H-P looks to expand dealer network

In a bid to replicate its global success and depth, information technology hardware major Hewlett Packard (H-P) is planning to expand its dealer network in the country. The strategy is being called "Go to Market".

Amit Mitra, the company's worldwide director (product marketing, Pro Curve Networking), told Business Standard that the company's presence, hitherto almost negligible, will increase once the expansion strategy is in place.

"We want to become the number two vendor in the next 2-3 years," Mitra said.

Currently the company has the fourth largest market share in the country, but Mitra is confident of changing that.

"We will double our channel partners here," said Mitra, adding the company has already started recruiting partners across tier-I cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The market is being classified across three groups "� professionals, specialists and elite "� with elite being assigned the highest ranking. Additionally, the company is looking to create awareness about its products.

Catering to the large and medium enterprise market, Mitra said, "We are targeting growth at twice the market rate. Currently, the market is growing at a compounded annual rate of 35.9 per cent for ports and 17.9 per cent in revenues."

Estimated at $17 billion globally, networking in India is a $400-500 million market in India.

Nevertheless, he says, "India is one of the fastest growing markets for us. Here the wireless network market is growing at 100 per cent and will outgrow the wired network solutions market which is growing at 20-30 per cent."

H-P recently rolled out its range of wireless products, the ProCurve 5300xl wireless edge services module, with coordinated ProCurve radio ports, and the ProCurve Access Point 530, which delivers operational efficiency and consistent functionality and security across all sizes of networks.

In this age of convergence of wireless local area network and wide area network, Mitra's confidence is based on the fact that H-P's Pro Curve networking range of wired and wireless networking products offer five-fold benefits.

He explains, "Its based on open standards, has life time warranty, plug and play, offer value for money and is driven by channels partners."