HARDWARE COS FOCUS ON VIRTUALISATION TO LOWER COSTS

PP Thimmaya, Bangalore
The Economic Times

With a sharp fall in the value of the rupee against the US dollar putting severe pressure on the import-dependant IT hardware industry, device makers are turning to technology solutions to lower costs and create business opportunities. The 15 percent decline in the last four months has resulted in makers of hardware equipment such PCs, servers and storage devices either increasing prices or at least considering the option.

IBM India System and Technologies group director Shashi Mal agreed that there is pressure on product pricing because most contracts are long-term in nature. The marketplace is looking at increasing optimisation of IT investments and reconsidering requirements, he observed. The storage and server businesses typically have a long sales cycle where the contracts are long-term in nature and any fluctuation in prices adversely affects them.

IBM, Mal said, plans to roll out technology solutions which will help enterprises generate more return on their investment. These will include solutions which help companies use fewer servers or storage products for the same level of performance, saving costly space and lowering power bills.

Virtualisation technology to perform multiple functions using less hardware is gaining in importance as the cost-cutting drive intensifies. HP India Director of Marketing & Alliances TSG Durgadutt Nedungadi says the company’s virtualisation technology platform broadens their reach in the marketplace and provides end-to-end benefits. Currently, only around 12 percent of servers are virtualised. The number is expected to reach 50 percent by 2010. Microsoft is betting heavily on this segment with its array of virtualisation software solutions. Radhesh Balakrishnan, director, Virtualisation, said the software giant would expand range of its solutions.