'Ours is a system-on-a-chip'

Can you tell us something about your product?

Our unified access product can fit into both models, that is overlay networks and unified access. We are addressing a lot of problems faced by wireless networks, the new kid on the block. We are first ones to launch this kind of a product. We are a silicon player and want to get the biggest market share, as there is a lot of effort and money that goes into chip development. Developing a chip costs millions of dollars.

We are providing a complete system solution; ours is a 'system on a chip.' We have the associated hardware built on this chip, what we need is just some packet buffering. But our main value lies in the support for new functionality and performance and faster time to market, integration is just a by-product.

Who are your competitors?

Competitors could be startups that we don't know of. In terms of big guys we don't know of any direct competition. However, I think that our biggest competitors will always be our own customers specially the big customers like Cisco, Nortell etc. These big companies have lot of resources and they may be having people working on such products.

Have you patented your IP?

Yes, we have. We have filed for 8 patents and will be filing for lot more. We are big believers in IP. We don't believe in reinventing the wheel, our focus is on IPs that do not exist. So our time is well spent.

What kind of work is your Bangalore centre handling?

Our Bangalore centre is more software centric and chip verification centric. In the next phase we will do the entire chip development out of here.

How is your product being received?

On the goodness side our product is being very well received, the market and timing has worked well for us. When we started SiNett in 2002 there were not many public endorsements in this space, but lately many new companies have come up, who can be our potential customers.

What is the future of wireless enterprises in India?

Wireless enterprises in India are going to pick up. Any market needs to be driven from a problem and solution kind of mode and not just for the sake of hype. In the WLAN space the actual number of ports that have been shipped have exceeded the forecast, this is very positive. Currently we are seeing growth at the client side only, but typically what happens is that once the client side is enabled, which is already happening, next comes the enterprise.

What are the issues with wireless networks? What about security?

There are lot of issues with a wireless setup like security, traffic monitoring, mobility, roaming, packet processing and each one is non-trivial to solve and to solve all of these together is a big challenge. We have put a lot of effort to achieve this we have put a lot of algorithms, a lot of analysis and we have been successful in addressing all of these. We also have a prototype up and running. That's why we are able to strike a chord with our customers and they are thrilled with our products.

Security in WLANs cannot be solved by itself. We have to look at the bigger picture to achieve efficient system. The packets get encrypted plus we have to apply traffic management to them so all the issues have to be addressed together.

Will wireless networks be successful?

One of the very important reasons behind the success of WLANs is convenience, not only from a user perspective but also from the network infrastructure point of view. We need not worry about laying down of cables and various other problems with the wireless world in place. With WLANs in place performance is getting a big boost we are getting wired speeds in wireless networks, costs have come down. Infact, people now ask 'why do we need a wired network?'

Why is India an important destination for you?

India as a market for this kind of product is still evolving, we are looking at the talent pool available in India. We are very picky and we look only at the best available talent. We are looking for the best talent in embedded software development, expertise in networking stack, design guys, and verification engineers.

According to me there is a lot of creativity in Indian developers, what is missing is the drive, confidence and the go-getter attitude. In a single statement I would say 'there is lot of creativity while improve on the drive.'