MicroScope articles from February 2003

MicroScope archives from February 2003

Microsoft licence changes raise dealer concerns: resellers unwilling to hand over customer-sensitive information to distributors with new licence billing powers.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Dealers have expressed fears over giving away customer databases following Microsoft's launch of a scheme that uses distributors to handle licence billing and renewal. Under the Transaction Service Provider programme, Microsoft will give...

No-shows threaten training budgets. (News).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Parity has issued a warning that poor attendance rates have left training managers struggling to deliver value from their budgets. In a survey, clients of Parity's training division revealed staff were being prevented from attending...

White leaves 3Com to join colleagues at Allied Telesyn. (News).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... 3Com head of international channel marketing James White has become the latest person to quit the networking vendor to join rival Allied Telesyn. White's departure comes just weeks after UK marketing director Mark Lewis left the vendor for...

Layer 7 falls victim to climate change. (News).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Wigan-based brokerage Layer 7 Distribution Ltd has shut up shop after running into financial problems and appointing insolvency specialist PKF. The company, which brokered grey market networking, security and wireless products from the...

Ideal bags 'exciting' signing. (News).(with Internet Security Systems)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Ideal Hardware's march into the security market has picked up pace with the company taking on distribution rights for Internet Security Systems volume Desktop Protector product. The appointment, which effectively sees Ideal replace e92plus...

Microsoft acts to allay EC privacy concerns. (In Brief).(.Net Passport systems)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Microsoft has opted to change its .NET Passport systems to ease European Commission concerns about data privacy for firms doing business online. The new system will be added within the next 18 months.

BBC apology suspends legal proceedings. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... RM, along with 17 other software companies, has paused legal activity against the BBC digital curriculum. The BBC admitted to "impermissible spending on external management consultants and to engaging in impermissible commercial discussions...

StorageTek adds value and cuts cost of L-series products. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... StorageTek has revealed plans to reduce the prices of its L-series Performance Tape Libraries by an average of 17 per cent. The new pricing model will include 12 months' next business day onsite support.

UK firms seek all-rounders. (In Brief).(PC support)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... PC support is the most sought-after skill by UK employers, according to recruitment consultant Elan in its employment trends report. "Companies are being more selective about the kind of person they want," said Kate McClorey, director at Elan....

Intelco Group establishes rental services division. (In Brief).(forms RentStore to provide IT storage on rental)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Intelco Group has formed RentStore to supply IT storage on rental. RentStore will also offer services such as storage audits, health checks, assessment consultancy and strategic resource planning.

SAP trading figures. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... SAP reported a one per cent increase in revenues to [euro]7.4bn ([pounds sterling]4.9bn) in the year to 31 December 2002. Net income fell from [euro]581m to [euro]509m. Emea revenues increased seven per cent to [euro]4.1bn.

Billion dollar deals on the rise. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... According to research by Gartner Dataquest, the number of outsourcing 'megadeals' worth $1bn or more reached 14 in 2002, up from nine in 2001. In a survey of 36 outsourcing companies, "offshore application management" was ranked as the highest...

Dell to slash jobs in Germany. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Dell is to shed a third of its workforce--180 jobs--in Germany by the end of September. "We are implementing organisational changes in the Emea region. It will have minimum impact on our operations," a Dell spokeswoman said.

LMP specifics kept under wraps. (News).(Licence Management Programme)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Channel confusion surrounding Microsoft's pilot Licence Management Programme (LMP) has prompted the vendor to clarify the scheme to resellers. The programme, which is currently under development in the UK, is a strategy aimed at helping...

CedAr grows from seeds of Cedar Software and Arelon. (News).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Cedar Software and Arelon have merged to form accounting and procurement software vendor Cedar Software Ltd in an attempt to "secure long-term partnerships and meet the needs of customers." The move follows the acquisition of Arelon...

Marketing campaigns held back by software confusion. (News).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... The complexity of software could thwart effective marketing campaigns, according to the majority of marketing managers surveyed by Tridion. Research found that 65 per cent of marketing managers believed the software packages they used were...

Dell to steer clear of retailers. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Dell UK has stressed it has no plans to follow in The footsteps of its US parent, which is seeking to forge links with retailers, offering to pay for floor space and piloting a 'store within a store' concept. The direct selling giant had...

Software AG Q4 revenues down by a quarter. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... In a trading update, Software AG reported a 24.6 per cent drop in revenues to [euro]120.3m ([pounds sterling]80.2m) in The fourth quarter to 31 December 2002. Full year revenues fell 19 per cent to [euro]475m.

Tiscali gains two-year Dell distribution deal. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Tiscali UK has signed a two-year distribution deal with Dell. Tiscali's internet access software will be preloaded onto Dell's Dimension desktops and Inspiron laptops.

Toshiba Q3 2002 figures up on previous year. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Toshiba reported losses of [yen]6.9bn ([pounds sterling]35.8m) in The Third quarter to 31 December 2002, compared with losses of [yen]84.9bn in 2001. Net sales increased eight per cent to [yen]1.3tm.

Revenues drop for Marimba. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Marimba revealed an 11 per cent decrease in revenues to $9.6m ([pounds sterling]6.4m) in the fourth quarter to 31 December 2002. Net losses fell from $1.5m to $404,000.

SAP bids farewell to .com tag. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... SAP is dropping the .com branding from its mySAP.com range and renaming it mySAP Business Suite. The vendor said that in the wake of the dot com meltdown, having a product carrying that branding no longer made sense.

C2000 wins Creative deal. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Computer 2000 has joined forces with multimedia vendor Creative Technology to distribute its sound card and speaker products to OEMs. Under the agreement, C2000 customers will be able to integrate Creative software into their own portfolios.

Crystal extends partnerships. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Crystal Decisions has signed more than 14 new partners and renewed many existing OEM agreements over the last quarter. The partnerships include contracts with TekMark Global Solutions, Webtone Technologies, Dictaphone, Lease Team and JDA...

IXOS purchases Obtree in attempt to hike revenues. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Document management software provider IXOS, has acquired Swiss-based Obtree Technologies and Power Work AG in a bid to boost revenues. IXOS bucked the market trend during the first half of its last financial year by meeting targets and...

BMC adds fault management. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... BMC Software has produced Patrol Visualis Fault Manager to add fault management capabilities to its graphical network performance modelling tool.

Microsoft to sponsor IAAC. (In Brief).(Information Assurance Council)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Microsoft has signed a sponsorship deal with the Information Assurance Council in a bid to prove its UK commitment to the government and industry body's Trustworthy Computing initiative. Microsoft chief security officer Stuart 0kin has accepted...

Sage accused of milking dealers to fight Microsoft. (Software).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Sage has received a frosty response from resellers angered by its decision to raise the price of its Line 50 and too multi-company licences. "[Sage] is profiteering--it is squeezing resellers even more," claimed European IT consultant Tom...

BSA calls on channel to adopt licence police role. (Software).(Business Software Alliance)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... The Business Software Alliance has claimed that the channel is the best conduit to enforce licence compliance in the reseller community. The BSA said dealers were "in the best position to help identify problems" and revealed plans to issue...

Hardware not a cure for database performance. (Software).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Overworked databases could cause the collapse of UK companies in the coming year, according to research by software developer Isocra Half of the companies questioned purchased hardware to improve database capacity, 46 per cent predicted a...

Lotusphere 2003. (Software).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Last week's Lotusphere event at Disney World in Florida included the following announcements: * Symantec has produced anti-virus software and a virus and filtering system for Domino databases running on Solaris, AIX, iSeries, Linux and...

Allied snubs broadliners in enterprise sales drive. (Networking).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Computer 2000 and Micro P have been denied distribution fights to Allied Telesyn's new Switchblade 4000 Series chassis switch after the vendor overlooked them in favour of specialists OpenPSL and Acal. The networking manufacturer is...

Channel conditions hit lowest ebb in Q4 last year. (Networking).(networking resellers)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... The downward trend in networking product margins, coupled with an increase in cancelled orders and pressure from spot distribution deals, made channel conditions tougher than usual at the end of last year, research has shown. A Global...

Aloha from Huawei: the orient express has crossed Cisco's tracks. (Networking).
February 4, 2003... If last week's challenge to Huawei from Cisco over alleged copied source code and infringed patents illustrates one thing, it is the perilous state of the networking industry. For the last couple of years, the networking channel has been...

Hitachi's fight for HDD success is not over yet. (Hardware).(hard disk drive business)
February 4, 2003... The battle to buy IBM's hard disk drive (HDD) business has been won by Hitachi, but for Steve Pereira, European director at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST), the war is only just beginning. Problems faced by the HDD market have...

For better, for worse, the industry battles on: Christopher Walton relays what was discussed at The Regent Conference 2003 held in London last week. (Services).
February 4, 2003... The services market is unlikely to get any worse than it was last year, but aside from a few chinks of light it seems it is set to remain in the doldrums. This was the mixed message delivered to delegates at The Regent Conference in London last...

Systems Union bucks trend of tumbling shares. (Finance).
February 4, 2003... Unlike many in the IT sector, Systems Union has seen its share price rise in recent months, despite the general decline in the stock market. The vendor's three-pronged attack on the market--with SunSystems aimed at enterprise, financial...

Why not follow Argos' lead and go stark staring mad. (Comment).(Editorial)
February 4, 2003... Post-Christmas trading figures were somewhat confusing. Dixons gave a pretty honest report on its festive figures, but failed to mention the impact on profits from greatly reduced warranty sales--the same warranty issue that was covered and...

Is this a direct sales model I see before me? (Editorial).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
February 4, 2003... GO TO THE THEATRE, STEP backstage and utter the name Macbeth. For those in the acting profession that word has the power to curse performances and bring even the best thespians out in a sweat. The word 'direct' has a similar effect on...

Porn paradox: Caroline Basset asks whether the dark side of the Internet, a force driven by the Web's inherent link with deviancy, can be defeated without censorship overkill.
February 4, 2003... In various guises I have researched and written about different kinds of digital media for many years. Strangely enough, the first time I logged on to a bulletin board was to collect copy for MicroScope. The first time I connected to the Net...

Any time, any place, anywhere: resellers seeking to make their fortune from selling wireless LAN systems need to brush up on the technology and educate their customers about the benefits it offers.
February 4, 2003... Following the almost endless hype throughout 2002, wireless networking has become the big industry buzzword for 2003, and whether you spell it WLAN, Wi-Fi, or 802.11, you need to understand it. But what is the state of the wireless...

Tech Data tables offer for Azlan: networking distributor recommends shareholders approve [pounds sterling]140m acquisition bid from global broadline rival.
February 11, 2003... Consolidation among global IT distributors has intensified after Azlan abandoned its independent pan-European growth strategy and looked set to accept a [pounds sterling]140m takeover bid from US giant Tech Data. The US distributor's...

Printer community voices support for TCO standard. (News).(printer vendors voice support for industry standard to independently measure total cost of ownership)
February 11, 2003... In light of the recurring theme concerning ROI, a growing number of printer vendors have voiced support for an industry standard to independently measure total cost of ownership. Discussions centring on ROI have increased in frequency over...

LARs say Microsoft audit reform is 'good news'. (News).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Large account resellers have welcomed the recent move by Microsoft to audit their businesses. The software giant hopes to boost its focus on software compliance by showing users that the channel is also under scrutiny. Microsoft...

OpenPSL confirms Big Blue position. (News).(OpenPSL contract for distribution of IBM pSeries Unix servers)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... The worst kept secret in the channel was revealed last week when OpenPSL signed a contract to distribute IBM pSeries Unix servers. OpenPSL had been vying with Ideal Enterprise Solutions for the deal with Big Blue after talks with tplc...

HP margin back-up praised by dealers 'in need of aid'. (News).(Hewlett-Packard)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Resellers have come out in support of Hewlett-Packard's decision to secure and back up partner margins when they sell the vendor's branded services. Yvan Eckert; Emea business manager for storage services and support at HP, said it had not...

Marketing changes made at Fujitsu. (News).(Mel Taylor, Gill Cheesewright, Chris Smith leave Fujitsu Siemens)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... A restructure of the marketing department at Fujitsu Siemens has seen director Mel Taylor leave and a replacement lined up to start later this week. On top of Taylor's departure, marketing communications manager Gill Cheesewright and...

Sun unites partner schemes. (News).(Sun Microsystems)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Sun Microsystems has united its channel and developer schemes under the umbrella of its iForce programme in a bid to expand its software portfolio. "It's all about getting reseller and developer communities together and educating them on...

SCH strengthens European assault with Spanish purchase. (News).(GE Capital IT Solutions sells European operation to SCH)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... SCH is continuing its march on the continent through the acquisition of the remainder of GE Capital IT Solutions' European operation in Spain. The deal gives SCH access to the Spanish reseller market and a number two ranking in the...

LogicaCMG axed staff to keep margins afloat. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... LogicaCMG said cutting 315 jobs last month helped it maintain margin on lower revenues. The company claimed it reflected strong management disciplines and confirmed its view that key markets were beginning to slabilise.

IDC reveals massive growth of WLAN hotspot market. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Despite the slowdown in the global economy, the demand for mobile connectivity has continued to accelerate and attracted a plethora of WLAN hotspot players, according to IDC. The European hotspot market increased 327 per cent over the last year...

Nortel integrates partner and developer programmes. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Nortel Networks has rejigged its Emea partner programme to include the vendor's developer programme. Nicole Regensburg, senior manager for the developer programme at Nortel Emea, said: "Integrating the developer programme into Nortel's overall...

Lexmark launches products to aid cost management. (In Brief).(printing)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Lexmark has launched a range of packages available through the channel to help businesses manage their printing processes more effectively. The office integration, secure printing, forms on demand and MFP upgrade packages are designed to help...

C2000 to push AV sales. (In Brief).(audiovisual)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Computer 2000 is set to launch advertising and promotional campaigns to help resellers increase sales of audio-visual products. The distributor's sales staff will also receive special training.

EDS posts mixed results. (In Brief).(Electronic Data Systems)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... EDS has revealed an end of year net profit fall to $1.1bn ([pounds sterling]733m) from last year's $1.4bn. Sales for the year increased two per cent to $25.1bn.

Acer to add corporate string to bow. (News).(Acer to court corporate sector through resellers)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... The allure of big volume deals in the corporate market has proved too much for Acer to resist and the Taiwanese manufacturer is courting resellers with the aim of breaking into the sector. For the past few years, the SME market has been...

A.p.solve plans to part from BT and go it alone. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... a.p.solve, which provides intelligent fieldforce management, has revealed plans to spin out of BT and begin operating as an independent company, as part of the recently launched technology venturing partnership, NVP Brightstar.

Spyware infection spreads to a third of all firms. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... One-third of companies have been infected with spyware applications on their networks, according to the Emerging Internet Threats Survey 2003. The emergence of spyware in corporations means companies may be making themselves vulnerable to...

SAP follows HP's lead with Business One. (Interview).(SAP bases channel strategy on Hewlett-Packard's, using limited channel as key to success)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Software giant SAP has based its channel strategy on Hewlett-Packard's, using a limited channel as the key to success in these "uncertain times". Partner training is already underway in preparation for the arrival of Business One, from...

Apple and Dell update product offerings. (News).(Apple unveils latests iMacs and Dell offers its first handheld computer)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Followers of the latest desktop and PDA fashions will have noticed the latest product releases from Apple and Dell last week. Apple unveiled its latest iMacs, which offer greater memory and a CD-RW and DVD combined SuperDrive at a lower...

Ultima records second [pounds sterling]1m profit on the trot. (News).(Ultima Business Solutions)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Ultima Business Solutions reported a second consecutive year of million-pound net profit last week, although the figures were "slightly down" on last year. The Reading-based infrastructure and security provider revealed an approximate...

Threat of Helkern worm goes largely unnoticed. (News).(the network worm Helkern caused the most problems in 1/03)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
February 11, 2003... Even though I-Worm.Klez topped the virus chart in January, the virus that has created the most noise does not even feature on the list. It was the network worm Helkern which caused the most problems, according to Kaspersky Labs. ...

Value can overcome competition. (Interview).(software distributors must add add value, not reduced prices, in order to succeed)
February 11, 2003... The channel is still suffering aftershocks of the exceptional dot com boom, according to software distributor Computers Unlimited. As the market adjusts to the current economic climate, many companies face ruin as competition intensifies....

Tibbets named as novell CFO. (In Brief).(Joseph Tibbetts Jr.)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Novell has appointed Joseph Tibbetts Jr as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Tibbetts will take over from Ronald Foster, who has resigned from the company to pursue other opportunities.

McAfee wins recognition for virus detection work. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... McAfee Security has been awarded top honours in the detection of viruses by the University of Hamburg virus test centre. McAfee was ranked highest as a result of its work in the detection of viruses, worms and other malicious code.

Macromedia gets pat on back for accessibility contribution. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Macromedia has received praise from accessibility community leaders for accessibility support in Macromedia Flash MX development software and Macromedia Flash Player 6. Among those in favour of the software were the Royal National Institute of...

NAI aims to secure wireless. (In Brief).(Network Associates)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Network Associates has set its sights on securing wireless environments. As part of its strategy to secure mobile devices and host computers, NAI has launched an initiative to provide security for the growing wireless industry. The initiative...

Not known at this address. (In Brief).(research finds businesses in Scotland and north of England lose up to pounds sterling 3,000/yr on letters not reaching recipients)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Businesses in Scotland and the north of England are losing up to [pounds sterling]3,000 a year on letters that fail to reach the intended recipients, according to research by Web-based address management software vendor Postcode Anywhere. The...

Security market must 'grow up' to ward off attackers. (Software).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Loopholes in IT security have soared, while virus attacks have slumped over the past six months. An Internet security threat report by Symantec has revealed a significant drop in the number of cyber attacks, with companies averaging 30...

Di Data investor urges board to split power roles. (Networking).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Networking integration giant Di Data faces a shareholder rebellion after one of its largest institutional investors attempted to whip up opposition to the re-election of Jeremy Ord in the dual chairman and CEO role. The National...

Security and services the way ahead at Ingram. (Networking).(Ingram Micro's new director of networking, Kevin Vine, to add more focused vendors to ivision's product mix)
February 11, 2003... Ingram Micro's new director of networking, Kevin Vine, has promised to add more focused vendors to the division's product mix and increase coverage of security and services. Vine, who replaced Phil O'Connor as head of the standalone unit...

Cisco bucks market trend with positive results. (Networking).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Despite continuing tough trading conditions, Cisco has released results showing its resilience to the downturn and continued profitability. The networking giant posted second-quarter results to reveal a 50 per cent year-on-year increase in...

Omnetica wins Fifty One deal. (In Brief).(gets contract from Fifty One Degrees)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Omnetica has secured a contract with telecoms infrastructure group Fifty One Degrees to provide managed Ethernet services and assist with the delivery of data solutions to London clients.

Net to Net ADSL scheme. (In Brief).(Net to Net Technologies launches U.K. channel program to help resellers sell ADSL services)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Net to Net Technologies, a provider of Ethernet IP DSL Broadband Access products, has launched a UK channel programme intended to make it easier for resellers to sell ADSL services. The initiative consists of fixed packages providing price per...

D-Link opens in Denmark. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... D-Link has opened a centralised customer service facility for Northern Europe in Denmark. The unit will be dedicated to the technical support of the vendor's wireless and broadband customers in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the...

e92plus partners Ositis. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... e92plus has signed a distribution deal with Ositis Europe for an anti-virus gateway AVStripper. e92plus claims AVStripper is the only security offering that scans for viruses on all seven major protocols, including the Web, mail, downloads,...

Will tablet PC interest open doors for Wyse thin client? (Hardware).(Wyse Technology to launch thin client version of tablet PC)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Wyse Technology is looking to cash in on the growing interest in tablet PCs by introducing a thin client version of the device. But the Wintern 3820 TX, which was classified by Wyse at the launch last week as "niche", arrives amid...

Anyone for tennis? (Comment).(lack of industry standards made it hard for manufacturers to determine home total cost of ownership benefits abd ROI for printers)
February 11, 2003... With a growing impetus to justify IT investments in an environment where budgets are continually shrinking, it was only a matter of time before the intangible concept of ROI came under the spotlight again. The fact is, ROI never really went...

BenQ rewards focused dealers. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... BenQ has launched a reseller programme in the UK for partners that commit extra time and resources to tile peripheral vendor. The benefits include a certificate of accreditation, user leads on a geographical basis, marketing tools, demo priced...

Samsung reveals industry first. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Samsung Electronics has unveiled the industry's first System-in-Package (SiP) for next-generation mobile phone and handheld applications. SiP integrates advanced logic and memory technology into a single packag, reducing component count and...

Glue warns resellers to drop ad hoc approach or come unstuck. (Interview).
February 11, 2003... Web services consultancy Glue has claimed resellers cannot take advantage of the e-services market unless they abandon their ad hoc approach to being a Web services provider. "There is a lot of promotion of Web services technology, usually...

Agilent NTC aims to solve maintenance difficulties. (Services).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Service providers have fewer resources to cope with a rising number of maintenance problems and increasing demand for customers and revenue, according to Agilent Technologies. The networking and services vendor pointed to widespread job...

Two out of three for Parity and BT. (Services).(Parity Group agreed 2 parts of 3-part outsourcing and services deal with BT)(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Parity Group has agreed two parts of a three-part outsourcing and services deal with BT, designed to "grow revenues" and "improve internal infrastructure". Parity will spend [pounds sterling]15m over five years outsourcing its hardware and...

Kroll Ontrack plans to stay on course and rise to challenge. (Services).(Brief Article)
February 11, 2003... Despite reporting a 68 per cent growth in its partner programme in the UK in 2002, disaster recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack has stressed the market is "still very challenging". Philip Bridge, global programme manager of data recovery...