Computer Reseller News April 2008

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Apri l 2008

NEC predict s a boom

t his year p13> >

Econom y slow s dow nIT spend p22> >

Chipm akers cont inue t osupp ort local deskt op PC p53> >

SAs energy cr isis opens upopp ort unit ies f or resellers p13> >

Inside This IssueInside This Issue

This month CRNprof i les t he t opchannel execsas voted by SA

resellers p25> >


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At this years Hewlett-Packard Preferred Partner Conference held in San Francisco

recently, the vendor urged its preferred partners to remain focused despite a

recession in the US economy and turmoil in global markets. The vendor was

quick to point out that remaining focused and maintaining vital customer

relationships during a tumultuous economy will help them to keep their

numbers on the upswing.

The vendor says its counting on partners to keep the company in growth mode.

To this end, the vendor has launched a new Virtualisation specialisation bringing to

13 the total number of specialisations it is offering its preferred partners.Solution providers in the local channel have welcomed the Virtualisation

specialisation as it comes at a time when the vendor has been expanding its

alliance with virtualisation software vendors, namely VMware, Microsoft and

Citrix. In addition, the new specialisation has been launched at a time when

solution providers are turning server virtualisation, one of the fastest-growing

segments in the IT market, into their own gravy train.

HP has also unveiled a new Gold Specialisation for its partners on the HP

Preferred Partner Programme, which will come into effect on 1 November 2008.

The new Gold Specialisation is being mapped and readied for the financial

year 2009, and is part of the companys broad initiative to upgrade the number

of partners on the Gold Specialisation and expand the number of partners in the

transactional business space.

According to the vendor, details of the new Gold Specialisation programme will be released in the EMEA region starting the

week of 5 May 2008 and partners will have until10 September 2008 to familiarise themselves with the stringent criteria, get

trained and certified as Gold partners.

Sean Gallagher, director SPO at HP in EMEA, says the introduction of the HP Preferred Partner Gold Specialisation follows

months of rigorous planning based on partner feedback.

Gallagher says the programme is open to both specialists and non-specialist partners although there will be more benefits for

partners with a specialisation.

Gallagher adds the programme will not only segment partners but also increase partner coverage in the various markets.

Our partners have been telling us they cant differentiate themselves and this programme has been designed with this in mind,

he says.

Solution providers at the conference were delighted to see HPtaking the bold stance of growing its business through the channel.

Whats your take on the two new specialisations from HP? Are you ready for the two specialisations? Let me know at

[email protected]

EDITORS: NOTE

HP touts

new special isat ions

Manda Banda publisher


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CRN Contacts:

Publisher:

Manda Banda

[email protected]

Online editor:

Kaunda Chama

[email protected]

Journalist:

Port ia Shaba

[email protected]

Intern:

Dominic Khuzwayo

[email protected]

Brand executive:

Hellen Murahwa

[email protected]

Sub-editor:

Jenny Bastomsky

[email protected]

Designer:

Spencer van Graan

[email protected]

Database and subscriptions:

Daisy Mulenga

[email protected]

copyright notice

CRN South ern Africa isp ublished month ly by

SystemsPublishers(Pty) Ltd. The copyright of all

material in thisp ublication is reserved by the proprietors,

except where expressly stated. The publisher, however,

will consider reasonable requests for the use of material

by otherson condition that t he source and author

of the report are clearly attributed. Due to the nature

of t he newspaper print process, SystemsPublishers

cannot be held responsible for colour variations

in printed advertising. Printed by Ultra Litho.

CRN Southern Afr ica is a licensee of CMPMedia LLC.

Private Bag X12, Rivonia, 2128Tel: (011) 234 7008Fax: (011) 234 7025Registered with the Audit

Bureau of Circulation

News & Analysis

4 What s News

6 Comings and goings

10 Hi Five

12 Demand Generator takes a look at how Novartis SA has

upgraded to VoIP. By Dominic Khuzwayo

13 Display vendor NEC is predicts a boom this year with its newly

launched large format LCDs, plasma screens and Vista-compliant projectors.

By Dudu Shaba

14 Networking solutions vendor starts creating a collaborative

channel. By Kaunda Chama

20 Intel still sees great potential in indirect sales model.

By Kaunda Chama

22 State of the economy slows down IT spend.

By Dudu Shaba

25 -45 Channel execs: CRN profiles this years top

channel executives

Features48 Monitors: Early indications in 2008 are that sales of

wide-screen LCD display panels would start outpacing square and

CRT displays in PC bundles. By Dudu Shaba

53 Local Brand s: A few years ago, the question was whether

local brands would take off. Today, this is no longer a subject for debate,

chipmakers AMD and Intel continue to support the local desktop PC,

notebook and server market. By Dudu Shaba

56 Security: Although virtualisation is now officially

mainstream, industry pundits are cautioning against a rush to virtualise

without considering the security implications of doing so. Traditional

security architectures and products are inadequate for this

new topology. By Kaunda Chama

Product and technology63 Product reviews, Vosonic multimedia viewer, HP

Photosmart A441, Microsoft ergonomic keyboard and mouse

Parting shots64 Snapshot: Nicola Homewood, Ingram Micro SA

64 Dilbert

Contents

10

12

Scans in this publication have been reproducedon the EPSON PERFECTiON 2450 phot o

23

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63

2 CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA APRIL 2008


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WHATS NEWS

Westcon p rovide sk ills programmeConfronted with the growing skills shortage in the ICT industry, Westcon SA has launched

the Westcon SA Graduate Programme.

Ben de Klerk, national sales manager at Westcon SA says: To support the growth that

Westcon SA is experiencing and aggressively driving, we need to ensure that the correct

resources are incorporated into the company. And we made a strategic decision toinvest in the industry and our own future by developing a graduate programme.

COMINGS

&GOIN

GS

Timm bids farewell toFaritec

Allan Timm, sales director at Faritec

Holdings, a JSE-listed IT company, has

resigned from the board of directors. To

ensure a smooth transition, Timm will leave

the company at the end of April 2008.This doesnt mean the end of the world for Timm; he will

be pursuing other business interests with

the appreciation of the board.

New marketing head atNok ia Siemens Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks has appointed

Frederic Astier as head of marketing.

Astier will be responsible for overall

marketing activities in all the regions and across the entire

portfolio of products and services.

He was previously a management team

member of the Vodafone Customer

Business Team at Nokia Siemens Networks.

Nthab iseng Mokone joinsGoldenRule

GoldenRule, a company within Amabubesi

Capital Technologies (ACT), has appointed

Nthabiseng Mokone to its board. Holding a BCom Honours

degree with CTA, Mokone began her career in 1996 at

Transtel. In 2002, she moved to Transnet Group Finance to

start her training outside public practice. Then, she joined

ABC South Africa, a subsidiary of African Banking

Corporation Holdings.

Angus Young, CEO of ACT says, Mokone has cemented

strong relationships across the board and brings with her a

wealth of experience from the banking and financial sector.

What do you have to say?HPrecently launched its What do

you have to say? campaign aimed

at engaging SME customers in its

Print 2.0 strategy. Thierry Boulanger,

IPG country manager, HP, says the

strategy focuses on areas such as

delivering a next-generation digital

printing platform that increases print

speeds and lowers the cost of

printing for high-volume commercial markets. The

campaign is designed to inspire HPs customers and

empower them with new ideas and online tools to help

them think about what they have to say.

Konica SA introduces bizhubC650Konica Minolta SA (KMSA) has announced the

completion of its InfoLine designed trio of devices, with

the introduction of the bizhub C650.

Marianna Gdanis, KMSA colour division manager says

that the bizhub C650 printer targets CRDs and corporate

office environments with high volume requirements. She

claims that the bizhub C650 provides 100 percent duplex

productivity for the fast completion of double-sided jobs in

both colour and monochrome. The automatic duplexing

is standard and includes the processing of 256 gsm from

any paper tray says Gdanis.

New Lenovo 3000k desktopsTarsus Technologies has unleashed the new Lenovo 3000K

range of consumer-focused desktops. This comes after the

launch of the highly anticipated Lenovos ThinkPad X300

notebook. Brett Walter, Lenovo product manager at Tarsus,

says that the 3000K range benefits from a mix of the

highest-end components available on the market today

and a number of innovative advancements from Lenovos

Lab in China. According to him, Lenovo has dealt with this

need by making the illumination of the desktops front

bezel change colour according mode.

Crystal laptop by PinnaclePinnacle Micro launch MSI PR200 Crystal range of laptops.

It comes in a shiny UV glossy coating dominated by a white

and silver colour scheme and a finely detailed MSI logo.

Measuring at 30cm in length and 23cm in width, along

with a weight of 1.8 kg (including battery), the PR200

Crystal Collection is slim and portable. According to the

distributor the ACV technology gives the user the most

detailed and intricate images, resulting in high saturation

and high definition quality for a luxurious visual sensationthats easy on the eyes.


Thierry Boulanger

Allan Timm

Frederic Astier

Yasmin Forbes


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WHATS NEWS

McAfee, VMware advancevirtualisation securityMcAfee, has announced that it has entered into a

broad relationship with VMware to advance

virtualisation security. Chris van Niekerk, regional

director, Africa, McAfee says as part of the

relationship, his company plans to embed the

newly announced VMware VMsafe security

technology into future security solution offerings.

McAfee has also signed an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)

agreement with VMware to utilise its VMware ESXServer 3i technology in

future security solutions. In addition, McAfee has also announced the

availability of its new e-mail and web securityvirtual appliance, which is built

from the ground up for the VMware platform.

Symantec Announces New

Norton AntiVirus for MacSymantec, makers of Norton security software announced

the new Norton AntiVirus Dual Protection for Mac. It

features a vulnerability protection technology and

antivirus for Mac users running Boot Camp or Windows virtualization

software. These programs allow users to run both Mac O S XLeopard and

Windows operating systems. This solution provides comprehensive

protection from both Mac and Windows-based vulnerabilities and viruses.

With this dual protection functionality, Mac users are set to benefit by

receiving both the Norton AntiVirus 11 for Mac and antivirus and

vulnerability protection of Norton AntiVirus 2008 for Windows.

McAfee releases virusScan for MacMcAfee has released VirusScan for Apple Macintoshs latest operating

system (Mac OSX) version 10.5 (Leopard). The VirusScan protects Mac

users from threats to their personal and private data wherever it resides.

Bernadine Botha, McAfee product manager at Workgroup says:

VirusScan for Mac protects Macintosh end points against malware and

other unwanted programmes that can target systems.

New Backup for ServersSymantec, one of the global leaders in providing security, storage and

systems management solutions, announced its new Symantec Backup Exec

12 for Windows Servers. The Backup Exec 12 comes with a ThreatCon

global security alerting system, Enterprise Vault to protect email archives

and the new Symantec Protection Network for accessing offsite storage.

It restores data from a single pass backup with patent-pending Granular

Recovery technology, which obviates the need to run mailbox backups to

recover individual Exchange emails.

DCC stocks Sony Blu-ray writersDrive Control Corporation (DCC) releases Sonys second generation

Blu-ray disk writer drive, BWU-200S. The advantage of the new BWU-

200S model is that it features a faster write speed, reducing burn time by

up to 50 per cent when compared with its predecessor. It now takesapproximately 45 minutes to record a 50GB BR-Rdisc, says Michael

Tan, senior regional account manager, Sony applications & devices

marketing (Singapore), a Sony Electronics company. The BWU-200S

features a SATA interface. And the drive also supports recordings on

standard single layer 4.7GB DVD R/ RW/RAM disks, 8.5GB DVD R

double/ dual layer disks and CDs.

New In tel server processors launchedIntel Corporation has introduced a two

low-voltage 45 nanometer (nm) processors for servers and workstations. It

is designed to run at 50 watts or just 12.5 watts per core and frequencies

as high as 2.50GHz. The L5400 processors are claimed to be 25 percent

faster and have a 50 percent larger cache size than Intels previous-

generation, low-voltage Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors. Others include

the quad-core L5420 and L5410 processors run at 2.50 GHz and 2.33

GHz, respectively.

New Sony E-Series LCD projectorsRectron has launched the latest video projection

systems from Sony Electronics designed for use

in small to medium venues with limited space.

The latest E-series business projectors are the

Sony VPL-EW5, VPL-EX50, VPL-EX5 and VPL-

ES5, all incorporating a three-LCD panel system

that delivers consistently bright, true-to-life

images of up to 2500 ANSI lumens of

brightness, says Werner Kuhn, peripherals

business manager at Rectron. The new models except for the VPL-ES5,

feature Sonys BrightEra technology. BrightEra enables the Sony E-Series

display panels to be significantly resistant to the damage of UV rays

caused by projector lamps and allow for increased aperture ratios.

Esquire releases BenQ projectorEsquire Technologies delivers the new ultra-

compact BenQ SP820 digital XGA projector,

which has been specifically developed for

corporate and educational markets. Mahomed

Cassim, marketing director, Esquire

Technologies, says that the SP820 arrives with a

high brightness of 4,000 ANSI lumens, a

2,000:1 high contrast ratio, a 1024x768 XGA

native resolution and digital zoom function.

Weighing only 3,71kg, he explains that the projector displays brightly and

features a compact housing with a convenient integrated handle that

allows users to carry it around easily or install it at a fixed location.

HP boosts midsize customersHP has introduced an easy-to-manage virtual storage disk array. It is

designed specifically for midsize customers that need to reduce the costs

and complexity of implementing a storage area network (SAN). HP

Storage Works 4400 Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA4400) offers a combination

of high-performance and availability features, virtualisation capabilities

and advanced provisioning software. This is set to be ideal for midsizebusinesses that want to cost-effectively manage large amounts of data in

a SAN environment without investing in deep storage experience.


Werner Kuhn

Mahomed Cassim

Chris van Niekerk


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WHATS NEWS


Epson, Rectron partner

Epson SA has appointed Rectron, to distribute Epsons

products targeted at the SME market.

Hans Dummer, GM, Epson SA says the agreement covers

Epson projectors, scanners, dot-matrix printers, MFPs, inkjet

and photo inkjet printers, print consumables and other

supplies.Dummer believes the expansion of Epson in the mid-range

of their consumer products is attractive to the company, as

well as the national foot print that Rectron has.

Rectron lands Samsung pr interdistribution

Rectron, has signed another premium brand to its stable and

is now the authorised Samsung distributor.

In terms of the deals, Rectron will supply the local market acomplete range of Samsungs mono and colour laser printers

and consumables in SA.

Zandr Rudolph, sales director at Rectron, says both

companies understand that Rectrons strength as a key

player in ICT distribution lies in its wide-ranging customer

base and strong financial muscle. This will allow the two

firms to work jointly towards a common goal that of

becoming the number one player in the printing and

imaging business adds Rudolph.

Ingr am Micro now Microsoft disti

Ingram Micro SA has signed a distribution agreement with

Microsoft SA. The deal will allow Ingram Micro to gain official

OEM distribution status for the vendors client operating

systems, client-side applications and server solutions.

Nicola Homewood, Microsoft product manager at Ingram

Micro SA says: This agreement is of considerable value to us

locally as it allows us to offer our channel partners a more

complete portfolio of products which now encompasses both

hardware and software, aligning it with the one-stop shopping

experience Ingram Micro provides worldwide.

Pinnacle closes Ritek dea l

Distribution giant Pinnacle Micro has sealed a deal with Ritek

Corporation to distribute its range of RiDATA optical media

and flash memory products.

The deal comes hot on the heals of the distributer ending

its distribution deal with optical media vendor Verbatim.

We have been in discussions with Ritek for more than ayear and they have been doing an intensive investigation of

Pinnacle Micro to ensure that we are the right company to

represent them in Africa, says Hans Steyn, RiDATA brand

manager at Pinnacle Micro.

According to Steyn his company believes that the RiDATA

brand is going to make a big impact in the South African

industry and in Africa as a whole.

SMC Networks SA signs DCC

SMC Networks SA has appointed Drive Control Corporation

(DCC) as the local distributor for its next generation

networking solutions.

The development is effective immediately and will result in

the local market having access to a wider variety of product

sets from a single supplier.

Pierre Holtzhausen, networking specialist at DCC says: The

agreement will allow DCC to deliver a wide range of quality,

cost effective networking solutions to our reseller base.

Paul Luff, country manager, SMC Networks SA says users

will immediately gain from a broader product range and an

enhancement of logistic services and technical support.

BDS signs X&R as Kenyan disti

Bytes Document Solutions, the authorised distributor of Xerox

products and solutions in 24 African countries, has appointed

X&RTechnologies as its new Kenyan distributor.

Coenraad Ackerman, African operations manager at Bytes

Document Solutions says that the operations of the newly

formed company will be headed up by CEO Lucy Njoroge,

who co-founded, along with her husband, O penView in

Kenya, an IT solutions company that services the corporatemarket segment in East Africa.


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This months High Five looks at Panda Security, a creator and

developer of antivirus products that keep customers IT resources

free from virus, malware, Trojans and other computer threats.

Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda Securitys sub-Saharan operations

takes the high five.

CRN: How are computer viruses affecting the IT industry?

JM: Viruses lead to downtime, malfunctioning systems and loss of

both financial and intellectual data, while spam (which accounts for

approximately 90 per cent of emails received by companies) leads to

unnecessary consumption of bandwidth. Then there are bots

programmes that go resident on a computer waiting for commands

from their creators, and can take complete control of the infected system.

Currently, there are 500 000 bot infections worldwide every day.

CRN: What other challenges is the industry facing when it

comes to security?

JM:As an industry we face two main challenges. Firstly, many

businesses lack the education and awareness of how to protect

themselves and their IT environments. While technology is a vital

component, the human element involved in risk reduction should

not be underestimated. Staff need to be taught, for example, to

avoid carrying out unsafe actions such as opening mails from

unknown recipients, opening links that arrive through mail instead

of typing them in the browser or downloading suspicious files

through P2P networks.

The other key challenge is virus attacks, the perception among

companies is that it wont happen to me. This laissez-faire attitude

results in companies sidelining security resulting in insufficient

protection. A study from Pandas laboratory last year showed that

almost 72 per cent of protected networks with more than 100

workstations were infected with active malware.

CRN: What are the latest virus threats that the industry is

facing?

JM: Essentially, we face an onslaught of malware designed to steal

money. Leading t he charge are Trojans (a quarter of all infections last

year). Banker Trojans, for example, are a very efficient tool for

cyber-crooks, since these malicious codes steal bank details, account

numbers, etc. which are later used to empty users bank accounts.

CRN: Looking at technology grow th, w hich areas do yousee growing your business and offerings?

JM: In terms of percentages, the number of new examples of

malware that appeared in 2007 increased tenfold with respect to

2006 which, in turn, witnessed an increase of 172 per cent on the

previous year.

CRN: What gives Panda Security the edge?

JM: Pandas acclaimed TruPrevent Technologies has been designed

to protect PCs from both unknown viruses and intruders. These new

preventive technologies neither replace nor conflict with traditional

reactive technologies used by antivirus solutions.

TruPrevent analyses the behaviour of all the programs and files that

are running, blocking those that carry out damaging actions and

have unknown viruses.

By doing this, all processes are optimised. The t raditional

antivirus component of your protection filters known viruses that the

firewall has let through, while TruPrevent focuses on analysing thebehaviour of the rest of the programs that are free of known viruses.


HIGH FIVE: PANDA SECURITYSOLUTION PROVIDERS

Pandasecurity secures PCs

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

Addressing the challenges of IT security.

Pandas acclaimed TruPrevent Technologies has

been designed to protect PCs from unknown

viruses and intruders. Jeremy M att hew s,

Pand a Securit y


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ovartis SA, a local pharmaceutical company

recently upgraded its LAN and WAN, and

moved to a Voice over Internet Protocol

(VoIP) platform. This was done with the

assistance of KSS, a Johannesburg-based

system integrator focusing on integrated

data, voice and/or video solutions, and

Cisco, supplier of networking equipment

and network management for the Internet.

This upgrade is said to have increased thereliability and performance of the companys

networks, enhancing business efficiency and

communication, as well as enabling it to

meet the standardisation guidelines of its

international parent company.

Novartis SA is part of the global pharma-

ceutical organisation, one of the leaders in

the research and development of products

to cure disease, ease suffering and enhance

quality of life.

In 2006 the South African office had to

reassess its infrastructure due to new stan-

dardisation policies abroad on compliance

to global standards. This led the local

company to look at upgrading its existing

LAN and WAN, as well as upgrading its

telephony system to a VoIP platform.

Due to growth and change, our LAN

and WAN networks were not functioning

optimally, says Brigitte Thompson, service

delivery manager at Novartis SA.

We needed to connect with two

branches in Cape Town and an additional

two in Durban but found our network slow,

unreliable and lacking the functionality we

required. We also needed to upgrade our

infrastructure to meet global standards.

In addition, our migration from a

Microsoft NT to XP platform further drove

the business case for a network forklift

upgrade. We felt this was essential tosupport our branches and continue

providing innovative medical solutions to

our markets, says Thompson.

Wireless networK

The company also needed to expand its

wireless network at its head office in Isando

to provide mobility for notebook users.

Another key requirement was to migrate to

a VoIPplatform as the telephone system was

not meeting the companys requirements.Novartis provided a design specification,

a list of hardware and required standards

to four solution providers. Novartis global

technology partner, BT, facilitated the

project implementation.

In addition, the expanded wireless

network required the installation of Ciscos

4400 wireless controller with 16 LWAPP

access points to facilitate the wireless IP

phones which replaced the older cordless

phones. Cisco 2800 ISRrouters and C3560

Power over Ethernet (PoE) LAN switches

were also implemented.

The implementation had to be carefully

planned to ensure minimal impact on

operations through downtime. The first

phase of the implementation took place at

the head office in Johannesburg, says

Corne Sassenberg, account manager at KSS.

The hardware was ordered, an asset

count and a burn-in were completed. KSS

assisted with the pre-configuration, testing

and designing of equipment at its testing

facility in Midrand. The Johannesburg

implementation took three days and was

relatively free of challenges and hitches. The

Durban implementation was next, followed

by the Cape Town site, adds Sassenberg.

According to Thompson, the network

now provides improved efficiencies due to

faster access speeds to the servers and the

ability to find information quickly.

The IP Telephony solut ion has allowed

us to manage and contain costs. Reporting

is now available at the touch of a button

and with this information at hand,

management of our telephony costs aresimplified, Thompson concludes.


DEMAND GENERATOR: NOVARTIS SASOLUTION PROVIDERS

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

N

The implementat ion had to be carefully planned to ensure

minimal impact on operations through downtime.

Corne Sassenberg, KSS

Standardising in line with parent company.

Novartis SA upgrades to VOIP

Corne Sassenberg, KSS


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ANALYSIS: NECSOLUTION PROVIDERS

isplay vendor NEC is predicting a boom this

year with its newly launched range of large

format LCDs, plasma screens and Vista-com-

pliant projectors, designed for corporates.

Craig Butterworth, sales manager, NEC

Display Solutions SA says the unique style

and functional design of these new

products with their wide screens and digital

signage, combined with their many

features, make them valuable tools forgetting the right message or content across.

Butterworth says the company has been

in the market for a long time and has

clearly secured its position. He says that

customer satisfaction has top priority in the

company and that NECs partners will

receive marketing support in terms of

delivering the companys best display

solutions and support to corporates.

Corporates as well as business,

education, transport, mining, entertainment

and other sectors want to see themselves

adapting to technologies that enable them

to communicate in a fast and effective way.

With these products, we aim to educate the

market to start looking at proper and

quality public display solutions, using the

right products and also to stop using TVs as

display panels, he says.

Butterworth says NECs display solutions

are already in the market and resellers will

have great opportunities for making profit

and will also be trained so they are able to

sell integration products for themselves.

We have also started to inform our

distributors in the channel about our new

products through road shows and constant

education, he says.

Butterworth states that the company has

also approached FIFA directly to negotiate

supplying it with public displays for the FIFA

World Cup.

In Africa, he says that the demand for

public displays is the same as in SA.

What we do in SA is what we do on therest of the African continent. We have started

rolling out products in Kenya and are

hoping to stretch to other African countries

as well because globalisation is the current

influential factor, he says.

In SA, we have three distributors in the

channel, which are Mustek, with 6 000

resellers, Inchbook distributors with 200

resellers and Edge Interactive with 150

resellers, he comments.

Butterworth explains that the company

has a partner programme called

ChanneLink+ . Because most system integrators

do business in several vertical markets, such

as financial, medical and digital signage,

NEC has several market-specific

programmes to address the unique

requirements of the various segments.

The ChanneLink+ programme

consolidates all of NECs channel

programmes into one comprehensive

offering, providing resellers and system

integrators with a single portal when selling

NEC-DS LCDs and CRTs, he says.

Butterworth points out that key enhancements

to ChanneLink+ include the programme debit

card, awards and incentives, business-building

opportunities, marketing and sales tools for a

variety of markets, customised and secure

extranet platform, and resource centre.

He goes on to say that the NEC partner

programmes that have been rolled into

ChanneLink+ Partner Programme include:

System Builder Select the programme

provides unprecedented value and supportfor all types of builders when selling

NECs products.

Consumer Select the programme

supports solution providers that sell NECs

products into consumer/retail environments.

Display Solutions Select brings integral

display solution components together, the

programme provides solution-selling resources

as well as access to NECs broad partner

programme to help integrators sell digital

signage or other larger display solutions.

GovClub is a membership programme

with exclusive pricing and other benefits

to resellers who sell to the state

and government.

ProPartner Select provides resellers that

target digital professional and other colour-

critical markets with unprecedented value and

support when selling select NEC monitors.

ChanneLink+ is in the process of

educating partners on how to apply these

display solut ion relevantly, and we have

more solutions that will be introduced this

year, says Butterworth.

Michael Mc Callum, Mustek Electronics

Mecer, external dealer sales executive, says

that more opportunities are coming

through NECs public display solutions.

NEC has got the right solution. The new

solutions are exciting, educational and

create awareness, and will bring success in

SA, he concludes.

NEC expects market boom

BY DUDU SHABA

Educating the market to use display solutions.

D With t hese products, we aim t o educate the market to start

looking at proper and quality public displays, using the right

products and also to stop using TVs as display panels

Craig But t erw or t h, NEC.


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t this years Cisco Partner Summit, perhaps

the other message besides the fact that the

vendor believes that the network is the

platform was a call for collaboration

among its channel partners.

After having recognised collaboration as

a necessity in meeting business demands,

the company has even set up what it callsthe Partner Exchange.

The exchange is a network that will help

partners to increase their revenue, extend

their expertise and deepen their relation-

ships with customers. Cisco says that the

move was a result of a global study it

carried out that indicated that collaboration

between channel partners is a large and

growing trend.

The study, commissioned by Cisco and

conducted by Illuminas Research, was

designed to provide insight into the forces

shaping the reseller channel of the near

future. It polled more than 1 300 cus-

tomers and nearly 500 Cisco channel part-

ners across 12 countries: Australia, Brazil,

China, France, Germany, India, Japan,Korea, Mexico, Russia, the United Kingdom

and the United States.

The study revealed that collaboration

among Cisco partners is generating 31 per

cent of channel revenue and is growing by

15 per cent annually. Furthermore, 62 per

cent of the partners believe that collabora-

tion will continue to grow over the next five

years. Cisco partners work with an average

of eight other partners on a regular basis.

Ciscos Partner Exchange is designed to

help Cisco partners find, connect and

collaborate with the right group at the

right partner. The collaboration network is

now available to more than 8 500 Cisco

Certified Partners, managed-services

providers, distribution partners and applica-

tion partners from all over the world.

The international study revealed that IT

customers are demanding a greater

breadth and depth of expertise from their

vendor resellers as solutions become more

varied and complex. It found that many

channel partners are choosing to fill the

expertise gaps by partnering with other

resellers in a coopetit ion relationship.

Cisco says the Partner Exchange enables

partners to find, connect and collaborate

with other partners that offer a comple-

mentary blend of technology, services, and

industry and geographic expertise. It helps

group leaders at partners start to develop

trusted relationships with the right person

at the right partner.

Cisco Partner Exchange facilitates col-

laboration t hrough three key features:G Promote and Be Found : In less than


ANALYSIS: CISCOSOLUTION PROVIDERS

John Chambers, Cisco

Creating a collaborative channel

BY KAUNDA CHAMA

Cisco encorages more partner alliances.

A


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CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA APRIL 2008 39

five minutes, group leaders can build a

customised profile to promote their

groups unique capabilities, ensuring

that other partner group leaders can

easily find and do business with them.

G Find and Connect: Powerful search

and networking capabilities allow part-

ners to easily search, find and start to

develop trusted relationships with the

right person at the right partner.

G Learn and Collaborate: All partners

have access to best practices, online

events and discussion forums.

Cisco Partner Exchange is located within

Cisco Partner Space, a virtual environment

that enables connections and facilitates

collaboration between customers and part-ners, among partners, and between Cisco

and partners.

At the event, Cisco also announced its

intent to purchase the remaining 20 per

cent interest in San Jose-based Nuova

Systems, a start-up focused on the develop-

ment of next-generation products for the

data centre market.

At the same time, it also unveiled the

Nexus 5000 Series, the first product

developed by Nuova. The Cisco Nexus

5000 is a 10 Gigabit Ethernet top-of-rack

switch that offers unified fabric capabilit ies

through the support for multiple data

centre networking protocols and

software intelligence.

Prior to the acquisition, Nuova operated

as a majority-owned subsidiary of Cisco,

which had invested $70 million and owned

80 per cent of the company.

The transaction is success based with the

total value primarily determined by the

revenue of Nuova products over three

measurement periods. The first measure-

ment period will commence in early fiscal

year 2010, the second measurement period

will commence in late fiscal year 2010 and

the third measurement period will

commence in mid-fiscal year 2011.

The existing relationship between the two

has allowed both companies to collaborate

actively in the development of the Cisco

Nexus 5000 through technology sharing,

product evolution and driving overall

market acceptance of innovative data

centre technologies.

As a result, the Cisco Nexus 5000 isdesigned to be fully interoperable with the

recently introduced Cisco Nexus 7000 Series

switches through the sharing of a common

product architecture, operating system and

other software intelligence. The Nexus 7000

is an internally developed, modular data

centre-class switching system designed for

10 Gigabit Ethernet networks offering

industry-leading performance scaling up to

15 terabits per second.

To succeed in todays marketplace and

effectively deliver on our business strategy

to capture key market transitions, Cisco

drives a combination of internal R&D,

industry partnerships and corporate

development activities, says Ned Hooper,

senior VP, Corporate Development and

Consumer and Small Business Group,

Cisco. In many ways, the efforts support ing

our Data Center vision are great examplesof this build, buy, partner innovation

To succeed in todays marketplace and effectively deliver on our

business strategy to capture key market transitions, Cisco drives a

combination of internal R&D, industry partnerships and corporate

development act ivities. Ned Hooper, Cisco

Key f inding s of t he st udy include:G Larger Projects, More Revenue: Cisco partners who collaborate with others

have developed deeper customer relationships and delivered more value to

customers. Collaboration enables 78 per cent of these resellers to win larger projects,

75 per cent to acquire new customers, and 74 per cent to increase their revenue.

G Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty: Customers overwhelmingly report that

collaborative resellers reduced the complexity of their IT business solutions.

Customers also enjoyed the single point of contact with a partner versus working

with the different vendors individually. Between 80 and 90 per cent of customers

globally are satisfied with the collaborative partners technical, business and industry

expertise; the ease of doing business with them; and post-sale service and support.

G Broader and Deeper Expertise: Partner collaboration also helps resellers to

broaden and deepen their expertise and, as a result, differentiate themselves from

their competition. Specifically, due to collaboration, 56 per cent of Cisco partners

witnessed improved levels of service; 78 per cent achieved greater technical

differentiation; and 66 per cent improved industry-specific expertise.G Slow Adop tion of Colla bor ati on Tools: Despite the extent of partner-to-partner

collaboration, surprisingly few partners are taking advantage of collaboration tools

to work more effectively with other partners and customers. Only 33 per cent of

Cisco partners use Web-conferencing tools, 20 per cent use collaboration and

document-management tools, 20 per cent use project management software, and

15 per cent use shared electronic calendars.


18/68

framework in action. Ciscos decades of

switching innovation and expertise have it

well poised to be the architect of the next-

generation, network-centric data centre, a

vision defined as Data Center 3.0, says

Mario Mazzola, current president and CEO

of Nuova Systems. We expect the Nuova

team to make significant contribut ions

toward the realisation of this vision through

products and technology that help enable

data center consolidation and virtualisation,

while protecting customers current data

centre investments.

The acquisition is expected to close in Q4

of Ciscos 2008 financial year and will be

the fifth one for the period.

Meanwhile, Ciscos Nexus 5000 Series

strengthens the companys existing data

centre switch portfolio and builds on its

commitment to invest heavily over the next

18 months in new products and capabilities

to help customers architect the next-gener-

ation data centre, creating a new market

opportunity for its channel partners.

The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series is designed

for data centre consolidation with

investment protection, helping to allow

customers to transition to a unified fabric

at their own pace. It also meets stringent

customer requirements for operational

continuity, transport flexibility and scalability.

With a unified fabric, IT organisations

can simplify cabling infrastructure, reduce

the number of required adapters, lower

costs, and reduce power consumption and

their carbon footprint. The Cisco Nexus

5000 Series delivers line-rate, low-latency,

10 Gigabit Ethernet switching, as well as

the industrys first standards-based,

input/output (I/O) consolidation solution via

support for Fibre Channel over Ethernet

(FCoE), Data Center Ethernet and virtualisa-

tion technologies.The switch is an extension to the Cisco

Nexus family designed to support increasing

I/O demands of multicore processors and

virtualised environments. With its support

for FCoE, the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series

consolidates local-area network (LAN), f ibre

channel and iSCSI-based storage-area

networks (SANs) and server cluster traffic

onto an Ethernet-based unified fabric. It

also provides virtual machine (VM)

optimised services, supporting the Cisco

Data Center 3.0 vision by allowing IT

organisations to respond dynamically to

changing business demands through rapid

provisioning of application and infrastructure

services from shared pools of consolidated

compute, storage and network resources.

SAVVIS, a leading global IT utility servicesprovider specialising in hosting, network

and application services, is currently testing

the new Cisco Nexus 5000 switching plat-

form. We believe the benefits to SAVVIS of

a unified fabric are multifold, including the

ability to provide our customers with a

higher quality of service as well as total cost

of ownership reduction within our data

centre operations, says Bryan Doerr, chief

technology off icer of SAVVIS. Cisco Nexus

5000s ability to deliver this unified fabric

today makes it an attractive platform for us

and we are actively evaluating it.

To further align with opportunities in the

data centre, Cisco has also evolved its channel

programme to help allow partners to build

a network-centric data centre practice. Part

of this effort includes the evolution of the

Cisco Data Center Networking

Infrastructure (DCNI) specialisation to DCNI

2.0, which recognises partners with a

highly qualified data centre practice.

Cisco DCNI 2.0 specialised partners will

be able to provide customers with in-depth

data centre technology skills and a proven

customer track record in selling, deploying

and providing sophisticated data centre

services and solutions.

In addition, for partners who decide to

build a network-centric data centre practice,

Cisco will offer technical and business

enablement tools and enhanced financial

incentives. This includes the introduction to

the Cisco Data Centre Value Incentive

Program (VIP), which rewards partners who

invest in a comprehensive business practice

focused on the data centre. Cisco is furtherenhancing its partner enablement



> p18

We expect the Nuova team to make signif icant cont ributions

tow ard the realisation of this vision through products and technology

that help enable data center consolidation and virtualisation, while

protecting customers current data centre investments.

M ario M azzola, Nuo va System s


19/68


20/68

portfolio with the introduction of

the Cisco Data Center Partner Practice

Builder, a proven, simplified and repeatable

approach to building a Cisco solutions-

based practice, along with Steps to Success,

a business building platform that provides a

step-by-step customer engagement model

and associated resources designed to enable

partners to sell, deliver and support Cisco

advanced technology business solutions.

With a proven history of success in

delivering innovative network solutions in

data, voice and communications, video and

storage networks, Cisco and its channel

partners are uniquely positioned to lead the

transformation of the data centre into an

agile and efficient network that revolu-

tionises how our customers adopt new IT

strategies and respond to changing

business needs, says Edison Peres, VP

worldwide channels at Cisco. With a full

portfolio of data centre solutions, channel

programmes and enhanced financial

incentives through Data Center VIP; we are

helping to create extraordinary opportuni-

ties for our partners to accelerate their

growth, differentiation and profitability.

Cisco has also expanded its services

offerings to help customers realise the full

potential of a unified fabric and take the

next step in data centre transformation.

Cisco Services provide the expertise and

experience needed to address the entire

data centre architecture and is designed to

support an organisations growth, server

performance as well as storage and

virtualisation goals.

In addit ion, Cisco Capital offers financing

solutions to support customers with the

development of their data centres, including

technology adoption, migration and lifecycle

management. It offers competit ive rates,

high residuals and flexible terms for Cisco

data centre equipment and services globally.

The networking solutions vendor alsoannounced new solutions that further

optimise branch offices of all sizes, allowing

companies to customise branch networks

to meet their unique business needs.

It has done this by opening its Integrated

Services Router (ISR) and Cisco Wide Area

Application Services (WAAS) platforms to

customers and third-party application

developers, Cisco enables its customers to

optimise the branch infrastructure while

extending their accessibility to business

resources. It also provides Cisco channel

partners with new opportunities to deliver

differentiated solutions and services that

better align with customers business needs.

Cisco also int roduced an array of new

security, wireless and unified communica-

tion products and service innovations thatelevate branch-office worker productivity

and deliver information technology (IT)

operational efficiencies.

Recognising the global shortage of skills in

the channel Cisco has also launched several

talent innovations, including its next-generation

partner talent platform, the Partner Talent

Network. This new platform uses advanced

social networking capabilities and interactive

video to transform how channel partners

attract, develop and retain employees.

As I meet and talk with partners around

the world, they consistently tell me, regard-

less of location, that their top growth issue

is attracting, developing and retaining tal-

ent, says Celia Harper-Guerra, director of

Worldwide Partner Talent at Cisco. This

global feedback is the foundation of our

talent strategy, which was validated in a

recent study we commissioned in North

America. That study identified hiring skilled

sales and technical talent as the top barriers

to growth in the IT channel.

With more than 80 per cent of its annual

revenue being sold by channel partners,

helping to preempt a skills shortage is a

major business imperative and one in which

Cisco is investing substantial time, money

and resources. Cisco invested early on,

more than 18-months ago, to work to

enhance the validity of its primary route to

market. The companys new talent-building

initiatives include: The Partner Talent

Network: scheduled to launch in second

quarter of calendar 2008; Recruitment

Services Solutions; Professional Career

Accelerator; and the Talent PoolConnections.



With more than 80 per cent of its annual revenue being sold by

channel partners, helping to preempt a skills shortage is a major

business imperative and one in which Cisco is investing substantial

time, money and resources.

>> p16


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22/68

f there was one thing that was certain at

this years Intel Solutions Summit (ISS) held

in Rome, it was the fact that the hardware

vendor considers its channel partners critical

to its success in all markets.

Thomas Rampone VP sales and market-

ing group and general manager of the

channel platforms group stressed that thechannel is Intels best customer because of

the reach and the advantage of flexibility

that respective channel partners have in

their local markets.

While a lot of corporates might be of the

opinion that the desktop is fast dying and

the notebook is taking over as the PC of

choice, Rampone said that Intel is confident

there is plenty space left for penetration in

the desktop market.

In his keynote at ISS recently, Steve

Dallman, Intels sales and marketing group

VP and worldwide reseller channel

organisation GM, said the company is more

committed than ever to the channel.

Reinforcing Intels 45nm High-K

Transistor technology as the cornerstone of

opportunity, Dallman is encouraging

channel partners to embrace newtechnologies and programmes such as

Intels latest mobile motherboards that

extend its channel mobile initiative and a

new loyalty programme for its channel

partner members.

Gett ing t he channel ready f or

Montevina

Dallman explained that Intel continues to

work actively with mult i-national

companies, local and regional OEMs, the

channel and the PC ecosystem at large to

promote notebook PC adoption.

Dallman rallied the channel to get ready

for the next-generation Intel Centrino 2

processor technology platform, previously

code-named Montevina and expected to be

available in June this year.

Saying that mobility is a huge

opportunity for the channel, Dallman

announced Rich Creek 2, the code name

for a new mobile motherboard form factor

specification that expands Intels ongoing

efforts with the industry to develop

interchangeable building blocks for note-

book components.

Rich Creek 2 products will be rolled out

in a phased approach starting with selectlocal integrators, local OEMs and original

design manufacturers in several bare bone

and complete notebook configurations.

More offerings are coming online

towards the end of the year and in 2009.

Intel says the goal is for the ingredient-

based ecosystem to be mature enough to

support a broad distribut ion model for

all customers.Intel as well as other industry partners

will offer Intel Mobile Boards based on Rich

Creek 2 that will launch time-to-market

with the Intel Centrino 2 platform. Initially,

the boards will be available in a bare bones

configuration from OEMs and local integra-

tors but not as a stand alone product.

According to the company, the desktop

business remains vibrant, accounting for

about 50 per cent of its business

Three new deskt op m ot her-boards

Keeping with this Intel has some new

pieces of hardware for the desktop space.

The vendor launched three new desktop

motherboards aimed at the extreme gamer,

the mainstream multimedia user and entry-

level PC user.

The vendor claims that the new mother-

boards, individually, enable a number of

innovative features for PCs such as greater

performance, clearer definition video and

low-powered technologies.

The new boards are the Intel Desktop

Board DX48BT2 Extreme Series (formerly

code-named Bone Trail 2), the Intel

Desktop Board DG35EC Classic Series

(formerly code-named Eva Cove), and the

Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF Essential

Series (formerly code-named Little Falls).

The D945GCLF will use the new Intel Atom

Processor and will be available towards the

second half of the year.

From ult imate gaming bliss, to crisp

high definition, to the most affordable

Internet-centric desktop, Intel continues topush the boundaries of world-class desktop


ANALYSIS: INTELSOLUTION PROVIDERS

Intel has strong channel belief

BY KAUNDA CHAMA

Partners still keep paying dividends

As the demand for desktops across the board moves from

strength to strength, we are also quickly moving towards more feature

differentiation and innovation down our product roadmap.

Tom Ram po ne, Int el

I

Tom Rampone, Intel


23/68

ANALYSIS: INTELSOLUTION PROVIDERS


offerings, says Tom Rampone, Intels Sales

and Marketing Group VP, and Channel

Platforms Group GM. As the demand

for desktops across the board moves

from strength to strength, we are also

quickly moving towards more feature

differentiation and innovation down our

product roadmap.

For extreme gaming performance, the

Intel Desktop Board DX48BT2 Extreme

Series board unleashes the fastest native

1600 MHz front side bus and memory sup-

port providing powerful performance and

extreme overclockability.

Supporting Intel Core 2 Extreme proces-

sors featuring quad or dual-core processing

and a faster 1600/1333/1066/800 MHzFSB, it is built with the Intel X48 Express

Chipset with ICH9Rthat is validated for

chipset-level overclocking.

There are two DIMM sockets designed to

support up to 4GB of DDR3 1600 MHz

memory or four DIMM sockets designed to

support up to 8GB of DDR3 1333/1066/800

MHz memory.

The board has 2 IEEE 1394a ports and

12 USB 2.0 ports, dual full-speed PCIe 2.0

slots + x4/x16 PCIe slot , 2 PCI expansion

slots and 6 SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports. Further

included in the DX48BT2 board are Intel

Matrix Storage Technology and Dolby

Home Theatre.

The Intel Desktop Board DG35EC Classic

Series board is built with sharpest perform-

ing integrated graphics supported on Intel

architecture. Based on GMA X3500 inte-

grated graphics, the board supports a range

of processors, including Intel Core 2 Quad

and Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

Besides delivering outstanding perfor-

mance and stability, the integrated graphics

and connectors meet a variety of digital

needs, including 1080p video playback for

movie clips, media streams and the latest

generation of HD video cameras, without

the need for an add-in video card.

Intel claims that this is the first board to

have integrated Microsoft DirectX10 capa-

bility and it also supports OpenGL 2.0.

The Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF is an

affordable motherboard that integrates a

single unit of compute with a microproces-

sor, chipset, motherboard and heat sink.

Ideal for traditional channels to build andpackage into a full PC system for under

$300, these desktop boards are targeted at

entry-level computer users in the emerging

markets, as a second or basic home PC for

mature markets or customised for unique

usage models in vertical markets such as

home-lifestyle, banking or education.

The D945GCLF will use the new Intel

Atom Processor and will be available

towards the second-half of the year.

Behold Flex +

As far as channel activity goes, between

20 and 30 per cent of all Intel processor

unit sales go to the channel, and emerging

markets account for 60 per cent of these

channel sales.

Ensuring that these figures continue togrow, the vendor announced a new

programme that is the latest of a compre-

hensive array of benefits for Intel channel

partner programme members.

In an ongoing effort to enhance

membership value, Intel added Intel Flex+

to recognise and reward resellers for build-

ing their solutions on Intel technology.

Announced in SA two weeks earlier, the

programme was launched to the European

region at the solutions summit.

The benefits programme will roll

out worldwide to more regions in the

coming months.

Intel Flex+ is available at no cost to

Premier and Associate members, who can

enrol quickly and easily online. Once

enrolled, they can begin earning points for

selected qualifying purchases through Intel

authorised distributors.

Members can also accrue points for

participation in a range of qualifying

activities such as online training, channel

events and promotions.

Through the programme, Intel offers a

broad range of redemption options, giving

members the flexibility to select the rewards

they most want. Members are free to use

their points for business rewards such asconsulting services, Intel merchandise and

technology demo units. They can also

redeem points for benefits such as travel,

iPass WiFi access, Priority Pass airport lounge

privileges and travel insurance.

Other award redemption options range

from free health and fitness memberships,

electronics vouchers and access to Formula

One racing activities for anyone in their

organisation.

The Intel Flex+ Program offers Intel

partners another opportunity to benefit

from their collaboration with Intel, in addi-

tion to the Intel Inside Program, says Chief

Purchasing Officer Sven Bauer. This

programme has allowed us to reinvest the

points acquired toward a variety of business

and lifestyle awards such as telephone

surveys of customers conducted by Intel,

webinars that boost employee knowledge

and free hotel room charges for the Intel

Solutions Summit being held in Rome.

While the programme is in its infancy, there

are clear signs that channel partners will be

able to enjoy considerable benefits from it

in the future.

Intel could be poised for some impressive

growth in the EMEA region due to the fact

that the SME space is showing healthy

demand on the notebook, desktop andserver side.

Intel says the goal is for the ingredient-based ecosystem to be

mature enough to support a broad distribution model for all

customers. St eve Dallm an, Int el

Steve Dallman, Intel


24/68

his years budget was delivered at a tough

time. In recent months, there has been an

increasing perception that revenue growth

would moderate in line with economic

activity, which has been greatly affected by

the Eskom debacle. In addition there has

been a slow down in IT spending due to the

economic slow down and credit crunching

is as well busy eating on peoples budgets.

Also, the Reserve Bank has also raised

interest rates to a near five-year peak,

saying price pressures were spreading.

Governor Tito Mboweni said the decision to

raise the repo rate by half a percentage

point to 11,5 percent was also driven by a

deterioration in inflation expectations,

which predict the 3%-6 percent official

target range would be breached for three

more years.

Given these prevailing economic circum-

stances, CRN interviewed resellers in the

channel to find out how they are fairing in

the market.

Although the IT spending continues to

slow down, Neil Watson, MD, Digital Planet,

says that their company had a very good

start this year. Weve had a great start to

the year. January and February saw stronggrowth versus last year. We are finding


ANALYSIS: IT SPENDINGSOLUTION PROVIDERS

Over the last few years weve spent a lot of our t ime diversifying

so that were not just exposed to a single area of the market.

As a result, we find that when certain areas of the economy

are struggl ing, our business remains robust.

Dave Hardy, Tit anIT

Economy slows down IT spending

BY DUDU SHABA

Negative economic factors eroding reseller margins.

T


25/68

ANALYSIS: IT SPENDINGSOLUTION PROVIDERS


March and April a bit slower as the many

negative factors such as public holidays and

load shedding have an effect, he says.

Dave Hardy, MD, TitanIT says that their

reseller company has seen some margin

erosion in the last few months, driven largely

by smaller, opportunistic resellers.

Customers are delaying larger infrastruc-

ture projects but we continue to attract

new business, he comments.

Given these contributing factors that are

slowing down reseller businesses, Watson

says that they find that their customers are

still spending money on new IT equipment.

Over the last few years weve spent a lot

of our time diversifying so that were not

just exposed to a single area of the market.As a result, we find that when certain areas

of the economy are struggling, our business

remains robust, he says.

Watson goes on to say that their retail

business is doing well although not grow-

ing as aggressively as they like.

We see this as an indicator that the gen-

eral consumer is feeling the pinch. Our cor-

porate business is as strong as ever. People

seem to have high activity levels and are

being aggressive in new ventures and

opportunit ies, he comments.

In spite of the tightening economy, Hardy

says that TitanIT is on a growth path. We

remain convinced that loyalty to our cus-

tomers and primary vendors coupled with

our strong service, certification and consult-

ing dif ferentiators will continue to see us

grow, he says.

He adds that their company has had

several large orders recently for desktops

and servers and our other key areas are

performing as expected.

There are signs of a real growth in all

areas of the business in the next ten

months. Licence renewals and support

contracts are particularly strong performers.

Also, all of our primary vendors areaware of the current market conditions and

they, together with the distributors are

offering more flexible pricing, he remarks.

Watson says that online marketing is a

growing percentage of Digital Planets

online spend.

Each media has its own place and

online is great for call to action. We think

the skys the limit for our online spend as

we see a great Return on this spend. Were

still investing heavily in radio and print

however, he remarks.

We focus on the small to medium

corporate sector offering leading brand

name technology, superior support services

and trained certified staff in all divisions of

the business.

We believe that direct, focused sales andmarketing activities, supported by our

vendor partners, provides us with a unique

go-to-market message. All of our offerings

have a high degree of value add and we do

not spend much time on commoditized

products and solutions, he says.

He adds the online marketing is also

becoming more important and several of

their technology partners have recently

begun online initiatives, we aim to take

advantage of.

Watson predicts that there may be

slowed growth over the next few years.

He says that Digital Planets aim is to

constantly invest in future growth.

We are also finding that our ROI has

declined a little over the last few quarters

representing a slow down in investment

and a drop in confidence. Were still very

optimistic about our prospects and we

believe were on a good wicket, he says.

In conclusion, Hardy believes that these

uncertain t imes offer opportunities for

growth as others begin to focus inwards or

are forced out of the market.

For us, this means we have to cont inue

focusing on our primary markets and tech-

nologies and we have set aggressive expan-sion goals in all areas of our business .

We focus on the small to medium corporate sector of fering

leading brand name technology, superior support services and

trained certified staff in all divisions of the business.

Neil Watson, M D, Dig it al Planet

Neil Watson, Digital Planet


26/68

un Microsystems has seen a 40 per cent

increase in the number of attendees at

its Tech Days developer conference, aimed

at building a strong partnerships andcreating developer community awareness

of its technologies.

This was said by Michael Schroeder, MD,

Southern and Eastern Europe, Middle East

and Africa, at the Sun Microsystems

developer conference which celebrated

its tenth anniversary.

Sun Microsystems provides a diverse

range of software, systems, services and

microelectronics that power everything

from consumer electronics, to developer

tools and some of the worlds most powerful

data centres. The companys brands include

the Java technology platform, Solaris

operating system, StorageTek and

UltraSPARC processors.

Schroeder says the 2 500 developers that

registered for the event is evidence of the

excitement around its technology and that

the number of partners is increasing.

We have seen the attendee numbers

growing from event to event since the

inception of the Tech Days Conference

10 years ago. This sends us the message

that we are helping our developers to

carry their heavy stuff, that our brand is

growing and more people will embrace

SunMicrosystems in the near future,

he says.

Patricia Martins, channel manager, SunMicrosystems said that the conference is

strategic to Sun Microsystems in that

it opens up big opportunities for its

partner community.

According to Martins, the Sun PartnerAdvantage Program offers its partners a

number of resources to help them become

more competitive and profitable. She

explains that partners gain support such as

sales and marketing.

Partners are able to join forces with Sun

and other partners to close sales all over

the world, and to take advantage of the

many sales and marketing tools available to

Sun Partners, including logo offerings that

leverage the Sun brand, she explains.

Sun offers a broad range of industry-

leading hardware, software, services and

products for channel, OEM and integrator

partners to add to their product portfolios.

In addition, Martins says partners can

also expand by doing Web-based product,

industry, solutions selling and Java

Enterprise System training, and global

worldwide competency programmes.

The focus of the conference this year is

to work with ISVs, system integrators, the

developer community and resellers. The

current trend is that technology is being

commoditised and only partners that sell

competititive solutions will be successful.

A lot of our partners also have their own

developers who create their own solutions

by bundling with our solutions who

can make good profits for themselves,she says.

Martins says Sun Microsystems has a

two- tier partner model, VARS and channel

developer partners.

If you follow government trends, you

will see that it needs to go open source,

which means that doors are open for our

partners to develop software solutions

that will make it easy for people to work

and add value to the development of

the country.

This is also applicable to universities,

their partnership with SunMicrosystems will

create young business leaders who will

develop their own solutions in the near

future, she says.

Molebogeng Yende, marketer, SPS ICT

solutions, says its software developer com-

pany based in Pretoria, signed a partnership

agreement with Sun Microsystems last year

and is looking forward to strengthening its

relationship with Sun Microsystems.

Attending this conference is imperative

for our company because our aim is to

remain competitive and enhance our skills

as well as continue to network with otherdevelopers, Yende concludes.


ANALYSIS: SUN MICROSYSTEMSSOLUTION PROVIDERS

Sun microsystemsbuilds a strong ecosystemOpening up big opportunity for partners.

BY DUDU SHABA AND DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

S

The Sun Tech conference opens up big opportunit ies for our

partner community. Patricia Martins, Sun Microsystems

Patricia Martins, Sun Microsystems


27/68

Anton Herbst, MD at local consumables specialist distributor, Advanced Channel

Technologies (A.C.T) has scooped the most influential Channel Executives Award for

2008. And while all executives that made the top 21 list in the 12th CRN Channel have

some influence in one way or the other, Herbst humility and a willingness to listen and

understand his companys reseller channel seems to have put him in good standing with

the channel at large.

Herbst features in these awards for the third consecutive year and what a befitting

honour for him to have received the most influential award.

These award honour executives at vendor and distributor level, individuals who are

influential in their execution of day-to-day channel duties.

The executives featured in the pages that follow are not only going out of their way to

assist partners to close deals, embrace new business models and grow their businesses

to new profit heights, but they are at the forefront of championing partners to innovative.

A month of electronic polling on www.crn.co.za and CRN Flash, assisted the editorial

team to tally the votes and pick 21 top channel executives for 2007.

Resellers in the local channel voted for executives involved in channel management at

middle and senior management level. Each executive needed to receive a minimum of

10 votes to be considered for nomination. The following was the criteria solution

providers used:

G Availability of channel executive

G Pro-activeness & dedication to address channel hurdles

G Commitment to helping partners win business deals

G Influence on ho partner explore new business ventures

G Relationship/ team building styleG Openness of channel executive

The editorial team checked though the votes, eliminating any nominations that were

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

In the pages that follow CRN showcases the 2008 Channel Executive Awards winners.

From the entire CRN team we congratulate the winners.

26 Anton Herbst, A.C.T

28 Craig Brunsden, Axiz

30 Reggie Nxumalo, Microsoft

32 Zandre Rudolph, Rectron

32 Graham Duxbury, Duxbury

Networking

33 Rudi Pheiffer, Softline Pastel

33 Malan Voster, Omi Accounts

34 Matthew Lee, Novell

34 Graham Vorster, Westcon

35 Stefan Diedericks, Oracle

35 Patricia Martins, Sun

Microsystems

36 Sally Berimbau, Novell

38 Mark Perry, HP.

40 Uwe Brandkamp, Comztek

42 Carl Kleynhans, APC

42 Steven Kramer, Tricon

43 Lisa Kelynack, Citrix Systems

44 Ron Keschner, Channel

Capital, MB Technologies

44 Hans Dummer, Epson

45 Imi Mosaheb

CONTENTS> >


28/68


When Anton Herbst, MD at local consum-

ables distributor, Advanced Channel

Technologies (A.C.T) talks about his

passion for the local IT industry, his

job in the consumables market

space and his love for the local

solution provider channel, his

enthusiasm is all-consuming

you see it in his eyes and hear it

in his voice.Yet, Herbst believes that if

there is one lesson that the

business world teaches one the

hard way, it is not to get too

comfortable on the high tides of the

business cycle.

For a man with over 20 years

experience in the IT Industry, Herbst has

been taught a lesson in humility more than

once during his illustrious career. Once you believe

you are riding the crest of the wave, you should always be on

the lookout for the inevitable crash, because more often than not it isjust around the corner, he says.

It is precisely these lessons in humility that have helped Herbst to

become a leader. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that solution

providers have recognised Herbsts unrelenting efforts in assisting

them to grow their businesses.

Whiles this years win in the Channel Executives Awards is the

third consecutive one for Herbst; it is a befitting award as the

channel believes he is one of the most outstanding and influential

executives. A combination of factors has contributed to Herbstreceiving this top accolade.

For starters, he has been instrumental is segmenting A.C.Ts

channel base both from a vertical market perspective and

understanding exactly what its resellers

businesses are all about.

Secondly, Herbst has played a pivotal

role in helping A.C.T to target and

serve the SME market better. To this

effect, the company has had to

understand the business dynamics

and challenges faced by resellers

who target this market. We have

had to relook at investing more instock, credit, account management

and value adding to be relevant to

our reseller base, he says.

It is a team effort, he says. I am

delighted that my efforts have been

recognised in this manner but credit

must also go to the entire team I work with

at A.C.T.

Having witnessed the Siltek group go under in

2001, Herbst says you cannot always assume how your

business partners perceive your business operation as that could

be detrimental. It is against this that Herbst has been urging his teamat A.C.T not to take reseller partners for granted but rather to

understand and know their businesses. Last year, we embarked

on a programme to segment and establish what it is our reseller

partners do, he says.

Herbst points out that this initiative has led to the next phase of the

plan in terms of understanding and delivering what partners serving

the SME market need. This phase will see us layering resellers

deeper into channel segments such as group software specialists,

system integrators and specialist printing solutions resellers, he says.

Along with serving the SME sector efficiently, Herbst says the

company has also stabilised its other eight branches, excluding the

head office in Johannesburg, in terms of stock, pre- and post-sales

support, footprint, etc. A.C.T now has branches in Cape Town,

Durban, Port Elizabeth, Klerksdorp, East London, Nelspruit,

Bloemfontein and Polokwane.

Herbst says as the traditional printer market has converged with the

office supplies sector(copier and fax), it is vital for resellers that would

like to play in this space to take cognisance of the fact that they have

to sell solutions and not product specifications, features and paper

feeds. He believes this belongs in the past. We are not seeing a lot

of printing solution resellers, he says. I am led to believe there are

about 10 resellers countrywide that can sell printing solutions.

Looking ahead, Herbst says A.C.T will continue assisting its resellers

and urging them to become printing solution specialists targeting

specific niche markets with a strong value proposition. If resellers thatplay in this space rely on offering the lowest price, they will be

swallowed as printer and copier convergence will force product

movers out of business in favour of solution specialists, he concludes.

A lesson in being humble

2008 CH AN N EL EXECU T IVE

A.C.Ts Herbst gets channel nod.

By Manda Banda


When Anton Herbst, MD at local consum-

ables distributor, Advanced Channel

Technologies (A.C.T) talks about his

passion for the local IT industry, his

job in the consumables market

space and his love for the local

solution provider channel, his

enthusiasm is all-consuming

you see it in his eyes and hear it

in his voice.Yet, Herbst believes that if

there is one lesson that the

business world teaches one the

hard way, it is not to get too

comfortable on the high tides of the

business cycle.

For a man with over 20 years

experience in the IT Industry, Herbst has

been taught a lesson in humility more than

once during his illustrious career. Once you believe

you are riding the crest of the wave, you should always be on

the lookout for the inevitable crash, because more often than not it isjust around the corner, he says.

It is precisely these lessons in humility that have helped Herbst to

become a leader. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that solution

providers have recognised Herbsts unrelenting efforts in assisting

them to grow their businesses.

Whiles this years win in the Channel Executives Awards is the

third consecutive one for Herbst; it is a befitting award as the

channel believes he is one of the most outstanding and influential

executives. A combination of factors has contributed to Herbstreceiving this top accolade.

For starters, he has been instrumental is segmenting A.C.Ts

channel base both from a vertical market perspective and

understanding exactly what its resellers

businesses are all about.

Secondly, Herbst has played a pivotal

role in helping A.C.T to target and

serve the SME market better. To this

effect, the company has had to

understand the business dynamics

and challenges faced by resellers

who target this market. We have

had to relook at investing more instock, credit, account management

and value adding to be relevant to

our reseller base, he says.

It is a team effort, he says. I am

delighted that my efforts have been

recognised in this manner but credit

must also go to the entire team I work with

at A.C.T.

Having witnessed the Siltek group go under in

2001, Herbst says you cannot always assume how your

business partners perceive your business operation as that could

be detrimental. It is against this that Herbst has been urging his teamat A.C.T not to take reseller partners for granted but rather to

understand and know their businesses. Last year, we embarked

on a programme to segment and establish what it is our reseller

partners do, he says.

Herbst points out that this initiative has led to the next phase of the

plan in terms of understanding and delivering what partners serving

the SME market need. This phase will see us layering resellers

deeper into channel segments such as group software specialists,

system integrators and specialist printing solutions resellers, he says.

Along with serving the SME sector efficiently, Herbst says the

company has also stabilised its other eight branches, excluding the

head office in Johannesburg, in terms of stock, pre- and post-sales

support, footprint, etc. A.C.T now has branches in Cape Town,

Durban, Port Elizabeth, Klerksdorp, East London, Nelspruit,

Bloemfontein and Polokwane.

Herbst says as the traditional printer market has converged with the

office supplies sector(copier and fax), it is vital for resellers that would

like to play in this space to take cognisance of the fact that they have

to sell solutions and not product specifications, features and paper

feeds. He believes this belongs in the past. We are not seeing a lot

of printing solution resellers, he says. I am led to believe there are

about 10 resellers countrywide that can sell printing solutions.

Looking ahead, Herbst says A.C.T will continue assisting its resellers

and urging them to become printing solution specialists targeting

specific niche markets with a strong value proposition. If resellers thatplay in this space rely on offering the lowest price, they will be

swallowed as printer and copier convergence will force product

movers out of business in favour of solution specialists, he concludes. K

A lesson in being humble

2008 CH AN N EL EXECU T IVE

Once you believe you are riding the crest of

the wave, you should always be on the look-

out for the inevitable crash, because more

often than not it is just around the corner.

Anton H erbst, A.C.T

A.C.Ts Herbst gets channel nod.


29/68


30/68


Craig Brunsden, chief market-

ing o

Computer Reseller News April 2008

Documents

Transcript of Computer Reseller News April 2008