Infotech Lead Asia: NEC will focus on developing software-defined networking (SDN) solutions in India.
NEC’s R&D team in India is already working on SDN products for Indian and global markets. The other focus areas will be innovation in storage and products for infrastructure sectors, Takaaki Shimizu, senior vice president and CMO of NEC, told InfotechLead.com.
The SDN market for the enterprise and cloud service provider segments is forecast to grow from $360 million in 2013 to $3.7 billion by 2016, according to IDC. This forecast for the SDN ecosystem includes the associated network infrastructure, SDN applications and control plane solutions, and SDN-related professional services.
NEC believes that SDN offers multiple benefits for network operators including substantial increases in equipment efficiency and the carving of new profit-generating opportunities.
NEC’s SDN solution is already being used as a platform for NTT Communications’ Biz Hosting Enterprise Cloud. This system can help customers reduce their capital and operating expenditures and also carve new profit-generating avenues. Many carriers from around the world have shown interest in this form of network virtualization technology and have approached NEC as an aggressive promoter of OpenFlow.
As data traffic continues to rise at a rapid pace, operators will have to navigate an increasingly complex yet more integrated network and determine the best technology to ensure the optimum promotion and usage of their particular services. SDN network virtualization can help smooth the rocky passage that is network evolution.
Shimizu, who was in India recently, said: “India is a major market for NEC. We are working with several government, public and private companies to offer biometric solutions. We are already leader in the biometric solutions market that can be used intelligence, police, immigration, etc.”
Retail will be the focus area for NEC.
Meanwhile, NEC Technologies India, a subsidiary of NEC Corporation, is developing innovative solutions and support operations aiming to expand the global business of the NEC Group.
NTI aims to double its footprint in India within the next two years. It will focus on providing solutions for emerging opportunities in the retail, security, smart energy, e-governance and infrastructure fields.
Anil Gupta, CEO and managing director of NEC Technologies India, said: “We aim to double its revenue from $27 million in 2013 to $53 million in 2015. Manpower will grow from 530 to 1,050 in two years. Product development and system integration services for global and Indian markets will continue to be the company’s core target areas.”
India is becoming a strong market for NEC that reported 1.1 percent growth in FY 2013 revenue to $31.32 billion. The increase was due to increased sales from the IT Solutions business, the Carrier Network business
and the Social Infrastructure business, in spite of decreased sales from the Personal Solutions business.
In Asia, NEC’s revenue rose 14.5 percent in Q4 2012-2013 to 46.1 billion yen. Asia contributes 5.1 percent revenue to total revenue of NEC. China, Taipe, Singapore, India and Indonesia are the main countries.
Recently, NEC announced its plans to reduce 10,000 jobs including 3,000 overseas staff.
NEC targets net sales of $30.6 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31,
2014 with 2.3 percent decrease.
Baburajan K
