'Dynalog merely has a representation, while we are physically present here'

You can take a man out of marketing, but you cannot take marketing out of a man. This holds true in the case of PK Jain. A science graduate from the Delhi University, Jain has spent over 10 years as VP, Direct Sales with Zenith Computers in his two-decade long career. When D-Link and Taiwan-based Lanner Inc decided to join forces and set up an office in India, they wanted to choose someone who could build the business and popularize the concept of industrial PCs. And this is where Jain stepped in. Though Lanner Electronics India Pvt Ltd has been around for only six months, Jain tells CI about the game plan he has chalked out to promote industrial PCs. 

Who owns Lanner Electronics India Pvt Ltd? 

Lanner Electronics India is a joint venture between D-Link and Taiwan-based Lanner. This tie-up was formalized six months ago. 

What products do you sell?

Besides the Lanner range of industrial PCs, we manufacture embedded PCs as well as PCs for kiosks. These are machines that can be used in minimal spaces. We also have rack-mounted servers, KVM drawers for saving space and a high-performance 1U Guardian firewall hardware and compatible software.

Do you import all the PCs from Taiwan or are they assembled locally?

D-Link has a manufacturing facility in Goa and we are currently using a section of this facility for our own assembling purposes. Currently we are importing all the components for an industrial PC from our parent company, Lanner in Taiwan. The integration is done at Goa. Probably as the volumes grow, we will have an independent manufacturing unit in the country.

This could take another year.

Are your industrial PCs mass-produced or they manufactured as per orders?

Firstly, mass production is possible only if the market is large, which is not the case with industrial PCs. Secondly, different industries may need different types of PCs. For example, a steel company might need to do some data capturing near their furnaces. In such a case, they would require PCs that can withstand very high temperature. Then again, a company like Pidilite might need PCs that will remain unaffected by the chemicals used in their products. So the specifications for industrial PCs change from company to company. Thus, mass-production is not possible for such PCs. 

However, we also manufacture embedded PCs that are used in places where space is a constraint, like in an aircraft or in a public access kiosk. Since these are more or less standard in nature, we can mass produce them.

How big is the market for industrial PCs in India? And who are your competitors in this segment?

The market for industrial PCs in India is currently about Rs 60 crore. But as new applications are developed, the market too is developing. We do not have many competitors in the country, except for

Dynalog. 

Industrial PCs are rugged PCs, which are used in places where the normal PCs cannot withstand the environment. The environmental factors could be either temperature, vibration, spillage etc. For example, the Bhabha Atomic Research Center needs PCs that can withstand the vibrations emitted when scientists are conducting nuclear experiments. These are the kind of PCs that we supply. 

Can you describe your channel network?

In the industrial PC market, the concept of a national distributor will really not work. This is because the market is limited. We have business partners in each region, with multiple partners in certain areas like

Mumbai.

But for our other products, the market is much larger. Here our channel gives us a wider reach. At the moment, we have 11 channel partners. Building and nurturing a channel takes time, and we will add only 10 more partners to our network within next six months.

Do you have separate channel partners for your industrial PCs and other products?

No, we do not have an earmarked channel network exclusively for any single product. A channel partner in Rajasthan can cater to the needs of the entire region, irrespective of the product. Besides, he also has to do a lot of handholding for his customers.

What revenue target you have set for yourself during first year of operation in the country?

We have set ourselves a modest target of Rs 10 crore. The reason we have kept a low figure is because the first two months went by in setting up our offices. We are doing a lot of advertising and undertaking publicity campaigns to establish our brand in the market. We started getting orders from October onwards, and we hope to achieve this target easily.

How do you plan to build your presence in India?

Though we are new in the country, Lanner is accepted worldwide as a leader in the industrial PC segment. Earlier there was only one company in the country, Dynalog, which provided industrial PCs. This meant that customers did not have any choice. With our arrival in the country, customers can now choose and pick the specifications and configurations of the PC they require. This availability of options will help us to get a footing in the local market. 

I don't think there will be any difficulty in finding the right customers, if only you know who they are. In our particular business segment, customers are fairly limited. So we can reach these clients easily and create a niche for ourselves.

We also have our channel network in place and we want to expand it to cover all the industrial belts of the country. We can also take help from D-Link's channel network. Besides our competitor, Dynalog, merely has a representation, while we are physically present here, ready and willing to cater to our customers' needs. This will work to our advantage. 

The last quarter was economically slow for the IT industry. What is your experience?

There has not been any visible impact due to the overall business slowdown. This is because our clientele would not be affected by the slowdown either. For example, the defense sector, which is one of our biggest buyers, will continue to invest in industrial PCs, market slump notwithstanding. 

Similarly the Internet services companies like ISPs, too were not affected much by this phenomena. Our buyers are not the mainstream corporates, but the network integrators who integrate their entire network. These integration projects are undertaken for a longer period of time and are unaffected by the industry's slow growth in a particular year.

Vinita Suvarna-Bhatia in Mumbai