Networking For All

Networking as a technology is gaining prominence for organizations across the
board. It has accelerated the performance within an enterprise and also allowed
a business to expand. The networking products and solutions have undergone
various technological changes. While the slowdown has had its impact on the
networking market, the partners are witnessing an increased demand from segments
such as SMBs and government. In order to remain competitive and make their
business more agile among others, the companies are looking for innovative ways
to communicate more effectively with their customers, partners and suppliers. As
the global business world is increasingly connected, companies are relying on
their networks more than ever before. Companies of all sizes are using
applications over the network to streamline operational efficiency.

Significance of Networking

In order to meet the requirements, customers are looking at consolidation
and centralization of costly server and storage resources into the datacenter. B
Raghavendran, VP-Channel Operations and Channel Strategy-Cisco, India and SAARC
shared, "The key drivers have been tier-2 and 3 cities which are beginning to
gain prominence. As the local economies of these cities grow, more and more
companies will establish regional offices requiring connectivity with their
headquarters." The overall networking market is divided into data, voice and
network security equipment. The SMB market has also crossed the first wave of
networking and is expected to witness considerable adoption of storage
solutions.

Also spending from the SMB segment on integrated security appliances is
poised to grow steadily. Owing to the increasing demand of networking, Shiv
Shankar, Director-Strategy and Alliance, GOIP Services shared that networking is
growing at a considerably high rate and the major products involved in this race
for the top spot are Cisco and HP ProCurve. "Networking plays a crucial role
nowadays, from the server to the domestic environment, it has made its presence
everywhere. The channel partners can also benefit from the Wi-Fi networking
which is the current trend among the SMBs, government sector and different
mixture of all the verticals in the current phase," added Shiv Shankar.
According to the study done by springboard research the market for enterprise
networking equipment in India is estimated to grow from $1 billion in 2008 to
$1.7 billion by 2012, recording a CAGR of 15 percent during this period.

Market Overview

Gartner predicted that by 2010, 40 percent of companies would have completed
the convergence of their voice and data networks. The booming network and
communications market is propelling the growth of the router and switching
market in India. There is phenomenal growth happening across all industry
verticals. Indian banking, financial services, insurance (BFSI) and telecom
service providers, will remain key adopters in the market. Government is also
emerging as a big spender due to various e-governance and SWAN initiatives.
Raghavendran stated, "We have covered the manufacturing, infrastructure,
banking, government, defense, IT, ITeS, telecom, outsourcing/off-shoring,
retail, SMB, etc. Over the coming years, we also expect to see increased
adoption of unified communications, datacenter and security solutions across
segments in India."

Overcoming the challenges

Since businesses are expanding globally, networks make it easier to keep in
regular touch with customers and partners across the globe. Businesses are
increasingly using networking solutions and products including routers and
adapters to reduce downtime and communicate effortlessly. Today organizations of
all scale need IT support. The government and the semi-government sectors are
demanding software applications and Web-based innovations. Hence having a strong
network infrastructure including wireless technology and satellite bandwidth can
help them achieve their business objectives.

Spanning the sectors of manufacturing, education, and other key industry
verticals in these towns, Cisco has played a role in bringing organizations into
the 21st century, by deploying a range of products and solutions that address
their unique business challenges. "Our main strategy for 2010 would be focused
around aligning our goals for the country. We will organize the channel team
around key architectures, segments, new markets and business models in order to
provide the thought 'leadership necessary' to position Cisco and our partners
for growth," noted Raghavendran

Cost factor definitely plays a crucial role when it comes to purchasing
network equipment. Earlier the prices were really high and as a result only
large corporates would opt for networking products. However, today even the
small and medium segments of the society readily buy such products.

In order to stay on the top of the game it is important for the channel
partners to adjust to the evolving market conditions, new skills and
capabilities and introduction of new technologies. Wi-Fi as a technology has
spread widely within business and industrial sites. However, increasing the
number of Wi-Fi access-points leads to redundancy. Besides it requires enhanced
support for fast and increased overall network communication by using more
channels or by defining smaller cells.

Minakshi Shetty

minakshis@cybermedia.co.in