Hailing from a humble middle class family, Subrahmanya's journey from Udupi district to Bengaluru is a story full of ups and downs. Though, today he has created a lasting impression on IT infrastructure sector, the hard work involved in achieving this success is worth mentioning. It was his strong willpower, determination, passion towards work and support from his colleagues that motivated him to move ahead in life and create what is today one of the well-known IT infrastructure companies in South India-Central Data Systems (CDS).

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Born in Udupi and schooled in Bengaluru, Subrahmanya pursued his MBA from IGNOU. During this period, he accentuated and developed his all-round skills to become a complete professional.

Soon after completion of the management course with specialization in Marketing, he joined Datapro Information Technology as Business Executive in 1997. Looking back, he feels that this stint provided him great opportunities to experiment in his career.

The aspect he cherished most about the company was its work culture. "People were encouraged to think beyond the box in every aspect of their job. We were taught that multi-tasking, taking complete ownership, convincing customers, accountability for every transaction and customer engagement-were the only ways to succeed in a cutting edge environment," he shared.

"This is also where I learnt to leave a lasting impact on others-be it team members, colleagues in other departments within the organization or the customers," he added.

Subrahmanya worked for Frontier Business Systems as Sr Business Executive and then as a Business Manager from 1999-2003. "I was fortunate to have worked with some outstanding managers, leaders and colleagues in the company. Working with such passionate, committed and experienced people changed my outlook towards my profession and career," recalled Subrahmanya.

After working for other companies and gaining experience from them, Subrahmanya finally founded his own company, Central Data Systems in 2003 with support from three colleagues. The company focuses in the specialized areas of IT infrastructure products, solutions and services to its clients through its strategic alliances with key technology vendors in India.

This Rs 50 crore company has become one of the leading IT infrastructure service providers in South India, with its operations across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. CDS won the award for significant contributor to IT/ITeS vertical in Karnataka from Cisco Systems for the year 2008.

PROFILE Name: K Subrahmanya Company: Central Data Systems Designation: Director Start-up year: 2003 Education: MBA-Marketing, IGNOU Address: #112, 7th Main, BEML Layout III Stage, Raja Rajeshwari Nagar, Bengaluru - 560098

CDS currently has 60 employees and is headquartered in Bengaluru, with a branch office in Chennai. The company has adapted the trusted adviser model while interacting with its customers, providing them all solutions under one roof. These solutions are built around products and services from industry leaders, namely APC, Cisco, EMC, HP, Microsoft, NetApp, Riverbed, Sun, Tyco, etc apart from their customized Linux solutions.

When quizzed about what makes CDS distinct from its peers, Subrahmanya pointed out that it's simply the unrelenting passion and focus of the team to meet client expectations. "Continuous focus on building people, strong systems and processes, policies and infrastructure has been a key element of our success," he said. Besides setting a target of hitting the Rs 100 crore mark in the near term, Subrahmanya aspires to expand his company nationwide and strengthen its ability to offer solutions and services to deepen its partnership with clients.

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