Embee Software
There might be little scope of argument that Embee Software is the premier solution provider from the East, though nearly half of its revenues in 2006-07 came from Mumbai. It was the "Premier Enterprise Business Partner in East" for HP, a premier IBM Partner, a Gold Certified partner of Microsoft as well as Intuit Software's "Best Partner for Innovation" internationally. In terms of pedigree, very few can beat or even compete with Embee Software, a solution provider that also offers facilities management and manpower sourcing on SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, and Lotus skill sets across South East Asia.

The year gone by saw Embee boosting its topline by 20% to reach Rs 80 crore, but its bottomline grew by a whopping 100%. Microsoft, HP, and the Lenovo-IBM combine were the major contributors to the business-Microsoft accounted for Rs 33 crore, HP Rs 18 crore while Lenovo around Rs 7 crore. There was much movement within the company on the SAP front too-not just Embee internally implemented SAP, but also was the first vendor from Eastern India to implement SAP B1 solutions amongst SMEs. During the year, Embee bagged nine SMB contracts including Selwell, Indo Danish Tool Room, Tintec, Mayur Plywood, and Pioneer Properties among others.

SAP B1 was the major catalyst for Embee's SMB successes in the last two years. Admits Sudhir Kothari, CEO, Embee Software says, "We needed a vehicle to go to SMEs and SAP proved to be the ideal choice." Not unexpectedly, therefore, Embee expects a large proportion of its revenue to be accounted for by sales into SMBs. In fact not just in the east, even in Mumbai Embee has bagged a handful of SMB clients like eClerk, Tata Engineering, Bajaj Electricals, and First India Credit among others.

IT landscaping was another focus area for Embee during FY '07 with clients like Tata BlueSCope, ILFS, 3, Sido Pharma, Reliance Energy (Delhi), Glenmark, Tata Chemicals, Gujarat Gas, Bombay Dyeing, and Sharekhan getting added into the roster. There were SME takers from Kolkata too like Saregama, DIC, and Graphite among others for its Track-IT solution from Numara Software.

Netwings
This Salt Lake-based company has emerged as one of the leading network integrators from the East. In the last few years, it has gained in prestige by means of bagging a number of blue chip clients, both on the wireline and wireless fronts. The impetus continued this year too: no wonder, the company bagged many of the recurring businesses, including networking new buildings of PwC and RS Software, third and fourth towers of Wipro datacenter in Kolkata, besides TCS building in Bhubaneshwar.

Jaideep Chakrabarti, head of Netwings, says with justifiable pride that the three projects in the city represent some of the biggest networking deals ever undertaken in the eastern part of the country, and were won against bids from SI biggies like Wipro, HCL, and Datacraft. The PwC project involved a pre-WiMax pilot, campus-wide WAN implementation besides upgradation of the MPLS backbone. Other marquee projects include the three-year facilities management project at NTPC plants in Farakka, Korba, and Talcher besides an information highway initiative at DVC.

The company has also decided to foray into infrastructure management, and has tied up with Computer Troubleshooter to provide both remote onsite and offsite services. "With a fifty people team in place, we are now the biggest networking SI in this part of the country and plan to expand into Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal," says Chakrabarty.

Diamond Infotech
The company, founded by Manoj Rathi in 1998 with an initial principal of Rs 9,000, ended 2005-06 with revenues of Rs 14 crore and even better touched Rs 19 crore in 2006-07. Add to this fact, Diamond was cited by DQ Week magazine as the "Best System Integrator of Kolkata" for two years running, and it becomes obvious that Kolkata players have truly arrived on the solution provider scene. Customized solution has been Diamond's basic development platform all along. "No two clients are alike and therefore, their needs are different too," says Rathi, a principal he has strictly adhered to even at the cost of sacrificing on margins.

The major focus areas for the company have been wireless projects, security services, Microsoft solutions as well as connectivity projects. With a good concentration amongst corporates and stockbrokers, Diamond bagged a number of clients including LKP, Accord Capital Markets, Bonanza, Apeejay Group, Century Plywood, Anand Rathi Group, Cement Manufacturing Group, Explotech, and Microsec among others. Explaining the advantages Diamond has especially with the Kolkata-based SMB clients, Rathi says, "We too face challenges in terms of meeting customer requirements, but have an edge over MNC service providers since we have a good rapport with customers at a local level. The challenge is to constantly upgrade ourselves to the kind of services that MNCs provide."

Epitom Networks
Though Epitom Networks completed its fourth year with revenues of around Rs 6 crore, in terms of innovation the company has emerged as one of the leading names in Kolkata. In the past, Epitom had completed the pilot IP surveillance project with 24 DVI antennas in Hill Cart Road for the West Bengal Police in Siliguri. It had also undertaken a fiber backbone project under Railtel for Eastern Railway and SE Railway, and a steerable antenna-based Wi-Fi project for IIM Joka. But in 2006-07, what took the cake according to Rajarshi Ghosh, executive director, Epitom Networks was its project at the Bengal Engineering College.

Under the aegis of the World Bank TEQUIP project, Epitom undertook a Rs 1.4 crore networking project at BE College. This involved entire campus wide fiber optics besides making all hostels Wi-Fi zones. Another major project was Ambuja-Holcem, already implemented at Sankrail in Howrah, Bhatpada in MP and now undergoing in Farakka. The project at ITR in Chandipur (Orissa), in its third year, was another significant milestone in Epitom's history. This year, the campus area network at ITR was upgraded. Ghosh says with justifiable pride that this is the only fiber to desk site in the entire eastern zone.