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North
Zest Systems, Delhi
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Jayas Damodaran, Director, Channel & Alliances, Sybase India, presenting
the award to Rajeev Mehta, CEO, Zest Systems
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Despite the slowdown, Zest Systems notched up an impressive growth of 38 percent, posting a turnover of Rs 62 crore in FY 2008-09 compared Rs 45 crore in the previous fiscal.
“Sensing the slowdown, we changed our focus from commercial PC selling to training and aligning our sales force with HP’s other business units such as IPG for printers and plotters, and TSG for storage and Unix servers,” said Rajeev Mehta, CEO, Zest Systems. Another factor which helped the company grow was the addition of telecom and connectivity solutions. “We tied up with Tata Teleservices to provide telecom solutions to existing customers. We also tied up with Aircel to provide bandwidth, leased line and WiMax solutions,” said Mehta.
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Performance Highlights
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• Executed a project worth $4 million for an education institute to provide IT infrastructure across 14 locations
• Entered into a contract with an infrastructure company to provide the IT set-up for the toll plazas being deployed by them
• Tied up with Tata Teleservices and Aircel to provide telecom and connectivity solutions
• Ran a buy-back scheme which
contributed 12 percent to revenues and got 46 new customers
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Company Snapshot
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Company: Zest Systems
CEO: Rajeev Mehta
Year of inception: 1994
Branches: 2
Turnover 2008-09: Rs 62 crore
Turnover 2007-08: Rs 45 crore
Employees: 124
Certified employees: 49
Principals: HP, HP Procurve, D-Link, IBM,Lenovo, Microsoft
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The company ventured into IT outsourcing. “Here, the customer outsources his entire IT requirements to us, except for the infrastructure and equipment. We are then responsible for providing them with manpower and complete managed services including total IT procurement, helpdesk, support, implementation and even orientation toward new products. This service has been well-received in the education segment where IT hardware is bought in huge volumes as a learning tool, and the ownership of this tool is liquid in nature,” said Mehta.
A major project, worth $4 million, executed by Zest, was for providing infrastructure across 14 locations for an education institute.
Zest also entered into a contract with a leading infrastructure company to provide the IT set-up for the toll plazas being deployed by the company. “Each project ranges between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, and we have to deploy hardware and software for the highway management system, as well as security and monitoring equipment. We have already set up the IT at one such toll plaza in Noida, and are in the process of setting up things at plazas in Rajasthan, Karnataka, TN, AP, Gujarat and Maharashtra,” explained Mehta.
In the second half of the fiscal, when the markets were down, Zest generated good revenues from a buy-back scheme. Noted Mehta: “This scheme not only contributed 12 percent to our revenues but also got us 46 new customers.”
Targeting a growth of 40 percent in the current fiscal, the company plans to enter the government segment by setting up a new team for this purpose. It is also planning to include software solutions to its portfolio, and strengthening its Hyderabad branch.
South
Quadsel Systems, Chennai
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Girish Madhavan, CEO, Quadsel Systems, receiving the award
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Recording a turnover of Rs 50 crore in FY 2008-09, Quadsel witnessed a growth of 30 percent over last fiscal’s topline of Rs 38 crore. Corporate reselling contributed 50 percent to the revenues, solutions contributed 30 percent, and the rest came from retail and services. One of the premier enterprise partners of HP, Quadsel saw 60 percent of its revenues coming from HP-led business.
“The focus last year was on increasing revenues from solutions, primarily virtualization, infrastructure consolidation and WAN optimization. We invested heavily in building capabilities in these solutions areas, and we bagged some good projects which helped us garner 30 percent revenues from our new focus business,” said Girish Madhavan, CEO, Quadsel. He said the company invested Rs 10 lakh during the fiscal to achieve the right certifications to build expertise in the new solutions segments.
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Performance Highlights
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• Focused on providing virtualization, infrastructure consolidation and WAN optimization solutions
• Executed project for MRF worth Rs 8 crore for setting up a data center and DR site
• Set up HP POC with an investment of Rs 40 lakh
• Bagged deal worth Rs 4.6 crore from Petrofac for setting up IT infrastructure
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Company Snapshot
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Company: Quadsel Systems
CEO: Girish Madhavan
Year of inception: 1994
Branches: 4
Turnover 2008-09: Rs 50 crore
Turnover 2007-08: Rs 38.6 crore
Employees: 112
Certified employees: 33
Principals: HP, VMware, Microsoft, Red Hat, Riverbed
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Quadsel bagged a project from MRF worth Rs 8 crore which involved providing infrastructure consolidation, and setting up a data center and disaster recovery center. Another project, worth Rs 3.8 crore, came from California Software which called for infrastructure consolidation, virtualization and WAN optimization. Yet another project, worth Rs 4.6 crore, was for setting up IT infrastructure (including data center, networking, software and connectivity) for the petrochemical MNC, Petrofac.
In line with its focus on virtualization and data center solutions, Quadsel established an HP Proof of Concept (PoC) center in Chennai with an investment of Rs 40 lakh. The PoC demonstrates a range of storage, virtualization, disaster recovery and WAN optimization solutions, both on the Linux and Windows platforms. “The objective is to provide a simulated environment for SMB customers to experience for themselves the various solutions we are capable of offering, and the benefits customers can get from deploying them,” explained Madhavan.
With a revenue target of Rs 90 crore, Quadsel is aiming for a growth of 80 percent. To achieve this, it plans to expand to Delhi, Pune and Kochi. “We have started operations in Mumbai, and will soon set up office in Delhi. On the solutions side we are building capabilities in high-end server and storage solutions, grid computing and SAP B1,” said Madhavan. With most of its revenues in the past coming from the IT and manufacturing segments, the company is now looking at entering the government and education sectors which are expected to do well this year.
West
Ace Brain Systems, Pune
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Yogesh Godbole, CEO, Ace Brain Systems & Software, receiving the award
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With a topline of Rs 36 crore in FY 2008-09, Ace Brain Systems grew 50 percent over the previous fiscal when its turnover was Rs 24 crore. The company garnered 90 percent of its revenues from the government segment, and 10 percent from the telecom and auto manufacturing sectors.
Ace attributed its growth to tie-ups with Think3 and Sun. “The tie-up with Think3 for 3D design software gave us an entry into auto manufacturing and the defense sector, and added Rs 6 crore to our topline. The DRDO bought Think3 software worth Rs 2 crore for designing next-generation Brahmos missiles,” informed Yogesh Godbole, CEO, Ace Brain Systems.
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Performance Highlights
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• Tie-up with Think3 added Rs 6 crore to its topline
• DRDO bought Think3 software worth Rs 2 crore for designing Brahmos missiles
• Won contract from the government of Maharashtra to migrate its applications to Sun Solaris
• Won a project worth Rs 12 crore from the Maharashtra government for deployment of a biometric security solution
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Company Snapshot
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Company: Ace Brain Systems
CEO: Yogesh Godbole
Year of inception: 1998
Branches: 6
Turnover 2008-09: Rs 36 crore
Turnover 2007-08: Rs 24 crore
Employees: 62
Certified employees: 33
Principals: Samsung, Dell, Epson, Acer, EMC, Think3, Microsoft
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It also sold Rs 50 lakh worth of licenses of the Think3 design suite to the Maharashtra Technical Education Board. “The biggest bottleneck we face while selling Think3 is the lack of trained manpower to use this application, hence we signed an MoU with the board to include Think3 software training as part of the official syllabus in the mechanical diploma course of 40-odd polytechnics,” said Godbole.
“With Sun, we won a large rate contract from the government of Maharashtra. All applications used by various departments of the state government were based on Linux DB2. In collaboration with the central ministry of IT, we successfully changed the platform to Sun Solaris. We now plan to work with different government agencies to make Solaris the platform for all computerization projects under the National eGovernance Plan,” Godbole said.
Another project bagged by Ace is for deploying a state-wide
biometric security solution across all departments of the Maharashtra government. “We have piloted a project at Mantralaya in Mumbai,” Godbole informed. “Over the next two years we will be deploying the solution across the state, and this is expected to contribute Rs 12 crore to our revenues.”
This fiscal Ace is targeting a Rs 55 crore topline, and plans to open a branch in Bengaluru. For its Think3 business the company plans to roll out a service-driven model where it will provide wet lease options to SMB customers and dry lease to large enterprises. “Under wet lease we plan to provide small auto ancillaries (that can’t invest in CAD/CAM solutions) all the services including designers, hardware and software. Dry lease is for companies with an IT infrastructure in place for whom we will provide services like material strength and heat analyses,” said Godbole.
East
Comprehensive, Kolkata
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Akhil Ranjan Jha, CEO, Comprehensive Consultancy, receiving the award
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The company garnered revenue of Rs 7 crore in FY 2008-09 vis-à-vis the Rs 6.3 crore of the previous fiscal. “Identifying and executing deep-selling opportunities within our key accounts was the single largest contributor to our business. We added solutions that would appeal to our existing clients, and this included virtualization and Linux-based solutions. We were able to do this only because of the investment and effort we made in acquiring skills in these niche areas,” said Akhil Ranjan Jha, the CEO of Comprehensive Consultancy.
Jha also chose to remain focused on the bottomline. “We walked away from high-revenue but low-margin deals. This focus helped us to continuously look for projects that had the right mix of products, solutions and services.” With a focus on education and R&D institutes, the company added new customers in Jharkhand, Mizoram and Assam.
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Performance Highlights
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• Implemented a Linux-based library digitization project worth Rs 1.5 crore for NEHU
• Executed a project worth Rs 1.4 crore to set up 140 TB of grid storage infrastructure
• Implemented a multi-tier storage project for NIT Rourkela worth Rs 50 lakh
• Conducted free audits of customers’ IT infrastructure to unearth deep-selling opportunities
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Company Snapshot
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Company: Comprehensive Consultancy
CEO: Akhil Ranjan Jha
Year of inception: 1993
Branches: 3
Turnover 2008-09: Rs 7.1 crore
Turnover 2007-08: Rs 6.3 crore
Employees: 14
Certified employees: 11
Principals: Cisco, HP, Avaya, VMware, Red Hat, Procurve, IBM, Dell
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Comprehensive executed a library digitization project, using open source systems, and worth Rs 1.5 crore, for North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in Shillong. It deployed the Linux-based DSpace library digitization solution on an Itanium server. “It uses only Linux-based software, and is completely Web-enabled,” said Jha.
The company also executed a project worth Rs 1.4 crore to set up 140 TB of grid storage infrastructure for a customer using a Linux-based HPC cluster of a large number of blade servers. In addition, Comprehensive implemented a multi-tier storage project for NIT Rourkela worth Rs 50 lakh. The project included deploying a mix of offline and online storage for heterogeneous platforms that included multiple flavors of Linux, Windows and AIX along with VMware spread across a mix of rack and blade servers.
To identify deep-selling opportunities within key accounts, Comprehensive undertook an initiative to conduct a free audit of its customers’ existing infrastructure. “This initiative helped unearth several opportunities. So far our focus had been on the server and storage side, and we had left opportunities in the software, power solutions, peripherals, desktops and laptops space,” explained Jha.
In the current fiscal, Comprehensive plans to add managed services to its portfolio and further its expertise in the storage and virtualization space. It intends to add a software portfolio, aimed at the education and research sectors, that could include statistical tools and learning management systems. It also plans to make inroads into the education sector in Chhattisgarh.
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 Systems Builder 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
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