under the rainbow - ingram...

SUMMER 2009

n BLADE SERVER Not just for the big guys.

n Making Virtualization Secure

n Don’t Write That Proposal

UNDER the RAINBOWMSPs and their customers find a rayof sunshine in managed services.

Greg Onoprijenkoof E-ternity Business Continuity Consultants finds a safe haven in managed services.

COVER STORY - Under the Rainbow A Ray of Sunshine in Managed Services

Ingram Micro - Updates

Blade Server - Not Just For the Big Guys

Ingram Micro - Events

Making Virtualization Secure

Don’t Write That Proposal

PublisherMilvi Ester

Publishing Manager/EditorGabriel Roy

Art Direction & DesignNaj Niazi

ContributorsMark SniderTom FarreTam HarbertTessa Stowe

Advertising [email protected]

Subscriptions - $19.95/[email protected]

Connected is published and mailed quarterly to over 5,000 Resellers across Canada.This publication may not be reproduced in part or in whole without the written approval of the Senior Manager, Marketing Communications of Ingram Micro Inc. Ingram Micro undertakes no responsibility or liability for comments, opinions or statements expressed by advertisers in this publication. All trademarks and registered trademarks are of their respective companies. ®2008 Ingram Micro Inc. all rights reserved. For further information, or to contact Ingram Micro Inc., call 1.800.668.3450, fax 905.755.1300, or write to 55 Standish Court, Mississauga,Ontario Canada L5R 4A1, or visit us on the web @ http://www.ingrammicro.ca.

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OUR 30TH ANNIVERSARYThis year, Ingram Micro is celebrating our 30th anniversary. When two former teachers in California began distributing computer products in 1979 under the name Micro D, nobody would have guessed they would be laying the foundation for a world class IT distribution powerhouse. Back then, no one suspected the glorious future awaiting technology products.

Fast-forward thirty years, a couple of name changes, billions in revenue earned, and countless customers serviced. Today, Ingram Micro stands unsurpassed as the largest distributor of IT products and services in Canada—and the entire world. But our success is a shared success. Teamwork has fueled this extraordinary accomplishment, and our associates and partners have helped make Ingram Micro what it is today.

This commitment to teamwork is one of the core values of Ingram Micro, and will be the indispensible ingredient of our continued success. Ingram Micro is committed to our partner communities like the Venture Tech Network, the SMB Alliance, and the Ingram Micro Service Network, an important value-added part of our Managed Services offerings. Ingram Micro has always been a strong partner, and we will continue to find new ways to help our reseller partners grow their business.

We’ve commemorated many milestones over the years, but celebrating our first 30 years with our valued associates and partners is the most special. We thank all our partners for their business over the last three decades, and we eagerly anticipate another thirty years of continued business success—together.

VP & General ManagerIngram Micro Canada

UNDERthe RAINBOWMSPs and their customers find a ray of sunshine in managed services.

COVER STORY

By Tom Farre

4 I CONNECTED I summer 09

An uncertain economy means increased scrutiny of every investment. As an example of this trend, research firm AMI Partners reports that 67 percent of small to midsize businesses expect revenues to decrease in 2009, and 66 percent expect to restrict cash flows during the same period.

Amid the gloom, however, AMI also reports that half of SMBs plan to look for ways to leverage technology to reduce costs and drive efficiency and productivity. That’s the appeal of managed services. From the start, managed service providers (MSPs) have offered a value proposition that resonates with customers when times are tough.

Jason Beal, director of services at Ingram Micro, sums up the economic argument this way: “At the highest level, managed services offer customers a better value for their dollar. In many cases there are cost savings, and the fixed-price contracts

Greg Onoprijenko, E-ternity: The right services for a downturn

Bright Spots for MSPsn Managed security: With threats such as cybercrime rising, bulletproof security is a must. Customers like the pay-as-you-go concept of managed security.

n Help desk: In-house 24/7 help desks are expensive, yet many companies need continuous support. Outsourcing the help desk can save money while improving the quality of service.

n Virtualization: Building on the “do more with less” theme, virtualization is a logical specialty for project-minded MSPs.

n Hosting: Following the logic of managed services, application hosting can deliver more reliable IT to SMB customers.

summer 09 I CONNECTED I 5

make IT spending more predictable. And it’s pay-as-you-go vs. customers paying up front, which makes it more attractive from a cash-flow perspective.

Setting aside all the IT benefits, there’s a strong economic argument for managed services right now.” How persuasive is the argument? Despite an expected contraction in overall IT spending, U.S. solution providers predict that their managed services revenues will grow 20 percent this year, according to AMI. “About one of every three U.S. channel partners offers managed services, and this economy presents a strong opportunity for them,” says Avinash Arum, senior analyst at AMI.

E-ternity Guarantees Business ContinuanceE-ternity Business Continuity Consultants has a unique take on managed services. An MSP for just under two years, E-ternity is “a business continuity solutions company,” says Greg Onoprijenko, president of the Ontario, Canada-based firm.

“Things like power outages, floods and computer viruses all threaten a company’s ability to perform their day today operations,” says Onoprijenko. “We provide services that allow them to continue to conduct business in the face of these and other disasters.” The company targets customers with 100 to 500 employees in financial services, technology, manufacturing, and in service industries such as legal, architectural and engineering — “any company that is serious about protecting itself,” Onoprijenko says. E-ternity does project work with existing customers, but for new customers it provides managed services only.

The approach seems to be working. Sales of the E-ternity TraumaCentre suite of monthly managed services exceeded expectations last year, growing 183 percent in the second half of 2008, and more than 53 percent of the year’s contracts were signed in the fourth quarter. Management expects the positive trend to continue through 2009.

Although the downturn has made customers cautious about new expenditures, such concerns only raise the appeal of managed services. “The economic downturn has changed the criteria for business decisions,”says Onoprijenko. “During this recession, companies will not invest in any solution or service that does not deliver guaranteed results, reduced management burdens, predictable costs and flexibility. Our monthly managed services deliver on these points with no up-front capital investment required.”

The offering consists of four managed services centered on business continuity:

• E-ternity PlanningCentre provides a repository of step-by-step recovery procedures, a validated action plan that includes post-disaster business and IT processes.

• E-ternity RecoveryCentre provides continuous access to a company’s IT environment in a crisis situation. After a disaster, employees can access their applications in a virtual data center hosted by E-ternity.

• E-ternity SecurityCentre protects against network security attacks and helps companies manage

application logs for compliance. It is powered by MX Logic and Alert Logic as part of Ingram Micro’s Seismic managed services offering.

• E-ternity CommandCentre, powered by Level Platforms from Ingram Micro Seismic, provides a web-based dashboard for customers’ and E-ternity’s engineers to monitor and manage a company’s IT systems in real time.

“In the past, we used to provide business continuity on a project basis, where customers would commit to large up-front capital investments — as much as $400,000 — for us to design and implement a full business continuity program in the event of a crisis,” says Onoprijenko. “Now we offer the same level of protection, but instead of the capital expense, we package business continuity for an affordable monthly fee.” E-ternity offers its suite a la carte, an incentive to tempt risk-averse customers. Although some customers subscribe to all four services, most start with one or two to test the waters.

“Managed services are like a magazine subscription,” says Onoprijenko. “If you get tired of the magazine, you can cancel it. You haven’t bought three years worth of magazines you’re stuck with whether you like them or not.

That’s a perfect analogy. With any of our monthly services,” continues Onoprijenko, “if your business changes or the service doesn’t deliver as promised, you can cancel the service and at that point buy the technology. You can’t do it in reverse.” If managed services fit the mindset of risk-averse customers, they also make business sense for solution providers,

Ingram Micro Seismic Reduces Risk for MSPsSolution providers needing help in the managed services business have a valuable partner in Ingram Micro. “Ingram Micro Seismic enables solution providers to deploy a rich portfolio of managed services with minimal up-front invest-ment,” says Jason Beal of Ingram Micro. “We provide the infrastructure and support that can reduce startup time and expense.”

Ingram Micro Seismic offerings include remote monitoring and management, online backup and restore, help desk, managed security, professional services automation (PSA) software, and hosted software-as-a service applications such as Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint. All are available on a pay-as-you-grow basis.

Ingram Micro Seismic customers also gain free access to the Seismic Success Support Portal, a complete knowledge base of best practices, tutorials and benchmarks for MSPs, includ-ing a peer-group forum. In addition, Ingram Micro Seismic has strategic relationships with both MSPUniversity and MSPPartners to provide Seismic customers with access to targeted, online and face-to-face managed services training and education.

“I would have to credit Ingram Micro as the catalyst for us becoming an MSP,” says Greg Onoprijenko of E-ternity Busi-ness Continuity Consultants. “We use Ingram Micro Seismic for our managed security service as well as our remote monitoring and management platform. Our partnership with Ingram Micro has certainly helped us succeed as a managed services provider.”


delivering profitable recurring revenue and a scalable business model that suits any economic environment. In fact, E-ternity is currently adding staff and rolling out new programs. “We see this as an opportunity to leap ahead of some of our competitors,” says Onoprijenko. “Because we did the heavy lifting of crystallizing our approach and lining up business partners 18 months ago, we’re a well-oiled machine that’s ready to deliver today.”

Beating the RecessionDespite the recession, this is an excellent time to be in managed services. Here are some other suggestions on how to succeed:

• Be aggressive. If you’re an MSP, now is the time to win new business, not cut back. “Solution providers who have invested in managed services technology and business processes are in a strong position to gain market share,” says Beal of Ingram Micro.

“Instead of hunkering down, we recommend being aggressive in your sales and marketing outreach to prospects and existing customers.”

• It’s not too late: Solution providers who are still dependent on products and projects may find their business at risk. With managed services technology more accessible and affordable today, there’s still time to enter the business.

• Partner up: Risky capital investments and service infrastructure buildups make no sense during a downturn. Instead, consider partnering with Ingram Micro Seismic (877) 755-5002 or [email protected]). Ingram Micro’s extensive suite of managed services has been proven by nearly 1,200 MSPs in Canada and the USA. Because it is available on a pay-as-

you grow basis, it’s a perfect offering for building a practice that will help you weather the recession.

Want to learn more about managed services. Read the entire article featuring two more MSPs who approached managed services from a different angle, with varying emphasis on traditional projects and services at www.ingrammicro.ca, select “Publications”. All their target

customers are spooked by the current downturn and all remain convinced of the viability of the MSP model. We trust their stories will help you leverage managed services to weather the economic storm we all face.

About the author: Tom Farre is the editor of Ingram Micro Channel Advisor.

Expand YourMobility Business

Business On BlackBerry

Discover how to differentiate yourself and generate opportunities selling and supporting the BlackBerry® solution.

Plus, give your SMB customers the wireless advantage they need to stay productive and boost business performance.

Become a BlackBerry Technology Reseller

Are you ready to provide the mobility expertise your customers need? Sign up to become a BlackBerry reseller today—visit www.blackberry.com/go/resellers to complete and submit our online reseller agreement.

Contact the BlackBerry IT Channel Team at [email protected] or the Ingram Micro BlackBerry Specialist at [email protected] for more information.

© 2009 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved. BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research In Motion®, SureType®, SurePressTM and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world.

Develop a Business Practice Selling and Supporting the BlackBerry Solution

With the expanding popularity of the BlackBerry solution and the adoption of smartphones as valuable business tools, your customers will turn to you to help them understand and deploy their wireless technology. Are you ready?

Position yourself as a mobility specialist and help your customers take advantage of the full BlackBerry solution:

Sell BlackBerry Professional Software, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and Client Access Licenses (CALs)

Sell BlackBerry® Technical Support Services, BlackBerry® Authentic Accessories, and BlackBerry smartphones

Provide services such as installation and set-up, training, provisioning, help desk services, managed services and more, maximizing your customers’ investments, and your opportunity

BlackBerry for SMB

BlackBerry® Professional Software is a secure, wireless messaging and collaboration solution designed specifically to help mobilize small to medium businesses. Expandable to support up to thirty BlackBerry smartphone users, BlackBerry Professional Software provides your customers:

Wireless access to email, business data, the Internet, organizer, and more—automatically synchronized to business systems Hands-on management and control of their BlackBerry smartphones, including browser use,

phone use, security, and data back-ups Advanced security features found in the full BlackBerry® Enterprise Server that large

corporations and governments rely on, all in a value-priced solution Worry-free installation, with a small IT footprint—installing on an existing server, so no

additional hardware is required

BlackBerry Professional Software is available through Ingram Micro. Contact your Ingram Micro

account manager or the BlackBerry Specialist at [email protected] for more information.

09RIM016_connected_hires.pdf 5/28/09 11:33:23 AM


Connex arrives in TorontoThe second stop of Connex 2009, Ingram Micro’s main technology IT event was held on May 7th in Mississauga.

The four city Connex tour focuses on five core IT Technologies including Networking, Security, Servers, Storage and Systems along with complimentary categories such as Imaging, Printing, Peripherals, Supplies and more. Connex boasts a participation of the leading technology manufacturers such as Cisco, HP and IBM.

Featuring solutions and vendor seminars on the technologies such as Unified Communication, Virtualization, Business Continuity, IP Video Conferencing and Surveillance, Wireless Mobility, Data Centre Consolidation, IT Risk Management, Intrusion Prevention, Document Management, Business Software Applications, Digital Signage and more, the Connex series of events helps reseller partners get the information they need to build their business.

The event also included an IT Industry speech delivered by Paul Edwards, Director SMB & Channel Strategies at IDC Canada. His presentation discussed how partner business models are evolving and how this is impacting the IT business. Edwards stressed how there is a shift in the VAR focus from hardware and software to a managed service platform. He also discussed the importance of the P2P environment, like Ingram Micro’s SMB Alliance and the Venture Tech Network, to sustain business success. He urged attendees to use events like Connex as networking opportunities and as breeding grounds for non- competing partnerships for VARs to help build their business in markets they may not be present.

With 2 more stops for Connex in Montreal on July 15th and Vancouver on November 19th, VARs and solution providers can register by contacting [email protected].

Ingram Micro Canada Wins Cisco Distributor AwardIngram Micro wins Canadian Distributor of the Year for a second year in a row. Cisco unveiled the winners on June 3rd at the Cisco Partner Summit in Boston.

“I have the honor and privilege of recognizing Ingram Micro as a Cisco Partner Summit regional award winner,” said Wendy Bahr, senior vice president, U.S. and Canada channels at Cisco. “The Canadian Distributor of the Year award recognizes Ingram Micro’s performance and accomplishments as a Cisco channel partner in Canada in 2008.”

“Ingram Micro is honored to be recognized again this year as Cisco’s Canadian Distributor of the Year”, says Tim Billing, VP of Vendor Management at Ingram Micro Canada. “I would like to recognize Jeff Anderson and the entire Cisco Team at Ingram Micro Canada for their leadership and innovation in delivering valued and differentiated services to our Cisco Partners.”

Cisco Partner Summit awards are presented at three levels: regional, theater and global. Cisco Partner Summit U.S. and Canada regional awards reflect a partner’s performance in a given geographic region of the United States or Canada.

SMB AllianceWith almost 60 members in attendance, the SMB Alliance event held on April 16th in Woodbridge was a great success. In addition, 23 vendor partners, their representatives and Ingram Micro’s executive team headed by Mark Snider, General Manager, were on hand.

The SMB Alliance (SMBA) is Ingram Micro’s North American community focused on high-caliber small and medium VARs who meet established sales, technical and market-focus requirements. The SMBA in Canada consists of more than 700 solution providers who have proven success in the SMB market. The Woodbridge event was part of the SMBA’s series of seminars taking place throughout Canada. The keynote speech “Surviving and Thriving - Best Practices for SMB Solution Providers” as well as a best practices seminar was hosted by Paul Dippell, CEO and founder of Service Leadership. In his keynote speech, Dippell presented various ways solution providers can emerge from the down economy. Some of the tips he presented included: floating a ball park price to a potential customer before preparing a costly proposal, reviewing compensation of employees and attaching it to the company’s bottom line and, most importantly, partnering with local solution providers to help each other with best practices.

There is one more SMBA meeting to be held in Montreal on October 7th, 2009. SMBA members can register for these events by contacting [email protected]. For more information on the SMBA, go to the Ingram Micro reseller website (www.ingrammicro.ca) and click on the “SMB Alliance” link under “Programs and Services”.

New Seismic Offerings Deliver a Strategic Business AdvantageEnabling channel partners to grow their services business faster, smarter and more profitably, Ingram Micro recently announced new Seismic offerings at the 2009 “Make Your Mark” Seismic Partner Conference in Dallas.

Seismic Global NOC — An outsourced, global monitoring and management remediation service that allows Seismic partners to improve service levels and cost-effectively augment or replace their internal structure. Partners can step away from day-to-day remote monitoring tasks and focus on their own branded MSP practices, pursuing higher-margin services and earning new business.

Seismic Instant Recovery On Demand by CA — A highly sophisticated and powerful hosted business continuity service that provides SMBs with uninterrupted access to critical applications and data during a system failure, unplanned outage or disaster, with no capital investment. This patented, hosted platform enables Seismic partners to easily sell and deliver enterprise-class continuous availability to the SMB market.

For more information on Ingram Micro Services Division, contact the Ingram Micro Services team at (877) 755-5002 or [email protected].

INGRAM MICRO UPDATES

Small blade systems tame SMB server sprawl and make good business sense for solution providers.

By Tam HarbertMost small and midsize businesses have one. It’s way too small to be called a data center. It may not even be a server room. It’s a space somewhere, in a back office or utility closet, where servers have mushroomed out of control.

A company may have started with one or two servers. But then it implemented a new application, and along with it came a new server. Then another ... and another ... each with its own storage and backup. Now the company has its own version of “Little Shop of Horrors,” with every new server taking up more space, spewing more cables and gobbling up more power.

Recognizing this nightmare as a good business opportu-nity, server manufacturers took the blade systems they had been selling to enterprises and redesigned them into smaller enclosures that run on standard 110-volt office outlets. While there has been a learning curve for both the channel and SMB Clients, these small blade systems are starting to take off. And solu-tion providers well-versed in the technology are finding that blade solutions generate a lot of related consulting, hardware and ongoing services revenue.

Blades are catching on because even small companies are start-ing to realize how they can save money and hassle by consolidat-ing stand-alone servers. “Getting all the equipment from your overflowing data closet into a

beautifully integrated box makes sense practically and economically,” says Charles King, principal analyst at consulting firm Pund-IT. “The value is that you can have a single cabinet, with highly integrated server, storage and networking.”

Such setups offer multiple benefits. By consolidating multiple servers into one box, blade systems free up floor space, get rid of the rat’s nest of cables snaking all over the room and cut energy costs. (Hewlett Packard estimates that blades use 30 percent to 35 percent less electricity than traditional rack-based servers.) But per-haps the most appealing benefit for SMBs is that blade systems let administrators control everything through one management console, making a business’s IT system much easier to manage and maintain.

“The question is no longer, ‘Why blades?’ ” says Barry Sinclair, worldwide product manager for HP’s BladeSys-tem c3000, “but rather, ‘Why not blades?’ ”

Blades Take OffBlade systems have become a significant part of the overall server market. In 2008, world-wide blade server revenue grew 33 percent to $5.4 billion, accord-ing to IDC. Among x86 serv-ers, blades now represent 18.5 percent of the revenue.

And even as the market for x86 servers declined last year as the economic downturn took its toll,

BLADES RISE WHILE SERVER SHIPMENTS FALL Percent change in shipments from Q4 2007 to Q4 2008

SOURCE: ID C , 2009

All Servers x86 Servers

Blade Servers

- 12% - 12%

+ 12%


BLADE SERVERNOT JUST FOR THE

BIG GUYS

blades continued to grow. In fact, it was the only part of the server market that showed positive unit growth in the last quarter of 2008, IDC says.

Some solution providers see these trends reflected in their own sales. Jay Tipton is president of Technology Specialists, a solution provider in Indiana that carries IBM servers.

His server sales grew from $170,000 in 2007 to $500,000 in 2008 almost entirely due to the growth in blades. Like-wise, Richard Bailey, practice manager of systems and storage for FusionStorm, a California-based solution pro-vider that carries HP, notes that 60 percent to 70 percent of all servers he sells today are blades, “and that’s only going to grow.”

HP and IBM are the two top blade vendors, according to IDC. As of the fourth quarter of 2008, HP had 55 percent of the market. IBM was a distant second, with a 22 percent market share. In 2007, both companies introduced blade systems designed specifically for the SMB market, IBM with its BladeCenter S and HP with the Blade- System c3000.

Keys to Blade SuccessAny or all of the benefits of blade serv-ers can be the selling hook for SMBs, says Akbar Fazli, an Ingram Micro Solution Center engineer. One cli-ent may need to save on floor space, another wants reduced power and cooling, or another might want server consolidation and easier management. “If any one of those factors is relevant, it’s going to justify going to blades,” says Fazli. One customer, who is on the 30th floor of a Manhattan high-rise building, had a problem with its stand-alone servers’ weight. The build-ing’s floor was rated only for a cer-tain poundage and when the weight started pushing against that limit, the solution was to switch to blades.

But blades aren’t for everyone, and it’s important to identify the right sales prospects. Blade systems may not make sense for very small companies, although it’s not clear where to draw the line. HP’s Sinclair, for example, says blades aren’t necessarily ap-propriate for companies with fewer than 50 employees who own one or two servers. But a blade system can be beneficial for a customer that’s refreshing or adding four or more servers at time, he suggests. Arlin Sorensen, president of solution pro-vider Heartland Technology Solutions, hasn’t found a market in companies with fewer than 100 seats. Most of

Heartland’s blade sales go into companies with 100 to 300 seats, Sorensen says, and they are usually prompted by an infrastructure crisis.

“A lot of our customers aren’t equipped to handle the number of servers that they end up having,” Sorensen says. One client’s server room literally got too hot, and it wasn’t able to add any more servers without upgrading the circuit. After Heartland consolidated most of the serv-ers into a bladesystem, the room temperature dropped 10 degrees and the client had power to spare.

Blades and virtualization are often used hand in hand for consolidation of equipment and infrastructure, notes Bailey of FusionStorm. “A blade system takes all that infrastructure and allows me to consolidate the physical


hardware and cabling — it’s like a data center in a box,” Bailey says. “Then I can virtualize on top of that.”

A Beautiful Relationship?Another plus is that installing the blade system is usually just the beginning of a broader strategic relationship between solution provider and customer, says Alex Yost, vice president and business line executive for IBM System x and BladeCenter. Whether the initial sale is prompted by a new application or the SMB is simply overwhelmed by server sprawl, a blade system pres-ents a golden opportunity to become the customer’s trusted advisor.

“Blades open up a whole gamut of opportunities,” Bailey says. Before installing a blade system, solution providers need to do some consult-ing, reviewing and assessing of the client’s network to make sure the technology is stable, up to date and able to be integrated into blades. Where it’s not, the solution provider can recommend that the client pur-chase additional products.

A blade installation typically pro-duces sales of software licenses and storage hardware initially, and then other hardware and software as the customer expands the system to accommodate growing business needs, says Tipton of Technology Specialists.

“I’ve got a client that’s coming back every year and buying about $20,000 more in blades and storage.” Tipton notes that IBM has opened its blade architecture to third parties, so a wide variety of options are available from different vendors, such as switching from Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and Qlogic. In fact, IBM helped found Blade.org, a collab-orative organization and developer community focused on accelerating the development and adoption of open blade server platforms.

Having many choices is helpful to solution providers looking to provide a customized solution. Tipton adds that in today’s bad economy, it’s especially important to have multiple suppliers. “Choice gives clients peace of mind, as I can’t guarantee that a particular vendor is go-ing to be around tomorrow.”

Then there is the ongoing services revenue from remote management and maintenance. Blade systems incorpo-rate tools that not only make setup and configuration easy, but they also enable management from one central console, either at the customer’s site or from another location.

The fact that blades consolidate all the systems into one box, combined with good remote tools, makes it easier to provide managed services for blades than for tradi-tional servers, Sorensen says. He praises HP’s tools but Heartland Technology Solutions also combines them with third-party remote management software.

“When you’re dealing with 15 different stand-alone serv-ers that were bought at 15 different times, then you have to deal with 15 different experiences in how those things are going to act,” Sorensen says. “The beauty of blades is that the servers all respond and react the same way.”

In short, solution providers can play the hero with blades, taming sprawling server beasts and ensuring that an SMB’s technology infrastructure is predictable and reli-able, with room to grow.

About the author: Tam Harbert is a freelance journalist with 20 years of experience covering technology, busi-ness and government.

Blades are distinctly different from traditional server technology, so thorough training and education are critical, warn solution providers. “Blades are simple in design but complex in integration, so you have to have a very good understanding of how this is all going to work together,” says Richard Bailey of FusionStorm. “It gets really complicated if you put a blade in incorrectly.”

Solid knowledge is important not only for engineers, but also for salespeople, notes Arlin Sorensen of Heartland Technology Solutions, so that they can suggest the most appropriate solutions for particular clients.

“There are lots of moving parts, lots of different options,” he says. “To get the biggest bang for the buck, it’s important to really understand the technology.”

After all, one of the key benefits of blade systems is the ability to tailor a system to the specific

requirements of a customer’s network environment and business needs, Bailey adds.

Training is available on blade technology through manufacturers and from Ingram Micro. HP has training through its Blade- Builder University at bladebuilderuniversity.com. IBM offers blade system training through its Know Your IBM training program; see www-200.ibm.com/partnerworld/pwhome.nsf/weblook/tac_tpf.html.

Ingram Micro offers manufacturer-sponsored demos and training on blades, storage, networking, security, IP surveillance and more at both of its Solution Center locations — one in Santa Ana, Calif., the other in Buffalo, N.Y. At these facilities, not only can solution providers learn about blades themselves, but they can also bring in their clients for hands-on testing.To learn more or to set up an appointment, contact your Ingram Micro sales representative.

Learning About Blade Servers


Designed with your�ngers in mind

Featuring a full sized tile keyboard, battery life of up to 9 hours* and weighing as little as 2.53 lbs** the 10.1” Toshiba mini NB200 is small and light enough to carry with you everywhere.

Toshiba has made every e�ort at the time of publication to ensure the accuracy of the information provided herein but cannot be responsible for typography, photog-raphy or other errors. © 2009 Toshiba of Canada Limited. *NB200-00P and NB200-002. For further details concerning battery life visit www.toshiba.ca. **Starting at 2.53lbs (1.15kg) and may vary depending on actual con�guration.

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toshibanb200ad.indd 1 22/05/09 2:34 PM12 I CONNECTED I summer 09

Connex 2009 July 15, 2009Ingram Micro’s Technology Event offers Solutions in Core IT Technologies. IDC Keynote Speech: Channel Partner Business Models - Evolving Through Revolutionary TimesLocation: Marriott Courtyard Montreal Airport HotelMontreal, QuebecTime: 9am – 5pmRegistration and details: http://www.connex-im.com/montreal.htm

VTN Wild West Chapter Meeting By Invitation This is an exclusive event for VTN members. Date: July 8, 2009 Location: Cisco officeSuite 350, 400 – 3rd Ave. S.W. Calgary, AB

Maritimes Symposium 2009 Join Ingram Micro in August in Halifax for an opportunity to meet over 25 vendors of the most innovative IT product exhibition.Date: August 2009Location: TBDHalifax, Nova ScotiaRegistration and details:[email protected] or 1-800-361-0667 ext 53358

SMBA North American Fall Invitational By Invitation This is an exclusive event for SMB Alliance members. Date: August 26 – 28, 2009Location: The Westin Hotel, Charlotte, NC

INGRAM MICRO EVENTS

MAKING VIRTUALIZATIONSECUREVirtual servers create security challenges that could put customers’ information at risk.

From a security perspective, virtu-alization is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it centralizes server and storage management and can shore up secu-rity weaknesses in distributed com-puting. On the other, consolidating physical servers using virtual servers creates distinct security challenges.First the pluses: Fewer physical serv-ers should be easier to manage. The shared storage that accompanies virtualization is likely to be more reli-able and manageable than distributed direct-attached storage. Shared stor-age also complements the business continuity features of virtualization technology. Using VMware’s VMotion, for instance, virtual machines can be migrated to backup servers in real time if the storage is shared.

Desktop virtualization can enhance security as well. In this scenario, tra-ditional PCs can be replaced with less expensive thin clients from vendors such as Wyse Technology, which draw virtual desktop images from servers, centralizing data management and increasing security.

These positives are persuasive enough to help sell virtualization solutions. “Virtualization is hard to sell on its own,” says Michael Aaron, managing director of client experi-ence at E-ternity Business Continuity Consultants and a Vmware certified engineer. “But if you tie it to security and explain that virtualization can

minimize risk, there’s a better chance of making the sale.”

To deliver on this promise,virtualization provid-ers must ensure that virtual machines, and the servers they run on, are truly secure. That means adding secu-rity controls to every virtual machine, just as you would on a physical server, says Jim Potts, technology solutions engineer at Ingram Micro.

“If you don’t employ standard security procedures on each virtual machine, you are creating a vulner-ability.” Another concern relates to “dormant” virtual machines, a problem because virtual machines are so easy to create. “Let’s say someone creates a virtual machine, but then doesn’t use it for six months,” Potts says. “That machine may not have been given all the security patches while lying dormant. When you bring it back up, it can become a vulner-ability.” To avoid such dangers, Potts advises carefully policing virtual ma-chine creation, as well as deploying virtualization-aware security solutions from ISVs such as Check Point, McA-fee and Symantec.

Security holes also can arise when virtual storage and networking aren’t configured properly. Especially dangerous are virtual network links

that could enable unauthorized com-munications among virtual servers. “If untrained personnel attempt virtualization configurations without understanding the security implica-tions, business-critical data such as e-mail or customer information could be exposed to hackers and malware,” Aaron says.

The solution to such problems, of course, is expertise. Solution provid-ers who need assistance can call on Ingram Micro Virtualization Services, virtualization assessment and deliv-ery services provided by the Ingram Micro Services Network (IMSN). The service supports leading virtualization vendors such as Citrix Systems, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and VMware. For more information, contact your Ingram Micro sales representative.

About the author: Tom Farre is the editor of Ingram Micro Channel Advisor.

Securing Virtualized Environments

ADAPTED FROM INTERNET RESEARCH GROUP, 2008

Virtual Environment

Physical Environment

Dormant machines VM proliferation Virtual networks Virtual storage Larger impact of failure

Viruses Bots Trojans Vulnerabilities Zero-day threats

Viruses Bots Trojans Vulnerabilities Zero-day threats

By Tom Farre


Don’t Write That ProposalAsking the ‘Magic Question’ Saves Time, Effort

Has a potential client ever asked you to write a proposal (or give a presen-tation) for your technology products and services and after you’ve deliv-ered it, said “Thank you for doing this — we’ll get back to you at some time in the future if we decide to do some-thing”? All that time for nothing.

If you had known what the answer would be in advance, would you have written the proposal? Probably not. So how do you find out what they are going to say?

The way to find out what they are go-ing to say after you have given them your proposal for your technology products and services is to ask them the “magic question’” before you have spent time and money preparing the proposal. Simple, really.

The magic question is magical for two reasons. It’s magical because it transports you into the future — to the time when they have received the proposal you have yet to write — and because much of the need for writ-ing the proposal will vanish after you have asked this question.

So what is this magic question?

When someone asks you to write a proposal (or give a presentation) for your technology products and ser-vices, reply by asking: “Imagine that you’ve read my proposal and, without a doubt, the solution proposed is a

perfect fit for what you want. What will happen next?”

Let’s suppose the response to your magic question was one of the follow-ing:

“I would then discuss it with my man-ager (partner, etc.) to see if they want to move ahead.”

“We’d need to assess it along with ev-erything else we are doing right now and decide on our priorities.”

“I’d need to make sure that the costs are within our budget.”

These answers tell you that writing a proposal is not really the next best step and may, in fact, not be neces-sary at all.

So for the time being at least, the need for writing a proposal has van-ished. (Like magic!)

With the above examples, instead of spending your time and money writ-ing a proposal, the best next steps could be:

n Meeting with the manager or part-ner, as well as anyone else involved in the decision-making process.

n Asking more questions to find a compelling reason for why your pros-pect should solve this problem now. If you can’t find a compelling reason,

chances are good they won’t be doing anything.

n Discussing your price range to con-firm it is within the prospect’s budget.

Depending on the outcome of these next steps, it may become obvious that this is not a qualified prospect for your technology products and ser-vices, or that you need to meet with more people and ask more questions before writing a proposal. Either way, you’ve saved time, which you can now spend on opportunities with the greatest potential benefits for your business.

About the author: A top-producing salesperson in the technology in-dustry for more than 20 years, Tessa Stowe now coaches technology com-panies on how to sell their products and services. Visit her on the web at salesconversation.com.

“The way to find out what prospects are going to say after

you have given them your proposal is to

ask them the ‘magic question’ first.”

-Tessa Stowe, Sales Mentor

By Tessa Stowe


3O3O3O3O3O

30 YEARS and counting.

30 years and counting. And we owe it all to you — our partners.

Whether you’re a manufacturer or a solution provider, you deserve

the credit for our success. Together with our top-notch associates,

you have helped Ingram Micro thrive and shape an entire industry.

We will never forget our humble roots from 1979. And while our size,

strength and stability have reached remarkable proportions, we

never forget that people do business with people they like. People

they trust. People they know will get the job done. That’s the Ingram

Micro of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Partner Smart.

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