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Martin Kidgell has been responsible for the Asia Pacific operations of
National Semiconductor as its VP and MD since 1997. Martin has been with
National for 16 years holding various management positions in sales and
marketing. He began his career with National in 1984 working for the European
sales and marketing group. Based in UK, Martin was in town to sign business
alliances with leading companies working with embedded technologies. In an
interview with DQCI, Martin outlines the potential of thin client computing in
the country.
How important is the Indian market in terms of revenue growth and market
share for National?
India at present may not be among the top few country-markets in terms of
revenue in Asia. But we are hoping to develop her potential to be a key market
for us in Asia in the near future. About five percent of National’s revenue is
attributed to the products rolled out of India. We have identified banking,
hospitality, government, defense and educational institutions as prime verticals
for thin client computing. In India, we have partnered with VXL Instruments and
HCL to increase our market share.Â
How do you compare the penetration of thin client technology in India with
other countries?
In India, out of the annual 1.7 million unit PC market, thin client market holds
only three to four percent. However, the thin client market is growing at a
compound rate of 30 percent per year. We are expecting the thin client
market to get matured by the end of this year. Though the current market
for thin clients in India is not huge, it will still remain our focus area.
What has been the idea behind thin client computing?
The idea behind thin client computing is centralized computing power,
storage, applications and data on servers. It also provides users with an
inexpensive "client" device that is easy to install with all
maintenance and updates handled from the server. The client connects to the
server through the network to process applications, access files, print and
perform services available to ordinary computers.
This is also reflected in the industry case studies, which shows that thin
clients require fewer staff to manage more machines, significantly reducing the
total cost of ownership (TCO) of technology. As in the Datapro 1998 and 1999
thin client survey, the primary benefits of thin client deployment is a
reduction in support staff costs by at least 80 percent.
What according to you is the future of computing in
educational institutions?
Most schools today regard inte-grating technology into the learning process a
critical priority. Computers and communication technologies have transformed
educational institutions by connecting students to the best learning resources
of the world.
The introduction of networks and computers transformed the
business office in ways that no one predicted. While computers have been used in
educational business offices and some classrooms, they have not yet been fully
integrated into the learning process.
The complexity of the machines, the capital investment needed
for widespread access and the lack of educational resources have prevented their
potential from being realized. The convergence of community, business and
government support for technology is producing a sea of change in education. The
thin client model offers educational organizations a realistic and
cost-effective way to manage technology and make it available to teachers and
students.
Are you in talks with companies to manufacture Gigabyte
Ethernet cards in India?
We are talking with couple of top companies in the industry who are
interested in setting up manufacturing base for Gigabyte Ethernet cards in the
country. This initiative will bring the 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet card
against the traditional 10/100 Mbps solution.
This will help increase the performance of network computing
at affordable cost. We believe that India has a large consumption base and
National sees a big market emerging out in the infrastructure space.
We feel that the infrastructure market is going to take off
by early next year. We will have our strategies and engagements in place
before that. On the other hand, we are also talking with several companies who
operate in the embedded technology space to partner with National Semiconductor
to manufacture thin clients in India.
What kind of strategies is National planning to roll out
to meet the slowdown in semiconductor industry?
Just over a year ago, semiconductor industry seemed to be flying high, with
no end in sight. Then came what may have termed as the "deepest,
sharpest and quickest" ever hit to the industry. But the good news is
that National is well positioned for the upturn with a strong balance sheet,
ample manufacturing capacities and the right products and customers. We
also have the right mix of products and market partners for the coming growth
cycle.
What are National’s strength when it comes to its
technologies and products?
National has a rich portfolio of intellectual property along with systems
expertise to leverage its analog technologies to develop highly integrated
products for a broad range of applications. Our chips power mobile and cordless
phones, Internet access devices, wired and wireless local area networks, TV
set-top boxes and DVD players, advanced displays and imaging applications,
desktop, portable and thin-client computers, and a host of other types of
electronic devices that allow people to access information.
National is leading the way in the development of information
appliances–the just emerging category of electronic products–that access the
Internet without a computer.
And our strong base of analog and mixed analog and digital
technologies enables us provide optimum system solutions. This is done by
evolving and integrating its basic building block circuits into standard
chipsets tailored for specific applications to highly integrated full system
solutions. Most of our products are no bigger than a thumbnail, yet contain a
cityscape of circuit lines hundreds of times finer than a human hair.
Sunila Paul in Bangalore