Spouse(s) Sudha Naik | Name K. Naik | |
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Born 19 November 1947 (age 76) ( 1947-11-19 ) Karwar, Karnataka, India Education Jhunjhunwala College, Mumbai
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Mumbai Occupation Executive chairman, Smartlink Network Systems Ltd. Children Arati Naik, Lakshana Sharma | ||
K R Naik, Executive-Chairman, SmartLink Network Systems Ltd at Star Nite Award-2011
Kamlaksha Rama Naik, better known as K R Naik (Hindi: क़ रा नायक़) is an Indian industrial engineer. He founded D-Link Ltd. (India) in 1993. He has been in the IT Industry for 42 years and has played a key role in creating the IT networking market and the surrounding channel ecosystem in India. He pioneered several new businesses and distribution models as early as 1990, when IT was a nascent industry and the concept of an IT distribution channel was just conceived.
Contents
- K R Naik Executive Chairman SmartLink Network Systems Ltd at Star Nite Award 2011
- Early life
- Career
- Personal life
- References
Early life
Naik was born in Karwar, Karnataka on 19 November 1947. He completed his schooling in Karwar and later shifted to Mumbai. Naik is a mechanical engineer with a P.G. Diploma in Industrial Engineering and Licenciate in Plastic Engineering. He earned a Business Management degree from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute in Mumbai.
Career
His first job at Mumbai was with Bradma, but soon after that he joined IBM India in 1970 starting as a Mainframe Peripheral Assembly Engineer. In 1977 he contributed significantly to the development of an indigenous line printer at the 'Big Blue' center. He worked to develop indigenous computer peripheral parts of plastic and metal until IBM closed its Indian operation in 1978. After IBM closed down, he joined ORG System Ltd. wherein he was one of the 6 team members who developed the first indigenous line printers with a speed of 1000+ line per minute.
In 1984, Naik founded Virtual Computer Pvt. Ltd., and was among the first to import a wave-soldering machine to manufacture printed circuit boards of PCs.
From 1990–91, Naik entered into networking products as a distributor of D-Link brand products. Within 3 years, he decided to start manufacturing of networking products in India as a joint venture with D-Link. Taking financial and tax advantages offered by the government of Goa, he shifted manufacturing operations from the Ansa Industrial Estate in Mumbai to Verna Electronic City, Goa. In 1994–95 he also started a passive networking-products company together with UK-based passive components company Sapphire UK Ltd. In 1994, he entered into a joint venture with D-Link Corporation Taiwan and helped constructing new buildings and importing SMT lines from Japan.
In 1995, Naik set out to create a completely new channel for D-Link products. Rather than going after large distributors he decided to put a regional distribution model in place—arguably the first in India among the IT channel.
Personal life
Naik's wife Sudha Naik is a homemaker; they have 2 daughters: Arati Naik and Dr. Lakshana Sharma (who is married to Dr. Amit Sharma).