15. BULLISH START: Bearish Close

Sonata Information Technology Ltd (SITL), the domestic business of Sonata Software and into software distribution, grew by eight percent in 2001-02, posting a turnover of Rs 124 crore. The company also stepped up its ranking from #17 to #15 in the DQCI Silver Club.

Having signed up distribution agreements with companies like Veritas, Red Hat, Trend Micro, Web Gain and Verisign in the fiscal before, last year company was quite busy pushing their respective products .

SITL also saw an increased representation by its channel partners in the upcountry market. It encouraged partners to focus on value-added product sales and service business, which boosted company's revenues.

The company also signed an alliance with IBM India as its value-added distributor for data management software. This partnership is aimed at helping corporates manage their own reseller networks through the software.

MEASURES THAT BROUGHT MOOLAH: Made inroads in telecommunications, finance and manufacturing segments, Became IBM's value-added distributor for data management software

Assistant VP and Director, Sujit Mohanty says, "This tie-up will differentiate SITL from other distributors who are pure volume license fulfillment partners. As a value-added distributor, we will bring our vast technical expertise, extensive channel network and delivery capabilities along with high standards of customer service to the table." Sonata will also conduct ongoing training programs across the country to enable partners to develop solutions and earn better margins for themselves.

As the national distributor for Iona Technologies, an e-business platform provider for Web services integration, SITL made inroads in telecommunications, finance and manufacturing segments. It also managed to set up a channel network consisting of premium partners, VARs and SIs for Iona's solutions.