Bengaluru-based networking vendor Mro-Tek has chalked out plans to woo channel partners for its entire range of access products.

The company recently announced that it had parted ways with Israeli networking vendor RAD, with whom Mro-Tek had a partnership for the past 18 years. “We decided to part ways amicably, following RAD’s decision to appoint other distributors,” said S Narayanan, CEO and MD of Mro-Tek. Mro-Tek was manufacturing products for RAD at its facilities in Bengaluru, which it says will now be used entirely for building indigenous product lines.

Narayanan said that Mro-Tek is banking on its expertise in R&D, and on the better support and faster turnaround it can provide to customers. “We have over 70 people in our R&D team, and some of the products that we manufacture are fairly unique and are not being carried by our competition. While vendors sourcing from China might be able to get a better price, our logistics and superior quality are giving us an edge. We are also offering aggressive prices.”

Mro-Tek continues to distribute Brocade, which Narayanan described as being a complementary product line to Mro-Tek’s own portfolio.

“While we do have Ethernet switches, we do not compete with run-of-the mill products from other vendors. Our focus is to create products which are targeted at specific market segments such as ISPs and carriers,” explained Narayanan. “For example, our multiplexers are specifically designed for large Indian metros where there is a shortage of fiber connectivity, besides space and infrastructure constraints to relay new cables. In such cases, carriers are opting for our multiplexers.”

Another product line that Mro-Tek is betting on during the year is media converters. “We are offering close to 200 different models, and are by far the largest vendor in this space. Apart from industries such as manufacturing—which is going on both campus-wide networks as well as inter-networking factories with main offices—educational institutions are opting for campus-wide networks,” said Narayanan.

Mro-Tek says it sells close 1,00,000 media converters every year. “We feel there’s still huge potential in the market, and that we can double the number this year, and that’s where channel partners will help us,” Narayanan said. “A huge chunk of our
business so far has been directly to the ISPs and telcos, and also through projects manned by large national SIs such as Wipro, Datacraft and ICIM. However, we would like to increase the share through channel partners during this year.”

As a first step, Mro-Tek will double the number of its channel partners from 30 to 60. “We will then continue growing the numbers, specifically focusing on B and C-class cities,” Narayanan informed.