MicroScope articles from September 2003

MicroScope archives from September 2003

Industry's top brass predicts where the channel's future lies: CEOs and directors back dealers but urge partners to focus on loyalty, partnerships and service if they want to survive.(News)
September 1, 2003... Dealers need to show loyalty, deliver better levels of service and be prepared to form partnerships with rivals to secure big deals if they want to grow their businesses next year. The conclusions of a groundbreaking survey of leading...

Energy shortfall sparks UPS demand: power failure experiences of New Yorkers could be shared by UK residents this Christmas.(News)
September 1, 2003... Often seen as one of the least sexy technologies in the IT industry,, the UPS market has been placed under the spotlight by electricity cuts in the US and a prospective winter power deficit in the UK. The US incident was well documented,...

Uproar among Cisco gold partners over new Ts&Cs: the replacement of Systems Integrator Support 98 with Shared Support has been criticized.(News)
September 1, 2003... Furious Cisco gold partners have lashed out at the vendor for replacing its Systems Integrator Support 98 programme with a new scheme they claim will leave them out of pocket. The gold partners--some of the largest networking integrators in...

Azlan integration and sales rejig costs jobs.(News)(Computer 2000 plans layoffs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Computer 2000 plans to shed a number of jobs in a process which will see the Basingstoke-based distributor integrate the newly acquired Azlan business and reorganise sales resources. Commercial director Gary Fowle said "no more than 15"...

Distribution changes as Acer signs Ingram.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Acer has continued to bolster its distribution line-up with the addition of broadline giant Ingram Micro, but questions have already been raised about the long-term future of Alliance Services' exclusive server distribution rights. The...

Big Blue insists corporate resellers have nothing to fear.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Corporate resellers have nothing to fear from IBM's focus on the SMB market for its channel partners, according to IBM Global Services director of channel sales, Jeremy Budd. "As for partners selling to corporate [customers], as head of...

Welcome to a new-look MicroScope magazine.
September 1, 2003... For the first time in its 21-year history, MicroScope has changed its format size and for the first time since May 2001 has redesigned the look of the magazine. The aim of the changes is to deliver a magazine that continues to lead debate...

Regent Associates reports drop in tech company acquisitions.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Despite high levels of consolidation in the industry at the top end, there was a 27 per cent fall in acquisitions of technology companies in Europe in the first half of 2003, according to Regent Associates. But although the number of deals fell...

Spending spree for McData.(acquires Sanera Systems, Nishan Systems)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... McData has acquired fellow storage networking specialists Sanera Systems for $102m (65m [pounds sterling]) and Nishan Systems for $83m plus $2m in debt, as well as taking 15 per cent ownership of switch provider Aarohi Communications for $6m....

From BT to Fujitsu Services.(John Wheeler named director of UK business)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Former BT director of business sales and corporate clients John Wheeler has joined Fujitsu Services as director of UK business. Chief operating officer David Courtley said the appointment would increase the company's efforts to develop UK...

Cards still on the table for CGE&Y takeover of Transiciel.(Cap Gemini Ernst & Young )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has admitted entering negotiations to take over French rival Transiciel, but informal discussions have not yet led to any commitment or agreement to merge. CGE&Y reported revenues of 7bn [euro] last year, while...

CA targets niche verticals.(Software)(Computer Associates)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Computer Associates is seeking to boost its UK base of resellers with vertical specialisation as it plugs its storage and security message. The vendor is pushing a combined BrightStor ARCServe and eTrust offering, and Emea vice-president...

Oracle to provide HR system in SME arena.(Software)(employee records software for small-medium businesses)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Oracle has teamed up with the British Chamber of Commerce and a human resources company to create an employee records offering for SMEs. Ian Smith, senior vice-president at Oracle UK and Ireland, said the idea of the project was to enable...

Cisco tells dealers they must work together.(Networking)
September 1, 2003... Cisco's worldwide vice-president of channels has urged resellers to work together in a more collaborative fashion as they face the challenges unique to the networking channel of 2003. Speaking to MicroScope about the future position of the...

Alcatel staff defect to rival.(Networking)(European Alcatel staff members leave to join Avaya)
September 1, 2003... A number of senior European Alcatel staff have jumped ship to join rival Avaya. Both Jackie Lancashire, UK marketing manager, and sales director Moreno Gibaldii have recently taken up new positions at Avaya. The two defections follow...

HP offers rewards to get dealer user data.(Networking)(Hewlett-Packard )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Procurve networking division of Hewlett-Packard is to reward resellers for passing on information about users as part of an extension to its sales incentive programme. Procurve networking country manager Jon Weatherall said the company...

HP opens new chapter with cost per page model.(Hardware)
September 1, 2003... Hewlett-Packard is dangling a carrot by offering cost savings of up to 25 per cent on high-end printers with a managed service in an attempt to open doors in the corporate arena. The move is underpinned by a recruitment process that has...

IBM reassures the channel it will share out services with dealers.(Enterprise)
September 1, 2003... With IBM Global Services turning over $36bn (24bn [pounds sterling]) in 2002, its commitment to using resellers has often been questioned despite reassurances from Big Blue that it is more committed to the channel than ever before. Jeremy...

Enterprise market forecast to grow.(Enterprise)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The enterprise market looks set to pull itself out of two years of recession as corporate customers invest in IT again, according to EDS chief executive officer Mike Jordan. Speaking exclusively to MicroScope, Jordan said: "We see early...

On the right side of the law.(Finance)
September 1, 2003... Despite guidelines from Customs & Excise to help businesses avoid VAT fraud, some in the legal profession have warned there is no guarantee that the rules will be enough to stop the channel falling foul of the law. Under the provisions...

A visit to the surgery: over the coming months, Sue Saunders, director of The Channel Surgery, will be tackling reseller business problems head-on and offering valuable advice.(Finance)
September 1, 2003... Since we launched on 30 June this year, at every meeting Mark Abrams [co-founder] and I have had, we have been asked where we got the idea for The Channel Surgery. Basically, the idea of a resource aimed solely at the reseller channel was...

Consensus says the channel has a future.(Editorial)(Editorial)
September 1, 2003... If a channel magazine asked a collection of senior industry figures what they thought about the future of the channel, it would be extremely surprised to receive anything other than a positive reply. That happened certainly in our CEO...

Check out the tree fellers: the IT industry has got to realise that when tendering for contracts a well thought out proposal encapsulating a customer's requirements is the one that gets the job.(Opinion)
September 1, 2003... There's a wonderfully silly Irish joke about a landscape gardener's truck labelled 'Tree Fellers Ltd'. "A bit of a misnomer really," explains the foreman, "because there's actually only two of us." As it happens, there are a couple of tree...

Cisco targets IP telephony product at SMEs.(Convergence: taking a closer look at voice and data issues)
September 1, 2003... Cisco has set its sights on taking its VoIP technology into the SME space and plans to roll out kit designed for small businesses over the coming quarters. But the vendor has assured MicroScope the technology--which will be sold mainly...

Westcon predicts convergence market to mirror Internet boom.(Convergence: taking a closer look at voice and data issues)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Sales of IP telephony are set to increase because the technology will appeal to users and mirror the Internet explosion, according to the head of the largest convergence distributor. Speaking to MicroScope, Alan Marc Smith, Westcon group...

Unipalm to target SoHo and SME security.(Security: taking a closer look at security issues)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Unipalm is planning to tap into the growing demand for security products among the SoHo and SME markets through a managed services offering based around Check Point SofaWare. Dave Ellis, director of e-security at Unipalm, told MicroScope...

SecureWave issues word of warning over memory stick danger.(Security: taking a closer look at security issues)
September 1, 2003... A memory stick may appear to be an innocent little device, but by using the technology users can infect a corporate network with a virus or remove business information without being noticed. Security specialist SecureWave has urged...

Sony to use Storage Expo to promote AIT.(Storage: taking a closer look at storage issues)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Sony is planning to use Storage Expo as a platform to promote its AIT tape technology and encourage users to move away from the next generation of DDS. The vendor was originally involved in the development of DDS, but opted to concentrate...

IDC reveals software sales are propping up struggling market.(Storage: taking a closer look at storage issues)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Software sales continue to drive margins for storage specialist resellers as customer spending in the UK disk market continues to decline, according to IDC research into the European market. UK customer revenues for SAN, NAS and DAS...

The real deal: in an exclusive survey of the industry's leading players, MicroScope asked the one question that really matters: is there still a role for the channel to deliver products to market?(Opinion survey)
September 1, 2003... The responses that follow make interesting reading for supporters of the direct sales model and will give a fillip to all of the hard-working distributors and dealers operating in the channel Adrian von Hammerstein Fujitsu Siemens CEO...

Injecting cash into IT: as the Department of Health embarks on a massive IT spending spree, a number of concerns are being raised both by those in the health service and members of the channel.(Health)
September 1, 2003... Changes at the top always lead to changes further down, and the Department of Health is no exception. But for suppliers looking at selling IT into the health sector, it has not been the resignation in June of health minister Alan Milburn and...

Watchdog to put price on 'claim culture'.(Letter of the week ...)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... The investigation by the government's regulation watchdog into the cost of Britain's 'compensation culture' is likely to unveil some worrying results. TSO recently conducted a survey which found that the cost of insurance to protect...

The wrong approach.(Letters)
September 1, 2003... It seems many senior managers just don't get e-business. Prior to the advent of e-marl, business relationships were built through face-to-face contact and telephone calls. This has been almost completely replaced by electronic...

Bridging the gap.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... Today's approach to technology investment by UK businesses is akin to buying a Ferrari and telling the driver the car only has one gear. Many firms are falling to approach systems implementations correctly by not involving the staff that...

Think small for big opportunities.(Microsoft)
September 1, 2003... Selling to the UK small business market represents a challenge and an opportunity of similar proportions. There can be no question that the small business sector represents a vast potential market--the DTI estimates that more than 3.6 million...

Invitations at a glance ...(Tenders: your at-a-glance look at tenders invited in the UK and Ireland)
September 1, 2003... 134680 Tender Invitation UK-Irvine: income management system A fully integrated income management and collection system. 136578 Tender Invitation UK-Oxford: information systems Research, business and CRM system. ...

Agenda.(Tenders: your at-a-glance look at tenders invited in the UK and Ireland)
September 1, 2003... SEPTEMBER 3-4 September LinuxWorld Conference and Expo Hall 7, NEC, Birmingham Web: www.linuxworld2003.co.uk Tel: 0121 767 2352 12 September PC Association Annual Conference and Technology Showcase Northampton ...

From microscope September 1989.(Hindsights)
September 1, 2003... "The surface of the casing has developed a crazy paving effect" Gerry Redman, Corporate Computers managing director, on the cosmetic rather than structural cracks that developed on Compaq's LTE portables. "I have a good feeling about...

The Gatesway into IT.(Soap)(survey reveals teens would like to work in computer industry)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Believe it or not--and it really is very hard to believe, youngsters aged between 12 and 15 would rather be Bill Gates than Gareth Gates. A quarter of the teenagers surveyed in the recent Parity poll revealed they would like to work with...

Lights, camera, caption.(Soap)(Illustration)
September 1, 2003... "There's your customer list--now make them buy" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Virtual sequel.(Soap)
September 1, 2003... In the good old days, if you had a hit film on your hands you milked it to death and made sequel after sequel. It still works for Terminator, but for other films it seems the only way to recreate the magic is in a virtual world. The...

Class outfit.(Soap)
September 1, 2003... Soap enjoyed a splendid lunch in picturesque Feltham last week with Repton MD Greg Carlow. Anyone familiar with Feltham will understand that upmarket eateries are thin on the ground, leaving a limited choice of lunch venues. Asked if we...

King of the world.(Soap)
September 1, 2003... Here at Soap Towers, we recently found ourselves reminiscing over the glory days in the channel, back when people working at resellers and distributors actually made some money. We were especially pleased to hear the story of one character...

Problem postbag.(Soap)(laws concerning the use and/or sale of pirate software)
September 1, 2003... In this week's Problem Postbag, our expert tackles the question of the laws concerning the use and/or sale of pirate software. Q. There have been quite a few high-profile cases of dealers getting taken to court by leading software vendors,...

Channel demands vendor actions against grey threat: exclusive research by MicroScope uncovers resellers concerns that manufacturers' tought words are ringing hollow.
September 8, 2003... Resellers have called for vendors to address the mounting grey market problem currently sweeping the channel and demanded they be given an opportunity to compete on a level playing field. The calls come after exclusive research carried out...

Actebis victim of Intel reduction: vendor moves towards more streamlined shipping distribution model.(News)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Changes to Intel's distribution model across Europe have seen the worst-performing partner in each country lose its franchise, with Actebis losing out in the UK. There were five pan-European distributors working with Intel, including...

HP unveils new line-up.(News)(channel distribution line-up)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Hewlett-Packard has finally released long-awaited details of its channel distribution line-up, writes Dominic Hall. Last month, MicroScope was the only channel source to announce the status of the main players and to reveal the vendor had...

NAI loses Tolerant to CA but fills gap with Computacenter deal.(News)(Network Associates, Tolerant Systems, Computer Associates)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Computer Associates has poached Tolerant Systems from rival Network Associates, but NAI has signed Computacenter to replace the security reseller. Tolerant is to play the part of both master reseller and distributor for CA in a bid to...

There is light at the end of the tunnel: industry figures reflect on the current state of the IT market and share their expectations for the coming 12 months.(News)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Hopes of an upturn in the next calendar year have been expressed by a number of industry leaders already reporting signs of some green shoots coming through. As part of a survey of IT industry leaders carried out by MicroScope, the...

Lockheed Martin in shock withdrawal from NHS bid.(News)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... The biggest show in town was shaken last week as Lockheed Martin pulled out of the bidding process for a 2.3bn [pounds sterling] NHS contract, leaving IBM and BT to battle it out as national application service providers [NASPs]. A...

How Lockheed's exit will affect the channel.(News)(Lockheed Martin exits NHS bid)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... While Lockheed Martin might appear to be an IT services giant, it was pushing the boundaries of its core business model by stepping into the NHS ring. According to Gartner Dataquest figures, Lockheed Martin turned over $7.1bn (4.5bn...

Support row spurs 3Com to talk to Cisco partners: 3Com 'readying itself' for recruitment drive as Cisco resellers' Shared Support concerns grow.(News)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Cisco faces losing top tier gold partners to rival 3Com as it pushes ahead with controversial plans to replace its Systems Integrator Support 98 (SIS 98) services programme. The vendor has defended its intended move to scrap SIS 98 and...

Butler: 'IT emperor has no clothes'.(News)(Butler Group warns that businesses do not need to invest in information technology)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... The mantra of adding service and talking up business benefits and downplaying technology specifications has been echoed in warnings to the industry from analyst firm the Butler Group. President and co-founder of the research company, Martin...

Two arrested under suspicion of 80m [pounds sterling] missing trader fraud.(News)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Customs & Excise arrested two individuals last week suspected of a money laundering scam estimated at 80m [pounds sterling]. Not a month goes by without further cases involving VAT carousel fraud--or missing trader fraud, as the crime is...

Ingram goes soft with Lagerborg.(News)(Axel Lagerborg named head of category software at Ingram Micro)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Ingram Micro has appointed Axel Lagerborg as head of category software. It is hoped the newly created position will allow the distributor to focus more heavily on the software side of the business. Speaking exclusively to MicroScope,...

Computarcenter profits up.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Computacenter posted a 28 per cent increase in revenues to 1.2bn [pounds sterling] for the six months ending 30 June and pre-tax profits rose by 31 per cent to 32m [pounds sterling]. Speaking to MicroScope, Computacenter chief executive Mike...

Samsung selects Digi-UK.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Samsung has appointed Digi-UK as its first Solution Centre, part of the reseller recruitment drive the company embarked on about six months ago (see MicroScope, 11 March). Ashley Ford, director of the IT division, revealed there were 300...

Horizon reverses losses.(Horizon Technology)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Clarity parent company Horizon Technology saw turnover fall by a third to 128m [euro] (88m [pounds sterling]) in six-month interims ending 30 June, from 192m [euro] this time last year. Despite the drop, the Ireland-based company turned 7.1m...

Ingram Micro optimistic.(company sales forecast)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Ingrain Micro sales are expected to range from $5.2bn (3.5bn [pounds sterling]) to $5.4bn, with net income excluding major programme costs or other special items ranging from $21m to $25m in the third quarter to 27 September. Chairman and CEO...

300th member for Elite2.(Fujitsu Siemens appoints 300th reseller)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... As part of a recruitment process that Fujitsu Siemens kicked off at the beginning of the summer (see MicroScope, 22 July), Fujitsu Siemens has appointed its 300th reseller, HKW Information Systems, as a member of its Elite2 accredited UK...

Overcrowding stimulates change.(Software)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
September 8, 2003... Consolidation in the software arena will remain a feature of the landscape for the foreseeable future as the impact of overcrowding forces some players out of the market. The warnings over consolidation came from a number of leading...

Oracle endeavours to dispel IT complexity myth.(Software)
September 8, 2003... Users are beginning to realise that IT does not need to be complicated and the industry has to adapt both products and approach to cater for changing attitudes. Ian Smith, senior vice-president and managing director of Oracle UK, Ireland...

Cisco leaves partners with ruffled feathers.(Networking)
September 8, 2003... The introduction of new Ts&Cs for resellers and services partners is never popular, but Cisco's decision to replace its five-year-old Systems Integrator Support 98 (SIS 98) services offering with the new Shared Support contract has caused a...

Steljes AV roll-out.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... It has been a busy week for specialist AV distributor Steljes, the company introduced a nationwide trade-only installation service as part of its ComfortZone package for resellers. At the same time, it is running a series of road shows...

Methanol batteries face air safety tests.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Japanese companies developing miniaturised fuel cell technology, believed to power notebooks for more than ten hours, will have to prove to financial backers that the longer life battery is safe to fly with. The technology uses methanol, a type...

Semiconductor sales rise for fifth month in a row.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... The Semiconductor Industry Association has reported a global sales hike to $12.9bn (8.6bn [pounds sterling]) for July, compared with $12.5bn for June--the fifth consecutive monthly increase and a 10.5 per cent rise on previous July sales of...

Sun boosts Solaris support.(Sun Microsystems boosts support for operating system)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Sun Microsystems last week "significantly" expanded hardware support for the Solaris Operating System x86 Platform Edition. Sun's goal is to ensure that the Solaris is available on the widest range of x86 systems by adding 100 third-party...

Access to IT launched.(program to bring information technology access to poor youth)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Corporate leaders from the IT and telecommunications sectors have joined forces with children's charity NCH to improve access to IT for vulnerable children and young people. The members of Access to IT are AOL UK, BAE Systems, BT, Cable &...

HP to abandon 'under-powered' Crusoe for faster Intel tablet PC.(Hardware)(Hewlett-Packard)
September 8, 2003... Hewlett-Packard has opted to use Intel's Centrino technology in its next generation of tablet PCs after admitting that sales were restricted by Transmeta's Crusoe chip. The vendor believes corporate customers are prepared to spend more to...

US and UK blackouts give power to UPS vendor.(Hardware)(American Power Conversion markets uninterruptible power supplies)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) manufacturer American Power Conversion (APC) is looking to cash in on the recent high-profile power failure in the UK with a series of reseller seminars. The company ran classes in the US after a technical...

Morse CEO reveals intention to spend big despite turnover dip.(Enterprise)(Duncan McIntyre)
September 8, 2003... Despite suffering a 25 per cent slump in revenues, Morse CEO Duncan McIntyre claimed he would love to acquire a company if he could find the right target. In preliminary results for the year ended 30 June, the technology integrator turned...

Computacenter strategy gets government boost.(Enterprise)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Computacenter's managed services strategy has been given a boost by the e-government initiative and a "risk and reward" contract with the Environment Agency. The deal is a part of the infrastructure service provider's shift from product...

This time things are going to be different.(Editorial)(forecasting growth for the reseller channel)(Editorial)
September 8, 2003... One of the preoccupations of the channel, and industry as a whole, has been trying to work out when the recovery will begin and attempting to find green shoots as part of that search. This time last year there was an expectation that the...

Games ban is all Greek to me: an international brigade is girding its collective loins as part of its campaign to combat the anti-nerds of Greece, where computer games have been made illegal.(Opinion)
September 8, 2003... Call it macho, call it mid-life crisis, but the time has come in the life of Ship when the jet-set lifestyle, glamour and glittering attractions of computer journalism are no longer enough. Like many others of my age, I yearn for the thrill of...

GX adds strength with Firstnet buy.(Convergence)(GX Networks)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... B2B telecoms and broadband provider GX Networks has extended its reach into the wireless DSL space through the acquisition of ISP Firstnet. The Oxford-based provider, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has also boosted its...

Alcatel extends UK reach by appointing two new partners.(Convergence)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Alcatel has expanded its UK partner base with the appointment of Actimax and Comz4biz. Alcatel enterprise marketing manager Neal Tilley said the market was changing towards a solution sell and the acquired firms could offer that. ...

Citrix to add Unipalm to security campaign.(Security)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Citrix is set to drop one of its four UK distribution partners as it seeks to grow market share by expanding its base of resellers in the security market through specialist player Unipalm. The software vendor's UK and Ireland distribution...

Industry divided on whether security is ripe for consolidation.(Security)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Security is currently one of the channel's biggest money-spinners with all the services, consultancy and expertise that surround the sector. Commoditisation has already hit the lower end of this lucrative market but the industry is divided...

Three years of major change await storage.(Storage)(Industry Overview)
September 8, 2003... EMC has warned that the storage industry will change more in the next three years than it has in the past 12 and it will continue to lead the way because "customers want to buy from proven companies with proven products". Joe Tucci, CEO at...

Consolidation still hot topic for resellers.(Storage)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Storage Area Network (SAN) consolidation continues to be the hot topic for resellers, according to Hewlett-Packard's vice-president for network storage solutions Emea. Talking exclusively to MicroScope, Patrick Bonelli said large...

VMware seeks 150 European dealers.(Storage)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... Virtualisation player VMware has launched a reseller programme in Europe. The vendor is looking to appoint 150 resellers across Europe, of which about 20 will be in the UK. Emea vice-president Mark Stradling said resellers would have...

Power to the PC: the PC market may have been in the doldrums last year, but with a tenfold increase in growth rates for 2003, the market is back on track.(Desktops and notebooks)
September 8, 2003... With the PC market so mature, and with the IT sector being in the state that it has for the past two years, you'd think PC vendors would be under severe pressure to expand into other areas or lose money hand over fist. Certainly, sales have...

Green shoots: in the second part of an exclusive survey of the industry's leading players, MicroScope asks for predictions about the economic performance for the rest of this year and expectations over 2004.(Opinion Survey)(Industry Overview)
September 8, 2003... Some industry figures seem convinced that the recovery has started, with others remaining confident that although things are still tough, next year will see the start of a climb back to better times Steve Raymund Tech Data CEO "Most...

Is EBPP suited to UK shores?(Letter of the week)(Letter to the Editor)
September 8, 2003... It would appear that the much used and undoubtedly convenient EBPP acronym is better suited to the US market than to these shores. The danger in using this acronym lies in suggesting that electronic bill presentment and electronic bill...