MicroScope articles from March 2005

MicroScope archives from March 2005

3Com to axe jobs in UK.(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Networking vendor 3Com is to make job cuts in the UK as it embarks on a refocus which it claims will not impact the sales side of its business. The firm said the positions would be "eliminated under a plan of termination" as it redirected...

Apple resellers left behind.(Apple Computer Inc.)
March 7, 2005... High-profile Regent Street store and on-line sales leave dealers disillusioned about vendor's channel commitment Reseller fears that Apple's retail and on-line operations would offer customers better pricing and product availability have...

Avaya opens up Developer Connection.(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Voice and data vendor Avaya has extended its Developer Connection programme to include systems integrators and solutions providers in a bid to widen the number of approved applications available. The programme had been open only to ISVs, but...

Business partners to go for double-digit growth.(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... With IBM's business partners set ambitious double-digit targets for growth in 2005, the company's UK channel figure-head believes the industry is well placed to do so on home soil by leaning on the "competitive advantage" that the vendor's...

C&E halts massive VAT fraud.(Customs and Excise Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Customs & Excise has revealed that the recent bust of a VAT missing trader fraud, which cost taxpayers in five countries a total of [pounds sterling]580m, was one of the biggest on record. As exclusively revealed by MicroScope last week, C&E...

Campaign to boost SMEs' share of public contracts.(Intellect Corp., small and medium-sized enterprise)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Intellect has kicked off a campaign to help SME resellers win business in the public sector, with an objective that ten per cent of government IT procurement should come from smaller suppliers. The trade association joins the Federation of...

DataCore targets SMEs with SANmelody.(DataCore Software Corp., Ideal Hardware)(small and medium-sized enterprise)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... US SAN specialist DataCore Software has signed a UK distribution deal with Ideal Hardware to boost its presence in the SME space. The move comes on the back of a similar deal in the US with Ideal's parent Bell Microproducts and follows the...

Gravity Pull buys assets of Plum IT.(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... The assets of consultancy organisation Plum IT have been sold to Leeds-based Gravity Pull for an undisclosed sum. The Harrogate-based IT services company went into administration on 21 February after financial issues and appointed P&A...

HP names direct accounts.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)
March 7, 2005... Vendor moves to align channel and customer solution groups to offer more clarity in enterprise and corporate space Hewlett-Packard has aligned the solution partner organisation (SPO) and the user-facing customer solutions group (CSG) more...

IBM formalises services.
March 7, 2005... z Christopher Walton reports on the important stories from Big Blue's PartnerWorld conference in Las Vegas last week After years of operating an "illegitimate" services channel, IBM has finally formalised a method for legitimately selling...

IBM seeks iSeries boost.
March 7, 2005... z Christopher Walton reports from Big Blue's PartnerWorld conference in Las Vegas last week Following on from last year's grandstand $1bn ([pounds sterling]520m) investment in global ISV channels, IBM is looking to stimulate application...

InTechnology moves swiftly after changes.(Clearswift Corp.)(distribution agreements)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Changes to Clearswift's partner programme blamed for end of ten-year distribution deal InTechnology UK has ended its decade-long distribution relationship with Clearswift after the vendor's revamped partner programme failed to keep the...

Ingram turns its back on Dell.(Ingram Micro Inc., Dell Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Ingram Micro is winding down its sales to Dell as a result of the direct vendor's move to increase supplier competition. Last year, MicroScope revealed how Dell's move to widen its reverse auctions, where suppliers are required to bid for...

IronPort drops Westcon.(IronPort Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... E-mail security appliance maker IronPort has parted company with Westcon and added Sphinx to its distribution roster as it seeks focus for its immature UK brand. As revealed by MicroScope in December, IronPort, which recently entered the UK...

Key areas revealed.(surveys)
March 7, 2005... Resellers have been urged to consider storage management, business continuity and disaster recovery as key areas to take to market. In a survey by Morse, 25 per cent of respondents said storage management took up over 40 per cent of their IT...

Microsoft offers help with marketing.
March 7, 2005... Microsoft has signed a deal with a marketing firm and is offering resource-strapped partners access to free marketing account management. The software giant has signed up the services of marketing expert Mason Zimbler, which is providing...

Panda in push for corporate accounts.(Panda Software S.L.)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Antivirus specialist Panda Software is recruiting direct-touch sales staff, channel account managers and resellers to spearhead a greater push into corporate accounts, a sector where it lacks brand traction. "The strategy going forward is to...

Security concerns to take centre stage.(Information Security show)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Network security is rising in profile and will take centre stage at next month's Information Security show in London. Resellers have already been urged to help users improve their physical network security, with Neil Fisher, head of security...

SurfControl considers distribution move.(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Filtering vendor SurfControl is said to be looking at moving to a two-tier channel model, according to channel sources. The firm supplies resellers directly in the UK, but with the introduction of its first appliance-based product talk is rife...

Systemax investigating UK accounts.(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... The chief financial officer at US-owned system builder Systemax has confirmed the company is investigating accounting errors for inventory in the UK, but insisted there was no evidence of fraud. Last week, MicroScope exclusively revealed the...

Systems Seller follows in footsteps of Top Seller.(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... In a bid to stimulate growth across admittedly stagnant product lines within its systems group, IBM launched the Systems Seller programme last week, at IBM PartnerWorld 2005 in Las Vegas, following in the footsteps of its PC-focused Top Seller...

Tiscali moves to bring VoIP to home workers.(Tiscali S.p.A., voice over internet protocol)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Poor quality and high prices have held back the provision of VoIP for home workers, with most vendors not in a position to provide cheap calls over DSL. But things are set to change, with Tiscali one of the first to make a high-profile move...

Venture capitalist reviewing Equanet stake.(Graphite Capital Management Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... The venture capitalist backer of mid-market-focused reseller Equanet is believed to be reconsidering its options, having owned a majority stake in the company for more than five years. According to industry sources, KPMG has been brought in...

Alarm over tumbling prices.
March 14, 2005... Paul kunert paul.kunert@rbi.co.uk The channel has expressed concern that the cut-throat pricing strategies employed by notebook vendors over the last 18 months look set to continue in 2005, questioning how much further product prices can...

British employees branded as "blaggers" by Microsoft.(British workers lie in the workplace--study)
March 14, 2005... tony Glover microscope@rbi.co.uk According to Microsoft, two-thirds of British employees are being pressured into telling lies in the workplace. A YouGov survey conducted by interviewing thousands of British workers has uncovered a culture...

CNP fraud on back burner.(cardholder not present)
March 14, 2005... Paul kunert paul.kunert@rbi.co.uk Counterfeit and lost and stolen credit card crime is being given priority over other card frauds by APACS and the police Cardholder not present (CNP) fraud is the biggest type of credit card crime in...

EMC set to target SMEs with demand-generation scheme.(small and medium--sized enterprises)
March 14, 2005... paul kunert paul.kunert@rbi.co.uk EMC has stepped up activities in the corporate, mid-market and small business space after unveiling a European channel programme targeting SMEs and formally signing UK distributor Clarity Technology to...

EquIP rides SurfControl wave of UK distribution.(EquIP Technology)(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... karl Flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk Filtering software vendor signs up its first UK distributor, with more expected to follow SurfControl has taken the plunge into the distribution channel through a deal with EquIP Technology, which...

Career move.(Fujitsu Siemens Computers)(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... Fujitsu Siemens is to replace outgoing marketing director Nick Eades with Computer 2000 commercial director Gary Fowle (pictured), who will pick up the reins on 18 April. Ian Snadden, director of channel and SME sales at the manufacturer,...

ICM warns HP acquisition of Synstar will hit growth.
March 14, 2005... christopher walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk After months of disquiet over Hewlett-Packard's direct strategy, one enterprise reseller has warned that its ability to generate revenues will be affected by the vendor's decision to handle...

Ingram and Vodafone sign mobile deal.(Ingram Micro Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... On the back of the growing trend of mobile phone operators working with broadline IT distributors, Vodafone has signed a pan-European deal with Ingram Micro. The move follows hot on the heels of a raft of other tie-ups across the industry,...

Lenovo aims to put margins before revenues.(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... With the 1 May deadline for Lenovo's acquisition of IBM hanging over the channel, the PC giant has told MicroScope that margins will come before revenues for its resellers as it embarks on an aggressive price war with rivals in Europe. Since...

Matrix fills portfolio gaps.(Matrix Group)
March 14, 2005... Karl flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk Revenues are set to rise at channel group after it bolsters security and storage capabilities with Harrier acquisition The Matrix Group is predicting revenues of [pounds sterling]80m by the end of...

Microsoft to boost support for vertical focus.(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... In a bid to encourage business solutions resellers to identify with vertical markets, Microsoft plans to increase support for partners that align themselves with specific sectors. As part of its Project Green strategy, the vendor is clarifying...

Networking integrators use buying power to scale up.
March 14, 2005... karl Flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk Networking integrators are challenging the biggest resellers in terms of scale as they expand their capabilities while consolidation offers acquisition opportunities. As the market and technology...

RSA aims to be pure channel.(RSA Security Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... RSA Security is aiming to be 100 per cent indirect selling in the UK by the end of 2005, as new product launches trigger a need for more partners. The vendor currently sells just over 90 per cent through resellers, but UK channel manager Steve...

Rewarding commitment.(Microsoft Ltd.)(Interview)
March 14, 2005... z Simon Quicke talks to Microsoft's Alistair Baker about the vendor's position and plans for the future These are interesting times to be sitting in the hot seat running operations for Microsoft UK and Alistair Baker is bullish about a...

SAM skills could reduce software piracy.(software asset management)(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... Software piracy actions in the EMEA region increased ten per cent in value last year, according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), as high-profile cases reached conclusion. Last year, e4m ([pounds sterling]2.8m) worth of legal action was...

SIA figures positive.(Semiconductor Industry Association)(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... Often a good indicator of the performance of the IT industry, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released figures for January 2005 showing a 17.5 per cent increase in sales compared with the same month last year. Global semiconductor...

Swyx vows to increase direct reseller numbers.(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... roanna Avison roanna.avison@rbi.co.uk IP telecoms specialist Swyx plans to more than double the number of resellers it works with directly in the UK. The vendor also has a distribution channel and insists there is enough business to go...

UK in strong market position as IT spending bounces back.
March 14, 2005... SIMON QUICKE simon.quicke@rbi.co.uk UK market could overtake the US and Japan this year but the channel is warned against Chinese and Indian competition According to the European Information Technology Obser-vatory (EITO) 2005 edition...

Unipalm looks to take Trend Micro into mid-market.(Unipalm Group PLC)(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... Karl flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk Unipalm has increased its focus on selling Trend Micro into the mid-market after the vendor asked the distributor to change its business plan. Unipalm is looking to take Trend Micro into new customers...

Web warranties the solution.(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... Relisys is developing an on-line database to better track user warranties after scrapping its new approach to technical support following complaints from resellers. In January and February, users phoning the monitor vendor's technical hotline...

Addressing red tape.
March 21, 2005... Christopher Walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk In his Budget 2005 speech, Chancellor Gordon Brown promised less stifling business regulations The channel could benefit from a reduction in red tape after Chancellor Gordon Brown, in his...

Basic hardware services still required.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... simon quicke simon.quicke@rbi.co.uk Resellers which dismiss basic hardware services as a historical revenue stream that dried up in the plug and play era will be surprised to see the lack of technical ability among users in the projector...

Channel + support = growth.
March 21, 2005... KArl flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk According to software heavyweights, the difference between success and failure is a good partnering strategy Software vendors will have to rely heavily on channel partners if they want to grow, and...

Chilver prescribes 3Com as alternative remedy to Cisco.
March 21, 2005... Christopher Walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk Just three weeks into his role as UK and Ireland country manager at 3Com, Richard Chilver has outlined ambitious plans for the vendor to cement its place as the alternative to Cisco, with...

Computacenter plans assault on SME desktop arena.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... Computacenter is piloting a new division to improve its reach in the cut-throat world of selling PCs into the SME market through low overhead telesales. Speaking to analysts after last week's results, the firm said it had been piloting a new...

Converged device market moving in upward spiral.
March 21, 2005... Christopher Walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk The converged mobile device market grew by 40 per cent in Western Europe during 2004, according to analyst group IDC, with 3G launches from operators Vodafone and Orange -- both of which have...

Data dealers primed for IP security.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... simon quicke simon.quicke@rbi.co.uk Data resellers are in a prime position to tackle user concerns about IP security as questions mount around the impact on network integrity following a switch to the latest voice technology. Some users...

Demand for software asset management is on the rise.
March 21, 2005... karl Flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk Software asset management (SAM) is set to benefit the entire software community as resellers are encouraged to build up capabilities in this consultancy-based service. With the levels of software piracy...

Desktop prices at all-time low.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... Paul kunert paul.kunert@rbi.co.uk More than one-third of desktop PCs sold for less than [pounds sterling]350 in the UK during the final quarter of 2004 as the market shifted towards lower priced units, resulting in the creation of an...

Disk drive shortages set to continue in Q2.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... paul kunert paul.kunert@rbi.co.uk Shortages on high-capacity disk and SCSI drives, which have dogged the channel for months, look set to continue into the next quarter as a result of unusually high demand for this time of year and vendors...

Ditch the quick fix.
March 21, 2005... To keep your customers satisfied and happy, says Maverick VPH director Jon Sidwick, there is no substitute for installation work carried out by vetted and trained professionals As we approach the Easter holidays and the end of the financial...

Foundry defends channel approach after criticisms.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... christopher walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk Switch and routing vendor Foundry has defended accusations of not playing fair with the channel after resellers contacted MicroScope with stories of the vendor taking deals both direct and...

IT managers in firing line as security threats mount.
March 21, 2005... Tony Glover microscope@rbi.co.uk The National Criminal Intelligence Service's (NCIS) High Tech Crime Unit is warning Sainsbury and Tesco that their on-line retailing operations are being targeted by organised crime, with criminals using...

Information overload.
March 21, 2005... Billy MacInnes The storage market must evolve to help businesses keep on top of an ever-growing mountain of data Benjamin Franklin famously remarked that the only certainties in life were death and taxes. In the IT industry, you could...

Kingston makes [pounds sterling]3.5m Technica buy.(Kingston Communications (Hull) PLC)(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... Kingston Communications has acquired network storage specialist Technica for [pounds sterling]3.5m and will bring the Warwick-based consultancy under the ownership of the data-focused Omnetica division it acquired in December last year....

Mid-market players unfazed by competition.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... simon quicke simon.quicke@rbi.co.uk Competition in the mid-market business application space is hotting up, with a number of software vendors promoting their credentials to serve customers looking for the new wave of SME-designed...

Risc fills InTechnology's shoes.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... Finjan Software has been quick to replace InTechnology as a pan-European distributor and is in the process of signing Risc Technology to target the corporate sector. The security appliance vendor last week parted company, mutually, with...

Rise in large-screen sales is predicted.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... Simon Quicke simon.quicke@rbi.co.uk Higher specification audio-visual technology is set to explode in the home market as increasing numbers of users embrace plasma and large-format LCD TVs this year. Expectations in the industry are for...

Secure moves by Microsoft.
March 21, 2005... Karl flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk InTechnology will sell Microsoft's ISA Server software giving the vendor its first foray into the UK security channel Microsoft has followed its words with action and made its first move into the...

Security must offer value.
March 21, 2005... Simon quicke simon.quicke@rbi.co.uk If the channel wants to keep the value in selling security there needs to be recognition that customer needs are changing and there is a demand for more than just low prices. That was the message coming...

Several years of growth ahead.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... karl Flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk The storage software and services industry in Europe is to reach e24bn in 2007, with storage area networking (SAN) penetrating over half of medium to large firms, according to the findings of the latest...

Straight Talk: where dealers hear vendors have their say.
March 21, 2005... The details of the line-up for the forthcoming Straight Talk channel event are being finalised, adding to the reasons for resellers to attend this compelling conference next month. For those dealers keen to gain information that will change...

Telindus plans to join ranks of networking consolidators with "strategic acquisitions".(Brief Article)
March 21, 2005... The wave of consolidation sweeping the networking industry is set to continue apace over coming months after systems integration giant Telindus revealed to MicroScope that it was actively looking to acquire during its new financial year. Peter...

3Com encouraged by results.(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... 3Com managed to trim its losses and post its first sequential rise from the second quarter to the third quarter in seven years, but warned that one swallow did not make a summer as it struggles towards profitability. Revenues shrank by six per...

A picture of health.(NHS IT buyers and sellers)
March 28, 2005... Report by Jane Dudman The buying habits of the NHS are changing vastly and, while these changes pose concerns for some, the large budgets earmarked for IT in the sector still attract many suppliers Major changes in the way the National...

AMD takes on Intel in thin and light segment.(Advanced Micro Devices Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... AMD has entered the high-end notebook CPU market with the launch of its Turion 64 chip and is considering plans to develop a whitebox build programme to rival Intel's Mobile Value-added Distributor (MVAD) scheme. Previously, AMD had...

Ability finds niche market in small offices.(Ability Software )(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... Ability Software has seen massive reseller interest as its alternative to Microsoft Office builds up a head of steam since the launch of a channel recruitment strategy in January. The vendor has signed 43 resellers since the launch of its...

AppSwing plans to develop its channel and mobility software.(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... UK mobility software vendor AppSwing has received investment from distributed computing giant Citrix to develop its AppServer software and is seeking to take its channel to the next phase. Citrix's investment in the AppSwing product, which...

Azlan will use UK reseller model in European push.(Azlan Group PLC)
March 28, 2005... roanna avison roanna.avison@rbi.co.uk Azlan has vowed to mimic its UK reseller model across Europe as it looks to boost dealer numbers across the continent. The move comes after the distributor extended its reach to cover 16 countries...

Becta offers lucrative contracts.(British Educational Communications and Technology Agency)(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... A number of suppliers have been offered potentially lucrative government contracts to provide schools with operating system and office productivity software for up to one million desktops over three years worth [pounds sterling]50 per seat....

Big Blue gets aggressive.(International Business Machines Corp.)
March 28, 2005... Paul kunert paul.kunert@rbi.co.uk IBM pays [pounds sterling]12m to major resellers committed to growing server and storage products under a forceful business plan A clandestine IBM initiative has paid three of the UK's largest...

Creativity is called for as WAN budgets don't budge.(wide area networks)
March 28, 2005... Christopher Walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk Networking VARs and systems integrators have been urged to forget about throwing more bandwidth at under-performing networks and become more creative as one in three companies predict no...

Developers needed for sales drives.
March 28, 2005... christopher walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk With mobile device manufacturers and service providers endeavouring to stimulate a boom in business to business sales, mimicking the spike witnessed in the consumer space (see MicroScope, 21...

IRIS makes mark on channel.(Fairhaven Software Products Inc. acquires Exchequer Software Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... IRIS Software's acquisition of fellow accountancy vendor Exchequer Software will take it into the channel for the first time. Direct selling Iris picked up 50 UK resellers through its acquisition of channel selling Exchequer. The firm claimed...

Kevin Vine set to join Buffalo Technology.(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... Former Ingram Micro director of networking services, Kevin Vine (pictured), who left the distributor last year (see MicroScope, 6 December 2004), is on the verge of joining Japanese-owned networking and storage equipment vendor Buffalo...

Madge wireless LANs made available to resellers through Northamber.(Madge Networks Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... Enterprise wireless local area networking (LAN) manufacturer Madge has signed a distribution agreement with Northamber -- the first of its kind for the vendor, which already has agreements in the US and Germany with Ingram Micro. Madge will now...

Mixed model selling causes dealer worry.(Toshiba (U.K.) Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... karl flinders karl.flinders@rbi.co.uk Toshiba reseller loses deal on laptops when customer switches on-line to make final purchase Vendors choosing to use a mixture of direct and indirect sales risk unhappy reseller partners, a point...

Phoenix ready to acquire NDR for [pounds sterling]37m.(Phoenix IT Services PLC)(Network Disaster Recovery)(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... christopher walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk Phoenix IT Group is set to acquire disaster recovery and business continuity specialist Network Disaster Recovery [NDR] for [pounds sterling]37.2m in a mixture of cash and debt consolidation...

Quantum provides on-line configuration.(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... Resellers are missing out on solution selling in the storage arena as they overlook pulling together different add-ons from a manufacturer. In a move to stop that problem continuing, Quantum has launched an on-line marketplace -- a portal that...

Redstone delists for potential acquisition.(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... Christopher Walton christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk Telephony service provider Redstone Communications has suspended trading of its shares, stating that it is contemplating a potential acquisition which, if completed, would be classified as a...

Screen resellers looking set for better sales support from CTX.(Brief Article)
March 28, 2005... Paul kunert paul.kunert@rbi.co.uk Monitor vendor CTX is trying to win mind share among resellers by increasing communication and promotions offered to partners, amid a highly price-competitive market where multi-products vendors are...