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to provide Linux a broader spectrum in the country where Microsoft has already
created a dominant eco system. Here is what Wassan has to say on the strategic
equilibrium that he is working on for government and enterprises. He feels it is
vital for opening up an opportunity for Linux to compete and develop a
stronghold on the market
Turbolinux is not very well known in India. Comment.
Turbolinux is a Japanese company founded in 1995 and is a provider of open
source and Linux in Asia. Headquartered in Tokyo, it has its branch offices in
China and India. Turbolinux India is a joint venture between Turbolinux Inc and
IAP Company, an Indo-Japanese software development and services company. The
joint venture aims to create Linux-based solutions for the global market.
How do you plan to make a strong foothold in the Indian market?
In India we already have established our sales center in seven metros
including New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and
Ahmedabad. Turbolinux is today a leading Linux player in Japan and China. With
the support from the Indian government, we are making efforts to grab a strong
market position here.
We have established technical alliance with Intel, AMD, IBM, HP, BEA,
Macromedia and even Microsoft to develop advanced products. We are aiming to
create a global support center, launch a development center for products and
solution that benefit the world market place.
We are looking at leveraging the Linux opportunity in India, as the country
holds a lot of potential for software development with a high level of
understanding and acceptance of open source software technologies. We are
offering operating systems, middleware, applications and hardware in the
country.
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Deepak Wassan
President, Turbolinux India |
Do you believe that Indian users are ready to switch over to Linux on a
mass scale? Is Turbolinux ready to match the eco system that Microsoft has
created?
In India, the adoption of Linux is slow but in the years to come, its usage
is projected to grow. For creating the kind of environment we are seeking, the
government is giving us enough support. We are surely seeing us launching
ourselves on a broader platform.
Majority of the schools in Kerala, for instance, have already switched over
to Linux and this has been possible only with the help of government support.
Moreover, 18 of 28 Indian states use Linux or have pilot projects for to be used
in government departments and education sector.
Infact, Linux is continuously improving its position. This can be proved by
an IDC report which says that in June 2006 Microsoft had 68 percent of the
marketshare and Linux had 21 percent whereas in 2005, Microsoft had 70 percent
and Linux had 11 percent.
According to another study by IDC, the Indian Linux market will grow by 21
percent annually to $19.9 million by 2010. In India, we have our clients in the
enterprise area and I believe that in the next couple of years, Linux market
will grow considerably in all the sectors.
The reason why customers should switch over to Linux is that it is more
stable, it is crash resistant, and its compatibility and interoperability is as
high as Microsoft. It makes computing simpler and that to in a cost-effective
manner.
What is your channel structure?
We have developed a partnership with eSys India who already has its own
base of large number of channel partners. Our products and software are supplied
to the end-customers through the retail partners of eSys. We are in a dialogue
to develop alliances with more and more distributors so that our reach to the
customers is increased. Besides, we have tie-up with Cafégadgets that looks
after the online sale of Turbolinux products.
Are you in direct touch with the eSys channel partners?
Yes, we are in constant touch with them. We are going places and meeting
partners there for giving them demonstrations and trainings on our products.
This helps our partners in understanding the software and also developing a good
relationship with them. We are also offering various schemes to them in
conjunction with our distributor.
What was your partners' experience in convincing customers to go for
Linux? What kind of problems do they encounter when making customer calls?
Partners do face some problem in convincing customers for installing Linux
software. The reason that Linux has not picked up well is due to various issues
that are involved in installing it into their PC.
Actually people are satisfied with working on Windows and even if they have
heard of Linux, they do not want to make any extra effort to install it on their
system.
How are you strategizing resolving the doubts that end-users have for
Linux?
We are training our partners about the right and effective way of installing
the product. Our first move is to let our customers get the feel of the
software. We are giving them open offers to install the software into their
system.
What is your target for this financial year in terms of Linux
installation? Which verticals are you focusing on?
We are planning to touch roughly 10 crore installations by March 2008. We
are targeting enterprise segment like banking, telecom and finance companies. We
are also implementing Linux in large government projects across the country.
Why is the government taking so much interest in Linux?
Linux is cheaper than Microsoft, which is a big reason in itself. Fund
constraint has always been an issue with our government and hence availability
of software at lower price drives their interest.
The government's support plays an active role in gaining popularity.
Hopefully, in another three years, we will be holding a good command in the
country.
Don't you think that some sort of training should be given to the end
customers also?
We are planning to conduct training programs for our end customers also. In
the next financial year, we will be having our own training center for which we
have started working with various models.
Amrita Tesjavi
amritat@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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