‘$4 mn Expected from India this Fiscal’

The first thing that Chandra Kopparapu, VP & general manager, Service

Provider and Multi-layer Switching Business Unit, Foundry Networks says about

his company is that the 1996-formed company is a relatively late entrant in the

Indian market. But his hopes are not any dimmed for Foundry Network’s range of

end to end Ethernet Layer 2 and 3 switches and metro routers in the country, as

he talks with optimism on the future of 10 gigabit Ethernet availability, IPv6

and India as a base for the company. Excerpts.

On ensuring end-to-end connectivity of 10 gigabit Ethernet



Foundry Networks will leverage on its product groups of Fast Iron, Big Iron

and Net Iron to ensure scalability of a Gigabit Ethernet for enterprises.

Through a combined usage of our products, one can ensure provision of Ethernet

connectivity to desktops and beyond that. Our technology enables enterprises to

scale over their LANs and extend Ethernet capability beyond to MAN and WAN for

seamless connectivity. It leverages the existing Ethernet installed base of over

300 million ports worldwide and supports all kind of transmission from data,

voice or voice over IP. Obviously with such features it will prove to be much

simpler, easier and cost effective solution than most of the alternatives that

the market offers.

What kind of partnerships are you looking for in India and what do you see

as the potential of the country as a market?



Right now our one partnership, on the road to taking on the bigger players

in the market, is with D-link Networks. The choice there is obvious. We are late

entrants in the market and D-link has a wide reach across the country along with

the fact that they have been around for quite some time. We are looking to add

on some SI’s as well and will take on two by the end of 2004. We will also be

starting accreditation programs for our partners shortly. 2003 was a watermark

year for us as we believed we had established ourselves well enough to consider

entering new markets. India was an obvious choice. Our customer segment remains

largely enterprise driven which means and what with a lot of MNCs setting up in

the country and quite a number of them being existing customers of Foundry

Networks. We have had revenues of $1.5 million from India and are expecting $4

million by the end of this present fiscal. But I believe that India holds a lot

more potential than that for us.

What do you think is holding back IPv6 and what do you see

as its future?



In spite of being around for over a decade, IPv6 has not really taken off.

Reasons for that are multiple. IPv6 does offer some big time advantages over the

present standard of IPv4 like more addresses, better security and of course,

increased mobility options. But the concepts associated with the standard and

which complement it are all new. The criticality or the need for IPv6 has not

really reached its high point. Also, there is a lack of a complete range of

products for IPv6, even now most people tunnel through their IPv4 networks to

offer IPv6. Add that to an overall absence of education and awareness of the

concept and the non-availability of broadband to push it and one can understand

why IPv6 has not taken off so far. But the future is definitely IPv6 and

upgrades in capabilities will ensure that it takes its place.

Apart from being a market base, is India a part of your

R&D plans as well?



R&D in India is on the radar. But that will take a bit more time. We are

going to go into the market now and keep our eyes and ears open, watch for how

things go and then think on that front after June. I myself will be spending

more time here to understand the market, apart from conducting road shows and

such others to increase familiarity with the products.

Sathya Mithra Ashok DQ/Bangalore