Tag: managed services

Healthcare has its head in the clouds

Posted on November 12, 2014 by - News

Every silver has a cloudy liningAdoption of cloud technology in the healthcare section in Europe will be worth $1,275.6 million by the end of the decade according to a report from Frost & Sullivan.

Last year, the European market was worth $390.5 million and is expected to steadily grow between 10 to 30 percent in the next five years.

The cloud is good for cost efficient services for documentation, storage and sharing patient information, the report said. Government moves to create healthcare information exchanges have given the cloud market in Europe and the USA a boost.  In addition, quick deployment and easier management of IT staff are other perceived advantages of using the cloud.

But the move to the cloud is being hampered by a lack of standardisation in legacy systems, meaning that data migration is both expensive and cumbersome.

And there are also concerns about data preservation, security and portability, meaning that when healthcare IT buyers sign up with cloud service providers there must be service level agreements to guarantee reliability and data portability.

IT as a service makes the grade

Posted on September 24, 2014 by - News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeA survey performed by Canalys says that 96 percent of respondents, mostly based in the distribution and reseller segments,  said they now offer “IT as a service”.

That includes managing customer assets on premises, or using hosting or public cloud services.

Vendors use the channel to sell their products and while reselling products is the most important set of sales for two third of channel partners, these types of sales are growing.

Rachel Brindley, research director at Canalys said that 58 percent of the firms surveyed think that managed services is more profitable than just selling software and hardware.  And by 2017, two third think IT as a service will represent more than a quarter of revenues.

But the channel isn’t stuck in the cloud. They fear that cloud providers will bypass their traditional value added businesses.

“Vendors developing go to market strategies for the cloud must ensure they are not increasing competition with their established partners but recognise this is typically delivered as part of a hybrid IT offering,” said Alex Smith, senior analyst at Canalys.

Alvea offers SMBs, channel, managed network security

Posted on February 4, 2013 by - News, Opinions

gardnerIt “makes no sense” for the channel and small businesses to ignore the security market, Alvea has said, speaking with ChannelEye.

Recent research from channel analyst house Canalys suggests that the security industry is growing 10 percent year-on-year. According to Alvea, however, it can be tough for small businesses to stay on top of the ever changing security landscape, especially in a difficult economic climate.

The comments come as it launches its Managed Network Security service in the UK and Ireland.

Managed Network Security, which is the latest addition to the company’s services portfolio, is designed to help small and medium businesses (SMBs)  protect their networks from security threats and will be sold through the firm’s channel partners.

Neil Gardner (pictured), professional services development and operations manager at Alvea Services, pointed out that although it is urgent for SMBs and channel players to keep up with current threats, it can cost serious money and time.

Gardner told ChannelEye the company can help channel partners keep up with these threats thanks to its relationship with distributor Computerlinks. Although the Alvea brand is an independent service, it is supported by technical expertise and infrastructure from Computerlinks.

“Computerlinks has been in this industry for over 20 years and has an office built around a range of engineers and techies who keep up with the day-to-day threats in the security market,” Gardner said.

“Therefore what we offer our partners can be better than our competitors. Either a fully managed service contracted to us or a managed support package run by the partner.

“We want to give our partners an a la carte package, where they can also mix and match services. If we look at the competitor landscape we at best match prices with our rivals. However we offer a better service,” he said.

The new service includes both a firewall and a Virtual Private Network (VPN) delivered on a choice of hardware security appliances.

According to the company, the range of appliances available within the Managed Network Security service ensures that resellers can select the product that is best suited to their customer’s network requirements. They can also offer consultancy skills to customers to ensure the provision of the right level of protection and investment.

As businesses grow, resellers have the scope to add new service modules.

Alvea said this gives them the chance to remain in constant contact with customers, hold regular service reviews and foster a long-term relationships that may lead to additional sales opportunities.

Resellers can also offer the option of a managed security service to their customer bases without incurring the high costs of becoming a managed service provider themselves.