Buffalo Launches DriveStation Drive USB 2.0 HDD
Buffalo Technology announced DriveStation DataVault USB 2.0 HDD HD-CXTU2 series.Positioned as a versatile storage solution, it has an integrated hardware AES 256-bit encryption chip and provides optional full disk encryption for protection against unauthorized access. It sports up to 480Mbps data transfer rate, and connects via USB to any PC or Mac.
“The DriveStation HD-CXTU2 is idle for secure, high speed storage and backup. With a simple plug and play option and benefits like Eco Manager and Secure Lock this Drive Station proves to be an innovative storage solution for consumers” said Susumu Kobayashi, Country Head, Buffalo Technology.
The SATA drive can increases windows PC file transfer rates by up to 165 percent over competing USB 2.0 hard drive. With Buffalo Tools, users can boost transfer performance by up to 57 percent. Users can conserve energy and battery consumption by utilizing ECO Manager and back up using Backup Utility.
HD-CXTU2 series is available with authorized distributors in three capacities: 1TB for MRP ­­­Rs 13,500; 1.5TB for MRP Rs 20,000; and 2TB for MRP Rs 27,000.

Strontium Rolls Out Key, Spin and Hulk USBs
Strontium has announced three new series of USB flash drives, the Key, Spin and Hulk. All three are compatible with USB 2.0 and come with data transfer rate of up to 480Mbps.
Available in 2GB to 128GB storage capacities, the devices are plug-and-play and support Windows, Mac and Linux operating system.
Ajay Kogta, Country Manager, Indian Subcontinent, Strontium Technology, said, “All the three USB drives are a combination of capacity, ease-of-use and easy portability. They are versatile as they support storage not only of data but of applications and personal computer settings, plus security features.”
All three USB flash drive series are available with authorized distributors. The Key 2GB is available at Rs 349 and 4GB at Rs 499; Spin 4GB is available at Rs 549, 8GB at Rs 999 and 16GB at Rs 1,999; and Hulk 128GB is available at Rs 19,999. All USB drives come with a 5-year warranty.

HP Shuffles PSG Management
In keeping with the company’s new go-to-market strategy, the Personal Systems Group (PSG) of HP India has undergone a major reorganization of its various teams.According to an internal memo sent by Vinay Awasthi, Director, PSG, HP, a copy of which is with CRN, the reorganization is to drive “PSG India Vision” and has come into effect from May 1, 2010.
“With the integration of the categories, I would like to leverage the strength of HP portfolio better in driving programs, promotions, training, channel interactions, marketing as well as talent utilization and development,” Awasthi’s memo said.
There would be four divisions under the new PSG organization—Emerging Businesses, IDC and Attach, Desktops and Mobility.
Rajat Mehta, who has experience in driving technology solutions business, will lead the Emerging Business category that comprises blade PCs, thin computing solutions, retail point of sales products, digital signage and other emerging solutions. Sanjeev Pathak, who heads the IDC unit will now lead IDC and Attach & Accessories portfolio for both desktops and notebooks.
Ketan Patel will drive the Mobility Business. Within the Mobility Business, Vikram Mulye will continue to lead Pro notebooks category, while the Pavilion notebook business will be led by Ashish Gupta, who has been driving HP’s DT Attach business and alliances, presently.

Net4 India To Raise Rs 8 Crore Via PE Investment
Network and application services provider, Net4 India has approved raising Rs 8.04 crore via preferential allotment to Granite Hill India Opportunities Fund, for its expansion drive.
Net4 has also posted impressive results for the year ended March 31, 2010 with the consolidated sales of Rs 195 crore (up by 21 percent), a  36.9 percent rise in PAT at Rs 11.5 crore and a 32.67 percent growth in EPS to Rs 6.66.
Granite Hill India Opportunities Fund comes in as the second PE participant with Net4 diluting 4.7 percent. Earlier Madison India Capital had invested Rs 14.9 crore acquiring a 9.2 percent stake in the company.
The funds will be used for setting up a large 30,000 sq ft data centre at Chennai. “The expansion will also be funded by internal accruals and bank borrowing. This expansion will be in data centre services and data connectivity services. The data center in Chennai will help deepen our range of managed, security and SaaS services. Under data connectivity services we shall be adding IP/MPLS VPN services to our portfolio,” said Jasjit Sawhney, CMD, Net4 India.
With the expansion of the service bouquet and investments in infrastructure, Net4 hopes to significantly increase the growth rates it has been achieving over the last few years. “We have had three consecutive quarters of record profits and now our highest ever quarterly and annual revenues. We intend to continue to sustain this momentum with our expansion plans,” added Sawhney.

Seagate Introduces GoFlex Storage Solutions
Seagate has introduced the next evolution of its FreeAgent external hard drives—GoFlex storage solutions.
The FreeAgent GoFlex storage family includes easy, plug-and-play USB 2.0 portable and desktop drives, with an array of interchangeable cables and desktop adapters that allow each drive to adapt to the interface or device being used. They are also specially designed to provide interoperability between operating systems in order to work with both Windows and Mac OS-X computers.
The seamless GoFlex cable system enables the GoFlex and GoFlex Pro ultra-portable USB 2.0 drives to be upgraded to USB 3.0, eSATA or FireWire 800 connections simply by switching out the cable adapter. Additionally, specially-designed GoFlex upgrade cables provide even more applications of how each drive can be used.
The ultra-portable and desktop drives are available in capacities ranging from 320GB to 2TB. The new launches includes GoFlex ultra portable drive (available for Rs 5,200 for 320GB; Rs 6,500 for 500GB; Rs 13,900 for 1TB), a 7200RPM, 2.5-inch GoFlex Pro ultra portable drive kit (available for Rs 7,900 for 500GB); and GoFlex Desk external drive kit (available for Rs 7,100 for 1TB; and Rs 13,500 for 2TB).
In addition to several cable options, users can pair a GoFlex or GoFlex Pro ultra-portable drive with a GoFlex TV HD media player or the GoFlex Net media sharing device to enhance their experience of the drive’s content.
“GoFlex interface cables are about providing the speed, performance and connectivity people need to support their interaction with their digital content. The explosive growth of video capture and multimedia collecting is expanding personal digital libraries to terabytes worth of content within the home,” said Rajesh Khurana, Country Manager, India and Saarc, Seagate Technology. “The GoFlex family of storage products meets this need by delivering simple, USB 2.0 storage and backup devices, with the flexibility to adapt as interface technology advances by using the various GoFlex cables and accessories to access content stored on the same drive.”

Dell doesn't want to be No. 1 in smartphones

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: If you're one of the last major technology companies to get into the crowded smartphone market, how do you stake out your territory and compete against the iPhone and the BlackBerry?

That's the daunting question facing Dell Inc this summer as it launches its first U.S.
Dell's consumer business chief, Stephen Felice, says the new Aero phone is aimed at professionals, especially those who work at the big corporations that contribute the bulk of the Round Rock, Texas-based company's sales.
These customers are more interested in scheduling appointments than downloading games, and the special sauce that will make Dell's phones stand out from the crowd will be business software applications that won't be available on rival products, according to Felice.
The company knows it is making a trade-off in staying close to its business roots rather than going after the mass consumer market like its rivals.
"We're not out to be a handset leader," Felice, president of Dell's consumer, small and medium business division, told the Reuters Global Technology Summit this week. "This is clearly one area where we are not sitting here thinking that our goal is to sell the most phones in the market."
A slew of technology companies from Microsoft Corp to Hewlett-Packard Co is diving into the global smartphone market, as faster wireless services and creative software developers propel the mobile computing trend.
Dell will launch two consumer mobile devices: the Aero smartphone, which runs on Google Inc's Android operating system, in the United States this summer, and the Streak tablet PC in Europe next month.
Dell will launch two consumer mobile devices: the Aero smartphone, which runs on Google Inc's Android operating system, in the United States this summer, and the Streak tablet PC in Europe next month.
The end game is to eventually build phones and tablet PCs for large corporations, according to Dell.
"You have got to look at this thing as one big strategy, not just a consumer view," Felice said. "Down the road we will start applying this technology to the commercial sector."

Samsung Strengthens Printer Portfolio
Samsung Electronics has enhanced its printer line-up with the launch of eight new, advanced printer models in the laser printer, multi-function printer and network printer categories, including the world’s smallest laser printer-ML1666. In addition to considerably enhancing the product offering, the company also plans to strengthen distribution channel and focus sharper on B2B business.
For FY2010-11, the company is targeting a 30 percent market share and a 58 percent jump in volumes.
Announcing the launch Ranjit Yadav, Director, Mobile and IT, Samsung Electronics, said, “Printers, LCD monitors and notebooks are the growth drivers for our IT business this year. Within the printing space, our enhanced lineup across both the entry level as well as the mid and hi-end—coupled with our enhanced distribution this year, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities—should see us emerge as a strong No 2 player in the market.”
Touted as the world’s smallest laser printer in the Indian market, the new launch ML-1666 has 16ppm (pages-per-minute) speed and offers an intuitive printing experience by incorporating a number of easy to use, one-touch features into the product design. The printer is available at an MRP of Rs 5,499 with a 1-year onsite warranty. Additional 2-year warranty on this printer is available at Rs 399.
In addition, Samsung also announced the launch of three mono laser printers—ML 1911, ML 2525 and ML 2581N—which come with 8MB memory and print speeds of up to 24ppm. They include Printelligent features such as Toner Save, Smart Panel (enables easy trouble shooting), One Touch print screen and AnyWeb Printing and come with a 1-year, onsite warranty. The printers are priced: ML 1911 for Rs 6,499; ML 2526 for Rs 8,999; and ML 2581 N for Rs 12,999.
The new multi-function printers SCX 4601, SCX 4623FH, SCX 4623FN boast of high speeds up to 22ppm, and are available at at Rs 9,999, Rs14,499 and Rs 15,499 respectively. The SCX 4623FN offers up to 1200X1200 dpi effective output for print, scan and copy functions, and comes with 128MB memory.
With the launch of the new range of printers, Samsung now has a lineup of 33 printers across the mono and colour single function laser printers, and 18 multi-function printers. The printer range is priced between Rs 5,499 to Rs 2,30,000.

Building A Global Brand The Kaspersky Way
Kaspersky is not only aiming to become the number one security company in the world by 2014. It is also aiming to become one of the top international brands.In fact, Kasperksy wants to be listed on BusinessWeek's Top 100 List of international brands.
That massive effort to build the Kaspersky brand is being cheered by partners who believe it will be a big help as they knock on more doors to push the company into the midmarket and enterprise businesses.

"Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. Nobody ever got fired for buying Symantec. That's probably going to be their biggest battle," said Jay Tipton, CEO of Technology Specialists, based in Fort Wayne, Ind.
"Here in the U.S. name recognition seems to take a long time. The people that know Kasperksy already recognize this is a serious security vendor," Lane echoed. "We get a lot of 'Kaspersky? Never heard of it."
With the North American market making up only 25 percent of the company's sales, Kaspersky executives say the Americas still represent a wide-open playing field that is ripe for the picking.
"We are going to crack America," said Roger Wilson, Vice President of Global Marketing. And not just by shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars for "blasting TV advertising," Wilson said, which he added was "old-age" thinking.
"That's not the way we do it at Kaspersky," he said. "We do it by stealth and by digital marketing."

D-Link Announces Twin Offers For Channel Partners
D-Link has introduced two new promotional schemes for channel partners. Both Jackpot Offer and Switch to Gigabit scheme are nationwide channel incentive schemes, valid for a period of three months starting from May 1, 2010 to July 31, 2010.
The networking vendor’s Jackpot Offer is a nationwide exclusive offer for system integrators (SIs). On successful achievement of targets, SIs can bag gifts like a 32-inch LCD TV, smartphone, universal remote and laptop backpack. Additionally, the top performing SI in each region stands a chance to win a laptop too. The offer is valid on all D-Link business products including managed switches, business routers, and unified wireless and business wireless products.
Switch to Gigabit scheme intends to reward partners who get customers to switch from their existing 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet to D-Link 10/100/100Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Switches. As per the scheme, regional distributors, business distributors, SIs and resellers can avail the benefit of this offer. On upgrading to D-Link Unmanaged Gigabit Fast Ethernet switch in exchange of any old fast Ethernet switch, partners can get a buy-back discount of up to Rs 500.
Rajesh Sahore, Sales Head, India and Saarc, D-Link India, said, “Post de-merger D-Link had realigned its marketing strategy as per global guidelines and has adopted an aggressive approach. This is evident from the fact that month over month we have been introducing various lucrative schemes for channels partners. Thus helping them do business in a manner which is mutually beneficial.”
As a part of D-Link’s continuous thrust on channel engagement, D-Link team will be visiting 15 cities in next two month. The focus of this channel meet will be to update channel partners on D-Link end-to-end solution offerings.

Global Semiconductor Sales Up 4.6% in March
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), global semiconductor sales increased 4.6% in March 2010 from February 2010, as per the news published by returns.
The sales totaled $23.1 Billion in March 2010, up 58% from March 2009, which recorded a low point amid recession that is at a time when the industry was going through its steepest decline in years.
The Americas recorded 5.6% increase in chip sales from the preceding month (February 2010) and 48% increase from the year ago (March 2009). In the Asia-Pacific region, which makes up nearly half of the world’s chip sales, the growth was 3.8% from February 2010 and 72% from March 2009.
In addition to this, sales for January-March 2010 were $69.2 Billion against $43.7 Billion during January-March 2009.
The huge demand in the computing and communications markets fueled the growth in chip sales in March. It is learnt that computing and communications makes up over 60% of the overall demand for microchips. Especially, the growing demand for cell phones and PCs in the developing countries boosted the global semiconductor industry.
The huge demand in the computing and communications markets fueled the growth in chip sales in March. It is learnt that computing and communications makes up over 60% of the overall demand for microchips. Especially, the growing demand for cell phones and PCs in the developing countries boosted the global semiconductor industry.
A host of market segments showed improved sales, including the enterprise sector, which saw slower recovery as compared to the consumer sector.