PLUS
IBM invests in developing Rajasthan Market
/16
www.smechannels.com
india’s first IT magazine for sme business Volume 01
|
issue 03
sme biz
|
may 2010
|
Rs. 25/-
/32
SMBs can make the elephants dance
sme chat
sme biz
/38
“Hitachi GST’s Vision is to Lead the Industry”
UTM to be
panacea for smes security concerns Partners need to advise customers to go for right UTM than giving them solution as per their budget. It is a matter of business continuity than mere technology acquisition!
/18
Mantra is to go Near Customers
/26
PLUS
Emerson Focuses on SME Market
/08
www.smechannels.com
india’s first IT magazine for sme business Volume 01
|
issue 03
|
may 2010
Partner Corner
|
Rs. 25/-
/36
SMB poses Huge Potential for Security Products
sme biz
/24
Kaspersky to invest $2million in market development
Partner Corner
/21
It’s Time to Surpass the Past Records
My experience
editorial
Sell Solutions to fight Future Challenges sanjay mohapatra editor@smechannels.com
With the turnaround of time, the improvement in the market condition is clearly visible but the market seems to have not gone overboard. They are still apprehensive about it. There is a short supply of products in the market and partners are extending the credit period. Of course it is a natural phenomenon. When you have sustained a long period waiting for another couple of months is not a big issue. But the partners need to very careful as the time passes. They need to invest in right technology and right vendor than whatever comes on their way. We have been talking for a long time from now about solution selling than the product selling. This is actually the order of the day. It provides continuity in the revenue flow … that to a higher revenue flow in many cases. In this issue, we have tried to bring out Unified Threat Management or UTM as our cover story to let the partners know that this is a good opportunity to focus the SMEs. Not many of the partners will be interested or subscribe to my thoughts but there is no harm in giving it a try and gradually upgrade the domain knowledge or hire right workforce who has the skill sets. The problem with the partners is that they are happy with whatever margin they are getting. Of course it is a hefty amount given the volume they deal in. As the time passes, hardware will not be so important for the applications. It can come in any form including television, mobile phone, netbooks, or some other devices. Indeed PC will remain intact in its form factor but the importance of PC will surely be marginalized as the growth of mobile work force and virtual work force will on a rise. All the applications will come from cloud (already, the trend is creeping into the market) and devices will be no important for application delivery. So the market will have to adapt to the changing scenario and if you try at that point of time, I think it will be too late. So, small steps of today can lead to big results for tomorrow. If partners can sell security solutions or other software solution in its small form factor, tomorrow they can be able to sell the large solutions. Most of the product vendors have been encouraging the partners in their go to market approach. The partners should embrace the opportunity, whichever is unveiling before them.
Creative Zen X-Fi 8GB MP3 player Introduced by Cyberstar Infocom, the Creative Zen X-Fi 8 GB MP3 player offers an excellent audio quality which is actually required for the travelers using any audio player. Additionally, it comes with a 2.5inch touch screen design, a built-in speaker, FM radio that makes it a great product for music, photo and video. Sporting an ultra slim exterior with an elegant look in 8GB model, it comes at a cost of Rs. 13,599. For the frequent travelers it is a very good choice to be in his or her bag. It also features a microSD card slot for extra storage. You can carry your entire PC Media Library anywhere with you.
Specifications 2.5-inch touch screen, built-in speaker, FM radio, MicroSD card slot for extra storage final wording Normally, it is a pain passing time while travelling. A good music player actually helps it but without good sound quality the music player becomes an irritating factor. However, this pocket rocket Creative MP3 player is a very good solution. One really can try it. overall rating
sme channels May 2010
3
contents
MAY Volume 01 issue 03
2010
ER COV Y STOR
india’s first IT magazine for sme business
Publisher: Sanjib Mohapatra Editor: Sanjay Mohapatra Executive Editor: Smruti Chaudhury Copy Editor: Neil D’Souza Design and Development: Ravi Kumar Visualizer: Manas Ranjan Lead Visualizer: DPR Choudhary marketing Senior Manager: M Raj Executive- Marketing: Rajat Kumar Circulation and Printing: Panchanan Bhoi SALES contacts Delhi 6/101, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016 Phone: 91-11-46151993 / 9958358954 E-mail: raj@smechannels.com Bangalore Subrat S 136/9, Ground Floor, Eden Crest Apartment Grape Garden, Ejipura Vivek Nagar PS Bengalore-560047 Phone: 9886107294 Mumbai Hemal Shah B/14, Neel Ashish 92, J.P.road, Andheri (West) Mumbai - 400058 Phone: 9819597604 Chennai Thaga Pandian No-27, Rajan Street, Kodambakam Chennai - 24 Phone: 044-43066990 Kolkata S Subhendu
UTM to be panacea for SMEs’ security concerns
BC-286, Laxmi Apartment, Kestopur Kolkata-700101 Phone: 9674804389 editorial office
/26
Partners need to advise customers to go for right UTM than giving them solution as per their budget. It is a matter of business continuity than mere technology acquisition! SME CHAT
info@smechannels.com Bangalore 136/ 9, Ground Floor, Eden Crest Apartment, Grape Garden, Ejipura
Rajan Sharma /22 General Manager, Gigabyte Technology India Pvt. Ltd.
Lenovo treats channel partners and distributors as its natural partners-in-profit
Jerry Kagele /38
Kaspersky to invest $2million in market development /24
Printed, Published and Owned by Sanjib
In next six months, they will revamp the channel strategy to get cosy with the customer
Place of Publication: 6/101-102, Kaushalya
Partner Corner AVOSEC /36 SMB poses Huge Potential for Security Products
Supertron /21 It’s Time to Surpass the Past Records
sme channels may 2010
Phone: 91-11-41055458
SME Biz Mantra is to go Near Customers /18
VP, Worldwide Distribution and Americas Sales - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
4
Delhi: 6/102, Kaushlya Park, New Delhi-110016
SMBs can make the elephants dance /32
Bengalore-560047 news@smechannels.com
Mohapatra Park, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016
Cisco’s SMB market strategy involves helping customers create a sustainable competitive advantage...
more inside Editorial~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Snippets~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Book Review~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Product Review~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Guest Talk~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vivek Nagar PS
Phone: 91-11-46151993 / 41055458 Printed at Karan Printers, F-29/2, 1st floor, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi 110020, India. All rights reserved. No part of this publica-
03 06 17 40 42
tion can be reproduced without the prior written permission from the publisher. Subscription: Rs.250 (12 issues) All payments favouring: Accent Info Media P.v. Ltd.
PUBLIC NOTICE TERMINATION
OF AGREEMENT with M/s KK Software Solutions Pvt Ltd.
NOTICE is hereby given that the “Associate Distributor” agreement between M/s KK Software Solutions Pvt Ltd., with its registered office at D-163, Basement, Sector 8, Dwarka, New Delhi – 10075 (“M/s KK software”) and Microsoft stands terminated effective 08th April 2010. Please take further Notice that with effect from 08th April 2010, M/s KK Software ceases to be “Associate Distributor” of Microsoft. M/s KK Software and its Director(s), its employee(s), its agents and /or any one claiming under M/s KK Software do not possess any authority to represent themselves as an “Associate Distributor” or represent themselves on behalf of Microsoft in any manner whatsoever. Public at large is further put to notice that any person(s) dealing with the aforesaid M/s KK Software and its Director(s), its employee(s), its agents or any one claiming under them shall do so solely in their individual capacity and at their own risk, liability and responsibility.
For and on behalf of Sd/Microsoft Licensing, GP
SNiPPETs product | channel | telecom | data com
for more log on to smechannels.com
Intel Moorestown to Push Multiple Mobile Devices Intel has rolled out the new Atom processor-based platform formerly known as “Moorestown”. Providing significantly lower power consump-
tion and prepares the company to target a range of computing devices, including high-end smart phones, tablets and other mobile handheld
products, the chips bring Intel’s classic product strengths outstanding performance to run a comprehensive and growing number of rich
media and Internet applications including HD video and multipoint videoconferencing. Anand Chandrasekher, Intel’s senior vice president and general manager of the Ultra Mobility Group said, “We have delivered our first product that is opening the door for Intel Architecture [IA] in the smartphone market segment. Through “Moorestown”, Intel is scaling the benefits of IA while significantly reducing the power, cost and footprint to better address handheld market segments. As a result of our efforts, the Atom processor is pushing the boundaries of higher performance at significantly lower power to show what’s possible as handheld devices become small, powerful mobile computers.” The platform includes the Intel Atom Processor Z6xx Series Family (formerly “Lincroft” system-on-chip [SoC]), the Intel Platform Controller Hub MP20 (formerly “Langwell”) and a dedicated Mixed Signal IC (MSIC), formerly “Briertown”. The platform includes Intel Atom Processor Z6xx, which combines the 45nm Intel Atom processor core with 3-D graphics, video encode and decode, as well as memory and display controllers into a single SoC design.
USB-IF Certifies Gigabyte for AMD USB 3.0 Mobo Gigabyte Technology’s GA-870A-UD3 is the world’s first motherboard on the AMD platform to receive SuperSpeed USB certification from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). The recently released GA-870A-UD3 offers a SuperSpeed USB certified motherboard to AMD users for the first time, while sweetening the deal considerably with cutting-edge technologies like GIGABYTE On/Off Charge, which allows users to quick charge their iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch anytime. “We’re delighted to see the GIGABYTE 870A-UD3 become the first SuperSpeed USB certified AMD motherboard because we were also first to launch an AMD USB 3.0 board in November 2009,” commented Tim Handley, Deputy Director of Motherboard Marketing at GIGABYTE Technology Co. Ltd. “We have made it our goal to be the No. 1 USB 3.0 motherboard brand through quick time to market and superior innovation around USB technologies.”
6
sme channels may 2010
Snippets
Emerson Focuses on SME Market In a bid to focus on the SME market, Emerson Network Power has revamped its entire Micro and Small UPS range of products. It has also enhanced other key products including Liebert ITON-600 BX, Emerson Adapt Series Parallel Modular UPS(6 kVA), Liebert GXT-MT + (1,2,3 kVA online UPS system) In-Pulse Inverters (30 kVA) and OptimizeIT. The product revamp has been done to further enhance features and provide latest technologies which can have an impact on customer’s business as well as reduce energy consumption. Emerson will work with its network of channel partners to create awareness about the new range of products. Ankesh Kumar, Sr. Manager Micro and Small UPS and MarCom Head said, “Our primary focus for 2010 is ‘energy efficient solutions for next-generation infrastructure needs.’ These products are a testimony of our commitment to innovation.” “Our target for these products is the Tier I and Tier II markets. The revamped range has been designed keeping in mind the current requirements of the customers. Our channel ecosystem will play a pivotal role in this initiative of ours. We have put in place a strong channel strategy that includes various training initiatives, finance schemes to help our partners reach out to the customers and explain them our proposition”, says Mandeep Gupta, Country Manager, Channel Business. The company has also kick started a 20 city road show and the cities include Mumbai, Bangalore , Chennai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkatta, Ahmedabad, Pune, Cochin, Nagpur, Bhopal, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Patna, Raipur and Surat.
Matrix Time-Attendance and Access Control Solution Matrix Comsec unveils a comprehensive range of Time-Attendance and Access Control Solution to ensure effective security and higher productivity. These products are adaptive, modular, scalable and function-rich Time-Attendance and Access Control solution designed for Small Office Home Office (SOHO), Small and Medium Businesses (SMB), small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and Large Enterprises (LE) and will be launched nationally across different cities starting from Ahmedabad. Product Manager for Security Products, Dhiren Jani said, “The idea was to design a unique solution that offers full-proof security, flexibility, as well as reduces the implementation cost drastically. Its modular design offers unique scalability option and supports up to 10 -1 million users. Matrix Access Control Solution is based on IP back-bone and Master-slave architecture. This ensures the installation more easier. With a complete range of products catering to all customer segments, Matrix expects sales of 50-60 Crore in the first year itself ”.
8
sme channels may 2010
my point
“The channel partners who are selling boxes today will not sustain for a long time as there is a growing demand for solutions from the customers. ” Govind Rammurthy MD & CEO, eScan
Store more with Transcend USB 3.0 Storage Device To address the growing need of storage, Transcend launches its StoreJet 25D3 USB 3.0 2.5-inch shockproof portable hard drive. With data transfer rates of up to 90MB/s this model offers much better performance than USB 2.0 external hard drives. Featuring advanced anti-shock design, the StoreJet 25D3 provides users with fast and durable solution to match today’s increasingly sophisticated devices. Backward compatible with USB 2.0, the users have the option of choosing from a lot of capacities including 250GB, 320GB, 500 GB and 640GB though currently it is available in 500GB capacity.
Kingmax Forays into External Storage Market Kingmax enters into the portable external hard drive market with the launch of KE-91 2.5”. Weighing merely 170gms, KE-91 demonstrates its exquisite craft by showing an ID design without any visible screw on its exterior. With its sleek look as well as its easy-to-use built-in software, KE-91 is definitely a product of style and practicality. Kingmax KE-91 has an USB interface of high compatibility, password-protected data encryption, file backup and enhancement software to maximize users’ convenience. Further, KE-91 is available in Elegant Black, Chic Gray and Brilliant Red with either 320GB or 500 GB capacity to choose from. Consumers can mix and match to create a portable hard drive.
eScan Ready to Protect Linux Systems In order to protect Linux systems from virus threats, eScan unveils Linux version 3.0. A complete antivirus solution for both Linux desktops and file servers, the antivirus comes with an improved antivirus engine that is capable of quicker scanning and better detection of the latest threats. It can read inside the data stream and virtually scans all types of files. It allows the user to run preset action like disinfect, delete, rename or prompt for action.
Snippets
GlacialTech launches IGLOO 5760 Multiple Platforms CPU Cooler GlacialTech launches the latest IGLOO 5760 Multiple Platforms CPU cooler. The unique design of the CPU Cooler incorporates a specially aligned copper heat pipe for dissipating the heat from the CPU directly into the heat sink fins. From there, the Silent bullet axial fan quietly and efficiently brings the temperature down. The fan is a unique concept that not only cools down the radiator, but the added blow down effect also cools down the heat sink directly above the CPU. The PWM version has a dual adjustable speed fan setup which brings the temperature down according to the needs. The entire heat sink keeps a relatively low profile and weighs nominal, making more safe and light.
ECS AMD based Mobos Ideal for Nextgen Apps ECS unveils A885GM-A2 and A885GM-M2 motherboards based on the latest AMD 880G / SB850 chipsets with the latest features to provide mainstream users the most affordable Six-Core system. Easy to Build, Easy to Overclock, the ECS motherboards are ready to support the latest AMD Six-Core Phenom II CPU, meaning that users can easily get additional 50% performance over Quad-Core system. Furthermore, with the well-known ECS M.I.B. III (Motherboard Intelligent BIOS) bios-level easy over clocking utility, users can feel the noticeable extra performance by overclocking the whole system themselves. After setting up the ECS M.I.B III, advanced overclockers can further extract performance by using the latest exclusive overclocking utility called ECS eOC. The ECS A885GM-A2 and A885GM-M2 motherboards come natively with SATA 6Gbps function which provides two times faster transfer rate than the previous generation. Besides, all PCIE Gen.2 slots provide double bandwidth over PCIE Gen.1 for high-end graphics cards and high transfer rate add-on cards such as the ECS U3N2 USB 3.0 controller. Finaly, the ECS eBLU (easy Bios Live Update utility) and eDLU (easy Driver Live Update utility) deliver to the users a safe, easy and fast way for updating BIOS and drivers.
Minicom Brings Data Centre Alliance to India Minicom Advanced Systems, the Israel based access provider brings Data Centre Alliance (DCA) to India. DCA was initiated by Minicom to fill the information gap in the marketplace by providing a centralized, comprehensive source for building successful IT infrastructures. The key operation of the DCA is to serve as a central repository of data centre and server room products and services and to provide IT decision makers with a clear understanding of the different solutions available for their IT infrastructures. In India Minicom is being represented by Emarson IT Solutions and Prateek Jaswant, CEO & CoFounder of the company says, “We are proud to be a part of this new initiative to provide infrastructure monitoring, control solutions which increase the data efficiency. The data centre alliance gives members credibility and access, making it easier for them to expand their client base.” Eli Sassion, President and Founder CEO – Minicom Said, “We at Data Centre Alliance bring together the best in class IT infrastructure manufacturers to one platform, where IT decision makers can find the information they need to make smart decisions about their growing data centre needs.” The value of the program is having quality offerings from all aspects of the IT infrastructure in one convenient location, so that companies can see all the puzzle pieces in one place. For companies looking to improve productivity in the fields of power, KVM, network management, remote access, environmental monitoring and airflow, the data centre alliance is the answer.
Brocade and Dell Bring Network Infrastructure With an objective to enable organizations of all sizes to build efficient data centers and drive down costs, while preserving choice of architectures, Dell unveils PowerConnect B-Series open, standards-based networking solutions in Asia. Based on Brocade platform, the Dell PowerConnect B-Series of end-to-end networking products includes the PowerConnect B-RX Managed Advanced Ethernet Chassis Switches,
10 sme channels may 2010
PowerConnect B-DCX 4 Slot 8 Gbps Backbone Modular/Aggregation Chassis Switches and PowerConnect B-8000 Managed 10 Gigabit CEE/DCB Ethernet Switches that help simplify the consolidation of data center networking infrastructures and meet the increasing demands of virtualized environments. Brocade and Dell have once again taken their partnership to the next level.
MSI Launches 890GXM-G65 Mobo MSI unveils the 890GXM-G65 mainboard with integrated ATI Radeon HD 4290 graphics core. This feature rich board includes support for DirectX 10.1, ATI CrossFire X for installing two high-performance ATI Radeon HD graphics cards, USB3.0 and native SATA 6Gb/s and the MSI-exclusive OC Genie. Combining the MSI-exclusive OC Genie and MSI Unlock CPU Core technologies, consumers can easily unlock the hidden CPU cores from the BIOS option to enhance the overall CPU performance and C/P value, as well as boost the CPU performance by 148%. Unlock CPU Core technology, exclusive from MSI, can unlock the hidden cores in the CPU by making a few selections from the BIOS. By unlocking a dual core CPU into a quad core CPU, users can boost the CPU performance over 104%. When working with the OC Genie automatic overclocking technology from MSI, the OC Genie can smartly adjust the CPU clock to boost the CPU performance up to 148%. The combination of Unlock CPU Core and OC Genie doubles its performance. The 890GXM-G65 supports the fastest 140W AMD CPUs allowing consumers to enjoy the performance of multi-core CPUs with the budget of dual-core CPUs. MSI’s 890GXM-G65 supports ATI CrossFireX for operating two ATI graphic cards in parallel at the same time for ultimate, scalable performance.
Snippets
HP Rolls Out a Large Portfolio of Networking products Offering a stiff competition to Cisco, HP has brought out a comprehensive edge-to-core networking portfolio. The new HP Networking portfolio combines the best of HP ProCurve and 3Com to provide an advanced network fabric that is up to twice as fast with half the energy use, and at a 65 percent lower total cost of ownership. HP also announced that its newest internal data center will run completely on HP networking products, further demonstrating the scalability and mission-critical properties of the newly combined networking portfolio. HP Networking will be led by Marius Haas, senior vice president and general manager, and is part of the Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking business unit led by David Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager. The portfolio is a cornerstone of the HP Converged Infrastructure strategy, which eliminates silos of servers, storage and networking to create
virtual pools of resources designed to optimally run business services. “Enterprises are clearly asking for more choice when looking at networking solutions,” said Mark Fabbi, vice president and distinguished analyst, Gartner Inc. “The combination of increasing expectations for a more agile infrastructure to meet rapidly changing business demands and the more challenging economic climate requires fresh innovation, strong alternatives and a more business-centric approach to network design.” The HP Networking portfolio allows clients to eliminate redundant equipment by integrating wired and wireless environments with security from the edge to core. To further drive complexity out of client operations, HP delivers “single pane of glass” management to configure, deploy and monitor the network. This enables common policy management, reduces human error and creates a consistent user experience across access mediums.
digest Salesforce.com Grows by 42% in 2009 Indicating a growing adoption of cloud computing, Salesforce.com announces growth of its customer base in India by 42% in 2009 fiscal year. “We’re seeing an inflection point in India among leading enterprises who are increasingly saying good bye to expensive hardware and software that burn through precious capital and yet rarely produce the promised returns,” salesforce.com Senior Vice President for Enterprise Sales, Asia Pacific, Steve McWhirter said.
EMC Brings customized Storage for Private Cloud EMC Corporation helps private cloud by bringing in significant advancements on Virtual Storage. It lowers costs, improves quality of service and is more agile. Known as EMC VPLEX technology, it offers better approach to data access and mobility, changing distance from a
SMC Networks Unveils Router for Wireless Dongles
barrier that must be overcome to an asset that
Tuned for Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ USB Modem, SMC WBR14-3GN creates you wireless LAN to extend connectivity to a number of PCs. With built-in USB port, one can plug-in one Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ USB high speed modem to access broadband Internet. Utilizing advanced MIMO 802.11n technology, the router can share wired/wireless Internet Connections to PC/Notebook and other Wi-Fi client devices such as smart Mobile, PDA’s etc. It enables the user to share their high speed Reliance Net Connect Broadband+ Internet connection. With Redundancy Dual WAN Connection –internet users have always on internet connection with auto fall back. An easy switch from Router to AP mode is also possible.
over thousands of miles, schedule daily batch
can be exploited. It ultimately allows organizations to non-disruptively move thousands of virtual machines and petabytes of information processes in locations with lower energy costs, easily shift IT operations out of the way of regional disasters, and dynamically balance workloads as the business day progresses around the globe.
Canon India Sponsors India International Day at IPEX 2010 Canon India sponsors the India International
Lenovo Announces Financial Services Program WITH CIT Lenovo has signed up with CIT Group to establish Lenovo Financial Services (LFS). LFS is a new program that will provide a broad range of vendor financing solutions for Lenovo’s business partners and customers who utilize Lenovo’s extensive range of technology products and services. This program will offer leasing and financing options, as well as tools and online capabilities with the operational support of CIT. The program is designed to make it simple for Lenovo partners and customers to finance their technology solutions.
12 sme channels may 2010
Strontium appoints SMARTLINK as its National Service Provider Strontium appoints SMARTLINK as its National Service Provider in India. With this tie-up, the customers from any part of India can get Strontium DRAM /USB/External HDD/SSD & EVM Memory products replaced by sending it to the Smart link Service Center in 27 cities. Effective from the 10th of May 2010, the customers can get Strontium’s excellent after sales support via emails. For RMA Support Related Queries: rmaindia@digilink.in; For Technical Support Related Queries: techsupport@ strontium.biz. Furthermore consumers can visit. www.digicare.in/rmastatus.html to view their product RMA status.
Day at IPEX 2010, to be held in UK on May 20, 2010. In the expo, Canon will demonstrate their technology leadership and innovations specially targeted to demonstrate Canon’s expertise in providing world class leading solutions for their partners and customers that help them enhance their business and profitability.
Grassroots Channel Bags order from Hi-Tech Solutions Grassroots Channels has been appointed by Bangalore-based Hi Tech Solutions as its global marketing partner. Hi-Tech Solutions is an Indian company that develops and manufactures innovative products that increase the personal and corporate productivity of every computer user. Hi -Tech has an interesting portfolio of ‘convenience tech products.
Snippets
NETGEAR ReadyNAS is Now VMware Certified NETGEAR ReadyNAS family of business-class, high-performance unified network storage devices has achieved VMware Ready status. Both desktop and rack-mount ReadyNAS for Business products, including the recently announced ReadyNAS 3100 and ReadyNAS 4200, have all passed their rigorous VMware testing for the NFS and now the iSCSI protocols. “Server virtualization projects require network storage to give business customers dramatic improvements in hardware efficiency, cost savings and scalability,” said Atul Jain, Country Manager (India & SAARC), Netgear Technologies. “ With the VMware certification, customers can confidently deploy the entire ReadyNAS family of business-class, high-performance unified network storage devices with the VMware platform to enable server consolidation and IT cost savings.” “The VMware Ready designation signifies that the products have passed detailed VMware testing, meeting stringent interoperability criteria, and are ready to run in production environments,” said Parag Patel, VP, Alliances, VMware.
GoIP Kicked Off 2010 with Annual Sales Meet
Go IP, the delhi-based Emerging Network Infrastructure Solutions Provider, kicked off the year 2010 with a sales meet at New Delhi. Attended by nearly 100 core members (both sales and support) of the company and partners’ representatives, the event took place for two days from 23rd to 24th of April 2010. Shiv Sharma, Director- Strategy & Alliance, GoIP Global Services Pvt. Ltd., said, “This is a regular feature of our company. We arrange this event every year to assess our previous year’s performance and create plans for the current year. We also bring in our principal partners to give presentation about the market and technology trend so that we internally get ready. We also take this opportunity to honour our employees for their contribution to the company’s growth.” He added, “This year, particularly, is very important for us as we wish to double our 2010 turnover from Rs.150+croes as of 2009.” In fact, GoIP as a company is present in all major cities and also represented by nearly 300 channel partners across the country. Presently the company has a head count of 140, which also will grow 25-40 % as of 2010.” Recently the company has strengthened its offering by tying up with RAD Data, Sun Micro and HP. Other partners of the company are Wipro, Sify, RADWin, Dialogic, Advantech, ProCurve, Juniper, Syntellect, TP-Link, UbiQuiti, etc.
Fortinet Q1 2010 revenue increased 29% compared Total revenue was $69.8 million for the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 29% compared to the first quarter of 2009. (Revenue in $ million)
49.6
69.8
29%
38.6
22%
30.1
Total Revenue
Product Revenue Q1 2009
14 sme channels may 2010
3.15 Service Revenue Q1 2010
4.1
23%
16.26
27.1
40%
Ratable product and services revenue Growth
Executive movement Rahul Agarwal, who has been the architect of Lenovo’s Global Marketing Communications & Services, has taken over as Executive Director, Key Account Business (KAB). Rajesh Lakhani is the new Head, Services Support, Lenovo India Pijush Das Takes Over As Head of Investor Relations for Sify Technologies V R Ferose replaces Kush Desai as MD of SAP Labs India, effective from April 1, 2010. In his extended role, Ferose will oversee R&D operations at SAP Labs, across Bangalore and Gurgaon centres. Hitachi Data Systems appoints Vinod Ganesan as Regional Sales Director for Western India
Snippets
Microsoft Campaigns for Safe Computing In order to provide safe computing experience to the users, Microsoft launches ‘Windows, My Safe PC’ Campaign. The campaign comprises Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) + Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) + Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) software. Engaging channel partners, Microsoft also launches ‘PC Reseller & Authorized Service Agents’ program, which will help make PCs across India safer. Through the program, Microsoft is reaching out to PC organizations and resellers across the country, whereby close to 20,000 field engineers will educate and facilitate a safer computing experience for consumers at their doorsteps. Rajiv Popli, Director - Windows Client, Consumer & Online Business, Microsoft India, said, “With security threats like phishing, malware and spyware attacks evolving, this campaign educates consumers on the myriad risks lurking in the online world and provides tools that will help computing environment more secure. All Microsoft products and updates are designed to improve their computing experience. ”
Mr. Gary Yang & Mr. Jayesh Kotak unveiling D-Link DGS-3200 switch
D-Link Unveils Green Managed Switches D-Link launches green managed switch – D-Link Green 24-port managed Gigabit Switch (DGS-3200-24). Gary Yang, MD, D-Link, said, “Now a days, environmental awareness is at an all time high and consumers worldwide are demanding more environmental friendly and energy efficient products and solutions.” Jayesh Kotak, VP-products marketing, D-Link, said, “D-Link DGS-3200is an extremely compact device that not only helps customers lower their operating expenses by cutting down on electricity consumption, but also reduces the capital expenditure on power backup.”
Seagate Shipped 50.3 Million Disks in Q3, 2010 Seagate Technology has reported financial results for the quarter ended April 2, 2010 of 50.3 million disk drive unit shipments, revenue of $3.05 billion, gross margin of 29.6%, net income of $518 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.00. The financial results for the quarter include $9 million of purchased intangibles amortization expense and $4 million of restructuring charges. The aggregate impact of these expense items is $13 million or approximately $0.03 per diluted share. For the nine months ended April 2, 2010 the company reported 146.5 million disk drive unit shipments, revenue of $8.74 billion, gross margin of 28.3%, net income of $1.23 billion and diluted earnings per share of $2.38.
Belkin leads Equipment Market in Q4 2009
IBM invests in developing Rajasthan Market
Belkin has emerged as leading player in the India WLAN equipment market in terms of unit shipments in the 4Q 2009 (October–December 2009) quarter. According to the IDC report Asia/Pacific Quarterly WLAN Market Tracker 4Q2009 released in April 2010, Belkin shipped 61,962 units of WLAN equipment in 4Q 2009, capturing a market share of 21.84% of the Indian WLAN equipment (compromising Access Points such as wireless routers/gateways and wireless NICs such as wireless PC cards and USB Dongles). According to company sources, from third position with a 12.01% share of units shipped of the India WLAN equipment market during 1Q 2009 to number one position with a 21.84% share in 4Q 2009 is an astonishing performance.
IBM reasserts its commitment to Jaipur and neighboring markets in Raja. sthan by continuing to invest in bringing comprehensive set of solutions for customers. Further, it will be conducting training and certification programs for development of software skills among college students by setting up Centers of Excellence (CoEs) across the state of Rajasthan. In addition to the three existing CoEs that were launched in Jaipur last year, IBM has launched another four Centers of Excellence (CoEs) to teach students the open-standards skills they’ll need to compete in the ever-changing technology workplace. The recent CoEs launched are International School of Informatics and Management, Maharishi Arvind Institute of Science and Management, Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technologies and Banasthali Vidyapith.
16 sme channels may 2010
book review
Master Oracle WebCentre 11g Following step-by-step instructions this book takes the readers to the web development. By Smruti C info@smechannels.com
details
T
ransform your organization into a personalized, user-focused workplace using the detailed information in this comprehensive Oracle Press guide. Oracle WebCenter 11g handbook shows you how to build enterprise 2.0 applications that facilitate collaboration and foster innovation. You will work with task flows and content
systems, employ social networking tools, develop portals and composite applications, and deploy runtime customization. Debugging, security, and application turning are also covered in this practical resource. The book has been divided in five parts. The first part starts with introduction to Oracle WebCenter and the application development framework. This section deals with the
author Frederic Desbiens, Peter Moskovits, and Philipp Weckerle publisher Tata McGraw-Hill price Rs. 625/Pages 498
WebCentre development environment and oracle application development framework. In the second part you can be guided to how building WebCenter Applications. You can know how to build your first WebCentre page, consuming and building portlets, integrating content systems and it will give an overview of WebCentrer Web 2.0 services. This section also offers a view of Social Web 2.0 services, etc. The third section deals with how you can tailor your applications for example resource cataloging, metadata services framework and extending oracle composer. Similarly in the fourth page, you can be face to face with how to administer your applications. This will include installing and managing WebCentre, security and applications deployment. Finally, the fifth chapter says about Oracle Applications Integration. From page number 481, there are some pages as index, which leads to easy guiding of internal section enabling users to find the pages and terminologies to directly touch upon.
sme channels 17 may 2010
SME Biz
lenovo
Aditi Ganguly, General Manager –SMB Business Unit, Lenovo India
Facts about Headquarters
:
Bangalore
Key people
:
Amar Babu, MD, Aditi Ganguly, GM -SMB Business Unit- HSB Rahul Agarwal, Executive Director, Key Account Business (KAB) Yathindra Nath- National Sales Manager-SMB Sales and National Vertical
Year of Operation
:
2005
Direct presence in India
:
9 locations
Products
:
Desktops, All-in-One PCs, Notebooks, netbooks, workstations.
Website
:
http//www.lenovo.com/in
18 sme channels may 2010
E
ver since Lenovo has taken over IBM PC division on May 2005, Lenovo has been sustainably performing in the China market being number one PC vendor for last 11 years. Of course the company was number one even before the takeover. There was a talk that East met West and it was a deadly combination at that point of time but by the time the company tried to implement its strategy an ominous market slowdown struck the globe. It could not take off as everyone was expecting. However there is no denying the fact that it is still a deadly combination. The quality of IBM is distinctly visible in Lenovo products, which are available at an amazing price point because of Lenovo’s controlled manufacturing process. You do not need to choose from the products. Each of the product line is different in itself. Now when 2010 is believed to change the fortunes of the entire market, Lenovo definitely does not see itself fall-
ing back. And, as far as India is concerned, it is definitely gung ho about its progress. Aditi Ganguly, General Manager –SMB Business Unit, Lenovo India, says, “Lenovo views India as an important emerging market that bears several similarities to that of China. There is great similarity between both markets in terms of products preferences, diversified sales channels and business environments. This scenario makes it ideal for Lenovo to implement its success formula from China on the Indian turf. In 2009, Lenovo revamped its business processes and systems in India to align them to be in sync with Lenovo’s best practices developed in China. The key business decisions included the introduction of new product ranges at multiple price points to compete across market segments, restructuring the sales teams and proactive initiatives to strengthen the channel partner network.” Lenovo India has seen significant improvement and gains in its business after the implementation
lenovo
Mantra is to
SME Biz
go
near
customers Lenovo treats channel partners and distributors as its natural partners-in-profit By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com
of its revamped strategy, as there has been positive growth over the last year. As per IDC’s India Quarterly PC Tracker, Q4 2010, February 2010 release, Lenovo India’s Total PC market share has grown to 8.1% in CY2009 Q4 from 7.3% in CY2009 Q3; and we have moved to the No.3 position in the Home PC segment. From the market perspective, while Lenovo still addresses multiple market segments with its wide range of solutions, this year the company is bullish on the SMB segment in India. SMBs and SOHOs lie at the heart of its retail strategy and the company is making a clear demarcation between its consumer products and SMB products. In fact its exclusive stores will now have special ‘Think’ corners. Lenovo has established a strong channel base with three flagship stores in India and aims to increase retail penetration in tier -2 and tier -3 cities. In January 2010, Lenovo unveiled the ThinkPad Edge Series and the ThinkPad X100e business ultraportable laptops to address the needs of a typical SMB customer. Keeping in mind that SMB customers’ PC needs closely reflect their personal brand and style, the ThinkPad Edge Series of laptops are designed to provide the ThinkPad USP of durability and reliability, while provid-
ing professional and bold designs. The ThinkPad X100e, on the other hand, is a pioneering product in the industry as it offers ultra portability and the ThinkPad brand promise at an entry-level price point. Today, when everyone is talking about 2010, Lenovo emphasizing on its R&D activities to bring out innovation and exceptional product designs. Aditi adds, “We believe that our exceptionally engineered products are highly competitive in terms of style, reliability and quality. As you may have seen, Lenovo was the talk of the CES in 2010 for products that spoke volumes about the extensive R&D that goes into making them winners.” In fact, Lenovo announced 20 new products at the CES this year – ranging from the gamechanging hybrid IdeaPad U1, to the smartbook “Skylight”; the new ThinkPad Edge aimed at SMBs to the business ultraportable ThinkPad X100e. Lenovo’s products, primarily the hybrid IdeaPad U1, were honored for its innovation and creativity with 8 distinguished awards. The notable ones among them are - CNET’s “Best of CES” award, “Best Product of the Future” by Popular Science Magazine, “Best Notebook” by LAPTOP Magazine for the IdeaPad U1 hybrid notebook. Apart
from these, Lenovo Skylight was also awarded LAPTOPS’s Best of CES 2010 award in the MID/ Smartbook category for its innovative design and unprecedented functionality. She maintains, “In India, we believe that the IdeaCentre A300 will make a splash with the chic urban home user. We believe that this All-in-One will appeal and impress with its versatile use, stunning looks and rich multimedia features. It can be anything from a HDTV monitor to an electronic cook book in the kitchen. Lenovo is also excited about the prospects of its latest tablet PC – IdeaPad S10-3t among the young and dynamic youth segment in India.” In its entire go to market strategy, channel partners feature an important role. As per Aditi, Lenovo is committed to enhance strong growth in emerging markets - especially India. The company is adopting clear-cut, streamlined business models by replicating best practices from its global and emerging markets’ experience. The company treats channel partners and distributors as its natural partners-in-profit and enjoys a very healthy relationship with them. She adds, “We are focused on building a robust channel base in India and are banking on our core channel network to facilitate rapid inroads into our target markets. One huge
sme channels 19 may 2010
SME Biz
lenovo
ThinkPad X100e ThinkPad X100e based on AMD Athlon Neo single and dual core processors and Turion dual core processors offers 11.6 inch high definition display. It provides ample screen space and an ISO full-size keyboard with a multi-touch touchpad and Trackpoint that makes navigation easy. Available in a variety of colors including ‘heatwave’ red in addition to midnight black models, it comes with 802.11n WiFi and optional Bluetooth and 3G Based on VISION Pro Technology from AMD. The ThinkPad X100e is Lenovo’s first professional-grade ultraportable laptop bridging the gap between netbooks and laptops, offers the users business grade performance. This is also the first time Lenovo and AMD have collaborated to offer AMD processors on ThinkPad laptops and to leverage AMD’s VisionPro branding. The ultraportable ThinkPad X100e starts at an attractive of Rs. 29,950/with the Windows 7 starter edition, making it a milestone product in the PC industry, and an ideal buy for mid-level executives, who want laptops that offer extreme portability and reliable business computing tools without the expense. The ThinkPad X100e, designed for usability, highly mobile and offering a professional-grade performance, is ideal for users in large enterprises in BFSI, telecom, healthcare verticals, and government, education and SMB segments.
factor for our success over the years, as well as continuing growth, has largely been a result of the unwavering cooperation and noteworthy efforts of our trusted channel partners.” The core strategy of the company is to build around its existing base of 7,000 channel partners, getting closer to the customers with path breaking product portfolios and prepare for more streamlined operations with Lenovo’s business partners. The revamped strategy of the company addresses priorities and roles in the distribution structure and enhances channel relationship and interlock. The priority of the company is to build core channels, drive market expansion into non-metro/ tier-2 and tier-3 cities, expand the product portfolio, especially in the lower end of the price band and offer customers improved levels of service across more service centers in the country. For the consumer PC segment in India, Lenovo has established a two-tier model – four National Distributors serve exclusive outlets and retail chains and Regional Distributors operate at a tier-2 level for the upcountry cities. On the other hand, in the SMB segment, the company has adopted a three-pronged approach. At a tier-2 level, they reach out to retail sellers, System Integrators (SI) and Value-added resellers (VARs). Retail sellers, SIs and VARs, in turn enable our reach to Small Office Home Office (SOHO)/ Small Business (SB)/Very Small Business (VSB)
20 sme channels may 2010
As per IDC's India Quarterly PC Tracker, Q4 2010, February 2010 release, Lenovo India’s Total PC market share has grown to 8.1% in CY2009 Q4 from 7.3% in CY2009 Q3 customers at a tier-3 level. Lenovo aims to grow its base of retail sellers from 375 to 1000, SIs from 250 to 500 and VARs from 24 to 50 in the year. In order to enable them for optimum performance, Lenovo also runs a lot of empowerment programmes. The company has recently completed a wonderful initiative called “Wings2Fly” - this was Lenovo’s first all partner initiative, offering them a chance to win a three-nightsand-four-day holiday package to Dubai. The sole eligibility criterion was purchase of a bundle of 23 Think-branded PCs, comprising 20 ThinkCentre desktops and 3 ThinkPad notebooks. Through this offer, we wanted to acknowledge our partners’ efforts and reward them for working closely with us over the past few years/months to achieve excellent results. As a brand Lenovo take prides in providing a complete brand experience to its end users. As a brand, the company believes that excellent service
and support is an absolute necessity to maintain the trust of our channel partners. Apart from providing impeccable online support, Lenovo technical personnel are always ready to address and resolve a customer need/problem/issue. The company also has a dedicated toll free number: 1-800-405-6883. Another strength of Lenovo is retail where the company has seen phenomenal growth. Across India, Lenovo has over 125 Lenovo Exclusive Stores (LES), more than 225 Lenovo Multi-Brand Outlets and 17 Large Format Retail stores (LFR). Further, with the launch of a flagship store in Delhi in the recent past, Lenovo has given more fillips to its retail presence in India. Going forward, the company is are exploring the option of introducing new retail outlets in tier- 1 and tier-2 cities – these new outlets will sell a wide range of Lenovo products under the Idea and Think brands.
Finally… After its success in China India is surely the biggest hot spot for Lenovo and the revamped strategy of the company is going to play a major role here. The company has resolved to walk the extra mile in engaging with consumers. And, SMB segment is one of its key focus areas for 2010 and its marketing and branding activities are very much skewed towards this segment.
business
Partner Corner
It’s Time to Surpass the Past Records Supertron will focus more on market development and channel alignment this year By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com
U
ntil some time back, nobody was thinking that East of India can be a place for IT entrepreneurship but some of the progressive thinkers had taken a risk and reversed the trend. East, represented by Kolkata, had taken the leadership role in changing the market perception. Not only this place had developed market but to feed this market had developed entrepreneurs to engage in manufacturing and distribution of the IT products. One of those distributors is Supertron Electronics, which under the leadership of V.K. Bhandari, the existing Chairman & Managing Director of the company, has emerged as the leaders in the Indian IT hardware industry. If we consider classical Indian IT distributors, definitely, Supertron Electronics is the leading national distributor. Established in 1993 in Kolkata by V.K. Bhandari, a forward thinker and pioneers in the IT industry, Supertron had been patronized for its highest standards of business ethics, delivering its promises, each and every time in the space of IT distribution market. Today, the company has touched a turnover Rs.929 Crores from the distribution only touching pan India operations. Mr. Bhandari, says, “Always believing that progress is powered by partnerships, Supertron became one of the top IT organizations in the country by building a strong dealers/ resellers network within a short span of fourteen years.” Today, it is one of the largest IT products’ distribution and service providers nationally. Supertron is a financially stable organization with
a consistent top line and bottom line growth. It is one of the few companies based in Eastern India to cross 900 Crores INR Today, the company operates through 25 branch offices in India. Supertron is an ISO 9001:2000 Quality Certified company. Some of the leading companies it represents are Seagate, Transcend, Buffalo, IBM, Dell, Acer eMachine, Unistall etc. Today Supertron has ranked 84th position amongst Top 100 IT companies in the country and Top 10 IT distribution company of India as well. Basic strength of Supertron is its reach across the nation and adding value to the principals’ products. Mr. Bhandari adds: “We have created our niche as Value Added Distributor in the Industry and this gives us an edge over competition. The vendors always look for some kind of Value addition from the distributors apart from logistics and fulfillment and we are commitment to grow the overall business of the Brand than just being logistic and fullfilment parter. ” When the market was going down last two years, this national distributor has grown exponentially. Particularly in the year 2009, the company has tied up with Acer as Exclusive Distributor for its eMachines and also with DELL for its Desktop and LCD. The distribution work very closely with the channel and try and adapt to the channel requirements acting as the Catalyst to the business both from the vendor and channel perspective. For the development of channel partners, the company runs many channel Incentive and pro-
“The Vendors always look for Value addition from the Distributors and we are commited to work towards the over all growth of the brand.” —V.K. Bhandari, Chairman & Managing Director of Supertron Electronics Ltd
motion programmes from time to time on various Product lines depending on the vendor guidelines. At present, as the Month has just started Supertron is also working on some schemes. As 2010 is going to be a great year for most of the IT vendors, Supertron is no exception on its expectation. The company’ focus is to further Strengthen and Increase the business of the Brands that Supertron carries as they see a lot of scope of Growth in all the Product Lines which they are carrying. The company will extend focus on market development and channel alignment definitely. Mr. Bhandari adds, “We also plan to add few products which we are not carrying at present in our portfolio in IT and Telecom.” Finally… After closing the year with the turnover of Rs.929 Crores, Superton is eyeing at a growth of 25% this year, which is much above the industry standard. All the best!.
sme channels 21 may 2010
sme chat
Rajan Sharma General Manager - Sales, Gigabyte Technology India Pvt. Ltd.
“We Plan To Take Our Market Share to 25% in the Year 2010” Motherboard market in 2009 had undergone through a fierce competition. Because of the negative market sentiments, vendors had to bring out a lot of strategy to make themselves different – either they had differentiated in price or brought out various schemes to engage the partners. In this competition to remain in the competition, Gigabyte had done everything right to remain as top, therefore, it was also recognized by one of the channels magazines as Numero Uno for the year. SME Channels spoke to Rajan Sharma, General Manager, Gigabyte Technology India Pvt. Ltd. to know about their presence and future strategy. Excerpt.
Briefly tell us about the presence of Gigabyte in India? GIGABYTE has been active in India since 2002, initially as a joint venture between D-LINK (INDIA) & GBT Taiwan, now as a 100% subsidiary of GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY CO LTD, Taiwan, we have pan India presence with sales representative at 17+ locations, tech support, 100+ locations post-sales network & an installed base of more than 5 MILLION motherboards. What is the staff strength of the company and how many places does it have direct presence? Presently we have 45+ employees working under us here in India. We have direct presence in 17 locations. What are the ranges of products you have? GIGABYTE has a wide range of products catering to different consumers. GIGABYTE’s product portfolio includes motherboards, VGA cards,
22 sme channels may 2010
notebooks and desktop PCs, digital home appliances, networking servers, communications, mobile and handheld devices. Our 90% business in India comes from Motherboard BU.
recommended by channel. For AMD segment we have recently launched 12 models in 8 SERIES, major being 880/890. Our major popular model in AMD is DDr3 based MA74GMT-S2.
How does GIGABYTE differentiate itself from the competition? GIGABYTE products are designed & developed with focus on quality & innovation. We follow PRICE/PERFORMANCE strategy in channels. Our aggressive channel marketing, expanded distribution network and enhanced post-sales support distinguishes us from our competitors.
What is your channel strategy? Our channel strategy is based on very basic fundamental; our partners & customers need good quality product, good pre- & post-sales support & a decent ensured ROI. This is what we strive to offer our channel partners across India, quality products through the best supply chain, incentive programs to ensure ROI, trainings and product knowledge to work as consultants to customers.
How many models of motherboards do you have at present and which are hot selling for you? For Dual Core/C2D, we have G31/G41 series, for i3 we have H55/H57/Q57 series motherboards, for i5 we have P55 series, for i7 we have X58 series, our most popular models are H55M-S2H, P55M-UD2 and X58-UDA7, apart from these our DDR3 entry model G41MT-ES2L is highly
What type of incentives do you provide to your partners? We have a channel program called GCIP – GIGABYTE CHANNEL INCENTIVE PROGRAM, under which we incentivise our authorized channel for loyalty, commitment & adhering to our business model. We have well defined rebate
sme chat
will run a series of benchmarks and depending on their score will be awarded points for having a top 5 result. The Competitors will need to run the SuperPi 1M and the Wprime 32M benchmarks. What is your manufacturing strength? To design & develop products based on latest technology, to be the innovation leader in motherboards is our strength. In India we have ckd manufacturing & currently make 60-65 thousand motherboards monthly. What is your turnover and how do you want to grow it in next one year? We have had excellent growth rate for 2009-10 at 32% and hope to reach at least 20-25% for FY10-11.
Our Aggressive Channel Marketing, Expanded Distribution Network and Enhanced Post-Sales Support Distinguishes Us from Our Competitors structure under this program to motivate and encourage our channel partners. Service is one of the big issues in India, what is your service and RMA strategy? We have invested in excellent post sales network and have expanded our service infrastructure at more than 100 locations in the country through our “Anywhere Pick and Deliver� service. GIGABYTE has a call centre service outsourced in collaboration with Accel Frontline, which assists customers and channel partners on all support services. We are planning on developing the biggest post sales network for our partners and customers. What is your focus on the brand building? Our brand promotion strategy will focus on three things – product, infrastructure and customers. On the product side we will be bringing in the latest innovation in Motherboard features, and
best quality products. We will also be working on developing the biggest post-sales network for our partners and customers. To reach out to the customers we plan to touch base with them at different levels viz. smaller cities and towns. What About 3rd Annual Gigabyte GOOC This year, the Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship is covering 33 countries thus making the GOOC the biggest overclocking event of the World. Country qualifiers were scheduled to take place from April 16th 2010 to May 15th 2010. Grand prize includes 4 days all expense paid trip to Indonesia for the GOOC Regional final which will be held on June 19th 2010. Additional prize includes X58A-UD7 Motherboard and P55A-UD7 Motherboard which will be awarded to second and third place runners up respectively. There is an additional prize for the best over clocker who uses air cooling. The best air over clocker will win a GIGABYTE P55-USB3 Motherboard. The qualifying will be held online. Competitors
What is your market share and what is your strategy to touch no.1 spot? Currently our market share in India stands at 20-22% and we plan to take it to 25% in the year 2010. Our upcountry sales increased by 40 per cent during the past one year. In 2010, we are targeting do-it-yourself (DIY) market in the country. We have figured that students, especially from the technical steams, form a very significant market, and are prime influencers too. We will be participating in select activities at college fests and will be directly communicating with students. We want to drive a message that a much powerful computer can be built at lesser cost if they opt to build their own machines. Tell more about your 2009 award for being No.1 We have won the best motherboard vendor award at the Channel Champion 2009 hosted by CRN magazine. The CRN Channel Champion online survey was undertaken by more than 1,159 unique respondents from 150 cities. The motherboard category was a fiercely contested one and GIGABYTE emerged a winner based on its aggressive pricing, expanded distribution, aggressive channel marketing and excellent post-sales support. GIGABYTE was rated as the best postsales provider in 2009. Channel partners have rated GIGABYTE as top motherboard vendor over all. We have scored number two in product availability, performance, partner profitability, marketing and training. But in Post sales support and channel policy and management we have rated as number 1. This is very encouraging for us and an impetus to improve upon the areas that we need to work on.
sme channels 23 may 2010
SME Biz
Kaspersky
Kaspersky to invest
$2million market in
development
In next six months, they will revamp the channel strategy to get cosy with the customer. By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com
S Facts about India Presence
:
2005
Headquarters
:
Hyderabad
Key people
:
Suk Ling – Managing Director - SA Jagannath Patnaik, Director Channel Sales
Industry
:
Software
Domain Solutions
:
Antivirus Kaspersky PURE New! Kaspersky Internet Security Kaspersky Anti-Virus Kaspersky Mobile Security Kaspersky Business Space Security Kaspersky Open Space Security
Revenue
:
$ 5 m (as of 31st March’10)
Website
:
www.kasperskyasia.com
24 sme channels may 2010
ecurity solution today has passed the evolution phase. It is neither restricted to end point or perimeter, rather the combination of both. The opportunity in the security market has grown manifold. Vendors offering antivirus to UTM to Firewall and IPS solutions have realized a growing market potential in India. In the past two years when the entire market had gone down due to the financial meltdown, security solution had shown positive traction. It was the time when cyber criminals had wreaked havoc in the market to gain temporary benefits. It was also the time, when most of the security vendors had become active in the global market. Indian being one of the large consumer markets had attracted many security vendors to start their operation. Kasperky the global vendor for antivirus and internet security solution had also become active in this period, though it had presence in the market through its distributor – Zoom Technology - much before. Talking to SME Channels during the announcement of Kaspersky antivirus 2010, in Delhi, Kaspersky Lab India’s Director-Channel Sales, Jagannath Patnaik, said, “Security is moving
toward the high-growth stage. End point protection is as essential as the perimeter security. At the end point protection, in the desktop, notebook and mobile device level, security is also essential. Here comes the big role of antivirus. And, an antivirus, which is compatible with other security devices and software used by the users, is the one, which will have good demand. Kaspersky is one such security product which gels well with every security solution – be it hardware or software.” He adds, “UTM, Firewall, IPS, etc., will only control the traffic coming from the cloud, but today there is a number of mobile devices getting connected with one’s PC including pen drives, external HDDs, mobile phones, etc., which creates high chance of infecting the PCs that contain all important data. In order to protect these data antivirus is very much important.” Jagannath Patnaik in this new role definitely wants to create a differentiation for the company. His experience in the security industry is unparallel. He says, “The first change that we have brought in is the launch of Kaspersky antivirus 2010 in India. Similarly, we will revamp our entire distribution strategy so that the end user benefits from it.” Today, Kaspersky operates in India through
Kaspersky
SME Buzz
jagannath patnaik, DirectorChannel Sales, Kaspersky
two national distributors including Zoom Technologies and Sakri IT Solutions. The former is based out of Hyderabad and the latter one is in Pune. Also, Kaspersky is based out of Hyderabad as its head quarters. As per Patnaik, there must be 100 channels partners from both the distributors but in next six months, there will be enrolment of at least 500 partners. Kaspersky also takes well care of the partners’ benefits. He adds, “We provide a very good margin to the partners though it is not visible at the onset. These are very trickily unbundled with its products offerings.” From the products’ perspective, Kaspersky offers a healthy basket of antivirus solutions. Everyone knows that before entering into Indian market, the brand was known from the OEMs. A number of antivirus vendors were using the core engine of antivirus in their products be it firewall, UTM or IPS. But with the brand getting popular Kaspersky has entered into the Indian market. After nearly five years of its operations in India through its distributors, finally the antivirus vendor is physically present in the country with people under its own payroll. So the action we were seeing from the company earlier will surely be different this time. They are more close to the
There will be enrolment of at least 500 channels partners at the end of two quarters market and they will surely be more responsive. This is already visible from their action of launching one product after another. First, Alexander Gnatusin, Director of Channel, SA, Kaspersky Labs visited India and announced the availability of Kaspersky Internet security 2010 single user software. Now, Maxim Mitrokhin, Director Operations - Kaspersky Lab, APAC region visited India and announced Antivirus 2010 single user. software. Priced at Rs.449, this antivirus solution is believed to be one of the best in the industry. It offers a number of improved features together with unique protection technologies to address the latest online threats, keeping the PC running smoothly and customize protection according to the activities. Adding about Kaspersky products road map, Patnaik says, “We already have Kaspersky antivirus and Kaspersky Internet Security. Kaspersky mobile security and Kaspersky pure will be introduced soon for the retail market. In the business products space, we have KBSS and KOSS.”
Going forward, in six months, Kaspersky Lab India will have partners for all these products. There will be a national distributor for corporate sales (already there are two national distributors for retail sales). Under him there will be various channels partners for enterprise sales. Similarly, for box selling the company will establish regional distributors and sub-distributors.
Finally… Kaspersky understands that India is a highly competitive market and in order to make the product popular there is a need of all round marketing activity and the company needs huge investment. Therefore, Kaspersky has earmarked a budget of US$ 2million for developing the Indian market this year. This budget will basically be spent in phased manner in various activities including customer and channel education programmes, schemes, road shows, etc. The company will participate in various exhibitions and road shows. The company will take print and electronic media for brand promotion. Incentives and goodies will be provided to customers and channels partners. All this activities hopefully will help the company to double its sales turnover from US$ 5 million last year to US$ 10 million this year.
sme channels 25 may 2010
COVER STORY
security
UTM to be
panacea forsmes’ security concerns
Partners need to advise customers to go for right UTM than giving them solution as per their budget. It is a matter of business continuity than mere technology acquisition! By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com
W
ith the market slowdown in 2009, the cyber criminals had a real laugh. They were left scot free in the networks posing multimillion dollar loss to the enterprises. Although the large enterprises somehow survived the onslaught but SMEs had to bear the brunt of the attack. Not only had they lost multimillion dollar in terms of managing their resources, but also they had lost many of their customers not being responsive. Those SMEs who had dared to deploy advanced security solutions at a price could somehow wither the torrent period but surely struggled for managing their technology. Year 2010 coming with a great optimism, the situation may not look improved for those enterprises if they do not take care while choosing the technologies. And, Unified Threat Management (UTM) is one such technology, which the SMEs have taken serious note of during the past year and in the current year also more
26 sme channels may 2010
and more SMEs need to participate in UTM technology for insuring them from security threat at the same time saving a lot of cost. Ever since the UTM’s inception, it has been growing at a healthy rate. Even the harsh economic condition in 2009 has not checked its pace. During 2008, the market witnessed a growth rate of 32.2 percent, the growth rate however dropped to 20.1 percent in 2009 due to the recession but as the market rebounds, Frost & Sullivan predicts growth rates will increase in 2010 and 2011. Analysis from Frost & Sullivan’s World UTM Products Market report found that the market earned revenues of over $1.97 billion in 2009 and estimated that this figure will reach approximately $7 billion in 2016. As per the company UTM’s strongest value proposition lies in its ability to consolidate multiple security products. UTM seeks to combine essential and common security functions such as firewall/virtual private network (VPN), intrusion prevention system (IPS), anti-
spam, antivirus, content filtering, and even data leakage protection (DLP) and vulnerability management capabilities. As per Kartik Subramaniam, Lead Analyst, Security Solutions, IDC India, Organisations in the small and medium business (SMB) segment and large enterprises looking for cost effective, manageable security offerings are the primary market for UTM appliances. Also, regional branches of large enterprises across verticals like banking and research and development institutions seeking higher throughput too have gone in for UTM appliances. The initial wave was led by the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which still continue to find UTMs as the preferred security solution. UTMs have caught up with large enterprises in the recent times as vendors have enhanced the robustness of their offerings with higher throughputs. As far as India is concern, the UTM market growth is almost at par with the global market but
security
COVER STORY
In 2010, the total available market for UTM is $3.1B with a CAGR of 26.2% and has already surpassed the firewall market.
sme channels 27 may 2010
COVER STORY
security
“A channel partner should always try to find out the growth plans of the organization before suggesting the security solutions to them.” Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Regional Director – India & SAARC, Check Point Software Technologies considering the size of the market the deployment is surely low. Since the appliance gives a sense of sophistication and takes so many of functionalities within it, the customers always take it as a costly proposition and shy away from deploying it. But the fact is that UTMs are cost effective and as secure as the point products. Kartik adds, “The India UTM market comprises Fortinet, Cisco, Sonicwall, Cyberoam (Elitecore), Juniper and Checkpoint among the large players. This market has been dynamic in the last few years and has seen the entry of new players like Astaro, Palo Alto Networks and a few others enter this space.” He says, “The availability of multiple security features within a single box makes UTMs popular among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Also, this solution addresses aspects such as manageability, reduced complexity and low cost. Another trend, which has emerged in the UTM space is the increase in the number of models from vendors with higher capabilities in each security layer. This has led to even large enterprises showing an inclination for UTMs with higher configurations.” UTM against its initial versions has also evolved to be very powerful machines. Vishak Raman, regional director for Fortinet SAARC & Saudi Arabia, says, “Presently, Fortinet’s UTM solutions’ has the proven ability to secure service providers and enterprises of all sizes, include large organizations in the banking, government and telco industry verticals.” Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Regional Director – India & SAARC, Check Point Software Technologies, says, “In the world of network security, unified threat management (UTM) appliances have emerged as an effective means to consolidate security functions into a single device and help resourced-strapped organizations manage IT security functions with less administrative overhead. Commonly found in mid-size & small businesses and also at branch offices of larger
28 sme channels may 2010
enterprises, critics still complain that many of the devices simply do not do enough, requiring that companies invest in add-ons to improve security across the board.” He adds, “In the current era the threats landscape has expanded with expanding usage of social networking both for personal and business purpose started rising. Some of the popular applications like instant-messaging (IM) and peer-topeer (P2P) file-sharing applications including KaZaA and Morpheus became immediate threat to organisations. The current age UTMs enable administrators to set up protocols under which user activity with these applications is monitored
“We continue to work with partners who share our philosophy and commitment to our customers.” Subhomoy Biswas, Country Director, India & SAARC, SonicWALL
and judged. Advanced UTM does not stop these applications—instead, they allow organisation to control what is allowed and what is not.” Tushar Sighat, VP-Operations, CyberoamIndia, says, “UTMs have been around since 200405. As per demand from SMEs and enterprises, there have been significant improvements over the past few years in UTM technology to keep pace with a rapidly evolving threat scenario. Newer forms of threats include blended threats which combine spam, spyware, viruses, worms, Trojans, and web-based exploits to launch surprise attacks from exposed points in the network.” He adds, UTM solutions are relevant to the SMEs more than the large enterprises because of a lot of benefits, which include Greater Flexibility in Choice, Lower TCO and New Technologies Support including Cloud Computing. Tushar adds, “SMEs want to improve their choice criteria in matching the right solution within their unique security and performance requirements. In order to address rising performance requirements of this high growth segment, Cyberoam has introduced new features such as Application Layer 7 Visibility, Instant Messenger Archiving and Control, IPv6 Traffic Forwarding support, HTTPS/ SSL Visibility and Thin Client Support.” Fortinent being the leader has redrawn the innovation curve for the technology with FortiOS 4.0 launch last year by adding additional four features to an already wide selection of seven core security functions. The four new functionalities added include application control, data leakage protection (DLP), WAN optimization and SSL traffic inspection. Fortinet’s FortiGate UTM appliance has the ability to now provide application control. This functionality has the ability to recognize traffic, as the application, which is generating it, instead of the port or protocol observed. Fortinet’s application control function also enforces security policy for more than 1,000 applications; facilitates control over evasive applications that use non-standard ports, ports-hopping, or tunneling within trusted ports and protocols. SonicWALL’s family of network security appliances combines robust security services with high-speed deep packet inspection to provide small and mid-size organizations the best protection possible. SonicWALL TZ and Network Security Appliance (NSA) Series solutions are engineered to reduce cost, risk and complexity by integrating automated and dynamic security capabilities for comprehensive protection and maximum performance. For enterprise network administrators, sourcing, installing, integrating and maintaining
security
multiple security products and services from multiple vendors can be prohibitively expensive and complex. SonicWALL E-Class Network Security Appliances (E-Class NSA) can be configured into a single customised enterprise solution, using an expanding array of seamlessly integrated services for gateway anti-virus, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention, enforced desktop anti-virus, content filtering and more. E-Class NSAs also intelligently enforce and dynamically update each of these services as new updates become available, reducing administrative overhead. On the other hand, Cyberoam has stepped beyond traditional features such as firewall, IPS, gateway anti-malware and anti-spam, bandwidth management and content filtering to yield a more future-ready security solution. These include powerful new applications, architecture improvement and feature enhancements. Some of these extended applications included by Cyberoam in its UTMs are On-appliance SSL VPN, Protection against HTTPS based Malware Threats, Instant Messenger Archiving and Controls, Application Layer 7 Visibility, IPv6 Traffic Forwarding Support, Next-Generation GUI, Future-Ready Architecture, High Availability, Dynamic Routing, etc. However at the core of Cyberoam UTMs remain the identity-based security technology, which makes it different
“Cyberoam helps its partners achieve and demonstrate competence and gain industry recognition for skills.” Tushar Sighat, VP-Operations, Cyberoam-India
from other vendors’ offerings. Check Point UTM-1 security appliances are all-inclusive, turn-key solutions that include everything you need to secure your network. Each appliance includes integrated centralized management, along with complete security updates, hardware support, and customer support. In addition to it, Check Point Safe@Office UTM appliances delivers comprehensive, enterprise class security for SMBs in a single appliance with reduced cost and complexity—right out of the box! Small businesses can quickly and easily deploy comprehensive protection, including firewall, IPS and anti-wmalware, starting at just $299. Safe@Office available in six models offers robust performance, intuitive management and advanced wireless options provide unmatched value in a simple, all-in-one solution. NETASQ is the new entrant to the market, which claims to have true UTM in the market. “Our UTM’s comes with full functionalities like IPS by default. And all our specifications are for IPS throughput and not just plain firewall throughput. Unlike all major vendors where they talk of UTM, but they give firewall throughput and when we ask for IPS throughput then their specification go down by 1/10th of their firewall specifications.” NETASQ have launched recently virtualization of UTM and new hardware for telecom, bank and insurances enterprises that require a very high throughput. Then NETASQ will launch this year a new application Firewall and a new GUI to administrate. And, the company is present in the India market through its distributor Zoom Technology. The issue here is that although the SMBs have grown rapidly their technology implementation trend remains the same. They of course know that they need to go beyond the end point security to stay secure. So it is the role of the vendors and their partners in the implementation solutions is very much critical. Sriram S, CEO, iValue InfoSolutions Pvt. Ltd., says, “SMEs by its nature of size and affordability prefer UTM solutions with a simple management console. But, as the business grows in terms of size, complexity and criticality, they graduate to include “best of breed” point solutions in addition to UTM in a phased way.” He adds, “Unlike other IT areas, Security market is ever evolving with new threats almost on a regular basis. It’s impossible for every customer to keep themselves abreast on all the developments regularly. Partners, being the closest to the Customer, play the pivotal role to understand Customer business needs and challenges and translate them in to security solutions and ser-
COVER STORY
Partner needs to understand the following before suggesting solutions l Generating enough customer awareness on unified security l Ability to pitch for sales and deploy UTM solutions according to complex customer network configurations. For example, some customers may not want a specific feature such as bandwidth management or IPS. l The ability to deliver a complete set of desired security features at a lower price point without compromising on performance is a major challenge l Any security solution should be advised after a proper risk assessment of the customer’s network topology. l Partner need to understand customers’ priorities and needs before suggesting the right solution.
vices with the help of technology enablers like iValue along with the vendors.” Partners also interact with Customer during PoC/Demo followed by commercials along with implementation and 1st level onsite support. Being with constant touch with Customer, Partners spots new opportunities and business avenues for vendors and VAD’s like iValue. iValue complements its partners in every step of the sales & support cycle to make it a win-win partnership. The partner’s compelling solution and services help its vendor partners maximize business at current customer base and also help them gain new customers to grow the business. Fortinet solutions offer ease of scalability to expand their security operations to include database and web security, as their business operations grow. In fact, Fortinet has always been step ahead over all other security vendors. Fortinet products leverage breakthroughs in chip design, networking, security and content pattern recognition analysis. Fortinet’s high-performance security ASIC (FortiASIC) and patent pending Content Pattern Recognition Language (CPRL) are specifically designed to speed up the computationally intensive routines commonly associated with complete content protection and complete security solution. Along with the capability of its products of being easy to deploy and manage without the help of the IT managers, the company has a very good channel engagement programme to enable their partners. Under this programme,
sme channels 29 may 2010
COVER STORY
security
“NETASQ UTMs have the most powerful IPS Engine on the market and the only one which offers real Time Vulnerability assessment” Dominique Meurisse, Executive VicePresident, Commercial and Marketing Director of NETASQ the company has deployed a multi-layered channel policy in India. Ingram Micro is the sole distributor in India, which sells product through a select set of highly qualified system integrators and VARs. Vishak adds, “By ensuring that the company’s technology stays ahead of the innovation curve, we are able to help channel partners sell through much stronger with a cutting edge technology portfolio. Hence, we are a strong security vendor for channel partners to collaborate to address the dangerous blended threatscape for end customers today.” Cyberoam UTMs come under its CR series, which are special for their identity-based security offering. Cyberoam’s multicore enhanced performance and high scalability enables businesses to secure networks through seamlessly integration in most heterogeneous of environments. Cyberoam Central Console enables centralized monitoring and control of multiple Cyberoam deployments. In addition to this, Cyberoam has a comprehensive channel policy under which the company closely operates with partners through regular road shows, distribution meets and promotions in key channel media. Simplified partner functioning through automated processes, channel awareness, increasing customer support infrastructure are other key aspects applied to strengthen partnerships and helping them reach out to more of them. Tushar adds, “Our Sales team guides partners to add value while delivering security as Cyberoam invests not only in the development of powerful, integrated solutions that creates more value than comparably priced competitor products but also in training them. Cyberoam helps its partners achieve and demonstrate competence and gain industry recognition for skills, networking and security as well as in deploying, configuring and managing the Cyberoam CR appliances through its certification programmes, CCNSP and CCNSE.”
30 sme channels may 2010
SonicWall is also a 100-per cent channel-oriented company. Mr. Biswas says, “We continue to work with partners who share our philosophy and commitment to our customers.” The company has 3 National Distributors such as Redington, Luminous Technologies and Westcon India, who are responsible for pushing our entire range of products in the Indian market and the SAARC region and their contribution to SonicWALL’s growth in India has been immense.
“Partners play the pivotal role to understand Customer business needs, challenges and translate them in to security solutions and services with the help of technology enablers” Sriram S, CEO, iValue
Enhancing its channel engagement, SonicWall had launched our Authorized Training Center (ATC) in India by joining hands with Westcon India. The centre is provided and managed by Westcon India’s certified SonicWALL Trainers (CST). SonicWALL says its Authorized Training Center is dedicated to provide quality, convenient access to the latest training on SonicWALL products to customers in India. To enable the partners, Fortinet has introduced the Fortinet Certification Program which provides validation of knowledge and skills as they pertain to the Fortinet family of products and services. Fortinet currently offers Fortinet Certified Network Security Administrator (FCNSA), Fortinet Certified Network Security Professional (FCNSP) training programs designed at Fortinet customers and channel partners respectively. The Fortinet award winning FortiPartner Programme is being introduced in 2010 which equips the partners with customised tools and resources that will enhance the profit margins, give access to recurring revenue streams and provide with technology leadership through superior, next generation multi-threat security solutions, education, channel commitment and market support. Fortinet connects to the resources needed to develop expertise, grow business, increase customer satisfaction, and maximize profitability. Check Point sees the channel market moving from the typical box pushers to solution sellers. As per the company a channel partner should always try to find out the growth plans of the organization before suggesting the security solutions to them. A 100% partner driven company, Check Point’s Pure Advantage channel partner program offers unique opportunities for our channel partners of all sizes in this region to further boost their security product and services offerings. Periodic training and knowledge updates help the partner to be more proactive and provide excellent support to our customers. Partner business is very important to us. We consider that our achievements and success are theirs too. Our products combined with the expertise and valueadded services of our partners have been the hallmark of our success in the last 17 years. We always look at growing the business together. The company works with four distributors – Inflow Technologies, M Tech India, Texonic Instruments and WeP Solutions. Check point has six gold partners, 10 silver partners and with over 100 designated bronze partners. Of course, the channel margin in this category is one of the best in the industry. The obvious reason is that it is a niche market and not yet been commoditised.
security
For Forntinet the FortiCare Support Service provides technical assistance for all Fortinet products. These include FortiGuard Analysis and Management Service (FAMS), FortiAnalyzer, FortiClient, FortiDB, FortiGate, FortiMail, FortiManager, FortiScan, and FortiWeb. Vishak says, “Customer satisfaction and responsiveness is Fortinet’s number one priority. With FortiCare Support, customers can rest assured that their Fortinet security products are performing optimally and protecting their corporate assets.” Fortinet’s Regional Technical Assistance Centers provide global coverage. Fortinet offers endusers multiple options for FortiCare contracts so that end-users can obtain the right level of support for their organization’s needs. Attractively priced options start with either of two foundational programs: 24x7 Comprehensive Support with advanced hardware replacement and 8x5 Enhanced support with return for hardware replacement. Additional options can be added that include Premium Support with technical account management and Premium RMA support with enhanced service levels. All FortiCare programs are augmented with the latest support tools so that end-users can communicate online, open and manage support tickets, and search Fortinet’s growing knowledge base of expert-level advice and information. Similarly, Cyberoam, Global Support Management Centre (GSMC) at its corporate headquarters, Ahmedabad provides support services for its global database of customers and helps partners rapidly scale their support capabilities in step with the growth of their customer base. Cyberoam recognizes the importance of providing a full suite of support services to complement its line of products for which the technical support centre helps 24x7 to monitor and evaluate calls on technical and quality assurance parameters. Cyberoam customers contact GSMC through Toll Free call lines, Chat and Email for all support issues. All Check Point solutions are sold through Certified Collaborative Support Partner (CCSP). The first-line support is provided by the local Check Point Certified Collaborative Support Partner (CCSP) with full back-end support from Check Point. These provide a partner the opportunity to generate more revenue through selling more value added services based on Check Point’s Support. Bhaskar adds, “We see the channel market moving from the typical box pushers to solution sellers. The focus of channels is moving towards being a service provider to the customer. A channel partner should always try to find out the growth plans of the organization before suggest-
“Customer satisfaction and responsiveness is Fortinet’s number one priority.” Vishak Raman, regional director for Fortinet SAARC & Saudi Arabia
ing the security solutions to them.” For the customers’ benefit, most of these vendors have PoC either at their own premise or with the partners premise. When Fortinent has a test lab along with its support center for partner’s and customer’s demos, Cyberoam arranges for demonstrations at important industry events/ exhibits/expositions along with on demand demo for customers. For most of the companies, 2009 verticals like finance, government, education, telco, were the drivers of this technology. But with technology price going down and needs of various other verticals being noticed by the vendors. There will surely be customized product offerings for many other verticals. Forntinent has very recently launched the latest operating system software update – FortiOS 4.0 maintenance release 2, which is designed to help customers achieve better security, flexibility and performance from their FortiGate multi-threat security platforms. By default FortiGate platforms combine enterprise-class firewall, IPSec VPN, SSL-VPN, intrusion prevention, antivirus, web filtering, antispam, and Layer 2/3 routing services. Further in 2010, the company promises to seek technology innovation and provide a strong business value proposition for service providers and enterprises of all sizes to choose Fortinet to secure their networks and business.
COVER STORY
With 2010 starts, Cyberoam has brought Version X of its UTM appliances. The powerful Version X features help realize enhanced management efficiencies in organizations and strengthen the existing Cyberoam UTM. Extensible Security Architecture (ESA) and IPv6-Ready Gold logo ensure that an organization’s security is kept future-ready while its Application Layer 7 management offers the customers productivity in the Cloud. Instant Messaging Archiving and Controls and security over HTTPS/SSL traffic extend Cyberoam UTM’s robust security over IMs and SSL traffic. Cyberoam’s support for USB 3G/WWAN modem assures continuous connectivity for your organization. Recently Check Point announced new streaming technology that dramatically increases antivirus and URL filtering software blades performance, benefiting all Check Point security gateways through a software upgrade at no additional cost. In addition, Check Point has extended its patented SecureXL acceleration technology to all UTM-1 appliances, significantly boosting firewall throughput performance. Check Point’s new streaming technology enables a record performance for antivirus and URL filtering software blades. Its new UTM-1 Edge N and Safe@Office N appliances delivering gigabit firewall performance starting at just $750. In an easy to deploy desktop solution designed to meet the needs of small and medium businesses and branch offices, the UTMs deliver enterpriseclass security, including firewall, Intrusion Prevention (IPS), anti-virus, anti-spam, web filtering and remote access connectivity. These new UTMs appliances are based on the same Check Point technologies that secure 100 percent of the Fortune 100. These appliances include tightly integrated security and networking features, such as Gigabit Ethernet supporting high-performance networking capabilities and seamless 3G and wireless connectivity supporting the latest IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi standards.
Finally… UTM was created keeping a view of the SME requirements, but with the evolution of the products, the large corporate are embracing this technology. Investing in several point products, and installation and support, is an expensive proposition. Consolidating these products reduces costs and accelerates green initiatives by reducing power consumption. This is what is the call of the hour and going forward, UTM will rule the roost beating the myth that the point products offer best-of-breed functionality and a single appliance impedes network performance.
sme channels 31 may 2010
SME Biz
Cisco
smbs can make the
elephants
dance
Cisco’s SMB market strategy involves helping customers create a sustainable competitive advantage, improve their operational efficiencies, increase their employees’ productivity, and ultimately boost their returns and profitability. By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com
Facts about Year of Operation
:
1984 in USA
India Headquarters
:
Bangalore
Key People
:
Naresh Wadhwa, President and Country Manager, Cisco India & SAARC
Direct presence in India
:
7 locations
Products
:
Switches, Router, Enterprise Security Solutions, WLAN, Enterprise Telephony, IP PBX, Physical Security and Building systems, Optical Networking, Network Management, Cisco IOS and NX-OS Software, Interfaces and Modules, Collaboration, WebEx, TelePresence suites, Voice & Unified Communications, Service Exchange, Universal Gateways, Unified Computing, Application Networking Services, Storage Networking, Datacenter Switches, Blade Switches, Voice & Conferencing, Wireless, Network Storage, All Small Business Products & Services, Home Networking, Flip Video, More for Home
Contact
:
Vishak Gopinath, vigopina@cisco.com, +91 80 41593119
Website
:
http//www.cisco.com/in
32 sme channels may 2010
H
aving seen very bad times in the past few years, most of the technology vendors have tried to be nimble to address the emerging verticals. One can say - SMB is one such vertical which has even made the vendors, which were known for only large enterprises solutions, dance to its tune. These SMBs can be the real-estate industry, hospitality industry, retail, education, hospitals, professional agencies, ITeS companies, designing houses, broadcasting companies, etc., but their volume is quite high. And, when it comes to India, their number is really very high. Cisco, the enterprise network company, which is more known for their large enterprises solutions have also embraced SMBs as their growth driver. Though the company was focused on this segment for last 4-5 years but for last few months the situation for them has been completely different. The entire journey to the SMB domain of course started with Cisco’s announcement of acquiring the Linksys Group in 2003, which was the leading provider of home networking products with a broad line of wired and wireless products for consumers and SOHO (small office/home office) users. Post that Cisco kept Linksys as a sub-brand for its SMB offering but somehow the strategy could not take off for the company. It was obvi-
cisco
ously for the reason that the market for the SMBs was not so high, there was too much competition from the Chinese and Taiwanese brands and the market slowdown was imminent. But with the passing out of the weak market condition, Cisco has again emerged invigorated. Of course there is a rise in he market sentiment for the quality products. The company has fine-tuned its strategy to address the entire breadth of market and Linksys as a brand has been positioned as the home networking market or the consumer market and for the small and SMB market the parent brand – Cisco has come forward. Patrick Mathias, Vice President Sales, Cisco, says, “An important effort by us to expand and capture growth opportunities in the Small Business space has been the integration of Linksys Connected Office Business Organization (COBO) into Cisco. This move has brought the Cisco and Linksys small business solutions together under a single distribution and channel partner strategy and given us greater market share.” Today when the industry pundits led by AMI Partners, says that Indian SMBs are on track as they had spent around US$ 1.04 billion on networking products and services in 2009, which is a rise of 11% over that of last year, Cisco is quite gung ho with its SMB dreams. It is a fact that SMBs use technology to model
themselves on larger enterprises. This is driven by the need for them to communicate and collaborate on a regular basis with an ever-growing ecosystem, including suppliers, partners, customers, and mobile employees. Since IT can enhance a company’s effectiveness – and therefore revenues – and also reduce expenses, SMBs find that the current environment is ideal to make internal adjustments that would enable the SMBs to be more competitive and efficient going forward. Cisco’s SMB market strategy involves helping customers create a sustainable competitive advantage, improve their operational efficiencies, increase their employees’ productivity, and ultimately boost their returns and profitability. Of course the first and foremost of the company is to convince the customers that Cisco solution for SMBs are competitive in nature – be it pricing or performance. Patrick maintains, “Cost is a motivating factor for most of the consumers, but we feel consumers have evolved from cost to performance. CIOs look at operating costs as well as the acquisition costs. We work with all these companies and give them customized solutions. A CIO is bound to measure on the availability and reliability of the network. He is more likely to look out for performance since he wouldn’t want to end up choosing something that defeats the performance objective just because
SME Buzz
it costs less. What Cisco is bringing is quality performance at the optimal total cost of ownership.” In its strategy of reaching out to the customers and explaining them about the new avatar of Cisco, the channel partners have played a major role. Cisco has a comprehensive strategy to engage these partners. Patrick adds, “We follow a multi-pronged strategic roadmap to tap the rapidly growing market for IT and networking of Small and Medium Businesses in India. The strategy includes focusing on new customised SMB products/solutions and financing schemes like the Easy Lease program, and the 0% finance offering for SMBs.” He adds, “To increase awareness of its products and programs among these businesses, Cisco will continue to invest heavily in partner enablement and innovative marketing initiatives such as the Network on Wheels and the Sales and Marketing Services Organisation.” Cisco’s unique channel programs help its partners define skill sets required to successfully deploy and operate Cisco solutions, optimize the technology performance and to reduce deployment risk. The company is committed to focusing on its long-term vision to build a collaborative channel. Over the past, they have adopted an approach where the company is prioritizing resources around the needs of partners to help
sme channels 33 may 2010
SME Biz
Cisco
drive growth, engagement and loyalty. Further, Cisco will focus on orchestrating partner marketing campaigns, resources and enablement around go-to-market strategies, as well as the key channels priorities, to build next-generation partnerships and deliver on Cisco’s vision. Further, over the last one year, Cisco has aggressively grown its business through the distribution channel and the company sees significant gains from its Small Business program. From the reach perspective, Cisco has over 1200 resellers, 13 System Integrators, 10 Gold Certified Partners, 8 Silver Partners and 3 national distributors. To enable and empower these partners Cisco is committed to providing highest-quality support. The company conducts extensive training program to equip its channel partners with the right skills and technical knowledge. These programs are carried across Tier 1, 2 and Tier 3 cities across the country. The company also invites partners from remote location to attend training programs at the nearest city. There is Partner Help Online support path for
any partner issues, including complete presales technical, and product design assistance. This helps partners to clarify their doubts on Cisco’s products, technology and solutions from anywhere in the country with the help of internet. Partners can also search the extensive knowledge base for information, or open a case for more support. Cisco has extensive support system for customers with 9 rapid fulfillment depots in the country. These depots help partners with spares and product replacement on a next business day provided the partner has signed a service contract. The company has an extensive distribution network with 30 stocking point locations across the country. Cisco can reach out to any city through these stocking points. To create a brand recall among the SMBs, the company is also taking great measures. Two highlight some of its activities the company is set out a Network on Wheels (NOW) van initiative. It is a fully customized vehicle carrying on board a range of Cisco’s market-leading technologies, and specifically those that would be of special benefit to small
and medium businesses. This van travels the length and breadth of India visiting towns and industrial clusters, and enables business owners and technology decision makers to experience the technology in action before making their purchase decisions. It showcases customised Cisco networking solutions - including advanced technologies such as Security, Wireless and Unified IP Communications - aimed at helping Indian SMBs leverage the power of networking technology for business growth. The NOW van is a marketing initiative that has been in India since 2006, and since then has reached thousands of businesses in hundreds of towns and cities. Similarly Sales & Marketing Support Organisation (SMSO), which is a unique initiative undertaken by Cisco, to take away the burden of creating compelling communication and marketing collateral from partners, and enable them to focus on customer enablement and efficient support. The SMSO is within Cisco and creates standardized material and collateral that Cisco partners can use to approach customers with information on Cisco products and solutions. This has proven to be
CISCO PRODUCT ROAD MAP Cisco launches an expansive portfolio of small business technology with new solu-
day advance replacement (where available) and free software fixes
tions to help small businesses connect their business to the world, secure their network and communicate more effectively. The new addition is a family of energy-
Secure
efficient, unmanaged switches purpose-built for small businesses.
Cisco SA 500 Series Security Appliances with IPS: Cisco SA500 Series Security Appliances, part of the Cisco Small Business Pro Series, combine secure Internet,
Connect
wireless, site-to-site, and remote access with a firewall and optional IPS, email and
l Easy-to-Install Switches: The Cisco 100 Series Switches are a new series of
web security capabilities so small business can feel confident their business is
energy-efficient, unmanaged switches that provide wire-speed Fast Ethernet and
protected. The all-in-one Cisco SA 500 Security Appliance has expanded security
Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for small business offices, simply and affordably, right
features that include:
out of the box.
l Stateful packet inspection (SPI) firewall
l The Cisco 100 Series Switches are the first series in a broad new portfolio
l Optional Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) to prevent hackers, worms, and
of feature-rich, affordable Cisco Small Business Switches. Other series will be
other threats, as well provide protocol inspection and the ability to block Instant
announced over the next year.
Messaging and Peer to Peer traffic
l Cisco ESW 500 Series Switches: The Cisco ESW500 Series Switches are fixedconfiguration managed Ethernet switches that provide wire-speed Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity along with embedded security, quality-of-service (QoS), and Power over Ethernet (PoE) features. A part of the Cisco Small Business Pro Series, these switches provide the network foundation for a complete data,
l Secure 802.11 B, G and N wireless connectivity with WPA encryption and 802.1x authentication l Secure site-to-site and remote access with IPsec and SSL VPN l Support for optional two factor authentication with VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) service (optional)
voice, video, and wireless networking solution for small businesses as well as easily integrate with the Cisco Smart Business Communications System. The Cisco ESW
Communicate
500 Series Switches offer a broad portfolio of high-performance, easy-to-manage
Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 2.0: The Cisco Smart
switches that are designed and priced for small businesses. Additional features
Business Communications System (SBCS) is a complete networking and unified
include:
communications solution for small businesses. SBCS Release 2.0 supports all exist-
l Support for advanced network security for protection of sensitive business and customer information
ing hardware platforms and introduces support for new Cisco ESW 500 Series switches. Software enhancements are introduced for the Cisco
l Simplified network configuration with choice of easy-
SPA 525G IP phones to enable new video streaming and VPN
to-use embedded device manager or Cisco Configuration
capabilities. Release 2.0 also adds a new attendant console and
Assistant
additional third-party applications.
l Enhanced five-year warranty, including next-business-
34 sme channels may 2010
cisco
SME Buzz
final question
Patrick Mathias, Vice President Sales, Cisco
Pls. brief us about the plethora of solutions that Cisco has for this segment? Cisco offers a number of products targeted at the SMB customer, and these are under networking, collaboration, security, and communication technologies. Recently, Cisco announced a suite of products and solutions specifically to address networking and collaboration needs of SMBs, which would help them improve productivity and gain a competitive advantage, while minimizing time spent managing technology. These products and solutions are under the umbrella solution-packs of Cisco Small Business Pro, Cisco Smart Business Communication System, backed by a host of service & support, and financing offers. Cisco Small Business Pro: To bring maximum benefit of the technologies under this series to SMBs, a trained partner would also guide the customer through the selection, deployment and management processes. While these products can initially function as stand-alone solution for a small business, it also forms a solid foundation for future business growth, building an integrated system over time as networking and communications needs evolve. Cisco ESW 500 Series switches are a core component of this solution. Cisco Small Business Communication System: This solution offers the SMB all products and connectivity needed to serve its communication needs – from voice and data to video and wireless. This system supports integrated communication both within and outside the business, easy access to information even for employees on the move, simple set-up procedure, and assured security. This solution comprises a combination of Cisco’s Unified Communications 500 Series for small businesses, the Cisco ESW 500 series switches, the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 series switches, and the Cisco Secure Router 500 series, and integrates with a range of other products like the Cisco IP phones, Cisco 500 Series Wireless Express and other products to create a holistic solution for SMBs.
How different are these solutions from others in the competition? Cisco solutions are the most comprehensive solutions and are designed grounds up for the small business. Cisco’s small business solutions provide all the necessary capabilities and features to help enable small businesses to get their technology infrastructure up and running in a very short time.
especially beneficial to partners in smaller cities and towns, as they would otherwise have had to employ outside resources to create such content. Without the right support strategy the entire initiative goes haywire, Therefore, Cisco’s SMB offering combines all crucial elements of Cisco solutions and services, including intelligent services, growth technologies, strategic partner assistance, and world-class service and support. These solutions and services are developed specifically for the SMB market, making it easier for these organisations to deploy and manage their networks to achieve maximum business value. Cisco has also launched the SMARTnet solution, a technical support service that offers direct, anytime access to Cisco engineers and an extensive range of technical resources. This allows for rapid issue resolution, flexible device-by-device coverage, and premium service options to help maximise operational efficiency. The ‘0% financing for Cisco Multi-Year Services Programme’ is offered by Cisco Services and Cisco Capital. It provides an interest-free financing package for multi-year contracts for Technical Services, SMARTnet and Advanced Services programmes, to address the budget concerns that SMBs face. Cisco’s Smart Care solution is a proactive and comprehensive network-wide monitoring service that offers health check-ups, diagnostics and software repairs in addition to technical support for a customer’s entire Cisco network in a single contract. Patrick adds, “Our channel partners can also tap into a new support organisation that we initiated, namely the SMSO. This group creates marketing collateral for our partners who do not have the inhouse ability, and this enables uniform communication to reach SMBs from Cisco and its channel network. It also removes the responsibility of our partners to expend time and effort in creating such collateral.”
Finally… While larger enterprises rely on technology to improve efficiency and ensure future profitability, SMBs rely on IT as a matter of survival - to stay competitive. Cisco has understood and addressed the networking technology needs of SMBs and developed end-to-end networking solutions specifically for them. The company will also continue to leverage its Webex acquisition to penetrate the SMB market further through its on-demand collaboration applications, and its network-based solutions for delivering business-to-business collaboration. This extends Cisco’s vision for Unified Communications, particularly within the SMB segment.
sme channels 35 may 2010
Partner Corner
business
SMB poses Huge Potential for Security Products With growing awareness of Avast antivirus, it is easy for AVOSEC to market the products among the consumers but challenge for them is to package it as solution for the SMB customers. By sanjay mohapatra sanjay@smechannels.com
Facts about Year of Operation
:
2010
India Headquarters
:
Pune
Key People Direct presence in India
James Norris, CEO, Riyaz Sayyed, Sales Head :
Products
Website
To open branches in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata soon Antivirus For Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac and internet security products
:
http//www.avosec.com/in
36 sme channels may 2010
A
high growth in the Indian security market has forced every vendor to wink at it and perhaps 80% of the vendors have already opened their shops here to address the market directly. Avast antivirus is the last one in the batch to taste the heat. And the company has taken their global partner AVOSEC to make this happen for them. It was of course conducive for the company as they had created a lot of brand awareness among the Indian consumers through their free to download software policy. Most of the assembled PCs or even branded DOS- based PCs and notebooks had found it easy to download Avast antivirus than others. In the mean time, the company is also able to earn patronage of some of the key large customers including Reliance Industries, Reliance Media Works Ltd., Bhabha Automic Research Centre, Billroth Hospitals, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, DRDO, IIT KANPUR, Indian Space Research Organization, etc. “When we decided to enter into Indian market, we wanted AVOSEC to take the onus of making the products available and support the partners. AVOSEC is Alwil’s UK and Indian Distributor and has been a preferred partner since 2002 when the partnership started and,” says, Milos Korenko,
Marketing Director, Avast Antivirus. Founded in 1998 in London, AVOSEC’s main role is to support partners in both the private and public sectors with comprehensive enterpriselevel security solutions. The company offers resellers partners around the world with on-site technical assistance, project management, deployment services, pre-sales support, as well as an Emergency Response Team. James Norris, CEO, AVOSEC, says, “AVOSEC is specialized in the security market, with the employees coming from various security vendors, and recruited into the company for their excellence and industry knowledge. Our technical staffs are professional and courteous and endeavors to provide resellers and customers with a service unparalleled by any other channel.” The specialty of AVOSEC is that it provides software sales, support and training where required on the Avast product range for other Avast resellers and partners in the UK and Europe. AVOSEC is the only distributor to offer in depth technical training and support services. With offices in the UK, Bulgaria and India AVOSEC is a truly International distributor and the perfect choice to partner with. In India the company is headquartered in Pune and this office has a fully fledged team
business
“We intend to get a decent share of 15% of the Indian Security market.”
“Avosec’s strategy in India is to bill direct to all of its partners.”
—Milos Korenko, Marketing Director, Avast Antivirus
—James Norris, CEO, AVOSEC Private Limited
consisting of Sales Executives, Technical Support Engineers, Marketing Team, Web Developers and Accountants. James maintains, “Our core technical team will be responsible for carrying out pre-sales and post sales technical assistance to our channel partners and customers. They will also be playing a major role in educating resellers and engineers to enable them to provide optimum support to their customers.” The company’s strategy in India is to bill direct to all of its partners. They believe in a close working relationship with its partners in order to assist them with all pre - and post- sales activities. The company will also educate its partners on Avast Antivirus providing them assistance of quoting the right product and price to end users. He adds, “Once we are confident that a partner has the requisite knowledge of Avast product offerings, and is capable of providing 2nd level of support, we will permit that partner to appoint further resellers. In addition, we may allow them to work with our Gold or Platinum partners.” The company has a very good Partner Program that defines the terms and conditions of doing business with AVOSEC. Under this programme there will be gold and platinum partners. The program motivates each partner to do more and
more business by offering higher margins, incentives to sales teams, rebates and special pricing. It aims to reward serious and loyal partners and help them increase revenue selling Avast May be a very young company in India, but AVOSEC already has 150+ active partners and intends to appoint 500 partners in the first half of 2010 and more than 500 in the second half. Similarly, from the geographic spread stand point, the company will soon have offices all the regions. First to come is the office at Delhi, which will be operational in the very near future. This office will be responsible for supporting resellers from North India. Within the next six months, they will have branch offices in Bangalore, Kolkatta and Hyderabad. So, within first year in India the company will be in a position to provide physical support in Tier I and Tier II cities. Each branch office will have at least two sales and two support staff. In terms of support, AVOSEC claims to be the only distributor who can provide Level 2 and level 3 technical supports to its resellers and customers. In 99% of cases the AVOSEC technical team is able to fix most technical support issues itself. It rarely finds it necessary to escalate problems to the Avast development team. This is what sets AVOSEC apart from its competitors and gained
Partner Corner
them the prestigious award of “Best reseller of the year 2009”. The company also offers Level I and Level II certification to resellers engineers. These certified resellers will also help partners create confidence in the minds of the customers in terms of after sales support. It is mandatory condition for each gold and platinum partner to have at least one sales person and one technical engineer dedicated to Avast Partners with high numbers of engineers will be given leads according to their capacity to support the specific opportunity. In terms of brand awareness Avast is already a well known brand in India. As per James, “8 out of 10 computer literate persons in India are aware about Avast. With approximately 2 million registered Indian users at present, Avast is increasing in popularity.” The company is very much known for its consumer offerings it is only matter of time to convert that goodwill to cash in SME and corporate market and here really lies the challenge because these customers need solutions more than the products. But James is quite confident of tapping this market easily with the help of their channel partners. Towards achieving this, the company of course will create a campaign, which will involve focusing on B2B advertisement initially, organizing road shows, seminars, product demo and training, participating in conferences where they can get opportunity to interact with Channel community. James adds, “We intent to conduct seminars especially for corporate customers, government organizations and help them understand how easy and effective it is to have Avast protection.”
Finally… Popularity of Avast is growing at much faster rate. Earlier some of the customers were reluctant to purchase Avast as they had to purchase online and there was no local support available. Now With AVOSEC working as Avast distributor and providing pre - and post - technical support, the company thinks more customers will seriously consider Avast. Milos concludes, “We find a huge untapped market in SMBs who are not satisfied with existing products available in market and are desperately looking for a better alternate. We intend to get a decent share of 15% of the Indian security market.” However, the challenge for them is to cope with intensified price war among the antivirus vendors and packaging it as a solution for the SMB customers.
sme channels 37 may 2010
sme chat
Jerry Kagele, Vice President, Worldwide Distribution and Americas Sales - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
“Hitachi GST’s Vision is to Lead the Industry” Along with the PC market slowdown in 2009, global HDD market had also witnessed a fall of 11.7 percent touching USD 23, 4 billion. This had disturbed the health of every vendor in this space. But with 2010 global forecast for PC sales appearing rosy, it seems HDD market will be much improved. Recently, SME Channels spoke to Jerry Kagele, Vice President, Worldwide Distribution and Americas Sales - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, to know its India strategy. Excerpt…
What is your strategy for 2010 in India market? Hitachi GST will continue to look at new and emerging market segments that are poised to grow exponentially in India. What do you focus on India market? Hitachi GST is committed to the Indian market, and currently we have strong local support and sales team in India. We see potential growth in India’s storage industry and it will certainly play in Hitachi’s growth. We constantly evaluate and identify opportunities to improve our foothold and operations in India and to strengthen our local team in the market. The company has just introduced its first external storage solutions namely Hitachi X Series and SimpleTOUGH for India. To go in line with the Branded product launch, the Hitachi Partners Privilege (HPP) program will also reward members for all Hitachi Branded hard drives purchased starting from May 2010, besides the desktop and mobile hard drives. The Branded hard drives will have a new rebates table in HPP, offering members attractive rebates (via HPP reward points), as well as special HPP promotions for members.
38 sme channels may 2010
What is your product road map? Hitachi GST provides high-value storage for a broad range of market segments, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, Consumer Electronics and Personal Storage. To reinforce our leadership in India, we have launched products in HDD, Branded and the upcoming enterprise SSD (co-developed with Intel). All the product lines aim to offer ideal storage solutions to users with ever-changing storage needs. Our marketing strategy includes the following elements: l Extend the customer reach to consumer sectors with introduction of external hard disk drives to India l Capitalize on growth anticipated in 3.5-inch consumer electronics areas like DVR/Set Top Boxes and surveillance applications l Continue to drive capacity leadership in mobile and desktop hard drives l Expand our leadership in the 2.5-inch segment and continuing to grow our presence in the 3.5-inch segment l Continue to build our portfolio strength and presence in enterprise How different are you technologically? Hitachi GST’s vision is to lead the industry
in enabling the creation, storage, sharing and delivery of personal and professional digital content via a variety of products, services and solutions. We will not offer storage-in-a-box with a one-size-fits all approach. Our goal is to build specific, value-added products that meet specific market needs, and market them accordingly. What is Hitachi GST’s advantage over the competition? There are several factors that set us apart from the competition: l Strong global brand and long history in the CE marketplace (TVs, camcorders, etc) l Proven hard drives that are consistently ranked top in quality by our OEM partners around the world l Unique and stylish product designed for a variety of consumer segments l Simple and easy-to-use storage and backup solutions l Solid distribution channel and resources needed to succeed l Being the technology trailblazer: Hitachi GST kicked off the Terabyte Era with the introduction of world’s first 1TB 3.5-inch hard drive, and was also the first to launch a 2.5-inch ½TB hard drive
sme chat
“Our goal is to build specific, value-added products that meet specific market needs, and market them accordingly” How about your channel strategy? We see channel partners as our strategic business partners, who help us to grow our channel footprint and strengthen presence, market share and awareness. Our relationship has been strong and successful so far and we have been able to tap new and emerging applications via channels that reach out to specific vertical sectors, for instance surveillance, media/ broadcast segments, SMBs, etc. We also have plans to extend the network of partners to tier II and III cities, and enhance the brand loyalty of resellers via the Hitachi Partners Privilege program. In addition, we continue to provide our partners with consistent and quality channel support, for instance, organizing annual partner appreciation conference, quarterly partners meeting and training,
sales and marketing materials, retail branding materials, and resellers/ retailers certification. Moreover, our relationship managers will provide our channel partners with the best-in-class channel support. How about your Partner Program? Hitachi’s HPP program is an ongoing, long-term customer loyalty program targeting resellers, system integrators, system builders and retailers in 35 states and territories across India. For the whole of 2009, the HPP program in India registered an increase of 21 percent in the total number of registered members compared to 2008, and an increase of 91 percent in the total number of members whom consistently reported Hitachi hard drive sales data compared to 2008.
How do you want to empower them? Hitachi extended its HPP program to empower our channel partners with the following: l Robust and user-friendly online rewards system: Migrated from an offline, manual approach to an online system, the extended HPP program allows members in India to access a range of real-time information through a new online system with personalized login information. Sales data, reward points, promotions, sales and marketing tools, product announcements and other updates are all available on the online platform. l New rewards mechanism: Qualified HPP members can redeem India debit cards stored with the dollar equivalent to their rewards points, which are earned by purchasing eligible Hitachi desktop and mobile hard drives. HPP members can make purchases with the debit cards at any qualified merchant in India. The previous rewards system was based on gift redemption from a fixed catalogue list. l Tiered membership: Under the enhanced program, HPP members are categorized into three tiers – HPP Platinum members, HPP Gold members and HPP members – which are based on consistent, aggregate Hitachi GST hard drive sales by quarter. Each tier offers differentiated benefits where partners are entitled to quarterly bonus reward points, in addition to their basic reward points earned. l Branded products for HPP: starting this May 2010, the HPP program will also reward members for all Hitachi Branded hard drives purchased, besides the desktop and mobile hard drives. The Branded hard drives will have a new rebates table in HPP, offering members attractive rebates (via HPP reward points), as well as special HPP promotions for members. l Dedicated HPP fax line: besides the existing options for HPP members to upload/report their Hitachi hard drive serial numbers via online (real-time upload, batch upload, and email), in April 2010 there is a new dedicated HPP fax line which provides an additional option for members to send in their sales data for HPP, in response to members’ feedback. What is your thriving mantra? As a leading hard drive manufacturer, Hitachi GST offers reliable hard drives that enable innovative storage solutions, technologies and products for hundreds of new and existing market segments, including external storage, consumer electronics, desktop, mobile and enterprise applications. We will continue to broaden our portfolio and offer an array of new and innovative solutions to suit enterprise, SMB and consumer needs in India. sme
sme channels 39 may 2010
Product
review
Strontium 2.5”Swift Series SSD
eSys eWiz16HR Strontium 2.5” Swift Solid State Drive (SSD) is equipped to deliver all the advantages of Flash disk technology with the Serial ATA II interface. This SSD is designed as industry-standard drop-in replacements for traditional hard drives. A flash-based drives, it offer greater reliability and faster
By sanjay mohapatra editor@smechannels.com
Features n Processor: Quad Core Xeon E5504
eSys eWiz- 16HR is different from its predecessor in terms of specifications and usage. eWiz-16HR is a HOTSWAP model unlike its previous version which was a nonhot swap model. It gives more redundancy to the system when it comes to criticality of operations. Ideal for e-business, collaboration, file & print, distributed database management and virtualization industry, the server offers expandable rack-dense, takes less space. This model is also in 1U category with enhanced Quad Core Xeon E5504 2.0Ghz Processor mounted on an Intel S5500BC motherboard which is a Dual Socket board with 4GB of DDR3 memory which is upgradeable to 31GB via 8 DIMM slots. The server has ample storage capacity with 2 units of 500GB Enterprise HOT-SWAP Hard Disk Drives mounted from the front panel. The standard offering comes with a keyboard and mouse and also with a DVD Writer option. The entire system is powered by a 400W PSU. Ideal for the enterprises that are looking for lower cost of ownership on technology acquisition, eSys eWiz-16HR RACK server comes with 1 year onsite warranty and 2 years parts warranty. So the verdict is this power packed enterprise offering from eSys wizard is powerful, expandable yet affordable.
40 sme channels may 2010
performance than traditional magnetic hard drives. It uses less power, dissipates less
2.0Ghz
heat and is lightweight and more rugged. It
n Motherboard: Intel S5500BC
also offers fast read/write speeds and high
n Memory: 4GB of DDR3 n Power supply: 400W PSU n USB Port: 2x USB 2.0 support
capacity, making it an ideal storage solution for intensive applications requiring high per-
n Storage capacity: 2x 500GB Enterprise
formance and greater reliability. Moreover it
HOT-SWAP Hard Disk Drives
can reach 236MB/s read as well as 160MB/s
price Rs 69,990/-
write high performance. Available in capacities from 32GB to 256GB, Strontium’s swift Solid State Drive SSDs
Contact
give an ideal solution for users who are
Uday Tuteja, eSys Information Tech-
looking for easy upgrade to supercharge
nologies Pvt. Ltd. Plot No. 521, Phase-III, Gurgaon, Haryana-122 016 India
their notebook or desktop PC and is priced
+91-9313368368, +91 124 3010678-79
at Rs.9500/- for 64GB and Rs.14900/- for
udaytuteja@ezyinfotech.com
128GB.
overall rating n Product: Strontium 2.5”Swift Series SSD Warranty: 3 years warranty Cost: Rs.14900 for 128GB Contacts: Piyuesh Pandey Email: piyuesh@strontium.biz Tel.: 011-40568675
New Arrivals
product
aten
ATEN HDMI Matrix Switch
Samsung The new HDMI Matrix Switch - model VM0404H strengthens ATEN’s family of HDMI solutions. The new switch provides a convenient system to route high definition video and audio from any of four HDMI sources to any of four HDMI displays and targets the SME, affluent households and video solution market. Part of the ATEN’s VanCryst Professional A/V Solutions product line allows consumers to easily connect up to four HDMI devices such as HD Camcorders, Satellite Receivers, HD-DVD players, Blu-ray Players, Home Theater PCs, Streaming Media Players, or Gaming Consoles. The new HDMI Matrix Switch provides both superior quality audio and highresolution video. It fully supports HDTV resolutions of 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p and also video protocols including VGA, SVGA, SXGA, UXGA, and WUXGA. It is compliant with HDMI 1.3b, HDCP 1.1 and HDMI CEC. The VM0404H provides a refresh frequency of 60 Hz with a maximum cable distance of 20 meters using 24 AWG and 15 meters using 28 AWG. One feature adding to the switch’s superior sound quality is that it fully supports Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio compliant devices. With the audio enabled function, there is no requirement for a separate set of speakers for each source. Another user-friendly feature is power on detection, which allows the VM0404H to automatically switch to the other poweredon computer when either is shut down. n Product: ATEN HDMI Matrix Switch, Cost: Rs. 41,250, Contact: Sreeji Peethambaran, Cubix Micro Systems (I) Pvt. Ltd., H.O. Tel: 020-24251594/ 95/ 96; Email: sales@cubixindia.com; www.cubixindia.com
Samsung ‘Konect Plus’ Monitor Samsung Multi-Function Monitor (MFM) brings the users the option of connecting the LCD Monitor with the Set Top Box, Home Theatre, DVD Player, Game Console, Camera or Camcorder with its HDMI port, thereby giving HD Connectivity option. Designed for optimum clarity and picture quality, the Samsung Multi-Function Monitor has a dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1 and a 5ms response time. The Samsung P2370MS is uniquely designed with a ToC design with ‘Charcoal grey’ gradation – the ToC bezel changes its colour depending on different lighting conditions. Its Crystal neck with cobalt blue hue embodies a floating image and makes the monitor stand apart from conventionally mass produced models. P2370MS offers comfortable view with a 16:9 Wide screen and a high definition resolution of 1920x1080p. n Product: Samsung P2370MS MFM monitor, Price: Rs. 16,000/-, Contact: Ankush Sabharwal, Phone: 951244881234/ sabhjarwal.a@samsung.com
asus
ASUS ENGTX480 ASUS ENGTX480 graphics card is the newest product for hardcore gamers. It has the latest long-awaited GPU tech from NVIDIA for total gaming satisfaction. DirectX11 gets you in shape for upcoming innovations like real time ray tracing, advanced physics and full tessellation, while NVIDIA 3D Vision takes advantage of the added power to deliver Cineplexworthy immersion. The pure overclocking proficiency with exclusive ASUS Voltage Tweak and Smart Doctor – get 50% more speed, performance and satisfaction out of this card. This 40nm NVIDIA GPUs offers considerable power improvements compared to its predecessors. It uses the GTX480 core with 1401 stream processors and a 384-bit memory interface. n Product:Asus ENGTX480 Cost: Rs. 44775/- Contact: Vinay Shetty , Phone: (91) 22 – 67668800 / media_india@asus.com
sme channels 41 may 2010
Tech corner
cloud computing
Cloud Levels the Playing Field for SMEs There are many good reasons why SMEs need to embrace cloud computing. Here’s why.
Pankaj Mittal Sr. Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Impetus
brief profile An Impetus veteran and a member of the core management team, Pankaj has been instrumental in the growth of the company to over 1000 employees, managing multiple projects, and mentoring the R&D effort for building innovative software tools and components. He has played a key role in developing the organization’s intellectual property strategy and applying the same to create asymmetric differentiators that add significant value to Impetus’ products and client deliverables. Pankaj has worked on a variety of technology initiatives for product development, and has been a part of hundreds of releases of several product launches in his 17-years long career. He was among the early employees of Impetus, having joined the company in 1992. Education A graduate in Computer Science & Engineering in Northwestern University and BE (Hons) from Jadavpur University, India, he also holds an MBA degree in Marketing from the University of Indore, India.
42 sme channels may 2010
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the small, yet agile players that have an edge over larger peers due to their nimble, dynamic nature and ability to quickly respond to changes in the marketplace. Most of these companies have a mindset of innovation and entrepreneurial focus, which makes them a very valuable force within the Indian economy. At the same time, the SME sector is also beset with challenges. Absence of deep pockets and financial sustainability often make these organizations vulnerable to external trends. The global economic slowdown for instance, had a huge impact on Indian SMEs, which were the hardest hit. The sector has also been a laggard when it comes to embracing technology, which means it has been unable to leverage the positives of the state-of-the-art to improve efficiency and productivity. As far as IT vendors are concerned, the SME market is tough to address on account of its fragmented nature. Building awareness and dealing with a firsttime customer base that requires immense resources, hand-holding and investment has acted as a deterrent for most IT software and services providers. This scenario however, has changed, owing to the emergence of cloud computing, a trend that will enable these companies to enjoy the same technology benefits as their larger peers. Cloud computing to the rescue Cloud computing has created a big buzz today within IT circles and is being positioned as the next wave of computing. The three pillars of cloud computing are stated to be Software-as-a-Service (SaaS—where the application is run off the cloud), Platform-asa-Service (PaaS—where an application is built on a cloud-based operating system) and Infrastructure-asa-Service (IaaS—where customers can remotely use the infrastructure of the service provider—its huge data centers with hardware, software, networking, etc.) to run key applications. In each of the cases, the cloud makes available services that customers pay for, based on usage. Take
the instance of an SME company wanting to run a customer relationship management application to improve the experience of its clients. All it needs to do is approach a third party service provider or software vendor providing such an application and hosting it on its infrastructure, and ‘subscribe’ to it. The SME can do this without investing in expensive IT, and at a much lower cost than if it did this in-house. Cloud computing provides smaller players with a platform to host their business system requirements, where the system is maintained in a secure environment and backed up regularly, without any effort on their part. All that is needed at their end is a basic ‘subscriber/rental’ agreement and fast Internet access. At the same time, they don’t have to go out on a limb when their requirements expand. Services off the cloud are flexible and scalable and simply grow to meet their needs. In a normal situation, the SME would have had to invest in additional technology, upgrades, software licenses, or even people. Furthermore, by accessing the cloud, SMEs can be sure of availability 24x7. Service providers, who have invested in reliable IT, and disaster management systems, ensure nearly 99.99 percent uptime on the applications, which means they are virtually never ever down. Cloud computing also helps SMEs overcome their third most critical challenge after affordability and availability—resources. Most SMEs have the hardest time finding and holding on to good talent. Since such talent is costly, SMEs lack rightly skilled manpower or domain specialists. Thanks to cloud computing, specialized human resources and high competence teams are not required. The entire burden of manpower falls on the service provider under the cloud computing model. Here too, SMEs can make a saving. According to analysts, SMEs can save anywhere between 15-50 percent by taking the cloud route. The other big advantage with cloud computing is that SMEs can stop using these services, as and when they want. Just as they began, they can pull the plug with equal ease, quitting when they think right.
RNI No.: DEL ENG / 2010 / 3192