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Vikas Pinjarkar is gung-ho about the India market and the SMB
opportunities here. He believes that by leveraging the channel, the company can
get a firm foothold in
Microsemi is currently focusing heavily on India. Highlight the key points
of this strategy.
Microsemi, as a part of its APAC expansion has chosen to concentrate on India
for marketing and selling its products. The strategy is to work with the leading
distributors and their system integrators (SIs) in the country who can take the
products to all parts of the country. We have signed up with Redington and
Anixter as our distribution partners.
What is your channel strategy for your PowerDsine suite of Power over
Ethernet (PoE) midspan solutions?
Microsemi's PowerDsine range of PoE midspans are getting popular among the
networking and security system integrators, as it allows them to offer
cost-effective PoE solutions to their end-users. The users need to discard their
existing LAN infrastructure in order to rollout IP phones, wireless access
points, IP-based video surveillance products, WiMax products etc, thus it is a
win-win situation. Microsemi operates worldwide through its distributors, and
have adopted the same model in India by engaging with Redington and Anixter.
What is your channel strategy in India?
In the networking arena, we are targeting the top 150 SIs in the country and
are mapping their requirements through Redington. We are planning a half day
training program for all these SIs, so that they get an opportunity to feel the
products and know the latest updates on the PoE technology and its USP. Anixter
is distributing our PoE midspans in APAC, and they have dedicated resources to
sell our products.
What new initiatives and products can we expect from Microsemi for the
India market in the near future?
Microsemi has the strongest product portfolio as far as PoE midspans are
concerned. It consists of a complete product line including managed and
non-managed products. In the new products category, we are in the process of
launching an entire range of products targeting mid and high power terminals,
which not only comply with the present IEEE standards, but also exceed them.
These products would help in the installation of products like PTZ cameras, thin
clients, WiMax equipments, etc, for which the India market is gearing up so
fast.
Highlight the Indian market scene in power space? How can the channel and
vendor community benefit from it?
All Microsemi products are supported by the UPS, so there is no additional
cost involved in this. In case of power failure, the midspans come handy. The
equipments that are connected through PoE midspans would be operational in case
of power failure, which would not have been the case if there were regular power
adapters in use. This is the biggest advantage. Second advantage is that the IT
managers can decide the priorities on the ports, so that the ports which are
more critical can work for a longer time and can take the maximum advantage of
UPS battery, while non critical ports can be switched off when the battery level
goes down.
Ports can be switched off automatically when not required. The equipments
that are connected to those ports turn off automatically, which saves power and
enhances security.
Which are your key focus verticals in India?
Microsemi would be focusing on SMB projects as it offers a huge potential in
both short and long term. As India would be emerging as a favorite destination
to rollout IP phones, taking into consideration the deregulations that are
likely to happen, this technology would become more affordable for the small and
medium sized companies. Microsemi PowerDsine range of products would be a smart
choice for these customers to upgrade their networks to PoE without changing
their existing non PoE LAN infrastructure. Also, as the security has become a
buzzword, the industry is moving more towards IP-based installations, and hence
by using a smart combinations of midspans and PoE splitters, SI would be able to
offer cost-effective solutions to the customers, where the need of laying down
electrical cables would be completely avoided.
Subbalakshmi BM
subbalakshmibm@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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