In the last ten years, Netgear has devoted its energies to developing, producing and marketing high-value networking and inter-networking products. In the process, the networking company has been able to create a stronger brand proposition. 

There has been a considerable transformation in Netgear’s strategy worldwide and in India. Netgear has come a long way in making its presence felt in India. 

When Mr. Patrick Lo, Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, NETGEAR INC, visited India during this year, he spoke in glowing terms of India, “India is a strategic market for us. We understand that the Indian SMB sector is growing aggressively. From the perspective of Netgear, our focus will be to bring new innovative products at a great value. Secondly, we will also focus on strengthening our market reach. We are investing in expanding our feet in the street so that we remain closer to the customers." 

"India is also a high-growth market vis-à-vis the rest of APAC market. Our clientele has grown manifold. It gives us immense pleasure that the third party (IDC DQ Channels) has rated us as the second-largest networking company in the Indian SMB market. The heartening thing is that the difference between the number one and two is marginal. This gives us an impetus to be aggressive in the Indian market,” says Mr. Lo.

Mr. Atul Jain, Country Manager, NETGEAR Technologies, India & SAARC, said, “This is the second visit of our founder Chairman, Mr. Patrick Lo, to India which clearly shows his interest and the company’s focus and commitment to this country. At the micro level, our focus is to go deep into the smaller places and demonstrate our capabilities. We believe apart from metros, there is a huge market in the B- and C-class cities, which are growing more than the metros. We are investing in channel training programmes, customers’ awareness programmes, road shows, etc. to grasp these markets.” 

“As Patrick says, we will have a much accelerated growth this year because our plans are executed at the right time and in the right direction. This year, we have strengthened our distribution network by taking Ingram Micro on board. However, we have been working with Rashi Peripherals and Cyberstar Infocom Ltd. for a long time. Complementing each other, these three companies will contribute to the growth of Netgear fabulously,” he added. 

Mr. Kerman Rana, Managing Director, Central Asia Pacific, says, “Netgear India is growing faster in this region because of our innovative products and solutions. Moving along the line of our commitment to India, we will be bringing out the new families of next-generation Wireless-N networking solutions, ReadyNAS advanced network-attached storage solutions, built-for-business ProSafe switches, security and wireless solutions, wired and wireless network bridges and extenders, and carrier-grade broadband gateway solutions to India. These are the solutions we had exhibited at CeBIT 2008 and earned high adulation.” 

Mr. Lo said, “Netgear India continues its exponential revenue growth year on year and our expectation is that we will put up a better performance during the next couple of years.” 

Since the start of its operations in India, Netgear has witnessed stellar growth in India not only in terms of revenues but also in manpower. What sets the company apart from competition is its wide range of product portfolio coupled with complete client focus and strong channel strategy. 

Netgear made its entry into the Indian market in 2004 and has since aggressively expanded across the country, attaining a strong presence in the Indian booming market with a portfolio of industry-leading products and an extensive distribution network. The company’s impressive revenue results for the first half of 2008 augur well for its targeted 25-per cent growth for the entire year. 

With capabilities that extend from home networking solutions and VoIP services, Netgear’s branded networking solutions are aimed at significantly increasing the productivity of small- and mid-sized businesses, whilst improving their connection with customers.

“Consumers in India are receptive to new technologies, and it is a natural progression for users to look for technologies that will integrate their cutting-edge devices into a powerful system. As a leading provider of networking products, Netgear has focussed on developing digital technology products that will cater to this emerging demand,” says Atul Jain. 

Netgear Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of the $727.8-million Netgear Inc. US, has reiterated its commitment to India and Indian subcontinent. As a part of its commitment, Netgear brings out a wide array of custom-built products for the Indian SMB customers. At the same time, for wider reach, the company has also focussed on expanding its distribution relationships. Netgear has its products grouped into four major segments: Ethernet Networking, Broadband, Wireless Networking and storage, which include switches, adapters, secure wired and wireless routers, gateways and storage (NAS) boxes for the SMBs.

With a focus on supporting products available across India, Netgear has recently announced the opening of its service centres in various geographies of India. 

Netgear believes that after effective distribution of products in the country, there is a need to put in place an effective support mechanism to service the products. Therefore, the company has identified various geographies for the service centres in India. Netgear India will launch the service centres in seven main business cities in India, viz. New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. In a phased manner, the company will extend this capability to B- & C-class cities. The service centre will support the entire range of Netgear products sold in India, in terms of addressing replacement and warranty issues. 

These service centres will enable Netgear to limit the turnaround time of the products replacement within 24–48 hours. However, the time span could vary depending upon the product availability and geographies. 

“Netgear has always believed in customer’s satisfaction. We launched the toll-free technical support helpline (1800 425 4327) number two years back, and further to make customer satisfaction paramount, we are announcing the customer service centres. As it is an international trend, we have RT Outsourcing to act as third-party service provider for Netgear,” says Atul Jain.

“By virtue of the fact that Netgear holds the number 1 position (30% market share) in SMB wireless business and No. 3 in wired business, as documented by IDC, customer satisfaction is very critical for us. In order to achieve optimum customers’ satisfaction, we are investing towards Service Infrastructure and Netgear as a company will put in all the investments needed for customer delight. In reality, Netgear intends to redefine the levels of service and customers’ satisfaction in networking business,” says Kerman Rana, Director Central Asia Pacific. 

By opening the service centre, Netgear has enabled its distributors and channel partners to focus more on the business, in the markets where the company has launched centres. The distributors and channel partners need not have to worry about support any more. On the other hand, the service centres would certainly enhance the confidence of the customers on Netgear products, though Netgear has emerged as a strong brand among the SME networking market space. 

Netgear products are available in India through three national distributors, i.e. Rashi Peripherals, Cyberstar Infocom (P) Ltd. and Ingram Micro. There are nearly 1,000 channel partners, including SIs, VARs and reseller selling Netgear product across various geographies in India.

In a $17.5-million cash deal, Netgear has bought CP Secure, which focusses on network protection, Web filtering and e-mail security. According to the agreement, Netgear will pay $14.0 million in cash for CP Secure's assets. CP Secure will receive a total additional payout of up to $3.5 million in cash, following closure of the acquisition if it achieves certain specified objectives. 

Netgear has incorporated CP Secure’s technology into a full line of its ProSecure security appliances for Web, e-mail and unified threat management. 

Netgear intends to release a full line of Netgear ProSecure security appliances for web, e-mail and unified threat management incorporating CP Secure's platform within the next 12 months. The addition of CP Secure's seasoned engineering team forms a dedicated, world-class group focussed on hardware, software and technology for network security appliances.

Netgear has announced the worldwide availability of a six-bay desktop network-attached storage solution (NAS) for small- and medium-sized businesses. A press release claims that this is the first such NAS in the world and that it is designed to meet the centralized network storage needs of up to 200-user SMBs. Branded the ReadyNAS Pro, the product line is available in storage capacities of 1.5TB (RNDP6350), 3TB (RNDP6310), and 6TB (RNDP6610). 

The ReadyNAS Pro provides up to 6TB of network-attached storage, enabling users across the LAN or WAN to store, back up and share digital data from a combination of Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms. The ReadyNAS Pro supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and auto-expandable X-RAID2 to provide data protection against single or double disk failure. It also features dual redundant Gigabit Ethernet ports for failover protection. The ReadyNAS Pro products support up to six SATA II hard drives via six lockable, hot-swappable disk trays. Three USB 2.0 ports enable the connection of external USB drives, printers and battery backup devices. The Netgear ReadyNAS Pro is backed by a 5-year hardware warranty and is now available at a price starting at Rs.1,25,000 (US$2,520). 

Negrear has recently announced the expansion of its industry-leading family of ProSafe Gigabit Smart Switches with the introduction of three advanced Smart Switches. 

Designed to deliver robust security and enhanced traffic management and availability to growing networks in small and medium businesses, the ProSafe 24- and 48-Port Gigabit Smart Switches with Static Routing (GS724TR and GS748TR) and 24-Port Gigabit Smart Switch with Advanced Features (GS724AT) are feature-rich, affordable, reliable, and easy-to-manage alternatives to fully-managed switches. Designed to ease congestion at the core of mid-sized business networks, the ProSafe 24- and 48-Port Gigabit Smart Switches with Static Routing (GS724TR and GS748TR) are the first Smart Switches in the industry to provide static routing capability. By using static routing to offload inter-VLAN routing traffic from the core, businesses can deploy the GS724TR and GS748TR to optimize bandwidth efficiency by freeing up the router for WAN and security traffic. The GS724TR and GS748TR, which feature 24 or 48 10/100/1000 ports and two or four shared SFP ports, support 32 static routes to enable inter-VLAN routing, manage broadcast storms more effectively and deliver tighter security.

The NETGEAR ProSafe 24-Port Gigabit Smart Switch with Advanced Features (GS724AT) provides small- and mid-sized companies with management capabilities at an affordable price, providing the features found in fully-managed switches without the associated cost and complexity of a fully-managed solution. The GS724AT incorporates 24 10/100/1000 ports and four combination SFP ports for optional fiber connectivity enabling businesses to deploy essential as well as advanced business applications such as security, ERP, wireless, Voice over IP (VoIP), and more. This switch also provides advanced features such as Access Control Lists (ACL) for increased security, Layer 3 based QoS for enhanced traffic prioritization, Auto Voice VLAN for “Plug and Play” deployment of VoIP, and Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP) for increased availability. 

"Growing small and medium businesses are continually faced with the challenge of maintaining and growing scalable, reliable and affordable network infrastructures to support an increasing array of advanced applications such as ERP systems, wireless and converged communications systems." Security is a growing need with SMB customers, as is the need to prioritize applications. The addition of the Advanced Smart Switch products to our popular ProSafe Gigabit Smart Switch family provides small- and mid-sized businesses with advanced, affordable and easy-to-manage alternatives to fully-managed switches. These advanced switches enable companies to gain better control and improve the efficiency of the network infrastructure while delivering the performance, functionality and value that have established our ProSafe Smart Switch line as an industry leader." 

Atul Jain says, “India’s economic growth is well balanced on the growth of its small and medium enterprises. So, in order to keep the momentum going, Netgear India is completely committed. We have tried to offer technology, which fits to their budget and adaptable to the changing business scenario taking care of ease of usage and security aspects pertaining to the networks. Therefore, the new line of ProSafe Smart Switches are products of great value to the large pool of SMEs in India and completely aligned to our commitment.”

Finally…
For Netgear, India is a huge market and tapping it was always going to be a major challenge. However, with sustained efforts to understand the needs of this important market, Netgear exceeded the expectations. The company is of the view that its products and services have allowed small and mid-size business entrepreneurs to positively impact its business results.