Freescale sees great potential in Indian market
By Ojas Sharma   |   Thursday, 03 September 2009, 00:46 IST
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Freescale sees great potential in Indian market
Bangalore: "The Freescale Technology forum is really about the excitement associated with the future we are seeing globally as well as in Freescale. India continues to surprise us in terms of demands that have taken place and the partnership that we have developed. Despite the downturn we have continued to invest as a corporation in major areas," said Rich Beyer, Chairman and CEO, Freescale in the fifth annual Freescale Technology Forum (FTF). FTF is a two day event targeted at the design ecosystem and has evolved into a platform that provides attendees an opportunity to learn about the latest innovations in embedded design, engage with industry experts and attend in-depth technical sessions across a wide range of technologies. Freescale has been developing embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets. Beyer feels that Freescale is positioned to help India's growth, especially in automotive, telecom and energy network. With the world trying to go green, Freescale is developing better energy network to save power. According to Beyer, only 44 percent of India's households have electricity and 80 million houses use kerosene lamp. Using Freescale embedded chip, a company has developed one watt lamp which runs for eight hours on battery charge. Successful implementation of these lamps in Indian villages will help to save nine million liter of kerosene as well as keep the environment clean. Beyer also feels the use of smart grid and smart electric meter is expected to play a major role in India to save power. "Population is having profound effect on Indian economy due to its energy usage. Countries around the world are using smart grid for energy efficiency," added Beyer. Market power has now started to shift to emerging market. Now, technology for advanced market is developed by Asian countries with similar talent and at lower cost. But there are many technological challenges that companies have to face. The demand and business model of Western and Asian countries differ completely. For market like India, companies have to develop low cost, high quality product which has reduced energy cost. Companies have to face harsh environment realities like unreliable power, spending power of average Indian, before launching their product, especially in rural areas. There is also a lack of manufacturing ecosystem. But these challenges offer equal opportunity for growth of the country as well as companies who think of innovative ways to overcome these challenges. 3G auction, which will be held in few months time in India, has managed to capture attention of not only domestic telecom companies but global companies as well. "India's telecom market, one of the fastest growing market in the world today is unique, not only because of the growth we are experiencing but also because of the innovation we witness, be it in the area of low-cost handsets, pricing models or value added services. There is enormous potential in areas such as broadband, triple play services such as IPTV and 3G enable services, to transform how urban and rural India communicate and experience entertainment," said Sanjay Nayak, CEO, Tejas Networks. Dr Anil Menon, President of Gobalization and Smart Connected Communities, Cisco, feels that 21st century cities will be built around network of information. So, it is essential to form a well connected network amongst different cities and services. He also feels that globalization will lead to a greater convergence among the economies thus creating opportunities for growth. "Technology will play critical role in enabling countries to capitalize on this phenomenon. As India emerges as the hotbed of innovation, we see huge potential on collaborating with our partner here, to replicate and scale new business model and solutions in other emerging and advanced market," he added. FTF showcased 22 demonstrations of latest technologies from Freescale and its partners. Freescale also displayed a prototype of Smartbook powered by its much awaited i.MX processor. These processors will make it possible to manufacture sub-$200 devices.

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