Rahul Sikka Area Sales Director, ME, SARC & Central Asia, MGE Office Protection System, Dubai

MGE Office Protection Systems designs and manufactures secured power products and solutions for enterprises, small businesses and homes. MGE Office Protection System is one of the world’s leading brands of power protection products like UPS, surge suppressors, line filters and similar equipments. MGE Office Protection, earlier known as MGE UPS System, has been a manufacturer of UPS since 1964. Basically a French company, MGE in November 2007 was acquired by Eaton Inc., a US-based company. This acquisition makes Eaton the second-largest manufacturer and supplier of single-phase UPS products delivering even greater value to its customers.

Rahul Sikka, who is the Area Sales Director, ME, SARC & Central Asia of MGE Office Protection System, speaks to VARIndia about his agenda in India.

What kind of product range do you have? 
MGE Office Protection System essentially does not exist in isolation. We exist together with PowerWare. The range of products that we offer starts from very lowest 300VA and going all the way to a few thousand kVA. 

Which are the verticals you basically target?
We target a very broad expanse. Whenever you talk of power protection, quality or application, MGE has products for that. We actually address all verticals. There is definitely greater acceptance for our products in networking environment, because we have products specifically designed to work under various operating systems, whether they are simple, small local area networks, wide area networks, etc. We have products like enterprise manager, which actually allows us to view hundreds of UPS installed by the companies across the world. 

What is your go-to-market approach in India? 
Essentially, MGE Office Protection System as an organization works through a distribution channel. So, we have adopted exactly the same structure for India. Lipi Data Systems, which is well known for the last few decades for its commitment to technology, quality and services, is our distributor as well as service provider across India. 

What about MGE’s manufacturing and R&D activities?
MGE typically has its R&D based in France. It continues to be the same. We do have local R&D inputs coming from U.S.A. and China. It is more to adapt to the local market. In India also, we are bringing products to suit the Indian environment. 

What kind of competitive advantage do you offer? 
Essentially, we are a multinational company. We have the support of many thousands of manpower and several thousand sales outlets all over the world. So, the experience we bring to the table cannot be replicated by the local operators. The local provider of UPS either depends on the Chinese manufacturer or his own ability to design the UPS. For us, we have already perfected the art. Over 40 years, we are working in the UPS industry. We have the most efficient UPS in the world. We can provide, for example, 0.9 power factor of outputs. All of this goes to show that as a customer you get more value for your money. 

What is the relationship between APC and MGE? 
There is an apparently a misunderstanding, because APC is a competitor. APC has nothing to do with MGE. Way back in February 2007, MGE was split into two parts. The single phase business of MGE was spun out and is now part of Eaton which also has a brand of UPS system known as PowerWare. PowerWare has combined with single phase business of MGE System is now known as MGE Office Protection System, whereas APC, which was bought over by Schneider, is combined with the three-phase business of MGE UPS system that is now known as APC MGE. We are not related anymore; we have nothing in common; no management decision is shared. The teams are totally different, the owners are totally different, and we are strongest competitors in number one and number two level worldwide. 

What is your business goal for 2008-2009?
We are looking at a growth of several hundred per cent in India. And that seems to be possible based on what has been experienced in the last two months. We are working constantly in order to improve every quarter. For example, today, we have close-to 60 trained service engineers at various locations in India. We have stock in our warehouses. We have 150 active partners. Therefore, we are confident that we can achieve several hundred per cent growth in 2008-2009.