BANGALORE: The HDD market has been growing rapidly and Seagate claims to be the undisputed leader in the space. The recent introduction of the 5-year warranty, a first in the world for such products, reinstates its confidence on its products. Sharad Srivastava, Country Manager for Seagate in India, elaborates why he feels on top to CIOL, in an e-mail interview. Following are the excerpts.

At what rate is the HDD market growing in India and how is Seagate's performance?
According to industry estimates the size of the Indian HDD market during 2003-2004 was pegged at 2.5 million units. Seagate continues to enjoy leadership position in the Indian HDD segment. This has been due to (i) a wide product range spanning all application areas and price points, (ii) technology leadership and continuous innovation, (iii) its market-friendly policies.

What prompted Seagate to offer a 5-year warranty for its products?
The new 5-year warranty announcement is the result of the feedback received from our channel partners and customers. Our objective is to add value in ways that are considered important by our partners and customers. Reliability being a critical consideration in storage purchase decisions; we want to reassure our customers about our faith in our products. Product reliability is one of our key differentiators, reflecting our investment in R&D, Six Sigma, customer support and overall operational excellence.
The 5-year warranty applies to all customers who purchase drives either directly through Seagate Distributors, or through the Authorized Distribution channel. This includes OEMs, Channel SIs, System Builders, Retail Customers, and Bare Drive Customers.

Is it only on one of the product lines or on all of Seagate's product lines that the 5-year warranty is offered?
Seagate announced on July 26th that all internal drives shipped from Seagate to Indian distributors from June 1, 2004 would enjoy the 5-year warranty.

In the past 5 years has Seagate gained or lost market share in India? If yes, by how much?
Seagate has been the undisputed leader in the HDD market, for the past 14 years. We have consistently maintained our leadership position through providing better products, latest technology, pre and post sales support and our extended market reach – through the Premier Partner program that today includes over 700 channel partners.

Who are Seagate's major competitors?

Seagate is the dominant player in the HDD segment and with the latest announcement of 12 new products, addresses nearly 97% of the available market, through its wide product range. Seagate is the only fully integrated manufacturer of Hard Disc Drives. Today we have the Maxtor, Western Digital, Hitachi, Samsung, Fujitsu and Toshiba.

What are the major initiatives that Seagate has engaged in to help build its branding and market share?
Seagate has consistently innovated in technology, market policies and offerings, and product introductions to retain leadership position. In the past one year, Seagate introduced the "Peace of Mind" program (a first-of-its-kind insurance scheme for PC owners), widened the service reach through an expansion of its SeaCare centers, which today are located across 32 cities in India, carried out several road shows covering the emerging markets (we participated in a support yatra that covered 100 cities).

Seagate also undertakes extensive channel support programs including conducting training and Certified Engineer Programs. We support many industry forums and events, especially aimed at promoting excellence in adoption of technology in various segments. Some of the awards, instituted with the support of Seagate include: The CRN Channel Awards, Broadcast India Technical Awards (for excellence in the use of IT in Broadcasting), etc.
Seagate has been driven by the philosophy that we must enhance customer experience, so our activities and engagement with the users expend not just to our product and support, but also in facilitating their pre-sales decision. One such example is the Storage Application Model that is available on our web site – it helps users choose the ideal disc drive for their particular need (depending upon their usage pattern, business environment etc).

How much has Seagate invested in India since its entry, and in what areas?
Seagate has been involved closely with India, even prior it its setting up the liaison office in 2001. Seagate has been available in India for over 14 years and has enjoyed a dominant market position since then. It is very difficult to quantify the investments made – Seagate has set-up an extensive distribution channel – through its two main distributors, the import partners and the Primer Partner program and as a result is easily accessible to buyer in almost every town through the 700 strong force. We have set-up a network of support centers, called SeaCare centers, across 32 cities in India. We have set up a national call center, which is operational all working days.
Of course, Seagate continues to make heavy investment in its product – in fact Seagate's annual global spending on R&D is greater than the combined R&D spending of all the main HDD players put together.

What are the new technologies that would unfold in the HDD products and what is Seagate's take on that?
Seagate has three R&D centers that look at technological changes that will impact the industry. Some of the path-breaking technologies that Seagate has already demonstrated is perpendicular recording, and HAMR – a combination of optical & magnetic technology that will help increase the arial density of recording media by several fold.
One of the major trends that we foresee in the near future is the wider adoption of Serial ATA from Parallel ATA. It is also anticipated that smaller form factor disc drives (2.5 inch) will start finding favor in the desktop space. Seagate has recently announced a host of products in this line, including the first enterprise class 2.5-inch drive – SAVVIO, which is very different from the mobile product (Momentus).
One of the most exciting trends, according to industry analysts is that over 40 percent CAGR of HDDs, will be in the consumer electronics segments – gaming, audio players and broadcasting (set top boxes, PVR etc).
Seagate also introduced an array of new products last month, targeting new applications such as Near On-line storage – for which, we have announced the industry's first half-a-terra byte external hard drives with (500GB) disc drive. We also announced a portable external hard drive (with upto 100GB) capacity and the world's first pocket external hard drives a 5GB 1-inch hard drive for hand held applications.

Any plans of product development or technical support set up in India offered to Seagate's customers globally?
Seagate remains committed to the Indian market. There are no specific plans to set up a Tech-Support outfit in India for the global market. However, Seagate reviews support strategies from time to time in line with worldwide marketing plans, and, should there be any project to locate such a center in India, we will make an announcement at the appropriate time.

What is the growth projection for Seagate for the next two to three years?
It is not possible, due to corporate policy, for me to make any predictions. However, I would only like to state that these are very exciting times for the HDD industry. We are seeing new usages (in consumer electronics) that open up huge opportunities. And Seagate, with its widest range of products and 97 percent TAM (Total Available Market) coverage, is well poised to continue to play a dominant role in this industry.