Steve Nossel is a man with a mission - to clamp down on the grey marketers in this country which cost Intel and its channel partners between $10 million and $15 million per year in revenue.
But how does he aim to deliver on this huge goal? "By getting the grey marketers to work with us - by bringing them into to our stable. We cannot close them down because not all of them are doing something illegal. They are just not getting the products through the correct sources," says Nossel.
However, it is well known that there are some dubious grey marketers out there who are not dealing above-board. Nossel stresses that Intel will come down hard on these culprits.
The two key issues bugging Nossel about grey marketers are the evils of re-marking and avoiding paying VAT. "There are certain marketers out there that buy a specific processor and then re-mark it and sell it as a different speed. This is fraud, and when we discover these marketers we will deal with them through the authorities."
Certain marketers also don't pay VAT, which does not allow for an equal playing field, says Nossel. He is adamant that Intel will get rid of these players as well.
Although Intel wants to partner with above-board grey marketers, Nossel notes that "if they are not prepared to work with us, we will stop their suppliers. We can track the FPI numbers on the equipment and find out where they bought the stuff. Then we can put pressure on these companies to stop supplying to unauthorised Intel marketers."
Nossel adds: "We pay a lot of money to fund our 'Intel Inside' campaign and we will use heavy-handed tactics with these guys."
Beating perceptions
The second area that Intel plans to aggressively attack is that of retail. The perception that Intel is more expensive is just that, a perception, according to Nossel. "We have adjusted our pricing for this market and have become very competitive. We will be working more closely with the retail channel through our own channel representative."
Nossel also sees Intel expanding further into the networking arena: "We have seen a 100% growth in this market last year, which we hope to match again this year." Intel SA aims to achieve this by hiring more people for this area. The company is also targeting the whole market, from SME to the enterprise arena.
This month Intel launched its next generation family of Fast Ethernet network adapters based on Intel's Intelligent Interface Technology - an integrated solution that delivers advanced management and bandwidth control for networks. These interface products are designed to provide secure remote network management, boost network performance, and drive down the cost and complexity associated with supporting networks, according to Intel.
The Internet will also play an important role in Intel SA's growth this year. "We coined the phrase 'Number one on the Net' at our international sales conference last month," notes Nossel. And Intel believes it is providing building-block technologies and products that enable the best possible multimedia experience for PC users connected to the Internet.
Private choices
Commenting on the privacy debate that the announcement of the ID numbers on the Pentium III has sparked, Nossel says: "I believe the whole thing has been blown out of proportion by the international press."
The Pentium III chip will include a unique serial number on each chip that Intel says will boost the security of online transactions. However, Nossel stresses that no one will be forced to use the facility. "You will have a choice whether you want to switch it on or not. You either have the choice of anonymity or security."
Nevertheless, the market was only given this choice after certain privacy groups put pressure on Intel by threatening to boycott the Pentium III.
A mobility boom
According to Nossel, the mobile area is "far bigger than we thought". He adds that the processing power in the mobile environment is increasing continuously and prices are also dropping. This causes a chain reaction. "The processor is getting smaller all the time, which leads to a smaller, thinner and lighter machine. This causes the power consumption to drop, which in turn increases battery life."
Intel has also just announced an extension to the Pentium II processor family with two new processors in the mobile market, one at 333MHz and another at 366MHz. In addition to the new Pentium II processors, the company will introduce its Celeron processor for the first time in mobile version at 266MHz and 300MHz.
Intel SA aims to grow by more that 20% this year. Nossel sees beating the grey marketers at their own game as the first step to achieving this. "I also believe the issues surrounding the year 2000 will have an impact on our growth, especially in the first half of this year."
Share