| Systems Builder |
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Connoisseur Electronics, Bengaluru
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Sajid Desai, Publisher & Director, UBM India, presenting the award to Harish Kumar R P, CEO, Connoisseur Electronics
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The systems builder posted a topline of Rs 21 crore in FY 2008-09,growing by 5 percent from the previous fiscal’s Rs 20 crore. The company’s operations in Mauritius and South Africa netted an additional $2 million in revenues. Nearly 70 percent of the company’s earnings came from selling its Connoi brand of desktops and workstations, 20 percent from home-brand notebooks, and 10 percent from white-box servers and storage.
During the last FY, Connoisseur expanded its channel base to tier-2 and tier-3 cities of Karnataka. The company introduced a number of innovative computing products developed with support from platform companies like Nvidia and Microsoft. It launched workstations based on Tesla, Nvidia’s high-end, multi-core, GPU platform, which gives a super computer experience.
“For a university we replaced a cluster of computers with a smaller set of desktop super computers based on Tesla which delivered a combined performance of two teraflops. We also refreshed our server range using Intel’s Nehalem platform, and launched indigenous blade servers. As a company we invest 5 percent of our total revenues in R&D for new products,” said Harish Kumar R P, Connoisseur’s CEO.
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Performance Highlights
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• Introduced workstations based on Tesla, Nvidia’s high-end, multi-core, GPU platform
• Refreshed its server range using Intel’s Nehalem platform
• Launched Classmate PC with tablet
features at Rs 22,000
• Sponsored 110 workstations, nettops and netbooks for the Aero Show 2009 in Bengaluru
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Company Snapshot
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Company: Connoisseur Electronics
CEO: Harish Kumar R P
Year of inception: 1992
Turnover 2008-09: Rs 21 crore
Turnover 2007-08: Rs 20 crore
Employees: 95
Certified employees: 23
Principals: Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft
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The company launched the Classmate PC with tablet features at a price of Rs 22,000, and was the first systems builder to launch nettops and netbooks in the Indian market. Connoisseur also entered the special purpose computing appliance segment where it is designing information kiosks for the Indian Railways.
The company spent more than Rs 50 lakh in the promotion of its new products. “We did several campaigns. One such promotion was sponsoring 110 workstations, nettops and netbooks for the Aero Show 2009 that took place in Bengaluru. We provided MDF to our dealers to promote new categories of products. In addition, we conducted seminars for engineering and management students on hardware assembling to create brand awareness,” said Kumar.
In the current fiscal Connoisseur expects large orders for a number of prototypes it piloted last year. Tesla-based solutions are expected to add significantly to its topline. The company is plotting a retail strategy for its Classmate PCs and netbooks, and may look at a formal channel strategy for these products late this year. “We have a number of products in the pipeline, and have signed NDAs with Intel to bring new products to the market,” added Harish.
l Methodology l Outstanding Channel Contribution l Company of the Year l Systems Integrator l Solutions Provider - Integrated l Solutions Provider - Networking l Solutions Provider - Software l Corporate Reseller l Retailer l Sub-Distributor l Solutions Provider - Emerging l Sub-Distributor - Emerging l Retailer - Emerging l Managed Services Provider l Solution Provider - Security l |