"We are implementing Linux in large govt projects across the country"

Having recently joined TurboLinux India as President, Deepak
Wassan is trying to provide Linux a broader spectrum in the country where
Microsoft has already created a dominant eco system. Here is what Wassan has to
say on the strategic equilibrium that he is working on for government and
enterprises. He feels it is vital for opening up an opportunity for Linux to
compete and develop a stronghold on the market.

Turbolinux is not very well known in India. Comment.

Turbolinux is a Japanese company founded in 1995 and is a provider of open
source and Linux in Asia. Headquartered in Tokyo, it has its branch offices in
China and India. Turbolinux India is a joint venture between Turbolinux Inc and
IAP Company, an Indo-Japanese software development and services company. The
joint venture aims to create Linux-based solutions for the global market.

How do you plan to make a strong foothold in the Indian market?

In India, we already have established our sales center in seven metros
including New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and
Ahmedabad. Turbolinux is today a leading Linux player in Japan and China. With
the support from the Indian government, we are making efforts to grab a strong
market position here.

We have established technical alliance with Intel, AMD, IBM, HP,
BEA, Macromedia and even Microsoft to develop advanced products. We are aiming
to create a global support center, launch a development center for products and
solution that benefit the world market place.

We are looking at leveraging the Linux opportunity in India, as
the country holds a lot of potential for software development with a high level
of understanding and acceptance of open source software technologies. We are
offering operating systems, middleware, applications and hardware in the
country.

Do you believe that Indian users are ready to switch over to
Linux on a mass scale? Is Turbolinux ready to match the eco system that
Microsoft has created?

In India, the adoption of Linux is slow but in the years to come, its usage
is projected to grow. For creating the kind of environment we are seeking, the
government is giving us enough support. We are surely seeing us launching
ourselves on a broader platform.

Majority of the schools in Kerala, for instance, have already
switched over to Linux and this has been possible only with the help of
government support. Moreover, 18 of 28 Indian states use Linux or have pilot
projects for to be used in government departments and education sector.

Infact, Linux is continuously improving its position. This can
be proved by an IDC report which says that in June 2006 Microsoft had 68 percent
of the marketshare and Linux had 21 percent whereas in 2005, Microsoft had 70
percent and Linux had 11 percent.

The reason why customers should switch over to Linux is that it
is more stable, it is crash resistant, and its compatibility and
interoperability is as high as Microsoft. It makes computing simpler and that to
in a cost-effective manner.

What is your channel structure?

We have developed a partnership with eSys India who already has its own base
of large number of channel partners. Our products and software are supplied to
the end-customers through the retail partners of eSys. We are in a dialogue to
develop alliances with more and more distributors so that our reach to the
customers is increased. Besides, we have tie-up with Cafégadgets that looks
after the online sale of Turbolinux products.

Are you in direct touch with the eSys channel partners?

Yes, we are in constant touch with them. We are going to places and meeting
partners there for giving them demonstrations and trainings on our products.
This helps our partners in understanding the software and also developing a good
relationship with them. We are also offering various schemes to them in
conjunction with our distributor.

What was your partners' experience in convincing customers to
go for Linux? What kind of problems do they encounter when making customer
calls?

Partners do face some problem in convincing customers for installing Linux
software. The reason that Linux has not picked up well is due to various issues
that are involved in installing it into their PC.

Actually people are satisfied with working on Windows and even
if they have heard of Linux, they do not want to make any extra effort to
install it on their system.

How are you strategizing to resolve the doubts that end-users
have for Linux?

We are training our partners about the right and effective way of installing
the product. Our first move is to let our customers get the feel of the
software. We are giving them open offers to install the software into their
system.

What is your target for this FY in terms of Linux installation?
Which verticals are you focusing on?

We are planning to touch roughly 10 crore installations by March 2008. We
are targeting enterprise segment like banking, telecom and finance companies. We
are also implementing Linux in large government projects across the country.

Why is the government taking so much interest in Linux?

Linux is cheaper than Microsoft, which is a big reason in itself. Fund
constraint has always been an issue with our government and hence availability
of software at lower price drives their interest.

The government's support plays an active role in gaining
popularity. Hopefully, in another three years, we will be holding a good command
in the country.

Don't you think that some sort of training should be given to
the end-customers also?

We are planning to conduct training programs for our end-customers also. In
the next FY, we will be having our own training center for which we have started
working with various models.

Amrita Tesjavi


amritat@cybermedia.co.in