Despite its presence in the Indian market for many years, the adoption of Industrial PCs (IPCs) has been very slow compared to few other industrial nations in the neighborhood. IPC integrators are now banking on the high-paced infrastructure development in the country for its growth.

Way back in the 1780s the Industrial Revolution changed the way the world thought. Industries replaced manual labor. The change was enormous. Two centuries later, the invention of computer further fueled the technological and economic progress of the world. This also triggered a wave of industrial automation.

Industries began to use personal computer to automate industrial activities, but one of the biggest challenges they faced was to toughen this delicate but powerful computing device for industrial use. The challenge was met and a new breed of computers was introduced specially for industrial use called - The Industrial PCs (IPC).

In India, IPCs have been around for quite some time now. However, the adoption of IPC in the country has not been like in other industrial nations in the neighborhood. Needless to say, there have been vendors and distributors of IPCs in India for the last 25 years.

One of the oldest players is Mumbai-based Dynalog India. Even today, Dynalog holds majority shares in the IPC business of the country. According to Nitin Machhar, Product Manager-Device Networking, Dynalog India, "Although this market is not being tracked officially, we have around 70 percent market share in the industrial PC business. Out of the remaining 30 percent a major chunk must be getting shared between four other players in the country."

Rosy days ahead?

Current market size for industrial PCs around Rs 30 crore to Rs 100 crore The fast pace of infrastructure development will lead to better business Banking on new power plants and highway projects that are coming up to fuel growth Government's willingness to adopt use of technology to man these projects Emergence of numerous call-center and IT-enabled service are good business potential

Some of the major players active in the Indian market include Aeon, Xion, Compron and Lanner. While Dynalog holds a majority market share in the IPC market, it is interesting to note that Dynalog is just an integration partner for Taiwan-based world-leader in industrial computing business-Advantech.

Interestingly, Lanner is the only company, which has a direct presence in India. All others manufacturers operate through distributors or integration partners in India. About four years ago Lanner set up operations as a joint venture with D-Link India. From the time it started its operations, the company appears to have not done any great business. In fact, recent market feedback expressed doubts on the very existence of its operations in India.

However, to dispel all the market rumors, six months ago, the company headquarters in Taiwan decided to revive its subdued business in India by deputing Ke-Min Lee as President, Lanner Electronic India. As of now she is responsible for strengthening Lanner's presence in the Indian market by laying down channel strategy and adding new customers.

India is one of the many export markets for over 100 companies based in Taiwan. These companies are active in the development and manufacture of IPC products covering a gamut of products from single board computers (SBC), embedded cards, panel PCs, industrial workstations, IPC chassis, rack-mount servers, point-of-information (POI) terminals, kiosks, automated teller machines (ATMs) and point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Snail paced adoption
The fact that adoption of IPC in the country has been very low shows from overall market size, which these few companies assume it to be. According to Lee, the current market size for Industrial PCs could be around Rs 27 to Rs 30 crore. Machhar of Dynalog also indicates a figure of not more than Rs 100 crore.

Over the years, Dynalog with its Avantech range of systems has grown very little. According to Machhar the company's average growth for IPC is around two-three percent in the last five years. The only satisfying element is that the company holds 70 percent of the IPC market share in India. Meanwhile, Lanner Electronics India claims to have done business of only Rs 2.70 crore for the year 2005. Despite such low performance, both companies are optimistic of better business in the coming years.

What give them this positive hope? According to these companies, India is on a growth path. "Last two years have seen the Indian economy developing very fast. The pace of infrastructure development has also gained momentum. All this will lead to better business for industrial PCs," said Lee.

India has been a developing country for the last many years. However, it is very disappointing to note that adoption of technology has not been in sync with the infrastructure development. Companies like Dynalog and Lanner are banking on the few new power plants and highway projects that are coming up in the next few years. What is important is the government's willingness to adopt use of technology to man these projects.

"In the past also there has been many good project that were initiated by the government, but the use of technology has been minimal. Even today, we are waiting to pay our taxes online," quiped an industry analyst.

The only saving grace for IPC vendors in the last two years has been the emergence of numerous call-center and IT-enabled service. According to IPC vendors, call-centers have become an excellent business potential. "More and more call-centers are now preferring industrial PCs over a normal PC looking at the redundancy and reliability of the system. For most mission-critical service a highly reliable PC is as important as their servers, data centers or their networks." said Machhar.

A tool for automation
As the name may be suggesting, IPC is not the name of any finished product like a desktop or a laptop. IPC is often customized and integrated as per the customer's requirement and hence, there is no standard shape and size to the finished product. IPC manufacturers are often components manufacturer for integrating IPC.

While computers make an integral part of Industrial automation, it is not possible to put a normal PC on the shop floor or an industrial unit as a normal PC is unable to withstand shocks, vibration, extreme heat and dust for long hours.

In an IPC, the components used are usually designed with high-grade material, which can withstand shocks, vibration, heat and dust even after being used for long hours. Also important is to build redundancy in some of the main components to keep the IPC running non-stop. Which means, if a component fails, an alternate component or a back-up component takes over without disturbing the workflow. To build such redundancy and resistance, most vendors now use embedded components, which also includes the CPUs on the motherboard.

One of the biggest hurdles in the growth of IPCs in India thus has been the price. "In the past we have seen industries using desktops as replacement for IPCs. But, what they don't realize is the huge cost they are likely to incur due to loss of data if a system fails in extreme environments," said Machhar.

Many engineers and managers believe if their current legacy system is operating without problems, then there is no need to upgrade. This may seem to save money in the short term but will potentially result in rising costs and lost business over a period of time.

Elusive market
Looking at the potential applications IPCs can be ported on to, the market looks very big. But, the need for IPC is felt only by very few who care for their mission critical data. Beside, the high cost is also a deterrent for faster adoption of IPC.

Till the time IPC vendors and integrators show customers the value and benefits of using a IPC over a legacy system, the potential market size, no matter how big, will remain miniscule.

NELSON JOHNY

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