With each passing year Cisco's grip on the Indian networking market grows
only stronger and stronger and 2003-04 was no exception. Past year Cisco
registered its best ever performance in India by growing at the rate of 47 per
cent. From Rs. 1109 Crore in 2002-03, Cisco grew to Rs. 1630 Crore in 2003-04.
While Cisco's own efforts (besides those of its partners) have always been the
major contributor to its success, the vendor must also thank the inability of
competitors to take it own. Like in the past, the vendor faced no serious
competition except in a few segments-a fact grudgingly accepted by rival
vendors. While many vendors would like to position themselves in league with
Cisco, the fact remains that the gap between Cisco and its rivals keeps widening
every year. In fact, except for Juniper Networks, there does not seem to be any
significant competition for Cisco.
Cisco's growth past year was aided by a strong technology adoption across
verticals like BPO-ITES, BFSI and Telecom, and the build out of telecom data
networks including investments in MPLS by service providers. In fact, its
success in the service provider segment was key factor behind Cisco's 47 per
cent growth past year. Apart from Indian service providers like Bharti, Sify,
Reliance and Tata (VSNL/Dishnet), operators in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also
bought MPLS from Cisco.
Routers and switches together contributed around Rs. 1050 Crores to almost 80
per cent of its product business. The rest 20 per cent came from what it calls
advance technologies like wireless, IP telephony, security, storage and optical.
The growth in the advance technologies segment was reflected in the growing
number of specialized partners in these areas. Cisco current has 22 partners
specializing in wireless, 18 in security, 2 in voice access and 12 in IP
telephony. 90 per cent of these specializations have come in the past 15 months.
In line with trends at Cisco globally, services made significant contribution
(17 per cent) to its overall India revenue as well. Cisco had a 53 per cent
market share in the enterprise switch market while its share in the routers
market was a whopping 85 percent. The last quarter of the financial year 2003-04
was particularly good for switches. During that period its switching business
grew by almost 70 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter in the previous
fiscal. In fact for the first time in any quarter switching outperformed
routers, otherwise the most important Cisco business. At more than 30 per cent,
routers formed the largest portion of Cisco's business in India. Cisco's
strong focus on partnership building continued to bring it good results. For
instance, the bulk of Cisco's business (up to 60 per cent) came through the
top network integrators like Datacraft, Wipro, IBM, HP, Network Solutions and
Tulip among others.
In 2003, Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc., a provider of broadband,
wireless and networking hardware for the consumer and Small Office/Home Office (SOHO)
markets, officially launched its line of wired and wireless networking products
and services in. Linksys also worked on plans to roll out its' product line in
retail stores throughout India to reach the consumer market.
The past year also saw a change of leadership at Cisco India. In July 2003,
Cisco appointed Rangnath Salgame as President of its India and SAARC operations
who replaced the more high profile and media savvy strategist and salesman Manoj
Chugh.
Cisco's India business is now a key factor in its global scheme of things.
It appears that the Indian market now receives the same kind of attention that
the Chinese one gets.
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