VARIndia Star Nite Awards – 2009, which played host to the felicitation ceremony of the top performers of the Indian IT industry for the current year, also witnessed some heartening views from the industry pundits about India’s strong position in the present financial turmoil.

The much-awaited eighth VARIndia Star Nite Awards – 2009 was held with great pomp and fanfare on 24th November, 2009 at Hotel Eros (ParkRoyal) InterContinental, Nehru Place, New Delhi in the presence of the distinguished audience of more than 600 people, comprising government officials, CXOs, distributors, VARs, SIs and channel partners from across the country. The winners of the VARIndia Star Nite Awards were felicitated, followed by an awards ceremony and a gala dinner. On this occasion, more than 65 awards were presented to the top performers of the IT industry in various categories.

The event kick-started with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by the hon’ble guest, Dr Satyanarayana Dash (IAS), Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Government of India; Mr Savitur Prasad, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of Delhi, and other high-profile dignitaries.

The eighth VARIndia Star Nite Awards 2008 was not a mere award-giving ceremony for the IT vendors, but it was a revelation from the chief guest, Dr Satyanarayana Dash, who, in his inaugural address, said, “The IT sector has performed extremely well despite the general recession being faced by all industries throughout the world that started in September 2008.” He added, “When the world got into recession with subprime crisis in the US, it is similar to the depression of 1938. However, we have become wiser. All economies in the world are cutting out cost partly due to recession. In India, the government has declared three stimulus packages. All the sectors are showing positive growth.”

“The automobile manufacturers feel that India is the right place. India is poised to get 6-per cent growth rate. All the auto manufacturers feel that India is the right place and are trying to bring models for manufacturing in India. There are no job cuts, and the automobile companies are saying that they have shortage in skills,” adds Dr Dash.

“All the sectors are affected, including IT, but the future is bright. As per NASSCOM projections, the IT sector has a tremendous potential,” says Dr Dash.

Underscoring the need for skilled professionals for the growth of economy, Dr Dash said, “In order to provide skilled professionals for the growth of the economy, the Government of India has set up National Skill Development Mission under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister. It has a target to fill up the gap in skills by 2020 as well as training 500 million individuals by 2030. The levels of ITIs are being upgraded with the help of the World Bank.”

“The Government is focussing on rural areas because we feel that we should concentrate on the domestic sector as rural segment contributes 80 per cent of our growth, and so we can come back to the trajectory of 9-per cent growth. Whether it is e-Governance or telecom, we have tremendous opportunities. In the telecom sphere, we have crossed 500-million subscribers mark, and in the next five years we will reach 1 billion subscribers. I fully believe that the IT sector can come up in a big way,” added Dr Dash.

Taking this opportunity, Mr Savitur Prasad, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of Delhi, spoke about the latest e-governance initiatives taken by the Delhi Governmnet. One of the projects undertaken by the Delhi Government is Geo-Spatial Data Project. “Post 26/11, Delhi is now geared up for any kind of situation. There are some project profiles on which we have embarked upon and which will change the total face of this part of the country. There is a Geo-Spatial Data Project with a provision of satellite and aerial photography, which is generally carried by air force. We bought tetra vision machines which cost Rs.4 crore per machine and it covers one kilometre in an hour. Entire Delhi is being mapped above and under the ground. One can locate his/her house and draw boundary, exit and windows,” said Mr Savitur Prasad.

Leased lines will be available to the administration. 64 IP cameras are being installed, and each camera can cover a range of five kilometres for the governance of Delhi. These will be remotely controlled, and further attached with CCTV cameras. In addition, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) will be taking the initiative to get all of its functionalities online. The entire data, such as underground and GIS pipes, will be monitored. The drainage policy for Delhi will be prepared and a public sector company will be employed for the task.

“The Delhi Government is very fast and we would be going to implement citizen-friendly services. Necessary services will be made available to civilians within a timeframe. Otherwise, a penalty will be imposed on the respective officer, and the amount will be paid to the citizen. We will also be looking at E-gadget, which would be a free downloadable Web service that allows citizens to change name and other essential services without hassle,” said Mr Savitur Prasad.

“We have worked upon an innovative model. For instance, as Delhi Tourism Website, envisaging Commonwealth Games receive hits, the company pays to the government as well as for those contracts which actually get converts into implementation, and it will be on a 50-50 sharing basis. For the Excise Department, we have built Design Build Own Operate Transfer (DBOOT) model. And, we will call upon the people to suggest the model that could boost the government’s revenue. Delhi would definitely be the leader as being a national capital and would be the most advanced city in the world,” said Mr Savitur Prasad.

Designed to reward the individuals and companies who have made their mark in the IT channel during the past one year, VARIndia hosted the Star Nite Awards – 2009, aimed solely at honouring success stories in the channel.

India’s management figures from IT vendors, distributors, resellers, VARs and retailers turned out in force to ensure a lively affair that saw more than 65 awards given away at an awards ceremony specifically for the Indian channel community. With more than 300 nominations submitted to the VARindia team ahead of the entry deadline, the results of each category were keenly anticipated by the country’s channel community.

Those who squeezed into the Eros’s posh Royal Ballroom showed their appreciation for the channel, accomplishments and success stories of IT vendors, distributors and resellers that have happened in the Indian IT market during the year.

While paying tributes to the several examples of channel development and professional excellence that are evident in the Indian market, attendees made use of the opportunity to network with colleagues and partners from across the region. The event represented that India’s channel community has been brought together to recognize outstanding achievements in the channel.

While Mr Deepak Sahu, President & Director, Kalinga Digital Media, welcomed the guests and addressed the audience to repose faith in each other to avoid the slowdown, Mr Sanjeev Mahapatra, Publisher, VARIndia, proposed a vote of thanks at the end of the ceremony.

Besides, the event also witnessed corporate presentations and industry perspectives on the market slowdown. “For the last seven months, the stock market is booming up. India has become among top ten golden countries. GDP is now above 6.6 per cent, and it is time to forget about recession,” said VP Sajeevan, Assistant Director- CSP Division, Canon India.

Sanjay Lulla, Director, Technology- India & SAARC, EMC India, said, “A lot has been talked about 18 months of recession. It has taught many lessons. We have learned how to be rational. Infrastructure is of no use unless we get right amount of efficiencies from the system. We realized that alone infrastructure does not help. We need redeployment of efficiencies, choice and control.” He added, “I feel that a lot of things are working up well. Definitely, we are one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. All the companies around the world are looking to cater to the Indian market with new customized products. EMC has recently invested $1.5 billion in India for the development activities in Bangalore. There are lots of things that indicate the scenario is going well.”

According to Subrotah Biswas, Country Manager – India & SAARC, Logitec India, “We don’t call it a recession, but we have termed it as a slowdown, as the former looks close to depression. It gives a chance to reflect internally and look at the core competencies. From our prospective, we inherit core values to ride over such times. Logitech is the only company that has shown a double-digit growth for the last five years due to our core values and competencies.” A special thank-you must go to the partners: Last but not the least, the vendors took the opportunity to showcase their products by setting up stalls, which were visited by guests in large numbers.

A special thank-you must go to the partners: Samsung, HP, Microsoft, EMC, Beetel, Fujitsu and Epson, all of whom helped to make the event possible. The senior executives from each company were in attendance and came on stage to present awards throughout the evening, all of whom helped to make the event possible.

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**********************   Details of the awards ****************************

------------------------- [ List of Awards ] ------------------------------------ 

► HP INDIA SALES LTD.
    1.  Best PC Brand - Home Purpose
    2.  Best Notebook
    3.  Best X86 Servers
    4.  Best Layer Two Switches- HP- Procurve
    5.  Fastest growing Networking Solution Vendor for SMB's - HP- Procurve
    6.  Best NAS Vendor - HP- Storage
    7.  Best Inkjet Printers
    8.  Best Laser Printers
    9.  Best MFD ( Inkjet)
   10. Best MFD ( Laser)

► HCL INFOSYSTEMS Ltd - Best PC - Indian Brand

► EMC DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS (INDIA) PVT. LTD.- Best Storage Solution Company

► D-LINK INDIA LTD. - Best Networking Company

► LOGITECH ELECTRONICS INDIA PVT. LTD
      Best Key Board (Membrane)
      Best Webcam
      Best Mouse
      Best Speaker
      Best Gaming hardware

► EPSON INDIA PVT.LTD.
     Best Projector
     Best Dot-Matrix Printer

► CANON INDIA PVT. LTD
      Best Imaging Solution Company
      Best Digital Cameras
      Best performing Laser Printer- Canon 2900 B
      Best Scanner

► SAMSUNG INDIA ELECTRONICS LTD
     Best TFT Monitor
     Best LFD Vendor

► TVS ELECTRONICS LIMITED - Best Key Board (Mechanical)

► KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY FAR EAST CORP. - Best Memory Module

► SAP INDIA PVT. LTD.- Best Business Application Solution Company

► ORACLE INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED - Best Database Management Software Company

► SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY HDD INDIA PVT.LTD. - Best Hard Disk Drive

► WESTERN DIGITAL(U.K.) LTD.- Best External- Hard Disk Drive

► INTEL TECHNOLOGY INDIA PVT. LTD. -

     Best Processor
     Best Motherboard

► CISCO SYSTEMS INDIA PVT. LTD. - Best Networking Solution Company

► KOBIAN Pte Ltd. - Best Casing

► SYMANTEC SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD - Best Antivirus Software

► TREND MICRO INDIA PVT.LTD. - Best Gateway Antivirus Software

► IBM INDIA LTD. - . Best Technology Management Solutions Company- IBM - Tivoli

     Best Innovative Server Technology Provider

► MICROSOFT CORPORATION (INDIA) PVT. LTD
     Best S/W Suite for SMBs
     Best Gaming Console
     Best Head set

► CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES -
     Best Firewall
     Best Data Security

► ASPECT SOFTWARE - IP Contact Centre Technology Pioneer

► POLYCOM (UK) INDIA - Best Video Conferencing Infrastructure Provider

► AVAYA GLOBAL CONNECT LTD. - Best Unified Communications Solutions

► ELITECORE TECHNOLOGIES LTD - Fastest Growing Security Company - Cyberoam

► DIGI-LINK . - Best Structure Cabling Fastest growing Brand in IT

► RAILTEL CORPORATION OF INDIA LTD. - Best Carrier of the carriers

► BHARTI TELETECH LTD.- Emerging Distributor of the year

► NEOTERIC INFORMATIQUE LTD. - Value added Distributor of the year

► RT OUTSOURCING SERVICES LTD. - Best after market Services Company

► CHANNEL LEADERSHIP AWARD - VP. Sajeevan Best E-Governed State -Government of Delhi

► Dell India Pvt. Ltd.

     Best All -in- One
     Best Note book- Consumer

► Emerson Network Power (I) Pvt. Ltd.- Power Management Solution Company

► Ruckus Wireless Pvt. Ltd. - Best WLAN Solutions Company

► Fortinet INC. - Best UTM

► NVIDIA Graphics Pvt. Ltd.- Best Graphics Card

______________________   Most Trusted Company  ____________________________

⇒D-Link India Ltd.
⇒UT Starcom - Broadband and IP TV
⇒HCL Infosystems Ltd.
⇒Interra IT

*****************    Editor's Choice Award   *******************

⇒Best Mother Board- Gigabyte ( G41MES2L )
⇒Best Mouse - ARC Mouse
⇒Best Projector - IN- Focus 2100 Series