Kailasanathan founded Microsense
in 1995 along with Rajiv Talwar after spending 26 years in various management
positions. He was a senior manager at ETTCC dealing with imports and exports of
professional electronic components and systems. Today, as a co-founder and CEO,
Kailasanathan is responsible for the development and deployment of numerous
nation-wide connectivity solutions. Kailasanathan is a B Tech from IIT Madras
and has an MBA from IIM Calcutta. In a tete-a-tete with DQCI he discusses the
company’s plans.
What are the various business
activities that Microsense is involved in?
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Microsense provides corporate
solutions in the field of WAN and this has been our main focus area for the past
13 years. We have expertise and experience in WAN and Internet related
technologies and have implemented systems for several large private and public
corporates, educational and R&D institutions. We are committed to enhancing
corporate productivity by continuously offering state-of-the art solutions to
help them grow as their needs grow.
The WAN marketplace, catalyzed
by the Internet is poised for tremendous growth. It is our objective to be at
the forefront of related technologies. Providing first rate products and
services for reliable long-term solutions for our clients is our top priority.
Microsense will constantly endeavor to reach higher levels of technical and
operating efficiencies, thus improving our responsiveness to client's needs and
our quality of services.
Who are your alliance
partners?
We have alliances with several
industry majors like Microsoft and Cisco, as well as other important networking
players in the world.
We also have a long-standing
association with VSNL, right from the time Internet was launched in India.
What business model do you
follow for Microsense?
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We have six offices in Chennai,
Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Calcutta and we have a three-pronged
business model namely corporate and end-user segment, ISP segment and the
systems integrator segment.
We work very closely with systems integrators and over a period of time, are
planning to introduce a two-layered architecture.
What plans do you have for
your channel partners in the current fiscal?
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Our existing channel partners
are being kept updated with our products and solutions constantly. As a part of
our marketing plans we are planning to introduce an end-user campaign which will
educate them about our products and services and create a pull factor. This in
turn will help our channel partners to get repeat orders, which will mean
healthy sales margins.
What are the different
products and services that Microsense offers?
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Microsense delivers high-quality
products matched with first-rate support. We are focussed on the Internet,
offering a comprehensive range of premium Internet related products and services
like Internet connections through dial-up, ISDN, leased lines and VSAT
connectivity.
We have been in the datacom
business for over a decade and support a range of world class modems. We have an
installed base of over 40,000 modems. We also offer powerful remote access
servers with up to 60 analog/ISDN callers with multiple WAN ports with NMS
options.
We provide solutions that are
affordable, flexible and go beyond basic connectivity. Whether it is
internetworking between LANs within an office or at different locations, we
provide all the components for networked routers, Internet and Intranet access.
We offer a range of excellent yet cost effective routers for leased line, ISDN
and VSAT networking.
Is it not true that
Microsense is also into distribution?
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Yes, Microsense is also an
authorized country distributor for Wingate proxy servers. This enables users to
use one Internet account and a modem amongst several users and get charged for a
single account. This proxy server comes with features such as an in-built
firewall, audit and authenticate user access etc. Wingate is the winner of
numerous prestigious awards.
We are also a distributor of
Watch Guard -- a firewall product -- which is targeted at the SME and corporate
segments.
We are also business partners of Sitara Networks, who have quality and
service box for positive communications.
We have another division that
targets the corporates and the end user segment, where we do more turnkey jobs.
But ultimately, our main focus is service and not supplying boxes.
Are you planning to roll out
any new products?
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We have already launched a
number of new products in the recent past and will continue to do so. We have a
tie-up with Patton Electronics and have recently launched their entire series of
Patton base-band modems and interface converters. We have also introduced
optical networking products and we are looking forward to launch a lot more
products focused on optical networking and wireless technology.
The networking business today
is seeing the entrance of many new players. How do you view this phenomenon? Do
you think that this has narrowed the market share of the existing players in
this business?
There is a misconception that
LAN players will eat into the WAN space if they venture into this segment. This
is not true. In fact this will only increase the market size on the whole.
Solution providers are now entering the WAN space. This will certainly give rise
to competition and only the channels with value-added services would survive in
this business.
We also observe that companies
who were into WAN business are still doing the same, but they have scaled up
their products in terms of technology. Some of the networking products have
metamorphosed whereas modem, which was initially considered to be a basic tool
for data communication and systems integration solutions, has today become a
commodity.
What are your short and long
term plans?
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Our short-term plan is to have a
fast growth in terms of turnover. But in the long run we would like to become a
major player in the provision of networking solutions. It is our aim to become
one of the top ten companies in India.
Sunila Paul in Chennai