EIITF 2011 Successfully Concluded in Kolkata; Special Focus on SMEs sector

The event started with the lighting of the traditional lamp and dignitaries like Arindam Dutta, Chairman Innovation & Incubation Mentor; R. Ravi, Head -Global & Strategic Initiatives, HCL Infosystems Ltd.; Kapil Awasthi, Security Consultant, Check Point Software Technologies; and Mohammed Nasir, Sr. Marketing Manager - CSP, Canon India Pvt. Ltd., were present at 

the ceremony.

At the event, Shri Partha Chatterjee, Minister In-Charge, Department of Industry and Commerce and Parliamentary Affairs, Public Enterprises, Industrial Reconstitution, IT, Government of West Bengal, stated that the new government welcomes all those who are interested to work for the welfare of the state and penetration of IT.

Sumith Satheesan, Head, Pre-Sale, India and SAARC, Cyberoam, shared his views on data usage patterns and the related emerging security concerns. He also talked about Cyberoam's identity-based approach that promises, securing homes to enterprises in West Bengal. 

The morning session concluded with Panel discussions on Cloud Services - Opportunities for SMEs, which was moderated by R. Ravi from HCL Infosystems. The panellists included Arindam Dutta; Kapil Awasthi of Check Point Software; Sumith Satheesan of Cyberoam; and Mohit Puri, Country Manager, WatchGuard Inc. The need for SMEs to look at Cloud Computing as an intelligent and cost-effective IT infrastructure was discussed. It was also highlighted that vendors should make extra efforts for positioning Cloud as the best RoI giving IT infrastructure to them. Arindam Dutta, in his valedictory address, said Cloud providers will have to ensure delivery of the promise they put on papers. He further opined on the need for the involvement of more and more young entrepreneurs as he believe that youth are highly tech-savvy and brimming with new and evolutionary ideas.

 He further said that the government should provide the initial hand-holding to the newcomers

Whereas R. Ravi of HCL Infosystems shared details about cloud and why SMEs were really keen about this technology in particular. Kapil Awasthi, of Check Point, shared details about how they are enabling digitizing of SMEs in West Bengal.

The lamp lighting ceremony of the evening session was attended by 300 guests. Hon'ble chief guest, Shri Partha Chatterjee, Minister In-Charge, Department of Industry and Commerce and Parliamentary Affairs, Public Enterprises, Industrial Reconstitution, IT, Government of West Bengal; B. Hari, President, COMPASS; Manjit Nayak , Additional Director, STPI, 

Government of India; Alok Garodia, Chairman, Jupiter International Ltd.; Arindam Dutta, Chairman, Incubation Mentor; Piyush Kumar Agarwal, AGM -Marketing, HCL Infosystems Ltd.; Shrikant Gupta, Regional Head, Motorola Solutions India; Rajeev Saxena, 

Business Head, ECC, HCL Infosystems Ltd.; Smt. Aditi Ganguli, General Manager - East, Lenovo India; Mohit Puri, Country Manager, WatchGuard Inc.; Lakshmi Kumar, DGM - Enterprise Sales, Microworld Software Services Pvt. Ltd.; Kapil Awasthi, of Check Point Software Technologies; Hemal Patel, CEO, Elitecore Technologies; and Pawan Jajodia, Past President, COMPASS, graced the occasion.

Manjit Nayak, Additional Director, STPI, Government of India, spoke about "Opportunities within STPI through the size of the group", followed by B. Hari, President, COMPASS, who thrown light on "Role of COMPASS in the promotion of IT in West Bengal". He also introduced the newly-formed Confederation of IT Associations in the entire eastern region.

Rajeev Saxena, Business Head, ECC, HCL Infosystems Ltd., presented his views on "Opportunities for Channel Partners Ahead". He welcomed the channel community to partner with them and promoted a slogan, "SMEs - Transform Your Business with HCL".

Shrikant Gupta, Motorola Solutions India, informed about the various business groups of Motorola and then spoke about his division to give the perspective of Motorola Solutions India. He also highlighted the contribution of Channel Partners in bringing success to their business modules from Wireless to Wi-Fi.Kapil Awasthi, Security Consultant, Check Point Software Technologies, threw light on the services offered by Check Point in the country. Apart from these, Mohit Puri of WatchGuard also spoke about their service offerings on Security.

The event concluded on optimistic note, where both vendors and partners were satisfied and enjoyed fruitful business networking.