Given the introduction of next-generation communication technologies and their adoption in the electronic systems, equipment vendors such as National Instruments are developing new products and solutions to meet the demands of the telecom industry. In an interview with tele.net.in, Joel Shapiro, Leader of Emerging Markets Marketing, National Instruments and Abhay Samant, Technical Marketing Manager, National Instruments talked about the company?s current business strategy and business plans for the Indian market.
Edited excerpts?
Could you give us a brief background about National Instrument?s operations in India?
Abhay Samant: National Instrument in India started around 1998 and has been a home to large number of engineers and scientists. In India, we are witnessing a big growth, with new products and new systems being introduced. Our mission for success is to equip engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation and discovery and we are seeing many examples of cutting edge applications that engineers area solving using our products – both hardware or software products.
What are the current technologies trends that are being witnessed in the telecom sector?
Abhay Samant: The introduction of cyber physical systems, also known as Internet of things (IoT) or connected machines, is one of the biggest trends seen in the sector today. We like to use the term cyber physical system because it truly brings together the control, communication and computation aspects that most of the new machines will have. So, as machines are evolving, whether it is in communication or vehicle, we will see more of these three Cs. We have an approach known as Graphical System Design that truly brings all these elements together.
Joel Shapiro: What we are seeing is that as more devices are embedded with communication technologies, conducting automated testing for any devices requires expertise and involves significant costs. Therefore, one other thing that we are working on is making testing and the design of RF system easier. The different communications protocol (Bluetooth, 3G, and LTE) needs to be easily tested by engineers. Consequently, a lot of investment and effort is being made to extract the complexity and to make it easier for engineers to test the wireless communications standards in the device.
What trends do you foresee in the telecom sector?
Abhay Samant: 5G, the next standard after LTE and LTE advance, is a big area that we are excited about. We are working in this area with many users such as researchers in the United States, Europe and also some in India. While the technology is being forecasted to be implemented by 2020 but research is happening currently. The researchers are looking at higher frequencies, more bandwidth and more capacity because phones are no longer just used for watching images, but also for telecommuting and other operations. Further, we are actively participating with companies like Nokia Research and a university in New York.
A lot of new electronic devices are being embedded with sensors these days. Do you think that is going to be a problem for test and measurement companies to come up with a solution for these devices?
Abhay Samant: I see it as a challenge and opportunity for test and measurement industry. I think test and measurement industry will have to evolve to address the challenges of cyber physical systems. National Instruments has a head start in this direction because we fundamentally believe in a platform based approach – graphical system device. As 5G and cyber physical systems drive the need for latency, throughput and bandwidth, we believe that our graphical system design platform will make it much easier for us to fit in the pieces that are needed for testing cyber physical systems.
What contribution does the Indian business make to the overall revenues of the company?
Abhay Samant: India is one of the fastest growing regions that we have that is called contributing to the overall revenue of National Instruments.
Joel Shapiro: In the last three-five years, the emerging market countries have been led by India. We expect that Indian market will continue to do so in the future as well. Further, we want to continue to be able to serve and provide accessibility to large number of engineers and university graduates and eventually facilitate growth of markets.
What are National Instrument?s investment plans for the Indian market?
Abhay Samant: We want to make sure that we have the right kind of engineering support staff so that our customers are successful. Our mission for success is to equip engineers and scientists with tools and to continue to stay with them through investments in research and development (R&D) and sales and marketing. Globally, our approach will be to make sure that we continue to invest in this platform. Virtual Bench is a shining example of the type of investments that we are doing to address various specific needs of the Indian market.
Joel Shapiro: Our model is not build to create products for a specific geography. However, as the Indian market continues to become a bigger and bigger piece of our business with fast growth rates, the amount of research and weight that we put on the Indian market for designing our global products increases. I think that the Virtual Bench is a great example in this regard, as innovation, market requirement, pricing and positioning were carried out in India.
Is National Instruments targeting specific technical institutes and universities for its products?
Abhay Samant: We have a product called labview for academies in about 60 engineering colleges in india. A labview academy is where an engineering institute has made an investment to set up a lab training facility. At this facility, not just the college?s staff but also teaching staff from neighbouring colleges in that region can learn about labview and can get hands-on experience. Also, we have about 8-10 centre of excellence (CoE).
Further, we are targeting 200 polytechnical institutions. There are about 3,000 polytechnic institutions in India and this is a highly unchartered and unexplored area for us. Therefore, it is one of the big new areas that we want to go after and make sure that the same cutting edge technology is available for the students going to these institutions.
Joel Shapiro: I would like to add that over the last 10 years, we have done a lot of work in ensuring collaboration with engineering teams and professors to share their best practices. We also tend to spread awareness about new products through established forum and through competitions that we sponsor at a
Would National Instruments be looking forward to launch any product in the coming years for the Indian market specifically?
Abhay Samant: Significant part of our investment goes into R&D to make sure that we are thinking globally and are designing global products. Each year, National Instruments will ensure that either it comes up with new and innovative products or offer enhancements to the existing products.
Joel Shapiro: It is fair to say that at no point in history of our company, the needs of the Indian market had a stronger a bigger share in the R&D activities and product mapping than it is today. Going forward, we plan to continue to invest to make sure that the products we deliver in the market are suitable and solving its needs.
