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Juniper Networks to Expand India Operations

Juniper Networks India Ltd., networking major that took the Internet infrastructure market by storm, is expanding its operations in the Indian market. To begin with, it is adding manpower to its existing staff. The company will also be opening offices in Mumbai and Bangalore to help its sales head office for India in New Delhi. The company is also setting up a proof of concept center in Delhi.

Explaining the rationale, Karthik Natarajan, manager, sales-India, Juniper Networks said, "The way we are positioning ourselves is focussed on the fact that India is the second largest market for us in terms Internet growth. So we are gearing ourselves for that kind of growth."

Though Natarajan refused to give the exact investment amount, he said that their major investment has gone in setting up the offices and putting up the equipment for the proof-of concept center. "This center would help us in demonstrating the advantages of using Internet router at the core of a network to the service providers that are building their infrastructure today in the country," Natarjan pointed out.

The company is already testing its products with some service providers in the country. According to Natarajan, most of the service providers in the country today are using legacy systems that are based on outdated software and microprocessors. "They are realizing that their present infrastructure is not going to support them and they will need faster networks to be in sync with the global trend. So we see a great demand for our products and we already see these infrastructure builders within the country as potential customers," he informed.

Juniper is promoting a whole range of Internet routers ranging from M5, M10, M20, M40 to M160. It has appointed Bluestar as it's India partner and has global partnerships with Ericsson, Alcatel and Nortel. "Except in the US, we follow an indirect method of marketing globally. We are following that model in India too. While our global partners in India are responsible for selling to big service providers and infrastructure providers, the local partner here will target the smaller ISPs," Natarajan added.

While Juniper is selling all its products in the country, Natarajan feels that its M5 and M10 Internet routers will gain ground in the Indian ISP market faster than its other products. He also sees the smaller ISPs adopting the smaller range of Internet routers at the core of their networks. In fact, he is confident to make some major sales in the country this year.

EMC Corporation has introduced a new management software for mixed-vendor information storage networks. The new software unifies and streamlines management of heterogeneous information storage networks, providing a single point of management for storage area network (SAN) configuration and control.

EMC has also announced that it has qualified four non-EMC storage systems for interoperability in
an Enterprise Storage Network, thus enabling customers to leverage resources in mixed-vendor environ-
ments without the need to perform their own complex testing.

Microtest Inc., a US-based producer of network test and measurement products and network storage and appliance servers, is making its entry into India. The company is planning to conduct a series of seminars in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore beginning March to create awareness about its product range.

The first such event is scheduled for 20th of March in Mumbai where the company would meet prospective distributors, system integrators, manufacturers and OEMs, etc. In its attempt to establish its presence here, Microtest is also looking for distributors in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.

The company, which entered into the network appliances market in the late eighties, now has a wide range of products for the storage segment. Way back in 1997, Microtest introduced a new line of thin server network appliances products called Zervers.

The first product released in this product line was WebZerver™, a compact intranet server targeted at workgroups and departments within organizations. In 1998, Microtest introduced the DiscZerver™ line of appliances for small and medium-scale CD-ROM and DVD-ROM networking and CD publishing.

Today, Microtest's full line of network appliances and storage is designed to make it easier for departments and workgroups to access and manage networked CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and hard disk resources and applications. This product line includes packaged user-ready appliances as well as fully customizable OEM subsystem kits.

In the year 2000, Microtest made a dramatic entry into the hard drive Network Attached Storage (HD-NAS) with the FileZerver™, an appliance developed for the workgroup NAS market.

FileZerver is usually sold to OEM partners and system/storage integrators, who embed the engine to
create leading edge, highly competitive storage servers.

Microtest's FileZerver is targeted at the fast growing workgroup Network-Attached
Storage marketplace.

BPL Telecom Limited (BTL), the networking and information technologies arm of the BPL Group, has struck an alliance with VCON of Israel to target the videoconferencing market in India.

As part of its Enterprise Communication Solutions business, BTL offers videoconferencing solutions for the entire range of videoconferencing applications--desktop, group and studio conferencing--for both ISDN and IP Networks.
It aims to spearhead the growth of an estimated $10 million Indian market for enterprise applications, distance learning, tele-medicine, financial/banking, security, legal, defense and the government sectors.

BTL offers these high-end videoconferencing products through a co-branding tie-up and alliance with VCON.

Aditi Technologies has designed a new web application, which converts news stories to XML (Extensible Markup Language) files automatically for MSNBC.com.

Typical web publishing tools are designed to output content only to one web-site. When local news producers enter into a national or local partnership, they are usually required to re-enter their material through a new tool.
Now, MSNBC.com affiliates will be able to quickly and easily move their full story--headlines, text, and accompanying photographs as XML files, to multiple web sites. This eliminates the need to duplicate work, and allows local producers to focus on generating fresh news stories.

MSNBC.com's new web-based application does not require affiliates to install and configure software. It is available to any affiliate using IE 5.0 or better, so the work of producing the local news for the web can be divided between several writers and producers in a local newsroom, taking news production beyond the work of a single web producer. As an added benefit, the tool generates files based on NITF (News Industry Text Format) standards, meaning the files can be sent to any web site that supports NITF and XML.

Bangalore based Siemens Communication Software (SCS), has developed MSBV5, a new version of its product "Multifunctional Switch Board (MSB)" for the Advanced Multifunctional Operator Service System (ADMOSS).
ADMOSS, a common development of SCS, is at the call center market, which works with the world's leading digital telephone switching system, the Siemens EWSD. It is an aid for the telephone operator and is currently installed in about 25 countries with more than 5500 operator positions in operation.

Via the MSBV5 console, which is based on standard PC hardware and Microsoft Windows NT, ADMOSS can perform directory and traffic assistance in a more user friendly and efficient manner. In addition, MSBV5 aids ADMOSS offer a variety of call center functions such as optimized call distribution, automatic booking of calls, establishment of conferences, internet services, etc.

Chennai based, Banyan Networks has launched Direct Internet Access System (DIAS) and H-Connect. Both the products have been developed in association with IIT, Madras. H-Connect is a remote Ethernet bridge that interconnects LANs that could be separated by about 16 kms. The connectivity is achieved using HDSL technology that can pump in as much as 2 mbps on ordinary twisted pair of copper wires, depending on the distance and thickness of the wire. H-Connect can network several educational and industrial campuses.

DIAS is an Internet access solution based on the HDSL technology providing symmetrical high-speed access using existing telecable networks. DIAS facilitates simultaneous voice and data over the same telephone line providing up to 2 mbps of data. When the telephone is in use, the data rate drops by 60 kbps and comes back up to full rate once the telephone call is over. As it directly connects to the ISP, it saves the subscriber the telephone costs spent on Internet and enables the user to be always on the Net.

MRO-TEK Ltd., the partner of BreezeCom Inc. in India, has introduced BreezeACCESS 2.4, broadband wireless access system for data and voice communications and is targeted at ISPs, access providers and carriers.

BreezeACCESS employs wireless packet switched data technology to support high-speed IP services including fast access to the Internet and VPN. BreezeACCESS users are provided with a network connection that is always on, supporting immediate access to the Internet and other IP services at data rates of up to 3 Mbps. NM

IBM says that its newly-launched Unix-based computing workstation, offers nearly two times the performance of similarly configured new UltraSparc-III based servers from Sun Microsystems.

The IBM Model 170 workstation features the most powerful Unix 3D graphics capability on the market. The IBM Model 170 Unix workstation uses copper-fueled microprocessors and the latest GXT6000P 3D graphics accelerator from IBM and is ideal for companies designing products such as airplanes and automobiles.

The Model 170 workstation contains a built-in service processor designed to continuously monitor operations and take preventative or corrective actions as well as perform sophisticated remote system management functions.

The Model 170 is priced at Rs. 500,000. NM