By Dhaval Valia, CRN, December 29, 2011, 1000 hrs
“We are betting big on video surveillance”
Jonathan Huberman, President, Iomega, was recently in India to launch the company’s entry into video surveillance solutions in partnership with MindTree and Tulip Telecom. He took some time off to speak to Dhaval Valia
What’s the significance of Iomega’s foray into security surveillance?
Video surveillance has evolved from being just a security tool to becoming a tool for checking on things like quality of service, pilferage, MIS and customer response. According to a Frost & Sullivan report for 2011, the video surveillance equipment market in India is valued at Rs 1,800 crore and is growing at a CAGR of 25-30 percent.
The IP-based surveillance market in India is currently valued at about $50 million-60 million, and is expected to grow at 45 percent YoY for the next 4-5 years. I believe that this solution will be adopted by a large number of SMBs in professional services, retail and manufacturing, as well as by the branch offices of distributed companies. The demand from households is also increasing, not only for peripheral but also for internal surveillance. We see demand from multiple segments across metros and tier-1 cities.
In a typical surveillance solution, storage forms 40 percent of the cost of the solution. For instance, a typical low-end camera requires 300 GB of storage on a monthly basis; when you add other features—including video management software—its share goes up to 50 percent.
Hence, for a typical $60 million IP surveillance market, the storage opportunity is as much as $30 million.
Could you tell us about the nature of your partnership with MindTree?
While in the US and Europe we have partnered with leading global video management system (VMS) players to cater to the IP surveillance market, in India and other similar emerging markets we were keen on finding a more affordable solution because SMBs in India are more cost conscious.
That’s why we decided to work with MindTree to develop a VMS solution that would be affordable and easy to set up and use, and come with all the key features that an SMB would require.
Our R&D team at our Bengaluru Center of Excellence worked closely with MindTree to develop a solution in keeping with the needs of Indian SMBs.
What’s the USP of the Iomega-MindTree solution?
The MindTree SecureMind Surveillance Manager VMS application is feature-rich, ONVIF-ready, easy-to-install and robust, and works seamlessly with our StorCenter range. A StorCenter plus SecureMind combination supports up to 48 cameras and up to 36 TB of storage capacity per device. The solution supports hundreds of different camera manufacturers.
The VMS supports live video from anywhere using a Web browser. It’s primarily a surveillance-in-a-box solution that removes the need for any high-end server, storage and software infrastructure.
For a 4-IPcam set up, the entire solution, including good brand cameras, could cost less than Rs 30,000.
What role will Tulip play in this alliance, and what will be the role of the existing distributors, Neoteric and Redington?
Tulip has a strong network integration and corporate data connectivity presence which allows Iomega to deliver faster and better video surveillance solutions to end-users in the SMB and distributed enterprise space.
The company also has a strong channel which can be leveraged to sell other products and services. Tulip will build special packages based on customer needs to provide optimum bandwidth depending on the number of sites and cameras. What’s more, Tulip has one of the largest data centers in the country, and by using this we plan to launch Surveillance as a Service.
Redington and Neoteric will also be selling this product through Iomega IOClub partners across India, and will leverage Tulip’s strength of integration and data connectivity where needed.
Which are the key trends you see in SMB markets in India and other emerging countries?
Though they don’t realize it, most SMBs have always had the need for storage and information consolidation. They have bills, book-keeping, IT returns and financial data, and it’s mostly kept on their personal PCs without taking a back-up. But once they’re hit by a crash and lose their data they are bound to invest in a storage solution.
The other issue SMBs face is the cost of a storage solution. Most SMBs do not have an IT department or an IT person to manage things, and this becomes a big constraint for them to invest in storage solutions. But with the prices of NAS falling to as low as Rs 9,000, and deployment and management becoming simple, we are seeing increased adoption for our NAS solutions in this space.
The other significant development in the SMB segment is that customers are consolidating their storage set up. SMBs with multiple offices and larger IT set ups are experimenting with technologies such as storage virtualization and trying to see if they can extend the life of their existing storage assets.
Could you specify the three key growth priorities for Iomega India?
Surveillance is big. Not just point solutions but also delivering them as a service. You will see us launching new products with rich back-up and replication features because we believe this is going to be one area of investment for SMBs.
Also on the agenda is [a plan] to aggressively push the Unstoppable Computing range which comes with full-fledged virtualization capabilities at low cost.
For the home segment we are pushing our Personal Cloud solution as we see huge traction for digital convergence and the need for sharing digital content across smartphones, tablets, TVs and PCs.
Which are the new channel programs and initiatives Iomega has lined up for partners in 2012?
Iomega has been able to create a large base of 1,000+ partners who are helping us reach over 40 cities across the country. We are poised to double the partner base this year.
We recently launched the IOClub Partner Program in India with certain goals in mind—to simplify the way Iomega channel partners work with us, to make the relationship as productive and profitable as possible, and to provide support for Iomega products and solutions.
In addition to the new partner program, we will be investing in new solutions and architectures, strengthening our post-sales support, [increasing] partner education and training, and enhancing partner breadth and spread. |