Majority of the leading lights of the industry that we have featured in the
New Year Special pages of this issue are betting on storage, security and
wireless. They say business will be on the upswing in these areas during 2003
and beyond.
They may very well be right because business in back-up storage solutions had
already seen a steady rise after 9/11 and growth continues to happen in this
area. Internet data centers, growth in banking and insurance sectors and demand
for 24x7 support systems have ensured that storage remains in demand.
Network storage is expected to further grow during 2003 because of the
growing complexity of the data. SAN technology has taken a lead in the network
storage arena over other technologies. Last financial year’s data shows that
that the market share of this particular technology has increased by 10 percent
compared to NAS and DAS.
Security is another area where partners have already seen bigger business
during 2002 which is expected to continue during 2003 as well. For instance,
business of one of the leading vendors of security software grew 30 percent
compared to the same quarter last year and represented 44 percent of the total
revenue. Performance in the enterprise security business saw 61 percent growth
in firewall/VPN sales and 36 percent growth in anti-virus sales compared to the
same quarter last year.
The same vendor’s security services revenue grew 102 percent compared to
the same quarter last year, supported by 127 percent growth in managed security
services. The consumer anti-virus business grew 68 percent and represented 38
percent of total revenue, showing a growth of 76 percent compared to the same
quarter last year.
These are solid figures of growth and that too of a single company. Similar
growth stories in security business are common for almost all the software
players who hope to see even bigger growth in 2003 and beyond.
Coming to the wireless segment, the de-licensing of the 2.4 GHz frequency for
indoor use by the Government has come as a major boost to the industry which now
awaits the de-licensing of the frequency for wide area networks (WAN).
When de-licensing of the frequency for wireless WANs takes place, industry
will have to be ready with security solutions because this is one area where the
growth can take a major hit. Though leaders speak with much optimism about brisk
business in wireless products during 2003 and beyond, unless security measures
such as third-party authentication and encryption are tackled on an urgent
basis, the growth may not reach the expected levels.
So, if you are tired of box-pushing, it is time that you got into the areas
of storage, security and wireless and offer solutions to customers around these
technologies. Margins are guaranteed here if you are willing to invest on the
development of the skill-sets of your people.