With the advent of newer technologies and data traffic becoming enormous, operators are demanding solutions that can provide them with a better insight into the functioning of their networks. In such a challenging scenario, vendors such as Ixia are playing an important role by providing the appropriate solutions to assess and address the complexity in networks.
The surface area of cyber-attack is increasing day by day as technology advancements are happening everywhere. Be It social media, mobility, cloud, analytics and of course internet of things, subsequently 3D printing. All of these are going to increase surface area of the attack. Last year alone global spending on security was 315 billion. Because of cyber-attacks world lost 315 billion dollars. There was loss of business, time and money. For a country like India such an amount of spending is huge.
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“We conduct partners’ conference twice a year as they are so important to us. We have partners specialist who analyze the kind of support we give to our partners and suggest ways to improve the way we support them.”
Murali Ramalingam
Country Manager
Ixia
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Ixia have been in India for over ten years now. It has a sales office in India and a large development centre in Kolkata. India is a key market for Ixia. Ixia not only build latest platforms in India, it also provides global support from Bangalore. Its large R&D centre plays a key role in customizing solutions for customers who are large in Government or enterprise sector. For Ixia, the future roadmap always has focused on how it brings more things to India in terms of modifications and platforms. It does not a sales office, but also manufacturing, development and global support in India. Discussing company’s business strategy, Murali Ramalingam, Country Manager, Ixia explains, “For many years we have worked only on the Network manufacturing side. (CISCO, QUALCOMM, Broadcom for example). But, now we are looking to move to enterprise and government side because the company was originally formed to handle lot of the network requirements. For last three years our focus has been on government and enterprise. We are also looking at growth through channel partners. TCG Digital is a highly value added channel partner. They were first our customer and now a channel partner and they focus on providing a lot of cyber range training in India.”
Ixia works with enterprises, service providers as well as government organizations to ensure their networks’ security along with the traffic loads that are common today. Also, it works with network equipment manufacturers to ensure that the security products they sell can withstand the same load and mix of traffic. One of the things that make Ixia a unique solution is its platform. Elaborating further, Murali Ramalingam says, “Ixia security solutions leverage the application and threat intelligence (ATI) program to simulate over 35,000 malicious attacks. Our platform along with application & threat intelligence (ATI)- it’s the team of researchers that we have. They create our content and it’s a key differentiator. They give us updates for attacks, we have monthly updates on malware and this core aspect that we do is what sets us apart. Our competitors do not have a dedicated team of researchers. Also, we leverage custom built hardware, which not only ensures accuracy but also offers perfect measurements and stability. Our threat intelligence capabilities are incredibly superior in the market.”
Channel is very imperative for Ixia; right now 30% of Ixia’s earnings come from Channel. In India it is very little may be 1% or so. This is the reason why Ixia wanted its channel partners to focus more on company‘s solutions. According to Murali Ramalingam, “There are two reasons to it. Channel partners have more reach. We predominantly came through US for network equipment manufacturers. Second reason is that as we go forward in our strategy in India, I would like more and more channel supplier goal. Because channels can easily enhance their efforts to reach out to more customers than us.” Presently, Ixia has close to about 7 channel partners in India. Company’s plan is to expand it to 15-20 at least.
Predominantly, Ixia is focused on the networks. All networks are focused in major cities of India. Right now, Ixia’s focus is on enterprise and the government. For this, the company has couple of plans for the channel solutions which help them to register deals. It also has higher discount structure for them. For Ixia, Channel is an extended arm, the more they know its solutions and get trained the more Ixia will benefit them to go, sell and close the opportunity. Murali Ramalingam further adds, “We conduct partners’ conference twice a year as they are so important to us. We have partners specialist who analyze the kind of support we give to our partners and suggest ways to improve the way we support them. The conference for partners which happens every year gives them exposure to all the brand new solutions. During the conference we not only educate our partners but we also have technology experts to work directly with engineers of the partners.” This way, Ixia has the power to guide them and get deeper into technology. Ixia takes great efforts to support its partners.
Talking about TCG Digital, which is one of Ixia’s exclusive partner, Murali Ramalingam opines, It is a pleasure to work with TCG. We knew from the beginning that we have the right partner. Our plan was to go very large with TCG and we took time to do it and we are very happy with the association. This is a milestone and we intend to make sure that we invest adequate money and make sure that TCG gets enough support in the market.”
Finally…
Murali Ramalingam would like to tell aspiring partners that ixia is the company who has got a development centre in India. It provides its partners with hands on support through its R&D facility. It has all the solutions that will prevent a cyber attack from entering the network/system. Ixia will continuously bring innovative solutions to the market that will enable customers to offer reliable and secure networks.
Joydeep Bhattacharya, COO, TCG Digital
We at TCG Digital believe there are three things which have to go hand in hand. One of course is processes. As far as processes are concerned there is some level of awareness in India. They get their certification and documentation done but the spirit of following the process is still building up. People are gradually realizing the importance. The second is technology. Technology and process work together. As far as technology is concerned in India we are still exclusively focused on perimeter technology. So, the third important thing is very well qualified manpower. Manpower has the capability to understand technology and the vast area of technology. The surface area is continually increasing.
As channel partners we discuss specific solutions with Ixia and come out with a customized product or solution which helps the customer significantly more than just to sell a box. So the channel partner is expected to be a subject matter expert and in that also Ixia and the channel partners work together. We are partnered with several other companies as well but the best part of Ixia is that they are ready to go not just one step but two steps with us. They can anticipate the problems that we face with advanced technology and use cases.
The technology is changing rapidly and the partners must be willing to make their own significant investment. It is not like selling a box. Once the partner is ready to do that and is ready to take a long term call then this is the best company to partner with.
