MUMBAI, INDIA: In an eon where managing information has become critical and research reports point out the monstrous volumes of information being generated across the world, its management becomes even more crucial.

EMC Corporation has been a leader in providing superior technology to safeguard the information infrastructure of its clients and helping them secure, protect important information and make them readily accessible. With a mission to assist companies of all sizes achieve more from their information, this company is exploring newer vistas and vanguard.

Prasad Ramasubramanian from CyberMedia News caught up with Ron Goh, president, South Asia Region, EMC Computer Systems (South Asia) Pte Ltd in a freewheeling interaction and discussed on the strategies that the company has meticulously followed and lots more.

CMN: Don't you think that you have to articulate yourself and your presence a bit more aggressively in the market?

Ron Goh: Yes, you said it rightly. This is a festive season and it's a good time to share where we believe we are going and where the market is going. We have to articulate ourselves into an overall value proposition.

CMN: How have you seen the storage industry growing in the last few years?

RG: We have moved a long distance in the network storage space and this industry is growing, growing and growing. I clearly give EMC the full credit and we came in India in 2001 and every other technology company has been in India for over 20 years.

Today, network storage is being recognized as an industry and one needs to support it in a major way and also ensure that the enormous information is streamlined.

 

CMN: So, what's the focus for you today?

RG: The focus today is on the 'I' of the Information Technology -- that is information and that's something the Indian markets would have to understand.

Our focus has been on storing information and managing them, making customers manage structured semi-structured and unstructured information. The investments that they have made were in terms of protecting the perimeter. They were spending more money on security and feeling less secure. This is because, they know that once its in their forte, they know its secure, but once it leaves their forte, he does not know how secure it would be. That's the major worry for every CIO today. The infrastructure is secured but not the information.

CMN: Could you highlight some of the issues that your customers come today?

RG: It's like going to the doctor and saying that I have the pain somewhere in the abdomen and then he comes to check and see where the pain is and help you resolve it. You have information in your database and who is the best to help you encrypt it and without changing the software. Can I do some magic in my software and who's the best person to do it? It is EMC.

In terms of demand, we feel that there would be same level of demand, therefore our mantra has been to optimize and then leverage on our expertise. To me India is a market that has a huge market and we are very optimistic about this market.

CMN: What was the strategy that EMC adopted in the Indian market considering that you were one of the last to enter this market?

RG: For us one --- bring in specialized expertise and then bring in technology that would give the required results for our customers. We have more than 1000 EMC employees in the development centers. Our model has been the hybrid one where we partner with local people.

We were the last large product manufacturing company in late 2000 or early 2001 and we have come many and many miles. We have over 900 customers and considering that we have some tough competitors and in terms of revenues they are like David and the Goliath. They are not pushovers. When you are the ring and having a boxing match with Joe Frazier, it's not easy but we have done extremely well. So, our journey earlier was survival earlier.

The market is shifting, not a single customer spoke about more storage, and he speaks of anything else but more storage. That's the change that we witness today and it's a big shift we have witnessed.