Corporate Communications, Media Relations, Brand Management, Brand Manager, Employee Communications, Corporate Affairs, External Communications, Communications Manager, Company Spokesperson, PR Manager, Analyst Relations Manager

2. guestarticle
Tele-mimetics,
Tele-trends and Focus
for Inspiration!
Most telecom markets remain overall pulsating with focus on higher speeds, better interactivity, and
customer experience. What is needed is for telecom players ‘to find their best identity in the value
chain’ and position their brand accordingly.
O
because that would be unfair indeed,
theories suddenly start making
practical sense. In a way, it is more like
ver the last quarter, I had cross-industrial learning,
been very fortunate to interview and redevelopment and collaboration or,
discuss one-on-one with some of the rather, Biognosis and ‘Bio-mimetics’.
‘who’s who’ of Canadian Telecom Some may want to research those
Industry. What is most interesting terms in entirety to get greater insight.
behind the success of many of these The biggest challenges that
leaders and their organizations’ Canada had faced since inception
outstanding performance was the were essentially the huge geography,
extremely simple but fundamentally weather conditions and the diversely
profound marketing wisdom. I could growing consumer demography, for
easily compare their thought-patterns instance. As a result, the network
with the likes of Al Ries and Jack infrastructure maintenance
Trout, the marketing Gurus and investments went beyond and out of
founders of ‘Positioning’ theory. proportion and, hence, the anatomy
Most of these interviews were of basic marketing strategies today
remarkably insightful not only in ASHEESH PANDIA seems starkly different. And, then,
terms of where the Canadian or Global there remain similarities too in terms
Telecom Industry is headed to but also of trends, especially in the Social
in that how just about any geography Media era.
could relate to the other from the According to Gautam Nath, one of
cause and effect perspective of micro the best Canadian marketing
and mega trends and, eventually, in For the most part, knowledge-banks today, who I had the
one way or the other, can possibly Indian telecom has been opportunity to meet recently, “Multi-
utilize the end takeaways towards their Cultural marketing dynamics is the
collaborative industrial betterment. doing really well rela- most sought-after horizon here in
From a marketing standpoint, this at tively barring the Canada at the moment” . I feel
first seems tough to assimilate though, Spectrum Refarming essentially the rise in multi-cultural
let alone to be compared any further. marketing shares a similar pattern to
More so because, we speak of one of struggle cited above. But that of the ongoing ‘Rural Penetration’
the most dynamic and, particularly the option of taking a pursuit in India. And, yet again,
now, evermore stirred-up industrial considering that Canada wants the
segments and also when the diversity
look at the external and largest pipelines at the lowest cost,
is hugely evident, among widely distant trends could also which definitely would demand more
different geographies. guarantee significant funds, access to global capital market
However, if we refer from the through more relaxed and free
standpoint of ‘inspiration’, similar to a
betterment for the ‘high- competition and more incumbents is
Case study and not simply ‘adaptation’, ly innovative’ kinds. desirable not much unlike how it had
64 |EPC&I|SEPTEMBER 2011

3. always been in India regardless of the of the former, it could be far more
competition because population and casual for the consumer to be
the market size is awesome. Mobile broadband traffic flirtatious and shop around.
On a global level too, most telecom volumes will see a 2600 Another common challenge across
markets remain overall pulsating with economies is to maintain and strive to
focus on higher speeds, better percent increase in the increase the dirt-cheap margins. And,
interactivity, and customer experience. next five years, say Nokia that is where the opportunities for
Realistically, it is easy to understand telecom consulting and marketing
that the Churn Management is
Siemens Networks’ own organizations and analys ts lie.
definitely a very important issue still figures. The Nokia Subscriber base might have been
for the most part because acquiring a Siemens numbers are sustained or grown, but the revenues
new customer is much more pricey seem to dip gradually.
and unpredictable than retaining the
astounding — a 1000- With respect to the extremely low-
existing customer base. The latter, fold mobile data traffic margins, it is not difficult to gauge the
however, could also be equally increase by the year situation when you find analysts use
demanding and complex, but more Price-Earnings (P/E) and Price-to-
often than not, cost-effective to both 2020. Sales (Price/Sales) Ratios as measures
the consumer and the service provider. of valuation; for, some companies have
The new generation of consumers little or no profits to speak of
is definitely not as loyal as it used to be unfortunately, especially at this time.
in the Wireline-only era. Moreover, And, now, all of a sudden, inadequate
‘brand loyalty’ itself cannot be Spectrum poses another big challenge
compared at any given moment in India which DoT, the telecom
between a telecom service provider regulatory body, proposes to address
and a financial institution. In the case with ‘Refarming’ the 900 megahertz

4. guestarticle
(MHz) spectrum when operators’ applications. By July, the figure had
licenses come up for renewal between crossed the 250,000 milestone.
2014 and 2025, by including it in the What we see around Distimo and Germany-based
Spectrum Bill in its recommendation. today is everyone doing research2guidance forecast that the
Telecom providers are, of course, number of apps on Android Market
not equally fond of such a everything, everyone would surpass Apple by the third
recommendation by DoT because selling everything. But, quarter of 2011, with some 425,000
there are reasons to believe that it the biggest brands in the apps. Similarly, in terms of Consumer
would not be appropriate at this point Electronics and Mobile Broadband
when you have to be moving all the world are the ones that Traffic, iSuppli reckons global
subscribers to a brand new network, as do ‘only their thing’ that SmartPhone shipments will double by
a consequence, while they are on a 2015 and account for more than half of
fully functional one already. Let alone
reflect them directly and all mobile phones sold.
the obvious interruption in current uniquely. At the same time, mobile
service and big investments that will broadband traffic volumes will see a
be needed to carry out this change in 2600 percent increase in the next five
any case, at any given point in time. Positioning’. years, say Nokia Siemens Networks’
Still, we cannot deny the relative For the most part, Indian telecom own figures. The Nokia Siemens
growth prospects that sound has been doing really well relatively numbers are astounding — a 1000-
paradoxical after summing up all the barring the Spectrum Refarming fold mobile data traffic increase by the
above challenges. But, they are true for struggle cited above. But the option of year 2020.
sure. I am going to mention the taking a look at the external and To the consumer, mobility is not a
exploding Mobile Broadband Traffic distant trends could also guarantee privilege anymore; it is simply an
below and the figures are mind- significant betterment for the ‘highly ‘extension of access to information’
blowing. Whatever be the reason for innovative’ kinds. The face of telecom and telecom providers only need the
this increase in traffic, in the end, is changing by the hour and it is not ‘super value creation’ attitude besides
telecom service providers have both the same simple voice domain the competent technology to win the
the responsibility and the opportunity anymore. Rather, it is a more holistic game. Lack of mobility is rather a
to serve the consumer well and make and all-embracing one – with the polite way of saying ‘denial-of-service’
money. rising Mobile Broadband Traffic, in today’s competition. Take
There is also no denying of the fact dominant Consumer Electronics and a m-Commerce, for example, which has
that there is a huge potential for the skyrocketing Ultra-Viral Social Media. been considered as the game changer,
current generation of consultants in Mobile Applications market, for especially in the developing
cross-economy trend-spotting as well instance, is the most astonishing at economies. Even in the developed
as for telecom service providers to this moment . Back in March of 2009, ones, it is not yet ubiquitous, probably
bootstrap themselves. Most of all, ‘to about 2,300 applications were because of the security-related,
find their best identity in the value available on the Android Market, technological and psychological
chain’ and ‘to be able to innovate according to T-Mobile CTO, Cole challenges. But, once the ice is broken
lightening fast’ have been the top Brodman. And, in May 2011 alone, and it is made easily accessible, there’s
priorities of the best players so far and, during the Google I/O, Google no dearth of the wonders that
again, trend-watching gives the best announced that Android Market listed efficiently run m-Commerce could do.
food for thought in terms of both 200,000 applications and had already So, for the winners, it must not just be
innovation and the correct ‘Brand clocked 4.5 billion installed the ‘Next Thing’. Rather, it ought to be
EPC&I
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5. guestarticle
a current service provisioning mandate targeted on their main focus, and
top on their priority list to keep ahead ‘focus’ is the key to positioning. The The author is a distinguished Brand
Management and Corporate
of the rat-race. Narrower and Unique it is, the better
Communications consultant with over a
Coming back to the trends and for any brand.
decade of cross-industrial exposure and has
patterns that Indian telecom Forget about the competition for a been extensively published and exclusively
providers can bank upon, first of all, moment. Let us first understand what featured in some of the best international
focusing on that one particular we want to achieve, get clarity, publications. He currently provides branding
‘differentiating’ Brand Identity, that prioritize our things and then jump in and communication consultation to several
makes any brand unique – it is just the warfare fully armed. This is one of MNCs, especially on elevating and differenti-
too important. What we see around the key findings you instantly get a feel ating their brands and creating more focused
today is everyone doing everything, of when you look at a market such as and better perceptions. He writes indepen-
everyone selling everything. But, the Canada’s. Each brand has an identity dently for various publications across Asia-
Pacific, US/Canada and is a proactive mem-
biggest brands in the world are the and a unique personality and that’s
ber at many Professional Canadian
ones that do ‘only their thing’ that where the learning is. And, in Communities and Non-Profit Organizations.
reflect them directly and uniquely. abundance!
When you talk about a particular
product or service, it is only that
brand that comes to the consumer’s
1 Source: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=3853327&trk=anet_ug_hm
mind and vice-versa. 2 Special Thanks to the Source Cited here: Mr. Ofer Glanz, the Founder of Barak
Many of the top executives and
Strategic Consulting for his exceptionally interesting insights at ‘Innovate’ that I am
telecom professionals advocate
restricting the number of players to citing here with gratitude. –Asheesh Pandia
4-6. The reason behind that is both 3 Citing Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Market
intelligent and plausible. However,
from the perspective of brand 4 Citing Source: http://paulpapadimitriou.com/commentary/2011/09/20/mobile-
management and positioning, more broadband-traffic-increase-2600-5-years/
intellectual bandwidth should be

6. PLUS Bharat Goenka Conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award /08
india’s first IT magazine for sme business
VOLUME 02 | ISSUE 09 | NOVEMBER 2011 | RS. 20/-
SME BIZ /45 TREND SETTER /54 SME BIZ /52
D-Link: Owners pride and TCS: TCS Ahead of the NEC: NEC India to
Neighbors Envy Curve intensify business in
SME Segment
UTM EMBARKED ON A
STEADY
GROWTH
The UTM market is making steady progress in the Indian market as its
appeal increases among enterprises of all sizes and across verticals. /30
01

7. COVER STORY UTM MARKET
UTM EMBARKED ON A
STEADY
GROWTH
The UTM market is making steady progress in the Indian market as its
appeal increases among enterprises of all sizes and across verticals.
BY SANJAY MOHAPATRA
sanjay@smechannels.com
S
ecuring enterprise systems is a top for deployment and maintenance. Gradually such for customers, which combined with new features,
priority, especially in a connected deployments became more common, and the have spurred market growth. here is also a trend
world. A fundamental truth for term Uniied hreat Management (UTM) became for service providers to ofer UTM-as-a-service
organizations worldwide is that mainstream when analyst irm IDC used it in a from their datacenters, but it is still early.
protecting their mission-critical 2005 publication on threat management. “Security consolidation via UTMs represents
applications, sensitive electronic data, and under- he term has since been used to refer to uniied, not just a better security and convenience but
lying computing infrastructure is a challenging multi-use security threat management devices. It also opportunities—an opportunity to reduce
and never-ending task—a grim scenario wherein helps enterprises reduce the number of vendors, network traic, an opportunity to ease integration
IT and security personnel will always have their manage the ugrade cycle of diferent products and of VoIP and Web 2.0 applications, and an oppor-
hands full. simpliies trouble shooting. According to IDC, a tunity to boost IT productivity,” says Shubhomoy
With increasing connectivity, a company’s UTM typically comprises a irewall, antivirus and Biswas, Country Director – India & SAARC,
vulnerability and risk of security compromises intrusion prevention and detection. SonicWALL.
increase manifold. More signiicantly, a shit in With increasing proliferation of connectivity, the
hackers’ motivation and the growth in corporate threats and complexities in security management The Market in India
espionage have increased the security threat to have grown tremendously. he scope and expanse he UTM market for appliances in 2009 stood at
enterprises. herefore, it is not only large enter- of UTM oferings have also kept pace by providing $42.25 million and is poised to keep growing at a
prises but even the SMBs that is scurrying for very high-end and sophisticated capabilities. his steady CAGR of 35-40% over the next 3-4 years.
cover with robust security products. eliminates the need for systems administrators to he market is slated to cross $100 million by 2012.
Earlier security deployments meant point maintain multiple security programs over time. According to a report by research irm IDC in
solutions for a variety of requirements such as herefore sophisticated versions of UTMs can October 2008, UTM products, which passed the
irewalls, intrusion detection systems, VPNs, ofer much more with capabilities that can manage $1 billion mark in market size in 2007, will make
anti-spam gateways, etc. However monitoring, URL iltering, spam blocking, spyware protection, up 33.6 percent of the total network security
managing and scaling them as the enterprise content management, data leakage protection. market by 2012.
grows becomes a huge challenge for the technol- Oten these devices ofer centralized monitoring IDC has identiied the UTM market segment
ogy department. Over the years, vendors have and management of security deployments across as the fastest growing segment of the broader
started clubbing their oferings in order to dif- locations and incident logging. hese multi- network security market globally, and expects
ferentiate their products and also to make it easy function security products provide many beneits UTM to represent approximately 30 percent of
30 SME CHANNELS
NOVEMBER 2011

8. UTM MARKET COVER STORY
THE UTM MARKET IS
SLATED TO CROSS
$100 MILLION BY 2012
AND IS EXPECTED TO
GROW 35% OVER NEXT
TWO YEARS.
SME CHANNELS 31
NOVEMBER 2011

9. COVER STORY UTM MARKET
ment. It further expanded its capabilities for the
SRX series with the new AppTrack sotware. “TAKING AN END-TO-END
Building on Juniper’s recently announced AppSe- SECURITY APPROACH
cure suite of applications, AppTrack sotware HELPS INFORMATION
provides tight services integration that enables
application-level visibility and improved data SECURITY MANAGERS
lows and adds application identiication infor- BUILD REASONABLE
mation to the IPS session log. Juniper AppTrack is CONFIDENCE ON THEIR
part of the AppSecure suite of applications, which
provides business logic denial-of-services preven- SECURITY STRATEGY AND
tion for the the SRX series. DEPLOYMENTS.”
Astaro is a relatively new entrant in the Indian
BIPIN KUMAR AMIN, PRINCIPLE CONSUL-
network security market. he company is still
TANT, BORDERLESS NETWORKS, SECRITY,
relatively small and is poised for much higher
CISCO,
growth than other vendors. In the last two years,
the company has already built a foundation for
explosive growth in its UTM business. However, automatic updates, patches, and 24x7 technical customers to have higher return on investment
India revenue still represents a small percentage support, thus enabling organizations to elimi- and lower total cost of ownership.
of its worldwide business, but it is now growing nate upfront costs, providing a predictable cost Integrated security appliances are witnessing
rapidly. structure, ensuring quality of service, and the high penetration in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Future
“Most of our partners have chosen our prod- freedom to re-evaluate the solution decision at demand from these markets will be strong and
uct line for its capabilities and ease-of-use. Since any time. these markets will lead market growth. he lack
we are relatively a late entrant in India market, Nevales Networks closely works with its part- of skilled manpower in these cities makes deploy-
our partners typically used some other network ners through regular distribution meets and ment of UTMs a simpler choice due to the inte-
security product before, and now use Astaro to promotions in key channel media. “We support grated nature of these devices.
realize a broad variety of networking and security our partners with regular training and product In conclusion, the UTM market is on the
projects. he margins our partners make, posi- updates to help them reach out to their customers growth track and the demand for UTM products
tions our products as second to none,” says Sunil better,” says Ravishankar. will increase from all sizes of enterprises. his is
Sapra of Astaro. Astaro solutions are sold more Dominique MEURISSE - Executive Vice Pres- because the security threats are increasingly get-
on the basis of value than price, enabling partners iden, NETASQ, says, “Everyone is looking for ting complex and the IT department is looking
to package their services well with the solutions. an integrated security solution to reduce main- for simpler management processes so that they
A service-led approach builds customer relation- tenance costs and have a more comprehensive are able to focus on innovation. At the same time,
ship and improves the margins. Aastaro has a control over their network security. We foresee a as enterprises cope with business growth they
solid line up of products with Sophos next gen phenomenal growth in this sector. We at NetASQ will be increasingly looking for simpler and easy
UTMs. Cisco looks at the market and customer have UTM products from SOHO to enterprise to roll out solutions, which is an advantage with
requirements from a holistic perspective and class networks¡” UTM solutions as they are easy to deploy. here
ofers an End-to-End Self Defending Approach is increasing awareness and understanding in
and Integrated Security. As per Bipin Phase I The Future Landscape the market about the beneits of UTM markets
UTM is deined by consolidation: he initial he future UTM solutions are likely to include in metros and smaller cities. here is likely to be
intent of UTM is the consolidation of multiple one-stop solutions with features such as irewall, balanced growth from all these market segments
security-related technologies into one system. VPN, anti-virus, anti-spam, IDS and IPS, content with the SMBs demonstrating the strongest appe-
Initially, UTM solutions were integrated Firewalls iltering, bandwidth management, multiple load tite for UTM products.
with Intrusion Detection/Intrusion Prevention balancing and gateway failover. However, Asheesh Pandia, Sr. Brand Man-
Systems (IDS/IPS). Now, most UTM solutions More and more enterprises will look for agement, Communications & PR Professional,
also include Anti-X (SPAM and malware) and easier management with plug and play kind of maintains, “he evolution of original irewall is
VPN functionality. UTM continues to evolve with capabilities. As more enterprises look to simplify what came up as UTM in early 2000s followed by
expanding functionality. infrastructure management, they will look for all- XTM (eXtensible hreat Management) - as the
Nevales Networks ofers small and medium in-one security appliances to ease their manage- threats kept on becoming more dynamic, stealthy
a secure environment to conduct their business ment burden. and pervasive. Today it is not just the threat part
on a ‘pay-as-you-use’ model. Nevales’ platform is UTM solutions will be an integrated ofering that is being addressed by XTM but also greater
delivered over the Internet with free 24x7 support and will be able to handle blended threats. UTM networking and management capabilities. he
and is free from licensing, scalability and mainte- solutions has emerged out of the need to stem the market in India for UTM and XTM seems very
nance hassles, thereby providing the best value for increasing number of attacks on corporate infor- promising despite the issue of sustainable difer-
money and allowing SMBs to focus on their core mation systems via hacking/cracking, viruses, entiation amongst the various competitors. he list
businesses. worms—mostly an outcome of blended threats of players has been ever expanding and of course
Nevales’s security-as-a-service’ ofering and insider threats. herefore future demand for analysts have positioned the key vendors appropri-
bundles everything into a single subscription UTM solutions will be for blended capabilities ately including Fortinet, WatchGuard, SonicWall,
fee, including comprehensive security features, to thwart such threats. Such oferings will enable Cyberoam, Quick Heal and GajShield others.”
40 SME CHANNELS
NOVEMBER 2011

22. COVER STORY UC
UCACT IN
UNISON TO
TAP SME
OPPORTUNI
Unified Communications (UC) has always been the tool of the large
enterprises but with the market slowdown and the growth of the SMEs,
it had also come to the space of the SMEs. But the fact is that the ven-
dors are not able to understand the market as yet and thus have not
been very aggressive also.
BY SANJAY MOHAPATRA
sanjay@smechannels.com
I
f one goes by the dictionary meaning of As per Frost & Sullivan study, the total size of have budget constraints and they think too much
Uniied Communications (UC), it is the the UC market in India will grow more than $1 about interoperability. Secondly, the UC vendors
integration of real-time communication billion by the end of 2010 and expected to grow have not been much focussed on the Indian SME
services such as instant messaging (chat), manifold in coming times also. Similarly, as per market.
presence information, telephony (includ- Dell’Oro Group, despite pockets of weakness Adil Doctor, Director SMB Sales (India), Avaya
ing IP telephony), video conferencing, call control reappearing, the uniied communications market India, says, “Since, SMEs have limited resources
and speech recognition with non-real-time com- will expand signiicantly in 2010 as existing ven- they are gradually exploiting the beneits of Uni-
munication services such as uniied messaging dors continue to invest and expand their sotware ied Communications to help increase eiciency,
(integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax). he oferings and Microsot begins to actively push productivity, and sales. However, SMEs or com-
evolution of the UC has been gradually over a Lync. panies with up to 999 employees in the Indian
period time. UC is not a single product, but a When the overall UC market is growing at the subcontinent beneited the most from Uniied
set of products that provides a consistent uniied CAGR of 7.9 percent, the individual components communication.”
user interface and user experience across multiple of uniied communications are already witnessing According to a survey by Access Markets
devices and media types. healthy double digit growth number. For example International (AMI) Partners, Inc. SME in India
For the lay man, it is nothing but managing the audio video conferencing market is estimated market spent around US$48.8 million on uniied
communications and getting quick and timely to grow at 60%, e-mailing and IP telephony is communication (UC) in 2009.
response. he business turnaround entirely growing at 20% and 30 percent CAGR. Majority of this includes enterprise IP tele-
depends on the response of the communications. In this scenario, globally SMEs play major phony, applications like telepresence, mobility,
A delayed communication or collaboration can role in the growth of UC market. But in India conferencing and collaboration are still used to
incur huge amount of revenue loss. herefore, UC the market is yet to pick up because they face a a limited extent by organizations and therefore
is as critical to SMEs as it is to the large enterprises. lot of challenges. he irst and foremost is they comprise only 10 per cent of the market.
28 SME CHANNELS
DECEMBER 2010

23. UC COVER STORY
NITY
AS PER FROST & SULLIVAN
STUDY, THE TOTAL SIZE OF
THE UC MARKET IN INDIA WILL
GROW MORE THAN $1 BILLION
BY THE END OF 2010.
SME CHANNELS 29
DECEMBER 2010

24. COVER STORY UC
facilitate communication across multiple branch
“AS SMES HAVE LIMITED locations. It’s important that SMBs are shown
RESOURCES THEY ARE how, by streamlining communication infrastruc-
ture, they will be able to ind smarter ways to
GRADUALL EXPLOITING
Y cut travel costs maximize operational eiciency
THE BENEFITS OF UNIFIED and improve business & customer strategies.
COMMUNICATIONS TO HELP Conferencing and collaboration tools such as
video, audio, web conferencing and instant mes-
INCREASE EFFICIENCY, saging will account for a majority of the total UC
PRODUCTIVITY AND
, spending.
SALES.” As per Minhaj with the expansion of Uniied
Communications from the enterprise space into
ADIL DOCTOR, DIRECTOR SMB SALES, AVAYA mid-level and smaller organizations, a growing
INDIA number of SMEs are gradually exploring how
Uniied Communications has the potential of
Asheesh Pandia, Manager Communications, and requirements. he bouquet of UC oferings, increasing eiciency, productivity, and sales. As
Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN currently available in the market, is so versatile uniied communications applications become
India), says, “UC is precisely as relevant as ‘cost- that any organization, large, medium or small, can more prevalent in the extended workspace, more
containment’, ROI or productivity to SMEs, as it ind technology that best suits both, its needs and organizations are realizing the associated beneits.
is to the large enterprises. Speciically all those budget. Interestingly, according to a NASSCOM Results documented by Sage Research dem-
verticals where the resource size is bigger, travel report, approximately 50-60 per cent of IT spends onstrate a multitude of beneits - both in terms
OPEX is higher or communications is process in the country is expected to come from the lour- of employee time savings and inancial savings.
critical, they need UC more than others. Also, ishing SMB segment.” Organizations using uniied communications
categories with proven needs and interest with IT/ Clearly, there is a huge market waiting out clients saved an average of 32 minutes daily per
ITES, BPO, Petroleum, Manufacturing, Banking there to be tapped and companies are focused on employee because presence technology enabled
& Finance, Healthcare and Professional Services addressing it. However, in order to efectively tap staf to reach one another on the irst try.
need UC.” this segment, it is important that vendors develop Use of sotphones resulted in an average sav-
“UC clearly ofers proitability, savings, customized solutions, which ofer a cost-efective ings of $1,727 per month in cell phone and long
improved decision making, better collaboration and easy to deploy alternative. Indian SMBs are distance charges. Mobile workers also saved 40
and mobility to them. Although pure IP adapta- looking at UC as a low-cost tool to communicate minutes each day, enjoyed greater business com-
tion is seen more in Greenield projects so far, efectively with customers and suppliers as well as munications convenience, and generated annual
overall, we can see quantiiable growth. Adapta- productivity gains of 3.5 days per year through
tion is rising with the awareness and develop- business continuity impact.
ments in security. At this rate, the 100% growth Organizations using uniied messaging
dreams over next three years sound real,” he reported that employees saved 43 minutes per day
added. from more eicient message management while
In its February 2009 report, “Market Overview: mobile workers saved 55 minutes per day.
Sizing Uniied Communications”, Forrester also Companies using integrated voice and Web
predicts that “companies will deploy enhanced conferencing reported a 30 percent reduction
UC capabilities to about 60 per cent of employees in conferencing expenses (by making integrated
in functions that will beneit most from embed- conferencing capabilities available in-house and
ding communications features like wireless and on-network) and an average savings of approxi-
video directly into their business applications. mately $1,700 per month in travel costs basis the
Minhaj Zia, National Sales Manager, Uniied Sage report.
Communications, Cisco India and SAARC, Uniied business communications applications
says, “Indian SMBs are growing and adding more not only facilitate productivity improvements for
business partners nationally and internationally. “UC IS PRECISEL AS
Y employees wherever their work takes them, they
With many of them also opening new branches, RELEVANT AS ‘COST- can also enhance the way in which all employees
networking will play an important role in keep- communicate.
ing employees connected. According to a Frost &
CONTAINMENT’, ROI More speciically for SMBs, the biggest USP of
Sullivan study, currently, India leads the SAARC OR PRODUCTIVITY TO opting for UC solutions is the cost savings that
region’s UC market in terms of total spending and SMES, AS IT IS TO THE they present in terms of travel, communications,
better overall awareness of UC. India has a good etc. Many SMBs also appreciate that enhanced
potential for growth of UC applications as dem-
LARGE ENTERPRISES.” geographical collaboration that comes with the
onstrated by the CAGR of 7.9 per cent during the ASHEESH PANDIA, MANAGER COM- adoption of UC.
period from 2008 to 2015.” MUNICATIONS, SIEMENS ENTERPRISE For example, CoStar has made a signiicant
He added, “he SMB-potential for UC is tre- COMMUNICATIONS (SEN INDIA) investment in a broadcast-quality video confer-
mendous as UC oferings span across budgets encing system from Polycom to connect 3,000
30 SME CHANNELS
DECEMBER 2010

25. COVER STORY UC
CoStar workers in the US and abroad. hey’ve
worked hard to build out their network -- dealing “SMES ARE TURNING
with bandwidth allocation, traic shaping and TO THESE SOLUTIONS
end-user training -- to keep users satisied with
and using the system.
BECAUSE THEY CAN HELP
According to CoStar’s Sergio Soto, “When we THEM IMPROVE PRODUC-
irst started with video conferencing a few years TIVITY HIGHER RETURN
,
ago, we simply wanted a way to reduce travel costs
for our sales team. Now we have developers and
ON INVESTMENT (ROI),
researchers on both coasts that use our video ENHANCE THEIR CORPO-
conferencing rooms eight hours a day.” Video has RATE IMAGE, MAKE BETTER
helped them cut $4-$5M in travel costs.
Neeraj Gill, Managing Director, India &
DECISIONS FASTER, REDUCE
SAARC, Polycom, says, “SMEs have always faced COSTS, ETC”
an uphill battle when competing with larger, more NEERAJ GILL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INDIA &
established companies. he challenge is even SAARC, POLYCOM
more daunting in the current economy of slower
business growth, reduced sales opportunities,
and sometimes lower revenues. SMEs are turn- Telepresence is gaining momentum and has a He added, “Business Octane has gone ahead in
ing to these solutions because they can help them huge potential in India. he SME market in India terms of innovation with its customized range of
Improve productivity, Higher return on invest- is growing tremendously. he SME segment is Immersive Telepresence Suites & Solutions for the
ment (ROI), Enhance their corporate image, already a heavy user for virtual collaboration SME segment that will help these enterprises ben-
Make better decisions faster, Reduce costs, etc. technologies. he Immersive Telepresence Suites eit from a faster ROI. We had recently introduced
Company-wide Communications,Vendor/Sup- available in the marketplace are majorly suitable CollaboratorPOWERMAXTM an afordable
plier Relationships ,Employee Training/Distance for large enterprises given the inancial band- immersive telepresence collaboration suite that
Learning etc are few more points for which SMEs width and quantum of usage in such enterprises. ofers media-rich, immersive dynamic telepres-
need the UC solutions.” However, these factors difer for the SME seg- ence experience. he customized suite creates a
he other vendor of UC is NEC, which is ment where the demand will be driven by such meeting experience over telepresence which is as
present in India since 2006 and among other innovations that can replicate in the most efective efective as meeting face-to-face with distant par-
products, the company has a strong foothold on manner as possible the experience of immersive ticipants with high deinition studio quality video
UC space. Ravinder Raina, Country Head – Pri- telepresence at reduced costs to vindicate the and high deinition stereo spatial audio, together
vate Network Solutions, NEC India, says, “In the investments being made.” with near actual physical sizing and natural eye
post recession scenario, Uniied Communications contact.”
is fast emerging as a business necessity. Large he company has advanced video collabora-
organizations and SMBs have become optimistic tion solution: AltraCOLLABORATOR that also
about uniied communications and use it for caters to the SME segment; it is a customizable
integrating communication tools with real-time collaboration solution to be retroitted in existing
business processes. Over the years, uniied com- video meeting rooms.
munications has helped in easing communication Sanjay Manchanda, Director-Microsot Busi-
hassles and now, even SMEs have started to realize ness Division, Microsot India, says, “In today’s
these advantages.” fast evolving competitive global market, SMBs
He added, “Uniied Communications has come need cost-efective technologies that allow lex-
a long way from a simple uniied messaging inbox ibility and adds value to their organization. As an
for email, voice and faxes, to enhanced mobility, initial step towards adopting a UC solution, SMBs
multi-modal mashups of various forms of com- are increasingly turning to Sotware + Services
munications. hough, the market for UC tech- solutions to meet the needs of their businesses.
nologies is still at its infancy. Currently, the UC Keeping these changing trends and requirements
market in India stands at $549 mn, while $321mn “INDIAN SMBS ARE in mind, Microsot announced the launch of
comes from enterprise telephony that includes GROWING AND ADDING Microsot Online Services last year in India that
17% share of contact center applications, 11% will help fulil the communication and collabora-
email and messaging, 10% tele-presence and con-
MORE BUSINESS PART- tion needs of these small businesses. his suite
ferencing while 1% comes from mobility, which is NERS NATIONALL AND
Y combines services such as email, ability to chat,
still a long way to go.” INTERNATIONALL .”
Y work together simultaneously on documents,
Similarly, Business Octane is another player have a meeting online and maintain a common
who contributes large to UC space through its MINHAJ ZIA, NATIONAL SALES calendar at a cost-efective price with lexible pay-
large presence in the telepresence space. MANAGER, UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS, ment options”
Sanjay Bansal, Chairman of the Board & Man- CISCO INDIA AND SAARC he online services of the company ensures reli-
aging Director, Business Octane, says, “Immersive able email communication, work and collaborate
32 SME CHANNELS
DECEMBER 2010

26. COVER STORY UC
Small businesses.
“BUSINESS OCTANE HAS Adil says, “Looking at the current trends, IP
GONE AHEAD IN TERMS based systems like SIP; IP PBX and telephony sys-
tems are gaining ground. Avaya ofers a platform
OF INNOVATION WITH ITS speciically tailored for SME needs, such as Avaya
CUSTOMIZED RANGE OF IP Oice.”
IMMERSIVE TELEPRESENCE Avaya IP Oice is simple yet sophisticated
platform which can also scale to provide UC &
SUITES & SOLUTIONS FOR CC features. SMB customer can start small and
THE SME SEGMENT THAT add application later as they grow. He adds, “Avaya
WILL HELP THESE ENTER- is the worldwide leader in the SME market, with
leadership in both revenue and line share. With
PRISES BENEFIT FROM A Avaya IP Oice 6.1, the company accelerates uni-
FASTER ROI. ied communications and contact center technol-
SANJAY BANSAL, CHAIRMAN OF THE ogies in the SME market, helping SMEs compete
BOARD & MANAGING DIRECTOR, BUSINESS more efectively, but in a cost-conscious manner.”
OCTANE As per Sanjay, Business Octane’s immersive
telepresence collaboration suites and customized
collaboration solution are equipped with a user
faster with a common library of all documents at Similarly, Cisco also takes SMBs very seriously. interface that allows for simple and elegant use of
one location, engage and ask for opinions using Cisco’s SMB division customizes networking all the functionalities. All the immersive telepres-
media-rich presentations and option to switch solutions. hese products and solutions are under ence collaboration suites and speciic advanced
video and audio with multiple parties and ind the umbrella solution-packs of Cisco Small Busi- video collaboration solution incorporate a new
the right colleague quickly and chat on messenger, ness Pro, Cisco Smart Business Communication revolutionary user interface SimpliUSE+ that
audio or video. System, backed by a host of service & support, and incorporates TeleconnectWIZARD for connect-
From the vendors perspective, Siemens is very inancing ofers. ing multiple locations with extreme ease of usage
focused on the SME space. As Asheesh says, “We Channel presence and technical support. Cisco and without any external help. In addition, Busi-
highly focussed on it with a comprehensive port- qualiies businesses with less than 100 PCs as ness Octane’s Immersive Telepresence empowers
folio of exclusive UC oferings for this segment. users to collaborate seamlessly with other com-
SEN has a track record of consistent product and munication applications. Meeting participants
solution innovation for small and medium busi- whether on audio, desktops, and video confer-
nesses. Moreover, our marketing and service/sup- encing sites can seamlessly collaborate with the
port are aligned rightly to get us an edge on SME company’s immersive telepresence suites.
space.” As per him, the return on investment with our
SEN provides platforms that best suit smaller immersive telepresence suites is so compulsive
business - be it integrating uniied communi- that companies can start reaping returns on their
cations functionality into Microsot Outlook, investment within 3 to 6 months.
launching conferencing from desktop or using On the other hand, Polycom is farming up a
existing infrastructure, such as analogue tele- strategy speciically aimed at the SME segment.
phones or entry phones. SEN communications As a part of this strategy Polycom has recently
systems and platforms support small businesses appointed a global head for the SME segment. he
with up to 500 employees. SEN OpenScape Oice company provides a wide-range of desktop, wire-
is the industry’s irst UC application designed less and multimedia communication solutions for
speciically for small- and medium-sized busi- “OVER THE YEARS, small and medium enterprises. For example, Poly-
nesses, HiPath 1100 is designed to give high- com SoundPoint IP family of phones leverages the
performance telephony to small/medium sized
UNIFIED COMMUNICA- capabilities of SIP-based VoIP networks to deliver
businesses with up to 140 users and HiPath 3000 TIONS HAS HELPED IN breakthrough voice quality and advanced features
is our lexible uniied communications plat- EASING COMMUNICA- that make calls more eicient and productive.
form that scales from 20 to 500 users. he latest Polycom SoundStation Conference Phones are
OpenScape Oice MX is an all-in-one, uniied
TION HASSLES AND the industry standard for clear productive confer-
communications appliance built upon reliable, NOW, EVEN SMES HAVE ence calls.
secure, serviceable, and manageable OpenSmart STARTED TO REALIZE Similarly, Polycom’s recently introduced QDX
architecture with network connectivity that sup- 6000 is the irst videoconferencing product of its
ports upto 150 users. Among Siemens Enterprise
THESE ADVANTAGES.” kind to address the cost-conscious SME segment
Communications other oferings are OpenScape RAVINDER RAINA, COUNTRY HEAD that at the same time seeks ease of use and high
Oice Contact Center, Network Infrastructure – PRIVATE NETWORK SOLUTIONS, NEC quality.
& Security portfolio and a whole range of voice/ INDIA However, the biggest challenge the SMEs
data/video products and solutions. today face isn’t so much relevant to cost, but the
34 SME CHANNELS
DECEMBER 2010

27. COVER STORY UC
complexity of IT. he interoperability is no more
relevant now as most the vendors have addressed
the issue with open standards based solutions.
he lack of awareness and value perception is “UC SEEKS TO BREAK
one of the key roadblocks to SME IT adoption. DOWN THE COMMUNI-
And, these challenges can only be mitigated by
the aggressive engagement of partners to play a
CATIONS SILOS IN THE
consultative role to the customers. Some partners ENTERPRISE AND ADD COL-
have already understood the value proposition LABORATION FUNCTIONS.
some are not. For example GoIP Global Services
is one of the channel partners of multi brands SHIV SHARMA, DIRECTOR - STRATEGY &
and understand the market very well. hey must ALLIANCE, GO IP GLOBAL SERVICES
have gone through gruelling sessions and have
acquired the knowledge hard way.
Shiv Sharma, Director - Strategy & Alliance,
Go IP Global Services, says, “Uniied Com- to help SMB customers in each sub-vertical, partner program that focus on their empower-
munications (UC) has emerged as an impor- which will help them plan, design and operate ment in terms of knowledge - trainings & certi-
tant milestone in the evolution of enterprise business critical networks more eiciently. ication, engagement - partner communication,
communications. UC seeks to break down the he Company has also launched a small busi- presence & messaging - marketing and branding
communications silos in the enterprise and add ness partner proitability program. Cisco also support, references and rewards & recognition.
collaboration functions. Using a diferent tool makes available a lot of product literature and On global level, the company has programs like
for each communications mode (phone, fax, and support material to partners to support their sales ‘Go Forward’ that are meant for channel empow-
email) hinders productivity, wastes time, and eforts. In fact Cisco has a separate division called erment and recognition.
causes frustration. Business users no longer want the Sales and Marketing Support Organisation Polycom is also working on a strategy to reach
to juggle multiple devices and phone numbers, (SMSO) that takes care of the marketing collateral bigger number of SME throughout the country for
multiple message stores, and multiple directories needs of the channel partners. which they are appointing more channel partners.
when instead they can access multimedia com- Similarly, Avaya in India has been moving hey have 3 distributors and more than 50 chan-
munication and collaboration tools in a single towards a High-Touch, channel centric (HTCC) nel partners spread across India. he company
interface on the desktop. UC breaks down barri- sales model. hey now have two national level dis- will soon appoint some more channel partners to
ers and integrates communication and collabora- tributors in Redington and Bharti Teletech help- reach out the wide spread SMEs in India. By irst
tion tools, making them more easily accessible ing the company reach out to the SMEs across the quarter of 2011, Polycom will launch “Polycom
and saving signiicant time and resources.” country. hese distributors further sell to a large Choice Programme” for its channel partners,
He adds, “UC solutions, such as Microsot Lync set of System Integration (SI) partners, across which will encompass certiication, growth and
Server 2010 typically combine several traditional geographies in India & SAARC. deining the channel partners.
communications functions (including presence, he company has a fantastic Channel Partner NEC’s channel network for PNS (Private Net-
instant messaging, real-time voice and video Program called “Avaya Connect”, which helps SI work Solutions) is pretty strong including the
communications and uniied messaging) into partners take advantage of enhanced technical names like Enkay Technologies, Syntel and Intel-
an integrated, uniied solution. UC can improve and marketing beneits. his in turn helps them licon. Very recently they have tied-up with Avaya
productivity, accelerate information transfer, and build capability on Avaya Technologies and serve Global Connect Networks as its national distribu-
reduce costs. UC solutions, such as Lync Server customers better. tor for the PNS solutions.
2010 and Microsot Exchange Uniied Messaging, he company is gung ho about 2011 and has a
can also replace traditional PBX and messaging slew of marketing initiatives in the pipeline, one Finally…
systems in remote oice locations.” of which is already rolled out. hat is the 6 city he entire assortment of opinion says that most
Cisco’s SMB market strategy involves help- Experience roadshows to showcase the integrated of the vendors are ready with SME solutions and
ing customers create a sustainable competitive product roadmap and Avaya technologies to the they have addressed the pricing and interopera-
advantage, improve their operational eiciencies, customers and partner community. bility issues with due care. he only thing they are
increase their employees’ productivity, and ulti- he company is investing heavily in the chan- struggling waiting is the educating the customers
mately boost their returns and proitability. he nel partners, by way of partner enablement, about the utility and R0I of the UC solutions. his
strategy includes focusing on new customised Demo Gear, Ex-Stock product availability, Solu- is surely a challenge and the large vendors should
SMB products/solutions and inancing schemes tion bundles, Toll free Support line for Pre-sales take the foot forward by engaging the customers
like the Easy Lease program, and the 0% inance & Post-sales, Partners Rewards & Rebates. Avaya in various platforms explaining them about the
ofering for SMBs. To increase awareness of its has ambitious plans on marketing online, print, beneits, which will include aggressively engag-
products and programs among these businesses, road shows for SMB partners who are certiied ing with the partners. Another trend - hosted
Cisco will continue to invest heavily in partner and invested in Avaya. communication services or cloud services - is
enablement and innovative marketing initiatives SEN’s indirect channel structure is extensive also picking up in the market which is very much
such as the Network on Wheels and the Sales and and so is its reach. he company has over a hun- relevant to the SME market and it is waited to be
Marketing Services Organisation. dred partners with pan-India presence, including seen how the things are panning out. But the sen-
Cisco is developing domain speciic solutions tier II cities. he company has also an excellent timent is UC is high with the SMEs.
36 SME CHANNELS
DECEMBER 2010

51. TRENDZ
ASHEESH PANDIA
BRAND MANAGEMENT
AND CORPORATE COMMU-
NICATIONS CONSULTANT
TELE-MIMETICS, TELE-
TRENDS AND FOCUS
FOR INSPIRATION!
On a global level too, most telecom markets remain overall
pulsating with focus on higher speeds, better interactivity and
customer experience.
OVER THE LAST quarter I had been very keting strategies today seems starkly different. And tunities for telecom consulting and marketing
fortunate to interview and discuss one-on-one then there remain similarities too in terms of trends organizations and analysts lie. Subscriber base
with some of the ‘who’s who’ of Canadian Telecom especially in the Social Media era. According to Mr. might have been sustained or grown but the rev-
Industry. What’s most interesting behind the suc- Gautam Nath, one of the best Canadian marketing enues seem to dip gradually. With respect to the
cess of many of these leaders and their organiza- knowledge-banks today, who I had the opportu- extremely low-margins, it’s not difficult to gauge
tions’ outstanding performance was the extremely nity to meet recently, “Multi-Cultural marketing the situation when you find analysts use Price-
simple but fundamentally a profound marketing dynamics is the most sought-after horizon here in Earnings (P/E) and Price-to-Sales (Price/Sales)
wisdom. I could easily compare their thought- Canada at the moment” . I feel essentially the rise in Ratios as measures of valuation; for some com-
patterns with the likes of Al Ries and Jack Trout, Multi-Cultural Marketing shares a similar pattern panies have little or no profits to speak of unfor-
the marketing Gurus and founders of positioning to that of the ongoing ‘Rural Penetration pursuit’ tunately, especially at this time. And now, all of a
theory. Most of these interviews were remarkably in India. And yet again, considering that Canada sudden, inadequate Spectrum poses another big
insightful not only in terms of where the Cana- wants the largest pipelines at the lowest cost which challenge in India which DoT, the telecom regu-
dian or Global Telecom Industry is headed to but definitely would demand more funds, access to latory body, proposes to address with Refarming
also in that how just about any geography could global capital market through more relaxed and the 900 megahertz (MHz) spectrum when opera-
relate to the other from the cause and effect per- free competition and more incumbents is desirable tors’ licenses come up for renewal between 2014
spective of micro & mega trends and eventually, in not much unlike how it had always been in India and 2025 by including it in the Spectrum Bill in
one way or the other, can possibly utilize the end regardless of the competition because population its recommendation. Telecom providers are of
takeaways towards their collaborative industrial and the market size is awesome. course not equally fond of such a recommenda-
betterment. From marketing standpoint this at On a global level too, most telecom markets tion by DoT because there are reasons to believe
first seems tough to assimilate though, let alone remain overall pulsating with focus on higher that it would not be appropriate at this point when
to be compared any further. More so, because we speeds, better interactivity and customer experi- you have to be moving all the subscribers to a
speak of one of the most dynamic and particularly ence. Realistically, it is easy to understand that the brand new network as a consequence while they
now, evermore stirred-up industrial segments and Churn Management is definitely a very important are on a fully functional one, already. Let alone the
also when the diversity is hugely evident, among issue still for the most part because acquiring a obvious interruption in current service and big
widely different geographies. However, if we refer new customer is much more pricey and unpre- investments that will be needed to carry out this
from the standpoint of ‘inspiration’, similar to a dictable than retaining the existing customer change in any case, at any given point in time.
Case-study, and not simply ‘adaptation’ because base. The latter, however, could also be equally Still, we cannot deny the relative growth pros-
that would be unfair indeed; theories suddenly demanding and complex but more often than pects that sound paradoxical after summing up
start making practical sense. In a way, it’s more not cost-effective to both the consumer and the all the above challenges but they are true for sure.
like cross-industrial learning, redevelopment service provider. The new generation of consum- I am going to mention the exploding Mobile
and collaboration or rather Biognosis and ‘Bio- ers is definitely not as loyal as it used to be in the Broadband Traffic below and the figures are
mimetics’. Some may want to research those terms Wireline-only era. Moreover, ‘Brand Loyalty’ itself mind-blowing. Whatever be the reason for this
in entirety to get greater insight. The biggest chal- cannot be compared at any given moment among increase in traffic, in the end, telecom service
lenges that Canada had faced since inception were a telecom service provider and a financial insti- providers have both the responsibility and the
essentially the huge geography, weather conditions tution, in the case of the former; it could be far opportunity to serve the consumer well and make
and the diversely growing consumer demography, more casual for the consumer to be flirtatious and money. There is also no denying of the fact that
for instance. As a result, the network infrastructure shop around. Another common challenge across there is a huge potential for the current generation
maintenance investments went beyond and out of economies is to maintain & strive to increase the of consultants in cross-economy trend-spotting as
proportion and hence, the anatomy of basic mar- dirt-cheap margins and that’s where the oppor- well as for telecom service providers to bootstrap
40 SME CHANNELS
OCTOBER 2011
Trendz-Asheesh Pandia of Tele-mimetics.indd 40 10/23/2011 11:56:56 PM

52. TRENDS
themselves. Most of all, ‘to find their best identity Market would surpass Apple by the third quarter of on their priority list to keep ahead of the rat-race.
in the value chain’ and ‘to be able to innovate light- 2011, with some 425,000 apps. Similarly in terms Coming back to the trends and patterns that
ening fast’ have been the top priorities of the best of Consumer Electronics and Mobile Broadband Indian telecom providers can bank upon. First of
players so far and again trend-watching gives the Traffic, iSuppli reckons global SmartPhone ship- all, focusing on that One Particular ‘Differentiat-
best food for thought in terms of both innovation ments will double by 2015 and account for more ing’ Brand Identity, that makes any brand unique
and the correct ‘Brand Positioning’. than half of all mobile phones sold. At the same – it is just too important. What we see around
For the most part, Indian telecom has been time, mobile broadband traffic volumes will see a today is everyone doing everything, everyone sell-
doing really well relatively barring the Spectrum 2600% increase in the next five years, say Nokia Sie- ing everything but the biggest brands in the world
Refarming struggle cited above; but the option mens Networks’ own figures. The Nokia Siemens are the ones that do ‘only their thing’ that reflects
of taking a look at the external and distant trends numbers are astounding — a 1000-fold mobile data them directly and uniquely; when you talk about
could also guarantee significant betterment for traffic increase by the year 2020. a particular product or service, it’s only that brand
the ‘highly innovative’ kinds. The face of telecom is To consumer, mobility is not a privilege any- that comes to the consumer’s mind and vice-versa.
changing by the hour and it is not the same simple more; it’s simply an ‘extension of access to infor- Many of the top executives and telecom profes-
voice domain anymore rather a more holistic mation’ and telecom providers only need the sionals advocate restricting the number of players
and all-embracing one – with the rising Mobile ‘super value creation’ attitude besides the compe- to 4 to 6 and the reason behind that is both intel-
Broadband Traffic, dominant Consumer Electron- tent technology to win the game. Lack of mobility ligent and plausible. However, from the perspec-
ics and a skyrocketing Ultra-Viral Social Media. is rather a polite way of saying ‘denial-of-service’ tive of brand management and positioning, more
Mobile Applications market for instance is the in today’s competition. Take m-Commerce, for intellectual bandwidth should be targeted on their
most astonishing at this moment . Back in March example, which has been considered as the game- main focus and ‘focus’ is the key to positioning.
of 2009, about 2,300 applications were available on changer especially in the developing economies. The Narrower and Unique it is, the better for
the Android Market, according to T-Mobile CTO Even in the developed ones, it is not yet ubiqui- any brand. Forget about the competition for a
Cole Brodman. And in May, 2011 alone, during tous maybe because of the security-related, tech- moment, let’s first understand what we want to
the Google I/O, Google announced that Android nological and psychological challenges but once achieve, get clarity, prioritize our things and then
Market listed 200,000 applications and had already the ice is broken and it is made easily accessible, jump in the warfare fully armed. This is one of the
clocked 4.5 Billion installed applications. By July, there’s no dearth of the wonders that efficiently key findings you instantly get a feel of when you
the figure had crossed the 250,000 milestone. run m-Commerce could do. So for the winners, look at a market such as Canada’s. Each brand has
Distimo and Germany-based research2guidance it must not just be the ‘Next Thing’. It rather ought an identity and a ‘unique personality’ and that’s
forecast that the number of apps on Android to be a current service provisioning mandate top where the learning is. And in abundance!
SME CHANNELS 41
OCTOBER 2011
Trendz-Asheesh Pandia of Tele-mimetics.indd 41 10/23/2011 11:56:59 PM

53. FEATURE CONVERGENCE
CONVERGENCE OF
TECHNOLOGIES
TO PREVAIL
As technology progresses and
customers seeks to satisfy different
needs in one transaction, has led to
technology combinations or to put
it simply, Convergence. Today, it has
become a mainstream phenomenon and
the market is embracing the growing
convergence technology market.
BY KARMA NEGI
karma@smechannels.com
L
ately, we are hearing a lot about convergence. Technologies
are converging to bring together a myriad of devices to ease
usability and increase effectiveness for the end-user. The
form-factors are becoming more compact and portable with
providing better processing, efficient storage and easy access
capabilities.
Today, integration, convergence, whatever you call it, is happening all
around us from computing to smart phones and tabs. Datacenters are
employing such technologies as they are running out of space and power.
With Convergence, they can use the same device for multiple applications
by implementing Virtualization and Cloud techniques.
Recently IBM announced a new family of data center building blocks
called PureSystems with the aim to offer integrated systems. Or take Ora-
cle’s Exadata, which has been in the market for quite some time now, and
is a complete package of storage, servers, networking and software, which
the company says is secure, scalable and redundant. Then there is the HP’s
converged cloud solutions. The list is endless.
A precursor to most application developments today, the network
industry too renders many convergence products like IP Surveillance with
42 SME CHANNELS
JULY 2012
Convergence.indd 42 19/07/12 9:57 AM

54. CONVERGENCE FEATURE
SME CHANNELS 43
JULY 2012
Convergence.indd 43 19/07/12 9:57 AM

55. FEATURE CONVERGENCE
TO BE SUCCESSFUL “IN FACT COST “WITH
IN THE OF TECHNOLOGY VIRTUALIZATION
CONVERGENCE ADOPTION HAS BEEN AND CLOUD
MARKET, ONE MUST JUST GOING DOWN TECHNIQUES, THE
UNDERSTAND ONLY. THE LIFE SPAN DEFECTIVE DEVICE
THE VARIOUS OF DEVICE TOO HAS CAN BE MOVED
BOTTLENECKS OF SHORTENED AND OFFLINE BY HAVING
IMPLEMENTING SUCH USERS KNOW THAT.” THE APPLICATION
SOLUTIONS NOW SUBIR BHATNAGAR, VP & INSTANCES MOVED
AND THE IMPACT GLOBAL HEAD – SOLUTIONS, AGC TO A DIFFERENT
AND TURN IT WOULD NETWORKS LTD DEVICE TO MINIMIZE
MAKE IN THE NEXT DOWNTIME.”
COUPLE OF YEARS.” SRIDHARAN MANI, CEO
SUBHASHINI RAMAKRISHNAN, AND DIRECTOR, AMERICAN
CTO, DAX NETWORKS MEGATRENDS INDIA.
in-built storage and centralized monitoring facili- over, with its role in socio-economic development, making things simpler by making management
ties, Network Attached Storage with Surveillance it needs to be observed not only from the technical uncomplicated with consolidation and centraliza-
Station, Web Server, Multimedia Station, FTP standpoint but also from that of a ‘developmental’ tion of data or services. Consolidation and cen-
Server, etc. one,” he explains. tralization widely contribute to lower TCO and
Storage consolidation, also called storage con- Delving more into the meaning of convergence save power thereby increasing ROI.
vergence is a method of centralizing data storage Subir Bhatnagar, VP & Global Head (Solutions), Subhashini Ramakrishnan, CTO, Dax Net-
among multiple servers/devices.Scanner, copier AGC Networks Ltd, says that there are three works, informs, “Apart from the fact that con-
and printer are becoming MFD while multiple critical aspects of experiencing technology—the vergence may influence consumers to accept
point security products are becoming Unified equipment or device, applications stored in serv- new technologies, it definitely delivers higher
Threat management (UTM) box. ers, network to access these applications. “While efficiency while reducing TCO. To be successful in
“As collaboration becomes social, as user the servers are used for running these applica- the convergence market, one must understand the
experience goes mobile, and as computing infra- tions, storage devices or systems are used to store various bottlenecks of implementing such solu-
structure and platforms migrate to the cloud, the information and data related to these applications. tions now and the impact, and the turn it would
convergence of these technologies will create the What convergence does he says is sync up all the make in the next couple of years.”
next big wave in the IT industry,” says Salil Godika, three aspects and attempts to deliver a seamless “Convergence helps customers to reduce their
CSO and CMO, Happiest Minds Technologies. experience which is also known as virtualization.” TCO on infrastructure management and support.
So, does convergence encompass the merging The convergence market is large and growing Helps to implement solutions such as DR2Cloud
of technologies, devices and networks? “No,” says as the customer today looks for business specific and have multiple applications running on same
Asheesh Pandia, Global Brand Manager, Tyco needs with minimal customization and provi- device and easy to scale up and scale down based
International, ON Canada, “Boiling ‘Convergence’ sion for future scalability in terms of technology on demand,” says Sridharan Mani, CEO and
down to a simple, one-line definition is difficult and space. Being able to manage a business with Director, American Megatrends India.
because it is not only about merging technologies, centralized control and management is a basic “As devices are reduced there will be reduc-
devices and networks but it ultimately encom- requirement. tion in power, less carbon emission and hence a
passes user experience as well.” Commenting on the size of the market Bhat- greener planet. Turing off devices, instances, pro-
“New dimensions of simplicity, integration and nagar informs, “A report quoted the market size cessor cores during off-peak demand time helps to
automation are what convergence means to the to be around $35 billion across the globe with a save power and energy,” he adds.
users, and eventually, true convergence would predicted growth of minimum 12%. But the way Pandia sees Convergence as all about making
mean that customer’s device doesn’t define him convergence is being adopted by enterprises and things simpler, leaner and greener. With smaller
anymore. To understand convergence as a process demanded by users I am sure the growth rate can storage footprint, lower cooling, lower power and
and way for development is important because it exceed anything around 20%.” simplified management, convergence reduces
is a continuous and dynamic phenomenon. More- Vendors agree that convergence does help in TCO to a great extent he affirms.
44 SME CHANNELS
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56. FEATURE CONVERGENCE
“THE MARKET “‘CONVERGENCE’ “AS COLLABORATION
IS COMPETITIVE IS NOT ONLY BECOMES SOCIAL,
ENOUGH NOT ABOUT MERGING USER EXPERIENCE
TO ALLOW ANY TECHNOLOGIES, GOES MOBILE,
VENDOR TAKE ANY DEVICES AND COMPUTING
UNREASONABLE NETWORKS BUT INFRASTRUCTURE
STAND. COMPETITIVE IT ULTIMATELY AND PLATFORMS
UPGRADE PROGRAMS ENCOMPASSES USER MIGRATE TO CLOUD,
ARE AVAILABLE EXPERIENCE AS THE CONVERGENCE
FROM MOST BRANDS WELL.” OF THESE
TO HELP CUSTOMER ASHEESH PANDIA, GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES WILL
SWITCH FROM ONE BRAND MANAGER, TYCO CREATE THE NEXT
VENDOR TO ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL, ON CANADA BIG WAVE IN THE IT
WITH LEAST IMPACT.” INDUSTRY.”
SUNIL PILLAI, CO-FOUNDER AND SALIL GODIKA, CSO AND CMO,
MD, IVALUE INFOSOLUTIONS. HAPPIEST MINDS TECHNOLOGIES.
Hence over the years, the reliability of IT hard- hardware side, though they may deny following to eliminate the fear of high cost of technology
ware has improved tremendously. Therefore, Pillai such practices. But things might be changing. shift or upgrade. In fact cost of technology adop-
explains, most of the issues faced today are on the “Vendors have started to address the lock-in con- tion has been just going down only. The life span
soft side like setting and configuration. Hardware cerns of the end user already and they are coming of device too has shortened and users know that,”
failure is rare and hence manageable through up with investment protection plans,” says Pandia informs Bhatnagar.
replacement process due to low incidence. “Although the focus has to be more on the ‘service’ Coming to challenges, the opinions differ all
“In case of critical applications or devices, part of it, both buy-back and time or technology- across the board. While for Ramakrishnan with
provision for high availability must be kept in proofing packages will soon be seen more often the ease in use and accessibility for the user comes
mind. Most products used in such environments as vendors re-align their product and service the concern for security and availability. As long as
have built-in redundancy and 99.99% uptime strategies.” this is kept in mind one is ready to go. Also, proper
features,” reminds Ramakrishnan. “Care must be Allaying the vendor lock-in issue Sunil Pillai, management of applications across the WAN can
taken at the architecture design level to handle Co-founder and MD, iValue InfoSolutions, help mitigate convergence challenges she says.
adequate redundancy. It is advisable to practice remarks, “IT has come a long way over the years. For Mani the business continuity is critical. For
and have a disaster recovery plan in place. In fact It’s rare to see offerings only form a single vendor him the biggest challenge would be to ensure that
many convergence products have multiple func- for most requirements. Also the market is com- downtime is zero and RPO is minimum.
tions to serve as both primary/secondary devices petitive enough not to allow any vendor take And for Pandia overwhelming demand for new
individually.” any unreasonable stand. Competitive upgrade policy frameworks, bandwidth, investment and
As per Mani, “Ideally, the device would employ programs are available from most brands to help standards for seamless integration are some of the
techniques to avoid single point of failure with customer switch from one vendor to another with key challenges. Besides, both organizations and
redundancies built-in. If not the case, the down- least impact.” regulators are faced with the vertical and horizon-
time will definitely increase. With virtualiza- He further adds that buying criteria should tal integration challenges. “In terms of regulatory
tion and cloud techniques, the defective device focus on relevance of the offering to address ecosystem, a competitive market would allow
can be moved offline by having the application business and IT challenge. Brand and vendor convergence to expand the most,” he opines.
instances moved to a different device to minimize should come after relevance in decision making
downtime.” criteria. Finally…
With the consolidation of different devices cus- Today, most agree, that neither technology So convergence is not a loose term any more. It
tomers more often go for products of more than makers nor connectivity providers are married to is real and happening. The IT industry is already
one vendor but there is always the lingering fear of a particular vendor. They all are following a multi seeing the benefits of convergence but the fact
vendor lock-in among the end customers. association approach to maximize their market of the matter is that the manageability is not yet
The market is replete with vendors accused capitalization. “A lot in both enterprises and con- tested though said to be worry freed. So time will
of vendor lock-in both on the software and the sumers is shifting from Capex to Opex model, just tell how it stands in long run.
46 SME CHANNELS
JULY 2012
Convergence.indd 46 19/07/12 9:57 AM