CHENNAI: Apex Computers Private Limited, Chennai-based PC manufacturer and
peripherals distributor, will be launching its own CDROM drives under the brand
Apex in India shortly. The drives, manufactured by an OEM in Taiwan, will be
priced at Rs 1750 and will be marketed through the company's network of 280
dealers across the country.
The product also has other advantages, according to S. Vasudevan, Assistant
General Manager, Apex Computers. He said, "One of its unique features of
the product is that it can read even damaged CDs." The company expects to
sell 25,000 units of the product in the first year of launch. By February, Apex
plans to add four branch offices at Pune, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, to
its existing six offices. "Our sales will probably go up by another 50 per
cent, once the new offices are in operation," declared Mr Vasudevan. He
expects 50 per cent of the revenue from the CDROM drive sale to come from the
South.
The company is recruiting 32 people including technical and marketing staff
for its expanding operations. The initial investment for the expansion is to the
tune of Rs 15 lakh, which will come from the company's internal accruals.
Currently, the company deals with Fujitsu, Sony, Seagate and IBM hard disk
drives besides Accton Networking products. Plans are on to add Samsung HDDs to
the list. Apex was recently appointed Special Channel Partner to distribute Sony
AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape) drives costing Rs 2.5 lakh, for which Apex is
appointing five partners in each metro to distribute them. Apex's future plans
include diversifying into areas like high end training (courses in e-commerce
and Corba) and software development.