Nortel guns for SMB, e-gov segments in India

Canada-based telecom solutions provider Nortel Networks
Corp-oration is focusing on small and medium businesses, e-governance activities
and contact centers for further growth in India. Phil Edholm, Chief Technology
Officer and VP, Strategy and Architecture, Enterprise Solutions and Packet
Networks, said the recent signing of a five-year managed services agreement with
Bharti Televentures is an indication of his company's increased focus on
India. He was speaking to CyberMedia News on the sidelines of Nortel's
Executive Partner Forum '06 at Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of the
Malaysian state, Sabah - “the land below the winds.”

To a query on the areas of focus for Nortel in India,
Edholm said that the company would target SMBs and call centers. SMBs in India
are expected to spend $7.7 billion in 2006 to beef up their infotech
infrastructure and solutions, up 26 percent from last year, according to a
February study by the New York-based AMI-Partners. This is more than thrice the
expected GDP growth this year. Nortel has plans to become a mainstream player in
the SMB segments in India by this year-end. It is looking at SMBs in tier-two
and -three cities and beyond.

The telecom firm is currently working on making business
simple for its partners and customers. “Partners and customers are looking at
Nortel to use the complex networks in a simpler way,” said Edholm, who had in
July 2004 introduced the “Edholm Law of Bandwidth.”

Rick Seeto, President and GM, Nortel's Enterprise
Networks in Asia Pacific, also stressed on the company's focus on the SMB
space. “We have plans to target products in markets where we didn't have
quite a presence.” He hoped that the LG-Nortel partnership would lead to new
initiatives aimed at this market. He was also positive about the firm's
prospects with contact centers. Accord-ing to Ravi Chauhan, VP, Nortel India,
the company would also work with the Indian defense to upgrade the latter's
communication systems.

Chauhan also said that Nortel is likely to open its first
Network Operations Center (NOC) in New Delhi in May this year. “The NOC can
plug into customers' networks, watch and take care of the networks,” he
explained.

Business made simple

Nortel's financial realities force it to make its business simple and to
look at growth regions such as Asia Pacific. Michael S Zafirovsky, the new chief
executive of Nortel, is confident that his firm has the energy and passion to
succeed.

Addressing the Partner Forum, Michael Pangia, President and
COO (Asia-Pacific) pointed out that many partners and customers felt “it was
difficult to do business with Nortel.” Admitting that Nortel has some ground
to cover, Pangia informed, “We are simplifying the processes to make it easy
and profitable (for partners) to do business with Nortel.” He was optimistic
that Nortel would bag a significant share of the $24 billion Asia Pacific
market, which would record of growth of four per cent in 2006.

The WiMax route

Nortel is also looking at developing a portfolio of MIMO-powered WiMax
systems that will let the company serve global markets. These products would
help ISPs deliver broadband connectivity to consumer and enterprise users by
leveraging net-works and last mile wireless links.

The buzzword

'Collaboration' seems to be the buzzword at Nortel. It is looking at
enabling users to fully engage from afar. “A consistent, quality user
experience requires converged business applications that users can easily access
in many ways-both wired and wireless,” the company said.

According to the company, with the attributes of unified
communications in place, applications can engage, not just connect. “This
would ensure that “right people get the right information at the right
time,” Edholm added. This also meant that the future office would be where you
are. As Nortel puts it: “Work becomes something you do, not somewhere you
go.”

Partners lauded

Nortel presented its out-standing Asia Pacific nPower Channel Partner
Program members at the Forum. Established in 2002, the program is a regional
initiative aimed at arming partners with in-depth knowledge of the firm's
solutions and applications to make business simple and successful.

“The Executive Partner Forum offers an opportunity for us
to recognize and applaud the exceptional business achievements of our channel
partners during 2005, as well as a platform to communicate our enterprise vision
and strategies for the year to come,” Seeto said.

The Forum lauded GTL Ltd from India for its “exemplary
commitment to growing its partnership with Nortel across all elements of the
value chain, including sales, marketing, implementation, service and support.”

(CyberMedia News)

(Travel for this story was sponsored by Nortel)

Majnu Babu Kota Kinabalu, April 18