Lanbit To Hawk Wipro Cd-Serv Mate

The Wipro Infotech group has tied up with Taiwan-based LanBit Computer Inc for the manufacture and distribution of its recently patented CD-Serv Mate which is all set to earn the Indian IT major a first-year royalty fee of $1million.

By securing the non-exclusive licence from Wipro, LanBit Computer, a network products company, has become the formers first OEM (original equipment manufacturer).

Wipro expects the Taiwan firms sales volume to touch 15,000 units this year. So far it has shipped 2,000 units to Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia.

The product, designed and developed by Wipro Global R&D, is one of the first of its kind in the world.

It is also the companys first attempt at penetrating the network peripherals market.

The CD-Serv Mate is a network CD-ROM server and a dedicated hardware solution for companies hooked to a network.

It turns external CD-ROM drives into a CD-ROM server by offering a less complicated and much cheaper way of sharing CD-ROM drives over a network.

Installing a CD-Serv Mate allows multiple users to access the same CD and a single user to access multiple CDs simultaneously without having separate CD drives for each desktop computer.

The CD-Serv Mate, which can contain up to 14 CD-ROM drives, is expected to throw open many business avenues for the entertainment cable industry. By replacing the VCRs for CD Serv, cable TV operators can play video CDs in the same way they do now with video cassettes, Janakiraman, chief executive, Global R&D said.

Organisations which could benefit from sharing of CDs include libraries, multi-media developers, advertising agencies, financial institutions, stockbrokers, hospitals, etc.,

According to Janakiraman, the CD-ROM server market in India is in its infancy.

The first year would be a year of awareness and market creation. To date, about 50 CD-Serv Mates have been sold in the country by Wipro.

As the licence given to LanBit is non-exclusive, Wipro expects to licence the product to other OEMs too.

So far the CD-Serv Mate has received UL, TUV, CSA and FCC class certification for safety standards.

When asked why Wipro was shying away from manufacturing the product, Janakiraman said producing such a product for the international market needed enormous logistics, worldwide sales support and investment.

Licensing to OEMs works out better in the long run than making it yourself, he added.