"Solution providers are the ones who decide on the actual deployment for our products, so we work quite closely with them"

As more and more companies realize the importance of critical data, storage
is now frequently seen as part of business continuity for a company. Triggered
by acceptance of storage solutions in segments like BFSI and ITES, US-based
Quantum Corporation is gearing up to double its revenue coming from the Indian
region. Emil Kobylarz talks about the company's plans for the region and its
growth strategy.

What is the focus of Quantum's India operations? How closely do you work
with the solution provider community in this region?

We are now focusing our efforts to address the burgeoning small and medium
sized business market segment (SMB) in the Indian region. We already have
different products and solutions ideally placed to address this segment. Moving
forward, we would be introducing more such products targeted at this segment in
this marketplace.

Emil Kobylarz, MD, Asia Pacific, Quantum Corporation

We are a purely channels-only organization. So we depend heavily on the
success of our partners. Solution providers or systems integrators are an
integral part of our ecosystem. We always try to identify and appoint solution
providers who have the right mix of customers and who can benefit from our
product portfolio. Solution providers are the ones who decide on the actual
deployment for our products, so we work quite closely with them.

The storage market has expanded in this region with a lot of activity
happening even in smaller cities. How do you plan to tap the potential in this
market?

Yes, we have kept a close eye on this. This is the reason why we want to
expand too. Right now, we have three offices in India employing around seven
people and we plan to double this headcount by next year. The objective of this
growth would be to address the untapped markets in B- class cities.

On the channels front, we have more than 50 registered resellers across the
country. The company has over 150 customers and we have seen a steady growth in
recent times. As we plan to address the untapped potential of smaller B- class
cities, we would be doubling the number of registered resellers in the next six
months or so.

India is one of the fastest growing markets for us globally and holds great
potential for future growth. We are planning to double our Indian revenue in the
next nine-twelve month's time.

How do you make sure that your deployments happen without hassles? How do
you place yourself with regards to competitors like Hitachi or even HP in some
cases?

As mentioned earlier, we work in close coordination with different solution
providers or systems integrators. So while implementing these storage solutions,
we always make sure that our partners understand the needs of customers and
design solutions accordingly. Moreover, our solutions work in a heterogeneous
environment, so it becomes easier to deploy.

If you compare us with any other storage vendor, our USP is our core
technology, which is indigenously developed by us. We own the IP that goes into
our products at all levels. While other companies are busy putting the third
party software pieces to their overall offerings, our products are easy for
users to implement, which also minimizes training and support cost.

Recently, lot of companies lost critical data in the Mumbai rains. How can
your storage solutions help in this situation? Which verticals mostly buy your
products?

What we want to emphasize on is the fact that although several companies go
for disk-based backup, this does not mean that they should eliminate the need
for tape-based backup solutions. Both these should go hand in hand. In critical
situations like in the case of Mumbai rains, companies have dual strategy of
mixing disk with tape would have survived this disaster easily.

At present, Quantum has got a fair mix of customers from segments like BFSI,
ITES, and the BPOs as well. Moving forward, we are likely to see a lot of
activity in the ITES sector as more and more companies are coming in to this
region.

ZIA ASKARI