MicroScope articles from June 2005

MicroScope archives from June 2005

3Com admits migration of resellers is slow.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... 3Com's reinvention of itself in the enterprise market took another twist last week after the networking vendor admitted the migration of resellers to its platforms was slow but it believed the channel was seeking alternatives to Cisco. 3Com...

Attunity to retune its UK partner list.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... US data integration vendor Attunity is looking to fine-tune its UK channel to ensure it is partnering with the right companies. The move comes following the appointment of Richard Branch as UK managing director, who joins from Sunopsis where he...

Bell reduces licence costs to resellers with LDI Web tool.(Bell Microproducts Europe)
June 6, 2005... Bell Microproducts is reducing the costs associated with licensing for resellers as margins are increasingly squeezed in this product and service area. The distributor is this month making a Web service available that will interface resellers...

Cross purposes.(e-commerce influence)
June 6, 2005... Despite the clear advantages of selling direct, particularly with the rise in popularity of Internet shopping, resellers are still considered a valuable route to market. Both approaches have their place, but can vendors use both models without...

Distributors pilot HP TopConfig to confirm server compatibility.(Hewlett-Packard Co)
June 6, 2005... Distribution is being used to pilot servers in Hewlett-Packard's TopConfig supply chain mechanism until September to make sure the scheme works for the more complicated product sets. Desktop PCs have been available through the scheme -- which...

Feature-rich Web sites are expected of distributors.
June 6, 2005... It is no longer enough for distributors to use the Web simply to advertise the latest stock numbers and prices, as resellers are beginning to get used to and expect feature-rich sites that go the extra mile in making on-line business easier for...

'The biggest deal for decades'.(Internet telephony USAGE, PROGRESS )(VoIP for Business show)
June 6, 2005... The VoIP for Business show held in London's Olympia last week provided further evidence of a technology take-off Last week, two Japanese soldiers were reportedly talked out of their jungle hiding place with evidence that the Second World...

HP unveils list of direct accounts.(Hewlett-Packard)
June 6, 2005... Vendor hopes details of 445 direct customers will bring about clarity After months of speculation Hewlett-Packard has finally unveiled the list of enterprise and corporate customer accounts it will sell laptops and desktops to directly. A...

ISO accepts standard for SAM.(International Organisation for Standardisation, software asset management)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... International standard for software asset management is likely to be implemented in a year's time following testing The UK channel-driven push for an international standard for software asset management (SAM) has been accepted by the...

Lexmark focuses on SMEs.(Lexmark International Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Lexmark has launched a promotion to boost its market share in the SME space and plans to continue helping its resellers with targeted offers. Amanda Bibbey, marketing programmes manager at Lexmark, said it was important to support the...

Planet Micro secures its future through CVA.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... On-line reseller is able to continue trading after receiving firm support from its creditors On-line reseller Planet Micro Limited will continue trading after securing its future through a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). After months...

Relief as European constitution is rejected.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said its members welcomed the rejection of the European constitution, following last week's referenda. The 'non' and 'nee' camps in France and the Netherlands respectively relieved UK businesses...

Sage plans aggressive CRM push in UK.(Customer relationship management software)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Sage is to attack the installed base of Salesforce.com in the UK from October, when it will mirror the CRM strategy it launched in the US last month. In the US, the company is offering its resellers 100 per cent margin for the first customer...

Sub-a800 notebooks flourish.(laptop computers)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... More than one in five notebooks sold in Europe in the first quarter were purchased for under 800 ([pounds sterling]541.98), according to figures published by Context, as the market witnessed year-on-year growth of 19.2 per cent. Context's...

Sun strengthens its portfolio with surprise StorageTek buy.(acquisitions)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Sun Microsystems has shocked the industry by loosening its purse strings to spend $4.1bn ([pounds sterling]2.26bn) acquiring StorageTek as the vendor looks to increase its presence in the information lifecycle management market. The proposed...

Tech Data to restructure European operations.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Computer 2000 and Azlan parent company Tech Data is set to restructure its European operations after the broadline giant warned that challenging market conditions throughout the continent would reduce its profitability. The restructure will...

Weekly reporting causes cash flow issues for LARs.(large account resellers are licensing services approved by microsoft)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Microsoft's large account resellers (LARs) will have to report sales more regularly as the vendor switches to weekly reporting in July, in a move that could impact the resellers' cash flow. With the move to reporting Select licence sales...

Wireless is safe as houses.
June 6, 2005... The number of companies resisting a move to more flexible wireless networking because of security fears are lagging behind the industry, with vendors promising that concerns about hacking are almost a thing of the past. Worries about the...

A lot to shout about.
June 13, 2005... As the convergence of voice and data networks gathers momentum, it is creating opportunities for resellers not just in product sales and upgrades, but also in the provision of services such as training, consultancy and systems integration...

Channel full of unsold kit.
June 13, 2005... An ongoing period of slow sales fills Acer partners with trepidation as stock continues to stack up in their warehouses The perils of vendors shipping stock that has been ordered weeks in advance have been highlighted recently by Acer...

Commercial pressure could be catalyst for green credentials.
June 13, 2005... Green issues are top priority for Brother Industries, reports Paul Kunert from the Aichi Expo 2005 world trade fair in Japan The industry is still lacking a compulsory global environmental standard, which companies must meet when designing...

Duncan returns to the channel with EquIP.
June 13, 2005... Former Allasso UK head Scott Duncan has returned to the channel and joined distributor EquIP after over one-and-a-half years out of the channel. Duncan, who was made redundant in October 2003 following InTechnology's acquisition of Allasso,...

Failed reseller SEC to be formally wound up.
June 13, 2005... East Sussex-based reseller SEC (Business Systems) Limited is being formally wound up after a petition of creditors reaches court this week. In March 2004, Euler Trade Indemnity pulled cover on the dealer, and in April this year Bell...

HP and 3Com unveil latest high-performance offerings.
June 13, 2005... The green eyed monster has risen its head again as the Hewlett-Packard Procurve networking division and rival 3Com unveiled their latest offerings for the core enterprise market that Cisco dominates. After spending the last quarter in...

IDX NHS woes are a reseller warning.
June 13, 2005... With IT subcontracts the mainstay of the channel's involvement in the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT), Fujitsu's decision to cancel a subcontractor is a reminder of the tough standards set by the [pounds sterling]6bn project to modernise...

Improved performance.
June 13, 2005... InTechnology has seen its group operating losses decrease to [pounds sterling]300,000 from [pounds sterling]3m a year earlier. The improved performance for the year to 31 March was fuelled by healthy activity in the security market and the...

Information gathering platform.
June 13, 2005... As the fourth annual Fujitsu Siemens Computers Channel Conference approaches, the vendor's CEO Bernd Bischoff talks to MicroScope about the importance of holding reseller events and the value of those events to channel partners The Channel...

Keep hold of your assets.
June 13, 2005... Whisper it quietly, but all the signs are that, after a few difficult years, the UK technology sector is entering a period of sustained growth. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the IT jobs market, where the evidence points to a definite...

No acquisition as Riverbed looks to ramp up its routes to market.
June 13, 2005... WAN optimisation vendor Riverbed will not follow in the footsteps of rivals Peribit, FineGround and NetScaler and be acquired by major vendors, but instead the Silicon Valley start-up will look for an initial public offering (IPO) in late 2006...

SAP is set to prioritise channel structure to win SME business.
June 13, 2005... SAP is making reseller recruitment a priority as demand in the SME sector accelerates, following the software giant's seismic corporate shift to increase its channel play. The business software maker has set its stall in recent weeks to grow...

Service commoditisation on the cards.
June 13, 2005... For years the promise of boosting margins and revenues for the channel has been the Holy Grail of services, but stark warnings have emerged that some forms of service are becoming commoditised and sold increasingly on price. The most prominent...

Stronger Intel roadmap is deciding factor for Apple.
June 13, 2005... Vendor decides to change its IBM processor for a more versatile Intel-based machine In a monumental but much touted move, Apple has dumped IBM PowerPC chips in favour of Intel, citing the CPU giant's stronger roadmap as the primary reason...

Act fast to secure a place at The Channel Conference.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Resellers keen to register for next month's Fujitsu Siemens Channel Conference can log on to the Web site and get their names down for the event, which has moved to a larger venue following last year's increased audience. From today, resellers...

Azlan's Pryor-Jones calls it a day in the channel.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Richard Pryor-Jones departure from Azlan marks the end of an era, with one of the longest serving members of the four networking distributors calling it time, to be replaced by Andy Gass, TechData's senior vice-president for Northern Europe....

Daichendt quits Nortel role.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... A shock addition to the managerial merry-go-round that has swept the networking industry since the beginning of the month is the resignation of Nortel president and chief operating officer Gary Daichendt. The former Cisco number two and IBM...

Data integrators sought by Mitel.(distribution deal)(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Convergence vendor Mitel has promised an aggressive channel recruitment strategy, using its restructured rebate programme and the appointment of communications specialist distributor Crane to boost data integrator numbers. Details of the...

IT directors warm to ROI benefits of SAM.(software asset management )(Industry Overview)
June 20, 2005... The double-barrelled software asset management (SAM) push, which is seeing vendors and resellers driving the service, is receiving serious interest from enterprises. To this end, the IT Directors' Forum pontificated the concept last month. SAM...

Integralis security business scramble.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Integralis' move to tender out its security product business to distributors as its exclusive agreement with InTechnology draws to a close looks set to share the spoils among major players in a development that will hit sales across Europe....

Logicalis locks on to two reseller targets.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Logicalis has whittled down its acquisition targets to two -- one reseller in the computing space and one reseller in the networking space -- and is close to completing due diligence. Chief executive officer of European operations, Ian Cook,...

Managed services move on.
June 20, 2005... A month after global networking monolith Datatec insisted that its systems integrator division had enjoyed strong, profitable growth on the back of growing demand for IT services, Logicalis has updated its managed services portfolio. Tagging it...

Maxdata to market notebooks under Belinea brand.
June 20, 2005... Having suffered from a lack of brand awareness in the UK, according to some partners, Maxdata is to use its Belinea monitor tag for notebook products from August, despite the fact that its display sales have declined comparatively in recent...

Microsoft SAM reseller training free for now.(software asset management)(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... The embryonic but well-backed software asset management (SAM) market has led to a short-term gift-horse as Microsoft's training remains free and the vendor commits to pay for initial SAM consultations. Resellers with the right profile have an...

Oracle increases access.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Software vendor set to increase opportunities to the channel through merger of divisions Oracle is putting its pre-sales resources in reach of resellers in a move that will increase the channel's opportunities to sell the software giant's...

Rising channel interest in AIM.(Alternative Investment Market)(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... This weekend marked the tenth anniversary for The Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and channel players are increasingly making up its numbers, supporting consolidation in the fragmented sector. AIM is a market for smaller growth companies...

Sink or swim.(mergers and acquisitions in the software industry)
June 20, 2005... With the software market approaching the prime of its life, some industry experts are predicting a wave of mega-mergers in the coming years that will change the landscape, leaving the software arena dominated by a small number of large and...

Sun pilots on-line UK store ore.
June 20, 2005... Sun Microsystems' channel does not have a problem with the vendor's decision to pilot an on-line store in the UK, offering several volume skews, provided the products available remain limited. The US giant recently unveiled a Web store...

Will Dell be caught out?
June 20, 2005... Direct vendor faces possible EU investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour following official complaint Dell could face a European Commission (EC) investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour after Compusys visited the...