Good times ahead for Wireless Networking Industry

India's market for networking hardware continues to grow, driven by factors such as higher PC penetration and adoption of IT by the Indian Government. India is the fastest-growing IT networking products market in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Avinash Purwar Senior Vice-President Borderless Network, Cisco

Companies in India continue to dedicate a significant portion of their IT budgets on the networking equipments. According to a study by Springboard Research, titled “Epicenter of Growth - Indian Enterprise Networking Equipment Market Report”, the enterprise networking equipment market in India will grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent - from US$1 billion in 2008 to US$1.7 billion in 2012. 

“Networking market in India has seen a good growth rate recently owing to infrastructure development in the country,” says Avinash Purwar, Senior Vice-President, Borderless Network, Cisco. 

Wireless Networking

Rajesh Sahore Sales Head - India & SAARC D-Link (India) Ltd.

Mobility & Flexibility along with Speed has become a mantra for consumers, as they are constantly looking for products that offer these entire features. This is one of the reasons why Wi-Fi computing and 3G products are gaining more and more popularity these days. In fact, they have almost become buzzwords amongst consumers. And, this phenomenon holds true in both consumer as well as enterprise space. Wireless connectivity is fast becoming a necessity and an integral part of every network. So be it campuses or businesses, wireless networks are now the most preferred choice for people to stay connected as it provides ease-of-use, mobility and flexibility. “Wireless connectivity is rapidly becoming a utility, like power outlets in the air. Ratification of N standard has also fuelled the demand for Wireless networking products. Similarly, 3G is gaining more mileage as it offers faster and more robust Internet and better access to wireless network,” says D-Link.  

Today, enterprises have begun to look at networking as a strategic investment that reflects in the increasing size and complexity of the networking deals.  

The current technology trends included a focus on virtualization, cloud-computing, Green IT, VPN and application delivery, Integration of  Voice, Video and Data - New Information Services and a renewed focus on integrated network security, while business trends included a continued, sustained focus on reducing IT costs and business costs using IT and pressure to deliver applications consistently in demanding and hostile end-user environments and resource consolidation to drive efficiency and scalability in the enterprise.  

Ms Subhashini Prabhakar Chief Technology Manager Dax Networks

India's market for networking hardware continues to grow, driven by factors such as higher PC penetration and adoption of IT by the Indian Government.  India is the fastest-growing IT networking products market in the Asia-Pacific region. “Most of the prominent global as well as local vendors are operating in the competitive Indian market. This is perceived to be the greatest opportunity for the future by the hardware vendor community. Additionally, the Indian software and BPO industry is also creating a great potential for employment. All of these make India one of the most exciting markets for IT hardware vendors,” says Subhashini Prabhakar, Chief Technology Manager, Dax Networks.   

Sudhindra Holla Head - Channels India & SAARC, Juniper Networks

“The market for networking equipment continues to gain momentum as increasing numbers of companies have resumed buying and selling gear to support various business requirements, including network upgrades, expansions and alternative maintenance,” says Sudhindra Holla, Head Channels, India & SAARC, Juniper Networks.  

The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) industry, together with the public sector, are the main drivers for enterprise networking expenditure. “Some of the largest spenders in this market will continue to be the telecom and Government sectors. Banking is another vertical which will look at regular expansions for offering better access to their customers and employees. The ITeS vertical will also be a key buyer of networking equipments,” says Sudhindra.  

Some Trends in Networking Market

1. Investment by verticals in their networking gear will be more application-based than pure-play connectivity-based.

2. Cloud computing will show signs of adoption in India with SMBs investing in it. However, this depends largely on huge investments in improving network infrastructure to provide seamless flow of large data traffic.

3. With telcos rolling out 3G, there is a push to upgrade their existing infrastructure that is built to meet 2G needs. Telcos will have to look at a unified platform or a converged system and providing different applications such as live video services from a single platform.

4. The growing number of new data centers is boosting the demand for storage and networking devices, modular power & cooling devices, and integration services. And companies are looking forward for innovative intelligent devices and networks, which are easy to implement.

5. IP networking is no longer only about routers and routing. It is about applying the right new packet transport (MPLS, WDM) technologies, wherever appropriate, to lower cost in the network, whilst adding new intelligence, such as policy control features, at the edge, closer to the user. Making the network more service-aware will open up avenues for operators to work with other members of the ecosystem, such as cloud players.

6. Green networking - In order to meet the heavy demands of the telecom industry which expects telecom network to be available 24x7, the telecom operators have to invest in alternative power resource to ensure continuous availability of telecom infrastructure. Since power can become a limiting resource for operators, green networking products and solutions have come as an innovative solution to address these problems.

As the network industry is well on its way to becoming one of the most powerful growth engines in the coming years, more and more networking vendors are jockeying to make their presence felt in the space.  

Cisco's roadmap for India has been to drive growth by adopting the role of a trusted, strategic advisor to Indian businesses offering relevant solutions for business transformation, and in the current environment, we worked towards this with renewed vigour.  At a global level, Cisco, EMC and VMware formed the Virtual Computing Environment coalition in 2009, an unprecedented collaboration of three information technology (IT) industry leaders. The coalition has been created to accelerate customers' ability to increase business agility through greater IT infrastructure flexibility, and lower IT, energy and real estate costs through data center virtualization and a transition to private cloud infrastructures.  

In today's constantly changing markets, companies feel the only way to maintain and grow sales is by selling at competitive prices. Products have become commoditized over time as alternative products become available or the number of suppliers offering the same product increases.  

Ciscocs prime technology focus areas for the future continue to be Video, Collaboration, Data Center and Virtualization. Cisco will continue its extending its existing leadership in products into systems, solutions, architectures and platforms. 

According to Subhashini, Dax's solution-oriented products will help our partners to proactively address the potential customers. Our networking products and solutions are customized and would cater to their unique requirements and applications. Customers are more prone to deploy solution-based offering than merely a product.  

Juniper's solutions offer a significantly lower cost of ownership. “We achieve this in many ways. The most important reason why the total cost of ownership of Juniper equipment is lower is that we have the operating system - JUNOS - that runs on all our products. Independent studies have shown that this results in savings in operating costs of up to 40% lower than our competition.  And, you know that when running a decent sized network, operating expense can be up to three times of the cost of equipment.”  

Sudhindra adds, “Our products have a much more modern and open architecture, again resulting in lower total cost of ownership for end-users.” 

The third and very important USP for Juniper equipment is that security is part of the design philosophy of all our products - and not an afterthought or a bolt on. “Nowadays, security and communication go hand in hand, and the way we engineer our products, we are able to offer very high security yet with a negligible impact on performance,” says Sudhindra.  

Channel's Role

Channel partners are central to Cisco's go-to-market strategy. And with every step towards Cisco's growth, they only become more vital. “Our partners are strategic collaborators in the business. They play an important role in helping us deliver solutions that are optimized for rapid implementation, superior performance, and maximum ROI,” says Avinash.

Cisco delivers almost 100% of our products through partners. In addition, certain services such as Cisco Smart Care Services are sold and delivered exclusively through partners. Partners will also play increasingly central roles in delivering Cisco consulting services, especially to smaller and mid-sized customers. 

Juniper Networks is committed to supporting the financial health of partners beyond pricing and gross margins.  “We find innovative ways to expand the financial opportunity that span product access via specializations, value-add pricing, investment protection for industry certifications earned, and flexible service programmes,” says Sudhindra.  

“At the heart of each customer engagement, we demonstrate the following to maximize the success of our partners,” says Sudhindra.    

“Our partners play a major role in the deployment of products and services. We have our local technical pre-sales team to drive the partners sales team for all marketing related issues. In addition to the front end support, we also provide real-time backoffice support to our customers. Our timely networking and non-networking leads directed to our partners also play a vital role in driving our partners sales force. We are a technology advanced here-to-stay player in the Indian networking market. Importantly, we pursue a clear channel policy to ensure good profits for all partners,” says Subhashini. 

Prabodh Vyas Director - Sales & Marketing DIGILINK

“We will advise our channels to stick to basics, up sale in to your own customer base and yes skill development among team members will be a differentiator. Venture into technology area which is going to be the need of the hour,” says Digilink.   

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Broadband Stimulus

The current scenario for Internet and broadband penetration in India is dismal. India had 12.85 million Internet subscribers at the end of 2008 which is equivalent to just 1.1% of the country's population. And Internet penetration in rural India is abysmally low. While India is the recognized global leader in mobile Internet additions, its broadband growth has been questioned on many occasions.  

The success of broadband in India will not solely be based on sociological trend, but on the co-creation of an entire conducive ecosystem. Some of the recent consumer drivers of broadband buying decisions have been rapid technology evolution, intense competition, and interactivity and personalization. Broadband is increasingly becoming synonymous with basic connectivity - as a commodity - in many parts of India.  

The mantra is to offer enhanced communication to consumers and businesses to ensure they fully understand the features and benefits. 

Future Trends

India's market for networking hardware continues to grow. India is one of the most exciting markets for IT hardware vendors. As more and more international companies set up office in India, the demand for hardware will increase. In future, wireless market will grow to a massive scale. At the same time, security would be the major concern in future too.  

“In the 20th century, technology has been instrumental in the whole Evolution process and in the 21st Century Networking will change the shape and pace of evolution. And when we talk about Networking, Wireless is the key to future,” says D-Link.

For more contact: Deepak Singh
edit@varindia.com