SES gets aggressive with its BTO notebooks

SES Technologies is planning to get aggressive with its BTO line of notebooks, which will be launched this month at metros across the country.

This Mumbai-based distributor was already involved in BTO of desktops which was not really successful. According to the company, this was mainly because of sourcing problems and ‘Intel was not very aggressive on the BTO concept’.

“But now Intel is also getting strong as the Indian market is ready. SES sees huge potential for these notebooks in the middle management of corporates. The top management can easily afford MNC brands therefore these notebooks would be targeted at the middle management. Many of the corporates are also looking at space saving in offices,” said Ramdas Shenoy, Marketing Manager (New Business Tie Ups), SES.

He added, “In the first phase of the launch we would be looking at the metros and would venture into B and C class cities later. The product would be pushed through the channels as they could brand it and sell it.”

The notebook is a P4 1.8 GHz with 128 MB DDR RAM, 20 GB hard disk upgradable to 40 GB and has a 15 inch display monitor. Most of the other vendors in the market provide 14 inch. It also has spindle space for CDROM and DVD for an extra amount of Rs 1,000. The price of the notebook is Rs 66,999, exclusive of taxes, and carries a one-year carry in warranty.

SES has already started giving demonstrations of the new notebook to its channel players. The company's service division called Ultima will provide servicing of these notebooks.

Shenoy also stated, “This is going to be a value-added business and not a volume part of the business.”

Nancy Sudheer