February 2016 E-Magazine issue

Avaya partners with NxtGen

Dell selects Supertron to expand its reach

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SAP and Lenovo partner

D-Link introduces DDS Service on WhatsApp

Disruptive technologies pose challenge to Network Security 44pg VOLUME XVII

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ISODA brings an opportunity for Tech vendors and VARs 46pg

Centre announces fundings for electronics manufacturing

T

o boost up manufacturing in the electronics sector, the Centre has announced a development fund of Rs.10,000-crore targeted at the semiconductor industry. The Electronic Development Fund (EDF), as it is called, will provide risk capital to companies developing new technologies in electronics, nanoelectronics and information technology.

The Centre will contribute Rs.2,200 crore, while the balance will be brought in by private entities. The funds have already been allotted to four VC firms – Karnataka Semiconductor Venture Capital Fund, Exfinity Technology Fund, Forum Synergies EDF Digital India Fund, and Endiya Seed Capital Corporation Fund. The Centre has provided Rs.169 crore to the four companies, while the VC firms are investing close-to Rs.1,000 crore.

TRAI Bars Discriminatory Pricing

The prolonged battle concerning net neutrality has finally come to an end as the country's telecom regulator on Monday in support of complete neutrality, barred discriminatory pricing of data services.

This decision will now effectively prohibit controversial zerorated products such as Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel Zero, with a maximum Rs 50 lakh penalty for violators.

"Keeping in view India's large number of Net users and content producers, the authority has taken a view that prohibition of discriminatory tariff for data services is necessary to ensure service providers continue to fulfil obligations in keeping Internet open and non-discriminatory," said TRAI in a statement.

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Comparing it against our previous generations and competitors. Based on HPE internal estimates, Houston, TX, USA, July 2014. 4SmartCache Performance done with equivalent controller in a controlled environment. HPE Smart Storage engineers, Houston, TX, as of 18 May 2014 posted on internal SmartCache wiki page. © Copyright 2015 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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HELLO INDIA

Make in India brings opportunities various innovations in disruptive technologies....

It is an absolute fact that there is a ripple effect on the overall economic growth in India. Infrastructure is the key driver of India’s growth. The country is a growth engine for Asia and there seems to be a huge potential for it in the manufacturing space, in sectors such as rail, power and healthcare. It is also a fact that India has not yet taken full advantage of the digital revolution. It may take a couple of years to remove the digital divide which will result in faster growth, more jobs and better services by expanding affordable Internet access to all. The statistics of the top 20 Internet companies in the world show that thirteen are American, five Chinese, and with one each from Japan and the United Kingdom.

While India has a remarkable achievement of being the largest exporter of information technology services and skilled manpower among the developing countries, it has been seen that there are broader development benefits from using these technologies. Digital technologies have boosted growth, expanded opportunities, and improved service delivery to confer their full benefits on society. It is vital to close the digital divide, especially in Internet access. Thanks to its successful digital ID programme and Aadhaar, there has begun a success story of the digital revolution for India when it became a global powerhouse for software development and information services. It has become a model for many other countries, helping governments to become more efficient and more inclusive in expanding services to those who had been left behind. The need of the hour for India is to create space for creativity, enterprise and to promote competition.

The slow pace of improvement of the quality of basic infrastructure – expressways, logistics, storage, postal delivery system and uninterrupted supply of electricity – has also hampered the growth of e-commerce in India. And, the excessively cautious approach of Indian regulators towards disruptive technological innovations such as mobile money or ride-sharing services has made it difficult for digital start-ups to enter new markets and achieve scale.

Going forward, Make in India week in Mumbai will bring good fortune to the country. It is the biggest business expo hosted by the country, where 68 countries participated, with a clear- cut objective to turn India into a global manufacturing hub and export powerhouse like China.

S. Mohini Ratna However, one question arising in every investor’s mind is how to improve the taxation treatment of Editor, VARINDIA foreign companies and ease the country's complex business climate. India would have to pay attention to mohini@varindia.com these details if it wants to emerge as the world's fastest- growing economy.

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CONTENTS Website: www.varindia.com

Publisher: Deepak Kumar Sahu Editor: S Mohini Ratna Executive Editor: Dr. Vijay Anand Assistant Editor: Samrita Baruah Copy Editor: C. M. Dutta Sr. Correspondent: Aparna Mullick Art Director: Rakesh Kumar Network Administrator: Ashok Kumar Singh Manager-IT: Subhash Mohanta Manager-SEO: Bidyadhar Behera BUSINESS: Commercial Manager: Amit Kumar Jha Circulation Executive: Manish Kumar Marketing Manager: Dipendra Kumar CORPORATE OFFICE: VAR House, A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex, Ignou Road, New Delhi - 110030 Tel: 011-41656383, 46061809 Email: edit@varindia.com Bangalore: Bureau office Marketing Manager: S. Kamala kar Correspondent: L. G. Swami D-103 G.F., Ashish JK Apartments Thubarahalli Extended Road Bangaluru- 560066 Tel: 080-49530399 Mobile:08904205750/9916134482 E-mail: kamlakar@varindia.com, swami@varindia.com Mumbai: Bureau office Regional Manager (West): Anil Kumar Sr. Correspondent: Mamta S. Anurag Residency, 203 - “B” Wing, Plot No-5, Sector-9, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai-410 209 Tel: 022-65561292, Mobile: 08108017479 E-mail: anil@varindia.com, mamta@varindia.com Chennai: Bureau office Branch Manager: Parthiban K A2, R.C.Residency, Cholambedu Road, Thiruvenkada nagar, Ambathur, Chennai - 600 053 Mobile: 098400 55626 E-mail: parthiban@varindia.com Hyderabad: Bureau office Branch Manager: Sunil Kumar Plot No. 103, Sagacity Apartments, Street No. 10 Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad - 500029 Tel: 040-32989844/ Cell No. 08100298033 E-mail: sunil@varindia.com Kolkata: Bureau office Marketing Officer: Sunil Kumar Correspondent: Kiran Kumar New Korola, Near Alampur, Land Mark Asian International School, Howrah - 711302 Mobile: 08100298033, E-mail: sunil@varindia.com Printed and Published by Deepak Kumar Sahu on behalf of M/s. Kalinga Digital Media Pvt. Ltd. and Printed at Pushpak Press Pvt. Ltd. 153, DSIDC Complex, Okhla Industrial Are ,Phase-I, New Delhi-110020 and Published at A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex, Ignou Road, New Delhi 110030, Editor - S Mohini Ratna.

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February 2016

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ROUND ABOUT

Net Neutrality vs. Net Imperfection: Who will win the race?

W

ith every passing day, more and more people are becoming aware of the connotations and nuances of Net Neutrality. First, when it surfaced, it was Greek to many so much so that quite a number of people thought it was a fad or at best a hyped-up terminology borrowed by geeks from the computer lexicon. The international debate has well spilled over to the Indian landscape. What still evades many is the timing of the verdict – the decision on Net Neutrality – that might come from the government any time from now, having regard to the fact that regulatory authority – TRAI – has circulated a discussion paper and different shades of opinions were collated. It has also created a good amount of consternation among the activists, startups and small and medium enterprises which support Net Neutrality. Their fear is that the discussion paper is seemingly tilted towards compromising the Net Neutrality.

According to Facebook, who leads the battle for regulation, creating a new platform called Free Basics (the earlier avatar of internet. org), along with other protagonists arguing that a regulatory mechanism will provide developers the opportunity to make their services and websites available free of cost to those who cannot afford internet access.

The moot point is how the “free access” is interpreted. Detractors are quick to point out that free access is limited to partner websites and applications. The internet.org, when it was launched two years ago globally in partnership with telecommunication majors like Samsung, Ericsson, MediaTek, Opera Software, Nokia and Qualcomm (through their mobile telephones), had given a lot of excitement to the people. Contrary to what it claims, it doesn’t offer equal and unbiased access to all services. Facebook is partnering with ISPs to provide preferential and selective access to a set of app developers and services, killing competition and innovation What I have to tell is that the Internet is a collection of communities and of technologies.

Its success is largely attributable to both satisfying basic community needs as well as utilizing the community in an effective way to push the infrastructure forward.

With a certain degree of confidence, I can vouch that the Internet is not the last word in the digital transformation. There will be several radical changes in the offing sooner or later. How that was possible? On a macro scale, all these were possible because of the seamless flow of information and innovation that has taken place. We should not forget that Google, Verizon, Hotmail, Facebook, etc before they became billions-of-dollarworth companies were just start-ups. Look at the panoramic innovations across the IT

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spectrum.

Innovations apart, there are some serious social issues that one has to take into account before we decide on compromising with Net Neutrality. Another argument put forward by the Free Basic supporters is that it will enhance net and broadband connectivity by piggyriding with telecom companies, which is increasingly penetrating into the remote areas. Undoubtedly, mobile use in the country has gone up considerably. At this rate, we will soon hit up a magic number that every Indian owns a mobile. Let us not forget that the mobile penetration has happened and is happening independent of net. As far as the price argument is concerned regarding mobile data charges, many point out that adjusted against price purchase parity, Indian internet tariff is quite competitive and they believe that once monopolies are created by allowing differential and discriminatory prices, service providers may tend to overcharge the customers, first by offering predatory prices to drive the competitors away and then charging more for the same services.

Yet another argument is that Facebook has already launched the initiative in India in February last year by partnering with Reliance Communications. RCom offers the Free Basics service under a “Freenet” button on mobile phones. It started with free access to select 33 websites across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa. This was subsequently increased to 80 websites. The progression in which the service provider expanded the services to many states and the number of subscribers which it commanded

in a shorter timeframe, they point out, is an example how Free Basics can help higher penetration of broadband. They feel that it should embolden us to try the scheme on an all-India basis.

The counter to this is that when Reliance had tied up with Facebook, almost a year back, the public opinion against discriminatory services was unheard of. We did not have a public policy on Net Neutrality and even now we lack one. But after February last and now, a lot of awareness has come through. Some of the major political parties and IT honchos in India have openly come supporting Net Neutrality. On the top of it, there are some unconfirmed reports that the government has asked Reliance to suspend their Free Basic services in view of the massive protests aired from different quarters.

Internet giants – Google, Facebook, etc – started as tiny start-ups. As such, they were able to build on existing Net Neutrality to offer their services unhindered by discriminatory moves by incumbents. Over-the-top (OTT) players like WhatsApp or Skype, which are the by-products of innovations on net, are now looking at exploring a regulatory framework for these apps. In a terse reference, the report points out these very giants, which had started small, now are trying to destroy Net Neutrality fearing that more players like them might threaten their revenues and profits.

There are no laws enforcing Net Neutrality in India. Although TRAI guidelines for the Unified Access Service licence promote Net Neutrality, it does not enforce it. The Information Technology Act, 2000 also does not prohibit companies from throttling their service in accordance with their business interests. Violations of Net Neutrality have been common in India. Examples beyond Facebook's Free Basic include Aircel’s Wikipedia Zero, along with Aircel's free access to Facebook and WhatsApp, Airtel's free access to Google, and Reliance’s free access to Twitter, etc.

Net Neutrality is not an esoteric matter, the concern of only a few netizens. It is fundamental to the world, in which the Internet is a source of knowledge, a means of communication, an artery of commerce. It protects the average user’s interest. Users who download gigabytes of data may unfairly hog bandwidth resources from those who don't.

Whoever controls access to the Internet will control our future. This is what the current battle over Net Neutrality is.

To conclude, I am an incorrigible optimist and sincerely believe that the government will protect the Net Neutrality in the interest of a vast number of end-users, start-ups, for facilitating innovations. n

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HOT BYTES

Avaya partners with NxtGen

N

xtGen has tied up with Avaya to launch “VCEverywhere” – an instant video conferencing solution that is simple and cost-effective alternative to complex, in-room traditional video conferencing systems.

This cloud-¬based service from NxtGen and Avaya eliminates the technical hassles of deploying video collaboration.

Vishal Agrawal, MD, Avaya India & SAARC, said, “Solutions and services delivered over cloud are a growing trend in India, helping its enterprises transform quickly and

efficiently, helping the nation accelerate its digital transformation.

The benefits of video collaboration on demand are tremendous, especially with solutions that are open, mobile and fit for purpose, making it easier for our partners and customers to not only to deploy video collaboration as a standalone solution, but also integrate video into the business communication ecosystem."

Quick Heal IPO releases at Rs.311 – Rs.321

Q

uick Heal Technologies has fixed the price band for its initial share sale at Rs.311 to Rs.321 per equity share of face value of Rs.10 each. The initial public offer would open on 8th February and close on 10th February. Under the offer, Quick Heal would have fresh issue worth Rs.2,500 million as well as an offer for sale upto 6,269,558 shares by promoters, Kailash SahebraoKatkar and Sanjay SahebraoKatkar and PE investor.

Marking its business

presence in India, thecompany is expanding its business successfully across theinternational market. Sanjay Katkar, CTO & MD, Quickheal Technologies, stated, “Quick Heal products has reached to all verticals like Enterprises, Consumer, Government and Mobility not only in India but international markets, too.

The company has witnessed consistent revenue growth majorly in India and is looking forward for more government projects as per Digital India Mission.”

Wipro’s Cloud-based IoT platform powers JCB

W

ipro has achieved a significant milestone in its ongoing IoT deployment for JCB India Ltd. JCB’s L i v e l i n k telematics system has successfully connected over 10,000 construction equipment and machines, such as Backhoe Loaders, Excavators and Compact Wheel Loaders, deployed for its customers across India.

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“IoT presents a huge opportunity and this platform is one of the few live cases. We are privileged to have partnered with JCB India to bring the Livelink initiative to life. Today, we are delighted to have over 10,000 JCB machines across India,” said N. S. Bala, Chief Executive, Manufacturing & Hi-Tech Industry SBU, Wipro Limited.

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Spirent and Foxconn join hands

S

p i r e n t Communications and Foxconn have joined hands to provide better quality and experience of mobile phones. Both the companies have collaborated to deliver mobile phones with highquality VoLTE voice and video calling capabilities.

Foxconn is using Spirent's BEEHD VoLTE Client Framework to design and develop Android-based mobile handsets that allow users to use VoLTE voice and video calling services.

The handsets were optimized to provide better communication capabilities and present users with superior quality of experience.

The BEEHD framework is equipped with easy-touse, high-level application programming interfaces (APIs), flexible signalling capabilities and innovative optional features.

HCL signs partnership with Alstom

H

CL Technologies has entered into a new IT infrastructure partnership with Alstom.

HCL will leverage its IT infrastructure capabilities to provide workplace engineering services, roll out PCaaS for 30,000 users worldwide and will enable local enduser support services across 360 locations in 62 countries. Additionally, HCL will establish a multilingual global service desk offering support for Alstom in 11 languages, including more than 50% French-speaking users. As part of this partnership, HCL will also set up the organization’s Services Integration and Management (SIAM) function from conception."

Dell selects Supertron to expand its reach

D

ell has announced partnership with Supertron for the national distribution of its cloud client computing portfolio and the Dell Chromebook 11. The partnership will aim to strengthen the reach of these enterprise device offerings across the Indian market. The new partnership is established on a national distribution framework and will enable smooth availability of these products in top eight Indian cities in the first phase, including Ahmedabad and Pune,

and growing in both reach and product range over the next two quarters.

Anil Sethi, Channel Head, Dell India, said, “Dell’s philosophy, when it comes to partnerships with key partners focusses on a mutually beneficial relationship. The last couple of years have seen us strengthening relationships with our channel partners across the country.”

HPE and Microsoft tie up

H

ewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Microsoft (MSFT) have tied up and announced the availability of their Cloud Productivity & Mobility Solution offerings (CPM), which will create transformational consulting services and business applications for Windows 10.

“Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Microsoft share a common vision for how cloud, mobility, and industry solutions can be applied to deliver breakthroughs for our clients. Our combined set of technology assets,

expertise and global scalability are unmatched in the industry and give us significant advantage over the competition,” said Marshal Correia, Vice-President & General Manager, Enterprise Services, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India.

With CPM, HPE can now offer businesses a portfolio of tightly integrated services and solutions, designed to modernize enterprise workflows, drive digital transformation and accelerate innovation on top of Microsoft product offerings.

Emerson announces “New Year New Gear Offer” Programme

E

merson Network Power has announced the “New Year New Gear Offer” programme.

This programme will offer NSPs and VARs channel partners in India the opportunity to earn PAYBACK points for sales of small and micro uninterruptible power supply (UPS – up to 20 kVA). This programme is valid for a time period of three months from January 1 to March 31, 2016. It offers channel partners the chance to redeem PAYBACK points

for multiple slabs ranging between INR 25, 000 and INR25, 00,000.

Commenting on the scheme, Gopakumar Ambujakshan, Director, Product Management (Small and Micro UPS), Emerson Network Power in India, said, “The New Year New Gear Offer is our way to ring in the New Year and incentivize partners as they continue to grow their business with us.

A price tag that will get you new customers.

Introducing the ThinkServer TS140 for small businesses with big demands.

At Lenovo™ we develop technology to meet the ever-growing demands of small businesses. With that in mind, we have launched the ThinkServer® TS140 in India.

It is powered to take on tough challenges, yet priced attractively.

· Supports enterprise-grade HDDs (Built-in RAID 5) · Whisper-quiet at 26 decibels · Intel® Xeon® E3 series processor · Windows Server® 2012 R2 platform So go on, add this server to your portfolio and keep adding to your customer base.

Contact: 1800 3000 9990 / corpsales@lenovo.com Intel Xeon E3 series processor. ®

®

The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lenovo: Lenovo, the Lenovo logo and ThinkServer. Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon and Xeon Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. ©2016 Lenovo. All rights reserved. †Terms and Conditions apply. The test(s) above are performed on statistical samples.

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February 2016

17

HOT BYTES

SAP and Lenovo partner

S

AP SE and Lenovo have signed a multifaceted partnership to develop cloud solutions in China, create innovations between the SAP HANA platform and Lenovo systems and jointly execute global goto-market programmes.

The agreement is intended to significantly strengthen an existing partnership and to combine SAP solutions with Lenovo’s data center offerings to provide customers with technology that can help organizations become digital. The partnership will also result in SAP using Lenovo

systems as an infrastructure server platform and jointly executing global go-tomarket programmes, inclusive of system integrators and technology partners, to bring these new technologies to joint customers. This will include showcasing joint solutions in Lenovo Enterprise Innovation Centres in Germany; North Carolina, and a centre to be opened in China.

Dimension Data to offer Partner Managed Cloud

D

imension Data has signed an agreement with SAP to offer partner-managed cloud for the SAP Hybris Commerce solution in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region. Dimension Data will offer an affordable, ready-touse, subscription-based offering, Dimension Data Cloud Services for SAP Hybris Commerce, off its Managed Cloud Platform, enabling clients to access the software quickly and easily without the need for upfront infrastructure costs associated with

on-premise software deployments.

SAP Hybris Commerce will be available on a Softwareas-a-Service (SaaS) model, resulting in the ability for organizations to invest in line with expected revenues, with minimal capital expenditure investment. It will be delivered as a scalable rapid-deployment solution that is managed end-to-end from an enterprise-class provider. Dimension Data Cloud Services for SAP Hybris Commerce can go live in as few as 100 days.

eScan extends its “Chandi hi Chandi” offer

e

Scan has extended its “Chandi hi Chandi” offer on eScan range of products. T3/ T4 partners in India can avail this offer on eScan Internet Security Suite, eScan Total Security Suite, eScan Universal Security Suite and eScan Internet Security Suite Server Edition.

The scheme is valid for the new purchases within the dates 1st January to 31st March, 2016 only.

Govind Rammurthy, MD& CEO, eScan, said, "eScan has always been a

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February 2016

channel-friendly company with dedicated efforts towards channel health and profitability. We have a wide network of reliable channel partners who offer unmatched support for all our initiates. Also, we realize that partners are today looking at vendor who can enhance their profitability and this scheme is a perfect example of that. Having always held our partners, we believe together we serve eScan's customers with the best products and services."

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Oracle partner Cloud Program unveiled

N

ew Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Cloud Program has been introduced by Oracle to drive partner’s business success in the cloud. The program will enable partners to boost their Oracle Cloud business with the help of technical and go-to-market support. Also, partners will be able to showcase their Oracle Cloud expertise, vertical market offerings, and success with customers through new tiers of recognition and progressive benefits.

Shawn Price, Senior VP, Oracle Cloud, said, “OPN now offers the most comprehensive portfolio of cloud programs available today.

Our rapid growth and extensive SaaS, PaaS and IaaS cloud portfolio presents an unparalleled opportunity for partners and customers alike."

Enjay starts its Operations in Mumbai

W

ith an aim to expand to entire India, Enjay IT Solutions has taken a strategic move with the commencement of Mumbai operations.

Limesh Parekh, CEO of Enjay said “We have been working with many partners in Mumbai.

We also have more than 700 of customers using our solutions only in Mumbai. Having a local presence in Mumbai will help us provide better service and explore new business opportunities.

Being a Partner driven company, it will always be a partner driven company. We are coming out with a promising Partner Engagement program to work more closely with partners. We have started developing tier 1 partners first and then we move ahead for tier 2 of partners."

Ricoh India focuses on Manufacturing Industry

R

icoh India will focus on developing solutions and products for the manufacturing industry.

The company has showcased its end-toend solutions for the manufacturing industry at an event held in Pune.

At the event, Ricoh India has displayed design and engineering solution, shop-floor solutions, office automation solution, collaboration solution and IT services. In addition, the company has also exhibited its wide range

of 3D printers, RAMP solution, Machine vision systems for automated quality monitoring, and design and product lifecycle management solutions.

Manoj Kumar, MD & CEO, Ricoh India Limited, said, “The showcased products and solutions are a testimony of Ricoh’s commitment to make innovation accessible to all in the manufacturing sector.”

IGATE gets rebranded as Capgemini

S

ix months after the completion of Capgemini’s acquisition of IGATE,the latter will now operate exclusively under the Capgemini brand. The rebranding of IGATE as Capgemini is a key step in the integration process which has seen 31,000 former IGATE employees join Capgemini. The acquisition makes North America the Group's largest region by far, with 30% of revenues, while boosting Capgemini’s Global Production Centre network to more than 96,000 employees and augmenting its expertise

in the financial services sector.

“Only six months after the completion of the acquisition of IGATE, our clients are already benefiting from the integration of talent and the combined portfolio.

It has been a natural fit,” comments Virginie Régis,Group Marketing & Communications Director and Member of the Group Executive Committee, Capgemini. “Operating as one brand means that we can offer our clients seamless access to a wide set of expertise."

D-Link introduces DDS Service on WhatsApp

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n a bid to offer absolute customer support convenience, D-Link has introduced D-Link Direct Service (DDS) for its endcustomer.

This was further extended with a regional support model.

Going a step further, D-Link has decided to allow customers to avail DDS benefit through WhatsApp. “Today, seamless customer support experience is the key in driving business growth. With WhatsApp

as another medium to interact, engage and support, we intend to offer self-service support option to our customers who are looking for quick and speedy response.

DDS through WhatsApp is aimed at building a strong relationship with our patrons and enhance customer support experience,” said Balgond Chougula, VP – Customer Support Services, D-Link (India) Ltd.

www.varindia.com

February 2016

19

ON THE RAMP

Fujitsu redefines ETERNUS DX60 S3 DataWind ujitsu has doubled unveils affordable storage F capacity for SMEs – DroidSurfer 10" protecting investments simply by avoiding the need & 7" Netbooks to invest in bigger systems cost.

EMC enhances ECS 2.2

Avnet enhances its Solution Model with VMware NSX Lab

GoDaddy launches Personal Domains

– with enhancements to the FUJITSU Storage ETERNUS DX60 S3, the smallest member of the ETERNUS DX family.

Sold principally via Fujitsu’s SELECT partners that provide dedicated customer support, the business-centric system is easy to install, configure, operate and maintain, removing the perennial headache of managing and storing increasing volumes of data at an affordable

A

vnet has opened a VMware NSX lab within its Innovation Centre located in Mumbai. The Innovation Centre provides partners with access to leading enterprise hardware and software in a live business environment. The new VMware facility will be open for demonstrations and proof of concepts (POCs).

“In today’s business environment, enterprises need to be agile and remain secure at the same time. With organizations

Over 85 percent of ETERNUS entry-level storage systems are sold via Fujitsu’s extensive SELECT partner network, and the popular system is likely to be a driving force for channel partners in winning deals in 2016 and beyond. It provides cost-effective highperformance 10G base T iSCSI host connectivity to reduce financial pressures on SMEs. Storage performance is also improved.

across the region increasingly investing in network transformation and security operations, the VMware NSX lab at Avnet’s Innovation Centre will offer partners an opportunity to not only understand the technology and its business benefits, but also experience how the solution functions in an actual business environment through hands-on sessions and live demonstrations,” said Sharat Sinha, VP, GTM and General Business, APJ, VMware.

Microsoft Office 365 comes with better features and capabilities

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icrosoft has announced the availability of new capabilities in Office 365 across analytics, security and collaboration, available in a new enterprise plan called Office 365 E5. Priced at $35 per user/ month (existing enterprise Office 365 users can upgrade to this version at more competitive rates), this service is designed to modernize voice, video, and meeting experiences, while saving companies substantial time and

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February 2016

money on an enterprise’s communication infrastructure. The new capabilities mark the single-most substantial release of new enterprise value in the history of Office 365, and make Office 365 the most complete offering ever.

A broad range of live data can be monitored and analyzed through easy-touse dashboards, interactive reports, and compelling data visualizations with Power BI.

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ataWind has expanded their portfolio by launching two new DroidSurfer10” and 7” Netbooks priced at INR 7,999 and INR 5,999, respectively. The Netbooks were launched in the presence of Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, Canada.

The netbooks will make their debut in the market through retail distribution outlets all over India. The DroidSurfer 10” and 7” Netbooks are 10.1-and 7-inch tablets, have frontfacing cameras, with Android 4.4.2 operating System and tactile responsive keyboards.

The DroidSurfer 10” and 7” Netbooks have 8GB and 4GB internal space, respectively with features like Wi-Fi Hotspot, WiFi Direct and Support for external devices (KBD/ mouse/Mem key).

Strontium rolls out Wireless Media Hub

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trontium has introduced its first wireless product range Strontium Mobile WiFi Cloud. Mobile WiFi Cloud is a portable media hub to stream media to your tablets and smartphones from storage media, such as SD cards, USB drives or external portable USB hard drives via a secure, wireless connection.

“The growing adoption of wireless technology and handy devices has prompted Strontium to bring in our new innovation Mobile Wi-Fi Cloud. It gives a secure wireless environment to share and enjoy your digital content on-the-go,” said Vivian Singh, President & CEO, Strontium Technology Pte Ltd.

E

MC has announced the newest version of ECS (EMC Elastic Cloud Storage), v2.2 essential for organizations trying to keep up with the blazing pace of digital transformation. ECS 2.2 can provide organizations a global scale with upto-exabyte capacity with compelling economics and can handle the massive burden generated by object data from mobile devices, social media and the IoT, that many traditional storage platforms aren’t designed to handle.

Anantharaman

G

oDaddy has l a u n c h e d Personal Domains, an easier way for small businesses and consumers to redirect their domain name to their social media profile, helping to build and control their brand and identities online. A personal domain from GoDaddy is a custom web address that allows small businesses and consumers to help build their online identity and brand, by directing visitors to a page of their choice on social media networking websites, including Facebook, LinkedIn,

Balakrishnan, Country Head, EMC Global Services India, said, “With the industry’s most complete suite of software-defined storage (SDS) solutions, EMC is firmly committed to helping organizations harness today’s digital transformation. ECS is a software-defined, objectbased cloud storage platform that can enable the software-defined enterprise for efficiencies in second platform applications.”

Tumblr and Twitter, with just a single click.

"With Internet penetration at an alltime high, increasingly people want to build and gain greater control of their online identity, today more than ever," said Rajiv Sodhi, VicePresident & Managing Director, GoDaddy India and Australia.“For many customers, while their social media presence reflects who they are, they want an online address that represents their individual brand or their online persona as well.”

IBM offers Hybrid Cloud Capabilities for LinuxONE

I

BM has announced new technology features and collaborations for its LinuxONE family of high-performance Linux systems.

The enhancements will enable organizations of all sizes to develop, deploy and manage applications for the cloud simply and efficiently with robust security.

IBM LinuxONE will provide clients the choice they desire with the consistency they need in the cloud with new enhancements.

New

Hybrid Cloud Capabilities IBM is optimizing its Cloudant and StrongLoop technologies into LinuxONE to enable clients to develop, deploy and manage applications for the cloud more quickly and easily. The new features do not require that developers convert languages, speeding time to development and deployment.

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February 2016

21

ON THE RAMP

TP-LINK launches AV200 Nano Adapter

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P-LINK has launched the Nano Powerline Adapter AV200, designed to minimize the usage of additional wires or drilling. TL-PA2010KIT is a great choice for a complete home solution to connect all network compatible devices from computers and game consoles to set-top boxes for IPTV to printers and NAS hard drives.

"This landscape continues to evolve and shape up with new technologies like high-

M

speed data transfer rate, reduced power consumption, miniature designs," said Bill Ye, Country Manager & Director,TP-LINK India. "TL-PA2010KIT is economical, has range of 300 metres over a household circuit with data transfer rate up to 200Mbps which brings life to Wi-Fi dead spots."

HDS expands its Flash portfolio for better performance

H

itachi Data Systems (HDS) has announced the newest addition to its flash portfolio, the Hitachi Flash Storage (HFS) A series family of all-flash arrays. The HFS A series packs a powerful punch with industry-leading total cost of ownership (TCO), unmatched capacity density, dependable performance and efficient power in a small footprint.

The simplified appliance package is easy to deploy and includes data optimization technologies, making it ideal for quickly

boosting performance in multiple environments for fast business insights and services delivery.

“Hitachi has delivered a full portfolio of optimized flash solutions bound together by a softwaredefined approach to storage infrastructure. This gives customers the ability to optimize solutions for a particular set of use cases while getting the power and efficiencies of common management,” said Miklos Sandorfi, VP, Infrastructure Platforms, Solutions and Cloud, HDS.

DIGISOL introduces DGGS1024E Switch

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IGISOL has introduced its Unmanaged Ethernet rack mountable switch which has been designed to enhance network performance. The DGGS1024E comes with 24x1 0 / 1 0 0 / 1 0 0 0 M b p s ports, offering solutions for accelerating bandwidth needs of small Ethernet work groups.

The switch uses store and forward packet switching technology which offers reliable data transfer.

This switch is ideal for network connectivity

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February 2016

ManageEngine announces Cloud Edition of its MDM

for the SOHO/SME environment. It is a best choice for enhancing network with higher performance and efficiency.

It is an excellent solution to expand Gigabit network. With Gigabit speed, the DG-GS1024E gives flexibility and high bandwidth connectivity to servers, workstations and other network devices. It enables users to save time when transferring large files.

www.varindia.com

anageEngine has made available the cloud edition of Mobile Device Manager Plus, its mobile device management (MDM) software solution. This will give IT administrators an on-demand service they can easily adopt and scale to manage their organizations’ mobile devices. The company has also announced the Mobile Device Manager Plus Free Edition that now supports up to 25 devices, whether the software is deployed on-premise or in the cloud.

“Managing mobile devices beyond the LAN requires some time-consuming setup procedures,” said Mathivanan Venkatachalam, Director of Product Management, Desktop and Mobile Management, ManageEngine.

Allied Telesis devises security solution

A

llied Telesis has released an innovative security measure called Active Fiber Monitoring. This technology will prevent eavesdropping on fiber communications.

The patent-pending technology can detect when a cable is being tampered with, and will raise an alarm to warn of a possible security breach.

The Active Fiber Monitoring technology will detect small changes in the amount of light received on a fiber link.

When an intrusion is attempted, the light level changes because some of the light is redirected by the eavesdropper onto another fiber. Active Fiber Monitoring detects the intrusion and raises the alarm.

NETGEAR brings switching solution for SMBs

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ETGEAR has extended its 12 10-GBase-T copper ports (12-10 GBASE-T) switching solutions with the introduction of the ProSAFE 10Gigabit Ethernet Smart Switches (XS712T). It is a Smart Switch with 2 Combo SFP+ for 10G Fiber links. It has been purposely designed as a cost-effective way to provide 10G connections to 10G-capable servers and NAS (Network Attached Storage). It can be used as a 10G access switch, uplink to 10G-Managed switch (XSM7224) while expanding the 10G

connections down to the edge.

“Our ProSAFE XS712T offers our channel partners a chance to ride the next wield in networking as it provides budding networks a migration path to latest technologies without sacrificing current hardware investments,” said Subhodeep Bhattacharya, Regional Director, India & SAARC, NETGEAR.

Veritas Vault 12 and Data Insight 5.1 advanced

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e r i t a s Technologies has advanced its Enterprise Vault 12 and Data Insight 5.1 to enable businesses to gain critical visibility into their unstructured data and take action. The new innovations include advanced classification, support for Box, and automated remediation workflows.

Both Enterprise Vault 12 and Data Insight 5.1 will help provide businesses

with critical visibility into their unstructured data and empower informed decisions about what critical information to retain and what to delete for compliance, business value and discovery. Also, Veritas Data Genomics Index has been released today and revealed that 41% of data has not been modified in a typical corporation and is three or more years old.

R&M introduces FieldMountable Cat. 6A Connectors

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&M is expanding its range of field-mountable RJ45 connectors with the Cat. 6A solution. The new high-performance FM45 Cat. 6A connector is used for the flexible installation of Class EA channels in accordance with the ISO/ IEC 11801 standard. It meets all the requirements for demanding network operation with 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

The FM45 Cat. 6A is not only suitable for structured LAN cabling in offices and for Power

over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) use. Amongst other things, R&M points to the advantages of an individually tailored installation of direct connections to devices and bulk connections or switch links. Solutions of this kind save on excess lengths, outlets, patch cords and therefore materials.

www.varindia.com

February 2016

23

VOICE-N-DATA

Vodafone all set to provide 4G network in Delhi NCR

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odafone is all set to provide its high-speed 4G network in prominent business

and residential corridors of Gurgaon. The rollout will be completed across all parts of Delhi & NCR in a phased manner.

Vodafone has also

rolled out its highspeed 4G network in prominent business and residential corridors of

Kolkata, including BBD Bag, Park Street, Alipore, Ballygunge, Salt Lake Sector 5, Airport and EM Bypass.

Nokia and IIT-Madras strengthen Digital India Foundation

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o enhance the broadband connectivity in rural India, the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has partnered with Nokia. Under the 3-year partnership, Nokia will fund and provide technological expertise for research at IIT-M’s Centre of Excellence for Wireless Technology (CEWiT). The project will evaluate the option of using unlicensed spectrum to deliver cost-efficient, last-mile broadband connectivity to remote

rural communities in India, complementing the government’s National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) initiative.

The research project aims to bridge the connectivity divide in India by broadening the reach of broadband in rural areas. As part of this research, CEWiT will undertake to verify the feasibility of using unlicensed spectrum radio access technologies for cost-efficient, last-mile broadband connectivity.

Mumbai Central to get free Wi-Fi

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aking highspeed Internet available to millions of Indians who travel through railway stations every day, the Indian Railways’ arm RailTel, which provides Internet services as RailWire via its extensive fiber network, has announced the launch of free high-speed public Wi-Fi service in partnership with Google at Mumbai Central. The project was announced last September during Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Google headquarters in Mountain View.

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February 2016

Google has committed to work with the Indian Railways’ and RailTel to expand the network quickly to cover 100 of the busiest stations by the end of this year and will eventually roll out the service in 400 railway stations across India.

Even with just the first 100 stations online, this project will make Wi-Fi available to millions of Indians who pass through railway stations every day, making it the largest public Wi-Fi project in India and among the largest in the world by a number of potential users.

www.varindia.com

BT simplifies Telenor aims to make the Network for Internet safer for children has through education and its customers o r g a n i z e d guidance is a focus for Telenor

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T has announced globally the BT Connect Intelligence IWAN that integrates the Cisco Intelligent WAN (IWAN) solution into the BT Connect portfolio of network services.

It is an innovative managed service that enables organizations to automatically route and optimize network traffic and gain visibility of applications performance without spending more on bandwidth.

The new launch has been built on BT’s existing intelligent network capabilities by using a hybrid environment and managed SoftwareDefined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology. It brings new options to reduce the cost of customers’ networks whilst securing the performance of applications.

VoLTE Call Drops higher than 2G/3G Calls – Amdocs

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n its newlyannounced research, Amdocs has highlighted the need for operators to consider optimizing their radio access networks (RAN). This will enable operators to contend with the annual doubling of demand for data, increased network complexity, the increased demand for video viewing on smartphones and tablets, and the initial instability of new services being introduced such as voice over LTE (VoLTE).

The research is based on the analysis of more than 25 million voice and data connections from 80 different network operators around the world in the past 12 months.

#SafeInternetForum 2016 calling on teachers, p a r e n t s , government, cybersecurity experts, NGOs and private partners for responsible use of internet and strengthen the defences for a safer internet experience for children.

Sharad Mehrotra, Chief Executive Officer, Telenor India Communications, said, “Protecting and providing a safe internet experience for children

Telenor.

While we extend the benefits of

being connected and empower our customers with affordable services, we also encourage responsible use of Internet. Our webwise program aims to build defences amongst children by guiding them on how to be safe online.”

MSDE and DoT sign MoU

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he Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India the skill capital of the world, has signed a MoU with DoT to develop and implement National Action Plan for Skill Development in the telecom sector, utilizing PSUs under DoT with a common objective of fulfilling skilled manpower requirement of the telecom sector and at the same time providing quality opportunities for employment /

entrepreneurship.

The MoU was signed by the Secretaries of the two Ministries, in the august presence of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Hon’ble Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) and Parliamentary Affairs.

MSDE has primarily discharged responsibilities through the Directorate General of Training (DGT), NSDC and related Sector Skill Councils (SSCs).

ALE Business Partners honoured ALE, operating under the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise brand has conducted its annual Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Partner Day. The theme of the 2016 conference was “Own it!” that encouraged partners to consider how to deliver technology opportunities that the changing customer environment represents today.

This year, there were eight regional and numerous local events held in close proximity to

business partner locations.

The eight regional events, hosted for 1-2 days between January 28 and February 4, drew over 600 enthusiastic and dedicated business partners to share their experiences with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise business leaders. In AsiaPacific (APAC), the 2016 Partner of the Year awards took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on February 4.

VAR SPECIAL

Sales Enablement Best Practices S

ales enablement is often a nebulous concept, defined differently by different organisations. In simple words, the process of sales enablement not only includes methods that empower the sales team, but also practices that impact each step of the sales cycle. As an all-inclusive and end-to-end approach, it defines best practices for strategizing, implementing, recruiting, enabling and analysing these aspects to drive optimal returns for enterprises and enable success in sales.

All the facets that make up the sales enablement process must be aligned cohesively to maximise the selling potential of the enterprise. A robust sales enablement process sets the stage for sustainable revenue growth.

With this in mind, enterprises have embarked on a multi-faceted, multi-team endeavour to adopt a set of sales enablement best practices that can have a lasting impact within the enterprise. These are described below.

Collaboration between Sales and Marketing: A critical factor in the effectiveness of sales enablement is the alignment between the marketing and sales operations. Without the support of the marketing department, sales enablement will find it challenging to meet its objectives. Since it’s in the day-to-day operations where successful sales enablement takes place, some of the key operations that demand the alignment of sales and marketing include: • Accountability: Joint accountability for reporting, incentives and structures is an absolute necessity • Lead Qualification and Management: Marketing is responsible for the initial qualification of leads and lead generation with a handoff to sales who manage the leads, nurture them and close the deal • Sales Readiness: While the sales team is the one which is equipped with the skills to make a sale, it is the marketing team which is responsible for training the sales team and providing the necessary support tools and knowledge to ensure that they are ready for selling • Feedback: Marketing handles key customer, product, competitor, and industry and market intelligence while the sales team is responsible for customer experience feedback Relationship Nurturing: Customers are the lifeline of any business and a strong and dependable relationship with the customer is what will sustain business operations. A key component of sales enablement is continuous relationship building. B2B customers are already aware of product details and specifications. What they look for is a sales representative who goes beyond just listing the product information. B2B customers want someone they can trust and someone who understands their needs. Sales representatives who can describe how a solution will meet the needs of a customer, such as specifying

what value each feature will bring to the customer, are likely to stand out and be far more convincing. However, the process does not end with just closing a sales deal.

If the enterprise is to have a loyal customer base, then sales representatives must ensure that continuous support is provided and the relationship is nurtured even after a purchase is made.

Consistency is the Key: For effective sales enablement, clear and consistent communication is the key to better decisionmaking and seamless processes and operations.

Various technological tools can be used to achieve this, in addition to delivering realtime information, anytime-anywhere access to information and communication, and easier collaboration especially for remote and geographically dispersed teams.

Data-driven Content: Most buyers feel that the content they see is not useful and most

enterprises have no data on the performance of their content. One of the best ways for enterprises to positively impact their bottom line is to work smarter. This requires the use of metrics to gather insightful information from data and to create content that is meaningful, relevant and impactful. Analytics will also highlight the pieces of content that are most effective thus helping enterprises to work and improve on the ones that are not as efficient. Effective content can help in making informed decisions, and aid the sales teams in their efforts. Content that is strategically targeted at the audience also adds credibility.

Leveraging Social Media: As technology evolves, social media has become one of the most crucial channels of communication for enterprises. In a digital age where buyers and sellers are connected 24/7, social media has wide reach – via mobiles, laptops or tablets. People turn to social media to gather information on different things. In fact, 90 percent of buyers want more content, and social media can be that additional avenue for prospects to find information. Social media is also a powerful tool for sales representatives.

A study by Forbes showed that 78 percent of sales representatives who use social media outsold their peers. Hence, sales teams should not limit sharing content to direct channels alone. They can leverage social media to reach prospective buyers who are seeking information about a product or service and/ or trying to find answers to their problems.

Data Driven Processes: In today’s demanding business landscape, it is imperative that sales teams sell in a cost-effective manner, so as to generate more revenue. This necessitates that sales teams leverage insights from demographic data, research findings, currents trends, etc. at every step of the sales process - right from initial strategy formulation to customer relationship management. Datadriven resources will enable sales teams to perform better and provide more reliable and up-to-date information. But data by itself provides no value.

Digital Media as a Tool: Digital media is a great and powerful tool for communicating messages to people. Using digital media to deliver sales collaterals can have a far greater impact on clients. It is an interesting and engaging means to connect to the overall process. With prime operational intelligence, sales enablement plays a key role in scaling the sales team of an organisation - offering them best practices, knowledge, tools, and resources required to be successful. It not only enables the sales force to perform better, but also considers developing and enhancing the formulation of strategies, recruitment processes, delivery of content, training reps, automating processes, adopting analytics, improving time efficiency and shortening the sales cycle.

Snehashish Bhattacharjee, Global CEO & Co- founder - Denave

www.varindia.com

February 2016

25

CHANNEL BUZZ

TAIT initiates TAIT Paathshaala

Sophos hosts channel meet in Lucknow

Trade Association of Information Technology (TAIT) launched the much-awaited project – TAIT Paathshaala on January 30, 2016 at Matunga Gymkhana. Rushabh Shah, TAIT

ophos (formerly Cyberoam Technologies Private Ltd) has hosted a meet for its partners in UP and Uttarakhand. The event was organized with an aim to appreciate the efforts of Sophos’ regional partners in extending the company’s reach in the security market while introducing them to a world of new opportunities in the evolving tech landscape.

With a strong focus on providing integrated security for small and mid-market enterprises, Sophos is making rapid strides towards market expansion in India. Sophos already has a huge presence in India with education, healthcare, banking and finance, manufacturing, retail, IT, pharmaceutical, government and other leading verticals favouring its solutions for securing their network infrastructure. The company’s extensive portfolio of solutions for network, endpoint and server protection is all backed

by Sophos “Security made Simple” approach, which resonates well in the Indian security market.

“As technology advances, we need to make security simpler for organizations. While this approach allows us to cut down on complexity in technology, we also take this

President who was instrumental in the conceptualization of the project, conducted the first edition of this project titled Office Suites and Spreadsheet productivity.

Rushabh Shah, a science graduate with Postgraduation in Computer Programming and an MBA in Marketing, was the trainer. Having started in 1987 as an IT trainer, Rushabh has trained thousands of students.

Rushabh covered the different

types of Office suites (collection of programs comprising of a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software). He explained the merits, demerits of these packages and also educated

members of licensing needs of these programs. PareshAgawne, Technical Manager, HTP Global Systems, remarked that attending the workshop helped him immensely in understanding different options and compliance issues.

He went on to cover important productivity features of spreadsheets with live examples and demos in an interactive manner.

Rashi, Toshiba takes Partners to Singapore Toshiba has sponsored an all-expense covered four-day three nights Singapore Cruise.

As a part of an incentive programme for their achieving partners and under the arrangement by the company to acknowledge partner’s efforts, they would be awarded with a special trip in accordance with their performance. The partners who achieved their pre-set targets for External Hard drives and surveillance drives were rewarded with a trip, over 80 partners across the country embarked upon the trip of a lifetime.

Rashi and Toshiba wanted their partners to go on board a Royal voyage, all aboard the Superstar Gemini, known to be the princess of sea, was furnished with all the luxuries one could ask for. The vessel sailed from Singapore and stopped at the beautiful Malaysian port of Penang and the archipelago islands of Langkawi.

“The cruise was nothing short of royal treatment.

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February 2016

No stone was left unturned, from the exquisite stay to the scrumptious fine dining experience. The trip was, indeed, a lifetime opportunity, and has motivated me to outperform in the coming years to reserve my spot,” says Andiammal, Easy Technologies, Madurai.

The partners boarded the cruise from Singapore and made port at Penang, a city of the setting sun. A fascinating fusion of the East and West, Penang embraces modernity while retaining its traditions and old-world charm, had the partners in awe. The next stop of Langkawi, known for its scenic beauty, white sand beaches, has forever imprinted its scenic beauty in the hearts of the partners.

An overwhelmed Deepak Sethwala of Oversees Corporation, Surat had this to add, “Fantastic experience, from excellent arrangements to the accommodation to the ticket booking, everything was well managed.”

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approach forward to our business operations and marketing efforts.

That is why we always prefer plain-old meetings and seminars as they give us better chance to understand our partners on field.

I am glad that Chetan Tripathi, Deputy Manager – Channel Sales, UP &Uttarakhand, is leading from

the front and is helping us achieve all our goals ahead of time. Our partners certainly seem to prefer working under his guidance,” said Sunil Sharma, VP – Sales – India & SAARC, Sophos.

Sophos has a 100% channeldriven model towards sales.

The company invests heavily in partner enablement, trainings and certifications and has a yearly incentive programme for promoting growth. In this channel meet, Pentacle IT Solutions, Acme Digitek Solutions, Agray InfoSolutions and Goyal Computers from Lucknow were awarded under different categories while Aryan Computers & Peripherals, Kanpur received the Best Technology Business Partner award.

Third ASIRT TechEDGE held ASIRT – Association of System Integrators and Retailers in Technology has organized a soft skills training workshop for its member-employees on16th January, 2016.

The TechEDGE workshop is a yearly social cause event. This is the third year the soft skill training workshop has been organized. While many business owners stifle growth of employees so that they can be exploited as cheap labour, ASIRT members actually better the careers of employees even at the risk of such trained employees being snapped up by the corporate sector.

ASIRT President Arvind Singh said, “ASIRT has been organizing TechEDGE seminars for owners and employees starting with Microsoft Cloud training in 2012 and subsequently hosted training sessions on networking technologies for WAN, LoS, Wireless and Storage. These events

are attended by senior technical support team members, apart from owners and pre-sales team of ASIRT member-companies.

We already have had three soft skills training workshops now and the way these workshops

are packed to capacity show how important they are for companies and employees, another first by ASIRT.” Shirish Marathe, a seasoned IT service provider, added, “These employee- empowerment workshops are most needed to help attendees solve human, behavioural aspects and personal etiquettes to make them presentable to earn them respect as business support system of IT rather than customers equating with AC or scooter mechanic.”

FACE TO FACE

Digital Workplace Solutions bring business opportunity to India Digital workplace has now become a global trend which is catching up fast in India. As per Gartner, 46% of the companies are already under way in their digital workplace roadmap and the rest will be implementing in the next two years which is a huge, net-new opportunity to be tapped into.

Kumar GB, Vice-President – Sales, Asia-Pacific, Prysm, shared the emerging business opportunity in the visual workspace segment in the country.

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ver a period of ten years, the USAbased company Prysm has established itself in India, Middle East, China and Europe.

Marking a new era of innovation, the Inventor for Laser Phosphor Displays (LPD), Prysm has always ensured to design and provide immersive, customizable large format display solutions to its customers.

Creating cloud-based displays and then innovating them further with technologies such as touch screen, integrated content, share and store applications, etc, Prysm has marked a unique selling point for its products amongst corporates. Prysm has installed some of the world’s largest display walls for Executive Briefing Centres, Command and Control Centres, lobbies, auditoria and broadcast centres.

Pioneering Visual Workplace...

In line with the trending technologies, the company is now pioneering a new market segment of providing Visual workplace and collaboration solutions, thereby enabling digital workplace for Enterprise, BFSI and Government customers. Prysm’s visual workplace solutions have given the industry a tough competition by offering uniformity of workplace experience from large boardrooms to the device independent digital briefcase solutions.

Defining a new way of work, Prysm has innovated its solutions where applications, content, video conferencing and web can all be easily combined into a visual workspace and teams can create, edit and share. These interactive workspaces are stored in the cloud and available on any sized screen.

“Our VARs are uniquely positioned to pioneer visual workplace solution for the

customers in India, thereby enhancing the customer value. Prysm believes in working with our partners closely and handholding them for a sustained win-win outcome,” states Kumar GB, Vice- President – Sales, AsiaPacific, Prysm.

Prysm’s Visual Workplace solutions span from conference room to home office, executive visit centre to data lab, huddle room to custom walls – and every size workplace in between. 20% of the Fortune 500 companies have adopted Prysm solutions – and the list is growing.

With the company’s visual workplace value proposition which facilitates faster and more informed decision-making, greater engagement of knowledge workers, increased productivity and lower total cost of ownership, it has some strategic business plans for Indian partners and its customers.

For India, the company will be focussing on global enterprises, IT services, BFSI, telecom and Public Sector verticals.

“We cater to our customer’s requirements of collaboration video walls for Customer Briefing Centres, Command and Control Centres, data labs, huddle rooms to digital briefcase solutions which are form independent. Our visual workplace solutions are compatible with Skype-for-Business, Cisco Telepresence and Polycom. Hence, our customers can deploy Prysm in conjunction with their existing investments in collaboration technologies,” comments Kumar.

Innovator of LPD Technology...

Interestingly, the company has brought a competitive edge in large format display solutions segments specifically by designing the LPD (Laser Phosphor Display) technology,

which has hundreds of patents behind it. LPD offers a customisable, vivid, immersive visual experience with zero bezel and edge-to-edge display.

Offering eco-friendly technology that consumes up to 75% less power compared to other conventional displays has made Prysm’s solutions demanding across its client’s base. This results in reduced electrical and HVAC infrastructure and lower total cost of ownership.

Prysm large format displays are selfcalibrating for uniformity and have no consumables. The displays are long-lasting with 60,000 hours of continuous use to 50% life. The display is scalable with no-bezel design and modular frames. The seams are 0.25mm, which result in no content or data loss.

The company has created a specific sales and distribution model for the Indian market by creating a network of value-added partners for selling the company’s offerings followed by installation and support process. Moreover, partners and top collaborators are accessible to period trainings for quality service and offerings. Adding to this, Kumar elaborates, “We have a full-fledged services warehouse and support centre in Bangalore, which acts as a hub for supporting our customers across the country. Prysm also keeps adequate spare parts with our partners in the customer city in order to ensure faster turnaround time and SLA adherence. Some of our MNC customers expect customization of Visual workplace solutions aligning to their internal IT environment and policies.”

These customizations and validations are conducted locally with the support of engineering and R&D team in Bangalore. n

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EVENT

8th OITF sees a Resounding Success with Industry support Following the trail of the recently announced 20 Smart Cities in India, the 8th Odisha Information Technology Fair (OITF) dwelled upon this success by discussing how Bhubaneswar has geared up to emerge as a Smart city. The event saw participation from across verticals – government dignitaries, IT Heads, Corporate honchos, Distributor and the Reseller community from the state of Odisha and served as a platform to discuss some of the key vital issues concerning the IT landscape in the state.

Shri Priyadarshi Mishra, MLA, Bhubaneswar, who graced the occasion as a Special Guest marked the beginning of the event by lighting the ceremonial lamp. He was joined by other dignitary guests present - Mr. R.N Palai, ITS, Spl. Secy. to Govt., IT department, GoO; Dr. Y.V.S. Lakshmi, HeadMarketing, C-DOT Bangalore; Mr. Praveen Kalugotla, Director-Product Sales- NetApp India; Mr. Dinkar Adlakha, V.P-Govt. & PSU- EMC India; Mr. Mohit Puri – Head Pre Sales, India & SAARC – Sophos Technologies; Mr. Sudipta Datta, Zonal Head – East, Business Development -Tally Solutions; Mr. Aishyakant Mohanty, M.D.- Tatwa Infotech; Mr. Aashish Sharma, National sales Manager, NVS&BIS-CANON India; Mr. Prashant Gupta, Sr. Consultant- Deloitte; Mr. Santosh Abraham, AVP-NASSCOM Foundation and Mr Deepak Ku. Sahu, Chief Editor – VARINDIA.

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OITF has over the years ser ved as a platform to discuss some of the key vital issues concerning the I T landscape in the state Mr. Deepak Sahu, Chief Editor – VARINDIA while addressing the guests remarked at the fabulous digital story that India is seeing. “Digital transformation is now a primary agenda for C-suite executives in India. It has been found that 74% companies surveyed in India are already on their way in digitally transforming their business, while 26% plan to embark on the transformation journey over the next 12-24 months. They are already experiencing an average of 8% revenue growth as a direct result of their digital transformation efforts, and they expect to reach nearly 14% by 2017.”

In the corporate presentations section, corporates Canon, Cyberoam|Sophos, NetApp, EMC and Tally shared their vision of their respective companies on Smart Cities with the audience.

Towards the end of the event, a panel discussion entitled ‘Readiness of Bhubaneswar to be the Smart City,’ was conducted that was chaired by Mr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Chief

Editor-VARINDIA. VARINDIA in the past 8 years has been using this platform to aggressively talk on various subjects related to Cloud, security, Technology Orchestration and taking industry’s perspective on it. The discussion with the insights of the panellists threw light on how innovative Technologies can be used to make the city Smart and liveable. The panellists who participated in this discussion included Mr. Santosh Abraham, AVP-NASSCOM Foundation; Mr. Dinkar Adlakha,V.P-Govt. & PSU- EMC India; Mr. Prashant Gupta,Sr. consultant- Deloitte; Mr. R.N Palai, ITS, Spl. secy. to Govt., IT department, GoO; Dr. Y.V.S. Lakshmi, Head-Marketing, C-DOT Bangalore and Mr. Afroz Khan – Regional Sales Manager, NetApp-India.

The Forum also took the opportunity to honour the real heroes who have shaped the IT market in the state of Odisha. Companies Ashirbad Computer & Services, Tristar Software and Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Tatwa Technologies Ltd., E Square Systems & Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Printlink Computer and Communication Pvt. Ltd, Info care Solutions Pvt. Ltd and CSM Technologies won the awards in the segments of Best VAR -Odisha, Best Software Services –Odisha, Best Technology Services, Best System Integrator, Best Distributor, Best Reseller –Odisha and Best IT consulting services - Odisha respectively.

“Smart City is all about giving power to the citizen with the help of Information Technology as a tool.

It is all about proving opportunities and leading a better life. For Bhubaneswar to be a smart city, the physical infrastructure is already in place, we only have to work to take it to the next level.”

Mr. Debashish Biswas Director- Deloitte

“There are different elements that go into making a Smart city – right from power, transportation, education, in a way providing all the smart services to the citizens. The Govt. of Odisha has started working on this almost a year back in a phased manner and Deloitte has been a part of this project.”

Mr. Manish Sehgal Senior Manager – Deloitte “Bhubaneswar has been identified as the first smart city in the country. To be included in the first 20 cities is indeed a great honour.

But we will have to ensure that we spend wisely (in this regard we have earmarked 200 crores to be spent every year) to make basic facilities available to citizens in Bhubaneswar.”

Shri Priyadarshi Mishra MLA, Bhubaneswar

“The business atmosphere in Odisha is quite conducive for growth. This can be attributed to a good stable govt., and the impetus it is giving to the growth of technology in the state by way of new initiatives. This is one of the reasons why Bhubaneswar has emerged as a strong contender in the Smart city race.”

Shri R.N Palai ITS, Spl. Secy. IT – GoO

“Canon works closely with the end customers as our goals and objectives are the same. e-governance being an important vertical for Canon, we would like to contribute through our Document Management products on this front. We understand that the objective of digitization is led by speed and Canon tries to meet that same speed.”

Mr. Aashish Sharma National sales Manager, NVS&BIS - CANON India

“The vision for building a Smart city should be to identify and efficiently using the resources, integrating those resources and the services seamlessly, making an impact on everyone’s life. Going ahead with data growing multifold, big data and analytics will play a big role in building a Smart City.”

Mr. Vidyasagar Nallapati Solutions Architect, Data Engineering and data Science-EMC India

“If we compare the current data with that of 2012, the number of data breaches has grown manifold.

So at what rate is this cyber-crime increasing? The number has risen to 3 odd crores this year. Cyber criminals are indeed becoming more intelligent, giving security experts a tough time to crack them.”

Mr. Mohit Puri Head Pre Sales, India & SAARC – Sophos Technologies

“The announcement of the first 20 cities is just the beginning. We are going to see more of these actions coming. Talking of Smart cities, there are many elements that come together. In a way, smart cities are made by providing what decision makers and citizens want, at their pace.”

Mr. Praveen Kalugotla Director, Product Sales- NetApp India “For the last 2 decades, Tally has been bringing out innovations after innovations.

The flagship product of Tally, which is Tally ERP 9 has been designed and conceptualised by our MD & co-founder Mr. Bharat Goenka.

We have of late associated ourselves with many of the government initiatives.”

Mr. Sudipta Datta Zonal Head – East, Business Development -Tally Solutions

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EVENT Panel Discussion on ‘Readiness of Bhubaneswar to be the Smart City’ Moderated by Mr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Chief EditorVARINDIA, the industry-led platform aimed to leverage the collaborative efforts of Bhubaneswar’s corporates, citizens and local government to catalyse the transformation of the city into the most liveable city in India. Panellists from across industry verticals got together to give their insights on this topic.

The few points that came out of the discussion are · Industry holds tremendous potential to help implement the vision From L to R: Mr. Santosh Abraham, AVP-NASSCOM Foundation; of making Bhubaneswar a Smart City in all means. It is an absolute Mr. Dinkar Adlakha,V.P-Govt. & PSU- EMC India; Mr. Prashant fact that collective action is essential for social transformation to Gupta,Sr. consultant- Deloitte; Mr. R.N Palai, ITS, Spl. secy. to be successful and sustained.

Govt., IT department, GoO; Dr. Y.V.S. Lakshmi, Head-Marketing, · Collective action can achieve city-wide change not only on C-DOT Bangalore and Mr. Afroz Khan – Regional Sales Manager, account of the magnitude of resources but also because it brings NetApp-India diversity of thought and a multiplier effect due to the resonance between otherwise independent activities. · The panel also urged corporate houses to come forward, join this movement and contribute to it in order to make it more impactful and inclusive. Corporate support would be needed in many aspects like generating employee participation in the Digital Literacy campaign and making maximum households digitally literate and meet the goal of at least one individual per family to be digitally literate. This initiative is not about incremental-change but about redefining the very framework of social transformation. · Collaborative partnerships between the government and corporates are also a welcome development.

Shortlisted as one of the 100 cities, Bhubaneswar is initiating a citywide process to create a new vision that is inclusive and reflects the needs and dreams of all its citizens. As an emerging information technology (IT) hub with a strong investment-ready climate, Bhubaneswar is ready to take up the most pressing challenges that the citizens face to turn them into transformational opportunities for the city. As of now, the first priority of Bhubaneswar Municipal Commission (BMC) however would be to provide reliable and quick transport.

Award Winners at 8th OITF Awards 2016

The BEST VAR, ODISHA Ashirbad Computer & Services

Best Reseller, Odisha- Info care Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

The BEST Software Services, ODISHA - Tristar Software and Solutions Pvt. Ltd

Best System Integrator, E Square Systems & Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Best Technology Services Tatwa Technologies Ltd.

Best Distributor, Printlink Computer and Communication Pvt. Ltd

Networking Session

Networking in progress

Lucky Winners of iPhones at the event 32

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Best IT consulting services, CSM Technologies

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6th VARINDIA Cup 2016 – Driving Sportsmanship in IT The 8th OITF also saw the winners of the 6th VARINDIA CUP 2016 getting felicitated

by Special Guest Shri Priyadarshi Mishra, Hon’ble MLA, Bhubaneswar, amidst loud cheers and applause. The 6th VARINDIA IT Cup Cricket Tournament, a Corporate Cricket League, was organized successfully on 17th, 23rd & 24th January, 2016 (at Infosys Cricket Ground), with the semi-final and final matches being held on 26th January, 2016 (at Sahid Sporting Ground, Sahid Nagar) in Bhubaneswar. This cricketing event has been a very popular event among IT corporates ever since its inception six years back. During these six years, VARINDIA Cup has had the

participation of IT cricket enthusiasts from over 24 different companies. This year, 16 IT corporates including Infosys, Wipro, TCS, MindTree, Exilant, Aabsys, Auroin, CSM, Tatwa, Mindfire, T-Cube, Suyog, Process Map, OCAC, STPI and IT Association of Odisha (ITAO) – participated in the tournament.

Infosys won this year’s 6th VARINDIA CUP Champion trophy, while MindTree was announced as the Runners-up. Sujaya Moukhapadhaya of Infosys was adjudged the Man of the Final Match and the Man of the Tournament award went to Bikashraj Swain of MindTree.

Champion's Trophy The true vision behind organizing the VARINDIA IT Cup Cricket Tournament is to unleash the hidden talent of every hardworking employee, who otherwise spends maximum hours sitting in 4 x 4 cubicles 24x7. The ultimate mission to start this tournament is to bring the corporate world in touch, where they can know each other and take a break from the monotonous life by experiencing the real spirit of the game.

These friendly matches are held during the weekends and holidays, without disturbing the daily routine and work schedule of the participating companies.

The aim is to take these matches on to the national level by counting on the participation from companies from other parts of India.

Man of the Match (Knockout matches)

VIPs Oberving the Cricket match

• Vivek Singh – TCS

• Saurav Rout – STPI

• Shamdeep – Infosys

• Jeevan – Wipro

• Padmalochan Puhan – Exilant • Kanhucharan Sahu – AuroIn • Ardhandu – CSM Technologies • Bikash Swain – MindTree

Man of the Match (Quarter Finals) • Rajesh Pani – Infosys • Prakash Behera – Exilant • Arun Dhaya Singh – STPI • Sumit Kumar Singh – MindTree

Champions Trophy of 6th VARINDIA IT Cup goes to INFOSYS- Bhubnaeswar

Final match of 6th VAR INDIA Cricket Cup at Sahid Sporting Ground, Sahid Nagar

Man of the Match (Semi-Final Match) • Shamadeep – Infosys • Sumit Singh – MindTree Man of the Match (Final Match) Sujaya Moukhapadhaya – Infosys Man of the Tournament Bikashraj Swain – MindTree

Final match between Mindtree and Infosys

Cheer leaders performing at the Match

Names of Officials/Umpires Bibhuti Bhusan Satapathy Gyanendra Kumar Parida Satyabrata Mohapatra Manas Kumar Beura

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Polycom Shaping the Future........ ..................Connecting Anyone, Anywhere

T

he Polycom Partner Summit 2016 held in Aamby Valley at Lonavala from 31st January to 2nd February was an eye-opener in every sense. Besides the top leadership from Polycom, the Summit also served as a platform for key partners, both existing and new partners to come together and be a witness to the growth story that the company has written in these years. While devising its strategies for the year ahead, Polycom delved into how it would steer

Shirish Joshi Channel Sales Director, APAC Polycom Shirish leads channel programs across the theater, drives business planning with the company’s partners and strengthens Polycom’s go-to-market and distribution strategy. Shirish joins Polycom from Citrix Systems where he was Channels and Alliances Director for the ASEAN region.

Shirish has extensive industry channels experience across the APAC countries, having previously worked for Cisco Systems for 15 years from 1996 – 2011.

Shirish holds an MBA in Management Studies from the University of Mumbai and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering.

He has lived in Singapore since 2005 and is currently in the process of finishing a Masters Program from the Singapore Institute of Management.

“It’s important that we understand each other so that whatever strategies we devise at Polycom for 2016, we are able to communicate the same to you. If we look at India, it is one of the few economies that are growing really fast. We are also seeing lot of opportunities that we fail to find in many other markets. It is also the country 34 that isFebruary seeing the2016 highest www.varindia.com partner growth in terms of number, reach and scale.”

forward India as its key market and talked about the various schemes and programs it has introduced to keep its channel eco-system going.

The Polycom Leadership also threw light on its new ‘killer products’ - Trio and Debut, the simple and cost-effective offerings with an enterprise quality audio and video. These products are seen to be game changers in the field of collaboration. The company has sold around 150 units of Debut between 6th

Minhaj Zia MD - Polycom India & SAARC Minhaj has joined Polycom in October 2013. He is responsible for leading Polycom’s growth and revenue share in the region and driving new opportunities in the company’s key South Asian markets. With over 18 years of experience in enterprise communication, Minhaj’s chief focus for India and SAARC – the alliance of eight South Asian nations including Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – is to drive growth by addressing the needs of the video conferencing market in the region. He joins Polycom with extensive technology and sales leadership competencies and will look to build on the strengths of established local teams.

“2015 has been a stupendous year for Polycom. In fact, we have emerged as the #1 company in Enterprise video segment.

We have seen 25% YoY growth; of which video infrastructure grew 29% while video endpoints grew 20%. Polycom is thus a leader in the Video Conferencing business, enjoying a market share of 44%. Talking about our partners, we do 100% of the Polycom sales through them and they are the backbone of our business.”

and 25th of January, 2016 and intends to sell 10,000 units this year.

Going ahead, government and Public sector are going to be strategic areas that Polycom will bolster its focus on. The company will turn its gaze to more cities, by taking its presence to 70 cities from its previous 36.

The partner eco-system has also been growing for Polycom, with Syntel being the newest partner to have joined the company.

Michael Frendo Executive VP, Worldwide Engineering – Polycom Frendo joined Polycom in 2014 to lead Polycom’s global engineering team as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Engineering. In this role, he leads a global team of innovators that continue to bring cutting edge technologies and visual collaboration products to market that span the break-room to the boardroom and the café to the airlines. Michael holds a PhD and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada and an Honors BSc in Computer Science from Western University in London, Canada.

“We are focused and obsessed with the way people are collaborating, dealing with technology, to allow them collaborate naturally and not forcing them to adapt.

We see an opportunity and we see the gap and we will change them. We will continue to bring in new technologies into the market that really provides different collaborating experience. For us it’s about the opportunity and its size.

The market is changing and we believe that we deliver things that others don’t by bringing innovative and differentiating technology.”

Polycom sees a big Opportunity in India's Video market Minhaj Zia – Managing Director, Polycom India & SAARC speaks to VARIDIA on its various initiatives and strategies for the India market

require advanced technology. Polycom India has also launched a technology called ‘websuite and media suite’ which records these lectures and stack up these lectures in a virtual library which can be access on demand.

What are new segments/ What are Polycom’s plans for and Gurgaon. verticals that Polycom is focusing in the Video Conferencing the Smart City project?

What is Video is going to be one of the elements Business?

Strategy?

Traditional verticals are very protechnology. Polycom has its focus intact on all the important verticals like education segment, Healthcare, Corporate, Export Companies, SMEs and Enterprises.

of the Smart City component. We see an opportunity worth $ 98 million from these projects. We have been working with multiple agencies like Deloitte India (one of Polycom’s biggest customers worldwide), PwC etc.

Simple browser too provides virtual classrooms. So why will any Educational Institute install such expensive technology?

What is Polycom’s presence in the country today?

Polycom India too provides such simple browsers (technology) for students to create virtual classrooms but still we need advanced technology. To justify, one of the India’s leading business institutes ISB (Indian School of Business) is very premium in nature. Their fees structure revolves around 30 lakhs for the courses. They don’t want any compromise in their experience. To get best experience you

Polycom has its offices in 7 cities in India and covers around 70 cities with its huge network of partners. Our goal is to have offices in 100 cities by the end of 2016 which will be operated by the local partners. Our partners offer both servicing and selling support. We have our own warehouses across India. We also offer extensive Training Programs to the partners which we are going to continue in future.

We have 3 Executive Briefing Centres (EBC) in India, one in Bangalore, Bombay

Polycom’s

Cloud

We empower our partners to be able to deliver our cloud at most affordable price and get the best of experience. We give adequate them support in terms of deployment, capabilities, making it simple so that our partners can leverage the Cloud. We have a model for our partners in which we sell our software on a per user concurrent basis, which means that the partner does not have to invest and need not have to pay upfront everything.

Partners who want to start cloud services can take Polycom’s software technology that is virtualised & cloud ready and can be put into data centre service centres. Additionally when partner sells such cloud services with the customers, we even allow our sales team to get compensated on this.

Voice of Partners Alok Shanker, CEO - Beetel Teletech Limited “It’s a great event that Polycom has put up; it gives us the opportunity to interact not only with the top leadership of the company but also the partners that we regularly work with. From the discussions that have taken place on where technology has been moving, especially the two showcased products, we understand that Polycom has indeed come a long way.”

Sankaran Ganesan, Asst Vice President - Godrej & Boyce “It’s good to connect with so many partners and executives from Polycom under a single roof. It also helps to understand Polycom’s strategy for the video market, the new products which are demonstrated here. So overall it has been a good experience for all the partners. The new line of products are also very exciting and they are the first of kind to hit the AV market."

Rajiv Gupta, Chief operating officer - Arvind Limited (Telecom Division)/ Syntel “Participating at this event has been a wonderful experience. The learning that we have gathered on the new things that Polycom has introduced has been truly exciting. The new products that Polycom has unveiled are very much aligned to what the market needs today. Our strength is in the SMB and we have a great reach."

Anil Jain, Managing Director - Progility Technologies Pvt Ltd “Its important partners know what the roadmap of Polycom is, where do they want to go and what do they plan for this fiscal year. Keeping that in mind, the company strategy and the channel program discussed at this event shows that there is indeed a lot of potential and that Polycom is on the right path of growth.”

Vipen Malhotra, President Arya Omnitalk Wireless Solutions Pvt. Ltd. “We are very excited to be the newest partner for Polycom. We firmly believe that video is going to be the new voice tomorrow. Looking at Polycom’s eco-system, the kind of opportunities they provide to increase video penetration both in new and existing markets, I think that is something partners look forward to."

Manoj Kanodia, CEO - Inspira Enterprise India Private Limited “The product launches that Polycom has shown is really exciting, I feel this is the time when competition should watch out to Polycom for this. This is also very positive and exciting for us partners to take it forward. It also gives us a platform to meet all the partners from Polycom’s eco-system.

It actually puts us together as a family. You get to know the plans not just of Polycom but also of other partners.”

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FACE TO FACE

“India would be among Kingston’s top 5 markets in next 2 years” K

ingston sees India as a country with maximum potential for quality growth – next only to China. It has already made substantial investments in the last five years and has been mapping this market from a strategic standpoint.

“Next to China, India is the most populous country. Similar to China, we do believe that customers in India love technology and they adapt to it quite fast. We have over the years established good relationship with all our partners, distributors, dealers, large retail outlets and even with the media. Also, we have been very active on the marketing front with many lifestyle, gaming and channel campaigns, which reflect our interest and aggressiveness in the Indian market,” says Ann Bai, DRAM, Memory & HyperX Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston Technology.

Kingston is a company with almost 30 years of success story. Customers globally have known it who they are and what they do. “If we can be #1 with over 55% of market share, I am sure we can do the same for the Indian market too. In the last five years of our operations in India, we have seen the customer base increase in size, just like China, Japan and many other countries. The market size is, indeed, huge here, which means there is a big potential for us. With the rate we are growing here, I can say that in the next two years, India would be among Kingston’s top five markets,” says Ann. In the APAC region alone, Kingston is operating in around 17 countries. In terms of growth, India has been growing faster and so Ann believes that in a short span of time, India is going to clinch the No. 2 position, though China will retain the No. 1 position because of its long history in that market.

Kingston has always believed in being channel friendly. That is why it works with a distributor or multiple distributors in every country. “The distribution model is going to remain the same across all our markets. We work with them on a longterm basis and believe in growing with them. I would say most of the distributors in Asia have been working with us for the last 20–25 years. Even our Indian distributors have a track record of over 10 years,” points out Ann. Along with distributors, Kingston also engages frequently with their customers on multiple platforms. By doing so, it comes to know what the wants of the market are and what its customers’ needs are. “We

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can innovate and include different kind of solutions and support for each segment of our customers, depending on their need and this brings us closer to the market,” Ann says.

Ann Bai, DRAM, Memory & HyperX Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston Technology, tells VARINDIA as to what it seeks from India as a market and how it foresees the next few years in the country "In the last five years of our operations in India, we have seen the customer base increase in size, just like China, Japan and many other countries. The market size is, indeed, huge here, which means there is a big potential for us"

Kingston & India...

Kingston has received a very positive response from the Indian market. It has not brought about much of a change in its strategies, but over the years the company has strengthened its relationship in the market. Whether it is the distributors or customers or partners, Kingston regards them as part of its family.

Over the years, Kingston has sponsored gaming events globally. In India too, it has joined a few top events to encourage and unify the gaming community. “We are engaging with more and more tech enthusiasts and gamers to inform and provide the best quality products for their system. From time to time, you would be getting reminders as who we are and so far what we have been doing. We have been the Number One memory brand and we are going to retain that position. Our primary motto is to ensure better quality, best after-sales service and good reach,” asserts Ann. Kingston’s HyperX is a high-end gaming product line. “HyperX is a part of Kingston that is targeted to tech enthusiasts, gamers and to people interested in high performance and high speed. Kingston has started this year with the new HyperX Cloud Drone special headsets for the Indian market only, which will be a cost-effective model for this market,” she says.

While Kingston has always considered its products as its lifeline, service support is what lends the company a trusted name in the market. To address service woes of both its partners and customers, Kingston has around 60 service centres. “We are a very responsible company. Most of our memory and flash product lines carry a Lifetime warranty, which means that we are not afraid but are confident of our product quality. Imagine if our product quality is bad, we would have to incur huge expenses to Kingston,” explains Ann. But most importantly Kingston believes in nurturing relationship and people. “Distributors are happy with us because we really do take care of them.

The longer they are there with us, the more they would know of Kingston as a brand that prioritizes them from a growth perspective,” sums up Ann. n

VAR ANALYSIS

Product Services can boost up the economy In a chat with VARINDIA, Sharad Srivastava, Founder & Managing Director, dStor Technologies, mentions about the advantages of recycling electronic products from developed countries in India.

It is said that an electronic product loses its value once it is unsealed. But still its value remains even after it becomes faulty beyond the warranty period. The standard life of an electronic product is five years along with 1-2 years of warranty. And still the faulty products have enough serviceable life left with it if we recycle and reuse these products which otherwise become e-waste.

“Most of the electronic products have useable life of 5 years and beyond, and with a warranty offered by a manufacturer of only one to two years, there is good % of useful life left in most of the products if they become faulty beyond the warranty period.

If we recycle and reuse these faulty products after repairs, we can derive a good value out of these products which otherwise has junk value and become part of e-waste and become a

burden on our planet,” says Sharad Srivastava, Founder & MD, dStor Technologies.

The other advantage of reusing and recycling these products after necessary repairs is that these products will provide low-cost computerization solutions to a lot of businesses and consumers which do not need the latest and greatest technologies and also cannot afford the high cost of new products.

Benefits of recycling The recycling of imported faulted products in India can boost the Indian economy in many ways as it can help the country to earn valuable foreign exchange and it will boost Digital India initiative by selling these recycled products in India.

“There is no specific country but most of the developed countries have very high labour cost, so the repairs of product become unviable economically in those countries.

We can take the product from the developed countries, repair and sell them to developing countries,” he says.

This service will help the country in earning foreign exchange and can also cater to support local consumption with low-cost solutions, if the sale of these recycled products

Sharad Srivastava Founder & Managing Director, dStor Technologies is allowed in India. This will help in bridging the gap in digital divide and also contribute in the Digital India initiative.

"The major bottleneck is the ban on import of faulty products in India. The government should allow the import of these products in India and some percentage should be allowed to be soldl in India after repairs.

The industry will benefit by giving low-cost system to the first-time and cost-conscious users to start using the technologies. Once they start using, their next upgrade can be the latest technologies which will boost business prospects. The market size may be a couple of US$100 million, depending on the products and their serviceability,” concludes Srivastava.

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COVER STORY

IT Growth Story 2.0 In our January edition we have talked about how the IT landscape in the country in 2016 is going to be defined by some latest innovations in technologies like Cloud, IoT, Wearables and Smart devices. We have more vendors talking about these new developments in IT in the current issue and we run through some of these predictions for the year ahead -

2

015 has been a great year for reasons more than one. It has been a significant year for every corporate from a strategic point of view of the business landscape, marketing deals and major product and technology launches.

“The year 2015 for us at D-Link has essentially been high on innovation with new products being introduced at regular intervals, focussing on segment-wise business approach, and strong emphasis on customer engagement and support infrastructure.

Besides, developing business alliances was another key focus area at D-Link,” says Anoop Jarial, Vice-

Anoop Jarial VP – Product Marketing D-Link (India) Ltd.

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President – Product Marketing, D-Link (India) Ltd. Acer had a fairly successful year with product launches, including smartphones, All-in-Ones, and convertibles focussed on the productivity segment. “We entered into the gaming segment by introducing V Nitro and gaming monitor in India which gave us more visibility and popularity among our core consumer group,” recounts S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India.

At AMD, 2015 has been tremendously exciting and eventful. “The year 2015 saw AMD reorganizing its graphics division to form Radeon Technologies Group (RTG) in order to enhance our focus on graphics and immersive computing and strengthening our presence in the Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) space. AMD also launched a whole slew of graphics products, aimed at capturing the market share in graphics as well as professional computing,” states Vinay Sinha, Head of Sales – India, Director – Commercial Business, AMD Asia-PacificJapan (APJ) Mega Region.

From a technology perspective, new breakthroughs in technologies and innovative products hit the market that paved the way for a major shift. The nexus of forces “Social, Cloud Computing, Analytics and Mobility”, also popularly

known as the third platform, continued to mature and drive engagement between buyers and sellers in the year 2015. It also drove the functioning of Enterprise IT in a far more holistic and efficient manner.

“Going ahead, Cloud will pave the way for IT spends in the next few years. The global cloud storage market is expected to grow from US$18.87 billion in 2015 to US$65.41 billion by 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28.2% during the forecast period,” cites Anil Valluri, President – India and SAARC, NetApp. “An additional impetus in the Indian

S. Rajendran Chief Marketing Officer Acer India

Vinay Sinha Head of Sales – India, Director Commercial Business, AMD APJ Region market has been the aggressive vision by the Government of India which charted out a list of ambitious plans including the creation of a digitally-enabled India, smarter cities and ‘Make in India’,” adds Anil.

What to look for in 2016?

The year 2016 is definitely going to be an action packed year with the advent of new innovations in both hardware and software space. The IT landscape has been constantly evolving and changing.

Many new trends are expected to emerge and some of them will definitely go a long way in improving the lives of users around the world.

Anoop points out that with internet being omni-present and smartphones turning into a must- have accessory, uninterrupted wireless connectivity is going to be crucial. As a result, adoption of 11AC technology, the fifth and the

latest standard in Wi-Fi, will be on the rise. “Another technology that has been making a lot of noise in recent times is Web of Things or Internet of Things (IoT). Given the number of existing internet-connected devices, IoT will act as an obvious extension for today’s connected world,” he says.

India continues to be a focus market for AMD, especially in the APJ region and it is committed to bringing newer innovations to meet the changing needs of this market. “We strongly believe that research and development is at the backbone of our technology breakthroughs, done mainly through our R&D centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

At AMD, we have been working on the “25x20 Energy Efficiency” initiative, an ambitious goal to increase the “typical use” energy efficiency of our entire line of mobile processors by 25 times from 2014 to 2020,” recalls Vinay.

Storage – seeing a big transformation...

Storage is another area that is undergoing an exciting stage of transformation, driven by disruptive forces such as Flash and Cloud. In the coming year, Anil alerts that even bigger transformations will take place that storage administrators must prepare for.

In 2016, products and solutions will respond to market needs for simplicity.

For instance, Converged infrastructure will minimize the drudgery of hardware integration and free up customers to experiment with software innovation.

“Converged is one of the fastest-growing segments in enterprise infrastructure as

Anil Valluri President India and SAARC NetApp it involves the number one issue most organizations have, that is the shortage of IT skills. The transition of workflows can help IT teams refocus their staff take on tasks that achieve and further business goals,” says Anil.

The All-Flash Data Center will further become a practical reality. In the last few years, one can see a steady increase in the usage of Flash. “In 2016, Flash capacities will be larger than disk drives and lower pricing will make them more viable.

Flash sales are poised to double due to aggressive price cuts as large enterprise storage companies stake out claims on this bright spot in the market,” he further adds.

The next technology has to be the hybrid cloud, according to Anil. Data management will open up with new hybrid cloud cases. The market of hybrid cloud is growing at an annual compound rate of 29.22% over the period of 2014-

Trends Forecast for 2016 • Growth of the 2-in-1 Laptop-Tablet market – The rising demand for mobility, acceptance of touchscreen-based devices by consumers and the growing mobile workforce in India are driving the market for 2-in-1 Laptop-Tablet in India.

• IT transformation will bring new challenges and opportunities – Digital transformation could marginalize the central IT organization but could also make it a true change agent and a transformation engine. By 2018, enterprises pursuing digital transformation initiatives will more than double the size of their software development teams, focussing those developers almost entirely on digital initiatives.

• Big Data Analytics will make a bigger impact – Reports suggest that advances in semantic tools such as graph databases as well as other emerging data classification and information analysis techniques will bring meaning to the often chaotic deluge of information.

• The Internet of Things (IoT) will get redefined – It is expected that, by 2018, there will be 22 billion IoT devices installed, driving the development of over 200,000 new IoT apps and services. Trends suggest that IoT devices and solutions have the potential to redefine competitive advantage in virtually every industry. Most active IoT development will cluster around the manufacturing, transportation, retail, and healthcare industries.

• Get ready for more high-profile Security breaches – The reality is that internal IT security is at a serious disadvantage in most companies. The winners in 2016 are those who will be able to develop flexible, responsive, analytics-driven approaches to security, that can quickly identify gaps and vulnerabilities, detect intrusions, and shut them down quickly. It is not a foolproof plan, but it gives enterprises their best chance for success.

• The “Connected World” supported by Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality – Machines will not just talk to machines in the connected world, they will also interact with people extensively, and we will see developers looking for new ways to create an innovative, highly connected overall user experience – connecting people to their environment via augmented reality. Advances in artificial intelligence technology will accelerate to allow for effective processing of the barrage of data that will spring from the connected world.

• More investments in IT – Revenue pressures continue, but that doesn’t mean enterprises won’t invest in IT. Companies will demand that vendors focus on solutions that drive actual results of increased revenue or lowering costs. In fact, business outcomes will become a key performance indicator for IT vendors, with success tied to customers’ revenue, not just technology performance. This will drive programs that improve and streamline process and embrace automation and the Internet of Things.

• Demand for Open Source – Open source is the choice of solutions platform for many new and emerging organizations the world over, especially for start-ups that have limited financial resources at their disposal.

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COVER STORY of the potential of the digital world, they need to fundamentally transform their culture, operations, infrastructure and talent to align with emerging business models.

“In 2016, companies which have built fragmented and disparate technologies over the years will go on a transformative digital journey or so-called a ‘Single Business Aligned Digital Fabric’ to achieve desired business outcomes and ensure customer satisfaction,” says Harsh Marwah, Country Manager, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, India.

Sunil Jose Managing Director Teradata India

An alarming year for Security

2019. In this hybrid cloud approach, seamless data management across cloud resources is critical to enable IT organizations to complement a private cloud with a public cloud strategy that doesn’t introduce new risks, complicate policies or result in the loss of control of valuable business information. The role of storage admins will, thus, evolve to that of data managers.

“Data security concerns and sovereignty are driving IT to take a closer look at their cloud plans. Administrators need to know exactly where their data lives and who is managing it at all times.

2016 will, thus, be the year of simplicity in IT and converged infrastructures will break down data center barriers,” Anil concludes while throwing light on the trends for 2016.

The number of devices and technologies as well as the challenges people face to keep their information secure keeps growing. "It is important for every smart user to understand the security trait and a challenge for businesses, enterprises and governments to improve data security.

ESET researchers predict trends of 2016 by constant monitoring of the security landscape right from mundane to the most complex matters. We believe that

A growing market for Analytics...

Even though the continuing theme of SMAC factors is still relevant, a much more refined set of factors will be Digitization, Big Data Analytics, IoT, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. The analytics market in India, according to NASSCOM, is expected to be around US$2.3 billion by the end of 2017-18, up from approximately US$1.5 billion in 2015. In fact, by 2020 analytics will be one of the key drivers for economic growth of any nation worldwide. “The Indian market is still in the early stages of adoption of analytics. However, with surplus talent, established infrastructure and a mature ecosystem, India is on its way to becoming a global hub for analytics,” says Sunil Jose, Managing Director, Teradata India.

“In 2015, analytics started making an appearance with regard to customers, finance, risk management and operations.

2016 will see a major focus with regard to analytics in these areas,” according to Sunil.

Digital disruption continues for global brands, government entities and other organizations in 2016. It will challenge every aspect of business, across all sectors, and if organizations are to make the most

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Zakir Rangwala Country Head at ESS Distribution, Official Distributor of ESET Products, India services that process sensitive information, such data are becoming a more attractive target for cyber attackers.

• New security and privacy features of Windows 10 • Personal data protection laws from around the world and the need for joint efforts among governments, companies and users • The landscape of cyber threats to children and young people on the Web – Sexting, grooming and cyber bullying According to Zakir, it is important to emphasize the role of governments and security agencies to enact laws that support the safe and secure development of new technologies, by defining standards and rules to respect privacy, and by developing effective critical infrastructure.

Rise in demand for Mobility devices...

Harsh Marwah Country Manager, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, India it is possible to protect business data by combining technology, management and education,” says Zakir Rangwala, Country Head at ESS Distribution, official distributor of ESET products, India.

Some of the trends that ESET researchers have predicted and are worth watching for 2016 are: • The evolution of ransomware which has changed its focus from blocking files to attacking complete devices – The challenge is not only to detect and block or remove such attacks, but also to ensure the continuing availability of information.

• Globalization of crimeware and massive campaigns, with the fight against cybercrime as a key element – 2016 will present new security challenges, but also a more active and organized front in the fight against cybercrime.

• The next steps in mobile security and future defense strategies – As smartphones and tablets increasingly offer

The outlook for the Tablet PCs market in India seems very promising as the overall consumer spending and acceptance are increasing. The easeof-use and multi-task ability is driving enterprises to experience Tablet PCs in workplaces rather than traditional PCs or notebooks.

“The PC ecosystem has started to show some results from our efforts to narrow the divide between the PC and mobile devices in terms of both user experience and price points. Nevertheless, much more needs to be done as technological advances in both hardware and software are expected to benefit an ever-widening spectrum of form-factors, such as 2-in-1 devices that will further siphon volume from notebooks,” observes Rajendran.

In India, the 2-in-1 market is presently at an introductory stage where the corporate sector holds a major share of the market. However, education sector presents tremendous opportunities for the growth of convertible laptops.

“Improvement in consumer awareness and a decrease in ownership costs will give the much-needed boost to the 2-in-1 market in India,” he sums up. n

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VAR CORPORATE

Indian SMEs can ‘Think’ about Server purchase now!

Lenovo strengthens its enterprise portfolio by bringing its ThinkServer brand to India Here’s some great news for Indian small businesses looking to build their first DIY server compute cluster or a software defined storage cluster. Lenovo is bringing its legendary Think engineering to India through the launch of ThinkServer brand with two models – ThinkServer TS140, an entry-level Tower server, and ThinkServer RD450, an entry level 2U rack server.

This is the first addition from the ThinkServer portfolio to the EBG server range for Lenovo in India, post its acquisition of IBM’s x86 business in 2014.

With ThinkServer, Lenovo aims to add to the robust portfolio across the entire server spectrum, right from entry-level to high-end servers. Staying true to Lenovo’s legendary Think engineering, both TS140 and RD450 will offer small businesses and entrepreneurs a perfect launch pad for their first server purchase.

Both the models of servers have their individual attributes. ThinkServer TS140 is engineered to enable 24x7 running time.

Additionally, the advanced thermal design also reduces overall system noise to superquiet levels of close to 26 decibels. The TS140 also supports enterprise grade hard disk drives that have 3x higher MTBFs and can handle up to 10 times the workload as compared to entry-level servers that come with consumer-grade hard drives. The offthe-shelf TS140 configuration from Lenovo

is powered with built in RAID 5 capability that offers customers greater peace of mind by ensuring higher availability and reliability.

On the other hand, the ThinkServer RD450 strikes the perfect balance between high reliability, powerful software solutions and versatile storage capacity. The RD450 comes with nextgen mainstream CPUs up to 105W offering 267% more memory capacity, improved systems management capabilities and range of Platinum/Titanium PSUs. Users can benefit from increased performance, faster IO for business applications and highly efficient flexible design aimed at reducing power consumption and cost. In typical Think style, the RD450 is purposefully designed to grow one’s business and keep costs low, while also offering remote management capabilities for increased reliability and uptime.

The server business is core to Lenovo’s strategy. The launch of the ThinkServers in India is a step towards achieving the company’s stated goal to become number 1 in the enterprise space in the next five years.

Key attributes of the ThinkServerRD450 are • Perfect balance between high reliability, powerful software solutions and versatile storage capacity.

• Next gen mainstream CPUs up to 105W offering 267% more memory capacity, improved systems management capabilities and range of Platinum/ Titanium PSUs. • Increased performance, faster IO for business applications and highly efficient flexible design aimed at reducing power consumption and cost.

• Designed to grow one’s business and keep costs low, while also offering remote management capabilities for increased reliability and uptime.

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• •

• •

•

Some of the key attributes of the ThinkServer TS140 are Engineered to enable 24x7 running time Advanced thermal design that reduces overall system noise to super-quiet levels (as low as 26 decibels).

Supports enterprise grade hard disk drives that have 3x higher MTBFs Can handle up to 10 times the workload as compared to entry-level servers that come with consumer-grade hard drives.

Off-the-shelf TS140 configuration powered with built-in RAID 5 capability that ensures higher availability and reliability.

“Lenovo as a Brand provides a sense of belongingness” Navneet Sharma, Owner Tricad Computers tells VARINDIA of why his company reposes its trust on Lenovo and the business growth it foresees in spite of the market being slow -

business?

We are associated with Lenovo since its presence in India. Earlier our dealing with Lenovo was limited to Desktops and Notebooks. But now, after acquisition of X Series and Motorola, our portfolio has become wider and there is lot more to win under one brand/one roof.

How has been your journey with Lenovo in terms of support and incentive program?

It has been at par with the leaders in the market. Some of the new programs like Lenovo Sikandar are very exciting.

of materials and good incentive programmes are some of the initiatives taken by Lenovo for developing the Partner Eco-System.

Innovative programs like Lenovo Cares and Lenovo Sikandar are building a strong bond with the Channel partners and their teams.

It has provided a sense of belongingness, resulting in good assertion from ourselves to our customers. The Channel connect has improved over the past year with various trainings and enablement initiatives.

What kind of initiatives has Lenovo taken towards developing For how long have you been the partner eco-system? associated with Lenovo?

Lead generation, secondary liquidation provide for Lenovo.

How instrumental has been the role of Lenovo in shaping your

After Sale Support from Lenovo is awesome. Multi-Level check is maintained by the company. Lenovo uses present and future technologies to cater to after sale support.

Call logging from Smart Apps, SMS, Email and toll free numbers are some of the options given by company.

How do you foresee your Last but not the least, what has business growth with the wide been your core strength in helping range of products from Lenovo?

Lenovo to grow further?

We expect 10-12% growth overall even

after a sluggish market.

Can you share your experience on post service support with flexible options that you

We only go full thrust where we feel confident to hit. That way, we and Lenovo have been mutual beneficiaries.

“Lenovo has been supportive in obtaining significant B2B deals” Anil Tiwari, Director – Om Sai Corporation on how working with Lenovo is helping it in growing its business, in terms of both volume and number and the future that it foresees while working with the vendor do you see in coming quarters?

How has been the journey so far with Lenovo?

We will continue to increase our focus on server and workstation products. We have been doing good in both these segment of products. For business expansion, we would love to work in the public sector and with global accounts.

We have been associated with the principal vendor ever since the company has acquired IBM PC business. So it’s been almost 8 years now.

What has been your core strength in helping Lenovo business grow?

What kind of Lenovo products are you dealing with?

Till 2007-2008, we have been dealing only with retail products. But after that we started our foray into B2B products also and it’s been 4-5 years that we have been selling enterprise products. So it is more of the relationship business with Lenovo brand for us. We have one LES Lenovo Exclusive store (LES) in Mumbai.

Almost 50% of our business comes from the education vertical alone.

How instrumental has been Lenovo for your business?

Any message you would like Lenovo has been very supportive in getting to leave for Lenovo and your many of the important B2B deals done. The partners?

Which are the major verticals management has been helpful too. It gives us good prices and is a loved brand among all our for you? customers. We will expect this relationship to

We are majorly focused on FMCG, BFSI, pharmaceuticals and education, the last two verticals being the major growth sectors for us.

We are not doing business like other partners. We have acquired some big customers in the BFSI sector like Yes Bank and this has really helped us in cementing our relationship with the vendor.

continue in future as well.

What kind of business growth

We have been growing 140% every year and are committed to grow along with Lenovo.

There are many more opportunities coming forth in the country and we would love to grab them, if not all at least some. n

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Disruptive technologies pose challenge to Network Security S

ecurity has always remained a major concern for organisations across verticals. Organizations worldwide have ranked IT security as one of their priorities as increasingly sophisticated attacks, new data protection regulations, and most recently insider fraud and data breaches, threaten to disrupt and irreparably damage their businesses.Small or large, no matter of the size of the organisations, security has always been an important factor for them.

In today’s world, the organisations reside on data and to protect thatthey have to have advanced network security solutions. Other than data, various factors like advanced cyberattacks, disruptive technologies, growing midsized businesses etchave influenced the market to witness a double digit growth.

According to Gartner, the security market in India is expected to touch USD 1.69 billion by 2019 with network security equipment and services contributing to USD 1.01 billion over the same period.

Growth drivers of Network Security Market The nature of Network Security is evolving with the advancement of the cyber threats in the country. Another important factor of this growth is adoption of new technologies.

“With changing landscape of cyber threats and growing adoption of disruptive

George Chacko Principal Systems Engineer and Lead Technical Consultant, Brocade India

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Aravindan Anandan Consulting Systems Engineer, Asia Pacific, Barracuda Networks. technologies like mobility, virtualization and cloud is pushing security vendors to expand their network security solutions capabilities and merging.of technologies, for example, virtualized firewalls; hardened OS for security appliance, and running firewalls with hypervisor. The New IP is a modern approach to networking that emphasizes open, automated, software-defined elements to increase agility and reduce costs while meeting the challenges of the Third Platform. And the great news is that the New IP provides a new way to architect networks that accelerate business changes and growth while maintaining or increasing high levels of security,”said George Chacko, Principal Systems Engineer and Lead Technical Consultant, Brocade India.

“In India, the network security sphere has evolved a great deal, eventually leading UTM (Uni-fied Threat Management) to dominate the scenario. With cloud emerging as a big boon for businesses, cloud security can be observed as a driving trend in the information security zone.

The two most noticeable trends in the network security market space for SME segment in India are the increase in the number of vendors that are proposing products in this segment and the rising number of applications that are being added to UTM security appliances.The market is also noticing the participation of local players offering products at par with global

companies in terms of standard and quality.

So, vendors are specially innovating to be able to cater to SMBs and tap on the huge demand in the SMB sector for network security and are constantly evolving with rigorous research and development on better offerings for the SMB sector Also the security industry is more than ever, moving to a service model where vendors make sure the quality and accomplishment of their end-user. The demand and growth rate in India is higher than anywhere else; because of its size and IT enablement is occurring rapidly.

Also, India tops the list for cybercrime and risks.

And therefore, with greater connectivity, this ought to raise demand for a way out,” replied Aravindan Anandan, Consulting Systems Engineer, Asia Pacific, Barracuda Networks.

Challenges Businesses across verticals are moving beyond traditional boundaries and are embracing latest technologies. Moreover, increasing number of cyber-attacks and its complexities are forcing the companies to change their approach towards security.

“Both vendors and channel leaders require a comprehensive approach and deeper understanding of changing dynamics in network security. Firstly, with regard to infrastructure, we clearly observe how

Sunil Sharma VP Sales Sophos, India & SAARC.

INDUSTRY WATCH

Amit Singh Country Manager Dell SonicWALL businesses across verticals are adopting radical changes in IT infrastructure - tearing down the old perimeter and redefining traditional boundaries with collaboration, mobility, virtualization and the adoption of cloud-based services. Given this situation, security has to change to address shifting concerns. Secondly, following the consistent increase in the complexity and volume of targeted attacks, the necessity of companies to address regulatory or compliance-related issues continue to transform the approach toward security as new requirements emerge due to social, mobile, cloud, and any-where access to mission-critical information,” commented Sunil Sharma, VP Sales, Sophos, India & SAARC. Another major challenge that the security vendors face is lack of knowledge and training among the organisations. Knowledge and training is highly required across organisations.

“Despite of what we are doing and the other security vendors are doing we still see the big requirement of knowledge and training in the organisations. Another challenge is the develop innovations that they are doing will do some change in the infrastructure which require a change in the security. Third is the explosion of end point devices and mobile applications.

So the number of devices which are connecting to the network are increasing at a tremendous rate and the number of applications running into it which is making the network more complicated,” mentionedAmit Singh, Country Manager, Dell SonicWALL. Disruptive technologies posing challenge With huge penetration of mobile devices and at the same time increase in the usage of various forms of broadband connectivity has amplified the need of network security.

Similarly technologies like new mobile OS, SaaS, BYOD are also throwing challenges into the organisations.

IoT is the latest technology in the market based on which many innovations are coming up. And the new technologies are vulnerable to threats which the cyber criminals take advantage off.

“IoT will become central to “land and expand” attacks. Hackers will take advantage of vulnerabilities in everything from smart home devices to wearables to compromise corporateissued devices or corporate networks. As the

JitendraGhughal National Channel Manager, India & SAARC at Fortinet. attack surface for IoT grows dramatically, so do the opportunities to propagate malware among the devices, many of which may find their way onto corporate networks or connect to repositories of personal data.

As adoption of cloud and virtualization technologies continues to increase, we expect attackers to develop malware and seek out

Sridhar Iyengar Vice President, ManageEngine approach with solutions available in market that provide complete visibility and control into security domain. They have adopted individual network security solutions to find out the source of a particular attack or even before it occur with its monitoring and analytics capabilities.

The latest trend set in market is one solution that provides complete security platform to identify security events proactively & mitigate security threats in real-time,” commentsSridhar Iyengar, Vice President, ManageEngine.

Worst hit segments Data is the most important aspect for a cyber-criminal and for that they do not differentiate between large or small businesses.

So both large enterprises and small businesses are prone to cyber-attacks. But the major differentiator is the financial resources and skilled manpower. Smaller businesses or SMB face these challenges and remains vulnerable to threats.

Vijay Bharti Vice President – Security, Happiest Minds technologies vulnerabilities that can further compromise host systems. Beyond attacks on virtualized systems, though, attacks on both public and private cloud-based systems are increasingly likely. The prevalence of mobile applications (again, both from public and corporate app stores) make mobile devices potential vectors for remote attacks on cloud-based applications and virtualized systems,” saidJitendraGhughal, National Channel Manager, India & SAARC at Fortinet.

Trends in Network Security Previously, the organisations use concentrate on perimeter network security but with advancement of threat scenario they have shifted to solution which provide a more vivid and detailed information about attacks.

Another worth mentioning trend is the adoption of a single solution which provides complete security.

“Earlier, organizations were more inclined towards perimeter network security i.e. protecting at end points which is old, reactive threat-oriented model. Now, the focus has shifted to more predictive and proactive

Though SMBs are vulnerable to attacks they can now protect their organisations with the power of cloud-based security models.

“Amid a constantly evolving and sophisticated cyber security landscape, the SMB sector is most vulnerable to attacks. Most SMBs cannot afford multi-layered security and defense levels like large enterprises due to budget restraints. However, the advent of the cloud-based security model has provided an opportunity for SMBs to leverage advanced security capabilities at a fraction of the cost of an on-premise model. Against this background, there has been significant traction in the network security space as SMBs look to ramp up their efforts to improve their security posture,” reiterated Vijay Bharti, Vice President- Security, Happiest Minds technologies.

Lastly…

Disruptive technologies will keep impacting the technology market at the same time it will benefit people. This will open gateways for the cyber criminals to intrude into the networks to get business secrets which in turn will give the network security vendors to come up with advanced security solutions. With new innovations and different factors the growth of network security market will continue to soar. n

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ISODA brings an opportunity for Tech vendors and VARs L

angkawi has witnessed a unique opportunity for tech vendors and VARs to address the US$ 100 billion e-commerce market in India by 2020. India is on the cusp of change with various opportunities in the space of ICT. To have a better understanding of this business opportunity, ISODA kick-started its annual flagship event, ISODA Tech Summit 6 that attracted 120 key decision makers from leading software companies and the VAR community (System Integrators, Solution Partners and Sub-distributors).

The objective of the event was to move the IT and Software sector forward together and strengthen the industry on a global level.The Conference was an overwhelming success, attracting 100 delegates, speakers, media and sponsors and providing great intellectual and social interaction for the participants. VARs from across the country travelled to be a part of this Summit.

Speaking on the vision of this year’s summit, Mr. Tushar Parekh, Chairman of the summit commented said, “Collaborating and understanding partners across the segments and going ahead is the key agenda of the summit. With the IT sector growth numbers going

ahead, it is the need of the hour to have a strong bonding among the partner-partner and partner-vendor collaboration which will be the mantra of the business success.”

Parekh also added that the industry is shifting towards cloud-based platform and which is the future. “When you talk about cloud, your Capex is low. Your overheads are reduced drastically; manpower and infra structure are reduced”. Tushar explained about his strong belief that the summit will rejuvenate the partner ecosystem through the enhancement. “The theme titled, ‘Partner2Progress’. Collaboration and togetherness can achieve the common goal to achieve towards ‘ONE ISODA' ”, he said.

There were various tech presentations and brain storming sessions by leading tech sponsors like Sophos/Cyberoam, Symphony Summit, Mindarray, Radware, Sanovi, Kaspersky, Everest Infrastructure Management Frameworks, Bitdefender, Quick Heal, VSS Monitoring, Intel Security & Symantec Website Security Solutions.

ISODA has in the past created various new alliances and paved the way for forging new collaborations among the vendors and partners.

Partner Feedback K V Jagannath, CEO & MD, Choice Solutions Ltd.:“I am very fortunate to come here.It’s a great associationand this platform has given us the opportunity to create and understand the future of each of us.

The attraction of ISODA Tech Summit is very simple you get to meet the vendors and partners way from targets on a daily business and you get t o know these people.The value proposition of ISODA meet is infinite, you can refresh, motivate, charge up and after getting back to daily life we have always increased our revenue of the business.”

Manasi Saha, Director, Macaws Infotech:“For last 5-6 years I am associated with ISODA and this organization is growing day by day. Previously I used to think thesepeople are my competitors. But now it is like they can help usout in lot of ways. The collaboration is happening, if I want to install a certain product anywhere in India, they are helping us out even in tendering, quoting etc.”

RAMESH KOTNI, DIRECTOR, TRACKER SOLUTIONS: “For us it is like networking and meeting friends and apart from that getting to know new products and vendors who have come to represent their products and getting a knowledge about industry what is coming new in the industry.”

Shailesh Singh, Business Manager: North & East-Radeware India Pvt. Ltd.:“Primarily, Radware was doing business throughTier 1 partners and was not focusing much on Tier 2 partners. And ISODA Tech Summit gave us the opportunity to talk to Tier 2 partners.”

Nityanand Shetty, M.D- Essen Vision Software Pvt. Ltd.: “ISODA is very dear to me. The biggest thing is it motivates and energies you. It gives an opportunity to meet with your peers, colleagues and people from all across the industry, all over the country.

You get a good opportunity to learn which can be implementedin your business.”

SATISH KUMAR V., COUNTRY HEAD, DMX TECHNOLOGIES: “To expand our reach, we need to be channel friendly and we were surprised that ISODA is such a big platform really exist in India. So immediately we grabbed the opportunity and we decided to go for it and it’s a platform where we connect with people, make new relationships and understand what they are doing.”

AltafHaldi, MD- South Asia, Kaspersky Lab India:“Earlier, I have been a part of ISODA Tech Summit 3 where we got a chance to meet lot of partners and it helped our business to grow. Thereafter we took a break of 3 years and now we are back in season 6. The reason to come here is, now we are ready with more solutions that we can introduce to these partners which is called Kaspersky Security services and it is the best platform for that.”

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Karthik Srinivasan, Regional Director-India & South AsiaSymphony Summit: “ISODA is very important for us and we are participating for the second time. The number of people that we are meeting is going to help us to reach out to the places where we are not present and build a network where we can sell our solutions. In last two days I spoke to people as far as Guwahati to Kochin and been able to build a relationship and taking it forward.”

R. Jiten Mehta, Director, Magnamious systems Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai: “I attended ISODA Tech Summit for two reasons, first of all we have space to network with friends and industry players. We come to know the leadership quality of various industry players through ISODA event and can analyze our weak points.

We can network and understand technology and all in one it provided multi task experience.”

Bhaskar Kalita, Director, BMG Informatics Pvt. Ltd.: “If you attend this kind of event you get know lot many people like new vendors, categories and also know how other partners from different parts of the country operate their business. You get to know each other in a better way when you meet people at personal level in this sort of event. These interactions will definitely increase possibility for my business and relationships to grow.”

Vikas Sharma, National Alliance Manager, Sanovi: “Sanovi is there for last 12 years, I was quiet successful with tier 1 cities and partners like HP, IBM, TCS, etc and we have been selling product by default. I took this opportunity to attend this event primarily to target new set of customers which are SMB’s or medium segment of customers who are trying to grow and also tomove into B category cities where we can expose our product to customers, as ours is a new and niche product.”

PANKAJ R GOENKA, DIRECTOR- ICONS: “It’s a great opportunity for us to interact with vendors, our peers, fellow members, we share ideas and collected knowledge this forum has.

It’s always good to be hear and know about new technologies, the emerging technologies and it also helps us as individuals and as business owners which takes to new level and as the tag line says partner progress as I would like to thank the team to take ISODA Tech Summit 6 to new level and I think its great job. ISODA Rocks.”

MANISH TANDON, M.D, QUESTA SOFTWARE SYSTEMS PVT. LTD.: “Of course we get very valuable inputs from ISODA forum.

It is all about making new friends and knowing new technology and I think it’s one of its kind only event where we meet other partners across the country as well as the principle companies.

ISODA is only forum which represents 70% of the IT community across India.”

KRISHNAKANT MATHURIA, DIRECTORKNOW-ALL-EDGE NETWORKS PVT. LTD.: “We as a company have been associated with ISODA from past 2 yrs. And it’s a wonderful platform for partners across country and people to come together and collaborate with each other and leveraging each other’s strength, expertise and get more access to technological expertise and exchange of information.”

HARIKRISHNA PRABHU, DIRECTOR, TECHNOBIND SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.: “ISODA is a large platform of resellers and it actually brings all the resellers together or all the solution providers. So it is one place where I can meet up with lot of partners and can introduce my company, my technology, build an ecosystem for my vendors and add some value to partners who are looking for newer and newer avenues to go into the market. "

VISHAL BINDRA, FOUNDER & CEO, ACPL: “What ISODA really brings on table is a collaboration and I think it is a most important thing. And we continue to come here because we have seen change from the times when ISODA was not there and now is there. Earlier we were actually just competing with lot of these guys and now we are doing common competition with them. So there is lot of Corporation happening rather than competition. This is one organization which gives you the connectivity with top owners of the businesses and friends.”

KAVITA SINGHAL, DIRECTOR, KAMTRON SYSTEMS: “It’s not just about one vertical, it’s about bringing so many OEMs and partners together. So we have got partners who are working across technology and then we have OEMs who are already existing in India. There are OEMs who are not present in India or their presence is very small and they want to expand their business i n India. So, we approached to existing OEMs and the OEMs who want to come to India for their businesses. So, they get set of partners who have access to market through this. So, it’s collaboration between the OEMs and the partners. And in fact Media also plays very important role. So it’s an ecosystem. So that’s how we work together.”

ASHOK PRABHU, FOUNDER AND CEO, VALUEPOINT TECHSOL PVT. LTD.: “This is my first participation in Tech Summit but I have missed a lot previously as I have not attended the same earlier. Primarily it is a great chance to meet peers, get to know them and happenings in the market. Particularly, it’s related to all software dealers’ perspective of doing business and how we can take business to next level, what are the various technologies that are in place and in a way it’s very full filling as what I was expecting.”

VENKAT, Director, Twenty Two by 7 solutions Pvt. Ltd.: “This is my 7th event, and I have been part of the event from day one. Its great place great fun for networking and it really open up new avenues to the business. It’s a great platform to mingle and network with different people and also to meet new vendors and get to know new trends and new happenings in the industry. It’s fun place to be part of.”

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MARKET WATCH

The printer market is undergoing a big transformation and is no longer the same from what it used to be a few years back. A number of factors have come into play – the major being the coming of the InkTank Printers into the market that is seen as a big game-changer. A peek into how the current printer market is shaping up –

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acked by a strong demand from the government, the year 2015 turned out to be a glorious year for the Indian printer market. “Alone in 3Q 2015, the hardcopy peripherals market witnessed an impressive 11.1-per cent rise and consequently today India is considered as the only country in APeJ (Asia-Pacific excluding Japan) that has grown year-onyear throughout the quarters in terms of shipment and that makes it an attractive destination for investments and service opportunities globally, according to IDC

Parikshet Singh Tomar Country Category Leader HP Inc. India

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data,” says Lalit Chaturvedi, General Manager Marketing, Kyocera Document Solutions India.

India is one country where print volumes are expected to grow along with China, South-East Asia and some parts of America. “Yes, from the volume perspective, it is growing, unlike in some other countries where printer sale is going flat,” says V. Balakrishnan, EGM (Marketing), Konica Minolta India.

However, as Ajay Madan, Senior General Manager – Communication & Security Products, Panasonic, India, points out that India still remains a pricesensitive market that perceives value-formoney in terms of both cost per page and total cost of ownership.

Epson, on its part, has been posting a decent growth along all its product categories. It has seen 20-per cent growth compared to the previous year. “Talking about the printer market, we are seeing a lot of traction coming from Home and SOHO segment. Initially, it was only corporate/commercial and government together that used to contribute to the printer market, but now even the Home segment has come into the picture,” shares N. Sambamoorthy, Director – Sales and Marketing, Epson India.

Major shifts in printer market…

There has been a shift from single to multifunction printers in both the inkjet and laser segments, of late. While the demand for Inkjet printers is high in the SOHO and SMB segment, Laser MFPs are also recording a stronger growth market, growing on the back of increased demand coming from government/ corporate segments. The demand from the government segment and a stable channel business have together played an important

Gautam Paul Assistant Director- CSP group, Canon India

N. Sambamoorthy Director – Sales and Marketing, Epson India role in driving the demand for Laser Jet printers. “The market size for both Ink and Laser Jet printer segments is huge and it is around 11 lakh units approximately for Inkjet and 17 lakh units approximately for Laserjet,” opines Lalit.

But a shift is sure to happen, with Inkjet taking over Laserjet in enterprises too.

“Inkjet is primarily focussed on SOHO/ Home users, but because it is much easier to procure, the market size is still larger than Laser printers. We expect the market, particularly on the industrial side to see this shift post-DRUPA,” says Bala.

Sambamoorthy further says that he has seen a shift in the entry-level laser printers.

“Almost two-thirds of the Laser printer customers are on the entry side.” With colour printers becoming affordable, there have also been many used cases for colour printing too. Wherever there is the need for colour, customers have been fearlessly going and printing it in colour.

“Small businesses are focused on growth and constantly look out for innovation that can reduce cost and minimize disruption to their work,” said Parikshet Singh Tomar, Country Category Leader, HP Inc. India.

“The new HP DeskJet GT series makes high quality and reliable printing more affordable, while making printing and ink refill easy and fuss-free.”

Ajay Madan Senior GM – Communication & Security Products, Panasonic India

The coming of InkTank printers…

InkTank printers have made serious inroads into the Indian printer market, gradually capturing the market share of laser printers. The Inkjet market has been very strong due to the growing demand for InkTank printers which offers very low per-page printing cost. “InkTank printers offer greater value to SOHOs and SMBs as they compete with laser printers on indices such as high print quality, low printing cost per page, speed and energy saving. As opposed to cartridge printers, inktank solutions are easily refillable with a printing volume of up to 4,000 pages from a single ink bottle, reducing printing and running costs even further,” says Ajay.

Observes Gautam Paul, Assistant Director- CSP group, Canon India, “The introduction of this segment has definitely increased the user base for inkjet printers.

But if the customers have a specific requirement for a heavy duty printer then they would definitely go for a laser printer. Therefore, the choice of a printer

Lalit Chaturvedi General Manager – Marketing, Kyocera Document Solutions India completely depends on the printing requirements of the customers.”

Till now, SOHO and SMB segments were extensively adopting/using these InkTank printers. But as IDC predicts, the user pattern is going to change in future as Home Users are expected to be another major segment for this technology. “The InkTank revolution is further going to be boosted with the coming of SOHO and Home users in the fray. Customers have been using InkTank and they have increasingly felt that InkTank is the more reliable printer and it can add more value to their printing,” states Sambamoorthy.

“Laser has for sure been on the lower side of the usage curve, but it has never degrown because of the coming of InkTank.

But InkTank will naturally change the course to some extent in the overall printer industry,” voices Bala.

Over the years, it has been seen that the cartridge is from where the vendors used to earn their bucks. An entry-level printer will be priced at just Rs.1,500-

V. Balakrishnan EGM (Marketing), Konica Minolta India Rs.2,000, but the cartridge is what used to cost a customer the most. Owing to this, it seemed to many that inkjet may not be the best option. “But with the coming of InkTank, the customer is going to be benefited on the TCO front and refilling a printer might not be an issue again as we are totally getting rid of ink cartridges,” says Sambamoorthy.

“The revenue model will be based on selling hardware first and then selling more and more cartridges whereas in laser we have a huge challenge of selling genuine cartridges,” explains Gautam.

The future…

The Indian printer market is driven by different trends. A recent one which is seeing strong adoption by consumers is the use of cost-saving InkTank printing technology. Well, InkTank printer has its own benefits, like it being cheaper and economical, environment friendly as well as cost-efficient and having lesser carbon footprint. But it remains to be seen as to how this market would be performing in the coming months. The printer industry is seeing a big consolidation happening and this is going to change the entire landscape, including demand and usage pattern. n

Printing industry is expected to grow at a nominal pace owing to domestic demand from tier II & tier III cities amongst other drivers – IDC www.varindia.com

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Building its competency around End-to-End Security Peter Theobald, President, Security, Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic, in a chat with VARINDIA, discussed about his company and the services it offers. He also revealed the strategies and expansion plans of Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic

Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic has four business units – end-user computing, i.e. laptops, desktops, etc; Security; Server, Storage and Network; and, FMS and EMC. Hitachi is engaged in end-to-end security solutions – endpoint, perimeter, data and cloud security, management and alerting.

“We started off from basic virus protection, firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, email security systems, web protection systems, security threat management, mobile device management, etc. We catagorize these products under endpoint securitywhich will secure the endpoints. It could be a laptop, a mobile phone, a tablet or a desktop.

The second is Perimeter security which is securing the edge of the network. It includes IDS, Firewalls, DDOS, email gateway, etc.

The third is Data Security. Here, we protect the data from leakage. It protects data users who inadvertently or maliciously may be sending out confidential information,” said Peter Theobald, President, Security, Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic.

Talking about its customer base, Peter mentioned that broadly Hitachi has two types of customers – small and medium users (up to 500 users) which is a huge segment for the company and also has a few enterprise users (from 1,000 – 5,000 users). Hitachi has more than 700-800 customers, till date.

Remote Services Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic also provides remote services to its customers.

“There are two kinds of remote services – Network Operation Center (NOC) services and Security Operation Center (SOC) services. If the customer has certain network devices like switch, router, server and he

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Peter Theobald President, Security, Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic wants those things to be monitored then we have an NOC here in Delhi from where we are able to connect and give two things – alerts that something is going wrong and also historical reports every week or every month.

In SOC, we monitor from the security perspective. Here, we monitor about were you attacked in the last 24 hours, who attacked you and from where, what did they attack, from which IP address were you attacked, how far did they go, what are the damages they did etc. All this monitoring is done remotely and 24/7,” explained Peter.

Strategy for 2016 “The primary thing would be to strengthen our security offering on a national basis. Right now, the members of one branch are strong in one product and the other branch in other, which is inefficiency.

The main focus will be to balance it. We are making two buckets – one is called 'musthaves' which means a few things that every branch must have and the other one is 'nice to have'. I want to ensure that the basic things that every customer needs should be available in every branch.I need to do that on a national basis and it is the first priority for me,” asserted Peter.

Apart from empowering the regional branches, Hitachi is also looking forward to creating a framework to offer better end-toend services which will give them an edge to stay ahead in the competition.

“I am trying to build a framework and it consists of assessment, where we evaluate the customer’s environment and figure out the current security posture and where the gaps exist. Second is to fill the gaps. Once the assessment, finding the gaps and filling it is over then it’s time for monitoring and at the last its alerting. The complete frame that we are offering would be different from competitors. Most of the people focus only on product part, some focus on services, some on monitoring and alerting. But there are not many players who do all four,” added Peter.

Expansion plans “Earlier, when we were not associated with Hitachi, there was no possibility that any big enterprises would approach us. But after the association with Hitachi we can expect such possibilities. For that, we have to build our competence and we have to be able to offer those quality of services. And we are working on that. We have a competent services team operating from Pune. We want to slowly expand throughout the country,” concluded Peter. aparna@varindia.com

VAR MOBILITY

Panasonic unveils P66 Mega

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anasonic India has unveiled P66 Mega smartphone sporting 21 Indian languages to facilitate communication in vernacular languages.

Empowering Digital India Mission, this newest P-Series model has been designed to transcend language barriers which would help people to talk, type and text in their own native language. The P66 Mega smartphone

is powered by a mega 3,200mAh battery and mega 2GB RAM and available at Rs.7,990.

With Android Lollipop 5.1, P66 Mega

features 1.3 GHz QuadCore processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory – expandable to 32GB with 8MP LEDenabled rear camera and 5MP front camera with a 5-inch HD IPS display.

LeEco tries its luck in India with its flagship smartphones

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eEco (formerly known as Letv worldwide) has finally entered India by launching two Superphones – Le Max and Le1S. LeEco has also highlighted its worldrenowned Le Ecosystem.

Atul Jain, COO of Smart Electronics Business, Le Eco India, hasintroduced 6.33-inch screen Le Max as the premium phone of the company. Le Max is backed by one of the world’s fastest processors, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, which is primed for better multitasking and unrivalled performance, all thanks to an octacore processor and the phone's 4GB DD-R4 RAM plus variants of 64GB or 128GB storage.

The front camera with a wide angle 5MP lens and F2.0 aperture allows people take the best selfies

and groupies. And a more user-friendly design is when taking selfies, people can just touch the fingerprint scanner at the back to capture photos or videos, making a large phone of a 6.33-inch screen easier for life.

Besides Le Max, LeEco has also released a flagship phone – Le1S, which was released in China in November.

Karbonn Mobiles Moto introduces X Force otorola has come with 540ppi is so sharp, it introduces up with the new renders 77% more pixels M Moto X Force, featuring than a full HD (1,080p) its new UI – Moto ShatterShield the display. shatterproof smartphone The Moto X Force “Kandy” display. comes with 32GB/64GB

O

ffering a customized 4G experience to its users,Karbonn Mobiles has launched its new user interface – Kandy on Karbonn Quattro L50. In their quest to bring the best technology experience to its customers, Karbonn’s UI Kandy has been especially developed basis feedback from smartphones users to bring the most userfriendly, stable and secure 4G experience to customers on Quattro L50 HD. In line with its vision of simplifying technology, Karbonn Kandy has been designed to allow users to dictate the way they use and experience their smartphones to match their digital proficiency.

Kandy offers an integrated PCM, wherein users can access the dialer, contacts, logs and messages within a single menu with one swipe. Kandy is a treat for music lovers offering varied settings including audio enhancers, volume boosters and surround mode features for a never before music experience.

With Quattro’s Kandy UI, users can also customize the entire look and feel of the device by choosing from a diverse range of themes, icons and colours to reflect their personal style and preference. Users also get higher control over their data usage and information that they choose to share while using apps for a more secure smartphone experience reclaiming control over data expenditure and privacy.

Quattro L50 comes equipped with a plethora of features . The beautifully designed device comes with12.7cm HD IPS full lamination screen in a premium unibody design.

The Moto X Force display is made of an integrated system of five layers that absorb shock from impact and are guaranteed not to shatter. This means its ultra hi-res 5.4” Quad HD AMOLED display will always bring photos and videos to life flawlessly.

In fact, this 1,440p display

internal storage so can store all the pictures and videos. Get tons more space for pictures, videos, music, and apps with an external storage of up to 2TB. The Moto X Force will be available across online and offline retail channels. In the online retail, it will be available on Flipkart and Amazon.

Lava adds V5 to its kitty

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ava has launched the V5, its latest offering in the high-end smartphone series with a great camera experience.

V5 is equipped with advanced hardware such as Samsung 3M2 ISOCELL sensor and superior software features such as PDAF (phase-detection auto-focus). The PDAF feature helps the camera focus on faster-moving objects more accurately enabling consumers to capture perfect shots.

The Lava V5 camera has an auto-focus time of just 0.18s, about three times faster than normal smartphone cameras. The smartphone is supported

by CAT4 4G LTE and VoLTE (upgradable by FOTA) and is priced at an MRP of Rs.13,000.

In terms of photography other than the ISOCELL sensor and PDAF feature, the 13MP rear camera has a 5- layer Largan Lens with blue

Glass Filter, F2.0 Aperture with Dual LED Flash.

The front camera features an 8MP sensor with flash and an 84-degree wide angle lens. The phone also supports full HD (1080p) video recording with digital zoom. In addition to these, the camera also comes with Lava’s MagicPix software which offers modes such as Beauty-fi for enhancing photographs, Pic Focus (focusses on the image and blurs the background), Wide “selfie” (similar to panorama mode helps you take wide “selfies”), Night pro (Brighter picture in Low light), GIF Maker, Intelligent Selfie and MultiAngle view.

The smartphone will be available in white colour with 1 year manufacturer’s warranty and 6 months warranty for the accessories in the box.

The product is available at all national stores, multibrand outlets and online channels.

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2016 marks a new Beginning for Oppo in India Sky Li, OPPO Global VP, MD of International Mobile Business and President - OPPO India shares with VARINDIA of how the company gathers momentum in the India market with new launches and about its commitment to the Make In India initiative by aiming to start manufacturing very soon

reiterates Sky. The company also plans to expand its offline presence to 35,000 sales outlets and 180+ official service centres in the country. The company however does not have any plans of going online anytime soon and is going to build its presence in the offline retail medium.

Sky also hinted at starting its own manufacturing plant in India very soon. At present, though the company is scanning for a place to set up its manufacturing facility, an area near Delhi-NCR is being looked at as a possible option. The capacity of the facility would be 10 million smartphones annually and the target is to start before August, with an investment of INR 1 billion.

The mobile brand has also scaled up its marketing activities in the market by renewing its brand association with Bollywood superstars Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor. This would further accelerate its marketing campaign in South Asia Region.

2015 has been a great year for Oppo.

But 2016 is expected to be bigger and better than the previous year. “We have sold close to 10 million smartphones globally in 2015, which is indeed a great achievement. In our home turf (China) alone, we have sold close to 40 million units. Our target is to take this up to 60 million this year globally,” states Sky Li, OPPO Global VP, MD of International Mobile Business and President of OPPO India.

Having entered the handset space in 2008, the Chinese electronics major globally enjoys a market share of 3.8 %.

It is in fact the 2nd biggest handset player offline in China.

Oppo & India...

Talking of the India market, it is just the beginning for Oppo but it has held high hopes with a view to grabbing a good amount of share in the country. Oppo’s primary focus would be on developing core products by dedicating its own resources and coming up with the best quality products to enrich the smartphone experience of the customer.

At the starting of this year, after the unwavering success of its R7 series, OPPO launched the Selfie Expert, F1 as well as its high specification version, F1 Plus in the India market. “Global data points towards the rise of the camera phone as the deciding factor that will influence purchase of a mobile device.

Price of the phone will no longer be the only deciding factor but a good camera

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Sky Li OPPO Global VP, MD of International Mobile Business and President of OPPO India combined with supporting apps backed by solid technology and quality control will what matter most to a customer. To make this possible 3000 researchers work together to bring out the best quality Oppo phones,” he says.

He continues further. “Our product strategy globally will also reflect in the India market. We will be devoted to bringing the best mobile camera experience to customers all the time. We will have more models coming soon and commit to Indian customers with reliable quality and after sale services like 30-day replacement and 24-month warranty,”

Taking its brand positioning further to a new level, OPPO has entered into a 3-year partnership with FC Barcelona and recently announced its Official Global Partnership with International Cricket Council (ICC) for the mobile phone category for four years, starting 2016.

“Cricket is not only a popular sport in India, but it is famous in the whole of South Asia. More so, it is popular among the youth and by associating with an international agency like ICC, we also hope to build a strong connect with the youth. Both ICC and the Oppo brand share common aspirations to become popular and this is how we synergize well,” shares Sky. Furthermore, OPPO will also be showcasing the next generation of VOOC Flash Charge technology at the Mobile World Congress this year which it is very excited about. n samrita@varindia.com

VAR MOBILITY

Xolo Era 4K Xolo Era 4K is powered with a 64 bit, 1.0 GHz Quad-Core processor with the latest cortex A-53 architecture for a lag-free, smooth and powerful performance. The 64 bit processor coupled with 2 GB DDR3 RAM ensures an advance memory utilization, resulting in seamless execution and multitasking. Era 4K comes with 8MP rear camera with dual LED flash and 5P Largan lens. The 5-piece Largan lens delivers cleaner, sharper photos and an aperture of f/2.0 that improves lowlight sensitivity. The 5 MP front camera with an aperture size of f/2.2 lets you click crisp selfies. It has a big Battery. Era 4K is only 9.2 mm thick and weighs just 157 grams making it attractive, yet powerful.

The Device comes with a 12.7 cm (5) HD IPS Full Lamination display for amazing viewing experience. The display is further made durable with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with Native Damage Resistance, which provides resistance from deep scratches. Era 4K comes with a massive battery of 4000mAh that offers 32 hours of non-stop talk time and 624 hours of stand-by time. Also, charging the battery takes 31% lesser time, thanks to Texas Instrument IC. The device with 4G LTE connectivity offers super-fast download and upload with an amazing speed of up to 150 Mbps and 50 Mbps respectively. Also enjoy endless hours of web browsing without having to worry about the battery.

This phone comes in 2 attractive colors â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Blue and White.

Lava A88 Lava A88 comes with a 5 inch Display, with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels, which is ideal for video calling and multimedia content consumption. The smartphone has a beautiful design with a flat back and sharp edges making it easier to hold as well. It is powered with a 1.5GHz Quad Core processor and 512 MB RAM for a smooth experience. Additionally, the smartphone comes with a 5MP rear camera and 2MP front camera, both with LED Flash. It also has features like the Video PIP mode that helps to access any app while watching video. The device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop and is backed up with a 2000 mAh battery. Internal memory is 4 GB that is expandable up to 32 GB. Additionally, Lava A88 also packs smart features like screen gestures, smart music in which music can be played even when the screen is off and LED flash on call to never miss a call. This phone comes with 3.5mm audio jack and FM Radio. Lava A88 supports 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. It has a 2000mAh battery.

This phone comes in Black and White colors.

www.varindia.com

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PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Epson L455 Wireless Inkjet Printer Epson L455 prints at a high printing resolution of 5760dpi, delivering exceptionally high quality prints for all your needs. In addition, you will appreciate the fast print speeds of up to 33 ppm for draft black-andwhite and 9.2 ipm for standard black-and-white print quality. Enjoy wireless printing with L-455 Printer from Epson. The Epson L455 lets you connect four devices at one time and lets you print, scan and copy with ease. The large LCD screen helps in easy operation. You can print and scan directly from your mobile device or cloud using Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct.

Print hassle-free from iOS devices, memory card, Gmail, Google Drive and other Android OS 4.4 or later. The L455 provides you with added wireless and printing convenience via Wi-Fi Direct, allowing you to connect up to 4 devices to the printer without a router. The L455 is compactly designed to take up less space than previous models. Their smaller footprints mean you can fit them comfortably anywhere in your office or home. The L455 comes with 1.44” colour LCD screen for easy operation and selection of images for printing from the memory card slot which enables printing without the hassle of going through a PC. Epson L455 Multifunction Printer Inkjet Printer has a high printing resolution of 5760 dpi. Epson’s proven original ink tank system delivers reliable printing with unrivalled economy. Epson genuine ink bottle lets you enjoy an ultra-high page yield of up to 4000 black and white pages at very low running cost. You will appreciate the fast print speed of up to 33 ppm for draft B/W and 9.2ipm for standard B/W print quality.

Epson L455 Multifunction Printer Inkjet Printer features Apple Airprint which allows easy wireless printing from your iOS devices. With Google Cloud Print, you can print easily from your Gmail or Google Drive account via your mobile devices. Mopria Print Service enables you to print across different brands of printers on mobile devices running Android OS 4.4 or later.

Lenovo Yoga 900 With its 360° hinge, Lenovo Yoga 900 Convertible 2-in-1 Laptop allows use in multiple modes to provide the versatility you need to get your work done and stay entertained. Swipe through features using all 10 fingers with the 13.3" capacitive multitouch screen, use the backlit keyboard to enjoy comfortable typing or use your voice to control functions. Powered with Intel’s latest 6th gen Core i7 processor, the new Lenovo YOGA 900 is beautifully slim and feather light (1.49 cm and 1.29 kg), yet amazingly powerful with double RAM capacity of 8 GB. The YOGA 900 provides flexibility with four usage modes (laptop, stand, tent, tablet) letting users work, watch or play games in different scenarios. Lenovo crafted the laptop with its recognizably different watchband hinge made of more than 800 intricately woven, individual pieces. The improved watchband hinge provides a noticeably smoother rotation – allowing users to flip and fold their YOGA 900 easily into different modes.It has an improved battery life with 50 percent greater battery density (compared to the previous generation), allowing it to achieve up to nine hours of local video playback. The 34 cm QHD+ (3200x1800) IPS Display has a wide viewing angle that takes full advantage of the new Windows 10 and brings digital content to life in vibrant colors. Entertainment experiences become more immersive with the device’s JBLstereo speakers and Dolby Audio Premium for powerful sound that is crisp and clear. Thanks to its distinct thermal solution and uniquely designed vent structure, it not only cools better but also stays quieter and cleaner.

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Quality Reliability Efficiency

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Fujitsu Document Scanner fi-7xxx Series

Š2015 Fujitsu India Private Limited

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56 pages including cover