RCL to be outsourced IT department for SMEs

Bajpai: Reaching out to SME customers.

If you run a small business with say, just 15 computers, you'll know that ensuring 24x7 broadband internet access, constantly updating your anti-virus software, ensuring that the firewall prevents unauthorised access and having to regularly update your hardware can be a huge challenge. Most small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cannot afford the services of a full-time IT department, nor make large capital investments in equipment. And most large it service providers aren't interested in this market as individual accounts are too small to be lucrative.

But help is at hand. Reliance Communications, the second-largest player in the country's mobile telecom sector, is now turning its attention to this market. Says Prakash Bajpai, President & CEO (Enterprise), Reliance Communications: "The idea is to lower the entry barrier for the SME segment and remove the pain points." As a part of the package, Reliance Communications will offer high-speed broadband access, an anti-virus suite, e-mail packages, firewalls, domain name services and local as well as wide area networks. Bajpai says that the new package will help SMEs "as they don't have to make huge upfront investments and will only have to pay as they use. We will be their outsourced it department and provide them with all the necessary expertise."

The company has tied up with Cisco to offer the business internet service package. Reliance Communication will use Cicso's Ethernet solution as a part of its IP infrastructure. "The alliance with Cisco will help us reach out to about 680,000 SME customers," adds Bajpai. The company has already installed the backbone by setting up a fibre-optic cable network spanning 60,000 km. As a part of its overall capex plan, it plans to invest $3.5 billion (Rs 14,350 crore) in the current year alone.

While the service has been rolled out initially in Bangalore, the company says it would be available in 10 major cities, like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, among others, within two months and eventually across 200 cities and towns across the country.