The Hindu Business Line : AMI to grow retail business

Chennai, Jan. 4 Encouraged by the reception of its GSM-based vehicle tracking system FALCON-i, American Megatrends India (AMI) Pvt Ltd plans to focus on growing its retail business and will launch similar products this year.

These include an advanced version of FALCON-i that will be integrated with RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, primarily targeted at corporate offices where employees use swipe identity cards, i-SENSE, a system targeted at cold storage chains and the food processing industry, and a personal tracker device.

FALCON-i has sold a few thousand units worth over $1 million (about Rs 4 crore) in a year and Mr Jayaram Krishnan, Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, is confident that the demand would grow further.

“We have seen tremendous interest from taxi and bus operators, road transport corporations, police and container operators,” he told Business Line. AMI’s next product i-SENSE will be launched in 4-6 months, he said. It will record and monitor parameters such as temperature and liquidity and accordingly alarm systems. Unlike prevalent offline data readers, i-SENSE will do this job online and all the data will be sent to a central server and updated every instant.

The company also plans to launch a personal tracker device based on GSM/GPRS technology that can track individuals, mainly children. However, this is unlikely to be integrated into a mobile phone as is done in some countries like Japan. “We will perhaps have a video game on the device to keep children occupied,” Mr Krishnan said.

Revenue generators

Currently, about 70 per cent of AMI’s revenues come from selling its popular BIOS and motherboard to original equipment manufacturers. Storage solutions and retail products like the tracking devices contribute about 30 per cent. “We expect to increase the share of revenues from the retail segment in future,” he said without sharing a number.

Strengthening sales

The company plans to strengthen its pre and post sales activities, especially in the $200-million (about Rs 800 crore) local storage segment, and is developing its Chennai centre into a global hub for AMI. It will soon launch a continuous data protection software that will allow users to programme their data back-up. “We will also focus on providing customised storage solutions,” he said.

The company has so far invested a few million dollars in its 300-strong facility at Chennai. Mr Krishnan did not disclose future investment figures or revenues generated by AMI. It is understood that AMI’s global revenues are about $75 million (about Rs 300 crore), of which Indian revenues comprise close to 15 per cent. Mr Krishnan said Indian revenues were growing at 40 per cent annually.