computer reseller news april 09

April 2009

In this edition, CRN profiles the top 20 channelexecs as voted by SA resellers p23>>

Cream of the cropCream of the cropInsideInside� VoIP trends to watch in 2009 p14>>

� Sun Shines On IBM; Dell’s Genius Bar p18>>

� Security under the spotlight p20>>

I

EDITOR’S: NOTE

Kaunda Chama – editor

t was with much excitement that a possible IBM-Sun deal was announced to the

IT world and we as the media, especially in the channel space, watched with

great interest.

However, as reported by CRN.com at the time of going to press, it seems the Sun

won’t be shining on IBM after all.

The technology giant reportedly withdrew its bid for Sun Microsystems after Sun’s

board of directors rejected IBM’s formal offer. This announcement was also covered

in the Wall Street Journal.

One wonders for whom this is good news and for whom it is bad news as the deal

would have created a major force to be reckoned with on a global scale.

Anyway, Sun’s board reportedly believed IBM’s offer of about US $9.40 per share

was too low, according to reports.

The Journal had earlier reported that IBM and Sun had discussed lowering the offer

in exchange for sticking with the deal through expected regulatory scrutiny.

The media has been abuzz ever since the initial reports of a deal between the two

technology giants surfaced last month.

At that point, IBM had actually put an offer on the table that was significantly higher

than the price at which Sun’s shares had been trading. (On March 18, Sun’s shares

closed at $8.89, a 79 per cent increase, with about 10 times the volume typically

sold on a trading day.)

With all the talk of consolidation in the IT space, I was even of the opinion that this

was a done deal. Clearly, I was a little ahead of myself and forgot the cardinal rule

that there is no such thing as a smooth merger or acquisition nowadays.

Anyway, not long after the excitement built up, IBM decided differently.

Its move comes amid a period when Sun is reorganising its channels and not too

long after the company laid off about 1 500 people.

If the deal ever goes through it will increase IBM’s server market with

Hewlett-Packard (HP) and strengthen its software and storage portfolio.

The IBM Sun dims

CRN Contacts:

Editor:

Kaunda Chama

[email protected]

Associate editor:

Michelle Sturman

[email protected]

Journalist:

Dominic Khuzwayo

[email protected]

Brand executive:

Hellen Murahwa

[email protected]

Sub-editor:

Jenny Bastomsky

[email protected]

Designer:

Spencer van Graan

[email protected]

copyright noticeCRN Southern Africa is published monthly by

Systems Publishers (Pty) Ltd. The copyright of all material in this publication is reserved by the proprietors, except where expressly stated. The publisher, however, will consider reasonable requests for the use of material

by others on condition that the source and author of the report are clearly attributed. Due to the nature of the newspaper print process, Systems Publishers

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CRN Southern Africa is a licensee of CMP Media LLC.

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Contents

2 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • APRIL 2009

News & Analysis4 – What’s News

5 – Demand Generator takes a look at Square One Solutions

signing a R5 million contract with giant food retailer, Shoprite Group.

6 – Hi Five

Comztek recently announced the appointment of new channel manager,El-Marie Kruger.

9 – CommVault launches global partner programme.

By Dominic Khuzwayo

10 – Cisco unleashes unified computing system

By CRN Staff Reporter

14 – VOIP trends to watch in in 2009

By CRN Staff Reporter

17 – Moving to The new model. By Steven Burke

18 – Sun shines on IBM; Dell’s genius bar

By Robert C. DeMarzo

Feature20 – Security: As the global economic recession continues to

empty our pockets, businesses and budget hackers,

on the other hand, are ‘cleaning’ our computers. With many

businesses tightening their budgets to stay in good shape during

the financial drought, IT security seems to remain the ‘thing’ or

rather a must-have for many organisations. By Dominic Khuzwayo

23 – Channel executives profiles

Product and technology38 – Netgear ReadyNAS review

39 – BlackBerry Curve 8900 review

Parting shots40 – Snapshot: Sam Sibeko, Mthombo Managed

Services.

40 – Dilbert 39

19

15

09

06

Database & subscriptions:

Bernice Tlouoe

[email protected]


WHAT’S NEWS

COMINGS GOINGSJooste joins Lexmark SALexmark South Africa has appointed Jerome Jooste in the

key position of service delivery and supply chain manager.

The international printing and imaging company along

with its customers will gain from Jooste’s 14 years’ in-depth

service experience. Jooste’s experience ranges from

managing technical repair centre workshops and new

installation teams nationally and cross border, special projects,

and logistics and warehouse activities to ensure high-level

operational service.

NEW tech boss for Cell CCell C has announced the appointment of Bob Wiggins as

chief technical officer. Wiggins brings an impressive track

record built on 30 years of international experience in the

telecommunications industry to Cell C. This applied know-how

includes technology management, mobile and transmission

network planning, construction and operations. Wiggins joins

Cell C from Globe Telecoms in the Philippines and holds an

Honours Degree in Engineering from the NSW Institute of

Technology in Australia.

EOH appoints Godlonton EOH, business and technology solution provider, recently appointed

Rob Godlonton to head the company’s newly formed strategic

businesses division. Asher Bohbot CEO of EOH explains that the

formation of the division is in line with the rapid growth of the

company. “It has become necessary to adjust the structure to

ensure effective support and control in the organisation,” he says.

Lekoto jumps to Cell CCell C appoints Melody Lekota as chief human resource officer to

its executive team. Lekota joins Cell C from Primedia Limited

where she was appointed group human resources executive in

2003 and a board member in 2006. Lekota’s analytical yet

action-oriented approach to developing HR solutions for the business

coupled with her passion for performance excellence makes her

an invaluable team member. She holds an MBA from De Montfort

University in Leicester and is currently studying for her MA in

human resources through the same institution. In addition, Lekota

has extensive experience in all aspects of executive-level human

resources gained from a range of sectors, including financial

services, food retail and media.

&

Citrix extends relationship with Microsoft Citrix Systems has announced “Project Encore”, extending its collaboration

with Microsoft into the adjacent server virtualisation market. As part of

this strategic alliance, Citrix has announced the availability of a new

solution called Citrix Essentials for Microsoft Hyper-V. The new solution

will extend the enterprise management capabilities of Windows Server

2008 Hyper-V and System Center in the areas of storage management,

provisioning services and lab automation. To accelerate broad availability

to Microsoft Hyper-V customers, Citrix will make Essentials for Microsoft

Hyper-V available to both Citrix and Microsoft resellers worldwide and

collaborate with Microsoft on marketing and training.

New Intel Atom processor Intel Corporation has announced four new versions of processors and

two new system controller hub additions which will be available in the

second quarter of this year. The new products for the Intel Atom processor

Z5xx series include industrial-temperature options as well as different

package-size choices better suited for in-car infotainment devices, media

phones, eco technologies and other industrial-strength applications.

“With the addition of these new products, we can bring the benefits of

Intel processors to new applications, devices and customers who

develop products used in unconstrained thermal environments with

low-power in mind,” says Doug Davis, VP, Digital Enterprise Group and

GM, Embedded and Communications Group, Intel.

AMD launches graphics processorsAMD has announced new graphics processors, the ATI Mobility Radeon

HD 4860 and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830. These graphics processors

redefine mobile PC entertainment with advanced capabilities. “People

now prefer mobile PCs and innovations like this 40nm mobile GPU

show AMD is uniquely positioned to make the entertainment experiences

from desktop PCs possible in a notebook,” says Imi Mosaheb, general

country manager, AMD SA. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4860 graphics will

be featured in the forthcoming Asus K notebook.

Polycom tops in 2008Polycom, suppliers of telepresence, video and voice communications

solutions, has achieved the highest reported market growth of revenue in

‘Group Videoconferencing’ in the Europe, Middle East and Africa

(EMEA) region in 2008. Ploycom scooped a staggering 32% and grew

above market average for revenue and units sold compared to 2007.

“For Polycom in EMEA 2008 was a comeback year,” says Andrew W

Davis, partner at Wainhouse Research, an independent analyst firm that

has been tracking the videoconferencing industry for over a decade.

“During this period, Polycom not only outgrew the overall market,

but also gained market share both in EMEA and worldwide for

videoconferencing endpoint revenues and units,” adds Davies.

OKI expands into sub-Saharan AfricaOKI Printing Solutions has announced its expansion into Botswana,

Swaziland, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Congo, the Democratic

Republic of Congo and Mauritius. Martin Venter, Printacom business

development manager says: “The first steps for us will be to begin

engaging with partners, ensuring they have sufficient training to speak

about our solutions authoritatively, understand which solutions to

recommend in which situation and that sufficiently streamlined supply

chains exist to ensure stock is available timeously.” Venter adds that the

company will be seeking out warranty fulfillment and support partners in

each country, so that any repairs, swap-outs or similar support-related

issues can be dealt with professionally and quickly.

DEMAND GENERATOR: SISSOLUTION PROVIDERS

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

SIS

S tructured Infrastructure Solutions (SIS), a

company in the JSE-listed technology group,

Square One Solutions has recently singed a

R5 million contract with giant food retailer,

Shoprite Group.

In terms of the contract, SIS will implement

an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

solutions and also offer full service and

support.

Belinda Baggott, account manager, SIS

says that the contract was awarded on a

phase basis, the phase two of which included

a service/maintenance contract for three years.

The implementation started in June last

year and phase two started on January ‘09

with fifty stores ranging from Shoprite

Checkers to Usave Liquor Stores in South

Africa and other parts of Africa, says Baggott.

“The UPSes ensure ongoing operations of

all IT equipment in a store in the event of a

power failure, allowing continuous trade.”

Baggott adds that the UPSes supplied

have a small foot print as they hold

internal batteries.

“The locally manufactured UPS units are

designed for South African conditions and

cover a range of capacities up to 40kVA,

depending on the size and requirements of

individual stores.”

According to SIS, customers can therefore

continue their shopping and receive uninter-

rupted service from the tills. The standard

battery back-up on the units at Checkers

stores picks up the power load for 25 minutes

whenever a mains power failure occurs.

In addition this provides the stores with an

ample safety margin as standby generator

power kicks in within a minute or two. Once

utility mains power is restored the standby

generator set shuts down and the UPS

resumes feeding clean, corrected mains

power to the store systems.

SIS says that different requirements apply

for the U-Save stores where the UPS units

have extended battery pack support that will

keep the operations online for up to six

hours when mains power fails.

A most important function of the UPS units

is the cleaning up of power supplied from

both the mains and the standby generator,

ensuring that it is consistently surge and

sag-free to prevent damage to the store’s

IT systems.

The UPS systems are upgradeable to cater

for growth at the stores and the Shoprite

Checkers IT department has remote access

via computer network in order to monitor

aspects of the power support systems such as

UPS usage, standard of power supply and

environmental conditions, among others.

And in terms of safety on the UPS,

Baggott says all power electronic

components are enclosed within the UPS.

Baggott comments that there are no

major interruptions in electricity supply from

Eskom as was experienced previous years

ago. However, no business should exist

without some form on backup system.

“The UPS market offers business an

investment in keeping their trade constant,”

Baggott says.

According to a research by Frost &

Sullivan, the sales of back-up power systems

are inevitably linked to fluctuations in power

supply. Power crises, therefore, spell good

news for uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

companies. With South Africa prone to

power outages, suppliers to this market can

expect a surge in volume sales, but only as

long as foreign investor’s perceptions of

economic growth in this area remain

positive. A perceived economic uncertainty

can very easily dissuade investors from

sinking funds into energy-intensive sectors.

And going forward this year, Baggott says

that SIS will be offering new upgradeability,

user friendly front panel, as well as

upgradeable internal components.

Do you any demand generator stories to

share with us. Please e-mail Dominic

Khuzwayo at [email protected]

powers Shoprite stores

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • APRIL 2009 • 5

UPS keeps business rolling.

“The locally manufactured UPS units are designed forSouth African conditions and cover a range of capacitiesup to 40kVA, depending upon the size and requirementsof individual stores.” – Belinda Baggott, SIS

Belinda Baggott, SIS

omztek recently announced the appointment of a new channel

manager, El-Marie Kruger. With more than 10 years experience in the

IT industry, Kruger will lead Comztek’s Netshield channel drive and

bolster the company’s strong channel presence. She will be

responsible for the management and promotion of the Netshield

brand within Comztek. Kruger, who previously worked for Pinnacle

Micro as Canon brand manager, is expected to further grow Comztek’s

market penetration and bring added value to its existing customers.

CRN got a chance to interview El-Marie Kruger, the new channel

manager for Comztek about her role in the company.

CRN: How does it feel to lead in a male dominated industry?EK: Having been in the IT industry for more than 10 years, I get the

same level of respect from my male colleagues as I do from my

female colleagues. The industry is seeing an increasing number of

women in leading roles, and to a large degree, this has gone a long

way in changing the perception that IT is a ‘boys-only’ zone.

CRN: Tell us about your role?EK: As the channel manager, I oversee the management and

promotion activities around the Netshield account within Comztek. My

responsibilities include maintaining vendor and reseller relations,

inventory management and brand planning. I’m also involved in a lot

of training, either as a trainer or a trainee accumulating and imparting

knowledge. I believe my knowledge of the industry and the contacts I

have made over the years is what puts me a cut above the rest.

CRN: What are you planning to achieve with the Netshield

brand?EK: To leverage the extensive Comztek network to grow the Netshield

brand in the market and put it top of mind with our customer base.

There is a concerted effort throughout Comztek to grow existing

markets and reach into new ones, and this will also be applied in

our Netshield marketing activities.

CRN: What can you promise your partners?EK: Our customers can expect the same dedicated service they have

become accustomed to receiving from us. We are committed to

delivering innovative services to meet our customers’ requirements.

CRN: What’s your view on the IT channel this year?EK: Companies are becoming leaner and meaner, and it is becoming

more difficult for everyone to make the same margins

as they did last year. The successful companies will be those that

offer more than just products to their customers, but also offer

value-added services.

HIGH FIVE: COMZTEK

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

Comztek appointsnew channel manager


El-Marie on the hot seat.

“I believe my knowledge of the industryand the contacts I have made over theyears is what puts me a cut above therest.” – El-Marie Kruger, Comztek

C

WHAT’S NEWS

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Citrix simplifies partner programme Citrix Systems has introduced CSA Authorised, an important

enhancement to the Citrix Solution Advisor (CSA) programme.

The change enables Citrix Solution Advisors at any level the

opportunity to sell Citrix Delivery Center products while working

toward certification requirements. “Now, I can generate revenue

as soon as a new product is released.” says Kennith Rindt,

director of strategic alliances, for AEC Group, a Platinum Citrix

Solution Advisor. “With these programme enhancements Citrix

has once again demonstrated that it understands the challenges

partners face in managing vendor programmes and product

authorisation requirements.”

HP launches new BI services HP has announced new business intelligence services to help

customers manage information complexity, and reduce operating

costs. HP’s new business intelligence services help companies

establish an integrated view of information across their

organisations. They also improve the quality of data and

establish governance models to manage the information as a

shared asset. The resulting improvements in decision-making,

operational efficiency and risk mitigation allow companies to

use their information to make better decisions to meet business

needs. “The services that HP has announced are targeted at

addressing key issues that enable organisations to advance their

efforts,” says Sandra Rogers, programme director, IDC.

Sun deploys computing solutionSun Microsystems has initiated the roll-out of a computing

solution at the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC)

in Cape Town, with local partners Eclipse Networks and

Breakpoint Solutions. This follows on from the awarding of the

CHPC second-phase tender to Sun Microsystems and its partners

to provide the infrastructure for Phase II of this world-class high-

performance computing facility in SA. “The deployment of the

infrastructure for Phase II at the CHPC, forms part of fulfilling the

government’s goal of positioning SA as a beacon of research on

the continent and meeting CHPC’s mission to enable the country

to become globally competitive through the effective use of

high-end IS infrastructure,” says Stefan Jacobs, South and

Eastern Europe (SEE) systems practice solution architect for Sun.

Neotel awarded by CiscoNeotel recently became one of the first telecommunication

providers in SA to be awarded a Cisco-Powered designated

Metro Ethernet offering. This is based on the Cisco Internet

Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture.

Neotel’s Metro Ethernet service, which was launched last year, is

used by a substantial number of enterprise customers. These

services will eventually be extended to incorporate IPTV, video

on demand, gaming, digital media, broadcast capability and

services which directly address the specialised needs of

consumers and business customers such as e-learning and

tele-health consulting. “We strongly believe that collaborating

with Neotel will help to maximise its ability to grow its business,

improve productivity, create cost savings and support a positive

return on investment,” says Steve Midgley, MD, Cisco in SA.

New eyenfor has developed a new way for companies

to view their supply chains the company calls

it the ‘concept-to-customer’ approach.

Jane Thomson, MD of Softworx, an EOH

company and distributor of Infor in sub-

Saharan Africa, says that businesses are

being impacted by a new set of factors from

the far reaches of their supply chains.

Thomson says the concept-to-customer

approach to supply chain management can

be defined as taking the broadest possible

view of the variables impacting a business.

Internal dimension includes manufacturing,

distribution, and the time and costs that go into

sourcing, producing and distributing products.

External factors, like government

regulations and environmental requirements,

drive complexity into the supply chain and

dictate where and how a product is

produced, how it is stored, which trading

partners it is shipped to and how information

about it is communicated.

The customer dimension is generally a

combination of business characteristics over

which a company has influence, but not total

control. While companies have no direct

control over the purchase of their products

they do have ways to influence purchase

decisions through leveraging product lifecycle

management processes and promotional

strategies, for example.

To foster concept-to-customer thinking,

Infor has identified eight supply chain

strategies that enable organisations

to take the actions necessary to build

anticipation and resilience into their

supply chains:

1. Dynamically adjust your network

Often, companies don’t sit down and design

networks; they inherit them as a result of

acquisitions or they evolve them over time as

they expand their operations.

2. Take a global view of demand

By taking a global view, your company can

create an environment that delivers the most

complete picture of customer demand on

your business and intelligently detects trends

and changes at the regional, product,

channel and customer levels.

3. Work the supply network

Effectively working your supply network

necessitates making a number of strategic

decisions. Today, supply chain leaders

can take advantage of optimisation

technologies to make these decisions based

on a holistic picture of demand mix and

supply capacity factors.

4. Boost asset productivity

Advanced planning solutions take

manufacturers, logistics providers and

retailers beyond the confines of traditional

planning into fast, responsive problem-

solving engines that are cognisant of

constraints from the internal dimension.

5. Expand your visibility

Technologies such as RFID can facilitate real-

time visibility of inventory, regardless of where

it is and improve your ability to predict and

plan for product arrival.

6. Know what happens, when it happens

To minimise the effect of an external event or

maximise the opportunity of a new customer

demand, you need to know about it as early

as possible.

7. Design to deliver

Because supply chain leaders know that up

to 70 per cent of new product introductions

fail, product lifecycle management is increas-

ingly being incorporated into supply chain

thinking in two ways. What are they

8. Track performance for continuous

improvement

To sustain the concept-to-customer supply

chain approach, it is necessary to measure

and track how well your company is

addressing challenges from all three

dimensions across your business and against

your key performance indicators.

“By implementing these strategies, companies

can derive tangible business benefits from the

concept-to-customer approach.

“In addition, this type of thinking improves

visibility and your ability to anticipate

and respond to both risk and opportunity in

the management of your supply chain,”

concludes Thomson.

ANALYSIS: SOFTWORX

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

Infor’s concept-to-customer approach.

I

“We believe companies are best served by viewing their supply chains in terms of three dimensions: internal, external and customer.” – Jane Thomson,MD, Softworx

Jane Thomson, MD, Softworx

for supply chain

ANALYSIS: COMMVAULT

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


CommVault

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

Equipping channel partners.

CommVault Systems, an independent software

and service company focused exclusively on

data management, recently announced a

new global reseller and OEM partner

programme named CommValue.

CommValue is designed to enhance

CommVault’s Simpana software delivery

skills, fuel adoption of CommVault software

in the market and accelerate customer ROI.

The CommValue portal features a unique

methodology expressly developed for

certified CommVault partners authorised to

deploy the Simpana suite of backup, archive,

replication, resource management and

search software.

According to CommVault, with this

programme, partners can knowledgeably

engage with customers throughout the

deployment of Simpana software from initial

design conversations focused on identifying

which features and functionality should be

deployed to later project implementation or

support discussions.

“Channel partners continue to be an

integral part of our team and help us to

reach out to new customers around the

world. Our objective is to help our partners

to seamlessly scale their businesses in line

with our growth goals,” says Robert Brower,

VP, Services and Technical Support, CommVault.

“With the CommValue programme, we

are breaking new ground in how we

collaborate with our partners to implement,

service and deliver Simpana software to

new customers.”

Brower adds that partners now have at

their disposal a complete and repeatable

programme of professional services,

education and customer-service capabilities

that are tried and tested. CommValue arms

partners with the tools to more easily extend

to customers the operational efficiency and

economic benefits of Simpana software.

Following the launch of CommVault

Simpana 8 software, the CommValue

programme was born and the subscription-

based programme was rolled out to partners

at the beginning of April 2009.

Nick Wonfor, GM of CommVault Systems,

Africa says: “With this programme, partners

can engage with customers throughout the

lifecycle of the Simpana software

deployment, from initial design conversations

focused on identifying which Simpana

software features and functionality should be

deployed, to later project implementation or

support discussions.”

Wonfor says that the goal behind the

CommValue programme is to simplify and

streamline processes, communication

channels and share information between

CommVault and its respective partners, thus

enabling its partners to more effectively

prospect, sell, deploy and support its data

management solution. He adds that this

programme will expand CommVault’s reach

in the local market. According to Wonfor,

the South African channel is still in a

growth phase and programmes like this

aid it in providing partners with the tools

to more easily extend to customers the

operational efficiency and economic benefits

of its software.

“It is our objective is to help our partners

scale their businesses, provide them with

the right tools and align their goals with

our own.”

CommValue is the latest programme

showcasing CommVault’s commitment to

continuously improving customer service and

support for both its partners and customers.

In addition, CommVault is joining a

number of vendors who are bringing out

new partner programmes and giving old

programmes a new look.

However, most solution providers now

know what they want out of partner

programmes. They want good knowledge

and quality training, especially during these

tough times not just a certificate to hang on

the wall.

“It is our objective is to help our partners scale theirbusinesses, provide them with the right tools and aligntheir goals with our own.” – Nick Wonfor, GM,CommVault Systems, Africa.

launches global partner programme

Nick Wonfor, GM, CommVault Systems

isco last month unveiled an evolutionary new

data centre architecture, innovative services and

an open ecosystem of partners to help

customers develop next-generation data centres

that unleash the full power of virtualisation.

With the announcement, Cisco delivered

on its promise of virtualisation through

unified computing – an architecture that

bridges the silos in the data centre into one

unified architecture using industry-standard

technologies.

Key to Cisco’s approach is its unified

computing system which unites compute,

network, storage access and virtualisation

resources in a single, energy-efficient system

that can reduce IT infrastructure costs and

complexity, help extend capital assets and

improve business agility well into the future.

This move extends Cisco’s data centre

portfolio and is a critical step in the

company’s Data Centre 3.0 strategy.

To help customers accelerate their

transition to the unified computing architecture,

Cisco is paving the way with a comprehensive

suite of new unified computing services. In

addition, the company also announced

collaborations with industry leaders on the

unified computing system and architecture.

“In SA there is growing concern around

the impact of virtualisation on the data

centre where the cost of operations relative

to power, efficiency, cooling and management

has begun overtaking the capital expenditure

required to build the data centre,” says Nic

Rouhotas, consulting systems engineer for

Data Centre Technologies at Cisco.

“Our evolutionary new data centre

architecture will provide customers in SA with

an energy-and cost-efficient system, while the

reduction in cabling and active components

as well as the embedded system management

will simplify the operational aspect of the

data centre. The unified computing solution

leverages Nexus technology and is designed

with unified fabric capabilities and also

supports rapid provisioning of services for

compute, storage, virtualisation and

networking. It makes the data centre more

efficient while enabling service elasticity,”

he says.

According to the vendor, apart from the

competitive pricing of the solution, further

cost reductions can be realised through

savings in power consumption, the use of

less cabling and easier management.

Based on industry standards, the system is

a new computing model that uses integrated

management and combines a “wire once”

unified fabric with an industry-standard

computing platform to optimise virtualisation,

reduce data centre overall costs and provide

dynamic resource provisioning for increased

business agility.

Cisco claims that the system reduces total

cost of ownership through up to 20 per cent

reduction in capital expenditure (capex) and

up to 30 per cent reduction in operational

expenditure (opex).

It also apparently improves IT productivity

and improves business agility through

provisioning applications in minutes instead

of days. It also increases scalability without

added complexity because it is managed as

a single system, whether it has one or 320

servers with thousands of virtual machines.

This can also lead to improvements in

energy efficiency by significantly reducing

power and cooling costs, and on top of that

providing interoperability and investment

protection through industry standards-based

infrastructure.

Innovative designTaking a clean-slate architectural approach

to data centre infrastructure, Cisco designed

an entirely new class of computing system

which incorporates the new Cisco UCS

B-Series blades based on the future Intel

Nehalem processor families (the next-gener-

ation Intel Xeon processor). The Cisco blades

offer patented, enhanced memory technology

to support applications with large data sets

and allows significantly more virtual

machines per server.

The system also provides support for a

unified fabric over a low latency, lossless,

10 gigabit-per-second Ethernet foundation.

This network foundation consolidates what

today are three separate networks: local

area networks (LANs), storage area

networks (SANs) and high-performance

computing networks.

According to Cisco, this lowers costs by

reducing the number of network adapters,

switches, cables and decreasing power/

cooling requirements.

It also enhances the scalability,

performance and operational control of

virtual environments. Cisco security, policy

enforcement and diagnostics features are

now extended into dynamic virtualised

environments to better support changing

business and IT requirements.

Support for a unified fabric means that the


ANALYSIS: CISCO

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

C

Cisco unleashes its first unified computing system.

Another stride for Unified comms

BY CRN STAFF REPORTER

“The Cisco unified computing system offers a clean-sheetapproach to solving data centre challenges by offering asingle holistic solution with integrated management andthe critical support necessary for scaling virtualisation,” –Vernon Turner, senior VP, IDC

ANALYSIS: CISCO

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

unified computing system can access storage

over Ethernet, fibre channel, fibre channel

over Ethernet or iSCSI, providing customers

with choices and investment protection. In

addition, IT staff can pre-assign storage

access policies for system connectivity to

storage resources, simplifying storage

connectivity and management, and helping

to increase IT productivity.

Management is integrated into all the

components of the system, enabling the

entire solution to be managed as a single

entity through the Cisco UCS Manager.

The Cisco UCS Manager provides an

intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), a

command line interface (CLI) and a robust

application programming interface (API) to

manage all system configuration and operations.

Its service profiles help to automate

provisioning and increase business agility.

IT managers can achieve more energy-

efficient data centres with the new Cisco

system as it uses one third of the components,

and requires less cabling and power/cooling

than legacy server installations.

The industry’s view“The virtual machine has become the new

atomic building block of the data centre,

creating new challenges and opportunities

with the potential to transform the computing

environment and deliver significant benefits,”

says Mario Mazzola, Cisco senior VP Server

Access and Virtualisation Business Unit.

“Taking advantage of this architectural shift in

the data centre, we developed a unique new

computing model that transforms the data

centre into a dynamic IT environment with the

power to increase productivity, improve

business agility and drive the benefits of

virtualisation to an entirely new level.”

“We are excited to be one of the first

service providers to test the Cisco unified

computing system and we see an opportunity

for increased value to customers directly

attributable to this new architectural model,”

says Bryan Doerr, Savvis CTO. “For us to

operate virtualised and cloud environments

reliably, affordably and at large scale is

paramount to being able to offer compelling

value to our customers worldwide.”

“In today’s economy, IT organisations are

mandated to increase productivity and cut

costs while maintaining the IT excellence that

provides their companies with a competitive

edge,” says John Enck, research VP,

Enterprise Network Services and Infrastructure

at Gartner. “CIOs will invest in innovative

technology if it increases productivity, protects

their existing IT investments and demonstrates

real benefits that will extend the life of the

data centre.”

“The Cisco unified computing system

offers a clean-sheet approach to solving data

centre challenges by offering a single holistic

solution with integrated management and the

critical support necessary for scaling virtuali-

sation,” says Vernon Turner, senior VP of

Enterprise Infrastructure, Consumer and

telecom research at IDC. “By increasing the

performance and scale of virtualised

environments while at the same time improving

the ability to control and manage virtual

workloads, this solution has the potential to

deliver the full benefits of virtualisation across

the data centre to increase productivity and

agility, and reduce IT costs.”

On the solution, the vendor has partnered

with the likes of Microsoft, Novell, VMWare,

BMC Software, EMC, Dimension Data, Long

View, CSC and Accenture.

According to Cisco, distributors and

resellers will soon have the ability to get a

piece of the $100 million data centre

computing market.

Meanwhile, the company is in the process

of qualifying local partners and has identified

potential sign-ups based on their focus on

relevant areas of expertise (database,

virtualisation and storage).

In addition, Cisco says it will set up an ATP

programme for its channel partners that will

focus on its new unified computing system.

“In today’s economy, IT organisations are mandated toincrease productivity and cut costs while maintaining theIT excellence that provides their companies with acompetitive edge.” – John Enck, senior VP, Gartner.

HD voiceow that basic VoIP technology has received

mass acceptance, a natural progression

seems to be a move in the direction of high-

definition voice, but will companies accept a

technology that for most will be a nice to

have as opposed to a must-have.

CRN spoke to Chris Wortt, VoIP sales manag-

er at Polycom about the technology and how

the company hopes to see the technology’s

adoption both on a local and global scale.

According to the company, the fact that

global economic downturn is forcing

companies to curb spending yet increase

revenues to survive is resulting in a knee-jerk

response to cut technology spend down

to the ‘bare bones’ – a move which is

likely to result in higher long-term costs and

impact negatively months or even years

down the line.

Meanwhile, this is impacting resellers and

their ability to remain profitable. Polycom

believes that the alternative, selectively using

advanced technology to enhance key

processes and boost productivity, needs to be

considered and this is where resellers can

differentiate themselves when selling IP

telephony solutions.

According to Wortt, enterprise and call

centre telephony systems are a case in point.

“What companies don’t realise is that their

existing solutions, be they analogue or Voice

over IP, are impacting customer service. In

contact centre communication, for example,

certain sounds become indistinguishable

(such as ‘th’ and ‘s’), making it difficult to

understand or grasp what the person is

saying,” he comments.

“Another example is a conference call.

Many of us are so focused on what the

person is saying, leaning over to the

conference call device, that we do not give

the necessary attention to understanding the

issue at hand,” adds Wortt.

He comments that at the moment, people

live their lives in high definition when in

comes to television and video, but they seem

to be leaving voice out of this equation.

Wortt goes on to say that now that codecs

and end points are widely available as

communications companies push this

technology, HD voice telephony over Internet

Protocol should become part of companies’

communication strategies.

“HD voice has significant business

benefits, especially in companies that depend

on good levels of voice quality in their

service delivery, and those that do a lot of

conference calls,” he says.

He comments that often during conference

calls, participants find themselves leaning into

the end-point devices to have their voices

clearly heard, adding that HD voice solutions

eliminate this because of the quality of the

mics and speaker units.

“With HD voice, the participants can sit

back, relax and speak naturally as if the person

was in the same room as them because the

technology becomes invisible and they

concentrate on the matter at hand,” says Wortt.

He, however, admits that although HD

voice is not exactly mission critical at the

moment, it can greatly improve communications

by eliminating problems that arise with

different accents and languages.

High-definition voice or wide-band voice

also gives corporates the advantage of

higher frequency and range capability – with

the current compression technologies

available on the market it can be done at a

64K streaming rate.

With the right components at end points

(speakers and mics), Wortt says that users

can experience greatly improved acoustics.

“On the matter of costs, we all know that

technology is continuing to get cheaper.

Even though the Polycom IP600 is still

comparatively more expensive than our

standard sound station, this situation is due

to change in the near future,” he says.

Apparently, HD voice is enjoying increased

penetration in the US, UK and Europe as

more and more companies are starting to

consider it as a tool for improved business

communications.

Locally, although not too notable, it has started

gaining a lot of ground. Wortt comments that

as the telecommunications space becomes

more deregulated, interest will increase.

Wortt admits that under the current

economic conditions, the business case for

HD voice has not become very compelling

for corporates.

The fact that it is suitable for both network

providers and companies looking to improve

their inter-branch communication will see it

gaining a lot of interest from the public and

private sectors very soon.

ANALYSIS: VOIPSOLUTION PROVIDERS


BY KAUNDA CHAMA

It might be a long shot but it has a business case.

“HD voice has significant business benefits, especially incompanies that depend on good levels of voice quality intheir service delivery, and those that do a lot of conferencecalls,” – Chris Wortt, VoIP sales manager, Polycom

The option of

Chris Wortt, VoIP sales manager Polycom

N

ANALYSIS: VOIPSOLUTION PROVIDERS


VOIP

BY CRN STAFF WRITER

Looking ahead with one of the leading distributors.

While the global recession, weak consumer

spending and the credit crisis may be at the

top of everyone’s list of concerns, Even Flow,

a specialist Voice over Internet Protocol

(VoIP) hardware distributor, believes that

most VoIP industry players are keenly

identifying areas of opportunity and

aggressively pursuing them.

“Due to its cost-saving abilities, VoIP is

one of the hottest technologies to watch,”

says Adrian Bush, MD of Even Flow. “Large,

medium and small enterprises are all looking

for cost-cutting solutions that provide faster

return on investment (ROI) and many CEOs

are targeting voice communications as a

way of reducing costs.”

He goes on to say that the introduction of

open source VoIP solutions, the growing

diversity in offerings available through local

resellers as well as the availability of

solutions that offer true resilience/failover

are all factors that will aid adoption among

local businesses.

Trend one: Strong move towards open

source solutions. Aside from being costly,

older telephony solutions (PBX, voice, etc.)

were proprietary and closed. Each vendor

proffered its own technology and competing

systems were not compatible with one another.

This meant vendors retained complete control

and customers were totally reliant on them

for fixes, developments and improvements.

Deployment costs were high, support was

expensive and feature sets were fixed.

“Open source has gained considerable

acceptance in all markets over the past few

years and IP telephony is no exception,” says

Bush. “The appeal here is lower cost and

higher flexibility benefits from open source

platforms such as Asterisk. Businesses are

now being offered an advanced feature set

at a fraction of the price of older, more

proprietary systems. We view this market

move as a great opportunity for local

resellers of open source solutions as demand

is set to increase in the wake of global

economic concerns.”

Trend two: Improved offering from local

VoIP providers With interconnecting rates

dropping all the time, local VoIP providers

(whose numbers are also growing) are finally

able to offer a more competitive service to

the local market.

Furthermore, a recent court ruling has

empowered VAN licence holders with the

ability to self-provide, which will result in a

more competitive market and better offerings

to consumers.

Many consumers view VoIP and the

convergence required to get it right as risky

business. This is no longer an issue, says

Bush. “With experienced, trained professionals

available to get things rolling, to assess and

tweak the data network and to set them up

with the right service for voice transmission,

businesses no longer have to concern

themselves with dodgy installations through

fly-by-night providers.”

As more businesses adopt VoIP, the

expectation for performance, response times

and versatility will increase and it is the new

blood in VoIP which is currently preparing for

the influx.

Trend three: Continued popularity of

solutions that offer true resilience/failover

features. The development and introduction

of IP telephony solutions with support for

PSTN has negated previous concerns around

resilience and failover in VoIP environments.

With bandwidth issues experienced generally

equating to queries around the reliability and

quality of VoIP applications, the introduction

of products that offer the benefits of VoIP

coupled with the reliability and quality of

PSTN failover are meeting these demands.

“Larger organisations that are wary of the

costs associated with what looks like the

complete replacement of current systems can

rest easy as well,” says Bush.

“New technology development means that

businesses of all sizes can avoid the all-at-

once capital expenditure by transitioning an

existing PBX to VoIP with smart gateway

appliances allowing businesses to use VoIP

for least-cost routing.”

The way the industry’s evolving, and the

pace at which it is doing so, is proving that

it’ll soon be affordable for any business to

venture into VoIP. In fact, Bush concludes, the

day is coming when they can’t afford not to.

“Due to its cost-saving abilities, VoIP is one of the hottesttechnologies to watch.” – Adrian Bush, MD, Even Flow

trends to watch in 2009

Adrian Bush, MD, Even Flow

CRN, in conjunction with the Institute for PartnerEducation and Development is taking part in a globalstudy on the state of the IT markets in various countries.

Don’t miss this chance to contribute your opinion to theresearch process by taking part in the study.

To be a participant in the research process, visit the CRNwebsite and click on the survey link and fill in thequestionnaire, making you an official contributor to theresearch process.

All contributors will automatically get a copy of the finalresults of the study, free of charge.

Extracts from the study’s findings will also be published inthe July edition of CRN as well as appear on the CRNwebsite for the whole of July.

ANALYSIS: SAPSOLUTION PROVIDERS


Local guysBY CRN STAFF REPORTER

First South African global-certified SAP All-in-One partners announced.

SAP Africa this month announced the

qualification of the first seven South African

partners and their nine customised business

management solutions as part of its

global SAP All-in-One partner solutions

programme.

The vendor’s Business All-in-One

solutions are comprehensive and extensible

on-premise business solutions with industry

best practices built in. These solutions are

highly optimised to meet the business and IT

resource challenges of midsize companies in

their respective industries.

Essentially, this means that the partners

who have been awarded this worldwide

certification are authorised to provide their

verticalised and customised solutions to

companies throughout the world with SAP’s

full backing and support.

“This is a huge step both for SAP and its

South African partners,” explains Derek

Kudsee, director SME, SAP Africa. “It not

only speaks volumes about the great work

being done locally by our partners, but also

presents local partners with the potential for

expanding their reach into international

markets with SAP’s support.

“By selecting a certified solution from one

of these seven partners, customers gain the

assurance that their SAP All-in-One solution

has been developed and delivered by an

SAP partner who has extensive expertise in a

particular industry,” he explains.

“It also means that SAP has thoroughly

vetted the solution on offer from the partner

and confirmed that the correct and approved

processes and guidelines have been adhered

to at all of the steps involved in developing

and providing a complete solution to the

customer,” Kudsee adds.

“Certified solutions are also reviewed

annually to ensure partners are able to continue

delivering the solution in question for new

customers, while adhering to the same

prescribed guidelines and processes,” he says.

Kudsee says that the process of getting a

solution certified on a worldwide basis is

rigorous and thorough for good reason.

“We need to pass assurance onto our

customers that the partner in question is

capable of following the SAP guidelines for

developing a solution, able to demonstrate

the ability to implement it rapidly and

provide several reference customers from

the vertical industry in question as proof of

its expertise.

“These strict regulations help to ensure

that qualified SAP All-in-One partner

solutions are delivered by competent

partners,” he says.

The first seven partners certified as part of

the global SAP All-in-One partner solutions

programme and their solutions are:

Deloitte Consulting, for its solution aimed

at smaller mining operations

Faranani Sapremo, which has also

developed a solution aimed at the mining

industry GijimaAST, for its two local government

solutions – one aimed at local municipalities,

while the second addresses district municipalities.

SCT Services, for its solution aimed at

consumer goods and fast-moving consumer

goods companies

Swicon has developed a cross-industry

human capital management solution

T-Systems South Africa, for its turnkey

health care solution as well as a broad

spectrum baseline system;

UCS Solutions, for its retail industry solution.

“We are extremely proud of the effort,

hard work and determination these partners

have shown throughout the development of

their solutions and their qualification on the

global SAP All-in-One partner solutions

programme,” Kudsee adds.

“Over the coming year they will gain the

ability to use ‘Qualified SAP All-in-One

Partner Solution’ on all of the marketing

related to their solution, SAP’s marketing

support, listing as a provider of a qualified

SAP All-in-One Partner Solution on our

international website and sales leads from

SAP whenever an opportunity to provide a

solution in their chosen area of expertise

comes to light,” he explains.

“These partners have shown a great

deal of commitment to SAP and we will

reciprocate with our full support and backing,”

he concludes.

“Certified solutions are also reviewed annually to ensurepartners are able to continue delivering the solution inquestion for new customers, while adhering to the sameprescribed guidelines and processes.” – DerekKudsee, director SME, SAP Africa

get global recognition

Derek Kudsee, director SME, SAP Africa

INTERNATIONAL: NEWS

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


at Walsh, the owner of Computer Station of

Orlando, is one of those solution providers

that has survived by constantly climbing the

technology ladder and moving to new

business models.

These days, Walsh is moving aggressively

into hosted or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

solutions that his company can brand itself

and sell as a monthly service.Whether you call

it hosted, SaaS or managed services, the trend

is inexorable. Solution providers moving

squarely to a recurring revenue model are

driving higher profits and sales than those stuck

in the old sell-the-next-IT-project paradigm.

Walsh recently partnered with eFolder, a

SaaS remote backup vendor based in

Atlanta, and is keen on Reflexion, a hosted

e-mail threat protection, archiving discovery

and recovery vendor. “This industry is moving

to an all-hosted solutions model,” Walsh

says. “That’s where I’m going. I don’t have

the risk. I push it out to my clients and

charge them monthly.” And Computer

Station of Orlando is the brand, and it sets

the price.

For years, we here at Everything Channel

have talked about the solution provider as

the defining brand. And no matter how often

we hammer it home, there are a lot of big

vendors that have not changed their models

or mind-sets to capitalise on the new

channel dynamics. That failure of some of

the big vendors to move quickly is allowing

vendors like eFolder and Reflexion to capture

critical solution provider share in what is one

of the hottest market segments.

Take eFolder. Jan Spring, vice president of

Sales, said at Everything Channel’s recent

XChange event that she took 18 of her

partners to dinner, up from only three a year

ago. It’s striking anecdotal data about just

how fast the hosted recurring revenue model

is taking hold. One of the policies that

separates companies like eFolder and

Reflexion from the pack is they do not

publish pricing on the Internet. What’s more,

both those vendors have a 100 per cent

channel model that allows solution providers

to brand the services as their own. In an age

when vendors insist on setting margin and

pricing, eFolder and Reflexion are a breath

of fresh air. A lot of vendors have forgotten

one of the basic maxims of this business:

Where there is mystery, there is margin.They

understand solution providers need to make

a living.

“I was a system integrator,” Spring says. “I

ran my own company for 12 years. I was

part of the channel.” So what’s driving

eFolder’s success? “We’re getting a snowball

effect,” Spring says. “We’re seeing increasing

adoption of managed services, increasing

awareness of SaaS and eFolder’s superior

technology and infrastructure.”

Spring said one of the ingredients that makes

eFolder successful is a corporate culture that

puts solution provider success at the heart of

the company. “Our corporate motto is, ‘Your

success is our success,’” she says.Ω

Pat Walsh, owner, Computer Station

P

Moving to the new modelBY STEVEN BURKE

• Strange Bedfellows? Dell has done what was once the

unthinkable: taken its heralded direct model to two-tier distribution

in a bid to capture solution provider share. Dell recently inked a

landmark distribution deal, paving the way for powerhouses

Ingram Micro and Tech Data to provide US VARs with

fixed-configuration Vostro desktops and notebooks within a 24 to

48-hour period.

The agreement will soon be extended to Canada and eventually to

other areas, and will include more product lines. The big question is

whether Ingram Micro and Tech Data will be able to provide pricing

below what Dell offers direct to customers. “If I end up

paying the same price or more for what I can get from Dell

direct, then providing a distribution channel isn’t going to be an

advantage for anyone,” says Tyler Dikman, CEO of CoolTronics, a

solution provider.

• Will They Or Won’t They? That’s the question that IBM and Sun

partners are asking after a report surfaced that IBM was in talks to

acquire struggling Sun for US $6.5 billion in cash. Neither company

would comment on the reports.

“It’s inevitable that someone would buy Sun. It’s indicative of IBM,

HP and Cisco fighting for the data centre,” says Michael Kirven,

President of Edge Solutions, an HP reseller.

“HP has made huge headway in servers, and IBM is losing to

them.” An IBM acquisition of Sun could ultimately work to HP’s

benefit, Kirven says, and presumably its channel partners.

Deals this size inevitably introduce a certain amount of disruption that

can send customers to safer harbors. “You don’t swallow Sun overnight

and retain people and products,” Kirven says. That would be particularly

true given the two vendors’ very different cultures that he described as

“West Coast with flip-flops and East Coast with suits and ties.”

Everthing you need to know

espite the hardship befallen many high-tech

companies during this recession, IBM

executives have maintained a swagger.

That’s not to say that Sam Palmisano’s

troops aren’t running scared, but their con-

sistent message is they have the cash ($12.9

billion) along with a diverse enough business

model to weather the storm and, with a little

luck, will come out of the downturn stronger.

IBM, of course, does face challenges.

Strengthening its sales into the midmarket

and focusing on sales less than $100,000

are two areas the company needs to address

quickly – mostly from a partner perspective.

I am not sure if purchasing Sun can help

IBM on those fronts, but it certainly took

advantage of the downturn to pick off a

competitor – albeit one that is a shell of its

former self. Neither IBM nor Sun are

commenting on reports the two are talking

to consolidate their Java efforts or server

platforms, but comments from Intel CEO

Paul Otellini disclosed in an SEC filing

confirmed Sun has been seeking suitors

lately, with IBM as the lead candidate.

Face it, with a market cap of about

$6 billion compared with IBM’s $131

billion, and Sun churning out around

$13 billion in sales annually with $2.6

billion in cash, the company looks attractive.

Now the lawyers and bean counters get to

crunch the numbers.

From a channel perspective, there remain

a few loyal Sun VARs along with the dedicated

sales organizations within two distributors.

But Sun never really cracked the channel

code and remains an also-ran in the big

leagues of partner programs. If IBM does

decide to absorb Sun, its first order of

business should be to find a way to expand

the channel reach for Sun’s hardware

and software.

The irony here is that just a few weeks ago

headhunters were scouring the channel

looking for candidates interested in

managing Sun’s worldwide partner

organisation. No one was biting. Many

privately confessed they did not want the Sun

job on their resume.You can admire Scott

McNealy for many things, but, ultimately,

Sun’s downfall rests on his shoulders

because he fundamentally never understood

the power of the channel.

It is interesting that we are writing about

Sun’s last chapter while Dell is trying to

re-create itself as a channel-friendly – I won’t

say “centric” – company. Its I-cannot-believe-

this happened deals with Tech Data and

Ingram Micro are a defining moment with

broad implications for its competitors.

Worldwide channel chief Greg Davis’

progress is to be admired, yet there are still

many VARs who see direct-sales conflict.

Make no mistake – the deal is intended to

save Dell millions as it essentially outsources

channel sales and support to those distribu-

tors. There is certainly no better reason to do

it than that. But in partnering with the Big

Two, Dell effectively puts the squeeze on a

wide range of competitors that have for

many years relied heavily on distribution,

experts say. Let’s take the likes of HP and

Lenovo out of the conversation and focus

instead on Acer. Acer has gained share and

momentum the past few years by relying on

distributors to build its brand in the market,

and it has had an arm’s-length relationship

with VARs.

Without strong relationships with partners

or an intimate understanding of its sales

channel, it could be the victim of Dell’s

distribution moves. Unless, of course,

companies like Acer,Toshiba and a bevy of

peripheral companies respond with direct

channel programs. HP or Lenovo partners

say they will be hardpressed to sell a Dell

product because the goods are available

through distribution. But the same is not true

for many other brands, and that is the genius

behind the Dell move.


INTERNATIONAL: NEWS

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Robert C. DeMarzo

Sun shines on IBM;Dell’s Genius Bar BY ROBERT C. DEMARZO

The irony here is that just a few weeks ago headhunterswere scouring the channel looking for candidates inter-ested in managing Sun’s worldwide partner organisation.

D

INTERNATIONAL: NEWS

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


hile many small and midsize businesses focus

on printer hardware and consumable costs,

they often have no clue as to how much they

are actually spending. Enter managed print

services. By managing all of a customer’s

fleet of printing-related devices, resellers can

give their customers a true picture of their

bottom line.

‘Invisible’ expenses, such as the efficiency of

machines and network costs, can play behind

the scenes. Providing managed print services

(MPS) is an opportunity for resellers to lift the

veil, offer suggestions and make money.

Managed print services, however, is still

considered by many in the industry as the new

kid on the block in a town where the streets

are paved with physical machines and toners.

“The imaging industry printers, MFPs,

copiers and supplies has long been

hardware-centric,” says Ed Crowley, founding

partner and CEO of research firm Photizo

Group. “Services have often been perceived

as a necessary evil... a byproduct of selling

profitable hardware and even more

profitable supplies.”

As with all reselling opportunities,

managed print services starts with an

assessment of a customer’s business, and it’s

not about convincing them to trade up from

a Honda to a Lamborghini.

“I try to show customers the benefits of

MPS and how they can do more with less,”

says Mike Mooney, founder of Encompass, a

Hewlett-Packard Co. partner. “Our goal is to

help companies leverage what they have, not

sell them more equipment.”

For example, many organisations don’t

know that their ratio of employees to printers

is skewed.

“Often, companies don’t know how much

they’re over- or underutilising devices,”

Crowley says. “As it turns out, many times

companies have way too many devices.”

Another piece of the managed print services

equation is looking at how printing is

trafficked. By determining what kinds of

printers are in use, a reseller can suggest a

workgroup printer over individual desktops,

for quite significant savings.

Vendors such as HP, Xerox and Ricoh are

all giving resellers the tools they need for a

managed print services world.

HP has what many solution providers

consider to be robust offerings. For example,

HP’s Web Jetadmin is a Web-based

management software tool that centrally

manages print devices and is now being

upgraded.The company is in the midst of

discontinuing version 8.1 and all previous

versions of the Web Jetadmin software;

version 10.1 of the software is now available.

In October 2008, Ricoh Professional

Services launched its MPS program to make

it easier to outsource all or part of print

management. Users only pay for actual

output and work with one point of contact to

streamline the process.

In addition to consolidating output with

fewer and faster centralised print systems,

Ricoh uses software via remote monitoring

and management tools to ensure a print

environment runs smoothly and documents

remain confidential. Xerox’s PagePak is an

inclusive service-and-supplies contract.

Specifically, PagePak offers a single contract

that covers pages printed, maintenance,

services and all consumables for networked

printers and multifunction systems. It also

includes a fixed-cost-per-page, black-and-

white and color, and contracts for up to five

years are tailored to customers’ usage.

“PagePak gets rid of the administration

issues and lets us focus on other things.

The margins are very attractive,” says Mark

Szalkiewicz, a senior account manager at

San Diego-based Horizon Computers, a

Xerox partner.

Szalkiewicz says he likes the fact

that Horizon Computers is able to

co-brand its logo with Xerox’s PagePak.

In the same way that a bank issues a Visa

credit card, for example, the institution’s

name appears on the card but Visa takes

care of the billing and other back-office

headaches, he said.

W

Printing: less is more BY MICHELE MASTERSON

‘Invisible’ expenses, such as the efficiency of machinesand network costs, can play behind the scenes. Providingmanaged print services (MPS) is an opportunity forresellers to lift the veil, offer suggestions and makemoney. – Michele Masterson


SECURITY FEATURE

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

s the global economic recession continues to

empty our pockets, businesses and budget

hackers, on the other hand, are ‘cleaning’

out our computers.

With many businesses tightening their

budgets to stay in good shape during the

financial drought, IT security seems to remain

the ‘thing’ or rather a must-have for many

organisations.

CRN.com did research in which it asked

vendors whether security is more resilient in a

down economy. Not surprising, almost all the

vendors said security issues are here to stay

no matter what.

“During economic turmoil, data remains

the most valuable asset and consequently, it

needs to be protected,” says Bogdan

Dumitru, CTO at BitDefender

“It is worth mentioning that SA ranks

among the top 30 most-infected countries

and scored a significant growth rate of 196.30

per cent between March, 08 and 15, compared

to the first week of the same month.

“We expect that consumers both business

and home to become more aware of this

necessity and therefore to better evaluate

their needs in terms of system and

information defence.”

Dumitru adds that the price element will

definitely influence users’ decisions to buy

one security suite as opposed to another.

“We expect in the months to come to see

several migrations from expensive solutions

towards the less costly ones that provide

similar or even supplemental quality

and features.”

Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda Security,

sub-Saharan region says IT security is

impacted by pressure to reduce costs and

company headcounts which results in

overstretch of IT admin which can lead to lapses

in the maintenance of adequate protection.

“This is dangerous because the recession

has sparked a surge in malware as more

and more people resort to illegitimate means

to make money, tapping into people’s

desperation to make money in an economic

downturn.”

According to Matthews, the cyber

threatscape is more dangerous than ever

before and IT security has never been

more important.

John Thompson, CA products manager,

Security at Workgroup says: “You’d think that

an economic recession would equate to less

spending on security. If you guessed that, in

many cases, you’d be incorrect.”

Thompson adds that as the economy

worsens, companies are noticing there are

more attacks on their systems. Some recent

trends show that as more of the world’s

economies are struggling, more people

are looking at illegal ways of making

money and for many that means hacking,

creating malware or stealing personal,

financial information.

Threats to look forSoftware security firm, Kaspersky Labs

Security predicts that phishing and scams

are another type of cybercrime influenced

by the economic crisis and will continue to

gain intensity.

Firstly, the economic situation will cause

users to be more sensitive about anything

related to e-payments and online banking

systems. This does not necessarily mean they

“In 2008 we noticed an upswing in threat activity relatedto social networking sites. These threats involved phishingfor username accounts and using social context as a wayto increase the success rate of an online threat.” – ChadCleevely, business manager, Symantec Africa.

ABY DOMINIC KHUWAYO

IT security in demand.

Safety first, always

will be more alert to potential scams.

Secondly, the technical sophistication

needed to develop and spread new

malicious programs will force many

cybercriminals to search for simpler and

cheaper ways of making money.

It is well known and documented that

identity theft through phishing, pharming and

hacking will be on the rise and the insider

threats will top the list of threat vectors,

says Harish Chib, VP New Business

Development, Cyberoam.

“Similarly, by way of threat types, blended

threats will continue to rise innovating on the

technology and social engineering aspect.

The threats will further proliferate as vectors

like blogs, social networking sites and IM

gain increasing popularity and interactivity of

Web 2.0 technology,” adds Chib.

Chad Cleevely, small business manager

for Africa at Symantec says: “In 2008, we

noticed an upswing in activity in threats

related to social networking sites. These

threats have involved phishing for username

accounts and using social context as a

way to increase the success rate of an

online threat.”

Cleevely adds that spammers in select

EMEA regions have been promoting social

networking sites – one instance reached

more than two million Symantec customers.

These threats will become increasingly

important for enterprise IT organisations

since the new entering workforce often

accesses these tools using corporate

resources.

Andrea van der Westhuizen, McAfee

product manager at Workgroup says that

McAfee Avert Labs had identified more

malware threat introductions in the first three

months of 2008 than in the whole of 2007,

and 2009 isn’t looking much healthier.

“Malware has become a business and a

thriving one, gone are the days of virus

writing for notoriety with over 90 per cent of

today’s malware consisting of password-

stealing Trojans and downloaders – all of

which having one goal in mind,” says Van

der Westhuizen.

A report by BitDefender at the end of

2008 claims Internet users had to cope with

approximately 2 000 new and mutated

viruses per day, almost 50 000 phishing

attempts per month and more than one

million hijacked computers that spread bots,

rootkits, Trojans and other malware. In 2009,

malware production will most likely hold an

ascending trend, exploiting the same

Web-based capabilities as Trojans, spyware

and rootkits.

SECURITY TRENDS According to Cleevely, current trends show

heightened levels of spam as well as

Web-based attacks through phishing emails

and social networks that continue to pose a

major security risk.

“With the emergence of wireless networks

and IP telephony systems, CEOs and IT

managers of SMEs are prioritising IT budgets

towards security policies and solutions that

protect all endpoints.”

As the economic recession starts to affect

customers’ IT budgets they will favour

‘integrated’ technologies that give them

value and unparalleled protection from a

single vendor, says Cleevely.

“Symantec’s ‘integrated’ security portfolio,

through technologies like End Point and

MultiTier Protection, continues to highlight

the importance of combined security

applications such as anti-Virus, anti-spyware,

antispam, personal firewall, intrusion prevention

and device control into one unified security

product,” explains Cleevely.

Hilbert Long, channel manager at

Comztek says: “Mobility and portability are

still the strongest trends in IT and this is what

drives innovation in the security space.

“With workers becoming increasingly


SECURITY FEATURE

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

”One of the major problems of much of malware beingsilent or hidden on users’ computers is that people haveno idea that they’re infected and therefore are unawareof the dangers of malware.” – Jeremy Matthews,head, Panda Security.

Jeremy Matthews, head, Panda Security


mobile and using data outside the secure

company confines, the risk of security

breaches is compounded. As workers

become mobile, the solutions we see aim

to ensure that mobility does not compromise

security.”

In wireless and virtual fields, unprotected

WiFi networks can be easily hacked with

confidential information and passwords

being stolen.

Although relatively new, the wireless local

area network (WLAN) security technologies

market has been experiencing tremendous

growth as wireless technology becomes

more widespread.

Matthews claims that the Panda WiFi

protection solution is the answer to all these

threats. “With network mobilisation, many

corporate users run the risk of having

outdated antivirus protection.”

And looking at which brands are the most

preferred, Thompson says: “If you think the

preferred brand would be the market leader,

in many cases, you’d be incorrect. As

resellers are looking to stay afloat or

hopefully make money this year, they are

looking at the challengers to the market.”

According to Thompson, the market

leaders have the market share and aren’t

willing to lose or even reduce income (especially

in an economic downturn) because they still

have the same costs to recover.

“Challengers, on the other hand, have to

find ways of gaining market share and, in

many cases, that means paying resellers

more. It’s a win-win solution. Resellers prefer

selling something other than the market

leader (the expensive solution), which gives

the customer a lower cost product that in

many cases could be superior to the market-

leading product.”

Thompson adds: “There are no best

products, there are many product lines and

in each of them there are several excellent

or very good vendor products. Each and

every product is designed and built by

people. People have flaws and those flaws

show up in either the design or construction

of a product.”

He says some of the leading products

have the greatest risks to exposure because

they also offer the greatest opportunity for

monetary gain. Also, what is perfect for one

company may not fulfil the requirements of

another, each company must look at its

requirements and determine which product

best fits its overall needs.

Skills IssuesAwareness is sorely lacking among IT users

generally. In the corporate sector there is the

mistaken perception that antivirus has been

commoditised, says Matthews.

“The reality is that not all antiviruses are

created equal and the difference in

performance, detection and disinfection

varies hugely from brand to brand and

product to product. ”One of the major

problems of much of malware being silent

or hidden on users’ computers is that people

have no idea that they’re infected, and

therefore are unaware of the dangers

malware (especially variants that steal

passwords etc) pose,” he says.

”To avoid the most common attacks, each

user should work on awareness of security

matters. Basic things like checking the URL

of visited websites and scanning the

downloaded files before execution could

prevent infection and identity theft in many

cases,” explains Dumitru.

Cleevely comments: “Overall, including

‘general’ corporate security awareness is a

major requirement within enterprise

businesses today.

Companies cannot only enforce

security policies inside the IT environment

as this also needs to happen through

education and knowledge enhancement of

employees.”

Today, companies must be able to

determine the value of their information and

data. Once this is done, creating and

enforcing security policies across the various

parts of their networks becomes a ‘business’

decision rather than an IT strategy. Data

protection technologies should be equally

loaded and managed on assets such as

mobile devices, PDAs, smart-phones,

laptops, Netbooks, servers and into the data

centres, says Cleevely.

Apart from raising awareness, Chib says

that it makes good business sense for

resellers to choose and sell solutions which

integrate user education as one of the basic

parameters of security.

“Users, being the weakest link in the

security chain, cannot be ignored and any

solution in the security industry that falls

short of it will ultimately lose the race.”

According to IDC, as organisations shift to

conservative spending modes and reduce

overall IT spending, security services exhibit a

more optimistic forecast over the next four years,

given their critical impact on organisations.

And, as security vulnerabilities and threats

increase during a downturn in the economy,

and compliance regulations become more

stringent and organisations look to cut cost,

the security services market will show strong

customer demand.Kobus de Beer, Dell South Africa

SECURITY FEATURE FEATURE

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

“With workers becoming increasingly mobile and usingdata outside the secure company confines, the risk ofsecurity breaches is compounded.” – Hilbert Long,manager, Comztek.

Once again, the reseller channel has spoken and selected who it feels are the

top channel executives for this year. Although a good number of executives

received nominations from their partners we narrowed it down to 20.

In previous years, CRN singled out an individual as the top executive, but

this year we have decided to recognise all the executives that made it into

top 20 equally.

This is because all of them have been recognised for their dedication to duty

and commitment to listening to their channel partners’ needs.

Their names were gathered through responses to a call on the CRN Flash

newsletter as well as polling through www.crn.co.za.

All of the executives that made it onto this list represent some of the top

vendors and distributors in the local IT industry and have been seen as

top achievers.

The executives have, even in the prevailing economic environment, managed

to go out of their way to assist partners in closing deals, embracing new

technologies and business models, and growing their own as well as their

partners’ businesses.

The individuals who are employed in middle to senior management positions

were judged using the following criteria:

• Availability

• Proactiveness and dedication to addressing channel challenges

• Commitment to helping partners win business deals

• Influence on how partners explore new business ventures

• Relationship/team-building style

• Openness.

The editorial team checked through the votes, eliminating any nominations

that were invalid. In addition, the results were audited by an actuary.

The CRN team congratulates all the executives that made it to the list of top

20 channel executives this year.

2009 Top 20channel executives

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • CHANNEL EXECUTIVE • APRIL 2009 • 23

Delivering quality service

2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVEGraham Duxbury

Graham Duxbury, MD of

networking specialist

distributor Duxbury Networking

attributes his nomination as one of the

top 20 channel executives to his com-

pany’s focus over the past 12 months.

“Our focus for the past year – if not beyond that – has been

on improving our internal processes with a view to streamlining

service delivery. We’ve been looking at all our departments from

‘order entry’ to ‘technical support’ to find ways in which we

can better meet our dealers’ requirements,” he says.

With resellers needing all the help they can get from

distributors in the current market conditions, Duxbury says his

company’s focus has been mainly on new products.

He comments that there has been some excellent business done

in the networking space. “We obviously try to secure a large slice

of this business for ourselves in partnership with our resellers. We

have been successful although we sometimes get it wrong. This

motivates us to try harder in the future,” says Duxbury.

He says that over the past 12 months Duxbury Networking

has emphasised its loyalty programme. “We’ve strengthened the

reach of our ‘DuxBux’ initiative into the market and added a

raft of new products which qualify for reward status.”

According to him, there has always been potential in the

networking space since the demise of the mainframe computer,

but adds that the spotlight is shifting from the corporate

environment to the home and home office. In these environments

networking is relatively new and fresh, and there are many new

product offerings available targeting this space.

He attributes his nomination to the fact that his company

tries hard to meet the needs of its resellers. “We’re small

enough to be flexible – and attentive enough to change

direction quickly, if need be.

“Personally, I have no interest in the consolidation issue –

apart from that of a mildly interested spectator. I am confident

that Duxbury Networking will continue to be successful well

into the future – enough to be a strong ‘standalone’ player in

this very competitive marketplace,” states Duxbury.

Looking ahead, he says that the company’s programme will

focus on the introduction of new products to its already

comprehensive portfolio and, more significantly, the addition of

two new technology sectors. “Unfortunately, as our plans are

crystallising as we speak, I can’t say too much now. But, as they say,

‘watch this space,” he concludes. �

24 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • CHANNEL EXECUTIVE • APRIL 2009

The power of moving units

2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVEMohomed Cassim

By George Maseko

By George Maseko

By George Maseko

Giving partners what they need

Helping to finance


2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVEDoug Woolley

2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVERon Keschner

By George Maseko

The right product at the right time

2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVE

“Moving forward, the reseller channel will see a concerted focus onthe efficient enterprise, both in terms of the continued education ofpartners and the development of tools within this space. APC bySchneider Electric will also launch a revamped channel program laterthis year,” – Karl Kleynhans, APC

By George Maseko

Carl Kleynhans

Carl Kleynhans, regional director of APC by Schneider

Electric, is no stranger to the channel and it is no

surprise that his company’s channel partners gave him

a deserved spot on CRN’s top 20 channel executives list.

He comments: “The local region for APC by Schneider

Electric enjoyed a very good 2008, due in part to the South

African power crisis and the related unprecedented demand for

uninterruptible power supplies (UPSes). This meant that we

needed to revise our forecast and balance our stock on hand to

meet the sudden change in demand. It was also necessary to

realign resources to support channel education and ensure

second-level support as our partners received a higher than

normal volume of calls from end-users.”

He adds that APC by Schneider Electric achieved good

results in 2008 despite the negative influence of the global

economic crisis late in the year. The local focus on power issues

and enterprise efficiency had a positive impact on its business

for the full year and allowed it to enable partners to capitalise

on these opportunities.

Initiatives he was involved in over the past year include

education around data centre efficiency and introducing

partners to the broader Schneider offering, particularly in terms

of larger deals.

“With energy demand set to double by 2050 and an attempt

to reduce carbon emissions by half, we are strongly focused on

assisting businesses to do more with the available energy,”

says Kleynhans.

“The power situation last year served to highlight power

protection measures to both the channel and customers. Data

centre power consumption is also rapidly becoming a global

issue – as both an environmental concern and a business issue.

As energy costs skyrocket, IT departments are facing increased

demands to bring the escalating power and cooling expenses of

today’s high-density deployments under control.”

He adds that APC presents a compelling argument within

this market which means that its partners are very well

positioned to assist local businesses in improving electrical

efficiency to meet these requirements.

“I have been with APC for more than 10 years and have built

solid relationships with local channel partners. The company

has remained consistent in its route to market and channel

structure, and has become a trusted adviser in terms of data

centre design and implementation. I have the backing of APC’s

extensive R&D spend, supported by exciting new technologies

developed to meet customer requirements,” explains

Kleynhans.

According to him, many industries are experiencing tough

times with the current economic crisis affecting companies

across the board. Kleynhans adds that APC will support its

partners as best it can during this period, but does not want to

speculate on where consolidations will take place within the

local distribution space.

“Moving forward, the reseller channel will see a concerted

focus on the efficient enterprise, both in terms of the continued

education of partners and the development of tools within this

space. APC by Schneider Electric will also launch a revamped

channel programme later this year,” he states.

Kleynhans, who has several years’ sound business experience

in service-driven industries and formal tertiary studies in

business management under his belt, joined APC in 1998.

“As a gadget fanatic, I have always been interested in

technology and made a conscious effort to pursue an IT career

more than 10 years ago. I have always been particularly

interested in seeing how new technologies can make our lives

simpler and more efficient,” he says.

He adds that when he joined APC, the company focused

strongly on selling UPSes to protect the PC, server and small

data centre environments. Over the past decade, the company

has made big strides in enabling the channel to sell larger

solutions, to the point that its partners are now proficient in

selling at this level. They’ve also become more capable in

deploying more complex solutions in the data centre.

He considers the most pressing channel issue in SA at the

moment is survival. “There are tough days ahead of us and it is

critical to be alive tomorrow in order to keep going into the

future. Channel players must focus on becoming more

streamlined, cutting waste and creating a leaner, more adaptable

business. It is imperative that we focus on the right opportunities

and I believe there are still a number of prospects to be found

in Africa,” he concludes. �


Power of right balance


By George Maseko

Craig Brunsden


Still committed


By Kaunda Chama

By George Maseko

By George Maseko


2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVEAnton Herbst



By George Maseko

a



By George Maseko

By George Maseko

By Kaunda Chama

Helping partners to sell moreT

obie van Schalkwyk, D-Link

country manager says the past

12 months have been about

driving greater market penetration and

increased sales for the company’s

channel partners, which garnered a lot

of partner confidence in him.

“D-Link offers several programmes like Think D-Link Think

Rewards through PlusPoints, an online partner portal dubbed

D-Partner, a demonstration and evaluation programme called

Test Drive, and training workshops and road shows. All of

these tools are in place to assist our channel partners,” he says.

“Above all, I am a firm believer that one size does not fit

all. I have been working one-on-one with partners to ensure

success.”

With the global economy in the state it is in, he says D-Link

has been helping its resellers to identify and then focus on

solutions that can assist end-users to cut costs. Areas like VoIP,

smart switching and IP surveillance are all solutions that can

help to reduce costs.

“Efforts have been focused on assisting the resellers to

identify and pursue these opportunities.”

Over the past 12 months he spearheaded the D-Link Test

Drive campaign. “A need existed with resellers to test and

demonstrate more complex switching solutions to their

customers. Through the Test Drive campaign, we afford our

resellers this opportunity – and rewarded them for it with

PlusPoints,” he explains.

According to him, one of the reasons he made it into the top

20 is trust from channel partners. “You must make sure to the

absolute best of your ability that you honour the direction you

have communicated, the commitments you have made in your

partner programme and that actions match your words.

He adds that D-Link has just completed a very successful

road show with partners Logitech, Proline and Symantec. By

doing it this way it got to present to other market players and

keep costs down. He believes that consolidation and closer

partnerships between vendors is very important, especially in

the current economic climate.

Looking ahead, he comments: “Our channel partners can

look forward to continuous direct contact and communication

from D-Link. We will keep them up to date on our solutions

and give them the necessary tools and skills to enable them to

better sell our solutions.” �

The spoils of commitmentP

innacle Micro head Arnold Fourie

attributes his place on this year’s

top 20 channel executives list to

his company’s focus over the past

12 months on increasing its product

offering into the channel and on Tier

1 products like Lenovo, HP, Dell and IBM that enable: Pinnacle

Micro to play in the larger corporate and enterprise space.

Fourie says the company has received very positive responses

from its channel partners. “We can see that in the growth the

company has shown over the past couple of years. We invested some

of this growth in our technical department, Pinteq, to increase

the after-sales service our channel partners receive,” he says.

Pinnacle Micro with help from its vendors has a channel

partner programme that rewards channel partners with rebates

and incentives. With the help of its partner programme, it has

also been able to allocate large tenders and business to its

partners to assist them with their business growth.

On being voted one of the best, he says: “Pinnacle Micro has

a highly qualified and skilled team of employees to make sure it

provides the right product at the right time hence our

motto: People, Product, Passion. Without internal support

Pinnacle Micro would not be a recognised player in the

channel market.”

He adds that Pinnacle Micro is extremely fortunate to be in a

position despite the current economic environment not to have

to retrench any of its staff. “In a global economic crunch like

the one we are experiencing there are always casualties, but all

players need to adapt to the changes and, unfortunately,

consolidation is part of that,” he explains.

Fourie states that resellers can expect exceptional products

and competitive prices with fantastic after sales and technical

experiences in the near future.

He says what fascinates him most about the IT industry is

the exceptional speed at which it changes which means Pinnacle

Micro needs to adapt to these rapid changes in order for the

company to maintain a competitive edge.

According to him, the most pressing channel business issue

in SA is the balance between multi-national products and

locally manufactured products. �


2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVETobie van Schalkwyk

2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVEArnold Fourie

Offering resellers the best service


“No matter how big or small the potential order is, I ensure that Ihave a clear understanding of my clients’ requirements, and I liketo keep my clients as informed as possible in everything I do, – Quinton Tivers, Microsoft business development manager,Comztek KZN

““

By Kaunda Chama

Quinton Tivers

uinton Tivers, Microsoft business development

manager for Comztek KZN, has made it onto the top

20 in this year’s CRN outstanding channel executives list.

Commenting on his selection, he says his focus has

always been on offering the best service he can to resellers, no

matter how big or small they are.

“No matter how big or small the potential order is, I ensure

that I have a clear understanding of my clients’ requirements,

and I like to keep my clients as informed as possible in

everything I do,” he says.

Regarding doing business in the current global economy and

its effect on global and local IT spending, he says: “I have am

trying to help my clients to be as ‘creative’ as possible with

their businesses. I also assist them to structure their orders

in the best way possible to encourage good cash flow for

both parties.”

He adds that resellers have confidence in Comztek as a

company – that it manages resources effectively, and that it is

not out to make a “quick buck” but rather looking to cement

long-term relationships and ensure that it survives as a distributor.

“Our resellers are also aware that we assist our customers to

manage their businesses in a positive manner so that they will

be here for the long run,” notes Tivers.

He comments that the main reason the channel is seeing a lot

of potential in companies such as Comztek is that although

business is tight, there is huge opportunity for resellers to

secure good business, provided they are creative, think out of

the box and maintain customer relationships.

Regarding what contributed to his receiving a nod from the

reseller channel, he says keeping one’s clients informed on

all levels of dealings – whether it is on quotes, providing

solutions, and following up on orders and queries – gives

them confidence.

“I also strive and take pride in working ethically. I hope that

my clients feel confident in dealing with me, and that I have

relationships built on good service and trust. I insist on

managing my clients’ business from top to bottom, so I make

sure that I’m not only there when the orders come rolling in,

but also find myself helping resellers on all levels of their

company; from the person at reception, to the people in

logistics, to top management,” explains Tivers.

Commenting on the state of the market, he says in today’s

turbulent economy, business is tight, companies are holding

onto the surplus cash they have and IT is less of a priority.

“In my opinion, consolidation for distributors in terms of

their operations makes sense. It helps with cash flow. When

times are good and business is flowing, there is a need for more

resources and infrastructure; however, if the business dries up

and there is an excess of infrastructure, businesses look at

consolidation. Most of the time this unfortunately results in

job losses, but consolidation is better for the channel in the

long term,” he says.

Tivers boasts a 13-years stint in the IT space and says he

started as a sales person at Incredible Connection in 1996, and

then moved into distribution for LanDesign and joined

Comztek in 2001.

“I have always had a passion for electronics and gadgets,

which resulted in an interest in IT. After completing matric,

I enrolled at varsity to become an accountant, and two days

before I was due to start, got cold feet and changed to sales

and marketing. This led to my sales career at Incredible

Connection,” he comments.

“I love working with people and helping them to complete

solutions, make good money, and seeing their aspirations and

dreams come true. I also enjoy the dynamic nature of our

industry, it keeps me motivated, on my toes and satisfies my

thirst for information,” he says.

According to him one of the most pressing channel business

issues in SA at the moment is margins as companies are

under-cutting each other to win business.

“In my opinion, this is neither necessary nor professional,”

he concludes. �

Q

Providing relevant solutions


By George Maseko

Jeremy Waterman

eremy Waterman, MD of

Softline Accpac, is one of

the top 20 channel executives

as chosen by

local resellers.

He comments that a large

contributor to his nomination was helping the company to

introduce Sage ERP X3 to its channel partners. It is an ERP

product from Sage France that Sage has identified as its tier-two

ERP product of choice for the international market.

“We have worked very hard on assisting our dealers through

our ‘strategic sales’ team run by Keith Fenner. The team works

with dealers on marketing and also assists in closing sales,”

says Waterman.

He adds that Softline Accpac works with its resellers

on an ongoing basis. “We do not deal with the IT channel

at large,” he notes. “We are not really ‘a distribution house’

in the typical sense – I guess we are more an ISV that

operates through select business partners – as such we have

increased our strategic

sales involvement and, of course, we now offer an additional

product,” says Waterman.

He adds that in tough times the clever companies take time

to become more efficient – to save money in the short term

and to give themselves a competitive edge in the long term.

Regarding his nomination, Waterman comments: “I guess if

you hang in there long enough someone will notice – more

seriously, we have consistently performed well in a tough

competitive market.”

Regarding the consolidation in the IT industry, he comments

that the fortunate part for companies playing in the same space

as Softline Accpac is that it is not that relevant to their space.

“We have a small number of global players that are unlikely

to consolidate.”

He says that looking ahead resellers can expect continued

commitment to the channel and to its users. �

By George Maseko


Selling document managementF

ocus and dedication to

servicing the company’s

second-tier resellers has

once again helped Epson’s Hans

Dummer to become one of the top

channel executives for the past

12 months.

Although he recently relocated to

the company’s UK division, he comments that during the past

12 months at the local branch he managed to firmly put the

value of the second-tier reseller at the forefront of Epson’s

strategy in SA.

“Our second-tier resellers are the livelihood of Epson’s

success over the last few years,” he notes.

He adds that with all the support that Epson has enjoyed

over the past few years it is time that it gives back to its

second-tier partners and so it has been working with those that

have been Epson-loyal to strengthen partnerships in winning

some of the most important tenders and corporate deals. “Our

profile has risen in the local market space and thanks to our

retail and channel partners our consumer market share has also

grown in the past 12 months. It was my job to maintain and

grow our channel partner programme; we now have over 400

partners,” he says.

Regarding his nomination, he comments: “It has been a huge

surprise to me and a very humbling one as I was transferred by

Epson to head the Middle East and Africa. I would say that

being consistent over the past 11 years is the reason for my

nomination. I hope that my successor, Albert Fayard, will be in

the same position soon.”

On the topic of consolidation in the IT industry, particularly

given the rate at which solution providers are cutting jobs and

some even closing down, he says consolidation is welcome as

long as it brings benefits and value adds for the channel and the

end-user.

Looking ahead, he says resellers can expect increased

focus on Epson’s second-tier channel and closer corporate

relationships to further enhance its position in SA. “We

welcome any resellers that will work with us in this still

growing economy,” he concludes. �

2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVEHans Dummer

J

By George Maseko

By George Maseko

Improving comms works P

rintacom MD, Neil Rom, is one of

this years channel executives and

attributes his nomination by the

reseller channel to making sure that his

company improves communication

with its channel.

“Better access to our channel with the launch of the OKI

Connected Partner Network, and improving company

efficiencies to lower costs and thereby giving better value to

our channel has helped us,” he says.

His hope is to make Mybyte (his company’s sponsored

website) the online home for technology people and companies.

“On the site you can create your personal profile or corporate

group and stay in touch with others who share your interests.

You can create content, look for a job, read tech blogs, network

with colleagues and stay up to date with corporate news. This

service is free,” Rom says.

He adds that in its 12-year existence Printacom has always

conducted business in a fair and professional manner. “We have

a very clear route to market and have always supported our

channel. We don’t deviate from this policy when the going gets

tough. We have been through tough times before and have come

out on top. This policy has stood us in good stead. Our

resellers and channel trust us, and so do our suppliers,

something which is lacking in this industry these days,”

explains Rom.

Looking at the current economic climate, he adds that in

times of turmoil customers look for reassurance and stability,

Printacom offers this and so do the brands it distributes. “We

focus on our core business – printers.”

“In certain respects the current economic state is a good

thing, it’s almost like the bush that needs a veld fire to revitalise

it and generate new growth. Companies will go through pain,

and to survive will make changes, adapt and be stronger when

this is all over. There will be casualties but it is natural selection.

Distribution companies will definitely consolidate and

concentrate on their core business, this is a time to batten

down the hatches and weather the storm, and cut products and

services that are not profitable and deviate or distract from

their core business,” he explains.

Looking ahead, Rom says the channel can expect Printacom

to be around in the future. “We drive efficiencies and productivity

making sure that we will be around to support our customers in

the years to come,” he concludes. �

Communication works S

acha O’Reilly, channel

manager at McAfee

South Africa, has made

it onto CRN’s list of top 20

channel executives as voted

for by the channel.

She comments that this is

as a result of her commitment

to supporting her company’s

channel partners. “My focus is on open communication and

strong partnerships as well as working with the channel to

support it with initiatives, which creates a win-win scenario for

all parties,” she says.

She ads that over the past 12 months she has focused

on educating the channel on McAfee’s specific security

technologies that ensure the economic downturn does not

impact companies’ security. “Now more than ever, companies

are very serious about protecting their data and IP security,

these are the lifeblood of organisations, so my time has been

spent ensuring that partners are aware of our offerings,”

explains O’Reilly.

She adds that partners are enjoying the attention they receive

from distribution, adding that competition in the distribution

space is tough, so standards and work ethics have been heightened.

“I have been working on ensuring training and education on

the McAfee solutions is provided to the channel and customers.

Companies, now, more than ever value their data, and security

is essential to all organisations. Our channel partners have the

potential to earn fantastic revenue on our solutions,” explains

O’Reilly.

She comments that her recognition could come from the fact

that she has been with McAfee for 10 years. “I feel that I have a

deep understanding of McAfee, its distributors and partners,

and the security market in SA. And, as you can see, it pays off,”

O’Reilly notes.

Looking ahead, she states that the channel can expect

greater innovation in security solutions and higher revenues

for partners. �


2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVENeil Rom

2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVESacha O’Reilly

Focus on growing business


By George Maseko

Rentia Booysen

Rentia Booysen, sales

executive at distribution

house Drive Control

Corporation (DCC), has been

nominated one of this year’s top

channel executives by the reseller channel

She says that as a sales executive for DCC, she has been

focused on growing the business in general as her portfolio

encompasses most of its product offerings. “My sales figures

have been growing on a month-to-month basis which is

allowing me to achieve my goal of reaching targets and

ultimately growing the business,” she says.

Regarding the current state of the economy and its effect on IT

spending locally and globally, she comments: “Times are tough;

however, we are assisting resellers to tap into their existing client

base where they enjoy established relationships and encouraging

them to cross-sell or upsell in addition to finding new business.”

However, there has been some good business done in the

distribution space recently, to which she says: “We recently

took on HP’s PSG product range and last year were awarded

distribution rights to Dell’s SMB product offering. This has

been very well received in the market and resellers are now

regarding DCC as a one-stop shop.”

In her opinion, the channel is seeing a lot of potential in the

hardware distribution space because companies like DCC not

only provide product to resellers that sell onto the end-user

customer, but they also have resources that assist resellers with

pre-sales, configuration, implementation and support. This

allows resellers to offer an end-to-end service.

Looking ahead, she comments that DCC is gearing itself to

continually support resellers with pre-sales and technical

support, continuing the company’s move out of a box-drop-

ping environment into one that offers more of a consultative

approach.

Booysen joined the IT space in 2000 at Pinnacle Micro and

moved to DCC last year.

Regarding what fascinates her about the local IT industry,

particularly the channel and the space DCC plays in, she says it

is an incredibly fast paced, dynamic industry and she never

gets bored.

When she is not being an executive, Booysen says she actually

does not have a lot of spare time because she is a wife and mother.

However, every spare minute she has is spent with her family.

In her opinion, one of the most pressing channel business

issues is weathering the economic downturn and still being in

business when the economy makes an upturn. �


Focus on growing business

2009 CHANNEL EXECUTIVEPrabashni Pillay

One of the spots on this

year’s top 20 channel

executives went to Cisco’s

channel manager Prabashni Pillay,

who is no stranger to channel

recognition.

She says: “At Cisco, we continued

to innovate and optimise to create

new commercial market opportunities that enable our channel

partners to accelerate revenue growths.

“During this particular recessionary period the focus has

remained on investing in partners from both a resource and

skill perspective. Through our partners we have continued

supporting customers who want to transform their business by

implementing technology that integrates network resources,

services and applications while at the same time reducing

complexity, leveraging investments, decreasing cost, and

improving business agility to be more competitive.”

Pillay believes that Cisco’s partners have gained enormous

value as a result of the global Cisco vision and its execution by

the local office.

In addition, as a way of helping to address the skills gap its

partners are facing in SA, Cisco, in conjunction with the

Cisco Global Talent Acceleration Program (GTAP) and the

Cisco Networking Academy, has hosted a number of Partner

Career Days.

In addition, Cisco provides partners with access to the Cisco

Joint Marketing Fund (JMF) which is designed to provide

them with the tools and resources needed to market their

companies and the Cisco product lines they carry effectively,

get funding for pre-approved activities, such as events, training,

direct mail pieces, e-mail blasts and advertising.

On the matter of her selection she comments that it was

based on the manner in which she engages partners to create a

win-win scenario as well on the amount of assistance and

support her team renders to partners.

Looking ahead, she comments that as a networking leader,

Cisco’s goal remains to deliver innovative technology and services

combined with optimised commercial channel tools, training

and incentive programmes and promotions to accelerate partner

revenue growth through competitive differentiation, improved

productivity and the creation of new opportunities. �

By George Maseko


Reviews by: Stanley ChishalaHighly Recommended

Netgear ReadyNAS

Today, most people need an effective storage solution for all the

multimedia content they have and Netgear’s ReadyNas is the

perfect answer to their storage needs.

With 500GB of available capacity in this unit you get the

impression that you are receiving enterprise-class storage for home

and small business usage.

Home networks are becoming common place – I am testimony

to that – so having access to this enterprise-level, network attached

storage device for home and small to medium sized business (SMB)

users is a great experience.

I have always had good experiences with Netgear products so

I expected nothing less from the ReadyNas and I soon got to

experience first hand that it has been designed to provide a reliable,

highly available large data storage solution.

Thank goodness Netgear acquired Infrant Technologies because

this has indeed helped in expanding its product portfolio with new

and powerful network storage devices.

The ReadyNAS range of products brings technologies, such as

X-RAID, which was previously only feasible at the enterprise level, to

home users and SMBs.

ReadyNas offers affordable centralised storage with high reliability

and robust security. It is a single, safe and effective data storage

solution packed with technology, usually reserved for enterprise-level

servers.

I would recommend the ReadyNAS to home users with large

collections of digital media or SMBs requiring secure, high-speed

network storage.

On the size side, I must admit that I found it to be quite a bit

bigger than some of the competitor solutions on the market. But the

truth be told, it’s not something you will be carrying around with

you so it will sit in some corner, but the next version has to be

relatively smaller. Just look at Iomega’s ix2.

But that aside, my increasingly large collection of photographs,

videos, music and other digital data is now well taken care of in a

secure environment, and available to anyone with access to my

home network.

If I had a small business I am sure that the ReadyNas would also

help with storage demands as well as with keeping up with legal

compliance and other requirements.

Without a doubt, the ReadyNAS is one of the best answers to

growing data storage demands on the market today because of the

large capacity, security and data integrity.

Thanks to gigabit Ethernet technology, the ReadyNAS is also

capable of rapid data transfer speeds over its network connection.

The product also uses RAID technology to provide full data access

and redundancy with built-in protection even when hard drives fail

or need to be swapped.

So even if one hard drive fails, the ReadyNAS preserves data,

preventing loss. Likewise, if storage

capacity needs to be upgraded a larger

hard drive can be inserted into the

redundant array via one of the hard

drive bays seamlessly and without

threatening the data already saved on

the device.

The device works with Windows,

Mac and Linux making it a powerful

solution for any computing environment.

On capacity, the ReadyNAS is capable

of maintaining arrays of up to three

terabytes.

The device has USB ports that can

be used for printers, wireless adapters

and other devices, and ships with

powerful software for automated

data backups. ReadyNAS products

also have a built-in iTunes server so

that music stored on the device can be

streamed to computers on the network.

At the end of the day, the ReadyNAS

is a great solution for meeting the

growing challenges of data storage

being expressed by home users and

SMBs.

Just what your home or small office needs.

I don’t think that I can use a phone that is not smart ever again and,

after having used a number of smartphones, I am glad that the new

BlackBerry Curve 8900 came my way.

I had a few problems with the previous model but just looking at

the new Curve, I could tell that I would like this handset; the

combination of silver and black in the design gives it a very

elegant look.

Granted that devices are mostly judged on their functionality

rather than on looks alone, I must stress that this was only the

first impression.

At the time of this review, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 was the

thinnest BlackBerry smartphone on the market and even appears to

be slimmer that it really is because of its elegant black finish with

chrome frame.

The handset’s design makes it feel very comfortable in one’s

hand. It is also big or small enough for anyone to use whether with

one hand or two.

Good looks and feel aside, the BlackBerry Curve 8900

smartphone comes packed with a host of impressive features

that allow users to connect easily with their office, friends

and family.

As a phone, this device is exceptional, even in the area where I

live where most phones struggle with reception, it outperforms any

competition and the clarity of the mic and speaker is outstanding, to

say the least.

Its other features are typical of a BlackBerry like e-mail,

messaging, organiser, Web browser and multimedia applications.

The new Curve 8900 also features built-in Wi-Fi, a GPS, a

next-generation processor (512Mhz) and a splendid high-resolution

screen.

I must admit that the only let down was when I found out that it

did not have 3G connectivity but I managed with EDGE.

The Curve 8900 comes with a full-QWERTY keyboard and

intuitive trackball that allows for smooth navigation.

Its 3.2 megapixel camera, which comes with auto focus, image

stabiliser, digital zoom and flash, is not too shabby either. Its

media player supports media streaming and can play a lot of the

popular video and audio

formats available on the

market today.

Although the onboard

memory is not much to write

to your friends and family

about, its microSD/SDHC

expandable memory card

slot supports up to 16GB

per card, giving you plenty

of storage that is easily

interchangeable.

Weighing in at

approximately 110 grams

and 109 x 60 x 13.5 mm,

the Curve 8900 is more than comfortable to carry around either in

your pocket or handbag. The device’s 2.4 inch HVGA+ display

(480x360 resolution) projects vivid colour making images and text

easy to view.

Did I mention that it also comes standard with today’s much-

needed killer application – navigation with nifty GPS capabilities.

This quad-band smartphone also provides global connectivity

for fast data access and Web browsing. You can get Internet

connectivity through either the BlackBerry Internet Service or

BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

For those who might not already know, BlackBerry Internet Service

is designed for small businesses and individuals. It allows you to

access POP accounts like Yahoo! Mail, Gmail and Hotmail from a

single interface on the device.

The Enterprise Server software, on the other hand, integrates with

IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise, and

uses advanced encryption and IT policy controls to enable secure,

push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data.

To say this is a great device would be an understatement because

as far as smartphones are concerned, this is up there with the best

of them. I would recommend it to anyone whether they are a corporate

or home user, especially if they always want to stay connected.

A brilliant smartphone.

Highly RecommendedReviews by: Kaunda Chama

BlackBerry Curve 8900


PARTING: SHOTS

DILBERT www.dilbert.com by Scott Adams

Company: Mthombo Managed Services

Position: Operations director

Age: 41

Best personal achivement: Winning customer service awards while working

for Eskom between 1990 and 2000

Management style: I easily adapt to the management style of the

organisation I am working for

Most admired company: Currently, M-IT

Most admired executives: Kiruben Pillay, CEO of arivia.kom

Best IT product: HP Tablet PC

Most pressing local business issues: The current economic

situation where clients’ businesses are closing down or

scaling down

Key to success: There is no substitute for hard work.

I also believe that when doing something “Do it right or

don’t do it at all”

Favourite car: Discovery 3

Your car: Discovery 3

Favourite authors: Ngugi wa Thiog’o

Where do you live: In the East, Germiston

Birthplace: Baragwanath Hospital (Soweto), but I grew up in

Vrede in the Free State

Hobbies/sports: Mind-challenging games and a little bit of golf

Favourite periodicals: FinweekPet hates: Lazy people and forwarded e-mails

computer reseller news april 09

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