The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Making people understand what technology is all about

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 18, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Making people understand what technology is all about

Chitra V. Ramani

The CISCO van has already covered 25 cities in the country

The van was in Bangalore recently
We are taking technology to the consumer’s doorstep, says CISCO official

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

On a mission: The NOW van that is going places.

Bangalore: A van, known as Network On Wheels (NOW), which has on display a variety of communication technologies, is touring different parts of the country to demystify the communication technology for customers.

The van, developed by CISCO, has been touring strategic industrial locations, and was in Bangalore recently.

The NOW van is a mobile showcase equipped with the latest SMB customised CISCO networking solutions, including advanced technologies such as security, wireless and unified IP communications.

“The NOW van helps customers understand what the technology is all about. Also, we are taking technology to the customers’ doorstep. The hands-on product experience has boosted customer confidence, as they have understood our products and have adopted our technology in their companies,” said U.R. Acharya, Vice-President (Distribution and Reseller Channels for India and SAARC), CISCO.

“A unique feature of the van is that the technology on display can be altered to suit the needs of a particular vertical. We are targeting different segments, including IT/ITES, manufacturing, education, healthcare and hospitality,” he added.

Besides the U.S., Canada and China, India is the only market where NOW is running.

The programme was launched in May 2006 and has so far toured locations in Tier II and Tier III markets across the country.

“CISCO’s growing focus is on small and medium businesses, which is the fastest-growing segment for the company in India. We are focussing on the Tier II and Tier III markets also,” Mr. Acharya said.

He said so far, more than 3,000 small and medium businesses across the country had been covered.

“According to a study conducted by Access Markets International Partners, there are an estimated 7.6 million small and medium businesses in India. These businesses are set up to increase their IT expenditure by 24 per cent in 2007 to $ 8 billion to beef up their servers and networking technology, which forms the backbone of all investments and is a key component of the overall expenditure for the businesses,” he said.

The NOW van had covered 25 cities, including New Delhi, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Karnal, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad. It would cover key cities in the South, including Mysore, Belgaum, Hubli-Dharwad, Mangalore, Manipal, Davangere, Cochin, Coimbatore, Madurai and Pondicherry, among others, in the next few months, he added.

Mr. Acharya said that the challenge, however, was to make the small and medium businesses across the country realise that IT could help them leverage their business. “The small and medium businesses in India view technology as a driver for increasing efficiencies and global competitiveness, and its role as a strategic business tool is still under-valued,” he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka