dcc october second issue

FinanceYourGrowth

IT IS TIME FOR CHANNEL PARTNERS TOPUT THE ECONOMIC SLUMP BEHINDAND ENTER A NEW PHASE OF VENDOR-

FINANCED EXPANSION PAGE 18

ChannelConnect

Vol 02 | Issue 23 | October 2010 | Rs. 50

With several variants coming up, the tablet market is red hot PAGE 32

CHARLES CHEN on SMC Networks’ distribution revampPAGE 6

B HARI COMPASS President talks about reducing piracyPAGE 24

RS SHANBHAG on what makes Valuepoint tickPAGE 16

EXCLUSIVE INSIDE

A 9.9 Media Publication

Channel Connect

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EDITOR’SNOTE SANJAY GUPTASOUNDING BOARD

O C TO B E R 2 010DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT2

SOUNDING SOUNDING SOUNDING SOUNDING BOARDBOARDBOARDBOARD

Can you imagine a businessman refusing an order worth millions?

That’s exactly what a solution provider told the audience at a

vendor seminar I attended sometime back. The reason for declining the opportunity? It was too large an order for his company and there was a bigger element of credit risk than his appetite would allow.

Frankly, I do not claim to be an expert in financial matters. But I do know from covering technology businesses and talking to people who are steeped in financially realities that dealing with money and using it for growth can be quite tricky. One wrong decision or misstep – on rotating your money, giving credit to others, servicing debt, betting on future expansion or build-ing up capacity – and you could be toast.

This is especially true of relatively small businesses that do not have the deep pock-ets of a Reliance or the market genius of a Warren Buffet. And yet, orders have to be taken on and fulfilled, risks must be calcu-lated – and money has to be made if one wants to remain in business!

Realising the need for more focus on the money part of the technology business – be it making higher profits (don’t laugh), spot-ting new opportunities in tie-ups or looking at upcoming products and technologies with a sheer business angle – we at Digit Channel Connect have decided to make ‘business focus’ (rather than technology jargon) our guiding content mantra. And beginning this issue, we are kick-starting it

with a completely redesigned magazine.Our cover story in this issue, Finance

Your Growth, delves into the financing needs of channel partners and discusses how some vendors are coming forward with credit or financial help. Needless to say, it also gives the partners’ views on the ground realities and what more needs to be done in vendor financing. It is interest-ing to note that most respondents say that while financial support was needed during tough economic times recently, it is even more desirable now as solution providers embark on the next phase of growth and try to achieve greater scale in operations and order fulfilment.

If one were to twist an old saying a wee bit, one might as well say: Penny wise, pound wiser.

Do let us have your feedback on our new look and feel – and Best Wishes for lots of lakshmi this Diwali!

Margins and More

SANJAY GUPTA EDITOR DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

“If there is one brand that comes with financing support versus a slightly better prod-uct that isn’t backed financially, chances are that the partner is going to go to the customer and advo-cate the option with the financing.” — AKHIL RANJAN JHA,

DIRECTOR, COMPREHENSIVE

CONSULTANCY (KOLKATA)

“Till sometime back, partners needed financing options to battle shrinking customer spending and to accelerate pending deals. But now they need it to boost their business and explore more and bigger oppor-tunities, which are often very complex.”— SUJEET NARULA, DIREC-

TOR, ASSOCIATED BUSINESS

COMPUTERS (DELHI)

“Clients and part-ners try to associate solution payback with outflow of cash, and so, financ-ing schemes allow gradual ramping of payments while recognizing early solution benefits - all using external sources of capital.”— SAPAN JAIN,

REGIONAL EXECUTIVE, IBM

GLOBAL FINANCING


VOLUME 02 | ISSUE 23 | OCTOBER 2010INDEX

42 RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS

32 THE RISE OF THE TABLET

SPECIAL REPORT

BEST OF BIZ

TECHNO TOUCH

Why tablet PCs are making waves among consumers and how you can cash in.

24 GOING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

ASSOCIATION CONNECT

Interview: B Hari, COMPASS President, & associ-ation related news.

26 NEGOTIATIONWorking in a team has its advantages and problems. The trick is to turn every hurdle in your favour

18 FINANCE YOUR GROWTH

COVER STORY

COVERSTORY

A number of chan-nel partners are aggressively pursu-ing solutions that will enable them to grow their business now and in the upturn. To fuel this growth, they are looking at different financing options as an important ingredient to business success.

RIA tools combine the power of native applications with the deployment virtues of the web.

THEY SAID IT

OTHERS

02 EDITORIAL

06 VENDOR CONNECT

08 UP-TO-DATE

16 PARTNER CONNECT

44 TECHNO TOUCH – GOVERNANCE

48 ANALYST CONNECT

46 THE MENACE OF E-WASTE

36 MEMORIES PRINTED @ HOME

FOCUS

TRIED-N-TESTED

The dark reality of e-waste is a gripping one, with a thriving industry exploiting cheap labour

Ever since we have replaced film cameras with digital ones, physi-cal photo albums have become a rarity. We present some photo print-ers that will help you rekindle that old tradition

32

46

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16

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SPECIAL REPORT

18 COVER STORY

COVE

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O C TO B E R 2 010DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT 5

WEBINDEXwww.digitchannelconnect.com

WEB EXCLUSIVE NEWS

WEB EXCLUSIVE FEATURE

NEWSLETTERS QUERIES

OPINION POLL

AD INDEXWESTERN DIGITAL ..........INSIDE FRONT COVER

EMERSON ..............................................BACK COVER

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MOLEX ............................................................................ 1

DIGILINK ........................................................................ 3

Riskiest web domain to surf and search is .com

The shape of Work to come

What should be the acceptable turnaround time for replacing a defective product?

Indian firms actively planning cloud initiatives

The world' s most heavily trafficked web domain, .com, is now the riskiest, accord-ing to McAfee' s fourth annual Mapping the Mal Web report. 56% of all risky sites end in .com. McAfee analyzed more than 27 million websites in the report.

The world of today is dramati-cally different from 20 years ago and with the lines between work and non-work already badly

frayed, Gartner predicts that the nature of work will witness 10 key changes through 2020.

Cloud computing awareness has increased dramatically among organisa-tions in India over the last 12 months and a majority of firms consider it rele-vant to their IT environments, according to a report by Springboard Research.

MATRIX ........................................................................... 7

KINGSTON .................................................................... 9

CYBEROAM .................................................................15

PRIYA LTD .....................................................................17

SUPERTRON .......................................................23, 27

http://digitchannelconnect.com/content/riskiest-web-domain-surf-and-search-com-mcafee-report

http://digitchannelconnect.com/content/shape-work-come

http://digitchannelconnect.com/content/newsletters [email protected]

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The majority opinion: a defective product should be replaced in less than 48 hours.

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Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha

Publishing Director: Vikas Gupta

EDITORIAL

Executive Editor: Sanjay Gupta

Copy Editor: Akshay Kapoor

Sr. Correspondents: Sandhya Malhotra (Delhi),

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SALES & MARKETING

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National Manager - Events and Special Projects:

Mahantesh Godi (09880436623)

National Manager - Channels:

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Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai: Vinodh K (09740714817)

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VOL 02 ISSUE 23 OCTOBER 2010

ChannelConnect

O C TO B E R 2 010DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

For more UPDATES, Log on http://digitchannelconnect.com/resources/ctofconnect6

VENDORCONNECTNETWORKING

Q Can you tell us about Accton Technology and its products?A Established in 2004, Accton Technology is a Taiwan based networking company. In India, we have been present since the last 15 years; but this year, we have relaunched our Edge-core and SMC brands and revamped our channel strategies. Accton Group has spun off its two brands/companies, namely SMC Networks and Edgecore Networks, as per different segments.

Q Can you share with us your new channel policies. How are you planning to position your products?A The idea to separate our brand was to get more visi-bility and positioning. Hence, for SMC Networks, we are catering to SMBs and SOHOs segment, whereas Edgecore caters more to enterprises and Carrier/ISP. We have received good sup-port for enterprise and ISP business in Europe and Russia, and we hope to repeat the same success in India as well.

Q In the wake of competition, how confident is Accton about its new channel policy in India?A Due to our ambiguous channel policy and lack of service support, we could not do well in this country. Therefore, we have decided to come up with new and firm channel strategies. We have adopted two pronged distribution layers including master or national distribu-tors and regional distribu-tors. We have tied up with three national distributors including RAH Network, Sapphire Microsystems and Priya Limited for our SMC range of products. Also, we have 150 regional distribu-tors across India. Apart from this, our SMB and SOHO customers can buy our products from modern retail shops as well.

Q An enterprise networking brand needs efficient after sales support for customer satisfaction and vendor loyal-ty. What' s your plan?A Apart from our India office at Mumbai, we intend to increase our sales/tech-nical team to offer good support. We have signed

The focus is now to build tier 2 partners for the SMC brand

with Digicare, a third party service provider for Return Material Authorization (RMA) support. Apart from a 3 year warranty on prod-ucts, we are introducing service packs for partners to offer extended on-site warranty and improve their bottom lines. With Digicare on board, our distributors can now push our products aggressively, backed with service support. Digicare will be responsible for the entire range of products line including SMC and Edgecore. Moreover, we are also working on mini-mum turnaround time pro-posal with Digicare and other services.

Q Going forward, what are expansion plans and future projections?A The focus is now to build tier 2 partners for SMC brand in the next few quar-ters. We will have a road show across 6 metros to showcase product portfolio and partner initiatives for channels. We are empower-ing partners for our innova-tive and cost effective IP surveillance cameras, tab-lets, portable routers and 3G broadband routers, etc. We are keeping a close eye on increasing our current mar-ket share from 3% to 10% in the next year. We are betting to grab 10% of market share in India in 2011.

[email protected]

Charles Chen, Vice President, Accton Asia Pacific

“This year, we have relaunched our Edgecore & SMC brands & revamped our channel strategies.”

INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES CHEN, VICE PRESIDENT, ACCTON ASIA PACIFIC


For more UPDATES, Log on http://digitchannelconnect.com/resources/news 8

INFINITI RETAIL LTD, a 100% subsidiary of Tata Sons, has announced the launch of ‘Croma Apps’, a software application store powered by Intel AppUp centre. This association of Intel and Croma in India is being touted as a strategic step in bringing enhanced software solutions to customers.

Croma Apps was launched by R Sivakumar, MD - Sales & Marketing Group, Intel South Asia, in the presence of Ajit Joshi, MD & CEO, Infiniti Retail, at the newly opened Croma store in Connaught place, New Delhi.

The apps store offers a wide selection of free and paid applications for Intel Atom processor-based netbooks. With over 1,000 applica-tions across categories like entertainment, social networking,gaming and productivity, ‘Croma Apps’ aims to be a hub for consumers. Croma will pre-install the Croma Apps client on all the netbooks and Croma pen drives retailed at their stores. The existing netbook users can also download these free and paid applications by visiting Croma’s website and downloading the Croma Apps client.

Speaking on the occasion, Joshi said, “We are very proud to be the first retailer to introduce our own software application storefront in India. We aim to cater to a variety of computing and entertainment needs of our customers. ‘Croma Apps’ will be a one-stop destination for people who like to engage with new technology enabling them to personalize their computing experience.”

Croma Launches App Store

UPtoDATECHANNEL BUZZ

Vishal Dhupar joins Nvidia as South Asia MDNvidia has appointed Vishal Dhupar as Managing Director, Sales and Marketing, for South Asia. He will be responsible for the overall management and

strategic direction of the company’s business in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan. Dhupar previously served for five years as MD for India and South Asia at Symantec.

Taiwan –based Genius has launched a 2.4GHz handy remote mouse – the Ring Mouse. The new device includes ioMedia software that provides fast selections. Users can select a pro-gramme they want to use, then control it using the mouse.

BenQ has unveiled its new short-throw WXGA DLP projec-tor, the MP780ST. The features of the new device include BenQ' s PointDraw system with interactive pen. The projector is avail-able at a price of Rs.1,10,000.

Genius 2.4GHz Ring Mouse

BenQ’s interactive projector

ILLU

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N: A

NO

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PC

40%of valuable man hours can be saved by a company that has a well-mobilised workforce, according to Forrester

UPtoDATE


INDIAN COMPANIES ARE actively planning cloud initiatives, according to a recent report by Springboard Research.

InTarvo to Manage e-waste

Neoteric, Trend Micro Tie up

INTARVO TECHNOLOGIES HAS signed a Joint Venture (JV) for e-waste manage-ment service.

The company is planning to start off this service in January 2011. “Although, we will formally launch the e-waste service next year, we are plan-ning to announce our joint venture soon,” said Sudheer Puthhiran K, President, Field Services, inTarvo tech-nologies, without divulging the name of the company.

The company claims to have tied up with the world’s No. 2 e-waste company for this service.

In the first phase, the company will collect e-waste from end customers and manufactures, and later convert them into metal, plastic, toxic pallets and dispose it off. The company will help both manufacturers and end customers in collecting and dispos-ing of their e-waste like any electron-ics product, appliance and battery. Currently, it has 200 collection points across India.–Sandhya Malhotra

TREND MICRO, A provider of network antivirus and internet content security, has announced the appointment of Neoteric Infomatique as its national distributor for its range of consumer products and solutions for Small Businesses (SB).

Trend Micro will expand its existing reach for consumer products through Neoteric’s network of 46 branch offices spread across India reaching out to 1,0000 plus partners in 500 cities.

“We are delighted to appoint Neoteric as the national distributor for our consumer as well small business offerings. As Neoteric has its pres-ence across different geographies, this tie-up will support our channel strat-egy and objective,” said Amit Nath, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro.

“With this new partnership, we will leverage our extensive partner base across India and jointly develop a growth plan that will drive incremental revenue for our partners,” said Paras

ASTARO’S OFFER

TOSHIBA SATELLITE A660

Astaro Corporation, a European UTM provider, has launched the offer ‘Invincible Security, Unbeatable Value’ for its custom-ers across India during the festive season.

Valid from October 1st to December 31st 2010, the customers will get AMA (Astaro Mail Archiving) free on purchase of ASG (Astaro Security Gateway) Hardware. ASG hardware appli-ances, starting from Rs95,000, are available with authorized partners of the company.

Asia Pacific firms expect IT budgets to increase in 2011: Gartner

The growth rate of domestic BPO market, which will touch $6.8 billion by 2013: IDC

THROUGH THE NUMBERS 44% 33%

Toshiba India’s Personal Computer Division has launched a laptop with 3D play-back capabilities: the Satellite A660 laptop. It is equipped with Nvidia 3D Vision tech-nology. New user download-able software will give consumers the ability to convert 2D DVDs to 3D as well as extend the experience to 3D-ready HDTVs.

QUICK LINE:ChannelConnect.com

EVENT UPDATE

Gartner Summit:

The research firm

will hold its India

CIO & IT Executive

Summit 2010

in Mumbai on

November 23-24

at the Grand

Hyatt Hotel.

SUDHEER PUTHHIRAN K, PRESIDENT, FIELD SERVICES, INTARVO

UPtoDATE


Wacom Sets Up India Office

JAPAN-BASED WACOM HAS announced the opening of its India subsidiary in New Delhi. Wacom India will be opera-tional from November 1 this year.

In India, Wacom started its distribu-tion business in 2000. Currently, it has three national distributors –Unicorn, Neoteric and Aditya.

According to Masahiko Yamada, President and CEO, Wacom, “Having a direct office in India, our distributors and channel partners can contact us at any point of time. Now, we can focus more effectively on the Indian market. From the film and design community to the general PC consumer, Wacom looks forward in having a regional presence to make it easier for people to obtain our user interface products, automotive, medical and healthcare, and education for our products.”

As of now, the company has appointed four employees for the Indian subsidiary. Rajiv Nagar has been appointed as Country Manager India, and will be based in Delhi. Other employees will be based out of Mumbai and Chennai.

The company has also entered into the entry level market by introducing Bamboo One pen tablet (priced from Rs3,000-Rs4,000), which will be distrib-uted by Neoteric across India. –Sandhya Malhotra

is the predicted growth rate for the Asia Pacific PC market in 2010: Gartner

is the growth rate for semi-conductor equipment spend-ing in 2010: Gartner20.4% 122%

FLASH LINK FROM AMKETTE: Amkette has introduced the Flash Link, an ‘Instant SyncShare’ device which enables seamless transfer, sharing and syncing between any two computers. The Flash Link is a completely boot-free and installation-free multipurpose device used for transfer of any data from one computer to another. Movies, music and documents can now be transferred and shared at a speed of 20MBPS. In addition, it allows access to CD/DVD drives of one computer from another. As per the company, the Folder and Outlook Sync options give users the advantage to sync emails instantly. With this device, one can even share internet on the go. Flash Link is available at selected retailers for Rs990 across India.

INTERESTING READSFOUR

LARRY ELLISON,

CEO, ORACLE, was heard remarking on HP choosing Léo Apotheker as new CEO: “HP had good inter-nal candidates, but they pick a guy who was recently fired for doing a bad job of running SAP.”

ACCORDING TO A

REPORT BY Sophos, in Q3 2010, USA was the No.1 coun-try in relaying spam, while India was No.2. Since Q2 this year, spam from the US increased from 15.2% to 18.6% of the global volume.

JIM BALSILLIE,

THE CO-FOUNDER of BlackBerry, shot back at Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s criticism of vendors announc-ing plans of 7-inch tablets. “For those of us who live outside Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market,” Balsillie said.

MICROSOFT HAS

ANNOUNCED THE cloud version of its Office suite. Called Office 356, the new subscription-based service is being test-rolled in a few countries and would be extended to others later on. The launch is being seen as a counter to Google Docs.

1 2

3 4

INDIAN COMPANIES ARE actively planning cloud initiatives, according to a recent report by Springboard Research.

UPtoDATE


BELKIN INDIA, A provider of intercon-nectivity solutions across computing and consumer electronic devices, has announced the roll out of a spe-cial offer for its channel partners on the occasion of Durga Puja, Dussehra and Diwali.

Belkin Announces Festive Offer for Channel Partners

CSC Acquires Security Firm

CSC HAS ANNOUNCED that it has acquired the business of Vulnerability Research Labs (VRL), a privately held cyber threat intelligence firm.

As per the company, the acquisition enables CSC to enhance its cyber secu-rity support to public and commer-cial enterprises around the world by strengthening its ability to develop unique tools and techniques.

Under the channel promotion, which has been titled ‘Magic Pot’, channel partners can get Sodexo gift passes up to Rs.42,000, which can be redeemed for rewards of their choice.

According to Mohit Anand, Managing Director, India Sub conti-nent, Belkin, “This initiative is a step towards bringing us closer to our chan-nel partners and capitalize the spike during the upcoming festival buying in India. Over the years, the channel has reposed great faith in us and their overwhelming response to our prod-ucts has helped us grow our market share across categories.”

The offer would be valid from October 1st to December 31st 2010 on all Belkin products purchased in India.

NVIDIA HAS LAUNCHED the Nvidia 3DTV Play software that allows users to connect Nvidia 3D QUICK LINE:

“HP has realigned its channel strategy to tap the full potential of the Indian PC mar-ket. The new system is geared to enhance profitability for HP’s

partners…”

SUNIL DUTT VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL

MANAGER, PERSONAL SYSTEMS GROUP, HEWLETT PACKARD INDIA

“We are putting the ‘old guard’ [of

global PC and chip manufacturers] on notice that desktop

virtualisation is ready to go mainstream.”

STEPHEN DUKKER CEO, NCOMPUTING

Under the agreement, the acquired business will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary within CSC’s global cyber security business reporting to Samuel S. Visner, CSC Vice President and cyber lead executive. Jim Miller, VRL’s President, will continue to serve in this capacity for the business and direct its ongoing operations.

According to Visner, “VRL’s capabili-ties will enhance CSC’s cyber security offerings to clients in the financial services, energy and natural resources, healthcare, manufacturing, and tech-nology and consumer markets, as well as the public sector.”

“By combining our in-depth knowl-edge of the cyber threats that target corporations and governments with CSC’s existing cyber security capa-bilities, we intend to jointly develop a new generation of threat intelligence solutions that will provide the utmost security to our combined clients in the public and private sectors,” said Miller.

MOHIT ANAND, MD, BELKIN INDIA

VENDORVOICE

UPtoDATE


NVIDIA HAS LAUNCHED the Nvidia 3DTV Play software that allows users to connect Nvidia 3D vision enabled notebooks and desktops to 3D HDTVs.

ZyXEL' sNew Access Point

QUEST SOFTWARE INTERNATIONAL, a solution provider for applica-tion monitoring, database man-agement, Windows management and virtualisation, has announced it has entered into a distribution agreement with Redington (India) Limited.

With this agreement, Redington will help Quest Software appoint, enable and drive business through its value added partners across tier 1 cities in India such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata.

This distribution strategy will enable Redington to engage their sales and presales resources across various offices in these cities who would work as an extended distribution channel for Quest Software.

“With Quest Software significantly benchmarking its growth and presence in the market, a structured distribution programme like this will sharpen our reach to the market and Redington is a suitable choice for this due to its consider-able expertise in the space and its ability to extend our business reach,” said Shailender Kumar, Managing Director, Quest Software India.

Redington plans to introduce Quest Software’s products to a larger number of users, helping them simplify everyday IT challenges.

Quest Software Appoints Redington as Distie

ZYXEL COMMUNICATIONS HAS announced the launch of the new ZyXEL WAP 3205 Wireless N Access, which as per the company, offers enhanced speed and coverage for home networks.

According to the company, ZyXEL’s WAP 3205 provides a superior and easy way to upgrade the wireless network coverage with 300 Mbps. It includes features like WPS button which deliv-ers quick and easy wireless security setup. It can also work with the exist-ing 802.11b and 802.11g network.

For the ease of handling, the anten-nas are detachable. With Power over Ethernet (PoE) capability, WAP 3205 is an amalgamation of all the applications such as video and voice streaming.

ZyXEL WAP 3205 is easy to expand the network coverage to the entire home premise and enable all wireless devices to link to the existing network.

With extra added features like Mac address filtering and channel auto scan, it is easy to install and configure. The user can just plug the Ethernet cable into the WAP3205 and connect to another wired device to get connected wirelessly.

WAP 3205 Wireless N Access Point is priced at Rs6,771.

NIRMAL DATACOMM, an enterprise-focussed system integrator, has opened a direct office in Singapore, in order to further enhance the services levels.The Singapore office will be respon-sible for better service delivery for Indian customers.

NIRMAL DATACOMM OPENS SINGAPORE OFFICE

SHAILENDER KUMAR, MANAGING DIRECTOR, QUEST SOFTWARE INDIA

“This strategic decision to open a Singapore entity will help us in getting closer to our high-value Indian customers. This is also an effort which will further help us in deliver-ing better service experience to our customers,” said Kedar Shah, CEO, Nirmal Datacomm. “As an organisation, we tend to offer what the customer wants and what could be best keeping his perspec-tive. Opening an entity in Singapore is actually driven by this analysis only. We always want to offer best possible services to our customers,” added Shah.As per the company, with this global expansion strategy, it believes to further enrich its relations with the enterprise customers.

KEDAR SHAH, CEO, NIRMAL DATACOMM

UPtoDATE


TOP NOTCH INFOTRONIX, under the brand Zebronics, has announced the launch of the Passion Series PC cabinets.

As per the company, the Passion Series cabinets sports elegant surface graphics with messages that would appeal to different segments of users. The cabinets also come with matching mouse and mouse-pads.

There are four different models in the Passion Series - Gamer’s Delight, Home, Earth and Butterfly. Gamer’s Delight, targeted to appeal to gamers.

As the name suggests, the cabinets feature stylised fiery-graphics matching the gamers’ mindset.

The Home model has a more serene scene on the panel along with a social message “The strength of the nation derives from the integrity of the home”. The Earth model has been given a cool green look and graphics, carrying the message “Stop global warming”. The Butterfly model is a little surrealistic carrying a message of hope - “Where flow-ers bloom, there is hope”.

All the four have matching graphics on the mouse and mouse pad.

While the front panel of all Passion Series cabinets

HCL INFOSYSTEMS, AN information ena-bling ICT System Integration Company, marks this festive season with special offers for customers from October 10th to November 7th, 2010.

As a token of celebration in this festive season, there are assured gifts on the purchase of HCL note-books & desktops.

With every purchase of a HCL note-book or desktop, the customers will get a guaranteed gift as a strolley bag.

According to the company, HCL Infosystems also provides the custom-ers across India a chance to win assured gifts, which includes Hyundai i20, LCD TV, refrigerator, microwave, gold coins, and silver coins. Also, many more gifts would be given on purchase of HCL notebooks and desktops.

Zebronics Launches New PC Cabinets

HCL Infosystems Announces Special Offers in Festive Season

feature the stylised graphics, the top and sides have a soft-look matte finish. Up to four hard disks and three optical devices can be accommodated inside the cabinet.

The matching mouse has a 1000 DPI sensor and USB interface. While the top surface of the mouse pad is lami-nated for better tracking and easy mouse movement, the bottom surface is rubberized for better grip.

The Passion Series is available from computer accessories and electronics stores at a price of Rs.1,699 that includes the entire set of cabinet, mouse and mouse pad.

Infosystems has also joined hands with the people of India to celebrate the spirit of this festive season.”

“This year, with every new HCL notebook or desktop, our customers will take home exciting gifts to add to their joy and enjoyment,” he added.

During this festive season, every purchase of HCL Ezeebee Desktop or ME Laptop will make the customers eligible for an assured gift of a strol-ley bag worth Rs.2999 (MRP).

Every HCL Desktop is coming bundled with ‘ Wiz Pack’ - an educa-tion pack for students from KG to 12th class, which is worth Rs.14,000 completely free.

The ME Laptop customers will also get free onsite warranty worth Rs.2,000, and EC2 -- a data recovery software in less than 60 seconds -- completely free.

Also, the Tata Photon Plus data card worth Rs.2,499 will be available at a price of Rs.899 only.

Elaborating on the offer, George Paul, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems said, “This is a celebration time for India and people celebrate their own festivals in every corner of the country. HCL

ZEBRONICS PASSION SERIES BUTTERFLY MODEL, WHICH IS PRICED AT RS.1,699

CHASSIS MOUSEMOUSEPAD

QUICK LINE: HID Global, Sony plan to jointly develop smartcard platform.

GEORGE PAUL, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, HCL INFOSYSTEMS

PARTNERCONNECT


For more UPDATES, Log on http://digitchannelconnect.com/resources/category/3316

VALUEPOINT INTERVIEW WITH RS SHANBHAG, CHAIRMAN AND MD, VALUEPOINT SYSTEMS

“We track the emerging trends well in advance and hence are equipped to cash in on latest opportunities.”

Q What have been the processess and strategies that have worked for Valuepoint over the years?A As a company, Valuepoint has always focused on building long lasting relation-ships. We also believe in never discussing rule books with our customers at their time of crisis and to help them save huge cost in their non-core functions, without compromising in quality and time.

Q What are the current services and solutions you offer? Which verticals do you cater to?A Our core business lies in setting up IT infrastructure, enabling clients to run businesses and critical applications. We provide flexible solutions to meet our customers' requirements. Apart from our core system integration business, we have also diversified to provide serv-ices in the areas of Back Office Processing (BPO), software application development (Off shoring), language translation and localisation services through our group companies. We part-ner with HP, Microsoft, Cisco,Symantec, VMware, Citrix, APC and Emerson and

cater to almost to every vertical includ-ing IT, ITES, manufacturing, BFSI, govern-ment and education.

Q According to you, how is Valuepoint positioned to address the latest trends in IT infrastructure management?A At Valuepoint, we track the emerging technologies and trends well in advance and hence are equipped to cash in on the cloud opportunity. We have already built our cloud expertise and have done two cloud implementations so far.

Q What are your future plans and goals?A We are building our own private cloud and have invested $2.5 million into it. In a year' s time, we should be ready with it and would offer five different services and solutions on the cloud for the banking, healthcare, education and hospitality sector. We also plan a few mergers and acquistions and will announce two more ventures in over a year' s time from now. Eventually, I want to launch an IPO.

[email protected]

Q How has your company Valuepoint Systems grown since its inception in 1991?A I founded the company in 1991 with a capital of around Rs 10,000. Today, Valuepoint Systems is close to a Rs.200 crore company with 1100 employees. We are a leading IT solutions provider and the chosen partner to many Fortune 500 companies for setting up IT infrastructure, integrating it and main-taining it over its lifecycle in all areas of technology including computing archi-tecture, networks, security and much more. At present, Valuepoint has four group companies under it – Sourcehub, ValuePoint Knowledgeworks, Thoughtnnet and D-Vois. We have also established our footprint international-ly by catering to international clients in addition to being present in all major cities in India.

DOSSIERName: RS ShanbhagDesignation: Chairman and Managing DirectorCompany: Valuepoint SystemsProfile: Founded in 1991, Value Point Systems started its journey as a small company involved in assembling and AMCs, and today, it has grown into a complete enterprise having a number of different companies under its umbrella.

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It is time for channel partners to put the economic slump behind and enter a new phase of vendor-financed expansion

As the economy recovers and businesses take to IT spending again, a number of channel partners are aggressively pursuing solutions that will enable them to grow their business now and in the upturn. To fuel this growth, they are looking at different financing options as an important ingredient to business success.

BY PAYAL PRUTHI | ILLUSTRATION ANIL T

FINANCING COVERSTORY

FINANCEYOURGROWTH


Until recently, even solution providers with advanced technical expertise were not able to fully tap the market because of working capital crunch. Insufficient credit lines or slow-paying customers inhibited a channel partner’s ability to capitalize on revenue opportunities. “Till sometime back, partners needed financing options to battle shrinking customer spending and to accelerate pending deals. But now they need it to boost their business and explore more and bigger opportunities, which are often very complex,” says Sujeet Narula of Delhi-based Associated Business Computers. He adds that as more and more partners graduate from a products-only to a solution-cen-tric approach, the need for cash flow becomes a primary concern.

No wonder, then, that most chan-nel members feel that IT vendors, apart from talking about the latest technology and how it will make their customers more competi-tive, must also focus on easing the financing burdens of their partners. “Options like leasing, financing and prolonged credit periods are something partners are accustomed to. However, as part-ners handle more complex deals, the credit cycles too have become longer. Financing support offered by a particu-

lar vendor is a good investment because it helps to drive a brand preference and make channel partners generate more revenue. If there is one brand that comes with financ-ing support versus a slightly better product that isn’t backed financially, chances are that the partner is going to go to the cus-tomer and advocate the option with the financing,” says Akhil Ranjan Jha, Director, Comprehensive Consultancy, Kolkata.

However, some partners are of the view that vendors need to do much more in extending financing support to partners. For one, Jaya Shetty, Director, Grid Power Conversion, Bengaluru, has always felt the need for a regular flow of working capital. “We have been exploring various financ-ing options as there is a constant need for them. A vendor financing option maybe comfortable, but vendors need to be more forthcoming. Sometimes, it is the financing support that most vendors just overlook,” she says.

Financing options from vendorsVendors such as HP, IBM and Cisco are enabling their channel partners with attrac-tive financing offers and customer financ-ing schemes, thereby helping the partners to preserve capital, improve cash flow and close deals. According to Sapan Jain, Regional Executive, IBM Global Financing (IGF), in today’s difficult economy, cash and funding sources are more difficult to acquire. “Clients and partners try to associate solu-tion payback with outflow of cash, and so,

financing schemes allow gradual ramping of payments while recognizing early solu-tion benefits - all using external sources of capital. Typically, partners seek 30 or 60-day short-term funding for their inventories and often rely on the addi-tional end-user financing available to their creditworthy client base,” he says.

The finance arm of IBM, IGF generally offers short-term funding to creditworthy

partners and a variety of traditional leases, loans and sale-leasebacks (long or short-term financing) to creditworthy end-user

90DAYS: THE CREDIT

PERIOD IBM GLOBAL FINANCING OFFERS

TO PARTNERS ELIGIBLE FOR SHORT-TERM

FINANCING

COVER STORY FINANCING


For more UPDATES, Log on http://digitchannelcon-nect.com/resources/features 20

clients. IGF offers financing to a wide range of tier 1 business partners and to their end clients, and criteria is often based on a comprehensive credit check to ensure eligibility. Eligible partners can get short-term financing for up to 90 days and credit-approved end clients can avail nine months to five years of flexible financing, including leases and loans, for their IT procurement. “IGF is more than a bank, as it delivers com-prehensive, integrated, customised and affordable solutions to unique enter-prise IT needs. This helps companies better manage cash and harvest bet-ter ROI while keeping the competitive edge,” says Jain.

In the recent past, vendors claim that they have been talking more aggressive-ly about their financing offers to both partners and customers and have also increased their focus towards small and mid-size companies. “Working capital has always been critical to solution pro-viders in the technology industry, and that continues to be the case in the cur-rent environment. Cisco Capital financ-ing empowers partners to help custom-ers align their IT needs with business objectives. Financing allows customers to overcome budgetary barriers and more easily acquire hardware, software and services when needed–help-ing them to run their businesses more smoothly and efficiently,” says Maryann Von Seggern, Director of Worldwide Channels Development for Cisco Capital.

Cisco Capital’s chan-nel financing programme extends the payment terms to 90 days on all Cisco pur-chases at no cost to the part-ner. Additionally, qualified part-ners in India can utilize Cisco Capital’s Progress Payments financ-ing offer for Unified Communications (UC) solutions. This programme allows

partners to be paid up to 80% of the cost of equipment required for a UC deployment, prior to the solution being fully deployed. This alleviates cash flow concerns for the partner during multi-site deployments and removes the need for the customer to make milestone payments to the partner.

According to Seggern, the number of credit requests and inquiries related to financing has increased as companies look for alternative funding sources in the current challenging economic and banking environment. Differentiating financing options offered by Cisco from those by banks, she says, “Cisco Capital brings a deeper understanding of Cisco’s products, services and cus-tomer business requirements than the generic approach used by banks and outside financial institutions.”

Unlike Cisco, some vendors leverage tie-ups with banks to offer credit help to partners. For instance, if partners are looking to borrow a considerable amount of working capital, Emerson

Network Power introduces them to the bank and helps them obtain

loans on pre-decided and dis-counted terms. “It is the typi-cal product selling approach that always has a credit block attached to it. On the other hand, a solution approach works out to be more advan-tageous for partners in terms of cash flow. The extended

project lifecycle allows them to work on an interim payment

basis with their customers,” says Mandeep Gupta, Country Manager

for channel business, Emerson Network Power.

“A solution approach works out to be more

advantageous for partners in terms of cash flow. The extended project lifecycle allows

them to work on an interim payment basis with their

customers.”MANDEEP GUPTA,

COUNTRY MANAGER - CHANNEL BUSINESS, EMERSON NETWORK POWER

No. of credit requests & inquiries related to financing has increased as companies look for alternative funding sources in the current challenging economic environment.

FINANCING COVER STORY


to acquire the technology they need, meet ongoing technology refresh requirements, reduce total customer cost of ownership, and have the flexibility to use payment schedules to match cash flow and budget. All partners need to learn how to change the conversation to effectively incorpo-rate financing into the deal,” says Cisco Capital’s Seggern.

Gupta of Emerson feels that some part-ners that avail of financing options might find it difficult to push their stock within a defined time period and to receive payment from their customers within credit timelines. “Such challenges can be met by adopting a solutions approach, and we have taken the

initiative to advise our partners accord-ingly. At times, partners need to plan

the best-fit leverage model as some of their customers also purchase

products on credit,” he says.In spite of the challenges and

issues faced by the channel partners, they are constantly exploring various vendor financing options available in the market. Vendors, too, have come to believe that financing

can often be the ‘glue’ that can put together a deal involving hard-

ware, software and services – and make it affordable, stable and consist-

ent for partners as well as customers.

[email protected]

Concerns and challengesDespite what vendors claim and the obvious benefits attached to financing, many solution providers feel it is not easy to avail financing options from vendors and many of these are good only on paper. Partners often find that financing schemes involve complex procedures right from the procurement to the closing of a deal. “The vendor is not always very proactive when it comes to reaching out to solution pro-viders with financial support. For one of our current deals, we are witnessing a great delay and the vendor is taking a long time to revert to us. In such a situation, chances are that we may lose the customer. There is enormous paperwork involved, which makes the whole process very tedious. And even after producing the entire documen-tation, one is not sure of getting the financing,” says Sandeep Vahi, Director - Marketing, Compton Computers.

Some partners allege that vendor-financing programmes are rolled out only for relatively larger partners and deals. According to Rajiv Gupta of Teckinfo Solutions, Delhi, “Most of the vendors are keen on funding large enter-prise deals. Many of the partners are left out, as the minimum deal size does not fit the prescribed slab by the vendor.” Another point of concern for partners, says Narula of Associated Business Computers, is that vendors offer only short-term financing schemes; for long-term funding, part-ners still have to depend on alternative sources like banking institutions.

For their part, vendors aver that in the first place, most partners need to educate them-selves and their customers about the value and benefits of financing. “Financing makes it easier for customers

“Financing allows customers to overcome budgetary barriers and

more easily acquire hardware, software and services when

needed–helping them to run their businesses more smoothly

and efficiently. MARYANN VON SEGGERN,

DIRECTOR, WORLDWIDE CHANNELS DEVELOPMENT, CISCO CAPITAL

KEY BENEFITS OF CHANNEL FINANCING

Larger credit facilities to

increase sales

Better cash flow through

improved payment

terms

A predictable and

manageable working

capital cycle

Improved profitability

Streamlined account

management through the use of online

tools

Access to purchase order financing and other flexible

financing solutions

COVER STORY FINANCING


ASSOCIATIONCONNECT



COMPASS

DOSSIERCOMPASS was established in 1994. The associ-ation' s expecta-tions for the year 2010-2011 are: To strengthen rela-tionship with all the eastern asso-ciations in India and pr incipal companies; To professionalise the back office of COMPASS such that quality work and projects in the interest of the members can be under-taken; To organ-ise Computer shopper which i s h e l d w i t h GITEX, Dubai.

Q As the new President of COMPASS, what are your priorities for the association?A As the President of the associa-tion, I aim to take COMPASS to the next level this year. For that, we have taken new initiatives for the welfare of our members. I would like to highlight that COMPASS has been playing an active role in the eastern region in terms of protecting the interest of channel partners and supporting best trade practices. Taking the momentum forward, we have planned to take more proactive action rather than reactive. Looking at the wafer thin margins, it is very important for us to bring the channel, principal companies and dis-tributors together to form best trade practices, which can ensure healthy margins for channel partners. Apart from this, we are planning to take a serious initiative in curbing software piracy. To correct this, we will be edu-cating the entire ecosystem.

Q COMPASS has been working towards solving the piracy issue in the region. So far, what has been the result?A Well, the efforts by COMPASS in fighting piracy have been successful to a large extent. However, we can judge the effectiveness by a recent survey carried by a software company. The survey has shown that the piracy level in the eastern region has gone down significantly. But, we feel there is more scope to improve the situation.

Q Can you tell us about the current strength of your association?A Presently, we have 305 members in the association. And as part of our pri-orities, we will be looking at a 50% growth in our membership and taking the count to 450. As we grow our mem-bership, we will be enhancing our members’ services. In COMPASS, each member has a role to play, as we have engaged them in managing different committees such as a grievance cell, CSR, fellowship, etc. Each committee is spearhead by a chairman.

Q What are the benefits that COMPASS offers to its members?A We provide good resources like legal services to our members. The member can take guidance from the Chairman on issues related to trade practices and disputes, advice on stat-utory matter, preferences from our members while doing transactions. This year, we will add more member services; we will hire a specific agency on a contract, which will provide dif-ferent services at discounted rates to our members. –[email protected]

Going to the Next Level

B HARI, PRESIDENT, COMPUTER ASSOCIATION OF EASTERN INDIA (COMPASS)

ACMA IT show all set to go from regional to national

CMDA PUNE TO HOLD IT SHOW IN DECEMBER 2010

Pune-based Computers and Media Dealers Association (CMDA) has announced the CMDA IT Expo, which will be held from December 10-13th, 2010 at Pune Marriott Hotel and Conventional Centre.

With an aim to raise the level from a typical regional-based IT show, this year, Ahmedabad Computer Merchants Association (ACMA) has set the vision to take it to the nation-al level. Scheduled to be held from 17-20th December, 2010 at AES ground, drive in Road, Ahemdabad, the association has given a new look and feel to the 7th ACMA IT show.

EVENT CALENDAR


ROUNDUP ASSOCIATION CONNECTCOMPASS

AFTER the Chennai High Court dismissed the writ petitions filed by Infotech Software Dealers Association (ISODA) on August 24 this year, the association has again filed a review petition to seek clarity on a recent judgement where the court upheld service tax on software. Meanwhile, the association will continue to levy service tax/VAT depend-ing on their understanding about the software.

According to Rajesh Kothari, Chairman, ISODA,“We have filed a review petition and are seeking a detailed clarifica-tion from the court. In the meantime, we will continue to charge service tax and VAT from the end customers.”

“We have been seeking clarity from the government on double taxation confusion, but no sat-isfactory solution has come for-ward till today, which in result is increasing piracy rate, degrading the interest of software industry and economy at large. There is an immediate need of political willpower, which can take up this issue beyond revenue pur-view,” he said.

It may be noted that ISODA took the legal route as the last resort after making several representations to industrial bodies such as Nasscom, MAIT and even taking up the issue with the Finance ministry. The double taxation issued was also debated in the parliament recently.–Sandhya Malhotra

GIRISH RATHORE OF COMPEX SYSTEMS ELECTED AS NEW TAIT PRESIDENT

Mumbai-based Trade Association of Information Technology (TAIT) has announced the names of the office bearers after the election for the period of 2009-10, which was held on September 30th this year. While Girish Rathore of Compex Systems has been elected as the President, Rushabh Shah of Graham information Sys has been appointed the VP, Vikram Mehta of V R Infotech the General Secretary, Pravin Dhoka of Ortek computers the Treasurer and Champakraj Gurjar of Maxtone Electronics the Media Spokesperson.

Apart from seven board of directors, the association has appointed three additional co-opted directors for one year tenure.

ISODA Files Review Petition in Chennai High Court

WHAT THEY SAY ON OCTROI

“Due to octroi, there is confu-sion and price disparity in other cities, which has caused unhealthy competition.” PRASHANT UGEMUGE, VIDARBH COMPUT-ER MEDIA DEALERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION

“Until octroi tax is abolished, we want our vendors to continue their support and adopt uniform pricing.” SHASHIKANT D SATBHAI, PRESIDENT, CMDA, PUNE

“We feel vendors should bill Octroi-paid material in all Octroi zones. This is the only way to put everyone at par on the Octroi front.” GIRISH RATHORE, PRESIDENT, TAIT

1 Top| Sunil Dutt, General Manager and Vice President, HP PSG India, inaugurating the COM-IT 2010 Expo2 Bottom| Lamp lighting ceremony at the COM-IT 2010 Expo.

TAIT COM-IT EXPO 2010

BEST OF BIZ NEGOTIATION



Bringing the Best to the TableWorking in a team has its advantages and problems. The trick is to turn every hurdle in your favourBY DAVID LIM

The negotiations went bad very quickly and they had to surren-der unconditionally to the invad-ing Japanese forces that had beaten the much larger British Army defending the Malayan Peninsula and Singapore.

Winston Churchill, the then Prime Minister of Britain, called it “the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history”.

Luckily for the rest of us, we rarely have a team negotiation where the perceived and actual power we have is as little as that held by Percival, and where the outcome so stacked against us.

Team negotiations present unique challenges and oppor-tunities.Perhaps we can best understand team negotiations with an analysis of the various advantages and disadvantages team negotiations provide. Let’s first look at 7 advantages.

s a leadership coach, I often get asked for my opin-ion about topical events. One such event that has captivated the world, is of course, the World Cup football tournament held recently in Africa. A fascinating aspect of this game is that often size does not matter, and a beautiful turn by a single individual can create history, The ‘beautiful game’

as it has been once described is full of such examples. When Sir Henry Percival and three other British officers sat across

from General Tomoyuki Yamashita at 4pm, 15th Feb 1942, it was to negotiate the surrender of Singapore.

DAVID LIM, FOUNDER, EVEREST MOTIVATION TEAM

Brainpower increases by adding a person to the negotiating team. “Two heads are better than one,” is a great thought for team negotiations.

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BEST OF BIZ NEGOTIATION


TEAM STRENGTHS1 Show of strength

Often increasing the number of negotiators, in and of itself, provides an advantage to team negotiations because of the apparent show of strength with more numbers. This factor should be carefully analysed, however, because in some situations, it might appear that you are attempting to compensate for a weak position by large numbers.

2 Moral supportWhat we mean here is that when there is more than one person negotiating, one person can think while the other talks. When you are on a team, there is certainly less pressure for this reason and it provides a distinct advantage.

3 Better planning My observations of team negotia-tions indicate that, for whatever rea-son, most teams tend to plan more and better than if a single individual was responsible for the negotiation. Obviously, a better-prepared team will perform better.

4 Better internal coordinationA not-so-obvious advantage of team negotiation is that once those negotia-tions are completed, more people on that negotiating team feel ownership in the decisions, because of their involve-ment in the negotiation. Internal coor-dination, or implementing the results of the negotiation, can often be greatly enhanced by having more of those who are responsible for carrying out the results be involved in the negotiation. This is why we often see members of various departments involved in a particular negotiation, because each of those departments will play a signifi-cant role in carrying out or living with the results of the negotiation.

5 More expertiseOr, in other words, more brainpower is provided whenever we add an indi-

vidual to our negotiating team. “Two heads are better than one,” is an excel-lent thought for team negotiations.

6 Option and flexibility to change rolesOne party might be the leader, another party, the note taker, another the skeptic or bad guy, another the good guy or relationship builder, and yet another, the one assigned to read body language. Each can concentrate spe-cifically on their task and be sure it is done correctly.

7 Less chance of careless errors creeping inWith more people observing the process of the negotiation, there is considerably less chance that there will be an unnoticed error -- a signifi-cant reason for lack of negotiation effectiveness in many negotiations. For all these reasons, team negotia-tions may add greatly to your side’s negotiating effectiveness.

THE BOTTLENECKS1 The cost

Obviously, it is more expensive to have more people involved. This must be carefully weighed against the seven advantages just discussed, to see if the magnitude of the nego-tiation is sufficient to justify the increased cost.

2 Disunity/diverse opinionsOne of the biggest potential disadvan-tages of team negotiation is simply the fact that, whenever you have more than one person, you are very likely to have more than one opinion. There cer-tainly can be more than one successful way to approach each negotiation situ-ation, but one thing is sure -- none of them will work if there is no unity on the team.

3 Leaking informationA common error is for someone on

a team to inadvertently or unknow-ingly leak important information that adversely affect their position in that negotiation. It might be the representative from the quality con-trol department who says, “But their product is the only one that meets our company’s mandatory quality control standards.” Talk about leaking impor-tant information!

4 TimeMost team negotiations take longer than individual negotiations, for obvi-ous reasons. Again, weigh this factor against the benefits to see if, in any given negotiation, it merits using a team versus an individual negotiation.With these disadvantages in mind, there are ways in which one can be more effec-tive with team negotiations:

Internal coordination, or implementing the results of the negotiation, can often be greatly enhanced by having more of those who are responsible for carrying out the results be involved in the negotiation. This is why we often see members of various departments involved in a particular deal.

NEGOTIATION BEST OF BIZ


HOW TO SUCCEED2 Unity a t the table

Decide ahead of time, as a team, that you will have no open-end disagree-ments at the negotiating table.

2 Have breaks to discuss differences (If they exist)It is a perfectly acceptable procedure to ask for a break in the negotiation so that your team can recess to discuss any differences in opinion they may have. Differences discussed openly in front of the other party can only create prob-lems for you later in the negotiation.

3 Read body language when someone else is speakingWhen a member of your team is speak-ing, concentrate on the other teams’ body language.

There is no advantage to you to look at the member of your team when they speak, although it is the

natural tendency. The skilled negotia-tor will use this opportunity to pick up valuable body language cues from the other team.

4 Position your team for maximum impactIf you have the largest negotiating team and want to maintain strength in num-

bers, keep your team seated together to maintain the show of strength.

On the other hand, if you have the smaller negotiating team, you may want to disperse your small numbers throughout their team, thus defusing the show of strength of their numbers.

If you’re negotiating alone, opposite two or more on the other side, posi-tion yourself so that you can see all members of the other team at once, thus enabling you to read all body lan-guage cues simultaneously.

This positioning accomplishes one other important consideration -- members of the other team cannot signal to each other without your seeing them do so.

Remember, negotiating in a team takes planning, a clear sense of desired outcomes, and prudence in revealing information to the other party.

The author is a leadership and negotiation coach. Courtesy: CFO India

Decide ahead of time there should be no open-end disagreements at the negotiating table.

BESTOFBIZ


For more UPDATES, Log on http: http://digitchannelconnect.com/resources/category/3530

INNOVATION

SPEND MANAGEMENTRead on if cost saving, financial productivity and employee satisfaction are at the top of your agenda

BY JAYANT DWIVEDY | ILLUSTRATION ANIL T

OES YOUR

ORGANISA-

TION have an active spend management strategy? This question

by default obtains the answer ‘Yes’ from most organisations, big or small. Entrepreneurs and business leaders do understand the importance of increasing revenue faster than expenses or decreasing expenses while main-taining revenue.

What is important to note early in this article is that spend management solution and spend analysis solution are different.

Spend analysis software tells the organisation where it spends it money but does not give an integrated solution that leads to cost reduction, policy management and compliance, employee satisfaction and pro-ductivity improvement.

A spend management solution integrates spend from a compli-ance perspective, fits it into an accounting framework, improves financial productivity, provides analysis, controls spend and delivers savings.

The next set of questions:n Does the organisation have an ERP or financial system? The answer in most cases is “yes”.n Does the organisation have an online system that gets spend into your accounting framework right from initiation? The answer in majority of the cases is “no”.n Has the organisation electroni-cally connected the “bottom of

STORY ROI A spend management solution fits spend into an accounting framework, improves financial productivity, provides analysis, controls spend and delivers savings.

INNOVATION BEST OF BIZ


the pyramid” for spend management? Again the answer in most cases is “no”. Millions of manual transactions happen before documents are ready for accounting entries.

In the world of corporate governance, policy manage-ment in large organisations is a nightmare if desired integration and reporting has not been achieved. The design of accounting frame-work is often not automated and in most cases not inte-grated to spend initiation (both fundamentally and electronically). This leads to subjectivity and a high dependence on people.

The responsibility of managing the complexity of the changing environment, with company growth while ensuring quality and integ-rity of financial data is a big burden to carry.

The sunk cost in the existing systems is an impediment to the newer integrated solutions that link the “bottom of the pyramid”. These options are cost effective and pay for themselves.

Due to the histori-cal nature and set-up of existing systems and the

SL NO.

CHECK POINTS

TYPICAL SITUATIONS- ILLUSTRATIVE

1Online Spend Management - Overall

Not in use AND/ OR

The electronic aspects of available systems have not been evaluated and SPEND MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE not available

Readiness for future OUTSOURCING not examined comprehensively .

2Online Budget Analysis

Not in use OR Used only by Finance OR

Used off-line and not contributing to day to day management (budget custodian checks manually for key expenses) followed by monthly reports..

3Online Business Intelligence

Not in use because no one initiated OR

Perceived to be difficult and expensive and therefore not in use OR

The manual methods work and people do the MIS every month end

4Online Project Management

Module not available OR

Available but difficult/ complex and therefore not used- details maintained in a spread sheet offline

5Online Travel Management

Manual or dependant on Admin or Travel desk OR

In-house package/ standalone package with workflows for approval and not integrated to financial system AND

No online reports.

6Online packages for Utilities etc.

Limited to payments in Accounts payable and no online control or analysis

7

Online Employee Expense and CTC

Manual and dependant on formats filled by employees and sent across for approvals and processing OR

In-house package/ standalone package with workflows for approval BUT not integrated to financial system AND

No online reports

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reports, organisations most likely see and man-age spend once a month at the functional head and CXO level. Let us therefore examine online possibilities that enable granular spend information and control. They have been provided as check points in the table:

Having established facts that necessitate online control of spend in an inte-grated fashion, it is prudent to determine the status of the current deployments in organisations through a simple classification on cur-rent deployment “Type”.

The key messages:A Your organisation most likely needs a spend management solution to compliment your existing financial system.B The spend management solution automates the accounting framework while linking spend to the initia-tion stage.C The spend management solution makes your spend granular and delivers cost savings, compliance, financial productivity and employees satisfaction (Table); outsourcing readi-ness gets established.

D On line spend management solution is different from a spend analysis software.E Use the illustration to determine your “Type” of current deployment.

F Every CXO has a role to play in spend manage-ment solution.

The author is CEO, Empronc Solutions. Courtesy: CFO India

SPECIALREPORT


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TABLET PCs

THE RISE OF THE TABLET

The latest trend in the technology wave is the tablet PC, which enables

consumers to easily connect anytime, anywhere

BY SANDHYA MALHOTRA | PHOTO IMAGING PRASANTH TR

oday, devices are changing according to the needs of the consum-ers. There is

a huge convergence of user devices which enable consumers to connect quite conveniently. However, the Indian market is not far behind when it comes to adopting new technologies. Consumers are constantly on the look-out for devices which help meet their digital needs, combining entertainment with

STORY ROI Media tablets are poised for strong growth, with global end user sales pro-jected to total 54.8 million units in 2011 and surpass 208 million units in 2014.


TABLET PCs SPECIAL REPORT

functionality. One such device is the tablet PC.

Since the launch of the Apple iPad, the tablet market has come a long way; and with new players emerging every day, the league of tablet makers seems to be growing at a fast rate, with Apple, Samsung, Research in Motion (RIM) of Blackberry and others yet to enter the local market. In the recent past, India has seen tablets from Spice, a handheld internet tablet called MI700 which runs on the Android 2.2 Froyo OS, the Olive Telecom tablet called OlivePad VT100, followed by Infibeam’s Phi, Binatone’s HomeSurf tablet, SMC StylePad and the Android run Dell Streak tablet. Of late, the Indian gov-ernment’s proposed $35 tablet expect-ed to hit the market towards the end of 2011 and Hyderabad-based Notion Ink’s Adam, to be released in the first quarter of 2011, are also expected to fire up the local market.

According to Pallab Talukdar, CEO, Fujitsu India, “The market for entry level is still at a very nascent stage. Fujitsu offers high end tablets for enterprise segment. The difference between entry level and our convert-ible tablet is that our tablet has a base body with an attached keyboard. They more closely resemble modern laptops, and are usually heavier and larger than slates. These are by far the most popular form factor of tablet PCs, because they still offer the keyboard and pointing device (usually a track-pad) of older notebooks, for users who do not use the touchscreen display as the primary method of input.”

Market potentialGoing by a recent report by Gartner, driven by the sales of the iPad, world-wide media tablet sales to end users are forecast to reach 19.5 million units in 2010. Media tablets are poised for strong growth, with worldwide end user sales projected to total 54.8 mil-lion units in 2011, up 181% from 2010 (see Table 1), and surpass 208 mil-lion units in 2014. North America will

MEDIA TABLETS

2010 2011 2012 2013

19,490 54,781 103,425 154,150

account for 61% of media tablet sales in 2010. In 2010, celluar/wi-fi media tablets will account for 55% of sales, and by 2014, they will account for 80% of sales.

The Indian market is already geared up to accept the tablet, as it offers to consumers ease in the day to day activities vis-a-vis laptops. For exam-ple, “Dell Streak is designed to provide people the best “on-the-go” entertain-ment, social connection, and naviga-tion experience. The small screen devices segment is on the rise in India, and with the launch of Streak, we aim

to tap significant market share by end of this year,” says Sanjay Yadav, Country Head, Retail, Dell India.

According to Charles Chen, Director, SMC Networks, Asia Pacific, “We have recently introduced our SMC StylePad for the first time in the Indian market. As compared to west-ern countries, people in India are at par to make use of the tablet technol-ogy. We have received good response to our tablets.”

Alex Li, Vice President, HSB (Home and SMB), Lenovo India says, “Tablets have created a buzz in the PC market and cater to a newer segment - seeking light weight and portability with note-book features, simple touch inputs and mobile and internet connectivity.”

More players in the pipelineHewlett Packard (HP) is also planning the launch of its new Android tablet in 2011. It has also revealed its official Windows tablet named HP Slate 500, which will be an enterprise tablet. With so many other manufacturers working on Android tablets - includ-ing Acer, Asus, and LG, it’s not only the PC makers who are eying on the tablet market; mobile phone makers like Motorola are also set to try their hands on it. Motorola hopes to expand its product line beyond cell phones, and the company is looking at launch-ing its tablet computer early next year. While Samsung Electronics has already unveiled its seven-inch Galaxy Tab in the US market, others like HTC are join-ing the tablet bandwagon soon.

To get the competitive edge over the rivals, many players are planning to bring the prices of their tablets down. For instance, Binatone has announced

WORLDWIDE MEDIA TABLET SALES TO END USERS (THOUSANDS OF UNITS)

SOURCE: GARTNER

There is a great demand for

tablets in India. Customers are

corporate execu-tives, doctors and teachers.”

ASHOK KUMAR MANAGING DIRECTOR,

RAH INFOTECH, ONE OF THE NATIONAL DISTRIBUTOR FOR SMC TABLET

SPECIAL REPORT TABLET PCs


the launch of the Home Surf Touch tablet at Rs.9,000, which has been priced lower than Apple iPad. According to analysts, companies like RIM, HP, AMD, Acer or Samsung might take a pretty different approach and keep the prices lower so that they can compete with Apple.

With prominent players like Apple, Microsoft, Google and Research in Motion in action, the tablet market has become the next battle ground in the mobile devices war, and is estimated to be worth $2 billion by 2012 as per industry estimates.

Growth driversIn India, as with the rest of the world, the demand driver for the growth in the tablet market is mainly the port-ability and connectivity factor that allows easy convergence of every aspect of the user’s digital life in the areas of entertainment, connectivity and navigation. People today want to carry their lives with them. Being compact and light weight, tablets pro-vide a one stop solution to consumers who want to discover, capture and share content as they roam around the world. “The small screen devices seg-ment is on the rise in India, with a host of brands, screen size and applications for customers to choose from. With the launch of Streak, we expect people to show us how they prefer to interact with its unique size and capabilities,” says Yadav.

“The form factor in the SMC tablet will be the key trendsetter, including ease of use, a sleek appearance and a small size. All these features will change the way you look at the note-book PC,” Chen says.

Alex Huang, Country Head for System Business, Asus India says, “The major drivers for the adoption of tablet PCs in India will the same as in advanced countries. The most impor-tant factors will be the availability of compatible software and applications. This could also be generalized in the form of development of an online

application store which has plenty of applications and at the same time can support technologies of the future like HTML 5.0. Also, a major driver for growth and demand will be support for existing technologies, like being able to play flash files and a built-in webcam.” Moreover, 10-inch media tablets will play a role as companion devices in the enterprise market.

In the enterprise space, for the imme-diate future, the main use of the media tablet is as a notebook companion or as a secondary device to take on the road or use for fast access to e-mail, calendaring, and information sources, and showing PowerPoint presentations.

As media tablets move from early adopters to mainstream, they will become a family purchase as well as a personal one. The touch user interface, the applications available on the differ-ent operating systems and the simpler

set up compared to a full-fledged com-puter make media tablets ideal for a range of consumers: from power users to techno-phobics. As costs decrease, media tablets will be added to the list of the devices lying around the house that are shared by the family, says a recent Gartner report.

The other major driver which will fuel the demand of the tablet is the availability of vast content. Tablet mak-ers are focusing in delivering communi-cations solutions to make the most of a customer’s mobile experience, on any network, and using any application. “One of the reasons we chose Android as part of our mobile platform strategy is its ability to build unique user expe-riences. The Android open source O/S offers more opportunities for growth, to access and download Google Android market’s many applications. We believe that consumer demand will be driven by how people choose the technology that best fits their mobile lifestyle. We want to provide the very best interactive experience for custom-ers on their device and for the best value,” points out Yadav.

Go to market strategyIn the tablet fray, all the players are aiming to create a niche segment for their brand of tablet. Largely, they are targeting people who are on the move. Huang says, “We are targeting profes-sionals and students on the move by offering increased battery life and easy portability through our tablets. However, considering the easy usability of tablets, they can be easily operated by the elderly as well as people who have difficulty operating standard com-puting devices; so, the target audience can be quite large.”

Opportunities for LFRs and channel The tablet is generally considered more of a lifestyle product. Hence, vendors intend to take modern retail chain or the Large Format Retail (LFR) route, as it presents mass audiences the oppor-

A tablet PC is a notebook-

style PC with a digitized screen and Microsoft’s

Windows XP Tablet Edition

operating system.”SUMANTA MUKHERJEE

LEAD PC ANALYST, IDC INDIA


TABLET PCs SPECIAL REPORT

tunity to ‘touch and feel’ the product and also helps people view various options before making the purchase decision, especially products such as consumer electronics. “Besides LFRs, however, our retail and channel pres-ence is important to ensure greater penetration and physical presence across geographies,” says Yadav. Chen, who agrees with Yadav, says, “In order to reach out to home users and corpo-rates, LFRs have always contributed a major share in promoting products.”

On the other hand, some vendors feel both channels have different roles to play. People frequently visit LFRs for their purchases, as they can experience the devices more easily. They usually associate LFRs with a better customer experience, with more number of options available in terms of products. With retailers and tradi-tional resellers, however, the experi-ence is more of on a personal level and users can get the best deals from them. In the end, the decision rests on the consumers, which means they will prefer whichever selling scenario suits them best.

According to Ashok Kumar, Managing Director, Rah Infotech, who is one of the national distributor for SMC tablet, “We have been witnessing good trac-tion for the SMC tablet. Of course, there is a great demand for tablets in India. Customers include corporate execu-tives, doctors and teachers.”

Cannibalization The industry feels that with the tablet, the notebook market share is likely to keep falling over the next few years. Major computer manufacturers are now following Apple by bringing out new tablets and are competing for a share of the pie in the growing tablet mar-ket. Carolina Milanesi, Research Vice President, Gartner, says, “The impact of media tablets on other devices will vary among segments. The all-in-one nature of media tablets will result in the cannibalization of other consumer electronics devices such as e-readers,

gaming devices and media players. Mini notebooks will suffer from the strongest cannibalization threat.”

With the trend moving towards con-nectivity and mobility, and with the growing range of tablet PCs, it definitely interests the group of enthusiastic read-ers and business commuters. Office applications are readily available for use. Today, an executive can carry his corporate presentation, work on office files and check his mails on a tablet. With 3G currently gearing up in India, vendors are ready with the tablet, which supports 3G and 3G applications.

According to Yadav, “Dell doesn’t see this as an opportunity for cannibaliza-tion; we see this as an opportunity to help people find the right technology that best fits their mobile lifestyle. There will continue to be a demand for a host of devices in different screen sizes, as consumers cater to differ-

ent needs within mobility and may often use more than one device. As a company committed to engaging with customer needs and wants, we will offer them the choice of device to meet these needs.”

Similarly, Hunag adds, “We think that the Indian PC market is maturing and wide enough to be able to successfully absorb the new segment of tablets eas-ily. In fact, there is a good chance that the introduction of good quality tablets will expand the existing markets more, rather than cannibalize the netbook or notebook segment.”

After the entry of netbooks in the market, consumers now think of them as secondary devices and many users who have brought a notebook will also want to buy a netbook. The same can also hold true for the tablet PC.

[email protected]

The small screen devices segment is ris-

ing in India, and we aim to tap

significant mar-ket share by end

of this year.”SANJAY YADAV

COUNTRY HEAD, RETAIL, DELL INDIA

The introduction of quality tablets

might expand existing markets,

rather than cannibalize the netbook/note-

book segment.”ALEX HUANG

COUNTRY HEAD FOR SYSTEM BUSINESS, ASUS INDIA

TESTEDTRIED-N-


For more UPDATES, Log on http://digitchannelconnect.com/resources/product_update36

The growth in printer, copier and multi-functional product market in India in the first quarter of 2010 over Q1 of 2009, as per Gartner. In Q1 2010, a total of 800,000 units were sold.

35.7%

Memories Printed @ HomeEver since we have replaced film cameras with digital ones, physical photo albums have become a rarity. We present some photo printers that will help you rekindle that old tradition

BY NIMISH SAWANT | PHOTO IMAGING ANOOP VERMA

PHOTO PRINTERS ARE slowly but surely catching on. Every major printer manu-facturer has some printer to address this growing need.

We tested around 7 printers. We con-tacted the respective brands well in advance and managed to test one com-pact photo printer.

These printers are ideal to be used at homes or in small office setups. Not only do they print photographs, but can also be used for other work like printing documents or CD and DVD covers in some cases. The printers that we got for testing are quite differ-

The growth in printer, copier and multi


Wireless Mouse from LogitechLogitech Wireless Mouse M310 features 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity packed into a tiny nano-receiver

D5 Series digital projectorsThe new projectors from Vivitek are designed for widescreen video apps and portability. Available in standard and short-throw projection options

Modular video conferencing LifeSize Bridge 2200 scales intelligently, making full HD quality accessible for organizations needing multiparty video communications

nection and the USB interface. After powering on the printer, the first task involves installing the five ink car-tridges. Before installing the cartridg-es, you have to attach the printhead in the correct manner. While install-ing the drivers, you get a prompt to test a print page for alignment of the printer head.

As this is a photo inkjet printer, the glossy photo paper should be inserted

ent from each other in various aspects, where some can do WiFi, others come in wonderful form factors; some come with a modest two ink cartridges whereas some as many as eight.

Canon PIXMA iP3680Canon PIXMA iP3680 is an inkjet colour photo printer. Its design is similar to other Canon PIXMA models like iP2680, iP1980 etc, coming in a rectangular box having rounded edges with a black glossy finish throughout. It’s a practi-cal design with just two buttons on the right hand rounded edge for power and cancelling printing. The iP3680 uses CMYK dye cartridge ink and a pigment black ink cartridge for high contrast text on a plain white paper. The build quality of the printer is quite decent. Tray quality is a bit poor as the hinges around it tend to shake a lot. It only has two connections viz : power con-

HOW WE TESTEDFor the photo printer, we used the same rig as we have used for all the printers in the past ie. an Intel Pentium 4 with 2 GB of RAM. As this was a photo printer test, we had tested the printers using three test photographs. Photo 1 was the photo we use for all our printer tests, which covers a wide gamut of objects, patterns, faces etc. Photo 2 was another sample photo which had only objects shot against a black backdrop. This helped us assess the quality of black colour printed. Photo 3 was a human portait showing two sisters. We also included one mixed document print test to check all the printers, as you would also use the photo printer to print documents.

We identified 6-7 regions in each of the photograph and gave a score out of 10 to each region as compared to other printers. An average of this score was assigned as the quality score in the log sheet.

Apart from the printer performance, we also gave points to the features offered by the printer. Those having extra connectivity options like PictBridge, memory card support, wifi, network etc had an edge over others. Ease of installation, build quality and printer setup were also evaluated for each printer.

from the rear side whereas the normal A4 paper should be fed via the cas-sette located at the base of the printer on the front side.

Opening the front panel opens up the output tray. The cassette has a capacity of around 150 pages. The out-put collector tray is located just above the base cassette and comes out in the form of a ramp.

The iP3680 has support for ict-Bridge. It comes bundled in with its regular set of software like Canon Solutions and Easy PhotoPrint EX. The user interace of the printer is quite user friendly. The printer is ideally suited for home and SoHo users.

PerformanceThe iP3680 prints at a decent speed, neither too fast, nor too slow as compared to the other printers. It took around 30.9 seconds for a qual-ity mixed document print where as an economy print took 22 seconds. Quality of the print was quite satisfac-tory. In the photo tests, it performed decently. The colours do not over satu-rate at any point. Price: Rs.5,595

August 2010

Canon Pixma

iP3680

Rs.5,595

TRIED -N- TESTED PHOTO PRINTERS


Canon iP100A lot of the ultra compact photo printers in the market are capable of doing only 4x6 inch print. Imagine carrying a port-able printer that can do A4 prints just as good as it does 4x6 inch prints. Canon iP100 is the portable inkjet printer whose

form factor is such that it can allow easy mobility. It’s an upgraded version of the Canon iP90v.

The simple design philosophy of the other Canon iP series of printers is followed in the iP100

too. The printer that we got has a smooth silver matte finish all

through out with glossy black side panels. A single black line on the top

panel has the Canon logo and the model number. On the outer sur-face, there are no buttons or any kind of operational panel. Power

connector port is present on the left hand side whereas the USB port is on the right

hand side of the printer. This printer can run on batteries. It comes with an external battery which fits into a plastic slot. This slot has to be screwed on the rear side such that the battery ports are properly inserted in the space provided on the rear side.

Build quality of the printer is quite sturdy despite the small form factor. On opening the top panel, one comes across two buttons viz: the power and paper clearing button. The cartridges can be inserted by opening the panel alongside the buttons. Setting up the ink tanks should be done carefully as it is slightly different from the standard cartidge.

PictBridge is the only connectivity option present on the printer. It does not support printing from a memory card and also it does not have any network printing support.

PerformanceDo not go by the size of the printer,

as its performance is up there. It performed well in all the photo tests, coming out tops in most of them in terms of

quality. However, one thing that was upsetting was the time it

took to print a mixed document - 101 seconds. Price: Rs.15,695

Epson Stylus PHOTO TX700WEpson printers are impressive to look at and Stylus Photo TX700W does not dissapoint on that count. It comes in the traditional black plastic body with a glossy finish with a matte finished top panel. The top portion of the all-in-one is the scanner section having a flatbed type of scanner. It uses

as many as six ink cartridges namely CMYK, light magenta and light cyan.

The front panel can be broadly divided into three sections viz: the feeder trays, the operational panel and the memory card and PictBridge slots. The design is quite interesting, with the feeder as well as the output tray located on the front facing panel. Tray quality of the cassette is quite impressive and it has an additional tray on top to print CD covers. The trays have grey coloured movable locks for various size of papers ranging from 4x6 inches to A4 size.

Memory card slots are present on the right hand corner. There is a slot for SD/MSPro/xD card and another one for CF cards. A PictBridge port is present just beside the card slots, allowing you to print off a camera directly with-out the need of a computer.

The operational panel on the printer occupies a place of pride. The left hand portion comprises the power button, a CD tray indicator and a four-way home button which allows you to directly switch modes from copying to printing to scanning. In the centre, we have a 2.5-inch colour LCD screen. Navigating through the various menus on the screen is quite simple with the help of the navigation buttons beside the LCD screen. The operational panel can go from a front facing orientation to a top facing orientation by pressing the unlock button on its corner. There is a blue light which is on when the printer is working.

August 2010

Photo printers are slowly but surely catching on. Every major printer manufacturer has some printer to address this growing need.

Epson Stylus PHOTO TX700WRs.13,999

Canon iP100

Rs.15,695

PHOTO PRINTERS TRIED -N- TESTED


The all-in-one has lots of connec-tivity options like network printing, bluetooth, WiFi, memory cards and PictBridge. Setting up the WiFi func-tionality throws up many issues.

PerformanceThe TX700W is blazing fast as com-pared to the other printers. But one annoying aspect we discovered while printing was that when the photo prints were nearing the end, the glossy paper used to get stuck to the rollers and move sideways, thus ruining the base of each photo print. This affected its performance scores. Price: Rs.13,999

HP Photosmart C4688 and C4788HP sent us two printers from the Photosmart series namely C4688 and C4788. Both these printers are completely identi-cal except for the fact that C4788 has the WiFi connectivity option whereas the C4688 does not. Both the models are all-in-ones having func-tionality of scanning and copying apart from the regular printing.

The all-in-ones come in an all black glossy body with the HP logo embla-zoned on the top panel. The front panel is somewhat unconventional in terms of aesthetics, as it isn’t a smooth one body front panel. It is covered by the input feeder tray which reveals the printer paper rollers on opening. To insert the tri-channel colour and black cartridge, one has to open the front panel after lowering the input feeder tray.

There is no paper collection or output tray. The paper comes out from the front portion. A grey plastic extender tray is located under the input tray, which when ejected out, lies perpendicular to the input tray and prevents the output paper from falling off. Tray quality is quite sturdy in both the printers.

Apart from the power button, there is no other button on either of the all-in-ones. A 1.45-inch colour LCD screen is located on the left hand top edge. We felt that the screen size is quite small and the fonts used even smaller. However, the touch sensitive controls locat-

CANON SELPHY CP780CANON SELPHY CP780 is one photo printer that can be used to quickly take 4x6 inch prints of your photographs either from the PictBridge port or the variety of memory card slots. The compact size makes this photo printer extremely portable. It also has a provision to add an external battery, thus reducing the need for a power source. HOWEVER, THE MODEL we tested was done using a power source. Canon Selphy CP780 comes in a white plastic body with a silver top portion. There is a 2.5 inch LCD screen which is surrounded by the operational panel buttons. The top portion has a wavy design, making it quite attractive to look at. All the buttons, l i k e power, menu, back, print and navigation buttons are rubberised. The printer comes with two trays, one for a postcard size paper and the other for a visiting card size. These trays have a two way plastic panel acting as a lock. There is no output collection tray. On the right hand side is the slot to insert the ink rollers.

It has PictBridge port on the left hand side whereas the memory card slots populate the left handcorner on the front panel.

PerformanceThis printer is quick to print 4x6 prints. It took around 58 seconds each to print the three test photos. The colours are quite vibrant. But we noticed a prominent layer of dust or some sort of noise on the darker portions of the photograph. We tried our best to print it in a clean enviorn-ment, but the noise never reduced. PRICE: RS.5,995

panel buttons. The top portion has a wavy design, making it quite attractive to look at. All the buttons, power, menu, back, print and navigation buttons are rubberised. The printer comes with two trays, one for a postcard size paper and the other for a visiting card size. These trays have a two way plastic panel acting as a lock. There is no output collection tray. On the right hand side is the slot

test photos. The colours are quite vibrant. But we noticed a prominent layer of dust or some sort of noise on the darker portions of the photograph. We tried our best to print it in a clean enviorn-

The Canon PIXMA iP3680 has a practical design, with just two buttons on the right hand rounded edge for power and cancelling printing.

HP Photosmart

C4688

Rs.7,570

HP Photosmart C4788

Rs.6,267

Canon Selphy CP780

Rs.5,995

TRIED -N- TESTED PHOTO PRINTERS


BRAND CANON HP HP CANON EPSON EPSON CANON

ModelPIXMA iP 3680

Photosmart C4788

Photosmart C4688

PIXMA iP100

Stylus Office TX700W

Stylus Photo R1900 Selphy CP780

Price (`) 5,595 7,570 6,267 15,695 13,999 39,999 5,995

Grand Total (Out of 100) 47.55 50.18 42.51 47.48 76.52 49.79 NA*

Features (Out of 40) 9.20 17.30 13.30 8.70 31.30 9.18 NA* Performance (Out of 60) 38.35 32.88 29.21 38.78 45.22 40.61 NA*

FEATURES

Maximum print resolution (dpi) 9600 x 2400 4800 x 1200 4800 x 12009600 x 2400

5760 x 1440 5760 x 1440 300 x 300

Power Saving Mode (Y/N) N N N N N N N

Duplex printing (Y/N) N N N N N N N

Ink Saving Mode (Y/N) N N N N N N N

Zoom / Fit to Page (Y/N) N Y Y N Y N N

Colour Correction on printer (Y/N) N N N N Y N N

Size of display on printer (inch) NA 1.45 1.45 NA 2.5 NA 2.5

Number of Cartridges Used 5 2 2 2 6 8 1

Cartridge Colours CMYK Black Colour,Black Colour,Black Colour, BlackCMYK, Light cyan, light magenta

Photo Black, Matte Black, CMY, red, Orange, Gloss optimizer

CMYO

Scanner (Y/N) N Y Y N Y N N

Print Memory NA 64 MB 64 MB NA NA NA NA

CONNECTIVITY

PictBridge Support (Y/N) Y N N Y Y Y Y

USB Flash Drive Support (Y/N) N N N N N N N

Network printing support (Y/N) N N N N Y N N

WiFi support (Y/N) N Y N N Y N N

Bluetooth Printing (Y/N) N N N N Y N N

Memory Card support (Y/N) N Y Y N Y N Y

Fax (Y/N) N N N N N N N

PERFORMANCE

Photo 1 (Quality) 5.83 6.16 5.58 6.25 5.75 4.17 6

Photo 1 (Time) 191 277 348 171 120 46.5 58.3

Photo 2 (Quality) 5.5 6.08 5.83 6.25 5.08 5 5.6

Photo 2 (Time) 183 326 414 196 126 165 58.2

Photo 3 (Quality) 6.7 5 4.1 6.6 6 5.8 5.8Photo 3 (Time) 253 358 451 221 140 177 58.5

Mixed Document (Quality) 4.35 4.71 4.71 5.42 5 4.29 NA

Mixed Document (Time) 30.9 74 71 101 54.2 37.4 NA

Mixed Document (Economy) 5.5 3.5 3 5 2 2 NA

Mixed Doxument (Time) 22.1 14.5 16 25 12.3 21.1 NAPrinting Photo 3 off USB/PictBridge/Memory card (Time)

330 249 302 259 74 15069 (pictbridge),74 (SD card)

Scanning (Time) NA 40 37 NA 25 NA NA

Copying (Time) NA 38 41 NA 36 NA NA

MISCELLANEOUS

Bundled CablesPower cable, USB cable

Power cable, USB cable



Power cable, USB cable, LAN cable

Power cable, USB cablePower cable,USB cable

Software SuppliedCanon Utilities

HP Solution Centre

HP Solution Centre

Canon Utilities

Epson Easy Photo EX

Epson Print CD software

Canon Utilities

Dimensions (W x D x H)(mm) 431 x 296 x 153 442 x 421 x 169 442 x 421 x 169322 x 185 x 62

446 x 385 x 150 617.2 x 322.5 x 213.6 176 x 132.6 x 75.6

Weight (Kg) 5.6 4.6 4.6 2 9 12.2 0.94

BUILD QUALITY

Body 6 6.5 6.5 6.5 8 6 7Folding / Hinges 6 7 7 5 7 6.5 7

Tray Quality 7 6.5 6.5 4 7.5 7.5 4

Buttons 6.5 7 7 7 6.5 6 6.5

EASE OF USE

Hardware Connections 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Cartridge Installation 6.5 6.5 6.5 5.5 6 6 6

Paper loading 6.5 7 7 6.5 6 6.5 6.5Software User Interface 6.5 6 6 6.5 6.5 6 6

PHOTO PRINTERS TRIED -N- TESTED


Canon iP100 is a portable inkjet printer whose form factor is such that it can allow easy mobility. It' s an upgraded version of the Canon iP90v.

ed around the screen are a welcomed addition. There are three controls like OK, Back and Don’t Select (denoted by an X) on the left hand side where-as three selection slits on the right hand side.

PerformanceHP Photosmart printers are slow opera-tors. Painfully so in some cases. Photo 2 and Photo 3 took over 5 minutes for C4788 and around 7 minutes for C4688. The quality was not the best among all the printers. It fared well in the sample photo tests (photo 1 and photo 2) but in the portrait photo (photo 3), it was not that great. C4688 tended to over-saturate the colours giving. Also, the skin tones looked somewhat overtly bright in C4688. Price: Rs.7,570 (C4688) and Rs.6,267 (C4688)

Epson Stylus Photo R1900An upgrade from the older R1800, the Epson Stylus Photo printer R1900 was the only A3 photo printer that we tested. This printer occupies a lot of space thanks to its relatively greater dimensions to accomodate the A3 paper. Both the input feeder tray and output collector tray extend outwards from the plane of the printer, so you need sufficient space on your desk to accomodate the R1900.

It comes in a black and silver body. There is no operational panel, only four buttons on the top. It has very limited connectivity options. There is a PictBridge slot on the lower left hand corner. R1900 does not have network

connectivity, instead it has two USB interfaces to connect to two systems at a time.

This printer has as many as eight cartridges. There are two black cartridges namely Glossy Black (GBK) for glossy paper prints and Matte Black (MBK) for matte photo papers. In addition to the regular cyan, magenta and yellow cartridg-es, there are red and orange cartridges. Apart from the seven colour cartridges, there is a Gloss Optimizer (GO) car-tridge. GO helps in reducing the effect of bronzing.

Installing the cartridges is quite straightforward. Setting up the printer is easy. The R1900 also has a provision to print CD and DVD covers. There is a separate tray to insert the cover paper.

PerformanceR1900 performed well in most of the tests when it came to speed, but its quality was not as good as we expected from a printer having eight cartridges. All the printer settings were at default. Photo 1 lacked contrast. Photo 3, which had human subjects, appeared really nice though, with skin tones that weren’t too bright. Mixed document printing was also strictly OK, nothing great to talk about in the quality of the print. Price: Rs.39,999

ConclusionEpson Stylus Photo TX700W was awarded as the Best Performer for its fast, good quality print speeds. HP Photosmart printers gave good quality prints as well, but they took an insane amount of time because of which they lost out in the performance scores. Moreover, TX700W comes with myriad features like WiFi, bluetooth and also functions like copier and scanner.

Best Buy was awarded to Canon iP 3680 for its sweet price point of Rs.5,595. Its performance outscored both the HP printers.

Apart from these printers, we felt that the pricing of Canon iP100 is way off the mark. It is ideal for someone who is constantly travelling and wants instant printouts. The additional battery provided with the printer can be a boon in places where there is no provision of direct power.

Epson R1900 is strictly meant for office use. It’s not feasible for home use, as it will need a large desk space, plus it does not make economic sense to print A3 prints at home.

Courtesy: Digit

Epson

Stylus Photo

R1900

Rs.39,999



TECHNOTOUCH INTERNET APPLICATIONS

RICHERPLATFORMS,RICHER TARGETSRIA tools combine the power of native applications with the deployment virtues of the web, providing opportunities for both developers and malware writers

BY LARRY SELTZER | ILLUSTRATION ANIL T

he next frontier of corporate development may well be rich internet applications,

which do not necessarily run in the browser and are free of the user-interface limitations of that environment. Corporate develop-ment went headfirst into conven-tional internet application devel-opment before the enormous security implications of that platform were clear. As a result, many organisations found—and still find—themselves on a bumpy ride as browser, tool and server vendors set about work-ing through their security kinks.

What about RIAs? Is the security picture any better for these platforms, or will these richer environments deliver similarly rich opportunities for malware writers?

As with native and web-based applications, secure develop-ment and deployment of RIAs depend in large part on sound management and patching poli-cies, along with careful attention

STORY ROI Secure deployment of RIAs depends on sound management and patching policies, and care-ful attention to the built-in security features of these platforms.


INTERNET APPLICATIONS TECHNO TOUCH

to the built-in security features of these platforms. There are quite a few RIA platforms, but only three of any fame: Adobe’s AIR, Microsoft’s Silverlight and Oracle’s JavaFX.

A question of securityAll three RIAs bring many, if not all, of the security issues of their base plat-forms. The first thing you need to be concerned about is the security record of the platform. After examining the products and documentation, it’s clear that Adobe has put the most work into security, as well as the documentation of secure practices for administrators and developers. This may be counterin-tuitive, as their reputation for security has not been good lately, and their products are the most common target for attack. Nevertheless, Adobe has adopted several measures in the last year or two to improve the security of its products, and these efforts have made a difference.

Flash’s record for security vulner-abilities in the last few years is not a happy one. Scores of vulnerabilities have been found and, generally, fixed. Though it doesn’t get as much atten-tion, Webkit also has a record of plat-form vulnerabilities in recent years, and some of these may be exploitable through your application.

Java’s vulnerability record is also less than stellar: Because of a high desktop installation rate, it’s an

up-and-comer in the exploit world. JavaFX actually has not had a sin-gle reported vulnerability, but that doesn’t mean much, since JavaFX apps can call into Java and avail them-selves of Java problems.

Silverlight’s record in this regard may be the best of the three. There have been only three reported vulner-abilities in Silverlight, two of them just recently. The total number of reported .NET framework vulnerabilities over the years that could affect Silverlight is hard to count, but it is probably no more than 12—and that includes the three Silverlight vulnerabilities.

In all three cases, the RIA platform has few reported vulnerabilities, with none in JavaFX’s case. But vulnerabili-ties in the base platforms Flash, .NET and Java can be exploited through vul-nerabilities in your own apps.

Even if we can be optimistic about the platform vulnerability records going forward, the real issue in the future may be cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery and the other flaws that are extremely common among conventional web apps.

Proliferation of unpatched versions: A shared problemAll three of these platforms also share the problem of a proliferation of old, unpatched versions, despite the fact that the surest way to keep your security tight is to keep your clients updated. Microsoft and Adobe help users with this more than Oracle does. Adobe provides procedures and tools for automating and managing updates through standard group policy mecha-nisms. Silverlight, in addition to hav-ing its own update mechanism, can be updated through WSUS (Windows Server Update Services).

With Silverlight, you can use group policies to control whether clients can play DRM (Digital-Rights-Management) content; set the Silverlight auto-update mechanism to full auto, prompt or no updates; decide whether to allow Silverlight access to the Webcam and

microphone; enable or disable the use of UDP (User Datagram Protocol) multicast; and, most importantly, enable or disable the installation of trusted applications.

It’s clear that all three platforms have strengths, but from a security stand-point, the picture is blurry. Silverlight definitely looks strongest based on real-world experience, but that may just demonstrate a lack of interest due to a lack of market share.

Larry Seltzer is a veteran writer of both technology articles and software. ©eWeek. Courtesy: IT Next

WEB RESOURCES FOR SECURING RICH NET APPLICATIONSADOBE FLASH PLAYER ADMINISTRATION GUIDE: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/flash_player_admin_guide.html

ADOBE AIR SECURITY OVERVIEW & ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/air/security/485a42d56cd196415cc29732124ef23decb-8000.html

JAVAFX SECURE APPLICATION TUTORIAL: http://download.oracle.com/javafx/1.3/tutorials/Create-Secure-JavaFX-App/index.html

ORACLE JAVA SILENT INSTALLATION GUIDE: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/silent-136552.html

MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT GROUP POLICY MANAGEMENT: http://www.microsoft.com/GetSilverlight/resources/documentation/grouppolicysettings.aspx

SILVERLIGHT DEPLOYMENT GUIDE: http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/8/d/78da8ec9-8801-42e5-89e5-3809386f1316/Silverlight%2520Deployment%2520Guide.doc

The next frontier of corporate development may well be Rich Internet Applications, which do not necessarily run in the browser and are free of the user-interface limitations of that environment.

TECHNOTOUCH


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DISMANTLING SILOSHow to identify the IO telltale signs and head off damaging information bottlenecks

BY DIANE L. KATZ

esources are certainly less abundant than they had been. And resources can mean people, materials or budgets—anything that is needed to get the job done. One manager does not have enough resources

to handle the workload, but another manager chooses not to share his resources. Yet, they are both working toward the same overall goals. It could be that one manager needs an addi-tional person in his group. The manager on the other team sends over the lowest-performing employee. When the receiving manager sees that this newest member is a poor performer, he or she loses trust in the other manager.

Another cause of silos is when one leader instructs a team—directly or indirectly—to mistrust another group. The danger here is that such mistrust can grow so intense that two divisions end up being more competitive with each other than they are with external competi-tion. Internal competition can be motivating, but not at the cost of organisational goals.

10 telltale signs of silosSilos are deadly to the overall results of an organisation when they adversely affect the consistent flow of information.

The first step toward dismantling your silos is spotting them.

Here are the 10 telltale signs that let you know that your organisation is running amok with work silos:1 Managers don’t seem to come up with col-

laborative solutions.2 One manager consistently badmouths

another manager.3 People complain that they don’t have the

information they need to get the job done.

STORY ROI Get a lowdown on how to tackle silos in your organisation, as they may be good on the farm, but they don' t work in the office.

GOVERNANCE TECHNO TOUCH


4 When errors occur, everyone blames everyone else for the mistakes, rather than taking responsibility for their actions.5 You hear complaints that your

organisation has unfair pay practices.6 There is minimal or no exchange of

talent between teams. 7 Your managers complain that

when asking for resources, they either get no help at all or receive inad-equate resources.8 When you tell your managers that

service levels coming from your organ-isation are inconsistent, you get finger-pointing and a lack of accountability.9 A manager who is a team player

appears unhappy or doesn’t stay.10 Your internal customers line up behind one of your managers or anoth-er—rooting for opposing teams.

One organisation’s very tall silosHere’s an example of how silos can lead to poor decision making. Let’s look at a large organisation with more than 10,000 employees whose CIO has been in the job for four years. There are five direct reports in a matrix organisation built around internal client groups, development, support and service.

The CIO meets with the team infre-quently— perhaps once every six to eight weeks. Some significant layoffs have occurred over the past three years, so resources are slim. The direct reports meet without the CIO once a

month, at his request, and he thinks this is enough to enable teamwork.

The five direct reports would all like the CIO’s job one day, but he has given no indication that anyone is being considered. Instead, he tactly encour-ages internal competition. Now that resources are at a premium, there is a constant jockeying for people and budget. Each direct report meets with the CIO individually and pleads his or her case. The CIO doesn’t respond to any of them, instead encouraging them to resolve it among themselves.

The CIO has pet projects, based in part on the preferences of the presi-dent, and these get a boost in resourc-es. Instead of letting everyone know how resources are being allocated, the CIO makes decisions in private and does not openly discuss the rationale. Because of this, the direct reports are more and more mistrustful of each other. They think that their meetings without the CIO are a waste of time because the “real” business is done in their one-one time with the CIO.

Over a six-month period, there was open disagreement without resolu-tion—and even some misinformation. The group was deteriorating, and it fil-tered down into the ranks. Members of one team began bad-mouthing another group. Bottom line: People were wast-ing time and precious productivity.

Steps for eliminating silosFixing the silo problem takes time, and you need to be consistent. Here are some steps you can take:

1 Meet with your team and tell them that you are fully aware of what is hap-pening, that you want all of them to function as a team, and that you will be taking various steps to ensure that this will happen.2 Examine the compensation plans of

your team leaders. Are they being paid to cooperate or compete? If it’s the latter, you need to explain that they will be evaluated mostly on their coop-eration, not on competitiveness, which can be destructive.3 Meet with your team at least once

a month and ask questions, such as:A. “What collaborative teamwork have you used to help various projects succeed?”B. “Do all the players have sufficient information to get their jobs done?”4 When appropriate, begin a talent

exchange between managers. This will make your organisation more attrac-tive to employees, will support cross-training and will expand the knowledge base in your organisation.5 If one of your managers complains

about another one, bring them both into your office, sit them down and explain that you want them to settle their issues. 6 Publicly acknowledge efforts that

succeeded through collaboration. 7 Develop a decision-making process

for the allocation of resources, and let every team member know what that process is. 8 If there are poor performers on any

of your teams, encourage managers to coach, train or fire them, rather than hand them off to each other. Monitor movement among teams in your organ-isation for this.

You can still encourage internal competition. Just make sure the competition doesn’t get in the way of meeting organisational goals. Silos may be good on the farm, but they don’t work in the office.

Diane L. Katz, Ph.D., is president of The Working Circle (www.TheWorkingCircle.com). Courtesy: CTO Forum

Silos are deadly to the overall results of an organisation when they adversely affect the consistent flow of information. The first step toward dismantling your silos is spotting them.

You can encourage internal competition. Just make sure the competition doesn' t get in the way of meeting organisational goals.


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E-WASTE | MOBILITY FOCUS tonnes of e-waste generated in India in 2007 was

equal to 110 million laptops. About 10% of the e-waste generated is recycled every year; the remaining is refurbished.

330,000

RAG PICKERS SIFTING through filthy gar-bage dumps in search of plastic or paper are a common sight in India, and so is the visual of young children risking their lives while trying to pick apart old comput-ers, radios and air-conditioners. India’s informal e-waste industry is notorious for working on a shoestring budget.

As they work without any protection, at times with their bare hands, the labour-ers, employed by the informal e-waste industry, often end up suffering from skin infections, and from other debilitating diseases of blood systems and kidneys. In case of severe exposure to toxic mate-rial, they might also suffer brain swelling,

which might result in paralysis or death. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), in its May 18, 2010 press release, has made the following observation: “India generated 330,000 tonnes of e-waste in 2007 – equal to 110 million laptops. About 10% of the e-waste generated is recycled every year; the remaining is refurbished, and the unorganised sector is right behind almost all of it. Informal dealers refurbish and make money from e-waste.” In India, the situation is being compounded by the fact that it is not only the country’s burgeoning middle class that is discard-ing a huge amount of electronic waste, ranging from personal computers, opti-

TACKLING THE MENACEThe dark reality of e-waste is a gripping one, with a thriving industry exploiting cheap labour

Managing enterprise e-waste

India faces a mounting problem of e-waste with only 5% of it being managed by authorised recycling agencies. The rest is treated by the informal sector. Over 94% of organisations in the country do not have a policy on how to dispose obsolete IT products and e-waste. An organisation can do three key things to deal with e-waste: it can extend the life of IT hardware; it can donate waste products, and it can work with authorised recyclers to dispose of the material.

Quick Take

“ According to our estimate, illegal import of e-waste in the country stands at about 50,000 tonnes annually. ”KUSHAL P S YADAV OF CSE

BY ANOOP VERMA

E-WASTE

E-WASTE FOCUS


cal disc players, mobile phones and other portable devices, even the rich Western countries have started ship-ping their e-waste to our ports. Kushal P S Yadav of CSE says, “According to our estimate illegal import of e-waste in the country stands at about 50,000 tonnes annually. Loopholes in laws facilitate this.”

What can be done?A good way of disposing electronic products, which are in working order, but are no longer required by you, is to donate them. These days, we have a number of organisations which will accept your old computers and send them to schools where children from poorer sections of society come to study. An organisation called Donate Your PC (http://donateyourpc.in/v2), lets you log in and register your donation details, and whenever an NGO requires your PC, you will receive intimation.

You can also dispose of your old PC or any other electronic gizmo by selling it off on eBay. The website has come up with a unique Rethink Initiative, whose details you can find out by pointing your browser at: (http://pages.ebay.com/rethink). Powered by the tech behemoth Intel, the Rethink Initiative seeks to coor-dinate the recycling programmes of many major manufactures of electronic goods. If you are a resident of Mumbai, then you can also take advantage of the NGO called United Way Mumbai (http://www.unitedwaymumbai.org), which makes it possible for you to donate computer spares parts that are in good working condition.

Another good way of tackling e-waste envisages the manufacturer of any electronic product making arrangements for taking the device back once its lifecycle runs out. But in this case, the problem is that many of the top brands in the country don’t have the necessary infrastructure in

place to collect their discarded prod-ucts. According to a CSE report, “Most of the top brands have no take-back policy in India. So, if you are using an Apple, Microsoft, Panasonic, PCS, Philips, Sharp, Sony, Sony Ericsson or Toshiba device, you can’t depend on the company to help you safely discard their device.” Wholly Indian owned brands like Wipro and HCL have come up with very consumer friendly take-back programmes. In fact, the ‘Guide

to Greener Electronics’ initiative by Greenpeace ranks Wipro amongst the top five brands in the world as far as the take-back policy is concerned.

According to Abhishek Pratap, the Greenpeace India Toxics Campaigner, says, “We expect this initiative by Wipro to catalyse other electronics brands to take similar measures.” Companies like Nokia, Acer, Motorola and LG, also have collection centres in the country, but the service seems to be working only in the cities. Samsung electronics currently oper-ates a collection point through its authorised service centre in India, but these centres will only accept discarded mobiles.

According to Samsung’s press release, “By the end of 2010, the company will start operating recycling programmes in Delhi/NCR, Mumbai and in Bangalore.” –Courtesy: Digit

A good way of disposing of electronic products, which are in working order but are no longer required by you, is to donate them.

PEOPLE' S THINKING MUST CHANGEEco Recycling Limited (http://ecoreco.com) has developed a complete spectrum of manual and technological procedures that go into e-waste management. B K Soni, the main promoter of Ecoreco, explains how his company is at the forefront of the war

against e-waste.

What is the biggest obsta-cle that organisations such as yours face in managing e-waste?The main problem is that currently much of the e-waste goes to junk dealers, who sell their stuff to informal recycling centres. We are still in process of convincing individuals and corporate entities to give their

e-waste to properly functioning recycling centres such as Ecoreco.

•Where does the bulk of e-waste that you recycle come from?Most of the material that we recycle comes from corporate entities. If a corporate

entity gives us their e-waste for free, we generally use part of the value of such e-waste to donate new computer equipment to schools being run in the poorer areas.

•How do you ensure that the material gets recycled properly?Our workers are fully trained and take every precaution while dismantling e-waste. The reusable material like steel, copper, aluminium, plastic, etc are separated and sent to different industries to be recycled. While the toxic material in the e-waste is sent to government recognized facilities to be safely disposed of.

•What is your view of the e-waste laws being proposed by the government?These laws seem too ambitious for a country like India. For instance, it is thought that people will call HP when they want to get rid of an old printer. But many people who are not environmentally conscious will prefer to sell it to junk dealers. What is needed is not new laws, but a change in the way people think about e-waste.

B K SONI,PROMOTER, ECORECO

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WORLDWIDE PC shipments surpassed 88.3 million units in the third quarter of 2010, a 7.6% increase from the third quarter of 2009, according to prelimi-nary results by Gartner. These third quarter results were below Gartner’s earlier market outlook. Gartner had expected third quarter PC shipments to grow 12.7%.

“The major growth inhibitor in the third quarter of 2010 was softness in consumer PC demand in the U.S. and Western Europe,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst at Gartner. “Consumer mobile PC demand, driven by low-priced notebooks, including mini-notebooks, slowed after very strong growth the past two years,” she added.

“Media tablet hype around devices such as the iPad has also affected con-sumer notebook growth by delaying some PC purchases, especially in the U.S. consumer market,” Kitagawa said. “At this stage, hype around media tab-lets has led consumers and the chan-nels to take a ‘wait and see’ approach to buying a new device,” she added.

HP remained in the top worldwide position, but it experienced a slight decline in shipments in the quarter. It experienced a 20% decline in ship-ments in Asia/Pacific, as the com-pany put a higher priority on profits in the region. In the US, the company was impacted by weak consumer growth. Acer experienced a shipment decline of 1.7% in the third quarter. Dell showed solid growth across

In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 29.7 million units in the third quarter of 2010, a 10.5% increase from the third quarter of 2009. In the emerg-ing markets, mobile PC demand in the consumer segment continued to grow unabated. PC shipments in China in the third quarter of 2010 held steady at 62% of all PCs shipped in Asia/Pacific, growing 11.3% over the same quarter last year. PC shipments in Japan sur-passed 3.6 million units in the third quarter of 2010, a 14.1% increase from the same period last year.

Large deals in the enterprise and government sectors drove PC sales in the quarter. In the consumer market, replacement demand for primary PCs has continued to grow since the begin-ning of 2010.

[email protected]

most regions. Lenovo showed the strongest growth among the top five vendors worldwide.

In the US, PC shipments surpassed 17.6 million units in the third quar-ter of 2010, a 2.2% increase from the third quarter of 2009. Consumer mobile PC shipments were the weak-est in the last several years. In the US market, HP was the No. 1 vendor in the third quarter of 2010, as its ship-ments increased 2%.

In EMEA, PC shipments totaled 27.3 million units in the third quarter of 2010, an increase of 7.3% from the same period last year. The Western Europe PC market slowed, as profes-sional buyers and consumers held back on PC purchases. Emerging mar-kets in Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa experi-enced good growth.

Gartner: PC demand seems to be on a high, with global PC shipments growing 7.6% in third quarter of 2010

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In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 29.7 million units in the third quarter of 2010, a 10.5% increase from the third quarter of 2009. PC shipments in China in the third quarter of 2010 held steady at 62% of all PCs shipped in Asia/Pacific.

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