Recently, India finally crossed the threshold of 10 million broadband subscriber mark. However, this is no reason to rejoice. With a population of more than a billion, the figure is still abysmally low, though the potential is huge. It will be pertinent to underline the fact that rapid deployment of broadband is a sine qua non for the acceleration of GDP growth.
Wi-Max is fast emerging as a key technology to address the concerns of last-mile access and offer connectivity in remote areas. I am of the opinion that we are still at early stages of the next wave - broadband in the rural and semi-urban India - which has the potential to create an enormous opportunity for Indian technology companies.
Thanks to the strong demand from western clients, India's top IT services companies are set to earn robust quarterly profits, but the rising rupee is an area of concern.
In order to realize the 2020 vision, we have to explore new territories which still remain unchartered. I hope we would all work collectively for achieving our goals - of course, without compromising on ethics. This is what came out in a seminar (SIITF - 2010) we had organized in Bangalore as to what would be the future of channel partners who target the growing SMEs in India after the implementation of cloud computing.
The crux that emerged from the panel discussions was that the future of cloud services will depend on the understanding and maturity of customers and channel partners. The willingness of customers to adapt to the business values that cloud services bring will be the indicator for infrastructure and business productivity software through channels. This will continue to happen.
