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Netgear to roll out ‘Netgear Connect’ for partners across 22 cities /14 www.smechannels.com
india’s leading IT magazine for channel business VOLUME 08 | ISSUE 3 | PAGES 44 | MAY 2017 | RS. 20/-
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ESCAN: Growing Consumerization of Mobility is most crucial thing for CISOs today
CHANNEL ROADMAP
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Matrix: MATRIX strives to offer ‘MORE’ in everything
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ABS India : Looking for Right Partners to Tap into the SMBs
INTERNET of THINGS
BIGFORBET PARTNER’S
BUSINESS
While there are many use cases for IoT, the success or failure of an IoT driven system will depend on the deployment architectures and infrastructural needs. /22 1
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SonicWall betting big on Channel growth; launches University for partners /10 www.smechannels.com
india’s leading IT magazine for channel business SME BIZ
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HUAWEI: Huawei Aiming to drive ‘Digital Transformation’ of industries
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NETGEAR: Home Automation Market Bound to Grow Aggressively
EDITORIAL
IOT: THE GAME CHANGER FOR THE NEXT DECADE SANJAY MOHAPATRA
sanjay@smechannels.com
The manner the technology is changing now was an unimaginable thing a decade back. People were not accepting the new technologies in the earlier year but now the same people are ready to test any new technology that is comming in. There has been a huge mindset shift among the people and organizations. Organizations are created out of people and people only decide what new technology to be adopted and it influences the outcome of the organizations’ business. When we were looking at Cloud people were very skeptical so also the organizations but today when we talk that we are entering an era of connected world and app based economy people are no more skeptical. They are finding it very interesting. Therefore, moving into the era of connected world which is based on IoT technologies looks to be easy. They are ready to transact through apps and access solutions through Cloud. Two years back the thought leaders were giving a figure of 52 billion devices to be connected but now the figure has been revised and people are talking about a trillion devices to be connected. We could envisage a world of connected devices and industries. Already in the developed countries these things have started to take place but in India the visibility of the scenario is slow. However, India has a reputation of leapfrogging technologies. It means, we will adopt extremely new and updated technologies. By the time the market gets ready for embracing this technology there should be partners to supply the solution because IoT is not a single technology rather a combination of technologies. The partners who are thinking their business as usual for years to come, they are completely mistaken. It is changing. They have to transform their business in order to be relevant. They will have to transform their business to adopt cloud technology, security and applications. Of course there will be ecosystem to cater to that need but again to be relevant they have to make themselves ready with domain expertise in any of such technologies which will qualify them to be part of the ecosystem. We are seeing cloud companies like AWS, Google and Microsoft have started creating the ecosystem. These people being the early adopters will surely redefine the partner business going forward. I hope the established partners in today’s IT business should also transform quickly or start thinking in this direction. The business transformation trend is quite visible today, One can learn from the strategic change that the large vendor organizations are going through.
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EPSON: Counterfeiting Plaguing the Indian Printer market
Errata ANNIVERSARY ISSUE (MARCH 2017 ISSUE) WAS A GREAT SUCCESS. We have received a very positive response for our excusive stories like Top Channel Leaders, Leading Ladies in Information Technology, Top VADs of India etc. I wanted to thank you all who have participated in these exclusive stories and those who have appreciated our efforts. But there was a small mistake as we have published the wrong picture of Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston Technology – India in ‘Top 25 Channel Leaders’ Story. We also want to thank our team as it requires planning and a bird’s eye for details. We have been fortunate enough to be backed by a team of very motivated and dedicated colleagues of SME Channels who know their job and are result oriented.
VISHAL PAREKH, Marketing Director, Kingston Technology India OVERALL RATING
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contents
VOLUME 08 ISSUE 03
2017
MAY ER COV RY STO
Trusted Advisor of Channel Business
Publisher: Sanjib Mohapatra Editor: Sanjay Mohapatra Asst. Editor: Satinder Kaur Executive Editor: Smruti Chaudhury Sub Editor: Chitresh Sehgal Designer: Ajay Arya Web Designer: Vijay Bakshi Technical Writer: Manas Ranjan Satya Sagar Sinha Lead Visualizer: DPR Choudhary MARKETING Marketing Executive: Kajal Sharma Circulation and Printing: Panchanan Bhoi SALES CONTACTS Delhi 6/102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016 Phone: 91-11-41055458 / 8587835685 sanjeev@smechannels.com Bangalore #28/1, 3rd Floor, Sri Lakshmi Krupa, Near Shamanna Park, Model House Street, Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560004 Ph. No. +91 88618 21044 Mumbai Tahmeed Ansari 2, Ground Floor, Park Paradise, Kay-Bees CHS. Ltd.,Opp. Green Park, Oshiwara, Andheri (west), Mumbai - 400 053. Ph. +91 22 26338546, Fax +91 22 26395581 Mobile: +91 9967 232424 E-mail: Info@smechannels.com Kolkata S Subhendu BC-286, Laxmi Apartment, Kestopur Kolkata-700101 Phone: 9674804389
Internet of things Big Bet for partner’s business /22 While there are many use cases for IoT, the success or failure of an IoT driven system will depend on the deployment architectures and infrastructural needs. IoT devices need electricity to run and some sort of network to transmit or share information.
EDITORIAL OFFICE Delhi: 6/103, (GF) Kaushalya Park, New Delhi-110016, Phone: 91-11-41657670 / 46151993 editor@smechannels.com Bangalore Bindiya Jadhav #28/1, 3rd Floor, Sri Lakshmi Krupa, Near Shamanna Park, Model House Street, Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560004 Ph. No. +91 88618 21044 E-Mail bindiya@
ADVERTORIAL CIPL / 30
“CIPL:Crossed a Decade…Still Passionate to Create Milestones”
FEATURE
accentinfomedia.com Skype ID: b1diyajadhav
Networking market / 18
...India Moving Towards Smarter Networks Printed, Published and Owned by Sanjib Mohapatra Place of Publication: 6/101-102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas
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Huawei to expand enterprise footprints in India In line with its global “platform + ecosystem” strategy, Huawei Enterprise Business Group (BG) India has announced its partnership with Redington India to distribute and market Huawei enterprise
products and services in the country. As part of this partnership, Redington will support Huawei in developing resellers to market and promote products and/or services products in areas of Server, Storage,
Data Center and Cloud Computing to Huawei enterprise customers in India. As part of the partnership, Redington will provide post sales maintenance services and also be responsible for channel partner
development and technical training of channel partners. Driven by strong business momentum globally, Huawei Enterprise BG India aims to create maximum value for Indian enterprises with its innovative ICT solutions and services backed by a strong ecosystem. Speaking on the occasion, Derek Hao, President, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei India said, “ICT is becoming an engine for the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and in such times, the enterprise systems become business functions rather than support functions. Huawei Enterprise BG can strategically propel the development of a digital and intelligent society, and be an enabler and the best partner of digital transformation for industries. The Huawei EBG India is well positioned to substantially contribute to Government of India’s landmark initiatives like Digital India and smart cities. Our enterprise products and solutions will drive to create a smart and digital society and lead to digital transformation of industries.
HP helping Indian SMEs to make workplace secure In February 2017, thousands of printers in restaurants around the world churned out bizarre pictures of computers and giant robots, because of a hack performed by a secondary school student in Britain. The hack was undertaken as a public service to demonstrate the ease of breach and threat the
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non-secure printers pose to cyber security around the globe. In view of the rising cyber security threats, Raj Kumar Rishi, Senior Director, Printing Systems, HP India in a press meet elaborated on how a non-secure multi-function printer can fall prey to hackers and break into an organization’s
network to steal confidential information. He highlighted the need to include printer security as part of the government policy guidelines and recognize them as a vital network end point that is critical to the IT managers worldwide. He further emphasized on the need to move from compliant IT security
to comprehensive IT security, taking into consideration BYOD practice and securing mobile device access to the network. Keeping these threats in mind, Raj Kumar Rishi elaborated on HP’s efforts in developing products and technology to provide secure printing to their customers.
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HCL Infosystems becomes Oracle’s Platinum Partner HCL Infosystems Ltd has announced that it has achieved the Oracle Platinum Partner status in Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN). By attaining Platinum level membership, Oracle has recognized HCL Infosystems Ltd. and its subsidiaries – HCL Services (HCL Infosystems’ Domestic IT services arm) & HCL InsysPte Ltd. (HCL Infosystems’ Singapore based arm) for its in-depth expertise in selling and implementing Oracle solutions for its customers. From Cloud to applications to disk, the expanded offerings of the Platinum level provide HCL Infosystems with the resources and support to be differentiated and recognized as a preferred Oracle solutions provider, and receive an exclusive level of engagement, commitment and benefits. With this recognition, HCL Infosystems has upgraded its partnership status to Platinum Partner from Gold Partner last year.
Netgear to roll out ‘Netgear Connect’ for partners across 22 cities NETGEAR has announced the rollout of “Netgear Connect” Partner Training Program. Through this initiative Netgear seeks to connect with the growing fraternity of System Integrators across India and foster a community of tech savvy solution partners who in addition to promoting NETGEAR commercial business offerings would also work to integrate its disparate product lines into one cohesive end to end solution to satisfy every imaginable customer need, efficiently. To be conducted across 22 metro and non metro locations in India between April and Sep’17, the “invite only” partner training program is designed to empower over 300 Netgear authorized system integrators and channel business partners in India and bring them up to date on the company’s newest innovations, technologies and solutions .
Rashi Peripherals becomes Distributor for ADATA’s SSD range ADATA Technology has announced the signing of a partnership with Rashi Peripherals, one of the premier technology distributors in the Indian market since 1989. The new partnership empowers Rashi Peripherals to deliver innovative ADATA Solid State Drives (SSD) to a wide range of customers, backed by an extensive support and warranty network. ADATA will make sure Rashi has access to its latest products with ample supply to promptly meet demand in the ever-dynamic and growing India market. Rashi Peripherals and ADATA share a passion for technology and service, with deep commitment to quality and logistical competence. Rashi does more than add to ADATA presence in India - the leading distributor brings excellence and hard-forged experience. Working together, Rashi and ADATA can provide more customers access to a greater selection of quality products such as SSDs, hard drives, and DRAM. The partnership ensures consistent product distribution across India and service becoming available to a wider audience.
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MY POINT
“IoT services are central to the rise in IoT devices as total spending (professional, consumer and connectivity services) is on pace to reach $273 billion in 2017.” DENISE RUEB, RESEARCH DIRECTOR AT GARTNER
Panasonic inaugurates new R&D centre in India; Partners with TATA ELXSI Panasonic India has announced a Research & Development (R&D) establishment to further strengthen their appliances business. Tetsuro Homma, President of Appliances Company & Senior Managing Director, Panasonic Corporation, Manish Sharma, President and CEO Panasonic India and South Asia, Vice President, Appliances Company, Shigeto Yuasa, Chief Operating Officer, Panasonic Marketing along with Madhukar Dev, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Elxsi, Manoj Raghavan, EVP, Embedded Product Design, Tata Elxsi and Anil Sondur EVP, IDE/JLR /TML Business, Tata Elxsi, were present at the Tata Elxsi Head quarter in Bangalore. The Design Division and Offshore Development Division of the R&D Centre is aimed at product designing, to expand current organization gradually by local product manufacturing .
Canon India forays into the Wireless Laser Presenters Domain Canon India has stepped into a new domain with the launch of a range of wireless Laser Presenters. The firm launched four models of wireless laser presenters, including PR1000-R, PR500-R, PR100-R and PR10-G. Ergonomically designed to be portable and lightweight, these newly launched series of products compliments a wide range of presentation needs. From small conference rooms, to large, expansive auditoriums, these laser presenters are designed to upscale the confidence and convenience of consumers, while presenting. Compact and sleek in design, these laser presenters f ature vibrant red and green laser pointers, allowing consumers to easily highlight important charts and information in a variety of professional settings. Speaking of the latest addition to the organisations’ product portfolio, Kazutada Kobayashi, CEO & President, Canon India said, “Canon India’s legacy of two decades is consistent with our commitment towards innovation and customer satisfaction.”
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Andhra Govt. announces Microsoft Kaizala as platform for Citizen Connect Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has announced the use of Kaizala, Microsoft’s free chat-based productivity app, for Citizen Connect. The program, Citizen Connect will help further strengthen the collaboration between the Andhra Pradesh government and its citizens. The free to download mobile app will enable citizens to directly reach out to the Chief Minister, and further support the government in its mission of a more transparent and a citizen-driven participatory governance that operates in real time mode. The Kaizala app will be a direct point of contact to reach out to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu where he will be taking feedback as well as suggestions from citizens for better governance. This will enable people across Andhra Pradesh to share their problems related to harvests, climate, pension, ration, water etc. These inputs will further be used to review the workings of that particular department.
Qlik is all set to kick start partner event - Qonnections 2017 Qlik has announced that the Company is expecting a record number of attendees to be on hand for Qonnections 2017, its worldwide user and partner conference, being held May 15-18 at The Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The conference brings together Qlik customers, partners, and data enthusiasts to help users better capitalize on data to transform their organizations. Qonnections 2017 is being headlined by Jason Silva, the Emmy-nominated host of National Geographic’s Brain Games. In addition, Jake Porway, Founder of DataKind and former New York Times Data Scientist, will discuss how humanity can benefit from the gains of big data. Featured speakers include a customer panel moderated by R “Ray” Wang and best practices from visualization specialists Alberto Cairo and Randy Olson, with hundreds of customer and partner presenters from companies like T. Rowe Price, Raymond James, KitchenAid, and Virgin Mobile MEA. The complete list can be viewed at the following link: http://www.qlikqonnections.com/ sessions/breakout-sessions/. Qonnections 2017 focuses on providing customers and partners with the knowledge and best practices they need to transform their business and support the Qlik visual analytics platform. Attendees will discover how they play a transformational role in Qlik’s 2020 strategic vision and roadmap, and will hear how Qlik is addressing customers’ key challenges today while driving future trends in the market tomorrow. Keynote presentations will highlight how hybrid cloud analytics will deliver greater option value to customers, how associative big data indexing will change how customers drive insight from greater combinations of data, and how Qlik will advance our portfolio leveraging the latest technology innovations to drive greater insight from smart intuitive analytics. Qlik Sense and QlikView certification exams will also be offered.
EXECUTIVE MOVEMENT
INDIA LAN MARKET SHARE, Q4 2016
Konica Minolta ropes in Daisuke Mori as new MD for India
Xerox appoints Pete Peterson as Global Channel Strategy Leader
Aspect Software elevates Manish Bajaj to Country Manager for India, Middle East
Renuka Ramnath elected as the Chairperson of the Tata Comm Board
Source: IDC APej LAN Quarterly Tracker Q4 2016
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SDS is smart way to increase focus on Digitization: Dell EMC With organisations both public as well as private becoming digitized in India and the Government of India’s increased focus on digitization, there has been an unprecedented surge in the amount of data generated. To effectively leverage the different kinds of data generated for the benefit of the business, Software-Defined Storage (SDS) offers enterprises a path to effectively address this explosive growth. SDS is the intelligent application of distributed computing techniques to the design of storage systems. Combining the power of distributed computing with the use of commodity hardware plus innovative software that optimises storage space efficiency, performance efficiency, manageability, and scale, it provides the essential ingredients necessary to cost-effectively manage explosive data growth.
BARCO APPOINTS VDSPL AS ND FOR PROAV PROJECTOR SERIES IN INDIA Barco has appointed Visual Display Solutions Pvt Ltd. (VDSPL) as the national distribution partner for its ProAV Projector series in India. The tie-up is aimed towards facilitating more robust market and channel penetration for Barco’s projection solutions to meet the rising demand in visitor attractions, museums, theme park, 3D mappings and large venues in the Indian market. Barco’s diverse range of future proof projection solutions comes equipped with key features for ProAV Projectors such as outstanding laser brightness (up to 40,000 Lumens), exceptional image resolution (up to 4K Ultra High Definition), razor-sharp images, extended light-source life (up to 40,000 hours). Barco projector products deliver maximum installation flexibility, 24/7 useage and true 4K image processing this further underline the technological superiority of Barco’s ProAV Projector series as the best solution for the venue owners & operators in the Indian market. Visual Display Solutions Pvt Ltd (VDSPL), India’s foremost Value added AV product & solution distributor with its experience, reach, solution selling approach & vertical focus is well placed to take this partnership with Barco to the next level. VDSPL is distributor for key AV technology & solutions companies in India. It has pan India presence with penetration into 50+ cities & over 350+ channel partners. Speaking on the partnership, Rajiv Bhalla, MD, Barco Electronic Systems India, said “The demand for projection solutions guaranteeing better performance and enhanced operational efficiency, along with a more immersive end-user experience, is on the up. This market requirement in India is what we aim to fulfil with our cutting-edge ProAV Projector series.
Matrix helps Mumbai based Call Center to improve support service Matrix offers a wide range of Unified Communication Solutions to fulfill the communication needs of Banking, Manufacturing, Retail Chains, Modern Enterprises, Healthcare and Hospitality industries. With the latest roll out of VMS V7, Matrix is offering a line of features with a view of helping call centers enhance customers’ experience. Voicemail Recording Capacity of up to 2170 Hours, MoH (Music on Hold), Call Queuing, Uploading Prompts in Six Different Languages and Configuring Mailbox According to Date and Time are some of the alluring features of VMS V7. Matrix deployed the VMS V7 solution (Voice Mail Server, Version: 7) at the Mumbai based call center to suffice the need of improving customers’ calling experience. The prime requirement of the company was to lower the call drop ratio and offer quality services to their customers. Allowing the customer to leave voice mail messages is an alternate solution to reduce call drops. However, the number of voicemail channels consumed for simultaneous recording of messages was inadequate. Therefore, following this route also didn’t serve the purpose.
Konica Minolta’s bizhub PRESS C1085 Witnesses 7 deployments in E.India in 2016-17 Konica Minolta has witnessed record seven deployments of its industry leading bizhub PRESS C1085 digital industrial printing solution. Printing enterprises in India are readily eying to have a digital production printing to complement the traditional analogue process and Konica Minolta comes as an ideal solution for these enterprises, providing a perfect balance between printing outputs and desired color output to cater to all the requirements from the customers. Printers now have the flexibility to cater to the Just in Time requirements from their customers.Complimenting Konica Minolta for its cutting edge printing solutions Barun Maiti from HS Laxmi Graphics Innovation, Kolkata comments,’’ bizhub PRESS C1085 has helped us garner a host of new clients with varied time bound requirements and with this machine.”
Inflow Technologies signs Distribution agreement with Unify Inflow has announced a new distribution agreement with Unify, the Atos brand for communications software and services. Inflow Technologies is a niche player in the IT Infrastructure Distribution & Services industry providing Value Added Distribution in Information Security, Networking, AIDC & POS, Infrastructure & Application Software, Storage Management and Electronic Security products & related Services in South Asia. With this distribution agreement, Inflow Technologies is authorized to distribute and support Unify’s entire portfolio, including OpenScape and the soon-to-be-launched-inIndia Circuit. The OpenScape portfolio can scale from voice to UC and grow to 100,000 users. The combination of Inflow with OpenScape will provide a winning combination of great selling opportunities for partners. Inflow’s unique base of resellers will open up numerous markets for Unify, bringing new value to bolster Unify’s partner network. Aggressively focused on new growth markets and selling through awareness, training and support, Inflow is committed in providing technical expertise to uphold their reputation as a trusted VAD.
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SonicWall betting big on Channel growth; launches University for partners
Cadyce brings in Future centric accessories into India market
SonicWall has announced key milestones since it spun off as an independent cybersecurity company and introduced the SonicWall SecureFirst Partner Program on November 1, 2016. Over 10,000 partners have already registered as SonicWall resellers, and the SecureFirst Partner Program is now open to partners in Asia Pacific. Today SonicWall also introduced two initiatives designed to help these partners secure customers in the shifting cyber arms race – SonicWall University to train partners on cybersecurity, and new global marketing programs and incentives to help the SonicWall channel deliver their cybersecurity solutions and services for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). To address the lack of trained cybersecurity resources available to SMBs and enable SonicWall partners to provide the best real-time industry offerings to their customers,
MSI inaugurates exclusive store set in Bangalore
“Cadyce” has announced the availability their finest USB type-C accessories in India. After making waves on the global stage with its premium range of MFi certified Apple accessories and computer peripherals, the IT giant is strengthening its presence at the grassroots level across India. USB-C is the cable of the future and will be used widely to simplify your life. By using a single type of USB-C connector, wide range of devices can be connected such as VGA, Ethernet, HDMI and older versions of USB. All new USB-C port is half the width and one-third the height of a standard USB connector and only slightly larger than Apple’s Lightning or the micro-USB connectors. A type-C port measures just 8.4 by 2.6mm only. USB Type-C will soon be the new standard connector for both charging and data transfer. Last year, Type-C appeared as a port on a handful of systems, including the Apple MacBook and Google’s new Chromebook Pixel. But, in 2017, we should see a lot of phones and laptops that use the USB type C port. With Type-C onboard, you can copy files at USB 3.1 speeds i.e. up to 10 gigabits per second and deliver enough power to charge a laptop, smart phone or tablets. Cadyce has launched 25 models in USB type C accessories including Multiport Adapters, travel docks , cables and converters for USB type-C. These adapters/ Cables /converters help user to get friendlier with their C Type devices. The new connector can provide up to 100 watts of power, enough to power a laptop. Incredible Flexibility – Via adapters, users will be able to connect older devices to Type-C ports, even devices that use non-USB technologies, like Display Port, VGA and Ethernet.
MSI is pleased to announce its’ first exclusive store in partnership with New Games n Gadget in Bengaluru. With the dedication to India market, MSI focuses on user experience. MSI believes only by experiencing its product, gamer will understand what it is like to game with genuine gaming laptop with numerous gaming features (Built-in Steelseries keyboard, Nahimic audio enhancement technology, Cooler boost technology... etc). Gamers can simply visit the store and get their hands on these cutting-edge gaming laptops. As all MSI products are built to the highest standards, gamers could enjoy ultimate gaming experience on MSI products, even for Virtual Reality (VR). To bring the joy to all the gamers in Benagluru, MSI is pleased to bring its’ latest VR backpack, VR one, to the in-shop event on April 14 2017.
Epson InkTank Inkjet Printers witness 20M units global sale
UTStarcom to expand its footprint in India
Seiko Epson Corporation has announces that cumulative global sales of Epson’s high-capacity InkTank inkjet printers have reached 20 million units. In India alone, Epson says it has sold in excess of 1.7 Million InkTank printers since its launch in 2011. Epson first launched high-capacity ink tank printers in October 2010 in Indonesia. This was followed almost immediately by their launch in India in 2011. Since then, the printers have continued to be introduced in about 150 countries and regions. Sales have grown steadily in every region where these printers are sold. In June 2016, cumulative sales reached 15 million globally, with growth especially pronounced in emerging markets. By March 2017 this number has grown to 20 Million units.
UTStarcom India Telecom Pvt. Ltd has announced its plan to increase its investment in India at the event ‘Next Gen Innovation Summit 2017- and Beyond!’, organized by UTStarcom. While speaking at the event Tim Ti, CEO, UTStarcom Inc. said, “We have been committed to the Indian communications industry and have been making the required investments in India. The Company would be increasing its investment in India so as to further consolidate its presence in the Indian telecom infrastructure market.” Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman & Managing Director, BSNL said, “BSNL together with its technology partners will play an important role in Digital India campaign launched by Government of India.”
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Red Hat strengthens presence in India Red Hat, Inc. has announced the opening of two new offices in Bangalore and New Delhi. These offices mark the company’s continued commitment to enabling customer success with open hybrid cloud solutions in India. With the opening of the new offices, Red Hat is expanding its footprint in India with a goal of supporting interest for open source solutions and services from customers and partners and further promoting the benefits open source solutions can offer enterprises in India. Red Hat’s new Bangalore office is a 14,000 sq.
ft. facility at Lavelle Road. It is designed to act as a training and enablement center for customers and partners. Through the new facility, which features a cafeteria, and space for networking, meetings, training and certification exams, and an indoor game zone, Red Hat aims to bring its open, collaborative culture to life. The additional New Delhi office is a 12,405 sq.ft facility located close to the international airport at Aerocity, designed with an eye toward enabling collaboration with customers throughout the region.
GST is a Business Reform, not just a Tax Reform; says TAIT
India is ready to roll out its biggest tax reform possibly from July 2017. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) embodies the concept of one nation, one tax and is a destination based tax levied on the supply of goods and services. The intent of implementing GST is to eliminate the tax-on-tax imposed on goods and services, improve compliance, and consolidate several Central and State taxes, but the ease of doing business also brings in repercussions for some. Mumbai-based Trade Association of Information Technology (TAIT), the premier association of IT companies recently conducted a workshop discussing in detail with Mr. Shailesh P. Sethi, Advocate & Founder, M/s SPS Legal in the area of Indirect Tax Laws. GST includes all forms of supply of goods and services such as sale, transfer, barter, exchange, license, rental, lease or disposal made or agreed to be made for a consideration by a person in the course or furtherance of business.
Fortinet expands Security Fabric with enhanced SDWAN Capabilities Fortinet has announced the latest expansion of its Security Fabric, featuring enhanced SD-WAN functionality that is integrated with Fortinet’s proven security capabilities. FortiOS version 5.6 consolidates advanced security with software-defined networking functions. This integration enables distributed enterprises to simplify their infrastructures, reduce WAN costs and securely provide their users with direct access to the public cloud, datacenter and SaaS services they need to successfully compete in the digital economy. Facing the increasing access and connectivity demands of today’s digital economy, businesses are looking to SD-WAN solutions to overcome the limited scale, higher costs and increased complexity characteristic of traditional WAN architectures. Despite these advantages, many enterprises are hesitant to adopt SD-WAN solutions due to the security concerns of allowing direct access to sensitive SaaS services and data, along with rising threat trends like SSL encrypted malware, ransomware and an ever-increasing volume of advanced intrusion attempts.
NTT becomes first foreign ICT provider to acquire International Telecom License NTT Communications (NTT Com) acquired a Virtual Network Operator – International Long Distance (VNO-ILD) license in India through its affiliate, NTT Communications India Network Services (NTTCINS), on March 1 this year. The license acquisition will allow NTT Com to add Arcstar Universal One International Network Services to its portfolio of existing services in India. Currently, NTT Com provides National Long Distance “NLD” network services through NTTCINS and Colocation, Managed Hosting, Cloud and ICT Management Services through Netmagic, an affiliate. Beginning this July, NTT Com will leverage its full stack of high-quality ICT solutions to help enterprise customers build their ICT environments for business expansion in India.
DIGEST ABHIJIT CHATERJEE BAGS VERTICAL WARRIOR AWARD 2017 FOR IT/ITES CyberMedia’s DataQuest magazine has awarded the Vertical Warrior Award 2017 on IT/ITeS to Abhijit Chaterjee of ABHI TECHNOLOGIES at the annual DQ Live conclave and awards in New Delhi on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017 at Le Meridian, New Delhi. The annual award program recognizes the excellence in the implementation and use of technology for business benefits by IT leaders. Speaking on this occasion, Mr Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi said, “I congratulate the winners of this year’s Dataquest award”. He also appreciated Pradeep Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director of CyberMedia to conduct such a grand award function.
QUANTUM STORNEXT GETS RECOGNITION AT ISC WEST 2017 Quantum and its StorNext data management software won top honors for the Video Surveillance Data Storage categories in two prestigious awards at the ISC West 2017 Conference in Las Vegas. StorNext was recognized by the Security Industry Association (SIA) as category winner in the New Product Showcase (NPS). In addition, StorNext also received the Platinum Govies Government Security award given by Security Today magazine. The awards honor outstanding government security products in a variety of categories.
GIGABYTE ROLLS OUT A320 CHIPSET MOTHERBOARDS FOR AMD AM4 PLATFORM Gigabyte unveiled the new AM4 A320 Chipset Motherboards. AMD’s AM4 platform is now complete with the addition of the AMD A320 Chipset Motherboards that target the Essential segment of computer users. Along with the release of the A320 Chipset, AMD has also announced their New Ryzen 5 processors that range from the high performing Ryzen 5 1600X to the mainstream Ryzen 5 1400. Built with a 14nm process with 6-Cores and 12-Threads, operating at 3.5GHz, the AMD Ryzen 5 1600X processor is perfect for mainstream enthusiasts when paired with GIGABYTE’s B350/A320 motherboards.
KINGSTON MAKES DC400 SERVER SSDS AVAILABLE IN INDIA Kingston has announced Data Center 400 (DC400) SSD, the latest solid-state drive to its range of enterprise solutions. DC400 SSD is an entry-level enterprise drive designed for server use in datacenters especially for customers who deploy a rip-and-replace strategy. It is ideal for read-intensive applications such as boot, web servers and lower data rate operational databases and analytics – especially in datacenter mixed workload environments where endurance and reliability are important. The DC 400 SSD is available in India at MRP of INR 19,999/- for 480GB, INR 35,000/- for 960GB and INR 60,000 for 1600GB (1.6 TB).
SME CHANNELS 15 MAY 2017
SNIPPETS
VMware expands its reach Tier2,3 cities VMware is expanding its reach to emerging businesses in cities in India. With the expansion roll out, VMware will also focus on the cities like Jaipur, Vizag, Nagpur, Goa, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Cochin, Coimbatore, Ludhiana and Chandigarh to enable emerging businesses to overcome IT challenges. With businesses facing major challenges of accessing IT resources and applications while managing complex work environments, VMware’s tailor-made solutions will empower them to protect their IT infrastructure as they evolve to support their business initiatives. Emerging businesses today are challenged with managing a progressive complex environment while having access to IT resources and applications that remain uninterrupted even while they are on the move.
Kaspersky, eCaps Computers host pitstop in Mumbai Kaspersky Lab has conducted its 6th partner pitstop in India this calendar year. Kaspersky collaborated with its national distributor eCaps Computers to hold the pitstop in Mumbai on April 7, 2017. Over 35 prospects congregated at the picturesque Novotel Hotel, on the shores on Juhu beach for an action packed evening. The pitstop began at 7 PM with more than 35 attendees from 22 participating companies. Kaspersky Lab was represented by Tahir Hussain (Regional Sales Manager Kaspersky Lab) & Pratap Mondal (Enterprise Sales Manager, Kaspersky Lab) while K. Gunasegharan, the Director of eCaps Computers represented his company. The pitstop began with a brief introduction by Hussain, to Kaspersky’s 20-year history and its work in India. He further went on to demonstrate the company’s extremely successful non-endpoint security offerings. Mondal took forward the baton and elaborated on Kaspersky’s products like Security for Virtualization & Datacentre, Security Intelligence Services and Kaspersky Lab’s other enterprise offerings. Kaspersky Security Intelligence Services comprises of world leading threat intelligence, expert services and security trainings.
Dell-EMC VxRail Appliances demonstrate substantial adoption Within a year since the initial launch, Dell EMC’s VxRail Appliances demonstrated substantial customer adoption with over 120 nodes being sold in India. VxRail Appliances are the only hyperconverged infrastructure appliances that are jointly engineered with VMware and are fully integrated, preconfigured, and pre-tested for VMware environments. VxRail Appliances are delivering simplicity, scalability and automation at the right price point for data centers across sizes and for enterprise deparental and edge environments. According to IDC research, Dell EMC VxRail Appliances’ sequential revenue growth was faster during the second half of 2016 than any other family of hyper-converged systems.” Rajesh Ramnani, Regional Director, Converged Platform & Solutions Division, Dell EMC said, “Dell EMC has experienced strong customer demand for VxRail Appliances, exceeding expectations and positioning Dell EMC to be the industry’s top HCI appliance provider. One year from its launch, VxRail Appliances have proven that HCI is an excellent approach for mainstream IT as customers increasingly
NetRack releases ‘Caution Note’ against counterfeiting NetRack has released a caution note in the media against the usage of NetRack’s name for selling counterfeit products in the market. NetRack condemns these activities and called for stringent punishment against the perpetrators. “It’s very disappointing to see that these practices still exist in the industry. Brands are not built overnight. Brand reputation and trust is a product of years of hard work, quality and customer service. Selling counterfeit products under a successful brand name is condemnable and crime too. We call upon the fraternity to recognize this trend and take collective action,” said Ravi Raj, Brand Head, Director Sales & Support at NetRack. The matter came into light as part of the investigation after receiving several complaints for NetRack’s products. To which immediate action is taken and as part of this the company is also releasing a series of guidelines to purchase originally manufactured products from NetRack. The counterfeit products do not comply with NetRack specified parameters nor NetRack quality and reliability standards. Consequently, the company explicitly emphasizes that NetRack does not warrant any parts purchased through unauthorized channels nor assume any liability for failure of counterfeit products.
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Gartner predicts global IT Spending to Grow 1.4 Percent in 2017 The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets. For more than a decade, global IT and business executives have been using these highly anticipated quarterly reports to recognize market opportunities and challenges, and base their critical business decisions on proven methodologies rather than guesswork. Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.5 trillion in 2017, a 1.4 percent increase from 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. This growth rate is down from the previous quarter’s forecast of 2.7 percent, due in part to the rising U.S. dollar “The strong U.S. dollar has cut $67 billion out of our 2017 IT spending forecast,” said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. “We expect these currency headwinds to be a drag on earnings of U.S.-based multinational IT vendors through 2017.” The data center system segment is expected to grow 0.3 percent in 2017. While this is up from negative growth in 2016, the segment is experiencing a slowdown in the server market. “We are seeing a shift in who is buying servers and who they are buying them from,” said Lovelock.
SNIPPETS
Cisco UAE brings entire partner ecosystem together at Connect 2017 Cisco Connect UAE 2017 provided a platform to experience the technology leader’s latest solutions and gain insights into the latest trends and thinking about digitization. Held at the Atlantis the Palm Hotel in Dubai, the event brought together over 1,700 delegates across Cisco’s customer and partner organizations to network and discuss the huge potential and opportunities the digital era brings to the success of businesses and organizations in the UAE. Themed ‘Your Time is Now’, the two-day event explored the fundamental positive changes that digital disruption can bring to a company’s value proposition, and its resulting market position, and how the impact is being felt across industries. A theme that recurred throughout the event’s activities was that in today’s digital era, only those organizations willing to transform themselves into a digital business will survive.
SAP INDIA INAUGURATES ‘GERHARD OSWALD INNOVATION SPACE’ IN BENGALURU Spread across 5.15 lakh square feet and will accommodate over 2,500 of SAP Labs India’s employees, SAP SE has launched the Gerhard Oswald Innovation Space in Whitefield, Bengaluru. Since 2014, SAP has invested approximately EUR 50 million into building the new facility which sits within the SAP Labs India campus. This state of the art facility is named after Gerhard Oswald, a former member of the SAP Executive Board, who played a significant role in driving SAP India’s growth during his tenure at SAP. The new space will contribute to further research and innovation for customers globally Since 1998, SAP Labs India has seen significant growth and is now the second largest Research & Development (R&D) facility for SAP globally. Categorized prominent R&D hubs for SAP in its network of 19 labs in 16 countries, it plays an important role in the research and development of SAP’s key products and solutions such as SAP HANA and SAP S/4HANA, and holds key product responsibilities across the Customer Engagement, Human Capital Management, Analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) portfolios.
Zoho presents GST-ready Financial Suite Zoho Finance Plus Zoho has launched its GST-compliant finance suite, Zoho Finance Plus. As Indian businesses prepare themselves for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, Zoho’s finance suite will help them make a smooth transition without worry. Zoho Finance Plus offers an end-to-end integrated cloud platform for businesses to manage their finances and operations, including filing of GST returns. “The proliferation of smartphones, broadband connectivity and upcoming GST regimen is a great opportunity for businesses to move their accounting and other operations online,” said Sivaramakrishnan Iswaran, Director of Product Management, Zoho. “With Zoho Finance Plus, businesses get a beautiful interface to manage their transactions day to day and file their GST returns, all from a single platform. Zoho Finance Plus simplifies returns filing for businesses and increases compliance.” GST is not just a tax reform but a business reform. The success of GST implementation will depend heavily on the technology infrastructure that businesses deploy. Millions of SMEs will have to adopt GST-enabled applications for invoicing, tax filing and other business transactions.
Compuage Infocom is now Xerox’s Disty In their continued effort to expand presence in the tier 2 and 3 markets in the country along with strengthening supply chain efficiencies, Xerox India, a part of Xerox Corporation, has announced Compuage Infocom Ltd., India’s leading IT and telecom distribution house as its new national distributor partner for Xerox range of office products and Supplies. Balaji Rajagopalan, Executive Director, Technology, Channels and International Distributor Operations said, “In our endeavor to provide products and solutions to more customers and strengthen our channel community, we are extremely pleased to announce our partnership with Compuage.” Atul H Mehta, Chairman & Managing Director, Compuage Infocom Ltd. said, “We are delighted to partner with Xerox India on their range of office product and supplies. To drive distribution business to supply chain management, we have extended our presence beyond metro cities and focusing more on tier 2 and 3 cities. With our pan-India geographic footprints and our aim to penetrate 10,000 resellers in 800 Cities & Towns within this year.”
eScan Launches ‘Super Sale’ offer for its Channel Partners eScan has launched a special incentive program for its channel partners under its channel reach program in India and to reward the qualified partners with lucrative gifts. This quarterly promotional activity is valid on purchase of eScan’s Internet Security Suite (Version 11) only and will be valid for purchases made between 15th April and 30th June 2017. The program is designed to reward the partner for their continuous efforts and contribution to make eScan one the preferred brand among consumers. The program aims to capture major market share through its partners and promises assured attractive gifts for their contribution starting from as low as Rs 4000 in the quarter. eScan partners can register online to participate and qualify for the offer and they will have to purchase eScan products only from an “Authorized Dealers/Distributor” for their respective region. The offer is valid exclusively for eScan ISS products only. The partner has the option to club his purchases for the quarter to claim the rewards as per the respective slabs. The gifts include External HDD, Portable Bluetooth speakers, Pen Drive and much more.
SME CHANNELS 17 MAY 2017
FEATURE
...INDIA MOVING
TOWARDS
SMARTER NETWORKS India being a consumption market holds lot of promise in networking space. Digital India has increased the spending in networking space and it is expected to continue for some time. Some of the many initiatives by the government like Smart Cities, up-gradation of railways, highways, newer airports in smaller cities, new banking licenses, ESI hospitals, Wi-Fi on campus, emphasis on Domestic Tourism etc are expected to increase spending in the Networking space. BY SATINDER KAUR skaur@smechannels.com
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emonetization has triggered the digitization wave and this has caused an increase in the online transactions. The network infrastructure thus needs to be upgraded to support the increased traffic efficiently. Growing number of startups require high band networks at reduced costs and we are seeing rapid transition from 10/100 to 1Gig and similarly from 1Gig to 10G. The best part is SMB/ SME customers are opting for affordable high end technology; this is very encouraging for vendors in networking space. Demand for Anytime Anywhere connectivity will lead to increase in deploy-
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ment of wireless internet connectivity which will be met by deploying different methods like City/ Village Wi-Fi or 4G connectivity. Agreeing to this, Sanjay Sehgal, V.P. SMB & Telecom Business, TPLink India says, “With the thrust given by Govt. of India for digitization post demonetization and with GST ready for rollout in next quarter, I feel the Networking industry is looking forward to good business in 2017-18.�
Networking Market in India Digital India Programme aims to transform India into a digitally empowered and knowledgeable society. With a focus on building Digital
infrastructure, growth areas would be building networks for High-Speed connectivity and the internet, Public internet access system, cloud facility etc. This will lead to large scale deployment of network infrastructure over the next 2-3 years thereby leading to growth for networking industry. The Switching market had witnessed growth last year and is expected to grow around 5 to 6% in year 2017. Investments in the government, education, telecom, professional services and BFSI were the key drivers for the growth of switching market. Also increased spending from the enterprise segment due to technology upgradation drove the overall switching market. The Wireless market
FEATURE
MARTHESH NAGENDRA, COUNTRY MANAGER, NETGEAR, INDIA & SAARC
DINESH VERMA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INDIA & SAARC, JUNIPER NETWORKS
“ROTI, KAPDA, MAKAAN AND WI-FI” IS THE NEW TERM NOW. WI-FI IS MORE OF A NEED THAN A LUXURY.”
“CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS ACROSS KEY VERTICALS WILL CONTINUE TO VIEW THE NETWORK AS FUNDAMENTAL TO THEIR BUSINESSES AND REVERBERATE AND SHAPE 2017.”
witnessed little decline due to various factors, but is expected to grow around 4 to 5% in year 2017. As we approach the reality of the Digital Cohesion era where applications increasingly interconnect and self-assemble into mega-services, immense new possibilities in terms of product offerings and tailored services will continuously present them. And among these significant changes will be the movement of compute and storage out of devices into the cloud, making networking even more critical with new approaches needed for automation, security, interoperability and performance. Dinesh Verma, Managing Director, India & SAARC, Juniper Networks opines, “4G network roll-outs, growing cloud investment, huge growth potential in mobile and Internet penetration, owing to professional services, banking and discrete manufacturing units have accelerated the growth of switching market this quarter. APAC service providers are investing heavily in 4G and even 5G to respond to this insatiable consumer demand for mobile Internet. Nevertheless, customers and partners across key verticals will continue to view the network as fundamental to their businesses and reverberate and shape 2017.”
The increase in mobility, voice and video consumption, combined with virtualization and the doubling of data every 2 years (‘2x2’), make it easy to see why Organizations prefer high bandwidth networks - in order to avoid bottlenecks. 33% of all SMB networks already used 10-Gigabit switching in early 2016; and 75% will be deploying 10 GB before the end of 2017. And 100% of SMBs (up to 500 employees) foresee the need to deploy this switching technology now or in the near future. According to Marthesh Nagendra, Country Manager, NETGEAR, India & SAARC , “Roti, Kapda, Makaan and Wi-Fi” is the new term now. Wi-Fi is more of a need than a luxury. The tremendous growth in India’s Hospitality industry and quality product offering has helped us to grow in this segment.” There are almost 50 programs undertaken by 20 different government departments through Digital India program. This agrees well with the network hardware industry as connectivity is at the core of all such initiatives. Boost in manufacturing through Make in India is going to provide impetus to the complete economic chain of activities in the country. The IT hardware manufacturing Industry will have a major role to play here with Digital India Initiatives announced by the Government. The pillars under the Digital India
Trends Shaping-up the Indian Network Hardware Space
SANJAY SEHGAL, V.P. SMB & TELECOM BUSINESS, TP-LINK INDIA
“WITH THE THRUST GIVEN BY GOVT. FOR DIGITIZATION POST DEMONETIZATION AND WITH GST, I FEEL NETWORKING INDUSTRY IS LOOKING FORWARD TO GOOD BUSINESS IN 2017-18.” initiative are going to be huge demand generator. Demand arising out of Digital India initiative coupled with the existing demand in the domestic market is a huge opportunity for the domestic manufacturing industry. Tushar Sighat, Executive Director & CEO, D-Link (India) Ltd opines, “The roll out of 4G has turned out to be a game changer in recent times. More & more new users are now opting for 4G internet, and this has led to increased customer base for connectivity devices. In wireless space, adoption of 11AC technology – the latest standard in Wi-Fi is on a rise. The fifth generation of Wi-Fi technology - 11AC, delivers incredible speed and wide area coverage of up to three times as fast as the current “N” Wi-Fi.”
Key Verticals Generating a major demand for Wi-Fi Routers, Network Gears Internet is omnipresent and all verticals need high speed access. All verticals including Construction, Manufacturing, IT, Retail trade, Health care, Hospitality, Education, Transportation and warehousing, Entertainment, Public Administration and Other services are growing at the rate of at least 10% YoY and are investing heavily in Wi-Fi Implementation. The Indian wireless gear
SME CHANNELS 19 MAY 2017
FEATURE
TUSHAR SIGHAT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CEO, D-LINK (INDIA) LTD OPINES
MANDAR JOSHI, HEAD CHANNEL BUSINESS, DIGISOL SYSTEMS LTD.
“THE ROLL OUT OF 4G HAS TURNED OUT TO BE A GAME CHANGER IN RECENT TIMES. THIS HAS LED TO INCREASED CUSTOMER BASE FOR CONNECTIVITY DEVICES.”
“WE ENSURE HEALTHY MARGINS FOR CHANNELS AND ALSO INTRODUCE NEW PRODUCTS WITH NEWER APPS TO INCREASE THE SCOPE OF GROWTH FOR THE CHANNELS.”
industry is observing a gigantic demand when it comes to data consumption on smart devices. A flood of budgetary smart devices in the market (smartphones and tablets) has further catalyzed this demand significantly. Public Wi-Fi Hotspots, outdoor routers as well as Wi-Fi range extenders, network management, switches are some of the networking hardware witnessing an unprecedented demand in the segment. Gopal Joshi, Vice President Sales, India & SAARC, Zyxel shares, “While every vertical is contributing a healthy growth for the wireless hardware segment, some of the major verticals generating demand in this front include- Information Technology, Telecom, Government, SMBs etc.”
Investment. Mandar Joshi, Head Channel Business, DIGISOL Systems Ltd excerpts, “With changing times and the changing channel, partners need to scale up and need to reach to end users. They need to cope up with changing technologies and changing business model. We feel that profitability of the partners plays an important role in motivating them to sell more. Our solutions have the width; we have a wide range of products such as routers, switches, in addition to accessories like LAN extenders, media converters, SPF modules, etc, to meet the varying needs of the market segment we focus, whereas others are focusing on niche segments with limited products.” As far as TP-Link is concerned, 2017-18 is going to be a big year for TP-Link SMB business and they have a slew of projects lined up for release in the coming quarters. It will be soon launching a partner portal for India which will provide tools and resources to partners to make sure that they are trained and certified to implement our SMB offerings to customers. Juniper’s business is deliberately dependent on our partner, with our partner/channel strategy built on three key pillars intended to drive growth for our partners.
Benefits for a Partner Businesses are profit-driven, so the primary objective should be shepherding a promising product to market. Netgear has a vision and mission to innovate and deliver new and exciting solutions. Partner engagement and Support is an essential thing to building the partner loyalty. NETGEAR is committed to enhance Product and Solution knowledge to its channel partners as this will enable the Partners to have better sales pitch, build the sales funnel, and increase the revenue stream to produce an overall increased Return on
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Software Defined networking
GOPAL JOSHI, VICE PRESIDENT SALES, INDIA & SAARC, ZYXEL
“SOME OF THE MAJOR VERTICALS GENERATING DEMAND INCLUDEINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, TELECOM, GOVERNMENT, SMBS ETC.” market in India While most industry experts believe that enterprise networks in the future will be a combination of SDN and traditional networks, Software-Defined Secure Networks (SDSN) is Juniper’s vision in network security evolution, as businesses continue to look for greater value when it comes to Network Virtualization. With the success of early NFV deployments and the continuing challenges for operators to deliver even more services with flawless performance, end customers will require new levels of flexibility. As such, there will be a push towards bring your own license (BYOL) and pay as you go models tailored to supporting cloud-based infrastructures for different application needs. SDN is still nascent in India and are predominant in large enterprises. Industries, such as IT, BFSI, healthcare, telecom, defense, and manufacturing among others, to adopt this emerging technology for effective network utilization, improved efficiency, and automation of tasks.
Finally... Partners need to keep on innovating as technology is evolving they have to evolve and stay tuned with it. Today market dynamic is changing rapidly and Partners need to be in pace with new requirements which is applications driven.
HUAWEI
SME BIZ
HUAWEI AIMING TO DRIVE ‘DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION’ OF INDUSTRIES Driven by global expertise and consumer centricity, Huawei India to aim for rapid growth by focusing on sectors like Government, BFSI, Energy, Infrastructure, ISP and Smart Cities in India and is currently focusing s on its “platform + ecosystem” strategy to expand its channel partner network in India DEREK HAO, PRESIDENT, ENTERPRISE BUSINESS GROUP, HUAWEI INDIA BY SATINDER KAUR skaur@smechannels.com
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y providing innovative, differentiated, and leading ICT hardware and software infrastructures, Huawei aims to build an open, scalable, flexible, and secure platform and help customers address the challenges posed by digital transformation and achieve business success. Huawei is committed to nurturing a customercentric, win-win, and sustainable ecosystem. By continuously stepping up the construction of an investment in areas such as industry alliance, business partnership, open source community, and developer platform, and fully leveraging the advantages of partners, Huawei aims to form a community of common interest that features mutually beneficial coexistence. In line with its global “platform + ecosystem” strategy, Huawei Enterprise Business Group (BG) India has recently announced its partnership with Redington India to distribute and market Huawei enterprise products and services in the country. Huawei Enterprise BG India aims to create maximum value for Indian enterprises with its innovative ICT solutions and services backed by a strong ecosystem. As part of this partnership, Redington will support Huawei in developing resellers to market and promote products and/or services products in areas of Server, Storage, Data Center and Cloud Computing to Huawei enterprise customers in India.
Huawei Enterprise BG can strategically propel the development of a digital and intelligent society, and be an enabler and the best partner of digital transformation for industries. The Huawei EBG India is well positioned to substantially contribute to Government of India’s landmark initiatives like Digital India and smart cities. Derek Hao, President, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei India says, “Our enterprise products and solutions will drive to create a smart and digital society and lead to digital transformation of industries.”
Huawei’s Channel strategy for India Huawei is resolute in its commitment to creating a robust and global partner ecosystem to support the long-term growth of Huawei EBG through collaboration with partners. Huawei’s partner ecosystem consists of three types of partners including channel partners, solution partners, and service partners.By the end of 2016, Huawei EBG had more than 12,000 channel partners, 400 solution partners, and 2,000 service partners worldwide. In India, Huawei EBG has established an eco-system of 2 Distributors, 3 VAPs, 2 Golden partners and 500+ Certified partners. Derek Hao adds, “By implementing transparent and consistent partnership policies and providing strong support for partners in training, joint solution innovation, marketing, finance, supply chain, and
“WE HAVE FIRMLY IMPLEMENTED TRANSPARENT AND STABLE CHANNEL POLICIES, AND PROVIDED STRONG SUPPORT TO OUR PARTNERS.” IT systems, we have helped our partners enhance their business capabilities, accelerate transformation, and foster mutually beneficial cooperation with Huawei.” The company has firmly implemented transparent and stable channel policies, and provided strong support to partners in the areas of training, joint solution innovation, marketing, finance, supply chain, and IT support systems. Through this, partners will continue to improve their business capabilities, facilitate their transformation, and ensure success.
Message for partners Derek Hao says, “Our aim is to collaborate with partners to create an ecosystem conducive to the development of channel cooperation and to expand the market for mutual benefit.” By carrying out joint innovation with partners and customers centered on business-driven outcomes, Huawei wishes to create a win-win ecosystem.
SME CHANNELS 21 MAY 2017
COVER STORY
INTERNET of THINGS
BIGFORBET PARTNER’S
BUSINESS
While there are many use cases for IoT, the success or failure of an IoT driven system will depend on the deployment architectures and infrastructural needs. IoT devices need electricity to run and some sort of network to transmit or share information. As organizations put in IoT solutions in place they need to validate their assumptions about the availability of infrastructure required for running that solution.
BY SATINDER KAUR skaur@smechannels.com
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nternet of Things has large implications on many types of industries. While very large factories always had automation to report the status of equipment, IoT brings that visibility to all types of products and services – starting from smart electric meters that report electricity consumption hourly to the electricity distribution companies (DISCOMs) to companies tracking the status of a car engine or even an air conditioning unit. IoT will play a major role in the transformation of India into a digital economy - as the catalyst that empowers our citizens
by providing them with transparent governance and services (education, health, legal, financial and safety) at their fingertips. IoT enhances the customer experience and allows businesses to transform operations, planning, reporting or services. IoT-based solutions are not just for urban India; they offer rural citizens access to services that were earlier out of reach. IoT has leveraged to offer high-quality remote education in high schools across the country. Many verticals such as manufacturing, automotive, IT/ITeS, consumer, healthcare already have presence in the entire IoT
“IBM HAS A WELL PLANNED ON-BOARDING PROGRAM DRAWN WHICH ENSURES NECESSARY TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS ARE COMPLETED BY THE CHANNEL PARTNER TO SUPPORT IOT.” MUKUL MATHUR, VP-GLOBAL BUSINESS PARTNERS AND SI, IBM INDIA & SA. 22 SME CHANNELS MAY 2017
scheme of things. Gurudutt M, Director, Channel India & SAARC, Schneider Electric excerpts, “IoT will function as a source of innovation, business model disruption and economic growth for businesses, governments and emerging economies.” IoT has the potential to create and deliver value to the enterprise and customer alike. IoT has the benefit of maximizing operational efficiency at multiple levels by turning data collected into sustainable solutions. This data can be used for predictive analysis hence reducing possible downtime and increasing profitable operations. Jacques Goudet, CIO, Alcatal Lucent Enterprise says, “ IoT is not a single technology, it is a whole bundle of new generation technologies – sensors, new applications, machine-to-machine interfacing, machine learning, predictive analytics, geolocation, wearables and augmented reality. The network infrastructure is what brings all these technologies and solutions together – without it, you have disparate collections of smart technologies never achieving their potential.” Organizations need to move forward from old approaches to IP networking, and embrace the New IP which is flexible and futureproof network. Based on open standards, the New IP is a user-centric, software-defined, agile and secure networking model purpose-built to fit the mas-
COVER STORY
“IOT IS NOT A SINGLE TECHNOLOGY, IT IS A WHOLE BUNDLE OF NEW GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES – SENSORS, APPS, M2M INTERFACING, MACHINE LEARNING AND AUGMENTED REALITY.” JACQUES GOUDET, CIO, ALCATAL LUCENT ENTERPRISE
sive shifts seen in IOT. The New IP – a new type of network that offers more automated and dynamic range of capabilities based on software and virtualization – will play a major role in IOT. The New IP will help organizations to evolve based on business priorities, whether by overlaying new software services on top of your existing IT infrastructure or evolving to an Ethernet Fabric. At the same time, these networks can protect vast amounts of data and analytics with designed-in, open, behavior-based and self-learning security. Over the last few years the Internet of Things has come to the forefront, with sensors and actuators becoming more common. Elevators, cars, trains, planes, floors, pipelines – they can all be conSME CHANNELS 23 MAY 2017
COVER STORY
“THE INTERNET OF THINGS REPRESENTS NOT JUST NEW TECHNOLOGY, BUT A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND ITS USES.” SUNIL MEHRA, VICE PRESIDENT, MIDDLEWARE, ORACLE INDIA
nected – sharing crucial information on their condition or use. There’s already over 29 billion things connected, and recording, and processing data. Which is why, the IoT is well on its way to generating $11 trillion in economic activity by 2025.
IoT Trends The Internet of Things (IoT) is touching every technology sector around the world, and it’s having a significant impact on how enterprises and consumers interact with machines and devices.APIs, Security, Augmented Reality, Blockchain , Digital Twin are increasingly gaining prominence in the IOT World. 94% of companies believe that IOT will impact market and industries over the next 3 years.IDC estimates more than 80 percent of IoT spend through 2020 will be on B2B applications and use cases. The Internet of Things will be one of the primary drivers of the digital transformation that enterprises will undergo in the coming years, creating a self-learning environment that will drive digital disruption in physical world. Bharat Bhushan, Head, Products and Engineering, Radius Synergies International Pvt Ltd opines, “Looking at the Indian context where there are huge mass markets, possibly every vertical stands to benefit
from IOT adoption. However, looking at the government policies and push, utilities, industries and healthcare seem to be the most promising areas. Also, looking at the current maturity state of some of these sectors, the adoption would need to be gradual and in a phased manner.”
Excitement amongst Indian SMEs for IoT IoT, is one promising technology that can help Indian enterprises raise the bar for productivity and efficiency to a different level. IoT implementations are happening in various sectors like manufacturing, automotive, retail, security, healthcare, construction, transportation, telecommunications, and many more. The value of IoT lies in enriching data collected from devices with analytics and exposing it to applications that enable organizations to derive business value. “IoT can revolutionize Industries by enabling digital transformation of businesses, facilitating new business models, improving efficiency, generating new forms of revenue and save costs”, says George Chacko, Principal Systems Engineer & Lead Technical Consultant, Brocade India. IoT has the potential to make distribution
“IOT CAN REVOLUTIONIZE INDUSTRIES BY ENABLING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF BUSINESSES, FACILITATING NEW BUSINESS MODELS, IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND SAVE COSTS.” GEORGE CHACKO, PRINCIPAL SYSTEMS ENGINEER & LEAD TECHNICAL CONSULTANT, BROCADE INDIA
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“IOT WILL FUNCTION AS A SOURCE OF INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH FOR BUSINESSES, GOVT AND EMERGING ECONOMIES.” GURUDUTT M, DIRECTOR, CHANNEL INDIA & SAARC, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
system much more efficient. Anshuman Singh, Senior Director Product Management, Application Security, Barracuda Networks shares his view. He said, “There is a huge potential in India to use IoT and improve the delivery various schemes the Central and State Governments are rolling out. IoT has the potential of enabling organizations to utilize resources much more efficiently and deriving large benefits.”IoT by itself has lots of benefits but in many cases it needs to be paired with Big Data Analytics to be really effective. For example, there are many IoT deployments where various IoT based sensors are sending data back to the vendor that either manufactured the equipment or was hired to maintain them. The data coming back is in large quantities and true value of information can only be realized by analysing the data thoroughly. Sunil Mehra, Vice President, Middleware, Oracle India says, “The Internet of Things represents not just new technology, but a new way of thinking about technology and its uses. To say that this potential multi-trilliondollar market will affect business is a gross understatement. Businesses can no longer ignore the potential of this opportunity. While it may seem daunting to put in place the infrastructure to tap the value from IoT enabled systems, cloud has made the technology accessible, affordable and manageable.”
COVER STORY
“IOT HAS THE POTENTIAL OF ENABLING ORGANIZATIONS TO UTILIZE RESOURCES MUCH MORE EFFICIENTLY AND DERIVING LARGE BENEFITS.” ANSHUMAN SINGH, SENIOR DIRECTOR PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, APPLICATION SECURITY, BARRACUDA NETWORKS
Security is the Biggest Concern in IoT Along with its benefits, IoT also opens up several security risks. Since IoT is a concept of devices talking to one another, there is a lot of data transfer happening which is vulnerable to cyber threats as well. Cyber-attacks can compromise connected devices such as cameras, smart watches, smart cars and even smart homes, apart from mobile and computing devices. It is also a challenge to incorporate security modules in these small devices which stay connected to the Internet. As attackers are now highly aware of insufficient IoT security, many pre-program their malware with commonly used and default passwords, allowing them to easily hijack IoT devices. The Data Centers which store large volumes of data from multiple IoT devices are easy targets for hackers, making it a challenge for organisations to protect data. Within data center infrastructure, organisations need to implement segmented, multi layer protection systems. “With IOT, systems collect a lot of data which is good and at times can be vulnerable to viruses. To add to this, data theft is crime that will be on the rise. Chances are that this data can be misused
for destructive purposes. Without adequate data security, data can be exploited. While Kingston has a monopolistic global market share, its products help prevent loss, theft and data leakage. Besides this, by backing up your files on a USB drive, you can recover the information, which adds to the security”, says Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston Technology – India. The company has recently introduced an exemplary solution that do justice to the notion of securing data in the form of Data Traveler Vault Privacy 3.0 USB drive – with options of remote access and anti-virus protection from ESET/ClevX. So not only is it fast, its contents are always away from viruses, spyware, Trojans, worms, root kits, adware and other Internet-borne threats.
Role of Channel Partners in IoT Any new idea or technology needs to have early adopters who are technology savvy and ready to experiment. IoT also being a relatively new area, it requires a technology sales mindset as well as a need generation approach because initially, due to the conventional mindset, it might appear to be a “good to have” thing. Moving forward in 2017
“WITH IOT, SYSTEMS COLLECT A LOT OF DATA WHICH IS GOOD AND AT TIMES CAN BE VULNERABLE TO VIRUSES. IN ADDITION, THIS DATA CAN BE MISUSED FOR DESTRUCTIVE PURPOSES.” VISHAL PAREKH, MARKETING DIRECTOR, KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY – INDIA
“LOOKING AT INDIAN CONTEXT WHERE THERE ARE HUGE MASS MARKETS, POSSIBLY EVERY VERTICAL STANDS TO BENEFIT FROM IOT.” BHARAT BHUSHAN, HEAD, PRODUCTS AND ENGINEERING, RADIUS SYNERGIES INTERNATIONAL PVT LTD
we’re going to see traditional VARs have to adjust the way they approach customers in everything from the conversations they’re having to the solutions they sell and support. As part of the channel strategy, IBM has been focusing on ensuring that right technical knowledge and skill set to be imparted within the channel community. On regular basis it is having global technical and channel leaders visiting India to support this ongoing knowledge building activity. According to Mukul Mathur, VP-Global Business Partners and System Integrators at IBM India and South Asia, “ IBM has a well planned on-boarding program drawn which ensures the necessary training and certifications are completed by the channel partner to support the cutting edge IoT.”
Finally… Today in India sectors like Automotive, Industrial, Insurance & Agriculutre are in the forefront of adopting IoT to delivery better value to the customer or launch a new line of business. It is important to the partner to build the right set of domain knowledge specific to these industry segments. Also we need to remember that IoT is an ecosystem play where the platform needs to be open to share data to other organisations or connect data from other platforms.
SME CHANNELS 25 MAY 2017
COVER STORY
CHANNEL PARTNERS ARE A
KEY TO SUCCESS IN
IoT BUSINESS
T
he Internet of Things (IoT) is the future of Internet technologies in which every object around us will be connected using some kind of network to every other object, and they will also have the capability to send and receive data from them. Continuous development and innovation of IoT solutions cannot be executed independently by any organization and it is here that the role of Channel partners fits in. Forming partnerships with industry leaders, academic institutions, government, etc. is important for the continuous management and implementation of new IoT solutions. In fact, in order to cover the different facets of IoT, strategic partnerships are developing amongst technology innovators including cloud and data analytics, and industry leaders to accelerate the development and delivery of IoT solutions in an impactful way. Seeing IoT as a big bet for partners business, Arijit Chatterji, Chief Business Officer, C-Zentrix excerpts, “With IoT our partners can bring to market higher performing valuable products, based on customer needs. Marketers can build better, long lasting relationships with their customers, based on datadriven understanding of customer behavior.”
Challenges for partners Any new technology that is positioned as a game changer attracts towards itself a fair degree of skepticism and in the case of IoT there are
26 SME CHANNELS MAY 2017
concerns about the security fallout from having an ecosystem of connected devices that are hooked to the cloud. Arsalaan Kashif, Director and Global Marketing Head of PES and the IoT Center of Excellence at Happiest Minds opines, “There is also a misconception that IoT is mostly for large organizations as it requires mammoth investments in technology which is certainly not true. In fact, we see that a lot of our customers are moving from the proof of concept to the productization stage of their IoT journeys and are looking at initiating enterprise wide rollouts very soon.” It is no question that the Internet of Things (IoT) is set to revolutionize the way organizations conduct business. While the application of IoT appears to be straightforward, it is not without challenges. Asoke K. Laha, President and COO, Interra Information Technologies explains, “When talking about challenges, it is important for your organization to plan for scalability and to prioritize security immediately from the onset. In addition, it is important to ensure your IT bandwidth is prepared to handle ample bandwidth.” Some challenges that Interra IT see in regards to the adoption of IoT include the following: n Scalability – This is a legitimate concern. Organizations need to make sure they are properly equipped and ready to handle the influx of data from IoT-equipped devices. Will they able to pay for storing an enormous amount of data
“2017 IS SHAPING UP TO BE A BIG YEAR FOR IOT ENABLED TECHNOLOGIES. WHEN IT COMES TO IOT, SALES PITCHES ABOUND WITH PROMISES OF UNTHINKABLE GAINS IN EFFICIENCY, COST SAVINGS, AND NEW BUSINESS MODELS.” MURALI KRISHNAN, ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, HCL INFOSYSTEMS
COVER STORY
“THERE IS A MISCONCEPTION THAT IOT IS MOSTLY FOR LARGE ORGANIZATIONS AS IT REQUIRES MAMMOTH INVESTMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY WHICH IS CERTAINLY NOT TRUE.” ARSALAAN KASHIF, DIRECTOR AND GLOBAL MARKETING HEAD OF PES AND THE IOT CENTER OF EXCELLENCE AT HAPPIEST MINDS
“WITH IOT OUR PARTNERS CAN BRING TO MARKET HIGHER PERFORMING VALUABLE PRODUCTS, BASED ON CUSTOMER NEEDS. MARKETERS CAN BUILD BETTER, LONG LASTING RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS, BASED ON DATA-DRIVEN UNDERSTANDING OF CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR.”
“WHEN TALKING ABOUT CHALLENGES, IT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION TO PLAN FOR SCALABILITY AND TO PRIORITIZE SECURITY IMMEDIATELY FROM THE ONSET.” ASOKE K. LAHA, PRESIDENT AND COO, INTERRA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
ARIJIT CHATTERJI, CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER, C-ZENTRIX EXCERPTS
in the future? Can organizations keep this data secure? These are some of the questions and concerns organizations need to keep into consideration when looking at scalability. n Security – Related to scalability is security. Keeping data secure from data leakages and cyber attacks is paramount. If organizations are serious in implementing in IoT strategy, then they need to prioritize and address security from the beginning. n Constant and Reliable Connectivity – This might seem obvious, but it is worth stating. This is important, as the whole idea behind IoT depends on reliable and constant Internet connectivity. If there is no constant Internet connection, then this could obviously cause issues with implementing IoT. n when talking about challenges, it is important for your organization to plan for scalability and to prioritize security immediately from the onset. In addition, it is important to ensure your IT bandwidth is prepared to handle ample bandwidth.
IoT is an advantage for partners Due to its wide-ranging benefits and applicability across sectors, IoT has been labelled as ‘the next Industrial Revolution’. Sectors as varied as Healthcare, Manufacturing, Logistics, e-commerce etc. are aggressively adopting IoT. For example, in the Healthcare sector, one of the biggest adopter of IoT technology can be Remote Patient Monitoring Solutions- doctors now rely on sensors to monitor vital parameters like heart rate, blood sugar etc., leading to newer service offerings from the healthcare providers in Preventive & Palliative Healthcare. Similarly Hospitals or Healthcare providers can deploy IoT solutions for Asset Location, Asset Management, Asset Utilization, Asset loss prevention etc. sharing his views, Murali Krishnan, Associate VP, HCL Infosystems says, “2017 is shaping up to be a big year for IoT enabled technologies. When it comes to IoT, sales pitches abound with promises of unthinkable gains in efficiency, cost savings, and new business models.”
Tips for Aspiring Partners There are some key elements which companies should take care of. With proliferation of IoT, there is huge amount of data getting generated; the ingenuity lies in collecting the data and generating appropriate customer insights. Another key challenge is with multiple touchpoints it will be imperative to have omnichannel solution so that the various channels do not remain disjointed and provides seamless customer experience.
Final Words… With the buzz surrounding IoT, there is an obvious temptation to include it as part of a larger portfolio in order to cater to the zeitgeist. However, it is advisable to proceed with it only if it naturally aligns with their business strategy and if they have the resources and energy required to build a dedicated IoT COE that is focused towards understanding customer needs and delivering on expectations.
SME CHANNELS 27 MAY 2017
GUEST TALK
HOME AUTOMATION MARKET BOUND TO GROW AGGRESSIVELY Global home automation market is on a stiff rise so also is in India. The reason of this can be attributed to the convenience that it offers to the house owners. Along with that there is an increassed trend of couples taking up jobs. With more and more IP enabled or IOT devices coming up, it makes easy for them to monitor and manage services at home including monitoring elederly and young people at home. MARTHESH NAGENDRA Country Manager – India & SAARC, NETGEAR BRIEF PROFILE A computer Science Engineer & an MBA from International Management Institute, Marthesh Nagendra has been with NETGEAR for over 10+ years and has been instrumental in establishing and growing the Brand multifold across various geographies in India & SAARC. He spearheaded the mission to place India at the forefront of growth within the NETGEAR ecosystem as well, by focusing efforts to grow channel partners and exploring new channels like e-commerce. Marthesh has been able to successfully transform NETGEAR in India to one of the leading networking firms that makes high performance and reliable products that is almost a house hold name today.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is about to transform the next decade. Literally everything will be connected to everything. Some estimate that 50 billion devices will be IoT-connected by 2020. Gone are the days where Home automation were preferred only by chosen few, things have changed in the recent past because of the affordability and cost effective solutions available in India. What is Home automation? Imagine that you’re driving home on a hot summer day. But rather than turn the air conditioner on when you get home and wait for your house to cool, you simply use your smart phone when you leave your office to tell your smart thermostat to lower the temperature. In layman terms, the things that you plan to do in person is being done by devices (IoT) which you deploy. Or Eg: 1. You no longer have to be present at your home to look after or safeguard your home –There are loads of devices which can protect your home against theft, Fire, Trespassing, Gas leakage & many more. 2. Courier can be received through an alert. You can guide them to place the parcel at a designated place without your presence. 3. Do you want to play lullabies to your toddler or keep an eye on your maid remotely? It’s possible! 4. Listen to your favorite music as soon as you reach home 5. Manage curtains, lights, AC, lock/unlock, record the TV shows….. Most of the things. There is no shortage of possibilities for smart home IoT devices, and home automation seems to be the wave of the future.
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What is driving Home Automation Market? The most obvious benefit to smart homes is convenience, as more connected devices can handle more operations (lighting, temperature, etc.) and frees up the resident to perform other tasks. But beyond this, smart home IoT devices can help reduce costs and conserve energy. Few other drivers area. Emphasis on Security b. Comfort at home with Smart Thermostat, Lighting, remote monitoring, multiroom audio & intercom systems c. Growth of high end residential market d. Cheaper technologies e. Concept of “Smart Home” According to a report published by RedSeer Consulting, Home automation market in India is rapidly growing and is expected to reach INR 8800 crores by 2017 It is estimated that Home automation market is growing at the rate of more than 35% YoY and at this rate the market is expected to double within the span of 3 Years. Around 80% of customers who buy homes costing more than $100,000 are preferring Home automation products & almost 100% of customers for homes pricing above $250,000 in India. Customers are willing to spend almost 1%-5% of the value of their residences on Home automation. There are numerous companies who are working tirelessly day & night to bring innovative products to grab this pie. The real estate developers are the key in educating consumers to adopt for home automation solutions. For more click: www.smechannels.com
TECH SUMMIT AND AWARDS
VENUE DATE
: :
EROS HOTEL 14TH JULY 2017
BLOCK YOUR CALENDAR BROUGHT BY
CONTACT: INFO@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM SANJIB: 011-26566398, +91 9818928164 SANJAY MOHAPATRA: 011-41657670, +91 9910097969
ADVERTORIAL
CIPL
CIPL:CROSSED A DECADE…STILL PASSIONATE TO CREATE MILESTONES Prepared with growth oriented strategies and aggressive business expansion plans, Corporate Infotech Pvt. Ltd.aka CIPL has become a “one stop technology destination” for customers across all verticals. In CIPL’s 10 years’ journey in Indian IT industry, it has witnessed numerous challenges from business point of view, still it is moving ahead like a winner with double digit growth.
C
orporate Infotech Pvt. Ltd. better known as CIPL is today a household name in the ICT Vendors and Partners circuit. Mr. Vinod Kumar, the MD &CEO of the company is a respected name in the entire Indian ICT Industry. As it has stepped into 2017 and celebrating 10 years of operation, we could see how successful this company is and how the company has created its growth path. Today, if Mr. Vinod or CIPL has earned the name and commanded respect, it is because of their hard work, careful selection of products and right domain strategy. As a media organization when we see their growth, we could see their selection of domain – which revolves around data centre. In terms of hard work, CIPL has never disappointed any of their customers. They have respected the smallest need of the customer organizations and reached to them within a minimum time of request. Similarly, we also see the personality and demeanour of the soft-spoken Vinod Kumar who prefers to speak less and do more. The first encounter with Vinod Kumar will give an impression as if he is born not to say ‘No’ to any one or any challenge. “Progress for me has never been a dream. It has always been a distant reality and once one milestone is achieved, there is always another one waiting to be crossed. It is with this belief that I started Corporate Infotech,” maintained Vinod 30 SME CHANNELS MAY 2017
Kumar. As a leader, Vinod Kumar’s strong ideology of fair, honest and ethical business practices have electrified the whole of organization and created a base for the entire value system. So, passionvision and dedication – the byproducts of the ideology have become the foundation of CIPL ever since the organization has started in 2007, result of which is visible today as CIPL has become a “one stop technology destination” for customers across all verticals. Over the period of 10 years, CIPL has created a strong portfolio of products and services across the country. It has become a prominent name in the entire ICT business ecosystem. CIPL has been
VINOD KUMAR, MD &CEO, CORPORATE INFOTECH PVT. LTD.
able to achieve the coveted position of one of the largest solution providers and fastest growing company in India by creating a strong portfolio of products & services. To justify the statement one can look at the YoY revenue growth trend of the organization. The first year (2007) revenue was only Rs.5 Cr but in 2016, the revenue touched Rs.327 Cr. Especially during last 3-4 years, its growth has been high double digit, when others in the competition were trying to consolidate. Corresponding this, the company has also scaled up its manpower strength. So, in 2007 the number of people were only 12 but by the end of 2016 it became a mammoth organization employ-
CIPL
ing 712 people with presence virtually in every large cities. Soon, CIPL is moving to their own commercial facility in Noida - named as “CIPL House”. This new facility would house the entire resources of the company from an operational hub perspective and hopefully would support and cater to their future growth into the newer technology domains like Cloud, IOT, Analytics, Mobility, etc. In its journey of 10 years, the company has tied up with a lot many coveted OEM bands who have been steady with CIPL. Of course, there were some brands who preferred to part away but by and large most of the MNC brands have been partners in the growth. These OEMs including Microsoft, NetApp, Lenovo, Trend Micro, Huawei, Schneider Electric, Avaya, Zimbra, Fujitsu, Intel, Juniper, Tibco, Numeric, Cisco, Canon, Brocade, Samsung, IBM, Symantec, etc. have helped the organization in multi domain skillsets and added to the top line and bottom-line. However, OEMs like Microsoft, NetApp, Lenovo, Huawei, Schneider Electric and Fujitsu are at the helms of some of the CIPL’s large future projects, which can easily lead to a great 2017 FY.
Values Cherished As CIPL moves on the growth path, the company has also taken major initiatives to help the disadvantaged people and poor families in India with the launch of an NGO in the name of CIPL FOUNDATION. Very recently CIPL foundation has distributed school uniforms and shoes to 500 school children’s hailing from EWS of the society, in Noida’s Oriental Public School. The same project was well appreciated in all the sections of the society and been covered by big media houses. www. ciplfoundation.co.in
Certification & Accreditation Excellence is an integral part of the company.
PAN India presence To be able to achieve CIPL’s exponential growth, the company is expanding its presence across India by setting up offices in different locations. The company has a national footprint with offices in: 1. Delhi (head office) 2. Chandigarh 3. Uttar Pradesh 4. Punjab 5. Haryana 6. Bihar 7. Jharkhand 8. West Bangal 9. Maharashtra 10. Tamil Nadu 11. Andhra Pradesh 12. Assam 13. Uttarakhand 14. Telangana 15. Jammu & Kashmir 16. Karnataka 17. Rajasthan 18. Himachal Pradesh 19. Odisha 20. Madhya Pradesh 21. Chhattisgarh
ADVERTORIAL
CIPL follows the quality assurance approach by integrating process, people and technology through various renowned and established frameworks and practices including: ISO 9001:2015, ISO 20000-1:2011 ISO 27001:2013 NSIC, NASSCOM Member MSME and CMMI Level3 (under process).
Empanelment Certification With its capacity & capabilities, CIPL has been empanelled with various renowned government organisations & departments. CIPL has been known for its quality, commitment to delivery, statutory regulations, discipline and healthy trade practices. Based on technical & financial competence to execute IT projects, CIPL has become approved vendor for the following Government organisations including DIT, Indian Air Force, CDAC (Centre for development of advanced computing), NSIC (National Small Industries Corporation limited), IFCI limited, DDG IT, Ministry of Defence, Office of JS (TRG) & CAO, Ministry Of Defence, UTI Infrastructure Technology & Services Limited, INMAS (Institute of Nuclear Medicines & Allied Sciences), SHREETRON India Limited, WESEE (Weapons & Electronics Systems Engineering Establishment), Ministry Of Defence, General staff Systems Branch, HQ Southern Command etc.
Rate Contracts CIPL has gained recognition in the IT industry on the grounds of dedicated professionalism that translates to customer satisfaction being the highest priority. It believes in logical deployment of existing resources that is the key to success in any organisation. As a result, CIPL has become the rate contractor for DGS&D and NICSI. Active DGS&D rate contract n MICROSOFT software solution & suites n NETAPP data storage solutions n TRENDMICRO security solutions n HUAWEI active networking products n SCHNEIDER passive networking products Active NICSI rate contract n LENOVO laptop & desktop n AVAYA video conferencing, voice and networking solutions n SYMANTEC security solutions n NUANCE software solutions Also, CIPL has been recognised as a Green Channel company by
SME CHANNELS 31 MAY 2017
ADVERTORIAL
CIPL
CIPL has also justified the association with utmost care. It has spent its energy and time to grow the business for these brands. That is the reason the company is kicking even after 10 years when many in the industry as not in good shape. The efforts of CIPL has not gone unnoticed by its principals. In last 10 years, the company has received more than a dozen accolades from its OEM partners for its performance excellence. Some of the awards which makes it proud are as following: 1. MICROSOFT- “Public Sector Partner of the Year Award” for FY 2016-17 2. NETAPP- “Solution Partner Award” for FY 2016-17 3. NETAPP- “Partner of The Year Award, North Region” for FY 2016-17 4. MICROSOFT- “Partner of The Year for Public Sector” for FY 2015-16 5. NETAPP- “Partner of The Year, North” for FY 2015-16 6. HUAWEI- “Emerging Business Partner, Govt. Sector” for 2015 7. BEST POWER EQUIPMENTS- “Contribution In Growth Award” for 2014 8. LENOVO- “Special Contribution Award” for FY 2013-14 9. LENOVO- “Segment Performance Award, Public Sector” for FY 2012-13 10. LENOVO- “Excellence Award For Public Segment” for FY 2012-13 11. LENOVO- “Best Performance Partner” for 2010 12. LENOVO- “Best Growth Partner For Govt. Business” for 2009 13. SATHI- “Complimentary Award” If that is not enough the company has also bagged two respected media awards i.e. DQ Channel- “Best System Integrator Award” for FY 2016-17 and SME ChannelSuper50 Award for FY 2016-17”.
DGS&D for HUAWEI & NETAPP.
Prestigious Projects Over 10 years CIPL has gained recognition in the IT industry on the grounds of dedicated professionalism that translates to customer satisfaction being the highest priority. Today, CIPL is a front runner in quality as well as quantity. Although there are a lot many projects to its credit but a few of its prestigious projects are as following: 1. Department of information Technology (DIT) Airforce Head Quarters (INR
32 SME CHANNELS MAY 2017
CUSTOMERS Air India
INMAS
EPFO
Airport Authority Of India
MOUD
DIPP
CRIS
FCI
UP Treasury
IIT-Delhi
Survey of India
CBDT
IFFCO
Ministry of Commerce
UP Police
CCIT-Patna
Ministry of External Affairs
DGCA
PSPCL
CIT-Mumbai
DOIT- Rajasthan
JNU
IRCTC
J&K Police
Ministry of Finance
Punjab central cooperative bank
CMC
MOCA
ILBS
NIIT
Ministry of Power
Ministry of health
Ordinance Factory
Ministry f Labour
NHPC
Indian Coast Guard
IIT-Jodhpur
APTS
CAG
AIIMS-Delhi
Rajiv Gandhi Hospital
NAREGA
ISRO Ahmedabad
UID
1.65 crores)Supply, installation & implementation of storage in 5 datacentres across India in HPC environment. 2. UID (INR 6.5 crores) Supply and implementation of Microsoft licenses in their datacentre. 3. Airport Authority of India (INR 12.8 crores) Supply, Installation and implementation of payroll processing and ESS licenses for SAP ERP application. 4. Airport Authority of India (INR 19.5 crores) Anti-hijacking command control centre at Rastpatibhawan, ATC tower (T-3 Delhi airport) & 12 airports across India. 5. Centre for railway information system (CRIS) (INR 3.65 crores)Supply and installation of desktops at 23 locations across India. 6. National Informatics centre (NIC)Immigration visa foreigner registration and tracking mission mode project (INR 12.5 crores) Supply & implementation of unlimited license grant of oracle technology. 7. Uttar Pradesh Police Department (INR 23 crores) Supply and installation of 5300 desktops & networking equipment under the government of India CCTNS project in all the police stations of Uttar Pradesh. 8. J&K Police Head Quarters Supply and installation of 500 desktops across all police stations worth INR 1.5 crores 9. Punjab Cooperative Bank (INR 19 crores)
Supply and installation of 4000 desktops & UPS across all districts of Punjab. 10. Food corporation of India (INR 14 crores) Supply & installation of 2017desktops and 688 laptops with printers, MS office and UPS at 500 offices across India. 11. Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences (ILBS) (INR 4.5 crores) SITC and maintenance of IT infrastructure. 12. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Supply of laptop, desktop, laser printers, servers & UPS and made cyber library for 200 nodes in JNU central library along with the networking equipment. Also the AMC for 1500 desktops and 600 printers. 13. Defence Image Processing & Analysis Centre (DIPAC) Supply of SAN Storage, Networking & Software products.
Finally... As CIPL moves on the growth path, it has a very strong plan and roadmap for its vendors, partners and customers. It has the passion, the tools, the infrastructure and the vision to provide complete IT solution at one stop. Vinod Kumar, CEO, Corporate Infotech Pvt. Ltd. feels, “The journey of CIPL is never ending. But with the support of my team and clients, I am confident that the company will continue to scale milestones of excellence for years to come.” For more information, Contact 1800116474 (Sales& Service) Email: info@cipl.org.in
Toll Free:
EPSON
SME BIZ
COUNTERFEITING PLAGUING THE INDIAN PRINTER MARKET It seems like the problem of counterfeit plaguing in the Indian market for quite some time now as counterfeit products are also extremely omnipresent in the Indian market. Epson is continuously encouraging and educating its partners to ensure fair business practices. BY SATINDER KAUR skaur@smechannels.com
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pson as an organizationhas been growing at the rate of roughly around 22- 23% CAGR over the past 4 years. It has been able to foster a robust growth in the past 4 years consistently for the various categories of our products. Samba Moorthy, Director – Sales & Marketing, Epson India attributes this success to three aspects. He said, first, we are a progressive company; secondly we are very innovative with our products and third but most importantly we have been extremely customer centric which has helped us to get to this position in the market.” Being one of the global brands affected by the illegal counterfeiting of its products, Epson is into an intense fight against Counterfeit Products. To safeguard its customers against counterfeiting, Epson has been actively extending anti-counterfeit raids all over the country.In an effort to send a strong message of zero tolerance towards the sale of fake cartridges, the police in different parts of the country have stepped up their cooperation and efforts to arrest and terminate such practices. Samba Moorthy, Director – Sales & Marketing, Epson India excerpts, “We put a lot of effort in terms of investments into research & development in building the products. Counterfeiters take the easy route and tarnish the image of genuine brands & products something which is definitely illegal and govt should take necessary actions.” Epson has initiated a lot of efforts to combat the menace of counterfeiting and safeguard the intellectual property rights, especially from the headquarters. They have a team set up in India to look into counterfeits. They have conducted over 22
raids in FY16 and a sizeable amount of stakes were seized. It falls under the mandate of Epson head quarter as this is related to intellectual property rights. Epson alerts and educates customers on how to identify counterfeit products. Giving more details onto this, Samba Moorthyadds, “The role that we play in India is primarily to educate the customers. We take the ownership to see that customers are fairly informed about the products. We have been doing a lot of initiatives to educate the customers to understand and identify the genuine products. We also discourage our channel partners to stay away from getting into short cuts and trying to sell such fake or counterfeit bottles because even they can get allured by the option of cheaper inks. We are doing these activities to help our customers buy genuine products and get the best quality and reliability claimed by the product.” Channel is important element in Epson’s entire ecosystem. It has regional partners spread across the country for printers and projectors with more than 220 first tier partners whom they call as Epson equipped partners. The company has a very strong relationship with these partners and they have been Epson’s support for over 10 years now. Talking about the role of channel partners in combating counterfeiting in India, Samba moorthy said, “We continue to encourage and educate them to ensure fair practices and keep the customers informed. Wherever it is necessary, we engage in fair dialogues with our partners to help them stay away from unethical practices.” “We request our partners to stay away from associating themselves with counterfeiters who try to sell
SAMBA MOORTHY, DIRECTOR – SALES & MARKETING, EPSON INDIA
“WE WOULD REQUEST OUR PARTNERS TO PURCHASE THE BOTTLES DIRECTLY FROM THE FIRST HAND PARTNERS SO THAT THEY ARE A LOT MORE IN CONTROL AND PROTECTED.” them fake products at a cheaper price. Because it’s very easy for someone to get trapped and fall for cheaper look alike products. So our message to partners is to buy from our genuine, recommended or authorized channel partners which are our Epson equipped partners. There are a lot of transactions that takes place between partners and we would request our partners to purchase the bottles directly from the first hand partners so that they are a lot more in control and protected”, adds Samba Moorthy. .
Finally... At this time, it is extremely important and vital for India to further strengthen its resolve to deal with the menace of counterfeiting with determination.If this problem is not checked right now, the printer market will deteriorate further.
SME CHANNELS 33 MAY 2017
SME BIZ
FTTH
FTTH COUNCIL ASIA PACIFIC BATS FOR BETTER PRACTICES AND SOLUTIONS India as a country is transforming very fast. In this journey of transformaion, the role of communication and information infrastructure is becoming critial. And Fiber to home or FTTH is increasingly becoming a reality. Of course the prime minister of India has alredy made it clear that connecting the information highway with the village panchayats is his dream and a step towards achieving 100 % penetration.
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DR. ARVIND MISHRA VICE PRESIDENT & TREASURER-FTTH COUNCIL ASIA-PACIFIC
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TTH Council Asia Pacific recently organized its annual conference in New Delhi from 25-26 April 2017. This two days’ event turned out to be a ground-breaking information exchange between the local and global participants. When H. Munasir Choudhury, Director General, FTTH Council AsiaPacific had updated about the global trends in the FTTH technologies and practices in his welcome remarks, Wataru Katsurashima, president, FTTH Council, Asia-Pacific had updated about the role of the council in creating FTTH all pervasive. H. Munasir added, “We have seven committees. These are: Membership committee, Education and Training, Technology Standards, Market Intelligence, Fibre as Services and Smart Cities committee. These committees involve our member delegates. Some of them produce white papers. As you see two white papers have been presented in this conference from Smart Cities Committee. And the Technology Standards Committee has brought out a study on 5G as well. So, these are the works we do and share with the governments and regulators.” As per Dr. Arvind Mishra, Vice President & Treasurer-FTTH Council Asia-Pacific, the council is constituted during 2005 and covering 52 counties from Mauritius to New Zealand in the APAC region. It has 60+
industry members. The purpose of the council is to give exposure to latest technology which is future proof. For example, FTTH Council issues recommendations on what technology to be selected or the best practices to be adopted, etc. Dr. Arvind says, “We are a neutral nonprofit organization. We work together with other organizations and international bodies. It is about developing standards. Of course ITU is acredited for this but the contribution also comes from organizations like ours.” He added, “We also look at various case studies that various countries have implemented including challenges that they might have faced. Along with this, we discuss about the policies that are adopted in various countries. For example, China has different policy to that of Australia and New Zealand.” These are directed at the policy makers and regulators to do necessary amendments to their existing policies in order to make the their policy much better for the larger interest of their counties. He added, “Currently, China is doing aggressive implementation of FTTH. They have introduced building codes – meaning the estate owners who are building new real estate properties must make the provision to implement broadband from the day one. In India, we are giving the recommendation
FTTH
invested millions of dollars on the network deployment. So, we take those scenarios into account and share those experiences with other members and countries who are going into the deployment phase and tell them to adopt best practices than trying out something which may turn out to be a costlier mistake for them”. For example, people talk about Australian case, the original plan of Australia was to deploy Fibre to home but later they decided to go for Fibre to Node. After doing that they realized that that it was not the best experience for them so later when the new government came into power, they implemented the FTTH and scrapped the entire FTTN. So they had to bear the huge cost incurred towards the transition. Dr. Arvind maintained, “These kinds of the events (FTTH Council Events) are the schools of thoughts. People from various countries talk about best practices in their countries. They talk about how permutation and combination can be made, best practices can be brought in, how the ecosystem of hardware and software can be created, so and so forth”.
1110
H. MUNASIR CHOUDHURY DIRECTOR GENERAL, FTTH COUNCIL ASIA-PACIFIC
based on our learnings from overseas markets like China.” So, when we look at the future projects in India including smart cities and digitization, these overseas policies around HTTP are very very important. Many times, we see a lot of potential technologies being emerged out of strong R&D activities but while deploying in the operational conditions those create a lot of resistance due to the uniqueness of the demographic condition and ground level challenges in various countries. One must look at different combinations and then decide if these technologies are suitable for any country. In this logic, there are some technologies which might be very popular in China or Japan may not be successful in India. So, HTTP Council deliberates on the broader perspective including finnding out the technology alternatives, which can be adopted in India or for that matter in any country. Munasir added, “We promote the best practices. So, we have seen different countries have deployed certain technology and they have learnt from their mistakes. These mistakes are very costly as they must have
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SME CHANNELS 35 MAY 2017
SME BIZ
FTTH
HIGH SPEED BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY ON OPTICAL FIBER WILL BE AVAILABLE IN MORE THAN 150,000 GRAM PANCHAYATS, What is the global trend in the FTTx space? The demand for high-speed internet access and internet driven applications like HDTV, video on demand, online gaming, distance learning and the likes is increasing among consumers and to meet the growing demand, the bandwidth delivery mechanism is moving towards having optical fiber-based networks replace the old DSL architecture, which is limited due to its copper infrastructure and wireless interface. Service providers worldwide, including those in the US, Japan, South Korea and China are already developing new network capabilities to deliver high-quality bandwidth services to the last mile under the umbrella term of FTTx. In New Zealand and Australia, in particular, the strong FTTx market has been fueled by government initiatives. According to LightCounting Market Research, this market segment is expected to exceed $1 billion USD by 2020, driven by the adoption of next-generation FTTx technologies in developed countries and increasing deployments of FTTx in emerging economies. Large-scale investments, along with the increasing standards of living, provide opportunities for infrastructure development, and are therefore expected to lead to the high growth of the fiber optics market. By 2020, more than half the world will have access to FTTx or cable broadband, which will make up 80% of total broadband connections. How is India adopting those trends? For developing countries in Asia, such as India, with their rapidly increasing data traffic, it will be critical to continue to invest in broadband infrastructure to be economically competitive. Multiple countries in Asia are launching smart nation initiatives to speed up digitalization such as Digital India, where it aims to convert 100 cities
36 SME CHANNELS MAY 2017
across the country into smart cities. High speed broadband connectivity on optical fiber will be available in more than 150,000 gram panchayats, with wifi hot spots and access to digital services at low tariffs – by the end of 2017 – 2018, according to Budget 2017-2018, the Minister of Finance. What is the market size of FTTX in India? According to Reportlinker, various next generation technologies such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and Fiber to the X (FTTX), which require seamless connectivity for continuous operation, are expected to drive the optical fiber cables market in India with a CAGR of over 13% during 2016 – 2021. Data traffic has also been shown to significantly increase in recent years with a growing number of mobile and broadband subscribers in India, which leads to the expansion of optical fiber cable infrastructure in the country. Internet driven applications like HDTV, video on demand have also seen growing demand in the country, which will further accelerate the optical fiber cable market development in India. What is the share of FTTH? Governments across Asia are encouraging investment in high capacity networks. They see fiber as the infrastructure of the 21st century. A recent CommScope survey revealed that 71% of respondents expect to transition the majority of their networks to FTTH by 2025. Thus, the government is encouraging investment in very highcapacity networks and to accelerate public access to Wi-Fi for the region. What is the YoY growth trend in FTTH? MarketsandMarkets, a global market and research consulting company, estimates the global fiber
NAVIN VOHRA, VICE PRESIDENT OF SERVICE PROVIDER SALES, ASIA PACIFIC, COMMSCOPE
optics market to reach USD 5.00 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 9.8%, with the Asia-Pacific region projected to be the largest market for fiber optics from 2016 to 2021. Reasons for the growth in this region include the increase in demand for connectivity in emerging countries, growing industrialization, and the burgeoning telecom industry. What are the major challenges for FTTH market? Government across Asia are encouraging investment in high capacity networks. They see fiber as the infrastructure of the 21st century. In a recent global survey, 71% of respondents expect to transition the majority of their networks to FTTH by 2025. Thus, the government is encouraging investment in very high-capacity networks and accelerate public access to Wi-Fi for the region. Spectrum is scarce and there is limited amount of frequency allocation. There is an urgent need to free up more spectrum for 3G and 4G, to name one. For developing countries in Asia, such as India, with their rapidly increasing data traffic, it will be critical to continue to invest in broadband infrastructure to be economically competitive. Fiber optics will play a critical role in realizing the dream of Digital India. The combination of fiber and wireless technology will meet the needs for today’s and tomorrow’s expanding bandwidth demands. (For reading compelete coverage log on to www. smechannels.com)
ESCAN
SME TREND
GROWING CONSUMERIZATION OF MOBILITY IS MOST CRUCIAL THING FOR CISOS TODAY Mobility is a reality today due to growing business dependence on real time decision making. Mobility plays a key role in the enterprise world today, to stay relevant and recent for growth. As mobile devices evolve and become popular alternatives to traditional desktop machines, mobile endpoint management is more critical than before. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy has pushed consumerization of technology in enterprises. BY SATINDER KAUR skaur@smechannels.com
T
he biggest challenge for CISOs today is data security. As most of the data accessed by mobile devices pose higher risk due to data pilferage or theft, it is crucial for CISOs to have direct control over the devices accessing critical data in the enterprise network. Thus, most of the enterprises are establishing detailed security policies to protect internal data and address key areas such as device deployment, configuration and maintenance. Thus the role of security companies like eScan is becoming critical day by day. eScan being one of the leading IT security solution provider has a range of solutions to provide security to various kind of networked IT environments to stand alone systems. Being a pure play IT security player, eScan has been one of the strongest contenders in the enterprise segment with more than 20-25% market share in specific security product and solution. BFSI, Education, IT & ITeS, Manufacturing, Government and healthcare are some of the key segments contributing to major revenue of eScan. Security companies including you and your competition spend millions of dollars on R&D and innovative products but breaches haven’t halted. Discussing this with SME Channels team, Sunil Kripalani, Senior VP - Global Sales & Mar-
keting, eScan says, “It is true that security companies like us and our competitors spend millions on R&D to keep the security standards high, having said that there are also various propriety software and customized technology too that are used along with known application and OS for business needs, which creates vulnerabilities. Weak deployment of technology could also provide an easy access for hackers or cyber threats to cripple a network. Apart from the above, the hackers also use con to lure unsuspecting users to activate an attack.” Being a channel centric organization, eScan has an elaborate and robust channel framework to recognize and reward the partners for their contribution and commitment. eScan also has a comprehensive plan to train and educate about its product, technology and pre-sales for the partner’s sales and technical teams. The company has an extensive channel program, which categorizes partners as Gold, Silver and Bronze level based on their commitment and contribution. Sunil Kripalani shares, “One of the interesting facts to share about managing our distribution network is that we extend lot flexibility to our partners to adopt to their respective local markets, based on the demands. Such as local channel offers etc. which
SUNIL KRIPALANI, SENIOR VP - GLOBAL SALES & MARKETING, ESCAN
“WE EXPECT THIS YEAR TO BE BETTER THAN LAST YEAR DUE TO THE POSITIVE MACRO SENTIMENTS AS WELL AS THE GROWING CYBER THREATS.” helps them to align and plan accordingly.” Regarding the changing role of channel Partners with increasing online commerce, Sunil Kriplani opines, “Being a channel centric organization, we have not actively restrained from selling online, but we allow our partner to sell thru these market places and help them with backend support they require from time to time. As online commerce primarily uses the market place model, it is the channel partners again, who are benefiting from selling online. This helps in speed up of sales for the partners, thus increasing repeat purchases.”
Finally The mobility management solution now opens up a larger market segment for security needs, thus also creating opportunity for partners to up-sale or cross sale to existing clientele as well acquire new customer and increase their business profitability.
SME CHANNELS 37 MAY 2017
SME BIZ
ABS INDIA
LOOKING FOR RIGHT PARTNERS TO TAP INTO THE SMBs The erstwhile Alcatel Business Systems subsidiary and today’s largest partner, ABS India is all set to expand its channel business to tap into the SMB market. With its ethical practices and strong philosophy, ABS is confident enough to replicate its enterprise success in the SMB market too.
BY SANJAY MOHAPATRA sanjay@smechannels.com
C
ame into the market in 1995 as an Indian subsidiary of Alcatel Business Systems (present Alcatel Lucent Enterprise), ABS India has gone into metamorphosis a couple of occasions. First: when the parent company wished to exit the distribution business making ABS India an independent distribution partner of Alcatel Business in 2002 under the leadership of Sunil Arora, the present CEO of the company and two of his colleagues from Alcatel Business Systems (India). And the other occasion was when ABS India went into SI mode adding complementary products to create solutions for the customers. Of course, these phases of transition have brought in success to the company in the large enterprise and government space. Whereas India is a SMB based country where ABS India finds its footing quite loose, which the company wants to correct in next couple of years. Today, ABS India is able to serve very large enterprises in the Hospitality, Government, PSUs Transportation including Metro Networks, Defense sectors, but its success story does not
38 SME CHANNELS MAY 2017
come to a full circle because there is not much success in the SMB market, which is very large in itself. Secondly, SMB segment unlike enterprises provides run rate business, which can easily go to the competition if not properly addressed. Therefore, Sunil and his team are quite serious about it. On the other hand, what the SMBs would get out of ABS India is they would access quality products and high quality services. They will be dealing with a company which believes in standards, best practices, commitment, best services, etc. Sunil says, “Till today ABS India is adhering to the principles inherited from its parent company. It still goes by the standards based practices and lays stress on the quality of services.” The best part of ABS is that it has presence all across the country. As per Sunil since the company is engaged with large government organizations, defense and PSUs, the very nature of the organizations demands services from ABS locally. Therefore, ABS India had no choice but to open up either branch offices or service locations across the regions. So, to be precise the company has regional offices in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai,
Bangalore and Kolkata and branch offices in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune. From the service location point of view, it has presence in 35 odd locations in the country. “As an organization, one of the key drivers for us is that we pay a lot of emphasis on services. Therefore, we are successful. The complete telecom infrastructure for a company might incur a very small investment but from the importance point of view it is absolutely important as 100% uptime is very critical for the smooth functioning of an organization,” Sunil maintained. “So, when we do projects with the customers, we take due care of the design part by understanding the needs of the customers and how they communicate with their customers and their employees.” He added, “We pay a lot of emphasis on the prework before the actual sales happen. We do a huge amount of work during the implementation and post implementation so that you have a seamless communication across your organizations for both internal and external usage.” As referred earlier, ABS India is an ISO driven organization. It has got 9001 certifications which
ABS INDIA
SME BIZ
SUNIL ARORA CEO & DIRECTOR, ABS INDIA PVT. LTD.
“THE RELEVANCE FOR US IS THAT THE CHANNEL PARTNERS WHOM WE WANT TO SIGN UP SHOULD BE INTERESTED IN THIS PRODUCT LINE AND INTERESTED IN DELIVERING SOLUTIONS.”
is for quality management system. It is also going for next level of certifications from ISO. All the certification does not only make its practices standards based but also makes the company ethical in its practices which is very much a comfort factor for the customers. Therefore, today most of the metro rail organizations are customers of ABS India. Similarly, a lot of hotels are running on ABS India’s communications solutions. Sunil maintains, “We deliver the same what we say. We do not say something and deliver something else. There are many large PSUs, whose entire communication system are with us for many years. Most of the metro organizations are dependent on us for the communications. It has happened because we are able to deliver right kind of solution. They are able to judge us on the basis of how we do the entire implementation and how we deal with the challenges and how we handle the downtown. So in the process of doing that we have won trust of these organizations.” So as a direct team, ABS is able to provide all kinds of services to these customers but the challenge for the team is addressing the SMB market.
So, the strategy is to penetrate the SMB market not directly by ABS Team but by the channel partners. This is for the simple reason that the SMBs are spread across and partners know about them better. Secondly, the requirement of the SMBs are quite different from that of the large enterprises. Thirdly, ABS cannot afford to cover the entire geography with its own force, it has to create an extended arm. Another perspective is that ABS team which is obsessed with the large accounts may not justify their additional role of addressing SMBs because the ticket size is always small, which may not attract them at all. The other reason for ABS to add extended arm is that it runs on the principles inherited from its parent company, which is about creating quality of services, investing in training and marketing, creating architecture, etc. So, the goal is to create 80-100 partners over the period. From ABS side, the entry criteria for the channel partners is that they should be ready to invest in ensuring their team being upgraded and trained appropriately apart from taking interest in the product lines that ABS deals in.
On the other hand, what the partners are going to get is that they get to work with an ethical technology company, which is committed to support them, pass on good margin and believes in organic growth. Sunil says, “The way we handle the channel partners is different from the way the market does. The traditional distributors look at the channel partners from the distribution point of view whereas we look at designing the solution with them, hand holding them in the pre-sales and sales, supporting them in post-sales, developing business with them, marketing with them, etc.
Finally... ABS India is growing at an average pace of 10%+ year on year, and with Channel in place to address the SMB market, the company can be well on its way to achieve a target of 15% growth. Of course adapting to the market dynamics, ABS India would focus on the cloud business going forward, which they have already started from last year. Sunil concludes, “As an organization, our strength is around designing the solutions, marketing and servicing. Our philosophy is based on Alcatel Global’s philosophy. So, from a Small market point of view, we want to express our strength through the channel partners. At the end of the day we understand that our reach is limited.”
SME CHANNELS 39 MAY 2017
PARTNER CORNER
M.JOHNSON, MD, LAUREL COMMUNICATION & SECURITY SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD, AMINJIKARAI, CHENNAI
MATRIX STRIVES TO OFFER ‘MORE’ IN EVERYTHING Telecom market has witnessed a sea change, especially in the enterprise market that drifted from trunks and Analog PBXs to IP Telephony. Moreover, it is good to see that even the SME segment is catching up with new technologies.
Brief us about your company? We are into providing a bundled package blending Telephony and Security solutions to our esteemed clients. What is your turnover and growth percentage? Our growth consistently clocked double digit and we are set to cross Rs.25 Million in the current fiscal. What kind of solutions and products you are dealing in? We offer Enterprise Telephony solutions and Digital Security solution addressing SOHO/SME Market as well as Large Enterprises. What kind of telecom solutions you have? We are into providing VOIP/IT networking specific to telecom solutions. We are one of the early practitioners even in the era of rampant usage of Analog trunks and Analog PBX. By partnering with Matrix, we are able to deliver state-of-the-art Unified Communication solution besides providing their Office-in-a-Box solution, which is a major hit. How do you find Matrix products in terms of its advantages vis-àvis other brands? We have been in the communication and security business for over two decades and at some point,
40 SME CHANNELS MAY 2017
we have seen multiple brands doing the rounds, besides Matrix. But thanks to the strong R&D team and futuristic vision of Matrix, we have seen product innovation that beats the competition. On providing bundled package of both communication and security solutions, Matrix is certainly a face in the crowd. Matrix is a brand that stands for ‘SUBSTANCE’ in terms of technology, depth, genuineness and going beyond the mere outer façade and offering more values in all areas. This is what differentiates Matrix from its competitors. It strives to offer MORE in everything it does – technology, applications, functions, features, performance, flexibility, reliability and support. What the company needs to do to improve the market share Demand and high brand preference from end users is the key to gain market share and win in this competitive market. While we as channel partner bridge both end user and vendor, Matrix needs to focus on brand and cost besides providing state of the art technology. As a partner what kind of products you want to add this year? We believe in the convergence of technologies that is shaping up todays communication and security domains. Besides Digital Security solutions and Business Communication solution, we would be keen to explore how convergence can enable early adoption of IoT at offices and home.
“ACCESS TO EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, QUALITY TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND THE MUCH NEEDED MARKETING DRIVE ARE SOME OF THE MAJOR BENEFITS WE REAP FROM BEING A MATRIX PARTNER.” As a partner, how are you gearing up with the latest market trends? What kind of excitement do you see among your customers? Market witnesses the entry of Next-Gen entrepreneurs, who are tech-savvy. Even the traditional business community is quite keen to adapt to the emerging technologies. As everything is getting bundled into mobility solution, we are also moving towards adapting the market trend. Can you give some important tips for your peer group aspiring to take up VoIP into their portfolio? Small and Marginal Enterprises have slowly started to move away from the traditional PBX systems. As existing LAN is used for VOIP, which brings in lower operational costs, is a smart choice firms are making. We feel that our peers will have no reason for not offering the best to their clients.
REVIEW
PRODUCT
DIGISOL 16 PORT SWITCH WITH EXTERNAL POWER ADAPTER
NETGEAR ORBI WIFI SYSTEM
DIGISOL 16 Port Fast Ethernet Desktop unmanaged switch designed to enhance network performance in a compact form factor. The DG-FS1016D-A comes with 16
BY MANAS RANJAN info@smechannels.com
x 10/100 Mbps ports, offering solutions for accelerating bandwidth needs of small
NETGEAR TRI-BAND MESH NETWORK - Orbi WiFi System enables high-speed WiFi to be accessible throughout your home and property, eliminating dead zones. An industry first, Orbi is the only system to leverage Tri-band WiFi, which has the unique capability of providing a dedicated wireless channel between the Orbi router and each Orbi satellite. Tri-band WiFi is similar to a virtual wire, delivering maximum speeds no matter how many devices connect. This dedicated wireless connection ensures far-reaching coverage, empowering you to enjoy uninterrupted WiFi connections with the fastest internet speeds that you are paying your service provider for. The installation of Orbi is designed with simplicity in mind and is completed with a few clicks from any mobile device or browser. Intended to act as a full-featured router, Orbi can plug into your gateway or modem. If you would like to upgrade the WiFi on your service provider gateway, simply plug Orbi into your existing gateway and enjoy. The Tri-band WiFi that powers Orbi includes a dedicated 1.7Gbps 5GHz band solely for extending internet speeds to Orbi satellites. This enables the other two WiFi bands to be fully dedicated bands for all connected devices across an entire home. Tri-band WiFi ensures that Orbi WiFi System provides both reliable WiFi coverage and maximum internet speed throughout your home. An Orbi WiFi System with router and satellite can easily cover an area up to 4,000 square feet of a typical home, which addresses the large majority of Indian homes today.
FEATURES n Orbi WiFi router and satellite form
a Tri-band WiFi mesh for high-speed whole-home WiFi coverage n High-performance WiFi coverage
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dedicated 5GHz quad stream wireless back haul between the Orbi router and satellite delivering high performance WiFi n 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports and 1
Ethernet workgroups. The switch uses store and forward packet-switching technology which offers reliable data transfer. This switch is ideal for network connectivity for the SOHO Environment. This Switch also allows for auto-sensing and auto negotiation of highest available speed (10/100Mbps) and duplex mode, providing an automatic and flexible solution for the network. These intelligent ports detect the network speed and auto-negotiate between 100BASETX and 10BASE-T, as well as between
USB 2.0 port each on the router and satellite
full and half-duplex. The DG-FS1016D-A switch
n Advanced WiFi security with
built-in auto-negotiation feature of the switch
automated updates, WPS-protected setup,
operates without any configuration. The will adapt its speed (10/100Mbps) as per the Remote host connected to its port. Each port
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INR 32,500/-,
ports which eliminates the need for cross over
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OVERALL RATING
gives true plug-n-play operation by reducing most common cabling errors during installations. Any port can simply plug to a server or a switch, using the usual straight through twisted-pair cable.
n Price: Rs. 1,999/-, Warranty: : Life time, Contact: http://www.digisol.com/ digisolcontactus/
SME CHANNELS 41 MAY 2017
PRODUCT
NEW ARRIVALS
AXILSPOT PANASONIC
PANASONIC INDIA VIDEO DOOR PHONES PANASONIC INDIA VIDEO DOOR PHONES can be installed in small and large locations to keep the locations security in check and enable a seamless communication flow from a security perspective. There are two products under this category, namely VL – V 590 and VL – V900. The VL – V590 comes embedded with characteristics like the electric lock release and a connectivity of up to 20 households. The product enables the connection of any combination of 7-inch wired monitors and 6 wireless monitors with intercom calling facility respectively. Optimal for establishments such as apartments, the product allows the user to enter the installation with the help of a PIN lock code as well. Similarly, the VL – V900 is a multi-door video intercom system, a combination of PBX and cameras which can connect to 18 lobby stations and 560 monitors for large apartment buildings. The product follows the concept of internet of things and enables the user to answer visitors after looking at them through the connected smartphone. Ideal for establishments like townships and condominium, the product lets the user record images of visitors, monitor common surveillance rooms and notify of accidents to reception or another station via a PBX. n Price: 29,990 and Rs 87,749, Warranty: : On Request, Contact: www.panasonic.com Email: helpline@in.panasonic.com, Toll Free No:. 1800 103 1333
AXILSPOT AIP10L OUTDOOR ACCESS POINT AXILSPOT AIP10L IS DESIGNED with the flexibility to function as standalone AP. Ideal for high density public venues such as airports, conventions centers, plazas, malls, smart cities and other outdoor scenarios, it comes with the latest MIMO technology. Delivering high performance Wi-Fi access with up to 1.2Gbps to meet high capacity demands, it is packed in a rugged enclosure (IP67 rated) with top-spec components and, optimized for long-range outdoor coverage and robust wireless connectivity. AIP10L offers a cost-effective, high capacity, and reliable outdoor wireless solution. The industry’s leading 802.11ac outdoor access point is dedicated for long range access coverage and best in class throughput. Besides topspec antenna and hardware designing, AIP10L also features powerful TurboRF technology, including airtime fairness, intelligent load-balancing, auto-RF adjustment, band steering and sticky client elimination etc. AIP10L helps to create a more reliable and high-performance WLAN infrastructure and keeps up with the bandwidth demands from the growing number of wireless devices and applications. Deployed along with controller it also delivers industry-leading, end-to-end simplified security and supports all the main-stream security standards such as WEP, WPA-PSK, WPA-E, 802.1X, Active Directory integration, Social Login, Web Portal, SMS authentication etc. n Price: On Request, Warranty: On Request, Contact: sales@ axilspot.com / http://www.AXILSPOT.com/
ZYXEL
ZYXEL 11AC ACCESS POINT DESIGNED FOR SOHO AND SMALL BUSINESSES, the plenum-rated standalone AP features a dual-optimized antenna, two-way mounting, and a set-up wizard to help non-tech-savvy users build a powerful and flexible wireless network without hassle. Designed for those looking to build a simple, flexible wireless network on their own, the NWA1123AC PRO features a dual-mount, dual-optimized antenna design that allows users to mount it on ceilings or walls without inter-floor interference. Its switchable antenna configuration enables the best possible signal coverage no matter how it’s installed. Wireless performance is limited when access points get locked down to certain spots due to power or Ethernet cabling limitation. The PoE and repeater mode support of the NWA1123-AC PRO provides an extra layer of flexibility for users to install the device literally anywhere in the office. In places where power sockets are not available, the NWA1123-AC PRO can be powered by Ethernet cable. Even in cases where the device is too far for Ethernet to reach, the device can receive and rebroadcast wireless signals in repeater mode.
42 SME CHANNELS MAY 2017
The set-up wizard is available to walk users through installation in 6 steps.
n Price: On request, Warranty: On request, Contact: : Pankaj Singh, Zyxel Technology India Pvt. Ltd., +91-11-47608800 ext. 847, pankaj.singh@Zyxel.in
X2
X2
RNI NO: DEL ENG/ 2010/ 31962 Postal Reg. No.: DL-SW-1/4145/16-18 Licensed to Post without pre-payment U(SW)/19/2017-18
Date of Publication: 13 of Every Month Date of Posting: 15 & 16 of Every Month