Channel EMEA

ShoreTel to Host TCO Training for EMEA Channel Partners

anonymous — 2010-09-10T08:25:40Z

New ShoreTel Online TCO Tool determines true costs and business value of competitive unified communications solutions

London, UK, September 09, 2010 –ShoreTel® (NASDAQ: SHOR), the leading provider of brilliantly simple IP phone systems with fully integrated unified communications (UC), today announced a series of EMEA-wide TCO training courses which will introduce the new ShoreTel Online TCO Tool powered by Alinean to channel partners in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and France. Delivered by the local EMEA Sales Training team, the TCO workshops will consist of local language webinars and live events.

The ShoreTel Online TCO Tool leverages the significant resources of Alinean, including its worldwide metrics database. The tool analyses TCO, including upfront acquisition costs, management and support, for ShoreTel implementations, legacy TDM systems and various competing UC vendors. This easy-to-use tool is accessible through ShoreTel's website and is based on the TCO industry standards.

“We see TCO as one of the key battlegrounds in the Unified Communications space at the moment. Too many vendors offer very complex solutions which have a huge TCO associated with them over the life of the system. ShoreTel's TCO training sessions will take the form of short intensive workshops, offering insight into how our TCO Tool determines the exact costs and business value of ShoreTel solutions compared to competitive UC deployments. With the online TCO Tool, our partners will be able to meet the financial decision-making requirements of their customers quickly and effectively,” said Tom Perry, director of marketing EMEA at ShoreTel.

For more information about ShoreTel TCO please visit, http://www.shoretel.com/resource_center/programs/total_cost_of_ownership_commitment.html

Now is the time to take the Cloud seriously

anonymous — 2010-09-10T08:24:59Z

Majority of UK businesses currently completing or actively implementing Cloud migration

The overwhelming majority of UK businesses believe that move to Cloud based computing is one of the most important trends in IT over the next few years, according to research conducted by Cordys, the leading provider of software for business process improvement.

The research*, conducted at the recent Cloud World Forum in London, found that 59 per cent of those questioned thought that the advent of the Cloud was a pivotal issue for business.

The same sample found also that:
17 per cent had already migrated to a Cloud model;
39 per cent where actively implementing a Cloud strategy;
32 per cent was planning to implement in the next 6 to 12 months.

Peter Karsten, VP, UK Sales, Cordys, stated: “There will be many ways in which the Cloud will change businesses and the economy, most of them hard to predict, but one theme is already emerging. Businesses are becoming more like the technology itself: more adaptable, more interwoven and more specialised. These developments may not be new, but the advent of the Cloud will speed them up.”

“In many ways, the business benefits of the Cloud are obvious. The high-risk strategy in the current economic downturn is to batten down the hatches and do nothing. The lower risk strategy is to exploit the new Cloud capabilities to break the inflexibility of legacy, gaining process change, flexibility and agility, and the ability to take out operational costs – all vital in managing a business through very challenging times,” he added.

The Cordys research also highlighted the key business benefits organisations had identified as a result of migrating to the Cloud. Just over a quarter (26 per cent) stated that reduced cost was the driver for migrating to the Cloud. Improved business operational efficiency was cited by 22 per cent and increased corporate flexibility was the driver for 21 per cent of those questioned.

“In the Cloud it is possible to handle any sort of business problem usually tackled by enterprise solutions, by leveraging the capability to associate virtually any number of Web services within the context of an application. Service provisioning is effectively an application generator within a process and is inherently more flexible, easier to provide, easier to manage and easier to use than traditional “ERP” type products,” continued Peter.

He continued: “It is all driven and controlled by well defined processes and process management techniques that utilize a Business Operations Platform, capable of orchestrating and provisioning services and resources on demand at exactly the right place at the right cost. Making the Cloud work effectively is all about control, change and speed.”

The advent of the Cloud means that the focus has moved up from the infrastructure implementations to mechanisms that access the capabilities provided. This means that the ultimate measure of success will be how the services are consumed and whether that leads to new business opportunities.

Cordys delivers comprehensive Business Process Management capabilities, SOA-based integration and Composite Application Development for cloud solutions, due to its ability to orchestrate processes and Web services over disparate systems, both within organizations and across organisational boundaries. These capabilities enable corporations to facilitate faster and more effective changes and business improvements.

Peter concluded: “What is certain though is that business has to embrace change. That means the underlying business processes and operations must be both thorough and yet still quickly adaptable.”

Magirus Signs European and Middle East Distribution Agreement with SolarWinds

anonymous — 2010-09-08T14:28:46Z

Agreement gives 6,000+ resellers in Europe and Middle East access to SolarWinds software for managing cloud-based, virtualised and data centre environments.

Magirus, a leading European IT solutions provider, has today announced it has signed a distribution agreement with SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management solutions to more than 95,000 customers worldwide. The agreement gives Magirus' resellers across Europe and the Middle East access to SolarWinds' complete portfolio of network, application and storage management software for effectively managing cloud-based, virtualised and data centre environments.

Designed to help small, medium businesses, as well as Global 2000 enterprises simplify, visualise and effectively manage dynamic data centre environments, SolarWinds' IT management software offers an affordable alternative to traditional, expensive management suites. Designed with feedback from SolarWinds' user-community of 50,000+ IT managers, the Orion and Profiler families of products offer IT professionals a comprehensive and easy-to-understand view of their network, storage and applications' performance, whether that IT environment is comprised of single vendor or multi-vendor technologies.

The new partnership will enable resellers to optimise revenue opportunities from cloud-based and unified data centre deployments, as organisations strive to manage complex architectures and technologies, such as virtualisation, storage and networking.

The SolarWinds Orion family of products is modular. The modules enable network configuration management, applications performance management, network performance management and traffic analysis. The software is closely aligned to Cisco technologies offering support for a wide range of technologies – including those embedded in Cisco gear, such as NetFlow and IP SLA – and Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) networks, a must for companies and resellers with VoIP service level agreements in place.

“SolarWinds' IT management solutions drop neatly into our existing portfolio of data-centric technologies. It offers resellers a powerful and affordable solution for managing the entire virtualised data centre environment now, with the flexibility to manage cloud-based deployments in the future,” said Christian Magirus, executive vice president and COO of Magirus.

SolarWinds joins Magirus' long list of software, service and vendor partners including VMware, Cisco and EMC. It strengthens further Magirus' Data Centre strategy. This strategy is designed to help resellers better serve their customers and drive increased revenue from next generation data centre models; especially those converging virtualisation, storage, networking and server technologies to create unified data centre and private cloud computing offerings.

Under the agreement, Magirus will offer resellers in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and Middle East access to SolarWinds' entire suite of products; including the Orion® suite of network and application management solutions and the Profiler family of storage and virtualisation management products. Justin Endres, Vice President, International Sales at SolarWinds commented, “Magirus is an ideal, value-added distributor to assist with the growth of our Europe and the Middle East business given its focus on virtualisation, storage and networking technologies and extensive market presence. This, coupled with Magirus' reputation for strong training, customer education and channel support, yields a very positive relationship for SolarWinds and our IT community.”

As part of the relationship, both companies expect to engage in a variety of technical training and accreditation and education events.

ArcSight recruits 100-plus partners in EMEA

Stuart Wilson — 2010-09-07T13:20:02Z

Cybersecurity and compliance solution supplier ArcSight has now signed up more than 100 channel partners in EMEA to its connections channel programme. ArcSight has also announced that UK security integrator Cipher has joined the programme as a silver partner.

The ArcSight connections channel programme was launched earlier this year aimed at increasing channel presence through escalating incentives and investment in partner enablement.

Jonathan Cooper, director of channel sales EMEA at ArcSight, said: “We've continued to see an increase in business opportunity across the security sector in EMEA. With compliance requirements and the increasing global demand from corporate and government agencies to protect their organisations from sophisticated and highly targeted security threats, the need for sector expertise has become increasingly important.”

“ArcSight channel partners complement our market-leading solutions, and we look forward to continuing to grow our channel programme to ensure our customers benefit from the combined expertise to combat modern day cyberthreats,” he added.

Eduardo Boucas, managing director at Cipher Security, added: “We are delighted to be participating in the ArcSight connections channel programme in EMEA and to be offering our customers market-leading enterprise threat and risk management solutions.”

“In addition to our systems integration services, we also provide a 24x7 global security operation centre facility, in which we've now implemented the ArcSight platform as the company standard to automate event correlation and log management processes. This allows us to respond to high threat incidents without the need to analyse volumes of data, and as a result, deliver a greater ROI and a more robust security solution to our clients,” he added.

ArcSight is now represented in every major European country through its network of distributors, resellers, system integrators and managed security service providers. The ArcSight connections channel programme, introduced in May, offers various levels of programme participation. Channel partners have the ability to move between levels as they scale their ArcSight business.

Data Robotics names EMEA VP

Stuart Wilson — 2010-09-07T11:00:06Z

Data Robotics – the vendor behind the Drobo family of storage products – has appointed Paul Thackeray as VP of its operations in EMEA. Based out of the vendor's regional headquarters in the UK, Thackeray will report into Data Robotics' CEO Tom Buiocchi.

Thackeray joins Data Robotics from Barracuda Networks, where as managing director and VP EMEA he was responsible for growing the business from start up to a multi-million dollar European operation within four years.

In his role at Data Robotics, Thackeray is responsible for continuing Data Robotics' rapid expansion across EMEA through investment in the channel. He will be particularly focused on developing the company's business-to-business channel strategy, in line with the company's growing SMB product portfolio.

Buiocchi said, "Growth at Data Robotics remains exceptional and demand for the company's award-winning products are at record level. Europe has become a high-growth market for us and Paul has a proven track record of recruiting distributors and resellers across the region. He knows the SMB space well and has the necessary skills to grow the business in EMEA to the next level."

Thackeray has previously held senior managerial and director positions at Sonicwall, Global Secure Systems and Cylink.

Canon eyes Egyptian potential

Stuart Wilson — 2010-09-07T10:07:34Z

Imaging and printing vendor Canon met with VARs and integrators in Egypt to underline its commitment to the market. With Business Monitor International (BMI) predicting that Egyptian IT spend will grow from US$1.3 billion in 2010 to US$2.1 billion by 2014, Canon reckons that the SMB channel offers strong in-country growth potential.

Canon plans to develop dedicated incentive packages for channel partners and plans to boost retail displays and training to increase toner attach rations with printers. At its channel event held in Cairo, Canon revealed that Egypt is one of its five most profitable markets in the Middle East.

Anurag Agrawal, managing director at Canon Middle East, said: "We are working to increase Canon's visibility in major outlets across Egypt, targeting over 100 outlets mainly through mass markets, power retailers and IT dealer channels.”

“We have also recently launched a partner development programme called Essential business builder programme in Egypt. Canon certainly remains strongly committed to Egypt and our IT channel strategy will greatly enhance our ability to cater to the distinct requirements of IT customers and business clients in the country," Agrawal added.

Overtis appoints VP for emerging markets

Stuart Wilson — 2010-09-07T09:48:50Z

User activity management software vendor Overtis has appointed Mike Hibbert as VP for emerging markets. Hibbert will be responsible for developing distribution and channel partnerships in South Africa and the Middle East. Hibbert has more than 20 years experience of developing sales channels in new markets in the security sector.

Hibbert joins Overtis from Websense, where he ran the sales operation in Africa. Hibbert formerly provided country management in South Africa and the Middle East for e-mail and web security firms M86 Security, NetIQ and NetGenesis.

Hibbert's extensive network of channel partners in South Africa and the Middle East aligns with Overtis' indirect sales model and provides local support to the company's growing international customer base, according to the vendor.

Hibbert said: “I am familiar with many vendors' portfolios, so I was immediately impressed with Overtis VigilancePro because it provides user-centric data management. Securing data in an organisation is a continual tweaking process, it's not a ‘set and forget' scenario. You are continually assessing which information is important, who can access it and how they can use it. VigilancePro allows for this, by managing data at the point where users interact with it.”

Ed Macnair, CEO at Overtis, added: “I am delighted to welcome Mike to the Overtis team. He has a tremendous track record in forging new relationships with influential channel partners in emerging markets. Security software that he has launched in South Africa and the Middle East has grown to achieve 70% market share. We are extremely excited to be able to bring him on board as we expand internationally.”

Carrefour adds clicks to bricks in UAE

Stuart Wilson — 2010-09-06T15:58:16Z

Carrefour has signalled its intention to play a major role in the growing e-tailer channel in the UAE. The hypermarket, which is one of the largest physical retailers of IT and electronics products in the UAE, has now launched www.ic4uae.com, an online store stocking more than 3,000 non-food items including IT and electronics products.

Henry Changeux, GCC country head at Carrefour, said: "We live in the age of the internet and as Carrefour is committed to offering customers choice, flexibility and convenience, launching an online store seemed the next natural step for us in the region."

Changeux added: "The webstore gives customers the opportunity to browse through thousands of products, while comparing different brands and features at a time that suits them. All Items are delivered by UPS to their doorstep - what could be more convenient."

The e-tailer site also includes many items that are not be available in-store. Customers can purchase a variety of items online, including cameras, mobiles, printers, gaming products, TVs and home appliances.

The state of play

With Carrefour deciding that the time is right to launch an e-tailer operation, the UAE channel has reached a critical point in its development. Here is our quick guide outlining the current position of major UAE IT and consumer electronics retailers in terms of existing e-tailer capabilities:

Axiom: As befits a telecoms-focused retailer, Axiom offers plenty of product details on its site, but asks consumers to call them to place an order for a new phone in the UAE. www.axiomtelecom.com

E-City: A smartly designed website that includes limited details of TopTech, TopDeals and TopBuys, but no option to actually purchase products online. www.ecityuae.ae

Emax: Website under construction is the message from Landmark Group's retail operation. Could this mean a new e-tailer site is currently in development? www.emaxme.com

i2 & CompuMe: There doesn't appear to be a dedicated UAE website yet. Main CompuMe website offers e-tail to consumers in Egypt. www.compume.com

Jacky's: One of the first retailers to offer the ability to purchase kit online. However, this website is not as easy to navigate as others. www.jackys.com

Jumbo: A mass of product details and a few offer prices but the website is still lacking the option for customers to purchase online. www.jumbocorp.com

Plug-Ins: The retailer's website currently offers product images and outlines offer prices, but has no online purchasing function. www.pluginselectronix.com

Sharaf DG: Already committed to e-tailing, Sharaf DG offers a clear website with multiple product categories and clear 'buy now' buttons. www.sharafdg.com

Stanimira Koleva, Cisco

Stuart Wilson — 2010-09-06T14:58:05Z

Cisco's Stanimira Koleva focuses on the evolution of the small business channel partner as the emphasis shifts from box shifter to service provider.

Stanimira Koleva is European commercial and small-business director for Cisco. In this piece, Koleva argues that the emergence of cloud computing means that moving to a managed services model could become an interesting new revenue stream for SMB resellers. This will enable resellers to engage with customers long-term, instead of being forgotten after installing a piece of kit

From box shifters to service providers

Small businesses generally have a love-hate relationship with IT – technology enables powerful and efficient new ways of working, but managing the resources needed to support these can be a headache. Many small businesses rely on the advice of a preferred partner, such as an IT consultant or reseller, to recommend and provide the equipment needed to support specific business objectives. This type of outsourcing helps SMBs to focus on their core business.

However, even with the partner providing the required IT products, the technology or telecoms services needed by the business are often supplied by another provider. This leads to complex situations, where small businesses have to juggle multiple points of contact, multiple points of failure, multiple contracts, billing agreements and so on – an unnecessary burden for business owners and managers focused on building their businesses up in a challenging economic environment.

The best arrangement for small businesses would be one contact for all their IT requirements – be it products or services. This could mean that their IT provider would also become their telecoms provider. In the past resellers would have regarded this set-up as too complex. This isn't the case today. With the wholesale adoption of internet protocol (IP) the barriers to entry for technology resellers to become telecom service providers are dramatically reduced. You don't need your own telephony network or data network to provide a managed service to your customers, and the skills and technology required to deliver these services are well within the grasp of many IT resellers.

Managed services

There is also extra support out there for resellers wishing to enter the managed services sphere. Cisco, for example, has a managed service provider enablement programme that guides small business partners through the managed service offering, helping them sign up to service level agreements (SLAs) and capitalise on new business model opportunities.

This shift brings multiple benefits to both end users and resellers: end-users can simplify their billing and IT support processes and achieve cost-consolidation savings, especially as a managed service often comes through hardware leasing programmes, which helps to cut their up-front capital costs. Resellers can move closer to their customers, find up-sell opportunities, secure ongoing revenue streams and more effectively deliver support and new services.

Already, this new way of providing services to small businesses can be seen across Europe, as organisations including Portugal Telecom, Vodafone in the Nordics and WIND in Italy are already offering small businesses innovative managed services packages based on Cisco technology.

We estimate the managed services market opportunity to be in the region of US$40 billion globally, particularly as small businesses adjust to the ‘economic new normal' and look to reduce their capital expenditure. Despite the apparent move out of recession, European small businesses are unlikely to return to big ticket spending. The move to managed service provision represents a great chance for resellers to evolve from box shifters to trusted and value-added advisors to their customers.

Natural evolution

Reseller-delivered managed service options can be very flexible and the services can either be customer premise-based and delivered by the managed service provider, or hosted and managed by the partner. These offerings use a partner's range of skills and services in areas such as design, implementation, configuration, maintenance, monitoring, network access and routing. If something ever goes wrong with the technology, the small business can rely on its managed service provider to resolve any problems.

Moving into managed services for small businesses from scratch may seem an ambitious undertaking for ICT resellers, but it is a natural evolution of the traditional reseller business as the technology and economic environment shift and customer demands change. Resellers need to evaluate their offering and ensure that they are ready for what the new ‘business as usual' situation holds.

CNS adds ArcSight to portfolio

Stuart Wilson — 2010-09-06T14:40:13Z

UAE-based reseller CNS has added security and compliance management solutions from ArcSight to its vendor portfolio. ArcSight claims that its solutions help companies by providing complete visibility and insight into their ICT infrastructure across all users, networks, datacentres and applications.

"The requirements for security solutions have been increasing throughout 2010," said Brian Perrins, senior manager at CNS. "The focus is still on perimeter-based solutions such as firewalls, anti-virus and content management. However there is only so far an organisation can go to reduce external threats and the reality is that internal threats are the most critical."

ArcSight products include security incident and event management (SIEM). These solutions are a combination of the formerly disparate product categories of SIM (security information management) and SEM (security event management). SIEM technology provides real-time analysis of security alerts generated by network hardware and applications. ArcSight SIEM solutions come as appliances, and are also used to log security data and generate reports for compliance purposes.

"Now that we are ArcSight reseller we can increase our focus on these very critical security solutions. The CNS security practice has already gained experience in this niche area and now ArcSight gives us the best product," added Perrins. "Already we are working on high level designs with banks and key government organisations."