Our three dimensional expansion is contributing better business results

Subhodeep Bhattacharya,
Regional Director - India and SAARC,
NETGEAR Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

Netgear has recently expanded its ReadyNAS portfolio with ReadyNAS 3220 and ReadyNAS 4220.How do you plan to target the enterprise and SME segment with this product?

The RN3220 and the 4220 is targeted at the mid segment of the SME segment for customer who have the use of a fairly complex rack storage solution without the complexity of the operating it. The new ReadyNAS series has an all new operating system and scalability designed to serve 250 simultaneous users. It is the right kind of storage solution for a mid size office and data centres. The ReadyNAS 4220 takes it one step forward by adding capacity to serve 500 users and boasts 2 x 10GBE connectivity. Both these product series are highly capable cost effective storage solution for SMB.

How do you design your products to be different from those of your competitors?

Our design consideration is purely SMB application based and we stress on creating practical products with pragmatic feature sets which is presented through powerful GUI. NETGEAR focuses on delivering quality and technically advanced solutions with reduced complexity at affordable price points.

What are the current channel policies and programs you are running? What is your present channel structure like?

NETGEAR is a 100% channel facing company with a 2 tier structure. We are distributed in the market by key distributors like Rashi Peripherals, Redington and Ingram Micro. Using them we reach out to a large number of SMB VARS and SI partners. Our focus now is on developing the 10 G segment in switches and driving reliable rack storage systems for Medium and large SME organizations. We are also adding a number of products in our wireless portfolio and we have established an R&D center in Bangalore for developing wireless controllers. We are focused on training the sales and pre sales teams of our partners to enable them to address a customer better.

Do you have any plans to increase your presence in Retail? What percentage of products do you target to sell through the Retail space?

We sell a large number of products through retail, both online and traditional. Retail is also an effective way of reaching the SOHO segment of the business. We will continue to strengthen our presence in the retail segment specially in newer geography and smaller cities and towns. We believe the real growth is happening there.

What percentage of your products is sold in different verticals of Enterprise, Channel and SME?

We have a clearly differentiated product and channel strategy. Outside of retail, our key focus area is in SME, and we position ourselves as an end to end infrastructure player, with a large range of products covering switching, storage, wireless and security. The focus verticals for us are Government, IT, Media, Healthcare and hospitality and we are witnessing strong growth in these areas.