Juniper to tap SMEs for growth

Shivangi Yadav Jaipur, April 3

In Jaipur, chief officers of different divisions of Juniper
recently outlined the future strategy of the company in India. The company not
only announced more focus on the SME segment but also the ramping up of its
engineering center in Bangalore.

Talking about the present scenario in the Indian market Sanjay
Jotshi, Director-Enterprise and Channels (India and SAARC), Juniper Networks
India said, "Traditionally 70 percent of our enterprise business has come
from telecom service providers. This year we are planning to scale up the
enterprise business from the existing 30 to 50 percent of the total business by
the next fiscal. For achieving the ramp up we are looking at focusing more on
small and medium businesses. This year we plan to sign up at least 10 to 15 new
partners in each region."

	"This year we are planning to scale up the enterprise business from the existing 30 to 50 percent of the total business by the next fiscal"
	Sanjay Jotshi Director-Enterprise and Channels (India and SAARC) Juniper Networks India

Elaborating further about the kind of support that Juniper will
provide these new partners he said, "We plan to invest heavily in training,
marketing and lead generation activities so these partners can grow their
businesses. We expect this segment to grow into half of our enterprise business
in the next three years."

While they are looking at taking new partners in their fold, the
company is also planning to ramp up its offices in India. Talking about the
expansion plans in India, Nagendra Venkaswamy, MD, Juniper Networks India and
SAARC explained, "We are planning to open a sales, marketing and customer
support office in Chennai. It will also house a design network. The Chennai
center will not only focus on the IT/ITeS demands of the southern part of India
but will also help us service our Sri Lankan clients. That apart we are also
planning to start warehousing facilities in Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata this
year."

Outlining the key trends that are likely to dominate in the next
few years A Prasad Babu, Director-System Engineering and Operations, Juniper
Networks India said, "Primarily for service providers NGN, multiplay,
carrier Ethernet will hold the key while for enterprises access control and MPLS
will be things to watch out for."

(The author was hosted in Jaipur by Juniper)