Market Potential- Retail and Corporate Part-I1. Introduction

1.1 Executive Summary:

This project titled An assessment for data recovery business in Aurangabad with respect to retail and corporate business was undertaken in Stellar Information Technology Private limited for 7 weeks for the partial fulfillment of the course. My industry mentor Branch Manager instructed me to cover Aurangabad location to explore awareness about Stellar Information technology Private limited.This project provides insights about customer awareness about brand name of Stellar Data Recovery. The customer awareness about data recovery and other services being offered by Stellar were explored in detail. The project was conducted in Aurangabad location and 194 companies participated in the survey.As per my research I found out that Stellar is the only company that provides both data recovery services as well as software. There is a huge potential for the company because of the quality of service being offered. The competition from local players are stiff but could be overcome easily as there isnt any branded international players from data recovery industry in Aurangabad area.1.2 Introduction to the concept:

What is Data Recovery?

When put simply, data recovery is the process of retrieving computer data that for any number of reasons has become inaccessible using normal methods. Many prominent data recovery facilities have a large array of hardware, software and tools for recovering data.

Generally speaking when a hard drive is received by a data recovery firm, the first thing they do is evaluate it, and determine what recovery solution will be necessary. If the drive failure is a logical issue as mentioned earlier, then a scan of the drive will be performed to try and repair the file system corruption. Sometimes a partition can be repaired and the drive restored to the status that it was before the failure. If this is not possible, then a very low-level scan will be performed that essentially searches every sector of the hard drive for files. Once the files are located, they can then be copied to the media of choice, i.e. a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or another hard drive. Logical recoveries can take up an enormous amount of time, especially if the drive is on the verge of physical failure.If the drive has suffered a physical failure, then the recovery procedure is quite a bit more challenging. As mentioned above, there are really two sub-categories of physical failure; mechanical and electronic. An important element in recovering data from a physical failure is having the necessary parts to get the drive functioning again. Unfortunately with hard drives if is 50GB Seagate Hard Drive for example, then we will need another identical 50GB SeagateHardDrive for salvaging parts. In cases where the electronic circuit board has failed on the hard drive, then we need to have the exact same circuit board on hand in order to retrieve the necessary circuit components for replacement. Many times we cannot even exchange circuit board for circuit board. These repairs generally require soldering skills and a thorough knowledge of electronics to be successfully completed. We will most likely hear "Class100 Clean Room" thrown around a lot when talking to data recovery professionals. Simply stated, a Class100 Clean Room maintains exceptional air purity, and contains less than 100 airborne particles larger than 0.5 microns in each cubic foot of air. This is vital in protecting sensitive internal components of hard drives. Anytime a hard drive is having an invasive procedure performed on it, a Class100 clean room or better is neededHow does the process often work? First, you contact a service. Usually they advise you how to send them your media. Once they receive it, they evaluate it as to how much data can be recovered. They will then give you a price quote and an idea of the data that is recoverable. Some companies have fixed prices per type of media or size of job; other companies cost out each job individually. You then both approve of the work order and have the work done, or you politely decline their offer and have the media returned to you.

1.3 Objectives of the Project study:

The objective of the project study is to learn the work and understand the field in a better way by actually working in it. Assessing potential of the market within the premises of Aurangabad

Create awareness about business and company

Developing an insight of tools and techniques to promote the business

PART-II2. Profile

2.1.1 Industry profile:

2.1.2 History:

Data recovery solution provider is relatively a new business domain it comes under Information Technology industry. The exponential growth of IT and IT enabled services has led to the growth of Data recovery Services Industry. The industry mainly comprises of vendors who provide data recovery services and software providers who develops software which could recover corrupted files. Stellar Information Technology private limited provides both softwares as well as services to its clients. In Indian market there arent any such companies that provide both softwares as well as services to its customers hence it could be categorized as a monopoly. But there does exists a large number of small scale vendors who provide data recovery services but they could never be categorized as a competitor to Stellar Data Recovery because of their scale of operation is very less mostly confined to its locality.

2.1.3 Growth:

The exponential growth of IT and IT enabled services had led to data explosion. Huge amount of data is being generated by the automated IT systems and most of them being essential for the day to day working of the company. The data thus generated needs to be stored for later use or as a record. Data storage devices need to be used for this. As the usage of data storage devices increases the probability of such devices to get damaged also increases. The data stored in such damaged devices are important and hence they need to be recovered. Hence nature of demand can only be expected to increase.

2.1.3 International and National scenario:In the present scenario, computers run our lives, our homes and our businesses. Most of us use computers every single day. So data recovery becomes even more important in cases of computer crashes and valuable data becoming inaccessible. Data recovery means retrieving data from damaged, failed, corrupted or inaccessible primary storage media when it cannot be accessed normally.RISE OF TECHNOLOGY: The growth of technology has sparked off the increase in number of commercial organizations across the economy. Big corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships, multinationals and small manufacturing enterprises have been flooding the market. This vertical and horizontal rise of technology can be attributed to growing consumer demand. Consumers want more today. Hence this has led to inter- and intra-dependency of firms and industries in the economy. No firm can exist without the presence of the other. Everything has shrunk and contributed to the growth and importance of data. Data has grown over the years by leaps and bounds. Everybody, right from commercial ventures, government enterprises to personal users saves data. The importance of data has increased greatly.

The loss of this data can paralyze economic functions and signal a downward economy spiral. Organizations and users need data for healthy economic operation. Data such as financial records, employee information and patient details in hospitals are stored on data storage devices. These machines are not perfect and are liable to corruption.

When this happens data is lost. All work, growth and progress come to a grinding halt. This is where data recovery comes in. The data recovery industry functions on the fear that precious data can be lost any time.

International:

The world today has shrunk figuratively. Outsourcing employment has become the new age mantra. Globalization has taken over. A direct consequence of this has been the ever-increasing importance of data. Today, businesses all over the world need data to survive in the global market. Reliance and dependency on data has risen sharply since1990s.

Different commercial enterprises trading and dealing in different economic sectors need and want common data. Interdependence has increased. This has directly impacted the data recovery industry in a positive way. Data recovery business has grown and is still growing throughout the globe.

2.1.4 Some prominent companies in the industry, their Performance/Contribution:

A. Unistal Systems Pvt. Ltd.:India is the data recovery industrys largest, most experienced and technologically advanced provider of data recovery products and services. In case of any kind of data loss on any type of computer storage media, Unistal has a solution with fast, advanced and cost-effective products and services ranging from do-it-yourself software products, data loss prevention solutions to 24/7/365 services network. With nearly 10 years experience performing successful data recoveries, Unistal has served customers across the globe including Secret services, government agencies, corporate houses, and numerous computer users. Unistal has developed the industry's widest range of data recovery products and services, providing desktop, laptop, server, email, and database and tape recoveries for all media types and operating systems anywhere, anytime. Unistal India is headquartered in New Delhi. With regional offices at Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata.

B. Disk DoctorsLab Incorporated:Disk Doctor Labs Inc. has been serving the US and worldwide since 1991 and speedily becoming the leader in data recovery from storage devices. Disk Doctors operates worldwide from labs in United States, UK, Australia & India. Today Disk Doctors offers the most comprehensive services available in this specialized field. Disk Doctor Labs Inc. invests huge chunk of their profits toward research and development of data recovery techniques for ever-changing challenges and cost effective solutions for our customers.Disk Doctor Labs Inc. has been performing data recovery for individuals, multinational corporations, educational institutions and government agencies since 1991. Disk Doctor Labs Inc. is one of the most trusted and respected data recovery company in United States and around the world. Goal of Disk Doctors is to bring our clients halted operations back into working conditions with quickest, cost effective and quality data recovery. Disk Doctors India is specialists in data recovery and recovers all or most of the data that can possibly be salvaged from the situation at hand. Disk Doctor India Operates from Bengaluru.

C. CBL Data Recovery Technologies: CBL Data Recovery Technologies.is a leading provider of expert data recovery services throughout Australia and Internationally. CBL's only business is to recover data - quickly and cost effectively. Whether the data loss is the result of mechanical or electrical failure, virus activity, system malfunctions, human error, water, fire or smoke damage, or file corruption, CBL has the uniquely talented people and the resources in-house to solve the problem. Through innovation and creativity, values that all CBL staff share, they strive to offer comprehensive and efficient data recovery services to all of the clientele. CBL Data Recovery Technologies operates from Mumbai

2.2 Company profile

2.2.1 Background and inception of the company:Data recovery was at very nascent stage and people in the Indian market were not aware of data recovery solutions. The Chernobyl virus attack that resulted in accidental erasing of data from hard disk provided a boon for the company. Many individuals as well as corporate turned towards Stellar to recover data from computers affected by the virus. The major market places for Stellar were South-Asia, Middle-East Asia and countries like Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Stellar had then begun to outsource its software development wing.Company moved to a new base at Nehru place in New Delhi in 1995. Nehru place is one of the largest IT Computer Hardware and Electronics markets in Asia. Under the leadership of Manoj Dhingra Stellar started data recovery services for logical-cum-physical cases of data loss from computers in 1995 By the year 2000, Stellar had started lab-service-data recovery operations in Bangalore and Mumbai.Stellar Information Technology Private Ltd was incorporated in 1993 by a group of Technocrat Professionals. They are the pioneers and market leaders in Data Safety & Recovery software and services Stellar provides accurate, confidential & cost effective data safety & integrity solutions to its customers. They are equipped with necessary infrastructure and trained manpower. Stellar is the number one company in data recovery service industry as well as in development of data recovery and data loss prevention software in the whole of South Asian region where it commands a majority of market share.Stellar Information Technology Private Limited is an ISO 9001-2000 certified company specializing in data recovery and services and solutions. Stellar is headquartered in Gurgaon. The company today has 14 branch offices across the country. Stellar is the only data recovery company that has a Class-100 Clean Room facility to ensure effective recovery even in cases of media that is severely damaged. Stellar has established itself as a market leader with an experience of over a decade.Stellar has 1,00,000 satisfied customers across 150+ countries including USA, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, U.A.E, Japan. They have reinforced their faith in stellar offerings. Stellar has a widespread partner network around the globe, which ensures comprehensive pre-sales and post-sales support to its customers. Stellar Data Recovery Solutions consists of a wide range of software for almost any data loss situation ranging from accidental formats to virus attacks to software malfunctions. Its products support most major operating systems like Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, and Novell. Digital Media Recovery and E-mail recovery are additional data recovery software that they provide. Apart from this the company also provides data protection, data backup, and data eraser software.

The brand Stellar denotes Success, Perfection and Trust. ONLY Company in Indian Sub-continent having CLASS-100 Clean Room. Extensive Research & Development, Use of Proprietary Tools/ Presence in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgoan, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Vashi.

2.2.2 Nature of the business carried out:

Stellar Information Private Limited is into the business of Data Recovery. Data Recovery means recovering the data that are stored in damaged data storage devices or recovering data from files that gets corrupted due to natural disasters, virus attacks, user errors or software errors, So that the data can be retrieved and used again. Data Recovery is a professional service that is being provided by a very limited number of companies and Stellar Data Recovery is the leader among them. Data can be stored in various methods; It can be stored in printed paper which is grouped into files or folders as in old government offices. Or it can be stored in digital format by means of excel, word, or PDF documents.

Advantage of storing data in digital format is that it requires very less shelf space, very low cost when compared to paper and printing cost, it can be retrieved easily, It can be easily send from one place to another. The only requirement is a digital data storage device and a computer so as to work with the digital document. Nowadays companies that stores data in conventional printed documents and files have very much gone extinct as price of Data storage device has drastically come down in past decade. The amount of data being stored in the Data storage devices has gone up exponentially and so is the value of the data being stored.Data storage Devices are of various types they are: Hard disk (Internal/External), CD/DVD, Pen Drives, Magnetic Tapes, Cloud servers. With Hard disk, CD/DVD, Pen Drives being the most common type of digital data storage devices in use. These digital data storage devices are delicate in nature and require very much care while working. People who work with these devices are often ignorant about it and hence chances for these devices to get damaged are very high. Once a data storage device gets damaged retrieving the data which is stored in it is a tiresome job and it requires specialized people along with desired tools and controlled external environment depending on the type of damage that the device has.Here is where Stellar Data Recovery or Stellar Information Technology Private Limited is of great importance. Stellar Data Recovery has specialized workforce with a wide range of desired tools, both software and hardware along with a world class laboratory to provide the controlled environment.*Process of Data Recovery: Data Recovery Process at Stellar has been developed as per ISO norms. We follow strict guidelines that ensure confidentiality and data security every time.Free Consultation: Free consultation on your crashed media for data recovery aspect.Analysis: Once we receive crashed media and signed service agreement from the client, thorough analysis of crashed media is performed to decide on type of crash (logical, logical cum physical, physical) so that the most appropriate data recovery approach can be followed. Time required for recovery is calculated based on the type of crash and clients requirements of data. Percentile of possibility of recoverable data is calculated based on verification of sample data and / or chances of accessibility of crashed media.Detail Diagnosis report along with quotes, time period required for recovery and percentile of possibility of recoverable data is submitted to client for approval.Data Recovery:Data recovery starts upon receipt of written confirmation from the client on initial diagnosis (assessment) report and quotation. Confirmation may be sent by email, purchase order/work order. The written confirmation clearly states that client is agreed on the service agreement terms i.e. percentage of data recovery, requisite time frame, cost and payment mode.The data is recovered by following the Data Recovery, Security & Safety guidelines, which is developed by Stellar as per ISO Norms. Once the data recovery is completed, directory listings in a text file (or as requested by the client) is sent to the client for his verification and approval. Alternatively client can visit Stellar office for data verification.Data Delivery: Upon the receipt of approval from the client for the recovered data listing/ signing the data verification fromStellar office, data is handed over to the client.

2.2.3 Mission and Quality Policy:

MISSION:

To maximize the chances of successful data recovery and achieve total customer satisfaction by delivering data recovery and safety through quality products, services and solutions.

Quality Policy:Achieving total customer satisfaction by delivering data security and safety through quality products, services, solutions and training.Aiming for the continuous improvement in our services and products through structured employee training programs and involvement of our business partners.

2.2.4 Product/Services Profile:

a) Data Recovery:1. Windows data Recovery1. Linux1. CD-ROM1. Macintosh1. Photo

b) File Recovery:1. Windows file recovery1. Deleted file recovery1. Word recovery1. Excel recovery1. Access recovery

1) Laptop & Desktop Recovery:

Laptop and Desktop recovery service at Stellar is committed to offer you complete peace of mind by restoring files, documents, and databases off a dead laptop's or desktop's hard disk. Stellar has the most experienced team of data recovery professionals that work round-the-clock to analyze your media for potential problems, and then recover all data to a safe location.

Sheer volumes of data created and stored on Laptop or desktop hard disks make them increasingly susceptible to failures. Data loss on such hard disks results from mechanical failures, firmware corruption, virus infection, or logic board failures. Improper handling, water exposure, overheating, and power spikes account for Laptop hard disk malfunctions.

Major Operating Systems Supported:Windows, Mac, Linux, UNIX, NovellMajor Hard Disk Brands Supported:Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Western Digital, Quantum, Samsung.

2) Server Recovery:

At Stellar, we use industry-best technology to bring back your lost assets stored on insecure platforms. Irrespective of the complexity of enterprise storage system, our streamlined procedures are aimed at recovering your lost server data in no time. Stellar engineers have vast knowledge of server architectures making recovery much easier and ensuring no further damage is caused to the underlying data.

As a large part of corporate and customer data reside on email servers and database servers, the impact of a server failure can be critical to your business. Server outages, configuration errors, and failed server upgrades can endanger both the data at rest and the data in motion.Server Recovery Services at Stellar support recovery of server data from all types of storage systems, configurations, and situations:

Any server make, model or brand All types of RAID configurations Any File System

3) Raid Recovery:

Stellar's RAID Recovery service has the potential to recover your mission-critical data in the worst-case scenario of data loss on any RAID system. Our RAID recovery expertise can save your organization from bankruptcy and seamless business downtime. The professional team at Stellar uses proprietary technologies to rebuild data lost from virtually any type of RAID layout, i.e. RAID 0, RAID 5, and more. Due to years of experience in this domain, we assure you high level of success in your endeavor to recover data from complex data storage systems.

RAID systems possess many of the same vulnerabilities to which our modern hard disk drives are exposed. The problems associated with RAID are not specific to one organization. These include correlated failures, hardware issues, errors during rebuild, equipment compatibility, controller failure, and more.

4) Encrypted Data Recovery:

Encryption adds an element of complexity to the data recovery process.However, encrypted data can surely be recovered by experienced data recovery specialists.

Stellar's Encrypted Data Recovery service implements the safest approach to bypass any level of encryption applied to your confidential and mission-critical files. We offer customized solution to restore and decrypt your business data without compromising its security.

We support Pointsec, Safeboot, Safeguard, EPST, PGP, CREDANT and Windows Encryption.Encrypted Data Recovery is done in two steps: Recover encrypted data Return recovered data in an encrypted form

Stellar follows a systematic process to ensure safe recovery of your encrypted data:

Problem Diagnosis:Stellar encrypted data recovery engineers analyze the problem and if the media is physically damaged, it is treated inside CLASS 100 Clean Room labs to make that readable and ready for recovery.

Cloning: To avoid further damage to the original media and to ensure safety of the data, we make a sector by sector clone of the source media.

Recovery: With the help of our risk free recovery tools and techniques, we recover the encrypted data and further decrypt it to the original readable form.

5) DISK WIPE - SAFE FILE ERASER: Wipe, Erase, Overwrite, Destroy, Eliminate Data and Files

Disk Wipe is an extremely powerful and effective data cleansing software. Disk Wipe erases selected files and folders, wipes entire drive, cleans unused space on your hard disk and also removes Internet activities (History, Cookies, Favorites, Temporary Internet Files etc), System traces and Application traces (MS applications, Email & News, Chat messengers, NetMeeting etc) from your computer.

Software ensures complete data destruction by removing previously deleted files / folders. The file eraser utility also wipes free space (unused space) on the hard drive ensuring complete Data Destruction. Any wipe task can be done manually or according to the schedule set in the Wipe Scheduler. Wipe list option maintains the list of files and folders to be wiped in one go.

Extremely secure algorithms which conform to the various standards are used to ensure permanent data deletion. It is thus a complete solution for computer privacy. The Data once erased using Disk Wipe is beyond the recovery limit of any Data Recovery Software.

2.2.5 Area of Operation Global/National/Regional

DOMESTIC:

In January 2004, Stellar shifted its base from New Delhi to Gurgaon. Gurgaon became the major office of the company; the first CLASS 100 Clean Room lab was established in Gurgaon to carry out all invasive data recovery operation on hard disks, removable storage media, and servers. Stellar thus became the only data recovery service provider in the entire South-East Asia to have the technology and infrastructure much required to recover data from physically damaged storage hard disk, memory cards, USB drives, CD/DVDs, RAID Servers. Within a few years Stellar expanded to 14 major cities in India.

GLOBAL:

After India, Stellar looked at expanding globally. It established Stellar Data Recovery Inc., its first offshore data recovery service branch in New Jersey, USA. Stellar acquired a European major RSE Data Recovery B.V. in the Netherlands which was a major breakthrough. Acquisition of RSE Data Recovery paved way for Stellar Information Technology to transact with the entire European market. The new company now known as Stellar Data Recovery B.V. is catering data recovery services in the Netherlands, England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Hungary, Italy, and Luxembourg.

Stellar has developed and marketed more than 100 data recovery, email recovery, database and file recovery, password recovery, data sanitization, and system optimization tools for various platforms, such as Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Novell, along with providing with a strong service network.

CORPORATE AND REGIONAL OFFICES:

USA48 Bridge Street Metuchen, NJ 08840+1-877-778-6087support@stellarinfo.com

Gurgaon(Corporate Office)D18, Sector-33, Infocity Phase II, Gurgaon-122001.(0124) 432 6700helpdeskdrs@stellarinfo.com

AhmedabadA-703, Premium House, Opp. Gandhigram Railway Station, Off. Ashram Road, Ahmedabad-380006(079) 3241 6069ahmdlab@stellarinfo.com

Bangalore1206, 12th Floor, B Wing, Mittal Towers, Mg Road, Bangalore 560001(080) 2532 7865,blorelab@stellarinfo.com

Chandigarh

Sco 445-446, 2nd Floor, Cabin No.6 Sector 35c, Chandigarh-160022, Ut (India)(0172) 465 5445chdlab@stellarinfo.com

ChennaiNo.476/H1, 7th Floor , Temple Tower, 672, Anna Salai, Nandanam, Chennai 35.(044) 2433 6727chennailab@stellarinfo.com

New Delhi (N.P)

Nehru Place Office205, Skipper Corner, 88, Nehru Place, New Delhi-19.(011) 2641 8810recovery@stellarinfo.com

New Delhi (C.P)Connaught Place Office502, 5th Floor, Mercantile House-15, K.G. Marg, Cannaught Place, New Delhi(011) 4376447175recovery@stellarinfo.com

Hyderabad

6-3-352/1, Osman Plaza, 4th Floor, Road No.1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad 500 034.(040) 4007 7613hydlab@stellarinfo.com

Kolkata306, 3rd Floor, Matrix Towers Plot No. 24, Block DN, Salt Lake City, Sector V, Kolkata 700 091 (West Bengal)(033) 4003 1205kol-lab@stellarinfo.com

NoidaTF-17, 10th Floor, Wave Silver Tower Sector-18 Noida -201301 Landmark: Beside Mosaic Hotel(0120) 422 9580noidalab@stellarinfo.com

Kochi

First Floor Of Mathewsons Square, Edappally, Facing Nh 47 (Ernakulam- Alwaye), High School Jn., Cochin 24(0484) 4035980kochilab@stellarinfo.com

MumbaiB-101, City Point, J. B. Nagar, AndheriKurla Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai.(022) 2821 5947mumlab@stellarinfo.com

Pune209 A, City Mall, Near Pune University,Ganeshkhind Road, Shivaji Nagar,Pune-411007(020) 6620 8203punelab@stellarinfo.com

VashiOffice No.305, Third floor, Thacker Tower, Plot No.86, Sector-17, 400703 Vashi, NaviMumbai,India(022) 3266 6069vashilab@stellarinfo.com

2.2.6 Organizational Structure:

Stellar Information Technology Private Limited is helmed by the three founders of the company. Mr. Sunil Chandana, the Director (International Business) looks after the International and Overseas business of Stellar Information Technology Private Limited. Mr.ManojDhingra, Cofounder is the Director who looks after the Domestic Business of Stellar. Mr.Kuljith Singh the third founder of the company is the Director in charge of Research and Development and looks after the Software section of Stellar Data Recovery

Mr.Kuljeet Singh is the Director of Research and Development. He also looks additional departments like Software development and Finance Department. The Research and Development department comprises of Research Engineers and Class 100 Clean Room lab assistants. The accounts department comes under Finance Department which directly reports to MrKuljeet Singh.Mr. ManojDhingra manages the Domestic Business of Stellar Information Technology Private Limited. The two main verticals that MrManojDhingra handles are Human Resources and Administration. HR department looks after the welfare of employees of all the branches of Stellar in India. HR department functions from corporate office in Gurgaon. The HR department comprises of HR manager and HR executives who take responsibility for each zonal branch.Mr. Sunil Chandna manages the International Business of Stellar Data recovery. He looks after the offshore office at New Jersey, USA.After acquiring RSE Data Recovery BV the international business of Stellar increased exponentially this had been carefully looked after under the leadership of Mr. Sunil Chandna.

2.2.7 Ownership Pattern:

Mr. Sunil Chandna, Mr.ManojDhingra, and Mr.Kuljeet Singh are the founders of Stellar Information Technology Private Limited They graduated with degrees in Computer Science from University of Pune, Maharashtra, India in 1992. Their college project which dealt with recovery of deleted data from hard disk paved way for Stellar Information Technology Private Limited. On 3rd August 1993, Stellar Information Systems Limited was registered in New Delhi. They first started working on developing software that recovered lost data from a floppy disk. The software was built for Windows Operating system platform. The software helped to recover data from FAT based windows partitions.

2.2.8 Infrastructural facilities:

Since 1993 Stellar has been pioneer in developing its infrastructure in order to benefit its clients. To match world standards Stellar has installed & commissioned Indias first CLASS 100 Clean Room Lab in Gurgaon, It's a controlled recommended environment for all read/write head assembly transplants. For efficient operations Stellar maintains a strong inventory of more than 5000 Desktops & 2500 laptop hard disks forming a wide range comprising of various makes, models & capacities. Stellar keeps on upgrading its inventory on a regular basis. Stellar also has necessary infrastructure for repair capabilities of PCB / Logic board of hard disks. At Stellar, all of their software and hardware tools are indigenously developed & supported by our strong R&D wing thus providing an edge over vendors engaged in un-organized data recovery by making use of various third-party softwares without proper support mechanism rendering the critical data, which is highly risky. All of the tools used in Stellar are backed-up by constant research and upgrades and are Read-Only.Stellar understands that apart from the technical capabilities it is equally important to make the service window available in customer's location. At present Stellar has offered its services in 16 Strategic Locations (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, Pune and Vashi). Stellar also offer its services by allowing its customers to send media through courier.The major capabilities of Stellar Data Recovery can be summarized as Service location Class-100 Clean Room Proprietary Software Drive Inventory (Spares) Repair Equipment

2.2.9 Achievement Award:

Stellar data recovery has received wide acclaims for its wide range of softwares that it has developed. The various software offerings have also got good reviews in various magazine polls. Feedbacks, Awards and ratings for Stellar Mac Recovery.

PART-III 3. Literature Review

Recently, researchers have revealed that a large number of computers have been found in secondary markets that have contained information such as consumers names, credit card numbers, and social security numbers (Jones, 2005). In fact, the most recently reported cases of identity theft seem to have originated more in offline situations than online. This is not a surprising fact in that most end users may believe that by simply deleting files from their recycle bins they are fully removing all of the files that could be potentially harmful.

It should also be noted that it is not just the data that contains personal information that can beexploited. Files containing video and audio footage, blogs, diaries, and instant messenger conversations can prove to be equally damaging and more easily exploited, especially if it can be linked to an individual. Calendars as well as address books provide routines and places that may be used to stalk an individual.

The literature review supporting the research topic surrounding hard drive data erasure encompasses the topics of data types, preservation, erasure, and recovery. Considering the fact that Microsoft Windows dominates 91% of the market share, we have designed our study around the skills and equipment available to the average consumer (Garfinkel, S.L. & Shelat., A., 2003).

In order to completely understand why an individual needs to be aware of the risks involved with the proper disposition of their computer, one needs to first understand how a hard disk works. The average user probably does not know how files are written to the hard disk, how they are deleted, what types of files contain potentially harmful information, and how files can be recovered.

-B. Dawn Medlin (Appalachian State University_A Study of Hard Drive Forensics on Consumers PCs:Data Recovery and Exploitation

PART-IV

4.Research Methodology

Research methodology: Research is an organized inquiry carried out to provide information for solving problems. Management in any organization need information about the potential market and to design plans as per the changing Market scenario. Marketing research includes all the activities that enable an organization to obtain the vital information. This research is very important in strategy formation and promotion of the company.There are many type of research these can be categorized as reporting, descriptive, explanatory or predictive. Each research type is being used for various purposes. In this research I have used explorative research methodology; I tried to figure out opportunities and future threats lying in the market for Stellar Information Technology Private Limited and tried to promote the company and enhance its awareness in the market.Research design is the plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain to research problem. It is the specification of methods and procedures for acquiring the required information

4.1 List of Project with brief description:

In this project, I used exploratory research. The basic aim of my project was to find the problems faced by stellar information technology private limited with regards to the sale, brand awareness, service quality. The competition provided by the local vendors is stiff and serious. The 3rd party dealers and AMC providers, who is generally the first point of contact with the customers, can play a vital role in positioning the brand name of stellar in the minds of customers. They can be the basic marketers of stellar. They can help in creating a brand image in the costumers mind about the products and services offered by Stellar Data Recovery. Though this research I tried to figure out the factors they take into account while a data recovery solution. How a data recovery solution provider is assessed by customers. The importance of Advertisements, customer reviews etc. I also tried to figure out the awareness level of customers about Stellar Data Recovery.Field work: To meet with clients (3rd parties as well as Corporate) Identifying potential clients. Not a sales job with targets but needs to promote the company products and services. The main products of the company are related to data recovery services. To improve awareness about software offerings of stellar that comes in different suites like (Enterprise suite, Business+ suite, Business suite, Standard suite)

4.2 Data collection:4.2.1 Types of Data collection:To achieve the objectives, the primary as well as secondary sources of data are used. PRIMARY DATA SECONDARY DATAPrimary data:Primary data is that kind of data which was collected by me for the purpose of my specific study. I interviewed with a structured set of questions just to know the brand awareness of the company. The valuable feedbacks, knowledge about company, perception towards its products are some primary data for my research work.Secondary data:The data that has been already collected by others but which in turn became useful for my report can be categorized as secondary data. The secondary data was collected from various digital sources including websites and blogs of companies and individuals who works in areas related to hardware industry. The company past reports, various websites, books, and assistance from company employees are my secondary data used in this research.

4.2.2 Method of data Collection:Interview method:Interview method helps in getting an insight into the prospective clients mind. I adopted this method as I needed to promote my company in the market as well as try building an image among them. This helped me in gathering personal and professional information regarding data recovery as well the image of stellar in the market. For this purpose, various questions were asked randomly to the customers and their vital feedbacks were collected. With this method I was also able to clear the doubts of the customers regarding data recovery issues such as data leakage and data revival possibility in case of physical data damage.Observation method:During the project work, I contacted the 3rd parties and Corporate to find their opinion about the Stellar Information Technology Private Limited. In the observation method the researcher himself collects the necessary information by observing the response of the customers. Observation may be conducted on in the natural field or in the form of experiment. I used uncontrolled observation that takes place in the natural setting. Agents and customer are free to express their felling about the product and services offered by the company. The observation method gave me an idea about the satisfaction level of customer and agents and gained the precious knowledge about the market situation which made me understand the need of data recovery in different form of business (manufacturing companies, service companies, 3rd parties etc.)4.2.3 Sample Collection:

Data has been collected from various areas and agencies (3rdParties as well as Corporate). Sample size covered: 194 Priority has been given to companies that may require services and softwares offered by Stellar Information Technology Private Limited. Random sampling has been taken as no predefined database of companies had been used. Made it a point to have companies from all sort of industries viz: Information technology, Banks, Manufacturing industries, Tours and travels, Laboratories, Advertising agencies etc.

PART-V5. Data Analysis and Interpretation5.1 Analysis:

1. Did you know about Stellar Information System Ltd before?YESNO

72122

Explanation:37% of the responders said they were aware of Stellar Data Recovery and 67% said they were not aware of Stellar Data Recovery.Inference:Only 37% of the population is aware of Stellar data Recovery. Rests 67% is unaware about the company Stellar Data Recovery. This provides further scope for marketing of brand Stellar. The potential for brand Stellar to grow is huge. Effective marketing techniques could be utilized to improve the brand awareness of Stellar Data Recovery.Findings: Awareness about Stellar Data recovery is low.

2. Did you know that data can be recovered even after formatting the HDD?

YESNO

14549

Explanation:75% of the responders said they were aware that data can be recovered even after formatting the HDD and 25% said they were not aware that data can be recovered even after formatting the HDDInference:The general awareness about the data recovered even after formatting the HDD is 75% which is better but still can be further improved by proper awareness and information provided by the company with good explanation of basics which would cover the remaining 25% as well.Findings: Awareness about the data which can be recovered even after formatting the HDD is good amongst the respondents.3. Are you aware of Class 100 Clean Room?

YESNO

44150

Explanation:23% of the responders said they were aware of Class 100 Clean Room and 77% said they were not aware of Class 100 Clean Room.Inference:The general awareness of Class 100 Clean Room is 23% which is very low and need to be improved as it is most essential for data recovery fromdevicesand Stellar is the only private company that has Class 100 Clean Room in India. The inaccessible drives are treated in the Class 100 Clean Room like hard disks, removable storage media, and servers.Findings: Awareness about Class 100 Clean Room is very low. Can be improved by sharing the importance of Class 100 Clean Room for Data recovery.

4. Do you use any post data recovery tools?YESNO

50144

Explanation:25% of the responders said they use post data recovery tools and 75% said they dont use any post data recovery tools.Inference:The use of post data recovery tools is 25% which is very low as most of the companies and industries prefer the data recovery companies for recovery of their data which is a good point for Stellar Data Recovery and for that marketing should be done in a better manner of the post data recovery tools.Findings: Better marketing of post data recovery tools is required.

5. While outsourcing hard disk for data recovery do you ensure data confidentiality?YESNODoesnt Matter

160259

Explanation:82% of the responders said they ensure data confidentiality while outsourcing hard disk for data recovery, 13% of the responders said they dont ensure data confidentiality while outsourcing hard disk for data recovery and for 5% the data confidentiality while outsourcing hard disk for data recovery doesnt matter.Inference:Data is of great importance for a company. Its importance is only getting increased year after year. The improved operational systems have been ensuring that importance of data will only increase in spite of automated reports being generated by various ERPs and other softwares. The numbers obtained here will give a short glimpse of how important data is for a company. More than 3/4th of the correspondent companies acknowledged that fact that data is of at most importance. And only 18% regarded data as a non-essential part of a business.Findings: Data is important. Loss of data disrupts the functioning of the company.

6. How many systems do you have?Below 5050-100100-250250-500Above 500

8843331713

Explanation:As the graph shows 88 companies are below 50 system, 43 companies are under 50-100 system, 33 companies are under 100-250 systems, 17 companies are under 250-500 systems and only 13 companies are above 500 systems.Inference:It can be easily inferred from the graph that most of the companies have less than 50 systems which is not of greater scope and around 13 companies are above 500 systems. So those companies should be given importance as we look forward for a bigger business and bigger setup. There are very limited companies with maximum number of systems and servers.Findings: Awareness about Stellar Data Recovery should be spread in the companies above 500 systems.

7. Would you like to see demo of stellar disk wipe?YESNO

12371

Explanation:63% of the responders said they would like to see demo of stellar disk wipe while37% of the responders would not like to see demo of stellar disk wipe.Inference:This is relatively an untapped market. Responders dont know the importance of permanently deleting data from data storage devices. They usually format the device to erase data from devices. Only 63% of the people knew that data still exist in the device even after the device is formatted and could easily be recovered from them. Proper awareness about this factor to the general population could be an easy way to market the brand Stellar.Findings: People are willing to learn more about Disk Wipe. Most of them wanted to see the demo.

8. Would you like to recommend Stellar in case of Data recovery is required?YESNO

18212

Explanation:The companies are looking forward for Stellar Data Recovery in future as around 94% would recommend Stellar Data Recovery in future and only 6% would not recommend Stellar Data Recovery in future.Inference:There is a great bit of competition when it comes to Aurangabad area. The customers in Aurangabad are not generally dissatisfied with their existing service providers. But still they are expecting more from the service provider in terms of time for servicing, Cost of servicing, confidentiality of data and Service rates. This can be considered as an opportunity for Stellar. If Stellar data recovery could utilize their expertise in data recovery field and provide excellent service to the customers they could easily gain a lot of customers who are just being provided satisfactory services by the 3rdpaty vendors.Findings: People are looking forward to the service of Stellar Data Recovery in future.PART-VI

6.1 Findings:

Based on the data acquired from the one to one interaction with people at 3rd parties agency and corporate, the following are the findings of my research Pricing of the services and softwares provided by Stellar is much more than the local vendors. Corporates are satisfied by the high quality performance delivered by Stellar. Marketing techniques applied by Stellar Data Recovery are not adequate. Laptop and PC hard disk are the most trusted sources of data Storage. Server hard disks are gaining popularity in IT industry as reliable source of data storage. While CD-DVD Roms are no longer desired data storage device. 3rd Parties are sceptical about sending the hard disk to stellar as they find their customers unwilling to pay high price. Wide range of add-on services are being provided by stellar. General level of awareness about data recovery and other allied services like disk sanitization are poor among the customers Brand awareness about stellar is low The important factors considered by a customer are confidentiality of data, expertise in data recovery, and experience in industry and service rates.

6.2 Suggestions:

Improving the efficiency of marketing department could easily transform into sales Competitive pricing with respect to local vendors could easily gain a lot of customers. 3rd party data recovery providers could be made potential clients. Most of them dont have a decent lab wherein data recovery can be done. Attractive incentives and rewards could be given to 3rd parties to attract them to divert their customers to stellar data recovery. Aggressive marketing could be done for Disk Wipe services which could help Stellar to improve its brand image.

6.3 Learning Experience and contribution to the host organization:

HARD DISK: The hard disk drive is the "data centre" of the PC. All of the programs and data are stored in a hard disk between the occasions that we use the computer. A hard disk is the most important of the various types of permanent storage used in PCs (the others are CD-ROMs, tapes, removable drives, floppy disks etc.) The hard disk differs from the others primarily in three ways: size, speed and permanence.The hard disk plays a very important role in overall system performance. Most people dont recognize the importance of hard disk. This is now changing. Hard drives are now getting more attention than they deserve. The speed at which the PC boots up or a program loads is directly proportional to hard disk speed.The hard disk, also called the hard drive or fixed disk, Hard disk is the primary storage unit of the computer. A hard disk consists of a stack of disk platters that are made up of aluminium alloy or glass substrate coated with a magnetic material & protective layers. They are tightly sealed to prevent any foreign matter from getting inside. If any particle gets inside, it may causes head crash. Hard disks come in removable and fixed varieties. Their memory capacity may also differ from several hundreds of megabytes to several gigabytes. The capacity or amount of information that a drive can store is measured in bytes and higher units at megabytes or gigabytes and even terabytes.A hard disk uses round, flat disks called platters. Platters are coated on both sides with a special media material. This material is designed to store information in the form of magnetic patterns. The platters are mounted by cutting a hole in the center. Platters are stacked in through them onto a spindle. The platters are made to rotate at high speed, driven by a special spindle motor which is connected to the spindle. Special electromagnetic read/write devices called heads are mounted onto sliders. These heads are used to either record information onto the disk or read information from it. The sliders are mounted onto arms that are mechanically connected into a single assembly. The system is positioned over the surface of the disk by a device called an actuator. A logic board controls the activity of the other components and communicates with the rest of the PC.Each surface of both the platters on the disk can hold tens of billions of individual bits of data. These are organized into larger "chunks" for convenience. These chunks are then allowed for easier and faster access to information. Each platter has two heads, one on the top of the platter and one on the bottom, so a hard disk with three platters has six surfaces and six total heads. Each platter has information recorded in the form of concentric circles called tracks. Each tracks are further broken down into smaller pieces called sectors, each of those sectors holds 512 bytes of information.

TRACKS AND SECTORS:

The Platters are organized into specific structure, so as to enable organized storage and retrieval of data. Each platter is broken into tracks which are tightly-packed in concentric circles. This may number up to tens of thousands of them in each hard disk. These are similar in structure to the annual rings of a tree unlike the grooves in a record album, here the concentric circles do not form any connected spiral and not concentric rings. A track which holds too much information to be suitable as the smallest unit of storage on a disk, so each one can be further broken down into sectors. A sector is the smallest individually-addressable unit of information that can be stored on a hard disk, and holds up to 512 bytes of information. The first PC hard disks had 17 sectors per track. Today's hard disks have thousands of sectors in a single track. They make use of zoned recording so that it allows more sectors on the larger outer tracks of the disk.

TYPES OF HARD DISK CRASH:Physical Crash: When drive is making a ticking or a scratching noise due to age or bad parts, the aperture arm in the hard drive can fail, failed motors or the platters can become damaged and lose the data that they hold. Physical damage could also be due to mishandling of the drive or circuit failure of the PCB board which is attached to the hard drive. Physical damage always causes at least some data loss, and in many cases due to physical damage the logical structures of the file system also may get damaged, all such damages constitute physical crashes of hard drive. Another physical issue that sometimes rears up is an electronic failure. If we look at a hard drive we will notice a circuit board on the bottom. This board is basically the brains of the drive, and it is where the computer interfaces to the hard drive. An electrical failure can occur unexpectedly at any time. Even brand new hard drives are not totally immune to having electrical failures. Sometimes it's just a faulty component; sometimes it's improper installation (i.e. electro-static discharge, grounding out the board, damaging circuitry during installation).Logical Crash:Far more common than physical damage is logical damage to a file system. Logical damage is primarily caused by human error which includes accidental deletion of files, accidentally formatting drive and power outages may cause file system structures getting damaged, causing a variety of problems, system crashes, or an actual loss of data. Logical failures are usually a result of file-system corruption. This can occur due to a virus, accidental deletion of key files or registry components, and in some cases even electro-static discharge. In most cases where a logical failure has occurred, the drive is still recognized by the system BIOS, but it will not boot. In most cases, the data should still be intact on the drive, even though it may appear to be inaccessible.

Human Error:Human Error is the single largest contributor to incidents of data loss. Common human errors include Accidental drive format File/folder deletion MIS/Administrator errors, Mishandling Trauma caused by drop or fall Software Corruption: Popular desktop operating systems have reported to have hung and caused severe damage to disk systems area resulting in data loss. Incidents when popular applications like word-processor, spread sheet, database, and email have caused corruption resulting in data loss are widespread.

Computer Viruses: Wide spread instances of severe data loss have been reported when anti-virus software could not stop a virus from causing severe damage or when an anti-virus was not updated.

PART-VII

7. SWOT Analysisstrength:Stellar Information Technology Private Limited has a worldwide presence. And has more than 1 million satisfied clients. It is the only private company that has Class 100 Clean Room in India. The other Class 100 Clean Room available is in IIT Bombay, Powai which is specifically used for research purpose that too only under strict norms and regulations. The company guarantees 100% result in data recovery as per the assessment report which is generated within 24 hours of submission of faulty media.The company has its own proprietary tools and techniques for data recovery unlike others who use 3rd party softwares for data recovery. The company provides employment for over 150 engineers, who are specialized in data recovery. Stellar data recovery has a spare hard disk inventory with more than 12,000 hard disk of almost all known specification and configuration available in the country. Stellar ensures that every hard disk being available in the market is being stocked into its hard disk inventory so that in specific cases of damages, the spare device of exact same configuration is available in its inventory.More than 100 R&D specialists are being employed by Stellar Data Recovery. The software development and support team of stellar are known for the efficient softwares they have made. Stellar has a dedicated technical support team and 24*5 helpdesk. Stellar Information Technology Private limited has more than 30 Indigenous data recovery softwares under its name. Hence the brand name of Stellar can be considered to be strong when compared to its competitors.

Weakness:The major weakness of the company is its pricing policy which is 2-3 times higher than the market rates at which 3rd party vendor does recovery services. Local data recovery service providers and 3rd party data recovery service providers have shown little interest in consulting stellar even in cases of severely damaged devices. The brand perception that stellar has created is that Stellar is an international brand that caters to high end corporates and multi- national companies.Stellar Data recovery is yet to start an aggressive marketing campaign, which could increase the brand awareness about stellar among the potential customers. Lack of man power in the sales force could also be considered to be a weakness of the company.

opportunities:The potential of the company to grow is huge. There is a large untapped market in the data recovery segment which is still being occupied by 3rd party vendors and local data recovery vendors. These local data recovery vendors include freelancers as well as small shops that solely uses the software solutions provided by Stellar Data Recovery. Signing up or entering into a tie up with these 3rd party vendors could greatly boost the sales figures of the company. These vendors could be carefully molded into partners rather than categorizing them as competitors by means of contracts or commission for sending clients etc.The digitalization of governance and administration has improved the number of digital data storage devices. Large number of schools and colleges has moved into digital platform for keeping records. The Big Data or large chunks of data are being generated by automated systems they need to be stored for later use. As the number of digital data storage devices increases, chances of encountering faulty data storage device also increased.threats:Easy availability of open source softwares like Recuva, advancement of open source operating systems like Linux provides options for easy recovery of data from logical crashes is a threat to Stellar Data Recovery. Online piracy and easy availability of cracked versions of Software solutions offered by Stellar does possess an instant threat to the company.The entry barrier to get into data recovery industry is low. With the help of desired toolkits and instruments any player can get into this nascent industry. This could easily intensify the competition and thus hamper the profit margins of the companyCustomers are often inclined towards low priced products instead of quality. Often customers trade off confidentiality and quality of service to lower service charges.

Bibliography

Websites:

http://www.stellarinfo.com/ http://www.stellarinfo.com/company/about/stellar-overview.htm Company Brochure Stellar data recovery Software catalogues - Stellar Data recovery Knowledge shared by Mentor http://www.linkedin.com/company/stellar-information-systems-ltd http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/stellar-information-system-ltd http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/over.htm http://www.stellarinfo.co.in/services/data-recovery-process.php http://www.stellarinfo.co.in/ http://www.stellarinfo.com/services/data-recovery-capabilities.php

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