Market leader Cisco continues to aim high

“Competitor’s envy, owner’s pride,” this is how Manoj Chugh, president, India & SAARC, Cisco Systems India proudly defines Cisco’s share in the Indian market. Supporting this view are the latest IDC numbers (Q3 2001) on the networking industry in India, which places Cisco as the No 1 networking vendor, having grown its market share across all LAN product categories. As if this was not enough, Cisco’s market share continues to grow significantly as it overwhelmingly overtakes the market growth rate. In 2000-01, the total networking equipment market in India grew by over 50 percent, while Cisco registered a growth of 125 percent in the same period.

With great past growth numbers, the company has set for itself optimistic future expectations in terms of growth in revenues, market share and the future shape of the networking market in India. Says Chugh, “The current slowdown presents Cisco with an opportunity to break away from competition and gain market share. Customers depend on organisations, which have the financial resilience to outlast the downturn. And Cisco clearly presents the most viable option with $21 billion in cash and the broadest set of products, which weave themselves into end-end solutions with compelling return on investment.” These are the factors, which according to him, will hold the key to Cisco’s success in 2002-03. Directed towards this is the company’s investment in setting up a multi-million dollar logistics centre in Bangalore.

Emerging growth areas that will further help drive Cisco are service provider markets like gateway service providers, IDCs, national and international long distance operators, metro broadband networks, FSPs, cellular SPs and broadband SPs, which are expected to grow and drive sales for IP-based networks. “Further, as integrated telecom players emerge, we expect an increase in demand to enable national long distance telephony, broadband services, Internet connectivity and IP telephony to provide differentiated value-added services,” explains Chugh.

In terms of specific plans and strategies outlined for 2002-03, spanning across the gamut of marketing, promotions, human resources, and servicing support, Cisco has outlined five key focus areas for the year:

• Providing end-to-end solutions with a clear focus on ensuring return on investment. IP telephony, wireless solutions, security and VPNs and content networking solutions will play an important role in meeting the requirements of diverse vertical segments.
• Increased investments in customer support: A significant investment in the logistics centre will be augmented with enhanced best-of-breed value added services.
• Creation of a strong base of networking professionals in India through its local networking academies.
• Reskilling partners constantly to ensure that they can provide best-of-breed solutions to customers, because in India 100 percent of revenues are driven through channels. Cisco recently announced a partner specialisation programme too, which will allow its partners to develop and demonstrate their expertise in specific technologies.
• Educating customers (existing and potential) on the importance of networking to retain a competitive edge in the face of the growing globalisation pressures.

According to Chugh, in effect, the company has outlined a complete de-risking strategy comprising enhancing geographic reach, improving product availability through partners, focusing on end-to-end solutions across all three customer segments and working closely with partners in helping them build skills and specialisation in their chosen areas of expertise.

HCL Comnet bets on services

With the Indian networking market moving towards services, emerging services like network intelligence, network management and remote infrastructure management form the roadmap for the future. And this is the direction clearly outlined for networking giant HCL Comnet, (which already boasts of a 25 per cent share in the network services market) as it gets aggressive on new service areas like QoS, network intelligence and network audit, apart from the integration and design aspect.

“Multi-service management focus has become the key driver of this industry. Being an end-to-end network services provider, we have a clear competitive edge in terms of adding value to such networks. With this, the company is targeting expansion at a pace higher than the market,” explains Sanjeev Nikore, chief operating officer, HCL Comnet.

The company has outlined clearly defined strategies, spanning the entire range of human resources, marketing, infrastructure and support, all directed towards achieving this goal. In terms of infrastructure, the company has tremendously upscaled operations with the setting up of its Intelligent Network Operations Centre (iNOC). “With already more than 1,000 nodes spanning over 50 networks being managed out of our iNOC, we are certain to lead this market in the coming years,” claims Nikore. Heavy recruitment of manpower forms another part of its plans.

Servicing support is another area that HCL Comnet will focus on. In fact, it has already taken to upscaling its support infrastructure. Today, HCL Comnet supports 550 locations in India, up from 440 locations last year. With remote engineering becoming the latest trend, the company is also offering managed support remotely.

On the marketing front, direct marketing is the name of the game for HCL Comnet. This includes customer meets, direct marketing and CIO forums.

3Com wants to up Indian market share

With an aggressive marketing plan and focused approach in the networking space, 3Com India is all set to enter 2002-03. The aim is to consolidate its share in the Indian market amidst tough competition. “The challenges, which have been there in the past one year were more economic related than anything else. And the slowdown in the world too had its share of impact on the networking sector, not just in India, but across the world,” explains Pang Yee Beng, country manager, 3Com India.

According to Beng, the size of the market for local area networks is in excess of $100 million, with the market share of 3Com India in this segment for 2001 at 13 percent. The company is now aiming at increasing its market share in this segment to 20 percent. And the 3Com team has done its homework, having identified the key growth segments within this market to drive the company smoothly towards its aim. The key drivers for 3Com in the Indian market include wireless products, Gigabit Ethernet and Web devices. According to Beng, 3Com India is fully geared to leverage on and tap these potential areas in the Indian market over the next year.

Also as part of its plans for FY 2002-03, 3Com is in the process of launching its focused partner programmes, which according to Beng, will not just allow its partners to become specialists in 3Com’s products but will also positively impact 3Com’s product sales and revenues in India. Apart from this focused technology approach, the company has also outlined a focused approach in terms of its partner programmes.

3Com will be conducting roadshows in all major Indian cities and will introduce a range of new products. As part of its strategy, the company has also inked a strategic tie up with Tech Pacific India, whereby Tech Pacific will set up a business team to specialise in 3Com networking solutions. Through this partnership with Tech Pacific, the company will be able to dramatically increase the number of highly trained sales and technical professionals who will advise customers and assist resellers in providing the best 3Com solutions. This new partnership will also allow the company to further develop its business in newer technology areas such as wireless and Web devices, and in some key vertical areas such as the government, education and healthcare.