MicroScope articles from February 2006

MicroScope archives from February 2006

3Com appoints new chief.(appointments)
February 6, 2006... 3Com will replace its retiring CEO and president Bruce Claflin with former supply chain management company CEO Scott Murray with immediate effect, three weeks after Clafin indicated his desire to step down from the vendor. Murray, formerly...

No apples in Sherwood Forest.
February 6, 2006... The rivalry between Apple and Microsoft was pitched on a different level last month in a column by Leander Kahney at Wired News which based the decision over who was the real star' between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs on their philanthropic...

Vendor takes hard line on counterfeit trading.
February 6, 2006... Cisco will not name and shame' the four partners whose cases are currently being considered by Trading Standards after they were caught dealing in counterfeit equipment, stating the issue is between the vendor and its partners. Despite calls...

Horizon wins bidding war to buy EquIP.(acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2006... Clarity parent Horizon Technology Group has won a bidding war to buy EquIP Technology as Matrix lets the distribution business go for [pounds sterling]10.55m. EquIP had been the target of several firms as Matrix sought to sell the business it...

Cleaning up the channel.
February 6, 2006... Cisco's ability to crack down on the trade in counterfeit goods, encourage its partners to trade in legitimate channels and steer clear of the grey market, as well as address the SMS market in a sustainable and profitable way has fallen under...

HP Software rebate for training deals.
February 6, 2006... HP Software is offering resellers bigger rebates on deals if they take up more training for its OpenView suite of products, following the division's first ever profit. The vendor also reassured the channel that its software business,...

Report highlights IM danger.(instant messager)(internet security)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2006... Last year was the year of the instant messager (IM) attack with a phenomenal increase in the activity of hackers via this medium, according to managed service provider Postini. In its 2006 Message Management & Threat Report the vendor found...

Lessons to learn from a tailored sales pitch.(Letter to the Editor)
February 6, 2006... Last week, I opened the front door to a rather chilled-looking man who asked if he could pitch a price to repair my roof. He had been up on the neighbour's one all morning and had noticed there were a few problems ?he could fix. It struck...

Sun wins court action.
February 6, 2006... Sun Microsystems has won its court action against Amtec Computer Corporation, which was found guilty of importing grey and will be required to pay the vendor damages in respect of all infringing sales. Amtec, which has never been an...

Acer channel all kitted out.(company reports)
February 6, 2006... Acer's distribution channel is in turmoil, with partners holding an average of eight weeks' worth of stock and refusing to accept more shipments this quarter, which willould further swell inventories in the UK. The vendor's business model,...

Bright lights, electronic city.
February 6, 2006... The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is held annually in Las Vegas on behalf of the 2000 member companies of the Consumer Electronics Association. CES CEO Gary Shapiro modestly describes it as "the epicentre of the digital universe", and it is...

In brief.
February 6, 2006... Fraud reaches record levels Fraud rocketed in 2005 to over [pounds sterling]900m [degrees] up from [pounds sterling]329m, and the highest level since 1995, according to KPMG Forensic's Fraud Barometer. The report said the year had been notable...

Ingram loses out in HP strategy change.(Hewlett-Packard)(company forecasts)
February 6, 2006... Hewlett-Packard has continues tod ?ringing the changes to its distribution network by reducing the number of partners carrying its enterprise server and storage (ESS) exhibits from six to fivethree to two, with Ingram Micro losing out on the...

Lighter contract for IBM Software distributors.
February 6, 2006... IBM Software's policy of avoiding rolling distribution contracts and setting tough sales targets for distributors has led to a change in distribution contracts. According to sources, the vendor is consolidating its distribution tier,...

Top-tier partners will get special treatment.
February 6, 2006... Kicking off a love- in with the channel in 2006, Intel has createddeveloped a European business development team to work closely with top- tier partners and is set to overhaul its partnerchannel accreditations and programmes to make them more...

Juniper plans growth with 'security service gateway'.(Juniper Networks Inc sales report)
February 6, 2006... A week after the share price of routing manufacturer Juniper Networks fell by some 20 per cent on Wall Street following a lower than expected sales forecast which disappointed investors, the vendor has bet its market share growth on security....

Staff productivity ?to be protected with Web filtering.(information services)
February 6, 2006... Web filtering in order to protect productivity is being demanded by corporates keen to block access to sites and services that waste time and to fend off potential virus attacks. The growth in popularity of eBay and services such as Skype...

Scottish HCI nightmare.(services)
February 6, 2006... Local councils in Scotland have called on resellers to bail them out of an HCI nightmare caused by Dell and BT's inability to supply PCs through the Home Computing Initiative (HCI) on time but, contractually, the channel will not be able to...

Riverbed releases products tailored to channel demands.(Wide area networks)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2006... WAN optimisation vendor Riverbed has responded to European channel calls for scalable products with today's launch of the Steelhead 100 and 200 appliances. The vendor admitted that its partners were seeking WAN optimisation products that...

Channel must prepare SMEs for compliance.
February 6, 2006... The timing of pitching compliance solutions to the SME has played onfixated reseller minds for the past couple of years, but it now appears to be firmly on the agenda as the impact of legislation trickles down to small companies. Although...

Agenda.
February 13, 2006... February 13-16 February GSM World Congress 2005 Fira de Barcelona, Montjuic. Barcelona, Spain Web: www.3gsmworldcongress.com Contact: Hayley Richards Tel: 020 7017 5504 Fax: 020 7017 4747 E-mail: info@3gsmworldcongress.com 14 February...

Amtec makes upbeat response to Sun case.
February 13, 2006... Amtec Computer Corporation has said it had "no intention" of infringing Sun Microsystems' trademark rights after the vendor won a court action against the reseller last week. Dorset-based Amtec was issued with a court injunction for...

Borland to shed channel arm.
February 13, 2006... Software maker Borland is selling off its channel business but has reassured partners the opportunity will not go away. Following its acquisition of Seque Software, the firm is divesting its integrated development environment (IDE) software...

Hitting the home run.(Home Computing Initiative )(tax breaks for employers who provide computers to their staff)
February 13, 2006... Throughout last year, much was said about the Home Computing Initiative (HCI), and organisations readied themselves with the creation of tools such as Web portals. As we entered 2006, there was a general air of confidence that this is to be the...

He's a special case.(Bill Gates)(tax returns)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2006... If you talk to the average Microsoft employee about Bill Gates, their noses tend to turn brown in an instant. But it appears it is not only sycophantic staffers that have this disease, because ?the US authorities also seem to think he is...

Message to market.
February 13, 2006... According to a recent report entitled Western European Fixed Messaging Market by market analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, the limitations of both SMS, which has undoubtedly dominated in the non-voice mobile communications arena, and e-mail, which...

Clocking up ?the clicks.
February 13, 2006... Most businesses have a user Internet policy that is meant to police the activities of staff on the Web with the aim of protecting the business from viruses and time-wasting. The problem is that many people ignore the policy and happily while...

Portable burning.
February 13, 2006... Some people swear by internal drives because they are cheaper and argue that portability has been oversold. But the option to plug and play a burner, particularly a DVD one, knocks this argument. The Sony DRX-810UL is a demonstration of just...

Power provision.
February 13, 2006... If there were a list of technologies that are overlooked then sadly near the top of it would be the humble power supply unit. The manufacturers of PSUs would never claim the products are sexy, but with more concern about protecting systems...

Tapping into wireless.
February 13, 2006... Keyboards have come on in leaps and bounds since they were first designed as a rectangular grey keyed product that did very little beyond helping a user input text and commands to a computer. As a result of the multimedia revolution and the...

Squeezing distribution will not make life easy.(marketing strategy)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2006... The old saying warns "beware the ides of March", but in the world of distribution the calendar is a bit mixed up and February is turning out to be a strange old month as well. Stock issues with Acer, potential changes with other hardware...

Reaching a wider audience.(widescreen desktop monitors marketing)(Column)
February 13, 2006... The number of widescreen desktop monitors being introduced towards the end of 2005 grew rapidly. This was mainly due to a rush of vendors moving into the 19in wide segment, with products appearing from Acer, Fujitsu Siemens, Mirai and...

Tenders.(Public Notice)
February 13, 2006... 17694, Tender Invitation UK-Preston: Webcasting Provision of Webcasting services. 22102, Tender Invitation UK-Belfast: telecommunications equipment and supplies Voice and IT services and applications. 17396, Tender Invitation...

In brief.(Business Objects S.A. acquires Firstlogic Inc.)(Alex Hilton leaves Microsoft Corp.)(BDE Group acquires Apex Business Systems)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2006... BDE Group buys Apex BDE Group has finally announced its acquisition of fellow Sage reseller Apex Business Systems, which was revealed by this magazine back in November (see MicroScope, 21 November 2005). Twelve-year service over Alex...

Lack of support blamed for hardware supplier drop-out.
February 13, 2006... Bridge Systems is the latest PC builder to pull out of hardware to focus on services, leading a number of discontented Intel Premier Partners (PPs) to call for more product and marketing support from the US chip giant. Late last year, Hugh...

Avnet seeks to boost memory with additional vendor signings.
February 13, 2006... Memory is en vogue at Avnet Computing Components after the distributor signed Kingston Technology and revealed its intention to further beef up its portfolio by adding another manufacturer, believed to be Samsung. The plans will put Avnet...

Which ink cartridge is best?
February 13, 2006... A report by the Consumer Association (CA) which claimed some generic ink cartridges were almost as good as supplies from printer manufacturers but a fraction of the cost has reignited a debate among both sets of companies. The generic...

Adoption of VoIP drives growth in IP PBX market.
February 13, 2006... The IP PBX market is set to top $2bn ([pounds sterling]1.14bn) globally by 2010 a near tripling of the market on last year according to networking research group Dell'Oro as both hybrid and pure IP sales continue to gain share against...

MEF introduces quality checks for Ethernet equipment.
February 13, 2006... User concerns about the impact of VoIP on a network might be eased by the introduction of an Ethernet equipment certification that stresses quality of service. The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) a group of manufacturers and suppliers aiming...

Businesses open to attack.
February 13, 2006... The business costs of electronic security attacks are being underestimated and medium-sized businesses are neglecting appropriate measures to prevent them, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Despite the business...

Proactive resellers to be rewarded in eEye programme.(EEye Digital Security Inc. signed Interquad )(Brief Article)
February 13, 2006... Vulnerability management software maker eEye Digital Security has kicked off its partner programme and is planning a clearout of its channel, with fulfilment-only partners set to be dropped. To this end the vendor has signed distributor...

EquIP gets integrators for Consentry sales.(Consentry networks deal registration programme )(Brief Article)
February 13, 2006... Consentry networks has kicked off its deal registration programme in the UK as sole distribution partner EquIP signs three integrators and sets its sights on more. The firm launched its UK push last September with the announcement of its...

In brief.
February 13, 2006... LG to use Hitachi hard drives in DVD-HDD recorders LG Electronics will use Hitachi Global Storage Technologies' Deskstar hard drives in its RH7800 series of DVD-HDD Recorders. The RH7800 series ?use 160GB hard drives for ?storing up to 220...

Resellers should seize back-up opportunities.(Taneja Group research )
February 13, 2006... Resellers should cash in on the challenges users face concerningchallenges around back- up and restore, which includinge reliability and management issues. According to research carried out by Taneja Group, on behalf of Overland Storage,...

NetApp makes first cross-platform release.
February 13, 2006... Nine months after its acquisition of security vendor Decru, Network Appliance has released its first cross-platform product family as the vendor seeks to grow its share of the virtual tape library (VTL) market. NetApp is looking to grow its...

Tesco prices cause upset.
February 13, 2006... Growing fears that cut-throat competition from supermarkets threatens to undermine the channel have been confirmed, with Tesco offering Acer laptops at prices well below those that distributors buy at. MicroScope revealed last month that...

Lenovo makes changes to distribution line-up.
February 13, 2006... Lenovo UK is rejigging its distribution line-up in preparation for the launch of its own-brand products later this quarter in a move that will see Computer 2000 lose access to its PC portfolio. The changes mean Ingram Micro which...

ProCurve eyes Cisco share.(Hewlett-Packard ProCurve networking division strives to increase its market share)
February 13, 2006... Hewlett-Packard's ProCurve networking division has laid down a challenge to the channel and its customers urging them to reconsider the entire way their networks are constructed as it looks to take its battle for market share to Cisco. ...

Getronics wins E200m services deal with Barclays.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2006... Getronics' move to increase its focus on its core desktop and application management services business is paying dividends as the IT services giant beat EDS to a E200m ([pounds sterling]137.6m) services deal. Last summer, Getronics dropped...

HP 'error' forces partner to pay back E1.2m.
February 13, 2006... Systems used by Hewlett-Packard to calculate rebates payments to distributors following the acquisition of Compaq have meant some claims were duplicated and one partner, Horizon Technology Group, will have to refund E1.2m ([pounds...

Partner relations are key to success in changing market.(says John Gantz of International Data Corp. at the Regent Conference 2006 )
February 13, 2006... Vendors that fail to maintain good partner relations will not make the grade with customers in the fast- changing IT market. According to John Gantz, chief research officer and senior vice-president at IDC, as more customer contact with...

Systems integrators issue forecasts.
February 13, 2006... Redstone and Matrix Communications have issued indicators over their expected financial performance as both systems integrators look towards changing futures. In the same week that it lost its director of converged solutions, Peter Deacon...

Google will challenge Microsoft monopoly.
February 13, 2006... Microsoft faces challenges to its monopoly in the PC software market as Dell tests a pre-installed Google software package, which could end up on millions of the vendor's PCs. According to US reports, the search software is being tested by...

SAP launches hosted CRM and frees up p1bn turnover firms.
February 13, 2006... The ever-changing face of SAP has undergone more minor surgery as the firm launches its hosted CRM offering and tells its channel that massive deals are within its grasps. SAP becomes the latest vendor to enter the hosted CRM space with...

Novell puts SUSE Linux software and support into single package.
February 13, 2006... Novell has recognised the need to simplify the use of its SUSE Linux software and is bundling its maintenance, support and training into an SME-focused package. The vendor said having separate contracts for the three components of its...

Huawei enters next joint venture.
February 13, 2006... Nortel and Huawei entered what they term a "memorandum of understanding" to establish a joint venture manufacturing high-speed broadband equipment in the same week that rival 3Com took control of its joint ?venture with the Chinese vendor. ...

PROBLEM postbag.(Secure Sockets Layer and HTTP traffic)(Column)
February 13, 2006... Q. What does the channel need to know about port 443 issues? A. In the security space, vendors and resellers alike are frequently accused of scaremongering, but their warnings over future vulnerabilities are often well justified. One good...

Agenda.
February 20, 2006... February 22 February Network Troubleshooting Roadshow Network Analysis and Troubleshooting Workshop Dublin, Ireland Web: www.network-problem.co.uk 28 February Identity Systems EMEA Public Sector Seminar Institute Of Directors (IOD)...

The last laugh as we say goodbye to Soap.
February 20, 2006... As Soap is consigned to the history books, we take a look back and pick out a few of our favourites. On the waterfront, 11 July 2005 An executive at a major global distributor showed how entrenched good practice is in his life. At a...

T-Mobile: no more 'false dawns'.
February 20, 2006... T-Mobile has admitted to a few "false dawns" when it comes to mobile operators courting and working with the data channel, but insists its indirect approach will be unwavering over the next two years. Mobile operators encroaching on the...

PROBLEM postbag.(software industry)(security market)(Column)
February 20, 2006... Q. What is making a buzz in the security market? A. This year presents significant opportunities for resellers with foresight and the ability to address real market needs. With innovations and a more mature Internet infrastructure (with...

Education needed to stop corporate misuse.
February 20, 2006... Illegal software has long been a problem in the IT industry and it is no surprise to see the likes of Microsoft trying to tackle the issue. But it is interesting to note that the vast majority of software piracy is not, as you might think,...

Tenders.(Public Notice)
February 20, 2006... 26778, Tender Invitation IRL-Dublin: e-business support DCC Oracle e-business support contract. 28752, Tender Invitation UK-Aberdeen: CRM system Customer relationship management system. 29045, Tender Invitation UK-York: customer...

In brief.
February 20, 2006... HP resellers get smart Resellers can now search Hewlett-Packard's value products through the Smart Sales tool on itsthe Smart Portal Web site to ?check availability through distribution. On Smart Quote, the vendor's faster route to special...

AMD aims to stabilise imaging.
February 20, 2006... Addressing a chink in its armour, AMD is working closely with Taiwanese motherboard and graphics card manufacturers to create a more stable image platform allowing for consistent PC roll-outs to corporate customers. The chip maker does not...

HP boosts focus on handheld devices.
February 20, 2006... Hewlett-Packard is pulling handheld devices out of its notebook division to help develop and deliver products to market more quickly. The reorganisation engineered by HP chief executive Mark Hurd will provide more focus for handheld...

Notebooks hit a record high.
February 20, 2006... A record number of notebooks was sold through UK resellers in December, according to analysts, with traditional VARs taking a larger slice of the market than usual. Figures by analyst Context revealed a 59.6 per cent year-on-year increase...

Tier-two resellers the target for InTechnology.
February 20, 2006... InTechnology's security distribution arm is increasingly targeting smaller resellers with its value-add business while calling on the same group to sell its managed IP services. The [pounds sterling]300m company achieves revenues of about...

Microsoft takes on pirates.
February 20, 2006... Four system builders a day will face close scrutiny by Microsoft UK as the vendor's anti-piracy team revealed plans to get tough and cold call about 800 firms in the next six months. The software giant's Feet on the Ground initiative is an...

HP compiles list of indirect accounts.
February 20, 2006... Hewlett-Packard has performed a U-turn and created a list of indirect enterprise and corporate customer PC accounts, leaving all other companies not on the document open to approaches from the vendor's direct salesforce. In an attempt to...

Teething troubles for 3Com.(partner programm)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... 3Com ishas transforminged its partner programme to reflect the mix of its portfolio sold ?by resellers in a bid to ?reverse channel fortunes, but existing partners have ?warned of uncertainity as the scheme is preparesds for a March roll-out...

SMEs must look beyond price.
February 20, 2006... For the majority of the time, the channel is in front of SME customers and pitches its products and services accordingly. So any suggestion that those customers are ill-informed about products or prepared to buy technology on "gut feeling"...

Cisco shakes up its distribution.(Cisco Systems Inc.)(Westcon Inc.)
February 20, 2006... Cisco's distribution line-up has undergone a major shake-up with the appointment of the previously anything-but-Cisco Westcon to carry the vendor's full line, leading with IPT and security sales. Westcon's appointment has left the channel...

Buyers eye InTechnology's continental business.
February 20, 2006... Distributor InTechnology is receiving interest for its continental European operations, with two well-known distributors said to be in pursuit. As revealed by this magazine last year, channel talk was rife that the company had received...

Company hijackers target IT industry.(says Grant Thornton L.L.P.)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Although asset stripping is a already major problem across mainland Europe, professional services company Grant Thornton has said it is becoming more common in the UK, particularly in the IT industry. Also known as company hijacking, the...

UK SME spend will top [pounds sterling]10bn.
February 20, 2006... The business community of firms with fewer than 100 employees in the UK will spend over $18bn ([pounds sterling]10.3bn) on IT this year, representing a ten per cent boost on 2005, according to research from US analyst ?AMI Partners. The...

OGC finalises Catalist supplier agreements.
February 20, 2006... The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has informed 29 suppliers that they have successfully navigated the tendering process to bid for public sector business worth up to [pounds sterling]4bn over the next four years. As exclusively...

Matrix figures take a turn for the better.(Matrix Communications Group PLC's revenue)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... The acquisition spree by Matrix Communications in 2005 saw it bring in revenues of [pounds sterling]34m to finish the year on turnover of [pounds sterling]54.4m, up from [pounds sterling]11.1m in 2004. But the coming year could see its Fujin...

Target Sell signs first UK deal.(with Mindshare UK)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Outsourced sales resource provider Target Sell has signed its first UK agreement with distributor Mindshare. The UK start-up was launched in September with a proposition to offer IT sales resources for technology firms attempting to...

Smaller SMEs show reluctance to follow cost-saving ASP path.
February 20, 2006... It has taken time for the application service provider (ASP) model to be accepted, but with vendors such as Salesforce.com and NetSuite championing the hosted software mantra, momentum is building. But small firms are still cautious about using...

Oracle confirms lay-offs after Siebel integration.(Siebel Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Following the completion of its $6bn ([pounds sterling]3.4bn) acquisition of customer relationship management specialist Siebel Systems last month, Oracle is to make 2,000 redundancies. The software vendor said the merger of the two firms...

Cisco counters HP offensive.
February 20, 2006... Cisco has dismissed retorted to Hewlett-Packard's call for customers and resellers to evaluate the way they build networks and asking for the philosophical arguments to move beyond point products. HP ProCurve told MicroScopeMicroScope last...

IT industry urged to get ready for convergence.(Regent Conference 2006)(John Gantz of IDC)
February 20, 2006... Convergence as a term has been bandied around the industry for a number of years, but as the Internet and the telephone networks come together, the ?IT industry needs to get ready ?to change. Speaking at the Regent Conference 2006 in...

Ask Jeeves? Not any morea.(online information services)
February 20, 2006... Jeeves sensed the heavy atmosphere in the boardroom as he wafted in, but his hand was steady and nary a drop of skinny mochachino was spilt as he placed the tray of coffees on the table. "Ah, there you are old man," piped up the very un-Bertie...