MicroScope articles from August 2005

MicroScope archives from August 2005

C2000 restructures teams.(Computer 2000)
August 1, 2005... Difficult market conditions and vendors dealing direct force distributor to make changes In response to tough market conditions in the corporate reseller sector, Computer 2000 has restructured and shifted more resources behind teams...

Channel beware of past policy.
August 1, 2005... History has a nasty habit of repeating itself and resellers working with Dell today would do well to remember lessons from the past. Nine years ago this month, the self-proclaimed direct selling specialist dropped three-quarters of the 500...

FoI Act could impact business.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Intellect has urged resellers selling into the public sector to ensure they keep abreast of the impact of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act on their business relationships. Intellect has released guidance on the FoI Act, which came into...

HP predicts vendors will turn to hybrid model.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The EMEA vice-president of channels at Hewlett-Packard has predicted that a lean PC market will force all vendors to develop a hybrid model in the next year and claimed the company was learning valuable lessons to give it an advantage. Last...

HP protects value of accreditations.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Hewlett-Packard Selective Distribution will not reach the channel until 1 November, when any financial implications of the initiative or subsequent reduction in partners will be felt, but resellers have already noticed the vendor policing...

Pirated software floods UK.
August 1, 2005... Microsoft warns resellers to be on the lookout for illegal copies of Office 2003 and Windows XP from the Far East Software piracy in the UK is rife, and Microsoft investigators last week revealed details of the latest spate of counterfeit...

Resellers must develop skills warns Morse.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The channel has been lectured for years on the need to deliver added value, but for most resellers, defining services is still an enigmatic process that often leads to frustration and low revenues. Peter Critchley, strategy director at Morse,...

Resellers question fairness of Cisco strategy.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Cisco's stance on supplying the telecommunications service provider market direct has come under fire from gold partners concerned that a level playing field for shared support contracts is not in operation. The Cisco channel has wrestled over...

Riverbed formalises global partner programme.
August 1, 2005... After promising a ramped up route to market and an aggressive reseller recruitment drive, WAN optimisation vendor Riverbed has formalised its global channel programme with a volume-based sales structure. The official Riverbed partner network,...

Services migration Trend.
August 1, 2005... With vendors increasingly calling the shots in the services arena and determining the level of margin that resellers and integrators can make, third-party service providers believe the channel is seeking more independent affiliations. Barely...

Software focus at Kavanagh.
August 1, 2005... Reseller Kavanagh is changing its business model to lead with software as the firm recognises the need to offer software and services in today's margin starved channel. The firm is traditionally a dedicated server infrastructure reseller but,...

Time called on system builder.(Granville Technology Group Ltd.)
August 1, 2005... Granville Technology leaves large debts as it enters administration Granville Technology has imploded, leaving debts believed to be in the region of [pounds sterling]40m, after being placed into administrative receivership, with little...

Winners and losers.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The trend of job culling by vendors started by IBM and Hewlett-Packard spread to Sun Microsystems and Computer Associates last week, with the vendors cutting 1,000 and 800 staff respectively. Neither company would say where the cuts would come...

"Sell with value" resellers urged.
August 1, 2005... The return of a push market was one of the topics covered at the recent Fujitsu Siemens Conference in Birmingham xxxxxxxxxx Resellers concerned about falling margins and tempted to turn their backs on the hardware market altogether could...

Big Blue raises channel sales and clarifies strategy.(IBM Software Group's marketing strategy)
August 8, 2005... IBM Software Group is increasing the proportion of sales it makes through resellers and will clarify channel roles as it targets the SME market. Since selling its PC business late in 2004, IBM has increased its focus on software and as a result...

Channel caught in war between pirates and legitimate sources.(Microsoft Corp.)
August 8, 2005... The software industry has its own war being fought between legitimate software vendors and their black market counterparts, with the channel caught in the thick of it. Microsoft's shocking revelation last week that a snapshot of 25 business...

Cisco partners up in arms.(Cisco Systems Inc.)(opportunity incentive programme)
August 8, 2005... OIP rebate confusion angers resellers as they face losing payments for all but the first deal registered in the past three months Cisco partners have been plunged into confusion over the status of rebate claims on new customer wins in SME...

Complications delay TopConfig.(TopConfig server pilot)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... The UK server pilot for TopConfig has been put on ice until November as Hewlett-Packard and distributors work to develop an automated pricing tool that allows resellers to configure to order (CTO) the products in volume. The pilot for the...

Concern grows over Dell status.(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Resellers have urged Steljes to ensure Dell does not trash Smart interactive whiteboard prices after the PC giant was given Elite status in the channel programme that was launched at the start of last month. But threatened margins are not the...

Great interest in ; Granville assets.(Granville Technology Group Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... The administrators of Granville Technology Group (GTG) have confirmed the company has left debts in excess of [pounds sterling]30m following its recent demise, but is hopeful of recouping some of the money after receiving 300 enquiries about...

HCI providers face nine-week hold-up.(home computing initiative guidelines)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Home Computing Initiative (HCI) providers have complained about the nine-week lead time it is taking the Office of Fair Trading to approve schemes, calling on the government department to launch an accreditation scheme or template to speed up...

Integralis delays distributor choice.(contracts)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Security integrator Integralis appeared to be in no hurry to decide the distributor that will be awarded its high-volume Check Point and Nokia business as the proposed date of the contract announcement passed. The firm, which previously bought...

Job cuts follow Novell EMEA restructure.(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Novell is set to revamp its EMEA structure and cut between 120 and 150 jobs as it looks to improve profitability in the region. Following the reorganisation, EMEA will be aligned into five geographical regions -- three based on the principle...

Logicalis enters HP arena with Hawke buy.(Hewlett-Packard, Hawke Systems and Logicalis)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Logicalis has finally closed down on one of its acquisition targets, snapping up Hawke Systems in an undisclosed deal expected to bring approximately [pounds sterling]15m a year in revenues to the Datatec-owned integrator. Acquisition activity...

Mixed fortunes in Europe for industry giants.(Ingram Micro Inc., Tech Data Europe and Telindus sales revenues)
August 8, 2005... The channel's heavyweight distributors reported mixed fortunes in Europe for the second quarter of 2005, with Ingram Micro posting a 15 per cent rise in European sales as rival Tech Data warned of a decline in EMEA performance. Ingram...

Reseller route for ShoreTel.(Internet telephony services)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... US IP telephony vendor ShoreTel is to eschew UK distribution in favour of a low-density, high-touch specialist channel with a low cost base for the partner to become accredited. With the pressure on partners to adopt new skills and vendors with...

Services model solved by Morse.(Morse Technologies Inc.)
August 8, 2005... Resellers are giving away services which could gain them revenue, but one is transforming its business to combat this One of the biggest problems for most of the channel when talking about services is working out what that actually means,...

Swann hits back at Riverbed.(Aether Systems Inc. and Swann Labs management )(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... A week after WAN optimisation vendor Riverbed threw the gauntlet down to its rivals claiming its competitors had the desire to have "what is impossible" on their own products, Swann Labs has hit back. With WAN optimisation vendors jostling to...

Vendors combine strengths.(Fujitsu-Siemens in strategic alliance with Brother)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Initially focused on the retail space, Fujitsu Siemens and Brother have formed a strategic alliance in the UK to compete against Hewlett-Packard and Dell by bundling their respective PC and printer products, and plan to extend the agreement...

Wait and see for a year.(Symantic Corp. merger with Veritas)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... There will be no immediate changes or job cuts at the combined Symantec and Veritas The newly merged Symantec and Veritas 'information integrity' goliath will have a 12-month settling in period before integrating its channel. The combined...

Westcoast acquires Orion.(Orion Media Marketing )(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Westcoast has acquired specialist consumables distributor Orion Media Marketing to operate as a trading division, giving the company a ready-made route into the office reseller market and adding to its retail business. The Orion brand will...

Comunica builds the case for IIM.(intelligent information management)
August 15, 2005... Just a month after calling on rivals to follow its lead in intelligent information management (IIM) and with asset management at the top of the system integrator's priorities, Comunica has indicated that only true asset management can lead to...

Dell dominance could face Q3 challenge.(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... The direct selling juggernaut Dell continued to put clear blue water between itself and the channel's largest PC vendor Hewlett-Packard in the last quarter, but according to analyst house Context, the fortunes of the latter may be about to...

Distributor bows to market pressure.(InTechnology)(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... InTechnology cited pricing pressure and exchange rates as it warned profits would be below market expectations in the first quarter and confirmed plans to cut ten per cent of its workforce. In a statement to the city, InTechnology said pricing...

Distributor line-up is to remain the same after KiSS acquisition.
August 15, 2005... After Cisco paid $61m ([pounds sterling]34.2m) to add Danish video networking manufacturer KiSS to its Lynksis division, the vendor's distribution line-up in the UK will remain unchanged, with Interface retained as the sole supplier of the...

Expand Networks lays claim to WAN functionality solution.(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... WAN optimisation vendor Expand Networks is set to court server specialist resellers as the battle to add increased functionality to the WAN took a further step last week. Over the past month, WAN optimisation vendors have been fighting to outdo...

HP revamps partner programme.
August 15, 2005... Hewlett-Packard will launch nine specialisations for resellers later in the year as it uses a revamped Business Partner Programme to work "narrower and deeper" with its channel. Resellers attending HP's worldwide partner conference in September...

MTIC fraud spirals out of control.(missing trader intra-community scams)(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Many of the cases brought to court by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of late have been unsuccessful, but its high-profile attempts to reduce missing trader intra-community (MTIC) scams appear to have displaced the fraudsters, forcing them to...

Made to measure.(customer relationship management software)
August 15, 2005... With a growing awareness among small businesses of the benefits of customer relationship management, resellers would be wise to tailor their offerings to take advantage of this demanding yet profitable market While sales of customer...

Networking revenues rising.
August 15, 2005... Strong revenue increases reported by bell-wether networking vendors Cisco and Nortel have been corroborated by their UK resellers, with the belief that a five-year refresh cycle on network equipment is in full effect. While the networking...

Northamber appointment makes seven.(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Toshiba has appointed Northamber as a "development distributor" to increase business in the SME market, leading existing partners to question whether the products will be over-distributed. Neil Bramley, head of business channels at Toshiba,...

Novell encourages users to buy through resellers.
August 15, 2005... As resellers increasingly plug the services message, Novell has launched a programme that encourages customers to use partner services by paying for them itself. Speaking to MicroScope, Novell EMEA director of Linux solutions Brian Green...

Outstanding issues delay WEEE.(Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive)
August 15, 2005... The roll-out of the WEEE Directive has been delayed yet again as the DTI fine-tunes the details to get the legislation right In a move that has been welcomed by the industry, the Government has pushed back the start of the Waste Electronic...

PCWB takes pole position in race to acquire Equanet.(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... PC World Business (PCWB) is understood to be leading the race to acquire Surbiton-based reseller Equanet, ahead of other interested parties which are believed to include Insight and Computacenter. Earlier this year, Equanet's venture capitalist...

Partners feel shunned by ; Inclarity channel changes.(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Small resellers worried as telephony vendor cuts partners and adopts partial direct sales model VoIP specialist resellers have voiced bewilderment and disappointment at recent changes to broadband telephony supplier Inclarity's channel...

Reseller sign-up battle rages on.(Intact Networks; Phoenix IT Services)(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... The fight between third-party service providers to sign up resellers took another twist last week, after Datatec-backed Intact Networks staked its claim for a sizeable chunk of the networking support market. Rivals for third-party service...

Second phase for suppliers.(OGCbuying.solutions)
August 15, 2005... Government IT procurement agency OGCbuying.solutions has whittled down the number of suppliers bidding for a slice of the billion pound public sector purse from 171 to 90, which will now reach the second phase of Invitation to Tender. The...

Steljes restructure leads to departure of division heads Rump and Prior.(Steve Prior and Andy Rump )(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... The heads of the AV and IT reseller divisions at Steljes will leave the company at the end of month, following a restructure which has effectively seen their teams split into four units focusing on vertical markets. Steljes has divided its...

Sun to replace set meal with ; e la carte menu.
August 15, 2005... Sun Microsystems is working on a more flexible programme that reflects the changing channel landscape, allowing VARs which have diversified into application development or business consulting to dip into elements of the iForce scheme previously...

Aruba to challenge Cisco.
August 22, 2005... Wireless LAN vendor Aruba Networks has outlined its intentions to become the Juniper of the WLAN space, taking on the might of Cisco. Aruba claims it is regularly winning business, despite accusations that the monolithic vendor is effectively...

C&W snaps up Energis in face of Thus bid.(Cable and Wireless PLC)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... Cable & Wireless fought off a last-minute bid from Thus to snap up long-term target Energis for [pounds sterling]594m, as the communications market began a long-awaited consolidation period. The combination of the UK's number two and three...

Catch-22 as Harrier Group attempts to invest bank balance within allotted 2006 timescale.(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... Harrier Group, the company left behind after Matrix Communications acquired the trading assets of its reseller business, has until 30 April 2006 to make a reverse takeover of any acquisition targets, or lose its AIM listing. The group's board...

Counting the cost of piracy.
August 22, 2005... KPMG survey reveals the magnitude of the counterfeit problem, which accounts for $100bn of global IT revenues According to a survey by KPMG, up to ten per cent of IT components and software products sold globally are counterfeit, accounting...

Expand Networks secures VC funding.
August 22, 2005... Privately held WAN optimisation vendor Expand Networks secured $9m ([pounds sterling]4.9m) in venture capital funding as the Israeli manufacturer looks to keep pace with the growth that has taken place in the application acceleration market in...

Fighting talk from Lenovo.(Lenovo Group Ltd.)
August 22, 2005... The new Lenovo could prove to be a real tonic for the channel in 2006 and help to offset the dominance of Dell in the desktop arena, but the manufacturer faces its fair share of challenges, not least of which is how best to capture the...

Microsoft works on ERP market growth strategy.(enterprise resource planning)
August 22, 2005... As the battle in the mid-market ERP space intensifies, the consequences for small vendors do not look favourable and the impact on resellers will be to force further consolidation. The warnings come from Jon Hughes, director of the Microsoft...

Mixed reactions as Sun's channel head departs to lead UK acquisitions.(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... Sun Microsystems' current channel head Gary Nugent is to lead the UK integration of recent acquisitions See Beyond and StorageTek, and will be replaced by Charlotte Selby who joins from Oracle. Nugent took up the reins two years ago after a...

Morse brushes off talk of company sale.(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... The CEO at Morse has insisted its UK reseller arm will remain an integral part of the business, and branded any suggestions that the company division was for sale as "bunkum", despite industry sources claiming the only reason deals had stalled...

OGC unable to enforce rules of procurement.(Office of Government Commerce)
August 22, 2005... Fresh attempts by the Office of Government Commerce to remind public sector procurers of guidelines that are designed to ensure a level playing field for suppliers could lack teeth because of the difficulties involved in policing contracts....

Smart moves.(partnerships in software industry)
August 22, 2005... Once the province of the larger IT vendors, partnering is now recognised as making good economic sense by a growing number of IT and telecoms companies needing to improve their scope and reach Over the last decade or so, the smarter IT...

Procurve to stay with HP.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)
August 22, 2005... Rises in revenues should put paid to speculation that HP's networking division will be sold off Hewlett-Packard's Procurve networking division has moved to quash persistent industry speculation that it is to be spun-off or sold, saying its...

Resellers plan for waste legislation.(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... The upside of the delay of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive could be to provide resellers with more time to work out how to make money from the forthcoming legislation. The DTI decided to push back the roll-out of...

Resellers request kit status definition.
August 22, 2005... With increasing margin pressures on hardware, the fine line between second user kit, refurbished product and the grey market has never been finer, but the channel has been urged to embrace the second user and refurbished market as a source of...

Toshiba's addition alarms its channel.
August 22, 2005... Rebate initiative under scrutiny with appointment of eighth distributor Toshiba has appointed its second distributor in as many weeks after it emerged that Midwich will join the fold today (22 August) to expand the vendor's base of SME...

Worm triggers fear frenzy.(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... The need for a comprehensive IT security policy is highlighted as over-hyped Zotob attacks lead to widespread panic The security industry found itself caught up in a hyped up epidemic last week as the Zotob worm grabbed the headlines,...