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Zasha Penn in Bombay

Over the next year, D-Link (India) will invest $2.5 million in its Goa plant. The funds would be used to speed up the manufacturing of its networking products.

"In the last six months, we have been growing at a rate of 125 per cent," explained Prabodh Vyas, D-Link's director, sales.

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When asked if this investment was also in preparation for the flood of demand for networking products once the Internet service business is opened up, Vyas told Rediff "This investment is very small for a market escalation of that magnitude. We are not very sure of the ISP business. A lot depends on the government's stability and policy. But we are watching and if the market grows suddenly we will be in a position to divert much more funds immediately."

However, he agreed that that an opening up of the ISP business would lead to at least "Two and a half times growth of the total pie. And as equipment suppliers we will be among the first to benefit. Much before the ISPs even launch their services."

Vyas explained that "At least 10 per cent of the increased production from the $2.5 million investment would be exported to SAARC countries."

D-Link International President Tony Tsao is very optimistic. "D-Link has done exceedingly well in the Indian market and is bullish about its prospects. It grew by as much as 50 per cent in 1997-98 and expects to achieve a 100 per cent increase in sales in 1998-99."

D-Link India Managing Director K R Naik said, "In the four years that D-link has been present in India it has invested substantially in infrastructure like a strong sales and marketing operation, a state of the art manufacturing plant in Goa and an efficient RMA centre. We strongly believe that we are able to provide localised marketing, sales and technical support to our customers in India."

Along with the investment announcement, D-Link also launched four products. And despite Vyas's guarded assessment of the impending ISP boom, all these products are what the ISPs will love to buy.

These are the Cyber View-Video Conferencing Kit, the Wireless Transreceiver, the Gigabit Ethernet Module and the ISDN router.

D-Link will bring Cyber View-Video Conferencing to India via its Video Conferencing Kit. Its video capture card can capture, edit and playback video from a camera or any other video source.

The Wireless Transreceivers include the DW-858 and DW-859 wireless Ethernet transceivers that can provide PCs, Macs and workstations with instant wireless Ethernet LAN capabilities. Besides, laptop users can draw power through the keyboard/mouse port or through an optional power adapter. This is available with a plate that allows laptop users to attach the transceivers to cover their laptop for portability.

The latest 5000 series switches from D-Link provide multiple fibre ports, allowing users to set up a reliable backbone, connecting servers, hubs and switches together.

The Gigabit Ethernet Module is a multifunction device that connects workgroups to remote sites via ISDN high-speed lines. The gigabit Ethernet card is a half slot module that will give workgroups speeds of 100 MBPS.

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