INTEL CHANNEL SUMMIT 2002: Offers Solutions Blueprint

On behalf of God, I welcome all of you to God’s own country!" greeted

Avtar Saini, Director - South Asia, Intel, the channel members at the inaugural

session of Intel Channel Summit 2002 held recently in Kochi. Around 150 select

channel members were specially flown in from all parts of the country to

participate in Intel’s meet titled "Shaping tomorrow. Leading

Today!"

Intel kept its two-day date with channel members interesting, by not just

discussing business, but organizing a variety of formal and informal programs.

VENDOR ALLIANCE PROGRAMS



In the inaugural address, Intel promised partners that it will continue to

strengthen its relationships and build on the programs launched last year.

Additionally, this year Intel hopes to add new initiatives around the government

and education vertical solutions, launch more vendor alliance programs and

create solutions blueprint for partners.

"As long as the channel remains efficient with time-to-market,

build-to-order solutions for their customers, it will remain recession-proof and

will continue to grow and become a larger part of Intel´s business," said

Avtar.

Avtar Saini, Director - South Asia, introducing Sophia Chew, Director, Reseller Channel Operation, Asia Pacific with Amar Babu, GM - Channels, in the background

According to the company its pricing strategy has been the same for the past

25 years and will remain so in 2002. "Intel is committed to giving its

partners advance information on price roadmaps," said Amar Babu, GM -

Channels, South Asia.

BREAKTHROUGH YEAR



Intel officials said that 2001 was a breakthrough year for its channel

partners, who achie-ved record sales in all areas

of Intel´s business, even though, overall, 2001 was a bad year for IT industry

on the whole.

"Intel saw strong growth in emerging markets such as Latin America,

Eastern Europe and Asia, which contributed to a rise in performance," said

Sophia Chew, Director, Reseller Channel Operation, Asia Pacific.

Sales through the channel now account for more than a third of total Intel

processor sales, and products such as Intel-branded desktop boards, server

boards and networking equipment are also available through the channel.

"The channel proved to be strongest in segments like education, government

and SMBs," added Sophia.

Intel also briefed channel partners about a shift in the branding program

that is designed to better the role of systems integrators and improve vendor

alliances that compliment the Intel architecture. The event was scheduled with

workshops on topics of interest for channel partners.

NEW INITIATIVES



Jayant Murthy, GM-Marketing, Intel Asia, informed partners that Intel will
continue to focus on computing, networking and communication as the three key

technology areas. "These will include Internet as its main growth

driver," he added.

He said that the PC continues to become more valuable to end-users and Intel

expects volumes to continue to grow here in India. "Full-time audio, video

and voice recognition are becoming commonplace, e-businesses are seeking faster

encryption and stronger security. The requirement for the processing power to

fulfill these demands is clearly a reality for the years ahead," he said.

Jayant Murthy, GM- Marketing, Asia, handing over awards to partners for outstanding performance

He also informed that the company will be making an evaluation of how to

encourage the development of more notebooks assembled by the systems integration

channel. Intel will build closer relationships with third-party component

vendors that will be key to the development of more interchangeable notebook

designs.

One of the key initiatives undertaken by Intel India last year has been the

expansion of its market development activities into B and C-class cities. The

program currently covers 50 cities and is expected to reach 100 cities by the

end of 2002.

Some India-specific initiatives that Intel plans to continue are: Digital PC

parties (30 events held so far), weekend promotions (109 events in eight cities

already held), summer promotions (130 cities covered) and tie-up with financial

institutions.

Other programs launched for channel members are: Retail mall program, iWay

cybercafe program, out-bound channel sales program, direct mailer for

pre-approved loans and lead management system.

According to Jayant, another area where Intel premier providers can expect

serious investment this year is mobile hardware. "Intel is working with a

limited number of partners to increase the volume of mobile chips it sells

through the channel," he said.

CHANNELS HONORED



Intel felicitated 12 channel partners from different parts of the country

for outstanding performance. The following channel partners were given

recognition under various categories for their outstanding performance:

Ghaziabad-based Raghav Computers was awarded for promoting Intel branded desktop

board-based solutions. Under the Intel premier provider marketing initiative,

Mumbai-based Xpress Computers and Chennai-based SBA Computer Services received

the awards.

Avtar gets closer to partners

New Delhi-based Comnet Vision India and Chennai-based CCS Infotech Ltd got

the awards for Intel Pentium-4 processor sell-up. Calcutta-based Diamond

Infotech and Mumbai-based GES Technologies Ltd were given the recognition for

outstanding performance in promoting Intel server board-based solutions.

Bangalore-based Connoisseur Electronics and Delhi-based MB Solutions got the

awards for promoting Intel mobile processor-based solutions. Mumbai-based SES

Computers & Technologies got recognition for its efforts in promoting Intel

boxed products in the emerging markets.

Chennai-based Nebula Technologies got the award for its efforts to promote

Intel boxed products to maximum number of GIDs. Redington India was awarded the

Intel India volume leader for its impressive combined sale value of Intel boxed

products.

NOT JUST BUSINESS



The event was not all about serious sessions and business. The first day’s

evening was marked with a touch of traditional musical and dance fusion

programs. The second day’s dinner was preceded with a performance from

professional dancers and pop star Mika Singh, which kept the crowd entertained

till late in the night.Participants were also taken on a sightseeing trip to the

backwaters of Kochi. Intel made every effort to make the event unforgettable for

its partners.

NELSON JOHNY in Kochi