The computer memory and computer data storage industry is changing rapidly. Micron Technology is always a step ahead with its innovative memory solutions. Team IT-Voice was recently in conversation with Rajesh Gupta, Director, Country Manager, India Sales at Micron Technology. Here is a brief from the interaction where he has answered questions about the organization, emerging technologies, and the future ahead.
Prateek: How is Micron coping up with the recent decline in the demand for the chips?
Rajesh Gupta: The semiconductor supply chain experienced severe strain due to shortages resulting from the increasing demand for many products that rely on semiconductors. Micron has proactively addressed these unprecedented supply challenges with a concerted effort to help our customers and partners mitigate the risks that have resulted from these market dynamics. As part of this effort, we have worked diligently and urgently to engage proactively with our supply chain partners, securing priority access to critical materials for our products even amid an industry-wide environment of rising prices. Micron is also making record investments to deliver product and technology innovations to our customers and ecosystem partners. We have committed significant resources to this continuous effort to support the industry’s needs, including absorbing considerable costs since the start of the pandemic.
Prateek: Please tell us more about Micron 7400 solid-state drive.
Rajesh Gupta: Micron 7400 SSD is the newest addition to the expanding Micron data center NVMe™ SSD portfolio.
The Micron 7400 SSD delivers extensive form factors, PCIe® Gen4 performance, and leading-edge security to meet the needs of demanding data centers.
This is Micron’s first PCIe Gen4 SSD for the data center, roughly doubling the speed, providing twice the IOPS per watt, while meeting the rigorous quality-of-service requirements of leading hyperscale customers. These advancements are opening the doors for rapid qualification at Cloud Service Providers around the world.
The Micron 7400 SSD includes the only PCIe Gen4 M.2 22x80mm with power loss protection, as well as 2.5” U.3 data center SSDs in both 15mm and 7mm thicknesses. It also features three different sizes of the new E1.S Enterprise and Data Center SSD Form Factor (EDSFF), enabling greater density, flash-optimized performance, and improved power and cooling options. This breadth of options means customers can move from traditional servers to dense EDSFF server designs with one SSD. Offering a wide capacity range from 400GB to 7.68TB, the portfolio supports low to high-capacity applications. It also has endurance options for one and three-drive writes per day to support read and write-intensive applications. The SSD leverages the full vertical integration capabilities of Micron to bring industry-leading innovation, from the controller to firmware and leading-edge NAND and DRAM technology, to world-class front-end and back-end manufacturing.
Prateek: What are your expansion plans in India?
Rajesh Gupta: Micron is always exploring opportunities for manufacturing and development centers globally. In 2018, Micron evaluated and decided to expand its operations in India with a focus on memory and storage components, sub-systems, and system-level solutions. Subsequently, Micron expanded operations in the cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad to support this growth strategy. Hyderabad houses Micron’s largest presence in India. During the last two years, the India Development Centers have scaled significantly with more than 1500 team members contributing to a variety of Micron global projects. During the period Micron has also expanded its sales and marketing operations with extensive channel coverage on both Industrial Electronics and Commercial/Consumer IT channels. Our endeavor is to make world-class Micron Storage and Memory products widely available to customers in India and SAARC region.
Prateek: What will be your marketing and growth strategy in the diversified Indian market?
Rajesh Gupta: As the only company with a portfolio of DRAM, NAND, and 3D XPoint technologies, Micron is ideally positioned to benefit from the secular data growth that drives cloud, enterprise, and networking markets. Micron’s business in India is carried out by distributors and is organized into two broad categories: industrial and commercial. Industrial distribution focused on Industrial Electronics, the Automotive sector, Networking, Surveillance, and a wide variety of embedded segments covering ODMs, EMS, and IDHs throughout India. Micron is a leading consumer product, including SSDs and DRAM branded as ‘Critical’ by Micron. For the ‘Crucial’ branded consumer products, we are building a large network of resellers, VARs, and device integrators across all four regions and multiple cities in India. Resellers and VAR/SI have a commendable job of making Essential branded goods widely available through retail outlets and e-commerce markets. For Micron branded Industrial electronics products we have wide coverage via an Industrial distribution network.
Working with our commercial distributors the Crucial and Ballistix branded gaming products are now available widely across most states and major cities in India including many upcountry locations. We also have a good presence on the e-commerce platforms with Micron Crucial branded products. Similarly, Micron Industrial products are now reaching more embedded, automotive, defense & networking solution developers and integrators at major Industrial clusters. During the period we have established reseller and VAR/SI engagements to fulfill the needs of SME, Datacenter, and Enterprise segments across the country as well. Our endeavor is to continue to work with our distribution and reseller channel partners to expand our coverage further and make our products available widely and consistently across India.
Prateek: What are the challenges that the Indian market is posing during the pandemic time? Is the company ready to play a vital role in the digitalization process?
Rajesh Gupta: This pandemic has clearly established new normal for businesses. We have seen e-commerce, e-learning, and remote work activity increase significantly, along with gaming and online streaming. All of these require greater data center and network capacity. Advanced technologies are being pursued with greater urgency to help society adapt and manage temporary and permanent changes stemming from this pandemic. Some trends that would have taken two to four years to develop have been accelerated into months. Semiconductors are at the heart of this, and memory and storage technology is integral to it and so this industry will play as critical a part in recovery in India as in the rest of the world.
