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It is with a sense of pride that we bring you this Handbook of the inaugural Integrator Awards. The collection celebrates the suc-cess stories of winners and encapsulates the essence of the inaugural Integrator Awards ceremony where the winners were felicitated.

The awards was also an important milestone for The Integrator Magazine, which is the only Magazine in the region, focused on the value add IT channel. The Awards reflect the commitment to recognize and applaud the best performances of the Brands and com-panies operating in the value IT landscape. It will be an annual feature hereafter.

The categories of recognition cover sev-eral niches across the evolving IT landscape. This broad sweep in terms of categories also allows recognition of not only the Technology heavyweights that have a diversified portfolio but also specialist companies that primarily focus on their areas of core competencies. While the latter may not necessarily have a diversified portfolio, they have carved out their strongholds and are head to head with larger sized companies in those niches.

The deserving winners have been decided on basis of online votes and with the consensus of the editorial Board. In closing, I would like to congratulate once again all the winners and here’s hoping that you enjoy reading this handbook.

Vivek SharmaFounder & CEOVAR MEA Magazine

Disclaimer: While the publishers have made every attempt possible to get accurate information on published content in this handbook they cannot be held liable for any errors herein.

Dear reader,

Publisher: Vivek Sharma Managing Editor: R. NarayanAssistant Editor: David NdichuArt Director: Faiz Ahmed

Published by: JNS Media International MFZEP.O. Box: 121075, Montana Building 404, Zabeel Road, Near GPO, Karama, Dubai-UAE Tel: 04-3705022 Fax: 04-3706639

Sales Director: Alishan ZaidiSr. Sales Manager: R. SubramanyanBusiness Development Manager: Mallika RegoSales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh

Contentscategory

Virtualisation Vendor of the Year

Enterprise Storage Vendor of the Year

Enterprise Networking Vendor of the Year

SMB Networking Vendor of the Year

SMB Storage Vendor of the Year

Unified Communications Vendor of the Year

Data Management & Analytics Vendor of the Year

Power Solutions Vendor of the Year

DR and Backup Software Vendor of the Year

Network Security Vendor of the Year

Video Conferencing Vendor of the Year

WAN Optimisation Vendor of the Year

Client Security Software Vendor of the Year

KVM Solutions Vendor of the Year

Enterprise VAD of the Year

Security VAD of the Year

Storage VAD of the Year

Emerging VAD of the Year

Networking VAD of the Year

UC Infrastructure VAD of the Year

Storage Integrator of the Year

SMB VAD of the Year

AV solutions VAD of the Year

Managed Services Provider of the Year

Visionary VAD of the Year

Networking Integrator of the Year

Emerging System Integrator the Year

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The Integrator Awards Ceremony | Round-up

It is a most interesting phase for the IT industry that has continued to identify new niches for growth. The primacy of IT in-frastructure as a Business enabler is now unquestioned and in the foreseeable future, IT will get more intertwined with Business processes, helping Businesses progress. Cloud computing, Virtu-

alisation, Unified Communication-setc have kept the pace with the buzz over the past few years and deployments of new technologies will continue to usher transforma-tions for the better.

These changes are being driven by companies that have the vision, competence and com-mitment to deliver solutions that answer the needs of the market. Companies are competing hard to gain customers and thereafter to keep them. Several new breed companies have emerged over the recent years in the ecosys-tem – vendors, distributors and systems integrator included that now pose a challenge to the entrenched leaders across Technologies. Of course some of

A deserving applause

5

the traditional leaders have not been sitting easy though and are consolidating quite well.In sum, companies are battling it out to make inroads in the market. There are battles to be won everyday, quarter on quarter and year on year to make sure that your com-pany is growing towards desired objectives. There are therefore standout achievements in the industry.

The inaugural Integra-tor Awards are an attempt to institutionalize annual recognition of exceptional performances of companies across the spectrum in the Value IT space. These Awards build on the successful legacy of the VAR COC Awards, the annual awards given away in the Volume

IT Business space. The Integrator

Awards results are based on a combination

of results received from an online poll that was run on www.varonline.

com for nearly a 3 week

period as well as

included consensus of the Edito-rial Board. The inaugural Awards Night ceremony was held at the J.W. Marriott Marquis on the 19th of June 2013. The event witnessed winning Brands walking away with accolades and was well at-tended by senior level executives from winning Brands. Further, the event also provided a forum for informal Business networking on the sidelines between attending integrators, Value Add Distributors and vendors.

Mr. Vivek Sharma, the CEO of VAR Magazine and Publisher of The Integrator in his keynote presentation, highlighted the on-going extension of the company’s commitment to the value add channel segment, complement-ing the company’s established leadership as a Media company in the volume channel segment. Earlier in his opening note, R. Narayan, the Managing Editor of VAR Magazine, mentioned the Integrator Awards applaud the deserving Brands and companies that excelled in their domains and niches.

6

Virtualisation Vendor of the Year | Microsoft

What are the core benefits of Microsoft’s virtualisation strategy? Microsoft’s virtualization es-sentially allows users to create integrated, consolidated platforms to virtualize, build a private cloud or scale services through a public cloud – in fact, you can mix all three solutions if you choose. Virtualization allows employees to access their applications and data safely over a network and minimizes the risk of data loss. It also allows companies to upgrade software capabilities much more easily and without the need for new hardware or configure com-ponents. It also allows a company to manage their software, applica-tions and data centrally, providing universal access for employees through the data center.

What are the major pillars of your Virtualisation strategy? Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 are the central pillars of Microsoft’s virtualization offer-ings. Hyper-V is an integral part of Windows Server and provides a foundational virtualization plat-form that supports up to 64 virtual processors and 1TB of memory, as well as having a VHDX virtual hard disk format with capacity up to 64

TB. This means that the virtualiza-tion infrastructure can support the configuration of large, high-performance virtual machines and is flexible in terms of its ability to scale up or down.

Windows Server 2012 was designed with the modern work environment at its very core, where people rely heavily on their technology to communica-tion, collaborate and plan their daily activities both in work and in a personal capacity. Windows Server 2012 therefore empowers IT professionals to provide users with flexible access to data and applications anywhere and on a range of popular devices. It also enhances desktop virtualization solutions with Remote Desk-top Services, which has been enhanced to ensure a much richer user experience, lower costs of operations for the organization and a much simpler Virtual Desk-top Infrastructure (VDI) to deploy and manage.

Azure provides an open and flexible cloud platform that enables users to develop and test applications quickly, at a reduced cost and with the ability to deploy in the cloud or on-premises. Azure can be integrated within an existing IT environment and

is easily scalable to suit applica-tion size and requirements. The Azure platform provides reliable cloud data storage, back-up and recovery solutions.

Are customers in the region open to multi-hypervisor op-tions as suit them best?There are now a number of op-tions open to those looking to initiate virtualization and manage-ment of multi-hypervisors has been something Microsoft has worked to develop an efficient solution for. Those working within multi-hypervisor environments are looking for a clear and efficient way to manage this, leveraging their existing infrastructure.

Within Systems Center 2012, users can manage multi-hypervisor environments through a common console, providing consistency in the way VMs and applications are deployed, as well as the option to utilize a mix of hy-pervisors for business critical apps, branch offices, or test and devel-opment environments. The fabric in System Center 2012 is made up of hosts, host groups and library servers, as well as networking and storage configuration. These hosts can include Hyper-V hosts as well as non-Hyper-V hosts.

At the Gala event, Microsoft was awarded the Virtualisa-tion Vendor of the Year. Microsoft has played a key role in providing customers and partners in the region to reduce costs and enhance agility through Cloud and virtualization solutions. Goksel Topbas - Sever & Tools Business Group, Lead Microsoft Gulf speaks about Micro-soft’s Virtualisaition strategy.

A Technology spearhead

7

The total enterprise networking market for 2013 is expected to clock $42.4 bil-lion and IDC predicts the enterprise networking market to exceed $50 billion, with growth across all categories, by 2017. Cisco, the winner of the Enterprise

Networking Vendor of the Year category is a company that has seen undiminished dominance and an average 54%market share across the six main segments within

the enterprise networking market according to Synergy research Group.

In the category Enterprise Stor-age Vendor of the Year, Dell, a

company that has been looking at Enterprise storage as a top priority

for the company in the past sev-eral years was declared the win-ner. Dell is making strong gains

with its EqualLogic and Compel-lant storage and is instrumental in reimagining the way enterprises

think about storage.

Enterprise Networking Vendor of the Year

Enterprise StorageVendor of the Year

The Integrator Awards 2013

8

Discuss your SMB networking portfolioD-Link offers the complete range of networking productsto the SMB segment. Apart from that, we are also catering to the enterprise segment. Our portfolio includes switches including chassis switch-es, managed switches, network interface cards, smart switches and unmanaged switches, IP surveillance suite including box cameras, bullet cameras, business IP cameras, accessories, cloud cameras, cube cameras, dome cameras, PTZ cameras, Wireless products inclusive of access points, adapters, antennas, dual band routers, etc. and security products that include NAT rout-ers, unified service routers, UTM firewalls and VPN routers. Besides active products, we also added Structured Cabling to our SMB networking range.

Is the SMB segment a growth segment in terms of network-ing infrastructure require-ments?Fortunately, we have been able

to observe a significant growth in the SMB segment during the last couple of years. In fact, it seems like most of the companies in the region are steadily upgrading their network infrastructure with the latest networking technology.

How many of your channel partners in the region are fo-cusing on the SMB segment?Currently we are working with four channel partners who are specialized, trained and certified for the SMB segment. We are continuously expanding our team of D-Link SMB experts, but at the same time, partners have to qualify and we are keen on keeping the level of expertise high. Hence, fulfilling the essential requirements is of top priority and the certification is not given without the necessary efforts from our partners.

Is IP surveillance business a significant growth segment in the region?IP surveillance in general has become a major topic in the past

decade. Today’s solutions provide house owners who go for vaca-tion, parents who would like to keep an eye on their children and other audiences such as business owners with tremendous peace of mind due to the convenience of online monitoring via mobile apps from any place that offers an Internet connection. During the last year, we experienced an increased demand in D-Link IP surveillance solutions both in the consumer and the SMB segment, and with the introduction of more cost-effective, high-quality IP cameras we are confident to witness further growth in the IP surveillance business.

Elaborate plans to expand the product portfolio for the SMB segmentIn the coming years, we will be strongly focusing on launching IEEE 802.11ac based products. Overall, at D-Link we are con-tinuously expanding our SMB portfolio by introducing new net-working devices and solutionsthat cater to diverse markets.

To handle big data and Web 2.0, SMB companies now require faster speeds and a combination of wired and wireless options. The vendor must also be able to provide the whole breadth of switches, routers, and gateways and the connections to seamlessly bring all these together. Successfully executing these networking needs of its SMB customers and seeing its reach rise, D-Link emerged the winner of the category SMB Networking vendor of the Year. Sakkeer Hussain K., Sales & Marketing Manager at D-Link MEA discusses D-Link’s growing SMB focus

SMB Networking Vendor of the Year | D-LINK

Unravelling the SMB plot

A u t h o r i z e d V a l u e A d d e d D i s t r i b u t o r f o r

StorIT Distribution fzcoP.O.Box 17417 Jebel Ali FreeZone, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesTel: +971 4 881 9690 | Fax: +971 4 887 1637Email: info@storit.ae | www.storit.ae

SolutionsStorage Consolidation

Backup & RecoveryArchiving

Business ContinuityHigh Performance Computing

Cloud ComputingBig Data

Data Centre SolutionsVirtualization

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10

The Integrator Awards 2013

In an era of more virtualization, storage systems become the more critical for IT to deliver services to the organization. The winner of the category SMB Storage Vendor of the Year is Netgear, a company whose new storage systems exemplify the kind of affordable yet scalable platforms that SMB customers need in their

virtualized environments.

TechNavio’s analysts forecast the Global UC market to grow at a CAGR of 13.5 percent over the period 2011-2015. One of the

key factors contributing to this growth is the increasing need for information sharing among orga-nizations. Avaya, the winner of the category Unified Communications Vendor of the Year, is a company

that offers a full suite of interoper-able UC solutions.

SMB Storage Vendorof the Year

Unified Communications Vendor of the Year

11

APC by Schneider Electric, the winner of the category Power

Solutions Vendor of the Year is a company that offers one of the

largest portfolios of products and solutions for small, medium and

large data center environments. It is a Company that offers solutions to manage the power and cooling

of this business critical infra-structure and is among the top

three in datacenter infrastructure management.

Owing to growing interest in Big Data technology and services, all levels of the Big Data technology stack will experience significant growth, according to IDC. EMC, the winner of the category is a company whose goal is to sup-port a broad range of cloud and

Big Data solutions. It is delivering solutions to meet an ever-broad-ening range of next-generation cloud-based, Big Data analytics

and mobile workflows andapplications

Power Solutions Vendor of the Year

Data Management &Analytics Vendor of the Year

12

Is there a sufficient awareness for DR and backup strategies in the region? Analysts are currently predicting 50% growth per year in areas such as Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service in the Middle East and Africa.On a scale of 1 to 10, regional awareness of the need for DR is around 6 or 7, but actual levels of competence and maturity are still around 3 or 4. This can be attributed to the fact that there is a lot of turnover in terms of staff and job roles, and too many people see DR as a medium to long-term job that they do not want to invest their time and effort in as they will have moved on by the time any pro-gramme is properly implemented.

Discuss your appliance strat-egy? Symantec offers flexibility and provides its customers a freedom of choice in the way they purchase and deploy the market-leading backup software. They can choose between an appliance form-factor, the traditional on premise solution or a Software as a Service, or cloud

delivery.The appliance form-factor provides customers with a plug-and-play approach that combines hardware and software appliances on one bundle. It allows to imple-ment a new backup environment quickly and reduce the impact of data growth.

Symantec NetBackupappli-ance series are an extension of the NetBackup software in an easy to use appliance. NetBackup 5230 Appliances, the third generation backup appliance, delivers three core values; unites physical and virtual, tackles data growth, and eliminates complexity.

How is backup executed in virtualised environments?Many of the cost savings of virtualization have been wasted on increased storage spend and the same is true when it comes to DR; it has created a silo of operations where it is only the virtualization administrators who know what is going on and how the guest VMs, hosts and storage are configured and managed.

For virtualized environ-

ments, Symantec V-Ray technol-ogy embedded directly into core Symantec NetBackup and Backup Exec gives you X-Ray vision into your virtual environments. Backup Exec reduces backup data storage costs while optimizing network utilization across physical and virtual environments with new Backup Exec Deduplication technology that delivers three adaptable configuration options. Backup Exec also quickly restores individual virtual files and folders or an entire guest virtual machine from a single pass backup – eliminating the time and storage requirements of a second file level backup.

How many of your partners are focused on DR and backup solu-tions in the region?Symantec has a large partner ecosystem and community across the Middle East focused on deliv-ering the right disaster recovery and backup solutions to meet the needs of organizations – both small and large – throughout the region.

Symantec, the winner of this category has offers a “no-hardware” disaster re-covery and backup solution or one based on industry standard hardware in an ap-pliance form factor, with both solutions designed for virtual and physical environments. Amer Chebaro, Sales Manager, Datacenter Appliances, Symantec MENA discusses aspects of Symantec’s DR strategy.

The backup specialist

DR and Backup Software Vendor of the Year | Symantec

14

Is there a growing demand for security appliances? There is a growing demand for Next Generation security appli-ances especially from custom-ers who are realising its value. Customers are now replacing their old hardware appliances and soft-ware solutions opting to go with NGFW appliances.Dell SonicWALL has shown significant year on year growth by increasing the install base of Next Generation Firewall in the region.

Describe your focus on these SMB and enterprise segments Dell Sonicwall continues to lead and retain its leadership in small to medium market and at the same time experiencing the success with a rapid in-roads in to the enterprise segment. The leadership in SMB is seen mainly through the experienced and trained channel partners serving

Dell SonicWALL, the winner of the category Network Security vendor of the Year has proved able to delivers a two-fold security approach by offering universal protection against emerging threats across platforms and perimeters in real time while enabling higher efficiencies within the network.Shahnawaz Sheikh, Regional Director, Dell-SonicWALL Middle East & Turkey speaks about the company’s growth and roadmap.

their customers with right ap-proach and skills on Dell Sonicwall products and services.

The enterprise focus is through those selected partners who have the scale and breadth powered with certifications and skills, in addition to dedicated en-terprise team from Dell Sonicwall contributing towards the com-mon go-to-market plans.

The demand for managed

services has started to be visible in this region and we have seen many partners exploring or committed to deliver managed services to the growing demand. Dell Sonicwall has a very long history of running successful Managed service program in developed markets, hence the same best practices and success mantra would be implemented with Managed service partners in the Middle East.

You also have a great emphasis on vertical focus. Do elaborate.We presently work with the pri-mary verticals viz., Education, Gov-ernment, Oil and Gas and Retail as we have a great success in these specific verticals and at the same time putting in a lot of emphasize to grow the other verticals that has high compliance and security demand. The vertical approach is helping us understand more

precise needs of the customers in that particular segment and customizing our approach and solutions to meet the maximum needs of their businesses.

Do you have solutions con-figured according to Business needs? It is actually a combination of the two. We have standard solutions technology-wise and we custom-

ize our sizing and design based on customer’s infrastructure and business needs.

At times a slight deviation from the standard solution by improvising to meet the precise business and technology needs of our customers makes our channel partners different in their assess-ment and proposal of solutions.

Elaborate on your focus on partner training.We continue to deliver sales and technical trainings relentlessly, our calendar is always loaded with trainings across the region targeting partners at all tiers and covering multiple countries. We continue to drive our partners’ mindshare towards the online trainings and e-learning through our partner portals and award certification towards success-ful completion of these online trainings.

Charging Ahead

Network Security Vendor of the Year | Dell Sonicwall

15

VAR COC Awards 2013

According to IDC, the WAN application delivery sector will be one of the strongest growth drivers and is expected to clock

$1.3 billion by the end of the year. Riverbed Technology, the winner

of the category WAN Optimisation Vendor of the Year has come up with a unique WAN optimization

solution able to span mobile workers, branch offices, and data centres, both physical and virtual,

allowing the distributed work-force to collaborate in real time.

According to Infonetics Research, the video-conferencing market, is expected to turn the corner as a long-term interest by enterprises to deploy video communications

is expected to help the market to sustain a 6% CAGR through

2017. LifeSize Communications, a vendor which intends to make it easier for people to use their video conferencing technology at any time and on any device

emerged the winner in the category

WAN Optimisation Vendor of the Year

Video ConferencingVendor of the Year

The Integrator Awards 2013

16

KVM switchesare an integral part of a data center’s infrastructure and the growth of Virtualisation and the rise of mixed environ-ments – physical and virtual is

only accentuating the importance of KVM solutions that can man-

aged these mixed environments. The KVM Solutions Vendor of

the Year is ATEN, a provider of a comprehensive suite of KVM con-

nectivity solutions.

The last few years have seen organizations in the Middle East fall victim to a large number of cyber attacks. Security software for client devices has become

very crucial for businesses in the region, big and small. Kaspersky

Lab that has made strong gains in the consumer security software

market is also emulating that suc-cess and growth in the Business segment. Deservingly, it is the

winner in the category

KVM Solutions Vendor of the Year

Client Security SoftwareVendor of the Year

The Integrator Awards 2013

17

Highlight the key domains that Aptec as VAD is focusing on?As a VAD, Aptec is focused on creating and selling Solutions through its partner network of VARs. The Solutions currently cover the areas of Data Centre & Virtualization – Data Storage, Pro-tection & Recovery – Data Security – Big Data & Analytics – Physical Security – Data Capture & Point of Sale – Unified Communications – Voice & Video Networking – Enterprise & Office Solutions.

In addition, Aptec offers a range of services that can be sold by its partners, including: our Cloud Service, installation & deployment of Professional Services, Training for certifica-tion and 3rd Party Logistics. We even have a dedicated factory in DAFZA producing Sim card Kits for Mobile operators across the region with an annual capacity of 60 Million packs.

How has Aptec gone about enhancing its role as a VAD?Delivering the kind of services listed in my previous paragraph

and in multiple Geographies stretching from Turkey, across the Middle East and all the way to South Africa, requires a special infrastructure, a high level of automation and highly skilled technical expertise. Our pre and post sales engineers have been growing rapidly along with the range and number of certifica-tions needed to support our solutions.

We also invest heavily in enabling and training our partner network and in lead generation and co-marketing programs. As the range of our solutions and services grow, our frequency of enablement sessions has now become almost a daily program. We use live web casts and physi-cal classrooms.

Discuss focus on Training with ATS?Training is an essential pillar of our services and enablement strategy. We have two types of training; Partner Enablement training as explained before, and training for technical or skill certification. The

later is the one offered by ATS and will now be branded as the IM Training Academy. We have major plans for expanding this service.

Is Track Distribution a subsid-iary?Track Distribution was formed in 2007 to accommodate the Tech-Data business which we acquired then. It will now be integrated into Aptec by the end of this year. As one of the five Global regions of Ingram Micro, MEA&T has 76 countries. Our operating brands will be Aptec for VAD of IT, IMM (Ingram Micro Mobility) for distribution of smart devices and services. IMT Academy for training, ATS for Professional Services and IML for Logistics.

What are the key expected milestones further on the road-map ahead in the current year?We focus on developing our IT business in South Africa and Turkey, growing our mobility busi-ness in MEA and complete the integration of our Saudi business.

APTEC-an Ingram Micro Company, the winner in the category Enterprise VAD of the Year has con-tinued to lead through very positive and beneficial VAR relationships and is highly regarded by resell-ers in the region and beyond. Dr. Ali Baghdadi, Vice President and CEO, Middle East, Turkey and Africa region speaks about how the company has enhanced its VAD profile through several investments in partner enablement, training and infrastructure across geographies

In a bigger league

Enterprise VAD of the Year | APTEC- an Ingram Micro Company

Mario VeljovicOperations & Services Director,Aptec Ingram Micro

18

Discuss the focus on security solutions in your portfolio and your diversification as an Infra-structure solutions distributor?Traditionally Computerlinks has always focused on Security as its core portfolio and this is still a very factual statement for the Group worldwide.I believe that the changes in our product of-fering which have seen people question whether we are moving away from that focus are mainly around some very significant partnerships with the likes of EMC, Gigamon or Extreme Networks. Ironically enough, we see these as complimentary initiatives in order to support security infrastructure.

The real question in todays network is “where does security start and end”. If you start asking this question you’ll realize that security is an integral part of the entire network ecosystem. Isn’t it secure to have a backup of all your critical data? That’s storage and back up recovery solutions.

Computerlinks, the Security VAD of the Year, offersa wide range of solu-tions from top tier vendors. John Andrews, Director of Marketing - MEA & APAC at Computerlinks.

Isn’t is secure to have full visibility on your network traffic and activ-ity? That’s the Gigamon solution focus.

In fact we don’t see any vendor that isn’t playing a part in the security space, even to a great extent Extreme Networks provide the foundation and platform with next generation switching tech-

nology to ensure that traffic flow is fast and uptime is maximized.

So in truth what we have re-ally done is take our core security offering from the likes of McAfee, F5, RSA, Trend, Sophos, Check-point etc and build the founda-tions and roof around these to make our house complete.In addition we have recently worked to partner with next generation security offerings such as Skybox to provide the risk analysis and real time monitoring and preven-tion.

Do you see a growing aware-ness among SMB customers to invest in specialised security software solutions?We have worked hard to educate channel and recruit new partners for this space so that we may all better tackle the real needs of the SMB customer who doesn’t necessarily have the in house resources to manage his security or infrastructure needs but this is

a long road. One of the options in our portfolio would be to opt for a cloud based or hosted security solution from the like of Syman-tec. Cloud however is still an area which customers lack confidence in. It’s worth noting though that almost all market analysts globally product double digit spending growth in the SMB security mar-

ket in 2013/2014. Surely this must suggest that they see a turning point where SMB will move more rapidly to deploy infrastructure and security solutions to cover core and edge, gateway and end point, sooner rather than later.

What have been some of the major milestones in the year?Computerlinks has seen some rapid growth in the region and it’s worth noting that when we say “Region” we actually cover Middle East, Africa, India, ASEAN and ANZ from our Dubai Headquar-ters. In the Middle East alone we have grown our team by almost 30%, moved to larger office space in Dubai Silicon Oasis and added two state of the art train-ing centres. One of the biggest areas of growth has been in our Professional Services and Training organization with a clear view to support and educate our channel better than anyone else in the Region.

A focus on end to end security

Security VAD of the Year | Computerlinks

19

Storage VAD of the Year | StorIT

Do you see yourself as a one-stop distributor for storageStorIT is the only specialist VAD in the region capable of offering widest portfolio of Data Storage Solutions (Backup & recovery, Archive, Virtualisation, Storage Consolidation, Disaster Recovery, etc.) under one roof covering every vertical segment under Data Storage Domain (storage, inter-connect, backup and recovery, archive).

What are the trends across SMB and enterprise verticals?One of the latest trends in Enter-prise storage solutions is hybrid data storage systems, which not only offers higher capacity but also greater performance. Enterprise storage systems are be-coming more hybridized wherein the data is tiered in many places in a box and then finally sent to the cloud.

The ever demanding ap-plication speed and limiting speed of the disk, has made enterprises move towards solid state drives

(SSDs), which can be leveraged to speed up applications and performance without the cost of adding additional servers. The storage arrays are fast becoming full solid state, where the speeds will double every 2 years. This will in turn see next generation solid state devices with higher redun-dancy and write speeds.

The emerging models for storage are solid state and hybrid systems wherein they will be gateways to clouds seamlessly. IP will play a big role in connecting these storage platforms. Software defined network will also change the definition of storage as we know now.

Discuss very briefly the vendors you partner with?StorIT provides full-spectrum data storage infrastructure solutions to customers in the SMB, SME, and large Enterprise domains. We work closely with our vendor partners EMC, Quantum, QLogic, Mellanox, Supermicro, Aptare, Moonwalk and Emulex to offer our customers

storage, virtualization, storage area network, network attached stor-age, replication, HPC, healthcare, security and surveillance, business continuity, disaster recovery, ar-chiving and information life cycle solutions. Our team also offers value services such as business need assessment, architecture and proof of design to optimize solu-tions to customer requirements.

Mention some channel initia-tives you have unveiled?Some of our regular channel initia-tives include long-term partner growth plans, partner certifica-tion programs, partner reward programs, channel enablement initiatives. We offer our partners broadest technical skills covering technology from legacy through cutting-edge solutions across the widest portfolio of products in enterprise data storage industry, certified pre-sales consultancy, solutions design and architecture on all product lines in portfolio and certified project implementa-tion and support services.

StorIT Distribution FZCO, a VAD focused on storage has built up a suite of solutions & services that enable enter-prises large and small to store, protect & manage busi-ness critical data, and harness the value of information and is the winner of the category Storage VAD of the Year. Boby Joseph, CEO, StorIT Distribution speaks about the com-pany’s storage focus.

A tall story

Suresh VedanthamGroup Managing Director, StorIT Distribution

20

Elaborate on the growth of the Value Business in the first 6 months of the year in terms of new vendor associations as well as expansions and investments.We have made our strategies and plan for the next three years, and I would say we are currently progressing as desired. Aligning Vendors and building skills is part of the overall plan, we are building a POC Centre, which can be quiet an advantage to the channel com-munity to demonstrate Technol-ogy solutions to their Customer.

While Metra has been a leading name in volume distribution, what are the strengths that you consider will help the company establish itself as a force to reckon with in the VAD space? Today VAD is a highly misunder-stood term, it’s mostly associated with the products that you sell and not with the Value you build for a particular segment or a solu-tion. We at Metra understand this well and hence we are building ourselves where we can bring in

the required differentiation. For instance our initiatives to build a POC Centre for the partners and building the dedicated Pre- sales team which is more focused on Technologies rather than products are steps undertaken to enhance our value profile.

Elaborate on your focus in dif-ferent key domains?Our Strategy from Day one has to been to build our Business around Five Verticals/ Technologies. These include Virtualization, where we will be focusing more on Desktop Virtualization. the others are Networking Security, Compute and Storage, Business Continuity Planning & Disaster Recovery and Business Application & Consul-tancy.We are aligning vendors, building skills, offering services around these technologies.

We are progressing steadily towards this goal. Some Verticals like Networking are active and started to give satisfying results, but some like Virtualization we are getting there.

What has been your channel enablement plan? Comment on initiatives rolled out?We have a comprehensive Chan-nel Enablement Plan, where we want to reach out to the partners who want to initiate and build their Enterprise Business. So for us the top priority is to able to make the channel aware and understand and then utilize Metra to further their vision. We have a rolled out good number of initiatives with the Channel both in terms of Rebates based programs, as well as helping the channel in Lead generation also doing Solution based training programs.

Elaborate on the milestones of growth that you are targeting for your division in the year?We want to reach a point, where the Customers and Vendors see us a serious and focused player in the Value and the Enterprise space.

The Emerging VAD of the Year was conferred on Metra, a company that is fast building a strong value add focus though alliances with leading Technology vendors. The company has a strong broadline division but its value division is a recent venture that started off on a strong footing, focusing on key verticals including virtualisation, networking etc. Mushtaq Khot, Business Unit Head- VBG at METRA discusses the company’s resolve to make an impression in the value space.

Building Value Competence

Emerging VAD of the Year | Metra

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It is a great advantage to systems integrators if they can access

all networking products from a single supplier to ensure speedy

delivery and unified contact source. WestconGroup comprising of Westcon Middle East and Com-stor, has successfully brought key vendors together ensuring a total 360 degree integrated solution for clients and is a deserving winner of the category Networking VAD

of the Year.

As more organizations look to deploy UC solutions, Technol-ogy providers and integrators

must combine a large number of technologies to provide high defi-nition and high quality communi-cation hardware and services. By bringing together a broad array

of communication products from Brands that are leaders in their

niches, FVC, the winner of this cat-egory, has over the years built up a strong credibility as the leading

VAD in the UC space.

Networking VADof the Year

UC Infrastructure VADof the Year

The Integrator Awards 2013

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You adopt a consulting ap-proach - please elaborate?Our approach is about building the reference architecture first and then populating it with Tech-nologies which is where systems integration comes in. It is also about ongoing support and build-ing necessary service deliverables around what is required from the customer’s end.

We believe that we have to choose what we can be good at and then focus on what we are good at. We have to keep constantly learning and relearning since Technologies keep chang-ing. There is a heavy focus on our teams in terms of doing requisite skill-up, re-certify and managing their credentials so that they are top of what is expected in terms of expertise. Our salespeople also need to do presales consulting and not just do fulfillment of orders and the onus is on them as well to be on top. Best practices are built from bottom up in terms of being close to what we sell and thereon being close to how we deliver what the customer

wants by adopting a consultative approach.

Are there lead vendors you are associated with when it comes to fulfilling customer orders?We don’t have a supermarket approach and are selective about the Brands we associate with, mostly partnering with those who are already leaders in their respective domains. Usually, the Brands that we associate with have products that can ideally fill out the reference architectures designed.

Do you focus on Virtualisation as an area of competence?One of the key aspects we are proud about is that we know there is enough space for every-one and there is space for collabo-ration. For instance, a few years ago, we are advised to invest in VMware capabilities. However, we chose not to do so since we felt it would just be a duplication of what was already available in the market in terms of competence and therefore it was best to look

at collaboration. As a consult-ing company, we don’t have a practice for Virtualisation but we have resources trained to work in virtual environments, certified by VMware. We get the consulting for design and deployment when required from a VMware partner or directly from VMware.

How do you manage when there are gaps in terms of prod-ucts to fulfill a turnkey project?When we take on large projects which is often, we make it a point to let customers be informed that there might be products that they would need to prcure from other companies. They appreciate the transparency. Sometimes, when our customers need to source everything through one tender and cannot raise other tender, we collaborate with some of the other leading integrators to meet customer requirements. We sub-contract to them areas of projects which may not be around our core competencies. They recipro-cate likewise and approach us on some of their projects.

Storage integration includes deploying scalable and resilient solutions that match the growing needs of the customer’s Business. CONDO PROTEGO, the winner of the category Storage Integrator of the Year is a company that brings a consultative approach to the fore and has alliances with the top tier Brands in storage. Savitha Bhaskar, General Manager, Condo Protego speaks about the company’s approach to systems integration.

A consultative approach

Storage Integrator of the Year | CONDO PROTEGO

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To cater for the SMB and their needs requires a delicate balancing act between quality and price. By successfully maintaining a vendor portfolio of strong SMB-focused brands that are able to scale as these businesses grow, MindwareFz LLC, the winner in the category SMB VAD of the Year has demonstrated the ability to leverage the capabilities of large international IT vendors with the needs of the

local IT business community.

The Middle East continues to one of the leading markets for

state of the art audio-visual (AV) installations. With continued rise of premium residential and com-mercial developments across the Middle East, there is a significant

investment being made in AV deployments. Theatro, the winner

of the AV Solutions Distributor of the Year, is a company that is a specialist in AV (Audio Visual) and

HA (Home Automation).

SMB VAD of the Year

AV Solutions Distributorof the Year

The Integrator Awards 2013

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According to a new report by Insight Research Corporation, the

2013 global managed services market at $152 billion.eHOSTING DATAFORT, the winner in the cat-egory Managed Services Provider of the Yearis a company that boats of world-class data centres, resil-ient and scalable infrastructure and round-the-clock managed

operations, establishing itself as a market leader in the field of host-

ing and managed IT services.

Visionary VAD of the Year is a cat-egory that applauds a distributor for its vision in developing an in-

novative a strategy and is bringing niche technology Brand to market

and helping establish them.The winner is Spectrami, a company

that has a dedicated focus in areas including Information Security, Data Centre Infrastructure, and Data Communication Networks and is expanding to emerging

markets including Morocco.

Managed ServicesProvider of the Year

Visionary VADof the Year

The Integrator Awards 2013

VAR Magazine is the leading B2B publication for the MEA IT channel with the widest readership among the region’s reseller community. With nearly 150 print issues to date, the publication plays a pivotal role in keeping the MEA IT channel well informed about the latest industry events and announcements that could potentially influence their business decisions.

VAR Magazine also publishes a bilingual edition for the Saudi Market.The Arabic /English edition brings out perspectives on the trends in the strategic market of KSA based on conversations with local industry spokespeople that augment further understanding of the market.

Educating and empowering the channel

Conceived by VAR Magazine, ‘In Search of a champion’ is a series of multi-brand training workshops for frontline IT salespeople and serves as a platform for sales talent development. The format enables interactive training in classroom environment where sales lessons are imbibed.

Participants are graded throughout their participation and champions receive grand prizes at the end of the year. Over the past couple of years, ‘In Search of a Champion’ has drawn wide appreciation from all participants and brands that have been associated with it. With its unique format and process, the event is trusted by leading Technology brands in the channel to keep the frontline sales staff abreast of product, Technology and market updates. It is currently organized in the UAE and KSA markets and is very soon expanding to other MEA markets.

Pioneering training series for frontline sales

The Integrator is a magazine that offers strategic insights to the systems integrator and the value add reseller channel. The magazine offers path breaking features and other content including case studies, expert columns, Round Table discussions that focuses on Industry trends which are opening up new frontiers of opportunities for the SI channel. The magazine has the intent of demystifying Technology trends for facilitating the channel’s learning of the same and empowering their decision making in Business. The magazine is distributed to an exclusive database of systems integrators and VARs in the region.

An essential read for the Value add IT channel

VAR Conclave is a series of networking platforms envisioned in several flexible formats as standalone events as well as in partnership with leading regional ICT expos across the GCC.

VAR conclave fosters channel partnership opportunities and helps clinch strategic business leads across strategic markets. It includes one-on-one focused meetings between participating exhibitors and leading resellers. It is also an ideal platform to showcase products and technologies.

IT Business Networking

VAR MEA Magazine

For sales queries, please email info@var-mea.com. or contact Tel: +971 4 3705022, Fax: +971 4 3706639

To read online log on to: www.VARonline.com

26

In the category Emerging System Integrator of the Year, recognition was conferred Intelligent Business Technologies, a young company

that has swiftly grown its portfolio of services over the past few years and has customers across the re-

gion. It today provides turnkey so-lutions and expertise in domains

including infrastructure solutions, cloud computing deployments,

telephony, BPO etc.

Alpha Data, the winner of the Networking Integrator of the

Year, is one of the largest multi-disciplined systems integrators in the region. This company has accreditation with some of the

biggest names in this space ensur-ing a very high level of confi-

dence for clients. This company’s strength also lies in its ability to serve clients across the whole

business spectrum from SMBs to large government bodies.

Emerging SystemIntegrator of the Year

Networking Integratorof the Year

The Integrator Awards 2013

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