Today Linux is no more an option, it is a necessity

Has Linux truly made inroads into the enterprise

segment or is it just a hype?



We have seen more adoption of Linux in the mainstream applications, by which

I mean that there are various initiatives that customers have taken across

verticals starting from banking, financial services, telecom, and government.

Open source has made tremendous inroads into the enterprise space because of its

very nature of business model.

What part does the channel play in this success?



From an Indian perspective, we have very strong channel. We have routes

across enterprise, mid-tier as well as the low end part of the market. We have

not entered into the consumer business space.

We have close to around seventy-five channel partners

which are the foundation of tier-2 solution providers. They are primarily

working in the commercial space, which is the mid-market space. This also

contributes 80% of our business, while 20% comes from larger enterprises.

But with the emergence of the value added distributors

who sell technology rather than products, do you plan to align with them as

well?



Yes, you are right. Each of these value added distributors who have come up

in the recent times have identified a technology track to focus on. We are

looking at a couple of them because our kind of technology circumvents around

giving software as a solution and service.

Brief us about your channel plans?



Fundamentally there are three things we are doing. Firstly, we have started

a survey across APAC in terms of looking at partner skills through our online

partner center. We encourage each partner to go through this survey as it gives

us an overview on their need for a training requirement.

Secondly, we do lead management where we work closely with

distributors and partners to generate leads and close them. So if I am a channel

partner and I get more than two leads from my principal then it is more than

what I can expect.

Is this is a new initiative?



No, this is something we have been doing for some time. But what we are

doing through the partner center is adding lead management portfolio to select

partners in the enterprise and SMB market. The third initiative is where we get

the partners on board, we then figure out the skills they need to have from the

technical and sales perspective. Then we sign up the business plan with them

where we get a dive into the resources they will invest, the numbers they will

achieve and the support they will need from our end.

Vinita Bhatia/DQ Channels



maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in