ChannelWorld June 2012 by Sreekanth Sastry

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That, my friend, is going on Facebook.”

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 EDITOR’S NOTE

Vijay Ramachandran

Let It Go

ANY YEARS ago, there was a wise Zen master.

People would seek his counsel ask him to teach them the path to enlightenment. One day a warrior came to inquire about Zen. “I have come today to ask you to teach me. Open my mind to enlightenment.” The tone of the warrior’s voice was one used to getting his own way. The Zen master smiled and said that they should discuss the matter over a cup of tea. He served tea. He filled his visitor’s cup to the brim, and then kept on pouring. The warrior watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is full. No more will go in!” “Like this cup,” the Zen master said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?” What distinguishes a good leader? One could count attitude, focus, confidence, commitment to excellence, ability to inspire, desire to learn, among the traits that distinguish such a person. And, there are any number of ways that can help extend you as a leader and as a business executive in these directions. Have you ever wondered what gets in the way of successful people being more successful? Is it karma or random chance or is it something less subtle? Over 2,000 years ago Greek philosopher Antisthenes

wisely said: “The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.” Why should one forget some of those very things that got them to a leadership position and success? After all, it seems to have worked thus far. According to Marshall Goldsmith, an expert on leaders and leadership, often, what holds people back, he states: “are simple behavioral tics—bad habits that we repeat dozens of times a day in the workplace—which can be cured by (a) pointing them out, (b) showing the havoc they cause among the people surrounding us, and (c) demonstrating that with a

 The problem with many us is that we are achievers, used to winning. That is what we continue to do. But, once we get to the top, we have to quit doing that.

slight behavioral tweak we can achieve a much more appealing affect.” As an executive coach who works with some of the biggest business leaders in the world, Goldsmith’s had a lot of experience in doing exactly that. Interestingly, he started down this path when his mentor Peter Drucker said: “We spend a lot of time helping leaders learn what to do. We don’t spend enough time helping them learn what to stop.” In his book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, he goes about putting the spotlight on some of our most irritating habits, including clinging to the past, playing favorites, withholding information and failing to express gratitude. Such habits, he believes, “are transactional ﬂaws performed by one person against another... that make your workplace substantially more noxious than it needs to be.” Now for anyone in a leadership position, anyone who’s even marginally ‘arrived’ in life, it’s tough

enough admitting that they’re ﬂawed creatures. But, making the leap to realizing that these ﬂaws are impacting others in a toxic way can be both uplifting and downright depressing. Goldsmith asks us to ask some interesting questions of ourselves and points us in the direction of what we need to change. For instance, he asked one of his coaching clients what he learned from being a CEO of a big company. The response was that the CEO had learned that his suggestions became orders. As CEO, he told Goldsmith, “You don’t have to prove you’re right, prove you’re smart, you win anyway. It’s hard to make that transition from achiever and doer to leader.” The problem with many us is that we are achievers, used to winning. That is what we continue to do. But, as Goldsmith observes once we get to the top, we have to quit doing that. Ford CEO Alan Mulally once told him: “Leadership is not about me. It’s about them. And that is hard. For a great achiever, everything is about me; for a great leader, everything is about them.” Paraphrasing a hero to both Dr. Goldsmith and me, the Buddha: Please just use what works for you and let go the rest. Vijay Ramachandran is the Editor-in-Chief of ChannelWorld. Contact him at vijay_ramachandran@ idgindia.com

JUNE 2012

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AWARDS Get more intimately acquainted with the leading lights of India’s enterprise channel. Read the proﬁles of the winners of Premier100 2012. >>> Page 16

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■ PREMIER 100 WINNERS

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16 This year’s crop of Premier100 awards

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winners, the country’s ﬁnest enterprise channel partners, have shown foresight, resoluteness, and daring in their ability to stay ahead and grow their businesses despite harsh economic conditions. Here they are.

Publisher, President & CEO Louis D’Mello Associate Publisher: Rupesh Sreedharan

■ EVENT REPORT

solar power and carefully automated management should let datacenters have a net grid impact of zero; HP said announcing its new datacenter infrastructure.

124 Premier100 Recap | The Premier100

05 60tb Disk Drives Soon | The maximum

brought together thought-leaders and celebrated the enterprise channel’s ﬁnest. If you weren’t there, here’s what you missed.

areal densities of hard disk drives are expected to more than double by 2016, according to an IHS iSuppli storage space market report. The increase in densities should bode well for the continued sales of hard drives in data-intensive data intensive applications. 06 Cisco Server Shipments Jump |

Worldwide server shipments grew at a slower-thanexpected clip during the ﬁrst quarter of 2012, 2012 but Cisco, which has a small market share, beat market trends, Gartner said.

■ EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief Vijay Ramachandran Associate Editor Yogesh Gupta Deputy Editor Sunil Shah Assistant Editor Online Varsha Chidambaram Special Correspondents Radhika Nallayam, Shantheri Mallaya Principal Correspondents Aditya Kelekar, Gopal Kishore Correspondents Ankita Mitra, Aritra Sarkhel, Kartik Sharma, Shubra Rishi Senior Copy Editor Nanda Padmanabhan, Shreehari Paliath Copy Editor: Vinay Kumaar ■ DESIGN

Lead Designerss Jinan K.V., Jithes L Jithesh C., Suresh Nair Senior Designerr Unnikrishnan A.V. A.V Designers Amrita C. Roy, Lalita Ramakrishna, Sabrina Naresh ■ SALES

08 Cloud Security: SMB Schizophrenia |

125 Thought Leadership L | The Premier100

Small and medium businesses that actually use cloud services see them as a way to boost security and save money, that’s according to a survey sponsored by Microsoft.

Symposium gave channel partners an opportunity to learn from some of the top leaders in IT. The speakers shared their vision on the present and the future of the IT business. Also, ﬁve vendors including Dell, D-Link, CtrlS, VMware, and Oracle shared their perspectives on the IT market and underscored their commitment to the channel.

10 Moving T Towards Convergence | The integrated appliance market will change the face of the converged datacenter.

134 Special Awards A | The special awards

■ OPINION

were handed out in ﬁve catgeories, including the newly introduced Hall of Fame which saw 10 companies win.

01 Editorial: Vijay Ramachandran on the transition

■ NEWS ANALYSIS

AND MARKETIN MARKETING

President Sales & Marketing: Marketin Sudhir Kamath VP Sales Parul Singh GM Marketing Siddharth Sing Singh Sakhee Bagri, Varun Manager Key Accounts: Sak Dev, Jaideep M. Manager-Sales Support Nadira Nad Hyder Marketing Associates: Dinesh Dines P., Anuradha Iyer, Benjamin Jeevanraj ■ CUSTOM SOLUTIONS & AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

Senior Manager Projects: C Chetan Acharya, Pooja Chhabra, Ajay Adhikari, A Ajay Chakravarthy Manager Tharuna Paul Senior Executive Shwetha M. Project Co-ordinator Archana Archan Ganapathy, Saurabh Patil, Rima Biswas ■ FINANCE

OPERATIO & OPERATIONS

Cisco Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

IBM India Ltd I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC

Finance Controller: Sivarama Sivaramakrishnan T.P. Sr. Manager Accounts: Sasi Kumar V. Poornima Sr. Accounts Executive: Poo Manager Credit Control: Pra Prachi Gupta Sr. Manager Products: Sreekanth Sastry Sr. Manager Production: T.K.Karunakaran Sr. Manager IT: Satish Apagundi

Dell India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,15,25 & 35

Juniper Networks India Pvt.Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC

■ OFFICES

Elitecore Technologies Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Netgear Technologies India Pvt. Ltd . 33 & False Cover

Emerson Network Power India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . BC

Ricoh India Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 & Flap

Fortinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

that leaders need to make—from being achievers—to ensure that they lead better.

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Fujitsu India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

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CHANNELWORLD

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■ PREMIER 100 WINNERS

■ NEWS DIGEST

16 This year’s crop of Premier100 awards

05 HP Turns Power on Low | A combination of

CHANNELWORLD.IN

Publisher, President & CEO Louis D’Mello Associate Publisher: Rupesh Sreedharan

■ EVENT REPORT

solar power and carefully automated management should let datacenters have a net grid impact of zero; HP said announcing its new datacenter infrastructure.

124 Premier100 Recap | The Premier100

05 60tb Disk Drives Soon | The maximum

brought together thought-leaders and celebrated the enterprise channel’s ﬁnest. If you weren’t there, here’s what you missed.

Worldwide server shipments grew at a slower-thanexpected clip during the ﬁrst quarter of 2012, 2012 but Cisco, which has a small market share, beat market trends, Gartner said.

■ EDITORIAL

Lead Designerss Jinan K.V., Jithes L Jithesh C., Suresh Nair Senior Designerr Unnikrishnan A.V. A.V Designers Amrita C. Roy, Lalita Ramakrishna, Sabrina Naresh ■ SALES

08 Cloud Security: SMB Schizophrenia |

125 Thought Leadership L | The Premier100

Small and medium businesses that actually use cloud services see them as a way to boost security and save money, that’s according to a survey sponsored by Microsoft.

10 Moving T Towards Convergence | The integrated appliance market will change the face of the converged datacenter.

134 Special Awards A | The special awards

■ OPINION

were handed out in ﬁve catgeories, including the newly introduced Hall of Fame which saw 10 companies win.

01 Editorial: Vijay Ramachandran on the transition

■ NEWS ANALYSIS

AND MARKETIN MARKETING

OPERATIO & OPERATIONS

Cisco Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

IBM India Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IBC

Dell India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,15,25 & 35

Juniper Networks India Pvt.Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC

■ OFFICES

Elitecore Technologies Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Netgear Technologies India Pvt. Ltd 33 & False Cover

Emerson Network Power India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . BC

Ricoh India Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 & Flap

Fortinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

that leaders need to make—from being achievers—to ensure that they lead better.

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX ADVERTIS

Fujitsu India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 & 37 This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

News

WHAT’S WITHIN PAGE 05: HP to Take Your Datacenter of the Power Grid PAGE 06: Cisco Server Shipments Beat the Trend PAGE 08: SMBs Schizophrenic about Security PAGE 10: The Integrated Appliance Market Heats Up

F I N D M O R E A R T I C L E S AT CHANNELWORLD.IN

DATACENTER

HP Turns the Power on Low

COMBINATION OF

solar power and carefully automated management should let datacenters have a net grid impact of zero; HP said announcing its new datacenter infrastructure. The core of the company’s new offering seems to be in its predictive analytics software, which is used to create usage proﬁles for the datacenter — providing users with detailed forecasts around which they can build the most efﬁcient possible

schedules for computing workloads. According to one example provided by HP, companies could ensure that non-timesensitive workloads are handled during daylight hours, enabling them to be powered exclusively by solar cells. The system also helps schedule and optimize computing resources, which provides the ability to keep critical tasks moving during peak hours. The net effect of this integration of both supply and demand for power,

cooling and compute resources into the calculations of an automated management framework, the company asserted, could be a reduction in total energy cost of 30 percent. Maximizing the amount of renewable energy used also requires far less dependence on the local grid, to the tune of 80 percent. HP distinguished technologist Cullen Bash says there are many opportunities for efficiency gains in the datacenter. “Datacenters today are significantly under-utilized. Most of the IT equipment within a datacenter is running at about 20 or 30 percent of its full capacity. ... A lot of that IT infrastructure is wasted,” he says. By centralizing workloads on a few machines, Bash says, it’s possible to vastly improve efficiency by simply turning off those that aren’t needed. HP didn’t announce any concrete plans for making this technology commercially available, but noted that its research into making the idea more scalable is continuing. The company did say, however, that the technology could be combined with its existing “pod” or modular datacenter form factor.

JUNE 2012

— By Jon Gold INDIAN CHANNELWORLD

STORAGE OUT OF THE LAB

60tb Disk Drives Soon The maximum areal densities of hard disk drives are expected to more than double by 2016, according to an IHS iSuppli storage space market report. The increase in densities should bode well for the continued sales of hard drives in dataintensive applications such as video and audio systems, the market research ﬁrm stated. The areal densities are projected to climb to a maximum 1,800 Gbits per

square inch per platter by 2016, up from 744 Gbits per square inch in 2011. From 2011 to 2016, the ﬁveyear CAGR for HDD areal densities will be equivalent to 19%, IHS iSuppli said. This year, hard drive areal densities are estimated to reach 780Gbits per square inch per platter, and then rise to 900Gbits per square inch next year. — Lucas Mearian

SERVER

Cisco Server Shipments Jump Unified Computing and Servers (UCS) product line, bind systems together in shipments grew datacenters. at a slower-thanexpected clip during the At 1.7 percent, Cisco’s first quarter of 2012, but server market share was minuscule during the first Cisco, which has a small quarter this year, but the market share, beat market company’s server shipments trends, Gartner said. went up by 70.9 percent yeaServer shipments o-year to 40,498 worldwide during the first quarter units. Fujitsu’s this year were server shipments The increase in Cisco’s 2.35 million jumped by 12.7 server shipments in Q1/2012 compared to units, growing by percent to 86,360 last year’s quarter. just 1.5 percent units. compared to Cisco’s the same quarter last year, servers were sold to a small according to Gartner. customer base, but the growth was partly due to The top three server some effective sales and vendors — HP, Dell and marketing efforts, said IBM — saw declines in Jeffrey Hewitt, research VP shipments. However, server for Gartner. “The critical shipments grew for Fujitsu element from which Cisco and Cisco, which were in benefits is their datacenter fourth and fifth place. penetration level in the Cisco is mainly known network. This provides as a networking equipment vendor, but it also deals them a platform from which in blade and rack servers to push Cisco UCS,” he said. with integrated storage Server shipments and networking hardware. otherwise declined due to a combination of economic The servers, sold under the

ORLDWIDE SERVER

70.9 %

and supply chain factors, Hewitt said. Some customers are holding back for servers based on new processors such as Intel’s Xeon E5-2600, which started shipping in March, Hewitt said. The processor upgrade was Intel’s ﬁrst major chip upgrade for standard x86 servers in close to two years, and the chip maker said demand for the chip was strong. Server shipments declined by 0.4 percent for top server maker HP, which sold 685,015 units during the quarter, a 29.2 percent market share. Dell’s shipments declined by 1 percent to total 503,450 units, and its market share also dropped to 21.5 percent. IBM’s shipments declined by 1.7 percent year-on-year. IBM held the top spot over HP on server revenue, but year-on-year, revenue for both companies declined. Revenue also declined for Dell and Oracle, which held the third and fourth spots, respectively. A surprise was the ﬁfth-placed Fujitsu, whose revenue increased by 4.5 percent.

Juniper’s Updates Web Security Software

is also designed to simplify conﬁguration for security admins, and improve scalability for increasing trafﬁc volumes. Among the features in the new release include preventing brute-force authentication attacks that rapidly guess combinations of usernames and passwords to gain access to systems. It prevents

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

EMC announced new

EMC Data Domain and EMC Avamar deduplication systems and software that transform the backup and recovery landscape. The new products are high performance, scalable, purpose-built backup appliances that tightly integrate with each other, with backup software and with enterprise applications. Microsoft

launched Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure (India). The ﬁrst-such program by a tech company in India, it will host 10 early-stage startups onsite for four months and take them through an immersion program, focused on building businesses that take advantage of the cloud.

Intel

launched a cloud-based password management service that has been tightly integrated with Salesforce.com to give its customers an alternative to on-premise single sign-on software.

— By Agam Shah

SECURITY

Juniper Networks unveiled enhancements to the Web security software it obtained via the acquisition of Mykonos Software. The new release of Mykonos Web Security software provides 30 new features and extensions designed to protect against a wider range of attackers and hacking techniques. The software

Short Takes

FULL UP: The new release provides 30 new features

the attacker from using compromised credentials even if an attacker happens to “guess” the correct password. Then, for simpliﬁed use, the software

has a new GUI for managing systems and a setup wizard tool that does not require assistance from Juniper. It also now supports throughput greater than 1Gbps by enabling administrators to add multiple “slaves” to a clustering model. This allows the software to protect highervolume Web properties. Juniper sells annual software licenses for $175,000 (about Rs 96 lakh) with all support and updates included. — By Jim Duffy

a brand of

CLOUD

Cloud Security: SMB Schizophrenia MALL AND midsize businesses that actually use cloud services see them as a way to boost security and save money, that’s according to a survey sponsored by Microsoft. The survey also finds that similar-size businesses not using cloud services worry they might not be secure enough and that the costs of transitioning to them might be a hurdle. The survey’s goal was to find out the expectations SMB had for cloud services and how that compared to the reality experienced by companies already using cloud services, says Tim Rains, director of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing. The upside for security is that cloud services, on average, cuts 18 hours a week from security management time, the survey says. “It doesn’t eliminate the need for patch management onpremise, but there’s less of it to manage,” Rains says. That saves money, but also increases security because providers are likely to patch and upgrade in a timely manner as a competitive edge. The survey says that over the past three years, businesses using cloud services enjoyed decreases in security spending that are over five times the savings reaped by businesses that didn’t use cloud services. Of those using cloud services, 20 percent say they reduced

their security management costs, but the number was just 4 percent for those that didn’t use cloud services. Still, 40 percent of respondents not using cloud services say security is the reason they don’t, but 67 percent of them say they would be more conﬁdent about using cloud services if there were industry security standards. Visibility into how cloud providers operate their networks so customers can map that to standards and best practices would make 38 percent of respondents more conﬁdent about buying cloud services. A third of those not using cloud services say they see

Around

TheWorld VMware Acquires Wanova VMware has acquired Wanova, a developer of software used to centralize and simplify image management on physical and virtual desktops. The combination of VMware’s virtual desktop platform View and Wanova’s cloud-based management and recovery product Mirage will help expand the operational beneﬁts of central image management, says VMware’s Scott Davis, CTO for VMware’s End User Computing business unit. Both View and Mirage provides centralized desktop image management, with advantages

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

the cost of transitioning to cloud services as a barrier. The survey questioned 94 SMBs using cloud services and 93 that did not. Microsoft says cloud users were deﬁned as companies that used a cloud service via a subscription model, and did not differentiate among SaaS, IaaS and PaaS offerings, or what types

such as making it easier to install patches. — IDG News Service

HP Appoints New Head of Software Following through on promises to shufﬂe the ranks of upper management, HP has hired George Kadifa to head up the company’s software division and promoted Bill Veghte, who formerly led the division, to the role of COO. Kadifa, who will become an executive VP, will manage the company’s IT Performance Suite software portfolio and report to Meg Whitman, HP president and CEO. Veghte will work with Whitman to shepherd projects key to the company’s success. — IDG News Service

of data or functions were entrusted to those services. The survey was conducted by research ﬁrm comScore, which did not reveal to respondents that the survey was sponsored by Microsoft. A SMB was deﬁned as one with between 100 and 250 PCs in its network. — By Tim Greene

Fedora 17 Takes to the Cloud The newest release of the Red Hat-sponsored Fedora Linux distribution includes a number of technologies that haven’t made their way into Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) yet, including a new version of the OpenStack cloud platform, code-named Essex that the company plans to adopt in future editions of its ﬂagship distribution. Fedora 17 also includes the latest version of the Gnome — version 3.4 — as the default user interface. — IDG News Service

■ NEWS ANALYSIS

Moving Towards Convergence

integration and operation and better utilization of resources are the key beneﬁts of integrated appliance strategy for enterprises. And obviously the overall savings.” Integrated appliances, as a combination of server, storage and networking into a single entity, offer an irresistible combination of decreased complexity, through the use of preintegrated hardware with virtualization and automation management tools. “This helps avoid bottlenecks in design which is a typical problem in designing, setting your own, and chasing different vendors to resolve a problem,” says Jadhav.

THE MARKET SCENARIO

The integrated appliance market will change the face of the converged datacenter. By Shantheri Mallaya & Yogesh Gupta 10

NTERPRISE DATACENTERS are meta-

morphosing as organizations virtualize their compute, network and storage infrastructure and move to cloud-based delivery of business application services. Enterprise customers are looking at an amalgamation of IT in a way like never before. As the datacenter becomes the prime focus for enterprises, organizations are using converged infrastructure to centralize the management of IT resources and consolidate systems, besides increasing resource utilization rates, and lowering costs, particularly, in storage and

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

networking resources. A recent survey by Gartner points that a substantial number of companies have implemented, or are in the process of implementing, converged infrastructure. Datacenters around the world are reaching their limits where power, cooling and space are concerned. At the same time, capital constraints are requiring organizations to rethink their datacenter strategies. Converged infrastructure through integrated appliance seems to offer a solution to these challenges. Deepak Jadhav, director, VDA Infosolutions, explains how: “Quick deployment, scalability, ease of

With the dynamic scenario emerging across the IT landscape, the VCE consortium has already geared its wares. However, at least half a dozen vendors are now eyeing the integrated appliance market in a more focused and serious manner. IBM (PureSystems), Dell (VIS), HP (Matrix One) and Hitachi (CDS) have launched full-ﬂedged product portfolios to deliver a one-stop shop solution for enterprise customers. Their aggressiveness is evident from IBM’s foray in the converged infrastructure space with PureSystems in India couple of months ago. IBM has already bagged its ﬁrst Indian customer, BBTP, one of the largest players in real estate. Hitachi Data Systems’ converged datacenter solution (CDCS) is a single hardware appliance that combines compute, network and storage. Yogesh Sawant, director,

■ NEWS ANALYSIS Partner Sales and Field Alliance Organization, India, says, “Unlike competitive offerings, the entire appliance, which is a pre-conﬁgured and pre-tested block, is owned by HDS.” Dell, Oracle and HP, too, are formidable contenders in the integrated appliance space. Philip A. Davis, VP, Enterprise Solutions Group, Commercial Business APJ at Dell says, “We are best placed in the industry to dominate the integrated appliance or converged infrastructure marketplace due to our open architecture and diverse product portfolio.”(Read full interview on this page). HDS has ambitious plans to launch solutions with VMware, Cisco, and Oracle shortly. This solution, it says, will give customers a single point of contact and give partners control over the technology decisions that customers make, thereby increasing value for customers. “The CDCS market in India is very large and is seeing signiﬁcant acceptance. HDS believes that converged solutions will be the next wave in India and is offering solutions for the enterprise, mid-market and SMB segments,” says Sawant.

Open Strategy Works Well For Dell Philip A. Davis, Vice President – Enterprise Solutions Group, Commercial Business Dell APJ is conﬁdent of company’s ‘Integrated Solution’ strategy against competition. The enterprise market is transitioning rapidly towards ‘integrated appliance’ or ‘datacenter in a box’ with HP, IBM, Oracle to name a few. What is Dell’s value proposition in that space? There are two elements to it; how much is the proprietary stack and how much is the consumption model? People tend to merge both of these, but they are different. Dell’s overall approach is to be open and to offer options to customers at every level of stack. Most global 500 companies have made huge investments in systems and management tools across complex infrastructure. So, do they want to introduce another pod or an island that is proprietary and manage it separately? Probably not. That’s the difference between consumption models and stacks . However for the mid

mix and match approach. It is a lot different than IBM PureSystems, Cisco UCS or HP Matrix.

Philip A. Davis

market, putting an integrated appliance as a consumption model will result in savings in time and money. The opportunity to be open, if you choose to consume it across an integrated stack, is different, and the right approach by Dell. Then what are the offerings by Dell in this space? Couple of months ago, we launched vStart (Virtual Start) in APJ with three versions viz. vStart 50 (for 50 virtual machines), vStart 100 and vStart 200, mainly aimed at the mid-market. These have storage, networking and compute which are all sized to work together with Microsoft version (HyperV) and VM version. We are not forcing a single HyperV into the market or thrusting it on customers. They can break it down and have a

You are less aggressive on large enterprises while your competitors like Oracle or Cisco push ‘integrated appliances’ across the entire segment? We would like to sell a pre-deﬁned SKU to large enterprises. But they need a bit of uniqueness; a canned approach does not always meet their business demands. We do sell to enterprises like we do to the mid-market, however most of the time we end tweaking the basic SKU. One reason they (the competitors) sell across the segment could be that they can lock customers on their stack with high margins and high switching costs. This is great for a vendor but terrible for customers. This limits choice and increases cost. In last thirty years, that strategy works for a while and then the market always swings towards Open. Dell is the only major IT company which has built its lineage on Open, which we believe is a right strategy. — Yogesh Gupta

EMPOWERING YOU Working closely with partners becomes a must, and vendors have been talking to partners on the beneﬁts of taking a one-stop-shop solution to customers. Big Blue is working with 50-plus channel partners in its ﬁrst phase of engagement for Pure System. “IBM came little late,” says VDA 12

Infosolutions’ Jadhav, one such partner. “But it came with bang, taking care of shortcomings in other similar products. The main contrast is it is integrated / tested with industry leading applications which reduce implementation time drastically.” Joby Thomas, head,

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Business and Technology Practice at Bangalore’s Vitage Systems- which works with HP for an entire range of solutions, says, “Mid-market customers tend to look at a single appliance more favorably vis-à-vis a multi-vendor solution. Integrated appliances will sell well

with smaller customers, who cannot put in the kind of expenditure larger customers can.” HDS plans to get more than 95 percent of its business in India from its partners. The vendor has organized sessions at partner events in Tier-1 cities including Mumbai,

■ NEWS ANALYSIS Delhi and Bangalore as a curtain raiser for CDCS. The CDCS market in India is very large, believes Sawant, hence HDS is working closely with partners on how to ﬁt this into their enterprise portfolio to coexist with the customer infrastructure.

REAPING THE BENEFITS Ankit Desai, director, CDP India, says, “IBM has already given partners a sufficient heads-up with pre-launch webinars, and training, and certification programs. They are engaging with us in a very big way and we are confident of taking Pure Systems to the market.” Mumbai-based CDP India expects at least a 30-40 percent increase in its top

line with the addition of PureSystems in its kitty. With CDCS, Hitachi Data Systems will initially focus mainly on three metros — Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore — as three ASPs (Tier-I partners) of HDS are located in these cities. Other partners (Tier-I and Tier-II) can also work on project basis if they have adequate expertise needed for CDCS. “Enterprises partners with businesses around SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft can beneﬁt from these solutions. HDS provides the hardware platform which is the common thread,” says Sawant at HDS. Vitage Systems, for instance, is now planning to actively look at the converged infrastructure

Are IBM, Cisco and Oracle’s IT Platforms Really Comparable? IBM’s new PureSystems integrated data center offering is drawing comparisons to Cisco’s UCS and other convergence platforms from leading IT vendors. “The technical nuances are all different but it is a platform that integrates a few of the distinct silos,” says Jed Scarabella of IDC, on the converged IT data center platform market in general. “HP and IBM have something that integrates servers, networking and storage; Cisco doesn’t own storage so it is partnering with EMC and NetApp for VCE and FlexPod; and Oracle is...really more of an application platform,”he says. “They’re trying to break down these silos because some of their customers are sort of at their wit’s end: budgets are ﬂat, and they keep being asked

to do more,” Scaramella says. “They’ve got to ﬁnd a way to rein in their infrastructure.” “What IBM seems to be doing is building on top of that a variety of pre-provisioned platforms that include more than just computes, but also storage. So there are some parallels, but Cisco is very careful to stop at the limit of what they can do, and they do not reach any further into things like storage,” says Joel Snyder, senior partner at Opus One. “While you might be able to do some compare/ contrast between Cisco UCS and PureFlex Systems, the PureApplication system is more like VMware and the VM Appliance marketplace they have tried to build,” Snyder says. - By Jim Duffy

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

The main hindrance to the growth of converged infrastructure are customers who prefer to work with multiple specialists.” RAUNAQ SINGH, SVP, Targus Technologies

We believe converged solutions will be the next wave here. HDS is offering solutions for the enterprise, mid-market and SMB.” YOGESH SAWANT, Director, Partner Sales and Field Alliance Organization, HDS India

space, since it would help boost top lines and revenue from services. Thomas added that individual vendors with capabilities in this space will deﬁnitely give consortiums a run for their money.

CHALLENGES CONTINUE There is a certain amount of regret that converged infrastructure has not taken off in the manner it should have. Raunaq Singh, SVP, Targus Technologies, says, “The main hindrance to the growth of converged infrastructure as a larger phenomenon could be attributed to the fact that customers tend to have preferences and want to work with multiple specialists, rather than a single generalist.” Singh also points out that vendors such as HP should strengthen their portfolio better in order to give Cisco a better ﬁght. Integrated systems might be expensive as per market perception at large. But Jadhav of VDA disagrees. “This is a misnomer. If you list down all the components required in a IT set-up including cost of operations, unproductive time due to delays in implementation

during deployment phase or in isolation of problem during operation phase, saving in space and power etc and compare with Integrated system. Then one will realize that this (integrated approach) is not expensive.” Will the cloud be the next step? “Several characteristics make converged infrastructure well suited to cloud deployments. These include the ability to pool IT resources, to automate resource provisioning, and to scale up and down capacity quickly to meet the needs of dynamic computing workload,” says Col. Balwinder Singh, MD of Targus Technologies. Going forward, solution providers and vendors alike will work together to leverage the integrated/ converged platforms towards the cloud model. Delhi-based Targus Technologies is already actively looking at the cloud for the datacenter as well as collaborations for larger projects such as the railways. “Consortiums will help us reach a larger geography, bigger customers and help us create value,” says Singh. 

яБо CO COVER OVER STORY Y

10 PREMIER

AWARDS

IINDIAN NDIAN CHANNELWO CHANNELWORLD O RLD JUNE 2012

This year’s crop of Premier100 awards winners, the country’s finest channel partners, have shown foresight, resoluteness, and daring in their ability to stay ahead and grow their businesses despite harsh economic conditions. By Team T ChannelWorld Hundred is an interesting number—big enough to be called a ‘crowd’, but exclusive enough to representt the cream of the crop, especially if it is about the stalwarts of the IT industry. W er The ChannelWorld Premier100 awards, year afte after year, felicitates 100 companies that have influenced influenced the course of the IT industry in the country. Thes e These companies are the biggest and the fastest-growing g channel organizations, constituting an elite solution solutio on provider club. These companies, put together, generated a gargantuan Rs 7,735 crore in revenue in i 2011-12. Despite challenging market conditions, the e majority of these companies witnessed a healthy ttwodigit growth in their top lines and also recorded aan n impressive growth in profits. Like the previous three years, Premier100 this year received an overwhelming response from partners across the country. The number — 439 nominations — speaks for itself. Each application n was o reviewed by a jury of ChannelWorld editors, who revenue es evaluated organizations according to the revenues raate they clocked in the last two fiscals, the growth rate of their toplines, the clientele they acquired over the o last fiscal, the geographic expansion and spread of h i businesses, b i d the h technology h l portfolio f li tha hat their and that th have. h they We are honored to present the county’s top 100 channel organizations, companies that symbolize d define d fi h Read R d on to k h make k and growth. know h how they a difference. JUNE 2012

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD RLD

247 Computing Services Biggest learning this year. Focus.

L. Ashok Managing Director Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners cannot provide high-end solutions. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud. It’s been around for a decade. It’s just old wine in a new bottle. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Virtual desktop infrastructure because of the signiﬁcant advantages the technology offers.

A question you wish you had better answers to. How does one get better margins from principals? “Aha” leadership moment. When I decided to start my own business. What’s non-negotiable? Integrity. What would you like to invent? An inside lead generation mechanism.

A business idea you think should get more attention. An inside marketing team. If I was not a businessman, I would have.... … certainly not been working for a multinational! A habit you wish you could get rid of. Thinking constantly.

Snapshot Founded: 2010 Headquartered: Chennai Other Key Executives: K. Seshadri, VP Marekting; M. Baskar, CTO Key Principals: IBM, Cisco, Citirx, VMware Business Activities: Virtualization, open source, datacenters Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, education, healthcare

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

4G Identity Solutions

Snapshot Founded: 2007 Headquartered: Hyderabad Branches: New Delhi Other Key Executives: Dr. T. Lakshmi, MD; S.Chandrasekhar, Head-Strategic Business Initiatives Key Principals: L-1 Identity Solutions, HP, Dell, Suprema, Iris Guard Business Activities: Iris recognition, ﬁngerprint and facial recognition technologies, biometric identity technologies

Dr. Sreeni Tripuraneni

Focus Verticals: Government, corporate, banking

Chairman and CEO A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Iris recognition technology. With the successful implementation of iris technology in India’s unique ID / Aadhaar project and the Indonesian national ID projects, iris recognition technology will gain focus in 2012 and beyond, globally.

“Aha” leadership moment. When we had introduced multi-modal biometric identity technologies for civil identiﬁcation.

A better society for people to live in leveraging identiﬁcation technologies.

A business idea that should get more attention. Public service delivery infrastructure should get more attention.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Anything that’s touted as a fool-proof technology.

Channel myths you would like to bust. Identification technologies equals fingerprinting. There are plenty of ways to identify people that go beyond fingerprinting.

A question you wish you had better answers to. Who am I?

Your vision for your company. To get 4G Identity Solutions to be globally recognized as an end-to-end identity solutions company.

What would you like to invent?

JUNE 2012

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD

Accel Frontline Maqbool Hassan President & Head-IT Infrastructure Services Biggest learning this year. That only OEM’s make money in the hardware business.

To utilize the power of digital and social media as an alternate marketing channel.

A business idea that should get more attention.

Your vision for your company. To transfom it into a full-ﬂedged IT services company, one that addresses the global market.

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Chennai Branches: Bangalore, Cochin, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Calcutta and 34 other cities Other Key Executives: K.R. Chandrasekaran, CFO Key Principals: Oracle, IBM, Hitachi, EMC, Symantec, VMware, Cisco Business Activities: IT infrastructure, IT management services, RIM, MSOC, cloud computing, virtualization, consolidation Focus Verticals: Telecom, banking, government

ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD 20

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

A concept or technology that is over-rated. I believe that cloud computing is over-rated. Every company in the IT industry now talks about it, but

very few seem to have captured the essence of the technology and have delivered benefits to users. One technology you think will see significant adoption in 2012. Cloud offerings because there will be an increased trend of centralized computing for cost savings and faster deployments. Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel policies of OEM’s are for the benefit of partners. What’s non-negotiable? The core values of the company: Quality and customer satisfaction.

Ace Data Devices

Snapshot Founded: 1995 Headquartered: New Delhi Other Key Executives: Anuj Mediratta, Founder and DirectorTechnology Key Principals: EMC, Iron Mountain, NetApp Business Activities: Backup vault, virtualization, uniﬁed storage, NAS, VAS, data protection, storage consolidation, archival management, content management

Neeraj Mediratta Chief Executive Ofﬁcer

Focus Verticals: Corporate, SMB Turning point in your career. The big turning point came in 2010 when the company decided to get into the cloud computing space and laid down strategies to create a niche in this domain. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud computing will see increased adoption in the coming years.

What’s non-negotiable? Integrity and the level of service you offer are non-negotiable. Biggest learning this year. That you still have a lot to learn and a long way to go. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel is just for fulﬁllment.

What would you like to invent? Peace of mind. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A salesperson. Your stress-busting tactic. Reading helps me deal with stress. JUNE 2012

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD

Acma Computers Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners are the most victimized group; because they are themselves the cause of it.

Biren Selarka Director A question you wish you had better answers to. How do you get rid of corruption in India?

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud computing. It is still very much in its initial stages in India.

Biggest learning this year. That God is in the details.

Turning point in your career. The successful execution—within just seven days—of our ﬁrst big order of 300 assembled PCs in 2002.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An ofﬁcer in the armed forces. A business idea that should get more attention. Mobile phone marketing.

One technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Enterprise mobility because everyone brings their own devices to the workplace.

What would you like to invent? A time machine. A habit you wish you could get rid of. I want everything done yesterday. Your vision for your company. To be a global player in IT services.

Snapshot Founded: 1992 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: 12 cities in India Other Key Executives: Purvesh Selarka, COO; Bharat Singh, CFO; Ashok Yadav, GM-Services Key Principals: Acer, Lenovo, Intel, Microsoft, Kaseya Business Activities: Cloud-based solutions, datacenter, enterprise mobility, RIM, FMS, AMC, networking, security, storage, virtualization Focus Verticals: BFSI, SME, government, education

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Acme Digitek Solutions

Snapshot Founded: 1998 Headquartered: Lucknow Branches: Dehradun Other Key Executives: Amit Srivastava, Director-Technical and Operations; P.K. Kulshrestha, Director-HR and Customer Relations; P.S. Roy, Vice President Key Principals: HP, Cisco, D-Link, Schneider Electric, Emerson, Microsoft Business Activities: Servers and storage, networking, security, application software, IP video surveillance and security, video conferencing

Ajit Mital Managing Director If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A sportsperson or a writer. A question you wish you had better answers to. Whether a systems integrator should be OEM-speciﬁc in a particular product/solution, or be OEM independent and be opportunistic. Your vision for your company. To make it a company that every employee feels proud to be a part of.

Most memorable vacation. A family trip to Mauritius. Channel myths you would like to bust. Certiﬁcation is a must for them to do business. Someone who is adept at handling HP Servers will ﬁnd a way to handle IBM or DELL servers as well. Biggest learning this year. How to turn around your business despite losing a key marketing person, someone who drove business for almost 14 years.

Focus Verticals: State governments, education and research, public sector, corporates

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud computing as the new game-changer. This technology has been in existence for more than a decade; it’s just got a new name. Your stress-busting tactic. Playing tennis, reading, gardening, and doing yoga. JUNE 2011

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD

ACPL Systems Vishal Bindra

That channel players are just deal routing agents.

Chief Executive Ofﬁcer A question you wish you had better answers to. When will we get this payment?

Your vision for your company. Every ACPL employee should become a millionaire.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A motivational guide.

Turning point in my career. After separating from our previous partners, I knew I was on my own and that failure was not an option.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that BYOD is over-rated. It is a concern for executives. Hence, there is limited adoption across organizations

A business idea that should get more attention. The ability to get quality set of people to maintain quality in business.

Snapshot Founded: 1990 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Gurgaon Other Key Executives: Sukhpal Sandhu, Head-Information Assurance; Rajnish Niraj, Technology Lead; Jitender Singh, Head-Accounts and Finance Key Principals: McAfee, Websense, Juniper, Symantec, Citrix, RSA, NetApp, Check Point, Trend Micro Business Activities: Information security, information availability, networking Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, insurance, IT/ITeS, education

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

What’s non-negotiable? Margins and character. Channel myths you would like to bust.

What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent an application for mental peace. Your stress-busting tactic. Praying.

Adit Microsys What’s non-negotiable? Self respect is non-negotiable.

Biren Shah Managing Director Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is that cash is king. Your vision for your company. I wish to see it as a great value creator for our customers through innovative IT solutions. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Software-licenses-as-a-service. This concept will face resistance in India due to the high levels of piracy and the tendency to own rather than rent.

“Aha” leadership moment. Seeing cash cows turn into obsolete technologies in double quick time taught me to not be dependent on any one vendor or technology. A question you wish you had better answers to. Why do customers continue to ignore technologies that can improve their operations? Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners have no option but to work with low margins.

A business idea that should get more attention. The use of mobile applications for all distributed operations.

Snapshot Founded: 1993 Headquartered: Ahmedabad Other KeyExecutives: Satyarth Srivastava, Director Key Principals: Oracle, Microsoft, Symantec, Kaspersky Business Activities: Infrastructure, security, storage Focus Verticals: Government

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

AGS Sundyne Technologies

Snapshot Founded: 2003 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Navi Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad Other Key Executives: B.V. Sreeram, Director-R&D; Benison Vaz, VP-Business Development; Amit Tandon, VP-Marketing Key Principals: Intel, Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, HP, IBM, Dell Business Activities: Thin clients, virtualization, RIM, utility computing, cloud computing, digital signage, eLearning, mobile applications

Sandeep Gandhi Managing Director Biggest learning this year. That social media should be a strategic marketing activity for any organization. A business idea you think should get more attention. Outsourcing sales to BPO service providers and utilizing cloud solutions compatible with BYOD; this will give an organization the ability to expand and contract the virtual sales team. Your vision for your company. 28

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

To achieve $25 million with CMMI Level 5 in three years with a presence across all continents and leadership in our specialized solutions areas. What’s non-negotiable? Right hiring is non-negotiable. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Virtualization and thin clients because there is need for consolidation, more efﬁciency and greener computing.

Focus Verticals: OEM/ODM, ITeS, BFSI, retail, education, e-governance, media and entertainment, industrial automation

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A research analyst. What would you like to invent? Solar energy powered, nanotechnology-based datacenter-in-a-box. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Being ignorant about social networking.

Cy ber oam

Congr atula

rd tes the Security Awa

ers n n Wi

Cyberoam Presents Security Awards to : (L to R ) Mr. Jayanth Gojer, COO - Vitage Systems, Mr. Nityanand Shetty, MD - Essen Vision Software, Mr. Sunil Sharma, VP - Sales, Cyberoam, Mr. D.K. Bajaj, Director - DM Systems, Mr. Jiten Mehta, Director - Magnamious Systems, Mr. N.K. Mehta, CEO & MD - Secure Network Solutions

Cyberoam - the Most Valuable security Principal, proudly recognizes the top performing security partners who redefined the security business by offering innovative solution and support. As a leading security vendor, Cyberoam team has always believed and will continue, in recognizing deserving Channel partners and appreciating their zeal for contributing to the security industry. Cyberoam - Winner of

MVP Gold Award 2012

Email : marketing@cyberoam.com Website : www.cyberoam.com

Albion InfoTel units of the company towards value addition for customers.

Sanjeev Gupta Managing Director Turning point in your career. Going from being an infrastructure re-seller to a consulting partner for a number of public and private enterprises in India. A question you wish you had better answers to.

Snapshot Founded: 2000 Headquartered: New Delhi Top Executives: D. Vasudevan, Executive Director; Atul Tiwari, VP-International Business; T. Ashok, Executive Director-International Business Key Principals: Dell, Acer, HP, Lenovo, Cisco, Netgear, EMC, VMware Key Technologies: Cloud computing Key Verticals: IBS, managed services, Consulting services

ALSO WON THE CLOUD SPECIAL AWARD 30

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

How do you get investors and business managers to travel on the same boat? A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Vehicle telematics in the Indian context. The existing road transport network, communication system and infrastructure make it difﬁcult to implement this technology immediately. A business idea that should get more attention. Customer-centricity. Turning business as well as supporting

What would you like to invent? A computing device that will be affordable to all Indians. What’s non-negotiable? Honesty and integrity. If I was not a businessman, I would have been…. A professor. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Remembering failures. Your stress-busting tactic. Thinking of long-term business objectives.

Alliance Prosys ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 2006 Headquartered: Hyderabad Branches: Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Vizag Top Executives: Jeevan Reddy, Executive Director; Subha Keerthi, VP -Operations Key Principals: Microsoft, VMware, Adobe Key Technologies: Microsoft, security, virtualization

Ravi Putta Managing Director Biggest learning this year. Political instability has a major inﬂuence on business.

Business intelligence at this point of time. I feel it has long way to go in India.

Channel myths you would like to bust. Proﬁtability is not essential to sustain the business.

Turning point in your career. Taking the initiative of starting a company rather than joining an MNC.

A question you wish you had better answers to. How did you grow this company? What’s non-negotiable? Time. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. 32

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Your vision for your company. To generate $100 million by 2015. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Virtualization because cost optimization is critical to sustain any business.

Key Verticals: Infrastructure, security

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An employee of a vendor company. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Saying no. Most memorable vacation. A trip to Manali with my wife, kids and friends. What would you like to invent? I’d like to rediscover solutions on the cloud.

CUSTOM SOLUTIONS GROUP NETGEAR

CHANNEL DIRECTIONS

NETGEAR PROVIDES THE BEST VALUE TO SMBs NETGEAR meets the simplest to the most complex mid-market needs through an extensive portfolio, while keeping SMB economics in mind.

SUBHODEEP BHATTACHARYA Regional Director, India & SAARC, NETGEAR Technologies Subhodeep has 19 years of experience in IT, with an exposure to sales, product management, marketing and business unit leadership. In the past he has worked at HCL, CMC, Compaq and was recently a director at HP Networking. An engineer by training, he has a post-graduate management degree. What are NETGEAR’s priorities for Indian market in the current ﬁscal? The key priority is to establish NETGEAR as the only company in the industry extremely focused on mid-market infrastructure with a comprehensive portfolio that includes switching, storage, wireless and security. These products are not only hightech but also easy to deploy and maintain by enterprises. We believe this is the biggest growth area in the market. NETGEAR is an evangelist of ‘smart IT’—not ‘big IT’. What business opportunities do you foresee for partners in India? The mid-market continues to offer opportunities for partners, and today, it’s even more signiﬁcant. The advent of faster broadband, the impending explosion of 4G, and cheaper leased line bandwidth will enable many SMBs to connect inexpensively and easily to the Internet. With this change, the needs of SMBs will become more complex, which means necessitating innovation in implementing effective solution in security, wireless, storage, surveillance, cloud

services, etcetera. SMBs, unlike enterprise customers, need more consulting and support from IT partner, and this translates to more business opportunities for partners. Why would SMBs choose NETGEAR in a crowded networking market? NETGEAR is unique in that it is focused on the mid-market. The products for mid-market meet the speciﬁc technology needs and economics of the segment. We provide best-in-class range and technology to SMBs in switching (fast ethernet to 10G in all form factors), storage (2TB to 180TB), wireless and security. These products are specially designed for mid-markets; they are neither diluted enterprise products nor SOHO products being projected as midmarket class. And this is why we are the best choice for Indian SMBs—and channel partners serving this segment. Could you describe the company’s channel ecosystem in India? NETGEAR is a channel-centric brand with a two-tier distribution system. Rashi and Ingram are national distributors who sell to sub distributors and VARs. We’re also developing a set of competent partners to drive our mid-market solutions in surveillance, security, LAN, and wireless. We are developing storage partners for the fast-exploding storage markets. We will cater more aggressively to SMBs who need to deploy large, uncomplicated storage solutions, and today, we are ready with those solutions. Which technologies from NETGEAR can help partners reign as ‘true midmarket partners’ for their customers? We believe the key technologies are in storage, wireless and security. In

addition, we have a range of network switches which includes special purpose POE+ products, 10G aggregators to general purpose switches. We are able to meet the simplest to the most complex mid-market needs, while keeping SMB economics in mind. How do you think enterprises will adopt wireless technology across their networking infrastructure in the next few years? How will you ride the wireless wave in India? NETGEAR is investing heavily on wireless. We have a range of wireless access points and controllers, and we are also investing to develop new controllers that are more powerful and more manageable. We believe that wireless will be a differentiator in the education, hospitality, healthcare, and manufacturing industries and we will continue to focus on these verticals. Any last words to the enterprise channel partner community? The enterprise market is passing through a difﬁcult phase and most enterprise-focused businesses are also actively focusing on the mid-market. Many of these partners are already providing NETGEAR products to customers. Here’s our pledge to partners: We will continue to provide products designed for the midmarket at the right prices.

This Interview is brought to you by IDG Custom Solutions Group in association with

Allied Digital General Manager-Technology Operations

Your vision for your company To be the most admired global IT services company.

What would you like to invent? I want to create an incentive structure for the employees on the basis of their KRA and their achievements.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Virtualization. Many computing devices continue to be under-utilized.

Nehal Shah

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... Working in a large MNC. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud technology. Currently the eco-system is not ready. “Aha” leadership moment. When our subsidiary in the US, En

Pointe Global Services LLC was renamed Allied Digital Services LLC. The transition was completely led by me. What’s non-negotiable? Integrity and loyalty. Biggest learning this year. We built our own automated processes and systems in several areas of business this year.

Most memorable vacation. My trip to Europe.

Snapshot Founded: 1984

Channel myths you would like to bust. It’s not just about getting more business but about bringing joy the customers.

Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: India (12 cities), USA (44 states), Australia, South-east Asia, EMEA Other Key Executives: Nitin Shah, CMD; Paresh Shah, Group CEO; Prakash Shah, ED and CFO Key Principals: Amdocs, Cisco, EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, LANDesk, Lenovo, Microsoft Oracle Business Activities: IT-as-aService, infrastructure services, enterprise applications, integrated solutions Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, BFSI, media, communications, energy and utilities, healthcare, pharma, retail, logistics

ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD 34

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

CUSTOM SOLUTIONS GROUP DELL

CHANNEL DIRECTIONS

Dell’s Channel Structure Protects Partner Proﬁtability The Global Commercial Channel brings consistent pricing, and offers increased growth opportunities, thereby reﬂecting Dell’s commitment to improve its channel partners’ business.

SURESH REDDY SHANKAR General Manager, Global Commercial Channel, Dell India

Suresh Reddy Shankar has served various leadership roles within Dell India. The business has seen signiﬁcant initiatives under his leadership, including ramp-up of the commercial channel, and entry into newer segments and verticals.

How do you cater to the changing needs of your customers? Customers, today, want us to have more of a solutions approach than a kit or a service. The transformation we’re going through today is in response to these customer demands. Our company has transitioned to a comprehensive solutions provider—not just storage—but also servers, clients, networking, and services. In storage, we have transitioned from being mostly a reseller to becoming a complete provider of technology solutions and services. Post Dell’s transition to an end-toend solutions vendor, has the role of the channel increased in your business? At the core, we believe in simplifying IT for our customers, and focus on making IT work for them and their business. Dell’s transition to fulﬁll customer needs has been made possible primarily through the channel. We have grown from having a fairly rudimentary channel program to a tiered approach which allows our partners

to be as engaged as they want to be. Our channel initiatives are designed to provide customers with more choice, flexibility, and value when investing in Dell Solutions. The fact that we listen to channel partners is evident from the creation of the Global Commercial Channel (GCC) itself. GCC, with a single point of contact, was formed as a direct result of the feedback we received from our partners. What was the idea behind forming Dell GCC? How does it ensure profitability to your partners? Dell has been consistently coming up with new initiatives for strengthening the channel business. We announced the GCC structure in early 2011. The idea was to increase productivity, improve time cycles, and enable more customized programs to support the partners in the market. The new structure protects partner profitability by bringing consistent pricing across different Dell commercial businesses, and promises increased growth opportunities with solution-centric offerings and a broader end-customer base. How has your partner program, PartnerDirect, evolved post the formation of GCC? The PartnerDirect program now features a new structure which sets out increased rewards for certification and training, including new rebates for premier partners, expanded deal registration terms, financial incentives, and marketing and technical assistance. Dell has also doubled its channel sales force. Under the new strengthened structure, we have added more enterprise specialists who enable and support partners

to better address customer needs and optimally provide solutions within limited IT budgets. We, on our part, are constantly engaging with our partners via training programs. More instructor-led trainings are planned for other partners for their pre-sale representatives. Incentive plans are aligned accordingly with much higher incentives for both the partner organization and partner sales representatives for selling enterprise solutions. How do you ensure that these beneﬁts are conveyed to your existing and potential partners? Like I mentioned earlier, we carry out a lot of engagement initiatives. We recently aligned with ChannelWorld for the Premier100 awards to reiterate our gratitude towards our channel partners and also to recognize their role in growing the IT business. Premier100 gave us the opportunity to reach out to new system integrators, value-added resellers and independent software vendors, and showcase the value we bring in as a true partner. Such close engagements with the partner community ensure that the beneﬁts of working with Dell are translated across channels.

This Interview is brought to you by IDG Custom Solutions Group in association with

Archon Consulting Systems

Snapshot Founded: 2010 Headquartered: Bangalore Other Key Executives: Ramanujam S., DirectorEnterprise Solutions; Prakash R., Director-Client Computing Solutions; George K. Roy, DirectorSales; Kiran Holla, DirectorFinance, Operations and Logistics Key Principals: HP, Tata Communications Business Activities: System integration, managed services, server, storage, backup, cloud computing, virtualization

Sachin S. Rao

Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS, manufacturing, BFSI, pharma

Director & CEO A question you wish you had better answers to. Where is our economy heading and when will the global ﬁnancial market stabilize?

Turning point in your career. The beginning of Archon and the thought of providing employment to at least 100 people in 10 years, which translates to 100 happy families.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel does not have the capability to appreciate, reward and retain talent.

A habit you wish you could get rid of. I am a known workaholic and I have to get out of that mode.

Biggest learning this year. The importance of branding, and consistent networking with people in the industry. 36

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Your stress-busting tactic. Give me ideas; I’ve yet to ﬁnd a way to do that. Your vision for your company.

To be one among the best-in-class IT infrastructure consulting and services company in the country within ﬁve years. Most memorable vacation. A trip to Australia in 2006. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. VDI as a concept is slightly over-rated as customers don’t seem convinced of the need to adopt it in their development and production environments.

Ashtech Infotech Saurin Shah

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is managing people.

Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that the cloud is over-rated. Turning point in my career. When I started my business in 1984. Channel myths you would like to bust.

Snapshot Founded: 1993 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Ahmedabad, Chennai, New Delhi, Pune Other Key Executives: Vinod Menon, Director; B.Shankar, Director; Jayesh Kotak, President Key Principals: HP, Oracle, EMC, Cisco, Kaseya Business Activitiess: Digital infrastructure Focus Verticals: BFSI, SMB

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

That the channel can work on zero margins. Your vision for your company. To achieve a level where other companies would want to emulate us. A question you wish you had better answers to. How do we make more margins from our principals? What’s non-negotiable? Honesty, ethics and commitment are all non-negotiable.

A business idea that should get more attention. Monitoring and motivating people to get high-productivity results. What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent a device that tracks salespeople! If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A wealth manager. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Laziness.

Associated Business Computers

Snapshot Founded: 1986 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Haldwani Other Key Executives: Dev Kaushik, COO

Sujeet Narula

Key Principals: HP, IBM, Epson

Chief Executive Ofﬁcer

Business Activities: Datacenter, cloud, printing, services

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. A lot of hype is being created around the cloud. A question you wish you had better answers to. With the ever-growing competition between the OEMs, and customers’ expectations running north, how is the channel going to secure its rights? What’s non-negotiable?

Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality and I think it should be non-negotiable. Biggest learning this year. This year I got an opportunity to be exposed to different cultures and business ideas in different parts of the world. A business idea you think should get more attention. I think e-commerce is something the channels need to optimize.

Focus Verticals: Government, SMB Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel only works under high pressure and that unless there is inventory lying in their warehouse partners will not be motivated to sell. Your vision for your company. We wish to be a CSR-focused organization. JUNE 2011

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Bard Roy Infotech A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. The integration of tablet and smart phones.

Pradeep Jhawar Chief Executive Officer A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think tablet technology is overrated because, without a 3G chip, its use with wi-fi is limited. It’s being hyped and compared to minilaptops, which is also losing its value. Turning point in your career. There are two moments for us. The first was when we started branded hardware and packaged software together. The second was our ERP and CRM implementation in 2007. Your vision for your company.

My short-term goal is to be a proﬁtable, Rs 100 crore company. What’s non-negotiable? The achievement of target incentives. Biggest learning this year. That a CRM implementation is necessary to step up business. A business idea that should get more attention. Inside sales representation set-up (ISR) and regular training.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players don’t talk about total solutions. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A social activist. Your stress-busting tactic. Taking a step back and appreciating what God has given me.

Snapshot Founded: 1995 Headquartered: Calcutta Branches: Ahmedabad, Haldia Other Key Executives: Bishnu Singhania, Manager -Sales Distribution; Priyotosh Paul, Manager-Support; Manoj Drolia, Manager-Sales End User Key Principals: HP, Microsoft, HCL, Ricoh, Dell Business Activities: Business applications, cloud-based solutions, datacenter, ERP, hardware solutions, networking, security, storage, virtualization Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Bay Datacom Solutions

Snapshot Founded: 1998 Headquartered: Hyderabad Branches: USA, Singapore, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Udaipur Other Key Executives: C.S. Rao, Chairman; Srinivas Rupakula, ED & COO; Deepak Kumar, General Manager

K.V.S. Chalapathi Rao

Key Principals: Cisco, Avaya, Juniper, IBM, HP

Managing Director If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A happy person.

What’s non-negotiable? One’s commitment and conviction towards work.

“Aha” leadership moment. I believe in hard work and commitment. When you are sincere towards what you do, success follows automatically.

What would you like to invent? I would like to discover the secret to success.

Biggest learning this year. Life is a perennial learning process. Every experience brings a good or bad learning.

Most memorable vacation. My ﬁrst vacation with my son Aryan. Your vision for your company. When we put in our best, growth becomes a natural phenomenon.

Business Activities: Networking, security, datacenter Focus Verticals: Public sector, defense

We are in a space where there is considerable opportunity for scalability. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Eating. Your stress-busting tactic. Spending time with my family. JUNE 2011

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Binary Systems Edward Jeevan

they are in business and go crazy on deals which hit their bottom line and thereby affect the channel community.

Director Turning point in your life. Almost 17 years ago, when I failed to deliver to my manager’s expectations, I was given one night to bring a server up or pack my bags. By midnight I managed to achieve

Snapshot Founded: 1986 Headquartered: Bangalore Branches: Mangalore, Mysore, Belgaum Other key Executives: Harish.K. Shetty, Chairman; Vidya H Shetty, Managing Director Key Principals: IBM, VMware, Lexmark, Lenovo, Cyberoam, Cisco, D-Link, Digilink, Axis, Milestone, HP, Symantec, Microsoft Business Activities: Networking, enterprise computing, storage, datacenter, data security, virtualization, cloud, IP surveillance, printing Focus Verticals: PSU, education, healthcare, government, manufacturing

ALSO WON THE CLOUD SPECIAL AWARD 42

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

the goal with limited resources for a mining customer in the middle of the jungle. What’s non-negotiable? Relationships and your commitments to your family.

What would you like to invent? A way to hold the sun up shining for four more hours a day. If I was not a businessman, I would have been…. A sailor.

Biggest learning this year. To say no to deals that don’t make business sense.

A habit you wish you could get rid of. Assuming that I will reach in time.

Channel myths you would like to bust. All channel partners are bottom line focused. Some of them forget why

Your vision for your company. To be the most preferred solutions provider in the country.

Bodhtree Consulting

Snapshot Founded: 1999 Headquartered: Hyderabad Branches: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Other Key Executives: Sanjiv Gupta, Chairman; M.D. Krishna Guda, CEO Key Principals: IBM, Cisco, Oracle, Salesforce.com, Informatica, Microsoft, HP

Pal Natarajan Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The SOA concept is over-rated, mainly because of evolving standards. A question you wish you had better answers to. What is the latent value of cloud computing and its benefits to SMBs today? A technology you think will see significant adoption in 2012. Cloud CRM will be big. It will help integrate social platforms and provide new ways to find customers.

What’s non-negotiable? Quality. It should be paramount in everything you do. Your vision for your company. To be in the top 50 companies in the world. Biggest learning this year. The increasing adoption for cloud computing by different types of customers globally and our partnership with global giants has helped immensely. A business idea that should get more attention.

Business Activities: Enterprise solutions, cloud, product engineering, analytics Focus Verticals: Life sciences, pharma, manufacturing, education, BFSI, government The idea of transforming an organization into an employee and customer-centric one, socially, is compelling. What would you like to invent? I’d like to transform on-premise applications into cloud-based ones. Your stress-busting tactic. Meditation and positive thinking. JUNE 2012

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Cache Digitech A habit you wish you could get rid of. Being emotional.

Prarthana Gupta Director Turning point in your career. When I bagged all IBM orders from the education patch in 2001 and was named IBM’s Most Resilient Partner.

Virtualization is over-rated.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That we have to be actual partners in progress.

Biggest learning this year. To work on your weaknesses and gaps; there are tremendous opportunities to grow the business exponentially.

If I was not a businesswoman, I would have been.... An artist. A concept or technology that’s over-rated.

What’s non-negotiable? Quality of service is non-negotiable.

One technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud and storage virtualization will see signiﬁcant adoption.

Your vision for your company. I’d like the company to be a respectable organization that’s focused on quality service and is present globally. Your stress-busting tactic. Enjoying time with my true friends and my kids. Most memorable vacation. That’s yet to come.

Snapshot Founded: 1993 Headquartered: Delhi Branches: Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, NCR Other Key Executives: Akshay Shonik; Vijay Singh; Sanjay Biswal Key Principals: IBM, Lenovo, Symantec Business Activities: Storage, virtualization, datacenter, DR Focus Verticals: Telecom, manufacturing, auto

ALSO WON THE STORAGE SPECIAL AWARD 44

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Cache Peripherals

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Hyderabad Branches: Vijayawada, Vizag Other Key Executives: Sailesh Gumidelli, Executive Director

Srinivas Gumidelli Managing Director

Key Principals: HP A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Virtualization. When hardware prices are dropping by the day, why spend so much time and energy on virtualization? A business idea that should get more attention. Reputed channel partners from tier-I, tier-II, and tier-III companies should form a company and compete with national players. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012.

Cloud computing. Everybody is on the move and everybody wants to be connected. What better solution to meet that need than the cloud?

Business Activities: Server solutions, data management services, networking, enterprise solutions, AMC, FMS

Turning point in your career. When I started Cache Peripherals in 1991.

Focus Verticals: Government, BFSI, media, defense

A question you wish you had better answers to. What’s the secret of success?

Channel myths you would like to bust. Channel players are serious till they sell.

Biggest learning this year. Keep moving irrespective of the circumstances.

What would you like to invent? A mobile phone that runs on solar power. JUNE 2012

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CCS Computers Rajesh Bhatia Managing Director

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud infrastructure and virtualization will see increased adoption because it lowers TCO and improves ROI.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. One-stop solution (anti-virus) for information security. AV is a reactive technology which makes users believe that they are protected and secure.

A business idea that should get more attention. Social media for customer feedback and reference.

A question you wish you had better answers to. How to control inﬂation?

What would you like to invent? A standard process guideline for green technology implementations.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners prefer to work on quick deals without looking at pain-points of customers.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A researcher.

Your stress-busting tactic. I tend to take short breaks and then attempt to ﬁnd a solution.

Snapshot

“Aha” leadership moment. The introduction of RIM services.

Founded: 1993 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Mumbai, Pune, Noida Other Key Executives : Lalita Bhatia, Director; Pradeep Johri, Vice President-Sales and Marketing; Tarun Malik, Vice President-Projects and Services Key Principals: IBM, Dell, APC, Oracle, Websense, HP, Hitachi Business Activities: System integration, information security, datacenter design and infrastructure, managed security services and forensic Focus Verticals: Defense, corporate, PSUs

ALSO WON THE DATACENTER SPECIAL AWARD 46

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

What’s non-negotiable? Customer satisfaction.

CDP

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Lucknow Othey Key Executives: Nikesh Sakaria, MD; Zameer Syed, President and COO Key Principals: IBM, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Microsoft, Cisco, APC, Toshiba, VMware, D-Link Business Activities: Business application, cloud computing, datacenter, enterprise mobility, infrastructure solution, networking, RIM, FMS, AMC services, security solutions, storage solutions, virtualization

Ankit Desai President & COO Your vision for your company. To move it into the top league with all-round skill sets, focused in select domains, and being a niche player. And to achieve consistent year-onyear growth of 35 percent. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud computing. People assume it has signiﬁcant cost-saving potential. But critical business applications cannot be moved to the cloud as application and data security needs are yet to be addressed.

Turning point in your career. When I transitioned from a being a purely technical expert to being a techno-commercial and sales player. A question you wish you had better answers to. How do you respond to a customer’s urgent requirements; whenever a customer says he needs something “as-of-yesterday”. Biggest learning this year. The adoption of new technologies like the cloud for new business initiatives.

Focus Verticals: BFSI, insurance, public sector, oil and gas, healthcare, pharma, IT/ITeS, audit services, education, professional services and consulting A business idea that should get more attention. Exploiting social media and professional networks like LinkedIn to generate more business leads. If I was not a businessman, I would have been…. A teacher. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Losing my temper. JUNE 2012

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Central Data Solutions To get to a revenue target of Rs 100 crore by 2015.

K. Subrahmanya Director A question you wish you had better answers to. Why are margins always shrinking? What’s non-negotiable? Quality and proﬁtability are both non-negotiable. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel is only a fulﬁllment engine. What would you like to invent? A business model that gives higher returns with low investment!

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that the cloud is over-rated. It’s a technology that in a nascent stage and requires lots of clarity. Turning point in your career. When I turned entrepreneur. Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is the need to spend more time in midmarket and commercial accounts. Your vision for your company.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. VDI because of the need for security and pervasive access. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A musician. Your stress-busting tactic. Taking time off with family and friends.

Snapshot Founded: 2003 Headquartered: Bangalore Branches: Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai Other Key Executives: Suresh Director-HR Key Principals: Cisco, IBM, HP, APC-Schneider, Citrix, EMC Business Activities: Datacenter, virtualization, uniﬁed communications, collaboration, network, computing infrastructure Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS, manufacturing

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Choice Solutions ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 1991

Headquartered: Hyderabad Branches: Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Calcutta, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Dehradun, Vizag Other Key Executives: M.J. Dwaraknath, Director; A. Bhanu Prakash, CFO Key Principals: Microsoft, APC, EMC, HP, Dell, Adobe, VMware, Symantec, Redhat Business Activities: Cloud computing, virtualization, infrastructure management services, datacenters, DR and green IT, uniﬁed communications Focus Verticals: IT & ITES, pharma, logistics, manufacturing

K. V. Jagannath Managing Director & CEO If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A professor at a B-School or a tourist advisor! Biggest learning this year. The need to re-invent business in a dynamic, and ever-changing business world. Channel myths you would like to bust. I would like to bust the perception that channel players tend to add value to themselves and not for other stakeholders.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Public clouds. The use of public clouds will cannibalize internal IT, but the roles and expectations of IT will keep evolving. A technology you think will see significant adoption in 2012. Unified communications and video conferencing will see significant adoption. Most memorable vacation. A family vacation in Darjeeling.

A question you wish you had better answers to. Why I didn’t understand and manage finance, as a subject, earlier in my career. Your vision for your company. To create Rs 100 crore in net profit in four to five years. “Aha” leadership moment. Re-creating vision for Choice, which was not only appreciated by advisors and leadership but also many customers and analysts. JUNE 2012

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Clover Infotech Javed Tapia

A solar-powered computer.

Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud computing. Though there is interest from clients, lots of deployments are being made only for speciﬁc and niche applications. “Aha” leadership moment. Back in 1999, when we identiﬁed Linux and Open Source software as the next big leap in technology.

Snapshot Founded: 1995 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon, Pune, Singapore Other Key Executives : Shrikant Navelkar, SVP-Business Development; Kunal Nagarkatti, SVP-Business Solutions; Anjan Mukherjee, VP-Sales Key Principals: Oracle, Microsoft Business Activities: Database services, middleware services, application development and support services, ERP services, virtualization, managed services Focus Verticals: BFSI, IT/ITeS manufacturing, telecom

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

What’s non-negotiable? Integrity and commitment are non-negotiable. A business idea that should get more attention. The use of renewable energy, especially solar energy, in the deployment of new IT infrastructure. Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners are fulﬁllment partners. What would you like to invent?

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A lawyer. A habit you wish you could get rid of. I always strive to complete all tasks before their due dates. Your stress-busting tactic. My daily exercise routine. My weekends include outdoor activities with the family like horse riding, and swimming. Most memorable vacation. Going scuba diving with my family in the Maldives.

Compton Computers ALSO WON THE CLOUD SPECIAL AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Lucknow Other Key Executives: Kamal Vahi, Director; Louiza Tewari, Senior Sales Manager; Harman Preet Bhatti, Program Manager Key Principals: HP, Dell, Extreme, Beldon Business Activities: Cloud services, data back-up Focus Verticals: Media, hospitality, manufacturing, infrastructure, pharma

Sandeep Vahi Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Automated managed services are over-rated. They are not effective. A question you wish you had better answers to. How do I connect meditation to productivity? A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Moving infrastructure to the cloud and remote back-up services. One will reduce operating cost and other will provide security to critical data.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is to using social media more effectively. Channel myths you would like to bust. That margins are getting thinner, sales are down and that we are in recession. What would you like to invent? World-class system integration tools. What’s non-negotiable? One’s values are non-negotiable. Your stress-busting tactic.

Meditating, going for a morning jog, reading a book, or watching an old movie. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An IT technician. Your vision for your company. To become one of world’s largest system integration companies. “Aha” leadership moment. When we implemented one of the largest server farms in the media industry for Pixion in Mumbai, which included 192 servers and 250 high-end workstations. JUNE 2012

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Computers Network and Telecom To be a renowned global player.

Dipesh Mangla Director “Aha” leadership moment. A motivational session with Harsha Bhogle. What’s non-negotiable? Quality of service is non-negotiable. Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is how to be fast and consistent. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel is a commission agent and not a partner that adds value to customers.

A business idea that should get more attention. We should have a portal where all partners can participate and interact better. A question you wish you had better answers to. What are the best practices for the enterprise domain? What would you like to invent? Myself.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. SaaS. Everyone already has their own IT infrastructure and SaaS isn’t a secure system. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. I think RIMS on the cloud can save a lot of energy and time. It’s very productive.

Snapshot Founded: 1997

Your vision for your company. Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: 3 Other Key Executives: Dipesh Mangla, Director; A.S.Mangla, Director; Neelam Mansharamani, Operations Head Key Principals: IBM, Lenovo, Cisco, APC, Microsoft Business Activities: Servers, storage, datacenters, networking, virtualization Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, telecom, education

ALSO WON THE DATACENTER SPECIAL AWARD 52

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Crystal Solutions

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Ahmedabad, Kerala, US, Singapore, Dubai Other Key Executives: Kiran Shiveshwar, CEO and President; Rajesh Gawade ,VP-Sales; Jaydeep Ruprelia, CTO Key Principals: McAfee, Symantec, CommVault, Fortinet, EMC, Hitachi, Zscalar, Red Hat Business Activities: End-point security, gateway security, data security and availability Focus Verticals: BFSI, pharma, media, manufacturing

Vasant Bhanushali Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. DLP. The sole reason being that almost every vendor and customer is pursuing a piece-meal approach to this critical aspect rather than a holistic approach.

What’s non-negotiable? Respect for my staff. Biggest learning this year. The importance of a multi-pronged approach to business.

Turning point in my career. Our ﬁrst three large orders from three major FII’s in 1996.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. The cloud. Because it results in huge savings for organizations.

A question you wish you had better answers to. How do I create working capital?

What would you like to invent? Technology that can repair roads automatically.

A habit you wish you could get rid of. Losing temper due to the reckless driving of others . Most memorable vacation. A lazy four days with my kids in Matheran, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. A business idea that should get more attention. A comprehensive and economical CRM solution to take care of IT business as a whole and not just as sales or service management. JUNE 2012

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Cubic Computing Madhu Madhavan Managing Director & CEO A business idea that should get more attention. Intra-preneurship. Channel myths you would like to bust. The myth that channels are opportunists and short-term planners. Biggest learning this year. That the ďŹ rst step to becoming big is to dream big.

Snapshot Founded: 2002 Headquartered: Bangalore Other Key Executives: Manoj Madhavan, Business Head-Storage and Security; Manish Madhavan, Business Head-Systems and Networking; Sathish Kumar, Sales Manager-Software Licensing Key Principals: Symantec, Adobe, Apple, Check Point, HDS, NetApp, EMC Business Activities: Backup, storage,security, BPM Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS, AEC manufacturing,

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

A concept or technology thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s over-rated. The use of SWOT analysis in determining goals is over-rated in my opinion. Goals should be set and planned for according to market potential and not historic data. Turning point in your career. Listening to Prof. C.K. Prahlad expound on his theory of core competencies at a conference and doing business with a social conscience. Your vision for your company. To grow it to a stage where Cubic

becomes a key contributor to the success and growth of all our stakeholders including customers, employees, vendors, partners, and suppliers. A question you wish you had better answers to. How can we eradicate poverty from our country? What would you like to invent? Low-cost methods to generate clean energy. A habit you wish you could get rid of Delaying tough decisions. Your stress-busting tactic. Spending time with my kids.

D M Systems ALSO WON THE SECURITY SPECIAL AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 1999 Headquartered: New Delhi Other Key Executives: Amit Bajaj, Technical Director; J.P. Verma, Advisor Key Principals: SonicWALL, Trend Micro, HP, Dell, IBM, Oracle, Cyberoam Business Activities: Security, storage

D.K. Bajaj

Focus Verticals: Research, STPI, healthcare

Director Turning point in my career. Our foray into the security domain.

What’s non-negotiable? Support.

A business idea you think should get more attention. Channel sales.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is how to survive during a slowdown.

A technology you think will see significant adoption in 2012. Next generation firewalls will see significant adoption. The explosion of data across organizations, datacenters, and mobile devices will create more security threats for users.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that cloud computing is over-rated. It has been around for long. Your vision for your company. I’d like to ensure that the company establishes a pan-India presence.

What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent an automated system that can forecast and calculate the support charges for a customer. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An interior designer. Your stress-busting tactic. Shopping. Most memorable vacation. My trip to Dubai. JUNE 2012

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Digital Track Solutions If I were not a businessman… I would have been working in a factory. I hail from a place where there are a lot of large factories.

S.T. Muneer Ahamed Managing Director Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is not to underestimate the capablities of your team members. First, give them a chance and motivate them on a regular basis; the results will be there for everyone to see. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that BYOD is over-rated. It still needs to go a long way in India for it to mature and be conspicuous. Trends will evolve based on different regions.

“Aha” leadership moment. When we bagged a $3 lakh storage deal in 2009-2010, it was our bigggest. What’s non-negotiable? Do not compromise or negotiate on your own effort. A technology that will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. There will be greater accepetance from most customers around bandwidth management and consolidation.

Your vision for your company. To be a national player with enough bandwidth for distributors and channel resellers to work with us.

Snapshot Founded: 2004 Headquarters: Chennai Branches: Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad Other Key Executives: Srikkantan Venkatesh, VP-Sales; N.K. Venkatesh, VP-Sales Key Principals: Fortinet, SonicWALL, Check Point, Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, NetApp, Dell, Websense Business Activities: Security, storage Focus Verticals: All

ALSO WON THE STORAGE SPECIAL AWARD 56

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

E-Connect Solutions

Snapshot Founded: 1989 Headquartered: Udaipur Branches: Bikaner, Delhi, Dubai, Mumbai, Noida, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota. Project ofﬁces at Bangalore, Dehradun, Panjim, Mohali, Ludhiana Other Key Executives: Manoj Agrawal, MD; Prashant Awasthi, VP -Sales and Marketing; Bhuvnesh Jain, Principal Technical Consultant Key Principals: HP, Oracle, D-Link, Cisco

Jaimin Patel Co-Founder & Promoter Director

Business Activities: ASP.net, Java for development

“Aha” leadership moment. During the implementation of an e-governance project for the Rajasthan State Excise department and handling change management, I realized that the power of persuasion can make people adopt newer technologies comfortably, even with all the pain of a changed process of working. It was eye-opening.

A business idea that should get more attention. A simple business application on SaaS that can change the business outlook by improving working efﬁciency, to be marketed via wordof-mouth using social media.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is that even after walking the last mile, success can be miles away.

Your vision for your company. I’d like the company to be a leader in the e-governance market space in India and abroad.

What’s non-negotiable? The quality of service.

Focus Verticals: System integration and e-governance If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A creative director. What would you like to invent? I’d like to develop techniques to map brainwaves for positive outcomes of every human interaction. Most memorable vacation. A Swiss trip in 2007 with my family. JUNE 2012

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Emarson Computers Sumeet Prakash

A business idea that should get more attention. Collaboration of voice, data and video

Chief Executive Ofﬁcer A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud. Few companies have adopted this technology.

“Aha” leadership moment. That would be when we built one of the best technical teams in our domain of work.

What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent a travel machine.

A question you wish you had better answers to. What are the reasons for the slowdown or upsurge of markets?

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida Other Key Executives: Bipin Bansal, Rajeev Sinha, Rajesh Tiwari Key Principals: Cisco, Tyco Business Activities: Switching, routing, wireless, security, UC Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS, manufacturing, consulting

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Your vision for your company. To become the best consulting and services companies in ﬁve years.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Social media will see large adoption in 2012. Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players give excellent value for money on their product and services. What’s non-negotiable? Services.

Essen Vision Software ALSO WON THE SECURITY SPECIAL AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 1995 Headquartered: Mumbai Other Key Executives: Seema Shetty, Director; Ronny Ferrao, COO; Pallavi Tiwari, HeadEnterprise Accounts Key Principals: Symantec, McAfee, Websense Business Activities: End-point security, DLP, datacenter security, virtualization security, risk and compliance, web and e-mail security, vulnerability assessment and data availability

Nityanand Shetty

Focus Verticals: BFSI, manufacturing, pharma, ITeS

Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Facebook is a highly over-rated concept for socializing. A question you wish you had better answers to. Where the hell do my taxes go? What’s non-negotiable? Trust is non-negotiable. “Aha” leadership moment. When I skillfully managed to juggle various businesses in the technology and hospitality sectors.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is the need to change, evolve and grow. But not to neglect what you have already established. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. The adoption of social media as a marketing and advertising tool, I believe, will see signiﬁcant adoption. A habit you wish you could get rid of Being impatient. Your stress-busting tactic.

Listening to R.D. Burman. Most memorable vacation. My trip to Europe with six close friends. Your vision for your company. I’d like the company to be an evolving corporate organization with social responsibility. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the meaning of partnership should be adhered to in the truest sense. JUNE 2012

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Fourth Dimension Technologies to understand that it is important to care enough to accommodate even the smallest of needs of one’s team.

N.Jagannathan Director & CEO A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The concept of grabbing eyeball being a driving force in the valuation of companies is highly over-rated because that should not be the benchmark to measure the actual worth of an entity in the market. A question you wish you had better answers to. I wish I had the ability to read people’s minds. What’s non-negotiable?

Integrity is absolutely nonnegotiable. “Aha” leadership moment. My moment came ehen we beat large systems integrators in a very competitive deal.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A teacher.

Snapshot Snapshot Founded : 1989

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. The cloud, because of the constant push by vendors. Biggest learning this year. This year my biggest learning was

Headquartered : Chennai Branches: Hyderabad, Mumbai Other Key Executives: Kenneth Massey, AVP; R.B. Maran, AVP; Harish, AVP Key Principals: Cisco, EMC, VMware, IBM Business Activities: Storage, security, networks Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, BFSI, IT

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Frontier Business Systems ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 1994 Headquartered: Bangalore Branches: Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Vizag, Kerala, Mumbai, Pune Other Key Executives: Raj Metrani, VP-Technology Solutions; Shambhu, VP-Technology Services Key Principals: IBM, Oracle, EMC, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Cisco, Panduit, Systemax, Emerson, VMware, Citrix, Lenovo, Dell, Microsoft, F5, Business Activities: Computing, networking, cloud, virtualization, DC design, power solutions, technology services Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, IT/ITeS, BFSI, pharma, media, education, government and PSUs

Ravi Verdes Managing Director Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners need OEMs to close deals. Your vision for your company. Next stop: Rs 1,000 crore! Most memorable vacation. All of them. When we work so hard each vacation counts. Your stress-busting tactic. Music, cricket, comedy serials, travel, table tennis — and my ability to count my blessings.

A concept or technology that you think is over-rated. At this point in time all the buzz about cloud computing. It’s still very early days.

Getting a Leed Gold certiﬁcation for our corporate ofﬁce for green building. That pepped up our image for green computing which we have seen tremendous success with.

A question you wish you had better answers to. Why do OEM’s lack consistency?

One technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Desktop virtualization. The trend is already happening. Every day sees new cases coming up.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... Cricket reporter or DJ. “Aha” leadership moment.

A habit you wish you could get rid of Getting irritated over petty things. I’m getting there now. JUNE 2012

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Future Netwings Solutions Jaideep Chakrabarti

What’s non-negotiable? Sticking to even the smallest of commitments you make to your clients.

Managing Director A question you wish you had better answers to. When will there be a stable and business friendly government in India and West Bengal? Turning point in your career. Our decision to set up operations across the major cities in India-simultaneously.

Snapshot Founded: 2008 Headquartered: Calcutta Branches: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Raipur Other Key Executives: Kunal Dutta, Head Strategic Sales; Sujit Biswas, Sr. Manager-Projects; Sandipan Dutta, Sr. ManagerProjects Key Principals: Cisco, HP, Avaya, Tyco, Commscope Business Activities: Networking solutions, datacenters, RIM, energy management Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS, manufacturing, education, telecom

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Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channels don’t like to spend on research and development. What would you like to invent? A pill for happiness! A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The concept of trying to do business through online social networks. I doubt if prospective clients would be willing to throw their business circle open to the insecurities of the Internet.

Biggest learning this year. Be resilient when the economy is slow. There are plenty of new opportunities even during such testing times. A business idea you think should get more attention. e-Commerce through mobile devices. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A cricketer.

Futuresoft Solutions

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Bangalore, Mumbai Other Key Executives: Harish Menon, COO; Ashutosh Sharma, Sr. VP Logistics, Finance and Legal; Manish Bharti, VP-Service Delivery Key Principals: Citrix, Samsung, Apple, Symantec, Adobe, Cisco, Dell, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Quest, EMC, NetApp, Business Activities: Storage, security, infrastructure and application management solutions, managed FMS, un-managed FMS, virtualization, remote support

Vipul Datta Chief Executive Officer What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent a predictable engagement model for internal and external customers. A question you wish you had better answers to. How do you get low-cost working capital? A technology you think will see significant adoption in 2012. Desktop virtualization and mobile devices will see significant adoption during this year.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players merely execute transactions. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud. Indian customers are still not ready to adapt to the cloud model and service providers have done very little to take care of the data security and data consolidation related queries of customers. What’s non-negotiable? Premium charged for quality services.

Focus Verticals: BFSI, ITeS, pharma, PSU, central government, real estate

Your vision for your company. I’d like the company to be rated amongst the top-three IT infrastructure solution providers in the country by 2016. A business idea that should get more attention. Enabling customer with the free or low-cost access for leading global IT business practices and predictions. JUNE 2012

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Galaxy Ofﬁce Automation A habit you wish you could get rid of. Sleeping late.

Sanjay Patodia Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Your vision for your company. To become the country’s most preferred systems integrator by 2017, with a revenue mix of at least 60 percent in services and solutions. I’d also like the company to be considered among the top-ﬁve employers in the industry. Channel myths you would like to bust. That OEMs do business with the channel because they are channelfriendly. In reality, the vendors would do business if partners provide a unique value proposition.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... Leading the life of a vagabond. What’s non-negotiable? Business value proposition that we bring to the table for customers to address their business needs and problems.

Your stress-busting tactic. Watching TV, going for a walk, listening to music. Most memorable vacation. A trip to the US with my family.

Snapshot Founded: 1987

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. I think business analytics and intelligence will see signiﬁcant adoption.

Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur Other Key Executives: Anoop Pai Dhungat, Chairman and MD; Arun Roongta, VP-Key Accounts; Nitin Bachal, Head-Networking Key Principals: IBM, Lenovo, Apple, Microsoft, Citrix, Panduit, VMware, F5, Palo Alto Networks, Ipswitch Business Activities: Mobility, virtualization, security, application delivery and agility, networking projects Focus Verticals: BFSI, IT/ITES, manufacturing, pharma, oil and gas, auto

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Gemini Communication

Snapshot Founded: 1995 Headquartered: Chennai Branches: 22 locations across India Other Key Executives: A. Krishna Kumar, CMO; B. Srinivasan, Services Head; M. Raju, CEOTelecom Services Key Principals: All the leading IT vendors Business Activities: Wireless, security, networking, auto ID

Ram Kumar R. Director

Focus Verticals: Government, defense, manufacturing

Channel myths you would like to bust. That ‘these guys can’t scale up’.

Your vision for your company. To achieve ‘most-respected’ status.

“Aha” leadership moment. Yet to come.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Security services. People are less trusting than they were before.

A habit you wish you could get rid of. Eating out. A question you wish you had better answers to. What does the future have in store? A business idea that should get more attention. Producing cheaper, clean energy.

Biggest learning this year. There are many, better ways to conduct business. What’s non-negotiable? A humane approach. What would you like to invent?

A better, more natural way of life, one which requires less mining of the earth. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud services. What was ASP then is the cloud now. Moreover, many SI’s haven’t ﬁgured a way to make money through cloud services. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A social worker. JUNE 2012

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Highbar Technologies Satish Pendse President Your stress-busting tactic. If I feel stressed about any issue, then I think of the worst possible outcome of that issue. Generally, one

Snapshot Founded: 2010 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: New Delhi, Dubai Other Key Executives: Mahendra Kunkolienkar, Asst. VP; Mangesh Wadaje, Head-Business Development; Upagupta Patnaik, Head-Delivery Key Principals: SAP Business Activities: SAP-ERP, CRM, BI-BO, SRM, line of business IT solutions for the infrastructure industry Focus Verticals: Infrastructure industry

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realizes that the worst outcome too is not as bad as one thought. This, in itself, relieves me of stress. Turning point in your career. When I changed my role from being a CIO to heading a business. What would you like to invent? I would like to invent a product/ solution that has all the characteristics of Facebook. Your vision for your company.

We would like our company to be the most preferred end-toend IT services provider to the infrastructure industry across the globe. A technology you think will see signiďŹ cant adoption in 2012. Mobility will see signiďŹ cant adoption in 2012. A question you wish you had better answers to. How to judge people better? A business idea that should get more attention. Cloud computing.

Hilink Networks

Snapshot Founded: 2001 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Pune Other Key Executives: Mahesh Kendule, Business Head; Swapnil Jadhav, Business Manager; Nandkumar Singh, Product Manager Key Principals: D-Link, Cisco, ATEN, Cyberoam Business Activities: Networking, security, KVM switches

Hitesh Mehta

Focus Verticals: Education, hospitality

Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I believe the concept of switching is over-rated because this has not progressed much in past decade. “Aha” leadership moment. Our foray into security solution technology started a new chapter for the company. A question you wish you had better answers to. How do we create sales from the generated leads?

What’s non-negotiable? A company’s goodwill. A business idea that should get more attention. Bulk message/e-mail to generate real leads from end-users. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. IP-based technologies like switches, telephone (IP Epabx), cameras and KVM switches will see signiﬁcant adoption in the coming years.

Channel myths you would like to bust. Channel players do not keep themselves technologically updated. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An LIC development ofﬁcer. A habit you wish you could get rid of. The habit of complaining to an employees’ supervisor about his or her poor performance. Your stress-busting tactic. Jogging. JUNE 2012

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HTP Systems A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. The cloud will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012 because it helps saving cost.

Rajiv Jain Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Facebook. It is an invasion of privacy and unnecessarily exposes peoples’ private lives. “Aha” leadership moment. When we set up international business operations in Dubai. A question you wish you had better answers to. What is the stable business level/state that should satisfy an entrepreneur?

What’s non-negotiable? The price of services offered to customers. A business idea that should get more attention. Offering IT-as-a-Service to SMB customers. Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is the ability to assess employees and get work done from them according to their attitude and ability. This has helped us work better.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners earn hefty margins and make a lot of money. What would you like to invent? A teleportation device.

Snapshot Founded: 1999 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: New Delhi, Pune Other Key Executives: Shreyas Mahale, Director-Sales; Kalpesh Agarwal, Director-Projects; Chintan Shah, GM-Operations Key Principals: HP, IBM, NetApp, Cisco, Microsoft, Nokia Business Activities: Networks, wireless, virtual realityimmersive technology Focus Verticals: BFSI, oil and gas, government, manufacturing, retail

ALSO WON THE DATACENTER SPECIAL AWARD 68

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I.T. Solutions

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Chandigarh, Jaipur Other Key Executives: Ravi Talwar, Director; Nakul Chopra, Director

Ravi Talwar

Key Principals: Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe, EMC

Director Biggest learning this year. The biggest lesson I’ve learnt this year is to make money today as this is the most exciting time. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel and channel players do not add value to vendors and that vendors can do without them. Your vision for your company. I want our company to be one of the top-most solution providers in India.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud. Let’s agree that is nothing more than SaaS and that has been in existence for more than a decade now. A question you wish you had better answers to. Why do vendors readily give any price discounts to end customers, but not margins to their partners? What’s non-negotiable?

Business Activities: Security, storage, virtualization Focus Verticals: Enterprise, mid-market

One’s integrity is non-negotiable. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Virtualization. I think that because customers want to do more with less in this economic environment. JUNE 2012

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IDM Solutions Naresh Wadhwa

Biggest learning this year. That quality time should be given to back-ofﬁce operations as well.

Director Channel myths you would like to bust. That it’s important to achieve company targets by hook or by crook. Turning point in your career. In 1994 when I decided to move from consultancy to business. That is when I set up this organization. A question you wish you had better answers to.

Snapshot Founded: 1994 Headquartered: Ludhiana Branches: Jalandhar, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Panchkula, Parwanoo Other Key Executives: Manoj Dhawan, Director-Channel Sales; Rishi Sudhakar, Director-Corp. Sales & Solutions; Bhupinder Premi, Manager-Tech Support Key Principals: Sony, Dell, Acer, D-Link, Quickheal, WeP Business Activities: Networking, hardware solutions, security, storage, MPLS-VPN Focus Verticals: IT distribution, corporate sales and solutions, security surveillance, repair and servicing, non-IT products

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

How to achieve success in life without sincere effort, clear intention and hard work? What’s non-negotiable? Business ethics and sincere effort are non-negotiable. Most memorable vacation. A trip to Manali with all my employees. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Smoking when I am under acute stress.

A business idea you think should get more attention. Finding a way to unite all my associates to make them work as a team. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Hand-held computing. It’s becoming an everyday need. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A chartered accountant.

Immunity Networks & Technologies

Snapshot Founded: 2009 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Other Key Executives: Sajan Sreemangalam, VP-Government and Enterprise Sales; Vivek Makhijani, VP-Stragtegic Sales; Sachin Anar-Technical Manager Key Principals: Symantec, Avaya, Check Point. Business Activities: Networking and gateway security, information security, uniﬁed communications, storage, virtualization.

Sumit Garg Chairman A business idea that should get more attention. I believe fortune lies at the bottom of the pyramid. Every organization should serve its small-scale customer requirements with utmost dedication and perfection. We need to understand that if their scale grows, our growth will be inevitable. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud technology. Its existence is hyped in the market.

Your vision for your company. I would like to scale the company to a global platform, serving international customers with worldclass IT services. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Information security and data loss prevention techniques will make a big impact in 2012. What would you like to invent? A universal communication system

Focus Verticals: ITeS, BFSI, PSUs, manufacturing, education inter-connected on a global scale which is governed and operated by our thoughts. Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning is to be patient and self-analytical. “Aha” leadership moment. When I changed my leadership technique and perspective. JUNE 2012

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Indusface margins, but how you can add value to solution.

Ashish Tandon Chairman & CEO A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Social networking is over-rated. Turning point in my career. The overwhelming success of our unique website security product. A question you wish you had better answers to. Why did you leave cricket? A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. I think that cloud computing will see

signiﬁcant adoption because of its cost advantage and convenience. What’s non-negotiable? One’s integrity is non-negotiable. Your vision for your company. To be a global leader in website and mobile security. Your stress-busting tactic. Listening to music and exercising. Channel myths you would like to bust. That it is not any more about

What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent a truly secure ecosystem. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A cricketer. A business idea that should get more attention. Smart education.

Snapshot Founded: 2004 Headquarters: Vadodara Branches: Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Ottawa, Houston Other Key Executives: Dhanya Thakkar, President; Venkatesh Sundar, VP-Business Development; Nandini Tandon, VP-HR Key Principals: Entrust, Rapid 7, IBM Business Activities: Cloudbased total website security, SSL certiﬁcates, two-factor authentication, digital certiﬁcates, IAM and vulnerability management Focus Verticals: BFSI, government, healthcare, insurance, retail, travel

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Infobahn Technical Solutions

Snapshot Founded: 2000 Headquarters: Mumbai Branches: Mumbai Other Key Executives: Anand Karapurkar, Director; Rajeev Krishnaswamy, Director; Sagar Singh, Head-Sales Key Principals: HP

Anand Karapurkar

Business Activities: Servers, storage, networking

Director “Aha” leadership moment. Recently, when we acquired a new customer, we were told that all the contenders competing for this deal had similar credentials, products and prices, but what made the difference was the way our team gave a personal touch to the process. This afﬁrmed my belief that it is people who do business with people, not companies. What would you like to invent? A technology that will allow me to read a customer’s mind.

A question you wish you had better answers to. Is cloud computing a boon or curse for the channel community? A concept or technology that’s over-rated. No technology is over-rated. It is only perceived to be. What’s non-negotiable? Commitments you have made. Biggest learning this year. That every person in the

Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, SMB

organization needs to keep evolving as the organization evolves. A habit you wish you could get rid of None. I love all my habits, both bad and good. Most memorable vacation. Every weekend is a memorable vacation at my weekend home in Lonavala. JUNE 2012

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INS E Solutions Vivek Mahajan

Most memorable vacation. When I went sky diving in New Zealand.

Director A question you wish you had better answers to. What’s next?

A business idea you think should get more attention. Using social media to attract talent.

Your vision for your company. A healthy organization where we have fun working.

What’s non-negotiable? Integrity.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Digital video delivery on mobile platforms. There is a thrust in this direction as mobile users are exponentially increasing.

A habit you wish you could get rid of. Using Facebook.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An adventurer.

What would you like to invent? An algorithm which can balance work, family, time and health.

Biggest learning this year. To continue to re-invent your business even during tough times.

Snapshot Founded: 1990 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta Other Key Executives: Akhilesh Kumar Singh, Ashok Anthony, Subhash Singh Key Principals: Cisco, Tyco, Polycom, Crestron, AMX, Extron, Samsung, Panasonic, Avaya, HP, Dell, Aruba Business Activities: ICT infrastructure including voice, data and video Key Verticals: Telecom, IT /ITeS, education, hospitality, healthcare

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Your stress-busting tactic. Meditation, cycling and spending time with my family.

Ishan Infotech

Snapshot Founded: 2000 Headquartered: Rajkot Branches: Ahmedabad, Baroda, Gandhidham, Jamnagar, Surat Other Key Executives: Purvi Kotecha, Keyur Jathal, Jawahar Tiwary Key Principals: HP, Cisco, VMware, SAP, Fortinet, Aruba, EMC, Microsoft Business Activities: Cloud computing, virtualization, integration and connectivity solutions

Pinkesh Kotecha Director-Technical A habit you wish you could get rid of. Over-analyzing things. Channel myths you would like to bust. That channels merely fulﬁll demand, they don’t create it. Resellers and VARs have a wealth of customer contacts and a deep knowledge of what is or isn’t working in the ﬁeld. Biggest learning this year. That the building blocks of business should be independent of industry verticals and technologies. Your vision for your company.

To create a customer-focused organization with excellence in providing world-class information technology solutions. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Security concerns in and around cloud computing are over-hyped.

Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, BFSI, IT/ITeS, education, PSU If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A professor.

What’s non-negotiable? One’s values.

A question you wish you had better answers to. How to differentiate yourself among your peers and create a unique identity for yourself.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud computing is going to be quite signiﬁcant in the year to come.

Most memorable vacation. In Australia, a year ago. It was the best time I’ve had with my family, especially the kids. JUNE 2012

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ITCG Solutions across the world so that they could be implemented for the betterment of mankind.

Nilesh Kuvadia Managing Director A business idea that should get more attention. Getting complementing — rather than competing — people together can help with omni-directional growth opportunities.

Turning point in your career. When we ventured into the sub-distribution of SonicWALL and nComputing.

Your vision for your company. I wish to grow the company not only across India but also overseas. Let everyone get a taste of what we are.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud technologies will see a signiﬁcant growth especially among small-and-medium businesses as their spending capacity is limited.

Biggest learning this year. I’ve learnt that planned expansion helps smart growth.

What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent a machine that would give me the best ideas from

What’s non-negotiable? Business ethics are non-negotiable. If I was not a businessman, I would have been…. A technocrat working on new technologies. Most memorable vacation. My ﬁrst vacation in Dubai.

Snapshot Founded: 1994 Headquartered: Vadodara Branches: Ahmedabad, Pune, Rajkot, Surat Other Key Executives: Manish Shah, Director; Jaydeep Jhala, Marketing Head-Gujarat; Jayant Prajapati, Technical Head Key Principals: SonicWALL, Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk, nComputing, Symantec Business Activities: Security, virtualization, cloud Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, consulting, ITeS

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ITSource Technologies

Snapshot Founded: 1995 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, New Delhi, Nagpur, Pune Other Key Executives: Somsuvra Baksi, COO; Amitava Ghosh, Head-Service Delivery; Ramkrishna Barhate, HeadProjects and New Initiatives Business Activities: Wipro, HP, CMC, Avaya, Siemens, Dell, Accenture Focus Verticals: IT services, education

Dinesh Nair Director & CEO Channel myths you would like to bust. How customers believe they can reduce cost by doing direct business with principals. The channel exists only because we can deliver what the principals cannot. Your stress-busting tactic. New customers and business orders de-stress me.

that nurtures and promotes innovation, excellence and core values. Biggest learning this year. The need to plan long-term yet achieve short-term objectives. What would you like to invent? Intelligent devices that can help reduce human inefﬁciency.

A habit you wish you could get rid of. Being overly optimistic about a business outcome.

“Aha” leadership moment. When I became a business head.

Your vision for your company. To create a seamless organization

A question you wish you had better answers to.

How do you deal with fast-changing business dynamics? What’s non-negotiable? Customer commitment, ethics and integrity. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. AV technology will help save substantial amounts of money by lowering travel. It also offers faster decision making, bringing products and services to market quicker. A business idea that should get more attention. A better way to reduce e-waste. JUNE 2011

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Kaar Technologies Maran Nagarajan Chief Executive Ofﬁcer “Aha” leadership moment. When my mentor Jayesh Trivedi told me (during my trainee years in Crompton Greaves) that ‘your success is yours and your failures if at all, are mine’. A question you wish you had better answers to. When will India get rid of corruption and see an accelerated, nationbuilding process?

Snapshot Founded: 2006 Headquartered: Chennai Branches: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Netherlands, US, Singapore, Canada Other Key Executives: N. Ratnakumar, CMO; Guardian George, CTO; M. Selvakumaran, COO Business Activities: SAP ERP, SAP Netweaver Focus Verticals: Oil and gas, construction, petrochemical, manufacturing, healthcare

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud. It’s the most abused and least-understood term. What’s non-negotiable? Integrity and self-respect. A business idea you think should get more attention. Local language computing. A full 95 percent of India will participate in e-commerce if local language content is delivered via all platforms.

Biggest learning this year. The power of focus. As Steve Jobs said, “Focus is not about doing that one thing, but the conviction to say no to those other ninety-nine equally important things.” What would you like to invent? A single device that will combine the desktop, laptop, phone, tablet, TV, and remote. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An army ofﬁcer. A habit you wish you could get rid of Going to bed late.

Kalyx Infotech

Snapshot Founded: 2001 Headquartered: Mumbai Other Key Executives: Sadashiv Khanolkar, CFO; Ashish Shah, Head-Services; Swapna Todankar, Marketing; Nitin Jadhav, Marketing Key Principals: HP, Riverbed, VMware Business Activities: VDI, blade solutions

Vasant Vartak Director Turning point in my career. When I started the business and bagged my ﬁrst Rs 1 crore order. What would you like to invent? Something similar to the Apple app store. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A pilot. A question you wish you had better answers to. How do I attract and retain employees?

Focus Verticals: Equally spread across all verticals A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. I’m still wondering! Everyone talks about the cloud but I am not sure how one would offer security to customer data. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel is not in a position to control the transaction; that the principal alone does that. Your stress-busting tactic I am still trying to ﬁgure one out. Most memorable vacation.

Shark diving and a trip to the Kruger Forest in South Africa. Biggest learning this year. Fund management. Your vision for your company. I see us as the most respected company; where a customer is happy and eager to do business with us. What’s non-negotiable? Unnecessarily offering free services to customers. JUNE 2012

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Leon Computers signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. De-dupe technologies. IT will have to discuss the cost of per GB of storage with the business.

Rahul Meher Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud.

Turning point in your career. Signing one of the most prestigious software development deals.

Biggest learning this year. Growth and comfort cannot co-exist.

What according to you should be non-negotiable? One’s values.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That there exists an insecurity in the channel if they have to deal with multiple principals with the same product lines.

Your vision for your company. To make it an IT services organization with offerings across verticals. A business idea that should get more attention. Social media.

What would you like to invent? A robot that can understand the real pain of being human.

A technology you think will see

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A professor. A habit you wish you could get rid of Getting angry. How do you deal with stress? By exercising everyday.

Snapshot Founded: 1997 Headquartered: Pune Branches: Mumbai Other Key Executives: Abhijit Bhalgat, Shrikant Chopade, Archana Meher Key Principals: EMC, IBM, Check Point, Microsoft, APC, CommVault Business Activities: Storage, compute, software development on .Net, Java Focus Verticals: Automobiles, heavy engineering, manufacturing, BFSI, retail, telecom, education

ALSO WON THE DATACENTER SPECIAL AWARD 80

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Magnamious Systems ALSO WON THE SECURITY SPECIAL AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 1995 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Pune, Goa Other Key Executives: Deepak Jhaveri, Director; Nilesh Bhatt, General Manager Key Principal: IBM, Citrix, Microsoft, Symantec Business Activities: Virtualization, messaging, security

Jiten Mehta

Focus Verticals: Pharma, real estate, BFSI

Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that the cloud is over-rated. I think this because people still feel that they have not matured enough to utilize it. “Aha” leadership moment. When our employees appreciated our vision and leadership. This has improved employee relationship. One technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Virtualization will see signiﬁcant

adoption. With advanced technology, one can provide service through this. What’s non-negotiable? Your credibility is non-negotiable. Biggest learning this year. The need to sell deep to customers and keep learning. Your stress-busting tactic. Relaxing and dreaming big. Most memorable vacation. A trip to the US with my family.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel is ignorant about technology and they are always dependent on principals. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... Working for a large company in a senior post. Your vision for your company. I’d like to see the company reach Rs 100 crore in next ﬁve years. JUNE 2012

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MIEL e-Security Anuj Gupta

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players are not loyal.

Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that mobile device management is over-rated. I believe this because existing core business applications are not ﬂexible. A question you wish you had better answers to. How to deﬁne the terms proactive

Snapshot Founded: 1999

and value addition from a customer perspective?

A business idea you think should get more attention. A solution-based approach to selling.

What’s non-negotiable? Your integrity is non-negotiable.

What would you like to invent? A time-machine.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is the need to focus on core solutions and always look to sell innovative ones.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An IPL cricketer.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Information life cycle management with cloud adoption.

Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Pune, Ahmedabad Other Key Executives: M.N. Kutty Nair, Chairman and Managing Director; Sanjay Bhutada Director; V.L. Mehta, Director Key Principals: McAfee, Symantec, Websense, HP, EMC, NetApp, VMware, Citrix, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Cisco, Business Activities: Security, storage, virtualization, hardware solutions, enterprise mobility, cloud-based solutions, FMS/AMC, event log management Focus Verticals: BFSI, IT/ITeS, BPO, manufacturing, engineering, media

ALSO WON THE STORAGE SPECIAL AWARD 82

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Your stress-busting tactic. Spending time with my family. Most memorable vacation. A visit to Istanbul.

Minitek Systems

Snapshot Founded: 1994 Headquarters: Nasik Branches: Aurangabad, Pune Other Key Executives: Wapnil Deshmukh, Head-Corporate Division; Dhananjay Handge, Head-Channel Division; Sunil Patil, Team Leader- Services Key Technologies: IBM, Lenovo, HP, Microsoft, Cisco Business Activities: Networking hardware, software solutions

Vinod Mane

Focus Verticals: Education , corporate, government

Director What’s non-negotiable? Service and support. Biggest learning this year. I’ve learnt that we should learn something new from each opportunity. Often, we miss out on that. A business idea that should get more attention. After attending the symposium at ChannelWorld Premier100 2012, we are looking forward to the digital media.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. The cloud. I think it will see signiﬁcant adoption because it’s simple and affordable. If I was not a businessman, I would have been…. A technical adviser. Most memorable vacation. When I went to Korea for the Asian Games. Channel myths you would like to bust.

That business partners are only worried about margins, and not about adopting new technologies. “Aha” leadership moment. Every time I achieve a target. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The changes observed in technology are quick. Most user are unable to keep pace. That said, the speed of change could help users grow, provided they keep up with the evolution of technology. JUNE 2012

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MITI Solutions breed security solutions in networks and need to know if there any ROI on these investments.

Vijay Mohan K. Country Manager A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that DLP is over-rated. Since its launch in 2010, the technology has been hyped out of proportion, especially because policies change based on the projects, departments and user. Your vision for your company. I’d like to see the company go public. Also, in next ﬁve years, we want to tie up with established services companies and show more value to customers.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is not to trust any vendor too much. Turning point in your career. When I joined Miti Solution, dived in enterprise content management consulting and bagged a large, $135,000 deal. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. SIEM and application security will see signiﬁcant adoption because large enterprises are buying best-of-

A question you wish you had better answers to. When will vendors fulﬁll their promises?

Snapshot Founded: 2002 Headquartered: Bangalore Branches: Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Other Key Executives: Ashok Reddy, CEO; Shankar Narayana, Business Head Key Principals: McAfee, SonicWALL, Check Point, Trend Micro, Riverbed, EMC, Netapp Business Activities: Network security, IT infrastrucure, storage, consulting Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS, BFSI, media, manufacturing

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

MM9 Information Technologies

Snapshot Founded: 1995 Headquartered: Gurgaon Branches: Delhi, Noida Key Principals: HP, Symantec, TCS, Microsoft, RSA, Check Point, Cyberom, VMware, Business Activities: Virtualization, cloud, backup, DLP

Manoj K. Sharma Chief Executive Ofﬁcer “Aha” leadership moment. Winning the ChannelWorld Premier100 award for the ﬁrst time as CEO. What’s non-negotiable? Price is non-negotiable. A business idea you think should get more attention. Lead generation and branding through social media should get more attention. Most memorable vacation.

A recent visit to Gujarat including Dwarka, Somnath and Sasan Gir. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) as the cloud is the buzz-word these days. Channel myths you would like to bust. Beyond having a good relationship with the customers — which is always the target of OEM’s — partners can offer a lot of knowledge as a value addition.

Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS, manufacturing, education

What would you like to invent? A time machine. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A sportsperson. A habit you wish you could get rid of. I want be to be more organized. Your stress-busting tactic. Making sure stress does not happen. JUNE 2012

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MN World Enterprise Praveen Dwarkanath

Digital media because it’s going to play an important role in every business and in daily life.

Director A question you wish you had better answers to. How do negative deals work?

integral part of everyday life. We are also witnessing the merger of personal and ofﬁcial computers.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. BYOD will see signiﬁcant adoption. Today mobility and on-demand access to data has become an

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is the need to focus on the future; there are better days ahead.

Snapshot Founded: 2002 Headquartered: Bangalore

Channel myths you would like to bust. That all channel partners are heavily dependent on principals. A business idea that should get more attention.

Branches: Calcutta, Pune Other Key Executives: Praveen Dwarkanath, Director; Neeraj Shukla, Director; M.D. Masoom, Director Key Principals: NetApp, Citrix, VMware, HP, Dell, IBM Business Activities: Virtualization, storage Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS

ALSO WON THE STORAGE SPECIAL AWARD 86

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Your vision for your company. I’d like to build us into a company that services top global customers through niche technologies. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I think that the cloud is overhyped. It might drive immature adoption and end up as a wrong decision for many. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A wildlife photographer.

Mukesh Infoserve

Snapshot Founded: 1997 Headquartered: Chennai Branches: Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Madurai, Sriperambadur Other Key Executives: Varadharajan, Chief Technical Ofﬁcer; Senthilkumar S., Chief Finance Ofﬁcer Key Principals: HP, IBM, Microsoft, Symantec, Amp, Tyco, Cisco, Fortigate, SAP, TCS, Kaseya Business Activities: Cloud infrastructure, automated managed services, software-as-aservice, wireless and mobility,

Mukundan B. Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Biggest learning this year. That multi-tasking at peak efﬁciency, both in your personal and professional life, is possible.

A question you wish you had better answers to. What will motivate an individual to perform to their peak continuously?

A business idea that should get more attention. Adapting social media as mainstream marketing tool should get more attention.

What would you like to invent? A computer that can read the human mind.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. I believe that cloud infrastructure is over-rated because without multitenancy applications, it is of no use.

What’s non-negotiable? Margins and proﬁtability are non-negotiable. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A professional cricket player.

Focus Verticals: Network, enterprise, software, services Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners are not competent to deliver technology solutions. Your vision for your company. To being a global technology solutions leader. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Drinking coffee. Your stress-busting tactic. Meditation. JUNE 2012

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Navigator Systems A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Video conferencing.

Prakash Palani CMD “Aha” leadership moment. When we entered into a partnership with Sun and Dell. What’s non-negotiable? Service.

A business idea that should get more attention. It would be great if there is immediate focus on computerization of rural India.

Biggest learning this year. Coping with clients migrating from existing servers and platforms.

Channel myths you would like to bust. Transparency from the vendor’s side in order to reach out to the end users without cutting margins.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud computing. Because it contributes to cost cutting.

What would you like to invent? An aircraft that runs on a renewable resource to make air travel affordable for the common man.

Snapshot Founded: 1999 Headquartered: Bangalore Branches: Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, New Delhix Other Key Executives: Gopi Palani, VP-Finance; Baskaran, VP-Sales Key Principals: Oracle, Dell, IBM, HP, EMC, QLogic Business Activities: Integrated systems Focus Verticals: Servers, storage, managed services, IT hardware solutions.

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Netplace Technologies

Snapshot Founded: 1998 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Singapore Other Key Executives: Milan Doshi, Director; Mitesh Shah, Business Head; Santosh Nair, Business Head; Shekhar Misal, Head Finance Key Principals: Cisco, HP, Verint, Commscope, Tyco/Krone, Came Business Activities: Networks, infrastructure, security, voice, contact center, video, surveillance, access control, perimeter / gate security

Dhaval Doshi Director A question you wish you had better answers to. Why some people throw relations, goodwill and ethics out of the window for small or large, but temporary gains. What’s non-negotiable? A promise. Deliver what you promise. Only promise what you can deliver. Biggest learning this year. Politicians and bureaucrats who get involved in scams for less than Rs 100 crore are fools.

A business idea that should get more attention. Affordable and cheap collaboration tools for small companies. Channel myths you would like to bust. That proﬁtability is the only matrix that a channel partner should be measured by. What would you like to invent? A channel partner skill trading portal where they can leverage on skills already acquired by other-channel players.

Focus Verticals: ITeS/BPO, enterprise If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A politician, there’ a lot of money in that. A habit you wish you could get rid of. I am a little forgetful; I wish I can improve on that. How do you deal with stress? I gear up and ride out on my bike. JUNE 2012

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Network Techlab Cloud based solutions. I think it will gain signiﬁcant adoption because it allows companies the ﬂexibility of scaling up or down instantly.

Haresh Gada Director A question you wish you had better answers to. Why do people agree to operate on negative margins and discount their rebates? What would you like to invent? A chair-sized helicopter.

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: Andheri

Biggest learning this year. That growth and development must go hand-in-hand. What’s non-negotiable? Service charges are non-negotiable. A business idea that should get more attention. ERP on the cloud, that is simple and affordable. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012.

Branches: Navi Mumbai, Pune, Vapi Other Key Executives: Rajendra, Kiran, Prasad Key Principals: SonicWALL, Emerson, EMC, Canon, Amara Raja Business Activities: Security, power, storage, networking Focus Verticals: BFSI, manufacturing, government, MSMB

ALSO WON THE STORAGE SPECIAL AWARD 90

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Your vision for your company. To take us to a Rs 300 crore company in the next ﬁve years. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A poet. A habit you wish you could get rid of The habit of procrastinating. Your stress-busting tactic. Deep breathing.

Newwave Computing

Snapshot Founded: 1999 Headquartered: Chennai Branches: Bangalore, Cochin, Hyderabad Other Key Executives: Vasudevan Subramaniamm, Director; Anand Aravamudan, Director; Ajit Mohanraj, Director

Vasudevan Subramaniam

Key Principals: IBM, Dell, Lenovo, EMC, VMware, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung

Managing Director A business idea that should get more attention. Selling beyond CIOs. IT organizations will have to learn to sell beyond CIOs; selling to CFOs and CMOs are becoming the key to value creation for clients. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. No technology is over-rated as long as it can create value for a client. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Expecting things meant to happen tomorrow to happen yesterday.

Your vision for your company. To create an organization whose employees, vendors and clients believe is continuously expanding and creating value for them. We would like to be perceived as an organization that is built on trust and built to last. “Aha” leadership moment. Every moment that employees, clients, vendors and suppliers demonstrate and express their faith, trust and conﬁdence in us is an ‘Aha’ moment for the leadership team at New Wave.

Business Activities: Virtualization, automation, data management, cloud computing Focus Verticals: Cross-vertical, large enterprises, mid-market What’s non-negotiable? One’s integrity is non-negotiable. Biggest learning this year. That it is not enough to concern ourselves about the products that we sell but to be aware about whether our organization is market-oriented. JUNE 2012

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Ocean Technosolutions Channel myths you would like to bust. That only big advertising funds help establish brand image.

Vivek Rane Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Bluetooth is the most over-rated technology. It hasn’t lived up to the hype at all. “Aha” leadership moment When we decided to become the regional distributor for Tyco. This decision cemented our position in the big league. Biggest learning this year. It was when we missed out on a golden opportunity to partner with

a vendor for cloud computing and bandwidth management. A question you wish you had better answers to. How do to retain employees in the ever-changing IT space? A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Wireless networking will see a boom because it improves performance and offers a comprehensive solution for customer’s infrastructure requirements.

What would you like to invent? I would like to invent an all-in-one gadget like an iPad or a laptop which has an inbuilt scanner/printer.

Snapshot Founded: 1998 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Hyderabad, Goa Other Key Executives: Vaibhav Rane, Regional Manager-Pune; Mayuri Ghag, Senior ManagerAdminstration and Finance; Sahebaz Khan, Senior ManagerPre-Sales and Promotion Key Principals: Molex, D-Link, Systimax, AMP, Legrand, Rittal, Valrak, Cisco Business Activities: LAN , WAN, IP surveillance, datacenter, Focus Verticals: BFSI, manufacturing, education, hospitality, pharma

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Omnitech InfoSolutions

Snapshot Founded: 1987 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Delaware, London, Almere, Delft, Amsterdam Other Key Executives: Avinash Pitale, Co-founder and Jt. MD; Devarshi Buch, Executive Director Business Activities: Cloud, payment solutions Key Principals: Microsoft, Oracle, IBM Focus Verticals: BFSI, pharma, services

Atul Hemani Managing Director and CEO “Aha” leadership moment. Not accepting the dealership of big brands and deciding to pursue and promote our own products and ideas. A question you wish you had better answers to. How can I better my work-life balance? What’s non-negotiable? Ethics and core values. Biggest learning this year. Crisp review; remaining focused

on results and staying away from transactions or operations. A business idea that should get more attention. Empowering the young generation and making them passionate and driven to achieve results. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud computing, not because it helps avoid technological challenges, but because it helps drive meaningful operations and business models.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players lack vision and go after only short-term goals. What would you like to invent? A methodology of buying businesses. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Impatience. Your stress-busting tactic. Listening to music. Most memorable vacation. Leh, Ladakh JUNE 2012

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Orient Technologies Jayesh Shah Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud, because acceptance from enterprise customers is poor and its better suited for the consumer segment “Aha” leadership moment. When Orient got the Best APAC

Snapshot Founded: 1997 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Calcutta, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Singapore Other Key Executives: Ajay Sawant, Managing Director and CEO; Ujjwal Mhatre, Director; Umesh Shah, Director Key Principals: HP, IBM, Citrix, Microsoft, Lenovo, Fortinet, Symantec, Cisco, Oracle Business Activities: Virtualization, cloud services, portals and collaboration tools, storage and backup solutions, security and data center services Focus Verticals: SMB, BFSI, govt., pharma, IT/ITeS

ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD 94

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Partner award from Citrix at their annual conference in USA. A question you wish you had better answers to. How to quickly respond to e-mails when you get so many these days and not miss the important ones? What’s non-negotiable? Values are non-negotiable. Biggest learning this year. Trust only whom you trusted and who has delivered in the past.

A business idea you think should get more attention. Increase the use of renewable resources of energy like solar and wind energy to generate power. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel is all about reaching customers and is merely a stepping stone. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A teacher. Your vision for your company. I wish to grow company the way Infosys grew and take it to that level.

Parth Technocomm

Snapshot Founded: 2009 Headquartered: Calcutta Branches: Calcutta Other Key Executives: Pradip Sheth, Director; Jaydip Mehta, Director; Viren Mehta, Director Key Principals: Cisco, HP, EMC, Ericsson, Aastra, Dell, Matrix, Systemax, AMP/TYCO, Molex, Plantronics, VMware, Citrix, Tandberg

Tejas Mehta Director A question you wish you had better answers to. I wish I had an answer to employee retention in India. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Taking people at face value. Biggest learning this year. Intelligent networking is the key to success for all business requirements. A business idea that should get more attention. BYOD should get more attention. There is huge scope for it.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channels cannot become corporates. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud is hugely over-rated in my opinion. It existed before its actual launch. The hosted model was a key solution with most SP/ISP’s before it became to be known as the cloud. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Virtualization. It will see adoption because it will help consolidate servers for all organizations.

Business Activities: Networking, UC, UCS, voice, storage, contact center, video Focus Verticals: Govt/PSU, education, corporate, SME, IT/ ITeS, hospitality, healthcare Turning point in your career. When I started my organization after working for 11 years in the corporate sector. What’s non-negotiable? Services should be non-negotiable. Most memorable vacation. A recent trip to Pattaya and Phuket. JUNE 2012

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD

Path Infotech reach to the US and ASEAN, apart from our operations here.

Pankaj Ratra Director-Business Development Turning point in your career. The decision to set up Path with three of my friends was deﬁnitely the turning point in my career. There have been many twists and turns, but none would have happened had it not been for that ﬁrst decision.

years as it is the need of the hour for the end consumer, especially with the increased use of devices.

Biggest learning this year. To challenge the obvious.

Channel myths you would like to bust. The biggest myth that I have come across from doing business for 20 years is price versus value.

One technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Mobility will see signiﬁcant adoption as well as success in the coming

What’s non-negotiable? Authenticity, trust, and transparency in life.

Your vision for your company. Path is now focused on expanding its

A question you wish you had better answers to. When someone asks me: Can you bet on this technology/plan? Is this the right way to go?

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Noida Branches: Mumbai, Singapore Other Key Executives: Tarun Agarwal, Director-Technology; Aasheesh Gar, Director-Finance and HR Key Principals: Oracle, Microsoft, Qlikview, Quest Business Activities: Oracle database, MS SQL server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Java, .Net, J2EE, PHP, Qlikview, Foglight Focus Verticals: Financial services, insurance, manufacturing, BPO/ITeS, media, utilities, government

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Pentacle Systems

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: Lucknow Branches: Kanpur, Noida Other Key Executives: Zuhair Husain, Director; Ruchi Ratra, Director Key Principals: HP, Microsoft, Dell, VMware, Cyberoam, Schneider (APC), Symantec Business Activities: Servers, virtualization, networking, security, datacenter, Microsoft classic licensing, anti-virus, backup, DR

Tilak Raj Ratra

Focus Verticals: SMBs, government

Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Software licensing. Turning point in your career. When we chose to move to the solutions space from retail. A question you wish you had better answers to. “Why is this software is so expensive?” Biggest learning this year. Accepting only the right business and being able to say no to the rest.

What’s non-negotiable? Payment terms. A business idea that should get more attention. Lead-generation through opinions expressed on social networks. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Virtualization and private clouds. Channel myths you would like to bust. That technology implementation partners are those who are available in the metros.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An employee. A habit you wish you could get rid of Being outspoken. How do you deal with stress? By choosing business carefully. Most memorable vacation. A trip to Himachal Pradesh (Kulu-Manali) with my family. Your vision for your company. To make it a Fortune 500 company. JUNE 2012

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Quadsel Systems The cloud. It will be a technology that will create a revolution and will be see signiﬁcant adoption.

Girish Madhavan Managing Director What according to you should be non-negotiable? The pride one gets from selling a perfect solution. Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is to draw the line when it comes to delivering over-and-above the commitment made to customers.

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: Chennai Branches: Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai, Trivandrum Other Key Executives: Anoop Krishnan,VP-Marketing; Sridharan, Manager-Admin Kala Devi-Manager Procurement Key Principals: HP, Microsoft, VMware, Redhat, Avaya, Riverbed, RSA, Citrix Business Activities: ESSN, cloud Focus Verticals: Education, BFSI, government, manufacturing, SMB, enterprise

ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD 98

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A software engineer. Your stress-busting tactic. Taking off on a long drive in my Audi and listening to music loudly. Your vision for your company. I’d like the company to be one of the best cloud service providers. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012.

A question you wish you had better answers to. How to plan a long-term goal and understand the future. What would you like to invent? A model for the cloud which is unique and ever-lasting. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The key to success is understanding technology and delivering the right solution to customers.

QuantM Net Technologies ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Gurgaon Branches: Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, UAE, USA Other Key Executives: Sanjay Bakshi, Founder and Managing Director; Rajiv Malik, CFO Key Principals: IBM, Sun, Cisco, HP, Microsoft, Emerson, Symantec, VMware Business Activities: Datacenter, virtualization, BCORP, enterprise computing, information security, converged communication Focus Verticals: Automotive/ transportation, education, BFSI, telecommunications, manufacturing, media

Pawan Khurana Chief Executive Ofﬁcer A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud services. While some are genuinely unique, the rest are repackaged. It’s a case of old wine in a new bottle.

budgeting and planning, to achieve customers’ business goals using IT.

An F-1 driver.

What would you like to invent? An environmentally friendly energy source.

A habit you wish you could get rid of Snoozing. The alarm rings thrice before I wake up.

Turning point in my career. When I decided to start a business of my own and become an employer.

Your vision for your company. To be recognized as the most respected systems integrator delivering cutting-edge solutions to customers.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Intuitive communication solutions.

A business idea that should get more attention. Customers and systems integrators should work together, right from

If I was not a businessman, I would have been....

Biggest learning this year. Human capital, acquisition, growth and retention are the key to every business. JUNE 2012

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SBA Info Solutions What’s non-negotiable? Sincerity.

V. Anantha Narayanan Managing Director A business idea that should get more attention. Solar-powered ATMs and lifesaving equipment.

and not as partners by most principals and customers.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. The cloud will see adoption because it lowerrs infrastructure and maintenance costs.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. BYOD. Companies will have to build their backend infrastructure and control personal devices, protect data, ensure security, and handle multiple OSes.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players are just resellers. Channel players are considered and treated like resellers

“Aha” leadership moment. When we identiﬁed and grew a second line of leadership within the organization.

What would you like to invent? Self-realization. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... An agriculturist.

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Chennai Other Key Executives: S. Kantha Nathan, Director Technical; S. Thomas Paul, Business Head Key Principals: IBM, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Acer, NetApp, EMC, Toshiba Business Activities: Virtualization, messaging, datacenter, HPC, BC & DR, IMS Focus Verticals: SMB, corporate

ALSO WON THE DATACENTER SPECIAL AWARD 100

INDIAN CHANNELWORLD JUNE 2012

Secure Network Solutions ALSO WON THE SECURITY SPECIAL AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 2000

Snapshot

Headquartered: Chennai Branches: Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Kochi, Coimbatore, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Mumbai, Pune Other Key Executives: Syed Wasiq, National Sales Head; S. Subramanian, Support Head Key Principals: Check Point, Cisco, Fortinet, IBM-ISS, WatchGuard, Websense Business Activities: Firewall, VPN, IPS, UTM, authentication, WAN optimization, security auditing Focus Verticals: IT/ITES/BPO, manufacturing, education, government

N.K. Mehta CEO & Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. DLP. Most customers don’t have clarity on what they want and what to protect. But they still want DLP! Turning point in my career. Leaving a lucrative and secure bank job to start SNS. Your vision for your company. To be the best security services company in India. Biggest learning this year.

A person with non-technical background can sell technology products better.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Mobile computing because of the ever-growing expectations.

What’s non-negotiable? Timely payments.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That a channel players’ job is easy and that they make a lot of money.

A business idea you think should get more attention. Everyone sells at MRP with no discounts.

What would you like to invent? A gadget which tells me exactly at what price a customer will place an order.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A professor.

A habit you wish you could get rid of Always thinking about the company even when I’m at home. JUNE 2012

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101

Shell Networks A.L.Srinath

proposes should be respected and not negotiated with a commercial value attached.

Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Turning point in your career. When I got leading industry personnel to join Shell.

What would you like to invent? A mechanism to replace vendors who do not support.

Your vision for your company. To grow this company into a Rs 100 crore organization.

Biggest learning this year. To be brand agnostic.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud computing because the basics of the technology haven’t yet got the mindshare of clients.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners are not competent enough to handle technical queries.

A business idea that should get more attention. Collaborating with non-competing vendors.

Snapshot Founded: 2004 Headquartered: Hyderabad Branches: Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Visakhapatnam Other Key Executives: P. Ramakrishna, CTO; U.R. Acharya, COO Key Principals: Cisco, EMC, Commscope, Emerson Business Activities: Cabling, switching, routing, network security, business video solutions, storage, datacenter solutions Focus Verticals: IT/ITES, BFSI, government and PSUs, education

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A habit you wish you could get rid of. To always be at the receiving end. What’s non-negotiable? The quality of a job that a vendor

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Video will see signiﬁcant adoption. It will offer CIOs phenomenal savings on travel expenses and an excellent, tangible ROI.

Sigma-Byte Computers

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune,Dubai, Abudhabi, Sharjah, Johannesburg, Capetown, Singapore Other Key Executives: Alkesh Gandhi, Director; Gul Gidwani, Director-International Operations; Prakash Rao, Director-AV Solutions; Deepak Sreenivas, Director-AV Solutions; Kunal Seth, Director-Africa Key Principals: CommScope, Panduit, TE, Kramer, Crestron, Extron, Honeywell Business Activities: Structured cabling, AV, safety and security

Ketan Kothari

Focus Verticals: BFSI, IT/ITeS, datacenters

Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Green buildings. In India where there are no clear guidelines on construction from government or municipal corporations, it’s more of a marketing tool. Anyone one can build an inferior quality building and still be green compliant. A question you wish you had better answers to. I wish to have better answers when customers ask: Why does your competition charge so little?

A business idea you think should get more attention. The use of alternate energy sources like solar power in IT . What would you like to invent? A machine that records your dreams. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... I have never thought of doing anything else. Doing business has always been in my blood. Your stress-busting tactic.

Reading and yoga. A technology you think will see significant adoption in 2012. Wireless broadband - 4G, because there is tremendous potential for benefits in the consumer segment. Your vision for your company. To become a group with revenues of more than Rs 300 crore in next five years with a presence in three more countries. JUNE 2012

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Spark Technologies I meditate.

S.R. Nautiyal Managing Director Biggest learning this year. Stay calm when things are not favoring you. Your vision for your company. I’m like it to be a Rs 1,000 crore company by 2020. Turning point in your career. In 2002 when got more a Rs 4 crore order from the government and then on the 31st of March 2011 when we crossed Rs 100 crore barrier. What’s non-negotiable?

Basic business ethics.

Most memorable vacation. When I went to Hong Kong with my son in 2010.

One technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Security and UC.

A business idea that should get more attention. Lead-generation via a different way.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That bottom line and top line are equally important.

Snapshot Founded: 1994

If I was not a businessman, I would have been…. A scientist or professor. Your stress-busting tactic.

Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Srinagar, Jaipur, Noida, Gurgaon, Dehradun Top Executives: Surinder Pal Singh, Rajesh Budhwar, Naresh Dhyani, V.S. Dubey Key Principals: Cisco, D-Link, Tyco, Samsung, Emerson Business Activities: LAN, WAN, cyber security, large format displays, power solutions Focus Verticals: Government and PSUs

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Sterling Infoways

Snapshot Founded: 1993 Headquartered: Gurgaon Branches: Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Mumbai Other Key Executives: Rajesh Kalra, MD; Dimple Kalra, Director; Kapil Sharma, Director-Operations Key Principals: IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, Brocade, TCS, NetApp, Cisco, Dell, Samsung, Apple, Aircel, AMD Business Activities: Cloud, virtualization

Sandip Sarkar

Focus Verticals: Education, corporate, distribution

Director-Sales A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Backup, due to its non-reliability. It should be replaced by DR at the datacenter. “Aha” leadership moment. Joining Sterling 11 years ago. A question you wish you had better answers to. Why Sterling? What’s non-negotiable? Quality of service is non-negotiable.

Biggest learning this year. That businesses tend to consolidate during a slump. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud because of its Opex model. What would you like to invent? A fool-proof mechanism to understand a customer’s desire and satisfaction level in order to cater to their future needs. Your vision for your company.

h Top 100 system Be among the integrators in the world. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A sports person or a teacher. Your stress-busting tactic. Meditation. A business idea you think should get more attention. A forum or site for both customers and service providers on which all SMB and enterprise requirements can be posted. JUNE 2012

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Sunﬁre Technologies Bhaskar Ganjiwale

Biggest learning this year. Auditing and compliance in a virtualized environment and cloud infrastructure.

Director-Technology Services Your vision for your company. To be a Rs 100 crore company within the next two to three years. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Tech gadgets. Everyday brings a new development in the tech gadget space to captivate our attention. While many devices do not live up to their promise, there are handful

Snapshot Founded: 2008 Headquartered: Pune Branches: Mumbai Other Key Executives: Sanjay Kulkarni, CEO and Director; Sameer Godbole, Director Key Principals: VMware, Cisco, HP, EMC, NetApp, Hitachi Business Activities: Virtualization, networking, storage, security Focus Verticals: IT/ITES, BFSI, manufacturing

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of tech gadgets that are particularly disappointing. “Aha” leadership moment. Building a datacenter and infrastructure for the implementation of a core-banking system for a cooperative bank within a short span of time was a great moment as far as my career and leadership are concerned. What’s non-negotiable? Quality of service.

What would you like to invent? A business model that will ﬁt for emerging technologies. If I was not a businessman, I would have been…. A freelance consultant. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Being overly cautious. Most memorable vacation. A trip to Europe.

Swan Solutions & Services

Snapshot Founded: 1989 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gurgaon, Calcutta Other Key Executives: Mohammed Sutarwala, MD; Murtuza Sutarwala, Director; Nazmuddin Sutarwala, Executive Director, Finance Key Principals: HP, IBM, EMC, VMware, Citrix Business Activities: Server, storage, virtualization, security Focus Verticals: BFSI, services, manufacturing, media

Kamal H.Sejpal

VDI will see signiﬁcant adoption, because it offers security and ﬂexibility to IT managers.

Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud. There is no proper regulatory legislation to resolve the data security disputes between customers and service providers. “Aha” leadership moment. Introducing vendor-neutral products and solutions to customers. A question you wish you had better answers to. When will we see an end to economic uncertainties?

What’s non-negotiable? Your personal integrity is non-negotiable. What would you like to invent? A robotic tutor to train the sales team.

Channel myths you would like to bust. Young graduates from engineering and MBA colleges dream of making it big by working only with principals and not channel partners. If I was not a businessman, I would have been... A farmer.

A business idea you think should get more attention. Engaging ex-employees, especially engineers, to generate business leads.

A habit you wish you could get rid of Jumping to conclusions.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012.

Your vision for your company. To make it a Rs 100 crore company. JUNE 2012

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Symmetrix Computer Systems Social networking for business will gain more prominence.

Dinesh Dhanapathi Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The Android platform. I think it has reliability and security concerns visà-vis apps.

Turning point in your career. My love story with ‘customer relations’ started in Computer Point India way back in 1985. I have not looked back since then.

A question you wish you had better answers to. Why can’t I be more conscious about making money?

What’s non-negotiable? Commitment to every single client — big or small.

A business idea that should get more attention. A cartel for price protection in all areas of operations.

Biggest learning this year. It pays to get visibility. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That margins happen automatically. What would you like to invent? A time-machine to take me back in time and allow me to reverse mistakes. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Continuing to humor undesirable customers.

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: Bangalore Branches: Pune Other Key Executives: Nandini M., GM, CRM; Jagadish Rao, GMCustomer Support; Suresh R., DGM-Managed Services Key Principals: Dell, HP, Kaseya Business Activities: Customerdriven

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Taashee Linux Services

Snapshot Founded: 2008 Headquartered: Hyderabad Branches: Bangalore, Mumbai Other Key Executives: Abhishek Datt, CTO; Dhiraj Khare, GM-Sales (South); Amit Kulkarni, GM-Sales (West) Key Principals: Red Hat, VMware, Amazon Web Services Business Activities: Linux, middleware, virtualization, cloud Focus Verticals: Telecommunications, government, SMB, BFSI

Manojkummar Garg Chief Operating Ofﬁcer A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud is over-rated. There is too much hype and the use cases are not very well understood.

That the channel is only about selling box products.

Turning point in my career. When I decided to quit my previous job with a reputed vendor.

Biggest learning this year. Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket.

A question you wish you had better answers to. How do I satisfy customer demands?

A business idea you think should get more attention. Customer workshops.

Channel myths you would like to bust.

What would you like to invent?

What’s non-negotiable? Quality is non-negotiable.

An application that can ease business management and automate decision making to a large extent. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Desktop virtualization. Because it offers great ﬂexibility, manageability, control and mobility. A habit you wish you could get rid of. My habit of speaking excessively over the phone. Your stress-busting tactic. Spending time with my children. JUNE 2012

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Targus Technologies Col. Balwinder Singh

compliance, it’s tough to achieve everything using cloud computing.

Director Biggest learning this year. What it takes to expand globally, set up new ofﬁces, understand different cultures and processes, and reach out to international customers. A business idea that should get more attention. Viral marketing. Using this marketing technique, an

Snapshot Founded: 1997 Headquartered: Gurgaon Branches: Canada, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dubai, Calcutta, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Singapore Other Key Executives: Raunaq Singh, SVP; Amarjeet Walia, SVP; Manas Sinha, SVP Key Principals: AMD, Cisco, Dell, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM, Juniper, Micrsoft, Oracle, Tyco, VMware Business Activities: Consulting services, datacenter solutions, storage solutions, network integration, IT infrastructure optimization, managed services, software licensing, audio-visual integration, database migration, ERP solutions, IVR services, virtualization Focus Verticals: Manufacturing, telecom, utilities, IT and ITeS, government, SMB

ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD 110

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organization can not only reach out to their target audience, but also convert a potential customer into a prospect and ﬁnally into a client. Channel myths you would like to bust. That a channel partner needs to be like a Wipro, an HP, or an IBM to provide effective services and support to corporate giants. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud computing. Although it assures cost saving, security and

What would you like to invent? A time machine, so that I could go relive my army days! Your vision for your company. To make it a public-listed company with group of companies. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A distinguished army ofﬁcer; I took premature retirement to start an IT company in 1992. Most memorable vacation. A Mediterranean cruise in 2008.

Team Computers ALSO WON THE HALL OF FAME AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 1987 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: 40 Other Key Executives: Deepak Rai, CFO; Mahesh Tomar, Director; A. Rajendran, Director Key Principals: HP, Lenovo, IBM Business Activities: Google, cloud, in-memory analytics with Qlikview

Ranjan Chopra

Focus Verticals: Financial services

Chairman & Managing Director “Aha” leadership moment. My moment came with Werner Erhard, when I ﬁgured out that it’s possible to re-wire my brain.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is that the government’s machinery is really slow.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. I believe that cloud e-mail will see signiﬁcant adoption.

A question you wish you had better answers to. Who is God? Who am I?

Channel myths you would like to bust. That margins are output, development is input.

Your stress-busting tactic. Breathing and drinking lots of water.

What’s non-negotiable? One’s values are non-negotiable.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A musician.

A business idea you think should get more attention. Enterprise Facebook.

A habit you wish you could get rid of The habit of not being on time.

Most memorable vacation. Last year when I drove through France and Spain. A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Excel. JUNE 2012

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Team Frontline Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel does not learn technology.

S.R. Nair Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud. In a corporate set up, not everything can be “clouded”.

A business idea that should get more attention. An ERP solution that can be implemented rapidly.

“Aha” leadership moment. Whenever I see the young men I’ve developed kick their career paths in high gear — and there had been many.

What would you like to invent? A low-cost but effective business intelligence solution for SMEs.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. CRM, because the biggest, uncontrolled expense corporates face is sales and marketing.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A professor of sociology. How do you deal with stress? By meditating, reading and writing.

A habit you wish you could get rid of. My quick temper. Your vision for your company. To make it an enterprise solutions company. Biggest learning this year. If you want to grow, you need to be a hypocrite; you need to mean one thing but say the opposite.

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquartered: Cochin Branches: Calicut, Chennai, Trivandrum Other Key Executives: Shaleena Nair, Director-Finance; Shaju David, CTO; Mathew George, VPOperations Key Principals: Microsoft, HP, IBM, Fujitsu, Acer, Lenovo Business Activities: Server, storage, ERP Focus Verticals: Education, BFSI, government

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Techteam Technologies

Snapshot Founded: 2008 Headquartered: Mumbai Other Key Executives: Mehul Patel, Technical Director Key Principals: Cisco, Cyberoam, Bluecoat, Ncomputing, D-Link Business Activities: Uniﬁed communications, uniﬁed computing Focus Verticals: IT/ ITeS, BFSI, media, government, retail

Jasmin Manvar

Virtualization because of its impact on ROI and cost-cutting.

Executive Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etcetera.) is over-rated.

Your vision for your company. To have branch ofﬁces in all the metros.

Turning point in my career. When I left my job to start up a new business.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is how to manage large deals.

A question you wish you had better answers to. Why didn’t I start my business earlier?

A business idea that should get more attention. Providing free services along with the hardware or software solutions.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A teacher.

What’s non-negotiable? A services business.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012.

Most memorable vacation. A family vacation in Mahabaleshwar.

What would you like to invent? Low-cost energy storage with huge capacity. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel runs on commitment.

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Transit Geo System Integrators Kamlesh Marviya

Your vision for your company. I’d like the company to be the largest systems integrator operating worldwide.

Director Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players are only box sellers. What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent a solution that reduces the gap between the rich and the poor. If I was not a businessman, I would have been…. A scientist.

Snapshot Founded: 2010 Headquartered: Surat Branches: Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Mumbai, Rajkot, Vapi, Vadodara Other Key Executives: Dipesh Dasadia, Director; Rajesh Mehta, Director; Kalpesh Shah, Director Key Principals: Bosch, Inﬁnova, D-Link, Cyberoam, Motorola, Ruckus, Cisco Business Activities: CCTV, ﬁre detection and alarm systems, access control systems, public address and conference systems, networking and IT security solutions Focus Verticals: Oil and gas industries, power plants, government sectors, diamond sector, pharma and hospitals, malls

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A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud computing. It still has a long way to go for practical use. Turning point in your career. The merger of Transit Electronics with Geo Integrators to create Transit Geo System Integrators. A question you wish you had better answers to. How do I create a win-win situation in every task I take up.

What’s non-negotiable? Integrity, commitment and honesty are all non-negotiable. A business idea that should get more attention. I believe that one idea that should get more attention is the use of mobile devices in the enterprise and business applications. Your stress-busting tactic. I do Pranayam regularly. It helps.

Trident Information Systems

Snapshot Founded: 1999 Headquartered: New Delhi Branches: Calcutta, Indore, Hyderabad, Nagpur Other Key Executives: BB Goel, Finance Director; Amit Roy, Vice President Key Principals: IBM, Microsoft, HP, SAP Business Activities: Microsoft Dynamics, Rational, Cognos, SAP, Business Objects, Tivoli, IM

Anita Jain Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Facebook. They have yet to deﬁne a business value proposition which leverages their 900 million population. “Aha” leadership moment. Motivating my kids and ensuring that they achieve their goals. Biggest learning this year. I’m still trying to learn how to make a billion dollars. What’s non-negotiable?

Focus Verticals: Retail, manufacturing , IT/ITeS Integrity is non-negotiable. A business idea that should get more attention. Analyzing and tracking the behavior of shoppers before they make purchases so that retailers can realign their strategies, rather then doing a post-sales analysis. One technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Social media marketing and mobility. If I was not a businesswoman, I would have been....

A Buddhist monk. Channel myths you would like to bust. That the channel is a secondary route to growth. Most memorable vacation. A visit to Leh and Ladakh. Your vision for your company. We wish to become the most trusted partner for IT solutions for our customers. JUNE 2012

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Valuepoint Systems I want the organization to grow 10,000-strong by 2015; creating wealth, livelihood, joy and happiness for everyone.

R.S. Shanbhag CMD A question you wish you had better answers to. Why most tier-II system integrator partners are not growing successfully beyond their own region and not breaking Rs 250crore barrier. What according to you should be non-negotiable? Integrity, values and commitment. A business idea you think should get more attention. Sell more to existing customers.

Biggest learning this year. Salute and retain the person/team that sells and brings business to the table. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Cloud technologies and I don’t have to give any reason. Channel myths you would like to bust. Proﬁtability and money will drive business. Your vision for your company.

What would you like to invent? Anything that will be affordable and beneﬁt all in healthcare or education. A habit you wish you could get rid of. Procrastinating. Your stress-busting tactic. By doing yoga, pranayama and meditation. Spiritual knowledge and practice has helped to a great extent.

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Bangalore Branches: Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Mangalore, NCR, Trivandrum Other Key Executives:: Sampath Kumar, CEO; Ganesh Mahabala, SVP; Govinda Bhat, Group CFO Key Principals: HP, Dell, Fujitsu, Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Tyco, Schneider, Emerson, APC, NetApp, EMC Business Activities: IT system integration, solutions, services Focus Verticals: All

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VDA Infosolutions ALSO WON THE CLOUD SPECIAL AWARD

Snapshot Founded: 2010 Headquartered: Mumbai Branches: Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Calcutta, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad. Other Key Executives: Vikas Save, Director; Ashutosh Deuskar, Director Key Principals: EMC, IBM, Micro Focus, Cisco, VMware, Quest, CA Technologies, Symantec Business Activities: Storage and server consolidation, testing tools, IT infrastructure management and security, data lifecycle management.

Deepak Jadhav Director “Aha” leadership moment. Starting the company with Ashutosh and Vikas, and clocking Rs 35 crore in revenue in the very ﬁrst year. A question you wish you had better answers to. Why does your organization want to do business with us and what is the value addition you provide? Channel myths you would like to bust. That only tier-I channel partners can add value to principals and tier-II partners do not.

What’s non-negotiable? Integrity. Biggest learning this year. Most customers look at the ability of an organization to deliver a solution and not the size of the organization. Your stress-busting tactic. Cooking with my daughter. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. VDI. To handle pain areas with respect to end-user desktops.

Focus Verticals: BFSI, ITeS, manufacturing A business idea you think should get more attention. Social media to track the inclination of decision makers towards technologies. What would you like to invent? An IT setup for customers which can run on solar-power. A habit you wish you could get rid of Accessing e-mail during discussions. JUNE 2012

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Veeras Infotek Sudarsan Ranganathan

imperative is clearly deﬁned, and applications established, a private cloud isn’t a value proposition. Private clouds will not reduce cost.

Chief Executive Ofﬁcer A business idea you think should get more attention. Social media strategies should get more attention. If I was not a businessman, I would have been… A musician.

Snapshot Founded: 1992 Headquartered: Chennai Branches: Bangalore, Hyderabad Other Key Executives: Kumar Somayajilu, COO; Krishna Ramadas, Business Head; B. Ravishankar, Business Head; T.N. Srinivasan, Business Head Key Principals: VMware, NetApp, Microsoft, Symantec, McAfee, Fortinet Business Activities: Platform and collaboration, virtualization and cloud computing, security, BCP and DR Focus Verticals: Horizontal focus

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Biggest learning this year. That value isn’t valued unless that value is sold. What would you like to invent? A money tree! One question you wish you had better answers to. What is the law of Karma? A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Private clouds. Unless the business

Your vision for your company. I’d like the company to be a recognized, reputed, stable and trustworthy organization with a presence across the globe. What’s non-negotiable? Ethics are non-negotiable. One technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. Public cloud because there is a clear business need.

Vintech Electronic Systems

Snapshot Founded: 1996 Headquarters: Pune Branches: Nasik Other Key Executives: Rajeev Patayeet, Director; Dilip Patil, Director; Chandan Joshi, Director; Sushil Kulkarni, Director Key Principals: HP, Cisco, NetApp, Apple, Microsoft, VMware Business Activities: Servers, storage, networking, mobile devices, services

Chintamani Lele Director A business idea that should get more attention. Creating brand equity and encashing it through web and social networking media.

Channel myths you would like to bust That we had the lowest attrition rate (in fact negative attrition rate) over last few years. Many peoplehave rejoined.

A concept or technology that’s over-rated. Cloud. Everyone is talking about it, while very few know enough about it.

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A forest ofﬁcer.

What’s non-negotiable? Happiness. What would you like to invent? I would like to invent fuel-free transportation.

Your stress-busting tactic. Sleep over the stress-causing issue. Watch a movie or read a book. Your vision for your company. I want to ensure that the employees will always love working for us and feel secure despite market impacts.

Focus Verticals: Automobile, manufacturing, IT/ITeS, government Most memorable vacation. My trip to Ireland. “Aha” leadership moment Receiving our ﬁrst HP Best Partner Award at Colombo in 2003 from Aravinda De Silva. A question you wish you had better answers to. Which such question to select? Biggest learning this year. ISO certiﬁcation. JUNE 2012

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Vitage Systems Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players do not have technical competencies that are equal to their principals.

Jayanth Gojer Chief Operating Ofﬁcer A concept or technology that is over-rated. I think that e-books get too much attention.

Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is to adapt quickly to changing business needs.

One question you wish you had better answers to. What made the tablet such a rage in a world ﬁlled with effective smart phones?

Your vision for your company. I’d like to see the company become an industry-recognized, leading data security organization.

What’s non-negotiable? Business ethics should never be compromised.

A business idea you think should get more attention. The convergence of enterprise devices. I think that idea should get more attention.

What would you like to invent? I’d like to invent a teleporter. If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A race car driver. Your stress-busting tactic. Listening to jazz on my iPod.

Snapshot Founded: 1993 Headquartered: Bangalore Other Key Executives: Ajay Badrinath, Head-Marketing & Communications; Jobi Thomas, HeadEmerging Technologies; Shanmugam, Head-Services Key Principals: IBM, Fujitsu, HP, Apple, Cisco, Juniper, VMware, Microsoft Business Activities: Network security, storage, APT, virtualization, disaster recovery Focus Verticals: IT/ITES, government, manufacturing, BFSI

ALSO WON THE SECURITY SPECIAL AWARD 120

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Webcom Information Technology

Snapshot Founded: 1991 Headquartered: Bangalore Other Key Executives: M. Prabhakar Kini, Chairman; Sumathy Anantharam, Director; Gridharan Vidi, Director Key Principals: Cisco, D-Link, Digisol, TE, Cyberoam, E-Scan, Schneider-Pelco, Digilink Business Activities: Networking, security, surveillance, RFID, data security

Anantharam Varayur Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The iPad. There are so many products with same features. I just can’t understand why the iPad is highly priced.

Focus Verticals: Government, PSU, corporates, education, retail What’s non-negotiable? Commitment. Biggest learning this year. The need to think big.

solutions. The insecurities associated with cloud-based solutions are fading.

A question you wish you had better answers to. Why does the current generation have no loyalty to an organization?

Turning point in your career. When I started BNI in Bangalore. It not only gave me a lot of satisfaction, but it has also changed the way I think today.

What would you like to invent? I want to invent a machine which can translate all my ideas directly to text or which can record it in any other format, as I think.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players cannot compete with the big guns.

A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. The adoption of cloud-based

A habit you wish you could get rid of. My habit of reading each and every mail I receive, including spam. JUNE 2012

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Xpress Computers Chetan Shah

If I was not a businessman, I would have been.... A cricketer.

Managing Director A concept or technology that’s over-rated. The cloud is over-rated in my opinion. A question you wish you had better answers to. Why is it that the Indian system

Snapshot Founded: 1988 Headquartered: Mumbai Other Key Executives: Kevin Feriera, Xpresslive President; Chandrashekhar Dhawde, Xpresslive Support Manager; Sanjay Lakhamje, Purchase Manager Key Principals: Intel, Microsoft Business Activities: Servers, virtualization, remote support, Microsoft small business solutions. Focus Verticals: SMB, Education

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integrator so focused on underselling himself or so focused on selling only on price? Why? What’s non-negotiable? Quality and service standards. Biggest learning this year. My biggest learning this year is: Change or perish. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. All-in-one-PCs. I think that it will practically reinvent the PC.

Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel players only focus on the top line and forget about innovation and value additions. Your stress-busting tactic. Spending quality time with my two passions: Sports and family. Most memorable vacation. A trip to New Zealand. Your vision for your company. To be a solutions-focused company for the SMB market.

Zener Systems

Snapshot Founded: 1997 Headquartered: Bangalore Other Key Executives: V.S. Srinvasa Rao; J. Ashok Kumar; Arif Key Principals: Socomec, Avaya, Polycom, Axis Communications Business Activities: Power, telecom

Roop B. Raj Managing Director A question you wish you had better answers to. What is leading to the slow demise of the manufacturing sector in India? Channel myths you would like to bust. That channel partners can create a successful business model on low margins. “Aha” leadership moment. The realization that team-building and man-power retention are the most critical components has helped develop our business.

Your vision for your company. My vision is to ensure that we are a highly-reputed organization that provides state-of-the-art solutions catering to customer needs in a cost-effective manner. A technology you think will see signiﬁcant adoption in 2012. UC, because it will be a key factor in enabling real-time connectivity and supporting multi-modal applications which should lead to organizational optimization and improvement.

Focus Verticals: IT/ITeS, BPO, manufacturing, hospitality, engineering What’s non-negotiable? Incentives for investments in R&D are non-negotiable. Biggest learning this year. That spreading the business across different products and solutions helps reduce risk. Most memorable vacation. My trip to London and Eastern Europe was delightful. JUNE 2012

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RE XC PO LUS RT IV E

4 MAY, 2012 TAJ LANDS END, MUMBAI

CELEBRATING CHANNEL EXCELLENCE

KEYNOTE SESSION & HALL OF FAME AWARDS PRESENTED BY

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SPECIAL REPORT  THOUGHT LEADERSHIP | PREMIER100

My goal is not to communicate, but to connect; there is too much communication, too little connect. Great leaders do not merely inspire, they connect.” PAUL DUNN Chairman, B1G1

Connect, Deliver Value, Change Lives

N a powerful keynote address, the Wizard of Wow, Paul Dunn combines the ageold principle of ‘connecting’ to advocate change in the way companies think and do business today. Since businesses are about people and processes and how these connect, it’s important to really connect rather than merely communicate, he said. The three elements of adding speed, and purpose, and of changing lives are the fundamental premises on which businesses need to think and act upon, he said. And businesses must remember that they have the power to change lives. In a capitalistic world, Dunn pointed out, success is not deﬁned by numbers but value delivered. Some of the most successful enterprises in history have always fallen back on the ‘how’ factor than the ‘what’, he said. It is in how you sell your story and keep inspiring that makes you, you. Keynote Speaker Paul Dunn Presented by :

An inspiring enterprise is all about a seamless collection of connected moments, processes, and the value that you add to connect with the customer.”

PREMIER100 | EXPERT SPEAK

For you to truly transform and leverage the capabilities that we bring to the market, you must embrace IT consumerization as a differentiator and utilize social media as a business application.” MAHESH BHALLA Exec. Dir. & GM, Dell India Consumer & SMB

Efficient IT: Shifting From Operations to Innovation AHESH BHALLA, executive director and general manager, Dell India Consumer and SMB business, pointed out that a majority of CIOs today place a premium not just on efﬁciency alone, but also on leveraging efﬁciencies that are gained through innovation, which in-turn has helped deliver better business value, agility and revenue. And that, in the end, that was really the aim of

IT leadersip. Bhalla also reiterated that social media and Web 2.0 have changed an organization’s approach toward their employees and also redeﬁned the process of interacting with customers and partners. Symposium Partner

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP | PREMIER100

Stakeholders are ready to invest in technologies that play a big role in enablement. But keep in mind that doing more with less seems to be the paradigm shift in enterprise spend.” SANDEEP PHANASGAONKAR President & CTO, Reliance Capital

CIO Perspective: The Road Ahead

N A panel discussion that attempted to understand what CIOs see in the days

ahead, Sandeep Phanasgaonkar, president and CTO, Reliance Capital; and Sunil Mehta, SVP and area systems director, Central Asia, JWT, covered plenty of ground. At the outset, they agreed that these were challenging times and that it was difficult to get IT projects cleared. Managements, they said, demanded more definitive ROI milestones, and wanted results in a shorter span of time. That said, they indicated that businesses were still interested in figuring out how IT could be used to drive customer delight. And in such an environment, they declared that investing in technologies such as business intelligence, the cloud, and mobility are assuming increasing importance. VDI and social media analytics have also become crucial, they said. They called attention to the fact that enterprises are more interested in subscription-based models, since this could raise RoI and reduce large capital expenditure. They said that channel partners should keep these factors in mind while addressing their customers.

While nobody is likely to turn down a project which promises huge RoI, as investors, we have to understand what we are putting our monies into.” SUNIL MEHTA, SVP & Area Systems Director, Central Asia, JWT

PREMIER100 | EXPERT SPEAK

Our guiding principle: ‘total ownership for value creation’ helps us deliver a competitive edge to our partners and ensures that the best interests of both sides are taken care of.” SRIDHAR REDDY CMD, CtrlS

Winning with Partnerships RIDHAR REDDY, CMD of CtrlS, pointed out that there is a growing trend among CIOs to leverage opex models — rather than capex ones — given the cash ﬂow pressures enterprises face. He also talked of the challenges that businesses face today and of the new growth drivers in the market. He shared how CtrlS has been recognized — by Nasscom — as one of the fastestgrowing organizations in the world. He added that CtrlS has created India’s

most energy-efﬁcient datacenter in Hyderabad and that CtrlS’ infrastructure and business models have been designed to offer CIOs the greatest ﬂexibility and customization.

Symposium Partner

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP | PREMIER100

Reputation is a double-edged sword. If you have a great reputation, you can create an enormous pull for your brand. If you don’t clean up your reputation online, it can work against you.” MAHESH MURTHY Founder & CEO, Pinstorm

The Next Big Thing OUNDER AND CEO of Pinstorm, Mahesh Murthy enthralled the audience with his insights on the future of digital media as an industry and where the enterprise and channel business are headed in the coming years.If you weren’t there, here are two big learnings from his talk: Digital Media Goes Mainstream: Digital media—and its growth—is not niche anymore. It’s mainstream even in India. There are more digital media users today than the number of Indian homes that have a television. Moreover, the real growth is on the social media front. It’s growing at a 250 percent CAGR in India alone. Social-media-inspired buying will become more of a norm in the future. Consumerization of IT Will Differentiate the Winners: Companies that will win in the longer-term are the ones that allow their employees to bring their devices. Today, companies take a one-size-ﬁts-all approach but going forward employees will prefer companies that have all-sizes-ﬁt-one policy.

Organizations should get used to the idea of allowing full, unfettered access to social media to all of their employees. This will add up as a business opportunity in the future.

PREMIER100 | EXPERT SPEAK

D-Link is committed towards working with partners at every step by providing solutions and engineering support. We are a partner that you can count on to deliver proﬁtability.” SANJAY SEHGAL AVP – Enterprise Business, India & SAARC, D-Link

What You Knew—and Didn’t About D-Link ANJAY SEHGAL, AVP, Enterprise Business, India & SAARC, D-Link, briefed the audience on some of the known and unknown facets of the company. He stated that D-Link recorded a consolidated unaudited revenue of $1.1 million — up by 3.1 percent YoY. These numbers reﬂect the ﬁnancial reliability, accountability, and viability of D-Link. Sehgal explained how practical and

innovative designs tailored for the digital home or ofﬁce have enriched modern lifestyles. According to him, routine network operations in business environments need D-Link’s 4S Business solution that facilitates low cost of ownership. Symposium Partner

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP | PREMIER100

Today, more than 80 percent of Oracle transactions worldwide are through partners. We encourage new partners to be part of our ecosystem and play a vital role in changing the IT landscape.â&#x20AC;? SRIKANTH DORANADULA Director, Alliances & Channels, Distribution Business, Oracle

Partners Engineered to Win: The Oracle Way

RIKANTH DORANADULA,

Director, Alliances and Channels, Distribution Business, Oracle, spoke about how the company provides the perfect formula for its partners to win in a competitive and dynamic market. Unlike some of its competitors, said Doranadula, Oracle never competes with partners on the services front. As partners try to drive more wallet share from their customers, Oracle has

opened new avenues for them, through its uniquely designed partnership levels like Remarketer. Oracle, he said, also provides partners with an opportunities to sell piece-meal solutions as well as entire stacks that can be vertically integrated. Symposium Partner

PREMIER100 | EXPERT SPEAK

We urge our partners to leverage our new initiatives to address the changing needs of this competitive market. We are 100 percent channel-driven and have acquired more than 3,000 customers in India.â&#x20AC;? BALAJI RAO Director-Sales, VMware, India & SAARC

Partnering for Success in the Cloud Era

OW DOES a vendor address

radically changing application level and frontend infrastructure? There is no denying that there has and continues to be plenty of change in that space. Taking that topic head on, Balaji Rao, Director-Sales, VMware, India & SAARC, spoke about why VMware has become the right choice not just for virtualization and cloud, but also for application modernization and BYOD environments. The

technology expert expects its partners to grab the opportunities in consulting â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which is becoming crucial in this new era. VMware offers its partners competencies in new areas like business continuity and management.

Symposium Partner

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS | PREMIER100

A Job Well Done One hundred channel partners received awards for their efforts in taking the channel community further. Laugh Out Loud Humorist Surendra Sharma had the audience in splits with his one-liners and poems. Sharing Ideas The event was a perfect platform for partners and vendors to network.

Sa Re Ga Ma Indian Idols, Jankee Parekh and Bhaven Dhanak, belted out melodious numbers leaving the audience asking for more.

Packed House Channel partners showed up in large numbers to attend the day-long symposium and awards ceremony.

Making a Habit of It The Hall of Fame awards honored partners who had won the Premier100 award repeatedly. Getting Lucky A fortunate few who won the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hot Seatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; game took back goodies.

JANUARY JUNE 2012 1, 2009 INDIAN CHANNELWORLD

133

SPECIAL AWARDS | CLOUD CHAMPIONS

PRESENTED BY

The nominations filed by Premier 100 winners were evaluated by a group of editors. The winners were assessed on various parameters including growth revenues during the last fiscal and projected business and enterprise wins in the cloud technology space. The five partner organizations exhibiting robust strategies and focused initiatives around the cloud were declared winners.

From (L)

Sudarsan Ranganathan Chief Executive Ofﬁcer VEERAS INFOTEK

Edward Jeevan Director BINARY SYSTEMS

Sanjeev Gupta Managing Director ALBION INFOTEL

Deepak Jadhav Amit Mehta, Director, Marketing, EMC India & SAARC (third from left) handed out the awards.

Director VDA INFOSOLUTIONS

Sandeep Vahi Director COMPTON COMPUTERS

308%

The average growth in cloud revenues these winners saw in 2011-12 compared to 2010-11.

14%

Of these winners’ total revenue, on an average, came from cloud-related sales in the last ﬁscal.

SPECIAL AWARDS | STORAGE

PRESENTED BY

The nominations filed by Premier 100 winners were evaluated by a group of editors. The winners were assessed on various parameters including growth revenues, projected business and enterprise wins in storage technology during the last fiscal. The five partner organizations exhibiting the most robust strategies and focused initiatives around storage were declared winners.

Haresh Gada From (L)

Director NETWORK TECHLAB

S.T. Muneer Ahamed Managing Director DIGITAL TRACK SOLUTIONS

Praveen Dwarkanath Director MN WORLD ENTERPRISE

Prarthana Gupta Manu Vinod, Country Category Manager-Midrange Storage, HP India (first from left) handed out the awards.

Chief Executive Ofﬁcer CACHE DIGITECH

Anuj Gupta Director-Sales MIEL E-SECURITY

Rs 75 Cr The total revenues these winners made from storage-related sales in 2011-12.

29%

Of these winners’ total revenues, on an average, came from storage-related sales in the last ﬁscal.

SPECIAL AWARDS | SECURITY

PRESENTED BY

The nominations filed by Premier 100 winners were evaluated by a group of editors. The winners were assessed on various parameters including growth revenues, projected business and enterprise wins in the security domain in the last fiscal. The five partner organizations who exhibited the most robust strategies and focused initiatives around security were declared winners.

Jayanth Gojer From (L)

Chief Operating Ofﬁcer VITAGE SYSTEMS

Nityanand Shetty Managing Director ESSEN VISION SOFTWARE

D.K. Bajaj Director D M SYSTEMS

Jiten Mehta Sunil Sharma, Vice PresidentSales, Cyberoam India & SAARC (third from left) handed out the awards.

Director MAGNAMIOUS SYSTEMS

N.K. Mehta CEO & Managing Director SECURE NETWORK SYSTEMS

86%

The average growth in security-related sales revenues these winners saw in 2011-12 compared to 2010-11.

55%

Of these winners’ total revenue, on an average, came from security-related sales in the last ﬁscal.

SPECIAL AWARDS | DATACENTER

PRESENTED BY

The nominations filed by Premier 100 winners were evaluated by a group of editors. The winners were assessed on various parameters including growth revenues in the last fiscal and projected business from power and cooling in the datacenter domain. The five partner organizations most focused on building efficient datacenters were declared winners.

Rajiv Jain From (L)

Managing Director HTP SYSTEMS

Rahul Meher Managing Director LEON COMPUTERS

V. Anantha Narayanan

Rs 111 Cr The total revenues these winners made from datacenter-related sales in 2011-12.

Director SBA INFO SOLUTIONS

Pradeep Johri Shrinivas Chebbi, Country General Manager & VP-ISB Region, Schneider Electric (third from left) handed out the awards.

VP-Sales & Marketing CCS COMPUTERS

Dipesh Mangla Director COMPUTERS NETWORK & TELECOM

49%

Of these winnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; total revenue, on an average, came from datacenter-related sales in the last ďŹ scal.

SPECIAL AWARDS | HALL OF FAME

HEN SUCCESS

Mahesh Bhalla (sixth from left), Executive Director & General Manager, Consumer and SMB Business, Dell India and Suresh Reddy (fourth from right), Director & General Manager, Global Commercial Channels, Dell India, handed out the awards.

repeats itself, it reﬂects the highest level of achievement. The ‘Hall of Fame’ award introduced this year honored 10 partner organizations who registered consistent business growth since the ﬁrst edition of Premier 100 in 2009. The nominations of 31 partners eligible for the ‘Hall of Fame’ award were exhaustively evaluated by a

PRESENTED BY

group of editors. Apart from being a winner of the Premier 100 award continuously for the past four years, the nominations were weighed across various parameters including revenue numbers, top lines and bottom lines, acquired client base, technology roadmap, panIndia reach over the past four years. The regionwise dominance of each other in the stack was also considered to arrive at the

ﬁnal winners list. The ‘Hall of Fame’ winners demonstrated effective business strategies backed by comprehensive solutions and strict SLAs to overcome their enterprise customers’ business-IT challenges. They have transformed themselves with emerging technologies and seized market opportunities to emerge as competent solution providers. And they have done it consistently — year after year.

ACCEL FRONTLINE Maqbool Hassan TARGUS TECHNOLOGIES Col. Balwinder Singh

ALLIANCE PROSYS Ravi Putta

CHOICE SOLUTIONS K.V. Jagannath

ORIENT TECHNOLOGIES Jayesh Shah

ALLIED DIGITAL Nehal Shah

QUADSEL SYSTEMS Girish Madhavan

FRONTIER BUSINESS SYSTEMS Ravi Verdes

QUANTM NET TECHNOLOGIES Pawan Khurana

TEAM COMPUTERS Ranjan Chopra

WINNERS BY COMPANY NAME

247 Computing Services ................................................................................18 4G Identity Solutions ...................................................................................... 19 Accel Frontline ................................................................................................. 20 Ace Data Devices ..............................................................................................21 Acma Computers ............................................................................................22 Acme Digitek Solutions ...................................................................................23 ACPL Systems .................................................................................................24 Acropetal Technologies .......................................................(Not featured) Adit Microsys ...................................................................................................26 AGS Sundyne Technologies .........................................................................28 Albion InfoTel ................................................................................................... 30 Alliance Prosys .................................................................................................32 Allied Digital ......................................................................................................34 Archon Consulting Systems ...........................................................................36 Ashtech Infotech ..............................................................................................38 Associated Business Computers ..................................................................39 Bard Roy Infotech ........................................................................................... 40 Bay Datacom Solutions ................................................................................... 41 Binary Systems ................................................................................................42 Bodhtree Consulting........................................................................................43 Cache Digitech ................................................................................................ 44 Cache Peripherals .......................................................................................... 45 CCS Computers................................................................................................46 CDP ................................................................................................................... 47 Central Data Solutions ....................................................................................48 Choice Solutions ..............................................................................................49 Clover Infotech................................................................................................. 50 Compton Computers ....................................................................................... 51 Computers Network and Telecom.................................................................52 Crsytal Solutions ..............................................................................................53 Cubic Computing............................................................................................. 54 D M Systems .................................................................................................... 55 Digital Track Solutions ....................................................................................56 E-Connect Solutions .......................................................................................57 Emarson Computers........................................................................................58 Essen Vision Software ....................................................................................59 Fourth Dimension Technologies .................................................................. 60 Frontier Business Systems .............................................................................61 Future Netwings Solutions .............................................................................62 Futuresoft Solutions ........................................................................................63 Galaxy Office Automation .............................................................................. 64 Gemini Communication...................................................................................65 Highbar Technologies .....................................................................................66 Hilink Networks ................................................................................................67 HTP Systems ....................................................................................................68 I.T. Solutions ......................................................................................................69 IDM Solutions ...................................................................................................70 Immunity Networks & Solutions ......................................................................71 Indusface ........................................................................................................... 72 Infobahn Technical Solutions ........................................................................ 73

INS E Solutions ..................................................................................................74 Ishan Infotech ...................................................................................................75 ITCG Solutions.................................................................................................. 76 ITSource Technologies .................................................................................. 77 Kaar Technologies ........................................................................................... 78 Kalyx Infotech ...................................................................................................79 Leon Computers.............................................................................................. 80 Magnamious Systems ......................................................................................81 MIEL e-Security................................................................................................82 Minitek Systems ...............................................................................................83 MITI Solutions ...................................................................................................84 MM9 Information Technologies .....................................................................85 MN World Enterprise .......................................................................................86 Mukesh Infoserve............................................................................................. 87 Navigator Systems ..........................................................................................88 Netplace Technologies....................................................................................89 Network Techlab ............................................................................................. 90 Newwave Computing ........................................................... 91 Ocean Technosolutions ..................................................................................92 Omnitech InfoSolutions .................................................................................93 Orient Technologies ....................................................................................... 94 Parth Technocomm ........................................................................................ 95 Path Infotech.................................................................................................... 96 Pentacle Systems ............................................................................................97 Quadsel Systems .............................................................................................98 QuantM Net Technologies ............................................................................. 99 SBA Info Solutions ........................................................................................100 Secure Network Solutions.............................................................................101 Shell Networks ............................................................................................ ..102 Sigma-Byte Computers ............................................................................... 103 Spark Technologies ...................................................................................... 104 Sterling Infoways ........................................................................................... 105 Sunfire Technologies .................................................................................... 106 Swan Solutions & Services ..........................................................................107 Symmetrix Computer Systems ................................................................... 108 Taashee Linux Services ............................................................................... 109 Targus Technologies.......................................................................................110 Team Computers ..............................................................................................111 Team Frontline ................................................................................................. 112 Techteam Technologies ................................................................................. 113 Transit Geo System Integrators ....................................................................114 Trident Information Systems .........................................................................115 Valuepoint Systems .......................................................................................116 VDA Infosolutions ............................................................................................117 Veeras Infotek ..................................................................................................118 Vintech Electronic Systems ..........................................................................119 Vitage Systems.............................................................................................. 120 Webcom Information Technology ................................................................121 Xpress Computers .........................................................................................122 Zener Systems................................................................................................123