PUNE
OCTOBER 16, 2006

Cisco Systems is all set to milk the SMB market in India and has invested in new mediums and specific product offerings to tap it.

At the roll out of its mobile showcase of Cisco Networking solutions NOW (Network On Wheels) in Maharashtra, Jagdish Mahapatra, regional manager for Sales, ITS vertical, Cisco Systems India & SAARC said that SMB is not a volumes market but a value market.

"One third of total Indian SMBs anticipate a 20 per cent revenue upgrade. They are going to cater to many large customers ahead and we simply cannot let this opportunity pass. They don't necessarily look for the cheapest solutions but reliability and ease of use given the lack of highly skilled IT team with them."

He said that this market is going to be a major thrust area for Cisco and will draw major investments too. Citing an AMI (Access Markets International) study, he said that with an estimated 7.6 million SMBs in India who have projected spends of $500 million on servers and networking technology, it is hard to overlook this potential.

"Compared to 93 per cent (PCs), 81 per cent (Internet) and 39 per cent (LAN) in US, technology penetration in India stands at 29 per cent (PCs), 20 per cent (Internet) and 13 per cent (LAN)," he said. According to a Frost & Sullivan study, inadequate coverage was the reason identified for lack of business from SMB sector.

Hence, Cisco has taken up NOW to enable POC (Proof of Concept), first-hand product exposure for SMBs that will offer leasing option too. "So far the van has given encouraging leads and response from cities like Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jaipur etc," he informed. Cisco is also offering specific SMB products like Cisco 1800 1841 ISR (Routing), Cisco Catalyst 500 (Switching), Cisco Altronet 1000, AS A5505, Plx firewall (wireless and security). Manufacturing, retail, healthcare, financial services, local governments, ITS and education are the verticals identified for this market.

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