Logitech has just announced an incredible scratch card offer called Happy/Go/Lucky for its channel partners. The offer is valid on all Logitech IT peripherals in over 50-plus cities. The promotion is valid on purchases made during the period starting from August 1, 2009 to September 15, 2009.
There is a huge upside in the opportunities for the growth of wireless products and solutions. Since the wireless market is now maturing and growing, people are realizing the benefits of a pervasive wireless network which allows quad-play services and more mobile applications to be made available to consumers.
The recent introduction of the 802.11n Draft 2.0 technology will change the way the world perceives the Wireless world in the near future. Wireless adoption in large enterprises, campus-wide deployments in educational institutions and even in small- and mid-sized businesses is witnessing increased traction. Key verticals driving the growth include IT and telecom sectors. In addition, the adoption of Mobility solutions based on the Wireless Platform by various industry segments like hospitality, manufacturing,retail, real estate, etc. is leading to greater proliferation of the WLAN platform. Government SWANs and rural connectivity are also leading to greater adoption of wireless in the country.
Alok Kothari, Managing Director, Aruba Networks, says, “From our recent observations, customers in India are more aware of the benefits of implementing WLAN in the office. From a nice-to-have conference room type deployments in the past, we see new deployments that are larger in size and importance. Some recent large deployments using WLAN as the primary access method, particularly in education, government, healthcare and hospitality.”
Cisco was the first to introduce the only Wi-Fi Alliance approved ‘n’ AP based on the revolutionary MIMO Technology, which allows for speeds of up to 300Mbps. Since early 2008, all new laptops equipped with Intel microprocessors are now coming with b/g/n radio embedded, thus setting the stage for ‘n’ takeoff.
The primary driver for the growth and adoption of wireless technologies is the boom in laptop penetration and the growing proliferation of wireless and handheld devices. Additionally, as Wi-Fi becomes more secure and there is tighter integration between the wired and wireless networks, more growth will be taking place in the adoption of wireless and mobility solutions across various platforms and industry segments. One can also see that various applications are being developed on the wireless platform for various industry segments like manufacturing, retail, healthcare, hospitality, real estate and others.Market Size The wireless market has a wide scope for growth, but 2009 could see some softening in Wi-Fi demand, the market is poised to return to its double-digit growth during 2010 and beyond. This is based on a research done by Dell’Oro. The growth rate is expected to be higher than 20 per cent per year.
There is no market report separating the enterprise WLAN from consumer WLAN. It is very difficult to assess how big the enterprise market will be. It may not be very large in the past, but certainly one can see significant growth lately.
“Cisco has leveraged its strengths and leadership in networking to develop mobility and wireless solutions as an integral part of network infrastructure. Cisco has gained a strong foothold in the Wireless (both indoor & outdoor) market with an India market share of 20.11 per cent (Q4, CY 2008, IDC) and is steadily growing,” informs Prem Nithin, Senior Technical Consultant, Cisco India & SAARC.Latest Trends Following are the trends in the Indian market: · Deployment of Wi-Fi in campus-wide networks, especially in education, manufacturing and hospitality segments · Adoption of high-speed 802.11n · Wi-Fi technology has been a key driver in shifting the market to the next wave of high growth · New applications and usage of wireless like Voice over WLAN · IEEE 802.11n solutions will operate in the 2.4-GHz, the 5-GHz radio band, or both bands, offering backward compatibility with pre-existing 802.11a/b/g deployments · Wireless solutions based on the 802.11n standard employ several techniques to improve the throughput, reliability, and predictability of wireless LANs · Together, these techniques allow 802.11n solutions to achieve an approximate five-fold performance increase over current 802.11a/b/g networks
Cisco recently announced its new 802.11n access point – the Aironet 1140 Series – a business-ready, Wi-Fi Certified 802.11n Draft 2.0 platform that expands Cisco’s portfolio of next-generation wireless solutions. The Aironet 1140 Series Access Point is the first platform to combine the power and full-performance of 802.11n with the efficiency of standard PoE (Power over Ethernet) – a combination that will accelerate and simplify the migration to 802.11n. In addition, it also announced the Cisco M-Drive Technology, a new, system-wide feature of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network that extends Cisco’s heritage in building enterprise-class networks to delivering a reliable RF platform to simplify wireless adoption and increase the performance of 802.11n.Partner’s Role in the Deployment of Wireless Products “Extreme Networks firmly believes in its partners. They play a major role in terms of design, implementation and maintenance of Wi-Fi networks and the innovation in regard to the products,” Jitendra Gupta, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Extreme Networks.
Aruba has a 2-tier channel partner strategy. They have value-added distributors that manage the channels in India. Committed Aruba channels must have their System Engineer certified by Aruba before they are allowed to install and maintain the system. They also have project-based partners that sell their products but they must engage the services of their distributors or service partner for deployment, until they have their own engineer certified. Dax’s main source of distribution is through their extensive network of Authorized Dax Service Providers (ADSPs). Dax Package of Networking Infrastructure solutions is marketed by a network of 200 ADSPs on board across the addressable market. ADPSs are armed with a successful combination of products and technology that yield a higher RoI for the end-user.
Cisco’s go-to-market strategy is through Channel Partners. Cisco’s strong channel network with over 1,000 resellers in 100 cities gives them a nationwide footprint for their networking products and solutions, and they plan to add 600 new partners specifically certified to cater to SMB customers, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets. For their wireless portfolio too, their partners are actively involved in taking the products to the market.Opportunities for Partners Cisco says that solution providers can tap healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing industries. Extreme Networks recently announced its channel partner programme. There is a very good scope for channel partners to become an expert in wireless technology as most of the customers are looking for mobility solutions and of course growth percentage in the wireless space is much more attractive as compared to wired space. “To empower our channels to deliver value add to their portfolio, we are offering our extensive ‘solution-based’ approach, which can be tailor-made to suit the specific customer’s main business line. This gives an edge to our partners in providing solutions which can turn as business enabler. Our Channel thrust focusses on: targeting regional sales across the country; in reaching SMBs and the niche market; supporting customers in terms of total Service Level Agreement (SLA) relating to 99.9% network uptime,” says Ms Subhashini Prabhakar, Chief Technology Manager, Dax Networks.
Benefits for Partners The enterprise WLAN market is still at an emerging stage and channel partners need to assist vendors in educating the customers for the best way of deploying WLAN. There are a lot of values selling knowledge and therefore the channel is expected to invest in committed sales and technical resources. “With that commitment, Aruba will be willing to offer channel a better margin than the low-end consumer type product. The margin also varies based on revenue commitment,” says Kothari.
Gupta adds, “Extreme Networks strongly believes in having a strong bond with their partners. Partners of a company help build a strong base of any company. Extreme Networks assures our margins to work on double-digit margin, make money in terms of implementation and maintenance of the Wi-Fi networks.”
Subhashini Prabhakar informs, “We do have incentive programmes to encourage our channel partners. We provide more point on special and latest technology products being sold by our partners. The greatest challenge in Wireless project implementation is the line of sight. Generally, radio signals require a clear path between antennas. Of course, the first condition for a LOS link is that the two antennas can be connected with an imaginary straight string. No object should block this line. Achieving this with a short link is fairly easy. Moreover, in order to cover large distances, great height is needed. So, tower erection increases the implementation costs.”
Nithin says, “Cisco Channel Incentive Programmes are designed to reward partners who successfully align their business strategies in defined advanced technologies, new business, or solution sales opportunities. New Opportunity Incentive Programme (OIP) - one of the four leading partner programmes is run by Cisco in India that provides business incentives to reward channel partners for hunting and securing new business opportunities to drive growth in the market. The revised – new avatar of the programme - has been launched a few weeks back and the early results are very encouraging. Solutions Incentive Programme (SIP) rewards opportunities delivering vertical and horizontal customer solutions that integrate proprietary or third-party applications and services with Cisco technology. Value Incentive Programme (VIP) rewards partners who have a focussed, robust business practice in selected technology areas, like Unified Communications, Wireless LAN and Security.”
Service Support The after-sales service support is very important in the selling of all the solutions.
Gupta informs, “For Extreme Networks, the first level of support to end-user has been provided by our channel partners. The sales service support is directed by our 24x7 TAC support centre where engineers and a local RMA centre guide them.”Aruba provides two support options to Indian customers: · Arubacare, it is a direct and online support from Aruba. This is targeted at customers who have a wide deployment including remote areas where no Aruba channel partner is available in that location. · PartnerCare, the support is sold and managed by our channel partner, support partner or distributor with Aruba providing Level 2 to the partners. · In addition, Aruba has a 100 staff R&D and TAC support team in India (Bangalore and Chennai) which can be deployed for backup support, as and when required.Dax after-sales service includes: · Responsive Service Centre · Technical Support at Channel Partner locations · An Internet facility, currently being upgraded, to enable Customers, Sales and Manufacturing Partners, access the Dax 24/7 back-office to virtually transact online. · Live chat – sales option on our website offers significantly a high level of support and improved online experience to our visitors. This not only gives us further visibility into the customer but also helps us enhance our service levels as well. · Toll Free Helpdesk for Technical & Logistics SupportCisco Services specializes in providing quality service and support to customers, backed by their extensive networking, business and technology experience in the world's largest, most sophisticated networks. Along with their partners, Cisco Services helps customers improve productivity, achieve operational excellence, and meet market needs swiftly.Finally… With the growth of the wireless industry, the future looks very bright. The introduction of the high-speed 802.11n Wi-Fi technology has been a key driver in shifting the Wi-Fi market to the next wave of high growth. This new technology not only offers high-speed wireless access but also a more reliable coverage. Wi-Fi now becomes a viable alternative to wired access. WLAN and Mobility is an irreversible trend, the workforce pattern has been changing from a fixed desk model to mobile due to many contributing factors such as pandemic, natural disaster, terrorist attack, work-life balance or even due to frequent traffic jams in major cities. Many companies now have a sizable number of workforce either working from home, public area or overseas that requires secure access to the office network. Analysts predicted that there will be over 1 billion mobile workers in the world by year 2010. The growth in the wireless market in India will be driven by all segments of industries as more wireless LANs are being set up by organizations to complement their wired infrastructure, and more pervasive wireless networks are set up by many IT organizations. This growth in the adoption of WLAN is being seen across all segments, even among SMBs.
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There is a huge upside in the opportunities for the growth of wireless products and solutions. Since the wireless market is now maturing and growing, people are realizing the benefits of a pervasive wireless network which allows quad-play services and more mobile applications to be made available to consumers.
