FOCAL POINT: Find out how emerging containerization technologies create encrypted zones on smartphones. PAGE 39
ChannelWorld STRATEGIC INSIGHTS FOR SOLUTION PROVIDERS | COVER PRICE Rs.50
JITEN MEHTA, Director, Magnamious Systems, is fully prepared to service enterprise mobility demands but isn’t sure where the market is going.
((((( MOBILITY SPECIAL (((((
Inside OCTOBER 2012 VOL. 6, ISSUE 7
Cover Story
Why solution providers aren’t buying heavily into the mobile solutions story—at least not yet. PAGE 22
Case Study
Meridian Infotech, a solution provider from the small town of Vadodara, was given first-go at a large deal to help the Essar Group go mobile. But could it play with the big boys? PAGE 32
Feature
MOBILE
Are solution providers and security vendors engaging coherently to execute a profitable and sustainable BYOD journey? PAGE 34
Opinion Indian CIOs want to invest in mobility solutions. But channel partners say they aren’t really keen. What’s going on? >>> Page 22
Smartphones have changed the world around us. Even in its success, there are areas which are dysfunctional. Do devicemakers need a new perspective? PAGE 38
CHANNELWORLD.IN
Enterprises need a new approach - a strategic, innovative solution that allows them to spend less on their network infrastructure and more on revenue generating and productivity enhancing technologies that help them gain a competitive edge. Juniper Networks offers such a solution - a new class of Ethernet switches for the enterprise, designed specifically to meet the demands of today’s high-performance businesses. With the EX Series, businesses can deploy a cost-effective family of switches that delivers the high availability, unified communications, integrated security and operational excellence they need today, while providing a platform for supporting the requirements of tomorrow. Welcome to the future of enterprise switching at juniper.net
+ Ăž Inbound Response Management Priya Sharma v:1800 209 3062 f:022 66765553
Authorized Distributor: Ingram Micro India Limited | Sadhaka Nanda | Email: sadhaka.n@ingrammicro.co.in
JN_CW_AD_V1.3.indd 8
9/26/2012 5:52:14 PM
n EDITOR’S NOTE
Vijay Ramachandran
Work Smart not Hard To do two things at once is to do neither. — Publilius Syrus, Roman slave, first century B.C. Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. — George S. Patton, US Army General, 1941
I
’ve noticed an unhealthy obsession that some business leaders have with how much time their staff spend in office as well as how many things that their employees can juggle with at the same time. One solution provider I recently met is so particular that his team start work at exactly 10 am, that he’s gone to the extent of providing complimentary breakfast at 9.30 am. Now before you point to the challenging times we face and the need to slog it out, ask yourself this: Are you more concerned about the hours your chaps fill in or how much they actually achieve in them? Take multitasking, which many view as an extremely efficient business practice. Admittedly, it’s not like attending to several things at a time is a new ‘information age’ trait. Humans have had the capability for thousands of years. What has changed in the Internet era is the quantum of tasks and the haste with which we’re called upon to deal with them. When else in history could you conduct multiple IM conversations, flip through 14 browser tabs, scan though three spreadsheets, view the corporate dashboard, be on a conference call and send out mail, concurrently? An extreme example? Possibly. An efficient use of technology? Definitely.
Productive? Unlikely. Research over the past few years reveals that multitasking costs us and our organizations dearly in productivity losses and bad decision making. And, this does not even take into account the stress caused by toggling between multiple tasks simultaneously. A study, conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, found that “workers distracted by e-mail and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ”. Big deal, right? Then consider that the study found that continual use of e-mail and SMS lowered IQ by as much as 10 points, while smok-
n Using Industrial Revolution norms of hours worked or physical presence as a measure of accomplishment is daft.
ing marijuana regularly, caused only a four point drop in intelligence! Pointing to the ‘infomania’ in today’s work environment another study has discovered that organizations employing knowledge workers are greatly impacted by information overload. Infomania, the studies authors observe, is the mental state of continuous stress and distraction caused by the combination of queued messaging overload and incessant interruptions. In one organization, the authors found that staff “averaged 11 minutes on any one ‘working sphere’ before switching to another altogether.” This extreme fragmentation of work resulted in a severe cumulative time loss, with some estimates as high as 25 percent of the work day. Their research found employees in a chronic state of mental overload in practically every company and organization in the industrialized world. In a world that’s increas-
ingly outcome driven, the other issue that has me stumped is the anachronistic insistence of using Industrial Revolution norms of hours worked or physical presence as a measure of accomplishment. Value creation in the knowledge worker space can hardly be equated with assembly line output, can it? Yet, a recent survey of corporate managers reveals that employees who are always present in office during business hours are thought of as highly “dependable”, with employees who work late or over weekends being viewed as “committed” and “dedicated”. Author Robert C. Pozen in his book Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours observes that “…many organizations are undermining incentives for workers to be efficient. If employees need to stay late in order to curry favor with the boss, what motivation do they have to get work done during normal business hours?… It’s no surprise, then, that so many professionals find it easy to procrastinate and hard to stay on a task.” Pozen offers a way out: “Instead of counting the hours you work, judge your success by the results you produce.” Amen to that! n Vijay Ramachandran is the Editor-in-Chief of ChannelWorld. Contact him at vijay_ramachandran@ idgindia.com
OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
1
FOR BREAKING NEWS, GO TO CHANNELWORLD.IN
Inside INDIAN CHANNELWORLD ■ OCTOBER 2012
■ NEWS DIGEST 05 Providing An Easy Way In |
Some Oracle databases have what experts say is a serious flaw in
data analytics and hybrid clouds in mind because the company must focus on new applications to ensure datacenter technology remains relevant.
■ OPINION
01 Editorial: Vijay Ramachandran believes that the anachronistic insistence of using Industrial Revolution norms of hours worked or physical presence as a measure of accomplishment does not work well for an organization.
the login system that a hacker can use to retrieve and change stored data. 06 Public Cloud Spend to Explode | Worldwide spending on
public IT cloud services is expected to touch the $100 billion mark in 2016, as companies accelerate their shift to the cloud services model, according to IDC. Public IT cloud services are designed for, and commercially offered to a largely unrestricted marketplace of potential users.
38 Scot Finnie: Smartphones have changed the world around us and how we do things. Even in its success, there are areas which are dysfunctional. Do device-makers need a new perspective? 44 Thornton A. May: The one thing we definitively know about the future is that we will spend the rest of our lives there. And yet people don’t think enough about the future. IT leaders—your own customers— spend too little time imagining the future. That’s a big problem.
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL
((
(((
■ SPECIAL REPORT
22 Mobile Disconnect
CIOs of Indian companies—across sizes—say they are already investing—and want to continue to put money into—mobility solutions. But enterprise channel partners say there isn’t money in it and are giving mobility the cold shoulder. What’s going on?
■ FEATURE
34 DLP+MDM
06 Welcome Aboard the OpenStack Project | The
Solution providers need to engage coherently with security vendors to execute a successful, profitable and sustainable BYOD journey across their enterprise customers.
newly-formed OpenStack Board of Directors voted to accept VMware, along with Intel and NEC into the project as gold members.
■ CASE STUDY
32 Big Boy Turf
08 Extending the Mainframe Lineage | IBM’s latest mainframe,
the zEnterprise EC12, is built with
22
■ NEWS ANALYSIS 10 Can Dell Make the Jump?| For anyone who has not been living under a rock, the moves Dell has been making to move away from its traditional PC business have been evident. But as the company transforms itself into an end-to-end solution provider, the question is: Can Dell go the distance? Cover Photograph by KAPIL SHROFF Cover Design by UNNIKRISHNAN A.V
Meridian Infotech, a solution provider from the small town of Vadodara, was given first-go at this large deal to help Essar Group go mobile. Could it hack it?
■ FOCAL POINT
39 To Each Its Own
Containerization is an emerging class of management tools that carve out a separate, encrypted zone or policy bubble on a user’s smartphone within which some corporate apps and data can reside. This helps create a separate, protected workspace on employees’ personal smartphones.
FOR BREAKING NEWS, GO TO CHANNELWORLD.IN
Inside
CHANNELWORLD Geetha Building, 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore - 560 027, India
■ THE GRILL
CHANNELWORLD.IN
15 Judson Althoff, senior vice president-
Worldwide Alliances, Channels & Embedded Sales,
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD ■ OCTOBER 2012
Publisher, President & CEO Louis D’Mello Associate Publishers Rupesh Sreedharan, Sudhir Argula ■ EDITORIAL
■ FAST TRACK
18 Manu Mehta, director, Fore Solutions, says
that they have placed themselves in a reasonable position by maintaining a shoe-string budget and
15 Oracle, underscores the company’s long-term channel strategy.
■ ON RECORD
19 Patrick Lo, chairman and chief executive officer, Netgear, talks about market competition and partner strategy in the India market. He
retaining manpower by putting employees on performance-based incentives. 21 Deepak Hoskere,
managing director, Peak XV Networks, had to rebuild the company in an entirely different space. The mantra of giving customers the best, without underselling, stood him in good stead.
19 believes that if the customer is happy with the value-addition created, then the chances of being profitable rise proportionally.
Editor-in-Chief Vijay Ramachandran Executive Editors Gunjan Trivedi, T.M. Arun Kumar Associate Editor Yogesh Gupta Deputy Editor Sunil Shah Assistant Editor Online Varsha Chidambaram Special Correspondents Radhika Nallayam, Shantheri Mallaya Principal Correspondents Anup Varier, Gopal Kishore, Madana Prathap Senior Correspondent Sneha Jha Correspondents Aritra Sarkhel, Debarati Roy, Eric Ernest, Ershad Kaleebullah, Shweta Rao, Shubhra Rishi Chief Copy Editor Shardha Subramanian Senior Copy Editor Shreehari Paliath Copy Editor Vinay Kumaar Lead Designers Jinan K.V., Suresh Nair, Vikas Kapoor Senior Designer Unnikrishnan A.V. Designers Amrita C. Roy, Sabrina Naresh ■ SALES
& MARKETING
President Sales & Marketing: Sudhir Kamath VP Sales Parul Singh GM Marketing Siddharth Singh Manager Key Accounts: Jaideep M., Sakhee Bagri Senior Manager Projects: Ajay Chakravarthy Manager-Sales Support Nadira Hyder Marketing Associates: Anuradha Iyer, Benjamin Jeevanraj, Dinesh P. Project Co-ordinator Rima Biswas, Saurabh Patil Lead Designers Jitesh C.C., Pradeep Gulur Designer Lalita Ramakrishna ■ EVENTS & AUDIENCE
■ FINANCE
ADVERTISERS’ INDEX Emerson Network Power India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . BC
D-LINK (INDIA) LTD.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Juniper Networks India Pvt.Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC
Fujitsu India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
HP- PSG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IBC
Ricoh India Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 + flap on cover
Dell India Pvt. Ltd . . . . . . . . 11, 13 & Cover gatefold
Symantec Software Solutions Pvt.Ltd . . . . . . . . . . 7
HP-IPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the publisher. Address requests for customized reprints to IDG Media Private Limited, Geetha Building, 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore - 560 027, India. IDG Media Private Limited is an IDG (International Data Group) company. Printed and Published by Louis D’Mello on behalf of IDG Media Private Limited, Geetha Building, 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore - 560 027, India. Editor: Louis D’Mello, Printed At Manipal Press Ltd, Press Corner, Manipal-576104, Karnataka, India.
DEVELOPMENT
Senior Manager Projects: Ajay Adhikari, Chetan Acharya, Pooja Chhabra Manager Tharuna Paul Senior Executive Shwetha M. Project Co-ordinator Archana Ganapathy
& OPERATIONS
Finance Controller Sivaramakrishnan T.P. Sr. Manager Accounts Sasi Kumar V. Sr. Accounts Executive Poornima Manager Credit Control Prachi Gupta Sr. Manager Products Sreekanth Sastry Sr. Manager Production T.K.Karunakaran Sr. Manager IT Satish Apagundi ■ OFFICES
Bangalore IDG Media Pvt. Ltd. Geetha Building, 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore 560 027, Karnataka Tel: 080-30530300. Fax: 080-30586065 Delhi IDG Media Pvt. Ltd. DLF Corporate Park, Tower 4 B, 3rd Floor, Room 301, MG Road, DLF Phase 3, Gurgaon- 122001, Haryana Tel: 0124- 3881015 Mumbai IDG Media Pvt. Ltd. 201, Madhava, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai 400051, Maharashtra Tel: 022-30685000. Fax: 022-30685023
News
WHAT’S WITHIN
PAGE 06: Public Cloud Spend to Explode
PAGE 06: Welcome Aboard The OpenStack Project PAGE 08: Extending the Mainframe Lineage PAGE 10: Can Dell Make The Jump?
F I N D M O R E A R T I C L E S AT CHANNELWORLD.IN
SECURITY
Providing An Easy Way In
S
OME ORACLE databases have what experts say is a serious flaw in the login system that a hacker can use to retrieve and change stored data. The flaw, in Oracle Database 11g Releases 1 and 2 leaves the token that is provided by the server before authentication is completed open to a brute-force attack, said Esteban Martinez Fayo, the application security researcher that discovered the flaw. If successful, an attacker can gain access to the database. “An authentication bypass is quite serious,” Kevin
Mitnick, a well-known whitehat hacker and founder of Mitnick Security Consulting, said in an email. “Basically, an attacker can get to the data stored in the database, and even change it.” When a client connects to the database server, a session key is sent with a salt. Because this happens before the authentication process is finished, a hacker working remotely can link the key to a specific password hash. “Once the attacker has a session key and a salt, the attacker can perform a bruteforce attack on the session key by trying millions of
passwords per second until the correct one is found,” Fayo told Kaspersky Lab’s Threatpost blog. Because the hack occurs before authentication is done, no login failure is recorded in the server, so a person can gain access without triggering an abnormal event. Oracle, which did not respond to a request for comment, patched the flaw in the latest upgrade of the authentication protocol, version 12. However, the company is not planning a patch for the flawed version, 11.1, Fayo said. Even with the upgrade, database administrators have to configure the server to only allow the new version of the protocol. “There are many large companies and critical infrastructure agencies which cannot afford the time or risk to upgrade all their Oracle clients and servers,” said Clarke, a security researcher at Cylance. “Oracle’s choice to lock this patch to an upgrade really forces the hand of those organizations with longer technology refresh periods and puts a lot of strain on the trust relationships they have with Oracle as a vendor,” Brent Huston, chief executive of security testing company MicroSolved, said in an email.
OCTOBER 2012
— By Antone Gonsalves INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
5
CRM
Customer is Priority Managing customer relationships has become companies’ top priority in the APAC region, according to Forrester’s new report, ‘The Changing Face of CRM in Asia Pacific’. Companies recognise the importance of management of customer relationships for continued business success and are now thinking about the CRM lifecycle beyond legacy CRM tools. Forrester emphasises the importance of local language
support for core CRM capabilities to successfully grow across the region. Forrester suggests that CRM providers in APAC in search of growth should evaluate CRM solutions on region-, country-, and vertical-specific needs; understand that CRM projects will involve strong business support and not be IT-led; and help manage expectations. — By Anuradha Shukla
-
CLOUD COMPUTING
Public Cloud Spend to Explode
W
In 2012, IDC expects global public IT services public IT cloud spending to amount to services is exmore than $40 billion (Rs pected to touch the $100 213, 520 crore) with public billion (Rs 533, 800 crore) IT cloud services said to mark in 2016, as companies see a compound annual accelerate their shift to the growth rate (CAGR) of 26.4 cloud services model for IT percent over the period consumption, according from 2012-2016—five times to IDC. that of the IT inPublic IT cloud dustry overall. services are deThe study, fined by IDC as ‘Worldwide and Projected compound those offerings Regional Public annual growth rate designed for, and IT Cloud Serof public cloud commercially ofvices 2012-2016 between 2012-16. fered to, a largely Forecast’,noted unrestricted marthat by 2016, ketplace of potential users. public IT cloud services “The IT industry is in will account for 16 percent the midst of an important of IT revenue in five key transformative period technology categories: as companies invest in applications, system infrathe technologies that structure software, platwill drive growth and form as a service (PaaS), innovation over the next servers, and basic stortwo to three decades,” age—cloud services will said Frank Gens, senior generate 41 percent of all vice president and chief growth in these categories analyst at IDC. by 2016. ORLDWIDE SPENDING on
26.4%
“Quite simply, vendor failure in cloud services will mean stagnation,” Gens said. IDC stated that while SaaS will claim the largest share of public IT cloud services spending over the next five years, other categories such as basic storage and platform as a service, will show faster growth. It was also pointed out that faster PaaS rollouts over the next year and a half will be critical to maintaining the strong cloud momentum. The US will continue to be the largest public services cloud market, followed by the Western Europe and APAC regions (excluding Japan), IDC said. Interestingly, the fastest growth in public IT services spending will be seen in the emerging markets, which will account for almost 30 percent of netnew public IT cloud services spending growth in 2016. IDC noted that it expects public clouds to mature and eventually integrate many of the features—primarily security and availability— that make private clouds an attractive option.
Welcome Aboard The OpenStack Project
6
a few weeks ago but at the OpenStack board of directors’ last meeting in late August, there was no vote on applications for new companies to join the project. The board convened during a special meeting accepted all three gold member applications. Gold member companies pay between $50,000 (Rs 27 lakh) and
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
Akamai Technologies announced that it has crossed the 100 customers mark in the fast-growing Indian market. To meet the diverse needs of the growing customer base in India, Akamai also announced the opening of two new offices in Mumbai and Delhi. Akamai’s new customers in India include RedBus, India’s largest bus ticketing service and BSE. LifeSize is taking another step in expanding its portfolio with the recent launch of its UVC Multipoint, reportedly the industry’s first standardsbased, interoperable multi-party virtualized video calling solution. UVC Multipoint seeks to connect people across multiple devices, and time zones. HDS announced the launch Hitachi Unified Storage VM (HUS VM) which enables 90 percent faster data migration and 30 percent better TCO compared to nonvirtualized systems.
—By Computerworld India
OPEN SOURCE
The newly-formed OpenStack Board of Directors voted to accept VMware, along with Intel and NEC into the project as gold members. Jonathan Bryce of Rackspace, who is one of the leaders of the OpenStack project, alerted OpenStack Foundation members via an e-mail. VMware applied to join the OpenStack project
Short Takes
VOTED IN: VMware has been accepted as a gold member.
$200,000 (Rs 1 crore) to be a part of OpenStack, based on the company’s annual revenue. Other gold members include Cisco, Cloudscaling, Dell, Dreamhost, ITRI, Mirantis, Morphlabs, NetApp, Piston Cloud Computing and Yahoo.
VMware’s acceptance into OpenStack comes on the heels of it closing on the $1.2 billion purchase of software defined networking company Nicira. They also worked with some OpenStack-partner companies, such as Piston Cloud, to integrate its Cloud Foundry platform as a service into the OpenStack project. Some have questioned though whether VMware’s official role in OpenStack will mean the company’s ESX hypervisor will be further supported in the project beyond the base level of integration. — By Brandon Butler
MAINFRAME
Extending the Mainframe Lineage
I
BM’S LATEST main-
frame, the zEnterprise EC12, was built with data analytics and hybrid clouds in mind. And that’s good, analysts say, because the company must focus on new applications like those to ensure that its workhorse datacenter technology remains relevant—and continues to generate big profits—at a time when CIOs can choose from a wide array of alternative technologies. Charles King, an analyst at Pund-IT, said new IBM mainframes always include “an interesting mix of significant performance bumps [and] new features.” Without new capabilities, he added, the technology would “get stuck as just a credit card and bank statement transaction platform.” He noted that the new system is capable of meeting the computational requirements that come from, say, RFID-generated data and smart electricity meters. David Wade, CIO of financial services firm Primerica, said he intends to upgrade to the EC12 from its predecessor, the zEnterprise 196, in a year to 18 months. Primerica has installed 19 mainframes during Wade’s 32 years at the company. The IT shop uses primarily IBM systems, including System p and Wintel computers. Wade said Primerica is committed to the traditional mainframe platform. He said he knows of other organizations that have migrated away from mainframes only to return. He
8
called such moves “a waste of time and money.” It’s because of people like Wade that IBM continues building mainframes, despite competition from a growing number of highly capable alternatives—including the company’s own Unix- and IBM i-based Power systems. IBM says the new system offers 25 percent more performance per core than its predecessor, and some workloads will see performance gains of upto 45 percent. Joe Clabby, an analyst at Clabby Analytics, said the increase in cache helps improve performance. The new system is “better at data-intensive workloads,” he
Around
TheWorld Cisco CEO Hints at Retirement
Cisco CEO John Chambers says he may retire in two to four years and named several executives who could succeed him, according to Bloomberg. There are as many as 10 candidates to assumed leadership of Cisco when Chambers retires, he told Bloomberg. They include Robert Lloyd, executive vice president of worldwide operations; Chuck Robbins, senior vice president of the Americas; and Edzard Overbeek, senior vice president of global services. Cisco’s board reviews potential successors to the
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
said. “The closer you can put the data to the processor, the faster it can be executed.” Initially, the flash memory will be used internally for efficient paging of virtual memory, diagnostics and better handling of workloads, said Frey. Eventually, he added, IBM’s DB2 database and Java will directly
CEO quarterly, Chamber said. Chambers said he’d then stay on as chairman “assuming the board wants me to and assuming the shareholders do.” - Jim Duffy
Lenovo Acquires Stoneware
Lenovo said it plans to acquire Stoneware, a small U.S. based company specializing in cloud products for schools and governments, as part of the PC maker’s strategy to bolster its cloud computing offerings. While Lenovo did not disclose financial terms of the deal, it said it expects to complete the acquisition of the Indianapolis-based Stoneware by year’s end. -Michael Kan
exploit the flash memory, providing “huge improvements” in the performance and scale of DB2, buffer pools and Java. The zEnterprise EC12 was also adapted to a type of datacenter design that does not include raised floors. — By Patrik Thibodeau
IBM: Programs for Service Partners
IBM’s launched a new set of programs where managed service provider (MSP) partners can now get financing, marketing assistance and technical expertise when pursuing clients, according to the company. This new package of incentives aims to alleviate some of the challenges MSPs face, including obtaining technical expertise, improving marketing efforts and reducing financial concerns. -Joab Jackson
Fujitsu recommends Windows® 7.
Perform with style lifebook.in.ts.fujitsu.com
The extensive Fujitsu LIFEBOOK portfolio offers you a wide range of mobile devices to meet every requirement. From elegant ULTRABOOKs guaranteeing highest security and boundless mobility to touch-based tablets providing ultimate versatility, every Fujitsu LIFEBOOK provides the greatest reliability for all business tasks either in the office or on the move.
LIFEBOOK UH572
LIFEBOOK LH532
LIFEBOOK S792
LIFEBOOK T902
■ Up to Intel® Core™ i7 processor ■ Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit ■ Stylish and slim design combined with small form factor at only 1.6 kg ■ Optional embedded 3G/UMTS, WLAN and Bluetooth
■ Up to Intel® Core™ i7 processor ■ Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit ■ Stylish Matt soft Finish with 14” (35.6cm) HD Display ■ HD Camera, SpillProof KB & Anytime USB Charge
■ Intel® Core™ i5 vPro™ processor ■ Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit ■ Maximum Security with Advanced Theft Protection (ATP), optional TPM module and fingerprint sensor including Omnipass Security Software ■ Comfortable working thanks to antiglare display and port replicator
■ Intel® Core™ i5 vPro™ processor ■ Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit ■ Modular bay for a second battery, second HDD, DVD/Blu-Ray drive or weight saver ■ Optional integrated 4G/LTE or 3G/ UMTS (incl. GPS)
with the 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ vPro™ processor family – Enriches your life. To find out more, call: 1800 102 3457 or email: marketing-india@ts.fujitsu.com
Prices Start From `
23999*
Copyright © 2012 Fujitsu India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. * Conditions Apply. Taxes & Levies extra.
Buy a Windows 7 PC and get Windows 8 Pro for INR 699. Offer valid from 2 June 2012 to 31 January 2013; for complete details visit http://windowsupgradeoffer.com
n NEWS ANALYSIS
Can Dell Make the Jump?
Dell is making a transition from a hardwarecentric vendor to a solutionsbased giant. Can it go the distance? By Radhika Nallayam
A
BOUT TWO
months ago, at the Brainstorm Tech 2012 conference, Micheal Dell made an alarmingly stale statement: “Dell is a pretty different company”. For anyone who has not been living under a rock, the moves Dell has been making to move away from its traditional PC business have been evident. But as the company transforms itself into an end-to-end solution provider, the question is: Can Dell go the distance?
D(W)ELLING ON THE PAST The fact that there is a 10
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
new Dell in town is obvious from the numbers. Where once Dell’s focus was entirely on PCs—it sold those for 28 years— today, about half its profit margin comes from other revenue streams. There’s good reason for Dell to transition out of the PC market. At one point the market belonged overwhelmingly to it, but over time that changed as new leaders emerged. Dell isn’t the only hardware giant to move its focus away from boxes. In fact, it’s probably late to the party. HP, at some stage, realized that the PC business wasn’t where the money is, and
tried to do different things with its PC division. In 2004, IBM shelved its PC business. Dell, too, reached that crossroads and like any smart business, chose to diversify and become an endto-end solution provider. “The margins in hardware are really being squeezed so Dell is trying to be a total solution provider. It’s trying to position itself as an alternative to HP and IBM and become a true post- PC era enterprise player,” says Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner. Hardware, clearly, was not the way forward for Dell, agrees Sanchit Vir Gogia, a senior analyst at Forrester Research. “What happened with Dell was that they were so highly vested into the top-line, that the bottom line became a question mark. Due to this they were too dependent on their PC business. So, portfolio diversification is a natural progression.” Getting analysts to endorse its transition is possibly the easy part of Dell’s transformation. To be able to get the skills needed to be a solutions provider fast, Dell’s diversification has been peppered with acquisitions. Sample these numbers: It’s made 27 acquisitions since 2006 and spent $5 billion (Rs 26, 010 crore) in acquisitions in the past year alone. Of that $2.4 billion was spent just to buy Quest Software. In April this year, Dell bought five companies. Post the acquisitions, Dell has a more promising portfolio, with a blend of hardware, software and services. If you were looking for a pattern in Dell’s acquisitions, there is one. Rekuram Varadharaj,
n NEWS ANALYSIS marketing director, enterprise solutions and growth markets, Dell India, says, “Our aim is to expand by adding adjacent capabilities to three important core domains: Workforce, datacenter, and cloud/services. At the same time, we are also looking at acquiring strategically important large platforms. So we are not starting from zero; it’s a
calculated strategy to grow our capabilities and footprint in the market.”
TRACING THE START When did Dell really start to make the transition? It depends on who you ask. But if you study its expansion portfolio over the last few years, from PCs to printers, then to the server business, it becomes obvi-
ous that Dell has been moving towards the solutions business for sometime. Almost every acquisition, it seems in hindsight, was made with a purpose. But of all its buys, Dell’s acquisition of Perot Systems in 2009 marked a clear beginning. The company then added more capabilities to its services kitty, by buying out Make Technologies and
The Growing Dell Channel Community
The acquisition of SonicWall by Dell raised eyebrows, especially among the partner community in India. But Richard Ting, VP-Asia Pacific, Dell SonicWALL, says it’s business as usual. Dell is still not perceived as very channel-friendly company, despite its recent effort to get closer to channel. Traditional SonicWALL partners are naturally anxious. Your comments. When the acquisition was announced, there was a lot of concern within the channel, particularly in India. Some of that is related to the fact that SonicWALL, prior to the acquisition, did all its business through the channel, whereas Dell is known for its direct sales force. Many of our channel partners— some of whom are Dell partners as well—have at times competed with Dell’s direct sales team. But we have already told 12
our partners that SonicWALL will continue to sell through channels. Dell has mandated internally that SonicWALL will continue to be a channelled product. What that means is that if the Dell direct sales team wants to sell any SonicWALL solution to the end customer, it will be fulfilled through the channels. But partners still feel that Dell’s eventual goal is to go back to its original direct model or a cloud model, and that right now, Dell needs partners only to reach out to markets where it has no presence. I think that observation is inaccurate. If you look at Dell, more and more business worldwide is coming from the channel. Of course, they do have a very strong direct sales force, and that is not going away. But most of the business will be contributed by the channel. We can already see that evolution within Dell, especially in markets like North America Will SonicWALL partners get an opportunity to sell the larger portfolio that Dell carries? Absolutely.
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
SonicWALL partners will be introduced to the Dell PartnerDirect program. In addition to SonicWALL solutions, they will also have the ability to sell a much broader portfolio of Dell solutions as well. But we are not mandating them to do that because many of these partners also have relationships with competitors of Dell. Partners will also get an opportunity to sell in the enterprise segment in association with a larger brand like Dell. On the other hand, SonicWALL partners are already facing fierce competition from Dell’s partners in the security space. I think that is a good thing. In fact, from the SonicWALL side, our intent was to grow our partner base. We are not going to stay static with the number of partners. Even if SonicWALL was not acquired by Dell, growing our channel partner community is something that we would have done. Besides, I think the partners who have invested already in SonicWALL can differentiate themselves from the rest, with the help of their strong expertise.
Clerity in April this year. Interestingly, both acquisitions happened in a span of just two days. Adding services and consulting capabilities clearly was a game changing move and it put Dell directly in competition with the services superpowers in the industry. The Perot Systems acquisition also highlighted how important India is in the company’s scheme of things. “Since the purchase of Perot Systems, Dell has learned the services side of the business, because selling hardware is different from selling services and solutions. Besides, Dell understands the importance of India as a services market. The domestic market for services is far higher than anywhere else. That’s where the real opportunity is,” says Gogia of Forrester. Out of the 27 acquisitions that Dell has invested in since 2006, 13 companies have a presence in India, a very important market for the vendor. “This means that our capabilities are ready to be leveraged in a key market like India, especially in the midmarket which is growing at a faster pace compared to the overall industry,” points out Varadharajan. Dell plunged into the software business as well, with a series of acquisitions, the most recent one being Quest. Dell’s software division now has the tough goal of achieving $5 billion in software sales, almost a five-fold jump, in the coming years. The recent IP acquisitions like SonicWall, AppAssure, Wyse technologies and Boomi, will help Dell be better prepared for markets like desktop virtualization and cloud. At the same time, it
n NEWS ANALYSIS has been filling the gap in its datacenter portfolio by buying out a lot of networking, storage and management companies as well.
EASIER SAID THAN DONE The acquisitions have ensured that Dell has the makings of a solution provider—at least on paper. To follow through, the company will have to ensure that it can integrate its purchases well. “Acquisitions don’t mean the job is complete, the war is only halfwon. How they integrate these new capabilities with the existing ones and how they position it, is going to be very important,” says Tripathy of Gartner. On it’s part, Dell is taking the integration seriously. “We are working at integrating all the companies that we have acquired so far. Some of the integrations have been completed successfully and that gives us the confidence with the rest,” says Varadharajan. Industry analysts, however, believe that enterprise customers are more
DELL’S TEN MOST IMPORTANT ACQUISITIONS COMPANY
YEAR
TECHNOLOGY
Quest Software
July 2012
IT Management Software
SonicWall
April 2012
Security
Wyse Technology
April 2012
Cloud Client Computing
Force10
July 2011
Datacenter Networking
Compellent
December 2010
Storage Systems
Boomi
November 2010
Cloud Integration
Scalent
July 2010
Datacenter Management
KACE Networks
February 2010
Systems Management Appliance
Perot Systems
September 2009
IT Services
EqualLogic
January 2008
Storage Area Network
likely to prefer players who are better experienced in services and at providing solutions. “Let’s compare them with IBM or the
likes, which has almost a lakh in staff in India, working for international customers across a variety of service portfolios, with
We understand that the transition to an endto-end player can’t happen overnight.” REKURAM VARADHARAJ,
MARKETING DIRECTOR, ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS AND GROWTH MARKETS, DELL INDIA
THE SOFT DELL
C
AN Dell transform itself from a hardware maker into a full-fledged software vendor? Based on its recent shopping spree, it sure is trying. Dell is in the midst of a turnaround plan to reduce its dependence on PCs and expand into more profitable areas such as software and services. It has moved to acquire more than a half-dozen software firms recently. Dell’s goal isn’t to build an independent software business and compete with Oracle and SAP. Rather, it wants to combine its hardware, software and
14
services into prebuilt packages that it says will make it easier for midsize firms to adopt technologies like data warehousing and virtualization. Dell has to retrain its sales staff to sell complex systems combining software and hardware. It also needs to reeducate thousands of channel partners. Plus, Dell has some integration work to do. Dell planned to launch a hosted analytics service using its Boomi software this year, for instance, but that rollout has been pushed back to 2013. CTO of Tippet Studio Sanjay Das says he gets attentive ser-
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
vice from Dell, and for that reason he would take a close look at its software. He’s evaluating Dell’s Kace management appliance, which includes software for rooting out problems. But building a software business will be an uphill battle for Dell, Das says. Not only is it traditionally a hardware vendor, but it doesn’t have a history of research and innovation the way a rival like HP does, he says. “I think it’s a humongous challenge for Dell.” He notes that buyers favor vendors with expertise in a particular technical area. —By James Niccolai
different billing models. That maturity is very hard to come by overnight,” says Gorgia. He believes that Dell is very marginally present in most large outsourcing, or SI or managed services contracts. Nor is Dell a threat yet, in the consulting space, to established players like Accenture, Infosys or TCS. The managed services space is still dominated by an IBM or HP, while in the SI space, the Wipros and HCLs continue to be the undisputable players. But it’s too early to judge Dell. In Tripathy’s words, “Right now, they are a marginal player in some areas, but at least they have made a start. Two years down the line, things could change”. So what does the company have on its side? Brand recall, believes Varadharajan. “We have strong mindshare in most areas and we will continue to work with some of our key partners (like Microsoft, VMware and Citrix) to leverage and scale-up. Our acquisitions do not displace these partnerships. We understand that the transition to an end-to-end player can’t happen overnight.”
Photograph by KAPIL SHROFF
n THE GRILL
Judson Althoff,
Senior VP-Worldwide Alliances, Channels & Embedded Sales, Oracle, underscores the company’s long-term channel strategy. SAP is a big rival of Oracle. In the cloud, virtualization and big data domains you compete with EMC, IBM and others. Does the increasing list of competitors worry you? We believe that we have four major competitors. SAP is certainly competition in the classic on-premise application space, but we don’t see them much in the cloud or industry specific areas. Salesforce.com has undoubtedly been at the forefront. However in a reasonably short space of time we are number two with over a billion dollars in business through the cloud. IBM has been a long-time competitor, but we maintain co-opetition with them. As we release products like Exadata,
it indirectly competes with EMC. If a customer buys such an engineered system there is no more storage RFP. To counter competition, we will look at direct focus through specialization. We have a focused sales-team where some teams sell only CRM to beat Salesforce. Similarly, we have other teams dedicated to different domains. We introduced specialization within OPN (Oracle PartnerNetwork) to work with competent go-to partners. The large acquisition of Sun pitches you against server giants like IBM and HP. Gartner’s Q1/2012 report lists Cisco at number five while Oracle did not feature
Dossier Name: Judson Althoff Designation : Senior Vice President-Worldwide Alliances, Channels & Embedded Sales Company : Oracle Current Role: He reports to Mark Hurd, and is responsible for the development and execution of Oracle’s Alliances and Channels programs and strategies, partner revenuegenerating business initiatives, Oracle PartnerNetwork and OPN Specialized program. He also manages Oracle ISV/OEM and Java-sales globally. Career Graph: Althoff has worked for Oracle for more than 12 years. Earlier, he was an Area BDM and District Sales Manager for EMC, responsible for a team of direct and indirect sales-staff in a five-state region in the Midwestern United States.
n THE GRILL | JUDSON ALTHOFF with the chip giant which is the backbone of our engineered systems. We believe x86 should be competent in engineered systems and not become a major focus for us. We are truly the only vendor with Intellectual Property (IP). HP has no IP as their IP is Red Hat, Intel and VMware are fast losing their value to customer. We have more than 40 percent share of the entire enterprise software market. Increasing our hardware business over and above our software dominance will squarely put us on top, while we stay profitable.
For an SI with an ‘end-to-end’ portfolio, we are the best partner as there are fewer moving parts and fewer areas of failure.
Partners in India disillusioned by the Heritage Sun strategy are either shifting their business to competition or continue remain unsure of selling Sun portfolio. Comment. To be fair, we took longer time in India and I do understand their impatience. The Sparc T-series servers are the best in class. There is nothing superior than to sell Oracle software under Oracle hardware. We have invested in Sun ZFS series which competes with storage leaders like NetApp. For server-storage attach ratio, ‘Oracle on Oracle’ solutions means that superior proactive customer support than rely on cross-engineering competitors, though EMC/NetApp claim to be well certified on HP/IBM servers. Finally, there is no better DB solution than Exadata. I request partners to give a second thought to our extensive R&D and consistent partner strategy around hardware.
in the top five. Is Sun (now Oracle) fast losing its shine? I am quite bullish on hardware business. Let me tell you why. I think some of these reports are a bit misleading as they tend to report holistically on the server landscape. From a unit volume stand-point, even perhaps from a revenue perspective, we would never be number one in that landscape. We specifically do not compete in the commodity market, which consists of single digit margin in the x86 businesses. The real innovator is Intel and we have a close alliance
SaaS, social media, cloud and BYOD. Are these tech trends on the hype-cycle or do you see adoption by enterprises? There is a certain amount of hype, stickiness and fad around these words. However, cloud brings a new IT delivery paradigm but it won’t be the only answer. The cloud provides simplistic way to deliver standard IT services to the market quickly and at a low cost. Applications like HR and CRM would move to the cloud for most enterprises. The trick will be wiring those cloud services back to the infrastructure, and partners have a huge role in developing these services. BYOD is fairly immature. It’s a big part of the Java strategy to move data (encrypted at our end) from laptop to mobile devices. The estimated explosion of mobile devices from three
16
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
billion to 50 billion in next couple of years will be a big opportunity. What makes Oracle a favored vendor for ISVs and systems integrators? It was fundamentally anchored around writing applications of ISVs around our database. We have grown into a true comprehensive platform—from middleware to DB, infrastructure layer, virtualization and down to server and storage. We are certifying ISVs on engineering systems like Exadata and Exalogic under the Exastack program. We have doubled ISV business over the last couple of years. Our expertise in Java enables us to be the only company to provide technology from the device back to the datacenter. Billions of devices produce data and is classified as big data, which we manage at the back-end. Unlike our competitors, we do not really invest in consultancy. Oracle in the last eight years, through all the acquisitions, has grown in terms of product portfolio, but the consulting resource numbers are relatively flat. With OPN, we are getting SIs specialized in role-specific training to help incubate their business. With Oracle spearheading diverse technologies, partners are compelled to increase T&C. What ROI can they anticipate for a long-term profitable partnership? It depends on the scope and scale of the partners. We have many boutique partners. And larger partners, capable of competencies in application to disk, are extremely profitable. It is a unique value-proposition to deliver end-toend solution, and we lead the way. Other companies claim to be endto-end vendors too. For an SI with end-to-end solutions in their portfolio, we are the best partner as there are fewer moving parts and fewer areas of failures.The new partner program provides good margins for selling right products in right markets. More programs for cloud opportunities will be launched. Our big data strategy includes Exadata and BI like Exalytics through acquired Hyperion assets which we engineered for real time Analytics. There lies the big money for partners. —Yogesh Gupta
n FAST TRACK
VERTICAL SPLIT
Fore Solutions
7%
8%
32%
Telecom
SME
Research
Manu Mehta (L), Director, and Rajesh Puri, Director and CEO.
14%
Hospitality/ Health
15%
Government
24%
Education
SOURCE: FORE SOLUTIONS
and have constantly kept an eye out for new market segments to keep a healthy growth rate. Owing to these initiatives, Fore Solutions clocked Rs 22 crore in 2011-12.
GAINING MOMENTUM
Snapshot
Founded: 2001
Headquartered: Chandigarh
C
HANDIGARH-BASED FORE Solutions was
set-up in 2001. This was a time when IT was predominantly a box-pusher market which consisted of assemblers and domestic manufactures. Fore Solutions, with a dedicated and skilful bunch of employees has traversed successfully by countering the challenging business environment through their innovative solutions. “We have placed ourselves in a reasonable position by maintaining a shoe-string budget and retaining manpower by putting the employees on performance-based incentives and fast promotions,” says Manu Mehta, director, Fore Solutions. Today, Fore Solutions is a brand in itself, and can boast of partnering the best of OEMs’ in the IT sector.
Other Key Executives: Manu Mehta, Director-Marketing and Finance; Sanat Khullar, Head, Service Operations; Sanjeev Mehta, Head-Networking and Security Division; Renny Thomas, Head-Logistics and Commercial Revenue 2009–10: Rs 15 crore Revenue 2010–11: Rs 18 crore Revenue 2011–12: Rs 22 crore No. of Employees: 60 Key Principals: IBM, HP, Lenovo, VMware, Symantec, TCS, Cisco, Ruckus, AMP, D-Link, WatchGuard, Radware Business Activities: Networking, bandwidth management, security, servers Website: www.foresolutions.net A service-centric organisation, the company has stayed ahead by introducing new products and solutions,
Since its inception the company has worked with vendors like IBM, Cisco and HP among others. “Today, we are a preferred SI for any large client that wants to implement back-up and storage solutions,” states Mehta. Two projects that the SI executed did a great deal of good for their reputation. It set course for success. The first being a project for Chitkara University, where the SI implemented basic cabling, supplying PC’s, servers, switches, firewall, wireless and security. The second project involved an end-to-end networking solution for Gates India, which had only recently set-up its office near Chandigarh. They accomplished this in partnership with IBM and Cisco. “This project became a reference case for us which helped us later with some of our other projects. Since then, there has been no looking back,” recalls Mehta. As they steadily course through this fiscal year, the SI has increased its focus on the government segment and is actively participating in networking and storage tenders for the future. “We are looking at a 30 percent growth over the last year’s Q2,” states Mehta.n —Aritra Sarkhel
Shoe-string budgets and a skilled team have worked well for us, says Manu Mehta, director, Fore Solutions. 18
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
Photograph by SUJITH
ON RECORD n
Patrick Lo,
Chairman and CEO, Netgear, talks about market competition and partner strategy in the India market. By Aritra Sarkhel
Over the years, what has redefined the networking market, which was more about switches and routers? LO: Presently, the network is the system. There is not a single computer present which will service all the demanding tasks and there is no single datacentre that can hold all the data that you need. Therefore, work is distributed over multiple servers and storage for which networking is a must. Right now, the network is the centre of gravity, and that’s why we see the emergence of players like Cisco prominently, as compared to companies like HP and IBM. All the other companies have either changed themselves to service oriented companies or become completely irrelevant. Networking to a large extent is a commodity market.
The SMB segment is attaining maturity in terms of connectivity, but is highly price sensitive and not really ‘brand conscious’. Comment. LO: Well, the answer is yes and no. The economy goes through multiple phases of maturity. During the early stage, which is the survival stage, the important thing is to get things done because one starts from nothing to achieve something. India is at the early stage of maturity in the market. So, the general tendency is to just do it. But, the good thing lies in the fact that the market here is growing at a rapid pace. Even though it is a commodity, everyone seems to have a stake in it. But as the economy matures, you will get a lot more competition, and in order to survive, one would need to add value. So, as an organization, one has got to be more sophisticated and differentiated. Fighting the price war in the SMB space means lesser profitability for you and your partners. How have Netgear books been in past 12 to 18 months in this seemingly slow economy? LO: Profit is the measure of appreciation by customers for the value-addition that you create. If the customer appreciates your value addition, then the customer is willing to give you a lot more profit and if not, you don’t profit either. For example, China is less pricesensitive than India and their economy is more mature than the India’s. At this stage of fast growth, talking about profitability wouldn’t make sense because no one is going to appreciate your value-addition. Netgear books have been doing very well. Our
OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
19
n ON RECORD | PATRICK LO growth in 2011 over 2010 was 32 percent and our growth in 2010 compared to 2009 was 35 percent. Moreover, the growth during the first half of 2012 as compared to 2011 has been 16 percent. So, in this kind of an economy, you cannot complain much. We are certainly growing much faster than any of our competitors like D- Link, Cisco or HP. How easy or difficult is it to be an end-to-end networking vendor for SMBs, as there is a need for continuous R&D to encompass latest range of routers, NAS and other networking products? LO: We started operations 16 years ago purely in switches. We then went on to add routers,
32%
The growth recorded by Netgear,globally, in 2011 compared to 2010. their jobs away from US, we are actually recruiting back there. Netgear also competes with entry-level brand like Zyxel, TP-Link, Belkin and local Indian brands like DAX in the SOHO/SMB segment. So, why should a systems integrator work with you? LO: We have a robust portfolio of products as com-
market in India? Why is Netgear staying clear of the enterprise and upper midmarket? LO: D-Link has been losing out in the SMB space and has nowhere to go. They are naive enough to think that they have enough market in the enterprise segment. I urge them to pit themselves against HP or Cisco. While we have been gaining 16 percent year after year, D-Link has been declining by 7 percent. Networking has a big role play in datacentres backed by virtualisation, collaboration and cloud applications. What is your innovation in these emerging technologies and how can partners leverage the same?
with security. We are investing a lot in this wireless LAN technology and have a skilled team that is building a next generation wireless LAN controller coupled with our security appliances, which would accommodate the BYOD. How has Netgear fared in the India market in past year in terms of partner business and customer numbers? LO: Presently, in India, as compared to D-Link, we are still pretty small. We still have a vibrant presence in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi and have atleast 40 to 50 partners in each of these metro locations. We do have some direct connect with partners in tier-2
Profit is the measure of appreciation by customers for the value-addition you create. If well-appreciated, the customer is willing to give you more profit, if not, you don’t profit either. firewalls, wireless LAN, NAS, and recently we have added video-surveillance to our portfolio of products. When the market matures, customers demand sophistication and value-addition in terms of completeness of solution and services. And we provide better service to our customers through our full portfolio of products. We already have 60 R&D engineers in India and plan to continue expansion through next the year. The fastest growing team in our organization is R&D. In China, we have over 120 engineers, which is double of what we had the year before and we have also doubled our tally from 150 to 300 in the U.S.A. Unlike other companies who are moving 20
pared to the above mentioned companies. People who buy Zyxel and DAX are few in number. We are number one in every product we provide. The SI would stay with us for our full portfolio of solutions, and they would not have to look at multiple vendors or face multiple issues. Our products are more expensive than most of the competing brands, yet the reason the customer pays that price for our products is because of the valueaddition we provide. Also, the partners end up with better margins. Your close rival D-Link is moving fast towards enterprise segment without losing grip on the SMB
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
LO: We are the number one
NAS provider in the SMB segment that started supporting virtualization. In cloud computing, we have introduced the unified storage that would enable our channel partners to provide cloud services to our customers and will let our them build their own private cloud. With the introduction of the ReadySHARE Cloud, we are enabling our customers to access their data from any mobile platform. What is your roadmap for BYOD in terms of product and partner strategy? LO: When people are plugging their devices to the office network, our wireless LAN will be able to let it plug into the network
cities and some of the major city SIs’ have connect with the smaller companies too. How have you been innovating so that partners benefit well? LO: On ground, we have a better developed programme in North America and Europe, and plan to implement the same gradually in India. The most important aspect is to protect our partners’ margins. We have a true deal registration in place wherein we treat every deal on the partner portal as a secret. In case of companies like Cisco and HP, many partners are involved in the during the bid, and often these vendors bid directly. This is never the case with us. n
n FAST TRACK
VERTICAL SPLIT
Peak XV Networks
10%
Healthcare
35%
Enterprise
15%
Education
P h o t o g r a p h b y S R I V AT S A S H A N D I LYA
15%
Snapshot
Founded: 2000
Headquartered: Bangalore
F
OR A company that hadn’t
started off as a traditional SI, Peak XV Networks has indeed treaded a long way. An MNC consulting company that is now a hardcore IT solutions provider, Peak XV is a growing entity with six years of IT reselling under its belt “Rebuilding an entity in the domestic market in an entirely different space wasn’t an easy task. In our earlier avatar, we were only into remote support, network design and interoperability testing,” recalls Deepak Hoskere, managing director of Peak XV Networks. What triggered the change? Hoskere, who bought the Indian operations of Peak XV in 2003, soon realized that pure play consulting is not going to sell as a proposition
Key Executives: Deepak Hoskere, Managing Director; Vishwanath Venkatram, Head-Network and Security Practice; Venkat Rao, Business Development Manager; Raghavendra Bhat, ManagerStrategic Sales Revenue 2010–11: Rs 7.65 crore Revenue 2011–12: Rs 10.20 crore Projected 2012-13: Rs 15.00 crore (projected) Employees: 30 Key Principals: Cisco, D-Link, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Symantec, Fortinet, Watchguard Business Activities: Networking solutions, security, wireless solutions, structured cabling,cloud computing, voice and unified communications, storage and virtualization Website: www.peakxv.in
in the Indian market. “Customers in India almost don’t always pay for consulting. Hitherto, being a consult-
25%
SMB
Government
SOURCE: PEAK XV NETWORKS
ing company, we hadn’t cultivated a sales team. So, began the change,” he says. Today, Peak XV works with the topmost networking vendors such as Cisco and Juniper, besides a host of others while also being a remote infrastructure management company. A combination of services and solutions is the company’s winning ticket to the customer. A proud Hoskere claims that the Peak XV’s existing customer retention rate is very stable, and is proof of the fact that the company is tracing the right path to growth. A mix of prestigious clientele, particularly in the highly competitive defence sector, makes Peak XV a name to reckon with. “A particular project for a defence customer, where we set up gateway security, had as many as 4000 nodes to be dealt with. The challenges were aplenty, but our usual mantra of giving our customers the best, without underselling ourselves, stood us in good stead,” adds Hoskere. Going ahead, Peak XV Networks is all geared to meet the IPv4 to IPv6 migration and sees huge potential there. Also, the fact that IP-based surveillance as a big mandate will work in its favor, feels Hoskere. “We want to be ready for the next wave, and have considered investing enough time and resources in making the big leap for the coming fiscals.” n — Shantheri Mallaya
We don’t believe in underselling ourselves, states Deepak Hoskere, managing director, Peak XV Networks. OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
21
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL
((
(((
MOBILE
Disconnect
Indian CIOs want to invest in mobility solutions. But channel partners say they aren’t really keen. What’s going on? By Aritra Sarkhel & Shantheri Mallaya
Photograph by KAPIL SHROFF
M
OBILITY IS a great concept and we are prepared to service enterprise demands. But, we can’t tell where the demand for mobility is headed. Even if CIOs are ready to buy into the concept, their CFOs might put a spoke in the wheel because of licensing and hardware inventory costs,” says Jiten Mehta, director of Mumbai’s Magnamious Systems, a well-heeled player with large enterprise players in its kitty. If you get a sense of uncertainty in Mehta’s outlook for mobility, you aren’t imagining it. Plenty of enterprise channel partners are taking, let’s call it, a conservative approach to the potential of the mobile market. At the same time, there are others who are more outspoken with their views. Take for example Subramaniam
Madhira, founder and CEO of Chennaibased OmniNet Systems, which has been doing work in the mobility area, at the device and network level, for some years now, and has customers in logistics, microfinance, and insurance. “Where is the ROI in a mobility solution? I will not waste my sales resources pitching mobility as a standalone piece, when I am fully aware it’s more of a creamy layer concept, one that is restricted to a company’s top and middle management,” he says, adding that until mobility trickles down to the masses of an organization, partners like himself aren’t going to see the returns they want. “I would much rather divert time, money, and effort to network audits, which are a larger concern.” It’s hard not to be surprised by these opinions—especially if you know that
Indian CIOs are extremely gung-ho about mobility and want to invest in it. According to CIO magazine’s Mid-Year Review Survey 2012 (See Mobility: The New Watch Word) mobility is the new hot area for Indian enterprises. (CIO is a sister publication to ChannelWorld). The survey of over 190 CIOs, reveals that Indian companies, immaterial of their size, are already investing in mobility—and will continue to do so. The question now is: Why is there a disconnect between partners and CIOs? And is the mobile solutions market really worth an enterprise channel partner’s time?
WHERE ARE THE PARTNERS? According to the Mid Year Review, 24 percent of IT decision makers at very large Indian enterprises (Rs 10,000
OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
23
n COVER STORY
Most SIs don’t have the requisite depth of experience to deploy BYOD systems. A challenge for them and vendors is that customers look at investments in mobility solutions as an ongoing process, which may hamper ROI and increase their TCO.” VILAKSHAN JAKHU, SVP AND CIO, BPTP
crore and above), say that the unavailability of good system integrators is one of their top three challenges, edging out more standard complaints like a lack of funding or having too many projects to implement. And, if you look at the numbers across company sizes, one in every 10 Indian CIO has the same complaint. While CIOs feel a need for better system integrators for all projects— not just their mobility ones—the fact is a significant number of enterprise projects have something to do with mobility (if you study the number of CIOs saying they want to pursue or are pursuing mobility-based projects). Take for example, Vilakshan Jakhu, CIO of Gurgaon-based real estatedeveloper BPTP. “Mobility is a much abused word. We need to understand whether it means the development of an application on a mobile device or MDM or just a mobile device. Many SIs do not have requisite experience in deploying BYOD systems.” BPTP is an early adopter of mobile device management (MDM) through
MobileIron. BPTP’s adoption of a Saas model for its MDM needs is a case in point of how Indian enterprises are exploring mobile options—without the intervention of partners. Yedunandan S., principal consultant, Mobility at Cisco India, agrees that there is a shortage of partners with mobile know-how. “The dearth of skilled partners is true to an extent. If you look at the customization of certain apps for different business environments, you’ll see a lack of skill sets in India, as of now. It’s an emerging area in India and may not have extremely mature partners.”
34%
Of primary discussions for enterprise mobility are done with independent software vendors. Source: Zinnov
24
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
Sumanth Tarigopula, director, Global Delivery-India, HP Enterprise Services, also agrees. “CIOs are still struggling to find true mobile partners. BFSI and e-commerce are areas where we are seeing a mobile explosion. However, the day is not too far, when stakeholders will see mobility as a differentiator, as well a valueadded service.” The challenge Tarigopula, points out, is that, “Most mobility partners have a one-sided perspective: Sell mobility as a me-too strategy. What enterprise CIOs need is a true mobility business partner who can enable enterprise-to-enterprise mobile solutions for business executives on the move, increase agility, and their ability to run business from anywhere.” The list of stakeholders who concur that there is a lack of mobility skills in the channel to service enterprise demands extends to the channel itself. “CIOs are in a fix because they are not confident of the big OEMs. The OEM might provide them with the software and hardware but when it comes to the
n SPECIAL REPORT
Mobility: The New Watch Word Based on a survey of over 190 Indian CIOs, it’s clear that there’s plenty of interest in mobility solutions.
Invested in Mobility
Mobility is one of the areas Indian companies—across all sizes—have already invested in during the last six months. CIOs Spent On (Company Size: XL)
CIOs Spent On (Company Size: L) 55%
Video conferencing/telepresence
47%
Analytics (not reporting)
34%
Mobile/wireless
40%
Reporting (using BI tools)
21% Business process management
32%
Cloud computing (private)
19% Content/document management
26%
Mobility Outlook In the next six months, companies—across all sizes—will continue to
CIOs Spent On (Company Size: M) 44%
heavily invest in mobility.
Mobile/wireless
41% will implement in 6 months
44%
Reporting (using BI tools)
30% will implement in 6 months 23% currently implementing 33% upgrading/ refining
39%
Enterprise resource planning 31%
Business process management
24% currently implementing 21% upgrading/ refining
14% not interested
31%
Cloud computing (private)
14% not interested
28%
Customer service/CRM Video conferencing/telepresence
28%
26%
Analytics (not reporting)
Company Size: XL
23%
Collaboration tools 15%
Revenue in 2011-12
JANUARY 1, 2009
2,000 Cr -9,999 Cr
XL
Above 10,000 Cr
Source: CIO Research
500 Cr -1,999 Cr
Company Size: L
41% currently implementing 19% will implement in 6 months 25% upgrading/ refining 15% not interested
Content/document management
L
19%
Collaboration tools
Business process management
CHANNELWORLD
26%
Analytics (not reporting)
34%
Content/document management
28%
Cloud computing (private)
34%
Customer service/CRM
34%
Customer service/CRM
34%
Mobile/Wireless
26
38%
Enterprise resource planning
42%
Enterprise resource planning
M
40%
Video conferencing/telepresence
42%
Collaboration tools
45%
Reporting (using BI tools)
Company Size: M
integration part, there is a lack of skill sets present among partners,” says Sanjay Patodia, CEO of Mumbai-based Galaxy Automation. One of the reasons Patodia puts forth for the lack of know-how is the complexity that comes with mobility. “In mobility, there are multiple technologies and product lines which need to be integrated. So there is a need to have multiple levels of investment across various technologies.” Patodia sees the challenge as an opportunity. He says that in the last few months his company has begun to undertake an assessment of the market and is investing a little. But he says that there needs to be more support. “We need more support in terms of knowledge of vendor products, more whitepapers, and technology training all woven around mobility.”
Jayesh Shah, director at Mumbai’s Orient Technologies, agrees. “Not all applications are mobile ready. Also, many vendors are not being able to port legacy applications. Moreover, many solutions are still evolving in terms of security.” Orient works with customers to understand their application requirements and infrastructure. Interestingly, the solution provider has gone ahead and invested in an application development unit which makes sure that applications are available on mobile devices based on customer need. “Currently, there are very few players who are working with the customers in this area. Not all of them are addressing all the issues,” says Shah. In the larger SI space, companies like TCS and other service providers are building many mobility solutions
((
(((
for the enterprise, with a focus on certain verticals including insurance, banking and retail. Most of them have coverage in three or four industries and also have an adequate workforce in place to develop mobility solutions for their clients. At the same time, they are partners with some technology solution vendors, who help them develop device management capabilities and application development platform capabilities. “These service providers offer a one stop-shop solution wherein, they will help you build your mobility strategy in a strategic partnership with platform providers or device management providers,” says Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst, Gartner. “I think, these companies are the best to look at when one is about to develop a mobile strategy unless,
“Where is the ROI in a mobility solution? I’m not wasting my sales resources pitching mobility as a standalone piece, when I am fully aware that it’s restricted to a company’s top and middle management.” SUBRAMANIAM MADHIRA, FOUNDER AND CEO, OMNINET SYSTEMS
Photograph by R CHANDROO
g/
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL
OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
27
n COVER STORY an enterprise has its own workforce that can develop applications.” There are more restrained voices. Sunil Lalvani, director, Enterprise Sales, RIM India says, “The market is still evolving as we speak. Today, there is an entire ecosystem of telecom service providers, device and platform OEMs, application developers, and value-added resellers—and all of them are focusing on enterprise mobility solutions, each with its own skill sets. The
key is in leveraging the core strengths of these players to deliver a seamless user experience for the enterprise.”
HIDDEN COSTS? Amidst the fact that most technology vendors assert that they have specialized mobility VAR partners, some others suspect that the main roadblock to the widespread adoption of enterprise mobility solutions is neither the lack of partners nor the lack of CIO
MOBILITY IS HERE TO STAY Joydeep Dutta, CTO, ICICI Securities Enterprises are looking at mobility as a force of change. Will this trend continue? The adoption of mobile technology is increasing by leaps and bounds. There are almost as many mobile connections as our country’s population and worldwide, more mobile devices are sold than laptops and desktops. With so much competition in the mobile device space, costs are coming down. Internet connectivity on these devices is also becoming cheaper and more reliable, both of which are big catalysts to mobile adoption. Tablets too are very popular in the enterprise segment. Have you implemented mobile solutions at your organization? We have implemented mobility solutions, both in the B2E and the B2C space. We have also implemented low-bandwidth, browser-based solutions for some applications. How do you measure the ROI for mobility solutions? When we launch new channels like mobility, we expect adoption to increase over time. We do not use an ROI approach. In any case, we need to be present across channels to ensure that users can access solutions on any channel they choose. We measure how much that channel is used compared to other channels. For example, a 10 percent adoption rate over three months would probably be considered good. Investing in a mobility solution is an ongoing cost. Does this increase the TCO of a mobile project? Isn’t that a hidden cost? The cost of developing a mobility solution is not very different from the cost we incur developing any other solution. For us, the cost of developing a browser-based mobile solution was much lower than a device-specific solution because we already had the skill set and manpower. It was a factor of designing pages in a different form factor and having functionality available over a mobile browser. But when we developed device-specific resident apps for the iOS and Androids, the costs were relatively higher and also involved working with a mobile implementation partner. Can customers like you find the right partners for their mobility implementations? There are many mobile solution vendors in the market. One needs to choose a vendor based on their track record and experience in developing similar apps. That’s not very different from the way we select a vendor for any of our other IT needs. Ensuring security of data on the device and preventing unauthorized access are the critical aspects to take care for mobile solution implementations. — Aritra Sarkhel
28
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
inclination, but the fact that there are costs that need explaining to a discerning management. In other words, there’s a reason, channel partners aren’t diving headlong into the mobility market: It isn’t the rich feeding ground everyone’s making it to be. That’s a feeling one can’t help but get from Mehta at Magnamious Solutions. “We have the know-how to sell—and service—mobile solutions, but how are we going to convince the customer about the huge bill of material for bulk licensing and hardware inventory, thanks to vendors such as Microsoft?” He adds that vendors such as such as Citrix are aware of these issues, and he believes that they ought to take it up with Microsoft and maybe discuss royalties with them in order to take the mobility discussion with large enterprises to the next level. Another challenge for an SI or a vendor is the hesitancy among enterprises to start investing in mobility. But what about all those CIOs who said they were interested in mobility? Here’s what CIOs quickly find out about mobility: It’s an ongoing investment—not a one-time deal. Once CIOs get wind of that, their drive for mobility begins to cool, because it becomes harder to figure out ROI, and on-going investments increase TCO. “It is a debatable point. In case of BYOD, the company doesn’t have to pay for Microsoft desktop licenses, year after year. While the amount we have to pay for an MDM solution is significantly less. So, cost wise, we save a lot. And since, we are using a softwareas-a-service model, if we don’t like a particular solution from a vendor, we can use it from a different vendor. So, there is no lock-in,” says Jakhu at BPTP. It is common knowledge that mobility is not a one-time investment—it’s an ongoing continuous process, wherein CIOs have to constantly develop applications keeping in mind the changing dynamics of the market and the needs of their customers, whether they are internal or external. According to Gupta at Gartner the window of development is about three years. “It is not really a hidden cost,” he adds, “but these things need to be factored in
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL
When it comes to the integration part, there is a lack of skill sets present among partners.” SANJAY PATODIA, CEO, Galaxy Automation
while building a mobility strategy. One needs to look at certain key customers or segments with such a strategy and not target all customers of different verticals at one go.” Further, enterprises and their IT leaders are advised to analyze how mobile technology can generate business value for their organizations and view investment and project decisions from the perspective of how users will interact with mobile devices. Also, they are told that they should build out a TCO model and a governance framework around the BYOD model and the associated privacy, regulations and legal issues. All of which create stumbling blocks for a mobility project from a CIO perspective. Jayesh Shah, director of Mumbaibased Orient Technologies, is confident that it’s only a matter of time before mobility projects will increase, given the ability of mobiles to bump up productivity. “The cost is a reality if you want to implement and manage these solutions. But at the end of the day, it’s about business demand. With
the help of mobile devices, you can do your office work, anytime and from anywhere. So, there is robust need for such applications and for the sake of apps, customers are willing to give access to their users.” “By embracing the BYOD phenomenon and re-designing their infrastructure to leverage it, CEOs can confidently open their networks to employees and interested third-parties without the concern of exposing themselves to risk. This enables the enterprise to remain open to gains in both productivity and operational efficiency and savings in opex,” says Dhawan of Juniper Networks. Siddharth Garg, founder and CTO of New Delhi’s Quytech, an application
$1B
The size of the enterprise mobility market in India, excluding devices, by H1 2015. Source: Zinnov
((
(((
development company, believes that working with players like Apple—who have a closed ecosystem—could help lower some hidden costs. “When you work in closed ecosystems like Apple, developers find it easier to develop applications, and then support and maintain them,” he says. “When you are talking about Open Source devices, like Android, a company may pitch a device, on which an application may not work, which in turn increases maintenance costs.” That sentiment is something that big players like Microsoft know and are using to their benefit. “Partners of Microsoft have the option of building applications across platforms. This is what developers want, and we are well aware and are acting upon it,” says Srikanth Karnakota, director Server and Cloud Business, Microsoft. He asserts that Windows Server 2012 could well be the panacea for enterprises that want to push the envelope on cloud and mobility. Yedunandan at Cisco says, “There are two features for mobility solutions—one is the infrastructure part— to enable solutions like wireless connectivity or BYOD. Infrastructure is a one-time investment. And more than TCO, it’s about ROI. If enterprises deploy more and more mobility, it will increase productivity. It’s about accessing business information from a device.” For some others, it is not only about ROI. (See Mobility is Here to Stay) “Our pitch to the customers is to look at the total value of ownership rather than TCO,” says Goradia at Citrix.
SECURITY MYTH Apart from the challenge of ongoing investments, there’s another challenge facing enterprises who want to go mobile: Security. Say what you might, but it remains a large issue for all stakeholders from channel partners to customers. With any device, anywhere, having the ability to access corporate data, it is natural that managements are going to worry. “CIOs are being pulled into two directions,” says Kaushal Veluri, director, channels and alliances, India Subcontinent, Citrix. “One the one hand employees, customers and partners say they need to have the ability to work OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
29
n COVER STORY off data from any device across any network. On the other hand, enterprises are struggling with security.” But what about all the technology vendors out there hawking their secure-mobile offerings, promising a hassle-free mobile tomorrow? Madhira of Omninet Systems dismisses the security talk pushed by technology vendors. “There is no such thing as total security. When one has to sell, one tends to say all this.” Madhira, an ethical hacker himself, says he believes that there are no actual solutions for devices that have been lost, and that the customers have to come to terms with these limitations. As to whether BYOD will gain acceptance as MDM and mobile application management (MAM) solutions mature, Jakhu at BPTP, asserts, “Yes, enterprises should do something I call ‘managed BYOD’, where a limit should be set on what type of mobile phones you can buy and use inside your premises. Once this is done, a BYOD strategy can come into play.”
ISVS ARE VITAL Bypassing the Windows game and going Open Source and building apps throws open the doors for independent software vendors. A widely-publicized Zinnov whitepaper on enterprise mobility clearly states that it’s developers and independent software
“Despite the need for clarity around security, we see great potential in the mobility buzz.” VENKAT RAJU, FOUNDER-DIRECTOR AND CEO OF BANGALORE’S BOB TECH SOLUTIONS
vendors (such as Microsoft, and SAP) as much as hardware vendors (RIM, Apple, HTC, among others) who can further the cause. It says ISVs form at least 34 percent of the primary contacts for enterprise discussions on mobility. That’s no small number. Nilesh Goradia, head-Pre-Sales, India Subcontinent, Citrix, agrees on the role of independent software vendors. “ISVs can develop applications which can work offline, something people like us probably cannot do. Considering the network issues in In-
dia, some ISV’s have developed what we call application snippets which can sit on mobile devices and allows users to update information offline, so that when they re-connect to the network, data can be synchronized with the datacenter. There is a value these ISV’s bring; we can collaborate and jointly provide a right solution to customers.” “As far as collaboration with ISVs are concerned, it’s more from an apps perspective. In this area, the market has not matured much but we are open to case-by-case basis for application development initiatives,” says Yedunandan of Cisco India. Sudesh Prabhu, senior director, Presales Business Solutions and Database & Technology, SAP India, says, “A lot depends on the approach that CIOs have taken. There are many developers within India. It’s more about awareness and approach. And if that is corrected, there are enough skills out there to get hold of and utilize.” At RIM India, Lalvani says that, “We already have an eco-system of over 35,000 developers in India who offer applications based on various industry segments, and even horizontal applications for the sales force, field force automation, and ERP integration. Collaboration with these partners has resulted in significant success stories
WHAT IS IN STORE?
M
OBILITY is becoming a mainstream investment and companies have begun to address the complexity associated with it. However, there are some trends to watch out for: Enterprise Mobility-as-a-Service (EMaaS) EMaaS moves many services—including device management, security, app deployment and policy enforcement—from internal IT to third-party, cloud-based providers. EMaaS is expected to grow dramatically over the next three-to-four years and fill about 25 percent of the overall market for enterprise-directed app and services. As a result, vendor-service provider revenues are going to increase. Device and Platform Consolidation While BlackBerry still dominates the enterprise world it is being quickly replaced with 30
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
Apple’s platform and Androids. Microsoft will continue to play catch up. Despite the various flavors of Android and its huge fragmentation, it is believed that a greater level of control will step in soon. Traditional laptops and desktops will be replaced by mobiles, according to the pundits. However, the cost of touch-screen devices will fall while its functionality migrates to desktop and laptop platforms. Mobile apps are expected to grow significantly around the world in the next two years as companies expand into the new growth economies, which are already predominantly mobile. Emergence of Standards and a Hybrid Application Strategy With the emergence of HTML5 standards in the horizon, hybrid application development
will employ native capabilities with architectural capabilities for HTML5. To the user, a hybrid application is almost indistinguishable from a native one. Enterprises will go ahead and chalk out their mobility strategy, roadmap and policies based on this. MDM and MAM Will Mature As MDM (mobile device management) and MAM (mobile application management) solutions mature, enterprise will cease to look at BYOD with a jaundiced eye. Legal and regulatory issues apart, enterprises are likely to permit ‘limited’ (type of devices and applications) mobile access to their employees as they build out their mobile reference architectures and associated infrastructure. As a result, we will see mixed mode. — Shantheri Mallaya
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL
((
(((
“The cost (of mobility) is a reality if you want to implement and manage these solutions. But with the help of mobile devices, you can do your office work, anytime and from anywhere.” JAYESH SHAH, DIRECTOR, ORIENT TECHNOLOGIES
for us in India in various verticals.” Tarigopula at HP Enterprise Services concurs, “We strongly believe that collaboration between players is essential. VAS as an offering on already existing assets of ISVs is the way to go.” Karnakota at Microsoft, says, “In India itself, we engage with an ISV network of over 5,000 and it will only continue to grow. ISVs form the crux to our cloud and mobility initiatives.” Will collaboration always be the way for some ISVs? Ankur Mittal, founder and CEO, Quytech, isn’t sure. Quytech says they don’t collaborate with legacy vendors like Microsoft unless they have to use Microsoft to set up something, like .NET software, for development. “We are open to such collaboration if the needs arises, it’s not something we are completely against,” says Mittal. “It more or less depends on the needs of the client. We have our own development team.”
THE SILVER LINING While it is a fact that there are challenges, market pundits, vendors, and CIOs have unanimously given mobility the green signal. The Zinnov study estimates that the enterprise mobility market in India—excluding devices—will be around $1 billion by H1 of 2015. Gupta at Gartner, says, “Mobility is the number one priority of CIOs worldwide. But in the APAC region, it is still in the early stages compared to what enterprises are doing in the States and North America. For enterprises, which have a large workforce in the field, mobility comes as a boon in the form of faster response times to customer requests.” Hardware and application players will be playing a major role in taking the market forward. VMware and Citrix have conducted their own studies. Citrix’s survey of 1,900 decision makers across the globe, including India, shows that 82 percent of organizations say they will
implement a mobile work-style strategy by 2014. While VMware’s recent New Way of Work Study reveals that while a large number of employees (82 percent) in India are provided with a portable device from their employer, many (77 percent) still bring their own device to work to help them complete their tasks. Will this pave the way for bigger things? Yes, says Venkat Raju, founder-director and CEO of Bangalore’s BOB Tech Solutions. “Despite the need for clarity around security, we see great potential in the mobility buzz.” The group, comprising four IT companies, has seen a wow factor in implementing CRM tools for customers and is now aggressively pushing e-procurement as a part of its mobility strategy. Mehta of Magnamious also says, “Though we might be hit for a couple of quarters, and the customer acquisition rate might be slow, the next year should bring positive tidings for us and the industry as a whole.” n OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
31
Photograph by SHAILESH
n CASE STUDY
Building a strong network: (L-R) N. Jayantha Prabhu, Group CTO, Essar Group (L), Devang Jasani, CEO, Meridian Infotech, Keyur Desai, AVP, IT infrastructure and Projects Group, Essar Group.
BIG
BOY TURF
Meridian Infotech, a solution provider
from the small town of Vadodara, was given first-go at a large deal to help Essar Group go mobile. But could it hack it? By Radhika Nallayam 32
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
M
OBILITY AND security hardly go hand-in-hand. But not at the Essar Group. In fact, for this Indian, multinational conglomerate, security was the stepping stone to enterprise mobility and a vibrant BYOD environment. What got the ball rolling was the group’s need for secure Wi-Fi infrastructure for its senior management. From there the project snowballed into an all-inclusive mobility solution, which, today, allows its employees, its mobile workforce—and even its guests—to connect seamless to Essar using any device of their choice. The wireless solution, implemented in different phases, covers all of Essar’s offices across the country and a few locations outside India. At all of its remote locations, even where mobile networks tend to be unreliable, employees are now able to connect seamlessly to Essar, securely and easily.
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL But the real twist was that, contrary to what many might think, all this was made possible not by a big, tier-1 solution provider, but by a small networking player from Vadodara, Meridian Infotech. For Meridian Infotech the project was a roller coaster ride.
CALCULATED RISK The $27 billion (Rs 1,43,100 crore) Essar Group, with interests in steel, oil and gas, power, communications, shipping, and construction, among others, has about 75,000 employees spread across the globe and has a reputation of being a tech-savvy enterprise. But a lack of Wi-Fi access for its VIP visitors and senior management blunted that reputation. Although Essar had already implemented WLAN across some of its offices, security concerns were always a spoiler standing in the way of a robust wireless network. “We carried out an IT security assessment study, which was a wake-up call for us. The report pointed out a few pain points in our network, which drove us to hunt for a more robust and secure wireless infrastructure,” says N. Jayantha Prabhu, group CTO, Essar Group. One of the challenges the report highlighted was a lack of standardized, role-based access control. In addition, the IT team also knew that staffers who traveled frequently across offices struggled to get connectivity and that it was a problem provisioning proper guest access. They decided to begin chipping away at the problem and started with ensuring that visiting VIPs had Internet connectivity. Essar called on a solution provider it had a long-standing relationship with, Meridian Infotech, and gave them the chance to do a live demo. It quickly became clear, says Devang Jasani, CEO, Meridian Infotech, that Essar’s team wanted something more than a Wi-Fi infrastructure that could connect laptops. They wanted a network that could integrate various user devices, including BlackBerry smartphones, iPhones and tablets. “That’s when we realized that we needed to take a risk and invest to give the client a live demo of a true mobility experience,” says Jasani. “We invested a huge amount in a wireless LAN con-
Snapshot Key Parties: Meridian Infotech, Essar Group
Implementation time: 2009-2011 Project value: Rs 2 crore Key technologies: Single wireless solution that connects different branches through a WAN cloud and integrate it with multiple user devices
Main vendor: Cisco People involved: Devang Jasani, CEO, Meridian Infotech; N. Jayantha Prabhu, Group CTO, Essar Group Key challenges: Setting-up a live demo and tackling unexpected competition Post implementation RoI: Secure Wi-Fi access, increased productivity, better user experience, seamless mobility
troller and other required equipments from Cisco to set up the demo. It was a risk worth taking because Essar has always been a tech-savvy customer and has never said no to the right solution.” But little did Jasani realize that he had just crossed the first hurdle.
JUMPING HOOPS After that first meeting, matters moved quickly. Jasani’s team was asked to set up the demo in 48 hours. But buying the equipment was only part of the challenge—Meridian also had a skills shortage. “Essar’s senior management told us they wanted a wireless experience for all the three devices they were using. That included a BlackBerry platform, which required specialized expertise in terms of integration. We could not find the right resource from our team or even from the Cisco team,” says Jasani. Running out of options, Jasani turned to Essar’s internal team. And fortunately, one of them had the necessary expertise.
((
(((
With his help, the demo took off successfully and Jasani got the green light for a wireless infrastructure project for four floors of Essar’s iconic 21-storey building in Mahalaxmi in Mumbai. That’s when Essar took Meridian by surprise. Jasani knew the corporate office project was only phase one of a potentially mammoth implementation. He knew Essar had plans to extend the benefits of the wireless project to all its employees across the country. What he didn’t know was that Essar was also speaking to another competitor for the larger project. “While the Cisco solution was tested, we also wanted to check out other options in the market, just to ensure that we are going ahead with the right solution,” says Keyur Desai, AVP, IT infrastructure and projects group, at Essar. Unperturbed, Jasani waited for Cisco’s solution to prove itself. And it did. “The competitor also gave us a demo,” says Desai. “However, multiple factors went in favor of the Cisco solution. It had no compatibility issues as we already use Cisco devices at all our major locations. Plus, Cisco’s solution was technically more feasible and suitable.” Today, mobility has become a reality at Essar. More importantly, security concerns, which triggered the whole implementation in the first place, is no more a nightmare for Essar, which got Cisco to carry out a security audit post the implementation. User experience across all devices is now matchless, says Prabhu. Irrespective of what device a user brings, connectivity is seamless. “We would like the whole process to be smooth for everyone. And today, guests visiting our offices, even those in remote locations like a Mahan, Paradeep, or Dabuna, can securely access the Internet. The recent extension of this Wi-Fi infrastructure across the Essar Group’s global locations has been a vital boost on the user experience front,” he says. For Meridian, the risk it took has paid off in more ways than one. By using the Essar project as a reference Meridian bagged five similar projects in the last year alone. And it probably won’t stop there. n OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
33
and TCO. In response, security vendors (security is an important part of the BYOD story) are empowering and hand-holding the partner community, to bring more clarity to CIOs and win partner enterprise mobility deals. “Compliance is not much of an issue with BYOD compared to securing device and data access, assigning rights to people, and managing the entire piece at an enterprise end,” says Amitabh Jacob, channel director, India and SAARC, Symantec. “That’s why DLP plus MDM has become critical.” “If companies want to manage and secure mobile devices effectively in today’s complex IT environment, they need to treat them like any other endpoint, and manage them from a single console,” says Sajan Paul, director, systems engineering, Juniper Networks India.
DLP+MDM Solution providers need to engage coherently with security vendors to execute a successful, profitable and sustainable ‘BYOD’ journey across their enterprise customers. By Yogesh Gupta
B
YOD—AND THE increasing
use of mobile devices among enterprises—is a bandwagon that every technology vendor and channel partner worth their salt are keen to ride over the next few years.
34
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
However, one thing stands in their way: CIOs. BYOD (bring your own device) is a long-term strategy for CIOs, who for the most part, are treading cautiously because of multiple issues including security, compliance, ROI,
I L LU S T R AT I O N BY U N N I K R I S H N A N A .V
THE SECURITY LINK Joel Camissar, practice head, data protection, McAfee APAC, says that, “people recognize that DLP plus MDM creates an ideal protection. MDM gives them visibility and control over devices. Ultimately, if you can protect data and allow access to it based on the needs of the user, you will have stronger protection.” The ideal mobile security and management strategy follows devices through their lifecycle—from provisioning and management, to security, and eventually, device retirement— and is designed to prevent data from leaving the organization regardless of where it resides. That’s why DLP becomes a component of an overall mobile strategy, says Jacob. “Our BYOD pitch is more end-to-end, and not limited to a specific anti-virus or MDM solution or inventory management software. Our solutions have features like finger printing the device and designing heat maps according to the usage of the device by employees. Security depends on the level of risk attributed to the data,” says Paul. “BYOD usually begins with VPN access which extends into MDM, DLP and other pieces of mobility,” he adds. “MDM is important from an integration point of view as well as an overall device management perspective,” says Ramandeep Singh, head of system engineering, pre-sales consulting team
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL
((
(India & SAARC), Check Point Software Technologies. “Traditional DLP is not the answer. In fact document management is the most practical solution for BYOD,” he says. But, Fortinet is pursuing a different approach. “BYOD is part network and part application access, and we tackle it from a wireless access perspective by addressing security from the perimeter to access point,” says Vishak Raman, senior regional director-India & SAARC, Fortinet. Fortinet UTM has a strong DLP function at the perimeter level to control data leaks and Forti Gate client at the desktop level. At least, at the access point level, data needs to be secure for BYOD, he adds.
OVERCOMING ROADBLOCKS Technologically, the biggest roadblock for DLP plus MDM is the fact that the mobile world has many operating systems (iOS vs Android vs Win8) which are fragmented (Android 2.2-4.1 implemented across devices) and are closed (agents aren’t an option like they are on PCs) according Camissar at McAfee. “The biggest challenge is the possibility of an executive’s mobile device being infected with malware outside the corporate network and them bringing that device onto the corporate network” says Raman. “MDM is not always important under BYOD as the corporate is not worried about the private information of employees. The concern is around the threat to corporate IP which means that MDM becomes critical,” says Paul at Juniper. Junos pulse—a single client by Juniper—works across five major mobile OSes. Junos helps secure the connection, protect the device, and control MDM, says Paul. Culturally and psychologically, DLP in a mobile environment is difficult to implement and maintain from
(((
FEATURE n
BYOD Will Go Mainstream in India by 2013-14 MobileIron offers a security and management platform for mobile apps and devices for the enterprises. Ojas Rege, vice president, strategy, MobileIron, speaks about the company’s success mantra. BYOD is still in a hype-cycle in India. How does that compare with other regions globally? BYOD is evolving in India, and I think every Indian company will have a mobile IT budget in the next 12 months or so. We are aggressively building a team of channel partners (mobility specialists and SIs) in India. I am a slightly concerned about the hype around BYOD because it tends to hype the complexity too. But between 60 to 70 percent of our customers have defined their BYOD strategy, which is a good sign. You observe variations in BYOD mostly because the method is not set in stone. The companies that have been successful at implementing BYOD look at end-user benefits and not necessarily a cost-benefit strategy. The challenge is how can organizations ensure security of corporate data without compromising the underlying user experience. an administrator’s perspective. At the same time, protecting data is much less of a concern for the mobile user, says Camissar.
CONNECTING WITH PARTNERS McAfee is taking a long-term view
While implementing a combination of MDM and security in the short-term, you also need to be thinking about the long-term, which includes best practices and new business processes. JOEL CAMISSAR, practice head, data protection, McAfee APAC
Is DLP vital for a successful mobility strategy? The fundamental aspect is to analyze the content. BYOD is associated with privacy policies, selective action, and other related aspects. The single biggest DLP concern is e-mail attachments accessed on mobile devices which is effectively addressed by our ‘document security’ solution. The security lifecycle with BYOD includes provisioning (group by ownership, configure workspace, set security policy, set company policy) and operations. Most vendors including security vendors have forayed into the mobility space lately. Does it threaten your market dominance? When we launched Version 1 in 2009, BYOD was not prevalent .However, we had a feeling that consumerization would pick up, and hence to make the most of the opportunity, we needed right planning and perfect timing. In the last 18 months, all the big players have gotten aggressive in the mobility space, be it McAfee or Symantec. However, most enterprise software vendors do not have a strong app story which is a big advantage for MobileIron, as we build architecture with no legacy attached. 2012 is the first year where a number of companies have put mobile apps as a budgetary line item. —By Yogesh Gupta
where technology is only a part of the solution. For them the creation of best practices and business processes is important. “From a channel perspective, there is a lot of opportunity to sell the methodology around technology, including best practices and business process, or even sell ongoing management and consulting services using the same tools,” says Camissar. “Partners have the advantage of working with products that address such specific customer requirements, like DLP for tablets. The Symantec DLP and Mobile Management solutions allow DLP customers to leverage their existing investments by utilizing OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
35
n FEATURE | MOBILITY the same policies and management infrastructure,” says Jacob. There is no silver bullet for BYOD. Enterprise partners need to spin an integrated story around MDM, DLP, and security says Raman at Fortinet. Systems integrators can stitch together solutions and enjoy decent margins rather than rely on product sales alone, he adds. Check Point has bundled few units of their USB drive GO (earlier Abra) with their UTM. “This baby step towards BYOD ensures partners cross-sell and facilitate BYOD in the future,” says Singh. With the launch of document management in the next couple of months, we envisage a different strategy of gross margin and reducing sales cycles for partners, and an overall demystification of BYOD,” he says.
THE CONSULTANT APPROACH DLP is one of the solution specializations that Symantec offers channel partners through which they can attain Silver, Gold or Platinum levels within the Symantec Partner Program. Part-
Organizations need to define IT policies after identifying what is critical information to them and how it is to be used. A specialized partner can play a critical role in advising customers and helping them choose a holistic approach. AMITABH JACOB, channel director, India & SAARC, Symantec ners play a critical role in encouraging customers to take the right approach in securing and managing their information and infrastructure. A partner should proposition a VPN customer and help them migrate to BYOD, and then we can add mobile security and an MDM suite, says Paul. Networking and security partners of Juniper work across datacenters, security, campus and BYOD, and hence become an extension to the overall portfolio. “The biggest avenues are in highlyregulated industries, or in businesses holding customer sensitive data, where
CLOUD-BASED MDM IS GETTING HOT : GARTNER
B
Y placing management controls on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones used in business, enterprises have showed preference for acquiring mobile device management (MDM) software where server and management console components are kept on premises. But that’s changing, as companies are now buying cloud-based MDM, according to Gartner. Today, more than 85 percent of MDM product buys for mobile devices are software where components are retained in-house and on-premise, such as management consoles, said Gartner analyst Phillip Redman on the impact of the cloud on mobility at the Gartner IT Infrastructure & Operations Management Summit. But there is now a shift taking place where MDM buyers are showing a preference for cloud-based MDM offerings, with AirWatch, Fiberlink, MobileIron, Zenprise and Notify Technology among top choices there. Some companies offer both on-premise and cloud options, but one advantage of cloud-based services is the speed in getting users deployed with MDM, Redman noted,
36
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
even though it may still require installing a software agent on the device. “It’s getting to the point where it takes less than 24 hours to get your users up and going,” he said. According to Gartner’s 2012 MDM Magic Quadrant, MDM leaders are MobileIron, AirWatch, Fiberlink, Zenprise and Good Technology. The challengers are SAP and Symantec. The visionaries are BoxTone and IBM, while the cast of niche players, includes McAfee, Sophos, Trend Micro, Tangoe, OpenPeak, Silverback, LANDesk, Smith Micro Software and MyMobileSecurity. Redman also pointed that MDM is in flux, fragmented and evolving and that Microsoft, Google and BMC are among vendors looking at what they might do in this area. He said the market is expected to remain very fragmented through 2015. MDM vendors have generally trailed in supporting the Google Android platform in comparison to other mobile operating systems. “Android support is still immature,” said Redman, predicting it will be another year before Androids are “well-supported by most MDM vendors.” - By Ellen Messmer, Network World (US)
employers are likely to have greater authority in asking employees to overlook their privacy concerns if employees want to use a personal device to access company systems. On the other hand, non-regulated industries or businesses holding less sensitive data may want to apply security programs to help manage risk where MDM might come into picture,” says Camissar at McAfee. “The numbers for standalone device/ solution sales like a single firewall is expected to slow down as organizations demand security and connectivity as a single piece around BYOD. Partners can go up the value-chain and act as consultants rather than suppliers,” says Paul. So, is CYOD (choose your own device) a better option for channel partners? “Protection of data is critical. It’s easy to make a quick decision to try and address it on mobile devices, but you could end up regretting it later. While implementing a smart combination MDM and security (McAfee’s EMM bundled with Secure Container and Virus Scan Mobile) in the shortterm, you also need to be thinking about the long-term which should include best practices and new business processes,” says Camissar at McAfee. “Employees should be allowed to operate their devices whether it’s a laptop, tablet, or smartphone in the office with secure access to business applications, similar to their desktop experience. That is the essence of BYOD or CYOD,” says Singh at Check Point. “Be it BYOD or CYOD, organizations need to define IT policies after identifying what is critical information to them and how it is to be used. A specialized partner can play a critical role in advising customers and helping them choose a holistic approach that suits their business requirements,” says Jacob. n
n OPINION
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL (( (((
SCOT FINNIE
Pushing for Change Smartphones have changed the world around us and how we do things. Even in its success, there are areas which are dysfunctional. Do the devicemakers need a new perspective?
Scot Finnie is Computerworld’s editor-inchief. You can contact him at sfinnie@computerworld. com and follow him on Twitter (@ScotFinnie). 38
S
UPPOSE YOU had to choose between your “sit-
down” computer and your smartphone. I think I know what most of us would keep. Smartphones have become indispensable. They have also become status symbols—the cachet of certain brands and models of mobile products is matched only by designer clothing, cars and a few other types of goods. Naturally, a product that we’ve decided we can’t do without is going to be profitable for its maker. Unsurprisingly, the tech company with the largest market cap, Apple, derives its largest revenue stream from two mobile devices: the iPhone and the iPad. Nonetheless, mobile is a dysfunctional industry.
For starters, look at the complexity. The mobile market features a triad made up of device makers, mobile platform providers and wireless carriers. Then look at how each of these operates. Competition in a free market should drive down prices, but that’s not happening in the U.S. mobile market. At full retail, the device makers charge an arm and a leg for products that are underpowered, have little memory and come with anemic batteries. Proprietary platforms, such as Apple’s iOS, continually add new features and functionality that eliminate interoperability with competing products and platforms. That’s an utterly self-serving model. The top wireless carriers exert too much control over device makers and platform providers and bind end users to two-year contracts with steep monthly charges. The pace in this market is frantic to the point of distraction. Network providers have far too much influence on hardware design and, in the case of Android, too much leeway to customize software. Android’s widespread adoption was greatly aided by the fact that Google made it open
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
source, but the fragmented array of options could be the platform’s undoing. The user experience isn’t the same from device to device and, perhaps more importantly, from app to app. Like the device makers, Google needs to stop iterating Android so frequently and become a leader, not merely a software provider. Meanwhile, Apple has gone back to building a closed ecosystem in an attempt to lock people into its hardware and software, with iOS as the poster child for this push. This is a mistake; one of the key reasons OS X has done so well is that Apple threw open the doors and built bridges to other systems. Apple shouldn’t be going backward. Some of the dysfunction may be addressed as the mobile market exits its Wild West phase. Smartphone market penetration is now over 48 percent, according to ComScore – 55 percent, according to Nielsen. Nielsen says two out of three cellphone buyers now select smartphones. Before long, the adoption growth rate will slow to a modest pace. In the meantime, I’d like to see new regulations imposed on carriers. Balance is needed, since the mobile industry’s effect on consumers is too great to ignore and the industry is too important to strangle. But something has to be done about the undue control the carriers have over the mobile market—and over the costs borne by customers. n
Focal Point EVERYTHING ABOUT MOBILITY
To Each Its Own Containerization technologies are helping create segregated workspaces. By Robert L. Mitchell
A
NTHONY PERKINS
wants employees at BNY Mellon to bring their personal smartphones to work and use those instead of companyissued BlackBerries to
access business email, applications and data. But there’s a catch: Not all employees are comfortable with the prospect of having their personal phones locked down and controlled as tightly as the
CONTROLLING COSTS Enterprise WiFi provider iPass is allowing companies and their IT departments to get a tighter handle on their BYOD mobile connection costs. The company has launched its Open Mobile Express service, which allows mobile workers to use the iPass global WiFi network on their own devices, but instead of the company or IT department being billed for use, the end user or their individual department gets the bill. The end user downloads the iPass client software on their device and starts using it to connect to the iPass network after their IT department or company has negotiated the individual connection rates with iPass first. With BYOD, says iPass, users often run up exhorbitant mobile data bills by automatically connecting to the networks operated by their mobile phone provider. With Open Mobile Express, companies and IT departments can offer their mobile employees an enterprise class WiFi service, with the accompanying security, with no up front costs. It is billed to the end user or their department as and when they use it, as an alternative to more expensive mobile operator networks. At the same time IT departments can maintain control and support of a hybrid environment of both corporate-owned and employee-owned smartphones and tablets. Christophe Culine, senior vice-president and general manager for iPass enterprise, said, “Open Mobile Express allows IT to provide other departments the best negotiated connection rates for fast, affordable, global WiFi access.” By Antony Savvas
BlackBerries that Perkins would like to phase out. That’s where the notion of containerization comes in. A bring your own device (BYOD) strategy is good business, says Perkins, managing director and CIO at the bank. It reduces the time and expense involved with maintaining and managing company-owned BlackBerries. “We’d like to be in the business of managing software, not hardware. In the RIM world you manage hardware,” he says, referring to the BlackBerry manufacturer. On the downside, today’s popular mobile devices were developed for the consumer market, and third-party management tools don’t have the same management hooks that RIM can offer, since it designed and controls the BlackBerry client architec-
ture and has been especially responsive to the needs of corporate customers.
MANAGING MOBILE FROM THE CLOUD Mobile device management typically involves installing agent software on each user’s device and setting up a server-based management console. Don’t want to do it yourself? Service providers that help IT manage mobile devices and software are plentiful. For example, integrator Vox Mobile offers a “managed mobility” service that includes comprehensive monitoring and reporting, Fiberlink offers MaaS360 for corporate email and documents, and mobile carrier AT&T introduced its cloudbased Toggle mobile management service last year. With Toggle, AT&T installs a “work container”
OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
39
n FOCAL POINT on each smartphone, which the user logs into with a password. Administrators can then manage container policies by way of a cloudbased portal and app store called Toggle Hub. In the third quarter AT&T plans to add the ability to run anti-virus scans on all managed devices, as well as to lock or wipe the container. “More and more of this will move into the cloud. But today it’s still a small percentage,” says Phil Redman, an analyst at Gartner. “Where this is leading is dual data plans on the same device,” says Mobeen Khan, executive director of advanced mobility solutions at AT&T. “You will have a phone number for the container and one for your personal device.” Anthony Perkins, managing director and CIO at BNY Mellon, is excited about that prospect. “We’re talking with Verizon and AT&T on phones with a SIM that has two phone numbers,” products that are currently in development, he says. Perkins says that carriers are telling him those products are just a few years out—AT&T declined to comment on availability—but whether it’s two years or ten, he says, “That’s probably the direction we’ll go.” But Perkins says those advantages are outweighed by users who are generally more productive due to the multitude of productivity apps available in the Android and iOS worlds. And most importantly, having a BYOD policy is “a great way to recruit and retain young talent.” Because corporate apps and data tend to be mixed in with the user’s personal content, mobile device 40
management (MDM) tools tend to be very conservative when it comes to managing corporate resources on users’ phones, with policies often applying to the entire device, including both personal and professional apps and data. Users may not be willing to give up control of their smartphones in exchange for receiving access to corporate apps and data. To get around that user resistance, Perkins is turning to containerization—an emerging class of management tools that carve out a separate, encrypted zone or policy bubble on the user’s smartphone within which some corporate apps and data can reside. In this way, policy controls apply only to what’s in the container, rather than to the entire device. Mostly, containerization tools are complementary to MDM software, with increasing numbers of MDM vendors incorporating containerization techniques. That said, as great as containment is for limiting corporate liability, it doesn’t help any personal data that may be lost due to a wipe if the phone is lost or stolen. Some IT departments are recognizing that users may need help backing up their personal data and apps, and some, like Jacobs Engineering, are helping their end-users get set up with backup systems. Ryan Terry, division CIO and CSO at University
Three Ways To Containerize Existing vendors offer, in essence, three different containerization approaches: • Creating an encrypted space, or folder, into which applications and data may be poured • Creating a protective “app wrapper” that creates a secure bubble around each corporate application and its associated data • Using mobile hypervisors, which create an entire virtual mobile phone on the user’s device that’s strictly for business use Hospitals Health System in Shaker Heights, Ohio, turned to containerization because he sees the use of traditional MDM tools to control the entire device as a liability issue. The hospital needs to have apps or data delivered securely to clinicians without interfering with the users’ ability to access their personal apps and data. “We can’t afford to delete things of a personal nature or impede their ability to use their personal asset,” he says. Alex Yohn, assistant director of technology at West Virginia University, is also wary. “I don’t want my guys doing settings on the personal side that could come back to haunt us,” such as accidentally deleting data or making configuration changes that affect
Containerization is an emerging class of management tools that carve out a separate, encrypted zone or policy bubble on the user’s smartphone within which some corporate apps and data can reside.
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
how the users’ personal apps run. For businesses that need strict security policy and compliance controls, such as the highly regulated healthcare and financial services industries, containerization can be especially helpful in making the BYOD experience more palatable for users, IT leaders say. All of these technologies (Refer box: Three Ways To Containerize) offer more granular control over corporate applications and data on users’ devices than whatever security comes standard with smartphones currently. And users’ devices no longer need to be on a list of smartphones that has been certified and tested by IT, because corporate apps and data reside inside a secure, encrypted shell. However, the need to switch back and forth between the business and personal environments may be perceived as inconvenient and affect overall user satisfaction, says Phil Redman, an analyst at Gartner. Neither Apple nor Google offer containerization technology, and neither would comment for this story, but their respective spokesmen did point out some resources that might be helpful.
ENCRYPTED FOLDERS The most mature containerization approach is the encrypted, folder-based container, Redman explains. AirWatch has an offering in this space, and Good Technology is an early leader in terms of enterprise adoption of containerization, particularly among regulated businesses. For basic mobile access, BNY Mellon uses Good for Enterprise to create an encrypted space on smart-
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL phones within which users can run Good’s email and calendar client and use a secured browser. “It’s a secure container with an app that can send and receive corporate email that’s encrypted,” says Perkins. All communications are routed through Good’s network operations center, which authenticates mobile users.
WHERE APPLE AND GOOGLE STAND Spokesmen for Apple and Google would not comment for attribution but both pointed Computerworld (US) to documents and offered clarifications by email. Here’s a summary.
GOOGLE Google Apps for business, government and education administrators can use the Google Apps Control Panel to manage end users’ Android, iOS and Windows Mobile devices at the system level. The panel enables the device to sync with Google Apps, encrypts data and configures password settings. Another tool, called Google Apps Device Policy, enforces security policies such as device encryption and strong passwords and can also locate, lock and wipe a device. It can also block use of the camera and enforce email retention policies. However, partial wipes of just corporate data are not supported. As to Google’s position on the use of containerization/app wrapping technologies that require access to binaries to create a policy wrapper around apps that are enterprise-specific, Google does not offer such a tool itself and declined to comment further.
APPLE Apple says it supports third party MDM tools. It allows MDM servers to manage inhouse apps and third-party apps from the App Store and supports the removal of any or all apps and data managed by the MDM server. In practice, however, MDM servers are limited. While most tools allow for selective deleting or blocking of specific enterprise apps, there’s no automated way to identify and erase all of the associated data. “No IT manager can sit around and go through thousands of files that may be on each user’s phone,” says Phillip Redman, an analyst at Gartner. As to Apple’s position on the use of containerization/ app wrapping technologies that require access to app binaries to create a policy wrapper around apps that are enterprise-specific, Apple does not offer such a
tool itself and declined to comment. For its part, Good’s basic email and calendaring capability has been available for several years. Late last year it added the capability for other apps to run within its protected space using the Good Dynamics Platform, but each app must be modified to run in Good’s proprietary environment. Perkins is using Good only for email and calendar—the “killer apps” for most employees, he says— and for accessing internal, browser-based apps using Good’s browser. For full-on access to the corporate network, SharePoint and other services, BNY Mellon relies on Fiberlink’s MaaS360, a cloudbased MDM system it has configured to take complete control of the user’s device. MaaS360 monitors what gets written to and
((
(((
from the operating system, and blocks access to some personal apps, such as Yahoo Mail and Gmail, when the device is accessing corporate resources. When used in personal mode, individuals have control over which apps they can use. What’s more, BNY Mellon may wipe the device— including all of the user’s personal apps and data—if it is lost or stolen, although MaaS360 and most other major MDM tools do allow selective wipes. Citing security concerns, Perkins declined to say how many times the company has had to wipe phones that have been lost or stolen. In comparison, if the Good-based units are lost or stolen, only the corporate container is wiped. It’s not surprising, then, that some employees are concerned about turning
THE REAL COST OF BYOD Here are the five best practices for developing mobile policies to avoid pitfalls that often translate to increased IT expenses. l Invest in technology that has long-term benefit. With the rapid evolution of technology, it’s difficult to differentiate what’s going to thrive and what’s merely a fad. Keep tabs on the market and don’t let the pressures of competitors or even employees overly influence your decisions. Whichever way you go, be sure to align technology investments with overall business strategy, including future growth and direction. l Avoid vendor lock in. Previously, hardware, software and consulting plus integration and support was available from one vendor. Enter the post-PC era, and IT is responsible for researching, contracting and dealing with multiple vendors. Ensure that there’s an opt-out clause in all contracts and achieve what’s best for your company. If you’re not comfortable, don’t sign, period. l Achieve scalability across all processes and solutions. The bottom line is that enterprise mobility strategies need to be flexible. Mobility is growing and becoming more complex, and even when all employees are wirelessly connected to your network your job isn’t done. Ensure your company is practicing scalability internally and also externally when working with vendors and third parties. l Develop usage policies. The beauty of mobility is that the business network can be made available to employees anytime, anywhere—offsite meetings, working from home, overseas. But that last one, overseas, is often a source of devastating overage charges. Whatever it may be, be sure to clearly define, communicate and enforce policies. l Optimize data plans. Dealing with wireless providers can be tricky, particularly if you’re enrolling and managing business users. Typically, plans are not set up to benefit businesses. Take control over plans by carefully monitoring bills and charges, and don’t be afraid to negotiate. -By Ralph Shaw. He is the CEO of Asavie Technologies, a provider of on-demand solutions. OCTOBER 2012
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
41
n FOCAL POINT their personal smartphones over to “Big Brother.”
APP WRAPPING This is a newer, more granular approach in which each app is enclosed in its own encrypted policy wrapper, or container. This allows administrators to tailor policies to each app. Small vendors with proprietary approaches dominate the market, including Mocana, Bitzer Mobile, OpenPeak and Nukona (recently acquired by Symantec). For its part, RIM is working on adding this capability to its BlackBerry Mobile Fusion MDM software, possibly as soon as May 2013. (Mobile Fusion runs on Android and iPhone devices as well as on the BlackBerry.) Peter Devenyi, senior vice president of enterprise software, says RIM’s offering will be “a containerized solution where one can wrap an application without the need to modify source code so you can run it as a corporate application and manage it as a corporate asset.” “Using these tools you can put together a pretty complete, fully wrapped productivity suite that’s encrypted and controllable,” says Jeff Fugitt, vice president of marketing at mobile integrator Vox Mobile. Forrester analyst Christian Kane describes app wrapping as an “application-level VPN” that lets administrators set policies to determine what the app can interact with on the user’s device or on the Web, and what access the app has to back-end resources. “Application wrapping is not mature,” says Gartner’s Redman, and the existence of competing architectures in this nascent market is 42
holding back growth. But the adoption of app wrapping for enterprise and third-party apps will increase, he says, as the technology is eventually integrated into the larger and more established MDM platforms. The downside to app wrapping is that each application must be modified, which means administrators need access to the app’s binary code. That means some apps that come pre-installed on Android or iOS phones may not be supported. Also, implementations may work more smoothly with Android devices than with iOS
tual machine that includes its own instance of the mobile operating system— a virtual phone within a phone. This requires that the vendor work with smartphone makers and carriers to embed and support a hypervisor on the phone. The technology isn’t generally available as yet, but devices that support a hypervisor may eventually allow users to separate personal and business voice and data. VMware’s offering, VMware Horizon, is still in development. It will support Android and iOS, and functions as a type 2 hypervisor, which means
The downside to app wrapping is that each application must be modified, which means administrators need access to the app’s binary code. That means some apps that come pre-installed on Android or iOS phones may not be supported. because of problems getting binary code for apps sold via Apple’s App store. For this reason, wrapping tools tend not to work with iPhone apps. Users can get access to the binary for free iOS apps, but for paid App Store wares, IT needs an agreement to buy direct from the provider and bypass Apple’s store. “Apple overlooks the issue of app wrapping today and changing apps [bought] from their store, but by their rules you’re not supposed to do that. They could clamp down and not allow that, although so far they haven’t,” says Redman. Apple declined to comment.
MOBILE HYPERVISORS The third approach to containment is to create a vir-
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
the virtual machine runs as a guest on top of the native installation of the device’s operating system. Having a guest OS run on top of a host OS tends to consume more resources than a type 1 “bare metal” hypervisor that’s installed directly on the mobile device hardware. It’s also considered less secure, since the underlying host OS could be compromised, creating a path of attack into the virtual machine. Another vendor, Open Kernel Labs, offers a type 1 hypervisor, which it calls “defense-grade virtualization.” Today the technology is used mostly by mobile chipset and smartphone manufacturers that serve the military. The company has yet to break into the commercial market, says Redman.
Developing a type 1 hypervisor that interacts directly with the hardware is impractical, argues Ben Goodman, lead evangelist for VMware Horizon. “We moved to a type 2 hypervisor because the speed at which mobile devices are being revised makes it nearly impossible to keep up.” As to security, VMware is working on an encryption approach similar to the Trusted Computing Group’s Trusted Platform Module standard as well as jail-break detection. Performance won’t be a problem, Goodman promises. “VMware Horizon is optimized to run extremely well, and performance is exceptional.” Israeli startup Cellrox Ltd. offers its own twist on virtualization for Android devices. The technology, called ThinVisor and developed at Columbia University, is neither a type 1 nor type 2 hypervisor but “a different level of virtualization that resides in the OS and allows multiple instances of the OS using the same kernel,” says CEO Omer Eiferman. It offers the product to cellular service providers and smartphone manufacturers, as well as to large enterprise customers.
PROBLEMS AND PROMISE Not all containerization products support iOS, which powers the iPhone and iPad, the smartphones most commonly found in enterprises. While Apple has 22 percent market share worldwide compared to 50 percent for Android, in the enterprise those numbers are reversed: The iPhone commands a 60 percent market share versus just 10 percent for Android, according to Gartner.
((( (( MOBILITY SPECIAL For the products that do support iOS, Apple’s legendary secrecy about OS enhancements means containerization vendors receive no advance notice and must scramble every time Apple releases an update. The bottom line: Users may have trouble accessing corporate resources if they upgrade their personal iPhone too quickly or frequently. “We can’t afford to delete things of a personal nature or impede [end-users’] ability to use their personal asset,” says Ryan Terry, division CIO and CSO at University Hospitals Health System. Directory integration is another area where tools are still evolving. “We’d like to see more integration with Active Directory and with PeopleSoft or whatever the source of record is to control user profiles,” Terry says. “Ideally, tighter integration that would disable access automatically or restrict access to published applications based on a user’s role.” Containerization is also limited in terms of troubleshooting and general support issues if the enterprise doesn’t have visibility into the performance of the total device, argues Steve Chong, manager of messaging and collaboration at Union Bank, which uses Good for Enterprise. Is the problem related to signal strength? Has the user run out of storage space? Is there a way for IT to remotely access the phone to diagnose issues? “We need all of that without having to have multiple agents installed on the phone,” he says, because each agent adds complexity and uses up resources. “Having agents on the phone means that it needs to
be constantly on all the time for data gathering, but that means that it will consume phone resources,” Chong says. Also, it’s “software that now needs to be managed and updated on phones.” Today many businesses, if they have a BYOD program at all, either aren’t using MDM or are using a very basic tool such as Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync, which allows mobile access to the user’s Exchange email and calendar. Containerization is limited in terms of troubleshooting and general support issues if the enterprise doesn’t have visibility into the performance of the total
Users can also install, on their own, apps to access SaaS applications such as Concur and Salesforce.com. “We defaulted to that,” says senior vice president of information technology Roger Fugett. But with nearly half of CareerBuilder’s 2,600 employees now bringing their own devices. Containerization and general MDM tools are on his radar.
THE COMING CONSOLIDATION Containerization is rapidly becoming a necessity for supporting BYOD, and the technology is evolving rapidly, says Stephen Singh, director for infrastructure
Going forward, it should be possible to apply one set of policies to the entire device, another to a protected container where app stores deposit applications, and a third to specific corporate apps, depending on the user’s role or group. device, argues Steve Chong, manager of messaging and collaboration at Union Bank. At West Virginia University, the cost of tools outweighs the risks—at least for now. Yohn says the school uses only ActiveSync to support its 4,500 faculty and staff. He’d like to do more, but says licensing costs for the containerization tools he researched would have exceeded $100,000 (Rs 53 lakh) annually. At CareerBuilder, a jobs website and staffing firm, individuals who want to use their own phones can connect by way of ActiveSync, but downloaded data is not encrypted unless the user chooses to do so at the device level. Further, IT doesn’t offer any support for users connecting with their own smartphones.
practice at professional services firm PwC. “It works relatively efficiently and meets the regulatory compliance needs for many of the customers we speak with.” Going forward, it should be possible for example, to apply one set of policies to the entire device, another to a protected container where app stores deposit applications, and a third to specific corporate apps, with variations depending on the user’s role or group. Containerization is already starting to be absorbed into the major MDM platforms. Symantec plans to merge into its Nukona containerization and Odyssey MDM acquisitions into its Altiris offering for managing servers, desktops and laptops; and Mobile Iron now offers its own APIs for appli-
((
(((
cation integration. Eventually, Redman says, MDM will broaden into a “systems management platform for the enterprise” that includes security, content management, application management and application development, and it will extend to laptops and desktops as well as tablets and smartphones. That’s high on the wish list at Union Bank, which relies on two different consoles to manage BlackBerry and other mobile devices. BNY Mellon has already started down that road. “We chose MaaS360 because we can run it across our full mobility network, whether a laptop, phone or tablet,” Perkins says. “I can provision access to all of those devices at once, knowing that each has a different graphical paradigm. That’s the way we think people will be moving.” Singh sees an even broader convergence of management tools that provides ubiquitous access for any end-user device over any medium, including desktops, laptops, desktop and application virtualization, remote access and unified communications as well as mobile devices. “We’re not that far off from a universal console. We see convergence occurring in three to five years,” he says. That may seem like a ways off, but it’s important to plan for that vision now so that containerization, MDM and other tools acquired today don’t end up overlapping or becoming redundant over time. “Look at the big picture. Solving the problem for mobile device management isn’t just about selecting a vendor,” Singh says. “It’s about applying a solution across multiple platforms and instances.” n
OCTOBER JANUARY 2012 1, 2009 INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
43
n OPINION
THORNTON A. MAY
Futuring is Priority IT leaders— your own customers— spend too little time imagining the future. That’s a big problem.
Thornton A. May is author of The New Know: Innovation Powered by Analytics and executive director of the IT Leadership Academy at Florida State College in Jacksonville. You can contact him at thorntonamay@aol.com or follow him on Twitter (@ deanitla). 44
T
HE ONE thing we definitively know about the
future is that we will spend the rest of our lives there. And yet people don’t think enough about the future. It’s as simple as that. Most people allocate minute fractions of their time and brainpower to the future. This includes otherwise rational executives who have somehow decided that their days are best spent addressing whack-a-mole operational exigencies, participating in nonvalue-producing political infighting and documenting regulatory compliance. This is all wrong. We need to make more time for thinking about the future. In IT, futuring should be Job No. 1. The technology industry is all about time. How long tasks take, how long things last, how long it takes to learn a new skill, and how long before it’s time to walk away from long-held skill sets. Time-to-mastery and time-to-obsolescence have become critical dials on the IT success-o-meter. That makes learning curves critically important. Most readers recognize that there are two curves in IT: the curve we’re on, and the curve that comes next. In the early days of IT, a CIO’s value was in making sure the enterprise was “doing things right”—optimally allocating assets to running the business (that is, being at the top of the current learning curve). In an environment hyper-accelerated by disruptive technology change, the key part of a CIO’s value becomes enabling the creation of businesses that capitalize on the power shifts that accompany technology change. Careers will be made on timing and executing curve jumps successfully. The first step is to redefine your relationship with the future. Futuring is not what you do when you’re finished with the imagined real work of operations. Futuring needs to come first. This means that the quarter before you start the annual budgeting process, you should allocate resources
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD OCTOBER 2012
to projects and personnel that will serve as a bridge between the present and the future. In doing that, it’s helpful to keep in mind the Three Horizons portfolio model popularized by Mehrdad Baghai and his colleagues at McKinsey in The Alchemy of Growth. Horizon 1 represents a company’s current products and services. Horizon 2 projects relate to the next generation of high-growth opportunities in the pipeline. Horizon 3 concepts are next-generation prototypes. Picking up on that analogy in Escape Velocity: Free Your Company’s Future from the Pull of the Past, Geoffrey Moore describes Horizon 2 as the “ferryboat from the future into the present. Its job is to take a promising next-generation technology and turn it into a material business.” These are opportunities that will become new core businesses, potentially replacing current cash generators. He who owns Horizon 2 owns the future. And who better than the CIO to say, “I will take responsibility for it”? Escape Velocity shows what can happen when such opportunities are ignored, detailing how the tyranny of today (all those quotidian events that keep you from thinking about the future) derailed some of the most profitable franchises in modern business: AT&T, Digital Equipment, Kodak, Silicon Graphics, Sun, Wang and Xerox. Cultural historian Rosalind H. Williams at MIT argues that we are living in “an age dominated, if not determined, by technological change.” The person who masters technology change will be the hero of the age. n
RNI NO.KARENG/2007/20996
Registered No. KA/SK/UDP/1287/2010-2012 Posted at Manipal HO on 13/14th. Licensed to Post without prepayment – License No. WPP -103
Printed And Published By Louis D’Mello On Behalf Of IDG Media Private Limited, Geetha Building, 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore 560 027, India.