SMBs to spend $1bn on networking

As per an AMI study, Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs) are on track

to spend $1.04 billion on networking products and services this year, up by 11

percent from 2008. Medium businesses (MBs) will be generating a major portion of

this spending accounting for nearly 59 percent of the total SMB networking

expenditure. The growth in networking spending among small businesses (SBs) will

be spearheaded by wireless networking.

The estimated growth level is down amid this current economic slowdown, but

is still much better than other parts of the world. The number of LAN-based

businesses for the SMB sector in India will have a marginal growth of 12 percent

in 2009.

The study also pointed out that new technologies will impact the vendors and

the channels that offer networking equipment. “2009 will be a challenging year

for the channels, especially the networking channels. Advancements in WAN

optimization, hosted unified communications, network access control and wireless

802.11n protocol will help the channels attract the attention of the SMB

sector,” said Sumeeta Misra, Research Associate, AMI-Partners.

The market for WAN optimization is expanding, as businesses deploy more

robust infrastructures. WAN optimization will help SMBs grow rapidly even during

this downturn as it helps improve the network performance without the need to

purchase additional, expensive hardware. WAN optimization also helps accelerate

applications accessed by network users and improve the speed of massive data

transfers. “By deploying such technologies, SMBs are looking at cutting costs,

making data protection faster and cheaper, realizing better RoI, thereby

reforming the business and preparing it for the future,” said Misra.

This year will also see the start of broad-based adoption of the 802.11n

protocol to deploy new wireless applications.

The network is becoming more intelligent due to emergence of new technologies

like virtualization, embedded software on open platforms and

software-as-a-service (SAAS) model. SMBs will show an increased focus on

services and applications delivered over a robust network infrastructure.