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From Paper to Digitization

34pg

HP announces Channel
Program updates pre-split

P has announced updates to

its channel partner programs
designed to help partners capture
immediate opportunities and position
them for future growth. The HP
Partner Navigator Program
is designed to help HP
partners through HPs
upcoming separation into
two companies, while
additional
programs,
including the Partner One
Alliance, is designed to help
partners drive positive business outcomes
for their customers.
HP is committed to sustained growth
for its partners, focussing on the three
key pillars of simplicity, innovation and
profitability, said Rajiv Srivastava, VP &
GM, PPS HP India.

Microsoft to help
customers adopt
Cloud easily

ith the aim to help Indian

enterprises and government
organizations so that they can harness
the power of cloud, Microsoft India has
launched a special Cloud Accelerator
Program. Microsoft Indias Cloud
Accelerator Program is specially designed
to help Indian customers start and
complete their
cloud journey.
More
than
15 Microsoft
partners
including HCL, Wipro and Tech
Mahindra will be part of the rollout of
the Cloud Accelerator Program in India.
More partners will come on board with
new offerings over the coming months.
Microsoft has also launched cloud
training programs Azure Vidyapeeth
and GuruVarta, for partners that will
enable SMBs transition to the cloud.

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April 2015

April 2015

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www.varindia.com

April 2015

HELLO INDIA

Are we rightly value adding

. to transform India into a Manufacturing Hub

echnology innovation is changing the game for businesses, industries and markets. Enterprises are
increasingly growing interested in adopting the Cloud. With freedom of Internet, net neutrality
would create a fair level-playing field for all companies big and small to produce the best services and
offer these to consumers.
In view of some of the recent developments in the country, there is much to be written about. The
Government is highly committed to empowering the nation digitally and is moving at a supersonic speed
to implement many of the programmes such as e-governance, UID, mobile payment, etc. The government
is also working in partnership with the ICT industry to implement the Digital Presence. With favourable
government policies and the burgeoning market for local consumer electronics, telecom products and
availability of skilled labour, there is also a renewed thrust to attract investments to boost the Indian EDMS
(Electronic Document Management System) industry.
Additionally, for India to become a global manufacturing hub, there are many challenges that IT
managers are faced with, like how to satisfy performance demands without new significant IT capital
investments. Also, we have to create a world-class infrastructure in order to render the Make in India
initiative a success. It is definitely a positive aspect to increase manufacturing in the country, but not before checking on the potential of good
human resources and institutions of various kinds that will make the cost of capital reasonable.
With a positive note, digitization is growing and evolving. Consumer demand is rapidly changing the marketplace. Companies are finding
new ways to innovate for business advantage and are capitalizing on new opportunities to achieve significant business improvement. It has
also been noticed that certain corporates are moving towards a digital form of communication. It is good to move with the time, but it is also
dangerous at some point. It will be wrong to believe that they will find all that they need in the Google. So to point out to some really interesting
examples or anecdotes, many people want to know the source of information from where it is collected, and it
invariably comes from a print brand in digital form or otherwise.
Lastly, various opportunities for technology players with multibillion dollar opportunities are lined up in various
sectors like Smart Governance, Smart Energy, Smart Environment, Smart Transportation, Smart Information
Technology & Communications, Smart Buildings, Smart Health, Smart Education and Smart Power. It is up to
them on how they prepare themselves for the transformation to a world-class digital infrastructure.
S. Mohini Ratna
Editor, VARINDIA
mohini@varindia.com

What is latest in the printing category

at present?
We are leaders in the Laser-jet category
and we will continue to lead this market. HP
has been innovating in the laser-jet printing
portfolio for last 30 years but this is the first
time that we have introduced some very
holistic features in our latest offering in this
category, under what we call Jet Intelligence.
These series of printers are far more space
saving than a previous generation printer,
50 % + energy efficient, 40 % faster in its
first page print-out, thus ensuring that these
organizations remain cost competitive. The
new launch is also a Colour Laser-Jet printer.
We are foreseeing a higher traction and
requirement for colour in todays business
environment. One of the requirements the
new-age organizations are putting forward is
that they want to use colour as part of their
communication because they are much more
powerful and gets much more response from
their clients. All these products are designed
for the new-age office environment; smaller
in size and compact in design so that they
can fit into the shrinking office size that we
see today. These products will therefore set
the norm for the future products that will
come in. HP has been part of a lot of printer
launch earlier but this is one umbrella we will

April 2015

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put together on the Jet Intelligence piece. It

is both for mid-market and enterprise class
customers.
As for single function and multi-function
printers, though single-function printers
are in itself a huge market, the market is
shifting towards multi-function printers and
the trend shows that they are fast gaining
momentum.

In the current scenario of stiff

competition, what kind of innovative
sales and marketing strategies is HP
adopting?
HP has got 3 go-to-market strategies around
Consumer, Enterprise and Commercial and
each segment has its own specific initiatives
to drive business in the market. For example
if we talk about coverage, it is about going
to more number of cities and towns which
will help in growing the overall business.
HP will keep continuing its focus in each
of these areas going forward. I do not see
any major challenges though because of
the competition though but yes, I find
opportunities everywhere. So opportunities
are immense for all of us.

How much innovation do you al low

in your products while stil l keeping the

Parikshet Singh Tomar

Country Category Leader, Printing
Systems, PPS - HP India

price factor in mind?

We do whatever research is required on
our part and ensure that the pricing is in line
with what the customer wants. It should not
be way off the mark and should be based on
the customers needs and what they are ready
to pay for that feature. So we do such kind
of analysis and we keep on working with
our worldwide teams as the final product is
developed by them. But we price it in the
way the local market research tells us. n

www.varindia.com

April 2015

This will be a wonderful journey

for both HP and their Partners
There has been much speculation around the separation of HP into two entities, of how partners
would react to the confusion that it will give rise with regard to the go-to-market strategy. HP is,
however, trying to simplify the matter for partners by introducing several programmes. Gurpreet
Singh Brar, Director Commercial Channel Sales, PPS, HP India, throws more light on this

t is no longer news to anyone that HP is separating into two new

Fortune 50 Public Companies. While HP Inc. will be the leading
personal systems and printing company, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise
will build upon HPs leading position in servers, storage, networking,
converged systems, services and software as well as its OpenStack
Helion cloud platform.
In the runup to the separation that is going to be effective
from November 2015, HP has announced updates to its channel
partner programmes, designed to help partners capture immediate
opportunities and position them for future growth. As far as the
partner programmes are concerned, there is going to be no change
in the overall framework. The only change which will be there
on the channel programme part is going to help them make sure
that the transition from one company to two is seamless, says
Gurpreet Singh Brar, Director Commercial Channel Sales, PPS,
HP India.
HP Partner Navigator Programme and the HP Partner One
Alliance are the two programmes introduced to the partners that
will help them go through a smooth transition. Post November,
as we continue to operate as two separate companies we will
have to make sure that there is enough focus from both us and
partners on the market. Separation is an operational thing, which
will happen simultaneously without disrupting our focus on the
market, he says.
HP is conducting partners round table and updating its
partners on the new changes. Partners, on their part, are quite
excited and have given a positive feedback. As we go forward
from 1st November, there are going to be two teams with two
legal entities. Partners are very bullish about this new change and
this separation. They understand that in order to grow the market
and go beyond what they are doing now, these have to have a
change, reiterates Gurpreet.
Since both the businesses (PPS and enterprise business) will have
different requirements in terms of speed, velocity, time-to-market
from a product standpoint, R&D and investment, having just one
company was making it look very cumbersome. The resources and
requirement of one team may vary from the other team. So having
two teams will ease the situation to a large extent. When you hire two
different entities, speed and agility will come automatically and the
cost will be optimized in a much better way, believes Gurpreet.

Going ahead

As far as channel is concerned, HP has always believed that

its pillars are simplicity, profitability and information. It keeps
doling out specialization programmes for its partners in different
areas like Mobility, value while giving extra rebates, thus making
sure that the partners make money in its dealings with HP. From
a partnership standpoint, there has to be a balanced portfolio of
sales and this is where HP spends a lot of time with its partners. n
samrita@varindia.com

April 2015

www.varindia.com

Gurpreet Singh Brar

Director Commercial Channel Sales, PPS - HP India

HP Partner Navigator Programme

The HP Partner Navigator Programme will help distributors

and the reseller network maintain business continuity through
HPs separation. With resources including dedicated HP Partner
Support Centers, the HP Partner Navigator Programme will enable
all HP-authorized partners to continue to deliver the operational
excellence and high standards their customers have come to expect.

HP Partner One Alliance

The Partner One Alliance is designed to help top partners

continue to offer cross-portfolio opportunities across companies
after the separation. With the Partner One Alliance, both HewlettPackard Enterprise and HP Inc. will work together on partner
activities and maximize participation in industry channel events.
Dedicated teams in both companies will collaborate to build joint
business and marketing plans around specific solutions in the key
areas of the portfolios. The Partner One Alliance will be available
to all Platinum, Gold, Silver and distribution partners.

www.varindia.com

April 2015

CONTENTS
Website: www.varindia.com

Publisher: Deepak Kumar Sahu

Editor: S Mohini Ratna
Executive Editor: Dr. Vijay Anand
Assistant Editor: Samrita Baruah
Sr. Correspondent: Satinder Kaur
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Correspondent: Aparna Mullick
Art Director: Rakesh Kumar
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March 2015

13

ROUND ABOUT

Tale of Two Brother Industries: IT and Electronics

W

hether you believe it or not, Indias

domestic electronics hardware
demand is going to reach US$400 billion by
2020. However, our domestic production
will be around US$100 billion, judging by the
current levels of production. This means that,
to meet the domestic demand, we will have to
import electronics hardware worth US$300
billion annually. Policy watchers say that, at
this rate, our electronic goods import will be
higher than that of oil imports.
Have we been caught unaware of this
looming threat? The answer is both yes and
no. Yes, because such a precarious situation
could have been anticipated at least two
decades back and corrective steps could have
been taken to ward off the occurrence of such
an eventuality, which has great economic
ramifications. No, because despite being
aware of the rollout of the sinister economic
happening, there is not much that could have
been done to prevent it.
Let me go into the history to set the stage.
In the early 1980s, when we started looking at
information technology, we had two fledgling
sectors, connected to each other and had a lot in
common: computer software and services and
electronics hardware. Domestic production
was limited for both these segments.
That time, we had almost a headstart in
electronics. There were several companies
manufacturing TV sets, radios, tape recorders
and the like and there was only one channel,
the state-owned Doordarshan which used to
telecast for limited hours in the wee hours
of morning and in the evening.
In the meantime, computer software and
services have been growing steadily. From a
mere export of less than US$100 million in
the late 1980s, it has peaked to US$100 billion,
a big leap, forming a sizable chunk of Indias
foreign exchange earnings. But the model of
growth had its own flip sides. The growth was
confined mostly to the external sector totally
ignoring the domestic market. That trend
even now continues. Of the total domestic
production of computer software and services
estimated at US$120 billion or so, 80 per cent
is exported.
But electronics hardware depicts a different
story. Not only has its production dipped,
but also exports have stagnated at a low ebb
of US$8 billion or so annually. With India
signing International Telecom Agreement
(ITA) in 1997, which envisaged bringing the
import duty on electronics hardware goods to
zero level by 2005, domestic production got
crippled. Imports had become cheaper than
domestic production. Major international
brands imported heavily their gadgets instead
of producing them domestically. That had a
negative impact on the Indian industry.
Are things changing now? Happily, the
perception is slowly gaining ground that the
electronics sector can pick up riding on the
back of two important programmes launched
in the country Make in India and Digital
India, which are designed to give a leg-up to

12

April 2015

www.varindia.com

manufacturing and digital connectivity in the

country. However, that alone will not bail out
the electronics hardware in the country. There
is heavy import of chips or semiconductors
which are going into the manufacture of
electronics goods in the country. These are
costly inputs, making electronics production
costly and exports uncompetitive. The chips or
semiconductors are imported from countries
like China, Taiwan, South Korea, etc.
There are two proposals with the
government to manufacture chips in the
country, one in Gujarat and the other in
Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida. There
were proposals to manufacture chips in the
country earlier also. One chip manufacturing
facility was set up in Chandigarh, which was
gutted and till date the exact reasons for the
fire are not known. On the other hand, we
do not have anything to showcase as chip
manufacturing facility. Once these facilities
come up, which some of the close industry
watchers are skeptic on account of the high
cost involved in the wafer chip manufacturing
facility, things can look up. India will be
in a position to push up the production
of electronic goods and thus ward off the
looming foreign exchange crisis on account of
the heavy electronics goods import.
To become a world leader in electronics,
we have to take on countries like China,
Korea and Japan. Let us take China versus
India in terms of the inherent strength for
electronics goods manufacturing. There is no
comparison at all. While India is toying with
the idea of setting up two chip making plants,
Chin has already over 100 units engaged
in manufacturing. China has millions of
electronic manufacturing units spread across
the country. India has only 3,600 units in the
organized sector found mostly in cities like
Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.
While Chinese exports of electronics
products are in several billions of dollars, it is
miniscule from India.
Now the government is determined
to create an ecosystem conducive for the
manufacture of electronics goods. Many
fiscal and financial incentives are framed to
motivate major players to come to India.
Digital convergence refers to harmony of four
industries, such as information technology,
telecommunication, consumer electronics
and entertainment. The latest is that these
technologies are blended together for creating
newer products.
But these things will not happen in a
vacuum. We have to work towards making
them happen.
The government should introspect
why large companies are shying away from
investing in the electronics sector. The second
issue is why major companies both from India
and abroad are shying away from investing in
wafer chip technology, despite the 25-per cent
capital subsidy and plethora of other incentives
offered? Even if these two projects floated by
two consortia fructify, does it compare well

with China, which has over 100 chip making

facilities? It is important that these issues are
sorted out at the earliest to pave the way for a
vibrant electronics hardware sector.
A related issue is R&D. Most of the
electronics companies invest heavily in
research and development to continuously
upgrade the technologies since the average
life span of a brand is less than a year. Can
India afford such heavy investment in R&D?
Importantly, India has created a new fund,
Electronics Development Fund, which is
known as Fund of Funds. This facility, which
operates through a string of venture capital
funds, zeroes in on entrepreneurs, who have
the caliber and professional outlook in setting
up electronic units. The underlying premise is
that the capital subsidy and other facilities are
availed by only capable units which have the
will to succeed.
The other way to promote electronics
production in the country is by streamlining
the functioning of electronics hardware parks
(EHTPs), which are exclusively dedicated to
augment the production of quality products
in the country. There is no denial that our
past experience with EHTP is not that
encouraging. Some of the parks set up lack the
basic facilities like uninterrupted power and
water supply, facilities for treating e-wastes,
lack of lodging and training facilities for their
employees and so on.
At the end of the day, we cannot afford to
incur huge import bill for electronics goods.
The challenges that are staring at us should
be converted into opportunities to build
capacities for production on a large scale not
only for substituting imports but also catering
to other markets. Once the expertise is built,
innovations will follow. The most remarkable
innovation can be the evolution of digital
convergence, when software and hardware
combine to craft newer products.
That will also be the stage when Indian IT
and related industry will be entering a new
trajectory. n

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13





HOT BYTES

Konica buys printing business

of Monotech Systems

onica
Minolta
has
announced
its acquisition of the
Production
Printing
business of Monotech
Systems Limited. The
acquisition will come
into effect from June 1,
2015. MSL is currently
a distributor for Konica
Minolta in India.
The
other
three
distributors
HCL
Infosystems Ltd, KMI
Business
Technologies
Pvt. Ltd. and TechNova
Imaging Systems Ltd. will
continue to be the valued
business associates and
operate, as earlier.

Yuji Nakata, MD,

Konica Minolta India, said,
The Production Printing
market in India has been
rapidly growing. We have
now set ambitious targets
for ourselves and the MSL
acquisition will provide
us a platform to directly
create new value for our
customers, and achieve
higher levels of customer
satisfaction.

Snapdeal buys FreeCharge

napdeal
has
a c q u i r e d
FreeCharge.
This
acquisition
sets
up
Snapdeal to build the
most impactful digital
commerce
ecosystem
in India. With this
acquisition, Snapdeal will
be offering the widest
range of products and
services, including financial
services, mobile recharge
and utility payments with
an exponentially growing
user base of over 40
million.
Kunal
Bahl,
CoFounder
&
CEO,
Snapdeal, said, The age

of monolithic ecommerce
platforms is over. It is now
time to build an impactful
digital
commerce
ecosystem in India that
is multidimensional and
inclusive, delivering welldefined experiences to
consumers. With this gamechanging
partnership
with FreeCharge, we have
significantly enhanced our
user base and now offer
all our customers access
to the widest selection
of products and services
online, making digital
commerce an even more
intrinsic part of their
lives.

Zenith to enhance e-governance sector

enith
Software
has
plans
to
establish their presence
in more than 25 cities for
the growth of domestic
IT market, especially in
the Banking and Govt.
(e-gov) sectors. Currently,
Zenith has expanded its
network in 10 cities and
is planning to tap the IT
market across 25 cities in
the coming years.
Anoop
Singh
Sengar, President &
Deputy CEO, ZSL said,
The Govt.s Digital
India Initiative, new
technological
shift
(SMAC
and
Open
Source ) in the Indian
banking landscape and
exponential growth in

14

April 2015

Oracle witnesses NASSCOMs start-ups Programme

demand in
in the fourth phase
Applications
Cloud Solutions
are
currently
being
TheAssociationNationalof sessions.

the size of the domestic

IT market has created
a perfect ecosystem
to further excel and
increase our already wellestablished presence in the
domestic market.ZSL is on
the path of transformation
through innovation with
excellence to meet the
current needs of the
industry."

www.varindia.com

racle
is
witnessing
unprecedented demand
for its cloud solutions
in the country. Oracles
Software-as-a-Service
(SaaS) business has seen
the highest and fastest
adoption rate till date,
with Platform-as-a-Service
(Paas) close behind.
Over the last few years,
Oracle has acquired several
hundred cloud customers
in India, all using different
Oracle Cloud solutions.
The Oracle Customer
Experience Cloud (Oracle
CX Cloud), which includes
Oracle
Sales
Cloud,
Oracle Service Cloud,
Oracle Marketing Cloud,
and Oracle Social Cloud,
had the highest uptake in
customer adoption and
accounts for more than 50
percent of the companys
SaaS customer base.

HID Global buys

Quantum Secure

ID
Global
has
acquired
Quantum Secure. With
this acquisition, HID
Global will enhance its
ability to deliver an end-toend identity management
solution.
With the acquisition
of Quantum Secure,
HID Global is taking
a significant step in
addressing customer needs
in managing identity, risk
and compliance. The
company has been at the
forefront in delivering
a versatile management
tool for all organizations,
especially those in highlyregulated industries such
as finance and healthcare
with
demanding
compliance requirements.
Going
forward,
the
combination of Quantum
Secures SAFE software
suite with HIDs product
portfolio will deliver
ever better and more
comprehensive solutions
for our customers, said
Denis
Hbert,
HID
Global President & CEO.

Software and Services

Companies (NASSCOM)
has marked the second
anniversary
of
its 10,000 Startup Programme to
create 10,000 domainspecific
start-ups
in
the country by 2020.
As the 10,000 start-up
programme keeps rolling
to its fourth phase of
shortlisting, Phase 3 had
500 start-up shortlists
that went through pitch
and mentoring Konnect

processed on FIFO basis

till 22nd April for the
next session of Start-up

Konnect which is a mini

boot-camp programme
for shortlisted start-ups
who will be eligible for
connect-2-pitch
with
all ecosystem partners,
including
leading
accelerators,
angel
investor networks and
venture capital firms.

Amazon announces
investments in Telangana

mazon
Seller
S e r v i c e s
(ASSPL) has announced
investments in the state
of Telangana with the
opening of a Fulfilment
Centre (FC), spread over
280,000 square feet near
Kottur, on the outskirts
of Hyderabad. The FC
will be operational from
May 2015. The FC will
allow Amazon.in to offer
its Fulfilment by Amazon
(FBA) service to thousands
of small and medium
businesses in the state
and empower them to
gain access to and service
customers across the
country at significantly
low operating costs. It
will also enable faster

and quicker delivery of

products to amazon.in
customers in the region.
Chief Minister K.
Chandrashekar Rao said,
"We are very excited
that Amazon has decided
to invest their biggest
warehouse in Telangana.
We have passed the TS
iPass bill in our Assembly
that
ensures
selfcertification and deemed
approval of all clearances
within three weeks of
application for any Mega
Project. For Amazon, we
have given all clearances
in 11 days, well within the
guaranteed time. We are
making all efforts to make
Telangana an investorfriendly state."

IBM enables Start-ups to

harness the Cloud

o run critical
applications and
grow businesses, several
start-ups across India are
tapping into IBM cloud.
Goldstar
Healthcare,
Vtiger, Clematix and
Ecoziee Marketing have
chosen SoftLayer, an IBM
company, as their cloud
infrastructure platform.
IBMs cloud services
give start-ups the required
edge to compete and
thrive in a challenging
marketplace. said Vivek
Malhotra, Cloud Leader,

IBM India/ South Asia.

IBM is powering cloud
adoption among Indian
start-ups by enabling them
to do more with limited
resources and budgets.
With SoftLayer, start-ups
can begin on a small-scale
and then expand rapidly to
meet workload demands.
A IBM cloud solutions
can help innovate at a
faster pace, enrich user
experience and build
affordable
business
models.

www.varindia.com

April 2015

15

HOT BYTES

Xerox concludes XRCI Open 2015

erox
Research
Centre
India
(XRCI) has conducted the
2nd edition of XRCI Open
Innovation Symposium
2015 in Bangalore.

increasing digitization of
data, there are amazing
opportunities to apply
technology
towards
making a difference to
the world at large, said

With the availability

of abundant computing
power, proliferation of
data from sensors and

Dr Manish Gupta, VicePresident, Xerox Corp.

and Director of Xerox
Research Centre in India.

Barracuda enhances worldwide

Partner Program

o
reinforce
its
position,
Barracuda has enhanced
its channel program to
provide the necessary
structure and tools to allow
resellers to successfully
sell and support Barracuda
solutions for mutual
customers. The new
program is designed to
accelerate
profitability
for loyal partners, and to
attract new, motivated
partners.
Over the years, we
have added a tremendous
amount of innovative
technologies
to
our

solution portfolio to
provide our channel
partners with the best
possible options to solve
security
and
storage
challenges for customers.
We will continue to
focus on ensuring our
partners are equipped
with the necessary tools
and resources to solve
these IT challenges, but
also better aligning the
program to meet the
different needs of resellers
at every partner level,
said Michael Hughes,
SVP Worldwide Sales,
Barracuda.

MAIT and BIIPA to promote

local manufacturing

iming
to
promote
local
manufacturing,
SME
Chapter of MAIT has
signed an MoU with
the Busan IT Industry

of
information
on
technology know-how,
software
development,
talent exchange with a
strong focus on industrial
development in both the

Promotion
Agency
(BIIPA) in Bengaluru.
The MoU aims to bring
together
Indian
and
Korean SMEs to uphold
local
manufacturing
by
regular
exchange

countries. This MoU has

imparted further forward
momentum to encourage
local manufacturing of
products in India and
set agendas for regular
engagement.

16

April 2015

www.varindia.com

Brocade plans
$300 Million
investment

o support the
companys New
IP innovations, Brocade
has
announced
the
opening of a new stateof-the-art Development
Center in Bangalore, and
stated that it will invest
US$300 million in India
over the next five years.
The new Center reaffirms
Brocades commitment
to accelerating growth in
one of the worlds fastestgrowing economies, and
will play an important
role in the development of
networking innovations
based on the New IP
architecture.
The
Center
will
enable Brocade India
to showcase proofs-ofconcept and pilot projects
for customers and partners
while contributing to
the development of nextgeneration, fabric-based
and software networking
solutions.

Lenovo
introduces
DRS 2.0

enovo
has
announced Deal
Registration
System
(DRS) DRS 2.0, an easyto-use platform that builds
a direct online connection
between Lenovo and
its commercial business
partners. This initiative
aims to equip the
partners with updated
information,
provide
exclusivity and reduce
the turnaround time from
client identification to the
closure of business.
DSR 2.0 is a free
platform and can be
accessed on any web
browser
and
mobile
handsets. The platform
builds on the first version
of the platform DSR 1.0
that was launched last
year and adds several
features that increases
functionality, speed and
transparency.

D-Link spreads D-Link

Direct Service

-Link
has
made a major
breakthrough
in
customer
service
support by introducing
the
revolutionary
D-Link Direct Service
DDS during mid2013.
Following
the
overwhelming response
to DDS, the company has
now decided to extend
this service to customers
present in C & D Class
cities as well. As a result,
the new and enhanced
service support system
will make the turnaround
time faster and increase
the footprint for DDS pan

India.
The highly appreciated
and admired D-Link
Direct Service with its
new Regional model will
be backed by D-Link
Service Centres (DSCs)
along with D-Link Service
Partners (DSP) and D-Link
Authorized
Collection
centres (DAC). So with
a presence in over 150
cities, DDS will now offer
faster and reliable service
to customers across India.
All regional DDS Centres
are equipped with the
state-of-the-art BGA (Ball
Grid Array) facilities to
support quick resolution.

PM boosts e-governance plans

with Twitter Samvad

o
boost
the
e-governance
plans,
Indian
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi (@narendramodi)
took another step in his
Digital India initiative
by launching Twitter
Samvad. It is aimed
at helping government
bodies and leaders to
communicate
directly
with citizens on a daily
basis via Tweets and SMS
on their mobile devices.
Through
Twitter
Samvad, every day a set
of curated Tweets will
be delivered from the
government and leaders

accounts to mobile users

across the country as SMS.
Updates on government
services, policies and
activities can be delivered
to any user with a mobile
device signed up for the
service with each of the 16
launch partners. Anyone
with a mobile phone, with
or without a data plan,
can register for the service
by giving a missed call to
a unique number for each
of the partners.
Twitter Samvad is
based on the platform
provided by ZipDial, an
Indian company recently
acquired by Twitter.

NTT to invest Rs 620-crore

in new data centre

TT
Communications
is
planning to open a new
data centre through its
subsidiary Netmagic in
Mumbai by the end of
current calendar year
with an investment of
$100 million. NTT,
which offers voice and
video solutions and
network services to
customers, holds a 74%
stake in Netmagic, which
is currently growing at
around 35% annually.
NTT has chosen
India's financial capital
Mumbai over other

locations and since the

metropolitan hosts many
corporate headquarters,
the company expects
it to be a big business
driver.
"The new data centre
coming up in Q3 2015
will be spread across
3-lakh square-feet and can
host up to 3,000 server
racs with 20MW-28MW
energy capacity," Sharad
Sanghi, MD and Chief
Executive of Netmagic,
said. "This new data
centre will have carrierneutral business model,"
he added.

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www.varindia.com

April 2015

17

ON THE RAMP

Ricoh launches MP C2011SP

icoh has unveiled

the MP C2011SP
Color Digital Imaging
Systems for printing
industry. MP C2011SP
offers fast speed, greater
paper capacity and worryfree security. Further,
it allows customers to
expand
their
digital
imaging resources and
capabilities
without
expending their budget.
Users can maximize
production with faster
output speed, conserve IT
resources with advanced
network, Color and Mono
printing and monitoring
capabilities, and save
time and money with

document sharing over

the mail in a network.
Manoj
Kumar,
Executive VP & CEO,
Ricoh India Ltd., said,
With the aim to offer
best-in-class performance
product, Ricoh has brought
this compact device that
offers advanced features
for
multifunctional
operations.

Dimension Data helps customers

shift to Next-Gen Data Center

o
help
organizations
build
next-generation
Data Center, Dimension
Data has launched a new
maturity tool. The Data
Center
Development
Model

the
first
assessment that covers
such a broad spectrum
of the data center was
created off the back of
strong demand from
clients seeking guidance
and actionable plans to
make their data centers
more responsive and
agile.
According
to

Steve Joubert, Group

Executive
for
Data
Centers,
Dimension
Data, global competitive
pressures brought on by
social, mobile, analytics
and cloud have had a
tremendous impact on
data centers to transform
to
remain
relevant.
Every client we speak
to is looking for ways
to transform their data
centers to become more
responsive to business
needs. It is with this in
mind that we developed
the
Data
Center
Development Model.

Panasonic rolls out Duplex

Multifunctional Printers

anasonic
India
has introduced its
multifunctional
duplex
printers
with
highspeed 24ppm. These
new printers come with
memory of 64MB, which
boast a speed of 24ppm
with
doublesided
printing along with an
added advantage of 2-in-1
function which consumes
part of an A4 size
paper and reduces toner
usage. These printers
are also compatible to
Google, Cloud print and
Mobile print applications,
making it accessible to
any electronic gadget.
Manish
Sharma,

18

April 2015

Axis launches
Q61-E Series
of Camera

MD, Panasonic India,

said,
Panasonic
has
successfully made inroads
into the Indian business
market and this segment
holds immense growth
opportunities for us to
expand.With the launch
of these products, we are
looking at capturing 20%
market share by 2016."

www.varindia.com

Dell brings enhanced Networking

Solutions for SMBs
s

Communications
has
introduced new AXIS
Q61-E
Series.
The
Sharpdome technology
with
its
innovative
mechanics and a unique
dome geometry provides
full scene fidelity and sharp
images in all directions.
The technology enables
cameras to offer the
unique
capability
to
identify objects as much
as 20 above the camera
horizon making these
cameras also suitable for
uneven terrain.
By bringing the
Sharpdome technology
into the new AXIS
Q61-E Series, we can
offer a compact and
robust PTZ camera for
reliable identification in
HDTV that fits in most
environments. said Erik
Frnnlid, Axis Director
of Product Management.

Juniper unveils
new application
acceleration
switch

uniper Networks
has unveiled the
QFX5100-AA, a new
application acceleration
switch and the QFXPFA, a new packet flow
accelerator
module,
together providing a
ground-breaking
data
center
switch
that
consolidates
compute
resources and customizable
logic into the network.
Ideal for financial
services
institutions,
the switch and module
will
vastly
improve
the
performance
of
applications that handle
market data feeds, social
media
feeds,
order
execution routing and big
data analytics, allowing
financial firms to make
decisions faster and take
advantage of real-time
market opportunities.

ell has announced

an
enhanced
networking
portfolio
including the new X-series
family of smart managed
switches and an expanded
N-series family with the
addition of the Dell N1500
for smaller fully-managed
environments.
We observed that
SMBs (just as larger
enterprises) are being
affected by the increased
workload rising out of
the high impact trends of
social, mobility, cloud and
analytics. To effectively
work
through
these
workloads, such businesses
require
enterprise-level

technology which is right

sized, resource light and
financially flexible. Our
new N-Series and X-Series
networking products work
efficiently and seamlessly
in mid-market companies
by providing enterpriselevel technology optimized
for their workloads, said
Manish Gupta, Director &
GM, Enterprise Solutions
Group, Dell India.

Ruckus redefines Wi-Fi ZoneFlex R710

uckus Wireless
has unveiled the
Ruckus ZoneFlex R710,
a Wi-Fi access point (AP)
based on Wave 2 features
of the 802.11ac standard
that extends Wi-Fi to
enable
multi-gigabit
Wi-Fi performance and
unprecedented capacity.
ZoneFlex R710 is the
first Wi-Fi access point
to now support major
technical advances in the
802.11ac standard that
allow the simultaneous
transmission of multiple
client
streams
to
different devices over
the same frequency,
a highly anticipated

new capability called

multi-user
multiple
input/multiple output
(MU-MIMO).
This
enables over two times
the density of mobile
devices versus Wave 1,
and aggregate data rates
exceeding two gigabits
per second.
With four discrete,
dual-band smart antenna
arrays, the ZoneFlex
R710 is capable of
dynamically creating over
4,000 unique directional
antenna patterns per
radio, mitigating up to
15dB of RF interference
while also reducing cochannel interference.

Adobe introduces Adobe Document

Cloud

dobe
has
introduced
its
newest cloud offering,
Adobe Document Cloud,
a modern way to manage
documents at home, in the
office and across
devices.
Adobe
Document Cloud
consists of a set of
integrated services
that use a consistent
online profile and
personal document
hub. At the heart of
Document Cloud is the
all-new Adobe Acrobat
DC, which will take
e-signatures mainstream
by delivering free e-signing

as part of the integrated

solution.
Clearly, we have
struck a chord, as we
set out to alleviate
document distress for both
enterprise workers
and
individual
consumers.
With Document
Cloud, we are
revolutionizing
how
people
get work done
with documents, and
our
customers
are
applauding the move,
said Bryan Lamkin, Sr VP,
Technology and Corporate
Development, Adobe.

www.varindia.com

April 2015

19

ON THE RAMP

Kingston unveils HS4 AllIn-One Media Reader

ingston
has
launched
its
fourth-generation HS4 AllIn-One Media Reader and
has also announced a new
64GB capacity addition to
its CompactFlash Ultimate
600x family which will
soon be available in India.
The 32GB and 64GB CF
Ultimate 600x cards offer
premium results with
speeds up to 90MB/s read
and write to support burst
mode photography or
HD video. The addition
of Media RECOVER
software lets users recover
deleted files and restore
corrupt files, if needed.

HS4
All-In-One
Media Reader is a great
device to quickly move
data between multiple
devices.
The
highercapacity CF Ultimate 600x
lets avid photographers
and videographers capture
more content and when
used with the reader, data
transfer is simple and fast,
said Nathan Su, Flash
Memory Sales Director,
APAC Region, Kingston.

SanDisk improves FlashSoft

Caching Software Portfolio

anDisk
has
introduced
the
newest version of its
FlashSoft
server-side,
solidstate
caching
software,
which
provides several notable
performance,
usability
and
compatibility
improvements
for
Windows, Linux and
VMware environments.
Its FlashSoft caching
software will be available
in new bundled offerings
that package the software
with SanDisks array of
enterprise flash hardware
solutions, including the

Fusion ioMemory PCIe

application accelerators,
the Optimus Ascend SAS
solid-state drive (SSD),
and the CloudSpeed
Ascend SATA SSD.
We are excited to be
able to offer customers
a complete solution that
provides the performance
and cost benefits of flash
technology, while at
the same time making
it easier for our channel
partners to support their
customers, said Ravi
Swaminathan, VP & GM,
Systems and Software
Solutions, SanDisk.

Gigabyte introduces
GeForce GTXTITAN X

IGABYTE has
launched
the
most advanced GPU

GV-NTITANXD512GD-B. It is based on
the GeForce GTX TITN
X Maxwell Architecture.
GIGABYTE
GVNTITANXD5-12GD-B
utilizes
the
28nm
fabrication process and
features 12GB of 7Gbps
GDDR5 memory and
a massive 3072 CUDA
cores. This card is a
gaming
beast
armed
with incredible graphics
firepower ready to max
out the latest games at
extreme resolutions.

20

April 2015

This card is loaded with

the advanced technologies
like NVIDIA ShadowPlay,
groundbreaking
G-SYNCdisplay
technology and NVIDIA
GameStream to stream
games to the NVIDIA
SHIELD portable. With
the use of GIGABYTE
OC GURU II utility
software, the overclocking
capacity can be further
increased by unblocking
the hardware limitation.

www.varindia.com

Palo Alto unveils EMC launches ViPR Controller 2.2

ViPR
AutoFocus
Controller
is
EMC

alo
Alto
Networks has also
introduced a new cyberthreat intelligence service,
called AutoFocus. This
service gives prioritized,
actionable
intelligence
design so that customers
can take clear advantage
in the battle against cyberthreats.
AutoFocus
cyberthreat intelligence service
is able to expose the latest
threat tactics, techniques,
and procedures used
by attackers, Attribute
attacks
to
specific
adversaries,
Identify
how specific threats fit
into a larger campaign
and Distinguish between
commodity
malware
versus highly customized
or targeted malware.
These
advanced
capabilities
enable
customers to quickly
prioritize highly targeted
attacks, apply appropriate
resources to address them,
and take immediate action
to protect critical assets.

Micron & Intel

intro 3D NAND
Flash Memory

i c r o n
Technology and
Intel Corporation have
jointly developed the new
3D NAND technology.
Flash is the storage
technology used inside
the lightest laptops, fastest
data centers, and nearly
every cellphone, tablet
and mobile device.
This new 3D NAND
technology
stacks
layers of data storage
cells
vertically
with
extraordinary precision
to create storage devices
with three times higher
capacity than competing
NAND
technologies.
This
enables
more
storage in a smaller space,
bringing significant cost
savings, low-power usage
and high performance to a
range of mobile consumer
devices as well as the most
demanding
enterprise
deployments.

storage
automation
software that centralizes
and transforms storage into
a simple, extensible and
open platform. It abstracts
and pools resources to
deliver automated, policydriven storage services on
demand via a self-service
catalog.
The
vendor
neutral centralized storage
management, helps in
reducing costs, providing
choice and delivering
a path to the cloud. It
also provides seamless
integration with cloud
stacks and supports an

open API.
ViPR
Controller
automates
repetitive
storage
provisioning
and reclamation tasks in
addition to providing selfservice access to storage
for customers. Its selfservice catalog makes
it as easy to consume
enterprise storage as it
is to consume a public
cloud storage service
while maintaining all
the best-of-breed features
and capabilities of the
underlying arrays.

Fujitsu M10 Servers accelerate

Datacenter Transformation

ujitsu M10 servers

running
Oracle
Solaris 11.2, a fullyintegrated
enterprise
OpenStack distribution,
are an ideal match for
todays IT requirements.
The
combination
of
the
mission-critical
strength of Oracle Solaris
and its integration of
OpenStack open-source
cloud software enables IT
leaders to build efficient,
compliant, secure, open
and affordable clouds and
allows cloud and legacy
applications to coexist on
a single system, to easily
transition
datacenter
infrastructures to onpremise/hybrid
cloud

models.
Fujitsu M10 servers
are flexible and scalable
systems that deliver high
performance and missioncritical reliability for
enterprise-class workloads.
These high-performance
servers are based on
Fujitsu SPARC64 X+/X
processors, run Oracle
Solaris and offer dynamic
scaling in a pay-as-yougrow model supporting up
to 1,024 cores and 32TB
of memory in a single
system image among the
industrys largest capacity
available on the market
today, delivering extreme
in-memory
compute
performance.

Blue Coat enhances its

product portfolio

lue Coat Systems

has
announced
that its cloud-based Global
Intelligence Network now
integrates Blue Coats
entire portfolio, including
the
Norman
Shark
sandboxing technology
and Solera Networks
forensics and incident
response products recently
acquired by Blue Coat.
All products now feed and
receive threat information
on a continuous basis,
providing
security
professionals
real-time
intelligence that allows
them to more effectively

blocks threats. This leads

to reduced attacks and a
more effective advanced
threat defense.
Blue Coat customers
now have the most
powerful solution for full
network visibility and
advanced threat defense in
the industry. By helping
them see clearly, and
protecting them against
unknown threats almost
instantaneously,
our
customers gain a level of
protection no other single
vendor can deliver, said
Michael Fey, Blue Coat
President & COO.

www.varindia.com

April 2015

21

VOICE-N-DATA

Huawei signs contract

with Tata Teleservices

uawei
has
entered into a
three-year contract worth
$15 million (Rs.93 crore)
with Tata Teleservices
to enhance Tata groups
telecom
company's
wireline
network.
Huawei is upgrading
Tata Teleservices' panIndia internet protocolbased core network with
routers that support 100G
and 400G technology.
Tata
Teleservices
recently won
more
CDMA
airwaves
in
the
just-concluded
auction, which can be
used to deploy 4G LTE
technology that supports

high-speed
broadband.
The telco operates in
more than 450,000 towns
and villages across the
country. It had upgraded
its 3G network to
HSPA+
(High-Speed
Packet Access) technology
with the help of Nokia
Networks in Karnataka,
Haryana and Punjab
circles.
Smartphone
sales
surge in the Indian
telecom industry is seeing
subscribers use more
data services on 2G and
increasingly on 3G.

Orange rolls out first

SDN Pilot for SMBs

range Business
Services
has
launched its first pilot of a
100% digital and automated
SDN solution for small
and medium enterprises
(SMBs). By April 2015,
around ten SMBs (with
up to ten sites) will test in
real conditions for a year a
100% digital plug-and-play
SDN offer, developed by
Orange Business Services.
This SDN pilot will be
used by these companies
to create and manage in
real time their Intranet
and Internet networks via
a web portal. With this

simple and secure interface,

network managers can also
order and customize new
virtualized
application
services of their choice Internet content filtering,
advanced security and
antivirus.
This pilot project is
part of a larger program
named "SDN for Business"
dedicated to formalizing
and implementing Orange
Business Services' SDN
strategy. SDN is among
the top priorities of the
Orange Group in defining
its network evolution
strategy.

Uninor acquires Radio Waves

ninor
has
announced
to
acquire Radio Waves
through other options,
including acquisition or
spectrum sharing as per
business
requirement.
There are different options
for getting spectrum it
can be through auction,
M&A, spectrum sharing,
spectrum
trading
or
another auction. The
company, owned by
Norwegian firm Telenor,
participated in the auction
but did not buy any
spectrum. It was permitted
to operate in seven out of
22 telecom circles and had
4.4 crore subscribers at
the end of January.

22

April 2015

The company has

plans
to
modernize
all its 24,000 mobile
towers so as to upgrade
its network to cater to
the rising demand. The
company also invested
in new technology not
only future ready but is
also much more efficient.
Existing BTS have also
to be changed in the next
1-1.5 years.
Currently,
Uninor
operates in six areas
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Gujarat,
Maharashtra,
Uttar Pradesh East and
West. The company will
start its operations in
Assam by the end of this
year.

www.varindia.com

RCom to launch
4G services

Com
has
announced
to
provide 4G services across
the country on the back
of spectrum won by it
in the recently spectrum
auction.
RCom
has
become Indias first only
operator to launch stateof-the-art LTE nationwide
on vastly-superior 800/850
MHz band in India.
It made bids worth
Rs.4, 299 crore and is
required to make an
upfront payment of Rs.1,
106 crore. RCom retained
its 900 MHz holding in
Himachal Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh, besides
acquiring
800
MHz
spectrum afresh in Assam,
North-East, Odisha and
West Bengal where it lost
900 MHz band spectrum
holding.
RCom
has
also
acquired
new
and
top-up 800/850 MHz
spectrum in 11 Circles
to achieve contiguous 5
MHz spectrum holding
nationwide.

Ericsson will
partner for
5G Research

ricsson
has
collaborated with
Kings College London
and Technische University
at Dresden (TU Dresden)
for 5G research. The
collaboration will address
the technical implications
and social changes.
5G is expected to
begin its commercial
rollout in 2020, by which
time Ericsson believes
that there will be up to 50
billion connected devices
in the world, mainly
in
machine-to-machine
communication.5G
networks will enable a
wide variety of use cases
such as evolved mobile
broadband services, a
range of machine-tomachine communication
and media distribution.
These services will demand
diverse requirements on
the performance of the
networks.

ZTE launches 3GPP MCLD

Standard Project

TE has launched
a research project
on Multicarrier Load
Distribution (MCLD) of
UEs in LTE. The research
project, led by ZTE with
the cooperation of China
Telecom, Verizon and
other operators, aims to
enable idle user equipment
(UE) to be distributed
evenly among multiple
LTE cells (including
heterogeneous network
cells) so as to improve
the performance and
operational efficiency of
LTE networks.
The
current
and
heterogeneous
LTE
network architecture leads

to overlapped coverage of
multiple macro and micro
cells and the existing cell
reselection
mechanism
cannot solve the problem
of how to distribute
UEs evenly across these
different cells.
ZTE was on the third
position rank-wise in terms
of the Patent Cooperation
Treaty (PCT) applications
in 2014, as indicated by
the latest data published
by the World Intellectual
Property Organization.
ZTE is one of three
enterprises that have the
most PCT applications.

"Idea" Top Bidder in

Spectrum Auction

dea Cellular has

emerged as the
highest bidder in the
spectrum auction after
attracting bids worth
Rs.30, 306 crore. Bharti
Airtel, the countrys
largest telecom services
provider, came second
with bids worth Rs.29,
130 crore, while Vodafone
India was third with bids
worth Rs.25, 959 crore.
Marten Pieters, MD
&
CEO,
Vodafone
India, stated, With the
spectrum acquired in this
auction, we have ensured
the continuity of our
business and increased
our capability to provide

high-speed 3G coverage
to more areas. We will
continue to invest in
building our network
in the coming years to
harness the potential of
the Spectrum won.
The victorious bidders
will pay a quarter to a
third of the winning price
within 10 days, and the rest
in 10 annual installments
beginning 2017.
On offer this time were
blocks for 69 service areas
at a total reserve price of
Rs.80,277 crore, and the
provisional
allocation
was announced for 63 of
them at a winning price of
Rs.109,874.91 crore.

Airtel focuses on TD-LTE and FD-LTE

irtel has decided

to focus on both
TD-LTE and FD-LTE
after the purchase of 111.6
MHz of Spectrum across
900 MHz, 1800 MHz
and 2100 MHz bands for
Rs.29,130 crore during
the March 2015
auction to spruce
up 4G coverage.
It will chalk out
a strategy to focus
on data growth.
Airtel
has
also
acquired 1800 MHz
Spectrum across Punjab,
Andhra
Pradesh,
Kolkata, Orissa, Haryana

and North East. The

company plans to offer
pan-India 4G services
using combination of
FD-LTE
technology
in 1800 MHz band and
TD-LTE rollout in the
2300 MHz band. It will

also offer 3G across

all markets with the
exception of Kerala by
using combination of 900
MHz and 2100 MHz.

www.varindia.com

April 2015

23

CHANNEL BUZZ

GFI and Satcom Infotech conduct

Multi-City Partner Events

FI Software and Satcom

Infotech have conducted
multi-city events for their
partners in Bengaluru, Chennai,
Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.
The key objectives of these

strategies and explore new growth

opportunities.
"These events help reiterate
our continuous support to our
channel partners in India. Our
partnership with Satcom Infotech

events were to help partners gain

insights about GFI's products and
solutions, explore new business
opportunities and address the
challenges they face while selling
GFI products.
GFI gave presentations on
various products like LanGuard,
Web Monitor and Events Manager
updating partners on new features,
upgrades and enhancement in
their security solutions offering.
GFI also unveiled its channel
strategies and future initiatives
planned for channel partners in
the Indian market. The events
provided a platform for partners
to share their ideas, discuss

in the security domain is delivering

measurable business benefits for
customers and we look forward to
expanding this alliance to explore
new growth opportunities," said
Graham McIntyre, Regional
Channel Manager Middle East
Asia and India,GFI.
Vinod Kumar, Managing
Director,
Satcom
Infotech,
says, "This will help us gain the
mind share of the partners to get
associated with Satcom. They are
helping partners in stabilizing
their business and at the same time
capturing market share through a
services-centric, outcomes-driven
approach."

Toshiba partners rejoice in Goa

o
celebrate
their
consistent growth in
Toshiba business, over forty

had this to add, The trip was

perfectly balanced, from the
interaction with Polad to the stay

partners had a good treat in Goa.

The main objective of the meet
was to motivate the partners,
increase their sales proficiency/
knowledge and their product
aptitude. The highlight of the
conference was the briefing session
by the Country Manager of
Toshiba himself, Polad Garda. It
was his unfathomable confidence
building words that motivated
the partners to outperform their
preset targets.
Vishal Aggarwal of Vishal
Info
Solution,
Ahmedabad,

in Goa. The interaction allowed

me to understand the companys
products, and its vision for the
near future. Motivating words
by Garda have now made me
want to break more targets in the
future, and be a regular at such
incentive trips.
Toshiba in a very short time
has become the leader in Storage
in India. I take this opportunity
to thank all the partners for their
confidence and support to Rashi,
added Kiran Deshmukh, Business
Manager,Rashi Peripherals.

24

April 2015

www.varindia.com

Plantronics partners embark

on USA exclusive trip

lantronics partners and

Rashi branch heads have
embarked upon a ten-day trip
to SFO, Vegas and New York,
U.S. THE CHALO AMERICA
WITH
PLANTRONICS
Programme was a super success
with 100-percent achievement
from each participant.
The first dawn of the trip
saw a visit to the Plantronics
headquarters in Santa Cruz,
California. The partners got a
chance to witness the Research
and Development centre of
Plantronics, the same place
where the headset used by Neil
Armstrong The first man to
walk on the moon was designed.
The partners also got a lifetime
opportunity to experience the
Infamous Wall of Ears a
wall that which has ears moulds
of every possible size shape and
form. Plantronics tests all-new
headset designs rigorously in
order to put on the market the
most comfortable headset for
all shape and sized ears. The
partners got an opportunity to
also experience their amazing

acoustic test centre which is

a testimonial of Plantronics
stringent quality parameters.
On the next day, the Partners
and the Branch Heads got an
exclusive opportunity to have
an interaction session with the
business heads at Plantronics.
They got an insight into the
visions and the blueprint of the
future roadmap of Plantronics
in India. The Conference
concluded with partners being
facilitated with performancerelated awards. The partners also
had a great experience visiting
Manhattan, Central Park, The
Empire State building and
visited the lady herself, Statue of
Liberty also.
Plantronics acknowledges
partners tireless efforts to
promote premium Bluetooth
headsets in the country and we
take this opportunity to thank
them for our buoyant growth. We
hope the visit to our headquarters
has strengthened the partners
confidence in Plantronics,
added Bobby Joseph, Country
Head, Plantronics, India.

Honeywell awards its APAC Channel Partners

oneywell
Process
Solutions (HPS) has
honoured its top regional
distributors at the annual AsiaPacific (APAC) Channel Partner
of the Year awards ceremony in
Bali.
The
APAC
conference
hosted
Honeywell
channel
partners from 16 countries across

more than 190 companies

supplying
and
integrating
Honeywell solutions in AsiaPacific.
Our channel partners are
our true partners in helping
Honeywell customers in the
APAC region achieve their
operational
and
business
objectives. These automation

the region, including Australia,

China, India, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, South
Korea, Thailand, Japan, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Brunei,
Indonesia and Vietnam.
Honeywell acknowledged 12
channel partners for excellence,
innovation and service among

professionals have proven domain

expertise in the process industries,
as well as in-depth knowledge of
their local markets. We count on
their ability to deliver exceptional
service, support and training
solutions, said Lance Fuhr,
Channel Excellence Leader,
HPS.

EVENT SPECIAL

Rockefeller Foundation to light up 1,000

villages with an investment of US$75 Million
T

he Rockefeller Foundation has pledged to commit $75 million

(about Rs.468 crore) for the launch of Smart Power for Rural
Development, an initiative that aims to provide electricity to 1,000
villages over the coming three years. To achieve this ambitious goal of
providing power to 1 million Indians in the states of Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh, the Rockefeller Foundation is funding the creation of a new
organization Smart Power India that will be responsible for expanding
the Smart Power model.
The Smart Power model is an innovative way to deliver clean
energy via decentralized mini-grids. The mini-grids provide market
opportunities to investors and will be able to integrate into the national
grid system which the government is extending. Under the Smart Power
model, an anchor tenant, for example a telecom company operating
local cell towers, would serve as the base demand for power and make it
profitable for an Energy Service Company Operator (ESCO) to build a
power plant which is large enough to serve both lighting and productive
loads. With this structure in place, the ESCO is willing to go to rural
communities and is able to sell power to local businesses and households
thus meeting the need for various uses of power lighting, productive
loads (such as carpenters, agricultural loads irrigation, grinding mills)
and other business needs benefiting new and future local businesses and
homes.
The initiative aligns closely with the Indian Governments vision of
providing access to reliable power throughout the country. The initiatives
focus will be on India and it aims to promote sustainable business models
that deliver renewable energy and spur economic development among an
unreached rural population.
Smart Power India will be the Rockefeller Foundations key partner
working with Energy Service Companies, private sector partners,
investors, NGOs, and the Indian Government to reach the goal of
bringing electricity to underserved villages in India. The organization
will also provide support for the entire ecosystem needed for mini-grids
to be successful, sustainable and scalable.
The launch was marked with a ceremonial event in New Delhi
attended by distinguished dignitaries, including, Shri Piyush Goyal,
Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, senior
officials from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, officials from
Public Sector Utilities, senior officials from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,
Heads of telecom infrastructure companies, energy service companies,
research organisations, think tanks and academia.
Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation, said, The
Rockefeller Foundation is thrilled to launch Smart Power for Rural
Development in India, with the goal of providing access to electricity and

Jaipdeep Mukherji, CEO, Smart Power India; Dr. Judith Rodin,

Global President, The Rockefeller Foundation and Zia Khan, Vice
President for Initiatives and Strategy at the Launch of Smart Power
India

Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal and New &
Renewable Energy, Govt. of India speaking at the launch of Smart
Power
transforming the lives of one million people in 1,000 villages in rural India.
Every step towards increasing rural access to modern energy sources can
help India reach its full economic potential. We believe the provision of
power will open up greater opportunities for economic development in
rural areas, paving the way for a more inclusive economy. The Smart
Power model we are launching today is a unique market-based innovation
that can support India as it achieves its ambitious electrification goals.
Jaideep Mukherji, CEO, Smart Power India, said, After the last few
years spent in the renewable energy space, I am thrilled to take on the
new role as CEO of Smart Power India. The Smart Power model is an
innovative solution for what has been an intractable problem in India.
We have a unique opportunity at this time, given that the government
is supporting investments in rural electrification to spur economic
development. The telecom revolution and the proliferation of cell towers,
and the private sector partners looking for new avenues for investment
can also address social challenges. Now is the time for India to have an
energy revolution, and I believe the Smart Power model stands at the
forefront of supporting that vision.
The provision of power to the selected villages is expected to open
up significant opportunities for economic development and improving
livelihoods. Those affected will see improved access to education,
opportunities to trade and do business, access to key information services
and improved healthcare services all spurred on by access to reliable
energy. n

Jaipdeep Mukherji, CEO, Smart Power India; Jamshyd Godrej,

Chairman and Managing Director - Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing
Company; Ashok Khosla, Chairman - Development Alternatives
and Shashanka Shekhar Panda, Founder - Chairman & CEO, Blue
Earth Enterprise

www.varindia.com

April 2015

25

VENDOR - PARTNER ALLIANCE

Continuing the Channel Legacy

A channel-friendly company that it has always been, Lenovo has learnt the art of retaining partners loyalty towards its business
over the years, benefitting both of their businesses at the same time. Nitin Garg, Head - Channels, Commercial Business - Lenovo India
recounts how Lenovo has been successful in doing this by addressing key challenges of partners and by bringing out some wonderful
partner programs which even the Channel becomes grateful to be a part of -

ollowing the acquisitions of the x86 server business from IBM

and the Motorola Mobility unit from Google, Lenovo has
registered its name in the list of the biggies in the IT industry. Among
others, Its 'Protect & Attack' strategy has worked as a long term
formula for success in the PC+ era. This will further accelerate the
companys strategy to become a global leader across its full spectrum
of products, while focusing on its new growth engines - Mobility,
Enterprise and Ecosystem/Cloud businesses.
However, the role the Channel has been very instrumental in
bringing this transformation to Lenovo, which cannot be forgotten as
they remain a part and parcel of Lenovos go-to-market strategy.
The Channel Built-up
Lenovo has a 2 tier distribution system for the Commercial Business,
which comprises of the National Distributor and the Corporate
Reseller network. It also works on a combination of Named Accounts
and Rest of Universe (named Commercial Channel) accounts, where
the Rest of Universe is driven regionally through partner focused
dedicated channel managers. Lenovo however sees the Commercial
Channel as a significant growth engine for its future aspirations.
Further, Lenovos partner ecosystem is categorised in three
segments - Platinum, Diamond and Gold). A partner stands to reap
more benefits as they move up the categories.
When it comes to interacting with partners, Lenovo maintains an
open communication with its channel partners and organise several
engagement programs as well as track the CSAT. These initiatives
help the partners to get better acquainted with Lenovo as well as get
a platform for sharing valuable feedback. To cite an example, our
CSAT scores with our partners have been going up consistently
over the past 3 cycles, as a result of these initiatives. We also have
a structured process of reviewing the effectiveness of these programs
through impact on business, direct feedback (QBRs, Round table and
other face to face meetings) as well as CSAT conducted by 3rd party
agencies, explains Nitin.

Nitin Garg,
Head - Channels, Commercial Business
- Lenovo India

Jim Rakesh
Owner, Rox Technology & Solutions Pvt Ltd
Chennai
Lenovo with their PC PLUS strategy and
channel partner friendly model is an awesome
company to be associated with. We have been
partnered with Lenovo for more than a decade
now. ROX , as a premium partner enjoys exclusive
first hand product trainings, Demo units, access to
the Lenovo Leads (which only a Premium partner
enjoys), Eligibility to premium support, Special
Bid orders, Eligibility to co-marketing budget and
availability of premium partner rebates.
Business partners form the crux of Lenovos
go-to-market strategy and with their premium
partners schemes, they incentivise the partners in every stage of the sales cycle. Lenovo
by a policy, drive customers to the channel partners, ensuring the partner network is well
supported and the customer is serviced on optimal time. To sum up, our unique techno
commercial expertise creates a compelling value proposition to the customers to choose
Lenovo.

26

April 2015

www.varindia.com

Partner Programs also form a cornerstone

of how Lenovo drives business and get
subsequent results. The objective of its partner
programs is to encourage high performance,
to drive the right product mix and to help
partners develop the market locally.
At the beginning of the year, Lenovo
introduced Lenovo Lakhpati, an exclusive
rewards program for its commercial partner
community in India on the sale of any
commercial channel product (Desktops,
Notebooks and Workstations). Furthermore,
Lenovo has announces the Deal Registration
System (DRS) - DRS 2.0, an easy-to-use
platform that builds a direct online connection
between Lenovo and its commercial business
partners. This is a wonderful initiative that is
aimed at equiping the partner with updated
information, provide exclusivity and reduce
the turn-around time from client identification
to closure of business.

Sanjay Patodia
CEO - Galaxy Office Automation
Mumbai

Lenovos Channel propelling growth in

a big way...
According to Lenovo, growth and
opportunity need to be viewed from two
angles firstly whether the addressable
market is growing for the channel partner and
secondly are they reaping rewards consistent
with the efforts they put. Lenovo has been
outperforming the market in most product
categories and we are poised to sustain our
growth momentum in the future, observes
Nitin.
Lenovo and its partners have traditionally
been strong in the top 8 cities. Hence its
expansion efforts are directed towards other
cities, which provide significant growth
opportunities. This is achieved through
3 strategic initiatives: A larger field force
to cover these locations, special incentive
programs for the partner organization as well
as for their sales managers and enablement
in the form of product training and demand
generation programs.

We have been associated with Lenovo products

for last 15 years, since the time IBM owned the
Think PC brand. In India we have been associated
with Lenovo from the time it got incorporated in
India.
Over the years we have acquired many customers
in VLE and Global accounts which had helped us in
increasing our Topline. Also being a trusted partner
with Lenovo, we were given the opportunity to
become the AWSP for Lenovo Services pan India
post the disassociation of Lenovo services from IBM
services. The biggest advantage and benefit we had
reaped with Lenovo partnership is the sheer volume of business both in product sell as well
as services.
Lenovo support had always been great as a principal. However, there had been change in
Lenovos approach in the last 2 to 3 years on its GTM for Global as well as VLE customers.
Also the rebate programs have had an impact due to the change in this approach, which had
resulted in compromise on profitability for partner community. But, the top Management
of Lenovo has recently assured and reworked on its channel approach for these categories
of customers and done some major changes in its rebate structure as well as SPC structure.
Furthermore we were also informed about the Core Channel strategy adopted by Lenovo
in China and its plans to replicate the same structure in India. This would definitely lead to
positive impact on channel business both in terms or revenue as well as bottomline.
Mahesh Tomar
Director, Team Computers
Delhi

However, channel partners sometimes

view themselves as product resellers. As a
result, they miss the opportunity to become a
strategic vendor to the customer organisation,
thus limiting their scope to generate more
revenue. We have been training our partners
to become a solution provider and to provide
a viable solution to customers pain point.
This approach enables them to not only
become a strategic partner to the customer,
but also helps them make more margins and
grow their business, observes Nitin.
This is further complemented by the
fact that with the acquisition of System X,
Lenovo is now in a better position to offer
a comprehensive portfolio to its channel
partners. n
samrita@varindia.com

Our association with Lenovo is ever since

they acquired IBM PC business in 2005. Prior to
this we were associated with IBM as a partner in
elite category in Royal Blue club since 1995. As a
Lenovo premium partner, we have had the benefits
of business sustenance, customer preference due to
great brand, reliable & innovative products lines
and reasonable profit.
Lenovos team attributes high value to business
relationship with customers & partners. The
Incentive programs introduced by Lenovo are
above average and have the scope of being more
attractive. Lenovo is open to the feedback, rather they invite feedback & inputs which is
the most interesting thing about them.
I will like to pass on a simple message to every peers in this business that lets promote our
business with Lenovo & grow the market share together. Our core strength of nationwide
customer coverage, providing priority response to customers through dedicated customer
care & trained field support, and operational excellence in handling the complex project will
help Lenovo in growing further.

Prarthana Gupta
Director
Cache Technologies
Delhi
We have been associated with IBM for more than one and a half decade now and when IBMs PC
division was acquired by Lenovo, we started working for Lenovo from day 1 i.e. since 2005. We have
been associated with Lenovo and remained as loyal partner because of following things Thinkpad and ThinkCentre products that have been the premium product
The service business happens through partners
Pleasant experience and a very personalized approach which makes us feel connected to the
heart
A robust enterprise channel ecosystem which has always been there to benefit partners and to
encourage them to work and invest in Lenovo Business
Lowest Channel Inventory as its sell out model never blocks our working capital
Channel hygiene that has been the top priority
The team has been restructured by merging its SMB business and Lenovo has moved hundreds of enterprise accounts to partners and
is also managing the relationship directly with some accounts, which indicates that we are the extended arms and lots of things have been
demonstrated time to time in terms of schemes, Lead sharing activities and support extended and the service business that has been ensured
to remain with partners. We, as system Integrators or solution providers must not ignore PC Business. In our growth, we all started our
career through PC business and went deep in accounts to develop our enterprise portfolio. As we see PC market recovering in next few
quarters, we foresee tremendous opportunities and growth with Lenovo that is the only player to have a clear focus in PCs, Tablets and
smartphones.
We are geared up to do much more business for Lenovo and bring more customers to them. We www.varindia.com
have been together in this
journey
April
2015 from
27
day one and we will keep on contributing and putting our best efforts to grow Lenovo business in coming years.

Reaching out to customers

in the effective way
Lenovo India Services won the Golden Peacock (GP) Award for
Services Innovation in the year 2014. The GP Award is regarded as a
benchmark of Corporate Excellence worldwide. Lenovo won the first
GP award for the successful transition of Services to Lenovos Inhouse model. While winning the award was one of the milestones for
Lenovo, this prompted them to raise the benchmark in Services and go
for a second nomination in 2015 for Business Excellence in Services
and they won the award for a second consecutive year!
Winning this award two times in a row is an outstanding achievement and this prompted us to know more about what Lenovo India Services
has done in the recent past. We took the opportunity to speak to some of the industrys business partners through a survey across the country to
gauge their feedback on how Lenovo India Services has transformed. This was an independent survey done by our VARINDIA editorial team
and here is what the partners had to say about Lenovo India services.

"The service transformation is a

great initiative and I'm confident
this will go a long way in enhancing
channel confidence. Really appreciate
the effort. Vikas Agarwal, Universal
Computer

Lots of appreciation to Lenovo

Service Team for exemplary work. Keep
the good work going on. Chandresh
Vithlani, Ilife, Pune

To understand more on this we reached

out to Sudipto Gosh, Executive Director,
Lenovo India Services to throw more
light on the processes and changes that
Lenovo has undertaken during the same
period and also get to know their future
plans.
Serve, Solve, Satisfy has been our
motto in the recent past and we decided
to transform ourselves by listening to our
business partners and customers very
frequently. We conducted various round
table meetings with our business partners
through which we were able to gather a
lot of inputs to further improve our Services. This initiative along with
various other platforms including a quarterly partner survey provided
us with a lot of feedback on services provided by us.
We created a task force to ramp up our
service footprint. Today, we are glad to say
that, we have the largest number of dedicated
service centers across the length and breadth
of India with 180 + Cities covered.
We also did a relook at the first point

28

April 2015

www.varindia.com

of contact that our customers would face

when they call our contact center. We
identified processes that could be improved
and also initiated new processes to ensure
that our customers/ partners have a pleasant
interaction with the technical support team.

Some of the key processes that we initiated

and improved are:
1) Customer Advocacy Managers
(CAM) Team:
The Customer Advocacy team comprises
of dedicated managers, who work independent
of support functions and is responsible for
end to end issue resolution.
Pro-active Customer engagement
Drive the internal cross tower engagement
for speedy resolution..
End to end follow up with proactive issue
status update to the customer
2) Call Me Back (CMB)
Call Me Back, is a unique method where
customers can opt for a call back or schedule
a call back at a convenient time suitable to
them.
Reduce non-entitled calls as customer can
enter serial number of the system manually
in eSupport website for which they need
support.
Reduce handling time by gathering all
necessary information regarding the system
from the eSupport website
Eliminate call abandonment and improve
utilization of call agents

3) Lencare (Lenovo Customer

Care):
Lencare team manages social media
and any other tasks outside the purview
of standard support functions.
We Re-engineered the system DOA
refund process to make it quicker keeping
Customer Satisfaction in mind.
We launched a fast track process for
our Core Business Partners to prioritize
their claims and improve their Customer
satisfaction level.
4) Well planned and executed
monsoon:
Another key feedback was on the
planning and execution of support services
during the monsoon season, where the
product failure rates go up due to seasonal
impact. We planned ahead of the curve
and focused on our execution to mitigate
this impact.
Good business planning is 9 parts
execution for every 1 part strategy Tim

Berry.
We ramped up resources in our contact
center, logistics and field services. We
also enhanced the spare part planning and
distribution across our 20 warehouses.
The execution of the plan was done
perfectly which helped us in reducing the
issues that normally delay us during the
monsoon period.
Some of the steps taken during this
period:
Command center with strong BMS to
monitor and track progress
Accurate sizing of additional call
volume to Contact center using historical
data.
Ensure engineer buffer across peak
locations.
Drive productivity based incentive
plan for higher call closures
Shrink wrap was mandatory for
all parts moving out during monsoon
period.
Volume forecast on both outbound
and storage shared with logistics partner
We implemented other innovative
programs that would benefit the business
partners which in turn would benefit the
end customers. Some of the initiatives
that we launched are:
1) Satellite Resident Engineers (RE)
for Business Partners as a consultant
Based on the success of deploying
Resident engineers in large and global

A key finding that was brought up during these interactions was

our service coverage and how we could expand our footprint.

accounts, we have now extended the

RE program to cover our key business
partners. The RE program is where a
dedicated engineer is deployed at customer
location based on the install base. Being
at the location the RE is able to handle
all customer problems locally and support
hardware cases through a dedicated RE call
logging channel. Having been successful
in the commercial segment, we decided to
the implement the same for our business
partners.
Trained and dedicated engineer will be
deployed as a satellite engineer
He will work as a consultant for
many business partners and will be able
to diagnose and troubleshoot customer
machine issues.
Reduced time in call logging due to
effective trouble shooting by the RE
Improved part ordering with better
resolution times.
2) Execute service camps for large
Regional Distributors and Lenovo
Exclusive stores.
Organize proactive service camps to
help resolve customer issues
Push bios and firmware updates on
customers machine
Train customers in proper usage of
customers
3) Fast Access code for business
partners to reach contact center directly
Business partners can reach the contact
center agent directly with the unique fast
access code
Bypass the IVR messaging including
technical tips and product options
Reduced hold time against an average
queue time of 90 seconds
Reach a dedicated agent designated to
address service related escalations
Service is not about reaching a
destination but a journey of continual
process development which will take our
support to the next level. We have many
more breakthrough innovations planned
around service excellence in the time to
come.
Moving from a contact center to a
command center for our business partners,
where they will get all the support required
in a priority basis.
Business partners will also be able to

track progress of service orders

Dedicated support team to handle all
escalations with speedy closure.
Create an all in one portal where
business partners can access all information
pertaining to performance and updates
with unique log in.
The impact of the all these initiatives
and processes has shown a big impact on
our customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction surveys are
important vehicles for any services
organization, as they give a right
measurement of the satisfaction level
of customers. This helps in determining
customer loyalty and over the last year our
customer satisfaction level has increased
consistently to new heights. We are now
achieving targets after improving 5.7 pts
year to year, based on a transactional
survey performed by Satmetrix on behalf
of Lenovo.
As we enter the next financial year
we are happy to say that the feedback of
our business partners and the corrective
actions by our passionate team helped us
in continual improvement. We are in the
steady path in moving from enabling of
business to being a key differentiator for
business. We are on the right track and we
are sure Lenovo India Services will scale
new heights.

Lenovo India services offers the below

to enhance customer experience

LPSS - Lenovo Premium Support

Services
RE - Resident Engineers Support
ADP - Accidental Damage Protection
Warranty Extension
Lenovo Service Camps

The Golden Peacock award won by

Lenovo consecutively for the last two years
is a pat on their back for all the efforts they
have undertaken during the transition of
services to their in house model. Looking
at their ambitious plans for the future,
I am sure Lenovo will achieve greater
customer satisfaction and loyalty in the
coming years. n

www.varindia.com

April 2015

29

FACE TO FACE

For Schneider, Network Connectivity

space is a big Opportunity
GB Ravichandra, Director, Network Connectivity - Schneider Electric India speaks to VARINDIA about the
companys current roadmap in the Indian market and its plan on how to overcome the challenges in the network
connectivity space.

ndias telecom sector has created a

history with its phenomenal growth
story over the years. The role of highspeed broadband has transformed the lives
of millions and there is no reason why
broadband growth would not follow a
similar trend like that of telecom. Acording
to GB Ravichandra, Director, Network
Connectivity - Schneider Electric India,
value of wireless connectivity across the
enterprise is well recognized. However,
establishing wireless connectivity in an
industry environment presents a unique
set of challenges which is not found in
office environment. The first of the major
challenges is the cost involved. Network
roll-out costs and the right of way of
laying fibre in towns and cities is very
high. Return of Investment on fibre is an
equal challenge, with two of the major
revenue streams of triple playvoice and
videoonly now gaining traction in India,
he says. Deployment challenges are the
second major consideration, according to
him, including efficient transportation of
the tremendous bandwidth, FTTH access
mode and design, quality of service, and
quality of experience.
To overcome such challenges, Schneider
has merged the Network Connectivity
business with its eco building to equip the
partners with a larger portfolio of products
to approach the market. The companys
new state of the art, end to end structured
cabling solution, Actassi invites consumer
to enter a "Blue Ocean" of ideas where
connectivity becomes user-centric and
truly delightful rather than merely easy
to use. The Actassi structured cabling
solution is a seamless end-to-end copper
and fibre solution that is dynamic enough
to address the needs from the technical
room, through the building all the way to
the data centre. Actassi provides superior
network performance with the security and
reliability expected from a global Network
Connectivity provider. The comprehensive
set of products includes Connectors for Cat
5e, Cat 6 and Cat 6A performance, Crossconnect panels, Copper and fiber optic
LAN cables, Patch cords and connecting
hardware, Telecommunication enclosures,
says Ravichandra.

Opportunities in India
With the concept of smart cities and
smart building gaining momentum, a huge
opportunity lies in front of Schneider in the
market. As more and more people upgrade

30

April 2015

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Schneider Electric's openended solutions make the

grid more efficient, more
flexible and more secure by their existing buildings and incorporate
smart features in under construction
buildings, the channel community gets to
present the larger portfolio by associating
with Schneider, with products right from
smart lighting, electrical panels, cooling
solutions, UPS, Datacenter, security systems
and end to end networking solutions.
When it comes to Smart-grid solutions,
the company is in all 5 main domains
(Flexible
Distribution,
Renewable
Integration, Efficient Enterprise, Efficient
Home & Demand Side Management)
to seamlessly integrate all stake holders
in Smart Grid. Schneider have superior
field tested & proven offerings (Products,
Solution and Services) to cover the full

The companys new state

of the art, end to end
structured cabling solution,
Actassi invites consumer
to enter a "Blue Ocean" of
ideas where connectivity
becomes user-centric
and truly delightful rather
than merely easy to use.

Improving service continuity while

absorbing increasing demand and
peak loads
Connecting and managing more green
and volatile energy by up to 30%
Delivering better quality power while
drastically reducing network losses
Operating the grid safely and
securely
Delivering greater visibility and
decision-making tools at enterprise
level allowing to improve CAPEX
and OPEX
gamete of Smart Girds. It is fully committed
to provide best-in class smart grid solutions
to its customers. It also has vast experience
in both Supply Side (Utility) and Demand
Side (Industries, Buildings, Homes etc).
This brings in a unique capability to
connect Supply side to Demand side, which
is a major challenge in deploying Smart
Grid Technologies.
Schneider is in a very unique position to
take on the Datacenter segment and addresses
most of the Datacenter requirements
encompassing - Structured Cabling, Power
backup/ conditioning (APC), Racks &
enclosures (APW President), Cooling
solutions (Uniflair), Remote management,
SE Energy Efficiency Services etc. It aligns
its needs with that of the customer and is
sure to play a vital role in the growth of the
overall network connectivity market. n

RailTel looks to double revenue by 2017

E

xpanding its presence in retail and telepresence services,

state-run telecom infrastructure firm RailTel is aiming to
double its turnover to Rs 1,000 crore in course of the coming two
years.
We are targeting revenue Rs 1,000 crore over the next two years
from around Rs 550 crore earned between April 2014 and March
2015. Retail broadband is going to ne another focus area, said R.K.
Bahuguna, Chairman and Managing Director - RailTel.
According to him, enterprise business, projects and retail
broadband verticals would be the future growth drivers for the
company to achieve the revenue target.
Presently, 25 percent of its earnings account from the enterprise
connectivity fees from telecom firms while another 25 percent
comes in from the government including educational institutes.
Cable multi-system operators contribute 15 per cent to the revenue.
The share of Indian railways to the revenue is 10 percent.
The mini ratna company will also increase its optical fibre
network by another 5,000 km to reach 50,000 km by March 2016.
The company, which has the exclusive right of way along the
tracks on Indian Railways said to strengthen its retail presence. It
will roll-out the Rail Wire branded broadband services in the east
after it was introduced in south India.
RailTel is a Miniratna enterprise of Government of India
focusing on providing broadband and VPN services. RailTel was
formed in September 2000 with the objective of creating nationwide broadband, telecom and multimedia network, to modernize
Train Control Operation and Safety System of Indian Railways.
RailTel's network passes through around 5,000 stations across the
country, covering all central business districts, towns, cities, mini/
major-metros.

R.K. Bahuguna
Chairman and Managing Director
RailTel

www.varindia.com

April 2015

31

EVENT SPECIAL

Heading Towards a Resilient Society

By now most of us are aware as we find frequent mention of the
different government initiatives and projects initiated at a nation-wide
level such as Smart City, Swachha Bharat etc. But for these initiatives
to be successful and to transform India into a better country to live in,
what we need is Resilience!
Resilience should be at the core of every society bound initiatives,
for the simple reason that it is about creating an attitude towards life by
learning from lessons of the past and anticipating and avoiding risks.
For instance, a city cannot be termed Resilient by simply getting an
IT infrastructure implemented; but its infrastructure should be sturdy
enough to face any kind of physical, social, economic or environmental
challenges, in order to be called so. Water Management, Healthcare,
Off-grid Energy, Sanitation are some of the key sectors for developing
Resilience.
However, while discussing resilience in cities, we tend to pay
little or no attention to the level of citizen engagement. It should
be remembered that without the right behavior and an engaged
population, even cities with the best infrastructure cities will not be
resilient.
In a function held in New Delhi to discuss Resilience, Asian Cities
Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN), an initiative of The
Rockefeller Foundation, has launched a book, Road to Resilience
that offers a guide to creating resilient cities and addresses the issues
related to the most urgent emergencies and stresses faced by cities
which are caused by severe weather conditions, climatic changes and
increasing population. The Book provides a way forward which can be
implemented by urban local bodies and municipalities to respond to
adverse events and at the same time deliver basic amenities and services
even in challenging times to all citizens.
The book authored by Dr. G.K. Bhat, Director TARU Leading
Edge Pvt. Ltd. and which can be a guiding force for government

32

April 2015

www.varindia.com

institutions, research organisations and social practitioners, was

launched in the presence of Shri. Anand Singh Bhal, Economic
Advisor, Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India.
Speaking at the launch, Dr. G. K. Bhat said, I am very thankful
to ACCCRN for supporting this book which I sincerely hope will
act as a guide to all practitioners, Municipal and city managers in
their journey towards making their cities Resilient. I hope this
book will provide a road map and solutions to the government
based on principles of conjunctive management of resources to make
cities resilient to physical, social and economic challenges. Road to
Resilience aims to strike a balance between urban development and
environmental concerns.
The book launch was followed by an interesting panel discussion
moderated by Rameesh Kailasam, Senior Director APCO Worldwide
around Building Resilient Cities Challenges & Opportunities.
The session was attended by eminent practitioners, dignitaries and
academia such as Prof. Jagan Shah, Director National Institute
of Urban Affairs; Dr. R. Gopichandran, Director Vigyan Prasar;
Dr. G.K. Bhat, Director TARU Leading Edge Pvt. Ltd and Prof.
Amitabh Kundu, Centre for the Study of Regional Development
Jawaharlal Nehru University. The panel discussion deliberated on
a range of subjects around Resilience that covered challenges and
opportunities for urban micro-planning, decentralized management of
services, reaching the unreached, climate change dimensions from the
perspective of urbanization in Indian context and ideas about ruralurban connections and creating urb-rural environments that can
create green jobs and better air and peace in our cities.
The launch was marked by attendance of representatives and
practitioners from institutions, government, research organizations
and think tanks that work around climate change, energy and urban
planning.

Overview of the Book:

Shri. Anand Singh Bhal
Economic Advisor, Ministry of Urban Development

Prof. Jagan Shah, Director National

Institute of Urban Affairs

There is a lot of free flow of ideas, thoughts and experiences

in the Ministry. The Ministry has already launched Swach Bharat
Mission and the Heritage City. Besides these, the government will
also launch 100 Smart City scheme and new urban
development mission. We all know there is not
enough evidence based analysis in this country
on issues related to urban development. We
in the Ministry at times take decision on
various issues based on intuition, ideology
and this is when books like Road to
Resilience with examples and analytical
discussions will help to provide useful
inputs into the urban landscape. Resilience
however has to work at the city level.

The book, Road to Resilience targets individual endeavour, the

way in which individuals, families, communities can contribute to a
much larger transformation or change. And that transformation is
something that we revisit every few decades. This
book upholds one globally emerging concern
and that is participation. Unless we anchor
our work in the family, community and
with the individual, there is no hope. The
book and its approach embody much of
the wisdom that is now getting absorbed
into development thinking.

Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Centre for the Study of Regional

Development Jawaharlal Nehru University

Dr. R. Gopichandran
Director Vigyan Prasar

This is a book which provides me not only the roadmap to

resilient city but it discusses specific options available. It goes into the
details of the options that are available and can be tried out at the
community and household level. It is feasible and
points to one of the key concerns - delivery
of the services to the poor sections of the
population. This is very much needed.
This volume does not talk only about
the section which can afford the private
sector based affordability. It does talk
about poor sections of the population and
some community based incentives. It also
discusses how local problems can be solved
locally.

A publication like this serves the extremely important aspect

of communication in our country today and that will improve the
preparedness of stakeholders to really engage in action. Unless we
practice what we are saying, we have no rights to
expect people to change. And when it comes
to common property resources management
and collective environmental management,
unless people communicate and are credible
enough, let us not expect any action.

Dr. G.K. Bhat

Director TARU Leading Edge Pvt. Ltd

By this book we explored the inside out options to address

the energy, water and sanitation challenges, the demand and supply
improvement options, the technological and process issues and also
empowering communities to manage their own
resources. In the household level we can do quite
a lot of work on water and energy autonomy
and we can build partnership to manage
resources and how local resources can be
used as a backup in case of grid failure.
Hence the primary aim of the book is
to better quality of life by improving
the comfort, convenience and resource
security of a common man.

The book at a glance

Road to RESILIENCE is a guide on how to build resilient cities.
We face daily challenges of low quality lifeline services (e.g. water
and electricity) as well as seasonal risks (e.g. floods, heat waves etc.).
These affect our quality of life today and our survival in the future.
We are forced to adopt various coping mechanisms such as water
tanker supplies and electricity inverters. Such temporary solutions
alleviate the problems to some extent, but are bound to fail when the
challenge intensify.
This book has presented a set of reliable, easily adoptable and
long term solutions to deal with the rising challenges. These solutions
can provide a certain degree of autonomy and make less reliant
on centralized services. To start with, one can make a significant
difference by taking actions in our homes and communities. The
different levels of the society and the issues that can be addressed
as each level are presented. Together, we can adopt practices and
change our behavior that can improve the quality of life, efficiency,
www.varindia.com April 2015 33
and resilience.

INDUSTRY WATCH

From Paper to Digitization

The DMS market is emerging as a huge market opportunity. A large number of
offices are still paper based and this is what makes India a key market for DMS
solutions. Yet, the growth of this solution is not how everybody had expected it to be

he world around us is changing

every minute. It is becoming
hard to predict which new or disruptive
innovations will emerge tomorrow. Until
a few years ago, we had never heard of
Cloud Computing, and, today, it seems
like no enterprise architecture is complete
without a Cloud strategy. With the Digital
Transformation wave fast catching up with
global enterprises, digitization and process
automation have now become essential
for productivity and work efficiency. The
nexus of forces SMAC (Social, Mobile,
Analytics and Cloud) is further fuelling
this global phenomenon wherein almost all
paper-based data is getting converted into
digital information. They are proving to
be the latest game-changers with regard to
driving accessibility, flexibility, scalability
and agility, reach and impact.
Document Management System is
growing as one of the most sought-after
technologies that is helping organizations
to stay agile, reduce costs and boost
productivity.

A peep into the

DMS market

The market for DMS is rapidly growing

across sectors with over 13% CAGR and
this trend is expected to continue for the
next few years. The current size of the
DMS market is pegged at $250 million
and will grow by 30% every year. The
key verticals adopting DMS in India are
Financial Services, Banking, Insurance,

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April 2015

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Virender Jeet
Sr VP Technology, Newgen Software
Telecom, Retail, Consumer Goods,
Manufacturing, Healthcare, Life Sciences
and Utilities, among others. Though BFSI
sector is leading the demand for DMS,
both in India and around the world, as
they grapple with stringent policies and
tightening regulatory mandates, the DMS
market has also seen a lot of traction within
the Government sector and Public Sector
enterprises. With organizations keen on
outsourcing most of their operational
processes, there is heightened demand for
Enterprise DMS solutions in the SSC and
BPO domain as well, observes Virender
Jeet, Sr Vice-President Technology,
Newgen Software.
The Indian corporate sector is also keen
on adopting DMS with a prime objective of

becoming customer-centric and matching

up to the quality standards of their global
counterparts. As the Indian consumer
gets exposed to world-class products and
services, they expect nothing but the
best. Organizations need to streamline
their processes and provide business users
the contextual knowledge they need for
making smarter decisions. An effective
DMS can help enterprises better manage
information and enable role-based access
to workers. Having seen the immense
cost benefits of going digital, the CIOs
and CXOs are all geared up to transform
their operations through a robust DMS,
explains Virender.
Reiterates Lalit Chaturvedi, Marketing
Head, Kyocera Document Solution India
Pvt. Ltd, As India is getting more globalized,
it becomes imperative for the organizations
to adopt the new technologies in order
to streamline their business processes and
become more effective and efficient. So, the
adoption rate is quiet high now for DMS in
India, if youll compare it for the past five
years. He further adds, DMS is one area
that has captured corporate environment
into a different realm altogether, with
strength of organization and common
procedure being the most crucial factors
for its success.
By the next five years, the DMS market
will shape up in terms of technological
advances, demographic shifts and the shifts
in the global economic power. The key
drivers and inhibitors of market growth

What is Document Management System?

Document Management Systems are electronic solutions that help organizations

effectively manage and streamline their document management activities. From unstructured
content to structured documentation, a document management system includes every action
taken within an organization, with respect to the creation, distribution and deletion of
documents.

Benefits of DMS

A DMS is used for storing as well as organization of documents, content creation
and sharing of the content within an organization

This system helps organizations centralize unstructured documents and unmanaged
documents in place and handle tedious tasks such as archiving, distribution as well as
recovery of documents

The use of DMS also helps reduce time and cost associated with document
management. By using DMS platforms, enterprises have been able to reduce Turnaround
Times (TAT) drastically, adding to the operational efficiency and thereby enhancing
customer experience by manifolds

will depend largely on new geographic

markets. Organization would focus on
mergers and acquisitions and look for new
opportunities in joint ventures, opine
Fahmida Ozair, CEO, SoftAge. According
to her, growth in data, regulatory issues,
faster decision-making and requirement for
backup plan for any disaster and security
issues are the factors driving the adoption
of DMS. India is poised to be the world's
third-fastest growing enterprise software
market through 2016. Enterprise content
management (of which DMS is an element)
and team collaboration will be among
the fastest-growing segments in the next
five years. The demand for outsourcing
document management needs will also grow
at a rate of 50 per cent, she continues.
From an HP perspective, the focus is on
building strong partnerships and association
with ISVs and System Integrators and
designing its solutions packaged around the
devices when it comes to DMS. It is all about
moving the physical world to the digital
world. For example, the land records if it is
digitized, on the click of a button, the data
will be there on your screen and the same
thing can be printed out. So it can go from
physical to digital and from digital back to
physical. That is what is driving the need for
digitization, because the content available
on paper is huge and the accessibility tough.
Combination of accessing that information

Parikshet Singh Tomar

Country Category Leader, Printing
Systems, PPS, HP India

and making it available faster is driving the

change. And because the need is huge, HP
is building its entire ecosystem in order to
meet our customers requirements beyond
the hardware. Since DMS is a solution, it
requires specialized applications and we
have to address that need by first creating

Vishal Awal
Executive Director, Services, Xerox
South Asia
Services, Xerox South Asia.
However, according to Vishal, what
most enterprises do not realize is the cost
of having a fragmented, decentralized
document strategy. It is more than simply
paying too much to create, manage and
produce documents. By taking control of
the end-to-end processes for each document,
applying Six Sigma methodologies, processes
and using market-leading solutions and
services, we ensure that the entire lifecycle
of documents is managed using appropriate
technology in adherence to appropriate
standards.

Current trends in
the DMS market

Fahmida Ozair
CEO, SoftAge

a framework, says Parikshet Singh Tomar,

Country Category Leader, Printing
Systems, PPS, HP India.
As per industry sources, the printing
market in India is worth about US$12
billion. While this encompasses business
opportunities in traditional offset, office
printing, and digital printing, the biggest
future opportunity is in document
management services and managed print
services. According to Gartner, 15% of
all ECM being undertaken is Document
Management, BFSI, IT/ITeS, retail and
healthcare are the greatest adopters.
In future, the industry witnesses more
and more enterprises outsourcing their
document management needs to leading
global players like us for whom it is a core
business. Therefore, the major growth
driver for the printing and document
industry is the increasing need for effective
document management and outsourcing
services that will manage end-to-end
document workflows in an organization,
asserts Vishal Awal, Executive Director

Enterprise IT consumption is evolving

thick and fast with IT investments and
strategic decisions being aligned to gain
competitive advantage in todays dynamic
and demanding business environment.
Cost efficiency, operational excellence and
compliance adherence are becoming the key
drivers of all IT investments. Enterprises
are looking for reliable, integrated and
cost-effective technology platforms that
can help them build flexible and scalable IT
infrastructure. Expectedly, the market for
DMS is experiencing an exponential surge
in demand. Some of the trends that are
driving the DMS market are
Mobility With the rise in
penetration of mobile devices, adopting
mobility has become inevitable for any
business. Enterprises are adopting mobility
in their business process management
strategy to get closer to their customers and
also enable key stakeholders to collaborate
on processes 247. New-age DMS must
enable a configurable mobile interface for
business users to access information and
take decisions on the fly.
Social media The pervasiveness
of social media has made it an indispensable
component of business strategy. Smart
DMSs are facilitating collaborative work
environment by leveraging social media
platform to engage with the customers as
well as internal stakeholders.
Analytics Expanding the scope of

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April 2015

35

INDUSTRY WATCH
process analytics to encompass predictive
and on-demand analytics is resulting in
enhanced operational intelligence, improved
visibility and business responsiveness.
Content analytics is newly emerging area
where modern DMS are focussing on form
improved business results.
Cloud Collaboration amongst
key stakeholders, business leaders, analysts,
process owners, and business users is a
key to continuous process improvement.
Cloud platform is enabling this real-time
collaboration through a platform that gives
anytime, anywhere access to enterprise
information.
As is pertinent, Digitization and
Document Management System are two
sides of the same coin. Digitization is the
process to convert physical document
to digital formats. With Document
Management System, such approach and
conversion of document will go haywire,
as there will be no other processes to
manage digital documents. DMS offers
the concrete infrastructure for managing
digital document and this makes it a crucial
aspect for digitization. DMS streamlines
the records and makes it easily accessible to
the client as and when required, explains
Fahmida.
Digitalization brings about new
opportunities but these are also accompanied
by challenges that organizations are yet
to overcome. The biggest challenge for
digitization in India is the resistance to
change. In India, people still perceive new
and innovative technologies as threats to
their own jobs. Many organizations still
have apprehensions in discontinuing their

Lalit Chaturvedi
Marketing Head, Kyocera Document
Solution India Pvt. Ltd

The current
size of the DMS
market is pegged
at $250 million
and will grow by
30% every year

Factors Driving the DMS Market

Organizations are increasingly looking to procure DMS solutions and be part of this
digital transformation revolution. Some of the key drivers for implementing DMS are:
Enhanced Collaboration - Importance of synchronized processes and the impact
they have on services delivered to end-customers cannot be overlooked. No matter what
business or service an enterprise deals in, DMS platforms and solutions create seamless
processes and collaborative management of digital assets.

Compliance - Compliance to regulatory mandates is imperative for every business.
Enabling clients to respond to existing and evolving compliance requirements has been a
focus area for DMS providers like us. We are also one of the leading product companies
to have developed solutions that help businesses respond to compliances such as FATCA,
SOXA, CTS and NARA governed Records Management.

Enhancing Customer Experiences - Irrespective of the business or service being
delivered by enterprises, creating and sustaining customer satisfaction is always a key
imperative. DMS solutions and platforms help businesses reduce cycle times and improve
efficacy, leading to smarter and more comprehensive benefits, which can be directly
transferred to end customers.

Cost Control - Through end-to-end automation of business processes, advanced
DMS technology platforms significantly reduce expenses, including operational costs,
training costs, travel costs, stationary costs, etc.

Quality Checks - DMS solutions enable adherence to regulatory compliances and
quality standards. They facilitate exhaustive quality checks to reduce data redundancy,
avoid rework costs or customer complaints, thus reducing the risk of losing key customers
due to poor service.
DMS is being driven by a number of factors such as CRM, E-mail, Ecommerce,
Marketing Automation, Web Analytics, Web Content Management & Social CRM.

36

April 2015

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traditional ways of work as they look at

technology with an alien eye, ponders
Virender.
Another hurdle for modern DMS is the
legacy systems that have been deployed
in organizations for decades. End-users of
these legacy systems are highly skeptical of
the advanced DMS platforms as they are
not willing to change their age-old style of
working. The cost implications of replacing
these legacy systems also prove to be major
hindrances.
Views Vishal, With respect to document
management, it is one of the most neglected
parts in most organizations and hence there
is a need to address the importance of the
transition from CAPEX to OPEX business
mode of printing that not only caters to Print
for Less but also Print less via enhanced
automation and digitization. In order to get
a grip on the challenges, enterprises need
to recognize the magnitude of the change
that faces them and embrace digital assets,
capabilities and channels within an evergrowing IT environment.
Today, less thought is given to what
happens to the document after the digitization
is completed. In some cases, these are handed
over on a DVD or Disk, which creates silos
of information. These are critical company
records and, from a long-term perspective,
should be centrally archived in a secure and
well-defined manner for subsequent reference.
DMS is a must for long-term archival,
without which several important benefits
of digitization will remain unachievable.
Hence, it becomes critical to maintain proper
document
management
infrastructure/
program to ensure data privacy and security,
regulatory, compliance, control and access to
information and cost control associated with
information processing.
This trend has already begun and in
future we see more and more enterprises
and corporates outsourcing their document
management needs leading global players
like us for whom it is a core business, says
Vishal.

Going forward

Document Management System is an

inseparable component of digitization,
without which its benefits cannot be
completely realized. Going paperless has now
become a business imperative for today's
organizations as they look to create leaner
and more efficient operations as well as crossfunctional resource optimization. In the light
of this emerging trend, the future augurs
well for the DMS market and the demand
for reliable and cost-effective DMS platforms
which can provide organizations with stable
growth capabilities will continue to be on the
rise in the coming years.
There is a huge scope for DMS to grow.
Efforts towards further educating the
enterprises and making them truly realize
the relevance of optimized document and
workflow value chain and the consequent
business benefits thereof, is a journey. n
samrita@varindia.com

FACE TO FACE

Raritan sees Smart City Initiative

as an opportunity
Sanjay Motwani, Regional Director, India, SEA, Taiwan & Hong Kong, Raritan
International, in a chat with VARIndia has discussed about the present
market situation of Data Center Infrastructure Management in India and also
spoken about the scope, role of channel and after-sales support system

How is Raritan focussed on the using these tools he can find out the spare space
Indian market and when did it start and then can add on the extra that is needed.
operations in the country?
What are the driving forces
behind
DCIM?
Raritan first entered the Indian market

through Channel and was not directly

present in the country. The company was
operating through Channel. In early 2005,
Raritan set up its operations directly in India
obviously because the market was growing,
IT infrastructure was growing, Data Centers
were coming into play. Basically, the company
wanted to build on the good work which the
channel had already done.

Which all verticals are you

focussed on?
Raritan is into the Data Center space
and the solutions are mainly to cater to large
enterprises. But the company also has different
sets of solutions to cater to small Data Centers.
The traditional BFSI segment, telcos, and R&D
Labs are the users of Raritan solutions.
E-commerce, healthcare and media sectors
are the new growing verticals for us. We are
also present in some State Data Centers, but the
pace of growth is slow. We have been talking
about it for four years and the expectation was
we would have seen a lot of state Data Centers
to come up. Still, quite a few have come up
and are using our solutions as well. This is
the focus area at the regional level because all
the state data centers till date did not come up
simultaneously. They have come up according
to their own pace of development. Thereafter,
it has slowed down. Now, with the change in
government, we expect the momentum to pick
up.

Is DCIM more of service-oriented

or services-based offering?
DCIM is a solution-based concept and
not service-based. In todays industry, the IT
managers are being given tight-up budgets year
on year and they are supposed to deliver more
with the same budget. So the challenge that
the Data Center Manager or the CIO faces is
that he has to deliver more with less which
leaves him with no choice but to optimize his
resources. So here we come into play. DCIM is
particularly the tool which helps to optimize
CIOs resources in terms of space, power,
energy to use them more efficiently. The
fundamental process behind it is every Data
Center has its capacity, but the challenge lies in
identifying the spare capacity available. So our
tools help them identify that spare capacity so
that if in future the Data Center Manager wants
to augment and increase it, he has two choices
one, he has to go for everything new or by

Primarily, you have to manage your Data

Centers with tight-up budgets and also you are
looking for areas how to optimize. Another
reason: what happens is that, in a growing
industry, a lot of Cloud, Big Data have been
talked about and Data Centers are coming up
or expansions are taking place. So, there is a
lot of people movement like people managing
a Data Center has moved to a newer location
or new people are coming in from outside.
Now when new people come and manage Data
Center, everybody manages it from their own
perspective. More often, due to lack of proper
procedures or systems, there are interruptions
in the Data Center management. So the tools
which we deploy help to streamline the
processes and manage the Data Center better.
50% of DCIM is performance management
and the other 50% is process management.

Where does the role of Channel

come in here?
Channel whether it is India or globally is
always comfortable in selling products and
solutions which the market has accepted.
Therefore, the product category is matured
and easy to sell. Channel finds it very difficult
to sell new product categories. They do not
help in building or developing or educating the
market. Channel has an immense contribution
in terms of providing the resources to execute
large-scale projects. So the role of Raritan and
Channel is all interworking. We help educate/
position the product and we take the channel
community with us into the sales picture and
once the order is picked up the execution and
support is done through the channel. So the
sales effort is joint and it is also a learning curve
for the channel community.
Right now if you look at DCIM and
Power Management category, they are now at
a nascent stage. These will take three or more
years to pick up. So the channel is also going
through a learning curve.
We want to educate the channel because
this is a new product category. So from this
year onward we will take some special training
programmes which will help them to deal
with this new technology at a far better level.
Fundamentally, we will do a series of education
programmes onsite field trainings as well as
webinar trainings.

What is your support system

like?

Sanjay Motwani
Regional Director, India, SEA, Taiwan
& Hong Kong, Raritan International

India as an Opportunity
"We are hopeful about the current
government and its initiatives like 100 Digital
cities. We expect these 100 cities to come
up in another 35 years time. It does not
happen overnight. A lot of groundwork and
infrastructure have to go into the base before
the city qualifies for Digital city. And,it is one
of the growth areas we are looking forward.
Apart from six cities, there are few small
cities, especially in the South, which are
coming up in pockets in becoming small IT
hubs. Kochin, Bhubaneswar and Amarawati
will become other cities which will require
IT infrastructure. South is showing a greater
potential of developing smaller sub-cities of
IT"
The first level of support comes from
channel. We assign a certain channel partner
to every account. If there is an issue, the first
level of call will always go to the channel. The
partner will respond to it. Usually, they are
able to respond to it but if they are unable to
solve it, then it is escalated to Raritan.
This is a hardware-based technology.
All products come with a certain warranty.
Software comes with a software accounts or
licence fees. As long as the customer is paying
for extended warranty and licence fees and till
the product or category is declared end of life
we will continue to support. The agreement is
there for the lifecycle of the product. Raritan
is among few companies which provide free
upgraded products. Specially during the
warranty period and extended warranty period,
the customer will get an upgrade version free
of cost.

What are your growth plans?

For the last 25 years, the industry has not
moved out of the six cities. 95% of the business
is done in these six cities even now. So the focus
of Raritan in the top six cities is there. Some of
our customers have installations outside these
cities and we will support them as well. n

www.varindia.com

April 2015

37

COVER STORY

Service Support Key

to a Vendors Success

It is a proven fact that customers repeatedly do business with companies

that provide quality customer service. However there is very little that
the vendor can do to set the image right if a vendor fails to comply
with the service commitments it has made to the customer

ervice is the primary concern for

a customer today while buying
a product, and vendors need to ensure
that customers get excellent support and
services from their end. It becomes even
more critical in some of the product
segments where businesses ideally depend
on technical and customer support,
especially security, storage, server products
and so on.
Nowadays, it is not just about designing
the product, getting it manufactured and
then selling it. For a rational customer of
today, after-sales service becomes a strong

Sudipto Ghosh
Executive Director Services, Lenovo

38

April 2015

www.varindia.com

point in the decision- making process.

The end-result for every brand is to keep
the customer happy. Backed by utility,
convenience, aesthetics, and price, service
acts as an extremely important aspect to
ensure high customers satisfaction and
thereby long-term association. Aesthetics
and pricing do play an important role
in making a product look more visually
appealing to a customer, but this cannot
be achieved at the cost of support service,
which a customer understands it very well.
In spite of India being a price-sensitive
market, consumers are generally open to

Rajesh Gupta
Country Manager,
SanDisk

India

&

SAARC,

pay a little more to purchase a quality

product, if it is backed by quality postsales service support.

Vendors & Service....

For D-Link, it is its goal to nurture

a truly customer-focussed culture by
providing service with a personal touch.
D-Link strives to serve customers with
respect, knowledge, and personal attention
regardless of whether the customer is an
individual or a large corporation. As a
result, over the years D-Link has invested in
developing a robust support infrastructure

A.Balakrishnan
Senior Director-EMC Global Services Lead
EMC IT Solutions India Pvt Ltd

Sunil Sharma
Vice-President Sales & Operations, India
& SAARC, Cyberoam
that aims to meet the customers demands
in a hassle-free manner, says Balgond
Chougula, Vice-President Customer
Support Services, D-Link (India) Ltd.
Barracuda considers every customer to
be an investment. Customer relationships
are built into its core identity. We rely
on our customers for their feedback,
referrals, ideas, and their ongoing business.
We have a 30-day risk-free trial period on
most products, real-time order fulfilment,
affordable and easy-to-buy products, no
per-user fees on most products, instant
replacement option, data migration
and recovery services, hardware refresh
program and basic, enhanced and premium
support options, asserts Murali Urs,
Country Manager, Barracuda Networks,
India.
Fortinet, on its part, has expanded
its India Technical Assistance Centre by
adding support engineers, professional
services consultants and Premium Account
managers. Besides providing Level 1,
Level 2 and Level 3 phone support to
Indian and SAARC customers, Fortinet's
team oversees Professional Services
and Technical Account Management,
ensuring expert and timely deployment
of local projects. We have also invested
in highly-skilled engineering resources to
help customers solve difficult technical

Murali Urs
Country Manager, Barracuda Networks
India

issues and deploy complex architectural

designs and implementations. These
resident engineers will have direct access to
Fortinets developers and support resources
for onsite or offsite implementations, and
will ensure a timely, precise and complete
service experience for customers, explains
Rajesh Maurya, Country Manager, India &
SAARC, Fortinet.
Partners are as important as the end
customer to Lenovo and the company has
close interactions with them. We have
realized that in pursuit of extending the
best support to our customers, we have
not been keeping touch with partners
sometimes as much as we have to be. To
understand them more clearly, we are doing
different programs with partners. Firstly,
we do calendric meets with the Business
partners. Secondly, we have facilitated a
fast track priority access for the Business
partners. So whenever they have to interact
with Lenovo, they will be given a line by
which they can reach our contact center.
For dead-on-arrival products also, we are

Khwaja Saifuddin
Sr Sales Director South Asia, Middle East
and Africa, WD

Nowadays, it is not
just about designing
the product, getting
it manufactured and
then selling it. For
a rational customer
of today, after-sales
service becomes a
strong point in the
decision- making

Anil Zachariah
Director, Customer Service
EMC
able to give a very fast response to the
partner. We also do regular Round table
meets with partners to understand their
pain points, explains Sudipto Ghosh,
Executive Director Services, Lenovo in
detail.
Service forms an important component
of Junipers overall product strategy.
Talking about repair and replacement
policy, we keep two product guidelines in
mind what is the SLA we have around
the hardware and secondly what kind of
a software support do we give. For tier
1 domain support, in which we cover
all metros and large cities, we have these
warehouses in these places from where we
get the support. We have set up similar
support for the other markets which
are important and growing for us. Our
intention is to keep looking at supporting
the customers from these markets from
time to time, defines Mrityunjay Kumar,
Country
Director,
Enterprise
and
Channel Business (India-SAARC) - Juniper

process. The endresult for every

brand is to keep the
customer happy.

Rajesh Maurya
Country Manager,
Fortinet

India

www.varindia.com

&

SAARC,

April 2015

39

COVER STORY

Kapal S. Pansari
Director Marketing, Rashi Peripherals
Networks about the companys service
strategy.
In the case of EMC, while the SLA
and the ownership of any service deal lies
with EMC, 95% of the support is provided
by its partners alone. Anil Zachariah,
Director, Customer Service EMC says,
For a technology company, service plays
an extremely crucial role. We always make
sure that the partner feels comfortable
working with us, whether it is in terms of
service, business expansion or growing the
market. It is because our partners help our
customers implement the solution at the
first place that they come to us again and
again. We have offices in 7 locations but
we serve customers across 120 locations in
the country.
Cyberoam provides unrivalled technical
and product support and customer care
with its Global Support Management
Centre (GSMC). To help our customers
reach us with ease, we provide a range of
24x7 communication channels that include
email, live chat, phone and support via
customer portal. Our well-defined support
tiers ensure faster and apt resolution of
customer queries, says Sunil Sharma,
Vice-President Sales & Operations, India
& SAARC, Cyberoam.
With over 90 support engineers
across the globe speaking more than 15

Anuj Jain
Managing Director, Eurotech Technologies
Private Ltd

40

April 2015

www.varindia.com

languages, Axis assures that its customers

get assistance anytime and anywhere. We
ensure that customers get a peace of mind
when working with Axis solutions. After
the product sales, constant support is given
to our customers. Some of these supports
are Phone, FAQ, Chat, RMA, Extended
Warranty, Helpdesk and Warranty, opines
Sudhindra Holla, Country Manager, Axis
Communications India & SAARC.
Providing world-class customer service
is central to establishing and maintaining
the trust with customers for SanDisk. To
meet the needs of a rapidly-expanding
global customer base, SanDisk integrated
its existing customer service channels like
Knowledge Base, Live Chat, and Social
Media Monitoring within the companys
CRM. SanDisk also expanded to new
channels, such as chat and SMS, to improve
visibility and enhance the overall customer
experience. As a result, SanDisk increased
average retail customers satisfaction
scores from 89 per cent to 94.5 per cent
and improved engagement by 17 per cent
year over year. Our customer service

Sunil Grewal
Director Sales and MarCom, GIGABYTE
Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd
has also been widely recognized, says
Rajesh Gupta, Country Manager India &
SAARC, SanDisk.
Quantum Hi Tech Merchandising
Private Limited (QHMPL) has set in its
own touch points 20 company-operated
service centres along with several partnered
ones too to keep its access to customers
transparent. Apart from the same, we also
have set up the 50 Collection Centres and
dedicated Call centres providing Telephonic
assistance and remote troubleshooting
which makes us a leader in Support. The
extensive network and set-up surely builds
the hassle-free support with the key motto
of QHMPL being we are always happy
to serve YOU, says Ashish Mutneja,
Director Quantum Hi Tech Merchandising
Private Ltd. Furthermore, the company
also endeavours to open more and more
service centres to increase its reach and
give last-mile service and the same process
shall continue this year as well.
WD believes that its responsibility

Shammi Moza
Director, F1 Info Solutions & Services
Private Ltd
towards its customers does not end with
selling a product. It ensures that a user
receives a replacement product within
warranty with the same ease with which
he purchased it. WD Express, a free pickup-and-drop service by WD, allows users
to send faulty drives from and receive
replacement drives right at their doorstep.
Additionally, WD also has 74 drop points
across India where customers can avail our
replacement services. The information on
these drop points is also available on our
WD Facebook page, explains Khwaja
Saifuddin, Senior Sales Director South
Asia, Middle East and Africa, WD.
With the rapid growth of IT and
mobility firms in smaller cities, there arose
a need to outsource pre-sales and post-sales
functions to third-party Neutral Service
providers (NSPs). This has enabled these
firms to bridge gaps in their post-sales
delivery chain in the interior regions. They
are now increasingly looking at NSPs as
one-stop shop for pre-sales and post-sales
services, within the expected budget,
quality of service and reach. Being a Neutral
Service Provider, we have a significant role
to play. We help IT organizations to focus
on their core business, while ensuring
their customers loyalty to remain intact,
contends Shammi Moza, Director, F1 Info

Anil Chutani
Vice-President, Technical, Su-Kam

Mrityunjay Kumar
Country Director, Enterprise and Channel
Business (India-SAARC), Juniper Networks
Solutions & Services Private Ltd.
Gigabyte believes that there can be no
better brand ambassador for any vendor
than a happy customer. We have been
continuously improving our post-sales
service set-up. In spite of this, we recently
started making a renewed, conscious effort
of investing hugely into our service setup, because we feel there is always room
for improvement, says Sunil Grewal,
Director Sales and MarCom, GIGABYTE
Technology (India) Private Ltd. The new
investment is for setting up sophisticated,
high-tech post-sales service centres across
India. Though the new centres are only in
metro cities, they operate as service hubs
for their respective regional zones, which
cover non-metro regions to a large extent.
Matrix feels that local empowerment
is the only way forward. We, at Matrix,
put tremendous efforts to ensure that
channel partners are professionally trained
so that the requirements of customers are
taken care at the local level rather than
depending on us for support, says Sagar
Gosalia, Sr. Vice-President Marketing &
Sales, Matrix Comsec.
Eurotech has an excellent post-sales
support system in place along with its
qualified distributors/ resellers, since they
are well equipped to meet any support
challenges. We continually enhance and

expand the scope of our services to meet

customers goals ensuring zero downtime.
Our commitment to customers and
superior service and technical support are
the key factors of the support strategy,
asserts Anuj Jain, Managing Director,
Eurotech Technologies Private Ltd.
Rashi has a plethora of services from
Product Marketing to Service solutions.
Since the inception of Rashi, the company
has given the same weightage to services
as compared to its distribution strategy.
Rashi is also the ASP (Authorized
Service Provider) for most of the brands
associated with us, for example Asus
notebook, Toshiba hard drives, SanDisk
flash products, ECS motherboards the
list goes on. We serve and distribute with
much excellence. It has been one of our
core strengths and has helped us to scale
the business rapidly, maintains Kapal
S. Pansari, Director Marketing, Rashi
Peripherals.
Complexities of a vendor-channel
relationship have led to companies taking

Balgond Chougula
Vice-President Customer
Services, D-Link (India) Ltd

Support

multiple routes in the market today.

It is due to this reason that Panasonic
continues to constantly evaluate the
channel requirements, vendor offerings
and business models to remain competitive
in the industry. Some of the practises
that we have adopted include educating
channel partners on a regular basis by
taking workshops for channel partners,
supporting channel partners through
advertising and promotions at the shop
front level, holding quarterly dealer
meets, keeping in constant touch with
channel partners and so on, explains Toru
Hasegawa, Divisional Managing Director,
Solutions Division, Panasonic India.

Toru Hasegawa
Divisional Managing Director, Solutions
Division, Panasonic India

With the rapid

growth of IT and
mobility firms in
smaller cities, there
arose a need to
outsource presales and post-sales
functions to thirdparty Neutral Service
providers (NSPs). This
has enabled these
firms to bridge gaps
in their post-sales
delivery chain in the
interior regions

For Channel, its a Sales +

Service Portfolio

Sagar Gosalia
Sr Vice-President Marketing & Sales,
Matrix Comsec

Just like a thriving partner community

is essential to the companys continued
growth, vendors assistance becomes
equally important for a partner to function
and do not just sales but also servicing the
customer in a way that he becomes content

Sudhindra Holla
Country Manager, Axis Communications
India & SAARC
www.varindia.com

April 2015

41

COVER STORY
to come back to the same vendor the next
time. It then becomes important for a
vendor to see that it supports its partners
to get the best possible outcome from
them.
Being a channel-centric company, for
D-Link it has always been its endeavour
to enable channel partners/ re-sellers to
address customer concerns in a viable and
effective manner. It organizes training/
educational seminars city-wise so as to
ensure that the partners are updated on
the latest developments in the networking
domain, and are well versed to handle
customers requirements. We have also
rolled out certification programs for
partners/ resellers that will give them
extra confidence in their business, says
Chougula.
To address service related issues, SuKam has 700 + engineers and has its own
service centres pan India. We call the
engineers of our partners to the factory
and they are then trained on our product
range. We make sure that they understand
the product and are competent enough to
handle the situation at their end. Training
is critical to addressing service issues of
customers. If they are unable to do it, we
have our own back-end engineers in our
service centres to look into the problem.
If after the warranty period is over, we go
back to them and remain in constant touch,
because at the end of the day they are using
our products and we are to ensure that
they are in good working conditions, says
Anil Chutani, Vice President, Technical,
Su-Kam.
Barracuda is fully committed to helping
its partner resellers succeed. The Barracuda
Partner Program encompasses a number of
rich benefits and services to help partners
enhance their businesses. Depending
on a partners needs, different levels of
participation in the program are available.
Benefits of membership include marketing
support,
training,
lead
generation,
joint marketing, product information,

Ashish Mutneja
Director, Quantum Hi Tech Merchandising
Private Ltd
Interactive Webinars and Partner Seminars,
onsite training and special incentives.
Fortinet is dedicated to providing the
highest levels of training and enablement
to help its partners achieve greater levels
of growth and profitability. The Fortinet
Network Security Expertise (NSE)
certification training, which is offered free
of charge to all Fortinet partners, provides
an important differentiator, allowing
partners to demonstrate a diverse range
of critical security skills to better service
existing and new customers, Rajesh
explains.
Cyberoam is a channel-driven Network
Security Company and has a focussed
channel strategy and active channel partner
ecosystem all over India. We value the
efforts of our channel partners, and
constantly enable avenues to strengthen
lead conversion and customer engagement,
providing total support at every stage
of sales cycle, replies Sunil. In the last
fiscal, Cyberoam has trained close-to 1,500
individuals in the partner fraternity.
Gigabyte regularly conducts over 20
reseller / System Integrator (SI) meets
across India every quarter, with the

Akamai unveils Cloud Security Intelligence

objective of offering technology-based

training and education to our channel
partners. Simplified training programs
are the most fundamental feature of our
channel partner engagement initiatives,
essentially because such programs help
in enhancing their product knowledge as
well as confidence to better manage and
support their customers. Service-related
knowledge-sharing also forms an integral
part of these training sessions, believes
Grewal.
Matrix provides complete training to
partners at two levels 1. Professional Level
2. Expert Level. Once a person is trained at
both levels, he/she can manage all the needs
of customer, except component level repairs.
We invest in terms of manpower and
resources to ensure that we follow a training
calendar and in turn the partners pay for this
training, explains Sagar.
Rashi is rendering services as an authorized
service provider (ASP). Hence, it gets per
unit support from the vendors. However,
for Rashi providing services is not the only
objective but considers it as a value addition
to complement or rather complete the IT
distribution ecosystem, opines Kapal.

Moving on

Service support becomes a very

vital aspect, especially if the company
happens to be a market leader and has the
reputation of being a trustworthy brand. It
is the key factor for technology products
as it helps customers to overcome the
challenges caused due to constant technical
evolutions. It is a key differentiating factor
that drives growth. As a result, service is
more often seen as an assurance from the
brand. So while aesthetics and pricing of
a product do play a prominent role in
making the purchase decision, it is the
consistent and efficient service support
offered that affirms the brand credibility
in the consumers mind and goes a long
way in influencing the buying decision. n
samrita@varindia.com

ecognizing the crucial role data analytics play in more effectively fighting cloud security threats, Akamai Technologies has unveiled
the foundation underpinning its Cloud Security Solutions. Known as Akamai Cloud Security Intelligence, a data processing engine
within the Akamai Intelligent Platform, the engine is used to continuously analyze more than two Petabytes of data related to web security
threats. Akamai uses the resulting intelligence to not only continuously update and improve the Kona Site Defender application security
rule set, but also provides the framework around which innovative offerings, such as the newly available Kona Client Reputation solutions
are built.
Akamai Cloud Security Intelligence is designed to provide more comprehensive insight into how malicious actors are attacking web
properties, which in turn can be used to inform the direction of Akamais Cloud Security Solutions.
The Akamai Cloud Security Intelligence data analysis engine provides a solid foundation from which we are able to make our existing
Akamai Cloud Security Solutions even smarter and provide a framework upon which new cloud security solutions can be built. The
ultimate goal is to continue delivering technology designed to keep our customers online businesses protected in the face of an ever-changing
threat landscape, explained John Summers, Vice-President, Cloud Security, Akamai.
Security professionals can benefit from the power of Akamais Cloud Security Intelligence through two newly-introduced offerings:
Kona Client Reputation: Akamais unprecedented view of web traffic gives the company access to more web client data than any
other security provider. That data, combined with a proprietary query language and advanced heuristics and algorithms creates a reputation
score for every IP address that crosses the platform. As important, this score can adapt over time, based on the ongoing data analysis of
IP address activity.
Improved Kona Rule Set: Responding to a consistently evolving threat landscape requires the agility to quickly block malicious activity
without hampering legitimate traffic. Already proven to deliver industry-leading false positive and false negative rates, the improved Kona
Rule Set has been developed based on the ongoing analysis of more than two Petabytes of security-related data.

42

April 2015

www.varindia.com

Movers & Shakers

Dells P. Krishnakumar promoted to VP,

Consumer & Small Business India

Gavin Struthers at the helm of

Intel Security Asia-Pacific

P. Krishnakumar (KK) has

been recently promoted to Vice
President, Consumer & Small
Business India. As Vice President,
KK will continue to focus on
driving strong customer growth
and revenue performance for
Consumer & Small Business in
India, with the core emphasis on
enhancing consumer experience.
KK, as he is commonly known,
joined Dell in 2007 and has over 20
years of experience in the consumer and IT industry in both Sales and
Marketing roles. In his erstwhile position as Executive Director &
General Manager, Consumer and Small Business India (2012 - 2015), he
spearheaded the implementation of the companys consumer strategy
to expand its presence across Tier 3-5 cities and deepen PC awareness
and penetration through online and offline consumer engagement.
Prior to that, he headed Marketing for Dell India, leading campaigns
across both commercial and consumer business segments. The award
winning Take Your Own Path (TYOP) Campaign by Dell SMB in
2010 was conceptualized and executed under his direction as SMB
Marketing Head.

Gavin Struthers has been appointed as President, Asia-Pacific for

Intel Security. He replaced Andrew Littleproud. Formerly Senior
Vice-President of Worldwide Channel Operations, Intel Security,
Struthers will now be responsible
for business operations across Asia,
India, Australia and New Zealand.
Struthers said, I am thrilled
to be returning to the APAC
region where I have had significant
experience. The region is rife
with opportunities. Intel Security
is well positioned to be the
enterprise security company that
helps customers implement an
integrated architecture and offers
end-to-end solutions to businesses and consumers. My goal is to help
Intel Security become our customers #1 security partner.
No stranger to Intel Security or the APAC region, Gavin has
worked with McAfee, now part of Intel Security for over 12 years
across several roles, including the global channels role, Vice-President
of Channels, Alliances and Specialist Sales (APAC), Regional Director
(ANZ) and Enterprise Sales Director for ANZ.

S. G. Murali named Group CFO

of HCL Infosystems

Lava International appoints new VP

of Marketing & Communication

HCL
Infosystems
has
appointed S. G. Murali as the
Group Chief Financial Officer,
HCL Infosystems. The Board
has approved the appointment of
Murali as the Group CFO and also
accepted the change in the role of
Sandeep Kanwar to take charge as
Chief Executive of HCL Infotech,
a wholly-owned subsidiary and the
SI (System Integration) business
arm of HCL Infosystems Ltd.
S. G. Murali will be responsible for developing, monitoring and
evaluating overall corporate strategy of HCL Infosystems diverse
business units with emphasis on bottom line performance and
enhancing shareholder value. He has over 29 years of experience
across diverse industries such as Telecommunications, Property
Development & Property Management, Hospitality and Turnkey
Contract Project Consulting.

LAVA
International
has
announced
appointment
of
Solomon Wheeler as its VicePresident and Head Marketing
& Communication. Solomon
would be leading all marketing
& communication efforts for the
Lava brand across India and global
markets.
In his last role, he was with
Spice Jet as Head of Brand &
Marketing across India, SAARC
and UAE.
Having worked in leading agencies such as Leo Burnett, Euro
RSCG and Chiel Communications, he has spent initial years of
his career as an advertising professional serving leading brands like
Samsung, Coca Cola and Dabur, followed by stints at Airtel and
Spice Jet. Prior to Spice Jet, Solomon worked in Airtel as part of the
marketing team in Delhi.

Ashish Koul joins hands with

Servion Global Solutions

Polaris ropes in Sanjay Vatsa

as Chief Strategy Officer

Servion
Global
Solutions
has appointed Ashish Koul as a
Senior VP and GM for Product
Engineering and Digital (PED)
Services Business. Koul said, I
look forward to working with
Servion and providing direction
to the team for designing and
implementing solutions that drive
forward Servions demonstrated
market momentum.
Ashish will be responsible for
driving PED business globally
including sales, marketing, operations and overall market strategy. K.
Balakrishnan, MD & CEO of Servion Global Solutions, will be the
reporting person for Ashish.

Polaris has roped in Sanjay

Vatsa as Executive VP & Chief
Strategy Officer. Vatsa will be
focussing on propelling Polaris
industry role as a leader in digital
360 transformation.
In his role as Chief Strategy
Officer, Vatsa will be collaborating
with all areas of the organization
to identify new ways in which
Polaris can bring value to its client
base. Through both strategy and
execution, he will be focussing
on identifying and solving major industry pain points, such as
cybersecurity and digitization, while helping clients improve business
processes and managing down costs.

www.varindia.com

April 2015

43

FACE TO FACE

Canon aims to grab a lion share

in the Projector market
Canon with its latest offering in the projector segment wants to grab a major share of the Indian Projector market.
K Bhaskhar, VP - Office Imaging Solutions Division in an exclusive chat with VARIndia discusses the channel strategy of
the company as also the expectations from the India market

Does Canon have any plans of entering the

Home Theater Projector space? In your views
will large screen TVs drive the growth of Home
Projectors in India?
Definitely Canon will be looking into entering into the home
segment which is one of the important verticals. The reason is
that a lot of people like to have small home theatre in their house
and the new series that we have launched is going to answer
those. One of the features that the new series of projectors have
is short throw, which means that even in a small apartment one
can have a very good projection. One do not have to go for a
large screen which is definitely going to be very expensive.With
a projector, one can have the size as bigger than a large screen. A
large screen will cost about 5 lakhs and with projectors one can
get very good quality of picture. So, we definitely like to target
the home segment.

How much innovation do you encourage in

your products?
Our products initially might be slightly expensive as
compared to competition but when we see the life of a projector
which is about 6000 hours, (the life of a projector is somewhere
around 3 years) we find a lower total ownership cost, which
means our projectors does have a very low maintenance cost. We
also worked on a new feature called air filter which resist noise
and also brought in it a new technology that gives a longer life
to the projector. The second thing is that the lamp gives more
life compared to other products in the market. It increases 40%
of life which is a good saving. A customer can look at some of
the elements like it is economic, increases the life by 20%. More
or less these are some of the features that Canon has brought
into the projectors. We feel that these are some of the things
that are going to be a key differentiator between Canon and
other products when looked from the price front. We like to
position this product not just as a product for today at this price

K Bhaskhar

VP - Office Imaging Solutions Division

Canon India Pvt. Ltd.
the vertical base. So we like to look for our national distributers
to address all our entry level products which are the LV series.
For LCOS series i.e., the value product, we like to look at it
more with our vertical segment partners. For example, for health
vertical, we would like to do more tie ups with the SI partners
because this series have the DIACOM technology and plus it can
also work on the LAN connectivity. So in this kind of situation,
whether it is a hospital or a large institute, when they want to
do any kind of installation it is important that they need an SI
as a part of their solution offering. So we would like to see some
and also want to tie up with the AV (Audio-visual) vertical. For
AV we want a separate set of channel that has to be very strong
in that domain. We would like to work on both the vertical base
and also on the horizontal base to reach the customers.

What is the current market size of Canon

projectors and what is the future roadmap of
the company?
but over the time as a hazard free product that comes with less
maintenance cost.

What will be your channel strategy for the

projector range? What are the opportunities and
scope available for your partners with this new
launch?
In channel we are looking at two things - one is how do we
reach the market in terms of width and secondly our focus on

44

April 2015

www.varindia.com

We have recently launched the latest series of projectors and

we would like to capture 10% of the market in 2 years. We are
also focusing to earn Rs 100 crore revenue by 2017. The size of
the market available in home segment is a very huge. If we look
at the length and breadth of the home segment and the products,
they are available at a different range, which starts from as low
as Rs 40,000 to Rs 5 lakh. So customers have a big range before
them. The size of the Indian market is also very big and I am
very sure that 10 % is not a big aim for Canon. n
aparna@varindia.com

FACE TO FACE

NetRack aspiring to Reach

International shores in 2015
Ravi Raj, Brand Head, Director Sales & Support - NetRack shares with
VARINDIA the companys current roadmap in the Indian market and how
is it planning to transform 2015 into a productive year for NetRack

What is NetRack's current focus your brand?

in the India market?
To drive business, we are building a strong

We have always stood up to address the

challenges faced by the Industry. Our major
focus will be to cater the industries with new
products and innovative solutions, with a
capability of addressing the most prominent
issues like power, cooling, rack space and
energy efficiency.
This year, we aspire to increase our reach in
the international market and to give customers
the best possible service. At present, NetRack
has a strong foothold in ME & EU markets.
Our primary focus will be on meeting the
increasing demand of products like data
center racks, networking racks, lab tables etc.
This will in turn increase our productivity as
businesses are continuously placing greater
demand for upgrading their infrastructure
with innovative products and solutions.

How important are the upcountry

markets for your brand? How are
these markets driving business for

partner base and channel network in interior

cities. Since upcountry markets are playing
a big role in facilitating the growth, we will
make sure to reach each and every corner of the
upcountry market by doing road shows and
other marketing activities. Last year, we had
delivered services and captured a good market.
This is necessary for business continuity. We
aim to grow by 100% in the forthcoming years
by delivering services to upcountry markets.

What is your competitive

strategy in the market?
Speaking about competitive strategy,
we have products which are very unique
from other OEMs as they are manufactured
with great engineering design for IT Infra
standard. Delivering strategic assets along
with quality and post-sales support are our
key strengths. NetRack would incorporate
newer technologies in its product portfolio to

Ravi Raj
Brand Head, Director Sales &
Support - NetRack
help the IT managers resolve the issues related
to power efficiency, energy and cooling. We
will not comprise on the quality as we follow
and comply required standards like UL, ISO,
WEE and ROHS standard.

Who are your main customer

verticals?
Customers have helped us to grow
business. Verticals like IT/ITeS, BFSI,
government, hospitality and hospital sectors
are our customers. n

The digital space is here to

grow with no looking back
In the present world of competition, a new product or service is surfacing every day and different
strategies are used to promote them. Digital marketing has become one of the several tools to endorse
a brand or a product or service. Talking about the company, Shrenik Gandhi, Co-Founder, White
Rivers Digital, has also revealed about the digital media campaigns, opportunity in the India market
and future roadmap of the company.

Please brief us about penny if what you get in return

is not more than that, we apply
White Rivers Digital?
White Rivers Digital is a
full service new-age marketing
company operating in verticals of
e-commerce consultancy, F&B,
fashion, retail, jewellery and
B2B segments, and specializes in
RoI-driven innovative approach
to digital marketing and media
promotions.

the same to our client why

should they pay us x if we cant
return x+1 back. We don't
charge our clients on Cost+
Mark-up but rather on what
Value We Added

Which
are
the
trending digital media
campaigns in India?

The best digital campaign, I

How do you make
sure that the brands believe, has been the Old Spice
derive their RoI from Mantastic campaign, featuring
MilindSoman. Real-time witty
your services?
As a simple rule, we don't
take projects where we do not
believe that we can deliver back
with RoI. Brought up in an
entrepreneurial atmosphere, it
doesn't make sense to spend a

response management, best

use of native and innovative
mediums supported with right
budgets hit on the right nail.

What
kind
opportunity do

of
you

foresee in India?
India is still on the tip
of iceberg when it comes to
digital. There is a lot to explore
and there are a very few hands
serving the same. In fact, I
believe, there is still a huge gap
which awaits to be fulfilled in
the supply side. I always wanted
to do something in digital as it is
a very rare market combination
wherein there is huge demand
of services, growing supply
of resources and a passion to
perform.
So the digital space is here to
grow with no looking back.

What are the future

roadmaps
of
the
company?

Shrenik Gandhi
Co-Founder, White Rivers
Digital
While we started as a social
media agency serving various
social media requirements,
currently we are and wish to
grow as a full service digital
marketing agency serving the
needs of clients across domains
be it e-commerce, F&B,
entertainment, real estate or
events wherein we are not only
involved as an agency working
on a social/digital strategy, but
also involved in solving macro
marketing problems and helping
the brands reach out to their TG
in the most effective, creative
and best manner possible. n

www.varindia.com

April 2015

45

MARKET WATCH

Defending Internet Freedom

C

ome April 24 and Indian telecom

stakeholders are preparing the ground
to recommend certain changes in the current
telecom regulatory framework. As a result
of intense lobbying by telecom operators,
the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) is planning to allow them to block
apps and websites. This move is seen by many
as an extreme violation of net neutrality and a
means for telecom operators to fill their own
pockets.
Telecom operators and ISVs are concerned
primarily because of the excessive use of
internet leading to congestion and bandwidth
difficulties. It has surfaced that 10% of mobile
users consume 90% of operators' bandwidth.
In India with over 15 ISPs, there are about 10
crore internet users. Despite a huge number
of internet subscribers and mobile users, the
ISPs, which are also telecom operators, are
bleeding heavily. As per industry estimates, of
the total revenue of the telecom companies,
over 75% is contributed by voice and rest is
by value added services including data. Due
to high investments and competition, the
margins in voice are heavily squeezed. As
an impact, the telecom operators are finding
one or the other way to increase revenue and
profit.
Internet companies on their part are not in
favour of such regulations that could tilt the
balance in favour of telecom operators, but
are advocating legislation to keep the internet
open. The debate over net neutrality started
when Airtel recently launched its Airtel Zero
plan that it positioned as an open marketing
platform for app makers to provide their apps
to users for free. Critics pointed out that the
companies would pay telcos for providing
apps free to customers. This, in turn, put

46

April 2015

www.varindia.com

app makers who don't enter into tie-ups

with telcos at a disadvantage as it discouraged
customers from accessing these apps, hence
violating the principle of net neutrality.
Media apps clearly seem to be one of the
few services that are earning large revenues
for the Internet companies, with revenues
coming mainly from advertising. Allowing
telecom operators to charge fees from content
producers can result in operators "competing"
for content, by charging different fees for
different content providers. This could lead to
a fragmentation where certain content would
only be available on certain telecom operators
and hence multiple "internets".

Net neutrality as defined by

Wikipedia is the principle that

Internet service providers
and governments should

treat all data on the Internet

equally, not discriminating

or charging differentially by

user, content, site, platform,

application, type of attached

equipment, or mode of

communication. The term was

coined by Columbia University
media law professor Tim Wu
in 2003, as an extension of
the longstanding concept
of a common carrier

Key pointers
The underlying idea of an open
internet is that all internet resources
and the means to operate on it are
easily accessible to all
The ability of smaller and start-up
Apps to compete with established
Apps may be affected if they are
unable to secure access to specific
telecom operators or afford accesstiering charges, particularly if a
Telecom Operators with market power
reaches an exclusive arrangement
with an established App or where
smaller Apps are unable to secure
affordable access. This may deter
start-ups from joining the market
There are concerns that telecom
operators will discriminate against
certain types of content and political
opinions. This will hurt consumers
and diminish innovation in apps and
content spaces
Discriminatory pricing proposals
can raise anti-competitive concerns.
Telecom players will favour their own
services, applications and content
and to kill competing services

MARKET WATCH
Whats next?

Flipkart came out as the first e-commerce company to have called off negotiations with Airtel to join the Airtel Zero platform, citing its
support for net neutrality. Through a press release, Infibeam has come out in support of Net Neutrality and has taken its stand against biased
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of the country.
To initiate a debate on this topic, TRAI has released a consultation paper of 118 complicated pages on the regulatory framework of overthe-top services (OTTS) like search engines, video platforms and social networks on March 27. The regulator has asked all stakeholders to send
suggestions by April 24th and counter-arguments by May 8. TRAI will publish its recommendations on its subject later.
With US having won the battle against Net Neutrality, the country is hopeful that the telecom regulator comes up with some valid reasons
on why to keep the Internet free and open and protect the rights of the consumer to have a free access to the Internet.

Popular FeedbackHarsh Tikku

Global Head, Business Acquisition
The debate on Net neutrality has been going on at the global level
for a long time, but it reached India, officially, when TRAI
released a draft consultation paper seeking
views from the industry and the general
public on the need for regulations for overthe-top (OTT) players. Zero rating seems
harmless at first glance, as all things free
often do, but will cause lasting damage to
innovation, competition and freedom.
Internet giants like Facebook, Google,
Twitter and Wikipedia exist today
because an open and neutral Internet
did too."

Manish Godha
CEO & Founder - Advaiya
Internet is built on simple and open standards, and is founded
on the notion of unfettered transmission of, essentially, equivalent
packets. This has meant that internet has
been open to innovative transformations,
and we have seen major shifts happening
every few years: rise of web, social, peerto-peer communication, rich media, and
now streaming. The evolution would
definitely be distorted if institutions with
ownership of or power on internets
building blocks actively control by
blocking, having different service
levels or charging differentially
based on the nature or content of
the packets. It would certainly
impede innovation and inculcate
inefficiencies.

Manav Sethi
Group CMO - Askme
"Internet is an essential service and should be provided without
any discrimination. Zero rating platforms can seriously
affect the freedom and growth of the billions of
entrepreneurs, quite against the Make in India
and Digital India vision of our government.
Any violation of internet neutrality can
have a serious bearing on effective and fair
competition in the market place. We feel
its the governments responsibility to
ensure a level playing field for home
grown entrepreneurs and at the same
time protect the interests of netizens."

N. Chandramouli,
CEO - TRA
"More individuals, each day are becoming aware and more vocal
about the net neutrality issue, the crux of the situation
being simple. The idea that internet service
providers give their customers equal access
to all lawful websites and services on the
internet, without giving priority to any
website over another. At one level, it is
being linked to the right to freedom of
expression and the right to information
and correctly so.

Prakhar Khanduja
Co-founder - InstaLively
I have been a supporter of net neutrality ever since I first heard
of this word in 2012. The nation was hearing about the term for the
first time. The first thought which came to my mind was What next?
Will they charge us for using our WhatsApp
and sending out a tweet next? Net neutrality
is essential for budding startups like mine
to prosper. I believe it is our fundamental
right that we can access any part of the
internet however we like once we have paid
the carrier charge. As a young individual,
Internet is a major source of freedom and
equality, and if the bill is passed it will be
a block to the freedom of expression of the
young generation of India.

Tito Vatapilly
CEO & Co-Founder - Node Technologies
In the brouhaha around the introduction of the Zero Plan by a
Telecom major, there may be a need to step back and rationally assess
the pros and cons of what was supposed to be a
breakthrough move in encouraging data access
& usage by consumers. While it seems to be
at variance with the net neutrality concept,
the fact that it ultimately benefits the
consumers can also not be ignored. Free
access to a particular service, doesnt
wholly limit the buying options
available, more so when it is quite
affordable otherwise. It is ultimately
the want of a particular service
which makes one avail it, thereby
making buying more of a choice
www.varindia.com April 2015 47
than chance.

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Canon LV-WX300 3000 DLP Projector

The Canon LV-WX300 3000 DLP Projector is designed to
combine power and portability. It is a Bright and clear WXGA
portable projector with digital input and easy operation.It
delivers a notable 3000 lumens for viewing in a variety of lighting
conditions. The LV-WX300 features a 2300:1 contrast ratio and a
WXGA 1280 x 800 native resolution. It supports resolutions up
to UXGA 1600 x 1200. This projector is powered by a DLP chip
system, and the lamp features a long life of up to 6,000 hours in
Eco mode. You can use the LV-WX300 to project up to a 150"
screen size and it features a 1.50:1 to 1.65:1 throw ratio at 100'.
At just 5.5 lb and 11.1" wideness, the Canon LV-WX300 is compact and light enough for travel. HDMI, s-video, dual VGA, and a composite
video input are onboard for connecting video source components. Other features include a 0.5W standby power consumption level, optional
ceiling mount compatibility, rear screen projection capability, and the inclusion of an IR remote control and VGA cable. A 10W mono speaker
is also built into the projector for audio playback. Enjoy bright, high quality widescreen images and exceptionally easy set-up with the Canon
LV-WX300. HDMI input, quiet operation and compact size add to the projectors flexibility

48

April 2015

www.varindia.com

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Ricoh MP C2011SP Color MFP

MP C2011SP is best suitable for needs of Small and mid-sized
market. Ricoh MP C2011SP offers fast speed, greater paper capacity
and worry-free security. Further, it allows customers to expand their
digital imaging resources and capabilities without expending their
budget. Fast output at 20 ppm delivers high productivity for busy
offices, advanced network, colour and Mono printing and monitoring
capabilities by which users can maximize the production.

The

document sharing feature over the mail lets users save their time and
money. It also offers effortless printing with Ricoh Smart Device Print
& Scan mobile print app. MP C2011SP includes a full-color 9 inch Super
Video Graphics Array (SVGA) and touch panel that offers animated
guidance for easy usage. The paper trays have been expanded to hold
up to 2,300 sheets and the paper weight has been increased 300gms,
enabling more robust production to take place. Professional-grade
documents can be produced in a snap with crisp 1200 dpi resolution
further, allowing customers to make an excellent first impression with
SRA3 capability.

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www.varindia.com

April 2015

49

Cloud and Mobile Security Solutions

to rule Surveillance Business
Zicom has witnessed a growth in the electronic surveillance market and is expecting government, enterprise and
home segment to be the catalyzing element to drive growth further. Besides discussing the present condition of the
Indian surveillance market and the pull from tier-3 and -4 cities, Manoj Khadkikar, Head Channels Group & Solutions,
Zicom Electronic Security Systems Ltd, also dwells upon the challenges, trends and strengths of the company

he rise in terrorist activities, growing crime rates, data thefts,

remote monitoring, growth of public infrastructure, increasing
IT spending, government initiatives and increasing security spending
are boosting the market for video surveillance systems in the Indian
market.
Tier-1, -2, -3 and even -4 cities are showing pronounced growth
in numbers. The ever-reducing gap in the acquisition cost of IP and
Analog segments is also being seen as a great trigger point for the
industry.
Trends
Currently, though analog-based surveillance systems have
accounted for majority of the share of nearly 68%
in the overall market, yet IP-based surveillance
systems are expected to grow with relatively
higher CAGR of 41.78% in the coming
years.
Closely integrated security solutions
instead of standalone solutions in the IP CCTV
segment will be the major trend in the coming
years. Product-cum-service will become more and
more relevant and popular as compared to product
per se. Customers are looking for business value in
surveillance security solutions. All pervasive, online
and proactive solutions will be the force driving the
technology roadmap. As IP cameras become less and less
expensive, more people will incorporate them into varied
applications. Integration of business intelligence
software to the video surveillance system will be
a major trend. By utilizing the system to capture
marketing and point-of-sale data, one will be able
to realize far more value from video surveillance.
Also, integrated, cloud-based and mobile-operated security solutions
will be the major trend in the surveillance business.
Growing verticals and challenges
The electronic security market in India has witnessed a handsome
growth during the last few years. The Government has enhanced its
investments in verticals such as city surveillance, smart cities, airports,
seaports, and the infrastructure sector.
But cumbersome procedures, interdependability, poor network
connectivity and bandwidth, bidding on price rather than quality,
no standard agency to certify the products and poor infrastructure
particularly in rural India and natural disasters and terrorism are
the main challenges that are being faced in India, especially in the
government-funded surveillance projects.
Other sectors that fuelled the security market are residential,
commercial and industrial construction, increased activity by
foreign and domestic companies and rapid expansion of distribution

50

April 2015

www.varindia.com

channels.
So, it is going to be Government, Enterprises and Home segments
that will contribute to and propel the growth of the surveillance
industry in India.
Strategy
Services which entail 24x7 remote health monitoring of the security
systems is the focus of Zicom. The country has moved towards
outsourcing and same will hold true for Electronic Security, and Zicom
is already a forerunner and has proven technology to provide remote
managed services for CCTVs, Fire Alarm Systems, Access Control
Systems, Energy Management and ATM Security, to name a few.
Currently, we are present in 1,023 cities and
towns across India and the number is steadily
increasing. We are perhaps one of the very
few security solutions providers with
pan-India presence both for products and
customer service. We spare no effort to reach
out to millions of customers. These include
dedicated channel partners, social media and
customer outreach programmes like MYCS
(Make Your City Safe) and a few others, said
Manoj Khadkikar, Head Channels Group &
Solutions, Zicom Electronic Security Systems Ltd.
Well, competition will be fierce in this growing
market and we welcome it. It helps us to raise our bars.
We continue to invest in the latest technology and R&D
to lead from the front. We are more innovative
and customer service-centric. At the end of the
day, products alone will not win customers.
Innovation, after-sales service and constant
interaction with customers are going to retain
existing customers and bring in new ones. We are strong in all these
areas. Hence, we are confident of overcoming competition to remain
as the leader in the Indian surveillance market, he added.
In years to come
Compared to other developed and developing countries, the
penetration and usage of surveillance has been slow but steady mainly
due to the vastness of the country and demographic trends.
Nevertheless, Zicoms share in the Indian surveillance market is
quite significant. The company is targeting more than double of the
current market growth rate which is around 35% (CAGR) coming
in from the new products and technology introduction, new services
and a higher level of services being adopted by the current channel
partners. Zicoms winning propositionis the service business and the
hardware will only be a medium to enjoy the service. So, the company
is expecting an impressive growth in the next two to three years. n
aparna@varindia.com

 
 

 

 
    


 

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April 2015

51

OPPO speeding penetration and service support in India

C

ompeting in one of the fastestgrowing smartphone markets like

India and successfully completing a year with
the introduction of 13 innovative products
is, indeed, a praiseworthy effort and
OPPO has done it. After a year-long journey
in India, OPPO is now keen to penetrate
deep into the Indian market by adding more
partners. The company is also focussing on
strengthening its after-sales support to grab a
major market share.
According to one of the latest IDC
reports, India is one of the fastest-growing
smartphone markets in the Asia-Pacific
region with retailers selling 23.3 million
smartphone units during Q3 2014 an 82per cent year-on-year growth. Mobile devices
like smartphones and feature phones are the
first screen for a majority of Indian internet
users, i.e. roughly around 59 per cent. An
IAMAI report says that, growing at 33 per
cent, the digital commerce market is expected
to cross Rs.1 lakh crore by December 2015
from Rs.81,525 crore in December 2014,
with 53-per cent growth.

The journey in India

We have received a very positive
feedback from customers here about both
the product quality in terms of the design
and innovation, and on the after-sales
service. OPPO entered India in January
2014 and this year we are celebrating the
first anniversary of our successful journey
in India. Till date, we have launched 13
smartphones in the Indian market, bringing
its total number of 4G phones to three in
India. Our flagship models such as the N3,
R5, Find 7 & N1 along with innovative
technologies like VOOC Flash Charge have
received rave reviews from the experts as well
as the consumers across India, said Tom Lu,
CEO, OPPO Mobiles India.

Trends
India is, no doubt, a price-sensitive market,
but there is a certain section of consumers
who are extremely technology-savvy and
looking for innovative and power-packed
devices. The way the consumers choose and
buy smartphones is continuously evolving
and that means one needs to have a diverse
portfolio of products and price points to
appeal to a wide range of consumers there.
Though feature phones are still popular,

52

April 2015

www.varindia.com

using smartphones for a number of functions

like work, emails, entertainment, social
media, etc. The OPPO VOOC Flash Charge
is capable of charging the phones battery
from zero to 75% in only 30 minutes. Useful
accessories like VOOC car charger and
VOOC power bank make the smartphone
ready and charged at all times of the day.
Wearable devices are also picking up in
India and finding favour like so many other
technologies that are introduced in any
region from time to time.

Strategy

Tom Lu
CEO, OPPO Mobiles India
but smartphones are fast catching up. This
can be attributed to a number of factors
like increasing affordable data usage rates,
increasing network penetration across pan
India, smartphones at affordable price range,
etc.
The current trend indicates that
smartphones are increasingly doubling up as
cameras. OPPO N3 is the first smartphone
with a motorized camera which can get 64MP
Ultra-HD photography with a 16-megapixel
camera. OPPO PI 2.0+, which was launched
in Singapore last October, was developed by
OPPO to provide innovative philosophy
experience and is available on both N3 and
R5. PI is short for Pure Image and it includes
more than 15 features such as 8 beauty
modes, GIF and double exposure. Mirror
3, the latest phone which was launched in
March, is also equipped with Pure Image.
The other major feature that influences
the buying decision of a customer is its
battery life and strength. With users spending
hours and hours on their smartphones,
battery life is one area that is seeing and is
likely to see more innovation. OPPO is at
the forefront of rapid smartphone charging
with its VOOC rapid charging technology.
It is designed specifically to meet the needs
of customers of today who are increasingly

We are looking at more nationwide

channel partners so that we can satisfy the
huge customer need at the earliest. The
company also has plans to expand more
service centres in the next one year. Right
now, we are retailing in more than 20 major
cities and regions across India, mainly
through multi-brand stores. We have started
to partner with nationwide retail chains like
Flipkart and Amazon.in for online sales and
are planning to build our showrooms and
exclusive stores in a short time. We have
achieved our expectations and are speeding
up our service network and expect a fair
growth and a bigger share of the market
in the time to come. We are targeting over
4,000 sales points and more service centres in
the next one year, Lu added.
India is a very interesting market with
significant growth still to be found in
the sector. So, OPPO has chalked out an
aggressive consumer connect and is launching
promotion campaigns to reach out to the
masses across India.
Also, the company has an ongoing
engagement strategy with operators in
India.

Coming up
Customers are the very source of
OPPOs passion in the industry. The
handset-maker co-developed products with
customers based on their feedbacks in both
hardware and software user experience. The
company hopes to continue introducing
more innovative smartphones for the Indian
consumers and delighting them. OPPO has
a lot of exciting things lined up for this year
and are looking forward to it. n
aparna@varindia.com

VAR MOBILITY

ZTE Blade S6 Plus

The ZTE Blade S6 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch bright display.
It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core chipset and
Adreno 405 image processor, and runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop
with ZTEs customizable MiFavor 3.0 user interface. The Blade S6
Plus boasts of a larger JDI Super Screen 5.5-inch HD display with
In-Cell technology for better and more vibrant image quality, as
well as higher-capacity 3000mAh battery. S6 Plus has a 13MP rear
camera with Sony Exmor IMX214 CMOS sensor (1080p video
@30fps) and 5MP front camera. S6 comes with 2GB RAM and
has 16GB storage plus microSD support. Also unique about the
Blade S6 Plus is an innovative function that allows the device
to double as an infra-red remote control. Compatible with all
major electronic and household appliance brands, the function
allows Blade S6 Plus users to control television, set-top box, air
conditioning units, DSLRs and more. It is simple and easy to use,
and saves users the hassle of switching between several different
remote controls. It has all connectivity option like 802.11b/g/n
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and 4G connectivity. S6 Plus also supports
Dual-SIM (dual-standby).

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is designed to provide you innovative experience. This Samsung flagship mobile deserves credit for being a dualcurved glass smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S6 represents a unique fusion of glass moulding and metal sculpturing techniques. S6 Edges
super AMOLED 5.1 curved screen display is something to talk about; it allows a smooth, end-to-end display and has Gorilla Glass 4 on front.
Its rear panel provides the phone with total protection
against accidental damages and scratches. The rear camera is 16MP with
features like optical image stabilization,
Auto HDR, 4K video capture and IR white balance detection. For selfielovers, the front camera is 5MP and
comes with a 120 degree wide angled lens. The cameras quick launch
option also comes in handy when
you have to simply click the home button to launch
the camera. Samsung Galaxy S6
Edge is equipped with advanced sensors,
including accelerometer, geomagnetic, gyroscope, RGB ambient
light, proximity, barometer, hall
sensor, finger scanner and heart
rate monitor. The pack of sensors
allows you to explore the use of
smartphone beyond imagination.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with 3GB
RAM capacity and the fastest flash
memory of 2.0 comes in various
versions of 32GB / 64 GB / 128 GB.
S6 Edge comes in colour options
such as White Pearl, Black Sapphire,
Gold Platinum and Green Emerald.

www.varindia.com

April 2015

53

VAR MOBILITY

Lenovo A7000 launched

exclusively with Flipkart

he
muchanticipated
Lenovo A7000 is finally
here in India. Lenovo
has launched the new
smartphone exclusively
with Flipkart. The 4G/
LTE smartphone sports a

64-Bit 1.5GHz Octa-Core

processor and 2GB DDR3
RAM for smooth gaming,
a
great
multimedia
experience and lag-free
multitasking. Featuring
a brilliant 13.97(5.5) cms
HD display with ultrawide viewing angles, the
A7000 ensures clarity
and
accurate
colour

reproduction. The A7000

also features the all-new
Dolby Atmos technology
providing
moving
audio technology for
an unparalleled acoustic
experience.
In addition to its

impressive audio and

visual technologies, this
multimedia smartphone
provides an enhanced user
experience with a powerful
battery life required for
all-day connectivity. The
A7000 is powered by a
2900mAh battery along
with enhanced battery
optimization features.

Spice Mobile launches

Octa-Core Stellar 526n

pice Mobiles has

announced
the
launch of new Octa-Core
version of its bestselling
Stellar 526 smartphone
526n.
The new powerpacked Stellar 526n Octa

companys
strategy
and we always strive to
introduce products that
delight our customers.
Following up on the
excellent response to our
Stellar 526 smartphone,
we decided to introduce

smartphone is equipped
with a lightning fast 1.4
GHz Octa-Core Processor
and a stunning 5-inch
HD IPS On-Cell display,
enveloped in a stunning
metallic finish, exclusively
designed by a Londonbased design house.
Prashant
Bindal,
CEO, Spice Mobility
Ltd, said, Our customers
are at the core of our

a
faster
Octa-Core
version of the phone with
excellent specifications for
technology
enthusiasts
seeking a combination of
cutting-edge technology
and style.
The
stellar
526n
is equipped with an
8-megapixel rear camera
with auto-focus, frontfacing 3.2MP camera. It
has 8GB inbuilt storage.

54

April 2015

www.varindia.com

LG Spirit now
on Infibeam

he first of LG's
four mid-range
smartphones, Spirit was
launched and rolled out
in the market. The device
is being made available
on Infibeam at a slashed
price.
Earlier this year at the
MWC, LG announced
its four new mid-range
smartphones,
Magna,
Spirit, Leon and Joy, out
of which Spirit is the first
to be launched. It was
first made available in
South Africa, followed
by Europe, Asia, Middle
East, Africa and North
America. The price of LG
Spirit on the companys
official website is Rs.
14250, while on Infibeam,
it is 13,999.
With sleek dimensions
of
133.366.19.9mm
and a unique, comfortable
curved design, LG Spirit
is easy to hold. Another
interesting thing about
it is the fact that, like all
LG smartphones since
G3, there are keys on the
rear side for convenient
shortcuts and volume
control. It is powered by
a 1.3 quad core processor,
1 GB RAM and runs on
Android 5.0 Lollipop.
With a 4.7 inch HD display
and pixel density of 312
ppi, you get a beautiful
visual experience.
The advanced 8 megapixel rear camera comes
with LED Flash and also
has a 1 mega-pixel front
camera. The phone also
sports features like Gesture
shot, Touch & Shoot,
Knock code and Front
camera light. Over 86,000
knock codes are possible
by forming a customized
pattern anywhere in the
display.
Apart
from
the
mentioned, LG Spirit
also offers 8 GB of onboard storage which
can be expanded using a
micro SD card of up to
32 GB. To complete the
package, it comes with a
2,100 mAh battery which
is far better than a decent
battery capacity.

LAVA debuts its latest offering Icon

A
V
A
International
has launched of its latest
offering Icon. The
new device redefines
users experience with a
magnificent camera and
customized Star OS.
Sporting a premium
metallic look, the Icon is
7.7mm thick which makes
it extremely comfortable
to operate.
Icon
boosts
a
5-megapixel front camera
with Omni Vision sensor,
F2.4 aperture, 4P lens,
BSI-II sensor with blue
glass filter. The camera
comes with face beauty
mode which automatically
adjusts the picture to create
a visually more pleasing
photo by making the faces
in the picture look young
and fresh. In addition to
the face beauty mode,
Icon comes with a range
of other features such as
Face Detection, HDR,
Panorama Mode, Smile
Shot & Multi view found
in professional DSLRs.
On the rear, Icon

features a 13-megapixel
camera with dual-LED
flash, SONY EXMOR
sensor with 5P lens and
a blue glass filter. The
camera lets user record
and view full HD videos
on the expansive 5 HD
screen. IPS display with
full lamination further
improves the viewing
angles.
The
handset
is
powered by 1.3 GHz
Quad-Core ARM Mali
400 MP2 processor and
2GB RAM running on
Android KitKat 4.4.

HTC India unveils HTC Desire 826

TC
has
announced
the HTC Desire 826 to
help people create the
best possible mobile
experiences by capturing
the best of me in photos,
enjoying
your
best
personal moments with
stunning surround sound
audio, and expressing
the best of me with
bold design, colours and
materials.
Faisal
Siddiqui,
President, South Asia,
HTC said, Our consumer
today
represents
an
individuality that has quite
a resolute fabric, each one
being a strong and special
personality in their own
stride. We understand
our consumer and design
products to sit their being.
The phone is yet another
effort of ours to combine
superior quality features
in a stunning smartphone
at a smart price.
HTC has combined
dual front-facing stereo
speakers, a finely tuned

sound profile and Dolbys

decoding technology to
deliver an end-to-end
multi-channel
audio
solution. Listeners can
experience sonic depth
and breadth unheard of,
on a mobile device, giving
every media experience
an
epic,
true-to-life
sound that flows out of
the speakers and off the
screen. The package also
includes an audiophilegrade headset that is
carefully tuned for HTC
BoomSound with Dolby
Audio, delivering the
cinematic surround sound
experience wherever you
are.
Gorgeous,
softtouch matte sides make
the phone comfortable
and easy to grip while
giving peace of mind
that memories are safe
in hand. Subtle speaker
grills
disappear
into
the design to maintain
the phones clean lines
for an unrivalled audio
experience.

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April 2015

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56 pages including cover