JANUARY 2017 by SME Channels

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Dell showcases VDI Solutions at Cloud Client Computing Partner Meet /08 www.smechannels.com

india’s first IT magazine for sme business PARTNER CORNER

/42

AVNET: Avnet Technology to Focus on Third Platform

CHANNEL BIZ

/44

NVIDIA: NVIDIA: An Opportunity of Grow in India

SME CHAT

/40

SYMANTEC: We have as high as 50% of the Addressable Market

MY EXPERIENCE EDITORIAL

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND WELCOME TO 2017 SANJAY MOHAPATRA

sanjay@smechannels.com

WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017. 2016 has been a great happening year with a lot of major projects being kicked off. The initiatives which have been at the helms and being differentiator are demonetization of high-denomination 500 and 1000 rupee currencies. Secondly, the unanimous voting in parliament for passing of GST bill. Since the execution of demonetization has impacted on the day to day life of the people, the GST implementation would certainly be delayed till September instead of April 1st 2017. So once GST get implemented in its full form, it will be a sea change for the market in India. It will boost investors’ confidence and attract more and more investment to the country. So, since GST implementation deadline would be September, therefore 2017 would be of moderate year from the investment point of view. Secondly, technologies, as predicted by the pundits of the industry, would be more off premise than on premise. Machine learning, analytics, cloud, IOT, etc. would be of high importance to the market. There will be increase in the implementation of these technologies. Government sector would be major buyer yet again for this year. All the projects that the government has announced for last two years would have them implemented this year. But the hardware sector would see a dip in the growth. Since the BFSI has taken a lot of deposit during the demonetization, there will be surely a growth in the technologies that would easy the BFSI operations. Telecommunication industry would be of growth this time with 4G/LTE at the front. So data centric business this would get push from the vendors as the consumers would be more keen to use more data centric applications than voice. This year would also see organic growth of social media marketing. So the investment of enterprises on various social media activities would grow. The entire development of activities – be it technology or other things would certainly affect the partners’ business. The most important thing that the partners need to do is to make them mentally ready for the changes. It is going to happen without any doubt. Implementation of GST would help them expand their business and reduce the complexity around taxation, which is a very good aspect of the business. From the technology perspective, they have to go into off premise cloud enabled business.

ASUS ‘R558UQ’ Notebook ASUS R558UQ NOTEBOOK is a substantially upgraded variant of the R558UR premium notebooks and comes in two distinct models, namely Core i7 Model and Core i5 Model. Both the models showcase the next gen USB type C connectivity and advanced graphics NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (N16SGTR) with a performance, almost two times if compared with its competitors. The ASUS R558UQ boasts of a 15.6’//LED Back-lit, Ultra Slim 200nits, Full HD display with resolution 1920×1080, Anti-Glare, NTSC: 45% which has a much higher pixel density than what is offered by most of the competitors in the market. The notebook has a memory of DDR4 8GB for i7 and DDR4 4GB for i5 models with a dedicated upgradable memory door on the bottom side.

SPECIFICATIONS A 15.6’//LED Back-lit, Ultra Slim 200nits, Full HD display with resolution 1920×1080, Anti-Glare. FINAL WORDING Priced at INR 59,990 and INR 48,990 respectively for both models, these laptops are perfect for consumers. OVERALL RATING

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contents

2017

JAN VOLUME 07 ISSUE 11

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: Rajat Kumar 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 EDITORIAL OFFICE Delhi: 6/103, (GF) Kaushalya Park, New

Technology Prediction 2017 /26 2017 will be the year when digital transformation is likely to take root, and one of the areas in which we expect traction is the workplace. With digitization transforming the way people and workplace interact with each other, the one factor that will determine how well it happens is the organisation’s ability to integrate Cloud with their workflow to offer accessibility in a secure manner. And with the nature of solutions and the pace at which they are being adopted, 2017 is poised to be a watershed year.

PARTNER CORNER MATRIX/ 21

“Unmatched Quality, after sales support differentiate Matrix”

SME CHAT SYMANTEC / 40 “We have as high as 50% of the Addressable Market”

Shamanna Park, Model House Street, Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560004 Ph. No. +91 88618 21044 E-Mail bindiya@ accentinfomedia.com Skype ID: b1diyajadhav

Printed, Published and Owned by Sanjib Mohapatra Place of Publication: 6/101-102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas

Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi

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110020, India.

Editorial ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 04

written permission from the publisher.

Snippets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 08

“NVIDIA Offers Opportunity to Grow in India”

CANON COVER STORY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 22

JANUARY 2017

#28/1, 3rd Floor, Sri Lakshmi Krupa, Near

Printed at Karan Printers, F-29/2, 1st floor,

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Bangalore Bindiya Jadhav

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AVNET / 42

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46151993 editor@smechannels.com

New Delhi-110016

PARTNER CORNER “Avnet Technology to Focus on Third Platform”

Delhi-110016, Phone: 91-11-41657670 /

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Cisco outlines vision for next phase of Digital Rajasthan Cisco and the Government of Rajasthan (GoR) have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to roll-out digital classrooms in women colleges to support and advance

women working in the technology sector and expansion of Jaipur lighthouse program to include Smart water for water management. Cisco has announced a series of

strategic initiatives under its Jaipur Lighthouse City program initiative to help accelerate the digital transformation of Rajasthan. The announcement is the latest in a

series of initiatives to accelerate the digital transformation of Rajasthan. A digitized state aims to drive GDP growth, create jobs and foster innovation, enhance research and education, stimulate entrepreneurship, accelerate business innovation, develop economic cluster initiatives, and support infrastructure. Towards that end, Cisco and the Government of Rajasthan (GoR) have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to roll-out digital classrooms in women colleges to support and advance women working in the technology sector and expansion of Jaipur lighthouse program to include Smart water for water management. As part of Cisco’s commitment to accelerate Digital Rajasthan and support the government’s vision of enabling one woman e-literate in every household, Cisco announced video enabled digital classrooms in women colleges, to cover 10,000 women students over one year, both in rural and urban areas in the state. The digital classrooms will facilitate training and development of IT skills for Women and enable them for the digital era as well as build the state’s pool of highly skilled technology professionals.

RAH Infotech commences operations in Nepal RAH Infotech has continued its expansion spree with the launch of its Nepal operations. The company announced its arrival into Nepal market by conducting the first Channel Fest in association with its OEMs Radware, Exinda and WinMagic. In this gala event, over 55

SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

IT personals from 25 different partner companies took part, making the event a grand success. Sabin Upadhyaya, Country Manager, Nepal for RAH Infotech delivered the welcome speech introducing RAH Infotech and its OEMs to the partners gathered. Suchit Karnik, Senior VP,

RAH Infotech took the audience on a RAH Infotech journey and explained why RAH Infotech has been the fastest growing value added technology distributor in India for the last three years in a row and what value it can add to partners’ business and how they can benefit from working

with RAH Infotech. Abhishek (RSM, WinMagic) educated the audience on the importance of data security and data theft issues plaguing organisations and how the same can be effectively overcome using WinMagic encryption and data security solutions.

SNIPPETS

Dell showcases VDI Solutions at Cloud Client Computing Partner Meet Affirming its forefront position of enabling customers on their journey to digital transformation with virtualized environments Dell today showcased its VDI solutions at Cloud Client Computing Partner Meet. This is Dell’s first partner event on VDI in India post its merger with EMC Corporation. The primary aim of the event was to engage with partner community and get them excited about Dell’s VDI solutions and included live demonstration of its entire portfolio of solutions. Milind Yedkar, General Manager, Asia Pacific & Japan, Cloud Client Computing at Dell said, “With our combined scale, portfolio, reach and resources, we are now confident that our partners can look to Dell as a single unified source for integrated VDI solutions across endpoints, cloud and infrastructure. Our partners play a formidable role in driving our continued business success across India as well as across Asia Pacific and Japan region and I am looking forward to working with them on delivering promise of virtualized and secure work environment for today’s mobile workforce.”

Konica Minolta commences Web to Print Solutions In India Konica Minolta has added one more milestone to its value added solutions in the Indian printing market with the launch of ‘’Infinite,’’ a new segment of web to print solutions and services which will offer support to Printing businesses in expanding their operations, warranting the best commercial value. Konica Minolta has 3000+ plus production printers in India as of now and is converging its focus to enhance the support systems for the print market. The web to print solutions and services are easy to use and customers do not require any specialized skills to start up the business. The solution will also help companies involved in printing operations to bolster sales and enhance relationship with their existing customers.

Demonetization to drive Mobility, Security Markets in India Galaxy Office Automation has revealed industry trends, analysis and predictions for 2017. The top five technology trends to gain traction in 2017 will be Mobility, App security, Analytics, Automation & Enterprise security. Galaxy also lays stress on the Indian Government’s demonetization drive and its impact on the digital ecosystem in 2017. The GST (Goods & Service Tax) Bill, to be rolled out sometime during 2017, will also drive significant IT spend in both private and public sectors. Based on the feedback from its long clientele and qualitative inputs from the IT leaders and peers, Galaxy foresees the following trends to dominate the IT industry in 2017. “We are looking forward to seeing a massive growth in the mobility market in India in 2017. The government’s push for cashless payment will create lots of new opportunities in this sector and will further boost the mobile technologies. According to a research study by Nasscom, the global enterprise mobility market is expected to bring in $140 billion annually by 2020,” said Anoop Pai Dhungat, CMD of Galaxy Office Automation.

MY POINT

“The Internet and digital technology will be an engine of growth for the Indian economy. I believe it is important to invest in training and equipping MSMEs to accelerate their journey of growth.” SUNDAR PICHAI, CEO, GOOGLE

10 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

Epson takes top position in Indian projector market As per FutureSource Consulting, Epson sold 35,079 units during H1 FY2016 and garnered a market share of 26.9%. Epson’s market share for FY 2015 was 21.8%, thereby indicating a sharp increase in market share in H1 FY2016. Epson’s growth has been driven by robust sales in the education, business and home segments. The Indian Projector market is highly fragmented with more than 20 brands currently vying for a piece of the pie. Coupled with high quality performance, innovative features and technology advancements, Epson’s most recent projectors elevate the user experience with collaboration tools on their interactive projectors, and with 3LCD Reflective laser technology and 4K enhancement for their state-of-the-art home theatres. Epson says their success spans segments. For the enterprise segment, improved ease of use, portability and efficiency in Epson projectors for business meetings has made a difference.

WD intros SATA client SSDs Western Digital Corporation has announced the first WD- branded SATA client SSDs, the WD Blue and WD Green solid state drives (SSDs). The new additions are in synch and complements the company’s industry leading family of hard drives for PCs and workstations, providing a full portfolio of WD storage devices for virtually any application. The SSDs are a definitive solution for building DIY PCs, extending the life of current PCs and upgrading the present storage. The WD Blue and WD Green SSDs also have the capability to boast near-maximum speed of SATA drives, among the best-in-class endurance and MTTF and WD Functional Integrity Testing (F.I.T.) Lab certification, resulting in quick boot times and increased program responsiveness. Consumers will greatly benefit from the combination of reliable storage coupled with an industry-leading 1.75M hours MTTF. This is accompanied with reduced power and less heat when compared to HDDs. Both drives include free, downloadable, WD SSD Dashboard software, which allows continuous performance and capacity monitoring. The new SSD offering is apt for consumers who are looking for instant-on responsiveness, durability, low power consumption, and ultra-thin, ultramobile form factors.

SNIPPETS

Dell EMC helps Just Dial modernizing its data center Dell EMC has announced that Just Dial, India’s local search engine which provides Online Shopping services, has successfully completed its implementation of new all-flash storage, elastic cloud storage and data protection solutions from Dell EMC. Just Dial selected Dell EMC to help it gain better control of its IT infrastructure through consolidation, virtualization and automation. The Dell EMC XtremIO all-flash storage platform alongwith ECS and Avamar deployments will help Just Dial significantly increase application performance and efficiency over a traditional SAN platform. Syed Masroor, Sales Director - Flash Storage Sales India at EMC, Dell EMC said, “In today’s constantly evolving and fast-paced world it is important to be efficient at all times without compromising time. With Dell EMC’s XtremIO all-flash array, ECS object storage and Avamar, it is possible for organizations to reduce their costs, increase their performance efficiency and at the same time not compromise on time or security. We are delighted with the implementation at Just Dial to help them achieve their goals.”

Axis Communications recognizes Quantum as Technology Partner Quantum Corp. was named 2016 Technology Partner of the Year by Axis Communications at its 11th annual Axis Connect and Converge Conference (ACCC 2016). Axis has presented its annual awards to top channel, software and technology partners. As a Quantum Advantage Partner, Axis works closely with Quantum to deliver proven joint solutions for today’s demanding video surveillance and security environments. Axis has joined the company on stage at industry events such as ISC East 2016 to help security professionals understand the importance of storage in video surveillance workflows. The companies have also collaborated to address the unique surveillance and security challenges found in many healthcare environments. Quantum’s surveillance partner ecosystem has tripled in size over the last year and now includes nearly 40 partners. This growth reflects a shift in how the security community views storage, increasingly treating it as a foundational element of a surveillance strategy. Wayne Arvidson, Vice President, Surveillance and Security Solutions, Quantum said, “Quantum’s multi-tier storage makes the combination of storage performance and data retention more affordable. Axis was early to recognize the role intelligent storage plays in enabling its customers to retain data longer and incorporate real-time analytics into their surveillance program. As a result of our collaboration, many Axis customers now have more budget available to spend on cameras and analytics, for an effective video surveillance environment.” Larry Newman, Senior Director of Sales, Axis Communications Inc said, “Axis partners are not only part of the industry’s largest professional network but also an extension of our team. It is an honor to bring together the top companies in our industry at ACCC and recognize those strong relationships and shared sense of leadership in providing innovative security and business solutions.”

EXECUTIVE MOVEMENT

INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT): NUMBER OF CONNECTED DEVICES WORLDWIDE FROM 2012 TO 2020 (IN BILLIONS)

IBM announced the appointment of Karan Bajwa as Managing Director of IBM India Kodak Alaris has announced that Marc Jourlait has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kodak Alaris Ninad Desai names as District Chair of BICSI India Xerox has announced that Herve Tessler has been appointed president of International Operations.

Source: Hotel News Resource

12 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

BMC Software ropes in Peter Leav as President and CEO

WR3005N3 300 Mbps Wi-Fi Router

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A500

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Atheros Chipset 150 Mbps Wi-Fi Android App Parental Control

Covers Wide Area 300 Mbps Wi-Fi Supports Multiple VLAN TR-069 Compliant

MEDIA CONVERTER & SWITCHES

Triple Play Supports TR069 2 FXS Ports 300 Mbps internal Antena

2.4 GHz, AP/CPE 9 dBi Antenna 300 Mbps Wi-Fi IP65 Outdoor

CABLE MODEM

5.8 GHz Outdoor CPE 300Mbps Wi-Fi Tx Power 200 mW 13dBi Antenna Long-Range Connectivity

EPON

SWGE1008F

BOM8001

BES460

BTE801

BTE802W-1X

BTE8008

- 8 GE RJ45 + 2 SFP Ports Managable Switch - Broadcast Storm Control - RSTP - Supports Multiple VLAN

- 1 GE RJ 45 downlink Port - Supports Routing & Bridging - Receiver Sensitivity 27dBm

- 8 Downlink PON Port - 4 GE + 2 SFP Uplink Port - Dual Power redundancy - Easy Managebale through GUI & CLI

Atheros Chipset Supports 64 Clients NMS Support 7.5 to 65MHz Operating Frequency

Qualcomm Chipset 5 dBi Antenna 150 Mbps Wi-Fi Supports Multiple VLAN

300 Mbps Wi-Fi 4 RJ45 + 2 FXSPort Supports TR-069 Supports Multiple VLAN

SNIPPETS

Eazy-ERP gets recognition for its solution Kunal Singhal, MD, Eazy-ERP has received National Award for “ERP SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 2016”. For developing India’s first Tally Integrated ERP Solution , Kunal bagged the prestigious award on behalf of EAZY-ERP by Rotary Bangalore South East (RBSE). Kunal Singhal, MD, Eazy-ERP said, ““I am very thankful to Rotary & Jury to have me here today. EAZY-ERP was developed with an idea to solve key operational problems of Indian SMEs. I am glad for the recognition and look forward to keep working in the same direction and adding true value to the businesses across India through technology.” Rotary Bangalore South East (RBSE) was formed in 2000. Today RBSE is a dynamic group of large members who have come together with the aim of “Fellowship through Service’’. RBSE functions under RI Dist 3190 and amongst other initiatives, works to promote vocational excellence.

ACER AIMS TO DEEPEN CUSTOMER CONNECT WITH MOBILE SERVICE APP Acer India has announced the launch of its intuitive, feature rich customer service mobile app to offer quicker and more efficient customer service. With Acer inherently being a customercentric company, the launch of its new customer service app is yet another initiative to empower customers with better control over their products and services with instant access to updates. Announcing the launch of the mobile app, Chandrahas Panigrahi, Senior Director and Head - Consumer Business, Acer India, said, “The mobile app will enable Acer’s wide customer base to perform a range of operations with ease, offering them better control and visibility. This is in line with our strong customer-service philosophy and is yet another step towards enhancing the quality of our customers’ product and service experience.” Currently available for Acer’s Android user base, the app enables customers to register and track products, raise service requests, track repairs, warranty and view repair history, amongst others. The agile and highly responsive app ensures that customer queries are handled as soon as they come up and escape the traditional 9 AM - 5 PM model of customer service. The app also allows customers to directly call the toll free number where the customer care executive can follow up on the customer’s concern. Acer has been a pioneer in providing wholesome solutions to its customers — from hardware to software to the operating system — Acer provides assimilated expert support. Acer India understands the importance of addressing customer complaints and treats them on high priority with an active customer complaint management system. Service camps are an integral part of the

Quantum extends StorNext Data Mgmt. to Customers Public Cloud Quantum Corp has announced significant new enhancements to its award-winning StorNext scale-out file system that take unstructured data management to higher levels of efficiency and flexibility. Another new feature provides embedded application deployment in StorNext appliances, leveraging industrystandard virtualization technology to simplify integration with asset manager, data management and data sharing applications. StorNext 5.4 is the latest example of the significant enhancements in Quantum’s scale-out storage portfolio over the past two years, as the company continues to focus on delivering high-performance, cost-effective, multi-tier solutions for managing unstructured data in highly demanding environments. During this time, Quantum has also built on its long-standing leadership in media and entertainment and expanded its market reach in areas such as video surveillance, genomics, academic research and government security. As a result, the company’s scale-out storage revenue has grown rapidly — 56 percent year-over-year in the most recently completed quarter, which represented the 21st consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

Cognizant all set to acquire Adaptra Cognizant has announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Adaptra, a Sydney-based consulting, business transformation and IT services provider. Adaptra works with 5 of the top 10 insurers in Australia and New Zealand, helping them define Founded in 1998, Adaptra specialises their target business and operating models and providing platform advisory and implementation services. in consulting, programme management, and implementation of core platforms such as Guidewire to enable insurance companies to drive improvements across key functional areas such as underwriting, policy administration, claims management, and billing. This helps insurers increase speed-to-market, transform core processing to improve customer experience, drive competitiveness and product differentiation, and empower agents to digitally engage with customers. As part of the acquisition, approximately 100 professionals will join Cognizant. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

14 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

Matrix to showcase its Security solutions at Change Summit-2016 Matrix along with its partner ACIX MIDDLE EAST LLC, has organized a one-day product expo on 15th December, at Marriott Hotel Al Jaddaf, Dubai. Matrix will be showcasing its Telecom, Video Surveillance and People Mobility Solutions at the event. Matrix will demonstrate its wide range of biometric Time-Attendance and Access Control solution. Mobile being the next generation technology in terms of security, Matrix will display its “Your Mobile is Your Identity” solution. In Mobile based Access Control, user either scans the QR code through his/her mobile or just twists the mobile to get access using Bluetooth. Using mobile application, a user can mark attendance automatically using GPS or Wi-Fi. Furthermore, Matrix will launch COSEC DOOR FMX - a high-performance door controller with Multispectral fingerprint sensor. The device is powerful enough to take fingerprint of dry, wet, elderly or oily fingers. In addition, Matrix will launch Elevator based Access Control specially designed for hospitality and healthcare industry.

SNIPPETS

Avaya helps UP Govt. to enhance public safety Avaya has announced today the successful completion of its UP 100 project with the state government of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. One of the largest and most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh police force, the UP 100 project is designed to provide integrated emergency services across the entire state, including rural areas, on a 24 x 7 basis. Uttar Pradesh needed a system that could handle growing numbers of emergency calls, greater variety of connectivity technologies, and a diversity of responses. The solution is based on an integrated communication model, capable of responding to multiple communications channels, including phone, mobile, e-mail and social media. The contact center supports all dialects of Hindi and some foreign languages. Video calling features also support users with special needs, with agents available that can read sign language and help provide support to people in distress.

IT Ministry urges banks to promote digital payments adoption

Zyxel OneSecurity.com makes customers proactive against security threats Zyxel provides frequent and timely updates in response to the latest security threats and advisories through OneSecurity.com – with their free online service portal. OneSecurity.com offers informative network security resources and the know-how to assist businesses and IT administrators in keeping their network operations safe in the digital age. Information and resources can be found with one click via the GUI of Zyxel USG Extreme and ZyWALL series products. This security cover can easily track the latest threats, and then proceed to walkthroughs and troubleshooting protocols with the help of easy-to-follow FAQs - all provided to help users secure their networks and simplify management of our UTM products. Zyxel USG Advanced Series delivers high-access quality to help businesses satisfy the demand for always-online communications. For internal deployments, the USG Advanced Series provides active-passive High-Availability (HA) service to support device or connection failover. With Device HA Pro service, the USG Advanced Series also supports instant failover, so connections are always maintained when a failover event occurs. For external deployments, the USG Advanced Series features multi-WAN load balancing/failover and a comprehensive mobile broadband USB modem support list for WAN backup operations. The Advanced Series also supports IPSec load balancing and failover, providing additional resilience for mission-critical VPN failover with VTI Interface deployments.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister of Electronics and IT & Law & Justice, Government of India urges public and private sector banks to promote adoption of digital payments as part of the Government of India’s ‘Digi DhanAbhiyan’ In line with the priority of Government of India to promote Digital Payment transactions, the Ministry of Electronics and IT is taking a number of initiatives not only to offer better products in terms of technology and user friendliness but also to inform, educate and enable citizens in the country on digital transactions. In this context, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister of Electronics and IT and Law & Justice, Govt of India met with senior representatives of the public and private sector banks and other key departments.

SV.CO, DigitalOcean become Cloud partners In yet another robust and high-profile partnership, SV.CO, the world’s first digital incubator for student startups, has signed an agreement with DigitalOcean, making the American company its official Cloud Partner for its incubation programmes. DigitalOcean is a cloud platform that is simplifying the complexities of infrastructure for software developers and businesses. It has become the second largest and fastest growing cloud computing platform in the total number of public facing apps and websites, according to Netcraft.com. The month-long six ways to graduate MOOC provides basics in entrepreneurship to first year engineering students (www.sv.co/sixways) while the six-month Silicon Valley programme is the main course of SV.CO’s #StartInCollege flagship programme.

16 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

Tally Solutions is now a qualified GSP Tally Solutions Private Limited (TSPL) has finally qualified as one of the few GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) after a rigorous qualification process and demo to the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN). Bharat Goenka, the MD and Co – Founder of Tally Solutions, said “We are committed to providing highly scalable and available technology to cater to millions of SMEs in the country, both through our products, as well as through allowing other Application Providers to integrate with our GSP Services. For GST to be successful, technology does play a major role, but it also requires massive awareness for businesses, since many are still not aware that their way of doing business is going to change.

International Exhibition & Conference

SNIPPETS

Honeywell boosts surveillance in Bhubaneshwar Honeywell announced that it is helping Odisha Police with a city-wide surveillance system that helps boost security, prevent crimes, maintain law and order, and control traffic in the state’s capital city. The quality of the city’s security is exemplified by Bhubaneshwar’s recent win at the World Smart City Awards. The recognition from the Smart City Expo World Congress is a testimony of Bhubaneshwar’s transformation by adopting cutting-edge technology for resolving urban

challenges. The Honeywell project provides 28 strategic locations in the city with 114 integrated closedcircuit televisions and automatic number plate reading cameras using a command and control system that provides a common operating picture, interactive control, event correlation, and mobile van surveillance in the Police Commissionerate headquarters.

AXILSPOT brings in Enterprise Wi-Fi networking gears in India

AXILSPOT has flagged off its operations in the country’s enterprise wireless segment by launching Rscan range of products in the national capital, New Delhi. Expressing his delight on AXILSPOT’s foray in India, Bruce Zhou, CEO, AXILSPOT said, “India being one of the major economies of the globe is of utmost importance to us. We at AXILSPOT will strive to amplify the growth of digitisation in the country with our cutting edge, disruptive wireless networking solutions for end to end networking requirements of enterprises.” Detailing further about the company’s India strategy, Pinaki Chatterjee, Regional Director, India & SAARC, said, “We’ll be building team AXILSPOT wherein we will focus on partner driven mechanism and ensuring maximum profitability for partners. We will also zero in on feature development catering to any enterprise requirement.”

Seclore partners with TechnoBind to expand distribution network Seclore, the leading provider of Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM) solutions, today announced its partnership with TechnoBind, India’s first specialised distributor for data and the associated domains. This association will offer support to Seclore’s strategic and business expansion plans in India and meet the growing needs of firms in the region for data- centric security solutions. Seclore provides one of the most advanced, secure, and automated EDRM solutions to help companies in controlling and managing user access to critical documents and files. This comprehensive software suite comes bundled with industry-specific features, convenience, advanced technology, and connectivity that delivers automated file protection. TechnoBind’s alliance with Seclore will benefit businesses who have been looking for a packaged solution that strikes the right balance between data-centric security and collaboration. It enables companies to secure sensitive data as it is exchanged and shared across a variety of different sources.

ASUS boosts marketing initiatives for all PC products To celebrate Christmas and New Year 2017, ASUS has announced two new exciting offers on all its consumer PC products including notebooks, desktops & AIO PCs (All-in-one) which will add to the festivities of end users. The offer period will be between 20th December 2016 and 27th January 2017 across India. As a part of the scheme, the company has offered an attractive ‘0% interest and 0% processing fees’ on purchases through EMI with Bajaj Finance across all its consumer PC products. Peter Chang, Regional Head - South Asia & Country Manager ,ASUS India, said “We would like to thank all our customers for their tremendous support throughout the year and this is the right time to showcase our appreciation. With No interest on finance based purchases and extended warranty.”

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DIGEST CEBIT 2016 : RDP UNVEILS A SLEW OF LAPTOPS & MINI PCS RDP has showcased its wide range of products in the Largest Technology IT Show CeBIT Bangalore. The range of products displayed and available for demo includes Laptops, Tablets, Mini PC’s & Thin Clients. CeBIT is India’s leading Technology IT Show held in Bangalore from 8th to 10th Dec. Almost 300 exhibitors have participated &tentative footfalls were 25000/The RDP Spokesperson Venu Gopal -Zonal Manager for Karnataka & Tamilnadu Region said “we have been participating in CeBIT since last three years, it’s one of the Great platform to showcase Cutting Edge Technology Products and we are witnessing huge response to our recent launched Laptop which is India’s first 14.1” laptop available at just 9999/-

QNAP PRESENTS QUAD-CORE TS-831X NAS WITH 1.7 GHZ CPU QNAP Systems has announced the TS-831X - a new cost-effective 8-bay business NAS with a quad-core 1.7 GHz CPU to provide users with enhanced system performance for daily business operations. Alongside the standard models with 8GB or 16GB RAM, there is also a model with 4GB RAM (TS-831X-4G) to provide an affordable option for budget-conscious users. “The TS-831X features a highly-competitive specification, including built-in 10GbE ports, containerized apps, and SSD caching, making it a favorable choice for small and medium-sized organizations,” said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP,

STMICROELECTRONICS BRINGS IN MINI MULTI-SENSOR IOT MODULE With the on-board low-power STM32L4 microcontroller, it can be used as a sensing and connectivity hub for developing products such as wearables, gaming accessories, and smart-home or Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. SensorTile has a complete Bluetooth® Low-Energy transceiver including a miniature single-chip balun on-board, as well as a broad set of system interfaces that support use as a sensor-fusion hub or as a platform for firmware development.

INFOSYS, MONGODB JOIN HANDS OVER APP MODERNIZATION Infosys and MongoDB has announced details of a global partnership designed to help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation and application modernization initiatives with next generation database solutions. Infosys and MongoDB will help new and existing customers address the key pain points of cost, performance and scalability across legacy applications. In pursuit of these objectives, the companies have established a joint Innovation Lab in Bangalore, India. The lab houses a dedicated team of trained MongoDB architects. These experts are developing and enhancing tools and best practices to help Infosys customers with their application modernization initiatives.

SNIPPETS

Lenovo Showcases Latest Innovations at CES 2017 Lenovo kicked off the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show with a full range of exciting products to show how “different innovates better.” Today’s consumers expect their devices to be tailormade to meet their needs and fit their usage habits, whether at home, in the office or on the go. Today’s announcement solidifies Lenovo’s continued dedication to innovation through the lens of every individual and the demand of their distinct life. Gianfranco Lanci, president and COO, Lenovo said, “Our approach to innovation is to ensure we’re constantly evolving and understanding how technology is infused within every individual, business and home. We’re dedicated to understanding our customers and will never stop creating better experiences, whether PCs for work, play or gaming, next generation AR/VR innovation or within the smarter home.”

IBM Inaugurates new Security Command Center in India IBM inaugurated its state-of-the-art Security Command Center in Bangalore to service the security needs of Indian clients. The local center will provide more value to clients through customized SLA-based security services uniquely designed for their requirements while simultaneously ensuring that the data resides within the country. It is equipped to provide the best in class security solutions to both enterprise and SME clients across the industry spectrum. The command center will leverage the existing managed security services offered within the country and offer clients managed security services expertise and monitoring to anticipate and mitigate threats. It will also offer alerts and advisories based on global events, 24x7 emergency response services for security breaches, hacks and threat assessment, incident response planning and security device management services. Security services such as security analytics, user behavior analysis and anomaly detection will also be added to the center. Indian clients will also benefit from IBM’s global expertise as the center has access to global intelligence, processes and best practices from the Security Command Centre network. The study also states that there is a 31% likelihood that Indian organizations would experience a data breach of 10,000 or more records over a period of two-years and that malicious or criminal attacks have become the most common root cause for data breach in India.

Kaspersky reveals another major OS malware – Switcher Trojan Kaspersky Lab experts have uncovered a remarkable evolution in Android OS malware: the Switcher Trojan. It treats unsuspecting Android device users as tools to infect Wi-Fi routers, changing the routers’ DNS settings and redirecting traffic from devices connected to the network to websites controlled by the attackers, leaving users vulnerable to phishing, malware and adware attacks and more. The attackers claim to have successfully infiltrated 1,280 wireless networks so far, mainly in China. Domain Name Servers (DNS) turn a readable web address such as ‘x.com’ into the numerical IP address required for communications between computers. The ability of the Switcher Trojan to hijack this process gives the attackers almost complete control over network activity which uses the name-resolving system, such as internet traffic. The approach works because wireless routers generally reconfigure the DNS settings of all devices on the network to their own – thereby forcing everyone to use the same rogue DNS. The infection is spread by users downloading one of two versions of the Android Trojan from a website created by the attackers.

MSI unveils new series Of 7th Gen 4K Laptops MSI India is pleased to announce the roll out of its latest 7th generation Intel based laptops as well as a whole series based on these newest CPUs. These new Kabylake CPUs feature a signifigant boost to Core speed, Multimedia Playback, and 4K video capability. MSI is able to include all the benefits of the new i7 CPUs and the GTX 10 series GPUs in their most powerful and efficient laptops ever. MSI Dragon fans know that being a second behind is not good enough. The next big improvement in speed is here with the introduction of the 7th generation Intel’s CPU: Kabylake. Further shrinking the gap between Laptop and PC, users are expected to experience newfound power due to the new CPU and GPU combinations. This increase in processing power entails a boost for arithmetic, 4K Video, Multimedia, and Virtual Reality Performance. Casual users, gamers and professionals will notice the snappier response while Multitasking, even while running multiple heavy loading applications.

Conduent Completes Split from Xerox Xerox has announced it has completed the separation of Conduent Incorporated (NYSE: CNDT), creating two market-leading, publicly- traded companies. Xerox’s focus on growing its global leadership in digital print technology and services will help customers innovate how they communicate, connect and work more productively. The company’s financial model and revitalized business strategy will enable strong free cash flow generation and margin expansion, as well as targeted investments in attractive growth areas, such as document outsourcing and solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. Under the terms of the separation, on the distribution date of Dec. 31, 2016, Xerox shareholders received one share of Conduent common stock for every five shares of Xerox common stock they held as of the close of business on Dec. 15, 2016, the record date for the distribution.

SME CHANNELS 19 JANUARY 2017

SNIPPETS

Google Empowers Indian MSMEs with Digital Unlocked Initiative Google India today reaffirmed its commitment to digitally empower India’s 51 million strong small and medium business community. Making the announcements at an event held in the city today, Sundar Pichai, CEO-Google, spoke to representatives from hundreds of small and medium business from across the country on the benefits of the web and digital technology. During his address, Sundar Pichai said, “The Internet is a powerful equalizer and we are motivated to bring the benefits of information and technology to as many people as possible. Building for everyone and making it available in the hands of as many people is at the heart and core of what we do. And we do this by investing in open ecosystems.”

SEAGATE, DJI SIGN STRATEGIC PACT OVER DATA SOLUTIONS DJI and Seagate Technology plc (STX) at the Consumer Electronics Show announced a strategic partnership to work jointly to solve the data demands of UAV users. As drone cameras gain resolution and drone flight times grow longer, DJI and Seagate are focusing their efforts to securely and efficiently store, manage, download and share the hundreds of gigabytes of data that can be generated from a single drone mission. “DJI is proud to pioneer advances in drone technology, and we are excited to work with Seagate on developing innovative ways to manage the increased data flows generated by our most sophisticated products,” said Michael Perry, Director of Strategic Partnerships for DJI. “Our unparalleled UAV expertise and Seagate’s deep data prowess mean our customers can look forward to smart, efficient and reliable ways to manage their growing drone data storage needs.” Advanced UAVs like the new DJI Inspire 2 capture stunning 5.2K video. Filming at this resolution produces awe-inspiring footage, but also creates even more data. For example shooting in 5.2K during a 25-minute flight can generate about 120GB of data. Higher resolution cameras drive the need for more efficient solutions for UAV users to offload, playback, share and backup their footage. With this partnership DJI and Seagate are actively working together to simplify every step of UAV data workflows.

Gartner Predicts Global Device Shipments to Remain Flat in 2017 Worldwide combined shipments of PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones are projected to remain flat in 2017, according. Worldwide shipments for these devices are projected to total 2.3 billion in 2017, the same as 2016 estimates. There were nearly 7 billion phones, tablets and PCs in use in the world by the end of 2016. However, Gartner does not expect any growth in shipments of traditional devices until 2018, when a small increase in ultramobiles and mobile phone shipments is expected. The embattled PC market will benefit from a replacement cycle toward the end of this forecast period, returning to growth in 2018. Increasingly, attractive premium ultramobile prices and functionality will entice buyers as traditional PC sales continue to decline. The mobile phone market will also benefit from replacements. There is, however, a difference in replacement activity between mature and emerging markets. “People in emerging markets still see smartphones as their main computing device and replace them more regularly than mature markets,” said Atwal.

Elitegroup shows mini PC LIVA Z family series products ECS is popular in the world with its fine texture appearance and is highly praised and loved in the market with its rich multimedia specifications since LIVA came into the market. CES 2017 is about to be developed, and ECS praises itself as the leading brand in mini PC and introduces a new generation of LIVA Z family, which can provide a series of all-round more diversified choice for mini PC enthusiasts. The display products of ECS include LIVA Z Mini PC, LIVA ZE Mini PC, LIVA Z Plus and Mini PC. Among them, LIVA Z Plus Mini PC will be displayed in Exhibition Hall Live Demo, showing Intel 7th generation Kaby Lake latest performance and emphasizing the rich use situation. We will display dual screens that display both HDMI and DisplayPort independent monitors, with extra monitors allowing you to have more space for multitasking. At the same time, it presents the seamless connection of life style.

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Informatica, Ingram Micro become distribution partners Informatica has announced that it has signed a distribution agreement with Ingram Micro, a global cloud service provider. Through this relationship, Infomatica’s suite of cloud data management products will be available to Ingram Micro Cloud’s extensive channel partner network in India. As cloud computing continues to gain increased market traction in India, businesses need the right solutions to ensure data quality when moving between on-premise systems and the cloud. Informatica’s cloud-based data management solutions will enable Ingram Micro Cloud resellers. “With Informatica Cloud Data Management solutions, our value added resellers can help organizations unify data from different sources with prebuilt connectors and benefit from a consistent and accurate view of their customers across multiple systems and applications,” said Harish Laddha, Director, Cloud Sales, Ingram Micro India Pvt Ltd

PARTNER CORNER

BIJU CHERIAN C, PROPRIETOR,UNIGATE TECHNOLOGIES, CHENNAI

UNMATCHED QUALITY, AFTER SALES SUPPORT DIFFERENTIATE MATRIX Telecom market is witnessing a steady growth over the last few years in terms of adoption of IP-PBX, IP-Gateways and IP-Phones. Apart from the momentum in the market for IP-Telephony, there still exists a considerable market for lower end products, especially in the small and medium enterprise segment. Brief us about your company? M/S Unigate Technologies is an integrated technology solutions company functioning in the Enterprise Communication, Electronic Security and surveillance and IT-Networking domains. Unigate Technologies, with its core capabilities across diverse technology platforms, fine human resource compliances and commitment to quality and support, facilitates the delivery of best in class solutions resulting in customer satisfaction. We offers a proven platform to meet customer needs and provide tools for improving productivity and efficiency ensuring a tangible return on customer investment. WE are authorized channel partner for Matrix and a few other companies. What is your turnover and growth percentage? Our turnover in the last financial year was 62 Lakhs with an annual growth percentage ranging from 25% to 30%. What kind of solutions and products you are dealing in? We, M/S Unigate Technologies deal in Telecom

solutions, Time-Attendance and Access control solutions, Electronic security and surveillance solutions and Networking solutions. What kind of telecom solutions you have? We have a complete range of telecom solutions like IP, GSM, ISDN and Analog products. As far as telecom solutions are concerned, our first suggestion to customers is Matrix, mainly because of its reliability and after sales support.

“MATRIX COSEC MADE US A NATIONAL VENDOR FROM LOCAL VENDOR. CUSTOMERS PRESSURIZE US TO SUPPLY THE SAME PRODUCT ACROSS INDIA.” Companies can increase market share through innovation and strengthening customer and channel partner relationships. As a partner what kind of products you want to add this year? We wish to add fire alarm products and strengthen IT-Networking segment this year.

How do you find Matrix products in terms of its advantages visà-vis other brands? Now customers are price sensitive but value conscious. Matrix perfectly fit into this segment. Matrix products are value for money. The key aspects which differentiate Matrix over other brands are product quality and after sales support. Whatever the market conditions, Matrix never compromises on product quality. What the company needs to do to improve the market share

What is your strength in terms of market reach? Our strength in terms of market reach is our after sales support. Our approach towards our channel partners also helps us to reach the market fast. Can you give some important tips for your peer group aspiring to take up VoIP into their portfolio? There is a steady growth in VoIP solutions. Existence of a telecom player will be measured in terms of their capability to provide VoIP solutions.

SME CHANNELS 21 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

22 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

CANON

COVER STORY

CANON BULLISH ABOUT GOVT.

SEGMENT FOR

FUTURE GROWTH Printing industry has been growing at a significant pace majorly owing to evolving customer demand from tier II & tier III cities amongst other drivers. Further, the combined impact of the Internet and digitization have moved the printing industry ahead and it true that the print industry has embraced huge transformations in recent time.

BY SATINDER KAUR skaur@smechannels.com

anon has been at the helm of innovation since its inception and it is constantly innovating and bringing in newer technologies to help its customers .Having a vast product range that includes digital cameras , digital SLR’s , lenses , accessories, digital copiers, multi-functional peripherals, fax-machines, inkjet and laser printers, projectors, scanners, All-in-ones, digital cameras, dye sub photo printers and semiconductors, card printers and cable ID printers, Canon’s corporate philosophy is kyosei. It conveys company’s dedication to seeing all people, regardless of culture, customs, language or race, harmoniously living and working together in happiness into the future. The Three Selfs, the foundation of the company’s guiding principles that have been passed down since Canon was founded, are self-motivation, self-management and self-awareness. For Canon, which strives to be a truly excellent global corporation while maintaining the legacy of its corporate DNA, the Three Selfs continue to serve as the company’s most important guiding principles. SME Channels has recently got a chance to interact with business heads from different divisions at Canon, K Bhaskhar, Vice-President, Business Imaging Solutions(BIS) Division, C

Sukumaran, Assistant Director, Consumer Systems Products (CSP) group and Puneet Datta, Director, Professional Printing Products(PPP) Division, which helped us to understand Canon’s business strategy and future plans.

Canon Business Imaging Solutions (BIS) Division Canon has witnessed many enhancements and achievements in the last few years. From 2005 to 2013, over eight years in a row, Canon is at number one position in copier division. Then after a small dip in its share, it lost its Numero Uno position, but gained its number one tag once again in 2016 with Market Share of 23.4 percent. This way, Canon has become the most admired brand. K Bhaskhar, Vice-President, Business Imaging Solutions(BIS) Division shares, “There are three important pillars of Canon strength, which are making Canon, a customer friendly brand, which are convenience of using the products, reliability and good after sales service. From year 2007-13, we are continuously showing growth at CAGR of more than 15 percent. Keeping a note of the difficult business situation in India, we are expecting a growth of 10 percent.” Canon’s Business Imaging Solutions (BIS) division over the

SME CHANNELS 23 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

CANON

years has made a strong foothold in the industry by venturing into new domains, expanding its product portfolio and catering to a wide customer base. The company has always emphasized on offering unparalleled technology through its wide product portfolio to all business entities like large enterprises, SMEs, Government sector across verticals. K Bhaskhar further adds, “Our aim has been to aggressively penetrate the Indian market especially the commercial segment and to increase our share of voice as well as visibility through expansion of our services. We work cohesively towards providing value offerings to our customers which helps them in increasing their business productivity.” With various launches in 2015, the BIS division is growing at CAGR 10% and the company is hoping to keep up the momentum. One of the major focus areas is the ever growing SME segment in India which is a sizeable contributor to the overall growth of the BIS division in 2016. When we divide BIS division (The Business Imaging Solutions division) with 22 – 23 % contribution is the second highest contributor to the overall Canon business figure. For 2017, Canon is expecting a sizeable contributor to the overall growth of the BIS division, although IDC is not showing very positive signs of market growth. K. Bhasker further adds, “MDS has really helped us to create a major market share. Today, it is able to contribute around 25 percent of the share to the division's market share. Canon has evolved as a value provider for complete imaging requirements from input to output management, security through network video surveillance cameras & print security with solutions.” Having both direct and indirect channel partners, Canon grows with its partners. Further, emphasizing the role of channel partners in company’s success, K. Bhasker adds, “With the help of our channel partners and direct sales team, we have successfully bridged the gap with our end customers in understanding their business needs. We also offer back-end financial support to our partners.” Apart from MDS, Canon has also introduced Canon Business Services. CBS (Canon Business Services) is a new ripple in digitization and document printing industry. Canon Business Services addresses current needs of India-based organizations by enabling them to outsource information intensive processes, communications and administrative functions. CBS is helping companies streamlining their printing infrastructure and enhance their processes along with bringing down the cost. Most of the canon devices are equipped with

24 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

K BHASKHAR, VICE-PRESIDENT, BUSINESS IMAGING SOLUTIONS (BIS) DIVISION

“WITH THE HELP OF OUR CHANNEL PARTNERS AND DIRECT SALES TEAM, WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BRIDGED THE GAP WITH OUR END CUSTOMERS IN UNDERSTANDING THEIR BUSINESS NEEDS.”

RAPID fusing technology to reduce energy consumption and eliminate long warm-up times. Canon has three important Cs for customers, which are convenient, control and cost optimization. Canon stands at number three position with respect to number of patents registered with US. Having around 170 channel partners pan India, Canon fosters a strong relationship with its partners and their growth over the years has aided in continuous growth for Canon. It is closely working with its partners for expansion of its business in tier II and tier III cities.

Consumer Systems Products (CSP) group Canon India has been faring well compared to other players in the consumer printer segment in India. The market for both Inkjet and Laser products are still evolving owing to the changing customer requirements. The CSP division has contributed 23% to the overall Canon India business till March 2016.Owing a market share of 21 percent in Inkjet only, which is growing at 20-23 perecnt, Inkjet printer category has been a very strong success segment for Canon, driven by emerging CISS segment in India. In accordance with its Laser printer portfolio, Canon would extensively focus on strengthening its reach to the enterprise as well as Govt. segment. For the Inkjet segment, it is expecting to continue to develop strategies to amplify company’s services and strengthen its association with existing and potential customers. C Sukumaran, Assistant Director, Consumer Systems Products (CSP) group excerpts, “Canon is having a robust plan to address the diversified needs and requirements of

customers with its comprehensive range of products and services. CSP as a division is able to gain 23 percent for Canon’s share, which is growing at 8-10 percent.” These days, the choice of printer solely depends on usage requirements of the consumers and can also be defined by their printing infrastructure. Consumers are becoming smarter with respect to their buying options. With increased adoption of mobile phones, we have witnessed a significant rise in the demand for Cloud-printing and Wi-Fi printing. On the other hand, SMBs majorly look for feature rich products. The most important factor that is leading to evolving print requirements by customers would hugely revolve around Cloud Printing, Mobility, Internet of Things, Mass Customization and increased adaption of mobile devices. According to C Sukumaran, Assistant Director, Consumer Systems Products (CSP) group, “Out of consumers, enterprise & SMEs and Government & PSUs, we are witnessing more traction in mid markets. This is the reason that we are extensively focusing on SMBs and SOHOs with our varied product portfolio of both inkjet and laser printers. To increase our reach to the Government segment, which is one of the potential segments for Canon at present, we are looking for VADs having the required calibre. With a vision of accelerating growth and secure profits for Canon, Canon believes that channel partners are integral to the division’s growth prospects; hence the company will be looking forward to work closely with the partners to create the required reach. Canon is specifically making efforts to penetrate into newer markets to create a

CANON

COVER STORY

C SUKUMARAN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, CONSUMER SYSTEMS PRODUCTS (CSP) GROUP

“TO INCREASE OUR REACH TO THE GOVERNMENT SEGMENT, WHICH IS ONE OF THE POTENTIAL SEGMENTS FOR CANON AT PRESENT, WE ARE LOOKING FOR VADS HAVING THE REQUIRED CALIBRE.”

wider and stronger customer base for Canon.

Professional Printing Products(PPP) Division With customers exploring new business avenues across different verticals including visual communication, industrial printing, packaging; the demand for the commercial printers market is growing rapidly. Canon’s range of production printers provides an excellent answer to the demand for customised, small print runs. Initially, Canon was not a very strong player in professional printing products, and there are only 2 ways to build company’s strength, one way is to develop new products equipped with innovative technologies. The other way is acquisition and as canon always aims to be global leaders in professional printing domain. Thus, it opted to do a partnership with Océ, who was a global leader in professional printing both in terms of the high speed variable data, direct mail and book printing as well as the white format domains. Canon acquired this organization in 2010 and formed a partnership which got completed by end of 2012. In Asia this new division got formed within Canon known as the “Professional Printing Products Division i.e. PPP division” and since then Canon has been growing fairly well. While digital printing is growing at 10 – 15 percent from last almost 5 years, canon is growing at 25 percent. As a product division Canon has two broad segments in which it operates i.e. Commercial Printing & Wide Format Printing. Commercial printing encompasses products for both cut sheet and roll feed inputs for both color and mono reproduction at very high speeds. Digital print

volumes are high for applications like, credit card bills, banking statements, books on demand, direct mail etc. According to Puneet Datta, Director, Professional Printing Products(PPP) Division, “We have two kinds of go-to market strategies. For large enterprises, which are more capital intensive, we have a direct sales team. The other who are less CAPEX intensive, we have a set of distributors and channel partners. The big change that you can see in 2017 is that we are looking for the channel partners even in the production phase. Effecting January, we will be searching partners who are capable to take our products and strategies to even smaller towns. As of now, Canon’s professional printing products are available in almost 50 cities. We are expecting to expand reach to top 100 cities within a time span of 3-4 years. We are totally interested in increasing our reach in terms of our partner ecosystem, and also looking out for new partner. Production sheet wide format products from Canon are 80-90 percent channel driven. In production printing sheet cut, the market size is 900- 1000 units, but the value of these products is very high. In these printers, we have our reach to 50 cities that too through direct channel partners. reach So we are looking for channel partners which can help us to deepen our reach to newer geographies as well as the older ones. By 2020, Canon is aiming to have at least 30 percent market share in every product segment. Two years back, Canon opened a new training center in Noida to provide technical skill development to its engineers and channel partners, investing 10 crores. This is to empower the partner ecosystem with techniques and information,

PUNEET DATTA, DIRECTOR, PROFESSIONAL PRINTING PRODUCTS(PPP) DIVISION

“AT PRESENT PPP DIVISION CONTRIBUTES 7 PERCENT, WHICH THE COMPANY IS TARGETING TO DOUBLE IN 2017. TO THE READER’S SURPRISE, CANON IS EARNING ALMOST 60-70 PERCENT FROM ITS AMAZING AFTER SALES SERVICES.” which will equip them to handle customer’s queries and installation with utmost care. At present PPP division contributes 7 percent, which the company is targeting to double in 2017. To the reader’s surprise, Canon is earning almost 60-70 percent from its amazing after sales services,.

Finally… The printing industry is always changing – new and exciting software offers both opportunities and challenges – which means printing businesses must constantly adapt to keep up. Keeping a note of this, Canon machines are continuously going smaller, but the way technology is changing, the company is trying to equip the machines with advanced applications.

SME CHANNELS 25 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

26 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

TECHNOLOGY

PREDICTION

2017

2017 will be the year when digital transformation is likely to take root, and one of the areas in which we expect traction is the workplace. With digitization transforming the way people and workplace interact with each other, the one factor that will determine how well it happens is the organisation’s ability to integrate Cloud with their workflow to offer accessibility in a secure manner. And with the nature of solutions and the pace at which they are being adopted, 2017 is poised to be a watershed year. BY SATINDER KAUR skaur@smechannels.com

he pace of technological innovation is faster today than ever before. So, the face of information technology is changing fast with the proliferation of internet across geographies and rise of mobility in enterprises. Domestically, the IT landscape has moved forward in leaps and bounds, fuelled by the Government backed digitization. Initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ are enabling the enterprise world to grow at a globally unparalleled speed, at the same time catalysing the consumer and end user. A surge in Start Ups across domains, proliferation of smartphones, rise of the cloud and the oncoming age of IoT are set to redefine how technology influences businesses. As newer technologies take the center stage, partners will need to develop proper knowledge and skills to stay relevant. Organisations cannot just deliver one time training and hope that the partners are well versed with their technologies and ready to move their services in the market. It is important for organizations to put proper training and certifications in place and incentivize and recognize partner performance and success. Let’s take a look at what the Industry believes is in store for the technological world in 2017.

SME CHANNELS 27 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

BIG DATA & ANALYTICS “THE CURRENT DATA EXPLOSION WILL CONTINUE AND AFFECT ORGANIZATIONS BEYOND TRADITIONAL BUSINESSES. MOVING FORWARD, BIG DATA WILL BECOME AN INTEGRAL PART OF ALMOST EVERY INDUSTRY.”

Big data and analytics has enabled organizations to make more meaningful, data-backed decisions and experience tangible results. By providing a comprehensive view of market conditions, customer needs and preferences, and potential project risks, big data can eliminate reliance on “gut feel” decision-making. Leveraging big data, organizations can continue to better understand emerging opportunities and align products or services with changing customer needs. The current data explosion will continue and affect organizations beyond traditional businesses. Moving forward, big data will become an integral part of almost every industry. It is certainly going to be easier for smaller firms to tap on big data and achieve bigger results. Public sector organizations will have to manage more and more data. This is especially so in a smart city environment where citizens and governments are more connected, and where data powers everything from the public transport system to the water and waste management system.” Big Data as a new wave of Growth in Tier 2 & 3 Cities While several markets and cities in the region (including Tier 2 and 3 Cities in India) have been slower in adopting big data technologies, they are definitely catching up as more organizations (traditional and non-traditional), regardless of size, are realizing how big data can benefit businesses, people, nations, and regions. As fast as big data is continuing to get bigger, big data technologies have also continued to evolve. Applications that are essential to managing data are only going to become more accessible, affordable, and user-friendly. It is certainly going to be easier for businesses to tap on big data and achieve bigger results. However, we do feel that the lack of trained data professionals is currently one of the biggest big data challenges in Asia Pacific markets, including India. Keeping this in mind, we are in the process of launching the Cloudera Big Analytics Skills Enablement (BASE) Initiative here in India. Designed to strategically fill the skilled data professionals gap that the industry is currently facing, BASE pulls industry players and academic institutions together to equip more people with necessary skills in the areas of big data and analytics. The initiative also encompasses elements whereby trained data professionals will be matched to opportunities across sectors where

28 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

DANIEL NG, SENIOR DIRECTOR, APAC, CLOUDERA

“WITH DATA SO VALUABLE IT HAS BECOME THENEW CURRENCY OF DIGITAL AGE AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO RESHAPE EVERY FACET OF ENTERPRISE FROM BUSINESS MODELS TO TECHNOLOGY AND USER EXPECTATIONS.” ANIL VALLURI, PRESIDENT - NETAPP INDIA & SAARC

“ORGANIZATIONS DON’T JUST WANT CONTROL OF DATA FOR COMPLIANCE BUT WANT IT TO PERFORM ANALYTICS, WHICH WILL TRIGGER INTERESTING DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN BUSINESSES AND CLOUD PROVIDERS.” ETTIENNE REINECKE, CTO, DIMENSION DATA

their skills are required. Partners expectations from Big Data in 2017? A few insights here: 1. Motivation is key Channel partners need the right training and incentives to be motivated to sell their products, and this will continue to be a focus area for 2017. 2. Increased visibility Companies will focus more on evaluating every

aspect of the channel partner network to ensure its health and determine any weaknesses within the partnerships. Just like with everything else, data analytics will be used to evaluate the success of marketing, sales, and training performance. 3. Managing growth Managing channel partner networks across the globe can be a difficult for organizations. Businesses will focus on staying on top of channel growth, lead generation and registration, training, and many other aspects of the relationship.

COVER STORY

CLOUD COMPUTING “THERE IS A LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA GENERATION IN ENTERPRISES – MOST OF WHICH IS VERY SENSITIVE. IN ORDER TO RETAIN CONTROL OVER THEIR DATA, ENTERPRISES ARE NOW SHIFTING TOWARDS HYBRID CLOUDS.” ANIL VALLURI, PRESIDENT NETAPP INDIA & SAARC

“SPEAKING OF THE CLOUD, WE KNOW THAT TODAY, MOST OF THE ORGANIZATIONS PRODUCE A HUGE AMOUNT OF DATA WHICH CAN BE STAGGERING. WITH LOT OF DIGITAL/ELECTRONIC DATA/INFO, ORGANIZATION WILL NEED CLOUD STORAGE, MAKING IT POPULAR AND TRENDING IN THE FUTURE.” PUNIT THAKKAR, CEO & DIRECTOR AT SHIVAAMI

More organizations have been deploying cloud technologies to support their data requirements. The ready availability of cloud-based services provides easy access to the infrastructure needed to support innovation because it has dramatically lowered barriers to entry: with a credit card and an AWS account, new projects can be set up in a day and operate on a pay-asyou-go basis. An example of this is Cloud Sync Service, which was built by six engineers in six months with no capex infrastructure. New usage-based consumption models, based on Platform as a Service combined with new scale, compliance and data protection offerings, are making cloud infrastructure more essential for businesses of all sizes. There is a large amount of data generation in enterprises – most of which is very sensitive. In order to retain control over their data, enterprises are now shifting towards hybrid clouds, which enables them to access data on-premise and on public cloud infrastructures. This also helps them overcome many security

concerns. More organizations have been deploying cloud technologies to support their data requirements. The ready availability of cloud-based services provides easy access to the infrastructure needed to support innovation because it has dramatically lowered barriers to entry: with a credit card and an AWS account, new projects can be set up in a day and operate on a pay-asyou-go basis. An example of this is Cloud Sync Service, which was built by six engineers in six months with no capex infrastructure. New usage-based consumption models, based on Platform as a Service combined with new scale, compliance and data protection offerings, are making cloud infrastructure more essential for businesses of all sizes.

SME CHANNELS 29 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

DATA CENTRE “WE SEE MANY PRIVATE CORPORATES HARNESSING THE POWER OF HPC SOLUTIONS FOR VARIOUS BUSINESS NEEDS. THESE ARE EXTENSIVELY USED IN THE FIELDS OF INDUSTRIAL AND AUTO DESIGN, FINANCIAL ANALYTICS, EDA, OIL & GAS, AND EVEN IN SECTORS LIKE INSURANCE.” VIKRAM MULYE, HEAD, ENTERPRISE BUSINESS GROUP, LENOVO INDIA

“BUSINESSES WILL LOOK FOR GREATER VALUE IN NETWORK VIRTUALIZATION; MOVING TOWARDS BRING YOUR OWN LICENSE & PAY AS YOU GO MODELS SUPPORTING CLOUD-BASED INFRASTRUCTURES FOR DIFFERENT APPLICATION NEEDS.” SAJAN PAUL, DIRECTOR SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, INDIA & SAARC, JUNIPER NETWORKS

Demand for High Performance Computing solutions is seen increasing across the entire IT spectrum. Till now we saw research labs, higher education institutions, and defence labs investing in state of the art HPC infrastructure to develop the latest and best products in their respective domains. With the government’s focus on these areas, we such investments further going up in 2017 and beyond. The National Supercomputing Mission of the Govt. of India too will drive huge investments in HPC solutions. Software-Defined storage and network Customers are now looking for more open and secured solution and move away from products that bind them to legacy systems and lead to high TCO. In line with this trend, we see the emergence of Software Defined Storage (SDS). With SDS, customers can depend on powerful software stacks and industry-standard servers to gain enterprise storage functionalities. While reducing TCO, SDS doesn’t compromise on any of the enterprise storage needs.

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Additionally, at contemporary capacity levels, traditional storage architectures once thought to be scalable are no longer sufficient. Software-defined storage (SDS) solutions, have emerged to offer not just enhanced scalability, but also agility, flexibility, and efficiency. Hyper-convergence With Hyper-convergence, enterprises now have an exciting new infrastructure choice to break down IT silos and reduce data centre complexity and cost, while elevating IT to enable the business. Data centre customers face unprecedented levels of infrastructure complexity due to cloud, analytics and mobility trends and the associated rise of data. Hyper-convergence allows customers to start with “right-sized but scalable” IT investments without committing to a higher cost solution upfront. This technology allows customers to condense the typical 3-tier architecture and gives them building blocks which can be added on the fly to support business growth.

COVER STORY

STORAGE 2017 is expected to witness technology innovation and the storage industry will specifically benefit from the enormous growth of smartphone consumption in India. Smartphones today have become an omnipresent tool to make calls, share messages, and connect on social media networks. They are the all in one screen for professional purposes, entertainment system, our gaming partner. The smartphone market has evolved immensely in recent times with advanced technologies like 4K, Ultra HD becoming the new norm. Today smartphones have replaced computers and have emerged as the primary device for content consumption, creation & sharing. According to a recent survey conducted by Western Digital, more than 84 percent of consumers spend more than four hours using applications on their mobile devices, and apps account for a large footprint of internal memory. The survey further highlights that over 90% of the

respondents expect time spent on smart phones usage to increase by 20-60%, and over 67% expect an increase between 60 – 80% in content quality (Full HD, 4K. etc.) on mobile phones within six months to a year. Big Data as a new wave of Growth in Tier 2 & 3 Cities Western Digital is actively widening its reach in Tier 2 and 3 cities through strong channel partner association. It work closely with our retail

“WE WORK CLOSELY WITH OUR RETAIL PARTNERS IN THE SMALLER MARKETS AND PROVIDE THEM WITH NECESSARY TRAINING, SALES AIDS AND CONSUMER OFFERS TO EDUCATE THE CONSUMERS.” RAJESH GUPTA, COUNTRY MANAGER OF SANDISK INDIA AND SAARC RETAIL SALES AND MARKETING, WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION

partners in the smaller markets and provide them with necessary training, sales aids and consumer offers to educate the consumers. Company’s retail strategy is to be present in every nook and corner of the country so that its products are available and accessible for consumers.

SME CHANNELS 31 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

ENTERPRISE MOBILITY High growth of Open Source software, collaborative technologies, the usage of social media for marketing and customer service, virtual and augmented reality are few of the enterprise technologies that will drive digital disruption in 2017. We will see many other technologies opening exciting greenfield opportunities for businesses and enterprises. The only thing constant is change. This year a lot of technologies such as cloud scalability, containers, DevOps, open source created a huge impact in advancing an organizations’ success. 2017 will be all about Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Machine Learning, Kubernetes etc. – the next phase of enterprise IT. These technologies are emerging and stand to have substantial potential for enterprises across industries. Enterprise Mobility as a new wave of Growth in Tier 2 & 3 Cities Tier 2 and tier 3 cities are growth drivers for the Indian market. Well-developed city infrastructure, skilled labour, investor friendly policies and proactive state governments make these cities a preferred investment destination. Companies are also migrating to smaller cities because of the significant cost advantages.Small cities are India’s emerging business locations and some are developing into manufacturing hubs. Partners expectations from Enterprise Mobility in 2017 One of the challenges faced by today’s channel partners is selling to business decision makers rather than the IT department. This requires partners to engage with business/C-level executives and to have the ability to empathise with their goals of business growth. This requires vendors, such as Epicor, to focus more on enabling their partners to demonstrate the real business benefits of their enterprise solutions. As newer technologies take the center stage, partners will need to develop proper knowledge and skills to stay relevant. Organisations cannot just deliver one time training and hope that the partners are well versed with their technologies and ready to move their services in the market. It is important for organisations to put proper training and certifications in place and incentivize and recognize partner performance and success. As applications become more intricate and customers’ needs change, partners are required to

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“VENDORS THEREFORE NEED TO PROVIDE THEIR PARTNERS WITH THE REQUIRED DELIVERABLES, TOOLS, AND TRAINING, TO MAKE THIS CHANGE SUCCESSFULLY.” ANISH KANARAN, CHANNEL DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST, INDIA AND AFRICA, EPICOR SOFTWARE

“WE ARE LOOKING TO ACTIVELY WORK WITH OUR PARTNERS, UNIVERSITIES TO DEVELOP MORE SKILLED, TRAINED AND ACCREDITED PEOPLE ON RED HAT TECHNOLOGIES. AND THE LAST PART OF COURSE IS OUR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT WHICH CONTINUES TO THRIVE.” NEERAJ BHATIA, DIRECTOR - PARTNER, ALLIANCES & COMMERCIAL SALES, RED “HAT

“WE ARE WITNESSING SIGNIFICANT UPTAKE OF VIRTUALIZATION, CLOUD AND END USER COMPUTING BY DEPARTMENTS OF BOTH THE CENTRAL AND STATE GOVT. WE HOPE TO SEE FURTHER ADOPTION OF LATEST TECHNOLOGY BY GOVT. IN 2017.” SUNDAR BALASUBRAMANIAN, SENIOR DIRECTOR, GENERAL BUSINESS, VMWARE

become trusted business advisors. The key challenges that channel partners now face is to upgrade their sales, presales and implementation skills for these emerging solution areas and prepare themselves for the ever-evolving go-

to-market strategy around these portfolios. We are living in an era where the established products are soon being commoditized and emerging solutions are creating a first-mover advantage for companies.

COVER STORY

INTERNET OF THINGS “DIGITISATION IS THE WAY TO ACHIEVE EFFICIENCY. OUR CONNECTED PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS ARE DESIGNED TO HELP LEVERAGE DIGITISATION.” NIKHIL PATHAK, VICE PRESIDENT & COUNTRY GM – IT BUSINESS, INDIA & SAARC, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC INDIA

“IOT IN MANUFACTURING WILL BRING DOWN PRODUCTION COSTS ENABLING PERSONALIZED MANUFACTURING. PRECISION AGRICULTURE AND SMART CITIES WILL BE THE ORDER OF THE DAY.” SRIKANTH GOPALAKRISHNAN, VP, IOT DIGITAL ENTERPRISE ASSETS, SAP LABS INDIA

As companies expand and deepen their digitization programmes enterprise-wide, IoT will increasingly take center stage. IoT will trigger the next wave of enterprise digital transformation, fueling a mobile and digitally enabled workforce which is enabled by more affordable “connected” sensors, faster communications networks, cloud infrastructure, and advanced data-analytics capabilities. The IoT wave will promote an open, interoperable and hybrid computing approach, and it will foster industry and government collaboration on global architecture standards that address cybersecurity concerns. IoT will function as a source of innovation, business model disruption and economic growth for businesses Adoption of IoT in India will accelerate. Technology and platform exist today. IoT will impact our lifestyle in big way. Healthcare, Industrial automation, move to the cloud, Home automation, Energy distribution to name a few segments and trends that will see acceleration of IOT for India in near future. IoT as a new wave of Growth in Tier 2 & 3 Cities Tier 2 & 3 cities offer great potential in fueling the growth of a digitized country. According to a report by the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Monthly City Level Smartphone Tracker, 25 major Tier 2 and 3 cities of India currently make up around 21.3% of the Indian Smartphone market. With an array of offers from telecom companies and the introduction of 4G, there has been a significant increase in data penetration and demand for Smartphones with the latest features.

Also, with easy access to the internet and greater reach of e-commerce companies, people in Tier 2 & 3 cities aspire to own lifestyle products like Wearables, which are also available at affordable rates. This shows the potential of having a host of connected devices in the future which will spearhead growth in the IoT sector. Challenges for Partners with IoT in 2017 l Customer Care: In today’s digitized world, connectivity is key for faster response. Customer expectation level is high based on the use of technology for many areas and for their day today life. Many of our daily routine are driven by APPs. One of the challenge our partners need to embrace is to live up to customer expectation with adoption of digitized and connected platforms. l Continued pressure in hiring new talent and financial performance (demonetization) This will have impact on IT infrastructure - affordability, deployment of new technologies, increased device pressure on networks, multivendor management, and manual configuration l Adapting to the new landscape IT has gone from being a static cost-centre to a dynamic business enabler that must support the organisation at every stage of the sales cycle, empowering the business to grow and succeed. A challenge for SMEs will be adapting themselves to the dynamic environment

SME CHANNELS 33 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

IT INFRASTRUCTURE Organizations that are in the path of transformation have to think beyond traditional technologies and invest in new IT to outpace the competition. Digital technologies have transformed various industries such as banking, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, IT, telecom, travel and transportation to deliver better business outcomes and provide superior customer experience. Indian market’s response to the path towards digitization has been positive. Per a research by Vanson Bourne & Dell Technologies on exploring the implications of digital disruption, how companies are transforming to meet changing customer demands and business leaders’ plans to succeed in the connected future, 80% of Indian organizations realize the impact of digital disruption and are developing their software capabilities. Businesses are also starting to make purposeful, data-driven technology choices by drawing up three-year investment plans. Currently, telecom sector is the most mature in digital transformation index. IT Infrastructure as a new wave of Growth in Tier 2 & 3 Cities One move such as demonetization has driven strong growth for Fintech organizations in tier – 2 and tier – 3 markets. E-commerce too has seen a strong growth in these markets. On an average, 50 to 55% of e-commerce business comes from the tier 2 , 3 markets. From an IT perspective, These markets have been recording strong growth over the last few years. Many organizations have been emerging across banking, manufacturing, retail and IT from these markets. At the back end, these new organizations will require IT thus driving the growth of the market. Expectations from Partners in Enterprise Mobility in 2017 More and more businesses, especially SMBs and SMEs are looking towards IT for growth and are interested in adopting mobile-driven/ cloud-based solutions. This will continue to place a demand on the traditional channel partner, who was more of a tech vendor to morph into a solution or service provider. Only those channel partners, who adapt and move towards this shift will thrive else they’ll continue to face threat from online marketplaces) for off-the-shelf products. Hence, building competency to provide business solutions will be a key challenge, which they’ll have to overcome in 2017.

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“OUR CHANNEL PARTNERS UNDERSTAND ASPECTS OF TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS AND ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE THEM WITH A HOLISTIC, END-TO-END DEPLOYMENT OFFERING COVERING HARDWARE, SOFTWARE.” MANISH GUPTA, DIRECTOR & GM, INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS GP, DELL EMC

“COGNITIVE COMPUTING, HYBRID CLOUD, IOT, BLOCKCHAIN ARE AMONG THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT PROMISE TO DRIVE REAL GROWTH AND BENEFITS TO ENTERPRISES.” MUKUL MATHUR, VICE-PRESIDENT, GLOBAL BUSINESS PARTNERS AND CSI, IBM INDIA & SA

“MOVING INTO 2017, IT IS CLEAR THAT THAT ANALYTICS IS HERE TO STAY. ORGANIZATIONS HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH THE INFLUX OF NEW DATA SOURCES, WITH DATA PROJECTED TO GROW 10 FOLD BY 2020.” SHARAD GUPTA, CHANNEL DIRECTOR, INDIA, VERITAS

“BUILDING COMPETENCY TO PROVIDE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS WILL BE A KEY CHALLENGE, WHICH PARTNERS WILL HAVE TO OVERCOME IN 2017.” GIRISH ROWJEE, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, GREYTIP SOFTWARE

COVER STORY

NETWORKING & SDN “THE DEPLOYMENT AND EXPANSION OF 4G TECHNOLOGY WILL ALSO PERSUADE OPERATORS TO ADOPT SDN SO THEY CAN MAXIMIZE THEIR RETURN ON INVESTMENT.” GEORGE CHACKO, PRINCIPAL SYSTEMS ENGINEER & LEAD TECHNICAL CONSULTANT, BROCADE INDIACLOUDERA

“DEMAND ARISING OUT OF DIGITAL INDIA INITIATIVE COUPLED WITH THE EXISTING DEMAND IN THE DOMESTIC MARKET IS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE DOMESTIC NETWORKING EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.” MANDAR JOSHI, HEAD - CHANNEL BUSINESS. DIGISOL SYSTEMS LTD

One good thing is that now there is a lot of the government push towards digitization and the growth of a networking market is a part of this push. Several state governments have rolled out various plans. 4G is coming up in a big way with Airtel and Reliance and such roll outs have given a push to the networking market. On the enterprise networking front, we see growth in wireless controllers and that is mainly because there is a lot of requirement of wireless hotspots. Thus, that market has picked up a lot. There is talk about SDN platform in high end enterprise networking segment. Also as per the current market trends , DIGISOL feel that the IoT space is expected to get a big boost this coming year and beyond. IoT products and solutions for homes and businesses would evolve to take the automation experience to a different level altogether. With IoT your Smartphone app would be able to give complete control of your living room appliances to complex devices installed in a factory. SDN has emerged as a key technology that will help telcos and enterprises transform their networks. SDN offers a means of reducing costs of service delivery and as a vehicle for increasing service velocity. SDN links networks and applications, enabling direct program-

matic control of the network in line with end-user application needs, rather than programming around the network. By having access to network topology information, applications can optimize decisions related to service fulfillment and service removal. Opportunities in ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ programs further in 2017 No doubt it is a very ambitious campaign that the government of India has embarked upon. We foresee that 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 9 pillars under the Digital India 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. Many of the Indian telcos have already been engaging vendors to better understand the potential benefits and deployment scenarios for India. The Governmentbacked initiatives like Digital India and Make in India will lead to the increased adoption of SDN in India.

SME CHANNELS 35 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

PRINTING “A LARGE PART OF BUSINESS EXPANSION HAS BEEN FROM RETAIL, SOHO AND OTHER VERTICAL BUSINESS LIKE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRIES, REALTORS, APART FROM HOME SEGMENT.” SIVA KUMAR K, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER IJP, SALES & MARKETING, EPSON INDIA

“THE TIER-2 AND TIER-3 CITIES HAS ALWAYS BEEN TARGET BY XEROX AND WE CONTINUE TO STAY AHEAD IN TERMS OF MARKET SHARE IN THESE CITIES.” BALAJI RAJAGOPALAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTORTECHNOLOGY, CHANNELS & INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTOR OPERATIONS, XEROX INDIA

The printing industry is evolving rapidly, largely led by the growing need for adoption of new technologies. A study by Printing Industries of America (Beyond the Horizon: Shaping Print Markets and printers over the next Decade, Ronnie Davis, 2009) showed that in 2008, digital printing was about a $20 billion industry, accounting for a small overall portion of the revenues generated by the printing industry. By 2020, the growth in digital print could add $10 billion to annual industry shipments—growing 7 percent per year. At the same time, conventional printing is expected to decline more than 25% from $127 billion to $87–$100 billion. Additionally, with mobile printing, cloud, advanced security features etc. becoming more popular, we will see more such application development becoming a focus area for companies in the coming times. Such apps will allow users to control their MFPs remotely and transmit documents to fax, email and cloud hosted services like Google Drive and Dropbox. Challenges for Partners in Printing Industry in 2017 A major challenge to the growth of channel partners is customer knowledge. With advancement in technol-

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ogy, customers today want to do much more than just print. With mobile printing, cloud, advanced security features etc. becoming more popular, we will see more such application development becoming a focus area for companies in the coming times. The challenge, however, will be to see how customers adapt to these growing technological changes and secondly, how companies cater to different needs of their customers. Opportunities in ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ programs further in 2017 Government’s Make in India and Digital India initiatives have opened up new opportunities in India. These initiatives have encouraged many entrepreneurs and big corporate houses to start business in India where they find sustainable domestic market. Owing to the high consumer base, domestic market is expected to grow every year. Once companies realize that there is enough demand from the domestic market, there will be a boom in manufacturing. Being a fast growing country, India has the capability to move up the ladder quickly and make Digital India & Make in India successful.

COVER STORY

SECURITY With recent spurt in sophisticated cyber-attacks such as ransomware, DDoS etc have made every business and technology decision makers to take stock of situation and make sure that their valuable data and information is safe. This coupled with the Digital India and Smart city programs have also driven the growth of security needs across industries and geographies. As pure play IT security solution developers our R&D teams are round the clock tracking emerging threats and providing solutions to stay safe from these emerging attacks. As our valuable inputs for our customers, we have developed PBAE Technology an AI based solution to provide real time protection to the rampant attacks by ransomware. Digital transition and adoption is what going to drive the growth of security market in India. As awareness towards the data, privacy and safety becomes more prominent, security will be the first thing everyone would look for. Mobility s

India’s First 14.1”

“DIGITAL TRANSITION, ADOPTION ARE GOING TO DRIVE GROWTH OF SECURITY MARKET IN INDIA. AS AWARENESS BECOMES PROMINENT, SECURITY WILL BE 1ST THING EVERYONE WOULD LOOK FOR.” SUNIL KRIPALANI, SR. VP, GLOBAL MARKETING & SALES, ESCAN

one of the biggest driver and further will be driven by IoT devices such as CCTV cameras to day to

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SME CHANNELS 37 JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY

“APP OF AI IN SECURITY IS EXPECTED TO GAIN MOMENTUM AS NEXT LOGICAL STEP, UNDERPINNING SYSTEMS THAT CAN IDENTIFY, ANTICIPATE AND ADJUST TO CYBER SECURITY THREATS.”

markets. Security as a new wave of Growth in Tier 2 & 3 Cities To a large extent tier 2 and 3 cities are the ones now adopting technology faster than the metro cities, as cities are mostly saturated. Hence the next wave is going to be coming from the tier 2 and 3 cities, These segment of market is quite large as the no of tier 2& 3 cities in India is huge vis a vis the metro population and user base. We see the adoption in these segments is much faster and smarter, as they are entering the value chain of digitisation at growing stage.

MURALI RAMALINGAM, COUNTRY MANAGER-SALES, IXIA TECHNOLOGIES

UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS In today’s business world, organizations are now looking at flexible, secured and high-end solutions in order to eliminate communication gap. This has increased the adoption of UC solutions’ deployments across industries. With employees needs changed with time, organizations are now using collaboration tools to add different applications to make communications smoother. Enterprises are actively on the lookout for a single platform that combines all of the collaboration features they need to increase productivity and work together efficiently. Today, India is at the cusp of revolution with maximum smartphone penetration and growing internet demand. Government is playing a major role in driving internet growth in the country, initiatives like ‘Digital India’, ‘Smart City’ and ‘Make in India’ are encouraging organizations like us to contribute in digital transformation with our latest solutions and technologies. About 15-20 per cent of India revenues are from Government projects, we expect number to go up to the “late 20 to 30 per cent” in the next 18 to 24 months. We are working closely with State governments on providing emergency response systems and digitization of education initiatives as major target areas. We believe that the mid-market and SME sector in India form the backbone of Digital transformation and is a key driver for its growth. Avaya channel partners have a significant role to play in cloud deployments for midsize companies with their established knowledge of the customer and expertise with Avaya products. Now, partners have gained more flexibility to approach the customer by offering hybrid cloud solutions in

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“2016 SAW A RISING ADOPTION OF UNIFIED COMMUNICATION IN ENTERPRISES ACROSS THE WORLD. THIS IS TREND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE IN 2017 WITH RISING NEED TO IMPROVE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, TO ENHANCE TEAM MANAGEMENT, AND USER-DEFINED COMMUNICATIONS IN ORDER TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE IN THE GLOBAL MARKET.” VISHAL AGRAWAL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INDIA AND SAARC, AVAYA

a market that has considerable growth potential and is looking for a cost-effective path to advanced communications. Challenges for Partners in Unified Communication in 2017 Partners are very crucial part of our business, they have a significant contribution in our enterprise business and plays an important role in supporting our enterprise customers too. Partners do service oriented business and customers have high

dependency on them, so it becomes imperative for us and partners to keep the customer engagement platform at a high level wherein customer needs are addressed at the right time. With cloud migration and softening economic growth, the channel partner landscape is evolving rapidly. This shift is challenging for partners as with cloud migration business decision making for technology is also moving outside IT. Channel partners have to continuously thrive for upskilling themselves with new technology specifically cloud.

COVER STORY

SURVEILLANCE As per the report, “Video Surveillance Market, by System (Analog, IP), Component (Camera, Monitor, Server, Storage Device, Software), Service (VSaaS, Maintenance), Application (Infrastructure, Commercial, Institutional, Defense, residential), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022”, is estimated to be worth USD 71.28 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 16.56%. Also, the APAC video surveillance market is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2022. The driving factors behind this growth can be attributed to the adoption of new technologies (cloud services and other analytics technologies) and security systems to safeguard its economy and infrastructure through criminal activities and terror attacks. The fall in prices of IP cameras and increased competition are factors that would drive the video surveillance system market in APAC. Surveillance Industry as a new wave of Growth in Tier 2 & 3 Cities In India, the rise in terrorist activities, increasing incidences of crime, information thefts, remote monitoring, development of public infrastructure, increasing IT spending, government initiatives and increasing security spending is driving the surveillance market in a huge way. The procurement of security surveillance products have become a lot easier, if compared to traditional modes. Also, Tier 1, 2, 3 and even Tier 4 cities and towns are displaying stupendous growth. Tier 2 & 3 Cities in India will see growth driven by increasing tech savvy population, improved residential, commercial and industrial construction and rising GDP of India. The growing awareness about surveillance systems among the Tier-II, and Tier-III cities of the country will encourage players in the segment to expand their centers across the potential markets. Partners expectations from Surveillance Industry in 2017 The coming year will be more focus on solution or vertical approach year as the end user are looking for the complete solution instead of standalone system. So the products which are integrate to other solutions will defiantly carry the edge. The partner having knowledge of the products and solution will be leading in coming years

“THE GOVERNMENTS INITIATIVES LIKE THE ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ AND 100 SMART CITIES WILL GIVE THE SURVEILLANCE INDUSTRY A MAJOR PHILIP TO MOVE IN THE RIGHT PATH OF GROWTH.” SANJEEV GULATI, COUNTRY MANAGER-INDIA & SAARC AT VIVOTEK

“THERE IS AN ENORMOUS SCOPE IN TIER 2 AND TIER 3 CITIES IN INDIA, BUT WE SHOULD ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE THE FACT THAT MARKET IN TIER 1 CITIES HAS YET NOT SATURATED.” KAUSHAL KADAKIA, MARKETING MANAGER, IPVS, MATRIX COMSEC, VADODARA, INDIA

“EVERY INDUSTRY IS NOW TRYING TO USE SOME SORT OF ANALYTICS TO THEIR EXISTING SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM, TO ANALYSE, ACCESS AND STORE THE FOOTAGES.” SUDHINDRA HOLLA, COUNTRY MANAGER, INDIA & SAARC, AXIS COMMUNICATIONS

Challenges for Partners in Surveillance Industry in 2017 After the penetration of cheap Chinese products in the Indian market, earning a profit with proper margin and satisfying customers at the same

time is one of the biggest challenges for channel partners. Most of these Chinese products do not address customer needs as they are manufactured without understanding customer and market requirement.

SME CHANNELS 39 JANUARY 2017

SME CHAT

SANJAY ROHATGI, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, ASIA PACIFIC AND JAPAN, SYMANTEC

WE HAVE AS HIGH AS 50% OF THE ADDRESSABLE MARKET With Blue Coat acquired merging with Symantec, there is expected to be a lot of integration in the cards and how is it going on, whether the company can be ready for action by March 2017 so that they can begin the new year with a pump. We spoke to Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, Symantec at Symantec Partner Conference, Tokyo during early November, 2016. Excerptsâ&#x20AC;Ś

How the Integration is going on so far? We are attacking the integration from four perspectives. One is the product integration. Within 2-3 months we have already integrated a lot of products. We have a roadmap for the integration of more and more. There are some products which we cannot integrate because those are stand alone in nature. The other thing is the workforce integration and we are in the planning stage right now. Every six regions, including India, we are in the process of combining the two teams and working on what is the best structure that we can put in place. So, we will be very much ready for FY 18. What we have done in the interim is that we have

40 SME CHANNELS JANUARY 2017

created some incentives for our sales teams for making sure that we can cross sell and the customers get the best benefits out of it. Real-estate integration is going very well, which is an important part of it. What is happening is that 8 out of 10 Blue Coat employees are moving to Symantec offices. The other one is IT systems integration, where we are looking at the best of the breed. So, we have already made the decisions and we are moving ahead in that direction as well. The whole ideas is that by March 2017 all the four integration is perfectly done. Having been through a lot of integration in my past career, I think it is going smoothly up until now. In In the workforce integration, we have

taken a bottom up approach. We have asked people in the regional leaderships to know what is the best structure we can put in place. Our go to market will remain as same. We will focus on the named accounts, mid-markets and SMEs. In the markets where we have market maturity like Japan, Pacific and others, we will go vertical market approach to some extent. I am pleased with how the overall integration is going. On a state of business specific to SPJ, we are showing very good growth. It has been led by Japan, pacific, India, ASIAN, Korea. It is cyclical though, but the growth is strong. We are growing faster than the market, it means we are starting to regain some market share.

SME CHAT

“MY HONEST FEEDBACK IS THAT EVER SINCE WE HAVE ANNOUNCED THAT WE ARE ACQUIRING BLUE COAT, IT HAS BEEN RECEIVED BY THE CISOs POSITIVELY BECAUSE ONE THING THEY ALWAYS MENTION IS THAT THE CHALLENGE IN THIS INDUSTRY HAS BEEN THERE TO DEAL WITH SO MANY VENDORS.”

My honest feedback is that ever since we have announced that we are acquiring Blue Coat, it has been received by the CISOs positively because one thing they always mention is that the challenge in this industry has been there to deal with so many vendors. Now it is one less vendor to deal with. I honestly believe that the market potential we have and now with Blue Coat and Symantec coming together we have as high as 50% of the wallet share of the addressable market we can address. Will there be any impact on the engineering team with the integration of products? We We have three thousand+ engineers. I am not very sure what would be plan moving forward. But the whole idea is when the product will be integrated, there will be a lot of engineers to sup-

port those integrations. If you look at there is no overlap in the portfolio. So, we need expertise in both sides to bring it together as a solution. So, you heard about DLP with cloud access security broker with user authentication. The CASB is coming from Elastica’s CloudSOC team of Blue Coat and DLP from our side. User authentication is our VIP access. So, all these products are coming together as one solution. There is hardly any overlap, but there is already news that there have been layoffs. Symantec as an entity is going to save US$ 400 million in the next 2 years and USD and US$150 million run-rate cost saving. So, we will keep people on Sales and Engineering side, but on the other side there will be rationalized in case of overlap. The challenge for both the companies had the coverage, but now we have the right capacity

for addressing the same. In each region, we have added people. In India, we have address 24-25 people. Do you think, with both the companies coming together, there will be growth in your approach for MSPs? The is a very good point. So that is the exact reason why we have broken the channel organization into three-four parts. One person is focusing on the GSIs and then one person is focusing on the MSPs and service providers. Because we honestly believe that the majority of the service providers are looking at the cybersecurity portfolio as a big play. They have the reach and they are looking at cyber security solution as a revenue drive for them. Then we have channel partners and MID market solution providers. So, you will see four flavors coming.

SME CHANNELS 41 JANUARY 2017

PARTNER CORNER

AVNET

AVNET TECHNOLOGY TO FOCUS ON THIRD PLATFORM As Tech Data’s Avnet deal is going to be sealed completely by the second quarter of 2017, it would have a certain impact on the market because both the companies would carry technology brands that are complementary to each other.

BY SANJAY MOHAPATRA sanjay@smechannels.com

he US$2.6 billion deal of Avnet Technology Solutions by Tech Data, would certainly have its name changed, but what would remain intact is its strong brand association. So the market need not be worried whichever way it goes. As far as India is concerned, Avnet Technology Solution has a very good presence with adequate vendor engagements and partner alliances. With Tech Data coming into the picture, the company expects to ramp up its operations and take the alliances to the next level. Apart from its traditional business, Avnet Technology Solutions have created five new Specialist Business Units to cater to the emerging market requirements i.e. Security, Mobility, Cloud, Data Analytics & IOT and Education. The strategy of the company is to adapt to the transformation of the technology and the way business happens in the market. Naresh Desai, Country General Manager, Avnet Technology Solutions India, said, “For these five specialist SBUs, we are investing in deep domain knowledge and skillsets, which will differentiate us as a specialist distributor

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from the general distributors. Very clearly this is in line with the way the market is growing. These are the high growth areas as IDC defines the third platform of technologies. These are the technologies growing at more than 16% globally.” “Across the globe, we have invested in 450 additional resources to manage this business and in the region (APAC) we have invested in 150 resources. Specifically, in India, we are looking at 25 people to manage these SBUs, although our total headcount in India is 250 people”, he added. He maintains, “There is a clear strategy around this. I call this as SPS strategy, which is around suppliers, partners and skills. We are teaming up with the suppliers who have offerings in these areas. Just an example, we have a very close engagement with VMWare, which has offerings in cloud, security, Mobility, etc. So, with the specialized focus with technical skills we will grow this business.” The company is also trying to recruit new partners. There is a completely brand new batch of partners emerging now who are focused on analytics, IOT, cloud, etc. Therefore, Avnet is trying to tap those partners. At the same time, the company is looking for

specialized suppliers that are emerging in these areas. In a way, Avnet is creating the entire ecosystem to grow the business of its suppliers and help its partners to transform to these new technologies. As per IDC, the growth rate of the third platform technologies in APAC is like 20% for cloud, 7% for security, 13% for data analytics and 19% for mobility. But Avnet’s presence being small in these areas, the company is expecting to grow faster than the market growth. Therefore, Avnet is expecting about 25 - 30% more growth than the market rate in India. Desai added, “As a distributor, we believe that we have adequate technologies for our partners so that they can cater to their customers. So we are continuing to evaluate and talking to the new suppliers.” The specialty of Avnet is that it emphasizes on building technical skills. Desai says, “I believe we have the strongest pre-sales team, among other distributors, in the country. Some of the pre-sales qualification, we have taken from our erstwhile SI experience. So, we have been continuing those skills and resources and have added more. Very clearly, in our initiatives, we have a value proposi-

AVNET

PARTNER CORNER

NARESH DESAI, COUNTRY GENERAL MANAGER, AVNET TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS INDIA

“AS A DISTRIBUTOR, WE BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE ADEQUATE TECHNOLOGIES FOR OUR PARTNERS SO THAT THEY CAN CATER TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. SO WE ARE CONTINUING TO EVALUATE AND TALKING TO THE NEW SUPPLIERS.” tion for our suppliers and partners.” Asked about the challenges, Desai maintained, “If you look at the transformation the industry is going through currently, it is the most disruptive one that our industry has ever undergone. And, the reason I say this because, previously there has been a massive technology shift – for example, from mainframe to mini - PCs and client server computation. But now the technology disruption is happening because of cloud, IOT, Mobility, etc. At the same time, the customers used to invest and buy equipment and technology, which

used to be on premise, but now it is moving off the premise and moving to a subscription and OPEX model. So, the way of customers’ buying of technology has also been changed. This is a double transformation and hence it is the most disruptive.” It is very difficult to embrace because the mindsets of the people must change. You must change as to how to compensate your own people because previously if it was one deal you compensate him per transaction basis, but now in the subscription model spanning over 1-3 years, how

would you compensate? Is it over the total contract value or whatever the billing happens? So, we must relearn all that. Finding all these challenges is one. Skilling people is another challenge.

Finally… 2017 is going to be very exciting. As a VAD, Avnet is looking to grow its own business along with the growth of its partners’ businesses. Naresh concludes, “We are in the country which yields very high GDP. Expectations from everyone is very high.”

SME CHANNELS 43 JANUARY 2017

CHANNEL BIZ

NVIDIA

NVIDIA: AN OPPORTUNITY OF GROWTH India is growing on a faster pace banking on its infrastructure growth. The country has attracted global technology vendors to partner in its journey by sharing technologies or by investing in developing technologies. NVIDIA is one such company which has realized the potential of the country and therefore has invested to stay relevant. BY SANJAY MOHAPATRA sanjay@smechannels.com

anta Clara based GPU company NVIDIA has repositioned the company from a mere GPU vendor to a complete platform vendor focusing on four special verticals including Gaming, Professional Visualization, Data Centers and Auto. Shridhar Garge, Head - Strategy, Planning & Programs, NVIDIA says, “These are the four markets that we are deeply involved in on a global scale. Coming to India, our focus is same barring the Auto market. We are very much focused on the driverless cars and driver systems inbuilt cars. This market is not as mature in India as we are seeing globally.” Although the mainstream market has been influenced by the overall economic slowdown, these specialized vertical markets are not; reason being these are niche areas with low volume size. However, the potential of growth in these vertical markets is high. “As a platform company, our go to market is through the OEMs or through the channel partners. We are seeing a lot of cloud gaming happening in India. Therefore, we have put in place right infrastructure, which will start working over a

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period. US is a pilot market, where we launched it first; and we are taking it further to other countries. So, we are seeing a lot of cloud gaming also coming to India from NVIDIA stable,” Shridhar added. “We are also working on certain plan to bring cloud gaming as a service to India.” NVIDIA is the pioneer in bringing the graphic virtualization to the world. NVIDIA has GRID platform, which enables the engineers, designers and movie producers to virtualize their current work environment and have their creative people get access to build designs and work on those in any device at any location. Shridhar added, “If I talk about deep learning as a market, we have an entire out of box solution, called DGX, which is a complete production system for any data scientist to work on and simulate them so that they can grow with it.” NVIDIA graphics are always key differentiators. Shridhar expands, “As the company, our drivers are the most stable graphics drivers in the market. That is where our users rely on us. What we are trying to bring is that we are bringing in allied software which keeps the users in the center, so that we can make the job of the user more and

SHRIDHAR GARGE, HEAD - STRATEGY, PLANNING & PROGRAMS, NVIDIA

“AS A STRATEGY, WE ARE GOING TO BRING IN MORE AND MORE COMPLETE PRODUCTS FROM THE NVIDIA STABLE, WHICH WILL BE USED BY THE END USERS AND THAT IS WHERE LIES THE GROWTH POTENTIAL OF THE PARTNERS AND EXPAND THEIR BUSINESS.”

NVIDIA

more easier.” So, NVIDIA array is their rendering software solution. NVIDIA GRID is their graphics virtualization software solutions. These are, basically, the allied solutions that the company offers with NVIDIA hardware solutions. The entire play that NVIDIA has in the market is through the partners. NVIDIA has always been a formidable player as far as the visual computing

platform is concerned. And, the company is being looked upon as the pioneer as far as visual computing and any technology that comes into the market. Shridhar maintained, “Because we are transitioning from an earlier version of having graphic boards, which go into the systems, to more and more enduser based company, partnerships are becoming more critical to our success. We are realizing that as a company, the spectrum of the solution that we are bringing in are extremely diverse. So, on the one hand, we work with gamers to buy GeForce graph-

CHANNEL BIZ

ics cards. Secondly there are cafes, which are completely NVIDIA based platforms. Besides we work with enterprise VARs, SIs and partners for higher end solutions.” Therefore, NVIDIA works with various kinds of partners on different business models including service or reselling business model. These partners are covered under its NPN partner programme. NPN stands for NVIDIA Partner Network, which is about creating and nurturing the entire ecosystem of partners. Not only it is about accessing the entire solutions set coming from the portfolio of NVIDIA but also to interact with each other. So, that they work more as a community rather than work in isolation. He added, “Our network of partners works together to inspire and delight the customers with the entire piece of solution that we have. It is a competency based framework. Depending on the competency that the partner has or wants to get into, he can choose the partnership. It allows the partners to be more flexible as well and create that distinction for themselves within the ecosystem.” Under the NPN program, which is of three tiers, currently NVIDIA has 300400 partners. Out of which the company is working with 35 - 40 odd partners with whom the company works very closely.

Finally… There are two ways to grow with NVIDIA. The company is at a critical juncture. Shridhar conclud-ed, “Each of the market that we address is a multi -billion-dollar opportunity. Hence, when a part-ner comes on board in the NPN program, he can look at two vectors of growth. The first vector of growth is organic, whereas whatever he is doing today vs the scenario that is lying with NVIDIA, he can keep pursuing those opportunities and grow further. In addition, NVIDIA equips them and promotes them to get into other markets and other products, which is the inorganic or additional growth opportunity. Here they can get into new markets and new products. As a strategy, we are going to bring in more and more complete products from the NVIDIA stable, which will be used by the end users and that is where lies the growth potential of the partners and expand their business.

SME CHANNELS 45 JANUARY 2017

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