MicroScope articles from September 2006

MicroScope archives from September 2006

Innovation at risk of being squeezed out.
September 4, 2006... Sadly I wasn't around in the sixties for the 'Summer of Love', but I can satisfy myself that in the future I'll always be able to reminisce about the excitement of being a channel hack during the 'Summer of Consolidation'. Deals and...

Packing a storage punch Buffalo style.
September 4, 2006... Increasing storage capacities excite several people in the storage world, but for the vast majority of customers it is hard to visualise what capacity means because they like to touch and feel products. Even shouting about 400GB doesn't...

Falling off the wagon.(Hallucinations)
September 4, 2006... Have you ever had one of those mornings when you're not entirely sure what you did the night before but you seem to have woken up in Singapore with a full beard? Of course you have. We all have. But even by my own near-mythical standards of...

Brand confidence.
September 4, 2006... Certain products could proudly be labelled as the 'bread and butter' of the system builder channel. Along with chassis, motherboards and graphics cards, the choice of optical drive is an important one. Brand must be considered along with...

Agenda.
September 4, 2006... September 7 September SAP World Tour UK '06 The ICC Birmingham Web: www.ciber-novasoft.com/uk 19-21 September Mobile Content World 2006 Olympia, London Web: www.mobilecontentworld.biz/2006/mcw/ Tel: 020 7827 4171 E-mail:...

The race for the title begins.
September 4, 2006... The Premiership season has well and truly kicked off, with some interesting results already giving those neutrals hope that it will not be the Chelsea procession it was last year. Some of the first-time managers, notably Gareth Southgate at...

The bottom line.
September 4, 2006... One of the most difficult questions for anyone in the industry to answer is where the next great margin providing technology is going to come from. But what is often a little bit easier, because the warning signs are already there, is getting...

Super-size SIM storage.(Subscriber Identity Module)
September 4, 2006... Will SIM win over the masses? In the not so distant future SIM cards will have significantly larger memory capabilities. A 512MB SIM is to be trialled later this year, and if trials are successful it is expected that 1GB+ SIMs could be on the...

We trade in interesting lines.
September 4, 2006... The final quarter of 2006 looks like being an intriguing one for the IT industry. There's a phrase, commonly believed to be an ancient Chinese curse although no one can quite prove it, which neatly encapsulates the situation the IT industry...

Consolidation concerns.
September 4, 2006... IBM's takeover of Internet Security Systems (ISS) is one of the biggest consolidations yet seen in the rapidly changing security sector, but what is the impact of continued consolidation in the sector on resellers? Channel and vendor...

Brocade to extend markets.(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Five months after relaunching its partner programme, Brocade has revealed it still wants to recruit resellers to expand its reach across the market. Timm Hoyt, sales manager for EMEA and Latin America at Brocade, told MicroScope the vendor...

Start-ups defy consolidation trend.
September 4, 2006... The storage industry continues to attract innovative start-ups despite the high profile consolidation that continues to characterise the sector. Towards the end of last month Quantum finalised its purchase of ADIC and there has been...

Nexus reseller arm is first buy for MIS.
September 4, 2006... MIS Corporate Defence Solutions has purchased the security reseller business of Nexus Technology as it embarks on an acquisition strategy. The deal consisted of an undisclosed upfront payment, with more due depending on certain targets...

Relationships rule.
September 4, 2006... Resellers should focus on what they are good at as research reveals that relationships and customer experiences outweigh cost in importance when it comes to businesses choosing a supplier. According to research from UffindelWest, emotional...

Shrinking margins in growing market.
September 4, 2006... The server virtualisation market is bucking a trend in that product margins are disappearing before the market is mature. The norm is for product margins to wane as a market becomes saturated, but the case with server virtualisation is a...

HP Procurve takes mid-range product to raid SME market.
September 4, 2006... HP ProCurve is taking a swipoe at rival switch manufacturers in the SME marketspace following the launch of its latest products. The vendor has extended its 2500 and 2800 ranges with the 2510 and 2810 layer 2 products, but has also released...

US service provider buys UK network builder.(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Cisco and Huawei specialist systems integrator Fibernet has been acquired by GC Acquisitions, a company created by US service provider Global Crossing specifically for the ?50.6m deal. Basingstoke-based Fibernet admitted last month it was...

VoIP companies urge resellers to carry out user network audit.
September 4, 2006... There is still a need for reseller and user education around VoIP because of the potential pitfalls that lie in wait for those customers that causefail to ensure the networks to fail to can cope with IP calls. Quality of service is critical...

Vendor strategy grilled by resellers at Straight Talk.
September 4, 2006... One of the problems with the channel is that the limited opportunity resellers get to talk with vendors and discuss issues is often limited to a partner conference or a session moaning on the phone to an account manager. At vendor events...

Confidence in colour.(Colour printers)
September 4, 2006... One of the biggest challenges faced by the printing world in the past few years has been that of taking colour into the black and white corporate heartlands. Helping users to realise the benefits of colour is not just about getting them...

Tenders.
September 4, 2006... 155131, Tender Invitation UK-Edinburgh: PCs Rugged personal computers for use in the patient transport fleet. 163452, Tender Invitation UK-London: finance system An integrated finance and procurement system. 152871, Tender...

Software finds strength despite seasonal decline.
September 4, 2006... The decline seen across IT markets from May to June hit software as well, which declined 28 per cent month on month, writes Sara Lynn Smith. This follows the annual seasonal trend, as last year we also noted a decline from May to June, at the...

Pressure to get couch potatoes switched on.(home technology market forecast)(Brief article)
September 11, 2006... The threat in the emerging digital lounge space has always been perceived as coming from retail so the channel is unlikely to be surprised at the developments last week involving DSG and Tesco. Retailers, as we know, buy in bulk and sell at...

Network revival.(computer networking services industry trends and forecast)
September 11, 2006... Once upon a time the networking sector was such a money maker that it spawned several dedicated channel magazines, numerous specialists at both distribution and reseller level and made quite a lot of people a fair amount of money. Then the...

Piped sunlight.(using fiber optic cables to bring sunlight into industrial buildings)
September 11, 2006... My memories of working in the PC distribution industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s are dominated by images of dingy warehouses and often windowless offices permanently lit by fluorescent strip-lighting. I don't suppose things have changed...

Agenda.
September 11, 2006... September 19-21 September Mobile Content World 2006 Olympia, London Web: www.mobilecontentworld.biz/2006/mcw/ Tel: 020 7827 4171 27-28 September Enterprise Architecture Summit 2006 Hilton Metropole, London Web:...

Steam ahead with SOA.(adapting service- oriented architecture in software design)
September 11, 2006... Sex, sizzle and SOA. Application providers without an SOA (service- oriented architecture) strategy risk business failure at worst and at best a stagnated future on declining maintenance revenue, while SOA-savvy competitors surge ahead....

Being open with code.
September 11, 2006... Imagine there was a way to halve the development time of applications - and produce better quality, better documented and more robust code. The answer is not to develop it at all, but to use code other people have already written, downloaded...

Sony axes monitors.(Sony Europe GmbH plans to stop selling computer monitors)
September 11, 2006... Sony Europe has confirmed plans to pull out of desktop monitors up to 24in by the end of the year, after being priced out of the market by low-cost Chinese products. This has surprised analysts that saw a massive sales spike of Sony...

FSC cuts SKUs in bid to clarify portfolio.
September 11, 2006... Mirroring a trend among rival vendors, Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) has slashed the number of desktop and notebooks SKUs in its portfolio to bring more clarity to its range. Earlier this year Acer said it would reduce notebook...

Websense considers future of agreement.
September 11, 2006... Security distributor InTechnology and filtering vendor partner Websense are in talks about the future of their relationship following the distributor's decision to partner Websense's main rival. Last month, InTechnology became SurfControl's...

Retail threat to resellers.(Tesco PLC plans to launch home delivery service, DSG Retail Ltd. plans to launch computer services)
September 11, 2006... Resellers are facing stiff competition from two retail giants, with Tesco expanding its IT portfolio and launching a home delivery service and DSG investing in a UK-wide infrastructure to service PCs for home users and SMEs. The Tesco...

Microsoft ready to make tough distribution choice.
September 11, 2006... The reasoning behind Microsoft's decision to shake up its distributor line-up has been engendered partly due to the large proportion of sales that go through sub-distribution. One source said Microsoft was concerned by the proportion of...

Preparing for Straight Talk.(resellers plans to attend major meetings, conference attendees predictions)
September 11, 2006... The whole concept underlying the Straight Talk conference is that it provides resellers with a chance to question the strategies and views of major vendors and for that reason we are calling for questions to be submitted before next month's...

Bumper July harvest for communications devices.
September 11, 2006... After the slow month of June, the month of July came out swinging for communication devices, with 25 per cent volume growth from July 2005 to July 2006, and 16 per cent value growth across the same periods, writes Sara Lynn Smith. After the...

vPro facilitates managed services.
September 11, 2006... Resellers and local OEMs have been given a managed services opportunity with the launch of Intel's vPro desktop platform, which includes hardware and a raft of remote management and security software. At the heart of vPro, first discussed...

Five Minute Interview.(conversation with a information technology professional )(Interview)
September 11, 2006... What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom? "Those that think knowledge is power are wrong" - you should never restrict knowledge, you should always pass it on. This was from Bob Battye, my boss at Hoskyns a the time, who...

ETC ends Lenovo deal as distribution reduces.
September 11, 2006... Lenovo and ETC have parted company after the distributor appeared to end a relationship that was fundamentally changed earlier this year and no longer provided the market it needed. This year, Lenovo modified its distributor focus,...

More consolidation mooted.(Acal PLC's acquisition plans, looking for buyer)(Brief article)
September 11, 2006... Pan European distributor ACAL is the latest to be mooted as the latest for acquisition as specialist distribution across Europe sees continued consolidation. ACAL has a broad portfolio with storage, security, networking and components...

South African print specialist acquires UK Xerox company.
September 11, 2006... Bytes Technology Group (BTG) has moved to augment its print services business with a second acquisition this year, taking over Watford-based Xerox specialist Vantage Business Systems. Bytes acquired document solutions specialist Xclusive...

Great expectations.
September 11, 2006... Donal Madden talked about genies, old dogs, extinguishing myths and throwing things at direct sales people when he outlined SAP's progress in its channel and SME charm offensive. In an interview with MicroScope, the former Compaq man...

Nortel to sell UMTS division.
September 11, 2006... Nortel has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to sell its 3G UMTS access business to Alcatel for $320m (?168.2m) in a move to sharpen its focus on its core markets. The unit had been operating at a loss and contributed less...

SMEs pressed on network benefits.
September 11, 2006... The pressure is on resellers in the networking arena to sell the business benefits of infrastructure improvements to SMEs. Various reasons for the delay in uptake by smaller firms in some of the latest technology have been put forward, ranging...

Tenders.
September 11, 2006... 166672, Tender Invitation UK-London: network infrastructure Supply of data networking infrastructure. 163480, Tender Invitation UK-Pontypridd: open access network Provision of fibre speed' broadband connectivity. 167275, Tender...

Preparing for Straight Talk.
September 18, 2006... If you haven't done so already, there is still time to send in your questions to put to major channel figures from some of the largest vendors in the market at Straight Talk 2006. By allowing MicroScope readers to anonymously pose up to three...

Agenda.
September 18, 2006... September 27-28 September Enterprise Architecture Summit 2006 Hilton Metropole, London Web: www.gartner.com/2_events/conferences/eae1.jsp October 2-3 October Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit Hilton Metropole,...

How do you plead?
September 18, 2006... The 'spying scandal' at Hewlett-Packard has generated many headlines in recent weeks, and no wonder. The disclosure that directors and journalists (as well as a reporter's father in one instance, though not any other family members - your...

Tapping growth.
September 18, 2006... Viewed from this side of the Irish Sea, the UK's continuing failure to compl VARs need to keep up with the server virtualisation movement and focus firmly on services around the technology, otherwiser they risk losing touch with their customer...

Tenders.
September 18, 2006... 166672, Tender Invitation UK-London: network infrastructure Supply of data networking infrastructure. 163480, Tender Invitation UK-Pontypridd: open access network Provision of fibre speed' broadband connectivity. 167275, Tender...

Navel-gazing at Dell might push indirect.
September 18, 2006... There must have been moments last week when some staunch proponents of the indirect model would have had found it difficult to keep a straight face. When Dell cancelled its analyst meeting at short notice and explained it could not file...

In the picture.
September 18, 2006... Are camera phones a disruptive innovation for the digital imaging industry? Ten years ago, mobile phones were the play thing of the rich. Nowadays, there are nearly two billion worldwide and aand we struggle to think of anyone we know...

Five Minute Interview.
September 18, 2006... What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom? The best came from an old boss when asked the key to success: "Exceed expectations and be reasonably pleasant in the process." It's quite obvious really. What is the best book...

Gloves off in the MTIC fight.(Missing Trader Intra-Community)
September 18, 2006... Following the announcement of new measures to combat MTIC fraud, such as the introduction of a reverse charge for mobile phones and computer goods, HM Revenue & Customs investigators have been busy making arrests and executing search warrants...

Samsung considers taking print services route.
September 18, 2006... The latest in a long line of vendors, Samsung is getting serious about print services in response to collapsing hardware margins and has appointed distributor Westcoast to help widen its portfolio of resellers. Since the emergence of...

Call for portable storage to be better managed.
September 18, 2006... The resistance some enterprises are continuing to show against USB storage devices because of security fears is coming under assault from various vendors keen to help the channel crack the problem. Flash drive devices have increased in...

EMC to focus on mid-market.
September 18, 2006... EMC's new UK head of channels has plans to improve lead generation among resellers, demand creation among distributors and drive the expanded portfolio of products built through acquisitions in the last year. The previous incumbent at EMC,...

Number of HDDs in the home continues to grow.
September 18, 2006... A vision of a world where the average person had seven hard disk drives in their home, promoted by the HDD specialists over the last couple of years, now appears about to be realised. The growth of HDDs has been fuelled by the uptake of...

Disappearing problem.
September 18, 2006... The spectre of carousel fraud on the UK computer industry could soon disappear, according to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), as a direct result of the reverse charge VAT system, which is on the verge of gaining EU approval. Currently, computer...

Microsoft draws out distribution decision process.
September 18, 2006... Changes to Microsoft's distribution channel may not be as far-reaching as resellers expected and distributors feared after the software giant delayed its decision and revealed that alterations might not be too radical. The vendor's...

High-tech mobile phones multiplying market share.
September 18, 2006... In July 2006, the total mobile phone market continued to enjoy healthy growth in terms of volume, with sales showing 9.4 per cent growth on the same month last year, writes Greg Allen at GfK. Value sales also experienced strong growth of...

Cook joins McCartney on the acquisition trail.(Paul Cook, John McCartney)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... After a six- month absence channel veteran Paul Cook is making a return to the industry backed by a team of investors with plans to acquire at least one niche distributor and four resellers. He will partner channel stalwart John McCartney,...

eBuyer to cut staffing levels.(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... As part of a restructure, eBuyer has put eight staff in the product marketing and purchasing departments on notice of redundancy, although commercial director Steve Kennedy has already left the business. The move will cut costs but also...

Dell held to account.(Dell Inc.)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Tough summer for US giant Dell has been in the headlines for the past few weeks for all the wrong reasons, resulting in damage to its share price and costs to the bottom line. Battery woes Although Dell was not alone in having to...

Nortel pushes growth message.
September 18, 2006... Nortel has moved to beef up its SME push in EMEA with the launch of a marketing campaign and a scheme to get distributors to help dealers develop. The 'Grow your Business. Think Small' campaign comes on the back of the vendor's SMB...

Exodus continues at Check Point as vendor undergoes change.(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Another departure at Check Point reflects the changes the company is going through as the security vendor seeks to regain lost ground. Keith Biggins, a technical support engineer who worked closely with the channel, left the company last...

Management moves to be non-disruptive.
September 18, 2006... As CA's channel head steps down his replacement has reassured resellers there will be no return to the bad old days as the foundations are in place for a channel future. Just weeks after reaffirming CA's commitment to the channel, Gary...

Resellers in need of reassurance.(Interview)
September 18, 2006... Resellers are looking for consistency and loyalty from vendors in the convergence arena after being unsettled by fickle manufacturers according to the latest director of indirect sales at Viatel. Talking to MicroScope, Neil Watson, who...

Something a little special.
September 18, 2006... A couple of years ago the whole focus of the system builder channel seemed to be turning towards mini PCs and with Apple launching a model it seemed to be the perfect platform. But over the first eight months of 2006 things have gone so...

Seeing and hearing is believing.(web cam specialist Logitech)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... The biggest benefit of broadband for both business users and home users that still remains hugely untapped is the chance it offers to change the way we communicate. A great deal of noise has been made by the likes of Skype about the...

Fighting power for e-mail under persistent attack.
September 18, 2006... Protecting e?mail is getting harder all the time due to an increasing number of threats, presenting resellers with the task of coming up with a solution to ensure mail servers can cope with the lot. Life on?line is not just about spam and...

The middlemen could have the last laugh.(Dell Inc)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... There are certain moments ? crossroads, some people call them ? that can change the direction of a company for the better or worse. There can be no doubts that Dell is in one of those situations and every piece of business acumen that the...

Five Minute Interview.
September 25, 2006... What is the thing most people do not know about you? Although I don? want to make this common knowledge, I was once South London Pool Champion. Where is the one place you?d like to visit before you die? I would love to visit Table Mountain...

The long arm of the marketing law.
September 25, 2006... The galloping advance of technological development can be a double-edged sword when it comes to keeping on the right side of marketing law. With each new technological breakthrough, marketers have a novel and exciting way to communicate with...

One point of contact.
September 25, 2006... Unified cCommunications offers a world of opportunities in the SMB market for channel players willing to up skill. Over the past few years voice technology has moved on significantly. The price point of more sophisticated IP-based voice...

Rocom is mid-market route to channel for COLT comms.
September 25, 2006... COLT Telecom has signed distributor Rocom to help it attack the mid-market and shift its sales balance towards the channel. Rocom will become the vendor? first distributor and the companies will jointly promote COLT? communications services...

Paul Kunert reports from Monaco that aggressive pricing is still an issue for hardware specialistPC market recovery puts Acer sales back on track.
September 25, 2006... Time for tools to be tailored to the task The Veriton 1000 has ignored industry-standard PCs after feedback from SMEs suggested they did not need features including optical drives, parallel ports or a PCI card add-on. Kevin O?Donoghue...

Kingston plugs into USB flash storage fears.(Universal serial bus)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Kingston Technology is urging its resellers to tackle the concerns some companies continue to have over USB flash storage. The vendor is currently educating its partners about the benefits of 128-bit encryption and password lockout features...

Data file downsizing.(Virtual tape libraries)
September 25, 2006... Virtual tape libraries (VTLs) are a good idea but you do need to convince customers to buy more disc. And they know they?ll have to buy even more in future. It? a tough call. Remote office back?up is also a good idea but, in practice, difficult...

HMRC angling for big catch.
September 25, 2006... Carousel or missing trader intra community (MTIC) VAT fraud has long been a problem in the IT industry and the government has taken a hardball approach to tacklinge the issueproblem. The latest action is the request to the EU to apply a...

Printers make a positive impact on summer sales.(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... The month of July saw an upturn in the fortunes of the laser market as a whole, with the year-on-year decline of eight per cent reported in June transformed into a 6.5 per cent volume growth, writes Neil Frackiewicz of GfK. Total value sales...

Mitel channel awaits changes.
September 25, 2006... Convergence vendor Mitel has revealed to partners intentions to restructure its channel, with the adoption of a two-level reseller approach and the distribution line-up being rejigged. Mitel? channel partners will meet in Spain where they...

Formjet keen to bag supermarket deal.
September 25, 2006... Tesco looks set to delve deeper into IT sales if negotiations for a major deal with IT group Formjet are successful. One source told MicroScope that the companies were in negotiations, which, if agreed, would see Tesco stock antivirus...

Sun broker raises doubts over renewed access policies.
September 25, 2006... One broker of Sun Microsystems equipment has warned the channel that changes to access policies for the vendor? software updates and patches have discredited the second user market and could affect dealers? ability to provide service. In a...

Leading the way.
September 25, 2006... The build-to-order business model used by Dell has forced most cost- conscious indirect vendors to reduce stock levels in the channel, but that may be changing according to Acer? senior management. The Taiwanese vendor has been the notable...