Concerns
One of the major concerns vis-ŕ-vis the market was erratic price fluctuation in international copper and crude oil price (hence the increase in plastic price). And this is likely to continue in the ongoing fiscal also. On the product front, the major concern for recognized brands was spurious supplies, both produced within India and coming from neighboring markets. This exploits the tendency of customers to compromise on quality over price. There are components with recycled materials, cables with copper over aluminum conductors. This would not only affect customers on performance and network failures but also tarnish brands with no fault of theirs.

Ignorance of end users toward inferior installation practices and unstructured physical layers, especially in SOHO and residential cabling, are yet another perennial problem of this industry. There is an urgent need to follow best practices when implementing data center designs, which data center managers need to ensure. Failure in this would cost them dearly with mission-critical data traffic getting affected adversely. The accent should be on right education for installers on how to design and implement data centers. The industry has put standards to help educate the end users.

Compliance to standards like TIA/EIA 568B, BICSI, and ISO is an absolute must when it comes to structured cabling installations. This helps maintain a superior network that gives enough 'headroom' for expansion. But such standards are not adhered to and this is a concern that the industry should address, if India wants to meet global standards and best practices. Structured cabling at times provides technology necessary for infrastructure build up, but is labeled as a commodity, which is another concern for the industry.

Shock Absorbed
Each player had its unique challenges during the last fiscal. For DIGILINK, there was a sudden dip in customer requirements in the last quarter of FY 2008-09. Moreover there was additional trouble due to copper, crude oil, Indian rupee and US dollar fluctuation. This would have caused tremendous negative impact in the company's operations, if the company would not have had strategic tie-ups with its OEMs. Also meticulous just-in-time inventory management and staying focused with its loyal partners on its trusted verticals helped overcome the situation. So, it managed to actually end the worst quarters with decent growth and with no bad inventories.

In the current fiscal, in addition to ongoing product development initiatives, DIGILINK will have three new focus areas-solution for datacenter, product range suitable for FTTH solution and few unique offerings for fiber solutions in tactical environment.

For ADC Krone also, the main challenges were the volatile copper prices, and a weak rupee, apart from high dependency on the IT/ITes vertical for its business. All this contributed to project timing delays and curtailing infrastructure investment. But with its product innovation for both datacentre and LAN cabling which include CopperTen, TrueNet Physical Layer Management System and Fiber Management Systems, the structured cabling major is hoping for a good year ahead. Apart from this, ADC Krone's Aires cable is another innovative product offering-the smallest cable diameter, keeping in mind the green requirements.

Tyco's main challenge was to remain profitable especially in view of falling copper prices and competition, dropping prices since the market size was reducing. So Tyco managed the situation by better planning, inventory management system and reducing operating costs. In the last few months, it has tightened its inventory management by better forecasting and planning which has definitely led to good results in overcoming roadblocks to profitability. It is facing the harsh reality with its state-of-art technology systems, pre-sales design capability and post sales support, logistics in terms of bonded warehousing, huge distribution network supported through national and regional distributors, etc.

The same problem was tackled by Molex by its consultative approach. It worked with its customers to understand and address their business Its Mod-Link range is a state-of-the-art product in fiber as well as copper variant to service datacenters and high density network needs. And, a new 'Advanced Physical Layer Management Solution(ILM)' is to be offered to the customers this year to resolve the existing market condition.

With global recession affecting investments, Nexans was quick to realize the importance of delivering value to customers. Enterprises invested cautiously and Nexans ensured that it delivered ROI to customers by getting into a consultative mode. It offered hybrid solutions that were a combination of types of cable/solutions that was application oriented and also addressed the pain points of the customer - be it appropriate design, product or even the pre and post installation aspects.

CDT Belden absorbed the market pressures by innovative technologies and product offerings. Belden Total Enterprise Network components is designed to work together as an end-to-end system contributed to withstand the market conditions, as it provides high performance and reliability.

Dax Networks efficiently managed the pricing pressure by forward booking its orders when LME rates were lower. It constantly monitored the LME rates. This enabled it to remain competitive in the market place. And, since it was a great advantage for its channel partners and end users as it is a one point contact for their active and passive solutions/support, they managed to gain its share of market.

The Siemon company has managed the hard times with its technical strengths. It further intends to strengthen its distribution channel in India both in terms of geographic reach and numbers of channel partners. And, besides appointing new partners, it intends to support them better in terms of technical training, sales and marketing support, customer support, etc to also reach the B and C class cities as well as the upcountry market.