NICs: Look for Mr Dependable

MARKET INFO

The NIC market was the worst hit amongst all the networking equipment segments in 2001-02. The market size was pegged at Rs 62.9 crore, a 24 percent downward slide from the previous fiscal. According to IDC, the market is expected to shrink further and touch barely Rs 40 crore in 2002-03.

It is not difficult to peg the reasons behind this southward movement of NIC sales. With almost all the manufacturers and even assemblers now integrating the NICs with the motherboards, the decline was inevitable. Add to this, the steep fall in PC sales, which too had a direct bearing on the NIC market. According to most vendors, traditional NIC sales are happening only in India and that too primarily through the OEM route.

How a network interface card works…

Network interface cards (NICs) are responsible for transferring data from the computer to the transmission media. NICs transform data into signals that are carried across the transmission media to its destination. Once the signals reach the destination device, the NICs translate the signals back into information the computer can process.

Network cards function as an interface between the computer and the network cabling. So they serve two masters. Inside the computer, a network interface card moves data to and from the RAM. Outside the computer, it controls the flow of data in and out of the network cable system. An interface card has a specialized port that matches the electrical signaling standards used on the cable and the specific type of cable connector.

In between the computer and cable, the interface card must buffer the data, because the computer is typically much faster than the network. The interface card also must change the form of data from a wide parallel stream coming in 8 bits at a time to a narrow stream moving one bit at a time in and out of the network port.

D-Link, with sales worth Rs 28 crore, continues to rule the roost in this shrinking market with a 44.5 percent share. It even managed to absorb some of the impact of the negative market growth by virtue of its alliance with Taiwan-based motherboard manufacturer, Gigabyte Technologies, that allowed it to manufacture motherboards integrated with NICs.

Dax, which had already established a strong foothold in South India, further consolidated its position this year. It mopped up revenue worth Rs 11.60 crore by virtue of selling over 135,000 units of NICs. This enabled Dax to occupy the No. 2 slot.

Intel and 3Com were the two other major players in the NIC sector. The competition between them was restricted more to feature-rich NICs, with special thrust on security. The cards from both Intel and 3Com stable come with in-built firewall, thereby bringing security to the desktop level.

EXPERTS PANEL

Amar Babu, general manager (channels), Intel India

Anand Mehta, marketing manager, D-Link India

Sujit Singh, country manager, Dax Networks