Dax scouting for funds to expand biz

S Gopikrishna Chennai, Jan 25

Networking brand Dax is on the path to reinvent itself. The
company, which was maintaining a low profile for the last couple of years, is
now ready to take-off, said K Surendar, Country Manager, Dax Networks. The
recent grapevine in the market is that Dax Networks is looking for strategic
investors to build its business and take it to the next level. When The DQ
Week contacted Surendar, he said, "The news is true. But, I would not
know the details of it, since the top management is involved."

Surendar also said Dax Networks is on its way to become one of
the leading enterprise solution providers. "Though we did not make much
noise in the market in the last two years, we were silently working on building
our brand. Dax worked on three basic principles of credibility, references and
network of system integrators, which has started paying dividends now. Today,
Dax is winning orders from customers competing against Cisco and Nortel, among
others," he claimed.

" We are poised to achieve Rs 100 crore this year " -K Surendar Country Manager, Dax Networks

Dax has been registering a consistent growth of around 15
percent, though the networking industry was growing at an average 26 percent.
Last fiscal, the company achieved a turnover of Rs 81 crore, a 13 percent growth
from the previous year revenue of Rs 70 crore. "We are poised to achieve Rs
100 crore this year, and to break this threshold mark, Dax will scale new
heights in the market in the coming years," remarked Surendar. The company
is projecting a 50 percent growth next fiscal.

Dax Networks has an interesting history of getting into business
as a value-added reseller (during Apcom days) and growing into a brand with
networking opportunities. In 1999, Dax created sensation in the market with its
modem and other entry-level networking products, before quickly moving into
mid-range products between 2000-03. Later, the company tried to position itself
as an enterprise solution provider focusing on routers, managed switches and
other transmission products.

Dax has identified BFSI, education, telecom, railways, defense
and public sector enterprises as some of the priority verticals for them.
"On the products side, routers, switches and cabling will constitute up to
50 percent of the total networking business. Dax will focus more on wireless and
voice solutions," added Surendar.

The company is also increasing its channel presence with the
appointment of more ADSPs (authorized Dax solution providers) across the
country, by doubling it to 200.