BANGALORE, INDIA: Intel, the global leader in processors, has turned its eye towards Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs) for its growth and has planned to strengthen its roots to tap the fast expanding market.

As a first step, we have to train our own channel partners not only in metros but also in Tier-2 cites. Intel will be organizing its annual channel conferences in about 150 towns from this year, said Suryanarayanan B, Director (South), Sales and Marketing Group, Intel South Asia.

The Intel Channel Conference event is held twice a year where channel partners gather to gain knowledge on Intel's upcoming platforms, products and usage models. It is Intel's biggest – ever training session, he said.

According to Suryanarayanan, the percentage of IT penetration in small businesses (SBs) in India is still very low, and there is IT deployment possible in the near future. "Many SBs still have just one PC or are looking to upgrade for using the IT for end-to-end operations. Intel along with its partners will work to come up with locally driven solutions to tap the unique markets that exists depending on the region," he added.

Elaborating on the online initiatives started by Intel, he said that the Intel Business Exchange (Intel BX), launched recently, brings together offerings such as bundled software and hardware, stand-alone business applications and services among others. The new online initiative enables SMBs to research the products and services, request quotes, and connect with solution providers to speed up the identification, selection and implementation of the technology they need to run their businesses.

The community-enabled Website includes resources such as product descriptions, interactive demonstrations, white papers, case studies, blog entries, and user-submitted product ratings and reviews to help SMB professionals find answers to their toughest business challenges.

The Indian SMB market is one of the fastest growing segments which is yet to be fully tapped. There is enough scope for technology players to offer integrated and customized solutions, and Intel's online platform will be able to address all the needs and issues faced by SMBs and transform the market into an organized set-up.

According to Suryanarayanan about 13,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) and channel partners were involved in the online initiative, thereby giving a broad rage of products/solutions for SMBs to choose from. The ISVs currently participating in the Intel Business Exchange include Tally, TidaData, Planvisage, Reach Technologies, Think3, Yukti, Infospectrum, Instacol, iWeb Technology and Kaspersky.