'3Com will target top enterprises in India'

What is going to be 3Com's new focus areas in India?

Large enterprises in India are our top priority. Apart from offering good
products, we intend to enhance after-sales support. We already have several
layers of after-sales support, but we are revamping our regional support base.
As part of our growth strategy, we are going to create in-country after-sales
technical support. A good part of our product has lot of R&D from China. Our
Bangalore and Hyderabad R&Ds are for application development, and networking
products. We have made additional headcount in India to develop partnerships. We
are looking at enhancing our commercial model, which is our USP. We are
increasing our focus on training. We have partnered with NIIT for networking
training, and developed content for this. We want to build a good ecosystem. We
have started the process of enablement in terms of certification, training of
technical staff.

Which are the segments you are looking at in India?

We are looking at the government and education sector for major business
opportunities. Banking, finance, IT, and BPO sectors are also going to be our
focus. Finally, we think manufacturing sector also will grow in the coming
years.

Which are the high growth product segments for 3Com in India?

We have a complete set of switching, wireless, IP telephony, and security
products. Gigabit suite of switching products on the 10 Giga side are our main
offerings, and they are picking up very fast in India. The new smart buildings,
which are coming up, are one of the big opportunities for our wired and wireless
products. We are also present in the intrusion prevention system products
through our acquisition of Tipping Point, and SEBI is one of our big customers
for this. In April 2007, we launched new family of lower to medium IT products
based on Tipping Point technology, and it is intended for SMB market. We have
Siemens Networks, and CMS as our system-integrating partners.

How is the IP storage market doing?

We are very excited about the opportunity that IP storage market provides in
India. IP storage is still a niche segment, and with the growth of electronic
image requirement, the segment is all set to grow. Applications like Internet
banking will also fuel the growth of this segment.

Sudesh Prasad

sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in