February Issue 2020 by SME Channels

PLUS

Microsoft Reveals Security Breach of 250 Million Customer Support Database /06 www.smechannels.com

India’s leading IT magazine for channel business VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 12 | PAGES 40 | FEBRUARY 2020 | RS. 20/-

CASE STUDY

PARTNER CORNER

MATRIX / 31

“Navata Road Transport Enhanced the Productivity of Employees with Matrix Time-Attendance Solution”

SECURITY

ISODA / 32

“ISODA TSX, Baku = Networking X & Entertainment X”

CYBERSECURITY / 34

“In the Era of Digitization, Cybersecurity Needs to be Redefined”

IS INDIA’S ICT

BUSINESS D I S T R I B U T I O N

COMING OF AGE

Massive digital transformation has taken the entire country on its stride. It is not only for the internal transparency and better operation and management but also for doing business with the external world aligning the multi-national companies. Indian ICT distribution market known for its stock and sell strategy is also going through the transformation rout. / P22

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Inflow Technologies Withdraws from Acquisition Pg: 06 www.smechannels.com

India’s leading IT magazine for channel business CASE STUDY

PARTNER CORNER

MATRIX / 31

“Navata Road Transport Enhanced the Productivity of Employees with Matrix Time-Attendance Solution”

SECURITY CYBERSECURITY / 34

DELL / 28

“In the Era of Digitization, Cybersecurity Needs to be Redefined”

Dell Technologies: Towards Building a Paradise for Partners

MY EXPERIENCE EDITORIAL

WARNING FOR NEXT 3 - 5 MONTHS

SANJAY MOHAPATRA

sanjay@smechannels.com

Dear Friends Novel COVID 2019 spread from Wuhan, China is similar to the virus breakout of 2002-03 in China known as SARS which has killed 774 people and infected 8000. Corona Virus has the 76% genetic similarity with SARS virus. Only difference is that it is less lethal but far more contagious. In the case of SARS one infected person can infect at least 3-4 person. It is very unusual and looks like killing more than 5000 people and infecting 80, 000 people in China only though it has already reached other 25 countries and infecting millions of people. It has a very big economic ramification apart from the social ramification. Socially, corona virus has divided the society in China and it has the same potential for other countries too if not controlled on time. India’s total Imports is US$520 bn in FY2018 – 19 out of which China accounts for US$70 billion, which is 14%. It means India is heavily dependent on China for its economic growth. Specially, India’s dependence on china for Electrical machinery and equipment, computers and peripherals, solar panels, Optical, technical, medical apparatus, Vehicles, Plastics, plastic articles, Organic chemicals, Gems, precious metals, Copper, etc. is immense. It means if we do not get finished products or components from around these categories from China our business will certainly be hampered drastically. To me it is a real bad situation. China has stopped operating 50% of its manufacturing facilities, warehouses and banking. And most of the ICT manufacturing districts which are completely shutdown until things become normal. As per some reports, facilities would open after 26th of February, which to me is unlikely. But point to note that event though the facilities would open by the end of this year, how many workers would come to work is a question market as there is a restriction on travel from city to city. There is a distrust among the people. In order to bring everything to normal condition it will take time. India has already felt short supply of HDDs, memory modules and other components. It would continue to become bad to worse in next 15-20 days. So, my sincere request to all channel fraternity is that they should be careful about next few months.

Poly Studio X Series Plantronics Studio X series which dramatically simplifies the video conferencing experience is now available in India. Poly announced two new purpose-built all-in-one video bars, the Poly Studio X30 and Poly Studio X50. The Poly Studio X Series does not require an external PC or Mac to drive the meeting room experience and is simple to use with support for leading cloud video services such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams built right in. The Studio X Series also features new Poly MeetingAI capabilities for breakthrough audio and video experiences built on machine learning and artificial intelligence. Open offices and flexible work forces mean the experience in huddle and meeting rooms has got to be right to keep workers connected. With Poly Studio X30 and Poly Studio X50, Poly is bringing greater choice and flexibility to address the needs of all meeting spaces for its customers. Poly’s line of video devices is designed to work seamlessly with modern collaboration applications to streamline the experience, completely reinvented with support for 4K Ultra high definition (UHD).

SPECIAL FEATURE: THE POLY STUDIO X30, IDEAL FOR SMALL OFFICES OR HUDDLE ROOMS, SUPPORTS 4K UHD VIDEO AND BUILT-IN WIRELESS CONTENT FINALLY: Priced at US$2,199 and US$3,499 respectively for Poly Studio X30 and X50 Series are now available in India. OVERALL RATING

SME CHANNELS FEBRUARY 2020

contents

Trusted Advisor of Channel Business

VOLUME 10 ISSUE 12

2020

FEB ER COV RY STO

Publisher: Sanjib Mohapatra Editor: Sanjay Mohapatra Sub Editor: Nidhi Shail, Pooja Jain Designer: Shadab Khan Web Designer: Vijay Bakshi Technical Writer: Manas Ranjan Lead Visualizer: DPR Choudhary MARKETING Marketing Manager: Vaishali Shukla Circulation and Printing: Rajkumar Hansa SALES CONTACTS Delhi 6/102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016 Phone: 91-11-41055458 / 8587835685 sanjeev@smechannels.com Bangalore #28/1, 3rd Floor, Sri Lakshmi Krupa, Near Shamanna Park, Model House Street, Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560004 Ph. No. +91 88618 21044 Mumbai Tahmeed Ansari 2, Ground Floor, Park Paradise, Kay-Bees CHS. Ltd.,Opp. Green Park, Oshiwara, Andheri (west), Mumbai - 400 053. Ph. +91 22 26338546, Fax +91 22 26395581 Mobile: +91 9967 232424 E-mail: Info@smechannels.com Kolkata S Subhendu BC-286, Laxmi Apartment, Kestopur Kolkata-700101 Phone: 9674804389 EDITORIAL OFFICE Delhi: 6/103, (GF) Kaushalya Park, New Delhi110016, Phone: 91-11-41657670 / 46151993 info@

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CASE STUDY MATRIX / 31

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PARTNER CORNER

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ISODA / 32

“ISODA TSX, Baku = Networking X & Entertainment X”

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“In the Era of Digitization, Cybersecurity Needs to be Redefined”

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Microsoft Reveals Security Breach of 250 Million Customer Support Database

A database error that temporarily left approximately 250 million cus-

tomer service and support records that was effectively visible from

the cloud to the world.Microsoft disclosed a security breach that took place last month in December 2019. The company disclosed a database error that temporarily left approximately 250 million customer service and support records that was effectively visible from the cloud to the world. Microsoft didn’t give details of how big the database was. However, consumer website Comparitech, which says it, discovered the unsecured data online, claims it was to the order of 250 million records containing logs of conversations between Microsoft support agents and customers from all over the world, spanning a 14-year period from 2005 to December 2019. According to Comparitech, that same data was accessible on five Elastic search servers. The company

Inflow Technologies Withdraws from Acquisition Tech Data announced that Inflow Technologies has exercised its right to withdraw from closing its acquisition by Tech Data. As a result, Inflow has paid a break fee to Tech Data, as outlined in the original acquisition agreement, which was announced on Dec. 16, 2019. “We respect Inflow’s decision to go in a different direction,” said

SME CHANNELS FEBRUARY 2020

Jaideep Malhotra, President, Asia Pacific, at Tech Data. “Tech Data is committed to our strategy of delivering higher value by strengthening our end-to-end portfolio and optimizing our global footprint, and we continue explore opportunities to grow our business in alignment with this strategy.”

informed Microsoft, and Microsoft quickly secured the data. Paul Ducklin, principal research scientist, Sophos says “Hundreds millions of records were exposed, but it sounds as though comparatively few people actually had recognizable email addresses in the leaked database. In other words, most people won’t actually receive warnings from Microsoft - but might well receive “warnings” from crooks claiming to be Microsoft. Remember: don’t click on links in security warnings, even if you think they’re real. That way you will avoid end up on phishing sites by mistake, and you won’t put in your password where you shouldn’t. Find your own way to any login pages you use, and never let yourself be frightened or cajoled into relying on contact data provided in an email”.

Video

SNIPPETS

WazirX to drive its token sale over Binance Launchpad on February 3rd 2020 WazirX has announced the launch of its token sale (WRX) over Binance Launchpad–– Binance’s token launch platform for transformative blockchain projects. The token sale on Binance Launchpad will commence at 00:00 UTC on February 3, 2020 with a lottery-format ticket claim. WazirX is focused on solving the fiat-to-cryptocurrency conversion problem and simplifying the process of depositing and withdrawing fiat. In India, over 200,000 local users are able to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies, as well as use WazirX’s unique peer-to-peer solution to cash in and cash out cryptocurrency to Indian rupees

with ease and speed. According to an estimate, there are currently more than 5 million crypto traders in India and the figure seems to be constantly growing. The launch of WRX on Binance is expected to further fuel this trend.In addition to its P2P service, WazirX allows users to trade more than 80 digital assets on its platform, including Bitcoin, BNB, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Dash. Following this Launchpad token sale and since its acquisition by Binance in November 2019, the WazirX team will expand further into the markets of other developing countries where problems similar to

Sennheiser announced its partnership with Xilica Audio Design, a leading manufacturer for digital signal processor to expand their presence and visibility in India market. This partnership will help Sennheiser to provide an integrated sound solution to its customers. As infrastructure development projects continue to grow in the Indian Market, alongside increasing technological advancement, Sennheiser and Xilica welcome this new striking collaboration to better serve their joint customers operating in professional audio and integrated systems with advanced, costeffective DSP products that fit the business needs of today’s integrator. This collaboration will not only accelerate the business velocity of Sennheiser but will also help to provide an integrated seamless sound solution to its wide customer base. This collaboration will also bring Xilica’s award-winning Solaro Series for fixed installation, X2 Series for live sound, alongside the XTouch and XWP peripheral product lines Sennheiser’s distributor partners.

SME CHANNELS FEBRUARY 2020

CamScanner reached 100 million users in India. This extremely popular app has changed the way people scan their documents with attractive features like book-ebook, Scanning of PowerPoint Presentation, Printing Certificates, etc.CamScanner is the most widely used scanning app in the world. With the diverse user base, the app is mostly used by teachers, students, white-collar workers, lawyers, and doctors, to name a few. Currently, nearly 7.6% of the Indian population CamScanner. Speaking on the announcement, Mr. Micheal Zhen, CEO, CamScanner said “The Indian market is one of the most important markets for us. The fact that 100 Million users value our offering is humbling and is a testimony to the efforts of the incredible team at CamScanner. We will continue to innovate and add new features in order to make the app more accessible for existing and new users”

India are observed.

Sennheiser Expands its Distribution Network through Xilica Audio Design

CamScanner Achieves 100 million users in India

MY POINT

“OUR COUNTRY DOES NOT RESPECT TRADITION. WHAT IT RESPECTS IS INNOVATION” SATYA NADELLA, CEO, MICROSOFT.

UiPath partners with 150+ Academic Institutions in India UiPath has partnered with more than 150 universities and colleges in India over the last year, as part of their Academic Alliance Program. The program, aimed at creating an inclusive workforce who are fluent in automation technologies and empowered to meet the ever-increasing demand for RPA labour, has already trained more than 20,000 students and professionals in the country. UiPath has partnered with various leading academic and skilling partners like ICT Academy, IIT Kanpur, ASAP Kerala, PSG College of Technology, SRM University, Amity University, Bennett University, RV College of Engineering, BMS College of Engineering among others According to LinkedIn, in 2020, India will witness a surge in the demand for professionals skilled in emerging technologies such as blockchain, AI and RPA, making it imperative to prepare a workforce ready for these evolutionary job roles. With the same goal, UiPath aims to upskill students at the collegiate level and reskill people to fully harness the available growth opportunities in India.

SNIPPETS

Altec Lansing Enters Exclusive Licensing and Distribution Agreement with Compuage Infocom Limited American brand Altec Lansing, is launching a new line of speakers and audio products in the Indian market with Compuage Infocom Limited .The line will feature a wide range of over 29 products in five categories including Bluetooth earphones, Bluetooth headsets, Bluetooth portable speakers, trolley speakers and home audio systems. “Over the past few years, we’ve been actively pursuing the expansion of the Altec Lansing brand and widening our geographical presence, working to bring our high-quality and yet accessible audio products global.Our growth into new markets is made possible with the help of strategic partners such as Compuage. They are an electronics leader in India, and through their unique understanding of the market and strong presence in the territory, we will be able to bring to market audio products that will resonate with consumers in India”, said Ike Franco, CEO of Altec Lansing.

ATEN collaborates with BOSCH to offer Intelligent Control Solution ATEN recently collaborated with BOSCH, to provide new-gen meeting technology with integrated control and system automation. Going forth ATEN’s Pro AV and KVM products will be integrated with BOSCH’s Digital Congress Network (DCN) Conference System to custom build the Meeting Technology needed for the development of modern enterprises. The ATEN Control System, incorporating the ATEN Control Box (VK2100), the ATEN Configurator (VK6000) and the ATEN Control System App, is a standard Ethernet-based management system that connects all the hardware devices in a room or large facility to provide centralized control directly and effortlessly via a mobile device or a tablet. “Enterprises depend on high-tech presentation equipment’s to create the perfect meeting environment. Here, the key to success would be in having a centralized control of devices for achieving accelerated decision making and increased reaction efficiency. ATEN Control System provides simple and effortless automation for any room to easily connect the hardware, design the control panel and access any device by a tablet. With ATEN Control System operators can switch the function of a room with a push of a button and have customized control of each device without limits” said Shyam Tambatkar, Product Sales Manager – ProAV at ATEN.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales Will Grow 3% in 2020 Middle East and North Africa, Mature Asia/Pacific and Greater China Will Each Register Over 5% Growth Table 1. Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Region, 2019-2021 (Thousands of Units) Region Eastern Europe Emerging Asia/Pacific Eurasia Greater China Japan Latin America Mature Asia/Pacific Middle East and North Africa North America Sub-Saharan Africa Western Europe Total

Source: Gartner (January 2020)

10 SME CHANNELS FEBRUARY 2020

2019

2020

2021

48,468 363,643 48,612 411,351 31,866 129,830 30,095 73,872 152,857 90,103 144,141 1,524,838

48,532 376,784 50,915 432,328 32,273 125,635 31,802 78,226 155,350 91,917 147,457 1,571,219

49,121 396,394 52,860 426,002 33,027 122,963 31,234 75,604 158,618 93,169 150,206 1,589,198

EXECUTIVE MOVEMENT

Citrix Appoints Kathy Chen to Lead the Channel across the Asia Pacific and Japan Region Selling Simplified appoints Bhavesh Thakor as VP Strategic Partnerships, India Sanjoy Mukherjee as the new Head of Alliances and Channels, Technology Business at Oracle India Pocket Aces Appoints Vidyuth Bhandary as Vice President, Content Production & Design

SNIPPETS

Marg ERP eyes Rs 200 crore in next 3 years from ‘Business on Google Map’ software Marg ERP has launched ‘Business on Google Map of Marg ERP Software’, which enables distributors to find out more customers in specific area of their operations. The company is aiming to generate Rs 200 crore in the form of subscriptions from the dealers in next three years. The dealers are going to gain substantially with the introduction of this feature. ‘Business on Google Map of Marg ERP’ is a platform through which the distributors can increase their sales by 15-20% by searching area-wise, date wise and route wise sales of retailers (customers) on Google Map. With the help of this feature, the distributors can identify, how many retailers are available in a particular area and can efficiently tap them by making them customers instantly.

Avaya Spaces Provides New Capabilities For Cloud-Based Collaboration and Meetings Avaya Holdings Corp. has added new capabilities to Avaya Spaces that embrace a multi-experience approach by centralizing voice, video, messaging, chat and task management in one place to improve productivity and increase employee satisfaction. Avaya Spaces is a cost-effective cloud meeting and team collaboration app that effortlessly integrates voice, video, tasks, sharing and more into one app that can be accessed from any endpoint device. Avaya Spaces is easy-to-use, integrating web meetings and team collaboration and allowing users to create cloud work spaces where they can message, meet, share content and manage tasks from a browser or mobile device, and provides a simple, secure and effective way to get work done in the cloud.Over the next decade, analysts predict that the user experience for digital workers will undergo a significant shift, adapting new ways to interact, perceive and communicate, moving to a model that connects people with more nuanced information as well as each other, regardless of location, device or communication platform.

WNS Launches Blockchain-based VeriChain to Transform Risk Syndication in Insurance AWS announced the launch of its blockchain-enabled risk syndication solution, WNS VeriChain. Powered by IBM Hyperledger, the solution addresses complexities and challenges in the syndicated insurance market. Underpinned by deep domain expertise in the Insurance and Re-insurance industry, WNS’ VeriChain leverages decentralized ledger technology to enable specialty insurers to execute secure transactions in a multi-party ecosystem. It offers a “single view of truth” for all stakeholders in the syndicate including brokers, carriers, and customers, helping drive increased transparency and cooperation thus overcoming disputes and eliminating the need for post facto reconciliations. WNS VeriChain offers end-to-end digitization enabling brokers and carriers improve efficiency and profitability, while enhancing the end-customer experience.

Qlik Rebrands with Attunity Solutions as Part of Qlik’s Data Integration Platform Qlik declares the formal rebranding of the Attunity brand and data integration products into the Qlik brand. This brand change applies to every product Qlik acquired from Attunity in 2019, which are now integrated into Qlik’s overall data integration platform strategy. Qlik’s vision is for a data literate world, one where organizations tackle head-on the complex challenges of transforming data into business value. Qlik’s mission is to help organizations accelerate business value through data.With the acquistion of Attunity, Qlik evolved beyond analytics to include a robust data integration platform. Initially, Qlik maintained the Attunity brand as a division of Qlik through 2019 so that customers and partners became aware that Attunity was a part of Qlik. Today’s brand evolution announcement reflects Qlik’s strong leadership position in both the data integration and analytics markets, with two distinct platform offerings: Qlik Data Integration and Qlik Data Analytics.

12 SME CHANNELS FEBRUARY 2020

IBM India Unveils Automation Innovation Center In Pune IBM inaugurated its Automation Innovation Center (AIC) in India at its Pune facility. The AIC is a state-of-the-art facility themed around Intelligent Automation and Future of Work, with experiential demonstration centers showcasing IBM’s flagship Automation Platform, Digital Worker suite of solutions, Automation Operations Command Center for monitoring and managing bots, and co-creation zone for quick Design Thinking with visiting clients, all hosted in an agile workplace. The AIC also showcases industry vertical solutions for Banking, Insurance, Retail, CPG, Telco, Healthcare etc and the intersection of automation solutions on enterprise applications such as Salesforce, SAP and Workday which are a significant part of IBM’s services business. The centre will allow clients to experience IBM Cloud Pak for Automation, available on Red Hat OpenShift that helps design, build and run automation applications and services on any cloud, using pre-integrated automation technologies and low-code tools.

Authorised Distributor

SNIPPETS

Telnet credentials for more than 515000 servers, home routers and IoT devices leaked According to a story published by ZDNet, a hacker has published a massive list of Telnet credentials for more than 515,000 servers, home routers and IoT devices. The list, which was published on a popular hacking forum, includes each device’s IP address, along with a username and password for the Telnet service, a remote access protocol that can be used to control devices over the internet. According to experts and a statement from the leaker himself, the list was compiled by scanning the entire internet for devices that were exposing their Telnet port. The hacker then tried using (1) factory-set default usernames and passwords, or (2) custom, but easy-to-guess password combinations.

Inspira launches its First Global Security Operations Center facility in India

Tata Communications to launch 100G media backbone Tata Communications will launch a 100G media backbone to meet the growing bandwidth demands of the industry. The backbone – delivered in collaboration with Net Insight – will enable broadcasters, sports organisations, OTT companies and eSports businesses to offer their audiences worldwide more immersive viewing and gaming experiences and transform how they operate through full remote production.The new backbone will help accelerate industry adoption of ultra-high definition (UHD) 4K video, which requires 12Gbps of bandwidth when uncompressed – four times more than HD video. With 100G, broadcasters and eSports companies, for example, are able to offer viewers and gamers the ultra-immersive 4K viewing experiences they crave without having to worry about running out of bandwidth. Tata Communications’ 100G backbone will also help overcome the technical complexities of eSports, with each event involving multiple cameras, cutaways, real-time reactions, commentary and intensive editing. As the global audience of eSports is expected to reach 645 million by 2022, the bandwidth boost of 100G will bring eSports fans worldwide seamless and highly engaging gaming experiences.

Inspira announced the commencement of its state-of-the-art, next-generation, Global Security Operations Center (G-SOC) facility in Mumbai. The company will utilize the facility to provide 24×7 managed security services to enterprises across verticals with a centralized security monitoring system, enabling customers to detect & respond to any cybersecurity incident. The AI enabled security service will not only protect but also provide complex threat insights by using advance data analytics techniques.Over the last few years, Inspira has been investing consistently in the G-SOC and has hired over 100 highly skilled security professionals to manage and deliver end-to-end security solutions and implement responsive actions against any possible cyber incidents.With this launch Inspira intends to cater its ever-growing customer base demanding for their managed security services.

Businesses receive boost to security with Zyxel’s latest VPN solution

ASUS Announces ASUS Exclusive Store launch in Ghaziabad

Zyxel introduces its most comprehensive VPN offering, the ZyWALL VPN1000. The all-in-one security solution allows small and medium business owners to safely access and transfer information across multiple locations or hybrid clouds with ease.With the ZyWALL VPN1000, MSPs and VARs gain access to one total solution to manage all deployment needs and scale for small to large businesses. As the threat of cybercrime continues to grow, small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) are struggling to meet their security needs, especially if they need to provide secure communication and protection across multiple branches. The ZyWALL VPN1000 solves this problem with a total security solution that offers easy to deploy connectivity, SD-WAN and security capabilities.

Asus launches its state-of-the-art new store in Ghaziabad. Mr. Jignesh Bhavsar, National Sales Manager, ASUS INDIA and Mr. Tarun Aneja, Owner of the store inaugurated the ASUS Exclusive Store. The store is set to host an extensive range of electronics and computer hardware, including the brand’s flagship products such as ZenBook Pro Duo, ZenBook, Zenbook-Flip, VivoBook and Republic of Gamers (ROG) laptops. The ASUS’s new Exclusive Store is located at shop no 1122, orange county market, opp Aditya Mall, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. The new store launch is part of ASUS’ vision to expand its market presence across different market tiers, by opening 200 stores by the end of 2020. The store will give users easy access to brand’s latest and flagship products. Interested customers can simply walk in and experience the innovation-led all new products of ASUS, including ZenBook Pro Duo, VivoBook, ZenBook, Zenbook-Flip, and Republic of Gamers (ROG) laptops.

14 SME CHANNELS FEBRUARY 2020

SNIPPETS

Hackers monitor, track activity to learn and then launch phishing attacks: Barracuda Researchers from Barracuda and UC Berkeley, conducting a large-scale analysis of email account takeover and the timeline of attacks, recently highlighted the behaviors hackers are using to try to avoid detection, ways to identify suspicious activity that could indicate an email account has been compromised, and precautions you can take to protect your business. To provide a detailed timeline analysis of an account-takeover attack, researchers used a combination of Barracudas’ artificial intelligence (AI) detectors to compile a list of users whose accounts were compromised in August 2019. Researchers chose one compromised account, referred to as User X, and analyzed the Microsoft Azure login properties and email activity around the time of the first sign of potential compromise.

ideaForge and L&T Ink MoU for Unmanned Aerial Systems ideaForge, have entered an MoU to offer drones and allied systems for defence use. Both the companies will combine their strengths to offer hi-tech, integrated drone solutions to enhance security and surveillance. They will also offer anti-drone solutions to counter the threat of malicious or unintended usage of drones. The MoU involves collaboration on technology, products, deployment and go-to-market strategies. It will unlock the full potential of unmanned aerial systems in security, surveillance and protection solutions. With the ever-increasing adoption of drone technology, the ideaForge-L&T partnership will redefine the landscape of unmanned systems. Ankit Mehta, CEO, ideaForge said, “We are excited to partner with L&T as it will bring their vast experience in design and development of Defence systems to our product offerings as well as a global orientation to address market demands. Our collaboration will create a platform to help develop mission-specific, fully integrated solutions that customers worldwide are looking for.”

Xerox Extends Comprehensive IT Services Xerox announced the expansion of its IT Services across Xerox Business Solutions in the U.S. Designed specifically for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), Xerox IT Services provides a personalized suite of end-to-end IT solutions that streamlines technology procurement and implementation processes while providing reliable, always-on IT support. Leveraging Xerox’s extensive market experience and deep industry relationships, Xerox IT Services includes hardware procurement, professional engineering, IT product support, managed IT services and critical information security management. Part of the Xerox IT Services offering also includes “vCIO,” a virtual Chief Information Officer who works one-on-one with customers to address specific business demands and offers the technology and IT infrastructure needed to support organizations as they scale. Adopting a technology agnostic approach,

Sophos shows how the most prevalent and persistent ransomware families attack victims Sophos has published a report on how Ransomware Attacks, a playbook for defenders that explains how ransomware variants attack and impact victims. The playbook complements the 2020 Threat Report released on Nov. 4, and features a detailed analysis of 11 of the most prevalent and persistent ransomware families, including Ryuk, BitPaymer and MegaCortex. “The creators of ransomware have a pretty good grasp of how security software works and adapt their attacks accordingly. Everything is designed to avoid detection while the malware encrypts as many documents as possible as quickly as possible and makes it hard, if not impossible, to recover the data. In some cases, the main body of the attack takes place at night when the IT team is at home asleep. By the time the victim spots what’s going on, it is too late. It is vital to have robust security controls, monitoring and response in place covering all endpoints, networks and systems, and to install software updates whenever they are issued,” said Mark Loman, director of engineering for threat mitigation technology at Sophos, and the author of the report.

16 SME CHANNELS FEBRUARY 2020

DIGEST ADCOM INDIA’S CAMPAIGN TO TACKLE E-WASTE IN INDIA ADCOM INDIA HAS INITIATED ITS CAMPAIGN ‘HUM E-WASTE LE JAYENGE’. THIS CAMPAIGN IS TARGETED AT SPREADING AWARENESS ABOUT E-WASTE WHILE MAKING INDIVIDUALS MORE INFORMED ABOUT THE SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF E-WASTE AND THE IMPORTANCE TO EFFICIENTLY MANAGE E-WASTE IN AN ORGANIZED MANNER. THE CAMPAIGN WAS INCEPTED ON JANUARY 29, 2020 AT ADCOM INDIA’S HEAD OFFICE IN NEW DELHI FIRSTLY AIMING TO TRAIN AND TEACH ADCOM TEAM IN IDENTIFYING AND SEPARATING DIFFERENT TYPES OF E-WASTE SUCH THAT THEY COULD ACT AS ASSETS TO PROMOTE THE SAME FURTHER. AFTER SEPARATION OF E-WASTE, THE SAME IS SENT TO RESPECTIVE ORGANIZED CHANNELS FOR PROPER RECYCLING. IN THIS MANNER, THE E-WASTE WILL NO LONGER REMAIN A THREAT TO THE ENVIRONMENT.

ENJOY NON-STOP MUSIC FOR 16 HOURS WITH “HARMANO SPORTO” HARMANO IS ALL SET TO THRIVE WITH ITS PLAN TO ACCOMPLISH A HUGE CONSUMER BASE WITH ITS FUTURISTIC PRODUCT RANGE. HARMANO HAS LAUNCHED ITS INTRODUCTORY PRODUCT “SPORTO” A ONE- OF- ITS KIND BLUETOOTH STEREO EARPHONES. SPORTO, HANDS-FREE PORTABLE EARPHONES ENABLED WITH A HIGH-QUALITY SOUND RESOLUTION ENABLES THE MUSIC ENTHUSIASTS TO STREAM THROUGH THEIR PLAYLISTS HASSLE-FREE WITHOUT ANY INTERRUPTION FROM THE SURROUNDINGS, ALL DUE TO ITS HIGHLY EFFICIENT CVC NOISE REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY. THESE EARPHONES ARE HIGHLY COMPATIBLE THUS THEY CONNECT WITH MOST DEVICES EFFORTLESSLY BE IT ANDROID, IOS OR ANY OTHER DEVICE. LEAVING NO STONE UNTURNED, SPORTO HAS AN ADVANCED BATTERY BACKUP SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS ONE TO GO ON AN UNPRECEDENTED 16 HOUR MUSICAL JOURNEY ONCE FULLY CHARGED, AND THEY ALSO HAVE A STANDBY TIME OF MORE THAN 225 HOURS.

KOCH INDUSTRIES ACQUIRES CLOUD SOFTWARE COMPANY INFOR KOCH INDUSTRIES HAS ENTERED INTO A DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE THE REMAINING EQUITY STAKE IN INFOR HELD BY GOLDEN GATE CAPITAL. AT THE CLOSE OF THE TRANSACTION, INFOR WILL BECOME A STANDALONE SUBSIDIARY OF KOCH INDUSTRIES, AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE OPERATED BY THE COMPANY’S CURRENT MANAGEMENT TEAM FROM ITS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK CITY. IN ADDITION TO BEING A KEY ENTERPRISE CUSTOMER, KOCH HAS BEEN AN INVESTOR IN INFOR SINCE 2017. WITH THE STRENGTH OF ITS BALANCE SHEET AND A AA CORPORATE CREDIT RATING, KOCH INTENDS TO QUICKLY POSITION INFOR AS ONE OF THE MOST WELLCAPITALIZED COMPANIES IN TECHNOLOGY.

SNIPPETS

Facebook is Most Imitated Brand for Phishing Attempts: Check Point Research Check Point Research, the Threat Intelligence arm of Check Point® Software Technologies Ltdhas published its new Brand Phishing Report for Q4 2019. The report highlights the brands which were most frequently imitated by criminals in their attempts to steal individuals’ personal information or payment credentials during Q4, which includes the busiest online shopping periods of the year. In a brand phishing attack, criminals try to imitate the official website of a well-known brand by using a similar domain name or URL and web-page design to the genuine site. The link to the fake website can be sent to targeted individuals by email or text message, redirected during web browsing, or triggered from a fraudulent mobile application. The fake website often contains a form intended to steal users’ credentials, payment details or other personal information.

AVerMedia brings in two credit-card sized AI Carrier Boards for AI Edge Computing Application AVerMedia launched two credit-card-sized Aver AI carrier boards which can fully support NVIDIA® Jetson Tegra, Nano, and Xavier NX modules. With the compact dimensions, the state-of-the-art design for reliable field application, and the rich I/O functions, EN715AA00 and EX715-AA00 carrier boards are the best cost-effective choices for IoT edgecomputing in the intelligent video analytics applications of Smart Retail, Smart Camera, and Smart City. AVerMedia AVerAI carrier board EX715-AA00 is designed in the same size (87mm x 50mm) as NVIDIA Jetson TX1/TX2/TX2i modules. The 2nd carrier board EN715-AA00 is slightly wider than EX715-AA00, with a width of 60mm. EX715 works with the TX1/ TX2/TX2i module and EN715 is the 1st carrier board in the world to work with the Nano module and Xavier NX module just announced by NVIDIA. These two boards can operate in the temperature range of 0°C ~ 70°C perfectly for the operating environment with limited space. The compact form factors and the rich I/O functions of EX715 and EN715 also greatly improve the flexibility to adapt to various applications and reduce the time to market in launching AI solutions.

MicroWorld Joins the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association

ServiceNow to Acquire Passage AI

In order to provide their customers with security of the highest quality with fewer integration challenges, Microsoft has brought together an ecosystem of cybersecurity providers to integrate their technology with Microsoft security products. As a Microsoft gold partner, joining the Association strengthens MicroWorld’s work with Microsoft. Joining the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association enables MicroWorld to market their eScan family of antimalware products, through Microsoft Azure Marketplace and take advantage of a number of member co-marketing benefits. MicroWorld will provide products that are rich with breakthrough features like MicroWorld Winsock Layer (MWL), NonIntrusive Learning Pattern Technologies(NILP), Security Network, Proactive Behavioral Analysis Engine (PBAE an Anti-Ransomware Technology), Safe Web computing and Parental Control to Microsoft customers.

ServiceNow signed an agreement to acquire Passage AI, a Mountain View, Calif.-based conversational AI platform company. The transaction will advance ServiceNow’s deep learning AI capabilities and will accelerate its vision of supporting all major languages across the company’s Now Platform and products, including ServiceNow Virtual Agent, Service Portal, Workspaces and emerging interfaces. “Work flows more smoothly when people can get things done in their native language,” said Debu Chatterjee, senior director of AI Engineering at ServiceNow. “Building deep learning, conversational AI capabilities into the Now Platform will enable a work request initiated in German or a customer inquiry initiated in Japanese to be solved by Virtual Agent. Passage AI’s technology will enable us to accelerate our vision of empowering great employee and customer experiences by delivering great workflow experiences. ServiceNow believes in making work flow more smoothly across the enterprise, in all major languages.” Passage AI’s conversational AI platform is built on deep learning models that can be trained to understand text in all major languages. Bringing together Passage AI’s conversational AI capabilities with it’s Now Platform and digital workflow capabilities, ServiceNow will expand its chatbot support for non-English languages and empower organizations to better understand the meaning behind work requests so they can take action to get the job done.

NSDC and Salesforce Partner to help Bridge the Skills Gap NSDC partners with Salesforce to enhance NSDC’s skill development and capacity building initiatives through Trailhead, Salesforce’s free online learning platform that empowers anyone to skill up and increase one’s job prospects in the digital economy. The explosion of technological innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is creating a massive demand for new-age skills. By 2022, more than 120 million workers will need reskilling due to advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. According to the World Economic Forum, on average, an Indian worker today needs about 100 days for re-skilling to be ready for future jobs by 2022.Through this partnership, NSDC and Salesforce aim at empowering learners and educators, regardless of socioeconomic background, to skill up for the jobs of tomorrow with innovative content, presentations and training resource. The partnership also entails reaching out to colleges and universities to be able to adopt NSDC’s wide array of courses and curriculum and engage with students through the Trailhead platform.

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SNIPPETS

Digisol adds 100+ Products under its Cash Karo program Digisol brings 2.1 version of its Digisol Cash Karo App by adding 100+ products and new features in order to give opportunity to earn even more cash rewards not just to electrician but also to channel A community. Earlier only Digisol structured cabling products were part of Digisol Cash Karo program, however the company has now added Channel Active Networking range of products like Unmanaged, Managed Switches, GPON/GEPON OLT/ONU, Media Converters, Access Points, controllers, Broadband Router, ADSL/VDSL Routers & structured cabling products to the list. The Digisol Cash Karo App has got an update with Version 2.1. The new version comes with a refreshed look, user-friendly interface and provides exclusive Republic Day offers where users can win exciting prizes like Mixer Grinder on accomplishing 10,000 points. Since its launch in October 2019, 20,000+ Electricians have downloaded the app and they have been earning cash rewards up to 5000 to 10000 every month.

Micron Ships World’s First Mass-Produced, Low-Power DDR5 DRAM Micron Technology announced it has shipped the world’s first low-power DDR5 DRAM in mass production to be used in the soon-to-be-released Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphone. As Xiaomi’s memory technology partner, Micron provides LPDDR5 DRAM with superior power efficiency and faster data access speeds to meet growing consumer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G functionality in smartphones. Micron designed LPDDR5 DRAM to address the growing demand for higher memory performance and lower energy consumption across a wide array of markets, including automotive, client PCs and networking systems built for 5G and AI applications. LPDDR5 can provide more than a 20% reduction in power use compared to LPDDR4x memory. The emergence of AI in more applications is driving the need for advanced memory solutions that enable faster and more efficient access to data. Micron LPDDR5 delivers the speed and capacity needed to feed AI engines built directly into mobile processors. These processors rely on high data rates from Micron’s internal LPDDR5 memory to power their machine learning capabilities.

Nutanix Sets up its India HQ at Bangalore Nutanix opens its new India headquarters at Bangalore. The new HQ at Bangalore is over 200,000 square feet and situated during the city’s thriving IT hub. The facility brings together the sales, engineering, R&D, service and support functions under one roof, and boasts a modern, open plan and engaging workplace, with multiple collaborative and creative spaces as well as an in-house gym, sleep pods, and gaming zones. The new campus also has a fully catered canteen facility providing a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu service for staff. This move enables Nutanix to expand its innovation ecosystem and grow its investment in talent within the country and continue to nurture a strong internship and incubation program with the support of local colleges.

CitiusTech Partners with Google Cloud

Digisol adds 100+ Products under its Cash Karo loyalty program

CitiusTech partners with Google Cloud to accelerate digital transformation and cloud adoption across healthcare organizations. As a Google Cloud partner, CitiusTech will enable medical technology companies, providers, payers, and life sciences organizations to modernize their mission-critical IT by integrating digital solutions on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). CitiusTech now has a practice focused on GCP that empowers healthcare companies to undertake enterprise-wide digital transformation. The partnership with Google Cloud further strengthens CitiusTech’s capabilities to help healthcare organizations tackle their data interoperability challenges, modernize healthcare applications, implement advanced analytics and undertake cloud migration at scale. “Bringing together Google Cloud’s technology and CitiusTech’s proven understanding of the complex healthcare environment, our partnership will support healthcare organizations through digital transformation in key areas such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and hybrid cloud,” said Manish Sharma, Sr. Vice President, Strategy & Partnerships at CitiusTech. “Our combined technology will empower payers and providers to drive better outcomes and improve care quality.”

Digisol brings 2.1 version of its Digisol Cash Karo App by adding 100+ products and new features in order to give opportunity to earn even more cash rewards not just to electrician but also to channel A community. Earlier only Digisol structured cabling products were part of Digisol Cash Karo program, however the company has now added Channel Active Networking range of products like Unmanaged, Managed Switches, GPON/GEPON OLT/ONU, Media Converters, Access Points, controllers, Broadband Router, ADSL/VDSL Routers & structured cabling products to the list. The Digisol Cash Karo App has got an update with Version 2.1. The new version comes with a refreshed look, user-friendly interface and provides exclusive Republic Day offers where users can win exciting prizes like Mixer Grinder on accomplishing 10,000 points. Since its launch in October 2019, 20,000+ Electricians have downloaded the app and they have been earning cash rewards up to 5000 to 10000 every month. Various engaging activities are also conducted on app so electricians can win Digisol goodies apart from cash users rewards. By next month, a referral program will be introduced on the app where users can earn points by sharing referral Code with a new user.

SME CHANNELS 19 FEBRUARY 2020

COVER STORY

IS INDIA’S ICT DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS COMING OF AGE Massive digital transformation has taken the entire country on its stride. It is not only for the internal transparency and better operation and management but also for doing business with the external world aligning the multi-national companies. Indian ICT distribution market known for its stock and sell strategy is also going through the transformation rout. BY NIDHI SHAIL

nidhi@accentinfomedia.com

ccording to IDC, India’s IT and Services Market will be valued at US$14.3 billion by the end of 2020. This is enabling massive digital transformation in the market. It is the IT distribution fraternity which is the lynchpin behind the digital transformation by supplying right IT and services products. However, for a long time the distribution market was not able to align with the growth pattern of the market. Finally, for last couple of years the distribution business has understood the DNA of the industry. Distributors are evolving across multiple fronts, whether Product Strategy - how

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they align with different innovative product vendors which are disruptive in nature and relevant for the market evolution, whether HR Strategy – how they bring in IT workers with requisite skillsets and attitude, whether it is Marketing Strategy - how they market it to the partners or co-creating joint marketing strategy with the partners, whether it is Pre- sales & Sales strategy, how they handhold the partners and create POC with the partners for the customers and even realigning with new-age partner ecosystem and planning customer experience and support for the OEMs and partners.

Now, Distributors are mostly focused on improving their profitability, expanding their margins, and out thinking the competition. On this, Harish Laddha, Executive Director, Head of Sales, Ingram Micro, says,” The IT distribution industry has undergone a significant transformation in the past decade owing to changing market dynamics. As SMBs and enterprises rapidly embrace digital transformation and technologies like HCI, SD-WAN, Cloud, IoT & AI, distributors have had to adopt a solution-based approach by integrating a range of value-added services on top of the products they offer. At Ingram Micro

COVER STORY

we also focus a lot of our efforts around training channel partners on the latest technologies and solutions. This helps resellers recommend solutions that help customers increase operational efficiency and enhance profitability.” Sanjiv Krishen, Chairman, Iris Computers Ltd., said the IT distribution market has grown nearly 300% in the last 10 years. Out of the total market size of Rs.100,000 crore, distribution business accounts for Rs.70,000 crore. However, the business categories are shifting; while some of the IT categories including PCs and notebooks are declining and categories including cloud, smart phones and tablets are growing.” Mohan Kumar TL, Director, TechKnowLogic Consultants India Private Limited, says, “Distribution business has for sure come a long way from the last decade with our country embracing digitization in day-to-day activities. In 2018 Over 12.3 billion mobile applications were downloaded in India a lone. The digital payments’ transaction value is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 20.2% from approximately USD 64.8 billion in 2019 to USD 135.2 billion in 2023. Around 47.5 billion national e-transactions have been recorded in 2019, till November. Technology is at its best right now and the evolution is happening at a consis-

tent rate. We have come a long way from being in the distributor business of hardware to solutions like Network Monitoring, SIEM, SOAR, Cloud Security etc.” However, new technologies, changing market dynamics, and increasingly demanding customers have fundamentally reshaped the way today’s distributors do business. There has been a significant expansion in distribution channels in India during the past few years. Most Indian distributors use a two-tier selling and distribution structure that has evolved over the years. Anil Bhavnani, Founder & CEO, Rankcomputers, which is the India Distributor for DATALOCKER, say,” Technology is at its best right now and the evolution is happening at a consistent rate. Distributors have come a long way from being in the distributor business of hardware to solutions like Network Monitoring, SIEM, SOAR, Cloud Security etc.” Even Distributors are now managing customers differently. For the distributors’ demands for digital capabilities have created a lot of pressure, even though they are adopting these technologies such as cloud computing, AI & ML and, Analytics and they are helping distributors achieve higher margins by operating in a more profitable way. And strategic and technological innovations have created new opportunities for growth, collaboration, and transformation. Rajesh Goenka, Director of Sales Marketing, RP Tech says, “Wearable, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning and Networking are the technologies that will drive our business in the next 3 years”. In a highly competitive market just selling products is not enough; customers are looking for a total package now, a combination of products and services. Therefore, Distributors need to give their customers a reason to come back - wider and more customized services. The distribution industry is changing its ways from traditional distribution and taking a new direction towards Value Added Distribution. Vinod Kumar, MD, Satcom Infotech Pvt. Ltd. says, “It has evolved and grown from being a box or hardware distribution to a solution offering with mix of software as well as hardware and software combinations” Therefore, value business or value distribution is the new mantras of new age distribution, and the distributors are vigorously trying to implement positive strategies for taking it forward. Ingram Micro is currently working with more than 15,000 channel partners across the country. As per Harish of Ingram Micro “Industry trends are key drivers for any business, and we have spent a considerable amount of time evaluating these trends to make the right investments and serve

our partners and customers better. Our key focus areas include Cloud, Cybersecurity, Advanced Solutions and IoT. We have also invested in building our capabilities around IT asset disposition and e-commerce. Additionally, partner enablement continues to be a key priority for Ingram Micro and we have rolled out several initiatives including flexible financing options, consulting services, sales training and partner incentive programs.” He added, “We are confident of maintaining our position as the leading distributor with a market share of over 31%” Rajesh Goenka, Director, Sales & Marketing, RP tech India, said: “The IT distribution business has gone through a massive transition in the last decade. A major transformation has happened from box selling to PC selling and now solution selling. Today, the selling price is not only the deciding factor of profitability and growth. Along with the price, credit, inventory management, presales & post-sales support also critical aspects of long term and sustainable growth.” iValue has come a long way during the last 10 years. Sriram Srinivasan Co-founder, CEO, iValue Infosolution, added: “We continue to evolve to meet emerging needs of our customers and partners. We recently categorized our offerings in line with Digital Transformation initiatives of customers. We continue to add compelling and complementing solutions around Data, Network, and Application management space to help partner enhance their wallet share with each of their customers. Our solution category under Digital Transformation needs of Enterprise customer include Hybrid cloud management; Availability and Performance management; NextGen security; Consolidation and Automation; Security analytics along with Pre and Post sales Services for these offerings.” iValue’s focus is around Transformation, Protection and Management of “Digital Assets” which covers Data, Network, and Application (Actual DNA of every business) protection, optimization, and management solutions and associated services for enterprise customers. Sundaresan K, VP and Country General Manager, Tech Data, says, “The days of distributors simply moving boxes is over. Today OEM’s expect much more from distributors than merely distributing their products. At Tech Data, we see our role evolving to be more of an orchestrator or solutions, facilitating value-driven dynamic interactions across an ecosystem of vendors, resellers, ISVs, integrators, service providers and customers with the ability to gain greater access to markets, and scale and solutions quickly.”

SME CHANNELS 23 FEBRUARY 2020

COVER STORY

SRIRAM SRINIVASAN , CO-FOUNDER, CEO, IVALUE INFOSOLUTION.

“OUR MEASURE IS NOT HOW MANY PARTNERS WE WORK WITH BUT HOW MANY SOLUTIONS WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SEE TO EXISTING CUSTOMER AND HOW MANY NEW CUSTOMERS WE ARE ABLE TO WIN THROUGH OUR UNIQUE SOLUTIONS. WE ADDRESS 700+ PARTNERS ACROSS GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND REGIONAL PROFILES.” “Our ability to expedite response times, enhance vendors’ reach, and create value-added solutions that complement vendor offerings all help to enhance brand value. Distributors today also have larger role to play in marketing focused on driving enhanced results for partners and vendors. This encompasses creating innovative programs and services focused on high growth markets that help partners grow their businesses and driving demand creation and lead generation initiatives which enable partners to unlock new revenue opportunities,” he added. As its renewed strategy, Satcom has evolved into a very highly focused VAD in the cyber security space. Vinod maintains, “We understand technology and try to bring in futuristic offerings which our partners in India can offer to their customers. We are present in eight cities across PAN India and offer enablement, training and remote support to partners. We assist partners in doing proof of concept to their prospects, provide demo equipment and on time delivery to our partners.” Their plan is to expand slowly by adding at least two new product lines this year again focusing either on deception technology, NMS or SIEM. As a brand, Satcom is trying to keep itself updated by automating all its systems and procedures and having a SOP for each aspect of its operation. Overall distribution has expanded. Iris as a distribution company is growing 30% per year. As per Zakir Hussain Rangwala, Sales Marketing Director, BD Software Distribution Pvt. ltd., BD Software started with one product but today the company eight good solid products & solutions to offer to the SMBs & enterprises. He added, “We will add two more products during the year to make it total of ten product offerings in the market.” BD Software has more than 200 partners

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SUNDARESAN K, VP AND COUNTRY GENERAL MANAGER, TECH DATA.

“OUR ABILITY TO EXPEDITE RESPONSE TIMES, ENHANCE VENDORS’ REACH, AND CREATE VALUE-ADDED SOLUTIONS THAT COMPLEMENT VENDOR OFFERINGS ALL HELP TO ENHANCE BRAND VALUE.” doing MSB & enterprise business across India. BD Software has also distributors for consumer business and under them are partners in their territories. Zakir adds, “We are expecting to appoint distributors in various territories where we do not represent at the moment and also appoint additional five partners for our SMB and enterprise solutions.” Rankcomputers has just recently moved to a channel only model for its distribution business for Secure Military Grade Encrypted Pen Drives & Hard Drives and their remote management solution from DataLocker USA. In the last 3 months, the company has over 11 active partners promoting and selling DataLOcker products and the more are joining us. As per Anil the company expects to have over 30 active partners PAN India

by the end of this year. TechnoBind works with over 600 partners across the country. While they have Global SIs like Infosys, TCS on one side, the other side they also have engaged with the National and Regional SIs who have a country-based presence in India. Along with this, the company also has a very large SMB Partner engagement across the country. With so many vendor tie-ups and geographical presence, Technobind has recorded a stellar growth of 60 percent YoY last FY. As per Prashanth, “It is our unique go-to market that has helped us crack a lot of successes in a short span of time. Our go to market approach is use case based “swim lane approach.” Tech Data’s strategic focus is based on driving growth and enabling our channel partners to move to higher value. The four pillars of this strategy are Investing in next-generation technologies: hybrid cloud, data (analytics, IoT), security and services, Strengthening our end-to-end portfolio: enhancing our partner, vendor and solutions

COVER STORY

portfolio, and consumption models, Transforming Tech Data digitally: Through process redesign, automation, advanced analytics and user interfaces and Optimizing our global footprint: driving services, support, and business optimization Our portfolio contains the most comprehensive collection of data center and next-generation technology solutions to meet every aspect of our partners’ needs, as well as our Specialized Solutions businesses. Plan for 2020 and beyond Data is the traction for every business, irrespective of their sizes. Most of the organizations treat data as a vital corporate asset. With the advent of globalization and internet age, we will see that in Data will remain the core focus. All the technologies we focus will revolve around data to leverage the challenges this data growth is throwing up. The IT market will be driven by data related solutions from storing, securing, and utilizing for informed decision making to predictive analytics. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud, Blockchain and many more became the brainstorming topics of discussion for boardrooms last year. Whereas, 5G steal the show by being on the top the whole year. These technologies will continue to impact businesses in 2020 and will certainly become integral parts of companies’ plans to become future ready. TechnoBind has a strategic plan to look forward for both linear and non-linear growth this year. Prashanth adds, “We already have a strong hold in catering the products that ensure data management, storage, protection and security. Recently, we have associated with Beyond Trust to cater its Privileged Access Management (PAM) portfolio across India and Bangladesh. Ingram Micro will continue to have specialized business units to effectively cater to the needs of specific customer segments. Harish Of Ingram Micro maintained, “We are constantly vetting our catalog and adding world-class products and solutions to help our partners to grow their businesses and address the changing technology needs of modern consumers as well as enterprises. Our solution offering is one of the broadest in the industry, and includes IT Hardware, Software, Cloud and Mobility products from more than 200 leading vendors.” However, Ingram Micro is hopeful that for the year, technologies including Cloud (SaaS & IaaS), IoT, Security products & services and HCI & datacenter modernization are going to drive its revenue.

HARISH LADDHA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HEAD OF SALES, INGRAM MICRO.

“WE ARE CONFIDENT OF STRENGTHENING OUR POSITION AS THE LEADING DISTRIBUTOR AND INCREASING OUR MARKET SHARE IN 2020.”

MOHAN KUMAR TL, DIRECTOR, TECHKNOWLOGIC CONSULTANTS INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED.

“WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY FROM BEING IN THE DISTRIBUTOR BUSINESS OF HARDWARE TO SOLUTIONS LIKE NETWORK MONITORING, SIEM, SOAR, CLOUD SECURITY ETC.” Tech Data strategy is to move to higher value through investing, strengthening, transforming and optimizing its business and enabling its channel partners to do the same. Sundaresan says, “One key area I’d like to highlight now is digital transformation which is creating immense opportunities for businesses today. Some of the key technologies include big data and analytics, Artificial Intelligence, the IOT and next-generation security. Businesses in India are leading the charge by embracing these technologies to transform their businesses, becoming more efficient and agile and driving high-growth opportunities.” Recognizing these market trends and opportunities will be the priority for Tech Data. The company will keep reviewing and expanding upon its portfolio in strategic areas, ensuring providing the most comprehensive solutions for its partners. Cloud, Analytics, IoT and Security are some of the key areas Tech Data is investing in to capitalize on the immense opportunities that lie ahead.

For BD Software plans for 2020 are very simple as they will continue with their existing eight brands but at the same time, they will look to get in couple of more good brands which can be distributed via its current channel partners. These new technologies would revolve around Endpoint Security Solutions, DLP, Backup and OCR/ICR. By doing this the company expects to double its growth this year compared to last year. Iris today is distributing products portfolio around Desktops, Notebooks, Servers, Storage Networking, Power conditioning, Solar, Smart phones, Tablets and Consumer Electronic goods. These products are helping Iris growth till today. “But going forward in 2020, Sanjiv adds, “We will focus on products where our margins are better, and the capital investment is less. We have already started this shift in our product lines and service offerings quite successfully.” With this strategy, Iris is confident to growth its revenue by 30% this year to close it at Rs.1800 crore.

SME CHANNELS 25 FEBRUARY 2020

COVER STORY

RAJESH GOENKA, DIRECTOR, SALES & MARKETING, RP TECH INDIA.

iValue’s top customer verticals have been BFSI, ITeS, Telecom, Manufacturing, Pharma, and Hospitality. Sriram adds, “We will continue to add solution and service offerings for these segments. We also have plans to add capability through inorganic way to enhance our relevance to both Customer and Partners.” During the last 5 years, iValue continues to grow at 4+ times market growth. The company intends to continue this trend even on a higher base. Market trends such as Privacy, Compliance, Automation driven by Analytics, AI and ML will drive revenue streams. Cyber security was the highest challenge for most leaders at Davos. Sriram maintains, “We continue to focus on offerings that help customer stay ahead of these needs in the coming years. Our approach in the market is to consultatively understand and address customers business and IT needs around DNA offerings with a medium to long-term perspective.” Similarly, Rankcomputers plan to increase its ACTIVE partners from the current level of 11 to 30 ACTIVE partners by the end of the year. Anil adds, “We are on the lookout for partners who understand the potential and market of our unique offerings: Secure Military Grade Encrypted Hard Drives and Pen Drives and their remote management solution from DataLocker USA.” The company expects that it will help them to enhance their revenue by by over 150% to 200% this year. RP Tech India will consolidate its existing business and improve business hygiene in 2020. At the same time the company expects that new technologies like Wearable, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning and Networking will its business in the next three years, which will enable them to

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“THE IT DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS HAS GONE THROUGH A MASSIVE TRANSITION IN THE LAST DECADE. A MAJOR TRANSFORMATION HAS HAPPENED FROM BOX SELLING TO PC SELLING AND NOW SOLUTION SELLING. TODAY, THE SELLING PRICE IS NOT ONLY THE DECIDING FACTOR OF PROFITABILITY AND GROWTH. ALONG WITH THE PRICE, CREDIT, INVENTORY MANAGEMENT, PRESALES & POST-SALES SUPPORT ALSO CRITICAL ASPECTS OF LONG TERM AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH.” ANIL BHAVNANI, FOUNDER & CEO, RANKCOMPUTERS.

grow at double-digit against market forecast of singledigit growth. Satcom today is billing to more than 500 partners in a calendar year but in 2020 this will grow by at least 25%. The company will add at least two new product lines this year focusing either on deception technology, NMS or SIEM. Vinod says, “As a brand we are trying to keep ourselves updated by automating all our systems and procedures and having a SOP for each aspect of our operation. We plan to reach 200 crores in the next one year.

“WE ARE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR PARTNERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL AND MARKET OF OUR UNIQUE OFFERINGS: SECURE MILITARY GRADE ENCRYPTED HARD DRIVES AND PEN DRIVES AND THEIR REMOTE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FROM DATALOCKER USA.” Finally… Distribution business is going to be very interesting and challenging in next twelve to sixteen months because computing is going to change drastically. From on-prem to cloud and hybrid, there will be a movement one side on the other side, new applications, security challenges, storage and back up integration would demand a multipoint challenge for the market. The old products

COVER STORY

VINOD KUMAR, MD, SATCOM INFOTECH PVT LTD..

“TODAY, SATCOM BILLS TO MORE THAN 500 PARTNERS IN A CALENDAR YEAR BUT BY 2020, THE COMPANY EXPECTS TO GROW THE NUMBER BY AT LEAST 25% AND TAKE ITS REVENUE TO RS.200 CRORE IN NEXT ONE YEAR.” SANJIV KRISHEN, CHAIRMAN, IRIS COMPUTERS LTD .

PRASHANTH G J, CEO, TECHNOBIND.

“IT IS OUR UNIQUE GO-TO MARKET THAT HAS HELPED US CRACK A LOT OF SUCCESSES IN A SHORT SPAN OF TIME. OUR GO TO MARKET APPROACH IS USE CASE BASED “SWIM LANE APPROACH.” “WE WILL FOCUS ON PRODUCTS WHERE OUR MARGINS ARE BETTER, AND THE CAPITAL INVESTMENT IS LESS. WE HAVE ALREADY STARTED THIS SHIFT IN OUR PRODUCT LINES AND SERVICE OFFERINGS QUITE SUCCESSFULLY.” and solutions are going to be refreshed very soon and most likely there will be new age solutions around 5G, Edge Computing and AI- based computing, which would require a different mindset and skillset. But surely it is very exciting time ahead.

ZAKIR HUSSAIN RANGWALA, SALES MARKETING DIRECTOR, BD SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION PVT. LTD.

“WE ARE EXPECTING TO APPOINT DISTRIBUTORS IN TERRITORY WE DO NOT REPRESENT AT THE MOMENT AND ALSO APPOINT ADDITIONAL FIVE PARTNERS FOR OUR SMB AND ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS.” SME CHANNELS 27 FEBRUARY 2020

PARTNER STORY

DELL TECHNOLOGIES: TOWARDS BUILDING A PARADISE FOR PARTNERS Year 2020 is turning out to be a great year for the partners of Dell Technologies, as the company under the leadership of Joyce Mullen, President, Global Channel, Embedded & Edge Solutions, Dell Technologies has laid out an expansive plan to accelerate partners’ engagement and acquire technologies relevant for the partners.

s Dell Technologies is going to enter the new fiscal year, it has extended its vote of thanks to its Partners, who have delivered $52 billion over the past years. Partnerships of Dell are more solid than ever. It has also officially announced its annual 2020 Dell Technologies Partner Summit, which is going to be held in the Venetian, Las Vegas from May 04 – 07th 2020. This year, Dell

Technologies has dramatically simplified the program structure in a couple of areas like the programs point – of – sale report requirement. Instead of requiring its partners to submit a point – of – sale report each month, Dell is going to send its partners and end-user validation report each month, asking them to verify the information it has provided. Dell will be investing in acquisition of technologies relevant to the partners. It is also

JOYCE MULLEN, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL CHANNEL, EMBEDDED & EDGE SOLUTIONS, DELL TECHNOLOGIES.

“CUSTOMERS NEED PARTNERS TO HELP THEM BUILD THE FOUNDATION. THEY NEED PARTNERS WHO ARE TECHNICALLY PROFICIENT, PARTNERS WHO UNDERSTAND THEIR BUSINESSES AND WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH.”

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building an end-to-end experience to accelerate velocity and improve predictability. Every investment Dell will be making this year is designed to empower, to serve customers better and deliver business outcomes faster than ever before. In addition to its powerful partner program, there’s so much more to be looked upon. Joyce Mullen, President, Global Channel, Embedded & Edge Solutions, Dell Technologies says, “In this decade, our customers will learn how to put their data to work. They will make their processes even more efficient. Create safer and more environmentally friendly factories. They’ll improve their customers’ experiences, protect privacy even more diligently and they will unlock the power of their data in ways we never imagined. Customers need partners to help them build the foundation. They need partners who are technically proficient, partners who understand their businesses and what they are trying to accomplish. They need partners they trust, partners who have their back and partners who can offer the world’s best solutions to deliver the results they are looking for. Together, we’re doing this. Together, we’re bringing it. Solutions that enable customers, skills that simplify the complex and capabilities that encourage innovation”. Dell is investing 4.5 billion dollars annually in R&D, more than many of its competitors combined. The collaboration it has across the industry is second to none. It is bringing innovative solutions to the markets that can simplify customers’ digital future. Some of the solutions that they

PARTNER STORY

JAY SNYDER, SVP GLOBAL ALLIANCES DELL TECHNOLOGIES

“DELL IS AN ENABLER, BUT PARTNERS WILL BRING THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR COLLECTIVE CUSTOMERS TO LIFE. WE WANT TO SEE 50% OF THE DELL TECHNOLOGIES SALES TEAMS LEVERAGE WHAT PARTNERS HAVE TO OFFER AND I EXPECT WE WILL ALSO CONTINUE TO GROW DOUBLE DIGITS.”

launched last year were Power One, Dell Technologies Cloud, new versions of VX Rail, Unity, Data Protection Solutions and award-winning personal devices etc. Dell is even making sure that a partner takes training with VMware on their cloud module for example, that counts towards the Dell Technology cloud certification and competencies. It is also planning that its Global Partners Summit coincides with Dell Technology World, so there will be tons of exciting content for the partners of all sizes and different business models. Q3 performance of the Dell partners: • 8% order revenue growth • 9% distribution growth • 11% storage growth • 7% server growth • Over 52,000 new and reactivated customers “We used to focus on healthcare, energy and video security initially. In the past year, we’ve added retail, media entertainment, and are in the process of adding financial services. We’re investing in SME’s and developing solutions geared toward customers across all of these industries. Our business has more than doubled in the last 5 years. I can’t wait to share more details with you at GPS (Global Partner Summit). Dell Technologies’ continues to modify the Cloud Service Providers, CSP program tracks feedback from partners, with a focus on profitability. One of the biggest pieces of feedback we’ve heard is around revenue tier requirements. At Dell Technologies, we’re committed to innovate and deliver incredible value to our customers. I can assure you Dell Global

Alliances will be a key enabler of this. Dell is an enabler, but partners will bring the transformation of our collective customers to life. We want to see 50% of the Dell Technologies sales teams leverage what partners have to offer and I expect we will also continue to grow double digits. These goals go hand in hand. It is all about the people and cultivating innovation, which is why we believe in the Dell Technologies’ Progress Made Real 2030 plan we announced a few months ago at Dell Technologies Summit 2019” says Jay Snyder, SVP Global Alliances, Dell Technologies. Dell Technologies has recognized that a global revenue requirement may not work in all countries and has adjusted the program revenue requirements needed for tier promotions for partners that primarily operate in smaller markets. These different revenue requirements will help provide more attainable tier advancement opportunities and benefits for these partners in smaller

markets. Along with revenue requirements; Dell has also adjusted the rebates. However, overall program rebate percentages for platinum and titanium CSP’s remains the same, but the rebate accelerators have been removed. Dell is also expanding the program benefits for sell-out compensation to now include deals with the authorized CSP’s. This means it will now be compensating its core Sales Representatives on deals that involve the authorized partners, which will increase collaboration with sales instead of creating competition. Dell is hoping this change will get them closer to the 50% mark with regards to number of sales teams that leverage Dell Alliances in 2020 which is currently up to 30%. Dell is ambitious to turn a vision into reality: • By 2030, 50% of our global workforce and 40% of our Global people leaders will be women and 25% of our US workforce, and 15% of our US people leaders will be black African- American,

BILL SCANNELL, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SALES, DELL TECHNOLOGIES.

“DELL TECHNOLOGIES HAS THE PORTFOLIO STRENGTH; WE HAVE THE TEAM AND WE HAVE PARTNERS TO GO AND TAKE MASSIVE SHARE IN FY21. WE REALLY WANT TO TAKE OUR PARTNERSHIPS TO NEW HEIGHTS.”

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PARTNER STORY

NG TIAN BENG, SVP, CHANNEL SALES APJ, DELL TECHNOLOGIES.

“WE HAVE SIMPLIFIED THE PARTNER PROGRAM BY CONSOLIDATING OUR PRODUCT REBATE STRUCTURE TO JUST THREE LINES OF BUSINESS; CLIENT, SERVER AND STORAGE. WE HAVE REMOVED QUARTERLY TARGETS TO IMPROVE PREDICTABILITY WHILE AUTOMATING OTHER PROCESSES TO MAKE IT EASIER TO FORECAST PARTNER’S QUARTERLY EARNINGS. OUR INVESTMENTS ARE IN PROJECTS THAT WILL IMPROVE THE END-TO-END PARTNER EXPERIENCE.” Hispanic- Latino minorities • We will advance health, education and economic opportunities to deliver enduring results for over a billion people • We’ll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50%, and we will source 75% of our electricity from renewable sources at our facilities. Our product portfolio will reduce its energy intensity by 80% Dell Technologies 2020 Partner Program for Solution Providers will provide an even more compelling business proposition through 3 focus areas: • Increased opportunity and profitability for new customer and line of business acquisition • A simplified structure, making it more predictable and easier to manage your Dell business • An improved end-to-end experience accelerating the time to get to a winning price and improving the predictability of partner’s overall incentives Dell Technologies’ combined go-to-market structure will make engagement with partners easier and more effective. In addition to normal back-end rebates Dell Technologies also provide incremental discounting on the front end. When partners receive Deal Registration approval for server or storage opportunities with an applicable Partner Preferred account partners receive an increased discount. This advantaged pricing allows the discretion to price with greater profitability. In addition; Dell is continuing its New Business Incentive as a reward for bringing new customers and new lines of business to Dell.

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Also for Storage, it is continuing the Competitive Swap rebate for opportunities. Dell Technologies is consolidating product rebate structure from 7 lines of business and 2 or 3 sub-categories within each line of business to 3 lines of business: Client, Server and Storage. “Dell Technologies has the portfolio strength; we have the team and we have partners to go and take massive share in FY21. We really want to take our partnerships to new heights,” added, Bill Scannell, President, Global Sales, Dell Technologies. “The changes we announced last quarter were really around our go-to-market. Our new combined team simplifies how our partners work with us and offer a much greater degree of consistency in how they deal with us in the field. We take simplicity and eliminate the complexity which equals to scale.” He opines, Dell has an incredible portfolio wrapped around an incredible strategy. Their customers are going the Cloud way but they don’t know what that means. Therefore, the onus lies with the company and its customers’ facing people to explain the Cloud isn’t a place, it’s a way of doing IT. Bill added, “So when our partners get on-board with our strategy and work closely with us it’s a winning hand.” Summing up the conversation, Ng Tian Beng, SVP, Channel Sales APJ, Dell Technologies, said: “We have simplified the partner program by consolidating our product rebate structure to just three lines of business; Client, Server and Storage. We have removed quarterly targets to improve predictability while automating other processes

to make it easier to forecast partner’s quarterly earnings. Our investments are in projects that will improve the end-to-end partner experience. We will further optimize quoting tools to help our partners better calculate their potential gross margin position for each product, with a fast, seamless and intuitive online experience.” “Furthermore, we have just launched a Deal Registration dashboard to distributors that make it easier to view and use opportunities directly in a partner portal. We are rolling out two more phases so that partners with Dual Registration capability will have access to this dashboard as well. Complimenting predictability and simplicity, our base rebate multipliers will be on focused products to reward targeted behavior. These multipliers will cover specific products such as Precision Workstation, Rugged Notebooks, Client Peripherals, Displays, 7 and 9 series laptops for Client category and Power Edge 4-socket and Blade Servers for server category. Our focus this financial year is to provide partners with incremental benefits that will drive their pursuit of new business and reward their continued and growing engagement with us,” he added.

CASE STUDY

NAVATA ROAD TRANSPORT ENHANCED THE PRODUCTIVITY OF EMPLOYEES WITH MATRIX TIMEATTENDANCE SOLUTION

Industry Transportation and Logistics Customer Name Navata Road Transport Users 2000+ Devices 21 Biometric Devices Location 20 Locations Across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

Company Profile Navata Road Transport, a road logistics service provider, established in the year 1982, by founder Late Parvataneni Subhas Chandra Bose, now occupies a place of pride among the leading Road Transport Organizations in South India. Navata is spread across a network of 672 branches across India. Warehouses and distribution centers are an integral part of a hub and spoke operations at Navata.

Challenges HR people at the Navata Road Transport had to manage and do manual work for time-attendance and overtime data. With manual work, data are prone to error. With error-prone data, it was difficult for them to proceed for salary payment. Not only this but centralized monitoring of time-attendance data of employees of 20 locations across Andhra Pradesh was a difficult task for them. As

they already had their inhouse application, communication/integration of the time-attendance devices with that inhouse application was the biggest question for them. To communicate with the Linux Server and devices, they required a third party application interface which was not feasible.

Solution AEstablished in 1991, Matrix is a leader in Security and Telecom solutions for modern businesses and enterprises. As an innovative, technology driven and customer focused organization, the company is committed to keeping pace with the revolutions in the Security and Telecom industries. With around 40% of its human resources dedicated to the development of new products, Matrix has launched cutting-edge products like Video Surveillance Systems - Video Management System, Network Video Recorder and IP Camera, Access Control and Time-Attendance systems as well as Telecom solutions such as Unified Communications, IP-PBX, Universal Gateways, VoIP and GSM Gateways and Communication Endpoints. These solutions are feature-rich, reliable and conform to international standards. Having global footprints in Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Africa through an extensive network of more than 2,500 channel partners, Matrix ensures that the products serve the needs of its customers faster and longer. Matrix has gained trust and admiration of customers representing the entire spectrum of industries. Matrix

has won many international awards for its innovative products. With extensive analysis of the existing system and Navata’s requirements, Matrix came up with the solution to provide Door Controllers. Matrix Door Controller comes with built-in API for system integration. It directly pushes all the entry and exit records to the company’s Linux server. In addition to that, the customer can command and control the devices now through the inhouse Attendance Management and Payroll Application which was not possible earlier. So, there is no requirement of any additional dedicated server for the interface with Matrix’s Door Controllers. Ultimately, these Door Controllers have overcome the challenge of communication with the company’s Linux server. By overcoming the challenges of the entire system, the customer enhanced the productivity of the employees and can effectively use the resources.

Results After acquiring the solution from Matrix Comsec, Navata got the efficiency in Time-Attendance management. Elimination of the errors has been possible in the data of Time-Attendance and overtime. Now, employees get an accurate and timely salary at Navata Road Transport after the atomization of Time-Attendance record and calculation. This increased the productivity of the employees because of the accurate data. This also made the HR work smooth and hassle free. Through live monitoring, centralized control of all the 20 sites has been taken.

Products Offered A Door Controller with higher storage capacity and touch sense keypad. It identifies the user in less than one second. With multiple connectivity options like 3G/4G/LTE it gives flexibilities with the customer’s existing system and therefore, reduces installation and maintenance cost.

For further information, please contact: 394-GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara-390010, India Toll Free -1800-258-7747 E-Mail: inquiry@matrixcomsec.com https://www.matrixaccesscontrol.com/

SME CHANNELS 31 FEBRUARY 2020

PARTNER CORNER

ISODA TSX, BAKU = NETWORKING X & ENTERTAINMENT X Raising the bar of ISODA Tech Summits standards, ISODA served TSX – Baku as an ultimate hotspot for information exchange, networking and entertainment to 100 software channel partners, select media persons and OEMs from India. ISODA’s annual flagship event – TechSummit 10th edition (TSX) took place in the beautiful capital city of Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku from 5th Feb to 8th Feb 2020. The four-day event was an intoxicating experience for all 130 people including 100 software dealers from India, media representatives and OEMs. This event turned out to be deadly combination of knowledge sharing, partnership building, and entertainment. There were nearly 24 presentations and tech talks by different leading vendors of security and backup solutions. The event also saw felicitation of partners who were performing in various categories of security solutions for 2019. Apart from the OEMs from global market, the event was addressed by Shri B. Vanlalvawna (IFS:1998), Ambassador of India to the Republic of Azerbaijan and Deputy Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, Elmir Valizadeh. Both the leaders showed their optimism around enhanced business opportunity between India and Azerbaijan. Both the partners particularly agreed upon and praised ISODA initiative in bringing Indian software capability closer to Azerbaijan. The event also saw presentations from Aser-

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baijan ICT innovation centre and ministry of tourism. Addressing the gathering, TSX, Chairman, Jiten Mehta, said, “This is our tenth successful event and we are seeing great response from the OEMs. Day by day there is an increase in the cost in organizing this kind of events and without their help, this kind of event would not have been possible. I would like to thank all the OEMs who have supported us in this event, and I would look forward to being part of the event next year also. We will make sure that you get best return of investment from this event.” Roshan D Souza, Regional Sales Director, India – SAARC, Carbonite said, “We want to make a brand presence in the country, and we want to use a couple of different platforms. ISODA events are one of the opportunities. My personal experience has been very positive with TSX, Baku.” Anand Prahlad, President & CEO, Parablu added, “We participated ISODA event through our distributor SATCOM. I am happy about it as last couple of days have been amazing for us. I did not hear much from ISODA team rather they were listening to us. I was just blown away by the reach of the partners. It is a great platform for expanding our business. We do not do business directly with

the customers. It is an opportunity to enhance our addressable market. I cannot see better way to increase our channel reach through the platform like ISODA.” Juned Kasmani, Shivaami Cloud Services, said, “I personally feel that this event is well organized. The takeaway for me is the discipline that was maintained in the platform where we could express what we wanted to say to the partners. Everything was going as per the agenda.” Mohit Puri, Director Sales Engineering, Sophos, added: “We have been participating in ISODA for last many years; but this is my first time. It is a fantastic platform with over 100 channel partners under one roof. It gives us opportunity to interact with a wider breadth of partners in India.” Venkata SR Datla, Head – Channels, Alliances, Distribution & SMB – India & SAARC, Extreme Networks, echoed: “Extreme Networks has started its business through channel since last one year. We have built a team now for channel side which was not there previously. What we understood that most of the ISODA partners do business in Security and storage domain. We were interacting with only 10 partners. By joining this event, we could meet another 90 partners. We saw people in

PARTNER CORNER

“SENIOR AZERBAIJAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GRACE THE 10TH EDITION OF ISODA TECHSUMMIT – TSX HON. DEPUTY MINISTER MR. ALMIR VELIZADEH (TRANSPORT, COMMUNICATIONS AND HIGH TECHNOLOGIES, REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN) AND HON. AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN MR. B VANLALVAWNA (GOVERNMENT OF INDIA) PRESIDED OVER THE INAUGURATION OF THE TECHSUMMIT. THEY WERE ACCOMPANIED BY BOARD MEMBERS OF INNOVATION AGENCY, AZERBAIJAN AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AZERBAIJAN MINISTRY OF TOURISM.” the event throughout the day. That is a great thing. Kudos to the team.” Dinesh Kumar, Sales Director, India, Soti said, ““We were there last year though it is my first time in this event. What I liked about it is that ISODA is a community of partners who are focused on enterprise solutions and security, which is our forte. That is where we wanted to engage with a greater number of partners. By attending this event gives us larger footprint in India. We have increased our footprint in India from 2-member team to 16 members team including sales and pre-sales. Soti is present in India for last 8 years for product development and support. India is almost like a headquarters for Asia Pacific for us. Isoda Tech Summit – 10 has given us opportunity to interact with the partners who are relevant to us.” Akshay Thakkar – Director – Shivaami Cloud Services Pvt. Ltd. Said: “This event is a great opportunity for us to make the partners understand what Shivaami does. We have gained a lot from the partnerships. I expect the same this year too.” Sanjay Gangadharn, Regional Director – SAARC, A10 Networks said, “A10 has been present in India for last seven years+. We have been present in the application delivery and security market. When we started in India, we were focused on the telco sector but now with building more focus on security, we feel that we need bigger reach in the market. We have a very good customer base now as credible references and

partners can take benefits of that. That is something we wanted to convey to the market. We are already working with some of the partners, but we wanted to reach out to a larger community and see how we can make 1+1= 11.” Ajay Joshi, Country Manager, ESET, added, “As ESET is a hundred per cent channel driven company, partners are the key cornerstone for our market/ business growth. I have been associated with ISODA earlier also – so also our distributors. Globally ESET is much more focused on the enterprise products now. It is part of our major GTM strategy in India to get associated with partners. So, we started with ISODA summit and would keep partnering with other partners’ centric endeavors too.” Sahil Jamnawale, Key Alliance Manager – SAARC, Tripwire, said, “ISODA is a great platform to meet top partners in the country. With ISODA, this is our second year of engagement. Last year also we have seen a good success but this year I see an incremental interest from the partners. I would like to continue with ISODA summit next year too.” Kuldip Jani, Manager, Channel & Alliance, TeamViewer India Pvt. Ltd., added, “For TeamViewer, channel business is only three-year-old. We just started our operation one year back in India. This is our third year with ISODA though. We were with some regional meets of ISODA and this is our first Tech Summit. The idea was to take mindshare of the top leading partners of India

outside their office atmosphere and we have been successful in doing so.” Finally … Thanking the sponsors, Amarnath Shetty, Chairman, ISODA said, “The event hall was full with 100% presence of the partners. Keeping the crowd in the hall was a challenge but we did it. We always try to make it better and bigger. We request all the sponsors to follow up with us throughout the year. We want the discussion to happen till the next summit so that you get the ROI. We have regional committees and chapters. In our website you can find all the contacts of the management committee of the ISODA. You can ask your team to contact them all.” Manasi Saha, President, ISODA, echoed, “I am in the management committee for last six years. I see a tremendous growth in the media engagement, growth in the relationship with the sponsors and increase in the numbership of partners. One of the OEMs – SOPHOs is there with us in the tech summit for last many years. This shows that their ROI is better with us. We are here to do networking and business. We do parties but we also ensure larger scope of business outcome.” Vimesh Avlani, Secretary, ISODA added, “Benefit of the partners is that by attending the Tech Summit, partners come to know about various offerings from the OEMs. Those members who have not attended the tech summit can also be reached for any business support.”

SME CHANNELS 33 FEBRUARY 2020

FEATURE STORY

IN THE ERA OF DIGITIZATION, CYBERSECURITY NEEDS TO BE REDEFINED Securing future IT infrastructure for the technologies is a battle. As we move forward, Security has long been a challenge to cloud services. While it has been largely overcome, with the sharp increase in moving workloads to public cloud, there will be increased opportunity for hackers to easily hack a business. BY NIDHI SHAIL

nidhi@accentinfomedia.com

n today’s everyday threat landscape every organization - large or small is at risk of a cyber-attack. Every industry has suffered multiple high profile breaches, making it clear no one is safe. Even now security is becoming complex with each passing day and the organizations are under pressure to secure the company’s digital assets and network. As cyber attackers have become more sophisticated, organizations and cyber security experts have become better at dealing with threats. Dipesh Kaura, General Manager - South Asia, Kaspersky says, “Historically, APT actors have been the most innovative in designing new age attacks. We imagine that will continue, with the next level of false flag attacks. The continued use of commodity malware, scripts, publicly available security tools and administrator software will make attribution of the attack even tougher. Targeted ransomware is sure to take things up from where ransomware left them. They will perhaps focus more on organizations that are more likely to make substantial payments to recover their data”. Alok Sahay, Country Manager India and SAARC, Holm Security added, “Over many years now the threat landscape has become more complex and the attacker use more and more sophisticated methods. We believe that social engineering continue to be the number one threat. IoT increases the attack surface – simply because the security in these devices is behind the actual development. So here we will see more and more incidents.” Rohan Vaidya, Regional Director of Sales India, CyberArk, says “It’s not new, but phishing

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or using e.g. credentials procured from the Dark Web remains the most effective way of getting a foothold into an organization for sophisticated attackers. So the biggest threat to companies is how they lock down the route from initial compromise to their critical data and assets. The perimeter is porous and smart companies know that attackers will get in. They understand that defences need to be focused around preventing attackers moving around the network to get to the end goal, whether that be IP theft, network takeover or whatever else it might be”. As cyber security is evolving, so are the cyber criminals. It means the cyber attackers are winning; and it means businesses need to do all they can to mitigate the risk to their operations and customers operations too. Navigating IoT will become a minefield for everyone. Harpreet Bhatia, Director, Channels & Strategic Alliances – India & SAARC, Palo Alto Networks, says “2020 will see the evolution of IoT security play out in two key spheres: Personal and Industrial IoT. From connected doorbell cameras to wireless speaker systems, we will see a growth in attack modes coming in via unsecured apps or weak login credentials. Connected devices will need to be continuously retrofitted and updated in order to remain secure. There also is a growing trend among governments globally - including those in Asia Pacific- to issue guidance or regulations related to IoT device security. Further, efforts also are ongoing in industry standards groups to develop relevant security standards for IoT devices, such as the draft ISO/ IEC 27037 standard. Both of these trends are certain to impact IoT device deployment to some degree. We also expect prioritization of public

education to accompany the rapid growth and adoption of connected devices”. To manage increasingly distributed and complex networks, organizations are adopting technologies like Artificial intelligence and Machine learning to automate time consuming activities that require human supervision. This will lead hackers to use AI advancements to scan networks for vulnerabilities and automate phishing attacks. There are more access points than ever for cyber criminals to exploit now. Sandeep Puri, Country Manager -India & SAARC, Gurucul maintains,” In cybersecurity, the resilient enterprise of today adjusts control procedures daily. The resilient enterprise of the future, however, will adjust controls hundreds of times daily, through AI that adapts in real time as the data changes. In certain types of cybersecurity AI helps organizations make sense of the large volume of information generated by a range of data sources including SIEMs, firewalls, identity and access management (IAM), NetFlow, HR databases and more. AI can be applied to the events from these various datasets so that risky behavior patterns can be identified — and remediation can be immediately implemented”. Dipesh of Kaspersky comments, “The growth of AI has been very significant in recent times. It is the key technology these days to detect any kind of suspected malware. AI will become more pervasive than it is today. It is set to multiply it power in the coming years. It has the potential to become the single most disruptive force of technology in coming years.” In fact the hackers are also leveraging the tools such as analytics and known vulnerabilities in

FEATURE STORY

“OUR MAJOR FOCUS WOULD BE ON PRODUCTS SUCH AS KASPERSKY ANTI TARGETED ATTACK PLATFORM (KATA), ENDPOINT DETECTION AND RESPONSE (EDR), SANDBOX, THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTING, AND SERVICES, MANAGED SERVICES PROVIDER PARTNERSHIPS, SECURITY CLOUD AND INDUSTRIAL CYBERSECURITY SOLUTIONS.” DIPESH KAURA General Manager for South Asia, Kaspersky.

“WE OFFER OUR PLATFORM FOR VULNERABILITY MANAGEMENT CALLED HOLM SECURITY VMP TOGETHER WITH A POWERFUL MULTI-TENANT PORTAL. THE PLATFORM IS A COMPLETE SOLUTION FOR CONTINUOUS AND AUTOMATED SCANNING PROVIDED FROM THE CLOUD AND AS AN ON-PREM PRODUCT.” ALOK SAHAY country manager India and SAARC, Holm security

“TRAINING AND UPGRADING PARTNER SKILL SETS IN AN ONGOING PROCESS AND WE DO THIS PROGRAMMATICALLY TOGETHER WITH THE CHANNEL MARKETING TEAM. THIS IS WORKING WELL FOR RSA AND WE WILL CONTINUE WITH IT IN FY’20.” RAJNISH GUPTA Regional Director – RSA Security

popular application to launch focused attacks with financial gains in mind. Threats from Ransomware, Data Leak, Malware, and Phishing will increase in 2020, at the same time Identity and authentication cloning are likely to grow. It means the landscape is going to be very complex. On this Rajnish of RSA Security says, “In 2020, we can expect 75% of all major breaches to happen due to fundamental mistakes, and not by extremely sophisticated techniques. As a result, new stan-

dards and regulations will drive a return to basic security best practices forcing security providers to improve some of the foundational security work that they should have been doing all along. On the business front, the accountability for cyber risk will move up the organizational chart, with businesses appointing board members with experience in risk management and information security. On the technology front, businesses will look to reduce dependency on talent via security

orchestration and automation software, risk-based prioritization and comprehensive threat analytics”. Cloud security is the future of cyber security. To predict and defeat attacks in real time, cybersecurity must move to the cloud, Harpreet of Palo Alto Networks added, “More businesses are seen to be leveraging containers (i.e., operating system virtualisation) for their efficiency, consistency and lower costs. However, the potential dangers of exposed and misconfigured containers will

SME CHANNELS 35 FEBRUARY 2020

FEATURE STORY

HARPREET BHATIA

ROHAN VAIDYA

SANDEEP PURI

director, channels & strategic alliances – India & SAARC at Palo Alto Networks

Regional Director of Sales India, CyberArk

Country Manager -India & SAARC

“SAAS CYBERSECURITY OFFERINGS PROVIDE CUSTOMERS THE EASE AND SPEED THEY HAVE GOT ACCUSTOMED TO. IT ALSO ALLOWS VENDORS TO AUTOMATICALLY DEPLOY UPDATES AND PATCHES TO PROTECT AGAINST NEWLY DETECTED VULNERABILITIES.”

“FOR THE BUSINESSES THAT BECOME CYBERARK PARTNERS, WE WORK WITH THEM TO HELP CUSTOMERS MOVE AWAY FROM A PERIMETER FOCUSED DEFENCE TO ONE THAT PROTECTS WHAT IS TRULY IMPORTANT, SHIFTING FOCUS TO THE CRITICAL DATA AND ASSETS THAT ARE THE CROWN JEWELS OF ANY ORGANIZATION”

“OUR LONG ESTABLISHED, PROVEN UNIFIED SECURITY AND RISK ANALYTICS TECHNOLOGY PAIRED WITH OUR PARTNER’S KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMER NEEDS IS AN UNBEATABLE COMBINATION.”

soon rear their ugly heads, leaving organisations vulnerable to targeted reconnaissance. With the usage of proper network policies or firewalls, or both, internal resources can be prevented from being exposed to the public internet. Additionally, investing in cloud security tools can alert organisations to risks within their current cloud infrastructure.” As Cyber Security is an important concern for every organization. Organizations understand the risks and for them it is very important to set their priorities right, right supporting processes are needed along with the right enabling technology. To implement this, strategy is needed to enable partners with adequate technology and skillset. Channel partners must be aware of new attacks and about the solutions for them. On this, Dipesh added, “Across the world, Kaspersky is recognized for its innovative security solutions. We have developed an innovative program- Kaspersky United Partner Program that does more to help our partners. Whether you’re a software reseller,

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system integrator, managed service provider (MSP) or security service provider - and regardless of whether you sell IT protection to SMBs or enterprise-grade solutions to telecoms operators, financial institutions or government, the Kaspersky United Partner Program can help our partners to grow profitable and explore new revenue streams. We provide partners with regular trainings on the evolving threat landscape as well as the latest solution updates as part of the program”. VERTICALS LIKELY TO INVEST MORE IN 2020 Many industries still assume that attacks only happen to banks or companies that hold consumer data or something else that can be easily exploited and sold. This is not the case. law and recommendations, like Data Protection Bill in India, puts a higher pressure on not only govern-

ment and the financial sector, but also organizations that provided services that are crucial like energy companies, transportation, infrastructure and healthcare. Finally…. Today’s disruptive technologies including IOT, cloud computing, edge computing, etc. are changing threat landscape drastically. As IOT has produced different ways to interact and exchange data which makes it easy for the hackers to take advantage of the situation and gain access to all the information that is being exchanged online. Similarly cloud computing and edge computing offers many passages to the cyber criminals to play guerrilla warfare with the organizations. Therefore, Cyber security has been more widely accepted as board level topic and the senior executives have become more aware about its impact on achieving business goals and brand protection. Security leaders are striving to help their organizations securely use technology platforms to become more competitive and drive growth for the business.

REVIEW

PRODUCT

DIGISOL DGGR6821AC XPON ROUTER

NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK AX12 TRIBAND WI-FI 6 ROUTER

DIGISOL System DG-GR6821AC is a Dual Mode GPON/GEPON Wi-Fi Router with 1 PON, 2 GE Port & 1 FXS Port. The newly unveiled 867 Mbps Wi-Fi router is designed for fulfilling FTTH ultra-broadband access and triple play service for home and SOHO users. The device can detect and exchange PON mode automatically. The WAN supports both bridge & route mode for realizing various applications. The device comes with support for wireless 802.11ac standard thus provid-

BY SANJAY MOHAPATRA

ing high-speed wireless experience on the

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THE NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK TRI-BAND AX12 12-STREAM WI-FI 6 Router (RAX200) supports Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) rendering four times of the increased data capacities to handle today and tomorrow’s growing home network. The AX12 is powered by a quadcore 2.2 GHz processor, offering 10.8GBps Wi-Fi speeds and a 2.5G multi-gig Ethernet interface as either a LAN or WAN. For mobile devices, the router supports Gigabit Wi-Fi, as well as interface-free channels with dynamic frequency selection. The router includes a single 2.4GHz band and 5GHz bands. The NETGEAR AX12 is a powerful Wi-Fi 6 Router that uses three bands with a combined Wi-Fi speed of 10.8 Gbps3. This provides the ideal solution for the growing needs of households with an ever-increasing number of connected devices vying for internet bandwidth simultaneously. The latest Wi-Fi 6 technology provides four times the amount of data capacity over that of the previous generation of Wi-Fi routers (802.11ac), also now known as Wi-Fi 5.

less congested 5 Ghz band. It supports NAT/

KEY SPECIFICATIONS n Fastest Wi-Fi with up to 10.8Gbps

Combined Wireless Speed – 12-Stream Tri-band Wi-Fi with combined wireless speeds up to 10.8Gbps (1.2 + 4.8 + 4.8Gbps). n 12-Streams Tri-band Wi-Fi – Eight

streams of 5GHz and four streams of 2.4GHz means more available bandwidth and less congestion for all devices on the Wi-Fi network. n Smart Connect - Intelligently selects the fastest Wi-Fi band for every device connection. One Wi-Fi name for the entire home.

firewall and basic layer 3 routing functions as well. The router comes with plug and play feature. Its auto-detecting, auto-configuration, and auto firmware upgrade feature makes the configuration simple, and enables deployment of security solutions quick.

n Price: Rs. 2999/Warranty: 1 Year

n Nighthawk App - Easily set up

your router and get more out of your Wi-Fi. Includes remote access to manage your network away from home.

Contact: : Toll Free - 1800–209–3444 Website: https://www.digisol.com/ contact-us/

n Price: INR 74,999. Warranty: 3 years Contact: Toll Free: 1800 419 4543

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PRODUCT

TENDA

TENDA AC8 AC1200 DUALBAND GIGABIT WIRELESS ROUTE TENDA AC8 is a high-performance Wi-Fi router that supports dual-band (one 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz). One of the interesting offerings is the Wi-Fi App that helps in viewing/accessing real-time management of the network. Looks like AC8 seems a wise choice when it comes to offer safe, secure and uninterrupted speedy Internet connectivity. Good part it also offers 4K streaming and gaming experience. When it comes to hardware, Tenda AC8 comes with 28nm RealTek 1GHz Core CPU, which renders extra performance upto 40% than its predecessors and counterparts, delivering an impressive Internet experience. A powerful dual-band router that with a reasonable price, has a good range and is smart enough to identify and optimise channels for fast internet connectivity. For Dual bands (2.4 GHz and 5GHz)4 Antennas with 6 dBi covering an area 90 sq. meters. n Price: INR 4,900, Warranty: On Request, Contact: kaushal@tenda.com.cn, Mobile: +91 9667358833, Tel: +91 11-41608572, Web: www.tendacn.com

CADYCE

CADYCE CA-WCHP Cadyce’s CA-WCHP wireless charging dock is one of the best wireless charging docks available in the market. It is based on Qi technology and adds HDMI and USB ports to computers and charges compatible smartphones wirelessly. The device uses inductive charging technology, and so, all new devices with built-in Qi charging properties can make use of it. It supports 5W/7.5W/10W Max output. The wireless charging dock by Cadyce supports USB 3.0 super speed (5Gbps) transmission and is compatible with USB2.0 as well. It has an HDMI resolution of up to 4Kx2K@30Hz and is compatible with the MacBook or Google new Chromebook Pixel or any device supporting USB-C. It is compatible with both Windows OS as well as Mac OS. The wireless charger is easy to use and carry and supports advanced features like plug and play and hot-swap. One of the distinguishing features of Cadyce’s CA-WCHP wireless charging dock is that the users can charge their phones without even having to remove the phone cases. Being a bus-powered device, it does not need an external charging mechanism. n Price: INR 6, 999, Warranty: On request, Contact: https://www.cadyce.com/where-to-buy/#

MATRIX

MATRIX 5 MP IP CAMERA MATRIX, offers the best-in-class 5 MP IP Security Cameras that are powered by Sony STARVIS sensor with Exmor technology to deliver exceptional performance under low light. Available in Dome and Bullet variants, Matrix 5MP IP Cameras are best suited for Enterprises and are ideal for both indoor and outdoor applications. Features n Powered by Sony STARVIS sensor with Exmor technology – Delivers exceptional low light

performance n Comes with True WDR – Delivers consistent image quality in poor light conditions n Offers latest H.265 Compression technology – Reduces storage costs n Adaptive Streaming – Reduces Frame rate based on motion, saves up to 50% of storage space n Vandal Proof – Comes with unbreakable closure (IK10) n Real-time Security – Offers Early detection, Instant Notifications, and Two-way Audio n IP66 Certified Project and Professional Series – Glitch-free performance under extreme conditions

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n Price: On Request, Warranty: On request, Contact: Toll Free – 1800-258-7747, Website: inquiry@matrixcomsec.com

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