With advent of next generation technologies and growing data traffic, operators are demanding solutions and tools that can provide them with a better insight into the functioning of their networks. In such a scenario, vendors such as Ixia are playing a key role in providing operators with the relevant solutions to assess and address the complexity in their networks. In an interview with tele.net.in, Murali Ramalingam, Country Manager and Senior Director of Sales for company?s Indian operations talks about Ixia?s growth strategy and business prospects India.
Edited excerpts?
What is the company?s business strategy in India?
Ixia, in India, has been dominant and a key player in network test and measurement (T&M). Now the company?s focus is to expand its horizon on two fronts ? the enterprise segment and the application and security market for the next two years, and in the field of the network visibility solutions (NVS). This would help Ixia become an end-to-end solutions vendor in the T&M industry, while continuing a steady growth in traditional business of network testing solutions (NTS).
How the company is placed vis-?-vis competitors?
Ixia works with enterprises, service providers and government organisations to ensure their networks can withstand the traffic mixes and loads that are common today. Further, it works with network equipment manufacturers to ensure that the security products they sell can withstand the same load and mix of traffic. Ixia security solutions leverage the application and threat intelligence (ATI) program to simulate over 245 applications and 35,000 malicious attacks. The information provided with Ixia?s security solutions gives customers the actionable security insights needed to ensure products and networks resiliency.
How big is the network security market in India? How does it compare with global markets?
It?s difficult to put a specific number on the market, but according to statistics, the total IT network security market in India in 2012 was around $218 million and with an annual growth of 20-30 per cent we expect that it would be around $350 million by 2016 versus a global market spend for IT network security of around $7 billion by 2018.This is large enough to keep the company?s sales teams busy in the field. Further, we do believe India is one of the larger security markets across the globe and we are highly optimistic about the market and its growth in time to come.
What are the challenges facing Indian operators with increasing network complexity with the growing adoption of cloud and BYOD?
The challenges are growing with the increasing complexity of networks. With increased adoption of cloud and BYOD trends, networks are exposed to greater vulnerabilities, and to tackle this situation we developed PerfectStorm, which modularly-scales to nearly a terabit of application traffic in a single, integrated system. It generates stateful applications and malicious traffic that simulate millions of real-world end-user environments to test and validate infrastructure, a single device, or an entire system ? meaning that telecom operators in India and across the globe have actionable insight into the security and resiliency of their networks ? even with the growth of these trends.
What are the emerging technology trends in the telecom segment for ensuring network security?
The telecom space in India is very dynamic right now and is going through a paradigm shift. We will see a lot of new players entering in the market who will try to change the rules of the game. Amongst these changes we are highly optimistic on network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) and its integration. We have seen the launch of 4G in couple cities, and we expect to see huge growth in this segment in near future. Our broad solutions including the Ixia BreakingPoint, IxLoad and the associated CyberRange will help customers ensure network resiliency and proactively test and assess against a realistic mix of traffic ? including malicious threats ? their network is exposed to.
Going forward, what are going to be the new offerings from Ixia?
Ixia is dedicated to ensuring our customers have networks that work ? every time and everywhere. From testing pre-deployment networks with solutions like PerfectStorm to unprecedented network visibility with innovative solutions like the ATI processor for our NTO 7300, our customers have the ability to assess the resiliency of their networks, optimise performance and ensure the fast and secure delivery of applications. Ixia is dedicated bringing to market the innovative solutions that will enable our customers to offer reliable and secure networks.
