Gigabyte to introduce X38 mobos in September

Mumbai

July 5th, 2007

Gigabyte India will introduce its GA-X38T-DQ6 and GA-X38-DQ6 motherboards to
its channel in September, 2007. A sneak preview of these two products was given
at the recently held Computex at Taiwan.

Gigabyte's new Intel Bearlike chipset for the desktop will be its prime focus
this quarter. These include P35, G35, G33, G31 and X38. "We have improved
the performance on our motherboards because it simply makes more business sense.
Better products mean lower RMAs, which save us money in post-sales
support," said Tim Handley, Deputy Marketing Manager, Gigabyte United.

Usually the hottest area on a motherboard is the area surrounding the CPU.
Due to high heat, the performance of the system is affected and it also makes
the PCB brittle enough to break. Gigabyte has devised a way to attack this heat
to make the mobo cooler by almost 30 degree Celsius.

"Also, we have noticed that a lot of users in countries like India do
not have an air conditioner and work in dusty environments which are why these
cooler motherboards will reduce heat-related problems," Handley elucidated.

Another key feature is the fanless motherboards that the company has designed
with no moving parts. This was incorporated because Gigabyte had learnt that any
equipment with a fan has around 200 hours of lifespan, especially with moving
components. Therefore it simply did away with the fan.

Gigabyte expects a good uptake of its mobos and VGA cards in the OND quarter
of 2007. This optimism is largely banked on the growing adoption of Microsoft
Vista. Microsoft had announced the OEM version of Vista nine months ago and the
end user version has been out for seven months. "This has given Microsoft
ample time to resolve any issues arising with the widespread usage of Vista. Our
motherboards and VGA cards have been Vista-ready for a very long time now. So
now with the adoption of Vista, we expect a good uptake of our products as
well," explained Handley.

To help the Indian channel to take this expected success story ahead,
Gigabyte would be coming out with reward programs for the best performing
partners. This could include prizes that range from a mobile to a mobike.
"We have been conducting this for several quarters now. But we will
intensify our program this quarter," added Handley.

Gigabyte is also working out the logistics of organizing its annual channel
meet at Goa later this year. It will invite 200 partners and bring down its
high-level executives to speak to them at this two-day event. The company will
also share its product roadmap at this event.

"We have also launched some new products at Computex recently and we
will explain its technical nuances to the gathered channel in interactive
sessions," stated Handley.

The company is also looking at ironing out issues related to its post-sales
support. It has made it a point to keep buffer stocks at its 16 RMA centers to
bring down its turnaround time, which is currently three to 10 days. "Also,
we have a policy that if we are unable to repair a damaged motherboard within a
stipulated time, we offer customers a higher-end motherboard model
instead," Handley added.