Lenovo looks to expand operations in India

Launches first Innovation Centre

Lenovo has major expansion plans in India. To begin with, it has formally launched its first 'Innovation Centre' in India "" the other two being located in the US and Beijing.

It has also announced it would expand the presence of Lenovo products in multi-branded outlets and exclusive retail outlets.

The company currently has 60 exclusive retail outlets which it plans to increase to 100 by March 2007. Similarly Lenovo product showcased in almost 350 multi-branded outlets are expected to rise to 500 by March 2007.

"Our decision to base the third Innovation Centre in India is testimony to the importance Lenovo ascribes to India as one of our fastest growing markets and recognition of the unique, large enterprise and mid-market customers here. Solutions and technologies that are incubated, developed and showcased here will be driven by customer requirements," said Neeraj Sharma, Managing Director, Lenovo South Asia.

"With our third Innovation Centre in India, we aim to accelerate innovation for diverse client challenges and developing markets," said Deepak Advani, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Lenovo.

The Indian Innovation Centre, in operations only for a week, has already around 30 customers "" Pfizer and Paradigm Software to name a few.

The centre will deploy globally-developed solutions to specific customer requirements in India and also be capable of developing solutions when required by customers here.

Intel, Microsoft, LANDesk, IBM and Cisco will partner at the India Innovation Centre to showcase new enterprise level PC solutions in areas such as hardware platform and application integration, active management technology, network connectivity and power management "" just as they do at the other two global centres.

For the past 22 months since the company made its entry in India, Lenovo has been focused towards brand awareness and increasing its penetration among the buyers.

The Innovation Centre will include several components such as technology incubation, partner collaboration, solution development, imaging and training services, besides a solution showcase.