Computex 2008: Zooming in on India

2008 was a year of plenty for Computex in Taipei as it attracted a record
number of buyers, exhibitors and booths. Altogether, there were 1,725 exhibitors
who used 4,492 booths. Among these were 328 overseas companies from 25
countries.

Computex has grown from a national trading platform to one where companies
from around the world congregate to identify key suppliers, manufacturers and
vendors. This year it welcomed a record number of international buyers. The
number of buyers this year reached 34,685. The top five buyer countries were:
US, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore.

To create more business opportunities, the Taiwan External Trade Development
Council (TAITRA) organized over 2,000 procurement meetings on June 3 and 4. Many
of these meetings

saw participated by big brands like Gigabyte, PQI, A-Data, etc. Altogether,
these procurement meetings attracted 113 companies from 32 countries.

Products like competitively priced computers, GPS, LCD TVs, and Internet
communication products were the most popular among buyers. During the two days,
the procurement meetings generated business worth $200 million.

Green show

The event saw a major thrust on green technology. Companies like Asustek,
MSI, Foxconn etc showcased some of their latest 'Green Wonders' for saving on
the energy front and basically getting more out of technology.

Foxconn showcased its 'Cherish the Earth' campaign wherein the company
introduced a green series motherboard targeted at delivering energy efficiency
and at the same time rewarding the end-user with lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Similarly, under its green initiative, MSI introduced 'Ride with the Wind'
and 'Helps you Breathe' notebooks. The first is directed towards delivering
lightweight notebooks that consume less power while the second has got the
capability to release up to 5,00,000 ions per cc.

Focusing on the greener side, Asus introduced its green design server
Rs160-ES. According to the company officials, this product is equipped with high
power efficiency power supply to reduce power loss of upto 45 percent.

Turning towards the greener side, Gigabyte introduced its GA EP45 DSS
motherboard.

In addition to all these products, a number of biggies from Taiwan like Acer,
Asus, Gigabyte etc have taken the advantage of an international platform to
launch their ultra mobile PC range-all of them based on Intel's energy saving
atom platform.

While most of these companies showcased technological advancement, green is
certainly one of the primary areas where they are going to put a lot of emphasis
in the next year.

As you go through the next few pages, we present the plans that some of the
key participating vendors in Computex had for the Indian market. The common
message in all of them is that India is a crucial market for them and they are
more than willing to think innovatively to tap its potential.

ZIA ASKARI

ziaa@cybermedia.co.in

As flash prices continue to fall, SSD drives will be the next 'must-have product

US-based Patriot Memory is optimistically looking at India for growth. The
company is all set to increase its partner base in the region. Using a selected
partner strategy in which only a limited number of partners will distribute
Patriot Memory in a region, Paul Jones is confident of garnering a good
marketshare in the region

Q: How do you perceive the memory market, globally as well as in India?

A: The price of many DRAM products has declined 85 percent during the last
two years. These price decreases have been good for retailers, allowing
consumers to upgrade their systems at a low cost. However, it has been very
difficult for distributors and manufacturers to manage this inventory. Signs
that the memory market has stabilized have appeared and all fingers point to the
DRAM industry, which will remain healthy in the second half of 2008.

Flash memory, on the other hand, continues to face pressure on the price
front. This is important for the consumer market that is now able to afford
high-capacity flash memory.

Patriot Memory is one of the leaders in flash memory, including the
development of the newest flash technology-Solid State Disk (SSD) drives. As
flash prices continue to fall, SSD drives will become more affordable and become
the next 'must-have' consumer product.

Paul Jones CEO, Patriot Memory

Q: Industry experts feel that the memory market is sluggish and will pick
up in next quarter, due to the late launch of Windows Vista. What is your
opinion about this?

A: The memory industry has been slow but we feel that it will start to
increase in the third and fourth quarters. Vista's slow adoption rate has
hampered the industry a bit but with the release of Vista SP1, it looks as if
the problems have been corrected.

Vista is best optimized utilizing 4GB of memory. We see the 4GB memory kits
becoming the new standard over the current 2GB memory kits. Demand for DDR3
should help boost sales towards the end of the year due to two major factors.

Intel and Nvidia have recently been campaigning for DDR3 to become mainstream
and memory prices are decreasing. Now is an excellent time for channel partners
to promote Patriot and benefit from the expected rise in memory demand and
generate large profits.

Q: What is the primary focus for your Indian operations as of now?

A: We are actively looking for partners using a selected partner strategy to
develop our Indian operations. In order to ensure that our partners make the
most profits possible, we select only a limited number of partners to distribute
Patriot Memory products within a region. This strategy creates a strong
relationship between Patriot and the partner. Currently, we are actively looking
for partners using our selected partner strategy to develop our Indian
operations.

Q: Are you educating the channel working closely with your products?

A: Our company's essence 'Innovation — Quality — Perfor­mance' demonstrates
our passion for the business. In order to communicate our commit­ment to our
products as well as educate them about our products, Patriot holds many
seminars, webinars, dealer trainings, LAN events and roadshows. These events are
very successful in educating the channel about Patriot's large product line.

Drop in average selling price has led to negative growth of memory devices

With memory products gaining momentum in terms of acceptance in the Indian
market, the average revenue of these devices might have nosedived. But according
to Austin Huang, the business uptake has been enormous and India is one market,
which is showing a lot of promise for Transcend

Q: While Indian customers associate Transcend brand with high quality,
there are certain issues when it comes to service and support. How are you
planning to strengthen your service network in India?

A:  We are aware of the situation and there are a few options being
discussed. One of it is opting for authorized third-party service partner.

One of the main reasons of lack of proper service and support is our foray
into diversified and more sophisticated electronic product lines such as digital
photo frame, Portable HDD, MP3, etc. Until this service network is built, we
will rely heavily on our current distributors in India.

Q: How do you look at the overall memory market, globally as well as
within India? What trends are reshaping this industry?

A:  Due to a drop in average selling price (ASP), the worldwide revenue
growth of memory devices have been negative. However, Transcend's marketshare
grew by over 46 percent globally in 2007. Our remarkable performance got us 62th
rank in this year's BusinessWeek Worldwide InfoTech Top 100, and also the only
memory company to be featured in the list.

We foresee good growth of flash products, as compared to DRAM. Moving
forward, there will be more applications launched based on flash technology.
Transcend is thus putting enormous efforts in diversifying its flash product
line.

Austin Huang, Regional Head-SAARC and APAC, Transcend

Another star product is a portable hard disc drive (HDD). Since our launch of
shockproof Storejet Mobile in May, we have managed to sell 8,000 units in India.
Eventually, the HDD inside StoreJet might be replaced with SSD as flash price
continues to fall.

Q: What all products are scheduled for launch in India in the next
quarter?

A:  We plan to launch a number of products for our different product lines.
We have recently launched DDR3 1800+ in India. Soon, we would be introducing
second Digital Photo Frame T.photo 720. In the portable HDD segment, we plan to
unveil SJ25C with metallic casing. Apart from it, we will soon be launching V95
flash drive in India.

Q: What is your go-to-market strategy for these products?

A:  To push these products in the Indian market, we would rely on our
channel partners. We soon plan to appoint some new partners to cater to varied
segment of users.

Also, the concept of large format retailers (LFRs) such as Croma, Reliance
Digital, Staples, etc is gaining popularity in India. We thus plan to showcase
Transcend products in these LFRs. In addition, we would be showcasing our
lifestyle flash drives in malls and even mobile chain stores. Transcend USB
drives are also available in Apple stores.

Q: How do you educate partners about your new launches?

A:  Our marketing team works closely with partners to brief them about all
our new launches. In addition, on an average, we get 115 media/web exposures
monthly that helps us in educating channel further.

Also, measures like bi-weekly Transcend Info, educational documents or sales
kit that we deliver to our partners regularly helps us in achieving our targets.

Q: What are your expansion plans for India ?

A:  We currently hold a good brand positioning in India. In 2008, we expect
to achieve $8 to 10 million on a monthly average. We are anticipating 50 percent
growth this year, as we diversify and expand our product offerings.

We intend to increase and enhance our channel business in the region

With the Indian market becoming active when it comes to the demand for
motherboards and VGA cards, ECS plans to appoint another national distributor
for the country in addition to its current distributor-SES Technologies. Ken
Cheng talked about the company's strategy for India and products scheduled for
Indian launch

Q: How important is the Indian market for ECS?

A:  At present, we have SES as our distributor but soon plan to appoint
another national distributor to push our range of motherboards in India. In
addition, we are looking forward to increase ECS channel business percentage in
India.

Also, as a company, we have strategies and policies in place to push our VGA
cards. We even plan to expand our product portfolio-from performance to
entry-level motherboards and graphic cards.

We are focusing heavily on promoting ECS brand image in India, to increase
channel exposure in IT hubs and retail shops. In association with Intel, AMD and
Nvidia, we further plan to strengthen our customer base in the country.

Ken Cheng, National Sales Manager, ECS

Q: What all products are scheduled for Indian launch in the next quarter?
What is your go-to-market strategy?

A:  We plan to launch a lot of products in India this quarter. In the
motherboard category, we would be launching Intel as well as AMD integrated
graphic processors besides Intel and AMD discrete solution. As far as our
go-to-market strategy is concerned, we have a motherboard and VGA card bundle
program plan in place.

Q: How do you look at the competition in India? How do you plan to
differentiate in terms of delivering more to the end-user?

A:  With regards to the entry-level products, we are ideally placed in the
Indian market. Our products score over the quality.

When it comes to mid and high-end products, we plan to opt for gradual and
steady marketing activities. We are also looking at enhancing the channel
exposure for more ECS brand visibility, including bundle package like gifts or
other IT component for price advantage to end-users.

Q: How do you provide your channel a proper service infrastructure?

A:  Having a proper service infrastructure is very important for any vendor.
With regards to our local RMA service, one arm is Aforeserve RMA centers with
six locations across India; the other arm is leveraging our distributor's RMA
service.

As per our HQ RMA service, ECS Taipei sends technical person to distributors
for regular technical training and we also make available some spare parts to
our distributors.

Q: Can you throw some light on ECS channel policies and channel structure?

A:  We plan to have two national distributors in India. At present, we have
one in the form of SES. So we are looking forward to aligning ourselves with a
national distributor, which can carry full range of Mobos and VGA cards as well.
We surely intend to increase and enhance our channel business in this region. At
present ECS is doing a great job on ODE/OEM business in India.

We will be investing Rs 10 crore in India within three years

With an aim to bring innovative technology products in the Indian market,
Leadtek is putting in huge investments into the country said Nitin Khope. The
objective is to underline that Leadtek is a quality brand rather than one that
chases quantity alone

Q: Analysts close to the trade say that memory industry is not doing well.
What are the reasons for this?

A: I do agree that the DRAM market is not doing well since long and I
believe that the way the price drop is noticed in the memory market in recent
times, everyone is facing the heat. However, it has also helped the market size
to grow which will help sustain market in long run with newer and better
products.

Q: How do you look at the graphic cards market, globally as well as within
India. What kind of trends are shaping this industry in your opinion?

A: The pace is good and growing at fast pace with the performance products
at the user's disposal with the awareness on the user, SI, SB front. With the
advancement in the ISV portfolio and the demand for realistic graphics
requirements, the professional users demand the workstations for the graphics
capabilities and sheer performance. The users across the globe are well informed
on the technology and the products suitable for their needs.

Q: What are the primary focus areas for your Indian operations?

A: Manufacturing is our forte. At Nvidia, we are running the campaign on
professional graphics vs consumer/integ­rated on professional applications for
the channel. The media and entertainment is getting bigger with Indian animation
content and movies in the pipeline.

Nitin Khope, Sales Manager, Leadtek India

Q: Where do you see your company's Indian operations one year from now?

A: At Leadtek India, we are exclusive partner of Nvidia Quadro Professional
workstation class graphics cards. We are also in the market with our brand
'Winfast' for consumer graphics (Nvidia's Geforce range) established as a
quality brand with the multimedia products like TV tuner cards. We want to bring
some innovative technology products for Indian market. We are here with our
quality product and will see Leadtek as a quality brand ahead.

Q: What kind of investment plans do you have for India this year?

A: We have started our India operations in January this year. I will be
leading the Indian operation. We plan to invest

Rs 10 crore in the coming three years in India. We are investing this on the
user focus events with all major ISV's and multi-city channel training for
further reach in the industry space.

Q: What is your go-to-market strategy for these products?

A: We are talking with some partners who have the technical expertise and
the reach for the market segments we want to address. The products we intend to
bring in are highly rated for corporate use.

Q: How big is the Indian market? What are your plans to expand this market
both in terms of partners as well as revenue coming from this region?

A: The industry growth in the recent times has seen the technology
consumption on rise by the corporate sector. Indian market size is growing.

The India distribution network is very strong and we believe we have the best
partners who have the reach and expertise in promoting the Leadtek products to
the niche markets, which has made us # 1 in professional graphics market. We
want to reach the target in other product lines too. On revenue front we are
eyeing 100 percent growth rate.

We educate our national distributors on handling our product lines

Plustek plans to introduce a slew of new products to strengthen its business
prospects in the country. Karen Ku is banking on their RMA strategy and the
training they are providing to their partners, in order to get the desired
fillip in the market

Q: How does Plustek perceive the Indian market? What is the primary focus
for its Indian operations at present?

A: The Indian market is booming and is becoming quite an important
destination for global vendors. Digital filing is a future trend, especially
knowledge management is very important to instantly search a customer database.
India is a huge market and while more and more business comes up software for
customer database is becoming a necessary tool for the business segment, in SMB
as well as at the enterprise level.

Document management is also a very important issue for enterprise/government,
to instantly find data in order to save time and effort; save paper storage
space; speed up customer service; back up all data base incase document storage
space gets damaged; small file size to decrease broad band's loading; reduce
carbon emissions etc. These are all strengths of digital filing, and the Indian
market is becoming quite active in this segment.

Plustek has recently focused its activities on concept education. A scanner
is a input device that allows customers to input knowledge, information and
database.

Karen Ku, VP-Sales, Plustek

Q: How many products are you going to introduce into the Indian market in
the coming quarter?

A: We have a clear focus towards introducing cutting edge technology and
products in the Indian market. As far as products are concerned, we have mobile
office; knowledge office; optic pro office; optic film office; optic book
office; optic card office; smart office etc. All these products should be
present in India to satisfy Indian end-users and their different requirements.

Q: What would be your go-to-market strategy for these products?

A: We have a strategy to involve our partner community in terms of educating
the end-customers. We are visiting dealers/regional distributions; we invite
partners to educate them on digital filing concept; product strength.

Q: How will you ensure that your products get the best service in India?

A: We are building a service network across India. We are also educating
existing national distributors and regional distributors to reach up to second
layer of repair level. Whenever end-users have any return merchandise
authorization (RMA) problem in hardware/software, our partners should be able to
solve the issues at their level.

Q: Are you educating the channel partners working with your products?

A: We educate our national distributors in order to better equip them on
handling our product lines as well as various technologies involved in our
products. We are also giving training on improving sales and service skills for
our partners.

Q: What are your plans to expand your share in the market, in terms of the
number of partners as well as revenue?

A: India is a very big market for us and we have a huge focus in this
geography. We are also involved in a lot of projects here. We have a separate
strategy for our systems integration channel and our vertical market. Plustek
brand awareness is our major focus as of now and the rest is being followed up
by our national distributor sales team in line with our go-to-market strategy in
this region.

We provide best quality mobos and VGA cards with strong after-sales support

Encouraged by the booming gaming industry in India, Gigabyte is focusing on
positioning its high-end products targeting the PC gaming and high-end desktop
PC market segments. With customers becoming aware and asking for high-quality
motherboards and graphics cards, Tim Handley is confident that India will be a
top notch market for the company

Q: What is the focus area for Gigabyte India at present?

A: Our current focus is to strengthen our channel in non-metro locations in
order to improve our distribution and post-sales infrastructure across India. We
are also focusing on high-end products targeting the PC gaming and high-end
desktop PC market segments, as we see a lot of growth potential in these market
segments in the country.

There is a massive increase in the interest in PC gaming in India, and the
rate at which broadband Internet is being adopted locally is also encouraging.
Essentially, better-informed consumers demand high performance and quality, and
this is a perfect fit for Gigabyte motherboards and VGA cards.

Q: What is the present marketshare of Gigabyte in India within the
motherboard space?

A: We currently have 20 to 22 percent markeshare in India. We plan to focus
on the non-metro markets to increase the volume of mainstream and entry-level
motherboards, and on metro markets for our high-end motherboards and VGA cards.

Tim Handley, Manager-Asia Sales Division, Business Center, Gigabyte

Q: How do you differentiate from the competitors in terms of product
quality and after-sales service?

A: Gigabyte differentiates itself from competing products by providing the
best quality motherboards and VGA cards with the strong after-sales support.
Where most PC hardware vendors try to increase their profits by reducing their
initial costs, Gigabyte rather tries to reduce its long term after-sales support
costs by focusing on durability and quality.

We want our customers to benefit from our core company values of
professionalism, premium and profitability for our partners.

Q: How do you look at India in terms of acceptance for green products?

A: Gigabyte is very focused on green computing technologies; we were the
first motherboard maker to join the Climate Savers Computing Initiative in
January this year — we expect other PC hardware vendors to follow suit as they
will recognize that green computing is the way of the future.

By producing the world's most energy efficient motherboards, we believe that
we are doing our part in not only saving our customers' money, but also helping
Indian consumers discover the benefits of green computing by incorporating DES
technology on a full range of motherboards, from top to bottom.

Q: What trends are likely to govern the Mobos space in the coming quarter?

A: We expect few key factors to gain momentum in the coming quarter-The
Intel platform stability and the introduction of the excellent new G31 chipset
will ensure healthy market conditions; aggressive broadband Internet uptake
together with growing interest in PC gaming and focus on green computing will
ensure more informed buyers — hence Indian consumers will demand better quality
and higher performance motherboards; and increasing production and development
costs may force tier-2 vendors to de-focus from selling lower ASP products.

Q: Are there any channel expansion plans on the anvil for India in terms
of pushing your products here?

A: We are currently selling through our national distribution partners
Ingram Micro, Avnet (India) and Redington India. We are committed to our
existing channel.

India is our next destination

Operating in the networking space, AirLive is aiming to make a remarkable
entry in India. Initially, the distributors and resellers were appointed to push
its indoor and outdoor wireless solution range in India. Karthik revealed the
company's strategy to enter India and its product range as well

Q: What are the primary focus areas for your Indian operations?

A: AirLive, being a total networking solutions provider, wants to make its
presence felt in India in an aggressive way. We have a strong product portfolio
and our indoor access points have been bestsellers for the past few years. We
are primarily focusing on our indoor and outdoor wireless solutions as a
starting point in India. This will be followed by our foray into security,
multimedia, powerline and VoIP products.

Q: By when and how many products are you going to introduce into the
Indian market?

A: We intend to introduce our entire product range in India, albeit in a
slow manner. As mentioned before, we will start by focusing on AirLive indoor
and outdoor wireless solutions followed by other products. We will be
introducing our products within the next couple of months.

Q: What would be your go-to-market strategy for these products?

A: To create any kind of brand awareness takes a lot of time and effort,
especially in a huge market like India. Hence, we want to slowly start by
creating awareness of AirLive products in the advertising and print media. Once
this is done, we wish to find suitable partners and distributors to sell and
market our products.

Karthik Narayanan, Sales Manager-APAC, AirLive

Q: What would be your strategy to distribute your products in the country?

A: We plan to find distributors/partners/system integrators (SI) in each of
the four main regions of India, viz North, South, East and West. We strategize
to find at least one distributor and one SI in each of these regions catering to
the local markets.

Q: Networking is one area that is always changing with standards. In such
a scenario, how do you make sure that your partners are on the right track?

A: We are committed to update our partners with all the technological
changes happening in the networking domain and are always striving to ensure
that they are aware of these changes. In addition, we have a very prolific
AirLive R&D center, which constantly ensures that the rigorous standards
demanded by the networking industry are met in the most efficient manner.

Q: How are you looking at the SI community in terms of bundling your
products for designing applications?

A: SIs are an integral component of AirLive market strategy in India. Since
most of the SIs are involved in large-scale projects, the need for
cost-effective solutions without any compromise in quality is imperative. We
want to introduce our company as a 'one-stop networking solutions provider' for
the SI community. We want to project our products as cost-effective when
compared to the high-end brands without any compromise on quality whatsoever.

Q: Are you looking at having your own office in India?

A: These are still very early days for setting up any office in India.
Having said that we strongly believe that the Indian market has a lot of scope
and we are certainly contemplating setting up an AirLive office in India as and
when the operations pick up. For the initial period, we will be having our own
in-house engineers present in India to take care of servicing-related issues.

Service is a very important part of being a successful brand in India

Having launched its product range in the Indian region, A-Data is all set to
increase its focus in this region. As part of this activity, it would be looking
at further strengthening its channel base and enhancing its service through
these partners noted Chris Chen

Q: How important is the Indian market for A-Data? What are the primary
focus areas for your Indian operations as of now?

A: India is a very important market for us. This geography is growing at a
fast pace. As a company, A-Data is currently focused on South and West India. We
are trying our best to make sure that the end-customers get most of our products
with the help of our partners in India. Gradually, we will be moving to address
the North and East India markets as well.

Q: How many products are you going to introduce into the Indian market in
the coming quarter?

A: We will make sure that we have all the right products to address the
needs of our end-customers in this region. Keeping this in mind, Adata will
launch three major product lines — USB flash drives, DRAM modules, and flash
cards.

Chris Chen, Sales Manager A-Data Technology

Q: What would be your go-to-market strategy for these products?

A: A-Data will focus on channel retail market. Channel is an integral part
of our strategy to increase availability of our products. We would also be
working towards building up a strong brand image in the Indian market. As a
company, A-Data is going to coperate with local partners on the channel site.

Q: How does A-Data look at the overall memory market in the present
scenario, globally as well as within India? What kinds of trends are reshaping
this industry today?

A: The memory market is a booming and it is very important to have a close
relationship with the suppliers to be able to remain competitive in this market.

A-Data believes that professionalism and innovation drive a company's
competitiveness as well as the value of its products and services in the
industry. Through constant innovation and development of products that exceed
customer expectations, A-Data has won many of the most recognized international
awards.

Models displaying A-Data products at Computex

Now, A-Data is entering Indian market to provide complete product lines
including DRAM modules, USB flash drive and memory cards, which are covered by a
lifetime warranty. In the beginning, A-Data will provide the best services and
marketing to promote its brand and raises its marketshare. The company will
supply the local service and put more resources in India.

Q: What kind of channel partners are you looking to work with in India?

A: India is a different market and we plan to target the region in a
different way. We are targeting a different channel, other than selling just the
IT products for our operations here. As a company, A-Data will have marketing
actions on different media targeting toward different channel partners. The
company is also looking at distributors to focus on the different channel
partners in this region.

Q: Having a proper service infra­structure is very important for any
vendor and especially if you are into the memory space. How would you make sure
that your products get the best service?

A: We understand that service is a very important part of being a successful
brand in India. First, A-Data will cooperate with local partners and provide
best service through these partners. In the second stage, the company will
finalize locations and provide local service to all its Indian customers.

Q: How do you want to educate the channel partners working closely with
your products?

A: To educate the channel partners, A-Data will prepare sufficient material
and information for partners to study. Also, the company will send sales
persons, marketing persons and engineers regularly to India to train partners.
Furthermore, we would hold channel roadshows regularly at important locations or
cities to educate the dealers' level for its channel partners.

Q: How big is the Indian market when it comes to revenue coming from
India? What are your plans to expand this market both in terms of having more
partners (distributors as well as channel partners) as well as revenue coming
from this region?

A: We have just launched our product range here and have got a great
response; we expect that we can have big success in terms of revenue for India
through cooperation with limited local close partners. We expect the success of
A-Data brand will benefit the partners in India, as well.