“Graphic solution is a must to enable richer viewing experience”

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DQC Bureau
New Update

Alian Tiquet

Group Director, Marketing, EMEA & India, Nvidia



With an aim to unlock the full potential of the Indian
region, graphics and digital media processor focused Nvidia is now more than
actively engaging itself with the channel community. Alian Tiquet talked about
how important this market is in the growing Indian business environment and how
partners can scale up to offer the company's products.

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What is the
focus of Nvidia's Indian operations? What importance does the country hold for
your global presence?

The outlook for the graphics card market in India is one of the most
attractive in the world. As of now, only one in ten users in the country have
heard of a graphics sub system or a graphics card. With TV and cinema, people
from India are used to high quality video content and they should expect a
similar quality on their computers. Users now play with very rich content like
photos and video, they have access to quality content on the internet; most of
the time they are not aware of or underestimate the need for proper graphic sub
system in their computer.

Nvidia's first
objective in India is to increase awareness that users can get superior quality
graphics and high quality video displays on their computers. We do that through
a marketing campaign called NSIST on Nvidia, which explains to users on how to
get the best out of their photos, videos and 3D content.

On the other hand, there
are sections of the market here in India who are extremely aware of graphics and
the latest technology that is available. Nvidia has introduced its entire
product range in all areas - integrated graphics, discrete graphics etc - to be
able to cater to all sections of the market. We believe that the potential in
India is vast and as we continue to grow in the market, we are continuing to
hire more people to support out marketing activities.

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To ensure adequate
support to consumers to make right decisions during the purchase of graphics
card, we have opened two Nvidia Experience Centers in New Delhi and Mumbai. At
the experience centers consumers can experience our products prior to purchase.
In February 2005, we also opened our design center in Bangalore. The design
center is involved in both hardware and software designing.

What is the
channel strategy of the company as far as its Indian operations are concerned?

Our channel strategy is always in collaboration with our partners. For
graphic cards solutions, we actively engage with add-in card manufacturers (AICs)
and directly with our channel partners. Our partnership with these partners is
based on a performance incentive scheme. For motherboards, we regularly interact
with the channel in partnership with our AICs to ensure a consistent and strong
relationship.

We also introduced the
'NSIST for Nvidia' campaign, an initiative aimed at increasing the awareness
of high quality video to the end users. It demonstrates the benefits of choosing
Nvidia-enabled systems in four categories, each crucial for the mainstream
buyer, whose priorities may be different to that of the hardcore gamer. The
campaign highlights various initiatives that can be used to demonstrate
Nvidia's graphics capabilities.

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We have also rolled out
various rewards schemes for our channel partners and in the next six months we
will continue to gain higher levels of interaction with them.

How is the
company positioning its product range for the entry level PC offering in the
country?

In October 2005, we launched our latest GeForce 6100 series of GPU
Motherboard solutions - combining the new NVIDIA nForce 400 media and
communications processors (MCPs) along with the latest GeForce 6 series graphics
processing units (GPUs). These solutions are specifically targeted at the
integrated graphics markets in India, for the entry level graphics user.

As of now, only one in
ten users in the country has heard of a graphics port or a graphics card. We
believe that the market potential can be fully tapped if consumers in India are
well aware of the need of a graphics solution to enable richer viewing
experience.

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What are the segments
that are being targeted by the company broadly? What drivers would be driving
the profits for the company's operations in the coming months?

Today, Nvidia caters to a wide range of mainstream PC users, gamers and
professionals. Traditionally, these segments range across large, small and
medium enterprises, SOHO and the consumer segment.
In India, these segments currently stand at different levels of maturity.

The size and potential
of India has encouraged us to offer the largest product portfolio of the
industry. With the GeForce 7 series in SLI mode (2 cards in one system) you may
choose the most  powerful graphic
system on the market place, it will meet the requirement of the hardcore gamers
and of the power users like industrial design and architect. Casual users will
have a choice of well balanced price performance products with the GeForce 6
series.

The graphics series with
the GeForce6100 has been designed to meet the expectation of very price
sensitive users and at the same time provide the latest and acceptable graphic
capabilities to provide the best video experience on a computer.

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Keeping in mind the
current market needs and potential of the industry, we have introduced products
that are relevant to this region.  We
plan to grow the entire ecosystem that will benefit from the superiority of our
products. Our products can fit into a variety of segments other than gaming,
including game development, animation, and the all important education segment.
Nvidia has tied up with most of the Motherboard manufacturers across the world.
In India, we are open to partnerships as well.

ZIA ASKARI

(ziaa@cybermedia.co.in)