MicroScope articles from March 2006

MicroScope archives from March 2006

UPS manufacturer in counterfeit quandary.
March 6, 2006... Resellers have been warned to remain vigilant after sources in the UK broker channel reported a rising number of counterfeit APC products reaching the market, a problem which the UPS manufacturer is working to rectify. According to...

Epson takes action to 'set the record straight'.
March 6, 2006... Seiko Epson Corporation is taking third-party inkjet cartridge manufacturer Medea International to court over alleged patent infringements in the UK. The High Court writ issued by Epson centres on Medea's marketing claims about its...

'C' is for consistency.(Global restructure of IBM's channel organisation)(International Business Machines Corp.)
March 6, 2006... The dramatic global restructure of IBM's channel organisation last week will lead to a major change in the way partners interact with the vendor, and if Big Blue has its way the number of partners it works with will double. Its creation of...

On a slow boat to Europe.(GlassHouse Technologies Inc. with acquisitions of Source Consulting and Sagitta)
March 6, 2006... When GlassHouse stormed into the UK with the acquisitions of Source Consulting and Sagitta in June 2004, the US storage player outlined ambitious expansion plans, with Europe its next target (see MicroScope, 14 June 2004). Twenty months...

No flash in the pan.
March 6, 2006... The recent Focus on Imaging show in Birmingham really pointed the way forward for an increasingly important niche area. If the crowds flocking to the Focus on Imaging show at the NEC last month were anything to go by, the professional...

Remote control.(Westcoast Ltd has signed Touch Mobility to bundle its security and management software with Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... Westcoast has exclusively signed Touch Mobility to bundle its security and management software with Hewlett-Packard's iPaq 6900 PDA, claiming the product will be relevant to small and mid-sized user organisations. Talking to MicroScope,...

Celebrations halted.(OGC Buying Solutions, software Catalist Framework Agreement)
March 6, 2006... A spreadsheet error in the way OGC Buying Solutions evaluated suppliers for its multi-billion pound hardware and software Catalist Framework Agreement means some may lose their prized accredited status. This is an embarrassing admission...

Shared Support on spares unavoidable for top Cisco partners.(Cisco Systems Inc.)
March 6, 2006... Cisco gold and silver partners face Shared Support charges on their spares inventory whether they use the parts or not, and if they do not register them under the controversial services programme their spares stock could be worthless. ...

Morse codes in profit boost.(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... Morse posted a mixed bag of interim results last week with group turnover down slightly year-on-year, but growing profits and an increase ratio of services to infrastructure business put a gloss on the drop. For the six-months ending 31...

High hopes.(Acer's UK operation plans to become the largest notebook player in nine countries)
March 6, 2006... Acer's UK operation has been something of an anomaly for its European management as elsewhere on the continent the company has toppled the competition to become the largest notebook player in nine countries. That is not to denigrate the...

Implementation - is it under control?(fine-tuning rapid implementation methodologies)
March 6, 2006... It was a long time coming, but when the users finally got worked up about how much it was costing to implement their enterprise applications, the backlash has had significant repercussions. For years, the amount of money large organisations...

Channel warns Intel of white box collapse.
March 6, 2006... Pressure from Dell, the market's switch to notebooks and the difficulty in securing Intel marketing funds have conspired to force 600 white box builders out of the business during the last six years. Many in the channel have described the...

Italians are suitors for European business of InTechnology.(InTechnology PLC, ITway, Magirus)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... The second suitor for InTechnology's continental European business is Italian specialist security distributor ITway, according to channel sources. As revealed by this magazine last month the business has two suitors in the form of German...

Oracle lures SME resellers with [pounds sterling]150 support scheme.
March 6, 2006... Oracle is targeting SME resellers with its latest channel programme which enables partners to receive the vendor's sales support and start selling Oracle products for just over [pounds sterling]150. The vendor's QuickStart Plus programme...

BTIC gold status loses its gilt edge.(BT Indirect Channel)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... BT Indirect Channel partners are facing a change in their accreditation status, with the number of gold partners set to be cut from 80 to 25 just five months after the telecoms giant claimed the channel would be at the heart of everything it...

Full speed ahead policy for Acer.
March 6, 2006... The demanded pace of growth and a desire to consolidate its position were the primary differences in strategy that shaped Acer UK managing director Paul Cook's decision to leave the business, according to his successor. In January, Cook...

Duncan teams up with Dodwell at Westcon.(Scott Duncan, Bernie Dodwell)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... Following its unsuccessful bid to acquire EquIP last month, Westcon is planning to redirect funds and organically grow its security business, with the appointment of EquIP's Scott Duncan a major step in this direction. As revealed by...

Entrust assets to Uncle SAM.
March 6, 2006... Resellers can reduce the amount of pirated software in the UK more than any vendor-led initiative by offering customers services to enable them to better manager their software assets. Microsoft revealed the sources of pirated software during...

Mst b luv 4 mbl n dta oper8rs.(convergence between voice services and data applications)
March 6, 2006... The slow courtship between the networking channel and Britain's largest mobile network operators continues its path to a full-blown love affair as T-Mobile revealed that data channels now account for one-fifth of its indirect business. ...

Vendors hope rebates will boost business.
March 6, 2006... Ambitious networking vendors Emulex and ZyXEL both unveiled channel partner incentives last week as they each seek to increase their market and mindshare among existing and prospective channel partners. Storage switch manufacturer Emulex...

Musical enrichment.(Apple Mac G5 can easily mix as many tracks as possible)
March 13, 2006... Back in the 1960s, when we all played guitars and had long hair and girlfriends called Caroline, I invested most of my puny capital in a couple of hefty industrial-strength reel-to-reel tape recorders. Those Ferrographs were built like WWII...

Intel hits doldrums.(Company Profile)
March 13, 2006... Few will be surprised by Intel's admission that first quarter revenues will fall below initial forecasts given the relatively gloomy picture Dell has painted of the PC market recently. As Intel's largest customer and global leader of the PC...

Move from Chip and PIN to tackling CNP.
March 13, 2006... A lot of people in the industry warned the financial powers that be that introducing Chip and PIN on Valentine's Day would have a knock-on affect for cardholder not present (CNP) fraud. Sure enough, the latest figures show that CNP is on...

Tenders.
March 13, 2006... 37229, Tender Invitation UK-Cardiff: telecoms equipment Telecommunications solution and related services. 41173, Tender Invitation UK-Theale: spend analysis system Benefits tracking and spend analysis system. 41913, Tender Invitation...

A calculated risk?
March 13, 2006... The phrase lies and statistics was never more apt when at one point last year, within the space of a single week, two reports were released which gave diametrically opposing views of the outsourcing market. First to land was The Power of...

TechTrader.(VIP to distribute entire range of Logitech VIP Computer Centre)(ATI Technologies has launched its Mobility Radeon X1800 series)(latest digital camera the BenQ DC P500)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... BenQ camera comes with all the options BenQ has taken the wraps off its latest digital camera the BenQ DC P500, featuring five megapixels, Pentax lens with super-multi coating, five times optical zoom, movie recording with stabiliser,...

Catalist supplier shake-up.(suppliers for government procurement reshuffled)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... There has been a shake-up of the suppliers to the Ggovernment's IT procurement catalogue, Catalist, with some companies losing out on specific product lots and others being introduced to the Framework Agreement. A As exclusively revealed last...

Back-tax threat on HCI kit.(Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs tax policy)(Home Computing Initiative)
March 13, 2006... Companies that leased or bought PCs worth more than [pounds sterling]1,500 and [pounds sterling]2,500 respectively under the Home Computing Initiative (HCI) may face a tax bill after it emerged that some providers had not factored VAT into the...

Notebook portfolio too extensive.
March 13, 2006... Acer will rationalise its notebook portfolio in the channel over the next four months to clarify which SKUs are relevant to SMEs and consumers, reducing its configurations by over 25 per cent. Talking exclusively to MicroScope, Semmy Levit,...

Price hikes from Lexmark put vendor under the spotlight.
March 13, 2006... Printer vendors are often accused of milking supplies revenues and Lexmark's strategy has come under fire after it emerged the company had increased prices by up to 38 per cent since the start of 2005. In the last 14 months, Lexmark has...

Bullish run for LAN switches fails to bump up revenues.
March 13, 2006... The EMEA LAN switch market continued its bullish run during 2005 into the last three months of the year, but strong price erosion on switches dampened enthusiasm for unit growth, according to research group IDC. Sales of LAN switches were...

CNP next on the cards.
March 13, 2006... Cardholder not present (CNP) fraud continued to soar in 2005, but resellers have been given a glimmer of hope after Huddersfield-based e-tailer Easy Computers won an out-of-court settlement with HSBC over chargebacks. The level of UK card...

Ten-a-day SAP sets out to develop channel habit.
March 13, 2006... Software vendor SAP is trialling a two-tier channel model on the continent after revealing it signed ten customers through partners per day across EMEA during the past financial year. Since targeting the SME sector for growth last year, the...

Relationship building for IBM.
March 13, 2006... As the great and the good of the IBM channel gather in Las Vegas today at the vendor's annual PartnerWorld Conference, thoughts will echo back to last year when Big Blue finally formalised its channel programme with its Global Services (IGS)...

Wrapping managed services into a tempting package.(Morse)
March 13, 2006... A week after announcing aa mixed bag of six-month interim results, Morse's ongoing transformation from a product-led to services-led business took a step forward as the corporate reselling giant unveiled four managed services packages it...

Avaya relaxes restrictions on direct and indirect deals.
March 13, 2006... Avaya has softened its direct/indirect borders in Europe and will encourage gold and silver partners to jointly tender for and work on customers with multiple geographies. Under the guise of the Passport Programme, Avaya will now evaluate...

Briefs.(Horizon results delayed by acquisition activity Horizon Technology Group)(Xythos inks deal for UK distribution of software)(Hitachi top level executives Hitachi Data Systems has promoted Dave Roberson)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... HP shareholders seek return of Fiorina pay-off Hewlett-Packard is being sued by two institutional shareholders that claim the vendor violated internal compensation policies when it decided to award chief executive officerCEO Carly Fiorina...

IT sector expecting a year of growth says ICA report.(Institute of Charted Accountants)
March 13, 2006... There has been a positive start to the year for the IT sector with firms more confident for the year ahead, according to the latest report from the Institute of Charted Accountants (ICA). In the organisation's UK Business Confidence Monitor...

Men arrested on Christmas Eve apply for charges to be dropped.(theft cases)(Attilla Kadir, David Thomas, John Tripp, Lyndonn Willoughby and Paul Lewis)(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Five men arrested under suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft on Christmas Eve in a joint operation between Gloucestershire Constabulary and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad will make an application to dismiss the charges against them...

DSG pushes suppliers to extend credit terms.(Dixons Stores Group)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... Dixons Stores Group is attempting to extend credit with vendors and distributors to 120 and 60 days respectively, according to sources, in a move that would create a greater divide with most resellers' standard Ts&Cs. Under the retail...

3Com sets up partner organisation.(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... 3Com has created a business partner organisation within its corporate structure as it formally introduced the changes to its reseller programme better known as Focus across Europe. This magazine exclusively revealed the changes 3Com...

Kingston takeover talks stall after four months.(Kingston Communications (Hull) PLC and Carlyle Group L.P.)(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Takeover talks between Kingston Communications, parent company to systems integrator Affiniti, and US private equity house the Carlyle Group have stalled after nearly four months of negotiations. Industry sources believe the difficulties...

CA to open up most accounts to partners.(Computer Associates International Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... CA has stepped up its ongoing shift to earn half its revenues through the channel by opening up another 500 direct accounts to the partners. Of the firm's remaining 750 direct named accounts in the UK 500 will be opened up to resellers...

Civica Services continues push to move into higher margin activities.
March 13, 2006... Civica Services is accelerating its push into higher margin security activities following the appointment of its dedicated security head and an increased focus on vendor partner McAfee. The latest move in its security focus saw Civica...

Novell shrugs off massive fall in profits.
March 13, 2006... Despite reporting a massive fall in profits Novell insisted its Linux strategy was on course as the firm's balance sheet showed positive signs amid drastic collapse in its latest results. The vendor has been talking up its push into the...

'Important launch' by Cisco.(Cisco Systems Inc.'s rebranding)
March 13, 2006... Cisco has re-branded its entire IP and communications division under the unified communications' banner and in typical vendor hyperbole described the exercise as its "most important launch since 2000" when it branded its communications...

Double vision.(videoconferencing systems)(interactive whiteboards)
March 13, 2006... There are a couple of ingrained preconceptions about presentation technology that are out of date and potentially harmful to companies involved in this market. On the videoconferencing side there is a belief that the images beamed into the...

Fujitsu is flying the dot matrix flag.(Fujitsu Europe Ltd.'s marketing strategy)
March 13, 2006... Resellers are constantly reminding vendors that there is a gap between marketing hype and user reality with customers often lagging well behind the curve when it comes to the adoption of the latest technology. Most of the time manufacturers...

Agenda.
March 20, 2006... March 22-23 March VoIP for Business Olympia Conference Centre London Web: www.voipforbusiness.co.uk Tel: 01932 268480 E-mail: info@imago-group.com April 4 April Business Process Management Integration Strategy Briefing Novotel...

Finger on the pulse.(Dell computers are running with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005)
March 20, 2006... The 1 November 2005 probably doesn't hold much significance to you, but it should if your business is involved in any way with the sale of generic media centre' systems and peripherals. Why so? Because that was the day Dell announced that all...

Plug it in with peace of mind.(universal serial bus flash drive protection)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... One of the recent debates in the industry has been between those providing USB flash drives and the worried corporates desperately trying to prevent data from leaking out of the business and stop viruses and threats getting in. Even with drives...

Shining light with portability.
March 20, 2006... Projectors are getting smaller and lighter. If you don't believe it, then pick up the Hewlett-Packard MP 3130 and put the hype to the test. A light but capable product, the latest offering from HP demonstrates exactly where this market is...

Keep it short and snappy.
March 20, 2006... The popularity of texting is universal and it appeals to those who want to leave a message without necessarily getting into a long conversation. Football banter as the final score comes around, love messages and work moans are constantly being...

The art of paper folding.(Samsung Ultra Mobile Personal Computer)(Column)
March 20, 2006... A friend of mine used to make little paper swans/flowers/anteaters which he would daintily set down before the laydees when dining on dates. This, it seemed, was an effective three-dimensional shorthand for the fact that he had a delicate,...

It's time to trust us to work from home.(as the required technologies like general packet radio service, voice over internet protocol are available)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Working from home is reliant on trust if it is ever going to reach critical mass and become an option for more than a select proportion of the workforce. The technology is available to make it possible and with the Origami adding to the...

Mobility at a price.(Microsoft Origami handheld computer)
March 20, 2006... One of the most coveted markets in technology is the young executive with disposable income and a desire to take advantage of the latest digital devices. The number of products targeting that market, which also includes a heavy emphasis...

Secure data carry-all.(Disgo personal storage devices)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... In the world of USB devices one of the ground breakers has been Disgo whose keyring drives continue to shift in large units, primarily because of the ease of use its products offer. Because of the digital demands users place on their storage...

Investment potential.(venture capital investments in information technology industry)(Column)
March 20, 2006... Is the IT distribution channel a good place for VC to invest? IT distribution is a two- step channel, comprising with distributors and resellers. In WWestern Europe, approximatelyabout three-quarters of IT vendor's' product flows through...

Cheap doesn't mean nasty.(warranties of computers)(Column)
March 20, 2006... I was recently contacted by a writer doing an article for the technology section of a "heavyweight" Sunday paper. He was looking for a response to the proposition that computers should come with a three- year guarantee as standard, "just like...

Cisco shifts focus to value.(Cisco Systems Inc.)
March 20, 2006... Cisco partners that made the trip to San Diego last week will have seen that the vendor has introduced another layer into its accreditation programme to shift the emphasis from volume to value. In a bid to encourage greater emphasis on its...

'Money to be made' in LAN switches despite erosion.
March 20, 2006... TLast week the channel was warned last week by research company IDC that the LAN switch market had suffered under severe price erosion during the last three months of 2005. While falling prices for hardware is nothing new in the IT...

ZyXEL 'on target' for UK market share growth.(ZyXel Communications Corp.)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Much like Chinese rival Huawei did last year, Taiwanese manufacturer ZyXEL is attempting to burst into the UK market. It and has ambitious plans for market share growth as one of the few vendors that still manufactures its own products. ...

Ipswitch pushes add-on software in bid to recruit UK partners.(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Network management vendor Ipswitch has made a renewed pitch to increase its channel volumes [degrees] in both sales and partner numbers [degrees] and strike a balance between being under-distributed but not under-sold. Joining the...

AMD focuses on Dell's flaws.
March 20, 2006... AMD and analysts tried to arm systems integrators (SI) with ammunition to attack Dell servers at a recent channel event, highlighting the direct vendor's exclusivity on Intel and customer segments where its marketing message falls down. ...

Culture shock.(SAP AG targetting small and medium sized companies)
March 20, 2006... Speaking to MicroScope in Paris earlier this month, SAP's head of SME sayssaid he is offering channel players, with the right DNA, his hand with the offer of profitable partnerships through mutual commitment. Asked by SAP to "change the...

Calls for price clarity.(of computers)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... It is not necessarily cheaper to buy direct, off the page or on the Web once delivery charges, warranties and price increases for choice components are added in, but the channel faces a massive challenge convincing SMEs of this. When the...

Reseller bows to vendor pressure.(Globaldis was closed)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Corporate reseller SCC has bowed to pressure from Hewlett-Packard and closed its brokerage business Globaldis as the vendor embarks on the roll-out of a new serial tracking process to cut down on grey trading. The broker arm turned over...

Magirus closes in.(acquires InTechnology PLC)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Pan-European distributor Magirus is close to taking over InTechnology's continental European security distribution business, with exclusive talks continuing, writes Karl Flinders. As exclusively revealed by this magazine last month,...

Balancing volume and value.
March 20, 2006... There is a good business maxim in the IT industry these days that revenue is vanity and profit is sanity, and it certainly resonates with distributors, whether they are global or national, volume or specialist. The realisation that...

Converging worlds.
March 20, 2006... CeBIT celebratesd its 20th anniversarybirthday this year. The show, which grew out of a single hall at the Hannover Industrie fair, now spans some 24 halls and is the biggest IT exhibition in the world. Held in March every year in...

Symantec changes sweep across Europe.
March 20, 2006... Although Symantec is leaving its reseller channel to consolidate from within, the vendor is taking the opposite approach with its EMEA distributors. Following the acquisition of Veritas, the company said it would not cut reseller numbers...

Two years, two versions for SMB Select scheme.(Cisco Systems Inc.)
March 20, 2006... Two years after launching SMB Select in the UK, Cisco has tweaked the low-end partner programme under the SMB Select version two' banner as it promised to give the channel more of what it demanded in the small business space. For dealers...

Nortel to restructure after $2.2bn losses.
March 20, 2006... A month after talking up its channel growth predictions, Nortel has once again shocked the market with a failure to balance its books and is now facing a long-term restructure. The Canadian networking vendor posted fourth quarter losses of...

CA reshuffles sales teams.
March 20, 2006... Two weeks after revealing plans to open up 500 extra direct accounts to the channel, CA has admitted that it is reorganising its sales teams to back up the change. Alan Banks, vice-president of west EMEA at CA, said the vendor was...

Consumer sales drive wireless LAN growth.
March 20, 2006... The business-to-business market for wireless LAN remained flat as the year closed, with the primary driver for growth coming from the consumer sector in a market worth $665.8m ([pounds sterling]381.1m) in the last three months of 2005. ...

Reports reinforce SAM message.
March 20, 2006... Channel activities around software asset management (SAM) have received further backing by two separate reports as two organisations warned businesses to control the software on their company network or risk legal action. With software...

Tenders.
March 20, 2006... 37229, Tender Invitation UK-Cardiff: telecoms equipment Telecommunications solution and related services. 41173, Tender Invitation UK-Theale: spend analysis system Benefits tracking and spend analysis system. 41913, Tender Invitation...

Briefs.
March 27, 2006... Arcplan and partner provide data analysis Business Intelligence software vendor Arcplan, with its Netherlands-based partner Partake, have announced their Consulting CFO Cockpit concept. This aims to optimises the presentation of management...

Cost is king.
March 27, 2006... Ask any IT manager what they desire from technology in 2006 and they will give you two standard responses: to cut energy bills incurred through the use of IT, and make systems more manageable and flexible. Both of which are cost saving. It has...

www.weirdworld includes tales of millionaires and the Labour party and the problems they have paying for private jets - and warns the channel against the consequences of "farting" chairs.
March 27, 2006... A rich man's world Those who keep spouting off that hardware is dead and it is software and services that is now where the money is to be made will have found evidence for their argument in rather an odd way last week. As the millionaires...

Speed dating.
March 27, 2006... Channel partners should work together to maximise profitability As any successful businessman will tell you, networking is an invaluable way of making new contacts and meeting prospective customers. It is's also something that the channel...

Invitations at a glance.
March 27, 2006... 52366, Tender Invitation UK-Preston: personal computers Supply and maintenance of desktop PC's. 45569, Tender Invitation IRL-Letterkenny: telecommunications services Provision of broadband telecommunications services. 44067, Tender...

Fraser Thomas, CEO of Swivel Secure, takes the hot seat this week as MicroScope fires questions at him.(Interview)
March 27, 2006... What is the best book you've ever read? Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's a story about the Greek Diaspora, hermaphroditism, pre- and post-industrial Detroit, incest and Islam, but not in that order. A fantastic read. If this is too much...

Advertising advice.
March 27, 2006... Are you getting a good return from your marketing spend? Many readers of MicroScope will spend a considerable percentage of their marketing budget on advertising, convinced that it is essential to drive their business forward. But are they...