Seagate leads in disc drive sales

New Delhi: Seagate (NYSE:STX), the world''s leading supplier of hard disc drives, announced today that it has expanded its reach to small and medium enterprise (SME) companies in a strategic move to capture market share in the growing SME market in India. Seagate has initiated the SME Tech Forum, an independent group aimed at transferring technology knowledge to SME companies so that they can stay abreast of the latest technologies that can help them better manage day-to-day operations and drive business growth.

According to a July report from AMI Partners, SMEs in India spent $17.5 billion on IT and telecom related products and services in 2003 and they are expected to grow at a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14 per cent during 2003-2008. Of the above, $7.1 billion came from IT spending in 2003. This market could be one of the key catalysts driving the growth of the economy in India.

As a global technology leader, Seagate is contributing to this growth by offering technology-based knowledge to help SME companies make informed decisions in their technology deployment. Since its establishment in July 2004, the SME Tech Forum has recruited a growing base of over 5,000 members from various cities in India, a clear reflection of this successful platform to transfer technology knowledge to SME companies.

"We believe it is important for us to partner with SME companies, which form the backbone of the economy and provide employment to hundreds of thousands of people in India," said Sharad Srivastava, country manger for Seagate in India.

Through SME Tech Forum, Seagate is currently supporting a series of conferences to reach out to SME companies based in the B, C and D class cities throughout India. Seagate provides trainers and speakers for these conferences who share with the participant''s insights into the latest technologies and their impact on day-to-day business operations. About 50 additional SME Tech Forum conferences across the nation are scheduled to take place over the next few months.

"The idea is to create a platform for knowledge dissemination and effective engagement with leading technology vendors in the B, C and D class cities. As this segment is growing at a very fast pace, several large technology companies have started including these cities in their marketing plan for product launches, but not many MNCs are committing adequate resources to educate this market. Seagate''s support in this regard is therefore quite extraordinary", said Sidharth Tripathy, chairperson governing council of SME Tech Forum.