IT spending will be in double digits in SMBes

The data center business is seeing good uptake but there is a dearth of

specialist solution providers. Do you agree?



Yes, that is very true. There are no dyed-in-the-wool solution providers who

can offer a consolidated data center solution as a business opportunity. Most

either offer piecemeal hardware or software solutions. But this does not mean

that vendors are not doing enough to provide the right amount of knowledge to

customers. There is a need for vendor neutral solution providers who can

enlighten people on how to start a project around data centers and give them a

consolidated view of the challenges they are likely to encounter.

Pramod Agashe, COO, APW President

This year you have set yourself an ambitious target of Rs 160 crore in

revenue. How do you propose to achieve this?



We believe that while the percentage of IT spending in enterprises will be

single digit, it will be in double digits in the small and medium business (SMB).

This is why we have taken a strategic decision to focus on the SMB market this

fiscal. We are also creating products best suited to this clientele like the

rack or intelligence rack, which is an integrated rack solution. It is a

preconfigured rack where all customer data can be stored.

What will be your distribution model?



We dont see ourselves working with any national distributors. This is

because national distributors are more logistics partners than market-building

source. They want big brands with pull to sell. Besides, warehousing our

products can also be a challenge for national distributors because a rack takes

a lot of space. Plus, every rack is in a knock down condition and it has to be

assembled together and could have various permutations.

Have you identified the company who will take the 30% stake held by APW

Electronics in your company since the latter is in receivership?



We are in talks with an organization to take over the 30% stake held by APW

Electronics in the company. UK-based APW has filed for receivership and since

January 2008, we have been discussing with other vendors for transfer of stakes.

We do not want a mere venture capital company to invest in us. Instead we want a

technology partner whose offerings will complement ours, so that we have a

unified stack of solutions to take to the customer.

Archana Swamy



maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in