e-magazine, july 2014 issue

1 www.varindia.com July 2014

VOLUME 15 ISSUE 11 JULY 2014 PRICE Rs. 50

D-Link introduces its own Service centres Rittal inaugurates Training Center

58pg

2 July 2014 www.varindia.com


Sparsh has given a new dimension to the Indian Security Industry by being the first Indian company to manufacture CCTV cameras in India and retaining its leadership position.

much Acclaimed Awards & Recognitions:- Best Security Solution Provider (NCN 2012)

- Technology Evangelist of the Year (VAR India 2012)- One of the Top 100 Brands of India (VAR India 2013, 2012)

- EFY Best Security System Award (2009, 2010, 2011)- ET Now-Indiamart Leaders of Tomorrow Award (2010)

- Elcina - Dun & Bradstreet Award (2009) - Frost & Sullivan Award (2007)

INDIACCTV Productsmade in

Customized Solutions> Local Service

and Support> Designs suitable for

India needs> No Security Concern,

Source in India>Made for India>

[email protected] I www.sparshsecuritech.com

Corporate OfficeF 365, Sector 63Noida 201 307Uttar Pradesh (India)phone +91 120 4518 900 (20 lines)

Mgf. UnitPlot No. 75, Sector 7IIE, SIDCUL, Haridwar 249 403Uttarakhand (India)phone +91 9555 997 755

Branch OfficeDELHI: A 1/15New KondliDelhi 110 096 (India)phone +91 11 2262 3325

MUMBAI: Prajapati GauravShop No: 15, Plot No. 3, Sector 2, Khargarh, Navi Mumbai 410 210 (India)phone +91 22 6522 7222

COIMBATORE: A 11, Hudco ColonyNear PSG Hospital, Peelamedu (P.O.)Coimbatore 641 004, Tamil Nadu (India)phone +91 97909 02967


IBM to open new data centre in India

As part of its $1.2-billion investment and in line with its expansion of its global cloud footprint, IBM will be setting up a new data centre in India by the end of this year. This comes on the back of its $2-billion acquisition

of cloud computer player Softlayer last year.

We are yet to finalise the

location for the Indian data centre, but it will certainly come up by 2014-end. The growing demand in Data Centre opportunity the new cloud products and services to suit the Indian market, Vamsicharan Mudiam, Country Manager, Cloud Solutions, IBM India/ South Asia, said.

Cisco and Microsoft to modernize Data Center

At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, the networking giant Cisco has announced a multi-year sales and go-to-market agreement with Microsoft designed to modernize data centers through the delivery and acceleration of integrated solutions.

Cisco and Microsoft will both invest in sales, marketing and engineering resources to drive global alignment,

while delivering deeper technology integration across cloud and data center markets. The companies will focus on integrating market-leading technologies, including Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), Cisco Nexus switching and Microsoft Cloud OS solutions, including Windows Server, System Center, SQL Server and Microsoft Azure.

Cisco and Microsoft have agreed to a three-year go-to-market plan focussed on transforming data centers through the delivery of integrated solutions.

Lets get Back to School..opportunity beckons

46pg

Kingston's storage solutions Dell unveils new laptop series

SUBSCRIPTION COPY NOT FOR SALEVOLUME 15 ISSUE 11 JULY 2014 PRICE Rs. 50

Union Budget

2014 36pg

Sparsh has given a new dimension to the Indian Security Industry by being the first Indian company to manufacture CCTV cameras in India and retaining its leadership position.

much Acclaimed Awards & Recognitions:- Best Security Solution Provider (NCN 2012)

- Technology Evangelist of the Year (VAR India 2012)- One of the Top 100 Brands of India (VAR India 2013, 2012)

- EFY Best Security System Award (2009, 2010, 2011)- ET Now-Indiamart Leaders of Tomorrow Award (2010)

- Elcina - Dun & Bradstreet Award (2009) - Frost & Sullivan Award (2007)

INDIACCTV Productsmade in

Customized Solutions> Local Service

and Support> Designs suitable for

India needs> No Security Concern,

Source in India>Made for India>

[email protected] I www.sparshsecuritech.com

Corporate OfficeF 365, Sector 63Noida 201 307Uttar Pradesh (India)phone +91 120 4518 900 (20 lines)

Mgf. UnitPlot No. 75, Sector 7IIE, SIDCUL, Haridwar 249 403Uttarakhand (India)phone +91 9555 997 755

Branch OfficeDELHI: A 1/15New KondliDelhi 110 096 (India)phone +91 11 2262 3325

MUMBAI: Prajapati GauravShop No: 15, Plot No. 3, Sector 2, Khargarh, Navi Mumbai 410 210 (India)phone +91 22 6522 7222

COIMBATORE: A 11, Hudco ColonyNear PSG Hospital, Peelamedu (P.O.)Coimbatore 641 004, Tamil Nadu (India)phone +91 97909 02967


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The Union Budget for 2014-15 presented by the Union Government promises growth and development. Indian entrepreneurs can have a sigh of relief with the announcement of Rs.10,000-crore fund which provides equity and soft loans for start-ups. The fund would encourage development of products and innovations in the IT industry. The Government's decision of allocating Rs.7,060 crore for development of 100 smart cities and modernization of satellite towns in the country, industrial clusters will help the ESDM industry achieve great heights by developing technology solutions for these initiatives and boost the confidence of the investor community. It will be pertinent for the government to devise measures which will help in "ease of doing business" with the government. Government to boost domestic production of electronic items and reducing dependence on imports. Rationalisation of Inverted duty structure by exempting 4% special additional duty on laptops and tablets is appreciated by the IT hardware Industry.

It is a fact that technology acts as an enabler that can pave the way for being competitive. Small and medium businesses across all verticals play a critical role in the resurgence of the Indian economy. SMBs face tough challenges in the volatile business environment and global competition. Various innovative solutions leveraging the SMAC (Social Mobile Analytics and Cloud) stack support SMB customers in India in the successful adoption of IT to build a comprehensive marketing strategy and drive higher customer engagement.

With the consumerization of IT and explosion of social media, it is estimated that 2.5 exabytes of new data is being created every day and the volume of new data is doubling every 12 to 18 months. Social media has rapidly emerged as an ideal marketing tool. Companies have to adapt quickly and need to feel secure, as cybercriminals are working in a much organized manner and their network is growing stronger day by day, and they have cost India a whopping Rs.24,630 crore ($4 billion) in 2013 alone as criminals have started using sophisticated means.

Organizations are under increasing pressure to respond to this rapid shift and take advantage of the New Style of IT to transform their operations, improve their competitiveness and enhance customer interactions. As a bonus, budget has provided individual tax-payers a big relief to combat inflation. The Government has provided a huge boost for personal savings by enhancing investment from Rs.1 to Rs.1.5 lakh. Initiatives for boosting the manufacturing industry and enabling a good industry network between states will have a tremendous impact.

With all the positive measures in the Budget for promoting indigenous manufacturing of hardware and software products, it is hoped that India will continue to a be strategic hub for IT MNCs.

Indian Union Budget 2014-15. boost indigenous manufacturing

HELLO INDIA

Mukul MathurVice-President Global Business

Partners and CSI, IBM India/ South Asia

In the last 21 years of your stint, what kind of changes have you seen taking place in the industry?

When I joined the company way back in 1993, which was just about the time when IBM has come back to India, internet revolution has not even taken place. We used to talk about client server computing and the PC era at that time was still at its nascent stage. However, now things have changed to a great extent. While today we are in a completely interconnected world, where we are talking not only about computing devices but every device or every object that we use are connected with a huge amount of data and analysis. There has been a significant change in the way people interact, businesses operate or take decisions and deliver services to customers. So we are seeing these massive changes around us.

How has the channel evolution been like?

Change has become inevitable now. Given that I have associated myself with the Channel and business partners, I find the channel has evolved and changed with every change that has come in, right

from the point when partners started to move from client server computing to embracing the internet. The world has become interconnected and the web technologies available today to build and connect new technologies have further helped partners to introduce new service models as per their business and customer requirements. I feel glad to see such a positive change in the channel.

What kind of an industry do you foresee in the coming years?

While there have been some changes in the last 21 years, we are at a point now where change is far more rapid and far more disruptive. We are seeing a change in the products and technologies and the way these products and technologies are delivered through cloud and other pay-per-use services; we are seeing a change to whom they are getting delivered; we are seeing a change in how they are getting consumed; instead of just an information customers are seeking for more predictive analysis of the information and this is another change we are seeing. So, I personally think the industry and partners are going to see a huge change at a very rapid pace as we go forward. n

Mukul Mathur has been associated with the industry for close-to 23 years now, of which 21 years have been spent with IBM. At IBM, he has worked in different capacities and areas, be it in the technology sales area or managed system and technology business systems. Mukul has worked with clients across different segments and in many significant global roles. Across his 21-plus years stint with IBM, Mukul has worked in almost every major role with business partners in India and abroad.


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Website: www.varindia.com

CONTENTSPublisher: Deepak Kumar SahuEditor: S Mohini RatnaExecutive Editor: Dr. Vijay Anand Assistant Editor: Samrita Baruah Sr. Correspondent: Satinder KaurCopy Editor: C. M. DuttaCorrespondent: Aparna MullickArt Director: Rakesh Kumar Network Administrator: Ashok Kumar SinghManager-IT: Subhash MohantaManager-SEO: Bidyadhar Behera

BUSINESS:Commercial Manager: Amit Ku. JhaCirculation Manager: L G SwamiRegional Manager (North): Ashok Ranjan DashMarketing Manager: Dipendra Kumar

CORPORATE OFFICE: VAR House, A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex, IGNou Road, New Delhi - 110030Tel: 011-41656383, 46061809Email: [email protected]

Bangalore: Bureau officeBranch Manager: L. G. SwamiMarketing Manager: Shubhendu Nanda Correspondent: Aswini Kumar Panda#97,IInd Floor,16th Main, 4th T Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore- 560041, Tel: 91-80-40939454Mobile:09916242600/9916134482E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Mumbai: Bureau officeRegional Manager (West): Anil KumarSr. Correspondent: Mamta S.Anurag Residency, 204 - B Wing, Plot No-5, Sector-9, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai-410 209 Tel: 022-65561292, Mobile: 08108017479E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

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A new innings for Trend Micros Channel Partners

With a revamped Channel programme in place, Trend Micro has a lot in store for its Channel. Dhanya Thakkar, Managing Director, Trend Micro (India & SEA), discusses at length with VARINDIA about the new channel strategies and policies that are instrumental in making the channel ecosystem even stronger than before

Channel is a very integral structure for Trend Micro and a critical one for all its strategies. Whenever it designs any product or any go-to-market strategy, it is done by keeping the Channel in mind so that partners are at ease to sell them irrespective of market conditions. Earlier when it was just a physical product that we had to sell, we would ask our partners to go and sell it and give adequate support. But with the coming in of the Cloud era (SaaS & PaaS), Channel is starting to feel insecure that they might not have a very important role to play as far as such solutions are concerned. However, to allay this fear, we have designed the solutions in such a way that a partner can go and sell them. They can always do a white-labelling and have their

own pricing and thus do their own value addition, asserts Dhanya Thakkar, Managing Director, Trend Micro (India & SEA).

Trend Micro has recently launched a new partner programme and revamped its tiers to address the channel more closely. It has primarily taken up three key things to make it even more interesting. Firstly, it is identifying all those new products which have come up as a result of technology evolution and assigning them to partners based on their skills. We have built some technologies which are next generation for which we are doing a lot of concept-selling and also helping build different skill-sets for partners so that they can go and sell those products. Earlier, we used to have the same partner selling end-point security or firewall security or data center security. However, since different partners carry different set of skills, we have in this new programme segmentized the channel depending on the skill-set that they carry. For instance, one of the partners may be good in selling cloud technology and are cloud-enablers for customers. So, he will be our Cloud partner. So, accordingly, we have categorized them based on their skill-sets and also designed the training module, rewards and incentive programmes keeping these segments in mind, explains Thakkar.

Secondly, Trend Micro has homogenized its channel partner programme globally by doing away with the Affinity Partner programme that it used to have earlier. Now the programme has become a more standardized one with having introduced different levels of gold, platinum and silver partners. These are the registered partners who then move on to become gold, silver and premium partners based on their abilities and performance. We have made it simpler, just to understand their strengths and put specific product lines with skilled partners only, justifies Thakkar. Trend Micro has currently 2,400 registered partners, out of which 65 are silver partners, 14 gold partners and 3 platinum partners.

The third is the launching of structural programmes and various initiatives. In one of the initiatives, partners who are registered with Trend Micro can come and lock in their opportunities with the principal vendor which will be tracked and given adequate assistance to pursue it. If the deal gets locked, the partner is given an award.

However, it becomes equally important to review a particular programme periodically to check its acceptance in the channel and the general consensus on its structure and format. Definitely. Our marketing team keeps on reviewing our programmes from time to time on how well they are doing. Since there is scope for improvement, we keep on improvising and making changes to these programmes very often, says Thakkar. He further explains, Technology is changing. If today we are talking about end-point security, then tomorrow it will be gateway security, then data center security and finally one day cloud security. In the same way, the profile and topology of a partner is going to change. The amount of resources you used to put in earlier is changing now. Hence, there is a core need to change the channel programme also.

One of the best ways to help the partners in reducing the cost of selling is by giving more qualified leads to them for the product line that they are catering to. Trend Micro works closely with partners to achieve this for them and helps them in generating leads and remaining profitable all the way. n

[email protected]

Message to the PartnersPartners, who think of doing a profitable business, where they see long-term customer loyalty, can come ahead and join hands with Trend Micro. We are not only designing products fitting into our next-gen technology but also designing channel programmes which will make our channel evenly profitable. Any partner who brings a deal to us, we will ensure that the deal becomes profitable and partners can make maximum money out of that.

Dhanya ThakkarMD, Trend Micro (India & SEA)


CHANNEL CHIEF

Partners feedback for HPs MPS Program Participating in the HP Partner MPS program has allowed us to expand our portfolio

offering. We can now expand our business with Managed Print Services and solutions offered by HP. ~ S. K. Jain, CEO, Orbit Peripherals Pvt. Ltd

The HP Partner MPS program is truly one of its kind in India, offering tremendous

flexibility with HPs extensive MPS coverage and support across the country. ~ Kailash Baheti, Director, Powertechnics

There is a growing interest in Managed Print Services amongst Indian businesses. The

HP Managed Print Specialist Program has enabled us to capture this growing opportunity in India. ~ Shiv Modi, Director, Trisita Marketing

Leveraging the world-class services and leading solutions offered under the HP

Managed Print Specialist Program, we could grow the number of contractual wins, thereby increasing our revenue and profitability. ~ Jayessh Mehta, Managing Director, Future Biztech

HP has more than 15 years of leadership and expertise in Managed Print Services, and its global reach allows HP to provide services and solutions to businesses of all sizes around the world. In fact, Gartner has been positioning HP in the Leader Quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services for six consecutive years, and HP has also been named a leader in the IDC MarketScape and The Forrester Wave. With more than 3,000 global direct enterprise MPS customers, and with an estimated 715,000 devices and $10 billion under contract globally, HP has a proven track record of success in Managed Print Services. HP is committed to providing its customers with the most effective MPS offering, and this extension of multivendor support showcases HPs latest step to achieve its goal.

Customers desire services, solutions and support to help them manage their print environment. More importantly, customers want long-term, strategic partnerships with a vendor who can provide a comprehensive solution. HP is committed to help channel partners succeed by making sure that they have the right program and tools. To help its partners to be future-ready and well-equipped to handle the transformation from products to solutions and services, HP introduced the Managed Print Specialist Resell Program in India last year. Due to the market sophistication and opportunity, India was chosen as the first country to launch the program in the Asia-Pacific region and, in fact, the company is pleased with the results. The program was initially rolled out across two cities Delhi and Mumbai. In a short span of time, HP increased the number of partners enrolled and expanded the offering to eight cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad. Nitin Hiranandani, Director, Printing Systems, PPS, HP India, is confident that HP will continue to witness a momentum in this segment.

HPs criterion for partners to participate in MPS program

Although HP is identifying partners from its existing base, who have the capabilities to offer MPS to SMBs and enterprises in the identified cities, the program is not limited and is available for all HP partners. The partners current selling hardware only but with a vision for services business clubbed with investment interests in the domain may be the next set of target partnerships.

Verticals where HP sees maximum growth of MPS

At present, the program engages partners with customers across verticals including

telecom, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and Information Technology-enabled Services (ITeS). While HP is reaching out to all SMB and mid-market customers, the high document producing vertical markets are a major opportunity for it. These include:

Retail / online retail Healthcare including hospitals,

health insurance and large clinics Finance including banks, credit

unions, brokerages and insurance groups Real Estate including large agent

firms and mortgage companies Legal including mid and large law

firms

Higher education institutes including colleges and universities

HPs Express Decision Portal (EDP)

The HP Express Decision Portal (EDP) is a cloud-based application that connects partners and HP together in one intuitive, easy-to-use portal for services, supplies and maintenance. The HP EDP platform provides partners with proposal and quote generation for cost-per-page pricing, client invoicing and reporting, device monitoring, and account and contract management. n

[email protected]

Nitin HiranandaniDirector, Printing Systems, PPSHP India

HP is committed to provide the most effective MPS offering


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IT Reflections in the Midst of FIFA Frenzy

ROUND ABOUT

Asoke K. LahaPresident & MD, Interra IT

Which is the biggest industry in the world? Many would say hydro carbon, electronics, IT, automobiles and the list goes on. I have a contrary view, many may share my view. What is that? I might vouch for sports as the largest industry in the world. It is happening and it will reach larger proportions in future.

Some of you may ask me how? Not long ago, many who had dabbled in sports died in penury. I know of footballers in my childhood, who had played for Mohan Began, East Bengal or Mohammedan Sporting Club retired from their active playing tenure with no financial benefits, to lead a very ordinary life taking up menial works.

I am inclined to give some kudos to my home state for professionalizing sports at a time even the cricket was only a passionate game without much money to back it. During the football seasons, the three major clubs Mohan Began, East Bengal and Mohammedan- used to bid for football players. Some of them were auctioned for as high as Rs 10 lakh per season, an astronomical sum having regard to the fact that it had happened three decades or more ago.

Cricket was also not a money spinner till one-day games were innovated with business in mind. It was considered to be a rich mans game, since the cricket players and fans had to be rich enough spare six days, including the rest day, for watching a test series. Now the landscape is completely changed. IPL is raking in billions of dollars. Players are auctioned for millions of dollars. Rights to telecast are fetching astronomical sums. Sponsorships are raking in mindboggling amounts both for the players and the organizers. Reams of stories are written about the players, their life styles, their girlfriends, marriage break-ups, scams they get involved and many more.

FIFA and Wimbledon are presently grabbing the headlines. Australian open and the recently concluded IPL had remained in the limelight for some time. Once the cricketing season starts, they will continue to engage the media. Let us look at FIFA World Cup

recently played in Brazil. If you want to see the frenzy created by the tournament, you have to visit remotest parts of West Bengal and Kerala. You ask a street vendor there, he will give you a lesson or two on the strengths and weaknesses of each team along with who won the world cup since it was started. Spectators are thronging to the community TV sets in hordes to witness the matches and cheer their favourite teams and players.

We have looked at only football. There are other money spinners like cricket, tennis, wrestling etc., which records mind-boggling gross revenues. Games like hockey, badminton, baseball etc. are in for greater attention of the business and soon these games will generate more businesses. An IPL like set up is coming for football also by next year. Corporations like Reliance and sports icons like Sachin Tendulkar have bid for their own teams and more interest in the game is expected in the coming years.

Can business and sports go together? The purists among sports lovers detest even sponsorship. They often quote money corrupts the world of sports and the joy of participation dissipates and the winning by hook or crook take over on account of the lure of money. They attribute betting and scams, rigging the results etc. to lure of money. Bookies offer large amount of money to players and sports mangers to manipulate the results. IPL scams are still with us. In FIFA cup also the authorities are inquiring into the play between Cameron and Cost Rica for finding out whether the match was fixed.

Unlike in other careers and occupations, the active life of a player is limited; say five to ten years, with some honourable exceptions like Sachin Tendulkar. In yester years, some of the government departments like customs, railways, post and telegraph etc. were to hire the services of players. After their active life in the game or sports, they would be absorbed in other departments, which would not require much skill. Therefore, corporatization of sports has become imminent for the games to stay and the players and sportspersons to survive. The pertinent point is how much commercialization is tolerable. I have read a report that the sports and games put together can generate a business of more than two trillions in a year.

When a sport is getting corporatized and the same players are raking in tons of money, there are large contingents of players who go high and dry. Some people say that the game itself has suffered a great deal at the expense of corporatization. For instance, the football has deteriorated into a game of fouls and unfair play. What that has happened to Neymar of Brazil is a case in point. He was deliberately fouled to an extent that many people doubt whether he could return to his erstwhile form with the fracture on the vertebrae column. There was also a biting incident. Big money also brings in its wake scams and manipulations. IPL is a classic example.

Now many of you might ask me why I treated sports in this column, which is usually have a high dose on information technology. To them my answer is it is information technology that has brought the game, players and organizers into your drawing room. In my childhood, the only source of information about the games or sports was All India Radio and the running commentaries it used to have for important matches. Now sitting in your drawing room, millions of people are watching every players activities and what have you. Those who want to go further can go the net and download the details of the player. Also, the business dimension of sports is mainly triggered by the information technology. The share of sale of telecasting rights constitutes a major chunk of the income from the game, which in turn help the sports mangers to unitize them and sell as advertisement slots.

That way sports and information technology are intimately connected. Here also we have to draw a line. Our efforts should be balanced. We have to promote business but not at the expense of the interest in the game. n


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HOT BYTES

Rittal inaugurates Training Center

Savera spreads wings in Western India SAP Labs India partners with NLF

TE Connectivity and Fiber-Span join Forces

D-Link introduces its own Service centres

Quantums Secure SAFE deployed by GRU

The Rittal Training Center was inaugurated at Rittal India HQ situated at Doddaballapur, Bangalore by Chief Guest Hans-Gnter Lffler, Deputy Consulate General of

Germany in Bangalore and Helmut Binder, Executive Vice President, International Sales Rittal GmbH & KG.

Speaking at the occasion, Helmut Binder conveyed that the training center has been conceived keeping in mind the need for training our customers, channel partners and employees and to keep

them updated of the latest innovations from Rittal, product and technical training seminars with high practical relevance.

Savera Marketing has established its first branch office in Mumbai. With this direct presence, the company will enhance its deliveries, improve customer service and accelerate access for channel partners in and around Mumbai. Savera currently distributes products from the leading brands like ADATA, RAPOO, Gainward, HIS, Edimax, Thermaltake, Luxa2 and many more.

Gopal Pansari, Managing Director, Savera Marketing, said, "Mumbai is the heart of distribution business and the hub for the entire western region. The thriving consumer market and arguably the densest channel business make it a place where we have to have direct presence. Mumbai will anchor our growth initiatives for the times to come."

SAP Labs India and Native Lead Foundation (NLF) have announced that their partnership which began in July, 2013, has spurred over 200 business ideas from students in 19 engineering colleges across South Tamil Nadu.

NLF works with educational institutions, students, and aspiring entrepreneurs to create awareness, motivate, train, and prepare them

to become innovators and business leaders. Under the partnership, SAP Labs India and NLF worked with colleges in Tamil Nadu under two programmes SPARK, aimed to motivate and expose students on the concepts of innovation, intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship; and a Start-up Nursery, designed to give students and staff a real-time feel of a start-up incubation centre on the campus.

TE, in collaboration with Fiber-Span, has developed a code-compliant, single DAS platform that supports the VHF/U H F / 7 0 0 / 8 0 0 / 9 0 0 /TETRA frequency bands used by public safety agencies. This new DAS platform will offer customers a seamless and world-class commercial and public safety DAS solution for any environment. TE Connectivity has announced a new public safety distributed antenna system (DAS) solution. The public safety DAS supports

primary public safety and critical first responder frequencies in the VHF/U H F / 7 0 0 / 8 0 0 / 9 0 0 /TETRA bands on a single system and provides high-reliability coverage for public safety communications services for both inbuilding and outdoor applications.

Peter Wraight, president of TEs Wireless Business Unit, said, "TE developed this solution to ensure life safety protection for the public as well as police, firefighters and other first responders.

In its bid to provide w o r l d - c l a s s customer experience,

D-Link has worked towards enhancing its existing support infrastructure PAN India. In one of its recent move

D-Link (India) Ltd., has launched D-Link Service Centres across the country,

which will be further supported by D-Link Service Partners (DSP) & D-Link Collection Centres (DAC).

Gu a r u l h o s I n t e r n a t i o n a l Airport (GRU) has implemented Quantum Secures SAFE for Aviation software suite. With the p h y s i c a l i d e n t i t y and access management software solution in place, the airport is better prepared to handle the spike in travellers Brazil experienced following the World Cup commencement on June 1, as well as the predicted surge ahead of the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics.

SAFE is designed to the TSA paradigm, so

we have brought those concepts to GRU, which are meeting and exceeding ANACs current capabilities, making airport security more

traveller-friendly, secure and streamlined. With SAFE, GRU is able to streamline its security and credentialing operations, ensure compliance with TSA-level policies and future-proof its physical security infrastructure while also benefiting from significant cost reductions, said Ajay Jain, President & CEO, Quantum Secure.

Indian enterprises to upsurge their ICT investments

Indian enterprises are set to increase their information and communications technology (ICT) spending in 2014.

According to Kables recent survey of 124 Indian enterprises, 27% of the respondents have expressed their intention to raise their ICT budgets in 2014, while 55% have plans to make slight increases over the same period. Investments in software are to remain on top of enterprises priority lists, with an average ICT budget allocation of 25% in 2014.

Tech Mahindra signs MoU with WSU

Tech Mahindra has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Wichita State University (WSU). Tech Mahindra will collaborate with WSU and its National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), the largest academic aviation R&D institution in the United States, on multiple areas of engineering including composites, advanced materials and structural testing.

The company plans to invest in equipping the engineering talent available in the region to enhance their employability in the Wichita aerospace community. This investment will enable Tech Mahindra to provide end-to-end solutions from design, to testing and certification for global aerospace & automotive customers and prospects in the region. The collaboration will facilitate cooperative initiatives in the area of innovation and R&D projects.


HOT BYTES

SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service rolled out by Pick n Pay

Lenovo India and HCL Infosystems signs partnership

Small Businesses taking big risks with lack of IT Strategy focus

DataWind lists shares in Toronto Stock Exchange

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.4 offers new advancementstica

SUSE has announced that Pick n Pay has completed a rollout of SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service systems at each of its 546 hypermarkets, supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores. SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service is designed specifically for retail environments, combining the operating system base of SUSE Linux Enterprise with extensions that facilitate the creation of

a point-of-service (POS) managed client solution.

We used to work quite blindly in the past, as we were never certain what software was installed where, said Wesley Grisdale, systems manager point of sale for Pick n Pay. We now have a guaranteed way of knowing exactly what version each terminal is running, which is a massive help when it comes to updates and maintenance.

Two tech giants Lenovo India and HCL Infosystems have joined hands. The latest strategic alliance would strengthen Lenovos consumer retail and commercial business by leveraging HCL Infosystems strong sales, distribution and after-sales support network.

Under this partnership, HCL Infosystems will sell and support Lenovos entire portfolio of PCs and

tablets, as well as enhance their existing cooperation in the distribution of tablets, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Digilife Distribution and Marketing Services (DDMS), the distribution arm of the company with an exhaustive last-mile connect and support in rural and urban markets across India. The partnership is poised to trigger growth and extend businesses for both companies.

According to a Kaspersky Lab survey of businesses worldwide, very small businesses (VSBs) with fewer than 25 employees are the least likely to view IT Strategy as a top strategic concern. Only 19% of VSBs worldwide reported IT Strategy as one of their top-two strategic concerns, compared to 30% of businesses with more than 100 employees, and 35% of enterprises with 5,000 employees or more. Alarmingly, this

often-neglected business category includes internet and data security policies.

These survey results, illustrate a key challenge for VSBs. An effective IT strategy is a vital component of any successful business, and if managed properly, can enable a small business to accomplish big things. But the reality is that VSBs most often dont have the money or IT expertise to properly implement vital IT components like security software.

DataWind was honoured with initiating the siren to open trading at Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The event celebrated the companys recent initial public offering, successfully completed on July 8, raising gross proceeds of CAN$30.0 million to expand the implementation of its patented and proprietary technology across emerging markets.

Suneet Singh Tuli, President & CEO, DataWind, said, It is an absolute delight for DataWind to be part of the market opening ceremony today. Our IPO on the TSX represents a major

milestone for DataWind and gives us the resources to implement the next stage of our vision to bring the internet to billions of unconnected people in the developing world. The internet impacts nearly every aspect of modern society and serves as a powerful economic stimulator. Yet, only a small percentage of individuals in developing countries have internet access.

Red Hat has a n n o u n c e d the global availability of Red Hat Enterprise V i r t u a l i z a t i o n 3.4, bringing enhancements for traditional virtualization infrastructure, guest support for the newly released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, as well as advanced OpenStack support across compute, storage and networking in tech preview.

This newest release of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization enables organizations to scale their traditional virtualization workloads to an enterprise-scale level, while providing

an on-ramp to deploy cloud enabled workloads based on OpenStack. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization has enabled global enterprise customers to streamline and optimize their traditional virtualization infrastructure while building a foundation for private cloud capabilities. With Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.4, Red Hat is delivering virtualization enterprise features that enable organizations to build highly available and scalable IT infrastructures.

HID Global celebrates LEED Platinum Certification

HID Global has announced that its World Headquarters and North American Operations Center in Austin has been LEED Platinum certified and is the only industrial manufacturing facility in the state of Texas. The USGBC LEED rating system is the foremost program for buildings, homes and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance.

LEED Platinum certification for our World Headquarters further elevates our award-winning facility as a leading Austin sustainability showcase and a Texas business success story. This achievement signifies our Green by Design philosophy, said Kevin Teehan, senior director of strategic operations and corporate sustainability with HID Global.

Emerson announces new Programme

Emerson Network Power has announced the launch of the Rainbow Dazzle programme for its channel partners in India. Emerson has unveiled this unique programme to incentivize partners, thus enhancing demand for its uninterruptible power supply (UPS) (up to 20kVA), data center infrastructure management (DCIM), and rack data unit (RDU) range of products.

The company has partnered with PAYBACK, which will empower its NSPs and VARs to select their rewards from over 50 PAYBACK partner brands.

Tata Communications inaugurates its 44th data centre

Ta t a Communications has inaugurated its 44th data centre in New Delhi. This data centre is located in the heart of the city and is an integral part of Tata Communications overall objective to strengthen its global data centre footprint.

Benoy CS, Director, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, says, "With an increase in the uptake of cloud services, datacentre has become a critical element in every

enterprises infrastructure strategy. The third party datacentre market is poised to grow very fast as many enterprises are now strategising to avail IT Infrastructure as a service rather than investing in huge captive datacentres. Tata Communications has emerged as the Indian Third Party Datacentre Service Provider of the Year 2014 with its extensive product portfolio, channel strategy and presence across the country."


ON THE RAMP

Intex launches new powerful headphones

ViewSonic introduces PJD5533w

NVIDIA announces GeForce GT 740 and GT 730 GPUs

Intex Technologies has introduced two new variants of over the ear Headphones IT-400 and IT-213 to enhance customers music experience.

Unveiling the latest range, Nidhi Markanday, Business Head, Consumer Durables & IT Accessories, Intex Technologies, said, These headphones are equipped with power bass and hi-fi stereo effect bringing clarity to the music you are listening and minimizing any external sound.

Headphone IT-400 comes in vivid colours of grey and blue coupled

with an adjustable microphone and volume control to boost stereo sound output. IT-213, on the other hand, is a smart headphone which can be easily plugged into your Ipod, MP3, CD and your laptop or desktop. It is equipped with a power bass for excellent stereo voice and provides supreme quality sound experience for music aficionados.

ViewSonic has i n t r o d u c e d PJD5533w, a high-performance 720p widescreen 3D Blu-ray- ready projector. This projector will bring widescreen imaging to business and professional environments and complement the latest presentation tools and laptops. With a 15000:1 contrast ratio, 3,000 lumens and Brilliant Color technology to produce more vibrant colours, the PJD5533w is the right choice for conference rooms, meeting rooms, boardrooms.

Max Hsu, PM Director, ViewSonic Asia-Pacific,

said, The latest PJD5533w 720p HD projector provides a good balance between price, portability, brightness, connectivity, and image quality for all kinds of corporate environments. With a native 1280x800 (WXGA) resolution, the PJD5533w wide format projector offers a tremendous degree of flexibility and compatibility to connect with a widescreen notebook in the conference room, or watching 720p / 1080p HD content in a boardroom.

NVIDIA has announced availability of two mainstream GPUs GeForce GT 740 and GT 730 in India. With these new cards, customers now have a choice to upgrade from integrated graphics and get the performance boost needed for lightning-fast web browsing, photo and video editing, and richer gaming. These new cards provide at least 3X faster gaming performance than integrated graphics, while delivering rock-solid reliability and stability with GeForce

Experience.Both these products

are available through NVIDIAs partners Asus, Galaxy, Gainward and Zotac. These new GPUs deliver enhanced multimedia options that support HD, Blu-ray, 3D Vision, 4K support and multi-monitor gaming.

Kingston's storage solutions

Kingston has l a u n c h e d DataTraveler microDuo 3.0 and Class 10 UHS-I 90R/45W microSDHC/SDXC card. The small form-factor combination USB 3.0 and microUSB Flash drive allows consumers to expand the storage of their Android tablets and smartphones by transferring files to and from PC.

D a t a T r a v e l e r microDuo 3.0 expands the storage of Android devices up to 64GB. The USB 3.0 to microUSB dual interface drive can be used with any USB On-The-Go compatible device and allows users to transfer data without plugging into a computer.

Kingstons Class 10 UHS-I microSDHC/SDXC is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities. The fast 90MB/s read and 45MB/s write speeds allow users to shoot full HD video, 3D video and real-time broadcasts.

HID Global announces new solutions

HID Global has announced that its access control products, along with door-opening solutions from parent ASSA ABLOY, have been used in various solutions across six of the 12 stadiums in Brazil during the 2014 FIFA World Cup football matches.

We are very excited to be playing such an important role in protecting the safety and security of the fans, players and staff during this years FIFA championship matches, said Gustavo Gassmann, Sales Director, Brazil with HID Global. Securing large-scale outdoor sporting venues is one of the industrys most difficult security challenges, but HID Global and ASSA ABLOY have extensive experience in this area."

eScan introduces 3 new products for Enterprise Security

eScan has introduced three new lines of corporate products, all of which have cloud integration and support for hybrid networks eScan Corporate 360, New eScan Corporate Edition (with Hybrid Network Support) and eScan Endpoint Security (with Hybrid Network Support).

Govind Rammurthy, MD & CEO, eScan, said, "The newly-launched

eScan corporate product line not just ensures multi-layered protection from evolving threats that are targeted and sophisticated in nature, but also protects the confidentiality and integrity of the Data in your Network as well as helps manage its availability. These products will redefine a whole new level of endpoint and corporate protection in terms of speed, security, simplicity and value."

ADATA launches SH14 Portable Hard Drive

Brocade launches Vyatta Platform for Service Providers

AD A T A Technology has announced the launch of ADATA SH14 500GB exclusively on e-commerce site Snapdeal.com. With this launch, the company aims to target the on-the-go crowd whose active lifestyle calls for shockproof performance.

ADATA SH14 portable hard drive is an upgraded version of the last year's industry-acclaimed pioneering water-resistant and shockproof SH93. It offers a new approach with the combination of modern style, super speed USB 3.0 interface, and military grade

shockproof and water-resistant construction.

Sudip De, VP, ADATA Technology, India, said, "We are pleased to announce the launch of SH14 exclusively on Snapdeal.com, India's largest online marketplace. ADATA is known for their premium quality product that offers a wide range of storage devices. The kind of response we have perceived from our existing line of portable hard drive."

Brocade has unveiled the Brocade Vyatta Platform, the first phase of a multiyear strategy that delivers an open and modular networking platform for cloud and t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s service providers. Supporting the build-out of both Application and Subscriber Clouds, the Brocade Vyatta Platform is the industrys first articulation of this open strategy.

The Brocade Vyatta

Platform encompasses proven Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and emerging Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies based on open standards and open-source initiatives. This Platform utilizes

established core components, such as the Brocade Vyatta vRouter and Brocade vADX products, along with the open-

source software projects such as OpenDaylight and OpenStack.


ON THE RAMP

AMD launches FirePro W8100 Professional Graphics Card

Seagate redefines its storage portfolio with Wireless Plus External Storage

AMD has launched the AMD FirePro W8100 professional graphics card, enabling new levels of workstation performance delivered by the companys second-generation, industry-leading AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. The AMD FirePro W8100 is designed for the next generation of 4K CAD (Computing Aided Design) and Media and Entertainment (M&E) workflows, engineering analysis and supercomputing

applications. Bolstering the AMD Professional Graphics product family with yet another productive workstation solution, the AMD FirePro W8100 features a best-in-class 8GB of GDDR5 memory, up to 4.2 TFLOPS of single precision compute performance, and unmatched double precision compute performance of up to 2.1 TFLOPS.

Seagate Wireless Plus mobile device storage now consists of a family of capacities at 1TB and 2TB versions to suit every need along with integration with cloud services, such as Dropbox and Google Drive. The Seagate Wireless Plus storage is designed to expand beyond the limitations of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. With capacities that are multiples beyond the highest storage available on these mobile devices, the Seagate Wireless

Plus provides an ideal solution to stream your favourite HD video while freeing up precious space on your Android Tablet, iPad, iPhone, Android Smartphone, Kindle Fire, Windows 8 computers and Windows RT tablets.

The Seagate Media apps new capability to sync your files on the Seagate Wireless Plus storage with an existing cloud storage provider means that your files are always accessible even when you dont have network access.

Rackspace's Performance Cloud Servers

Rackspace Hosting has announced that its redesigned public cloud with Performance Cloud Servers will be available in India. This new offering creates a powerful hosting platform for a variety of workloads, ranging from web hosting, eCommerce applications to larger-scale NoSQL data stores like MongoDB and Cassandra. The offering will be available to customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Greater China.

Logitech reinforces its wireless portfolio in south India

Logitech India has showcased their comprehensive line-up of wireless products, which comprises of wireless keyboards and mice, portable speakers, headsets and Bluetooth enabled speakers, in Chennai.

Ashok Jangra, Cluster Category Manager, India & South West Asia, Logitech said, With the increasing consumer demand for devices that help people reduce the clutter in their lives, Logitech offers easy solutions across its wireless range of devices. We are looking at making our wireless portfolio presence in Indias most mature market. Logitech is just not a technology brand but is an ultimate entertainment and productivity partner He further added, Witnessing the way Chennai market is evolving with changing consumer requirements, it offers a huge opportunity to Logitech to strengthen our presence here with our wireless portfolio.

DIGILITE launches Motherboards Series

DIGILITE has i n t r o d u c e d five new models of motherboards supporting Intel 4th generation Haswell CPU supported with H81/H87 chipset. DIGILITE will be targeting channel & value segment with its motherboard DL-H81-M4, performance segment with DL-H81-M1, government segment with DL-H81M-GL and DL-H87M and have introduced DL-Q87M-VPRO for high end segment core i5/i7.

Rajan Sharma, VP

-Sales, DIGILITE stated, DIGILITE has been working closely with Intel and launching new models of Intel 4th Generation motherboards with the prime objective giving our customers the next generation motherboards.

All the motherboards are available through Ingram Micro, Redington and Supertron.

Dell unveils new laptop series

VMware expands VMware vCloud Hybrid Service

Xerox expands Services Offering for Indian Market

Dell has introduced its new Inspiron 3000 Series laptops, Inspiron 20 3000 Series and 23 5000 Series All-in-One (AIO) desktops in time for the Back to School season.

Our endeavour remains to deliver the maximum potential that technology can possess in making both personal and educational pursuits more productive as well as engaging. The new Inspiron laptops and AIO desktops package all the right features into compact devices which are stylish, yet powerful to use thereby not compromising on quality

of the work performed. Combined with special offers for back to school and college students in our Learning meets doing themed campaign, students and parents alike will find that these new Inspiron devices are a smart investment which brings a wholesome computing experience for the whole family, said P. Krishnakumar, Executive Director & GM, Consumer & Small Business, Dell India.

VMware has announced expansion of VMware vCloud Hybrid Service in Japan the first Asian market and third in the world to deploy

this Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) public cloud solution.

vCloud Hybrid Service enables an organization to extend its private on-

premise IT infrastructure seamlessly to the public cloud. The resulting hybrid cloud is compatible with a customers existing IT assets and allows them

to build new cloud-native applications, delivering agility and efficiency to the business in a secure, reliable and compliant manner.

Xerox India has expanded its services offering with the launch of Next Generation MPS for the Indian market. The Next Generation MPS is designed to build a momentum and deliver new value that helps customers of all sizes realize cost savings up to 30% with increase in efficiencies, allowing them to focus on their core business. Xeroxs Next

As an enterprises knowledge capital grows in both paper and

electronic form the challenge of unlocking it increases exponentially. Without proper management it becomes lost, since it lives in so many places and formats. Our three-stage strategy assess and optimize, secure and integrate, and automate and simplify continues to evolve with these new offerings. The enhancements help clients manage their information demands more effectively, said Vishal Awal, Executive Director Services, Xerox SA.


*Product features may vary by model. *Motherbaord models may vary based on local distribution. www.gigabyte.com.au

Motherboards

GIGABYTE 9 Series

GIGABYTE Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd.Tel: 022-40633222; Website: www.gigabyte.in; Toll-Free: 1800-22-0966; www.facebook.com/GIGABYTEindia

Gujarat: 97250 59195; Mumbai, Goa, Vidarbha: 99677 18653; Rest of Maharashtra: 99221 13396; New Delhi & Uttar Pradesh: 99583 72672; Chhattisgarh 98269 92970; Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand: 99100 86976; Punjab, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir: 97818 33433 Madhya Pradesh: 96695 45600; Rajasthan: 99100 86976; Bihar: 90075 45577; Jharkhand: 90405 06080; Orissa: 90405 06080; North East: 98642 30150; West Bengal: 97485 02710; Karnataka: 81236 86976; Andhra Pradesh: 90000 77671; Tamil Nadu: 74117 74666; Kerala: 98950 99231


VOICE-N-DATA

Amazon Web Services announces launch of Amazon Zocalo

DEN Networks partners with Cisco over DOCSIS 3.0 Technology

Ericsson inaugurates Global Network Operations Center site

ADVA 100G Core deployed by Bluebird Network

Brightstar sings pact with with Bharti Group

Alcatel-Lucent addresses Network Application Challenge in India

Amazon Web Services has announced Amazon Zocalo, a fully managed, secure enterprise storage and sharing service with strong administrative controls and feedback capabilities that improve user productivity. With Amazon Zocalo, customers can store, share, and gather feedback on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, webpages, images, PDFs, or text files from the device of their choice.

Customers have told us that theyre fed up with

ADVA Optical Networking has announced that Bluebird Network has deployed the ADVA 100G Core to connect major urban areas within Missouri. Primarily focusing upon a data expressway between Kansas City and St. Louis, Bluebird Network is using the ADVA 100G Core to respond to enormous bandwidth growth from its service provider and enterprise customers. Deployment of the ADVA 100G Core is the latest in a seven-year partnership between ADVA Optical Networking and Bluebird Network. This

the cost, complexity, and performance of their existing old guard enterprise document and collaboration management tools. AWS was increasingly being asked to provide enterprise storage and sharing tool that was easy to use, allowed users to quickly collaborate with others, and met the strict security needs of their organizations. Thats what Amazon Zocalo was built to do, said Noah Eisner, General Manager, Amazon Zocalo at Amazon Web Services.

Cisco has partnered with DEN Networks, one of Indias cable TV multi-system operators (MSOs) to deploy DOCSIS 3.0 technology for the introduction of next-generation cable broadband services in the country. It is a key component of the Cisco IP NGN architecture, which promises speeds of up to 300 Mbps per subscriber. With the help of DOCSIS 3.0, DEN

Ericsson is e x p a n d i n g its Global Network Operations Center in India by opening a fourth site in Kolkata, complementing

the existing sites in Noida, Gurgaon and Bangalore. The new Global Network Operations Center site in Kolkata will help Ericsson meet growing customer demand and continue to attract and retain the best talent that India has to offer.

Networks will be able to deliver ultra-high-speed Internet to deliver more content compared with existing telecom Internet service providers (ISPs).

Dinesh Malkani, President, Sales, Cisco India and SAARC said, Cisco's vision is to be the leading enabler of ICT and broadband acceleration in India through innovative, scalable, high-value technology offerings and solutions."

Amitabh Ray, MD of Ericsson India Global Services, said, Indias large ICT talent pool and fast-growing economy makes it the ideal place

to base a Global Network Operations Center to serve Ericssons customers. Kolkatas standing as a center of commercial and educational excellence makes it a great location for Ericssons newest Global Network Operations Center site.

partnership has helped to drive both rural and urban connectivity to new heights, ensuring Missouri's customers have access to the bandwidth they need.

"Our customers depend upon our network; depend upon our commitment to drive it forward. They trust us with their business, with their bottom line," said Michael Morey, CEO, Bluebird Network. "This is something we never take for granted and underlines why our partnership with ADVA Optical Networking is so important."

Brightstar and Bharti Enterprises have entered into a definitive agreement to bring the latest mobile technologies and services to the Indian market. As part of the agreement, a Brightstar subsidiary will acquire a majority interest in Beetel Teletech Limited, a leading company in the distribution and sale of communication and media devices, enterprise solutions and IT products in India.

The Indian mobile

market is entering the next phase of growth, which will be driven by data services on 3G and 4G technologies. The smartphone market in the country recorded triple-digit growth in 2013 and offers a huge opportunity going forward. The new mobile businesses and related technologies will help drive significant growth by leveraging our deep distribution strength, said Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice-Chairman, Bharti Enterprises.

The Enterprise d i v i s i o n of Alcatel-Lucent has launched new technologies to address the challenges created by pervasive mobility and the explosion of new applications being introduced within enterprises in India. This comes amidst IDC predictions that the enterprise mobility sector in the Asia-Pacific region is set to boom, and is expected to reach a value of $2.3 billion by 2017.

A l c a t e l - L u c e n t

Enterprise has introduced an innovative access switch and additional network capabilities. This will give IT departments across India and the Asia-Pacific region more visibility and control of the network, while employees and customers will gain flexibility to use the applications they need. Fuelled by cloud services, the number and type of applications used in enterprises is growing, requiring IT teams to be armed with new tools and capabilities.

Nokia Networks to acquire SAC Wireless

Nokia Networks is to acquire SAC Wireless. Based in Schaumburg, Illinois, SAC Wireless has a national footprint and proven performance track record working with major telecom operators.

It expects to close the transaction in the third quarter of 2014, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to bring clear revenue synergies.

This acquisition builds on our existing strengths and continued investment in our customers success. It will help us increase market share in the network implementation space, said Ricky Corker, Executive VP, North America, Nokia Networks.

Huawei teams up with Iris Computers

Iris Computers has joined hands with Huawei in a strategic distribution partnership to echo Huaweis leadership in the IT Products and Solutions domain. Iris deals in providing IT hardware products and technological solutions to its channel partners across the country.

The companies will be foraying into the national distribution of Huaweis vast enterprise ICT product portfolio inclusive of servers and storage range of products. This will focus specifically on Huaweis flagship OceanStor storage solutions as well as its extensive convergent storage portfolio.

With this relationship, Iris will serve as a medium to ensure that Huaweis customer-centric, dedicated and superior ICT expertise finds the appropriate channels in the server market.


FACE TO FACE


CHANNEL BUZZ

ISODA organizes Regional Meet IT Associations to come up with marketplace

Toshiba and Rashi organize 4-City Training Programme

Supertron Annual Business Meet at Bangkok

e-Tailers have gained considerable popularity among the buyers, and it has affected 35 to 45 per cent of the Channel business in IT. To combat e-tailers, IT associations like PCAIT, ADCTA, CMDA-Delhi, COMPASS and CIITA have come forward to form an ICT marketplace. These associations are also inviting other IT associations from different parts of India to an assembly scheduled to be held on August 2, 2014, in New Delhi.

On June 26, the five IT associations in a meeting have also agreed to form an ICT marketplace.

Highlighting the problems faced by traditional channels from e-tailers, Saket Kapur, General Secretary, PCAIT, said that, due to deep discounting from e-tailers, the conventional channel is badly affected. According to estimates, 3545 per cent of the channel business is being taken away by e-tailers, who, many a time,

The ISODA Regional Meet 2014 was held on 26th June, with a large number of members in attendance. As the tenure of the current Regional committee was

approaching to an end, the Regional Secretary, Jiten Mehta thanked the members and expressed his gratitude for supporting ISODA through the year, in spite of their busy schedules and invited members to come forward with just as much enthusiasm to take up posts for RS and committee posts for West Region in the

forthcoming year.Nityanand Shetty,

Chairman, ISODA gave the members an insight in brief of the different activities done by the task force like TDAI/Tax

Committee. He then called on the President, Devesh Aggarwal and the General Secretary, Manish Tandon, to give more details to the members on the progress of engagement with TDAI and forthcoming AGM which would be conducted in a two day format unlike the previous AGMs, which was a one day affair.

offer unrealistic prices which are below the cost prices. Due to this, many retailers have changed businesses and some others are even buying products from online to sell to customers.

B. Hari, President, CIITA and President, COMPASS, commented that, while it is true that e-commerce cannot be stopped, channels have to adapt and blend into the same. They have agreed that an ICT marketplace must be formed. The best way forward is to create a trusted marketplace for customers to provide a level-playing field for all participants in the channel ecosystem.

The process of how marketplace will be formed will be decided in the conclave to be organized on August 2 and it was also informed that each member of the participating associations will be a stakeholder in the marketplace, which will be governed by a coordinating committee.

Toshiba Storage along with Rashi Team began a 4-city training programme from Ahmedabad and ended in Indore to answer all the queries and educate partners regarding the latest development in

technology for the surveillance market. The partners were excited as they had this unique opportunity to interact with the vendor on a one-on-one basis. This is an important exercise for the partners since this can help make a better and well-informed decision for the end-consumer.

Polad Garda, Manager Marketing, Toshiba Storage Devices, said, We were happy to see a good turnout with such participative audience. Some partners were thrilled to

know about the Toshiba hard drive specifically made for Surveillance Systems and Video Stream applications with various features and a large range of multiple storage capacities.

Rajesh Goenka, Vice-

President Sales and Marketing, Rashi Peripherals, adds, Toshiba and Rashi team have travelled all the 4 cities and returned with good appreciation from the partners for this initiative. The number of partners attending range from 50 to 80 partners that too in all non-metro cities is a positive feedback in itself. We hope to plan for many such training programmes to educate more partners about these latest products and technological development as much as possible.

Supertron Electronics has organized an Annual Business Meet from 3rd May to 6th May at All Seasons Hotelsin Pattayato celebrate their continuous growth in

IT Industry and for achieving 1500 cr milestone. A total of 80 team members attended the meet to discuss future business strategy, planning and action points.

Supertron Annual Business Meet was organized around the theme Towards A Quantum Leap. V. K. Bhandari, CMD of SEPL gave a unique speech for future road map emphasizing on inter personalized skills, motivation and leadership qualities.He had

given an example of common areas in T20 cricket match with SEPL business functions specially in product selling. He also highlighted the areas in optimization of resources

such as product, fund, human resources and network. SEPL has set up a target of 2000 crore in IT vertical only for the FY 14-15 with a 33% growth and entire team has taken an oath to achieve this milestone. Vibhor Agarwal, Director Marketing discussed in details about the Industry, Opportunities and scope of improvement. Nirmal Kumar Meharia, Director Finance & administration has explained the financial part along with credit policy.


VAR ANALYSIS

RDP XL-700 Product RDP XL-700 is powered with latest Intel Core i3 (3230), 3.30 GHz Processor, Intel H61 Express

Chipset and coupled with 2 GB DDR3 RAM, 500 GB HDD (2.5). The XL-700 Mini PC comes with default Linux OS (Enterprise edition) and even supports latest windows 7 & windows 8. It has eight 2.0 USB ports for peripherals and expansions along with microphone and headphone 3.5mm jacks. It supports up to 1920 X 1024 resolutions with Gigabit LAN port.

XL-700 is light in weight with just 1.5 Kg. With its Customized technical features, enhanced flexibility, elevated security gives competitive advantage over existing Mini PCs in the global market.

Because of its enhanced sleek and slim design, it can potentially hide the device completely out of the way by mounting back on the monitor. It saves more than 70 -100% of desktop space compare to traditional PCs can effectively operate more number of devices in limited space. It Consumes

very little amount of power (less than 90 Watts) as compare to normal desktop PC (360/450 Watts). Internal cooling fan and advanced heat absorbers allows operation 24X7 in temperature up to 45 degrees centigrade .

India to become an investment hub once again

It seems that recently global C-suite executives have been visiting India more frequently than in the past. While IBM Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Virginia Rometty came to India in May, Cisco Chairman & CEO, John Chambers was in the country last month, and then in the first week of July, India welcomed Facebooks Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. Besides the visits of these important IT honchos, Google's Sunder Pichai is planning to visit India for a global launch later this year. It is also being speculated that Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella will visit the country by the end of the year. The visits of these biggies in India have given some hope that India is being seen once again as an investment centre.

During her first visit to India after becoming COO of the world's most popular social networking site Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg met Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. She said that India is Facebook's second-largest and the fastest-growing market with the fastest internet connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region. It is of high priority for them. She also said that over $2-trillion Indian economy has immense potential to create jobs and drive growth, especially with its huge base of small and medium businesses (SMBs).

As far as IBMs Virginia Romettys India visit is concerned, she visited the country for the third time after her appointment as IBMs CEO in 2012. She has announced the companys plans to set up a new cloud data center in Bangalore. The new center will be part of Softlayer, the cloud storage company IBM acquired for $2 billion earlier this year.

Industry experts believe that these visits are symbolic of a conductive environment created for the investers to invest in the Indian market by foreign investors. India should use this as an opportunity to convert this interest into dollars and cents. However, it is difficult to say anything for now. Let time decide.

John Chambers focuses India as an investment Hub

Cisco CEO John Chambers has been visiting India once every year for the past few years. This year, Chambers visited India on June 26 & 27 and was able to grab more eyeballs as this time he hinted that Cisco is now once again looking at India as a manufacturing hub.

The main attraction of John Chambers India visit was a meeting with Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). According to reliable sources in the government, the meeting between John Chambers and Amitabh kant was more focussed on understanding newly-formed government plan with respect to tax structure and seeking concessions with respect to Ciscos manufacturing in India.

During his interview by the press, Chambers said that India has a very bright and prosperous future and his company liked the new Governments business plans. We like their (new Governments business plans and where they are headed to. Plans to digitize the country and bring all the benefits of the Internet to all the citizens, (in areas like) healthcare, education, and job creation is very exciting. We see a Government willing to make changes and we want to be a partner in that, he added.

On his two-day visit to India, Chambers also met the CII members and said that Cisco wants to play an active role in digitization of the Indian economy and develop it as a strategic business hub.

Here, it is worth noting that Ciscos India business has been slow over the last few years. The latest reports suggest that the company was not able to beat the $1-billion target in the services revenue that it had set out to attain in India during the 2011-14 period. However, it seems that the company is now optimistic about a brighter future of the company amidst slow growth in India. Chambers told reporters, We spent about $1 billion a year in equivalent foreign direct investment in India. We put $40 million in new start-ups and new ideas. We lead in corporate social responsibility in many areas. India is our second world headquarters.

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH


Channel acts as the main interface between BlackBerry and its Customers

BlackBerrys relationship with channel partners has played a key role in its success in India. The channel community serves as the crucial link between the brand and the consumers and brings in critical market insights for the company that helps both flourish and create joint business opportunities. With the evolving customer dynamics, it is with the channel partners and the vendor equally that the responsibility to showcase the reliability of the brand lies. BlackBerrys partners understand this and have been able to effectively leverage the information and technical know-how to maximize sales.

Indias competitive smartphone business landscape has taught us to strike a chord with consumers in terms of giving them what they need, when they need it. With the help of our channel partners, we are able to create a stronger connection with our customers by offering them compelling, innovative products and services. We work closely with our channel partners to devise our retail strategy for each product/ solution, states Hitesh Shah, Director, Channel Sales, BlackBerry, India.

Channel Programmes & PoliciesA channel-friendly company that

BlackBerry is, it ensures that through its channel programmes, retailers and resellers are acquainted with the latest technology and product offerings so that they are able to aptly market the products by delivering relevant information to consumers. Some of the key strategies that BlackBerry focusses on to engage with partners are

Focus on the depth of distribution rather than width of distribution and ensure that the top channel partners are on board driving volume

Ensure channel hygiene (price difference in channels, cross territory sales) Trust is the highest priority for partners. BlackBerry works to establish trust from a

channel perspective by ensuring that channel partners do not lose money due to cross territory sales and price wars due to VAT Arbitrage, Deal prices and Grey market

Ensure channel satisfaction with the right products and work on hyper local activities to drive footfall to the channels BlackBerry works to ensure that the channel has the right product mix and drive a sell through a business model driven by locally relevant initiatives since one- size-fits-all model doesnt work when it comes to a country like India

Ensure high level of service support for Retailers It is already a known fact that Channel partners are BlackBerrys biggest brand ambassadors and they drive sales for them. Being in the business of sales where service is a key differentiating factor, it is very important for BlackBerry to ensure that they give best service to their partners to keep their faith and ensure that they support them when servicing requests come from customers

BlackBerrys policies are designed to ensure a Win-Win situation for both their business partners and the brand

Our customers are important to us and this means both the end-customer and the channel (which in one form is our customer) are taken care of, says Hitesh.

In India, BlackBerry works with Redington for the consumer segment and Ingram Micro for the enterprise segment. It also works with all of the top 9 telecom carriers in the country and they are an integral part of its sales mechanism. The go-to-market is through these partners with whom it works closely to reach out to its end-consumers in the product and enterprise space.

Z3 launch in IndiaThe hype around the new Z3 and the

speculation on its pricing might have died down after its launch, but BlackBerrys efforts to make it one of the premium smartphones in

the country goes on unabated. Gone are the days when a consumer

would knock on the retailers doorstep, if he intended to make a purchase. As a customer today, you visit a retailers website first. The next thing you know, you are viewing a TV ad promoting deals available via the retailers mobile app. You then dig deeper into product information, compare competitors prices, access additional information on your mobile device and then visit the brick-and-mortar store. As you browse through the store, you look up products online and perhaps even scan a QR code in search of a deal. This little anecdote indicates how customers now approach their shopping experience at various touch-points, observes Hitesh.

He further adds, We, at BlackBerry, understand the changing need of consumers and hence have begun to explore strategies beyond traditional marketing modes and are working to reach out to consumers at various touch-points in real time. It is the first time that a mobile brand has tied up with an online and offline retail partner simultaneously. This is simply because we intend to open diverse platforms for consumers to shop from. The BlackBerry Z3 has been launched at a very attractive price point and the company aims

Hitesh ShahDirector, Channel Sales

BlackBerry, India

CHANNEL BUZZ

Our journey with BlackBerry started from the Day 1 when BlackBerry was launched with three models through Airtel in 2004. The trade schemes and incentives of BlackBerry are at par with market but what is remarkable is the loyalty programme and initiatives that were taken from time to time. Also the exclusive BlackBerry Retail model has helped us to grow our retail image along with the brand in the market place. One of our biggest core strengths has been our Customer Service and this is, and will always be, our success mantra and also our highly visible presence in the prime locations of Delhi.

Loyalty programmes for customer and customer after-sales service is the core competency for growth. BlackBerry compared to other brands is way ahead on these parameters, but there is always scope for betterment and what I think is if we can constantly focus on these parameters along with product innovation and pricing, we can certainly grow in a much bigger way.Sunil Motwani, EXCELL COM

Beliefs are strong at BlackBerry on its ability to regain a foothold in India's surging smartphone market and restore its lost sheen among Indian customers. The role of partners doubles here as they are the ones who have lent their support ever since they became associated with BlackBerry and will hence lead the brand to glory. An interaction with Hitesh Shah, Director, Channel Sales BlackBerry, India, makes it clear as to how the brand is looking at supporting its channel in this endeavour.


to target the prosumers, i.e., professional consumers with this device. However, retailers say that initial stocks of this latest handset have been sold out in almost two weeks since its launch.

Going aheadGiven the complexity of managing

a distribution network, it is essential for companies to interact with their distribution partners frequently and ensure that they have a robust channel programme in place. BlackBerry tries to expand its partner base by introducing more channel- friendly policies and will maintain the open communication channel to derive action-worthy feedback from them. Apart from aiding seamless sale of products and services, the handset major hopes to help its partners understand its products and services better by offering training modules and highlighting the consumer preferences and accordingly recommend its product portfolio to be able to address the consumer demands in real time.

Amit Galada, Studio cellIt has been a wonderful experience to

have worked with BlackBerry for the last six years hand in hand with the brand. The support from the brand has been exceptionally good and continuing along with time and again. There has been an overall support in terms of advertising, branding, back hand incentive monthly schemes payout and all extra supports from time to time. The brand is very helpful in supporting the retailers and enhancing their pro tability. The schemes are more dealer-friendly than the other brands. The margins what we make from the brand BlackBerry is much more than any other brands.

There has been seasonal support for selling BlackBerry products. The latest initiative to put the store owners as the brand icon in their respective showrooms is very innovative and attractive. This shows that BlackBerry always keeps their retailers on top. The brand can further enhance its presence in the channel by giving a few ads in papers and building awareness to the public. The brand is growing now with new models coming in at competitive prices.

Hope BlackBerry carries on their good work in future also and gets us the best from it.

We have been associated with BlackBerry since its launch in India in 2004. In terms of channel programmes and incentives, we have seen some of the best and affordable products being launched, specially the Bold and the Curve series and currently the Platform 10 series. We have always been a hardcore supporter of the robust technology and do not forget the quality of BlackBerry. However, constant advertisements and brand visibility need to be done if the brand retention in the minds of customers has to sustain.

Jaiveer Rao, Frontline Technologies


The inaugural budget of the new NDA regime has been keenly awaited at a time when the country's economy needs a strong fillip to set the momentum for high-growth. Union budget for the year 2014-15 is a welcome move with a more strategic focus, concentrating on mid-long term implications towards sustainable growth. The commitment to achieve 7-8% economic growth in the next 3-4 years anchoring on the core sectors is much needed to revive the sluggish economy. The new governments budget bodes well for Indian Industry as it encourages local manufacturing, entrepreneurship and transparent governance to create an investor friendly, stable tax regime with retrospective decisions scrutinized by a high level committee.

The government is committed to providing 24/7 power supply. It has also proposed and assigned crores for the development of small smart cities. Urbanization and development of urban infrastructure through smart cities has also found significant mention and over 7000 crore is being allocated for the development of 100 smart cities across the country - this is a huge opportunity for the Indian IT industry to partner with the government in this initiative. The 100 Crore INR provided to enable virtual classrooms through the CLICK initiative is a welcome gesture and the governments move to establish more IITs and IIMs is great to strengthen the pool of quality technical talent that will enable Indias journey to be a scientific power.

Sunil MK, Head AECAutodesk, India & SAARC Following the presentation of the Union

e-magazine, july 2014 issue

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