 "A possible answer to India's bandwidth woes")
An inspiring speech by former president A P J Abdul Kalam in 2005 gave birth to VMukti Solutions, a video communications start-up. Speaking at an annual leadership event organised by Nasscom, Kalam had "challenged his audience to build a knowledge platform for voice-video convergence for the masses".
"He gave two examples - students in remote Odisha learning from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay via tele-education, and remote Rajasthan villagers being treated tele-medically from Ahmedabad. This gave us the idea of setting up the business," remembers Hardik Sanghvi, founder and chief executive officer, Ahmedabad-based VMukti.
"There are many providers who have developed video-streaming and communications solutions. But these are either by people in developed countries or for people in developed countries. So, while the solutions are for an eight-Mbp bandwidth, they don't realise that in India, most hardly get 100-200 kbps," says Sanghvi.
Initial years
Earlier, Sanghvi had tried a couple ventures with his brother, Kushal Sanghvi, co-founder and chief marketing officer. These failed and taught them a few lessons.
"I was working in the US, while my brother had just completed studies. Since we always wanted to be entrepreneurs, I came down to India to set up a custom software servicing company out of Ahmedabad, with Kushal. We were serving a lot of customers for voice-over IP solutions based on open-source technologies, apart from audio PBX and audio conferencing. But, more customers began asking for video-like capabilities," says Sanghvi.
Soon, the duo realised where the number of participants was limited to 50, many players were offering such solutions. But when the numbers were large (100, 200, 1,000, or 5,000) there were no solutions. "That is where we found our niche. We said let's build solutions that can be scalable in terms of the number of participants and still be available at the lowest bandwidth," says Sanghvi.
By April 2006, the start-up developed its first prototype, an engineered product, limiting its users to software engineers. "We called it Alpha. By September 2006, we thought of dropping the idea, as research wasn't heading anywhere; funds, too, weren't available. But motivation came in the guise of a paid proof-of-concept from TMobile and Google. We continued research," says Sanghvi. By April 2007, the research led to the second prototype, a non-engineered video streaming software that could be commercialised. After the product was demonstrated at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad's Centre of Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, it was agreed VMukti would be incubated there.
Business model
After years of research, VMukti has a product that can operate on very low bandwidth across platforms, browsers and devices, and combines multiple net connections to enable the user to access a higher bandwidth to send videos. "Newscasters can use our technology to equip field reporters to send signals directly to control rooms, without broadcast vans. While such vans cost Rs 1.5 crore, and one has to spend an extra Rs 30 lakh for securing the satellite bandwidth, media houses can get a VMukti hardware device for Rs 15 lakh and spend another Rs 2 lakh for a full year of operations," says Hardik.
One beneficiary of the solutions is Ahmedabad-based Self Employed Women's Association (Sewa). "VMukti has helped us link 10 villages for audio-video conferencing with our main centre in Manipur village near Sanand. All we need is lease-line net; VMukti has helped us relay video and communicate using the lowest bandwidth. From 11 am to 5 pm everyday, we organise lectures and question-and-answer sessions on health, agriculture and social awareness, and this has benefited 300 villagers, specially women in and around Sanand," says Ashwin Koshti, technical head at Sewa.
Today, a key component in VMukti's business is a hardware device customised for each industry application, one that has VMukti software built in it. "It's hard to sell software. There are mindset issues, driven by factors such as lack of protection for intellectual property rights. The market is flooded with pirated software. This results in lack of respect for innovation. Customers are not ready to pay. One would tend to compare an Indian innovation to a Western one," says Kushal.
The hardware idea led VMukti's promoters to China in April 2012 to check whether a cost-effective device could be developed, one that could be customised to suit different industry needs. By October 2012, they had a device ready. This is now being built by a vendor in Shenzhen, China. For this, the start-up has also tied up with a Taiwan-based vendor. "They send the hardware devices here; we have set up a hardware laboratory in Ahmedabad and put the software here," Kushal says.
Way ahead
VMukti feels there is a market for such devices in the education and skill development sectors, the security industry (both private and government-owned), the media, general web-conferencing by companies, e-commerce, etc.
In the education and skill development sectors, institutions can use the company's video-conferencing tool to hold smart classes and reach out to students in remote locations. "Government spending in the area of skill development is quite high--- Rs 3,000-4,000 crore a year --- about 35 per cent of the total market size in the country. About 25 per cent of this goes into technology," Kushal says. According to Cisco estimates, the web-conferencing market in emerging markets alone is worth about $3-4 billion, say Hardik and Kushal.
VMukti has about 65 per cent share in the poll-booth monitoring market across the country.
An edge VMukti has over its peers such as Vidyo and Tokbox is it not only offers hardware and software across various platforms such Linux, Macintosh and mobile platforms such as Android; it also offers this at competitive subscription-based pricing - Rs 10,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh a day, depending on the number of participants in a web-cast.
The company is developing a small, light-weight device which can be fixed to a small helicopter that can be controlled from a distant location. It would transmit live video to the control room, where it would be automatically saved in a storage device.
As it becomes mandatory for listed companies in the country to provide a video-conferencing option to shareholders to participate in annual general meetings, the sheer business potential of this single move is immense, VMukti's promoters say.
Now, the start-up is set to come up with three-dimensional (3D) web-casting. Kushal says 3D videos could add a human touch to a virtual classroom or give a potential customer a better feel of the product, while surfing an e-commerce portal.
VMukti plans to tie with potential business partners (with whom it would have a revenue-sharing model). "We have identified four main verticals---education, security services, web-casting and corporates. We would have to invest Rs 20 crore in each of these sectors to achieve scale. We now need to devise a complex strategy involving our partners and investors," says Kushal.
"Now is the time to grow," he adds emphatically.
Challenges
"As we are working on 3D technology based on multiple SIM cards, getting resources in Gujarat is becoming a challenge; we may have to set up operations in Bangalore," Kushal says. Though the company wants to get the best talent from the technology and marketing worlds, many are not motivated by the stock options provided by such start-ups, he adds.
"R&D is a sensitive and confidential activity and protecting IPR is becoming a challenge for us. We are trying to move R&D out of India. We have made some inroads. We have deputed people at many locations with different modules. This way, none has the entire picture," Kushal says. Another concern is scalability. VMukti admits if it wishes to tap the huge market in two separate segments---corporate and government - it would have to gain scale quickly and emerge from being a small enterprise to a mid-sized entity.
FAST HOOK-UP
In this segment, business is expected to grow. VMukti's efforts in this area are well justified. Some analysts mention in 2010, the market achieved revenues of $112 million and we anticipate it to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 24.8 per cent from 2010 to 2017, reaching more than $500 million by 2017 in the enterprise web solutions space alone.
VMukti has a tough road ahead, specially in the global market, as the company's clientele is mostly in India.
According to the data, VMukti's solutions are mainly in the Windows space. With the growing popularity of tablets, smartphones and ultra-books, cross-platform solutions are vital, as is support to varied OSS/platforms. It is hard to see the USP of VMukti's solution. The company describes itself as a provider of a patented technology providing solutions on fluctuating bandwidth in developing nations. It would be good to explain this more.
To build confidence, I suggest the company provide Intel certification details. It appears VMukti is also giving tailored solutions, which aren't scalable.
No doubt, these media add huge value. There is a need for these systems to work in line with collaborative technologies. Many vendors have dedicated solutions to solve problems on a daily basis. But Cisco, WebSteamWorld, Citrix and Microsoft are working on highly collaborative technologies, with a focus on mobility.
"He gave two examples - students in remote Odisha learning from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay via tele-education, and remote Rajasthan villagers being treated tele-medically from Ahmedabad. This gave us the idea of setting up the business," remembers Hardik Sanghvi, founder and chief executive officer, Ahmedabad-based VMukti.
"There are many providers who have developed video-streaming and communications solutions. But these are either by people in developed countries or for people in developed countries. So, while the solutions are for an eight-Mbp bandwidth, they don't realise that in India, most hardly get 100-200 kbps," says Sanghvi.
Initial years
Earlier, Sanghvi had tried a couple ventures with his brother, Kushal Sanghvi, co-founder and chief marketing officer. These failed and taught them a few lessons.
"I was working in the US, while my brother had just completed studies. Since we always wanted to be entrepreneurs, I came down to India to set up a custom software servicing company out of Ahmedabad, with Kushal. We were serving a lot of customers for voice-over IP solutions based on open-source technologies, apart from audio PBX and audio conferencing. But, more customers began asking for video-like capabilities," says Sanghvi.
Soon, the duo realised where the number of participants was limited to 50, many players were offering such solutions. But when the numbers were large (100, 200, 1,000, or 5,000) there were no solutions. "That is where we found our niche. We said let's build solutions that can be scalable in terms of the number of participants and still be available at the lowest bandwidth," says Sanghvi.
By April 2006, the start-up developed its first prototype, an engineered product, limiting its users to software engineers. "We called it Alpha. By September 2006, we thought of dropping the idea, as research wasn't heading anywhere; funds, too, weren't available. But motivation came in the guise of a paid proof-of-concept from TMobile and Google. We continued research," says Sanghvi. By April 2007, the research led to the second prototype, a non-engineered video streaming software that could be commercialised. After the product was demonstrated at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad's Centre of Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, it was agreed VMukti would be incubated there.
Business model
After years of research, VMukti has a product that can operate on very low bandwidth across platforms, browsers and devices, and combines multiple net connections to enable the user to access a higher bandwidth to send videos. "Newscasters can use our technology to equip field reporters to send signals directly to control rooms, without broadcast vans. While such vans cost Rs 1.5 crore, and one has to spend an extra Rs 30 lakh for securing the satellite bandwidth, media houses can get a VMukti hardware device for Rs 15 lakh and spend another Rs 2 lakh for a full year of operations," says Hardik.
One beneficiary of the solutions is Ahmedabad-based Self Employed Women's Association (Sewa). "VMukti has helped us link 10 villages for audio-video conferencing with our main centre in Manipur village near Sanand. All we need is lease-line net; VMukti has helped us relay video and communicate using the lowest bandwidth. From 11 am to 5 pm everyday, we organise lectures and question-and-answer sessions on health, agriculture and social awareness, and this has benefited 300 villagers, specially women in and around Sanand," says Ashwin Koshti, technical head at Sewa.
Today, a key component in VMukti's business is a hardware device customised for each industry application, one that has VMukti software built in it. "It's hard to sell software. There are mindset issues, driven by factors such as lack of protection for intellectual property rights. The market is flooded with pirated software. This results in lack of respect for innovation. Customers are not ready to pay. One would tend to compare an Indian innovation to a Western one," says Kushal.
The hardware idea led VMukti's promoters to China in April 2012 to check whether a cost-effective device could be developed, one that could be customised to suit different industry needs. By October 2012, they had a device ready. This is now being built by a vendor in Shenzhen, China. For this, the start-up has also tied up with a Taiwan-based vendor. "They send the hardware devices here; we have set up a hardware laboratory in Ahmedabad and put the software here," Kushal says.
Way ahead
VMukti feels there is a market for such devices in the education and skill development sectors, the security industry (both private and government-owned), the media, general web-conferencing by companies, e-commerce, etc.
In the education and skill development sectors, institutions can use the company's video-conferencing tool to hold smart classes and reach out to students in remote locations. "Government spending in the area of skill development is quite high--- Rs 3,000-4,000 crore a year --- about 35 per cent of the total market size in the country. About 25 per cent of this goes into technology," Kushal says. According to Cisco estimates, the web-conferencing market in emerging markets alone is worth about $3-4 billion, say Hardik and Kushal.
VMukti has about 65 per cent share in the poll-booth monitoring market across the country.
An edge VMukti has over its peers such as Vidyo and Tokbox is it not only offers hardware and software across various platforms such Linux, Macintosh and mobile platforms such as Android; it also offers this at competitive subscription-based pricing - Rs 10,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh a day, depending on the number of participants in a web-cast.
The company is developing a small, light-weight device which can be fixed to a small helicopter that can be controlled from a distant location. It would transmit live video to the control room, where it would be automatically saved in a storage device.
As it becomes mandatory for listed companies in the country to provide a video-conferencing option to shareholders to participate in annual general meetings, the sheer business potential of this single move is immense, VMukti's promoters say.
Now, the start-up is set to come up with three-dimensional (3D) web-casting. Kushal says 3D videos could add a human touch to a virtual classroom or give a potential customer a better feel of the product, while surfing an e-commerce portal.
VMukti plans to tie with potential business partners (with whom it would have a revenue-sharing model). "We have identified four main verticals---education, security services, web-casting and corporates. We would have to invest Rs 20 crore in each of these sectors to achieve scale. We now need to devise a complex strategy involving our partners and investors," says Kushal.
"Now is the time to grow," he adds emphatically.
Challenges
"As we are working on 3D technology based on multiple SIM cards, getting resources in Gujarat is becoming a challenge; we may have to set up operations in Bangalore," Kushal says. Though the company wants to get the best talent from the technology and marketing worlds, many are not motivated by the stock options provided by such start-ups, he adds.
"R&D is a sensitive and confidential activity and protecting IPR is becoming a challenge for us. We are trying to move R&D out of India. We have made some inroads. We have deputed people at many locations with different modules. This way, none has the entire picture," Kushal says. Another concern is scalability. VMukti admits if it wishes to tap the huge market in two separate segments---corporate and government - it would have to gain scale quickly and emerge from being a small enterprise to a mid-sized entity.
FAST HOOK-UP
- VMukti Solutions offers web-casting and video conferencing software capable of working in low-bandwidth speeds
- While VMukti Solutions offered just the software till 2012, it is now working with vendors and has rolled out a hardware device
- The device can be used in education, skill development sectors, security industry, media and web-conferencing by corporates
- VMukti has also pioneered bandwidth aggregation that helps users in India to web-cast and stream videos and engage in video conferencing with considerable high bandwidths, using multiple SIM cards of low bandwidth
- The start-up offers services on a subscription basis, such as pay per use, month or year, with rates ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh
In this segment, business is expected to grow. VMukti's efforts in this area are well justified. Some analysts mention in 2010, the market achieved revenues of $112 million and we anticipate it to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 24.8 per cent from 2010 to 2017, reaching more than $500 million by 2017 in the enterprise web solutions space alone.
VMukti has a tough road ahead, specially in the global market, as the company's clientele is mostly in India.
According to the data, VMukti's solutions are mainly in the Windows space. With the growing popularity of tablets, smartphones and ultra-books, cross-platform solutions are vital, as is support to varied OSS/platforms. It is hard to see the USP of VMukti's solution. The company describes itself as a provider of a patented technology providing solutions on fluctuating bandwidth in developing nations. It would be good to explain this more.
To build confidence, I suggest the company provide Intel certification details. It appears VMukti is also giving tailored solutions, which aren't scalable.
No doubt, these media add huge value. There is a need for these systems to work in line with collaborative technologies. Many vendors have dedicated solutions to solve problems on a daily basis. But Cisco, WebSteamWorld, Citrix and Microsoft are working on highly collaborative technologies, with a focus on mobility.
Jaya Panvalkar, senior director and site leader, Pune Design Center, NVIDIA