“If the government evens the playing field for importers, I can see Corsair amongst the top four brands in terms of volume by 2008”

As the Director for APAC region, Scott Thirlwell is responsible for the build
up of Corsair brand name and sales in the 16 countries falling under APAC. For
the Indian market, Thirlwell has lined up many surprises for the channels in the
coming months. In an exclusive interview to DQ Channels, Thirlwell talks
about Corsair's ambition to become number four in the next one year

It has been heard that your recent trip was a fact-finding mission to
gauge the market conditions in India. What is your assessment and have you
formulated the sales strategies for 2007?

The Indian market is maturing rapidly and we can see a growing educated segment
that understands the importance of purchasing quality branded components backed
by a high level of after-service.

Corsair has entered India at a time when your competitors have already
established a strong presence here. How do you plan to break into this?

There is always room in a market for world-class product/brands. Corsair is also
introducing new memory products, service policies and sales channel schemes
never seen before in the Indian memory market. Most important is the
introduction of the Corsair 10-Year No-Questions-Asked 1-1 Swap RMA policy.

Scott Thirlwell Director-APAC, Corsair Memory Inc

What will differentiate Corsair from other leading brands present here?

Apart from our products I think our service policies will have the biggest
impact on the market. In terms of products, Corsair will introduce an ultra
luxury DDR2 memory family called XMS. This family memory is aimed at PC
enthusiasts and gamers and also this has helped us to build our reputation
worldwide. Corsair spends millions of dollars annually on R&D, developing
new higher performance XMS parts. Our current fastest XMS memory runs at over
1,250MHz speed. Our volume products will be our Value Select Family of DDR2
memory aimed at the premium mainstream market.

You must be aware that memory business in India is ruled largely by the
gray market. What will be your approach to fight such competition?

Corsair is looking at the Indian market on the long term basis. So the company
is committed to do business the correct way from day one. We want to build trust
and confidence in the channel so eventually when the government creates an even
playing field for importers, Corsair and our partners will be in a very strong
position to reap the biggest rewards.

Corsair currently has only one distributor (Tirupati). Is this enough for
covering a huge country like India?

As I mentioned earlier, Corsair is heavily focused on after-sales and warranty
support. We have a world-class brand that we are committed to protect. The
advantage of having a strong partner like Tirupati is that it allows us to grow
the Corsair brand in a very controlled manner: focusing heavily on an organized
channel pricing structure and product support. Our goal is for everyone in the
channel to make money by selling Corsair products. It's not the fastest way in
to grow the sales volume but in the long term it makes sense.

You had recently announced a 10-year RMA policy, which in itself is a
unique one. How do you plan to sustain this over a period of time, or is its
just a marketing gimmick?

Corsair has one standard RMA policy that we implement around the world. So our
10-Year No-Questions-Asked 1-1 Swap RMA policy is certainly no gimmick, it is
our standard worldwide policy.

How do you keep up with such long-term RMA policy? I am sure there would
be an additional cost associated with it? Won't this make your products
expensive?

If you make a great quality product then RMA returns are not going to be an
issue. Corsair's RMA rate is under one percent worldwide. We have the lowest
RMA return rate of any DRAM company on the world. So yes, consumers will pay a
little more upfront for a Corsair product but the peace of mind is priceless.
The peace of mind you get knowing that Corsair has done compatibility testing
with major motherboard brands, approved the best RAM chips and then done 100
percent testing on those chips before you purchased that memory module.

What is your assessment on the price sensitive Indian market? Will price
be a driving factor for your product in this market? Where are your products
placed in terms of pricing?

Corsair's volume Value Select Family of memory is targeted at what we call 'Premium
Mainstream'. That means discerning customers who are willing to pay a small
price premium for DDR2 memory that has been comprehensively tested for
performance and compatibility and comes with an unmatched warranty service. We
are not interested in entering the cut-throat low quality, low margin market
segment.

Which are the key end-user segments that Corsair would focus on for
promoting Corsair products?

The premium mainstream market segment for our value select line of DDR2 products
and the high-end PC enthusiasts for our XMS family of memory and power supplies.

Now that Corsair has shown serious interest in the Indian market, what
kind of marketshare are you expecting here?

We aren't prepared to show all our cards yet. But if the government evens the
playing field for importers this year, I can see Corsair amongst the top four
brands in terms of volume by 2008. You will see the fly-by-night no-name brands
quickly disappearing in an open level market.

Do you have any plans to open office or even consider manufacturing
Corsair products in India?

Yes, a local office is definitely in our plans. A local office is critical to
maintain the high-level of channel participation and service that our customers
have come to expect of Corsair. We are just waiting for our sales volumes to
reach a critical mass before we make the move.

Apart from memory, which other products does Corsair deal in?

Corsair made world-class reputation on high performance XMS memory but we are
also very well known for our value select desktop and laptop memory as well as
server memory. We also have a complementary high-end product range that includes
a 620-watt modular cable power supply (PSU) that works almost silently and
high-end rugged and waterproof USB flash series.

-NELSON JOHNY