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D. Murali

NetDevices on its research and the networking market scenario.

NetDevices was founded in 2003 by three Cisco employees, Seenu Banda, Rob Haragan and Jeff Kidd. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company brought out its first product, the Services Gateway (SG), after two years of research.

Interestingly, the India centre of NetDevices accounted for over 90 per cent of the R&D behind SG. The company acknowledged then that shipping the first product in 18 months, as it happened, would not have been possible if most of the jobs were based in the Silicon Valley, rather than in India. "The company would have had a smaller staff and would have needed three to four years to ship the first product," wrote John Boudreau of Mercury News, as cited on http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com.

"Enterprises employing the SG can significantly reduce their TCO (total cost of ownership); improve services resiliency, flexibility, and reliability; and respond rapidly to new service requirements while maintaining global management control of the enterprise edge," says the company's site www.netd.com.

SG, one learns, enables `the next generation of edge-networking solutions for the enterprise remote office and managed services markets.' Also, it unifies `multiple edge networking applications and services' such as `standards-based security, next-generation services such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), data services, and access services, into `one always-available, remotely manageable platform.'

To know more about the company and its work, eWorld quizzed Uday Birje, Country Manager and Vice-President, India & ASEAN Region, NetDevices Networks India P Ltd, Bangalore.

How many do you employ?

The India centre employs 45 engineers out of a total R&D (research and development) strength of 60. The centre was launched almost in tandem with the US head-office, in 2003.

Can you explain what your products do - in a simple style? What is the space these compete in?

NetDevices is in the space of `Services Gateways'. We are the first to have introduced such a concept and a product. Currently there is very little or no competition in the SG market. However, there are a few vendors who have introduced enhanced versions of routers and other appliances that offer more than one service. Most analysts have ratified the concept of SG. We have been seeing tremendous response from customers and partners for this concept.

How are the company's key financials, viz. revenues, profit, growth? Is it too early to look at these?

Yes, it is quite early. Also, as a company policy we don't share financial figures.

What have been the funding milestones?

We are in the third round of funding.

To what extent is R&D important for NetDevices? What is the proportion of R&D spend?

Our main focus continues to be on R&D with 80 per cent of the spending being towards this.

Your definition of innovation.

Innovation is something that, while meeting the current and future technological needs of the customer, is commercially viable, and most importantly makes a path breaking impact in the associated industry.

India as the innovation destination - advantages and disadvantages?

Specifically in the area of networking India is emerging as the destination of choice for innovation and R&D. With an ecosystem that consists of many world-class and leading networking and telecom companies having R&D centres in India, there are significant cost advantages of developing IP (intellectual property) from India.

Has the company made significant achievements in IP creation?

Yes, NetDevices has filed 15 patents from the Indian centre, which constitutes the main IP for the company.

Is attrition a problem? How do you keep your people motivated?

NetDevices offers quality job profiles for the engineering staff, and has been successful in motivating the team to innovate. Thus, our attrition levels are significantly lower than industry standards. Most of the value NetDevices offers to its workforce is in terms of a highly charged and technically challenging environment, an opportunity to interact with customers and personal level interaction among team members.

Relevance of e-governance to NetDevices?

Services Gateways are well suited for the e-governance segment. We are currently conducting trials in deploying our range of solutions for e-governance projects.

Important customers.

L&T, GDA Technologies, ITI, STPI, etc.

What is the strategy to increase revenues?

We are focussed on partnering with OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) partners with a worldwide presence to increase revenues, and promote the concept of SG globally.

Are you looking at the M&A arena?

No comments.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

NetDevices, with a two-year lead in the SG market, will continue to be a leader in promoting, developing and designing innovative networking products.

dmurali@thehindu.co.in

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