EMC transformed itself thanks to Channel

Posted on September 5, 2013 by - News

7361653728_ac8edc50eb_cEMC, which was celebrating the release of new tech which could see it take control of the mid-range datacentre market, claims that its rise to dominance is because of its Channel strategy.

Talking to ChannelEye, EMC’s Vice President of Global channel sales, Gregg Ambulos said that a few years ago the company did not have an effective channel strategy and relied on its own sales team.

“That was probably OK when we had only one product but then Joseph Tucci took over as CEO in 2001 and wanted a different approach and a much stronger channel,” Ambulos said.

Since then more than 65 percent of EMC sales come through its Channel and in the area of mid-range data centre boxes.  Also it is starting to notice that partners are starting to defect from rivals like IBM to join in.

Part of this is a strong product line.  EMC holds most of the mid-range data centre business on the basis of its strong server offerings.

Ambulos thinks that this will become more obvious as the new VNX range hits the streets.  The new VNX is a much easier box to sell as it is faster and cheaper than previous incarnations.

He said that the technology changes to the VNX range were driven by EMC’s partners some of which were involved in actually crafting the developments.

Ambulos said that while EMC will be running channel incentive programmes to sell the VNX range, these will be comparatively low key.  Channel partners need very little incentive to sell the VNX range and just really wanted to get started.

 

Notebook shipments ramp in rollercoaster ride

Posted on September 5, 2013 by - News

ancient-laptopNotebook shipments appear to be recovering, albeit slightly, after several consecutive quarters of unparalleled awfulness. We are quite used to hideous numbers by now, but Digitimes Research  is reporting that notebook shipments of the top five brands grew by 22 percent, while the top three ODMs saw 11 percent of growth in August, compared to July.

HP saw the most growth, up 50 percent, while Lenovo and Acer saw their shipments grow by 25 and 20 percent respectively. Asus shipments dropped, while Dell’s appear to be stagnating.

Wistron outperformed other ODMs with 20 percent on-month growth in August, thanks to strong shipments from HP and Lenovo. Quanta and Inventec grew by more than 10 percent, Compal was saw some single-digit growth, while Pegatron’s shipments dropped due to lower orders from Asus.

A word of caution is advised. The upsurge has a lot more to do with seasonal trends than actual end-user demand. The notebook market still remains very weak and soft demand is expected over the next few quarters, if not years.

Avnet gains QICM Accreditation

Posted on September 5, 2013 by - News

avnettsAs of today Avnet UK is the first distributor in the UK to boast the Quality in Credit Management Accreditation (QICM) from the Institute of Credit Management, Europe’s largest association for the credit management profession.

The award recognizes outfits that exhibit an outstanding commitment to quality and best practices in all things credit. Since Avnet’s partners range from OEMs, VARs, software vendors and system integrators to consultancy service organisations, good credit management is crucial for Avnet’s corporate strategy. The company applied for QICM accreditation two years ago.

“We are constantly striving for operational excellence. The QICM accreditation recognises the high quality of our credit department and is validation that Avnet’s credit processes are the best in the industry.” said Darren Maynard, Head of Credit at Avnet Technology Solutions UK Credit is a key sales enabler in the IT channel and it is important to Avnet that its business partners have complete confidence in the credit support they receive.”

Gaining QICM accreditation was quite tough, as Avnet had to undergo a two-day assessment of its credit and collections processes and documentation, which was practically an external audit carried out by ICM’s assessors.

Hynix downplays massive fire in chip plant

Posted on September 5, 2013 by - News

silicon-waferSK Hynix, the world’s second biggest maker of memory chips, is in damage control mode, quite literally. A blaze gutted parts of one of its plants in Wuxi, China, but the company is now trying to reassure the market by saying that damage was largely superficial.

The memory maker claims supply volume will not be affected, as there was no major damage to production equipment. It looked spectacular, but luckily the blaze doesn’t appear to have done much damage. One person suffered a minor injury and the company insists it will resume operations “in a short time period”.

However, the world was watching for good reason. The fab in question produces an estimated 15 percent of the world’s DRAM. Any extended outage would have had a massive effect on supply and prices. Luckily, SK Hynix insists the market will not be affected and the supply chain has nothing to worry about. Furthermore, the company says there is no material damage to any fab equipment in the clean room

The fire started yesterday afternoon and it took almost two hours to extinguish. What made it look a lot worse to onlookers was the fact that it churned out a lot of black smoke, which was concentrated in air purification facilities, which pretty much saved the plant but made the whole incident look a lot more ominous.

Hospitality industry feels ripped off by IT

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

mcdsThe food industry feels completely stitched up by long-running and misleading IT contracts packed with hidden costs leaving them out of pocket, according to a survey.

Over half of managers in the food and beverage industry think they have been completely misled by IT suppliers – and with exclusive contracts, are finding themselves tied in and trapped by ongoing costs that were not made clear from the beginning.

Of those surveyed, many said their IT systems cost too much money to start with, but are near impossible to get out of.

A staggering 81 percent of managers felt disappointed or unhappy with their IT systems, and one in ten thought picking a big IT supplier in hospitality would make their IT better. Instead, the technology was missold and doesn’t do what it said on the tin.

Just ten percent of all managers surveyed said they were content with their IT systems.

The survey, carried out by Censuswide and commissioned by Caternet, asked 180 managers in hospitality what they thought of their IT.

“Supplier and customer relationships are a two-way thing – they’re about trust and honesty, or at least they should be,” Jerry Brand, Caternet’s MD said.

x86 revenues, market share down

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

8086According to the latest IDC statistics for EMEA, x86 server revenues are down 4.5 percent in Q2 2013, year on year.

x86 sales still held 71.3 percent of the total EMEA server market – a fall from 80.4 percent in the quarter before. The previous quarter saw a revenue decline of 1.5 percent. It’s not all doom and gloom: IDC’s Giorgio Nebuloni in the enterprise server group said product refreshes head for Q4 were the main reason for leaning on server spending for Q2, particularly in volume SMB.

IDC expects stabilisation for x86 spending next year, and perhaps some growth, with local cloud service projects and broader product refreshes contributing. But IDC also hopes for a “less negative macroeconomic scenario” – which is not entirely a given.

Mainframe performance did well for the quarter, however, with strong demand in western Europe – especially in the UK, France and Germany. Refreshes on previous generation mainframes helped, and IBM’s decision to release zEC12 in Q3 2012 helped.

“Mainframes are increasingly being deployed on Linux operating systems and high-availability needs remain a primary market engine in some industries,” IDC enterprise server group’s Beatriz Valle said.

In terms of vendors, HP was top for Q2 2013 – even with an annual revenue drop of 13.2 percent thanks to weaker demand for the x86 ProLiant servers. IBM was second, and Dell third, reports Digitimes.

 

Toshiba gets slice of new NDNA pie

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

toshiba-logoToshiba has been approved as a vendor in the new National Desktop and Notebook Agreement (NDNA) to provide PCs to universities, colleges and affiliated research institutions.

Toshiba is not new to NDNA, it has been on board for twelve years, but now it’s expanding its reach in Lot 2 of NDNA.

Toshiba will work with resellers Viglen, European Electronique, Iansyst and Academia to deliver its range of B2B products to NDNA members and it will offer a few perks as well. All products sold under the programme will come with an three-year on-site warranty, as well as an extended three-year battery warranty for Portege and Tecra laptops. End-users will also be allowed to retain their hard drives, so they can dispose of sensitive data as they choose.

“We’ve been working hard with our partners on supporting the education sector for many years, and to be re-awarded a place on the NDNA framework enables us to continue this practice.” commented Mark Byrne, Head of Public Sector, Toshiba UK. “As technology’s influence within the education sector continues to grow, we are delighted Toshiba continues to play a central role in these advances.”

The new NDNA framework went live on the 1st of August. Toshiba also noted that it remains committed to other educations programmes in the UK and the continent, such as European Schoolnet’s iTec and the UK Education Ambassadors programme.

Cloud of unknowing descends on public IT

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News, Products

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeMarket research company IDC has gazed in its crystal ball or inspected a set of entrails and has concluded that worldwide spending on public IT cloud services will be worth $47.4 billion this year.

And there’s more to come, according to the auspices.  By 2017, spending will reach $107 billion meaning that between then and now sales will grow by 23.5 percent, compounded annually.

The analysts believe that cloud services are blowing into a chapter two phase where mobile, social and big data will become interdependent.

Chief IDC diviner Frank Gens calculates thus: “Over the next several years, the primary driver for cloud adoption will shift from economics to innovation as leading-edge companies invest in cloud services as the foundation for new competitive offerings. The emergence of cloud as the core for new ‘business as a service’ offerings will accelerate cloud adoption and dramatically raise the cloud model’s strategic value beyond CIOs to CXOs of all types.”

Virtual private clouds help to persuade organisations that the cloud is not dangerous but instead has a silver lining.

By 2017, according to Gens, public IT cloud services will account for seventeen percent of IT product spend. Software as a service (SaaS) will keep the biggest chunk of the pie, and account for 59.7 percent of revenues in 2017, while fast growing categories include the dreadfully named “platform as a service” (PaaS) and the almost equally gruesome “Infrastructure as a Service” (IaaS) with compound annual growths of 29.7 percent and 27.2 percent.

Mobiles big it up online

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

Keep taking the tabletsTablets and smartphones are quickly becoming the platform of choice when it comes to online shopping. According to IMRG Capgemini, mobile accounted for 23.2 percent of online sales last quarter, up 11.6 percent year-on-year. What’s more, the actual proportion of retail site visits coming from mobile was up to 34 percent from 21 percent a year ago.

Click and collect is going strong as well, as it represented 16 percent of online sales, up from 12 percent last year. Bounce rates are also going up, largely as a result of higher mobile penetration.

IMRG chief information officer Tina Spooner said there is a correlation between the surge in mobile commerce and the rise in visitor bounce rates on mobile retail sites.

“While consumers [people, Ed.] have generally become more confident in using their mobile devices as a shopping tool, the latest data suggests they have also become more demanding,” Spooner said. “Higher search volumes will inevitably result in an increase in bounce rates as shoppers will often compare products and pricing across several brands.”

Spooner argued that offering an engaging and relevant experience for customers across all channels will help retailers achieve the end goal of higher conversion rates and an increase in customer loyalty.

Capgemini UK VP of consumer products and retail Chris Webster pointed out another interesting trend – record levels of sales via mobile devices correspond to higher rates for click and collect.

“This correlation of mobile ordering and location flexible collection is at the heart of the mobile internet and the impact it will have on consumer behaviour. Maybe we are truly entering the Martini age – anytime, anyplace, anywhere,” he said. Talk about product placement, Webster.

Don’t scrap fax services, distributor warns

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

6a00d83451bdba69e20105357f6f1d970b-450wiResellers and distributors might be better off forgetting to kill off their fax services, according to one Italian distributor.

Cesare Pedrazzi, who is the CTO of top Italian distributor Esprinet said that as part of a business plan to try and simplify his company’s IT systems, he thought it would be a good idea to kill off the fax service.

The distributor runs a highly complex network and really faxes in the network were a bit of a headache to look after. Esprinet runs on high tech ordering, with fairly low margins and mucking around with bits of paper was jolly annoying.

After all, Pedrazzi reasoned, who on earth sends faxes in this day and age? Faxes had gone the way of the pigeon as a valid means of communication.

However after taking the fax machines off-line it took only 15 minutes before customers were complaining about the loss of the service. Apparently while the fax might have been developed in the 19th century, a lot of distributors still depended on a fax based system.

“In the sort of complex system we run you just can’t afford to do that sort of thing,” Pedrazzi said. So the faxes went back online.

SAP about to get a good kicking from AS/400

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

ESPRINET01__CUSTOM_SAP is too inflexible and is being defeated by an AS400 legacy ERP software which is soon to be open sourced.

While the esoteric software outfit, which makes software that no one really understands, is jolly popular with distributors, it might actually be holding them back.

A top Italian distributor Esprinet has saved a fortune by owning the source code for an AS-400 legacy ERP system.

Speaking exclusively to ChannelEye , the CEO of Esprinet Alessandro Cattani said his company provided services to suppliers who were using his company’s services because they were hooked on SAP software.

He said that his company sells them services because the AS-400 legacy code is faster and more flexible than anything the distributors who use SAP ERP systems can write.

“SAP software is less flexible and is difficult and expensive for businesses to write specific code for what they want,” Cattani said.

Esprinet owns the source code for the code and has a team which can churn out code when ever it is needed.

Cattani said that he recently had the chance to benchmark his AS-400 applications against and an SAP equivalent. They cleaned SAP’s clock managing to be 50 percent more efficient and cheaper, he said.

While SAP might not be too concerned that one company is doing rather well ignoring its software, it might be concerned that an Italian firm called SME-UP is planning to open source the software.

That means that some of the bigger suppliers would be wondering why they would shackle themselves to expensive ERP installations when with some nice old IBM box they could be as free as a bird.

 

Dell unifies software partners under PartnerDirect

Posted on September 3, 2013 by - News

Dell logoDell is making some changes to its PartnerDirect program by introducing four software competencies, plus new service and referral programs, to bring different specialties under one umbrella.

It’s possible for mixed hardware-software Dell partners to get Premier status through a mixed competency, and an advanced competency makes Premier available for partners who are in one line of business. Legacy North America and EMEA partners will now be rolled in from other, separate programs into PartnerDirect, as Kace, AppAssure and SonicWall were earlier.

Dell software partners can grab benefits through PartnerDirect with new paths to Premier status, as well as rewards for training and sales achievement and the usual tools like marketing tools to generate future leads.

Now security, systems management, data protection, and information management will all be rolled into the PartnerDirect program as a series of different competencies.

Dell’s director of Worldwide Channels and Alliances for Dell Software, Marvin Blough, asserted the importance of well trained partners, and noted that being part of a single program with a range of different offerings should help the company and partners.

The convergence is reminiscent of HP’s recent channel decision to reform the company through less disparate and bureaucratic channels, and streamline different segments under a single program.

N2S uses Avnet’s Unity

Posted on September 3, 2013 by - News

avnettsAvnet EMEA has partnered with IT installation and management company N2S to deploy the former’s Unity Estate Management service.

The point of Unity is to help companies minimise financial risk by recognising the right time for IT assets to be disposed of – then seeking to reuse the equipment instead of completely destroying it. Because it adheres to the latest set of WEEE directives it can dodge regulatory fines.

Apparently, since Unity was deployed, N2S managed to detect 2,500 disks and other IT bits over 1,000 sites that weren’t in use, but were also not listed on customer inventory, amounting to a potentially massive waste of energy.

N2S will be giving customers the choice of building a Unity Estate Management framework for themselves, or have N2S manage it on their behalf as a managed service provider.

Avnet EMEA veep Christian Magirus said CEOs are starting to wonder if they’re disposing of IT assets in the correct way. “They’re starting to look at putting in place tigheter controls to promote industry best practice and minimise financial risk,” Magirus said.

N2S’ Andrew Gomarsall, director, said previously it “wasn’t uncommon” for N2S to clean customer sites but turn out more equipment than expected.

“With redundant equipment lying around, the potential for security breaches and fines is high, not to mention the impact on the environment,” Gomarsall said.

 

 

Intel runs out of roadmaps

Posted on September 3, 2013 by - News, Opinions

stapThere was a time, some years ago, when Intel mattered. It doesn’t matter any more at all and it is running out of steam.

Soon, Intel will hold its annual Intel Developer Forum (IDF) – it was a must attend event back in the days when the company had many very talented senior executives. Most of them are goners now.  Intel was famous for inventing things and driving the industry by using its considerable clout to create stuff.

Now it creates nothing, nothing at all.  Like many a large corporation, including Microsoft and many another corp too, it started behaving like an ingrowing toenail, believing – against all the evidence – that it would hold its mighty market share forever.

We did warn Intel repeatedly it shouldn’t rest on its laurels.  When it adopted StrongARM, as a result of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) maneuvers, we advised it that it should drastically change its business model and produce some stunning and cheap devices based on that technology.

But no. Like an ignorant bull, it insisted that the world+dog should have notebooks that cost a small fortune.

The last two years has seen its strategy crumble into dust. No one cares about its roadmaps any more. No one gives a flying fart about its process technology. No one has a clue.  It lost some of its most talented individuals – Kicking Pat Gelsinger, Mike Fister full of dollars, Mike Splinter and the rest, and blithely pursued a path which will lead it to Carey Street, if it’s not careful.

As we reported a week or two back, the freshly minted CEO is attempting to introduce a top down page and firing all the spin doctors who, these days, couldn’t spin their way out of a paper bag, nor organise a piss up in a brewery or cheese factory.

Like many an old dinosaur, its tiny brain doesn’t realise that it has been dying from the tail up for several years. It is a shame – we have the utmost respect for any company that has factories – this is no trivial matter. But engineering its way out of this current crisis is, we feel, a fab too far to go.

Vodafone sells Verizon stake

Posted on September 2, 2013 by - News

vodafoneVodafone is reportedly in the late stages of selling its 45 percent stake of Verizon, the largest mobile company in the USA, for as much as $130 billion. [It was confirmed this afternoon, Ed.]

Over the weekend, Vodafone said it will be looking for the full $130 billion for its stake and said talks were at an advanced stage.

It is reported that the agreement now just needs the approval of the Verizon board.

Vodafone hopes that – should the deal go through – it will be able to expand further and raise value for shareholders.

In Robert Peston’s BBC business blog, he reported Vodafone may not need to pay any UK tax at all on the £84 billion deal – citing Labour’s 2002 Finance Act which introduced an exemption from tax on capital gains from substantial shareholdings held by companies.

For the three months ending 30 June, Vodafone’s revenues plummeted 3.5 percent – with the company directing the blame at economic difficulties across Europe. But even in Germany, where Vodafone holds its largest share of the market, revenues dropped by five percent. Vodafone also cited market regulation in some European countries as a problem.

Earlier this year, Vodafone bought Kabel Deutschland for €7.7 billion in a bid to diversify its service offerings, including in sectors like broadband and TV.

Shareholders will be expecting the company to turn the ship around,

There could be final confirmation from Verizon later today.