By Tabrez Khan, CRN, November 18, 2009, 1330
Leviton is firming up its expansion strategy. The global networking solutions vendor, who launched its India operations earlier this year, plans to appoint 60-70 partners over the next one year.
“We will have two levels of certifications for partners—the Leviton Premium Partners (LPPs) and Leviton Authorized Partners (LAPs),” Prasanna Kumar, Regional Director, India and Saarc, Leviton. “LPPs will be partners who will have a higher commitment to Leviton’s products in terms of investments, staff training on Leviton products and providing after-sales support to customers. LAPs will be a level below that.”
Leviton has already signed up two LPPs, and is close to appointing two national distributors for the Indian market, Kumar informed. “We were working with these two companies in the US and we thought it prudent to extend this relationship to India as well,” added Kumar. He however did not divulge names citing confidentiality.
Leviton will also add four regional sub-distributors, one each for the north, south, east and west zones, Kumar informed.
Kumar said Leviton would leverage its global brand image to establish itself in the Indian market. “We have a very large pool of global customers and some of them have presence in India as well. They might want to work with us in India now that we have launched operations here,” said Kumar.
“Since we are working on a 100 percent indirect model, channel partners should benefit from this immensely,” added Kumar.
Leviton’s focus will be on network connectivity including CAT-5 and CAT-6 copper solutions and fiber optic cabling solutions as well. The company will also focus on providing innovative sensor-based lighting management systems and green cabling.
Kumar said there was a huge opportunity for channel partners in new segments like residential cabling. “More and more builders are looking to provide value-added services such as Wi-Fi, broadband and other connectivity solutions. We have a 75-80 percent share of the residential cabling market in US. In India too, this market will grow providing a good opportunity for channel partners to grow from,” added Kumar.
Leviton hopes to have its corporate office in Bengaluru ready by December. The office will also host an executive briefing center, where solutions will be displayed and product demonstrations will be made to partners and other stakeholders. |