You can take a man out of marketing, but you cannot take marketing out of a man. This holds true in the case of PK Jain. A science graduate from the Delhi University, Jain has spent over 10 years as VP, Direct Sales with Zenith Computers in his two-decade long career. When D-Link and Taiwan-based Lanner Inc decided to join forces and set up an office in India, they wanted to choose someone who could build the business and popularize the concept of industrial PCs. And this is where Jain stepped in. Though Lanner Electronics India Pvt Ltd has been around for only six months, Jain tells CI about the game plan he has chalked out to promote industrial PCs. 

Who owns Lanner Electronics India Pvt Ltd? 

Lanner Electronics India is a joint venture between D-Link and Taiwan-based Lanner. This tie-up was formalized six months ago. 

What products do you sell?

Besides the Lanner range of industrial PCs, we manufacture embedded PCs as well as PCs for kiosks. These are machines that can be used in minimal spaces. We also have rack-mounted servers, KVM drawers for saving space and a high-performance 1U Guardian firewall hardware and compatible software.

Do you import all the PCs from Taiwan or are they assembled locally?

D-Link has a manufacturing facility in Goa and we are currently using a section of this facility for our own assembling purposes. Currently we are importing all the components for an industrial PC from our parent company, Lanner in Taiwan. The integration is done at Goa. Probably as the volumes grow, we will have an independent manufacturing unit in the country.

This could take another year.

Are your industrial PCs mass-produced or they manufactured as per orders?

Firstly, mass production is possible only if the market is large, which is not the case with industrial PCs. Secondly, different industries may need different types of PCs. For example, a steel company might need to do some data capturing near their furnaces. In such a case, they would require PCs that can withstand very high temperature. Then again, a company like Pidilite might need PCs that will remain unaffected by the chemicals used in their products. So the specifications for industrial PCs change from company to company. Thus, mass-production is not possible for such PCs. 

However, we also manufacture embedded PCs that are used in places where space is a constraint, like in an aircraft or in a public access kiosk. Since these are more or less standard in nature, we can mass produce them.

How big is the market for industrial PCs in India? And who are your competitors in this segment?

The market for industrial PCs in India is currently about Rs 60 crore. But as new applications are developed, the market too is developing. We do not have many competitors in the country, except for Dynalog. 

Industrial PCs are rugged PCs, which are used in places where the normal PCs cannot withstand the environment. The environmental factors could be either temperature, vibration, spillage etc. For example, the Bhabha Atomic Research Center needs PCs that can withstand the vibrations emitted when scientists are conducting nuclear experiments. These are the kind of PCs that we supply.