Author: Tamlin Magee

Avnet to school partners on VMware

Posted on September 24, 2013 by - News

avnettsAvnet and VMWare are collaborating to open an End User Computing practice in Britain, to push channel partners towards the desktop transformation market, utilising VMware’s Horizon suite along with Avnet SolutionsPath.

Avnet insists that as the office environment rushes towards Bring Your Own Device, IT departments are faced with emerging threats to make sure their networks are fit for security as well as cost effective. By investing in the workspace, businesses can reduce headaches in the long run.

The company believes twinning SolutionsPath with VMware technology can manage all parts of a firm’s physical and virtual infrastructure centrally, meaning down the road businesses can implement a system that is not shaken by the consumerisation of IT.

The EUC practice promises to quicken entry into desktop transformation, and Avnet says it will do this by opening up access to its technology and multi vendor network, as well as providing specialist knowledge.

Businesses that sign up to the practice will have the opportunity to learn about delivering VMware gear in a way to fit a customer’s IT environment, as well as gauging the level ofvirtualisation that is required. Users can pick from Avnet’s wide range of VMware partners such as HP, IBM, Cisco, EMC, NetApp, Riverbed, and Nvidia.

Partners will also be encouraged to learn how they should sell VMware Horizon in markets such as healthcare, government and finance.

VMware’s UK&I head of channel, Ed Dolman, said the initiative will be a “powerful value proposition” as the company looks for new partners who are interested in desktop transformation but don’t have the right skills.

“By enrolling in Avnet’s SolutionsPath University, business partners have the ability to receive the training they need to develop knowledge and expertise supported by the generation of sales leads,” Dolman said.

Symantec bumps Mark Nutt up to EMEA veep

Posted on September 24, 2013 by - Moving People, News

symanteclogoSymantec has promoted Mark Nutt to vice president for EMEA partner management and will be tasked with planning and delivering a new EMEA channel strategy.

Nutt was hired by Symantec in 2011 to look after EMEA’s strategy and sales operations, where he was responsible for sales performance. Before that he was general manager at Morse, and he started his career in sales at HP, in 1987.

Nutt must lead a team to build Symantec’s partner programs and bring in profitable growth for Symantec and its partners, as well as simplifying Symantec’s operations with channel partners.

In a statement, Nutt underlined Symantec’s commitment to partners and distributors, adding it’s “vital that we enable partners to deliver superior value to customers and that, in turn, we demonstrate our commitment to directly supporting our channel partners’ business growth”.

FusionExperience gets SAP silver status

Posted on September 23, 2013 by - News

sapbeerSAP has awarded business and tech company FusionExperience with silver partner status, granting it access to the usual resources, services and benefits to help it build a customer base through SAP.

The company will gain access to a wider range of software for clients, and FusionExperience believes the partnership will build on its current portfolio it can offer to clients.

FusionExperience has brought SAP Sybase IQ and SAP Hana into its own Big Data and Visualisation offerings, which the company promises extends the range of services it can offer to clients.

FusionExperience’s CEO, Steve Edkins, said that now the company is both a VAR and service partner with SAP, his company can act as a single supply source for all of SAP’s database and technology kit, and that includes advice, training, implementation, support, and providing licences.

“The benefits for our clients are the access to a single source of experts that are constantly kept abreast of the latest SAP developments and reduction in total cost of ownership for SAP technology,” Edkins said.

FusionExperience said it plans to take an active role in supporting, customising, and deploying SAP systems.

O2, Vodafone neck and neck in 4G

Posted on September 23, 2013 by - News

vodafoneHaving just launched their own 4G services, O2 and Vodafone are roughly neck and neck in speed and availability, according to a report.

Conducting over 11,000 tests around central London over five days since the companies launched their 4G services, research company RootMetrics found that O2’s average blended 3G and 4G speed was 16.3 Mbps, compared to 16.2 Mbps from Vodafone. As 4G is not always available, Rootmetrics claims these are the speeds most customers will actually receive.

Having had an enormous head start, EE was given the chance to improve its speec and coverage. At present, its average 3G-4G download speed hit 22.7 Mbps, compared to 17.3 Mbps in April.

At least in central London, both O2 and Vodafone had made their services broadly available. Of the 310 miles within London’s borders, including indoor locations, Vodafone’s 4G was available in 69.4 percent of tests, compared to O2’s 63.9 percent.

For 4G only, O2 won out, reaching average speeds of 23.3 Mbps and a maximum download speed of 65.8 Mbps. Vodafone managed 20.8 Mbps on average and 57.7 Mbps maximum download speed. EE was still ahead with an average of 29.6 Mbps.

RootMetrics CEO Bill Moore said the tests bode well for providers and customers.

“EE has had the best part of a year to cement its place and remains the speed leader, but the early signs for O2 and Vodafone are very positive, especially when it comes to 4G availability,” Moore said. “This is all good news for the consumer as uploading your pictures or downloading content on the move will become quicker as coverage expands and improves”.

Many customers will be waiting for the price to dip. Although 4G in the UK is off to a good start, it is a premium service. Earlier this month, EE boasted it had passed the 1 million customer milestone ahead of schedule. But Ovum’s head of Industry, Communications & Broadband Practice told us with its head start, the company could have done even better.  The demand is there, but for early technologies, prioritising getting the adoption rate up with cheaper plans may have put EE even further in the lead.

 

Rackspace intros on-demand e-learning

Posted on September 20, 2013 by - Events, News

rackspaceOpen cloud provider Rackspace has introduced an on demand, e-learning training course with a view to bringing about wider adoption of OpenStack technologies.

Customers will be able to register for courses that promise to teach ways to use and deploy OpenStack powered cloud. The on demand e-learning version of Rackspace’s OpenStack Fundamentals will be available to the public in October, though pre-registration is available now.

Additionally, Rackspace is introducing four further in-person courses.

These are Networking-Neutron, where students can learn how to use Neutron to provide Networking-as-a-Service, as well as encouraging students to use an API to build and configure networking infrastructure. Building Cloudy Apps sees students using Python to learn about horizontal scaling and APIs, security in the cloud is self explanatory, and so’s Hadoop on OpenStack.

Certified training partners for the Fundamentals courses include, worldwide, New Horizons, Skyline Advanced Technology Services, and Intelligent Cloud Technologies.

Course overviews and schedules are available at Rackspace’s training website.

Rackspace boasts it’s expanding the program because of rapid growth in OpenStack, including over 10,000 contributors at its three year anniversary in July this year. Citing the BSA global cloud scorecard for 2013, 14 million cloud jobs should emerge by 2015, so there’s plenty of room for Rackspace to work.

“Rackspace recognises the need for comprehensive educational courses and delivery models and is fundamentally revolutionising OpenStack training to include a Certified Training Partner Programme and on demand e-learning course,” said Tony Campbell, director of training and certification for OpenStack.

ITC builds on Oracle tech

Posted on September 20, 2013 by - News, Products

consultoracleITC Infotech is introducing a Consumer Goods Business Process Services (BPS) offering based on Oracle’s Comprehensive Trade Management.

It’s built on Oracle’s Siebel Trade Promotion Management, made with a view to manage promotions and funds as well as to settle claims and forecast sales and liabilities. ITC’s kit runs predictive trade planning and predictive scenario planning, too, letting customers use an all-in-one service to boost trade spend efficiency and improve sales forecasting accuracy.

Potential customers may be interested because ITC promises the service will help them reduce costs and boost efficiencies.

ITC Infotech’s president, L N Balaji, said this can lead to better collaboration and relationships with customers.
“We expect it will immensely benefit companies in the consumer goods, durables, high tech and consumer healthcare sectors, and in general all companies that manage brands and promotions,” Balaji said.

SME email falters

Posted on September 19, 2013 by - News

pc-sales-slumpAlthough SMEs want the best enterprise class tech available to them, many are struggling with mundane yet profoundly annoying problems such as email outages, according to a survey.

At least 60 percent of respondents had suffered from an email outage over a three month period, the report found.

Imerja, an IT infrastructure company that conducted the survey, warned that the importance of effective communication channels, including email, can’t be overlooked. Even a small outage can negatively impact business and hit revenues.

As SMEs are being told they’re the way out of economic misery and as part of the recovery, they should probably make sure their basic communication networks are secured, Imperja warned.

Managing director Ian Jackson said: “Investing in the right IT can add significant value to a business, but companies won’t be able to reap the rewards of technology fully if they’re still having problems with essential business systems like email”.

A way forward can be outsourcing business critical IT, whether that is for email, infrastructure hosting, or videoconferencing as a service. This “takes away risk and reduces the overhead of running an in house system, often with added security benefits too,” Jackson said.

“Managed services for IT can really boost productivity because any problems that arise are identified quickly and dealt with before they have the chance to escalate and cause problems,” Jackson said.

Juniper expands Partner Advantage to the cloud

Posted on September 19, 2013 by - News

JuniperJuniper Networks is expanding its Partner Advantage scheme to the cloud with Partner Advantage Cloud, which will allow affiliates to offer support infrastructure and cloud programming to customers through the company.

It will be available as a specialisation to Juniper Networks Elite partners, letting cloud infrastructure partners,systems integrators and service partners to seek new revenues by flogging Juniper products and services.

Juniper hopes its partners will take the opportunity to raise cash for themselves and the company by outlining its cloud strategy for the channel. It claims the program provides partners with the best materials to get the ball rolling with Juniper deployments.

Resources made available will include marketing, financing and reward options, as with elsewhere in Partner Advantage.

Three specific kinds of partners will be targeted with the announcement. These are cloud system integrators, cloud service partners, and cloud infrastructure partners.

Emilio Umeoka, senior veep, worldwide partners at Juniper, insisted the announcement reinforced the company’s commitment to network innovation, addressing broader technology trends, as well as supporting and delivering revenue opportunities for cloud partners.

Tesco in “unprecedented” Blinkbox promo pre tablet launch

Posted on September 19, 2013 by - News, Products

tescoBritish supermarket giant Tesco may be showing off its rumoured own-brand tablet as early as next week, as it steps up the marketing drive of its content platform Blinkbox.

An invite sent out to UK press reads: “We’ve got something to show you. #LetsHudl.” Hudl, PCR-Online points out, was registered as a trademark earlier this year for use on a tablet device. The rumours so far suggest Tesco will be aiming for the cheap and cheerful market, with analysts telling us the company will use it to leverage its content service, Blinkbox – not dissimilar to Amazon’s approach with the Kindle Fire.

It’s expected the device will launch at around the £100 mark. Doing so would make it one of the cheapest ‘big’ brands on the British market. Whether buyers will flock to the brand is another question.

It’s expected Tesco will stuff the tablet with its own streaming services such as Blinkbox and Clubcard TV. Most think it will run on an unmodified version of Android.

According to PC Pro, which claims to have seen the specs, the Tesco tablet will sport two bog standard cameras, ship with GPS, Bluetooth, and the usual MEMS in an accelerometer and a gyroscope.

The device will reportedly feature a seven inch IPS panel at 1280×720, and under the bonnet will be a 1.6GHz quad core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB included storage and a slot for MicroSD.

If Tesco is indeed launching a tablet it’s a bold move by the retailer. Tesco recently announced it was to slash inventories of other electronics and focus on selling more traditional supermarket products.

Monday’s announcement will coincide with what Marketing Week calls a “nationwide in-store marketing blitz” for Blinkbox, including promotions across 500 stores offering discounts on drinks, snacks, DVDs, CDs, and videogames.

In tandem, Tesco plans a major radio, print, digital, outdoor ad, and “high profile” TV ad campaign to launch in October. Blinkbox’s marketing exec Kate Simon told MarketingWeek the scale of investment is “unprecedented”.

Blinkbox plans to differentiate itself from other streaming services such as Lovefilm, Netflix and Sky, touting, for example, its superior range of blockbuster films and TV shows compared to rivals.

Good Tech fills GM EMEA role

Posted on September 18, 2013 by - Moving People, News

goodtechWith the departure of top EMEA exec Huw Owen from Good Technology back to Symantec, Good has announced Marcus Chambers as the company’s new veep and GM for the region.

Chambers intends to aggressively push the EMEA channel programme as a top priority, a well as building closer partnerships and rehashing formulated training and accreditation. Good calls this a rejuvenation of its EMEA channel.

Chambers previously has experience at Digial Equipment, 3Com, and EMC. More recently he was EMEA ops director for Cisco and, prior to the role at Good, EMEA VP at Riverbed for six years.

Chambers has been at Good since August 2013 and is based at the company’s London office.

With the uptake of Bring Your Own Device, Good and its security products have found themselves in a rather advantageous position. As the legacy of Blackberry is tarred and the company is turned into a watered down smoothie, corporate culture in the west is increasingly seeing the adoption of iPhone and Android. Good specialises in securing these devices at the app level, understandably a popular option for IT managers and CIOs who want to keep employees happy but the company secure.

Chief revenue officer at Good, Dan Stoks, speaking of Chambers, said the company needed someone who can manage the dynamic mobile environment as well as demonstrating and expanding the firm’s competitive advantage throughout EMEA.

“We have aggressive goals to help our customers embrace mobility in a way they haven’t before, and with his proven success in the region, I am confident that Marcus can help us achieve them,” Stoks said.

Speaking with ChannelEye, Marcus Chambers said his immediate areas of focus will “include working with the channel to build a repeatable, relevant offering to give them a simpler route to market”.

“Good Technology is a rapidly growing company and we’re in an industry that’s changing by the day,” Chambers said. “Keeping pace with this change through a strong Good architecture gives our partners a great foundation to build our future together, including our customers’ key mobility security app infrastructure”.

 

Nvidia announces Tegra Note Android tab

Posted on September 18, 2013 by - News

nvidianoteNvidia has announced its very own Android tablet platform, the Tegra Note, readied by the company and brought to market by its partners.

Nvidia boasts that, rather than just providing a low cost and high quality build for Tegra 3, as with the Nexus 7, this is a “complete platform”. Partners include EVGA and PNY Technologies, Oysters, ZOTAC, Colorful, Shenzhen Homecare Technology, and XOLO, which will be joining HP, Asus, Toshiba, Kobo and Xiomi in Tegra 4 products.

So far Nvidia is a little late on the tablet front. The company does have products out there but not as many as it likes.

Tegra Note, however, will sport a Tegra 4 72 core GeForce GPU and quadcore Cortex A15 CPU, with the promise of battery saving tech. The company boasts this will make the Tegra Note the “world’s fastest 7 inch tablet”. It will also ship with Nvidia’s DirectStylus tech which should give users more precise and responsive control with a normal stylus.

Nvidia PureAudio will ship, too, which the company says includes the “widest frequency range in a tablet” through front facing stereo speakers and a bass reflex port.

This product sounds like a solid release compared to the gaming curio, Nvidia Shield, an experiment in remote PC gaming – as long as you’re not too far away. Tegra Note will ship with TegraZone for exclusive Tegra optimised graphics, and the company claims you’ll get a massive 10 hours of HD video playback.

Additionally, a range of accessories will be available, including an intelligent cover with built in magnets, the DirectStylus Pro Pack, and Bluetooth capabilities that turn the tablet into a controller. Over the air software updates will be sent out by Nvidia directly to keep software patched and up to date.

Retail prices will start at $199, taking on other low-cost but high performance tablets in the market.

Public cloud spending to pass $100bn in 2017

Posted on September 18, 2013 by - News

cloud (264 x 264)Public IT cloud services spending could sail past the $100 billion milestone in 2017, according to figures from IDC.

Worldwide spending will reach a chunky $47.4 billion for this year, and is expected to reach $107 billion in 2017. The analyst house expects the scale of cloud adoption to grow significantly and rapidly, especially as IT infrastructure at many companies begins to age. According to IDC, systems are becoming so complex and expensive that an alternative – cloud – will be the only way out.

IDC believes that initial hesitation towards privacy and control in cloud are now being addressed, and more competition in the segment is going to seriously lower prices and expand choice of services to potential customers.

IDC cites Google as a company experiencing rapid growth in cloud adoption. Over 5 million are estimated to be using the company’s cloud offering, Google Apps, compared to 3 million in 2009.

Senior IDC analyst Frank Gens believes with the emergence of business as a service, cloud adoption will pick up, and its value with it. “Much of the growth in cloud services is being driven by the increase in deployment options,” Gens said.

“The growing richness of these options is a clear accelerator for overall cloud services adoption,” Gens said. “The emergence of virtual private cloud offerings has helped to shift momentum from dedicated private cloud offerings toward public cloud offerings”.

Good Technology VP heads to Symantec

Posted on September 17, 2013 by - Moving People, News

symanteclogoGood Technology’s VP and GM Huw Owen has been snapped up and appointed to VP sales and marketing for EMEA at Symantec.

Previously overseeing Good’s channel growth in Europe and introducing the firm to the Nordics, Benelux and the Middle East, Symantec has snapped him up to win and retain customers as well as growing in all regions across EMEA.

Owen has been named twice in Global Telecoms Business’ Top 40 Under 40 for telecoms, globally, and has been quoted regularly offering comment on mobility.

Before his time at Good, Owen was executive director at Lenovo’s EMEA team, where he helped in servicing and sales in EMEA and globally. He has also held positions at Veritas and Fujitsu, and served as senior director of EMEA northern region services at Symantec.

Commenting on his return to Symantec, Owen said the opportunities at Symantec are “huge”.

“The EMEA region is a key area of focus for Symantec, contributing significantly to the global company revenues,” Owen said.

Matthew Ellard, senior vice president EMEA, Symantec, said: “Huw has an exceptional amount of knowledge in the channel sector which will be of tremendous value”.

IT departments nervous about BYOD

Posted on September 16, 2013 by - News

threeiphonesMost IT departments are not certain their mobile policies are compliant with both corporate policy and government regulation, according to a report.

Bring Your Own Device means staff are increasingly taking their smartphones into work. Despite this, according to research commissioned by Accellion, an enterprise security company, just 30 percent of organisations have an approved BYOD policy.

70 percent of respondents admitted to being “concerned” and a further 20 percent “extremely concerned” about mobile file sharing.

Additionally, 63 percent of those surveyed want to clamp down on VPN use, and about two thirds have or plan to allow official enterprise content management accross mobile devices. Of course, this means making sure the infrastructure is in place to secure those devices – especially running on sensitive networks.

There was a consensus on limiting or controlling with sites or folders are accessible to staff on mobile, for example, making sales documents available on mobile but blocking access to human resources.

14 percent of respondents were in the process of developing their own corporate app store, with another 14 percent already having one.

Guidance Software picks Wick Hill as UK distie

Posted on September 12, 2013 by - News

truckDistie Wick Hill has got the UK contract for US-based forensics, analytics, and incident response company Guidance Software.

Guidance Software can claim over half of Fortune 100 companies as clients. The company offers EnCase Analytics, which promises to find and treat otherwise hard to detect threats. This technology uses data from every endpoint at a kernel level instead of trusting a compromised OS.

The EnCase Cybersecurity product peers into endpoint activity across a network after a hacking attempt, specifically when threats have been suspected but aren’t identified, or if it’s necessary to snip out sensitive data from unauthorised locations.

EnCase Enterprise, Guardian boasts, is forensic level enterprise investigation, which can cut down on massive costs and regulatory risks typically associated with investigations in the enterprise. Guardian says it can quickly and accurately detect policy violations, including employee fraud and intellectual property theft.

Ian Kilpatrick, chairman at Wick Hill group, said Guidan can give the channel an answer to maintaining security across network infrastructure, which increasingly has more endpoints and generating more data.

“Guidance provides exceptional visibility into endpoint activity across the network, as well as sophisticated forensic tools, which include the ability to preserve forensic evidence post-incident,” Kilpatrick said.

Guidance’s veep of sales for EMA and APAC, Sam Maccherola, said Wick Hill was the right distie because of its existing experience in IT security and the major markets Guidance operates in.