Bangalore
May 25th, 2007

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) would increase focus on the SMB sector in India this fiscal along with its investment into the channel here. According to Rahul Guha, director, channel development, Hitachi Data Systems, "We have aggressive goals to meet in the SMB space and as a channel driven company, this makes channels extremely significant for us. To reach out to our customers more effectively we are trying to structure and execute the overall 'India Partner Plan'. As part of the plan partners will be trained on how to take a solution selling approach and along with the required education, training and certification, we would provide them with lead generation and reinvestment plans so that they are able to scale up in their business. While targeting our partners, the program would also help us tap into potential new sign-ups."

The focus for HDS this year would be to consolidate its position in both the metros and tier two cities said Guha while adding, "Each city would have certain number of partners based on his strength of market penetration, brand equity and also his ability to take forward our solutions to customer. Many new sign-ups have happened and we hope to see more of those in the coming months."

Given that SMB would be a key focus area for HDS, plans are on to bring new volume products for the market segment, along with high-end solutions for the enterprise, said Guha. "Our focus would be both on verticals as well as the market segments. On the enterprise end we would look at the verticals of telecom, BFSI and manufacturing. Mid-market and SMB focus would be on manufacturing and BFSI," he added.

Products and solutions apart, Guha said that HDS would go along with its partners to provide consulting services to customers in terms of infrastructure maintenance and would look at managed services at a later date. "Services apart we believe that our channel partners have a great opportunity to grow in terms of helping enterprises to consolidate their IT infrastructure. At the mid-market and SMB level, the channel can benefit from the opportunities that lie in the data security space. Given our strong channel focus this year, we would enable partners to maximize on all of these opportunities," he added.

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