT

TP-LINK RETAINS NO. 1 POSITION IN INDIAN WLAN MARKET WITH 28.7% MARKET SHARE India’s networking market witnessed a significant 17.1% year-over-year (YoY) growth in terms of vendor revenues during 3Q21 (Jul-Sep). The elevated YoY growth can be attributed to a weak base caused due to COVID-19 previous year and the country witnessing significant economic activity after the second wave of the pandemic. The pent-up demand from enterprises that stalled digital spending during the first half of 2021 started to revive infrastructure spending. However, the vendor ecosystem faced challenges in terms of the semiconductor shortage, thereby exponentially increasing the shipping lead times.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Wireless LAN Tracker, the Indian WLAN market had a marginal YoY decline of 1.7% during 3Q21, majorly driven by the consumer wireless segment. The market stood at USD 59.9 million (by Vendor Revenue).

WLAN segment declined marginally by 1.7% YoY (by vendor revenue). The demand dynamics are shifting between enterprise and consumer router segments as offices plan to open, enterprise segment grew at 27.3% YoY, and consumer routers declined at 20.1% YoY. However, the decline in the consumer segment was slower than anticipated due to the holiday season in India, causing the segment to still grow with a strong 37.4% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ).

Within the enterprise segment, businesses across verticals like manufacturing have been growing significantly over the last few quarters with the economy opening up and organizations looking to improve connectivity for manufacturing efficiency that results in better business results. The enterprise class WLAN recorded a YoY growth of 27.3%. Wi-Fi 6 contributed to 63.6% of revenues in the overall enterprise WLAN. The technology is gaining faster penetration due to the delay in shipments of the older generation of access points.

The consumer gateway router business declined sharply by 20.1% YoY. However, the market for consumer gateway routers had a strong QoQ growth of 37.4% due to the holiday season. Wi-Fi 6 is slowly starting to make inroads in the consumer segment, while Wi-Fi AC continues to dominate this segment. With offices planning to be opened in January 2022, we expect the market for consumer routers to get even slower.

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With a market share of 28.7%, TP-Link was the market leader in the WLAN segment during 3Q21. Within the enterprise class WLAN segment Cisco was the market leader with a 22.9% market share, followed by HPE with 10.0%.

Sudharsan Raghunathan, Senior Market Analyst, Enterprise Networking, IDC India, says, “The impact of semiconductor shortage on network infrastructure was significant this quarter. Vendors were struggling to meet the market demand, thereby expanding the lead times drastically. However, this also acted as an indirect catalyst in some cases where enterprises planned for their future needs in advance and placed orders to avoid unplanned delays. The overall market encompassing all elements of networking bounced back strongly to pre-pandemic levels for the first time in six quarters anticipating 2022 to be a year of growth. The Non-DC/campus market will act as the key factor deter-

mining the course of the market. However, a lot depends on the new variant of the virus and its impact on the Indian enterprises”.

IDC India Forecast The Ethernet Switch, Router, and WLAN markets are expected to grow in single digits in terms of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2021–2026.

Increased adoption of emerging technologies such as cloud, IoT, mobility, etc., would drive incremental revenues. IDC also expects large investments for 5G rollouts in the next couple of years.

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SECURITY FOCUS

SOPHOS REVEALS AVOSLOCKER RANSOMWARE USES ANYDESK IN SAFE MODE TO LAUNCH ATTACKS AvosLocker is a relatively new ransomware-as-a service that first appeared in late June 2021 and is growing in popularity, according to Sophos. The Sophos Rapid Response team has so far seen AvosLocker attacks in the Americas, Middle East and Asia-Pacific, targeting Windows and Linux systems.

Sophos released new research about AvosLocker ransomware in the article, “AvosLocker Remotely Accesses Boxes, Even Running in Safe Mode.” Sophos’ research explains how attackers attempt to bypass security controls by using a combination of Windows Safe Mode and the AnyDesk remote administration tool. Windows Safe Mode is an IT support method for resolving IT issues that disables most security and IT administration tools, while AnyDesk provides continuous remote access.

“Sophos discovered that the AvosLocker attackers installed AnyDesk so it works in Safe Mode, tried to disable the components of security solutions that run in Safe Mode, and then ran the ransomware in Safe Mode. This creates a scenario where the attackers have full remote control over every machine they’ve set up with AnyDesk, while the target organization is likely locked out of remote access to those computers.

Sophos has never seen some of these components used with ransomware, and certainly not together,” said Peter Mackenzie, director of incident response at Sophos. “The message for IT security teams facing such an attack is that even if the ransomware fails to run, until they clean every trace of the attackers’ AnyDesk deployment from every impacted machine, they will remain exposed as the attackers have access to their organization’s network and can lock them out again at any time.”

AvosLocker is a relatively new ransomware-as-a service that first appeared in late June 2021 and is growing in popularity, according to Sophos. The Sophos Rapid Response team has so far seen AvosLocker attacks in the

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Americas, Middle East and Asia-Pacific, targeting Windows and Linux systems.

The Ransomware Deployment Process Sophos researchers investigating the ransomware deployment found that the main sequence starts with attackers using PDQ Deploy to run and execute a batch script called “love.bat,” “update.bat,” or “lock.bat” on targeted machines. The script issues and implements a series of consecutive commands that prepare the machines for the release of the ransomware and then reboots into Safe Mode.

The command sequence takes approximately five seconds to execute and includes the following: • Disabling Windows update services and Windows Defender • Attempting to disable the components of commercial security software solutions that can run in Safe Mode • Installing the legitimate remote administration tool AnyDesk and setting it to run in Safe Mode while connected to the network, ensuring continued

command and control by the attacker • Setting up a new account with auto login details and then connecting to the target’s domain controller to remotely access and run the ransomware executable, called update.exe “The techniques used by AvosLocker are simple, but very clever. They ensure that the ransomware has the best chance of running in Safe Mode and allow the attackers to retain remote access to the machines throughout the attack,” said Mackenzie. “Sophos has reported on Snatch and BlackMatter implementing the technique, however, neither of these ransomware groups attempted to install a subsequent application, such as AnyDesk, for command and control of the machines while in Safe Mode. We believe we’re seeing this for the first time.”

Sophos endpoint products, such as Intercept X, protect users by detecting the actions and behaviors of ransomware and other attacks, such as those described in this Sophos research.

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OPINION

THE FUTURE OF INDIA’S TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY: LEARNINGS FROM THE PAST AND STRIDES TOWARDS A DIGITAL ECONOMY Authored by Shweta Baidya, Senior Research Manager, Software and IT Services, IDC India The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic compelled stakeholders across the world to rethink the current state of affairs and realign their business strategies. The focus shifted from business and technology priorities to the safety and security of workforce and realigning work models to deliver business outcomes with the constraints in mind. Enterprises worked towards displaying resilience, empathy, and support during the testing times towards their employees, customers, and stakeholders that helped them distinguish themselves as a trusted brand.

has been considered as the most important strategic area of interest for the organization’s Board of Directors (BOD), to ensure they remain competitive and better leverage the changing market conditions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will continue to enable automation across organizations, thereby feeding intelligence into processes and engagements to offer new levels of efficiency best suited for optimum business results and specific consumer preferences. Organizations have had to re-calibrate their strategies to stay relevant in changing times.

The pandemic has completely altered the way we work, live, and connect with each other. The industry has witnessed an accelerated adoption of remote working from about 50% of organizations before the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020) to 98% of organizations after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2021).

According to the IDC Future Enterprise Resiliency Survey, Wave 4, 50% of Indian enterprises view Innovation as one of their top priorities for 2021 and beyond.

The Digital agenda quickly shifted from a ‘good-to-have’ initiative to a ‘must-have’ initiative across the board. Organizations that were sitting on the fence before the pandemic in terms of digital adoption quickly shifted gears and evaluated technologies to transform themselves and reap the benefits of being a digital enterprise.

Today, the need for digital expertise spans across verticals such as healthcare, finance, retail, and logistics, with data, AI, cybersecurity, cloud, customer experience, and product management in high demand.

58% of organizations are now using technologies (e.g., AI/ML) to better leverage data and improve decision-making. This www.digitalterminal.in

The technological revolution, which occurred as a result of and during the epidemic, will have a domino effect across all enterprises that are now working closely with technology service providers to leverage the emerging technologies for multiplied innovation, stronger financial returns, and competitive differentiation. As most organizations increasingly seek technology as crucial to a non-disruptive business plan, normalcy will take on a whole new meaning and organizations that are still undecided on the digital journey will be at significant risk in the long term.

There is a strong rebound expected in global IT spending with a growth forecast of 11.1% in 2021, as per IDC’s Worldwide Black Book: Live Edition, October 2021.1 The overall tech outlook in India for 2021 and beyond remains buoyant and positive, with strong revenue growth across Hardware, Software and Services categories and an uptick in hiring activities. Moreover, 67% of CEOs expect the technology industry in India to grow significantly higher than 2020, and 60% of CEOs feel that growth will be led by larger digitization deals and return of technology spending in core markets, such as banking, financial services, and

insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, and retail.

Ultimately, driven by digital tech spending, the technology services industry in India is likely to experience accelerated growth in the next few years to reach US$300–350 billion by 2025.

As enterprises rushed to have a digital presence, it also gave rise to a whole new complexity from a security perspective.

During the pandemic, Indian enterprises witnessed a ~300% increase in cyberattacks between 2019 and 2020. In fact, as per a recent IDC survey, 83% of Indian organizations that were surveyed experienced a ransomware attack/ breach compared with only 21% across the Asia-Pacific region. As a result, investments in security have been significantly ramped up, not just to handle attacks better, but to also build digital trust across the ecosystem. Digital trust is slowly gaining strategic priority across board-level executives to ensure customer advocacy and stay competitive and relevant. Security, privacy, risk, compliance, and social responsibility & ethics have been identified as the key pillars for building digital trust. Organizations in India are prioritizing investments in security, risk, and compliance to ensure the cyber resiliency and success of the business in the long run.

To summarize, the global pandemic has accelerated digital change across all industries. Companies that were already ahead of their peers in the digital adoption curve will have a distinct advantage, either innovating business models in robust industry segments or by grabbing market share in those most impacted. The result of this acceleration will result in 2022 being the year the global economy becomes more digital than physical. As per IDC’s Digital Transformation 2022 predictions, ‘Responding to the pandemic, organizations accelerated their investments in digital; this means that in 2022, more than half of the global economy will be based on or influenced by digital.’ Technological investments are becoming significant in pivoting and accelerating success. With organizations increasingly gravitating towards the digital-first world, the future of technology appears promising.

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NEW ARRIVALS

BOAT AIRDOPES 601 ANC

GIGABYTE GEFORCE RTX 3050 8G GRAPHICS CARDS

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd announced new GeForce RTX 3050 8G graphics cards, powered by Ampere - NVIDIA’s 2nd gen RTX architecture.

The GeForce RTX 3050 GAMING OC 8G, GeForce RTX 3050 EAGLE OC 8G and GeForce RTX 3050 EAGLE 8G graphics cards are engineered to deliver the ultimate 1080p gaming experience with ray tracing and DLSS technology. The RTX 3050 comes equipped with 2nd generation RT cores for ray tracing and 3rd generation Tensor cores for DLSS and AI. The new GAMING OC graphics card features the WINDFORCE cooling system and RGB Fusion 2.0, making it the best choice for performance-minded gamers. The EAGLE OC and EAGLE graphics cards are the best choice for those who desire a unique design, while maintaining both efficiency and durability. The GIGABYTE WINDFORCE 3X cooling system features three unique blade fans with alternate spinning, composite copper heat pipes in direct contact with the GPU, 3D active fans and screen cooling that work together to provide efficient heat dissipation.

LENOVO SMART CLOCK 2 Lenovo announced the Smart Clock 2 with Wireless Charging Dock in India, to extend its smart home solutions. Lenovo Smart Clock 2 features a fabric soft-touch cover and a 10.16 cms (4“) color touchscreen display that showcases the time, weather, photos with a choice of customizable clock faces. Users can start their day better by keeping on top of all their daily tasks & schedule. This Smart Clock allows

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users to do more hands-free, from setting reminders & alarms, getting answers, checking the traffic while getting ready to step out, to controlling other smart devices like TVs, ACs, Lights etc., with Google Assistant on the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 all that a user needs to do is “ask”. With the Wireless Charging Dock, users can now keep their nightstand clutter-free and do away with multiple chargers while charging two additional devices at once with the Smart Clock 2. Lenovo Smart Clock 2 with Wireless Charging Dock is available in Heather Grey color for INR 6,999.

SONY WF-C500 TWS EARBUDS

boAt unveils its next flagship Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation TWS Earbuds – Airdopes 601 ANC. With a Hybrid ANC (Up to 33dB), the Airdopes 601 ANC suppresses noise at a broader range of frequencies, adapts to and correct errors in real-time. Get a whopping 4.5 hours of non-stop music and calls with ANC turned on, and a playback of up to 5.5 hours with ANC turned off. Additionally, the case provides a whopping 22 hours of nonstop entertainment. Large 10mm drivers and boAt Immersive Sound technology provides a high definition, crystal clear audio experience. Experience music in its purest form. If the features above aren’t enough, then the boAt Airdopes 601 ANC also comes with an IPX4 water and sweat resistance.

It has a Type C port for a simple yet reliant charging experience. The boAt Airdopes 601 Earbuds come in Black and Purity White at an introductory price of INR 3999.

LOGITECH G435 WIRELESS GAMING HEADSET Sony India announced its new wireless earbuds WF-C500 with industry leading innovations. The compact WF-C500 truly wireless earbuds combine high quality sound with unique sound customization, ease of use, long battery life and water resistance for on-the-go music and entertainment. The Earbuds provide 10 hours of battery life, thanks to the handy charging case, users can enjoy up to 20 hours of listening time. The new WFC500 comes with an IPX4 water resistance rating, so splashes and sweat are no problem for the WF-C500. Designed to be small and light, the WF-C500 fit securely in-the ears, making them the perfect companion wherever you go. The WFC500’s Bluetooth chip transmits sound to left and right ears simultaneously, along with optimized antenna design ensuring outstanding listening.

Logitech G set a new gold standard with an exciting new ultra-lightweight wireless headset designed for the modern gaming consumer. The Logitech G435 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Headset, unveiled delivers on all fronts -- comfort, affordability, sustainability, fun color options, multi-platform support, and more, all for the jaw-dropping price of INR 7,495. he combo of gaming-grade LIGHTSPEED 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth® gives you the freedom to wirelessly connect to your PC, PlayStation, or mobile device. LIGHTSPEED Wireless connects to your PC or Playstation via a USB-A 2.4 GHz adapter and provides performance tuned for the needs of gamers. While Blue-

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NEW ARRIVALS

tooth® support enables you to connect to your mobile device and play games or listen to music. Its 40 mm drivers deliver rich and immersive sound, while the dual beamforming mics eliminate the need for a boom mic.

The new G435 wireless headset comes in three color variations, Black & Neon Yellow, Blue & Raspberry, and Off-White & Lilac, allowing gamers to show off their individual style and personality.

ASUS AMD RADEON RX 6500 XT GRAPHICS CARDS ASUS announced the Dual Radeon™ RX 6500 XT and TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics cards. Built on a 6 nm manufacturing process and the breakthrough AMD RDNA™ 2 gaming architecture, these new graphics cards are designed to make incredible 1080p gaming experiences for popular AAA and esports titles accessible to more gamers. They offer high-bandwidth, low-latency AMD Infinity Cache™ and high-speed 4 GB GDDR6 memory. They also support Microsoft Windows 11 and Microsoft DirectX® 12 Ultimate, AMD Smart Access Memory™ technology, AMD Fidelity-

FX™ Super Resolution upscaling technology and other advanced features that provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate gaming experiences. The Dual Radeon RX 6500 XT uses a compact two-slot design that can fit into equally compact small-form-factor builds with ease. With the ASUS-exclusive Axial-tech fan design and an 85-watt power draw, this card is designed to bring excellent 1080p performance without introducing excessive heat or noise to a build.

TRUKE BTG3 TWS EARBUDS Truke has launched BTG3 TWS Earbuds.

BTG-3 offers a Best-in-class gaming

experience with a specialized gaming mode and ultra-low latency up to 55ms. The earbuds come with AI-powered Deep Neural Network Call Noise Cancellation technology, which enhances the calling quality even in a noisy environment. Decked with Bluetooth 5.1, the auto play/pause music feature allows users to use the High-Precision Contact Sensor that detects the wearing status of the device and automatically plays the music once the buds are on ears. The in-ear detection can be turned on/off by tapping 3 times on left earbud as per customer fondness. Interestingly, BTG 3 earbuds come with two play modes, music, and gaming.

The gaming mode enables the low latency feature which enhances the surround sound experience whereas in the music mode user can enjoy the music without any disturbance. BTG3 will be available in two colors variants, Black and Red.

LAPCARE LAUNCHES CHILLMATE PRO COOLING PAD WITH SIX POWERFUL FANS Lapcare recently launched the Lapcare Chillmate Pro Cooling pad for maximizing the airflow and maintaining cooler temperatures in laptops. Lapcare is a pioneer in laptop accessories and computer components. The brand aims to provide competent cooling accessories for laptops to maintain optimum thermals while gaming and other resource intensive tasks.

Lapcare Chillmate Pro Cooling pad is designed to accommodate laptops as large as nineteen inches and can easily handle their weight without budging an inch. The laptop stand is composed of a combination of high-quality ABS plastic which is durable and uses a stainless steel mesh to provide uninterrupted airflow to the laptop’s base.

The mesh system is fine enough to stop any flying debris but still manages to push cool air into the base. The six fan system handles all the grunt work and can attain high RPM speed to drive the cool air into the laptop. Its fans can maintain a decent sound

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profile and do not make shrill sounds, even when the cooling pad is running on full blast.

Plus, the RGB fans add a hint of style to the overall desk layout.

The ergonomics of the Lapcare Chillmate Pro Cooling pad make it possible to attain the best possible screen height. It supports height adjustment up to 5 levels, so the user doesn’t have to strain the neck while working on the laptop and can maintain accurate eye contact with the screen. Lapcare Chillmate Pro Cooling pad consumes very little power and does not need a dedicated adaptor to operate. It can plug directly into a USB port on the laptop and even provides two additional USB ports for the users. This is a perfect workplace/gaming station solution that can keep the laptop from heating up and slowly deteriorating the performance in the long run.

The Lapcare Chillmate Pro Cooling pad is priced economically to cater to the budget

segment of consumers who need a reliable cooling pad for work/leisure. Users can avail of an additional one-month warranty on top of the 12-month scheme by registering themselves on the official website. Lapcare recently achieved a milestone of 20 crores in product sales and is working on adding more products to its peripherals and accessories line-up.

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CHANNEL FOCUS

RP TECH INDIA SIGNS DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP WITH ANTEC INC RP tech India has announced a partnership with Antec Inc. Under the collaboration, RP tech will position Antec’s high-performance gaming PC solutions and accessories in the Indian market.

Win-win for both the partnership will help RP tech India strengthen its PC and Gaming brand portfolio and offer Antec reach and channel network to expand its business.

Under the partnership, RP tech will position chassis, power supply, coolers and gaming chairs. The company will focus on

various channel engagement programs to increase the visibility of Antec’s products and solutions in the market. They will also explore appointing the gaming partners and empower them to position products through training.

RP tech India is bullish over the gaming hardware industry. The partnership with Antec will help the company strengthen its position in the gaming and PC business. Mr. Alok Choudhary, Group Business Manager, RP tech India, said, “We

are excited to join hands with Antec to offer holistic PC and gaming solutions to consumers.

Antec is a pioneer in this vertical, and its solutions are well-positioned in India. We will leverage our wide distribution network to increase the brand visibility in the unexplored regions.”

IRIS GLOBAL DELIVERED RUCKUS WIRELESS SOLUTION FOR CHENNAI AIRPORT, THROUGH ITS PARTNER NETCON Iris Global has delivered an impressive order towards internalizing communications for the Chennai Airport, through its Partner, Netcon. Iris Global, being Ruckus’s Indian Distribution partner for the subcontinent, operating and selling wireless networking equipment, made the supplies. Netcon delivered Ruckus Controllers and Access Points to Chennai Airport. The installations done here are expandable & scalable, with options for adding more products and variants in the future.

Talking to newsmen, Mr. Michael Raj AR, Director - Smart Mobility Practice, Netcon - an Iris Global valued partner at Chennai said - that AAI had floated an RFP for the airport for their internal wireless communication requirement, citing specific parameters. Netcon evaluated & found Ruckus products, the most suitable.

“Ruckus is a world-class leader of innovative solutions. Their products enable customers to have a powerful, trouble free experience and provides an opportunity for our channel partners to grow their business” said Mr. Sanjiv Krishen, Founder & CMD, Iris Global Services.

PROTEGENT LAUNCHES EXCITING THAILAND SCHEME FOR ITS PARTNERS Protegent has launched a Thailand scheme for its partners. Isn’t it an exciting opportunity for all the partners to enjoy a staycation in Thailand for 3 nights and 4 days? Are you ready to enjoy an amazing trip to Thailand and experience whoops of joy and excitement? Well, now is the time!

Have a look at what the scheme is all about and how you can avail this offer.

Total Security Software carries 10 points.

On the successful activation of the keys, Unistal is providing a sum of money, depending upon the TASHU scheme, which means that on the activation of Antivirus+ and Antivirus software, the partner will get Rs. 25, Rs. 100 for activation of Total Security Software, and Rs. 125 for Complete Security Software.

All partners who’ll purchase 42 boxes of Total security software or earn 420 points will win an amazing trip to Thailand for 3 nights and 4 days, wherein, Antivirus software carries 7 points, Complete Security Software carries 9 points, and

These offers are aggressive and most competitive against the already running current schemes in the market and the last date to avail of this offer is 28th Feb 2022. Also, Unistal has planned to organ-

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ize a trip in April end to all the qualified partners. Apart from this scheme, Unistal has also launched a smaller scheme of 50 points where the partner will receive an Amazon voucher worth Rs. 1,500 and with every box of Antivirus+, the partner will get a backpack for free. This offer is valid till January 31st, 2022. www.digitalterminal.in

CHANNEL FOCUS

INGRAM MICRO INDIA ENTERS INTO DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP WITH VIDEONETICS Ingram Micro is pleased to announce a distribution agreement with Videonetics – a leading unified video computing company. Ingram Micro India will offer Videonetics under the PSS portfolio with a wide array of products to fulfill unified interfaces for all the surveillance needs.

In today’s digital age, we are constantly exposed to visuals from a plethora of devices every day. Videonetics delivers a surveillance platform, powered by AI and a Deep Learning engine with a wide range of applications making their end-to-end solutions incredibly robust and smart. It handles cybersecurity threats with its

multi-pronged security measures to ensure users’ data privacy, security, and data integrity.

Commenting on the partnership, Jayant Gundewar - Executive Director and Head of Advanced Solutions business at Ingram Micro India said that “Ingram Micro is pleased to add Videonetics as one of the fastest-growing Indian companies in the security system portfolio. Videonetics is committed to delivering flexible,

cost-efficient, and reliable cloud storage solutions for end-to-end management of surveillance. With this technology integration, we will deliver holistic solutions to our partners for achieving optimal outcomes and to expand market reach.

RAH INFOTECH SIGNS DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP WITH LOOKOUT RAH Infotech has signed a distribution agreement with U.S.-based Lookout, the leader in endpoint-to-cloud security, to protect the digital assets of Indian enterprises and their customers. With this partnership, RAH Infotech will leverage its massive pan-India channel network to distribute the Lookout Security Platform, which includes Lookout Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Mobile Endpoint Security solutions: Lookout Secure Access Service Edge: Security perimeters have become obsolete as people use mobile devices and cloud applications to work from anywhere.

The Lookout Secure Access Service Edge

solution is tailor-made for the future of work and provides visibility, real-time data and threat protection across the entire infrastructure when accessing cloud services, websites, and private apps from anywhere, on any device.

Lookout Mobile Endpoint Security: Securing mobile endpoints that employees use to do their jobs is imperative to protect enterprise data as iOS, Android and ChromeOS devices are increasingly essential to digital transformation initiatives. Protecting against mobile phishing and app threats enables organizations to prevent cyberattackers who want to steal credentials and data, or halt operations

with ransomware.

“We are excited about our distribution partnership with Lookout. The Lookout Security Platform provides comprehensive visibility, compliance and security for cloud-integrated applications.

Equipped with all of these capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to secure our customers’ entire data path from endpoint to cloud,” said Ashok Kumar, managing director, RAH Infotech.

SILICON POWER NAMED SUPERTRON AS BEST DISTRIBUTOR FOR INDIAN MARKET IN 2021 Silicon Power has announced Supertron Electronics Pvt Ltd. as Most Valued Partner for year 2021 Globally in appreciation for outstanding performance & contribution towards their SSD, RAM and other range of products business in India. the award ceremony held at SP Head Quarter last week where the trophy handed over by Silicon Power CEO Mr. Michael.

“It is really good to be associated with Silicon Power and it was a wonderful journey to work with them as they have www.digitalterminal.in

always focussed on quality of the products.

Silicon Power has a very good understanding of technological aspects and it is an opportunity for us to be associated as their national distributor and grow to gather” said Mr. Vibhor Agarwal, Director Marketing of Supertron.

“This recognition and appreciation will give a moral boost to our entire team to ensure our relationship with Silicon Power more stronger in coming days”, said Mr. V. K. Bhandari CMD of Supertron. He also

said that we are thankfull to Silicon Power leadership team and all our valued partners for their constant support.

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LAUNCH PAD

MICROTEK LAUNCHES STATE-OF-THE-ART ENERGY-EFFICIENT RANGE OF INVERTERS AND HOME UPSs

Microtek has announced the launch of its new and exciting range of inverters and home UPS series. What sets Microtek apart from other players in the intensely competitive power industry is the company’s focus on designing inverters and home UPSs that are high on technology features and quality. The new range of inverters and UPSs launched demonstrates the latest technological advancements that help to save electricity besides offering the best output in power backup.

Some of the products launched today include the new LUXE LCD Home UPS series at the event. This UPS range comes with an in-built microcomputer that promises to always keep your homes illuminated even during the power cuts. It boasts of a smart LCD display that shows you the running load status, backup time status and battery charging time. The capacity of this series ranges from 800 VA in 12V to 1600 VA in 24V SW in pure sine wave technology.

“The new ranges of products being launched today besides providing electricity saving benefits are also aesthetically appealing. We as a company is focused on continuous research and development (R&D) work so that we can introduce market-leading products. If industry and the government are in sync, India can meet its energy efficiency and climate change targets,” said Subodh Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, Microtek International.

The company also announced the launch of its imerlyn premium UPS series. The UPS series has heavy load handling capacity and adds to the beauty of your home with its stunning looks. Its 5-stage battery charging mechanism keeps the battery healthy and also provides longer battery life. The product offers high voltage surge protection, re-settable circuit breaker, high and standard charging option for quick battery charging and high peak current handling and thermal protection apart from other features. There are two ranges available under the imerlyn series that includes Advanced Digital (850 12V DG, 1050 12V DG, 1250 12V DG & 1850 24V DG) models and Pure Sine wave (850

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12V SW, 1250 12V SW & 1850 24V SW) models.

“Today we are launching a wide range of UPS’ in the Indian market like SmartHybrid UPS series. It is a perfect combination of Digital and Sine wave technologies that give you the best of both worlds, noiseless performance and more loads handling capacity. The other efficient UPS launched series are Superpower, Heavy Duty with the capacity of running heavy loads & energy efficient model – Energy Saver. It has inbuilt energy efficient transformer for better performance in energy saving” added Gupta.

The price of the new product range starts from MRP INR Rs. 6240 and the products are already will be available through the company’s vast distribution network across India.

With the new product launch, the company expects to capture an additional 10% market share of the Indian inverter and UPS market.

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JUST-IN

KASPERSKY DISCUSSES IMPROVING ICT SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE IN APAC For the past two years, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, like the rest of the world, has seen a huge digitalization leap as a result of the pandemic. Given the haste and urgency, cybersecurity measures have taken a back seat, resulting to some high profile ICT supply chain attacks last year.

The world has seen some high profile incidents where cyber criminals took advantage of the weaknesses of ICT vendors, and used them as attack launch pads where many other targets in one fell swoop. Global cybersecurity company Kaspersky sees this trend to continue as cybercriminals try to further monetize this threat.

Commenting on the trend, Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky, said: “In the last two years there has been a new wave of attacks that exploited critical vulnerabilities in the ICT supply chain. As threat actors evolve their techniques and tactics, we should expect supply chain attacks to be a growing trend in 2022 and beyond.”

To map out the possible solutions to beef up the ICT supply chain resilience in the region, Kaspersky held its fourth APAC Online Policy Forum gathering distinguished industry and policy expects including: Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar | Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, India Dato’ Ts. Dr. Haji Amirudin Abdul Wahab | Chief Executive Officer of CyberSecurity Malaysia Pratama Persadha | Chairman of Communication & Information System Security Research Center (CISSReC), Indonesia Echoing Kaspersky’s note, Dato Amirudin explained, “The number of attacks on those working in the supply chain has increased, heavily targeted, more vulnerable and at risk than ever before. Supply chain attack is difficult to handle due to its malware design which stays hidden among the infected system and user’s device. Especially in today’s environment, nations are slowly recovering from the pandemic and starting to move towards digital transformations.”

He also noted, during the forum, the need to include awareness and education across all sectors involved in ICT supply chain, includwww.digitalterminal.in

ing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which do not have the budget and asset to invest in improving their cybersecurity defenses.

For his part, Dr. Pratama Persadha, added, “Resilience is all about resistance and recovery. One way for both government and non-government stakeholders to minimize these risks is to improve cybersecurity capabilities, which will subsequently improve ICT supply chain resilience,” he says.

“However, this will be constrained if all relevant parties do not improve the cybersecurity of their systems. The main obstacle is the lack of understanding surrounding the importance of cybersecurity to increase ICT supply chain resilience. In the end, stakeholders must consider significant investment to increase the overall standard of cybersecurity to improve the resilience of the ICT supply chain,” Dr. Persadha explained.

An active advocate of cross border collaborations and building cybersecurity capabilities, Kaspersky has been working consistently with its partners to raise awareness and propose actionable steps for the global community, done in forums such as the recent Paris Call for Trust.

The global cybersecurity company has also established its baseline standard of cybersecurity through Global Transparency Initiative which includes a number of actionable and concrete measures that the company takes to welcome others to validate and verify the trustworthiness of our products, internal processes and business operations and Security in Cyberspace.

Explaining possible solutions, Kaspersky says short-term and long-term strategies should be look into by both government and private sectors.

Speakers at the forum also agreed on the need for intelligence sharing and international cooperation to secure nations, organisations, and individuals in APAC and beyond.

Short term solution includes improving procedures and regulations on ICT supply chain infrastructure. Kaspersky cited companies certifying supply chain partners to lessen attacks close to zero. The role of government regulations also play a key role in this as in the case of critical infrastructure.

“The responsibility of securing the ICT supply chain and ensuring safe and trusted internet space is something that the Indian government accords high priority to. Core part of the strategy is cross border collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure protection and resilience of the tech space and ICT supply chain,” noted Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Eugene Kaspersky added: “The long term solution is to make systems immune. This means the system being designed in such a way that even if an ICT supply chain component is vulnerable, it cannot affect the rest of the system. Even if there is a zero-day or any other vulnerability somewhere in the supply chain, it doesn’t carry over into other components in the chain.”

CROSS BORDER COLLABORATION

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COVER STORY

YEAR 2022: BRINGING MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO ACCELERATE BUSINESS GROWTH

Image Source : www.freepik.com

New Year brings a lot of hope and ambition for all businesses in India, especially when two last years have been not much fruitful due to ongoing pandemic. These years saw a stiff challenge for survival as well business continuity. We saw new trends and technologies have taken centre stage in all consumer segments. The Indian ICT industry has witnessed major changes in the way we used to collaborate or meet each other in pre COVID-19 world. Adoption of work from home and learn from home solutions during last year, had fuelled the growth for tech brands in India. Whereas SMBs, SMEs, government and large enterprises scaled up their digital transformation journey to accommodate themselves in fastest evolving technology ecosystem. The market players are predominantly keeping these technologies on their agenda for rapid product innovation. The inclusion of next-generation technologies is playing a very crucial role for brands to bring customer centric products.

Going forward in year 2022, Companies now betting big on the upcoming trends in their respective domain. Check out this exclusive story from DT, to know more about the brand’s product plans in year 2022.

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COVER STORY

“ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING WILL BE A PART OF OUR DAILY LIVES” The year 2022 is going to be very promising in terms of the growth opportunities for market players. The changing market landscape and increasing use of technology devices by consumers showing the potential of Indian market. New technologies will surely play a crucial role in elevating the overall experience. Commenting on the major trends in new year, Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India said, “2022, I see several innovations and technological advancements. However, seamless omnichannel experiences are going to play a critical role in engaging with consumers. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will be a part of our daily lives. AI will be used to predict customer needs and delight customers at scale will stay ahead of the curve. We will also see a huge leap towards sustainability from all ends, it will be a key focus for all the companies. We are determined to invest in products and services that reduce our carbon footprint and promote greener earth.”

STRATEGIES TO CAPITALIZE ON THE OPPORTUNITIES As we know, the global pandemic has changed our lives, it is expected that a new normal will emerge. This includes lifestyle changes, and consequently the consumer buying behaviour as well. Sudhir Goel commented, “At Acer, we are constantly working towards meeting technological demands while providing our customers with personalized solutions. For Enterprises, we have

“The last two years have been difficult for all of us, during this time our partners have stood by us and trusted us. As we move on with the pandemic may we synergize and succeed in our businesses and provide our customers with great experience, service, and products and continue to support each other and grow together.”

- Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India

enabled GST invoicing on our e-Store who is looking at purchases for their employees. We have also introduced an integrated digital approach through our e-store platform which has been intended for customers with faster, hassle-free, and contactless home deliveries. This also comes with multiple easy payment options. By taking proactive measures now, we have come up with the 3R strategy to recapture business from COVID-19.”

“To curb the spread of Coronavirus, at Acer, we have introduced an Omni-channel experience for our partners to provide a seamless path to purchase and serve better across channels. The Omni-channel experience is specially designed to cater to the needs of our offline retail partners in the current COVID-19 scenario and it is our first step towards a longer-term Omnichannel strategy.

This special initiative is built to ensure ease of purchase, keep partners and customers

safe, and promote business continuity.

However, this is a future-ready experience enabling our users and channel partners in the post-COVID world.

Also, to support customers in these difficult times, we have developed the ‘Book Now Pay Later’ option on our e-store where people can get priority delivery across a wide portfolio of laptops, accessories, monitors, and projectors as soon as delivery is possible.”

“During 2021 Acer launched new products like Acerpure Cool and Acerpure Pro which have become essentials in cities we live in.

The new Vero series are also an addition to Acer’s new line of products that consciously make an effort in bringing a change in our world with sustainable products. We also expanded our antimicrobial product portfolio to multiple product lines, covering both consumer and commercial audiences. From TravelMate laptops for those in the office to Enduro Urban devices for outdoor lovers, plus a host of accessories like a Works With Chromebook certified keyboard and mouse set, antimicrobial devices are now available to a significantly wider range of users” he added further.

“CONNECTED HOME WITH TP-LINK IS OUR LONG TERM VISION” Since the Covid period haunts the world as well as harms our industry in this year too, WFH and LFH is going to trend at the top again. The new trends picking up are the evolution of 5G and improvements in the WiFi 6 category. Adding upon the key trends to watch, Bijoy Alaylo, Vice President – Channel Sales, TP-Link India Pvt Ltd stated, “5G in itself will be the next step for the cellular evolution where TP-Link will be bringing in more products supporting 5G networks.

Restrictions where fixed line Broadband cannot reach, the 5G cellular tech reachability will be a boon for consumers and routing them to the users will be our role. WiFi 6 also has got a strong foothold in the consumers due to the Covid pandemic pushing people to WFH. Increased Bandwidth with more better passthrough has been the demand of the time. WiFi 6 compatible devices have great benefits when it comes to connected devices density.”

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“Wishing all partner firstly a safe and healthy year ahead to stay away from the pandemic bad vibes. TPLink will always strive harder to make the business environment easier for you to survive the tough times and bring more technology for reaching more newer customer base.”

- Bijoy Alaylo, Vice President – Channel Sales, TP-Link India Pvt Ltd

BIG PLANS TO PUSH GROWTH MOMENTUM The market is full of opportunities due to increase in demand for networking products across all consumer segment. Elaborating about the plans to capitalize on the oppor-

tunities, Bijoy Alaylo said, “As a company we would be diversifying into different markets through our Range of Network camera’s and Accessories (Brand Name – VIGI) which would give our consumers more power to even now include security surveillance to their homes with TP-Link products. Connected home with TP-Link is our long term vision and TP-Link’s VIGI will be our next addition to it. Also new variations of the WiFi 6 category routers will be on offer to the customer through our partners in India.”

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COVER STORY

“WE WILL CONTINUE TO ENHANCE THE SOPHOS ADAPTIVE CYBERSECURITY ECOSYSTEM” In the post pandemic world, cybersecurity market saw huge transformation due to emergence of newer trends. Commenting on the upcoming trends that will drive this market, Sunil Sharma, Managing Director, Sales, Sophos, India and SAARC said, “Organizations have been adopting two major approaches in cybersecurity: Cybersecurity ecosystem and secure remote connectivity.

This trend will continue in the future as well.

Today’s threat landscape demands a strong combination of prevention, detection, and response. This can be achieved by an ecosystem of cybersecurity solutions that talk to each other and share intelligence and take collective action. For the security of remote connectivity, more and more organizations will move towards Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Zero Trust Network Architecture (ZTNA) capabilities to help secure remote connectivity.”

STRATEGIES TO ACCELERATE GROWTH WHEEL Making robust channel and product strategies always result in an enhanced performance. Briefing about the growth strategies for year 2022, Sunil Sharma commented, “On the product side, we will continue to enhance The Sophos Adaptive Cybersecurity

“We are really grateful to our channel partners. Sophos is fortunate to have one of the best channel communities in India and SAARC. The support and collaboration that we have seen from our partners in the past year has been incredible. Our channel partners are our ally in fighting cybercrimes for our customers and we will continue to make this ally stronger and stronger in the coming years.”

- Sunil Sharma, Managing Director, Sales, Sophos, India and SAARC

Ecosystem (ACE). Sophos ACE brings together the power of Sophos’ threat intelligence, advanced product technologies, data lake, APIs, and Sophos Central management platform to create an ecosystem that constantly learns and improves. Sophos ACE is an open platform. From the native integration of Sophos products spanning endpoint, cloud, messaging, and network security to third party integration and open APIs, it is a system that will grow with an organization.”

He further added, “Our channel plans are well designed and are driven through our global partner program, which emphasizes on the following key parameters:

• Simplicity and Transparency: The Sophos Global Partner Program is comprehensive, but simple. It clearly defines and informs our channel partners on the registration process, enablement tools, training, and growth path opportunities available through the program.

• Partner Profitability: Our partner program rewards commitment to Sophos. The more partners are committed, the more profitability they can achieve.

• Partner Enablement: The training modules under our partner program enables partners to be responsive to the changing needs of today’s cybersecurity. These trainings empower our partners to tackle common trends that are impacting our industry, such as customers moving to the cloud, increased consumption of managed services across the full security spectrum, and of course the proliferation of advanced and targeted attacks.

“WE EXPECT TO ADD MORE CHANNEL PARTNERS AND ENHANCE OUR LEADERSHIP POSITION IN 2022” The power solution industry has embraced the technological advancement that has led this industry to reach newer heights. Speaking on the upcoming trends in this industry, Subodh Gupta, CMD, Microtek International Pvt. Ltd. said, “Our expectations are high from the industry and we would like to see aesthetically superior UPS in 2022. The UPS is no longer a hidden-behind-the-curtains product anymore, we would see UPS that people can keep in their drawing rooms to add to the beauty of home interiors. Another trend that we foresee is the demand for UPS with longer power backup capability owing to the WFH culture. We also want the UPS to be eco-friendly so that they support sustainability and green cause. To cater to these trends & requirements, we have launched 6 new Series in the Home UPS/Inverter category that not only have premium looks but are also technologically most advanced and provide long power backup. The series that we have launched in a mega event are Luxe, Heavy Duty, Smart Hybrid, iMerlyn, Energy Saver, and Super Power.”

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“Our channel partners have been our prime strength, and it will not be wrong to say that they are behind the success of Microtek for being the most preferred & No.1 UPS brand of India. They are our family and we wish them a very happy & healthy new year. We wish that the Covid-19 becomes the past and our partners achieve great success in the year 2022. We also wish to thank our customers who have been our loyalists and trust Microtek products with a complete heart. We wish them a great year ahead. “ - Subodh Gupta, CMD, Microtek International Pvt. Ltd.

PLANS TO PUSH GROWTH IN 2022 Speaking about their plans to accelerate the growth, Subodh Gupta said, “As mentioned earlier, we have launched 6 new series in the Home UPS/Inverter category with premium looks & advanced technology. These series are loaded with advanced features and are available across price points to cater to the different needs of the market. We have

launched Luxe Home UPS/Inverter that has an LCD display that shows running Load Status, BackUp Time, and Battery Charging Time, and Heavy Duty Home UPS/Inverter has the heavy load handling capability. The hybrid Home UPS/Inverter Smart Hybrid provides the best of both worlds-Noiseless operation because of True Sinewave Technology & longer power backup because of digital technology. We also have launched iMerlyn Home UPS/Inverter, a premium series that gives longer power backup. Energy Saver Home UPS/Inverter as the name suggests has the energy-saving transformer inside and consumes the least energy in its category while Super Power Home UPS/Inverter comes with super technology for long power back up and battery life. With these products in our portfolio, we expect to add more channel partners and enhance our leadership position in the market in 2022.”

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COVER STORY

“THE NEW YEAR 2022 MARKS AN ALL-NEW JOURNEY FOR ALL OF US” The recent innovation in printing technology is significant for growth of both commercial as well as home printer market.

Next-gen technologies have played a pivotal role in growth of printer market in recent years. Commenting on the upcoming trends in the industry, Puneet Datta, Senior Director, Canon India said, “As organizations accelerated digital transformation and customers embraced digital experiences, the print industry has experienced an irrevocable shift over the past two years. Keeping this context, two trends we foresee in the Indian printer market for the year 2022 are: Place where printing happens is changing – As work from home and online education continues to be the norm, we will see a lot of printing shifting from organizations (read corporates and educational institutes) to home. There could potentially be a demand for remote printing that is already emerging to collaborate better to account for a hybrid work environment. Industry players will have to make tactical moves that involve leveraging technologies and R&D to meet the changing needs in the market.

Shift towards inkjet printing & Color will be stronger – As printing needs change to more home-based printing, the shift towards inkjet has continued to gather speed as visible in last 2 years. We see the same trend continuing in 2022. In the office printing space, the trend will be to

“The new year 2022 marks an all-new journey for all of us, be it the industry, our customers, or channel partners. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is to become adaptable to the recurrent change around us. In lieu of this, we are gradually transforming ourselves and our business outlook and are tending to the recent industry developments. We are following all safety protocols and ensuring all our team members are fully vaccinated and request our channel partners to also replicate the same. In addition to this, we will also be working in collaboration with all our channel partners to ensure the demand for our products are met to the best of our ability. Channel partners have played an important role in our success story and as one of our key stakeholders. They have enabled us to strengthen our foothold in the industry and reach out to a diverse range of customers. We will continue to organize training programs (both on ground and online) for partners and their sales teams to help them better understand the changing trends and how to adjust and cope with the new normal. We wish all our partners a Very Happy New Year full of business opportunities. “ - Puneet Datta, Senior Director, Canon India

have printers that can seamlessly integrate with workflows and offer collaboration opportunities. While the need for black & white documentation could potentially be lesser in 2022 but we expect the color document printing to grow exponentially driven by home printing.

GROWTH STRATEGIES A strong channel and product strategy are key to accelerate the growth wheel for any tech brands. The market is very competitive in current scenario and to succeed they all need robust channel and best plans. Briefing

on the Canon plans, Puneet Datta said, “The pandemic has impacted the global chip production and supply chain drastically. This has led to product supply challenges. At Canon we will continue to invest in new products and plan for their launches in 2022. Our strength in these tough times

has been constant communication with our partners through constant virtual as well as on ground meetings (where possible keeping COVID appropriate behavior in mind). We will continue with the same in 2022. As the consumer buying behavior has also changed towards online platforms from comfort of their homes during this pandemic, we pride ourselves to have the right mix of offline and online channels to cater to consumer demand. This shall see further strengthening in 2022.”

“WE CAN EXPECT A RISE IN DEMAND FOR MICROPHONES & WEBCAMS THIS YEAR” The Indian Gaming Component and Peripherals market rapidly picking up the momentum due to acceptance of esports as a profession among us. While these all high market sentiments, market players are setting big goals to tap enormous opportunities. Commenting about the trends for 2022, Himanshu Jain, CEO, Ant eSports said, “The first trend we’re seeing among our customers is an inclination towards compact builds and peripherals.

People prefer 60% form factor keyboards over full sized ones; they go for PCs that take up little desk space! With the rise of streaming, gamers are turning to affordable peripheral devices that can be used for both audio and video chat. We can expect to see a rise in demand for microphones and webcams this year.”

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“We would like to thank all our partners for their continued support over all these years and would want this partnership to go a long way together for many more years to come so that we can make every year more successful than the last one.”

- Himanshu Jain, CEO, Ant eSports

PLANS TO ACHIEVE GOALS “Our product strategy would be to provide feature-rich components to the budget-sen-

sitive audience by introducing multiple product options in all the price brackets. This will help us serve our customers’ needs, in the best possible way and give them endless options to choose from. As far as the channels are concerned, we are trying to expand and reach out to tier 2 and tier 3 channel partners so as to provide our products to every segment and corner of the country,” added by Himanshu Jain.

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“AT KASPERSKY, WE SEE OUR CHANNEL PARTNERS AS AN EXTENSION step towards enabling defence. Kaspersky OF OUR BRAND” Hybrid work culture has vastly increased vulnerabilities to cyberthreats for two reasons in existing pandemic: people access and use their enterprise data across a variety of devices. More and more people are using digital technologies for an increasing number of tasks. As a result, attackers have many more opportunities to carry out attacks. Dipesh Kaura, General Manager South Asia, Kaspersky said, “Our research at Kaspersky tells us that endpoint security and threat intelligence are the top two trends in India’s cybersecurity market. This is in direct response to the changes we have witnessed over the past two years.”

“I wish my channel partners a very productive and profitable 2022! At Kaspersky, we are very excited to extend our support and encouragement to help them build further on their successes. Our message to them is that together we are the first and the only line of defence for our consumers facing the threat of cyberattacks which are extremely unnerving, extensively damaging, and increasingly pervasive. It is our job to get the word out and help more people strengthen their digital well-being and I hope that more and more people discover the value our channel partners can provide them with in this regard.”

Dipesh Kaura, General Manager South Asia, Kaspersky

PLANS TO DRIVE GROWTH

that their systems face in the digital world as of today. Many important leaders and leading corporate organisations have been openly faced with cyberattacks last year.

While it may have been as embarrassing for them as it may have been harmful, people need to understand that prominent personalities and organisations are not the only targets for cyberattackers.”

Commenting about the product strategy for driving the new opportunities, Dipesh Kaura said, Awareness, in one word, would be our chief product strategy. It involves making people aware of the extent of vulnerabilities

He further added, “Anyone using internet-enabled devices is on the mark and vulnerable to data theft and misuse of data.

And, in 2022, we expect such incidents to grow in number. So, awareness is the first

offers a comprehensive suite of cybersecurity solutions that include advanced cyberthreat detection and response software as well as services. These solutions can be seamlessly integrated into most systems and are extremely agile due to the use of advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and more. Looking at the current cybersecurity landscape, we will be focusing on endpoint protection solutions like Kaspersky’s EDR and XDR, ICS/OT Security, MSSP, and Threat Intelligence (as a service and as a portal). These products have varied applications tailored to the individual and enterprise customers.”

Channel strategy plays an important role in the growth of any brand, Dipesh Kaura stated, “At Kaspersky, we see our channel partners as an extension of our brand. Their profitability is at the core of our value proposition as well as organisational strategy. We conduct regular trainings that help them upskill. These are aimed at enabling them to provide excellent service and guidance to the end-consumer.

We offer them joint business planning, which helps them to recognise the power of the partner ecosystem we have created. In 2022, as we target greater penetration in smaller towns and a stronger B2C outreach, we are looking at enhanced engagement with our channel partners.”

“WE’D LIKE TO THANK OUR PARTNERS WHO HAVE STOOD BY US IN THE BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY OF 25 YEARS” ogy and style that equally offers a With the continuation of trend like WFH due to existing pandemic, IT peripherals market saw huge demand in last two years. There is a constant need to set up a comfortable workplace at homes with a demand for products like webcams, mic, keyboards, mouse, and more. Zebronics, a market leader in this domain has the broadest range of high quality peripherals with an affordable price point. Rajesh Doshi, Co-founder & Director, Zebronics India Pvt Ltd commented, “So according to the need of the time we’ve been launching and upgrading our IT Peripherals range suited for WFH. Staying indoors all day has also led to an increase in gaming so we’ve also launched a range of gaming products like chassis, mechanical keyboards range, microphones & more. We’ve also added the first of its kind gaming soundbar ZEB-Sonic Bar 100, which is a super-compact soundbar with 3D sound, immersive virtual 5.1 experience with RGB lights. Overall IT peripheral market has

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great opportunity for our channel partners. We also have a vast range of products in each product category. This year we have many “We’d like to wish everyone a positive & healthy products lined up in different 2022. It has been an incredible journey thus far and categories like as we’ve mentioned it would not have been possible without the trust earlier IT Peripherals, premium of our partners. We’d like to thank our partners gaming products and home enfrom the bottom of our hearts who have stood by tertainment products” said Rajesh us in the beautiful journey of 25 years. We want Doshi. “We have always worked to to reassure our partners that increasing awaremake premium products accessible ness and brand presence of Zebronics with our for the masses like our premium 360 degree aggressive marketing will mean good soundbar range with Dolby Atmos, times for the channel community. We have been LED projectors & more. We are able to balance both offline and online partners looking at more product launches and believe that partners are the foundation of the in the personal grooming range brand. We look forward to their continued support as well. Our channel plans are and love as we embrace new milestones.” specific to regions and states and Rajesh Doshi, Co-founder & Director, vary according to the requirement Zebronics India Pvt Ltd of the place. We have various schemes for our channel partners to progress and we also provide seen a good response and we are also very incentives accordingly. We see to it that our active with ensuring that products reach the channel partners are getting their due for the market at the right time.” efforts put in by them. Zebronics, as a brand, has a vast range of products in each categoGROWTH PLANS FOR 2022 ry. It gives a boost to our channel partners as they get an upgraded product range and “We’re always involved in upgrading our that gives both of us an upper hand over our product range with better features, technolcompetitors.”

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COVER STORY

“ESET WILL CONTINUE TO INVEST HEAVILY IN R&D TO ENSURE PRODUCTS STAY AHEAD OF THE THREAT LANDSCAPE” During the existing pandemic cybersecurity emerged as major challenge for companies as they opted for work from home model. But cybersecurity leaders like ESET offered extensive and updated solutions for enhanced security. In year 2022, we might get to see more such advancements and transformation. Parvinder Walia, President for Asia Pacific and Japan, ESET stated some major trends for 2022: CLOUDIFICATION Businesses are unlikely to return to the traditional model of work as the world recovers from the pandemic. Many businesses have shifted to the cloud to support hybrid working arrangements. In India, cloud is also here to stay as end-user spending on public cloud services is forecasted to reach $7.3 billion in 2022, an increase of 29.6% from 2021. And with this massive shift to the cloud lies immense potential for cloud-enabled security solutions that can be managed via the cloud, as well as solutions that safeguard users from commonly used cloud-based productivity tools such as Microsoft 365. It is also important to note that the shift to the cloud and cloud-enabled security solutions is not limited to large enterprises, as it also affects small and medium businesses (SMBs). Globally, the SMB adoption of ESET’s cloud-based security solutions doubled in 2021 as compared to 2020, and we expect this trend to continue especially in rapidly growing markets like India.

THE RISE OF SECURE-BY-DESIGN Next-gen tech such as 5G and Internet of

“We’d like to extend our utmost gratitude to our channel partners for helping ESET to grow rapidly in India in the past 10 years. Support for channel partners has been a longstanding emphasis for ESET, as we understand that our growth goes handin-hand with our partners’ success. As a testament to our commitment to channel excellence, ESET had attained ‘Champion’ status in the Canalys APAC Leadership Matrix in 2021 for the first time, and was awarded Digital Terminal’s Best Cybersecurity Solution for Enterprise & SMEs in India. As we embark on the new year, we will continue to navigate the ever-shifting industry trends and changing customer requirements with our partners in India and APAC to ensure joint success in 2022 and beyond!”

- Parvinder Walia, President for Asia Pacific and Japan, ESET

Things (IoT) will continue to unlock new opportunities for businesses as more use cases are developed. In India, IoT investments are projected to reach $560 billion by 2022.

The country is also expected to begin rolling out 5G networks around July to August this year, which will connect users from more rural areas of India. With the proliferation of connected devices due to the adoption of 5G and IoT technologies, telcos and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) need to play a major role to safeguard their customers against new online threats that may result from these next-gen tech. Therefore, we can expect telcos and ISPs to place a stronger emphasis on tighter security by implementing a “secure-by-design” approach to cybersecurity, which can enable organisations to adopt a proactive stance to cybersecurity.

GROWTH ROADMAP FOR 2022 Briefing about the strategies to accelerate their performance in 2022, Parvinder Walia said, “In 2022, ESET will continue to invest heavily in R&D to ensure our products stay ahead of the threat landscape. To support businesses’ increasing adoption of cloud-based solutions, ESET will be enhancing all major B2B offerings with significant updates. ESET’s B2B bundles across all product segments will also be cloud-enabled to allow IT admins to easily manage the organisation’s security from the cloud. In addition, ESET will introduce a new offering that can help telcos and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) protect their customers against advanced cyberthreats.

He further added, “There will also be a major update to the ESET Enterprise Inspector (EEI), our endpoint protection tool that offers continuous protection and security monitoring. The updated solution will include more features, support more platforms to offer even better visibility to end-users, and pave the way for EEI to become an XDR solution.

Lastly, ESET will be refreshing our brand globally in 2022 to reinforce our brand image as a leader in digital security.”

“WE SHALL BE ADDING MORE PRODUCTS CATEGORIES TO OUR BASKET THIS YEAR” The smart TV market is one of the key markets that have transformed over the years.

The advent of ground-breaking technologies has changed the way we entertain ourselves these days. Commenting about the new trends in smart TV industry, Pawan Kumar, CEO, Elista said, “Due to home entertainment gaining more & more popularity, consumer is totally moving towards bigger screens. With the unprecedented growth in OTT popularity, AI based Smart TVs will be growing much faster than the conventional

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“Last two years were very challenging due to the pandemic for the human race as well as for the business. We sincerely wish and hope that the year 2022 brings normalcy to business and all our channel partners stay healthy and reach new heights when it comes to attaining their business goals.”

Pawan Kumar, CEO, Elista

LED TVs. 4K UHD TVs & HDR will be most popular due to the drop in pricing and this resolution being made available at cheaper price. Consumer interest is also shifting

towards the interface that gives certified OTT Apps for the sheer convenience.”

MAJOR STRATEGIES FOR 2022 “Elista as a brand is committed to bringing products with affordable yet state-of-the-art technology to its consumers. During 2022, we shall be adding more products categories to our basket with a wide range so that consumer as well as the channel partners have a wide choice. We have already made our presence felt as a brand in South & West markets through our channel. We shall be working towards strengthening our position in these markets as well as newly entered markets such as East & North,” added by Pawan Kumar.

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“OUR 2022 PRODUCT STRATEGY INCLUDES IMMENSE FOCUS ON PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT” and 65 inch TV models and this makes for The smart TV market is witnessing exponential growth as adoption of new technologies have elevated the entertainment experience for consumers across India. Elaborating on the major trends in the Indian Smart TV market, Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd, Kodak brand licensee said, “The top two trends that we will see in the Indian SMART TV market will be the growth in popularity of the segment. Maximum growth in the overall television sector this past year has come from this category and for 2022 we are envisioning that 85% of the sales will be attributed to the same.

Google is set to turn the trends around this year and cause mass disruption with its renewed ANDROID TVs and new Google TVs set to enter the market. As we already know, as per some studies carried out, viewers spend a maximum of their time looking for content to watch and the new offering from Google is set to change exactly that. The algorithm will read customer preferences so

“We feel so supported by all our brand partners, especially in the offline space, who have helped us expand our business with their support. Covid hit everyone hard and collaboration was the way and we feel grateful to have been able to team up with people who gave us the space to explore. We do see a great promise for Kodak in the offline space and in order to work this further we are ready to offer great margins to all our partners.”

Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd

well that will help us save 30 hours per week in scouring for shows to watch. A content once watched will not be repeated and only that matches customer tastes so well will appear in the next-to-watch list.

He further added, “The second major trend that we will see this year is the strengthening large screen market space. Before the pandemic most people were watching content on the go, during long commutes etc but since then people have now been forced to stay in their home for safety reasons that have allowed them to experience content in a life sized way. The television category has definitely seen a hike amongst the 55 inch

a great opportunity for affordable brands to capitalize on.”

PRODUCT ROADMAP FOR 2022 “Our product strategy has been pretty simple.

We have a range of models across the 24 inch and 75 inch space thus catering to a wide variety of customers. We are set to now add more premium models of TVs that will expand our audience base,” commented by Avneet. He further reveals, “Our 2022 product strategy also includes immense focus on product development. In sync with the message that the government promotes via the Atma Bharat scheme, as a brand we are developing much of our products in-house. We will also be introducing newer formats of UI / UX for our customers to enjoy. Additionally, this year kodak also has new tie-ups in place to enhance the sound quality of our TVs. In terms of channel plans, this year we entered several new markets offline and despite covid the response was great. And, now we are set to explore this further and will enter some regional chains in the north east, in orissa, down south in karnataka, andhra pradesh, telangana. The North India market has always been strong for us so now we will also move to chains in the West such as in Maharashtra and so on.”

“WE ALWAYS TRY TO PROVIDE UPDATED AND LATEST TECHNOLOGYBASED PRODUCTS” The surveillance and security product market has seen tremendous growth in recent years. All due to the latest technologies being integrated for an improved and better consumer experience. Secureye, a leading Indian brand in this domain has been offering wide range of surveillance and security products for their huge customer base across India.

Atul Gupta, Director, Secureye shares some key trends that will drive this market: Smart & Intelligent Video Surveillance:There is a rapid growth in the latest video surveillance products and solutions in India due to the latest technologies and the improved resolution from 1080p to 4K (8 megapixel) and beyond. The IP CCTV Camera’s trend has experienced an instant growth in the residential, industrial, and Government Projects. These intelligent Video Surveillance cameras are adding value with enhanced technologies and edge-based video analytics. analog cameras are also in demand in tier-2 & 3 Cities.

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“Our association has always brought satisfaction to us and I am hopeful that with the advent of New Year 2022, we will explore new opportunities to write new success stories with the amazing partnership. Warm wishes to all our Channel partners and their families on New Year and look forward to working with you for many years.”

Atul Gupta, Director, Secureye

Adoption of Latest AI technology in Security Products:Artificial intelligence is in great demand nowadays which is based on deep learning.

AI is the most trending technology at present and it has a great impact on Security products like- CCTV, Intrusion Alarm, Access Control, Thermal Products, and Smart Home Security Products. AI technology has changed the CCTV Industry, as its Deep Learning system helps a machine to train the system from pre-recorded data, exactly imitating the way a human being does after learning different

things. AI-driven cloud-based technology is a new advancement in the CCTV Security system.

PRODUCT & CHANNEL PLANS FOR 2022 “We have introduced many latest technology-based products and now We are coming with premium project series products, for defence & Government Bodies. We are also focusing on complete security solutions to smart Homes, Apartments, and corporate sectors. we have recently launched - vandal-proof cameras and Fingerprint Locks.

Our Products are the best in its segment as we always try to provide updated and latest technology-based products. Channel Partners are the backbone of our segment. There are incentive schemes on a quarterly basis, as per the objective defined to the channel partners. It includes Domestic & international trips, Special packages, and exclusive offers on products. We are also emphasizing to stronger our bond with the partners as we are organizing Technical events in multiple cities and providing technical training to them and their staff so that they can get a better understanding and pitch our products according to requirements,” concluded by Atul Gupta.

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COVER STORY

“AT EPSON, WE WILL CONTINUE TO PROMOTE OUR HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL ECOTANK PRINTERS” segment requireInnovation in Inkjet Printing technology has helped this market to grow immensely in last few years. InkTank printers have been adopted by large customer base due to its innovations and affordability as well. Commenting on the trends in printer market, Siva Kumar, Senior General Manager, Inkjet Printers at Epson India said, “The year 2022 is looking promising for InkTank Printer from both Home and Office segments. As the work from home (WFH) and learn from home (LFH) is expected to continue, an increase in awareness about the benefits of InkTank printers over Ink Cartridge printers can further increase a demand in the home segment. We have witnessed a shift from Laser printers to InkTank printers among corporates and SoHo due to the focus on sustainability and ESG [Environmental, social, and governance] goals. We are expecting more office users would switch to Inkjet technology which is Eco-nomical and Eco-friendly.”

He further added, “At Epson, we offer a wide range of products from Color and Monochrome desktop printers to Big office printing up to 100 ppm printers. We will continue to promote our highly successful EcoTank printers with the key benefits of low print lost, high page yield, low power consumption and environmentally friendly printing. These printers are equipped with revolutionary HeatFree Technology, which boasts lower power consumption than legacy printers such as ink cartridge printers, laser printers, and thermal

“In these unprecedented times, our highest priority is the health and well-being of all our partners and their families, and the ideal way is to follow government guidelines and stay healthy. In terms of business, we wish them more success, better inventory control and to provide the ideal product to the client. We offer a wide range of InkTank printers to support our channel partners to offer to their customers and also recommend the best product depending to their customers needs, rather than promoting the entry level models.

Partners should focus more on Tier II and Tier III cities, quicker deliveries and embrace digital with local digital campaigns via SNS to have a better reach to their customers.”

Siva Kumar, Senior General Manager, Inkjet Printers at Epson India

inkjet technology printers.”

Major Strategies to Drive Growth The market landscape has changed a lot in last few years due to existing pandemic. Leading brand like Epson has already chalked out their channel and product plans for year 2022.Briefing about the plans to boost growth, Siva Kumar said, “At Epson, we will continue to promote our highly successful EcoTank printers on the premise of Low-Cost printing, high page yield and Environmentally friendly printing. This year our main focus would be to reach out to IT channel who would be catering the home

ments and we will support the growth on online platform sales. More focus would be in Tier II and Tier III Cities as we see potential in these markets due to Learn from Home scenario.”

“Epson printers with the Heat Free Printing technology delivers cost-effective solution that lower carbon foot print, Less e waste and Low power consumption. We will promote this aggressively to the corporates as it is the best solution to help them achieve their sustainability and ESG goals. We focus on High volume printing with our Business Inkjet which offers a value preposition to the users with High print volume, low power consumption and Economical prints with less environmental impact compare to laser printers. We expect a growth in Managed Print Service (MPS) among corporates.

We also continue with the our digital effort to reach out the these segments.

Once the Covid-19 pandemic ends, we would go back to Pre-Pandemic activities like with face-to-face meetings with end customers, Live Demos,” he added.

“WE PLAN TO COME UP WITH NEW OFFERS AND SCHEMES EVERY QUARTER” Year-over-year technology has impacted our lives in many ways and has revolutionized how we function.

This year technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, 5G, cloud computing will evolve and would have even more impact on our lives. Adding on this, Sarvesh Mishra, Head of Sales & Marketing, Digisol Systems, said “2022 will bring a host of technological upgrades that are aimed at simplifying various networking problems on both the fronts- enterprises and consumer. “On the enterprise front, SD-WANs are now moving out from the early-adopter phase to mainstream adoption. As SD-WANs are agile, efficient, secure and offer better application performance compared to legacy WAN, thus enterprises are looking forward to this upgrade. While on the consumer front, 5G, the fifth generation of mobile wireless communications promises to bring opportunities with greater ability to

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GROWTH ROADMAP “On behalf of entire Digisol team I would like thank all our partners for their constant support and trust in us. Year 2021 has been an exciting year as we launched our best selling FTTH & Switching products as Made in India products. We are extremely overwhelmed with the response that we have received for all our newly launched made in India product products.

Just like previous years, we aim to encourage manufacturing in our country and make India Atmanirbhar. As New Year comes with new opportunities, let’s work together to unlock future of opportunities and accomplish greater success.”

Sarvesh Mishra, Head of Sales & Marketing, Digisol Systems,

connect many more devices at once and move more data with its faster speed. 5G is the technology that will extend wireless connectivity beyond Smartphones, and enhance machine-to-machine connections. Increased speed and network capacity will support new applications and connect more devices.

Briefing about the growth plans for 2022, Sarvesh Mishra, Digisol Systems stated, “We aim to strongly emphasize the importance of purchasing ‘Made in India’ products that are way better in performance & priced affordably.

Our team at Digisol is working towards spreading awareness for more than a decade and lately we have launched a campaign – ‘Digisol – Trusted Made in India brand’ and in 2022 we will take it forward to encourage customers & partners to make right decisions when it comes to buying IT networking products. We have launched ‘Made in India’ versions of our best selling FTTH GEPON products. In this year, we will be launching many made in India products starting with series of our best selling networking switches. Talking about channel community, in the coming year, our focus will revolve around empowering our channel community. Like every year, this year also we will undertake various initiatives to engage with our partners. We plan to come up with new offers and schemes every quarter. Besides this, we will also offer loyalty and incentive schemes to motivate the channel partners.

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BRAND CONNECT

WESTERN DIGITAL ANNOUNCED SECOND WINNER OF ITS ‘BUY, SHARE & WIN’ CONTEST 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.*

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

(From L-R) Mr. Sandeep S receiving the brand new Nissan Datsun Redi-go car from Mr. Khalid Wani, Senior Director - Sales, India, Western Digital

Western Digital has announced the second of its ‘Buy, Share & Win’ contest. Mr. Sandeep S from New Delhi has emerged as the second winner of WD’s ‘Buy, Share & Win’ contest where consumers are getting a chance to win a brand-new Datsun® redi-GO car every 15 days on buying select SanDisk® and WD® products.

Western Digital recently launched an exciting ‘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’ launched 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 36

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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

much-needed positivity and joy 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

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TECH FOCUS

MAG WOR LD EXPO 22 MOBILES | ACCESSORIES | GADGETS

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Sachin Desai +91 98204 25612 sachin@virgo-comm.com

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Organised By

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JANUARY 2022 I

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SMARTWATCH SHELF

Crossbeats Ignite S4 Crossbeats announced Ignite S4, marking a new era in smartwatch innovation. Ignite S4 is Crossbeats’ most intuitive smartwatch bolstered with advanced hardware performance to deliver a connected and seamless experience to users. Crossbeats Ignite S4 is available in three unique colour variants – Forest green, Oxford blue, and Coal-black. The smartwatch is priced at INR 4,999.

TOP FEATURE: •1.8” 3D Curved Display •Bluetooth 5.2 •Multisport Training Feature •Multiple Health Trackers •Multiple Watch Faces •IP67 Water Resistant •3 Days Battery Life

boAt Iris boAt unveils it’s latest and refreshingly new smartwatch ‘boAt Iris’. This nextgeneration smartwatch boasts the brand’s very first high-definition round AMOLED display. boat Iris comes in Active Black, Flaming Red and Navy Blue. The smartwatch is priced at INR 4499 TOP FEATURE: •1.39” Amoled display •7 Days Battery Life •Multiple Health Trackers •IP68 Sweat and Water Resistant •8 Active Sports Modes •Multiple Watch Faces

DIZO Watch R DIZO announced the launch of its latest smartwatch - DIZO Watch R. The smartwatch delivers intelligent features and accommodates all aspects for the fitness lovers at a very competitive price. Available in three trendy colours - Classic Black, Golden Pink and Silver Grey the watch is priced at INR 3,499.

TOP FEATURE: •1.3” AMOLED Display •Bluetooth 5.1 •12 Days Battery Life •Multiple Watch Faces •Multiple Sports Modes •5ATM Water Resistant •Multiple Health Trackers

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SMARTPHONE SHELF

Vivo Y21T Vivo announced the launch of vivo Y21T, offering trendy slim design and robust features for a seamless user experience.

OS: Funtouch OS 12 Based on Android 11 RAM: 4GB + 1GB Extended STORAGE: 128GB DISPLAY: 6.58 inch FHD+ PROCESSOR: Snapdragon 680 REAR CAMERA: 50MP FRONT CAMERA: 8MP BATTERY CAPACITY: 5000mAh Priced at INR 16490, Vivo Y21T is available in two dazzling colour options Midnight Blue and Pearl White.

Tecno CAMON 18 TECNO once again re-affirms its ‘segment-first’ reputation by announcing the launch of yet another blockbuster smartphone from its popular camera-centric CAMON series, the CAMON 18.

OS: HiOS 8.0 Based on Andriod 11 RAM: 4GB STORAGE: 128GB DISPLAY: 6.8 inch FHD+ PROCESSOR: Mediatek Helio G85 REAR CAMERA: 48MP FRONT CAMERA: 8MP BATTERY CAPACITY: 5000mAh Tecno CAMON 18 is priced at INR 14999. The smartphone is available in Iris Purple and Dusk Grey color options.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge Xiaomi India launched another series of premium smartphone Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge with 120W HyperCharge technology.

OS: MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition RAM: 6GB and 8GB STORAGE: 128GB DISPLAY: 6.67 inch FHD+ PROCESSOR: MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G REAR CAMERA: 108MP FRONT CAMERA: 16MP BATTERY CAPACITY: 4500mAh Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is launched in two variants - 6GB + 128GB at INR 26,999 and 8GB + 128GB at INR 28,999. The smartphone is available in four color options: Pacific Pearl, Stealth Black, Camo Green & Purple Mist.

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TECH FOCUS

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RNI No - DELENG/2010/31992