Dell unites channel teams

Posted on July 10, 2013 by - Moving People, News

Dell logoDell has reshuffled two channel teams, combining them into one under Bob Skelley, executive director of Dell’s Global Certified Partner Programme.

Dell’s global channel marketing exec director Kathy Schneider is also leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

Skelley will take over Schneider’s channel marketing team, but at the same time he will retain his responsibilities, CRN reports. Dell will combine Skelley’s division and Schneider’s team to form a single Global Channel Programs and Partner Enablement group.

“There was always a lot of synergy between our two teams,” Skelley said, speaking like an executive. “Now we are all under one umbrella and that’s really going to help on execution”.

Channel partners shouldn’t experience any changes due to the reshuffle. Dell said it wouldn’t cut staff or budgets as a result of the consolidation and its strategy will remain the same.

Skelley did not wish to comment on new channel programmes, saying it is still too early to talk about them.

Microsoft washes hands to seal XP’s fate

Posted on July 10, 2013 by - News

win8errorMicrosoft is slowly preparing for the inevitable demise of Windows XP.

Redmond will discontinue support for the venerable operating system next April and its warnings to partners are becoming a bit more vocal.

In an effort to ease the transition, Microsoft has already announced a range of programmes and initiatives to gently force customers to upgrade their XP boxes. But it is a daunting task – over the next 270 days Microsoft partners will have to upgrade an estimated 586,000 PCs per day and roughly a year from now we could see a spike in IT department suicides.

Microsoft plans to spend $40 million in fiscal 2014 to speed up its Windows Accelerate Programme, which doesn’t really sound like much from our perspective. In addition Redmond will extend its Get to Modern programme aimed at SMBs. Since it is believed that SMBs are still the biggest XP users, they will need the most help to get everything sorted and they don’t have that many resources to go around.

HP has also joined the fun, with an offer of specially priced HP ElitePad tablets with Windows 8, ZDnet reports.

Another related programme is TouchWins. Although it is not directly designed to speed up XP transition, it does offer incentives to makers of touch-enabled Windows 8 devices.

Ingram Micro NZ launches reseller app

Posted on July 10, 2013 by - News, Products

ingram-mico-hqIngram Micro has rolled out a new app designed to help Kiwi resellers respond more quickly to customer needs, while at the same time making their lives just a bit easier. The app is available for iOS and Android devices, no word on WP8 or BB10 support just yet.

The apps allow resellers to access Ingram’s e-commerce offering on the go, order products and track shipments in real time, browse products, compare prices and check availability. The app also features a few clever tricks borrowed from consumerish shopping apps. For example, users can scan a bar code using a smartphone camera and the app will check the product details and Ingram Micro’s stock information, reports Reseller NZ.

The apps can also be used to impress customers, by displaying the offer on mobile devices without revealing dealer pricing, which sounds a lot more convenient than doing it on a notebook.

Ingram Micro says it will continue to upgrade the app over the coming months, but so far feedback has been largely positive. Now all they have to do is roll out similar apps tailored for other regional or national markets.

Microsoft’s WEPP merged with partner network

Posted on July 9, 2013 by - News

redmondThe Windows Embedded Partner Program, WEPP, is being rolled into the Microsoft Partner Network.

Announced at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, the change should simplify partner interaction and offer them access to embedded device manufacturers, designers, system integrators and silicon vendors.

The move is scheduled for later this year. Microsoft quotes IDC intelligent systems estimates that say the market should reach over $2.3 trillion in revenue by 2016, so there’s plenty of opportunity to squeeze cash out of the segment.

Partners in MPN will also get access to training, sales support and additional marketing materials.

Microsoft promises that Gold and Silver WEPP partners can “expect a similar level of service and recognition” under MPN, though they will be required to pay an annual subscription fee.

Redmond added some more specialisations, including in intelligent systems, that should help vendors and system integrators flog Microsoft systems.

Those new to embedded systems will be offered access to a Device Design and Development Resource Centre as part of the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription, though this won’t go live until January 2014.

EMC buys Aveksa

Posted on July 9, 2013 by - News

shut-up-and-take-my-moneyEMC has picked up Aveksa, an identity and access management specialist, through RSA in what one analyst said was a “long overdue” acquisition.

Aveksa will be rolled into RSA as part of RSA’s Identity Trust Management product group. EMC hopes the acquisition will take the best of Aveksa to improve RSA’s portfolio in enterprise, cloud and mobile access.

Knowing you are who you say you are is extra critical in businesses with extremely sensitive data, such as in health and finance. Stuffing that up can and does lead to enormous data breaches, embarrassing the company in front of customers and, worse still, losing customer data.

Aveksa specialises in constructing detailed user profiles as well as managing those identities, keeping security tight and making sure sensitive files reach the right eyes only. It already has plenty of customers in the finance sector, health, energy, retail, manufacturing, transportation and telcos.

Principal Ovum security analyst Andy Kellett said EMC/RSA desperately needed an acquisition of this character if it is to compete in the growing, and dramatically changing, identity management market.

“The disruptive influences of mobility and cloud will change device and infrastructure requirements,” Kellett said. “The requirement for risk-based authentication delivers the requirement for business intelligence and information led access controls – the more sophisticated threat landscape and the need to improve fraud detection rates all add to the need for change”.

Although the financial details of the deal were not disclosed, Ovum asserts that it is a sound buy. “The timing is right as disruptive influences such as cloud take hold of the market,” Kellett said. “The partner is right because of its business focused approach and identity as a service capabilities”.

“Finally, the requirement for RSA to extend out and offer more complete IAM is right and in our opinion long overdue,” Kellett said.

 

BRC reports June retail recovery

Posted on July 9, 2013 by - News

poundsThe British Retail Consortium’s data is out for June and online sales were up again, 14.1 percent compared to the same time last year.

With the weather taking a turn for the better at last, clothing and footwear were both up as well as increased footfall on the highstreet. Retail sales overall were up 1.4 percent on a like for like basis from June 2012, and on a total basis sales were up 2.9 percent, compared to a 3.5 percent increase in June last year.

Online sales did their best since July 2012, not including Christmas.

The BRC’s director general, Helen Dickinson, said that the weather helped retail sales along in spite of a generally bleak economic climate. There was a positive reaction to retail promotions as well as continued demand for essential items.

The weather helped along DIY and gardening products, Dickinson said, and there were other purchases that may have been postponed when the weather was more typically British.

TV sales are weak compared to last year – where they boomed thanks to the London Olympics. Electronics promotions did help the segment. Food growth grew in line with inflation.

“June saw another strong performance from UK retailers, with very respectable overall growth across the categories,” Dickinson said. “At this halfway point in the year we are able to see that sales are well ahead of the previous six month period, confirming that the retail recovery is continuing”.

Retail head for KPMG, David McCorquodale, said the statistics mark “another respectable performance”.

“Sales are moving in the right direction, albeit hard-earned and promotion driven,” McCorquodale said. “The statistics are all the more creditable as last year’s sales included a Jubilee boost.”

 

British VARs getting Surface tablets in September

Posted on July 9, 2013 by - News, Products

surfacetabBritish value-added resellers will start peddling Microsoft’s Surface tablets to businesses come September. Microsoft has already named ten US VARs who will kick off the enterprise oriented Surface campaign this summer.

The names of British VARs have not been disclosed yet. According to Microsoft UK director for partner strategy Janet Gibbons, only a few select resellers will be able to sell Surface tablets as part of a pilot scheme.

“In every market, we’re positioning [Surface availability] as a pilot… Our only experience of being a hardware provider is with the Xbox, and that’s a different world,” she told CRN. “If we’re going to come to the market with a device, we have to know we are set up well to support the channel with things like warranty, return, credit and distribution of stock [information]. All of that has to be worked through.”

At this point it might be a bit too late. The Surface RT is almost a year old and by the time British VARs enter the fray it should get a successor, give or take a few weeks. The Surface Pro isn’t as stale, but it not a hot new product, either.

Vole chucks cash at Win 8 tablet peddlers

Posted on July 9, 2013 by - News, Products

win8errorMicrosoft is trying to make Windows 8 a bit more appealing by offering resellers a $5 to $10 discount for select Windows 8 devices.

The incentive programme is focused on 21 Windows 8 devices, most of which are tablets or other touch-enabled devices, Computerworld UK reports.

With plummeting sales of traditional PCs, the move is hardly surprising, but the fact that Microsoft has singled out just 21 devices strikes us as odd to say the least.

The programme, dubbed “TouchWins” is clearly tailored to support emerging form factors and make Windows 8 tablets a bit cheaper, although they will remain hopelessly overpriced even with the $10 kickback.

“The whole idea is to provide incentives for the commercial channel for featured devices and tablets, PCs and tablets, and through this program we will provide incentives directly to authorized distributors, as well as reseller partners, who sell featured PCs and tablets that have Windows [8] Pro and are touch-enabled,” said Tami Reller, Windows division CFO.

Devices from nine OEMs, including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo, are eligible for TouchWins.

However, many of them are very pricey indeed, so the cash-back incentive won’t mean much.

One example is the Acer Aspire S7 touch enabled Ultrabook, starting at about $1,300. We’re not sure a $10 discount will make much of a difference in this price bracket.

Microsoft: partners want Microsoft cloud

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeMicrosoft is going nuts over an IDC report that claims customers like a catch-all, single cloud provider, because it’s confident it can fill that gap.

The study, which was sponsored by… Microsoft, says as companies are dragged into the cloud,63 percent of customers want a provider that can do it all. Meanwhile, 67 percent are after a wide variety of services from a single vendor, and 74 percent expect their data to be moved back on premises if they want it to.

Veep at Microsoft’s worldwide partner group, Jon Roskill, boasted that Office 365 is bringing in tonnes of annual revenue and the company has over 250,000 customers on Windows Azure, so partners should really exploit the trend and sell Microsoft kit in particular.

Microsoft’s calling its efforts a hybrid approach: offering services on site and cloud for public and private. Of course, it’s not the only company offering such services.

While it is an increasingly common opinion that European businesses would be insane to put too much stock in US servers, Microsoft is sure that its partners will be able to win Redmond more business and turn a buck or two themselves by pushing its cloud offerings.

Cloud outfit Pulsant poaches HP man

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - Moving People, News

cloud (264 x 264)Pulsant has appointed Nigel Shaw as its new Chief Operating Officer.

Shaw is a refugee from the maker of expensive printer ink Hewlett-Packard.  He was recently managing director and vice president of HP Defence UK.

His task is doubly daunting since Pulsant was formed from merging four different outfits: Scolocate, Lumison, Dedipower and Bluesquare.

This year will be the first financial year the Pulsant brand has operated as a single entity.

It has been doing well since the merger and managed growth of over 50 percent in 2012 compared to 2011.

Pulsant CEO, Mark Howling, said that Shaw has a track record in delivering high quality services in complex technical environments. He is also very experienced at managing large organisations over multiple sites.

Shaw replaces Aydin Kurt-Elli, who founded Lumison as an Internet Service Provider in 1995 and was its CEO until it was acquired by Pulsant in October 2010, when he became COO of the new company. Kurt-Elli remains at Pulsant as a non-executive director.

Howling said Shaw brings a wealth of experience and capabilities to the role of COO and understands how to take best practice from some of the world’s largest technology organisations.

Apple on schedule for next gen iPad

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - News, Products

applecoreSupply chain whispers in Taipei assert that Apple is on schedule to gets its next generation, 9.7 inch iPad out for September.

The iPad mini, meanwhile, may be tinkered with to improve the specs and make it more appealing.

Digitimes thinks the 9.7 inch tablet will sport a slimmer bezel design to make the viewing area larger, with improved battery and half the LED tubes. Upstream suppliers, Digitimes’ sources say, are done with the preparation so last minute spec updates are unlikely. A slimmer bezel would be more in line with Samsung and HTC smartphone designs.

The rumour is suppliers haven’t had word from Apple on the amount they should put out just yet are are shipping for pilot productions, but that will be able to meet initial launch demand. Shipment estimates are expected early August at the latest.

Apple, the sources say, is pondering whether or not it wants to bung a retina display on the 7.9 inch iPad mini. If so, this could lead to delays.

Imerja enters accelerated growth phase

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - News

Kitten-KongBolton-based IT solutions specialist, Imerja said it has entered a new phase of accelerated growth and is appointing a new money man to prove it.

Dave Hynes will be responsible for streamlining the business’s finances and managing the commercial aspects of all customer accounts.

Hynes will also work closely with Imerja’s suppliers and policing channel partners to make sure that “all supplier terms are aligned with the customers”.

His official title is finance manager and he has joined the company from Fairhurst Chartered Accountants where he was senior audit manager responsible for a portfolio of more than 100 clients.

Ian Jackson, managing director at Imerja said that his company has seen some spectacular growth over the last nine months and had a 400 per cent increase in profits.

He wants to see the company to continually invest in both its team and infrastructure in order to maintain this growth.

Hynes will be responsible for keeping the costs at the company down, while still allowing continued expansion.

He said that he was excited to be working for a company with such ambitious growth plans.

“The team at Imerja have extremely advanced technical expertise and it’s my job to provide them with a solid financial platform to work from,” he said,

 

IPSoft appoints new UK MD

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - Moving People, News

cburnsAutomated IT services company IPSoft has appointed a new managing director for the UK, Crosbie Burns, with 20 years of experience in the IT industry.

IPSoft hopes Burns will help IPsoft expand its client base.

Burns used to be in charge of ServiceSource’s EMEA business, and before that was VP and UK MD at PeopleSoft.

CEO Chetan Dube is confident Burns is the man for the job, and that he will promote IPSoft’s automated services in the IT outsourcing market.

“The labour arbitrage approach to cost reduction is burnt out and IT providers need to find smarter ways to improve service and reduce costs,” Burns said. “The only viable approach to this is introducing technology to manage technology by using automation.”

Whinging Brits’ complaints ignored

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - News

ukflagMillions of Brits’ complaints to customer service go unresolved, a report from contact centre software company Aspect claims.

Aspect’s consumer satisfaction report, 2013, said roughly half of respondents have had a positive experience when dealing with customer service, but a third of Brits have had a bad experience in just the last year, with an average of two instances per person.

Over two thirds of pee’d-off customers have made a complaint in the last year, with one in five going to social media to do so. The majority that did complain said their complaint was not resolved or that the response given was not satisfactory.

Most customers prefer to find a quick resolution to a complaint. Three in ten customers said they would switch providers due to bad customer experience, while two in five have switched suppliers in the last year. Insurance was the most common.

ISPs, the survey found, were the most inconsistent with their customer service – with most instances of both good and bad customer services being found in this sector.

This has potentially damaging long term implications for companies. Senior veep at Aspect, Mark King, said in a statement that there are “9 million people that have made an unresolved complaint to a company in the last year”, or 14.5 percent of the population that are unhappy. This should serve as “more than a wake-up call for organisations to do something about it”.

However, King suggests Brits are a nation of whingers, and it is up to companies to adapt to this as expectations are higher than ever.

 

TSMC boss bets on wearable devices

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - News

gglassTSMC CEO Morris Chang was one of the first industry leaders to truly recognise the potential of smart devices and unlike many tech execs, he runs a very tight ship, with an emphasis on good working conditions. Small wonder, then, that TSMC often ranks as one of the top employers in Taiwan.

Now that his smartphone optimism has been vindicated and then some, he is starting to talk up wearable gear. In a recent interview we admitted that he doesn’t wear a smart watch or Google Glass, but he still thinks they are the next big thing, Forbes reports.

“When you wear the Glass, you look like a man from Mars,” he said. However, over the next decade things might change. “I don’t think they are very practical yet, now, but the idea is being very actively worked on, so in 10 years we will certainly have practical wearables.”

Needless to say, a potential wearable tech boom would be a boon for TSMC. The foundry already supplies about 70 percent of the world’s application processors. Smart watches and Google Glass like devices would need bespoke chips. They can’t really use off the shelf SoC designs because they need something a bit more frugal, and this is where TSMC hopes to step in.

Chang believes that “a lot more things” will be mobile ten years from now and nobody is disputing the allure of wearable tech. However, at this early stage few consumers will be willing to spend a lot on what are essentially immature products with limited functionality. It is up to big vendors to get more developers on board and make cheap wearable gear a reality – a process that will take years, but in a decade or so we could see plenty more Martians on the street.