What are the key trends that will keep data networking players on their
toes in the year ahead?
I see network upgradation coming up in a big way. About 65% of networks are
going to be re-architectured in the next two years. Over the past few years, the
definition of network traffic has evolved dramatically. The traffic is
increasing as more and more applications are being shared, especially, high
quality media such as video. Thus, we see a data explosion. The market is now
beyond just traffic growth, there are some interesting trends such as
virtualization, simplification of network resources and consolidation down to a
single transport infrastructure, picking up. Virtualization is gaining
popularity with tier-2/3 applications. There is a rising need for simplification
of solution and to consolidate them into one transport vehicle. We are investing
R&D dollars in simplification of solutions on management. Campus LAN customers
are consolidating separate voice, data and video networks and trying to
multiplex everything over a new Ethernet infrastructure.
What will be your focus for the Indian market?
We have earmarked India as a crucial market and extensive efforts are on for
new product development. At present we are about 400 plus team in India. We have
aggressive talent acquisition programs. Continued investment in the region is a
part of the long term growth plans here. We will continue investments in R&D at
18-20% per year. Storage networking applications, FcoE/CEE applications,
management products, ASIC design & testing, and IP networking will be some of
the R&D focal areas for the India team. We are now ready to take up new
challenges in 2010. Brocade global services is our focus for the new year.
How do you look at involvement of multiple players for
open standards for your business?
I believe it is really good. Competition is good because it benefits the
customer. At Brocade we have honored partnerships with world class vendors. The
customer wanted a choice. Adopting open standards and sharing intellectual
property with partners gives a choice to reap rewards that the network has to
offer.
We sell product, support and professional services. For
other services we partner with experts. We are a partner centric company, and we
have some great partnerships around the world. We will be focusing a lot on
bringing specific value to the verticals. Our aim will not be to offer
technology alone, but also to offer a complete package of solution.
The key focus and pressure for partners is profitability.
Real money comes from services that the partners are selling. We have been tying
up with distributors in India. We have three direct VARs in India and one in Sri
Lanka.
Where do most of your products come from?
Most of our products have been done by Foxconn in China. We have
manufacturing agreements with Sanmina, Flextronics and Celestica.
Where do you see the new breed of competitors coming
from?
The market for data and storage networking solutions is intensely
competitive. New competitors may emerge from the existing Ethernet networking
companies in the market. These competitors are likely to use emerging
technologies and alternate routes to market. Also our OEM partners, who have
relationships with some of our current competitors, could become new competition
by introducing competitive product offering and preferred pricing, or by simply
choosing to promote and sell competitors' products. The competition will gain
intensity with consolidation happening in the market.
Heena Jhingan
heenaj@cybermedia.co.in
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