'SAN and NAS solutions are creeping in'

With increasing storage needs of various enterprises, storage solution
providers are trying to offer customers the optimum solutions. The US-based
Xiotech Corporation's flagship product Magnitude is one such solution. With a
worldwide customer base, Xiotech is planning to make inroads into the Indian
market this year. Xiotech CTO Karl D Schubert elaborates the company's plans
and products in an interview with Sunitha Natti of CyberMedia News.

What is the Magnitude storage family all about?

The Magnitude storage family constitutes Magnitude, Magnitude 3D, Magnitude
3D Edge, and Magnitude 3D NAS. It offers resilient, uninterrupted storage
availability because of which technology leaders including Microsoft, Oracle,
and others leverage the power of Magnitude to develop and deploy market-leading
solutions. Magnitude is the only storage solution that eliminates downtime and
abstracts storage complexity, thereby reducing operating and installation costs.
It simplifies server management, besides offering easier server upgrades and
changes. Overall, it is re-configurable, easily updated and dynamic.

How do you see India from a business development perspective?

India is one of the fast growing markets. It's a major market for us as
many companies are now setting up their base in India, and hence the storage
requirement is on the rise. We entered India basically to make use of the talent
last year. But with the growing market demand we have now geared up to market
our products too. We would be entering through our reseller base in Bangalore,
Chennai, Delhi, etc.

Karl D Schubert

So far the storage market in India is largely dependent on direct attached
network and slowly the penetration of SAN and NAS solutions is also creeping in.
We would be shipping our solutions through resellers during the second half of
the financial year.

Who would be your customers from India?

Our primary customers would be SMEs in the $10-15 mn size. The data levels
are expanding, so there is an increasing need to address this area. Our
solutions are capable and dynamic with flexible configuration levels, and are
hence easily manageable. We are also talking to government departments here.
Slowly, we will then target the larger customer base.

How do you see the Indian development center ramping up?

The Indian development center in Hyderabad is now working on the next
generation products and so far we have been using this center for core product
development. We have invested nearly $3 mn so far and intend to invest $2 mn
more for further expansion. Besides product development, we also have a small
customer support activity being done from here.