Bytes Magazine Spring_Summer 2013

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welcome to bytes spring/summer 2013

Welcome to the latest edition of the Bytes magazine.

Whether you are a customer of ours or not, one thing is for sure; Technology is playing a larger role in commerce and business growth, innovation and operational performance than ever before. It’s almost all pervasive (whether we like it or not!) Mobility, social media and ever increasing data volumes mean that as procurement or IT professionals we need to make sure we are making the right decisions for now and for the future.

Information Technology is becoming much more a fabric of the business than ever and one of our objectives is to make sure that you have all of the tools and information at your disposal to make sure your organisation is making the right procurement decisions.

In this issue you will see relevant articles and information on the subject of “Bring Your Own Device” as well as important information relating to Microsoft licensing changes, including Microsoft XP end of support and Windows 8. Additionally, we feel Microsoft’s Azure platform will become increasingly valuable to all sizes of organisation and you will find useful views around this topic. Other articles cover opinions from the world of virtualisation and storage and you will also see updates on desktop and network security.

The Bytes Group in the UK has much to offer, including our Managed Print Services where believe it or not our Xerox operation (Bytes Document Solutions) wants to help you reduce the amount you print! Print management and print suppression can save significant sums off your operational and capital budgets, see “To print or not to print” article for further details.

I hope you enjoy reading this magazine and please pass it on to your colleagues too, or point them to our website where we host an electronic copy (www.bytes.co.uk). Above all, please remember we are here to help you and relish the chance to be your trusted advisors - so contact us and see if we can help make your lives a little easier!

Neil Mandi Neil Murphy Managing Director

Mandi Nicholson Sales Director

contact us Bytes Software Services, UK Head Office, 15-17 Chessington Road, Ewell, Surrey, KT17 1TS phone - 020 8786 1500 fax - 020 8393 6622

www.bytes.co.uk | 03

contents cover story p08 Windows 8

An overview of Windows 8 and associated licensing considerations

p20 Flexible Working and BYOD

The best BYOD solutions on offer from our strategic partners

p26 Virtual Vision Covering the latest trends in Virtualisation

p48 May the EnForcement Be With You Security lessons from Check Point and Star Wars

p70 Training a Global Workforce Linklaters Office 2010 migration

licensing p08 Windows 8

An overview of Windows 8 and associated licensing considerations

p12 A Microsoft Licensing Perspective on BYOD A look at the key Microsoft licensing considerations

p14 Microsoft ECI and EAP

A look at Microsoft Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI) and an overview of EAP

p16 Microsoft Windows XP End

of support Steps to take to ensure you remain on supported versions of Windows and Office

storage p32 Windows Azure

A look at the Azure platform and how to best utilise it

p34 Microsoft Private Cloud

Deliver IT Services with NetApp

p36 Power Up, Configure, Go

An in-depth look at Symantec Backup Exec 3600 Appliance

p38 Extend The Reach of SharePoint Content Solution from BOX

security p39 A Premium BYOD Security Solution

Without the premium price tag from LetMobile

p42 Microsoft TMG End of Life

David Rawle looks at the Non Cloud Alternative

p43 Spear-Phishing

Advice from Websense

p44 Making Microsoft Apps Truly Global SharePoint & Exchange security from F5

p48 May the EnForcement Be With You Security lessons from Check Point and Star Wars

p50 Transforming How Mobile Work

virtualisation

Gets Done The mobile apps platform from Good

p26 Virtual Vision

p52 Threats for 2013

p28 Share, Store, Sync and Secure files

p54 Enterprise SaaS: Service Support

Covering the latest trends in Virtualisation on any device, Anywhere An overview of Citrix ShareFile Enterprise Edition

p30 Introducing VMware Horizon

A review of VMware’s cross-platform management solution

04 | spring/summer 2013

Research from McAfee Mimecast looks at the world of SaaS and customer satisfaction

Bytes have helped Tesco make significant savings by effective and intelligent management of our licensing entitlements. They manage our global requirements, are able to keep us abreast of new and relevant licensing changes and apply these to our requirements ensuring we are always licensed in the best way possible”.

James McNulty Head of Tesco Group IT Procurement

applications, management & document solutions p56 Adobe Creative Cloud

An overview of Creative Cloud for teams

p58 10 Great Tips for Your Workday

Use Adobe Acrobat XI pro to make your life easier

p60 The HP IT Performance Suite for Operations

Gain the visibility you need to measure performance in detail

p62 To Print or Not to Print?

The argument for moving away from print

our partner ecosystem p64 The New Office365

news bytes p06

News Bytes

A selection of the latest news from vendors

p19 Bytes Portal

All your software estate available in one place

p40 News, Views and Events

Recent and forthcoming Bytes events and venues

p75 Bytes Learning Services p76 Bytes Software Services p77 Bytes SAM Services

Additions & improvements from Parative

p66 Building Business Propositions For new technology from Risual

p67 Microsoft Lync Enterprise Voice

The solution to cut costs from InterCall

p68 SQL Server 2012

Business Intelligence from Northdoor

case studies p46 Long term security strategy reviewed and developed Natural Environment Research Council move to Bytes SP

regular bytes p69 Meet The Manufacturers Meet our manufacturers at upcoming events

p72 In The Hotseat

An interview with David Tweddle of Oracle

p74 Try Before You Buy

Take the opportunity to trial before you make that important purchase

p78 Vendor Awards p79 Our Vendor Accreditations

p70 5000 staff trained in 27 offices in 19 countries An overview of a successful Office 2010 migration and training roll out

www.bytes.co.uk | 05

news

bytes Catch up on all the latest news from the IT world from new product launches, latest software and licensing updates to business acquisitions.

Citrix Acquires Zenprise

Citrix announced that it has closed the acquisition of Zenprise, a leading innovator in mobile device management (MDM). Citrix will integrate the Zenprise offering for mobile device management, with its Citrix CloudGateway™ and Me@ Work™ solutions for managing mobile apps and data.

As a result, IT will now have a comprehensive set of tools that make it easy to manage and secure devices, apps and data, while users will now be able to access any app from any device, giving them the freedom to work and play anywhere. Amit Pandey, former Zenprise president and CEO, will lead the new Mobile Platforms product group at Citrix. Citrix will continue to fully support and serve the Zenprise global customer base.

Oracle Buys Eloqua

Oracle announced that it has agreed to acquire Eloqua, a leading provider of cloud-based modern marketing applications. Eloqua delivers marketing automation and revenue performance management software that ensures every component of marketing works harder and more efficiently to drive revenue.

The combination of Oracle and Eloqua is expected to create a comprehensive Customer Experience Cloud offering to help companies transform the way they market, sell, support and serve their customers. The combined offering is expected to enable organisations to provide a highly personalised and unified experience across channels, create brand loyalty through social and online interactions, and provide superior service at every touchpoint.

06 | spring/summer 2013

Bytes win again at Xerox Annual Awards Ceremony

Bytes Document Solutions are delighted to announce they have won the Xerox Premier Partner of the Year 2012 award. This award comes off the back of another growth year for Bytes which saw their market share increase by 12% - helping them retain their position as the UK’s largest Xerox Partner.

Darren Spence, Bytes Managing Director, says: “The team at Bytes have worked extremely hard over the past year to ensure we continue to put customers first in everything we do. Our proposition has continued to evolve beyond recognition and our attention to detail and customer satisfaction remains a focal point for the Executive team. We have a clear five year plan which is built around having sustainable customers, so picking up this award means a lot to us and makes the hard work worth it.”

Symantec Delivers Record Revenue in Fiscal Third Quarter 2013

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) reported the results of its third quarter of fiscal year 2013, ended Dec. 28, 2012. GAAP revenue for the fiscal third quarter was $1.79 billion, up 4 percent year-over-year and up 5 percent after adjusting for currency.

“We continue to deliver better than expected results,” said Steve Bennett, president and chief executive officer, Symantec. “I’m so proud of our employees. These types of results don’t happen by accident. The fact that we can deliver these results in a period of significant transition and uncertainty is a testament to our employees, the strength of our brand, the quality of our products and the scope of our customer base.”

Check Point evolves their Endpoint Security Suite – Launches e80.4x series

As organisations adopt new technology, such as bring-your-owndevice and cloud computing, they put themselves at greater risk of a costly data breach. Daily practices in the workplace and ever evolving malicious activity are constantly threatening the network and customers sensitive information.

Check Point have now released their e80.40 Endpoint Series to evolve in response. Key e80.40 series features are: • Unified, simple to understand security policy • Unified Security Suite Across Windows and MAC • Visibility to organisational security picture • Security forensics & analysis with Endpoint Smartevent • Full integration with Check Point Management Architecture • Manage Endpoint policies with Check Point Smart-1 • A new approach to “BYOD” separation of Private and Corporate Use Document Security • Encryption – Set Access Rights – Classify New Starting in E80.41 (released Jan 2013), Endpoint Security is also supported on Windows 8, including new Unified Extensible Firmware Interface support. Check Point are also aligning the release of their Remote Access VPN clients for Mac and Windows with their Endpoint Security releases.

World’s fastest firewall for Application Delivery launched

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, have announced new security offerings designed to safeguard organisations’ network and application infrastructures.

With the introduction of BIG-IP® Advanced Firewall Manager™ and enhancements to other security offerings, F5 provides the industry’s fastest and most scalable application delivery firewall solution. F5’s firewall solution is the first in the industry to unify a network firewall with traffic management, application security, user access management, and DNS security capabilities within an intelligent services framework.

When deployed with F5’s new VIPRION® 4800 hardware, the F5® application delivery firewall solution provides performance levels well beyond what other vendors can offer, including: • 640 Gbps of firewall throughput • 288 million concurrent sessions • 8 million connections per second

Policy Management Market Leader AlgoSec Makes Bytes the Key Addition to its UK Line Up AlgoSec, the market leader for Network Security Policy Management, has made a key addition to its UK channel line-up with the appointment of Bytes Security Partnerships, a leading provider of IT security and risk management solutions as a Gold partner. With the appointment of Bytes Security Partnerships, AlgoSec has expanded its Gold partner count to five, from a standing start in 2010.

Paul Clark, AlgoSec’s Regional Director for UK & Ireland said: “Partnering with Bytes Security Partnerships will be a big step for us in driving further growth in the UK and Europe. Its expertise in delivering enterprise security solutions and managed services will help us fulfill growing market demand and uncover new opportunities.

Bytes Security Partnerships (BSP) is the first new Check Point Platinum Partner appointment in four years.

The BSP team are delighted to be promoted to the highest accreditation for Check Point partners, achieved by only the top 1 per cent of the partner community in the UK. Just five partners have this level of accreditation, and it is a reflection of the growth and success achieved by Bytes Security Partnerships over the past period, growing their revenue by 20% year on year in 2012 to £10.5 million.

Terry Greer-King, UK Managing Director of Check Point, said Bytes Security Partnerships stood out based on the growth of its understanding of Check Point’s strategic focus: Our top level of accreditation rewards those partners who are most closely aligned with Check Point in terms of understanding and communicating our solution strategy to their customers, as well as on account and revenue growth.

Bytes SP CTO is finalist for Information Security Person of the Year – SC Awards Europe

Congratulations to David Rawle, CTO of Bytes Security Partnerships (BSP) on being shortlisted as a finalist for the Information Security Person of the Year award in this year’s SC Awards Europe.

David, who heads up the technical division of Bytes Security Partnerships, was nominated by BSP colleagues due to the strategic focus he brings to clients, the high performance of the BSP technical department, the direction he provides the wider business product-wise and the work he conducts each month to raise the profile of information security issues amongst our customers.

Bytes achieve Citrix Gold Solutions Advisor status

Following the successful achievement of additional technical and sales skills we are very pleased to announce our Gold Solutions Advisor Status with Citrix.

Our dedicated virtualisation team consists of specialists who work alongside our licensing experts to ensure the design and implementation of new solutions are delivered in the most cost effective way, taking into account existing current software contracts that our clients own.We have developed a strong relationship with Citrix and this enables a threeway engagement strategy which involves our clients, our licensing/ vendor specialists and Citrix, to get our clients the best outcome possible.

Commenting on our enhanced relationship Kevin Bland, Director, UK, I & SA, Citrix says: “Bytes’ continued commitment to Citrix solutions means that we are delighted to award gold solution advisor status. We very much hope that Bytes will continue to be an important part of our partnerecosystem”.

Bytes Wins Again – Enterprise Reseller of the Year

For the second year in a row Bytes is delighted to be named ‘Enterprise Reseller of the Year’ at this year’s CRN Awards, in association with Computer Reseller News.

Bytes MD Neil Murphy (and a few excited colleagues) picked up the award from comedian Ed Byrne in front of over 1750 attendees at the glittering awards ceremony held at Battersea Park Events Arena in London.

With over 15 years’ experience in the industry, a decade at BSP, David is an integral part of the technical excellence we provide our customers and we are delighted that his diligence and reputation amongst customers and with technology partners is being recognised with this high profile nomination.

www.bytes.co.uk | 07

licensing

focuson Whether you want to upgrade your PCs to Windows 8, gain access to exclusive offerings such as Windows 8 Enterprise edition and the Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack, or use Windows with greater exibility, there is a Volume Licensing option that is right for your organisation.

John Gorton Microsoft Licensing Lead, Bytes

The release of Windows 8 brings with it new offerings and user rights such as Virtual Desktop Access, Windows To Go, Enterprise Sideloading, Thin PC, and Roaming Use Rights.

This pages provide you with a summary of the new licensing rules for Windows so that you can assess their applicability within your organisation.

Windows 8 Editions This latest version of Windows is available in four editions: Windows 8 Pro Windows 8 Pro is for small and medium sized businesses and delivers new levels of productivity, security, and mobility, all without sacrificing

08 | spring/summer 2013

Windows 8 editions by channel

performance or choice. It provides enhanced features that help to easily connect to company networks, access files on the go, encrypt data, and more. Windows 8 Pro is ready for business.

Windows 8 Enterprise Windows 8 Enterprise edition is available through Software Assurance for Windows and includes all the capabilities of Windows 8 Pro, plus premium features designed to meet the mobility, productivity, security and manageability, and virtualisation needs of today’s large businesses.

Windows 8 This is the consumer version of Windows 8 that excludes a lot of the business-type features like drive encryption, group policy and virtualisation. However, you will have access to the Windows Store, Live Tiles, Remote Desktop Client, VPN Client and other features.

Windows RT Designed for ARM-based devices like tablets, ARM-powered PCs and any other devices that support the ARM architecture and are designed to run Windows 8 RT.

Downgrade Rights PCs purchased pre-installed with Windows 8 Pro will have the option to downgrade either to Windows 7 Professional or Windows Vista Business. For customers who require Windows XP or other prior versions, the rights to downgrade to these versions are available only through volume licensing.

Preinstalled on PC (OEM)

OEM downgrade rights are limited to equivalent edition for the two prior versions.

• Downgrade rights are included in licenses obtained through OEM

Volume Licensing

Preinstall or Volume Licensing and do not apply to retail copies of Windows.

Volume Licensing downgrade rights provide greatest flexibility with downgrades to any version.

• OEM downgrade rights apply to Windows 8 Pro and allow downgrading for up to two prior versions (to Windows 7 Professional or Windows Vista Business).

• Adding Software Assurance provides the greatest flexibility, allowing for downgrades to additional prior versions and editions, including Windows 7 Enterprise.

Version Downgrade to

OEM Preinstall Windows 8 Pro

Windows Licensing Windows 8 Pro Upgrade (without SA)

Windows 7 Enterprise Windows 7 Professional







   

Windows Vista Enterprise Windows Vista Business Windows XP Pro Windows 2000 Professional Windows 95/98/NT

Windows 8 Enterprise (with SA)

      

Download rights detail

cont...

www.bytes.co.uk | 09

licensing

focuson The Value of Software Assurance Software Assurance, Microsoft’s maintenance programme, has traditionally been seen by customers as a route to new versions of their software, as well as technical support and training benefits. However, attaching Software Assurance to the Windows Operating System allows Microsoft Windows Enterprise Edition to be deployed. This version provides additional features, extended licensing rights and an entitlement to subscribe to additional software.

Software Assurance benefits Benefit

Description

New Version Rights

With New Version Rights, you have access to new releases of Windows on any licensed device as soon as they are released for no additional cost.

Windows 8 Enterprise

Windows 8 Enterprise edition is available through Software Assurance for Windows and includes all the capabilities of Windows 8 Pro, plus premium features designed to meet the mobility, productivity, security and manageability, and virtualisation needs of today’s large businesses.

Microsoft Desktop

This is a suite of products that include technologies to aid the deployment

Optimisation Pack (MDOP)

of technologies, provide compatibility with Windows XP and assist with the management of devices. The table below describes what is included in MDOP.

Windows Thin PC

Windows Thin PC is a smaller footprint version of Windows 7 that enables organisations to repurpose existing PCs as thin clients, thereby reducing the need for new thin client hardware.

Windows Virtual Desktop

The user of the PC can also use a corporate owned Windows RT Surface device

Access (VDA) Rights

that is assigned to them to run Windows in a VDA session hosted on a central server.

Windows To Go

The PC can be used to run ‘Windows To Go’ which is a fully managed Windows 8 desktop which runs from a USB Stick. In addition, the primary user of a PC which has Windows Enterprise Edition, can use Windows To Go on any non-corporate PC.

Roaming Use Rights

Grants the user of the PC rights to run Windows in a VDA session from any PC outside of the organisation’s domain.

Windows Companion

The Windows CSL enables Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scenarios and

Subscription License (CSL)

provides businesses more flexibility to run Windows across multiple devices for employees.

10 | spring/summer 2013

Windows 8 Enterprise Windows 8 Enterprise features include all the capabilities that customers get with Windows 8 Pro, plus premium features designed to provide the mobile productivity, security, manageability, and virtualisation needs of today’s businesses. Windows 8 Enterprise is available to customers with Software Assurance for Windows or Windows VDA subscription.

Windows 8 features Feature

Description

DirectAccess

Allows remote users to seamlessly access resources inside a corporate network without having to launch a separate VPN.

BranchCache

Allows users’ PCs to cache files, websites and other content from central servers, so content is not repeatebly downloaded across the wide area network (WAN).

AppLocker

Enables IT to specify what software is allowed to run on a user’s PC through centrally managed but flexible Group Policies.

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) enhancements

Enhancements in Microsoft RemoteFX and Windows Server 2012, provide users with a rich desktop experience with the ability to play 3D graphics, use USB peripherals and use touch-enabled devices across any type of network (LAN or WAN) for VDI scenarios.

Enterprise Sideloading for Windows 8 Apps

As Enterprise Sideloading is enabled as a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise, customers running this edition on domain-joined PCs can easily manage the direct deployment of touch-centric Windows 8 apps to these devices without going through the Windows Store/

In Summary With the release of Windows 8, it is important that you understand the new licensing rules for Windows and their applicability within your organisation.

Many of the licensing rules will apply even if you continue to deploy Windows 7, and some of the new licensing rights address individuals wanting greater mobility and the ability to bring their own devices into work. Because so many licensing rights and additional product features rely on Software

Assurance, it is essential that you know where this applies. Do speak to your Bytes account manager to fully understand the licensing changes, how they may impact your organisation and the most cost effective way to license your Windows Environment.

further info...

about your licensing requirements or how changes will effect your business please speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 11

licensing

focuson As businesses start to permit their users to Bring Their Own Devices onto the corporate network there are a number of Microsoft licensing considerations dependent on the type of service the organisation wants to allow its users access to.

Dave Page Account Manager, Bytes

A Microsoft Licensing Perspective on BYOD An organisation’s “BYOD journey” usually begins with allowing users access to e-mail over their non-corporately owned device.

The extension to this is for businesses to offer users access to corporate applications from their own devices. This staged approach to offering users IT as a service usually culminates in providing users access to a rich and familiar client Operating System Environment from whichever device they choose to login via.

After deciding the level of functionality their users require, organisations then need to consider their users’ primary work device and whether, as a progression of the organisation’s BYOD policy, users will not necessarily have a corporately owned primary device. It may be that users will have to provide their own device whilst the organisation merely provides a virtual desktop image.

Key Considerations to a Staged Approach • Does the organisation have the correct Microsoft Client Access Licenses [CAL’s] to allow users access to Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Windows and SQL Servers from multiple devices?

• Microsoft applications are licensed per device; therefore, in order to present these applications to other devices; do the applications have Roaming Usage Rights that come with active Software Assurance?

• The Desktop Operating System is likely to be an OEM Operating System (ie lives and dies with the device it was pre-installed on) therefore, in order to present an OS instance to other devices; does the OEM have Virtual Desktop Access rights as part of Software Assurance or something called a VDA Subscription?

• Finally, important for Enterprise Agreement customers, will the users have a dedicated primary corporately owned device and will the user be bringing their own device onto the corporate network and using it as a primary work device?

Client Access Licenses Client Access Licenses [CAL’s] are required should a user or device need to connect into a Windows Server, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, Lync Server or SQL Server (amongst others). The business can select either a per User or a per Device CAL; the former being selected when users have multiple devices and the latter for when numerous users access a single device (Thin Client, Call Centre workers etc.).

12 | spring/summer 2013

BYOD

In order to effectively plan for a Bring Your Own Device scenario, it’s important that an organisation selects “Per User” CAL’s allowing the user to access the servers from his primary network device and also any device they choose to bring onto the premises or access externally by other methods. User CAL’s increased in price by 15% on the 1st December 2012 (This excludes Government Organisations). This made them 15% more expensive than their Device CAL counterparts.

If an organisation has an Enterprise Wide Agreement (EA, EAS, OVS) then it is possible to switch from Device to User CAL’s upon renewal. If any per Device CAL’s had been purchased on an ad-hoc agreement without SA then unfortunately these would need to be re-purchased or “topped up” to cover the extra BYO Devices under a Per User CAL. Remote Desktop Services CAL’s An organisation needs to consider the Remote Desktop Services CAL, on top of the normal set of User CAL’s for Exchange, SharePoint, Lync etc., if it is delivering applications to users over Terminal Services (or presenting applications via such products as Citrix - XenApp/ XenDesktop). As with the above, User CAL’s should be selected for the BYOD model. The RDS CAL gives the rights to App-V for RDS (streams applications to RDS/Citrix whilst the user is connected to the network only) and also the rights to deliver a generic Windows Server OS “Skin” to devices that would benefit from accessing their applications in this way.

Office and other Microsoft Application Licensing An organisation needs to consider how Office is licensed across the estate, should it be allowing users to either install Office natively on their own devices or will it be allowing users to access their Office applications over application presentation technologies (ie. Terminal Services etc.).

The key point to remember is that Office, as with all Microsoft applications (excluding Office 365), is licensed on a per device basis. Therefore if a users’ primary corporately owned device runs Office, the user cannot simply access this application remotely from any other non-corporately owned devices without considering the licensing implications for the new device they’re accessing it from. For the most part, giving Office Roaming Usage Rights by having SA attached to the desktop application will give users the ability to access their Office applications remotely outside the corporate network on non-corporately owned devices.

the Home Use Program (A benefit of Office licenses, that are purchased with Software Assurance, which allows the primary user of the Office license to purchase a copy of Office to be installed on a home/personal device for £8.95) or purchase an Office Work at Home License under either a Select Plus or Open License Agreement.

Windows Operating System Licensing An organisation needs to consider the Operating System licensing when offering a truly agile working experience to their user base; allowing their users to access the same desktop OS from whichever device they require at any time.

This is over and above using the Remote Desktop Services CAL “Server Skin” option to deliver a fully customisable desktop experience potentially through Citrix XenDesktop or VMWare View. The three sides of this are:i) A User has a corporately owned fat client device with a Qualifying OEM Operating System – The OEM OS on this device lives and dies with the device it’s installed on.

Therefore, to give the right to access a Virtual Desktop OS from the primary device or from multiple non-corporately owned devices outside the corporate network, the organisation would need to purchase the Windows Upgrade with Software Assurance. ii) A User does not have a corporately owned device and is bringing their own – The user requires an OS instance to be available to them, via a Virtual Desktop Solution. In this instance they would purchase the Virtual Desktop Access Subscription for the device. iii) A User uses a Thin Client whilst in the office and their own device when roaming. – As in (ii) above the user would need to purchase the Virtual Desktop Access Subscription.

An organisation’s individual Bring Your Own Device policies often mean that a tailored approach to Microsoft Licensing Agreements is the best route forward. Hopefully this article has given an insight into the licensing considerations that you may encounter when planning your own BYOD strategy.

need more...

information or advice on planning your BYOD strategy please speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

If the organisation requires staff to install Office locally to a non-corporately owned device, it should either utilise

www.bytes.co.uk | 13

licensing

focuson Microsoft Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI) ECI Datacenter is strongly recommended for customers exploring Microsoft private cloud solutions.

Microsoft ECI Datacenter Components and Value Proposition

ECI Datacenter edition includes Windows Server Datacenter, which supports unlimited virtualisation rights. This means that customers license on a per processor basis, with ability to have unlimited Windows Server based virtual machines on a particular physical processor. Additionally, ECI Datacenter also includes System Center 2012 Datacenter edition, which provides rights to manage an unlimited number of physical or virtual operating system environments. The components of ECI Datacenter are shown on the left.

Microsoft’s approach is focused on delivering the benefits of scale to you – through unlimited virtualisation rights and significantly simplified licensing for Windows Server and System Center.

Microsoft Private Cloud – Business Benefits

The Microsoft Private Cloud is a unique and comprehensive offering, built on four key “pillars”.

• All About the App: Application centric cloud platform that helps you focus on business value.

• Cross-Platform From the Metal Up: Cross-platform support for multihypervisor environments, operating systems, and application frameworks.

• Foundation For the Future: Microsoft Private Cloud lets you go beyond virtualisation to a true cloud platform.

• Cloud On Your Terms: Ability to consume cloud on your terms, providing you the choice and flexibility of a hybrid cloud model through common management, virtualisation, identity and developer tools.

Microsoft offers a private cloud that delivers real value today AND positions a business to take advantage of greater public cloud benefits in the future.

for a discussion... on the Functionality, Benefits and Economics of the Microsoft Private Cloud or the ECI Licensing Agreement, please speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

14 | spring/summer 2013

Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI)

Enrollment for Application Platform (EAP)

Time to standardise on the Microsoft Application Platform?

How the Program Works An EAP Licensing Agreement Step 1. will help you manage and save select the products you want • One or more products with minimum initial purchase requirement costs What is the Microsoft Application Platform?

• Establish your intial footprint based on your current install base • 100% Software Assurance coverage on footprint for included products.

The Microsoft Application Platform is a set of integrated tools and technologies that support innovation by helping organisations maximise the value of their existing applications. It supports the rapid development of new applications and can help you make significant gains in productivity while decreasing total cost of ownership.

Application Platform Products:

What is an EAP?

Step 2.

The Enrollment for Application Platform (EAP) is a flexible, cost-effective licensing program for customers standardising on the Microsoft Application Platform. With the EAP, customers get the latest Application Platform products across their organisation on new and existing deployments with lower up-front costs, and savings of up to 40% on new IT solutions. EAP is a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) enrollment for customers that want to simplify licensing, help reduce costs, and manage their core infrastructure more efficiently.

Key Advantages

EAP customers can manage their application platform server investments from a single enrollment and benefit from: Affordable standardisation • Low up-front costs to take advantage of the latest products • Up to 40% savings on license costs for new deployments.

Rapid adoption of the latest technology • Helps increase employee productivity and return on investment through Software Assurance benefits including 24x7 Problem Resolution Support and Training benefits • Ability to deploy on your schedule with unlimited deployment rights for Application Platform products across the entire organisation • Eligible customers with qualifying Software Assurance may also qualify for Unlimited Problem Resolution Support.

Flexible purchasing model • Licensing model with either an annual or three year True up • Predictable costs with fixed payment for life of the term with the three-year True up model.

Up to 40% saving on license costs

Receive the latest version of products • Include products only • Price of license deferred indefi nitely on units not covered by Software Assurance on your intial footprint, as long as you remain in the program.

Step 3.

Deploy unlimited incremental units • New incremental units receive price savings on license cost • True up annually or at the end of your three-year term.

Step 4.

Choose the best true up option • New incremental units receive price savings on license cost • True up annually or at the end of your three-year term.

1 3

One-Year True up • Similar to the Enterprise Agreement • Incremental licenses purchased annually receive price savings • Price savings on new licenses - 40% on Premium Edition; 15% on Standard Edition (License only).

Three-Year True up • Fixed payments with growth and Premium Edition mix built in • At the end of the three-year term, purchase licenses at cost savings for units above commitment • Price savings on new licenses - 40% on Premium Edition; 15% on Standard Edition (License only).

find more...

information and to discuss your organisation’s suitability for the new Enrollment Application Platform please speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 15

licensing

Microsoft

ending support for Windows XP and OfďŹ ce 2003 In 2002 Microsoft

introduced its Support

Lifecycle policy based

on customer feedback to have more transparency and predictability of support for Microsoft products. As per this policy, Microsoft Business and Developer products, including Windows and Office products, receive a minimum of 10 years of support (5 years Mainstream Support and 5 years Extended Support), at the supported service pack level.

16 | spring/summer 2013

Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 will go out of support on April 8 2014. If your organisation has not started the migration to a modern PC, you are late! Based on historical customer deployment data, the average enterprise deployment can take 18 to 32 months from business case through full deployment. To ensure you remain on supported versions of Windows and Office, you should begin your planning and application testing immediately to ensure you deploy before end of support.

What does this mean to your business?

After April 8, 2014, there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates.

Running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 in your environment after their end of support date may expose your company to potential risks, such as: • Security & Compliance Risks - Unsupported and unpatched environments are vulnerable to security risks. This may result in an officially recognised control failure by an internal or external audit body, leading to suspension of certifications, and/or public notification of the organisation’s inability to maintain its systems and customer information.

• Lack of Independent Software Vendor (ISV) & Hardware Manufacturers support A recent industry report from Gartner Research suggests “many independent software vendors (ISVs) are unlikely to support new versions of applications on Windows XP in 2011; in 2013, it will become common.” And it may stifle access to hardware innovation: Gartner Research further notes that in 2012, most PC hardware manufacturers will stop supporting Windows XP on the majority of their new PC models.

Get current with Windows 7 or 8 and Office 2010 or 13. This option has upside well beyond keeping you supported. It offers more flexibility to empower employees

to be more productive, while increasing operational efficiency through improved PC security and management. It also enables your organisation to take advantage of latest technology trends such as virtualisation and the cloud.

How will Microsoft help customers?

Enterprise Customers - Microsoft offers large organisations in-depth technical resources, tools, and expert guidance to ease the deployment and management of Windows 7 and 8, Internet Explorer 9, and Office 2010 and Office 2013. To learn more about migration and deployment programs, please speak to your Bytes Account Manager.

Small to Medium Business - There are many options for small and medium businesses considering moving to a modern PC with the latest productivity and collaboration tools. If your current PCs meet the system requirements for Windows 7 (listed below), you can buy Windows 7 Professional by contacting Bytes.

Windows 7 System Requirements • 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

Professional. If you’re ready to upgrade your productivity software, consider Office Professional 2010.

Get a customised IDC report on migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7: Mitigating Risk - Why Sticking with Windows XP is a Bad Idea.

Enter this url http://bit.ly/XPreport into your browser, answer a few questions about your organisation and receive your tailored dynamic white paper.

To discuss your requirements in more detail, speak to your Bytes Account Manager to understand the best options to meet your business needs. Our specialists can assist you with everything from procuring the licensing, migration planning, project management and (if required) staff training on new software iterations.

• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) • 16GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20GB (64-bit) • DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver If your PCs do not meet system requirements, consider purchasing a new business PC with Windows

for more...

information and best options to meet your business needs, please speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 17

, We ve loved software licensing since the beginning Class of 1982

e Softwar ng Licensi

Bytes

bytes.co.uk

Since 1982

Bytes portal

portal

The Bytes Portal brings together all elements of your software estate into one system.

It enables you to manage and track the entire life cycle of your software assets from point of purchase to decommission.

It has a unique and customisable intelligence, as well as real data/views that will help simplify the administration of your global software licensing estate.

Below are some of the key functions of the Portal: On line Ordering The Bytes Portal gives you direct access to your current agreement information and pricing tailored to your specific contract parameters. Our product search facility helps you quickly find the items you need and create quotations, email these quotations to other people in your organisation and easily convert them to orders. The Portal offers customisable views and access rights so that components, for example the ability to place orders, can be included or excluded for specific users.

Manage Contracts and Renewals The Portal offers a full contract management system which you can use to manage all the contracts and software licenses in your estate. You can upload your own data and documentation for any type of contract across your organisation. The Portal flags contracts and licenses at 90, 60 and 30 days prior to renewal or expiry and can be configured to send reminder emails at these intervals.

Discover and Manage Assets The Bytes asset management service provides you with the ability to actively manage your organisation’s software license and compliance positions.

Emma Magalhaes Bytes Portal Manager

I find the Bytes Portal extremely easy to use, I mainly create orders or convert quotes to an order and the process is faultless. When I request a quote for software the response is very quick and orders are always processed straightaway. I wish all portals were the same!

Gayle Core - Specsavers This modular service is designed to deliver cost reductions by rationalising support and maintenance contracts and ensure cost avoidance through license re-harvesting and contract renewal management.

Manage Learning Our online learning portal offers services ranging from simple online booking of a wide range of popular training courses from many training providers, to bespoke solutions developed for your organisation. You can publish and manage your own in house training programs and curriculums and monitor course registration, budget approval and attendance.

Service Desk The Portal service desk helps you manage all of your communications with

Bytes sales, technical and administration teams. It enables you to log and monitor requests online which go directly to the relevant personal with Bytes. The Service Desk can be used as an auditable way of tracking how Bytes and your organisation are interacting and how we are delivering against Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) and response times.

Portal Development Services Our Portal development services enable secure seamless communication and navigation between your own back office systems and the Bytes Portal. Our in-house team have the skills to develop and support solutions to integrate with your systems.

learn more...

about the Bytes Portal or to set up a user account, please speak to your Bytes account manager who will arrange this for you.

www.bytes.co.uk | 19

BYOD

WORKING

&

BYOD Our Flexible Working and BYOD

Seminar at the National Theatre, South

Bank, London was a great opportunity for many of our customers to hear from industry presenters and speak directly to key software vendors on the hot issues surrounding Bring Your Own Device.

20 | spring/summer 2013

Our aim was simple: to identify the true benefits to be gained from the Consumersation of We discussed…

• Transforming desktops to managed user workspaces IT and how these could translate to the • Mobile device management enterprise to provide greater innovation, • Virtualising and securely delivering enterprise applications a better work-life balance and real world • Network security, data loss and employee privacy • Designing a BYOD policy that meets legal obligations improved productivity.

• Licensing a multi-device environment.

Here is a selection of the best solutions on offer from our strategic partners: CloudGateway This enterprise mobility management solution securely delivers mobile, web and Windows® apps and data to any device. It empowers employees with a self-service enterprise app store that provides access to business apps and data, leveraging the consistent, rich user experience of Citrix Receiver.

CloudGateway also provides identitybased provisioning and control for

all apps, data and devices, including employee-owned devices.

Key Benefits • Embrace BYO to provide seamless on-the-go productivity on any device • Provide instant access to all apps and data from anywhere

• Deliver secure mobile email with a great user experience • Mobilise any corporate app securely with full IT control.

Citrix CloudGateway

Zenprise With cloud-based and on-premise offerings, Zenprise lets you secure and manage the most comprehensive array of mobile devices, gain visibility into and control over mobile apps, and shield the corporate network from mobile threats.

Zenprise makes BYOD management simple with: • Security for your mobile enterprise, across devices, apps, the network, and data; • The most intuitive and easiest-tomanage MDM solution in the market; • An enterprise-grade architecture, with security built in and high availability at all tiers;

• The most comprehensive global services, support, and training among all MDM vendors; and • Flexible deployment options: Onpremise, cloud, or hybrid solutions.

In addition to helping you manage and secure personally-owned devices, Zenprise brings you a toolkit to help you along the way, featuring the following services, tools, and advice: • Zenprise Rogue Mobile Devices Assessment. A no-cost, no-install assessment to identify unmanaged mobile devices on your corporate network • Zenprise BYOD Policy Template.

A free starter policy with all of the considerations for building a policy for employee-owned devices

• Zenprise Enterprise Mobility Executive Checklist. A checklist for technical and non-technical executives to help them guide their organizations to successfully roll-out a BYOD program • Zenprise Security Framework and Whitepaper. A whitepaper that offers enterprise mobility professionals a framework for ensuring mobile security, as well as a “top 10” requirements list for mobile security evaluators • Zenprise BYOD Service. Zenprise post-sale professional services help customers plan, design, and implement mobile programs, including BYOD, tailored to their needs and requirements.

cont... www.bytes.co.uk | 21

BYOD

Virtual Desktop Extender (VDX) RES Virtual Desktop Extender (VDX) gives you the unique ability to seamlessly enhance remote and virtual desktops with applications that run locally, making use of the underlying processing power, graphic capabilities and peripherals of the local computer.

These applications are merged into remote or virtual desktops seamlessly - side-by-side remote applications in a single desktop experience. Using VDX, you can deliver a single workspace for end users, while optimising the local computing resource on an applicationby-application basis. For your end users this means increased productivity, as they no longer need to switch between sessions on the remote and local desktop.

How Many of Your Applications Just Don’t Virtualise Well?

Common examples include: • AutoCAD • Photoshop • Financial modelling applications • Trading desks • Diagnostic imaging • Multimedia (AVI) files • CD/DVD applications • VoIP • Video conferencing.

Key Benefits VDX is patented and proven technology with many benefits for your organisation: • Integrates local application in a remote desktop (hosted/VDI) • Simply installs without configuration • Automatically populates local start menu and local desktop • Eliminates need to switch between local and remote desktop • Creates new user experience by using best of both worlds • Works with all types of remote desktops.

data from an employee’s personal information. Ensure consistent security policies across disparate mobile platforms and prevent data loss by disabling data sharing with other nonsecure applications. It’s an easy way to secure your corporate network with a NOC-based architecture.

tremendous visibility, you’ll be better equipped to enforce security policies (like password requirements and jailbreak/rooted device detection) and manage secure 3rd party and internally developed applications.

Good for Enterprise Good for Enterprise delivers an integrated, intuitive user experience that allows employees to access corporate email, documents, contacts, calendar, tasks and the Intranet from any device. Good for Enterprise delivers: Exceptional user experience Good for Enterprise lets employees take care of business when and where they want. Quickly compose emails, review documents, manage your contacts, schedule meetings, access the Intranet and much more.

An optimal user interface ensures that little training or IT intervention are necessary.

End-to-end security Protect corporate data in use and at rest on the device through a secure container that separates business

22 | spring/summer 2013

Integrated device and application management Take control over your mobile deployment through a web-based console. Not only will you gain

Good for Enterprise is designed to integrate with Good’s Secure Collaboration tools to deliver seamless, secure mobile workflows that drive employee collaboration and productivity.

App Center 4.0 Symantec App Center (formerly Nukona) has been designed to make it easy for IT to manage appcentric mobile deployments. With functionality to address the complete lifecycle management of apps and content, from distribution to protection to management, Symantec App Center addresses the needs of all IT stakeholders - enterprise application architects, application developers, information security teams and operations teams.

Key Features • Application & Content Management: App Center allows drag-and-drop app and content deployment, intuitive administrative web portal user interface, on-boarding with email invitations, notification of updates, customised access with tiered privacy controls and integration with enterprise identity and access management systems.

• Application & Content Protection: App Center allows administrators to enforce policies like user authentication, re-authentication, data encryption (FIPS 140-2

Symantec O3

Is a cloud information protection platform that provides context-based access control, information security and information management “as a service” for users of cloud applications and services. It supports any endpoint, including mobile. It provides compliance information for access and information events that supports audits and forensics.

certified) as well as restrictions on local storage access, off-line access, document sharing and copy/paste.

Administrators can also remote wipe specific applications and content from compromised devices using this mobile application management solution • Mobile Device Management: From the central console, Administrators can perform and enforce MDM actions like lock / wipe / ping / dissociate device, limit device functionality and set/reset password complexity rules.

Key Benefits • Support BYOD without compromising security: Gain all benefits of user satisfaction and capital cost reduction without sacrificing corporate security or end user privacy. Apply policies on corporate data without monitoring personal apps and data • Mobile Enterprise Apps and Data: App Center allows efficient distribution of apps to employees and other authorised users with appropriate corporate security and corporate branding wrappers.

• Easy integration with existing identity stores, with various cloud app authentication and a simple cloud single-sign on for user • A single source for the logging of access and security events to support compliance.

Apps and data can be revoked quickly and securely when employees leave or devices are no longer active • Security without source code changes: Enterprises can wrap a layer of security and policy management around any mobile app, without any source code changes or SDK embedding • App developers don’t need to be proficient in mobile security: Enterprise application development teams can focus now on what they do best without concerning themselves about security implementations like authentication, key management and data loss prevention. All the security features are added post-development in the App Center.

Key Benefits • Helps organisations embrace the business agility and cost advantages of the cloud.

• Implementation and maintenance convenience for IT, cloud access convenience for users • Enables effective response to the demands for cloud policy audits and forensics.

Key Features • A single point of control for identity and access control, and related policies, for cloud apps for all endpoints

cont... www.bytes.co.uk | 23

BYOD

EMM The McAfee EMM solution simplifies mobile networking. Their approach blends mobile device management with policy-managed endpoint security, network access control, and compliance reporting in a seamless system. This platform integrates smartphones and tablets into enterprise networks and security management with the same level of security protection, convenience, and scale enjoyed by laptops and desktops.

Key Benefits • Provides device choice •S upports Apple iOS, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Phone, and RIM BlackBerry smartphones and tablets •M obilises enterprise applications.

Reduces risk •P rotects sensitive corporate data with policy-based security, remote lock and wipe, and optional PKI and two-factor authentication

• Blocks unauthorised or modified devices like jailbroken Apple iPhones and rooted Android devices • Allows administrators to tag and assign policy for user- and businessowned devices • Enables regulatory compliance and IT audits and centralised reporting • Supports one-time password functionality for iOS and Android devices.

Mobile Print Solution Xerox mobile printing capabilities make it easy to print email messages, presentations, images and any Microsoft Office documents virtually anytime, anywhere within your organisation. With Xerox Mobile Print Solution, the value added service supports both Xerox® and non- Xerox® print devices and is compatible with any email enabled mobile device.

They leverage your established email infrastructure and the existing mobile device platforms, requiring very little time from your IT organisation to implement or support the solution.

Key Benefits • Makes printing from your mobile device to the enterprise as easy as sending an email, helping to create a more productive virtual workforce

24 | spring/summer 2013

• Enables fast and easy printing to any Xerox® or non-Xerox® network printer •E xtends your organisation’s governance for print, supplies use and break/fix services •E nables greater operating savings through increased visibility and management of your remote and mobile workers print spend •R educes IT incidents and support costs by providing the mobile workforce with automated tools and capabilities • I ncorporates your remote and mobile workers into your enterprise sustainability initiatives •G ains insight, control and manageability of print across your virtual enterprise.

Lowers total cost of ownership • McAfee® ePolicy Orchestrator® (McAfee ePO™) software integration • Leverages existing IT infrastructure, including Wi-Fi, VPN, directories, and PKI • Simplifies and automates user support with an enterprise app store, user self-service, and help desk tools • Automates help desk functions with REST web services implementation.

Mobile Access Software Blade In addition to solutions for encrypting data on mobile devices and removable media, Check Point has solutions to deliver advanced SSL VPN connectivity and encryption technology to protect against mobile security threats as users connect to the corporate network – anytime, anywhere.

The Check Point Mobile Access Software Blade brings customers an intuitive business portal that allows secure connectivity to their intranet, corporate email and web applications. With certificate-based authentication and smart user-device pairing, businesses can ensure each individual has access to their authorised applications, just as they would from their desktop. This helps IT administrators centrally manage security policies and applications,

while end-users benefit from fast, secure access with single sign-on authorisation.

As part of the solution, users can download Check Point’s Mobile application for secure, one-touch access directly from mobile devices running on Apple, Android, Symbian and Windows PC platforms. The process of protecting user’s personal devices is as easy as downloading a game.

Triton Mobile Security (TMS) Websense® TRITON™ Mobile Security (TMS) combines four key elements for a highly effective, unified mobile security solution: content-aware data security, industry-leading web security, malicious app protection, and mobile device management (MDM).

Websense TMS enables the safe and secure use of mobile devices in your organisation. Its data-aware defences

protect against data loss and the theft of intellectual property. MDM features let you control mobile devices to keep them secure, minimise risk and maintain compliance. It extends your web security policies to mobile devices when they are used outside your corporate network on 3G/4G and wireless networks you don’t own. And you get real-time contextual security provided by Websense Advanced

Classification Engine, the technology that powers all TRITON security solutions.

Websense® TRITON™ Mobile Security is an ‘in-the-cloud’ solution that eliminates the need to invest in additional hardware or infrastructure, and it operates separately or as part of a unified Websense TRITON web, email and data security deployment.

View our BYOD customer event at www.bytes.co.uk/BytesTV

enhance...

your BYOD strategy? Let our specialist divisions across Software, Security and Document Solutions provide you with the right answers for your mobile business – visit www.bytes.co.uk/contact to select the right team.

www.bytes.co.uk | 25

virtualisation

virtual Our expert, Matt Gallick talks about the latest trends in Virtualisation

Monitoring

The hot topics and trends that we are seeing in our Virtualisation clients are pretty consistent when you look across the vertical markets and they all relate to control and efficiency. The main areas are Monitoring, Capacity Management, Disaster Recovery, User Profile Management and Self-serving / Automation.

is an important function in any IT department to ensure that you keep your systems up and performing well at all times. Any outage or slow down in performance can have a financial impact on the business, so it is key to proactively monitor the infrastructure for potential issues in order that you can act before the events occur. Unforeseen events will happen, but being able to pinpoint potential issues quickly and act in the appropriate way will lead to faster resolution times and minimised disruption to the business. We see our customers doing this in a variety of ways.

Being a large Microsoft partner we have many customers that have invested heavily in System Centre Operations Manager (SCOM) across their business to keep a consistent view of activity. SCOM is a large tool and requires a sizable investment, both on the financial and integration side. To utilise this investment to the maximum, we have helped many customers by adding management packs to allow them to extend SCOM’s view in to other areas, such as VMware and Citrix.

We are also seeing a large uplift in adoption of other monitoring technologies including the likes of vCentre Operations Manager from VMware, Veeam One, VMTurbo and many others. As one customer’s needs are not always the same as the next and there are many variables to consider, we work with a host of vendors in this space to make sure

26 | spring/summer 2013

that we have a solution for all needs instead of pigeon holing customers based on what a particular vendor has to offer. We have found that this is well received by our customers and best practice in the virtualisation arena.

Capacity Management

is becoming a growing driver that we see from the smallest to largest clients Bytes work with. There has, for a long time, been talk of VM Sprawl and this is something key to get under control but a problem that is often even larger is the need to right size VMs. We consistently see VMs being built for the peaks as was a necessity in a physical world, but with the dynamic ability and flexibility of virtualisation this is no longer the case and the savings that our clients are realising just by carrying out a right sizing exercise on their estates is astonishing. Whether the savings are derived from servers, storage or licensing, they quickly add up fast and remain consistent.

Disaster Recovery

(DR) for virtualised environments is becoming an increasingly talked about issue.

Utilising existing and new tools within the virtualisation space can actually give you the flexibility to put a working plan & infrastructure in place and ensure it works if and when required.

Many companies that Bytes have worked with over the years had little or no DR strategy in place, a system that lacked constant testing due to

We consistently see VMs being built for the peaks as was a necessity in a physical world, but with the dynamic ability and flexibility of virtualisation this is no longer the case and the savings that our clients are realising just by carrying out a right sizing exercise on their estates is astonishing.

time and budget constraints or worst of all, a plan that wasn’t believed in if DR was invoked.

We have seen a surge of virtualised customers looking to the likes of VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) and VirtualSharp to get a cost effective plan in place that they can actually test during the working day with no disruption to the systems and staff. The money that can be saved by not needing staff out of hours to test their DR plan actually can contribute massively to the cost of the new tools; not to mention the peace of mind knowing that systems will come back up if there was ever a need. Most of these tools are licensed on a per VM basis, which gives you the ability to cherry pick which VMs you cover and also works well if you want to look at a phased approach, starting with Tier 1 applications, and then rolling out further if required.

User Profile Management is probably

the main talking point within my customers on the desktop side at the moment. With ever evolving desktop strategies, BYOD policies and the “should we shouldn’t we?” question of VDI - being able to manage the environment and giving the users not just the experience that they are used to but also the experience relevant to what they are doing is key. Whether that be when moving from a PC to an iPad and making sure users have all their relevant applications, or making sure that they can only see and do what you want them to, based on the device they are using, location they are logged in form, or the time of day

it may be. All of these allow you to give your users the flexibility to work how they want to without compromising on how you wish to run your business and protect your data. Another key area we see here is being able to control applications that are licensed per device, to ensure that you remain compliant with vendors such as Microsoft, without having to license an entire estate on very costly software that may only be relevant to a select number of users.

Self-Serving and Automation is fast becoming

the “must do” within organisations.

Whether it be a small company with little or no IT team or a large company that has a growing multitude of responsibilities but not a growing team, again efficiency can drive cost saving.

Linked in to the previous paragraph on users and the evolving ways they are working, a few of the larger vendors in this space have built self-service style portals, such as Citrix, VMware and RES. These allow users to have a central place to access their desktop and applications but also a place to request new resources and applications when they require them.

This means that you can deploy a lean desktop image and then let the users pull in additional applications as they are required instead of giving all applications to all users as a standard.

Cost savings can be found here on software as well as time saving driven by the self-serve style. You can set

policies that dictate what types of users are allowed specific application sets, and you can even have an automated approval process that will ask either a manger or member of IT before deploying the application, based on your preferred rules.

The final talking point here is the automation of general IT tasks to save time and again, cut costs associated to this. One of the more popular examples here is the on-boarding and off-boarding of users. In most of our customers we find that many departments and members of staff need to be involved in these processes and it can take a rather long time to complete. Using automation you can make this a seamless and fast process with little intervention needed. As an example you could give a simple form to human resources that asks for the user’s name, job title, office and mobile number - the system can then set about creating an active directory account, mail box, add them to the relevant distribution groups and file shares, whatever it is that you require your users to have. All this is driven by the pre-defined rules that you put in place. The cherry on the top is linking back to the self-service that will allow the user to request any additional applications, printer access etc. that they feel they need to complete their job. These are brilliant tools that can work in any environment and speed up almost any task that is taking up time in your IT department.

to discuss...

your virtualised environment, please call your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 27

virtualisation

Citrix ShareFile, Enterprise Edition

share store sync secure

&

files on any device,

anywhere Citrix ShareFile is an enterprise, followme data solution that enables IT to deliver a secure and robust service that meets the mobility and collaboration needs of all users.

Cloud-based services such as DropBox, Apple’s iCloud and Google’s Drive are changing the way data is stored and shared, but for enterprises they also mean a loss of control over how and where content is stored.

Citrix is aiming to change that with the introduction of ShareFile with StorageZones, designed to allow enterprises to meet compliance requirements while optimising performance by storing data close to the user.

Understanding Citrix ShareFile architecture The high-level architecture of ShareFile consists of three components: the client used to access the ShareFile service; the control plane; and the StorageZone, which can include customer-managed StorageZones,

28 | spring/summer 2013

Citrix-managed StorageZones, or both. Clients communicate with both the control plane and the storage plane, and the control plane and the storage plane communicate with each other, but customer files never travel from the storage plane to the control plane.

The ShareFile Clients Users access the ShareFile followme data service through a mobile app, native desktop client, virtual desktop, Citrix Receiver, a web or mobile browser, or directly through the ShareFile API. These clients communicate with both the control plane and the StorageZone.

The ShareFile Control Plane Hosted in Citrix datacenters and managed by Citrix as a service, the ShareFile control plane performs tasks such as web application management, pushing updates and reporting.

Customers can choose between the US control plane or the European control plane to address performance and compliance requirements.The control plane does not store user files, user data or corporate data. All traffic from a client device, the web interface or a native tool connects to the control plane using 256-bit SSL encryption.

The StorageZones StorageZones are where actual customer files are hosted. Citrixmanaged StorageZones are hosted in Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenters around the world. The actual storage servers run on Amazon EC2, while the backend storage resides in Amazon S3. Files are stored with AES 256-bit encryption at rest.

With on-premise, customer-managed StorageZones, IT can place data in the organisation’s own datacenter to help meet unique data sovereignty and compliance requirements while optimising performance by storing data in close proximity to the user.

Designed to support any CIFS-based network share, customer-managed StorageZones can be easily integrated with your existing infrastructure. Client connectivity and communication are the same as with Citrix-managed StorageZones; no customer files travel through the control plane.

You can also choose a mix-and-match option where some files reside in your own datacenter and others are hosted in a Citrix-managed StorageZone.

User Licensing Available as Citrix-managed and Customer-managed licenses.

• Customer-managed StorageZones – Perpetual or annual licensing option that does not include Citrix-managed Cloud Storage.

• Citrix-managed StorageZones – Annual licensing option that includes off-premise, Citrix-managed Cloud Storage entitlement with options starting from 1 GB to meet your unique storage needs.

Bytes is a Citrix Gold Solutions Advisor

key benefits • Empower users with instant access to data in sync across all of their devices • Improve collaboration and business productivity through secure file sharing with people inside and outside the organisation • Meet corporate data security and compliance standards via a secure service that provides the flexibility to store data on or off premises, or both • Deliver an enterprise-class service that seamlessly integrates with the existing IT environment while delivering rich features and experience to support mobile workstyles • Deliver a managed service that helps IT retain control over the way corporate data is accessed, stored and shared

further info...

on Citrix solutions and licensing contact your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 29

virtualisation

introducing Application Manager from VMware

VMware® Horizon Application Manager™ is a cross-platform management solution that unifies, secures and controls access to software-as-a-service (SaaS), Web and Windows applications for end-user devices.

With Horizon Application Manager, IT gains flexibility and reduces the cost and complexity of application management. End users gain easy, on-demand access to applications on their preferred devices whenever they need them, increasing their productivity and simplifying their overall experience.

Horizon Application Manager works by centralising and applying enterprise policies to application management.

You can standardise how, when and to whom you provide end-user applications. IT can unify management of SaaS, Web and Windows applications through the Horizon Application Catalog and securely deliver those applications to end users on their devices of choice.

Horizon Application Manager also provides a cloud identity service layer for securing managed access to Windows, SaaS and Web-based

30 | spring/summer 2013

applications. IT managers use a Web-based centralised management tool to provision applications to end users. The identity-and accessmanagement (IAM) technology in Horizon Application Manager extends your enterprise directory user profiles securely into the cloud, unifying each user’s identities into a single cloud identity. This increases security for SaaS and Web-based application usage for the enterprise. In addition, managers control user-access policies and can track application-license activity centrally via usage reports.

Finally, Horizon Application Manager includes VMware ThinApp®, which simplifies the management of

Windows applications and reduces the cost and complexity of delivery.

This agentless application-virtualisation solution isolates applications from the underlying operating system and from other applications to eliminate

application conflicts. Through Horizon Application Manager, organisations can streamline the delivery and management of ThinApp applications.

Benefits To Your Organisation For companies of any size, Horizon Application Manager gives end users the convenience of a self-service workspace and access to a corporate application store. At the same time, it provides simplified IT governance, visibility into end-user’s activity, life-cycle management and control.

End users get a simple, secure login experience. This lowers security risks, reduces help-desk issues regarding lost and weak passwords, and dramatically lowers the cost of ownership of SaaS and Web-based applications.

Support for Windows Applications A Horizon Application Manager includes VMware ThinApp. With integrated centralised management,

you can provide access to Windows applications from the Horizon Workspace. This makes it easier than ever to add or remove end-user access. IT gains the control it needs to provide the right Windows applications to the right workforce.

Helping You Manage Users and Usage Administrators can enable access by users, groups and roles and can generate holistic reports to determine the who, what and where of application usage. This simplifies management, improves the security of application access and helps the organisation optimise license purchases.

How to Manage an Increase in Applications Its IAM technology applies a single federated cloud identity tied to your enterprise directory services to unify the silos of user identities used for each application. This increases the security of your SaaS and Web applications and simplifies the user

login experience. Select from a predetermined list of certified SaaS applications or upload your own SaaS or Web based application via the Horizon application-management tools.

Solving Security Issues When Working in Both Private and Public Clouds Now you can control which users have access to which applications in both the public and private cloud. For example, with the click of a button you can ensure that a user’s application access has been removed. This takes the guesswork out of the discovery process, security auditing and compliance.

Implement in Days Because you can deploy Horizon Application Manager on virtual appliances based on VMware vSphere®, you can implement it in days, compared to weeks or months for other solutions. For both onsite and private cloud configurations, Horizon Application Manager deployment is fast and simple.

further info...

on Horizons and other VMware solutions contact your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 31

Bytes is one of the fastest growing VMware Premier Partners

storage

?

Azure e?

What is

Windows

?

The Windows Azure Platform is an open and exible cloud platform that enables you to

quickly build, deploy and manage applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. You can build applications using

any language, tool or framework. And you can integrate your public cloud applications with your existing IT environment.

32 | spring/summer 2013

?

What is Bytes doing with Azure?

Bytes has developed a Cloud Platform that is based on Azure but with added services and configured for specific tasks such as Dev/Test, DR, Hosting, Single Sign On and other services to help customers adopt Cloud by utilising our extensive experience gained from over 30 customer implementations. Aurora for instance, is one of those services hosted on the BytesCloud platform.

OFFICE365 Hosted AD Federation Service This year will see many companies move into a hybrid cloud model as IT departments dip a toe into the cloud. What many people found in 2012 was that this hybrid deployment model introduced a new set of complexities to the on premise environment in the form of servers running Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) for single sign on to cloud based applications like Office365.

Hosted AD Federation Services

However, if the internet link to the datacentre was lost then while the cloud mailboxes were still running, without access to the ADFS server, users couldn’t login to their mailboxes to get access. Having cloud services depending on the on premise servers made very little sense to a company that was looking for a true cloud experience.

This problem led to the building of a platform we named ‘Aurora’. Aurora is built on the Windows Azure hosting platform and leverages encrypted VPN connections back to the on premise environment for data transfer. We put a read only Domain Controller in Azure along with the ADFS server and ADFS proxy.

How Does Azure and StorSimple Reduce Storage Costs by 60-80%?

Growth in enterprise data and disconnected data management approaches are causing increased cost, risk and inefficiency. The StorSimple solution consolidates primary, archive, backup and disaster recovery data management using a single appliance that seamlessly integrates with Windows Azure and provides military grade encryption. The StorSimple solution consists of StorSimple software running on appliances built and distributed by Xyratex.

Bytes case study Background: A large UK council needed to store large quantities of data which would be accessed from time to time. Implementing de-duplication and disaster recovery whilst reducing overall IT spend has provided a familiar challenge that most organisations face. experience with storsimple: After seeing the demonstration of StorSimple, the customer realised that they could accomplish all of their goals whilst reducing IT complexity, all within their budget. By implementing a StorSimple device at each of their datacentres, the Council will be archiving snapshots and system images to Microsoft’s Azure environment. By eliminating the need for backup tapes and tape archival solutions, the IT team will be utilising Cloud for system backups and restores. This solution will not only be saving on time and money, but will be greatly simplifying the backup and recovery process.

Reasons for Choosing storsimple: The IT team looked at traditional SAN solutions but realised that they would need to purchase 18 trays of hardware plus the additional support infrastructure. Apart from additional rack space, the team had to factor in the maintenance and support costs of the additional hardware. The chosen StorSimple solution provided 10Tb of on-premise storage with an additional 125Tb of Cloud storage within a 2RU form factor for a fraction of the equivalent SAN solution.

need help...

with Integrated Cloud Storage solutions, please contact your Bytes Account Manager or the Bytes Cloud team on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 33

Bytes has helped over 30 customers implement a Windows Azure Platform

storage

NetApp for Microsoft Private Cloud

the Promise into

RESULTS The combination of NetApp storage with Microsoft Private Cloud, featuring Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 R2 Hyper-V™ and Microsoft System Center 2012, facilitates the delivery of IT services and applications for your organsation.

Cloud computing has become a reality.

By virtualising the underlying data storage environment for Windows Server Hyper-V™, NetApp can consolidate hardware and increase storage efficiency by 50% or more.

The cloud model

NetApp: The Foundation of Microsoft Private Cloud The scope, scale, and complexity of today’s data-driven world create new demands in the data center. NetApp infrastructure optimises storage management at scale and thus enables rapid response to business opportunity.

Our sophisticated storage and data management software integration with Microsoft provides a strong foundation for a Microsoft Private Cloud, built on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and System Center 2012.

delivers on-demand

Key Features

and secure access to

Reduce Costs

Reduce the cost of delivering and managing IT services and applications using a private cloud infrastructure.

Increase Agility

Respond faster to changing business needs while making sure of application availability with an IT infrastructure.

Improve Efficiency

Automate data management tasks using Microsoft System Center integrated with NetApp OnCommand™ Plug-in for Microsoft and Data ONTAP® PowerShell Toolkit.

Utilise Proven Platform

NetApp and Microsoft offer a robust set of tools, including solution, build, and operation guides plus validated reference architectures and best practices, to help you jump-start your NetApp for Microsoft Private Cloud deployment.

pools of IT resources, empowering companies to increase flexibility and efficiency while cutting capex and opex.

34 | spring/summer 2013

The Road to the Private Cloud You can move to the Microsoft Private Cloud incrementally, without ripping and replacing your current infrastructure.The path your company takes depends on your starting points and objectives, but in general there are four steps to consider: 1. Standardise Unifying hardware and creating repeatable processes help to deliver predictable services that can result in shorter provisioning times and lower support costs.

2. Consolidate and virtualise Consolidating and virtualising servers and storage are prerequisites to the construction of private clouds. This step helps you increase asset utilisation by making it easier to move workloads and scale on demand; it also enhances availability by making it easier to implement high availability and disaster recovery for many applications.

3. Automate and orchestrate Once you begin automating regular practices such as provisioning, activation, backup, and replication, your IT staff will be able to orchestrate and scale IT services using private clouds.

Key components of NetApp for Microsoft Private Cloud

4. Centralise management Centralised management is a necessary characteristic of private clouds because it gives you a complete picture of what resources are available and needed and a projection of future usage and expenditures. It also allows IT to measure usage and implement chargeback models, and it enables IT to implement self-service portals that empower users to perform common tasks, freeing up IT staff to focus on value-added services.

Take the Next Step Toward IT Flexibility and EfďŹ ciency Interoperability with Microsoft products, expertise in storage and cloud computing, and a strong partnership with Microsoft make NetApp a great partner of choice for transforming the promise of a Microsoft Private Cloud into real-world business results.

learn more...

about NetApp for Microsoft Private Cloud by contacting your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 35

storage

GO configure

Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance is

equipped with integrated data deduplication, granular recovery and virtual machine protection. It manages data growth and effectively reduces rising storage costs while enabling faster backups - and has patented V-Ray technology that restores entire servers, critical Microsoft® applications and VMware® or Microsoft Hyper-V® virtual guests in minutes.

36 | spring/summer 2013

O

Here are the answers to those frequently asked questions What is the storage capacity of the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance?

As standard it comes with 5.5 TB of fixed usable disk storage. Because it includes data deduplication technology, the storage capacity scales to protect much more than 5.5 TB of front-end data.

Is the storage capacity expandable?

The disk storage capacity for Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is not expandable at this time. However, the Backup Exec Appliance does include a SAS port for tape out to meet requirements of data archiving and data off-site for disaster recovery.

How is the appliance licensed?

The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is licensed per appliance. There are two Backup Exec 3600 Appliance Editions: Essential Protection Edition and Total Protection Edition. Each edition comes with either one or three years of bundled maintenance (Advanced System Replacement and 24 hours a day, seven days a week hardware and software support). With a single license, users can utilise the full disk capacity of the appliance for protecting an unlimited number of source systems. The appliance licensing bundle also includes an unlimited number of selected Backup Exec Agents and Options that will optimise backup and recovery for all of the appliances’ supported systems.

Does the appliance come with a hardware warranty?

Yes, the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance comes with a one or three year advance system replacement in addition to a 36 month hardware warranty.

Can I upgrade the Backup Exec software when newer versions are available?

It is shipped with Backup Exec 2012 software and will be fully upgradable to newer versions of Backup Exec software, as long as your maintenance/support contract is active.

Will the appliance backup protect my virtual infrastructure?

Host level backup, powered by V-Ray technology and integrated with VMware Data Protection APIs (application programming interfaces) and Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), enables hostlevel backup of entire virtual guests and recovery at the virtual machine, virtual disk, application, file, folder, and granular application data level.

Advanced hypervisor features are also supported with both VMware and Hyper-V. Essential Protection Edition Included • Symantec Backup Exec™ 2012 • Symantec Critical System Protection • Deduplication Option • Agent for VMware® and Microsoft Hyper-V® • Agent for Windows® Systems • Agent for Applications and Databases • Remote Agent for Linux® Systems • Remote Agent for Mac® Systems Optional • Enterprise Server Option (includes Central Admin Server Option) • Remote Media Agent for Linux® • NDMP Option • Library Expansion Option • Virtual Tape Library Unlimited Drive Option Total Protection Edition Included • Symantec Backup Exec™ 2012 • Symantec Critical System Protection • Deduplication Option • Agent for VMware® and Microsoft Hyper-V® • Agent for Windows® Systems • Agent for Applications and Databases • Remote Agent for Linux® Systems • Remote Agent for Mac® Systems • Enterprise Server Option (includes Central Admin Server Option) • Remote Media Agent for Linux® • NDMP Option • Library Expansion Option (support for 10 drives included) Optional • Virtual Tape Library Unlimited Drive Option

What level of security does the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance provide?

It includes Critical System Protection which is intrusion detection software that protects against zero-day attacks, hardens systems, and helps maintain compliance by enforcing behaviorbased security policies on clients and servers.

Is data deduplication technology included?

Yes, support for source and target deduplication is included at no additional charge, making the appliance unique in offering a backup solution with highly flexible deduplication.

What are the technical specifications

Operating system Windows® Storage Server 2008 R2 x64 Security OS hardened at factory with Critical System Protection Motherboard/chassis • Intel® S3420GPRX • 1U chassis: SR1695 (Full Depth) Processor Single Intel® Xeon X3430, Quad Core, Intel® 3420 chipset Memory 16GB installed Expansion One (1) PCI-E 2.0 x 16 (x8 Throughput) connector IO devices • 5x Gigabit Ethernet ports (3 production, 1 admin, 1RMM) • 1x Serial port • 4x USB 2.0 ports • 6x SATA ports • Integrated RAID module with LSI 1078 3Gbps SAS Controller Drive bays • 4x hot-swappable 3.5” SAS HDDs • 2x 2.5” SSD drives for OS/Application Storage capacity • 2 X 80GB 2.5” SSD Disks for OS (RAID 1) • 4 X 2TB hot-swappable 3.5” HDD (RAID 5) - 5.5 TB usable capacity • SAS card for tape out Power supply Two redundant 400W AC power supplies System cooling Two blower fans and one rotating fan

further info...

on the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance or Symantec in general please contact your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 37

Bytes hold over 75 Technical and Sales Accreditations for Symantec

storage

the reach of SharePoint to new, external and mobile users

Cloud-enable your on-premise content solution For businesses with content platforms like SharePoint or Documentum, the ECM Cloud Connect solution makes

How ECM Cloud Connect workss

it easy to synchronise or transfer data to and from Box. This means that your content systems will be instantly cloud-enabled, letting you collaborate through Box, access enterprise content from iPads and other mobile devices, as well as get to your content through any one of Box’s dozens of cloud partners like Salesforce or NetSuite.

Box ECM Cloud Connect is intended to solve three main goals for customers: 1. Content Synchronisation: Data automatically synchronises between any ECM system (like SharePoint) and Box. 2. Content Archiving: Archive content automatically or

Why use Box with SharePoint?

on-demand from Box to your existing ECM solution.

3. Content Migration: Push content from your current ECM system to Box on-demand.

The volume of information inside enterprises today – whether on desktops, in file servers, or within SharePoint – has produced tremendous data sprawl for enterprises.

At Box, the goal is to connect seamlessly to these on-premise data sources, empowering you to use your business information in new ways.

learn more...

about the mobility benefits Box can offer your Sharepoint environment by contacting your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

38 | spring/summer 2013

security

A premium BYOD Security Solution without the premium price tag

How do you secure your mobile devices?

LetMobile is for companies that want to secure corporate email on personal devices and keep sensitive information secure. With LetMobile, Corporate email is never stored on mobile devices, it has support for all popular smartphones and tablets and is cost effective to deploy and manage; up and running on a new device in minutes.

• EASY TO USE • NO DEVICE “TAKE OVER” • NATIVE EMAIL – “NO SUB PAR EMAIL APP” • SUPERIOR DATA SECURITY • NO DATA STORED ON THE DEVICE • NO PASSWORDS ON THE DEVICE • FULL CONTROL • LOW TCO “In 2012, a full 51% of the UK’s secure IT networks were breached due to employees using personal devices*.”

Secure your mobile devices today ensuring corporate data is not breached.

For a demonstration of LetMobile and a quote you’ll be pleasantly surprised with, contact your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

*source: http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/News/News-archives/2013/Half-of-business-networks-compromised-by-personal-devices/

www.bytes.co.uk | 39

events

We have had a full calendar of events and webinars across the Bytes Group recently.

We’ve brought news and information on all aspects of Software Licensing, IT Security, Software Asset Management and Managed Print Services.

Where possible we have hosted our events in landmark buildings so that we can add an extra dimension of interest to our guests.

Recent venues have included Wembley and Ethiad football stadiums, Andaz and The May Fair Hotel and Microsoft’s Cardinal Place, London.

Industry experts from many of our leading vendors as well as our own Bytes specialists have delivered informative presentations on a broad range of topics to ensure you are kept up to date with all the important industry developments.

Sarah Folley A small selection Marketing Executive, Bytes of some of our events is listed opposite. Please visit the events page of our website www bytes.co.uk/events regularly for news of forthcoming events.

views and events

Windows 8 & What’s New for 2013 Cardinal Place, London, November Check Point Best Practices Seminar Wembley & Ethiad Stadiums, London & Manchester, November BYOD & Mobile Print Solutions Ethiad Stadium, Manchester, November Oracle - Optimising the Next Generation of IT Architecture The May Fair Hotel, London, January Windows Azure Breakfast Briefing Andaz Hotel, London, February The New Microsoft Office 365 Cardinal Place, London, February Microsoft Roadmap - 2013 & Beyond Cardinal Place, London, March

Bytes “Webinar Wednesdays” On the 2nd and 3rd Wednesday of each month we host free one hour webinars covering a broad range of hot topics in the industry, chosen by our specialists or requested by our customers.

To view these sessions instantly visit: www.bytes.co.uk/webinars

register now...

to secure your place at one of our current technology events: www.bytes.co.uk/events

40 | spring/summer 2013

Bytes & Software Licensing ...

. .together, we rock!!

bytes.co.uk

Since 1982

security

Microsoft Announce

TMG End of Life

Viewpoint by: David Rawle CTO, Bytes Security Partnerships

What is the Non Cloud Alternative?

On 12th September 2012, Microsoft announced that they were ending support for their Forefront TMG 2010 solution. By ending support for this product, and not announcing a successor, Microsoft are effectively saying that they don’t think endusers require any kind of on-premise protection for hosting web based services such as SharePoint or Outlook Web Access. This strategy aligns perfectly with Microsoft’s current alignment to Cloud-based offerings, spearheaded by Office 365 and their Azure hosting product. However, this alignment is at odds with what Bytes Security Partnerships are seeing within our customer base.

With one or two notable exceptions our customer base is still very much running on-premise based systems, and hosting private clouds for their users. Cloud-based systems are currently primarily being reserved for backup and recovery services, in addition to certain Software As A Service (SAAS) solutions such as Websense’s hybrid cloud solution for Web Filtering and Mobile Device Management.

This decision has to be put into the context of why utilising a product such as TMG 2010 is important from a security point of view? I believe that all networks should be tiered. As such, untrusted networks such as the Internet should not be allowed to directly connect to trusted networks.

Most companies are familiar with the concept of a “DMZ” network to achieve this but it has become such a common part of network design it has almost become a cliché. Very few people actually think about the “why” behind it when they implement such a network.

42 | spring/summer 2013

Microsoft’s announcement therefore poses a dilemma for the many companies who have no immediate plans to move to an external cloud-based infrastructure and who require a layer of filtering between themselves and the internet for their public facing services. For this reason Bytes Security Partnerships have been investigating varied options to fill this gap.

Replicating the Benefits of TMG One of the key benefits of utilising TMG 2010 to protect public facing Microsoft solutions such as SharePoint was its ease of integration, and this, as well as security, was one of the concerns Bytes had when identifying a replacement solution offering. Having taken a detailed look at the market place, Bytes have chosen the F5 range of solutions to offer to those customers who are pro-actively looking to replace their now-defunct TMG 2010 installations.

F5 have introduced their iApps feature set which provides a solid solution based foundation for their BIG-IP range of products to allow companies to quickly and easily deploy, amongst others, Microsoft solutions with minimum hassle.

Additional Functionality for the Web 2.0 World What’s more, in addition to the basic reverse Proxy and SSL off-load functionality that TMG 2010 provided,

F5 has a whole raft of other features that improve both the functionality and security of a private cloud solution.

By combining conventional reverse Proxy and SSL off-load functionality with their Application Security Manager (ASM) software, F5 have a solution that is uniquely equipped to deal with the challenges of hosting a private cloud in the Web 2.0 world. ASM is not only capable of dealing with the “normal” threats posed by the web but is also capable of dealing with attacks such as Layer 7 distributed denial of service attacks and Web scraping attacks, that are used to acquire legitimate public information to create Phishing attacks.

F5 is available as either a Hardware appliance-based solution or a Software virtual appliance in order to provide customers with total flexibility of deployment and to ensure seamless integration with their current infrastructure.

Talk to Bytes about F5 Bytes Security Partnerships is a certified F5 silver partner and as such offers a suite of support and consultancy services around F5 products. In addition, our close and developing partnership ensures our clients are able to leverage maximum benefit from F5’s wide range of security offerings.

learn more...

contact the BSP team with any F5 related enquiries or advice around your security approach to this discontinuation of service on securitysales@bytes.co.uk or call the team direct on 0845 075 0560

Spear-phishing:

how to avoid being the ‘Catch

of the Day’ Phishing is nothing new, but it’s far from old news. Phishing emails are designed to look like they come from a trusted source and extort personal information, which gets used in a criminal or fraudulent way. Phishing is mass volume, small pockets of money, adding up to a handsome gain for the bad guys. At first, success rates were high, but as most of us have become better at identifying a phish, success rates have greatly reduced.

So, what’s different about spear-phishing? It’s highly targeted, and increasingly being used as the initial wave in more sophisticated malware attacks that are designed to steal confidential data. For example, spear-phishing has been widely attributed as being the original infection point in the widely publicised RSA security breach.

Typically, spear-phishing emails have four common factors: 1. The email is pretending to be from a trusted source, often a figure of authority, making it even more pressing for the recipient to open the email.

Jonathan Wilkinson Director, Product Management, Websense

2. The information in the email is relevant to both the alleged source and the recipient, making it highly targeted.

3. It contains a seemingly valid request for the user to take action e.g., to open an attachment or click on a link. This request is in context with the content of the email.

4. The email is targeted, so is sent out in much lower volumes compared to traditional phishing attacks, making it harder to detect.

And let’s be clear, no security solution can guarantee to stop 100 percent of these threats. While targeted attacks have evolved in frequency and sophistication, many security defences have failed to adapt. Old techniques don’t address the intertwined correlation of attacks across web and email to protect against data theft and cybercrime call-home communications.

The growing prevalence of cloud apps, along with increases in SSL traffic, mobility and remote users are also adding more blind spots to traditional defences.

Spear-phishing Advice: Security: Adopt a unifi ed security strategy that integrates web, email, and data security.

Think about home users and mobile devices.

Layer defences to optimise protection and most importantly, ensure confi dential data is protected regardless of where it is or what device it’s on.

Protection: Communicate best practices to users to protect their online identities, lockdown their Facebook profi les and make sure passwords are strong, changed frequently and not being used for multiple online accounts.

Encourage users to Google themselves and see what personal information of theirs is unwittingly being shared online.

Education: Educate users on how to spot a spear phish. Test employees to see where people are still falling for a phish and re-educate them to develop their knowledge and keep them vigilant.

Acceptance: Accept that you are a potential target no matter what your role or level is in the organization. You are a potential security hole and an opportunity for a criminal to gain entry into your organisation’s network.

Reputation: Question the reputation of a link and don’t assume it’s safe to click on. And just because an email looks like it comes from a reputable source, don’t rely on it being from who it says it’s from. If in doubt, don’t open attachments and instead of clicking links that could re-direct you a compromised website, type the URL into the browser.

Will your security defences stop your organisation from being the next ‘Catch of the Day’?

See if you spot a phish at www.websense.com/operationspearphish

www.bytes.co.uk | 43

security

Making Microsoft (any) Apps

Truly Global Global access to

corporate applications – think Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange - is critical to an organisation.

The range of users, devices, and their locations requires stringent application access control to securely connect any user on any device from any location to wherever the application lives.

The mobile workforce is expected to increase from 919 million in 2008 to 1.2 billion in 2013 (IDC) - a figure that will represent 34.9% of the worldwide workforce. Workers are dispersed all over the globe, and they use a variety of trusted and un-trusted devices to request access to corporate resources from different types of networks.

Users need fast, secure, and reliable access to the corporate infrastructure, but IT departments are struggling with multi-vendor access solutions and systems, policy enforcement, access regulation, security threats and vulnerabilities, and ensuring that the right user is connecting to the right applications based on context.

If all that weren’t enough, IT departments must also keep management and maintenance costs in line. Enterprises need unified and converged access and policy management in a globally distributed environment, so they can connect any user on any device from any location to the application, wherever it lives, securing and optimising content delivery.

find out...

In the flow of anything, be it traffic, water, electricity, or commerce, there are specific points that can provide intelligent processing and control. The purpose of these points is to provide critical flow control, redirection, intelligent management, and security.

In a Microsoft Unified Communications environment, the strategic point of control would be about securing and optimising the delivery of SharePoint, Lync and Exchange applications globally to remote, mobile and office users by connecting them with the least amount of latency and as close to the application as possible.

Application and access security solutions that provide these centralised, strategic points of control are known as Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs). They are often located at the edge of the network, whether it’s in-house or in the data centre.

These ADCs, these strategic points of control, positioned between users and the resources they need, can make intelligent decisions about how to handle access traffic. They provide the security, scalability, and optimisation required for unified global access to corporate resources in all types of deployment environments.

more about ADCs and F5, speak to your Bytes Security Partnerships account manager on 0845 075 0560.

44 | spring/summer 2013

MS Exchange Security

Depend on F5’s BIG-IP® Platform to replace discontinued Microsoft TMG Has Microsoft’s recent announcement to discontinue Microsoft ISA Server, Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) left you looking for an alternative firewall for authentication and reverse proxy in publishing Microsoft Exchange, Lync and SharePoint?

DEPEND ON F5’S BIG-IP® PLATFORM TO REPLACE DISCONTINUED MICROSOFT TMG

To learn how F5’s industry leading BIG-IP® platform can be used instead of TMG for reverse proxy, pre-authentication, protecting web-based services and security of employee owned and corporate mobile devices, contact Bytes Security Partnerships security solutions team on 0845 075 0560 or email securitysales@bytes.co.uk F5’s Big-IP® is an ICSA Labs certified network and application firewall solution that prevents potentially malicious traffic from ever reaching Exchange. With intelligent monitoring of traffic, pre-authentication, and access control for mobile devices, F5 helps you deploy highly available and secure email services.

And F5’s iApp template for Exchange will enable you to accurately and quickly deploy Exchange in hours not days!

Ensure your Microsoft Exchange is Secure, Fast, and Highly Available with F5’s BIG-IP®.

Bytes and F5 Bytes SP delivers F5 security solutions that address the challenges caused by the evolution enterprise networks.

We enable our customers to visualise and manage their security risks whilst enabling robust application and data delivery solutions to internal, mobile and virtual environments.

Working with F5, Bytes provide solutions for: • Advanced Security Protection • Activity Monitoring and Analysis • Enterprise Mobility

Contact the Bytes Security Partnerships team to find out more about Securing Exchange with F5 Networks by calling our security solutions team on 0845 075 0560 or emailing any questions or enquiries to securitysales@bytes.co.uk

www.bytes.co.uk | 45

case study

casestudy Bytes’ ongoing licence consultancy and account management

gives NERC the insight they require to continually understand and

develop their infrastructure.

John Tait Technical Consultant, Bytes

46 | spring/summer 2013

Faced with revised pricing policies from Check Point, world class research funding body Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) needed to review its licensing strategy and implement a robust plan going forward.

NERC was founded by Royal Charter in the 1960s and funds world-class science in universities and its own research centres which increase knowledge and understanding of the natural world.

Following a Government decision to review the costs of the research councils, NERC looks after the Check Point firewalls not only for its own research centres but also for a number of other Government funded research centres spread across the whole of the UK. The sites range in size from “1 man and his dog” in the Shetlands to the largest site in Swindon employing 1000 staff. There are around 30 gateways in support, many of which are required to facilitate large bandwidth. Bytes Security Partnerships (BSP) now provides both Check Point software licencing management and technical support to NERC. The Challenge NERC invited BSP to review their software licencing when Check Point changed their pricing structure and they were

Peter Lucas Technical/Scientific Services Team Leader, NERC

finding it difficult to understand the implications of a firewall upgrade. At that time their incumbent supplier was also under threat of a takeover which was a potential issue to NERC as they were unsure how this would affect the service provided.

BSP audited NERC’s software licencing and found that NERC had licences that they didn’t need and that there were better ways to perform upgrades and renewals which would provide cost savings in the process.

Following the audit, it made sense for NERC to move from the incumbent provider to BSP which they decided to do when the software subscriptions came up for renewal. By using their extensive knowledge of Check Point’s licencing, BSP manage all the Check Point trade-in schemes to maximise the discounts available.

This ongoing licence management and account management gives NERC the updates and insight they require to continually understand their infrastructure.

This insight provides NERC with the options available and gives them the confidence to make correct and informed decisions whilst saving them time; time previously spent trying to make sense of Check Point.

Peter Lucas, NERCs Technical/ Scientific Services Team Leader, who is responsible for their network and firewalls said, “By consolidating and bringing everything together we have a better understanding of what we had previously and are now getting a better match of what we are paying for in direct relation to what we actually need. We are also getting more value out of the current licences which will meet our needs for the future.”

The Result For a number of years NERC had used a token based support system.

The incumbent provider was under a threat of a takeover and as a result NERC had noticed a decline in the quality of support.

“When the incumbent lost the software subscription contract we didn’t feel that the quality of service we were

We are much happier to log calls now. Previously we were dis-incentivised to log calls as they would burn though our tokens.

In the first couple of weeks of BSP’s support we resolved a number of issues that were open with our previous provider for over three months.

The amount of time and help we have had in this period with BSP would have constituted 10 tokens if we were still with our previous partner.

BSP has also managed to resolve issues on top of that.

getting was good and on occasion we were unsatisfied,” commented Peter Lucas.

NERC decided to review their software support but faced a number of challenges from the Token Based Support Model when they were looking to benchmark the service at renewal time.

At renewal time for subscriptions there was always a surplus of tokens which made any decision to benchmark difficult and pointless. As there were mid term purchases of tokens, there was a challenge in analysing the annual cost of support. This also added a dis-incentive to log support calls as each call created a cost without a limit.

BSP proved that by switching to an annual support contract cost savings would be achieved. As well as the financial advantage gained from moving to an annual unlimited support contract, NERC have also realised a number of other significant advantages over the token based approach.

Previously NERC had tried to resolve as many of their own support calls in-house to avoid using costly tokens.

They now enjoy unlimited access to experienced engineers who can resolve any support issue. Now NERC are encouraged to raise support tickets.

customer profile Company: NERC Industry: Science/Research Country: UK Revenues: £429.6m (Funding) Employees: 2,521 Bytes Solutions Provided: • Improved support offering meaning increased SLAs • Review and rationalisation of licencing saving customer money • Continual updates on new technologies to ensure best use & development of IT estate • Expertise in implementing systems • Dedicated account management and support 24/7 Key Benefits: • Vastly improved service levels and IT support satisfaction • Long-term security strategy reviewed and developed • Optimised licencing and bespoke renewals tailored to customer needs • Significant up-front cost saving and ongoing cost savings

BYTES TV hear what our customers think about us www.bytes.co.uk/bytestv

www.bytes.co.uk | 47

security

MAY THE

EnForcement

you

BE WITH

Security Lessons from Star Wars

From applying security policies to DLP and effective user authentication, there are many infosecurity lessons to be learned from the classic space opera. Terry Greer-King, Check Point’s UK managing director shows how companies can avoid the Empire’s mistakes.

Star Wars: A New Hope is more than just an epic tale of the galaxy-wide struggle between the Galactic Empire and the Rebellion, and the triumph of good over evil. It’s also a great example of how a series of basic infosecurity mistakes can cost even a massive, powerful (but evil) organisation like the Empire dearly.

As the Empire’s executive leader, Darth Vader certainly didn’t lack resources. He had huge teams of trained, highly-motivated personnel at his command, not to mention some state-of-the-art security hardware. He also knew what assets needed protecting – all of which are fundamental to an effective security strategy.

But ultimately, the Empire was compromised by a fatal combination of weak security policies and poor practice. It’s a classic example of investing in a seemingly powerful security technology or product, then building policies based around that technology – rather than starting with a policy that covers what’s critical to their business, then acquiring and deploying solutions that map to it.

48 | spring/summer 2013

Let’s take a look at some of the key security mistakes made by the Empire in Star Wars: A New Hope; how those mistakes were exploited; and how you can learn from them.

Locating leaks In the opening sequence of the film, Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers board a Rebellion vessel to recover intercepted blueprints of the Empire’s new terror weapon, the Death Star. So far, so good: the Empire had detected a potentially dangerous data leak, and acted swiftly to contain it.

However, the Empire’s good intentions were let down in the execution: their search of the ship was too focused.

The stolen data was loaded onto a consumerised device (the droid, R2D2) which escaped the captured ship in a lifepod. Even though Imperial forces detected the lifepod’s launch, they let it go: at that time, it wasn’t a droid they were looking for.

The lesson is that there are multiple vectors for data loss – USB flash drives, consumerised devices, email, IM – whether the data is Death Star schematics or customer financial data. So organisations can’t afford to focus on one possible data loss vector while ignoring another. All possible vectors should be considered, in addition to the security policies developed to cover them and the solutions that enforce those policies.

No product is infallible: not even a Death Star The intercepted blueprints were put to use by the Rebellion to create a highly targeted attack on the Empire’s main security appliance, the Death Star. However, at the Imperial board meeting convened to discuss the ramifications of the data breach, imperial executives were more concerned with point-scoring and squabbling with each other, instead of working together to find and close off possible vulnerabilities.

Darth Vader warned Admiral Motti not to be too proud of the technology the Death Star represented; and Motti retorted that Vader’s knowledge and use of The Force had not revealed the location of the stolen data. Vader found Motti’s lack of faith disturbing, but he should have been more concerned that the meeting failed to find a way to resolve the problem and fix the vulnerability.

Neither had grasped the fact that it doesn’t matter how strong you believe your security infrastructure to be; there are always vulnerabilities introduced through simple human errors or poor planning. Keeping networks and data secure requires both a clear, business-led policy and coordinated effort across IT and security teams. The product alone is not enough.

Poor authentication gives access all areas When the Millennium Falcon is captured in a tractor beam and brought into the Death Star, the Empire fails to properly inspect the vessel for payloads that could present a risk.

Then the rebel crew exploit the Empire’s weak visual authentication test by stealing Stormtrooper uniforms, which gives them unchallenged access to the Death Star’s interior, networks and defence systems.

These scenes highlight two very common security issues: first, without strong user authentication, it’s easy for a potential attacker to appear familiar and trustworthy. Simple visual checks (are you wearing an Imperial Stormtrooper uniform? Permission granted) are not enough. Security policies should take account of users’ credentials, and only grant access to users who can authenticate their identity, ideally with a 2-factor method.

Second, it’s not appropriate to give all members of staff, contractors and third parties full access to all your network

resources and data. Organisations should assess what information is business-critical, and ensure that data is only accessible by those authorised to use it.

The dangers of BYOD Having passed the Empire’s weak authentication systems on board the Death Star, R2D2 is able access confidential data on the Death Star itself, simply by plugging into an easily accessed wall port. What’s more, R2D2 isn’t just a portable storage device, but a self-propelled, intelligent robot that could not only take data anywhere, but then use that data selectively. This creates a real BYOD (Bring Your Own Droid) problem for the Empire.

Consumerisation can offer benefits, but once again needs a coherent policy to control it within an organisation. The policy needs to be supported by technologies including port or device management, data encryption, and remote lock and wipe capabilities.

In conclusion, while the Empire had clear strategic goals (i.e. ruling the Galaxy), and enormous technological and manpower resources at its disposal, it failed to apply proper policies to help manage and utilise those resources effectively. In fact, the exposed exhaust port on the Death Star was the least of the Empire’s worries.

The security lessons we can take from this are simple: focus on creating security policies that will help you reach your strategic goals, then deploy the appropriate technologies to support and enforce that policy. Do, or do not, there is no try. And may the enforcement be with you.

About Check Point Software Technologies Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, provides customers with uncompromised protection against all types of threats, reduces security complexity and lowers total cost of ownership. Check Point first pioneered the industry with FireWall-1 and its patented stateful inspection technology.

Today, Check Point continues to develop new innovations based on the Software Blade Architecture, providing customers with flexible and simple solutions that can be fully customised to meet the exact security needs of any organisation. Check Point is the only vendor to go beyond technology and define security as a business process.

Check Point 3D Security uniquely combines policy, people and enforcement for greater protection of information assets and helps organisations implement a blueprint for security that aligns with business needs. Customers include tens of thousands of organisations of all sizes, including all Fortune and Global 100 companies.

Bytes and Check Point Bytes Security Partnerships (BSP) is a Check Point Platinum partner and as such has the proven level of value-added sales, technical and support expertise required for this top tier, awarded to just 1% of all UK resellers. In 2011 BSP won the Check Point Reseller of the Year award for delivering excellent support and demonstrating an unrivalled knowledge of the Check Point software blade architecture. This ensures our clients are able to leverage maximum benefit from Check Point’s wide range of security offerings.

contact...

the BSP team with any Check Point related enquiries or for information around supporting Check Point Products on securitysales@bytes.co.uk or call the team direct on 0845 075 0560.

www.bytes.co.uk | 49

security

Good Technology is

transforming how mobile work gets done Good for Enterprise Good for Enterprise is a secure mobile email and collaboration suite It delivers an integrated, intuitive user experience that allows employees to access corporate email, documents, contacts, calendar, tasks and the Intranet from any device.

Good Vault Strong Two-Factor Authentication and S/MIME email signing and encryption It secures mail access, ensures message privacy and integrity, and enhances data protection. It leverages a Secure Element to store user keys and credentials on microSD and smart cards.

Good Connect Secure presence-enabled enterprise instant messaging (IM) app It extends corporate IM platforms (like Microsoft Lync and OCS) to mobile devices without requiring a VPN, firewall holes, or servers in the DMZ. It delivers instant messaging, presence, and corporate directory lookup, all from an easy-to-use interface.

Good Share Access, sync, and share files from SharePoint and other file servers behind the corporate firewall It enables workers to access, sync, and share corporate documents instantly with no VPN, no firewall re-configuration, and no need for extra file stores.

50 | spring/summer 2013

Good Good Dynamics The Mobile Apps Platform

It’s the perfect platform to grow and transform your business. Unique inter-app communication technology enables app-to-app secure workflows and sharing of services. With Good Dynamics, enterprises can focus on managing their apps and data, without having to manage devices they don’t own.

• Containerise any app. Embed policy controls in your in-house custom apps, even when source code is unavailable.

• Share information safely. Enable access to confidential business information from any device without risking data loss.

• Collaborate securely. Ensure constant information protection in collaborative workflows with app-to-app secure data exchange.

• Assure user privacy. Protect business information without touching personal apps and data.

• Provide wipe/lock capability. Wipe or lock potentially compromised application data.

• Enable policy controls. Enforce app-level security controls for jailbreak and root detection, password, OS requirement, app-specific custom policies and data leak prevention (DLP).

• Change policy dynamically. Modify policy over the air at any time without requiring an app update.

• Cross platform security. Control apps for iPhones, iPads, Android phones, tablets, and even HTML5 apps.

• Prevent security exploits. Block rogue app and malware access via jailbreak detection and app/device authentication validation.

• Secure infrastructure. Encrypt app data in motion and provide app-level authentication outside the firewall.

• Ensure fault tolerance. Prevent loss of operation and improve performance with high-availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) support.

• Extensive app library. Off-the-shelf apps to address any business need, all built on the Good Dynamics mobile app security platform.

Accellio-iOS-Native

Box

Breezy

DTE Axiom for iOS

Good Connect

Good Share

Good Reader

iAnnotate

iBabs Good

mobilEcho

Smart Office

Social Sites

MobileForce

Office2 Pro

MobileForce

MobileForce

Pitchboard

Roambi

more info...

or to join the weekly webinar for a live demonstration, contact our Bytes specialist helen.murphy@bytes.co.uk

www.bytes.co.uk | 51

security

Information is now becoming the real currency of competition. Enterprises that use the information they have

Integrating Your Security Technologies with

McAfee

intelligently gain a competitive advantage. The challenge is no longer about where to store it it’s how to access it differently.

Security Connected McAfee Security Connected is an open framework for integrating potentially disparate security technologies. Not only does it enable technologies to work together through collective intelligence, it also enhances each solution’s individual security capabilities, efficiencies, and effectiveness. This integrated framework delivers real-time visibility into the security and risk management profile of your business. At the same time, it automates your security solutions through policy-based deployment of counter measures.

And your security is always up to date thanks to the world’s most comprehensive threat intelligence.

The resultant visibility and control over all information flowing into or

52 | spring/summer 2013

out of the enterprise through any communications channel, supports and simplifies internal governance and regulatory compliance, helping enterprises avoid fines and other sanctions for data breaches. This enables enterprises to see how data moves anywhere in the business and deploy and manage security policies that can be applied to personallyowned consumer devices as well as corporate assets.

McAfee Security Connected empowers you to protect your business everywhere - wherever your employees and digital assets go. In addition, you’re able to optimise your security each and every day, while reducing risk, driving compliance, and improving operational efficiencies across your IT infrastructure.

The leading security threats for 2013 McAfee Labs collects an immense amount of data on malware, vulnerabilities, and threats to endpoints, networks, email, and the web. Using their Global Threat Intelligence, they analyse this data to block these intrusions and reduce the danger to their customers. Their researchers are forecasting the introduction and increase of the following threats this year: Mobile worms on victims’ machines that buy malicious apps and steal via tap-and-pay NFC Malware that blocks security updates to mobile phones Mobile phone ransomware “kits” that allow criminals without programming skills to extort payments Covert and persistent attacks deep within and beneath Windows Rapid development of ways to attack Windows 8 and HTML5 Large-scale attacks like Stuxnet that attempt to destroy infrastructure, rather than make money A further narrowing of Zeus-like targeted attacks using the Citadel Trojan, making it very difficult for security products to counter

Malware that renews a connection even after a botnet has been taken down, allowing infections to grow again The “snowshoe” spamming of legitimate products from many IP addresses, spreading out the sources and keeping the unwelcome messages flowing SMS spam from infected phones. What’s your mother trying to sell you now?

“Hacking as a Service”: Anonymous sellers and buyers in underground forums exchange malware kits and development services for money The decline of online hacktivists Anonymous, to be replaced by more politically committed or extremist groups Nation states and armies will be more frequent sources and victims of cyber threats

further info...

on Security Connected contact your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 53

security

&

Enterprise SaaS:

Too many Enterprise SaaS and Cloud vendors focus their efforts on marketing and spinning a good story to attract new customers, rather than spending time or money looking after those customers once they have signed on.

Once the ink is dry on the contract, ongoing service and support seems to be an afterthought.

54 | spring/summer 2013

According to newly released global research from The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), Enterprises value SaaS applications, particularly for emailmanagement, but customers are facing significant service and support challenges plus a lack of ongoing aftercare from their SaaS vendors.

The “SaaS with a Face” report, which asked 248 global companies currently using SaaS-based e-mail management about their usage and service satisfaction, indicates the problem is so bad that of non-Mimecast SaaS customers 22% are looking for a new SaaS email management vendor.

Given some of the largest and most aggressively marketed vendors in the Cloud email management space are publicly listed companies, it’s quite clear their drive to attract new customers is part of a shareholder-pleasing business plan. Ongoing aftercare and customer satisfaction seem not to be a concern to them.

If these vendors want to grow, they need to wise up about their customers’ expectations. Service and support is a vital addition to an Enterprise SaaS product offering; simply delivering a fancy Web 2.0 interface, or expecting your customers to fend for themselves on support forums is not enough. The ESG SaaS with a Face report identified that 66% of customers cited vendor support as an important vendor selection

criteria, only 34% noted that they had actually achieved improved service and support compared to traditional software vendors. It would seem that well-known cloud vendors are letting their customers down.

The impact of bad service and support

by SaaS email management vendors are wide and have a significant impact on their customers. When asked

what service and support challenges customers faced with their SaaS email management vendor the list of problems indicates a severe lack of aftercare; for example 27% of non-Mimecast customers were not able to find the right person to solve their problem. A further 15% reported inexperienced support staff, while missed SLAs and long support wait times were reported by 18% and 17%

respectively. Worryingly 12% of nonMimecast customers cited that some problems were never resolved.

For a true Enterprise SaaS vendor, offering industry leading service and support is an essential part of the relationship we have with our customers. Unlike other SaaS and Cloud email management vendors who build their solutions by cobbling together a collection of acquired and OEMd products, Mimecast’s infrastructure is purpose built by our own team. This means we are not tied to 3rd parties for customer service and importantly can support our own customers in the high standards they expect.

This personal level of involvement by all our service, support, development and customer facing teams means the Mimecast difference, or our “SaaS with a face”, really shows; our customers rate our award-winning customer support highly and, as a result, report satisfaction well above the industry average – 85% of Mimecast customers have no plans to move to a different vendor.

further info...

on Enterprise SaaS contact your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 55

Bytes are so confident in Mimecast that we use it ourselves

applications

Adobe Creative Cloud 速

NOW built for

BUSINESS

56 | spring/summer 2013

Creative Cloud for teams delivers the ultimate set of creative tools with the business-sized features that you need. You get the entire collection of Adobe Creative Suite® 6 software tools and exclusive updates, along with lots of team-specific features that make working together - and managing licenses - easier than ever.

All at one affordable price.

Available through the Value Incentive Plan Creative Cloud for teams is sold through the Value Incentive Plan (VIP).

VIP is a subscription-based licensing program designed for companies of all sizes. With a VIP membership, no minimum license purchase is required.

Management is easy. Deployment is immediate. And compliance is automatic. Ask your reseller for details on signing up.

WeB tOOLs

DesIGN tOOLs

What is in Creative Cloud for teams?

Creative Cloud for teams

Cs6 Design and Web Premium

Cs6 Design standard

Edit and composite images, use 3D tools, edit video, and perform advanced image analysis

x

x

stD

x

x

Adobe Illustrator® Cs6

Create vector-based graphics for print, web, video, and mobile

x

x

x

x

x

Adobe InDesign Cs6

Design professional layouts for print and digital publishing

x

x

x

Adobe Acrobat XI Pro

Create, protect, sign, collaborate on, and print PDF documents

x

Adobe Acrobat X Pro

Create, protect, sign, collaborate on, and print PDF documents

x

x

Adobe Dreamweaver® Cs6

Design, develop, and maintain standards-based websites and applications

x

x

Adobe Flash® Professional Cs6

Create rich interactive content across varied platforms and devices

x

x

Adobe Flash Builder 4.6 Premium edition

Build exceptional applications for iOS, Android,™ and BlackBerry® using a single codebase

x

x

Adobe Fireworks® Cs6

Rapidly prototype websites and applications, and optimise web graphics

x

x

Adobe Premiere Pro Cs6

Edit video with high-performance, industry-leading editing suite

x

x

x

Adobe After effects® Cs6

Create industry-standard motion graphics and visual effects

x

x

x

Adobe Audition Cs6

Create, edit, and enhance audio for broadcast, video, and fi lm

x

x

x

Adobe speedGrade™ Cs6

Manipulate light and colour in video footage

x

x

x

Adobe Prelude™ Cs6

Streamline the import and logging of video, from any video format

x

x

x

Adobe encore® Cs6

Author DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and web DVDs

x

x

x

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4

Organise, edit, and produce digital photography

x

Adobe Muse

Design and publish HTML websites without writing code

x

Adobe edge

Optimise the look and performance of websites

x

Collaboration tools

Collaborate with colleagues inside or outside your organisation, keeping fi les private or sharing at will

x

services

Access to Business Catalyst and Typekit and Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition

x

Centralised administration

Centralised purchase and license management tools to manage and scale your software investment

x

storage

100GB cloud-based storage per user

x

expert services

Direct access to Adobe product experts-two oneon-one sessions per user per year

x

PRODUCt

Use

Adobe Photoshop Cs6 extended

®

®

®

VIDeO AND AUDIO tOOLs

®

CReAtIVe CLOUD

Top benefits • Get the world’s best tools - Access all the new Adobe Creative Suite 6* desktop applications you want, plus a host of additional tools and services - Adobe Muse,™ Acrobat® XI, Photoshop® Lightroom® 4, and Adobe Edge tools and services, and more. Creative Cloud gives your team the right creative tool the moment they need it. Use our expert support services to make team members even more successful.

• Collaborate with your team Share widely, collaborate privately.

Share files with colleagues both inside and outside your organisation. Use up to 100GB of cloud-based storage and device syncing capabilities to share projects anywhere, anytime.

• Publish apps and websites Explore new outlets for your content with the publishing services included with Creative Cloud for teams. Create and host websites, deliver stunning digital apps to the iPad, and more.

• Centralise administration - Easily manage and scale your team’s software with centralised purchasing and license management tools. You and your designated administrators can quickly add, assign, or transfer seats and track usage by team members.

• Stay up to date - Get upgrades upon release, as well as new features and services as they become available.

®

®

®

Cs6 Cs6 Production Master Premium Collection

x

x

x x

x

further info...

on Adobe Creative Cloud contact your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 57

x

applications

Adobe Acrobat XI Pro

10 Great tips

for your workday

1. Create PDF files with 100% Adobe quality Generate original Adobe PDF documents with reference quality. The structure and integrity of the originals remain fully intact. Adobe PDF files can be created from Microsoft® Office with just one click – and that includes the conversion of e-mails in Outlook into PDF files.

Your advantage: low error ratio thanks to 100% Adobe PDF.

2. Easily export PDF files into Office formats Creating PDF files from Microsoft Office is easy. And it’s just as easy to export Word, Excel and PowerPoint files back from Acrobat, and then edit them as you see fit.

Your advantage: you can use content from PDF files right away with no complications.

3. Edit text and images directly At last you can edit text and images directly in PDF files just like you can with other documents. Intelligent tools ensure that the original layout and formatting are retained.

Your advantage: you don’t need the original to make alterations.

4. Permanently remove confidential information Permanently delete information – in specific text or illustrations – which is not intended for publication.

Your advantage: sensitive information is deleted with 100% certainty.

5. Convert scanned content reliably Paper documents are easy to scan and convert into Adobe PDF files. Thanks to enhanced optical character recognition, content is converted into searchable text and can be exported into Microsoft Word or Excel.

Your advantage: quick transfer of content from paper documents.

58 | spring/summer 2013

8. Archive emails as PDF files Individual emails and entire email folders from Outlook and Lotus Notes, together with their attachments, can be converted into searchable PDF files. Entire email correspondence sequences with all their associated project documents can be archived as PDF documents and handed over smoothly to other colleagues as required.

Your advantage: easy archiving of all your e-mail correspondence including all relevant information and attachments.

9. Automate recurring tasks Automate time-consuming and constantly recurring tasks using the Action Wizard. The standardised workflows are easy to manage, execute and deliver. They can be applied to one or more Adobe PDF files simultaneously.

Your advantage: you can deal with routine procedures in a single step.

6. Create interactive PDF and HTML forms With the help of the integrated Adobe FormsCentral Desktop, you can create individual forms from scratch with just a few clicks or use ready-made professional templates to design them. As these can be saved as writeable PDF files or exported as web forms – a web browser and an internet connection are all that’s required to fill them out.

Your advantage: it’s easy to create professional surveys of all kinds. *HTML forms can only be used with the optional fee-based service Adobe FormCentral

7. Speed up document reviews Streamline your internal communication with Acrobat’s commenting tools. All the people involved can see the comments made by others. This eliminates uncertainties and makes additional phone calls and meetings unnecessary, speeding up document reviews as a result.

Your advantage: review and approval processes are far more effective.

10. Review web pages easily, view them offline, and archive them Web pages can be converted into PDF documents, saved and archived using Acrobat – with all their links and subpages preserved. As PDF files, web pages can be altered quite simply during the creation phase by using Acrobat’s commenting functions. They can also be created directly from Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Your advantage: up-to-the-minute content can be archived simply, and online projects can be reviewed far more easily than before.

further info... on Adobe Acrobat XI Pro contact your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 59

Bytes has won 3 Adobe Channel Partner Awards in the last 2 years

management

the HP IT

Performance Suitefor Operations Gain the visibility you need to measure performance in detail and manage IT operations effectively.

60 | spring/summer 2013

The big picture: HP IT Performance Suite HP ITPS for Operations is part of a suite of software solutions designed to help IT and business leaders focus on supporting business strategy and delivering business value - while reducing costs and improving IT efficiencyin a very transparent manner. It gives these leaders an automated, dashboard-driven, comprehensive technology solution which is customisable at the CIO and departmental level and provides detailed visibility into every aspect of IT performance. HP ITPS gives them a method for systematically managing IT overall, while providing a means to better demonstrate to the business IT’s effectiveness, efficiency, and value. The performance - management approach embodied in HP ITPS is based on more than two years of intensive research, drawing on the experience of HP customers and HP deployment specialists. This research has given HP a deep understanding of unique IT performance management challenges, which they used to develop a sophisticated data model that simplifies data collection from a broad array of resources. That data model translates into best practices and key performance indicators (KPIs), which in turn translate into performance.

single consolidated view for IT leaders and practitioners. It is the foundation for customised IT performance systems that can: • Deliver the industry’s deepest and broadest coverage of IT-controlled assets and investments • Make it possible to build a secure and comprehensive operational environment for hybrid service delivery • Give executives the industry’s first cascaded optimisation system for mastering the business of IT In today’s complex world of data-center consolidation, virtualisation, cloud delivery, and hybrid environments, HP ITPS can give IT operations teams the means to measure what they are responsible for managing.

Figure 1. HP ITPS for operations is part of an overall performance system that spans every essential IT management functions.

HP IT Performance Suite is the industry’s first systematic approach to digitising the sensing, measuring, and instrumentation of the entire IT-controlled landscape into a

Turn insight into action into IT excellence HP ITPS for Operations is a suite within a suite that automates and orchestrates the integration and creation of new business processes for faster introduction and better management of business services. It concentrates thousands of real-time operational and security metrics into actionable insights across IT service levels including: • User satisfaction • End-user experience management • Service dependencies • Change management • Production performance management • Network management and optimisation • Transaction management across composite applications • Service performance and vendor comparison • Incident and bottleneck identification across networks, data-centers, and clouds via topology-based event correlation.

ITPS for Operations is made up of four proven, industryleading IT operations management solutions; HP Business Service Management (BSM), Data Center Automation (DCA), IT Service Management (ITSM), and Cloud Services Automation (CSA). These are augmented by the HP Universal Configuration Management Database (UCMDB) with Discovery and Dependency Mapping (DDM) and the HP Executive Scorecard.

Figure 2. The HP VP of Operations dashboard gives IT operations the visibility they need to effectively measure what they are responsible for managing.

learn more...

about the HP IT Performance Suite for Operations from your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 61

document solutions

toprint or not to Darren Spence Managing Director, Bytes Document Solutions

Global print volumes are declining. There are many reasons for this, the main ones being: • The Downturn in the Global Economy • The Explosion in Mobile Devices • Big Data Initiatives In response to the decline some printer manufactures, such as Xerox, and some managed print specialists, such as Bytes Document Solutions (BDS), have consciously decided that rather than try and stem the decline they will instead help accelerate it by helping organisations move away from print-dependent processes to automated ones.

The first stage of this transformational process, named “Business Document Automation” (BDA) involves helping organisations to understand which of their employees are printing what and why. Much work has taken place in this area, however the advancements have tended to result in products and solutions that help organisations understand which employees and departments are printing the most.

Products like Nuance Equitrac are leaders in this field.

As good and as effective as Equitrac is, it does not help organisations understand fully what business processes are generating the most amount of print. For this, a new technological solution is needed.

62 | spring/summer 2013

PRINT? BDS has been at the forefront of providing Managed Print Services (MPS) to mid-market and corporate organisations for many years (its MPS brand, Inspire 360, is highly regarded throughout the industry). However, in order to stay ahead, and in response to the factors outlined above that are driving a decline in print, BDS has been working with a number of specialist technology partners to help them innovate a brand new value proposition and brand - designed specifically to make its customers more competitive, agile and efficient.

easily, thereby eliminating the “bad paper” from the organisation.

The latest evolution of the BDS MPS proposition enables customers to understand for the first time which of their business processes are the most paper-polluting. This is done via a document analytics service which maps print output to relevant predetermined business processes. The deliverable of this service is a report that highlights which processes are capable of being automated most

Together, Inspire360 and Twenty20 deliver a turnkey document efficiency and transformational solution that minimises cost, maximises efficiency, and provides mobile workforces with an enhanced business toolset.

Due to the global decline in print; the maturing of the BDA marketplace; and the rapid advancement of technologies capable of mapping processes to printed output; BDS has established a specialist team to help organisations act on the results of the document analytics phase by transforming their core business processes to be less print-dependant.

The team, who trade under the Twenty20 brand, has one objective: To eliminate “bad paper”.

learn how...

an effective “Managed Print Service” PLUS a “Business Document Automation” solution can help your organisation contact your Bytes account manager or contact Bytes Document Solutions on 01293 543434.

partners

the New Office 365

BRIDGING the on premise DIVIDE to help our customers fully utilise the technology locked in their software licensing agreements, we have developed our Partner eco-system - designed to complete the legwork of short-listing high quality, suitably accredited suppliers from someone you trust.

From Cloud and Virtualisation strategies through to the implementation of Microsoft sharePoint, Unified Communications, security and Data BackUp services, we’ve found and recruited system Integrators and It solution Providers that share our standards and complement our software services. We call it our Partner eco-system.

Maggie Perry Microsoft & Partner Business Manager, Bytes

today with a plethora of successful deployments and even more satisfied customers under our belts, Bytes is building a strong reputation as an organisation that can not only bring sense, clarity and cost control to software licensing but also excellence in the delivery of solutions that will drive true benefit to Customers.

If you’d like to know more about how our Partner eco-system can help you unlock the true value in your licensing agreements, please read the following four articles written by our Partners or ask your Account Manager for more information about the spectrum of technologies that we can deliver and the Partners we engage with.

64 | spring/summer 2013

Tim Eichmann Chief Information Officer, Parative

“Lack of control”, “no auditing”, “security”, “less features than on premise”, “not reliable”. These are all reasons, both real and perceived, that clients gave in 2012 for not considering cloud based services.

And while most on premise systems suffer from the same issues, people expect all of this to be fixed by moving to a new system, even if they admit they probably wouldn’t ‘have the time’ to do it properly if they upgraded internally themselves. But the gap between expectation and what was actually available in the cloud was big, until now.

Q1 2013 will see the upgrade of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync in the Office 365 platform to the 2013 releases that have just come out for on premise systems. And for the first time the feature list for the cloud is no different to on premise.

reasons this level of sharing needs an Office365 or Windows Account, the User SkyDrive Pro area can allow ‘guests’ to collaborate.

Apps. Want a new fancy ‘something’ for your SharePoint Online? Well there is a store for that. Microsoft’s or your own lack of ability to run custom applications in SharePoint online was a massive gap between the on premise version. Now the cloud gets a long asked for feature to please your developers and those who just want to customise everything.

Lync Online 2013:

What’s New?

There are some features that are new for 2013, and some that we already had on premise that are now ‘new’ to the cloud. Some of these were reasons people weren’t moving to the cloud last year. And some of these will be reasons people will want to jump from old 2003/2007 on premise systems straight to 2013 in the cloud.

Exchange Online 2013: Public Folders. Yes this still is one of the biggest reasons people wouldn’t consider Exchange Online, because they just couldn’t get rid of their public folders. Well, Exchange Online 2013 gives you full support for them and you get all the shiny new features that come with them.

Team Mailboxes. This one is a combination of Exchange and SharePoint online and is a fantastic new development to bridge the gap between the two systems. Ever wanted a document library from your team site in Outlook, or email from your project mailbox to show in SharePoint? Now it’s possible!

Outlook Web App (OWA). Offline and it’s got Apps. That’s right, what used to be the lightweight web based email access for those people without the ‘full fat’ Outlook is now a fully featured, Lync chat integrated, App extended, pumped up mail client that rivals the desktop version. With HTML5 caching technology you can now take your OWA session offline to read emails on the plane, compose

new emails, and then have it all sync and send when you have internet access again. Just like the real thing.

Compliance & Reporting. A long time weakness of cloud systems, now Office 365 has full audit reports so you can see what your admins (and Microsoft’s admins) are doing in Exchange Online. Brand new features for Data Loss Prevention can stop emails containing credit cards or sensitive information from being sent and allow you to popup messages telling the user why you disabled their Send button.

SharePoint Online 2013: Sky Drive Pro. Up from 500Mb to 7Gb for each user My Site, you can ditch your on premise ‘Home Drives’ for users and push that content to the cloud. Each user’s 7GB doesn’t count towards your overall SharePoint Online pooled storage.

Real Collaboration. You can now invite people outside your company, such as vendors, business partners and customers to view, share and work with content in your SharePoint sites. This can be from whole sites, to individual documents. For security

Conference and video upgrades.

Lync conferencing management has a new interface that allows large conferences to have pictures of those people attending. When someone speaks, their image rotates to the centre of the screen so you visually know who is talking. HD video updates also mean you don’t need to buy expensive dedicated conference hardware for your boardrooms when your laptop can achieve the same.

Skype connectivity. Lync users can see the presence information of Skype users as well as initiate IM and VOIP calls. Connecting to your external clients and collaborating with nonLync users just got easy.

Lync Web App. From a PC or MAC you can join a Lync Meeting from within a web browser and get the full meeting experience, including: HD Video, Voice over IP, IM and desktop sharing. All without any installation.

Lync for Mobile devices. Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad or Android.

You can now join meetings, send IM instant message or email with just one touch. For those with ‘Lync to phone’ you can even dial a land line number over a wireless network and pay no call charges (requires specific Lync 3 plan).

find out...

more about Office 365 or how Bytes and Parative can help you to implement it, please speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 65

partners

Building the business proposition for

NEW technology This trend is exacerbated by the everevolving landscape of the technology available to organisations. This is underlined by the amount of new technology that has been released

by Microsoft in the past 12 months, with major technology releases in Windows Desktop and Server, System Center and upcoming release of Office 2013. Given their huge investment in R&D, this is a trend set to continue throughout their existence.

To assist IT in building the business proposition to deploy latest technology and secure funds for future IT projects, Risual, a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner has taken its experience in this area and wrapped clear business benefit into offerings which extract away from the underlying technology.

This gives a strategic approach to embracing these new technologies, thus increasing the return on investment by delivering early in the product lifecycle.

These customer ready strategies are outlined below: Enterprise End User Compute (EUC) Organisations want a Flexible Work style for each of their users, which is delivered by a set of products, and services that gives those users agility, flexibility and is user centric in its nature. When delivered, this gives the business increased productivity, governance and security, and provides

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there is a long-standing challenge in linking business objectives to It projects. Quite often, there are two very different languages spoken within the same organisation and despite common goals, relating It investment to tangible business return is difďŹ cult.

predictable cost management.

This strategy leverages industry frameworks such as ITIL and Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and embraces trends such as Bring Your Own Device and VDI. This eventually is delivered by a set of technology components and business processes that are made available through the Microsoft agreements and include core components such as Windows Desktop, Windows Server, Desktop Optimisation (MDOP), Office and Lync.

Optimised Service Vision As organisations mature, IT in effect evolves into a Service Provider, and the users become Service Consumers with specific requirements around Self Service, delegated control, pay per use and have a business first approach. This can be wrapped by a Service Level Agreement to ensure the right level of investment to address the business need. To deliver against this, the Service Provider can leverage several service models including Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS), Software as a Service (SAAS) and Platform as a Service (PAAS) and the delivery mechanism can be via Private, Hybrid or Public cloud services.

Today Microsoft helps deliver against these requirements with a blend of

on-premise and cloud services that include Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 and Azure.

Connected Business With the explosion of data and the challenges with storing, making intelligent decisions based upon reliable, up to date information is essential to every organisation to maximise business opportunity.

Whether that be real-time voice communication, trend analysis of historical data or planning for future investment, getting the right information to the right person at the right time is essential. Communicating to the business how this can be delivered by using Microsoft backend technologies such as SQL Services, SharePoint and Lync and surfacing that into the right endpoint device be that Windows 8 touch screen devices or even Point of Sale devices, having a strategy to deploy these technologies is how the Connected Business strategy can assist.

By having a strategic approach along with a clear methodology in designing and deploying technology solutions, Risual can assist in building the business justification for change and help you gain the maximum return on your IT investment.

for more...

information or to book a free half day session on the above strategies speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

Lync Enterprise InterCall’s Lync Enterprise voice solution re-engineers the meaning of communication.

The strategic imperative for European public sector organisations is to cut expenditure with as little impact on frontline services as possible.

The business case for Lync Enterprise Voice Public sector organisations must therefore find innovative ways to get more done with less. The key lies in mobilising staff and boosting their productivity by enabling them to connect with colleagues, information and resources whenever they need, wherever they are.

The benefits of the InterCall approach The technology estate is simplified and management costs reduced. Fewer PBX maintenance contracts will be required, less time will be spent managing heterogeneous technology and support staff can be redeployed to more business critical projects.

InterCall Enterprise Voice, running on the Microsoft Lync, the unified communications (UC) platform, can play a central role in transforming public sector processes and budgets – here’s how. The typical organisation has multiple sites, gained either through organic growth or by merging with neighbouring bodies. Over time its communications environment grows increasingly complex with different types of private branch exchanges (PBXs) installed and a significant number of expensive integrated services digital network (ISDN) connections in place. This scenario drives up both capex and opex costs because equipment from different manufacturers must be maintained throughout its life and then replaced. Then there are the associated costs of employing and training in-house technical staff to manage these technologies and their gateway protocols.

In addition to the technological benefits, InterCall Lync Enterprise Voice helps public sector organisations to achieve many of their strategic objectives, including a commitment to environmental responsibility. For instance, with Lync’s conferencing and collaboration capabilities employees can work seamlessly from remote sites, cutting transport emissions.

The answer is a tailored unified communications migration The InterCall approach tailors Lync implementations to customers’ needs. It allows for either a wholesale deployment or a step-by-step migration that optimises the investment in existing assets.

Over time, disparate PBX technologies can be integrated into one central administration directory service. When they reach end of life, they are replaced by Lync’s internet protocol capabilities, creating a hybrid communications environment that can be rolled out as user demand dictates.

Remote working can also help to address work-life balance for many employees, enabling employers to retain highly skilled, experienced staff. More remote workers means real estate can be sold which delivers cashable income and significantly cuts overheads.

Thanks to InterCall’s exceptional knowledge of Lync, gained as a member of Microsoft’s partner innovation community in Redmond, the US, one InterCall client in the North West of England immediately saved 30%on its overheads. An additional 20% saving was delivered in the following years and it increased the number of mobile workers by 40%.

Key Features • implementation tailored to customer needs • simplified technology estate • reduced management costs

find out...

more about InterCall or Lync, speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 67

partners

SQL Server 2012:

enterprise-class, cloud-ready built for BI

&

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is designed to help organisations gain a competitive edge through better use of business data. This major release of the software offers new capabilities in three key areas: enterprise-class resilience, scalability and performance; full readiness for cloud deployment; and in-built business intelligence functions.

For mission-critical applications and large-scale data warehousing, the Enterprise Edition of SQL Server 2012 provides SQL Server AlwaysOn, a unified high-availability and disasterrecovery solution. xVelocity in-memory technology delivers up to 100 times the previous performance, and finegrained data access controls help facilitate compliance.

Equally, SQL Server 2012 is cloudready – which means organisations can deploy solutions locally, then move them to the cloud without technical or licensing restrictions. Connection points in SQL Server 2012 provide easy access to the Microsoft Azure Platform, and the software is also fully interoperable with private clouds.

Finally, SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence Edition offers in-built business intelligence capabilities, combining highly scalable data warehousing with self-service analytics tools for interactive data exploration and visualisation. IT departments are under increasing pressure to make it easier to access and analyse rapidly growing amounts of data. Business users want intuitive reports and analytics at their fingertips, to help them spot trends and make informed

68 | spring/summer 2013

decisions ahead of competitors. For IT staff, the first challenge is to provide a single version of the truth, based on the right data at the right time in the right format. The second challenge is to do this in a resilient, efficient, cost-effective and sustainable way that empowers users with self-service tools.

With more than 20 years of experience in delivering major data warehousing and analytics projects, Northdoor has excellent knowledge of both the technical and business aspects of business intelligence. This includes deep technical expertise in all aspects of designing, deploying and running SQL Server environments for analytics and business intelligence.

To add value around its licensing services and help its clients maximise their return on investment, Bytes has appointed Northdoor as its services partner for Microsoft SQL Server.

find out...

Northdoor has a proven track record of success in SQL Server projects, shown in numerous client references.

For example, Northdoor recently designed and implemented a complete business intelligence solution from scratch for Stenham Asset Management (www. stenhamassetmanagement.com).

This fund manager wanted to make better investment decisions for its clients based on large volumes of fund and market data, and also to ease reporting to both clients and regulators. By deploying SQL Server 2012 BI Edition as the data hub (taking feeds from multiple internal and external sources), integrated with SharePoint for static reporting and interactive analytics, Northdoor provided a solution that is comprehensive, user-friendly and easy to support.

About Northdoor Northdoor is a long-established mid-market systems integrator and consultancy, with expertise across the full Microsoft enterprise technology stack. Holding several Microsoft Gold Competencies, including one for Business Intelligence, Northdoor provides end-to-end business solutions built on SQL Server 2012, ranging from consultancy and design through to implementation and support.

more about how Northdoor can assist with your business requirements, speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

meet the

manufacturers We’ve listed a small selection of some of the events being run or attended by our manufacturers in 2013. These events offer a perfect opportunity to meet the experts and also to network and swap ideas with peers. If you would like details of any other manufacturer events not listed here, please speak to your Bytes account manager who will be happy to assist you.

Vision 2013: Las Vegas 15-18th April 2013, Nice 8th-10th October 2013 This event offers hands-on labs, technical breakouts, in-depth training, and one-on-one time with Symantec engineers and product experts. You’ll leave the event with the knowledge, relationships, and inspiration you need to solve tough new IT challenges, squeeze even more value from your Symantec investment, and move your IT organisation toward a successful, productive future.

For information on this event: www.symantec.com/vision/

VMworld 2013: San Francisco, 26-29th August 2013, Barcelona 15-17th October 2013 Learn about the latest virtualisation technologies and strategies which can help your organisation realise its vision for a cloud computing approach to IT. In VMware’s words: “Don’t miss VMworld 2013 - where IT and business professionals learn how to navigate the daunting world of cloud computing. Not only does it demand a new level of innovation and performance, it requires the confidence to push system and software delivery to the next level. Get the tools and training you need to master this new landscape, with the speed, security and control you’ve come to expect.

We are ready. The technology is here. And the partners are in place. Move with the boldness of the industry that never sleeps - go with the power of VMware at your side.”

To pre-register interest: www.vmworld.com/community/ conference/pre-reg

CPX 2013: Barcelona 8th – 10th April 2013, Washington DC 24 - 26th April 2013 Check Point Experience is Check Point’s annual conference to bring together customers, partners and industry leaders to discuss the latest technologies and solutions surrounding the hottest topics in Internet security.

To find out more visit: www.checkpoint.com/ experience/2013/

IBM in the UK hosts a comprehensive range of events, fairs, exhibitions, seminars and conferences. Aimed at all IT professionals, including developers, their ‘IT Solution’ events provide information on current hot IT topics and full IT solutions, including software, hardware and services.

For more information visit: www.ibm.com/events/uk/en/

Citrix Synergy 2013: Los Angeles 22nd-24th May 2013, London 23rd – 25th October 2013 The conference will present the latest solutions for mobile workstyles and cloud services. Synergy will showcase the newest mobility, virtualisation, cloud, networking, and collaboration technologies from Citrix and other leading IT companies. Synergy is renowned for insights into macro IT trends, professional networking and intensive technical training - all presented in a community-focused atmosphere.

This three-day event provides unmatched value to IT professionals at all levels, from executives to administrators.

To find out more about the London event: www.citrix.co.uk/ events/citrix-synergy-2013-london.html

Oracle OpenWorld 2013: 22nd – 26th September 2013, San Francisco You’re sure to discover new ways to optimise your systems, new solutions that will help you take your business to the next level, and new practices that will make you more successful in your job and in your industry.

To find out more: www.oracle.com/openworld/index.html

IP Expo: 16-17th October 2013, Earls Court, London IP Expo is the biggest end-to-end IT infrastructure event in the UK. It receives visitors from both the private and public sectors and due to the quality of the keynote speakers and exhibitors, it’s of particular interest to those at board level, and those involved in IT stragety, management, implementation and infrastructure.

For more information visit: http://ipexpo.co.uk/

InfoSecurity 2013: 23rd - 25th April 2013, Earls Court London Infosecurity Europe is the only European event that enables industry professionals to gather vital information about the latest trends and developments in IT security, exchange ideas and shop for products and services to create security solutions. Bringing together hundreds of providers (about 350 exhibitors) showcasing the latest product and service solutions in the ever-changing IT security arena, Infosecurity Europe provides a leading platform for organisations to address constantly evolving security issues.

For full details: www.infosec.co.uk/

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case study

study case 5000 over a four week period

staff trained in 27offices spanning 19 countries around the globe

Jay Babiker Strategic Client Director, Bytes

70 | spring/summer 2013

International Law firm, Linklaters LLP, engaged Bytes Software Services’ training division to help deliver 1,200 training sessions in support of their global migration to Microsoft Office 2010.

The Challenge To provide Linklaters with a flexible and varied training solution across 27 offices globally, in support of their highly critical Microsoft Office 2003 to Office 2010 migration project.

During initial discussions and a formal presentation process, Linklaters were given a variety of learning options to mix and match, that included classroom, seminar, online and workshops in order to meet their organisational structure requirements.

Linklaters’ chosen blended training approach was to use both traditional and distance learning, which catered for their international offices and those working outside of normal working hours. Training session content needed to range from basic skills in all Office 2010 applications, to the more advanced sessions such as enhanced Excel and Visio 2010.

Sue Hall Linklaters Director of ISS

Different formats were also required to suit employees’ heavy and time consuming workloads, as well as being able to span across different time zones.

All training delivery and materials needed to be bespoke, to reflect the customised applications used within the law firm.

Our challenge was to source a team of Microsoft certified global trainers with the ability to deliver training in fluent English as well as the local language.

They also needed to be flexible towards travelling to other regional offices and proficient in various styles of delivery in order to ensure that the Linklaters training budget was maximised at all times.

Project administrators in the form of on-site personnel in the UK and Asia were required to manage training bookings, cancellations and office logistics, as well as handling queries from trainers and learners on a 24/7 basis across the globe.

The Bytes Solution Working alongside our global training partners, we conducted a large recruitment campaign, sourcing trainers for each office to deliver classroom training in English - with an understanding of the local language.

In order to provide a real time and an online solution for employees, web conferencing sessions were planned across the 3 time zones of Asia, Europe (including UK) and the Americas.

To ensure that the trainers were familiar with Linklaters’ customised use of applications and to have an understanding of their learning culture, a two week intensive induction programme was arranged ahead of the roll out. In addition, a team of backup trainers were provided to cover any cases of absenteeism.

Specialist trainers were also recruited to train a global user group on Project, Visio, and advanced Excel. This was again conducted via live web conferencing facilities.

Bytes Software Services were able to provide us with a flexible approach in providing a team of high quality and appropriately qualified trainers to deliver training in a number of our offices. They quickly understood our requirements and provided us with a robust and well supported solution.

A user-friendly 24/7 online system was provided for learners to book relevant courses which was managed by the project administrators, who were also responsible for further training deployment activities.

These included: • Scheduling course timetables • Dealing with cancellations and re-bookings • Liaising with the relevant offices and booking training rooms • Securing flights and accommodation To ensure coverage of all time zones, extra resources were on hand in New York and Hong Kong to manage the scheduling of courses, under the guidance of the UK team.

The Result • 5,000 employees, in 27 offices, across 19 countries successfully trained over a 4 week period • 1,200 classroom sessions delivered • 300 live web conferencing sessions conducted by 5 trainers • 45 trainers and administrators initially interviewed with 29 successfully approved and recruited to the project • 2 specialist master trainers used to teach advanced user group skills, delivering 14 specialist live online sessions within 20 days • 2 administrators employed on a full time basis for 40 days throughout the deployment The Benefits: From an initial consultation and tendering process, to the above results being achieved, the Linklaters Office 2010 migration training project ran according to the agreed schedule throughout and within budget.

customer profile Company: Linklaters Industry: Legal Countries: 19 Revenues: £1.2dn Employees: 5000 Website: www.linklaters.com Bytes Solutions Provided: • A team of Microsoft certified global trainers to deliver courses in English and local languages • Bespoke training delivery and materials • 24/7 scheduling support • Onsite Training Administrators to manage scheduling and logistics of training • 27 trainers to deliver 1200 classroom sessions in 4 weeks Key Benefits: • Large, established network of training partners meant that highly skilled, multi-lingual trainers were quickly made available • A flexible approach with a willingness to plug skills where required • Able to provide multiple training styles in a blended format which ensured strong uptake within a short time frame • Highly responsive escalation process

BYTES TV hear what our customers think about us www.bytes.co.uk/bytestv

www.bytes.co.uk | 71

interview

in the

hotseat David Tweddle

Head of Oracle Alliance and Channels UK and Ireland In this feature we interview a senior figure from the world of IT. We ask them a bit about their view of technology from their perspective, but mostly we like to be nosey and find out about the person behind the job title!

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a soldier.... and I was.

I did 14 years in the Army and left in 1995 to join Azlan (VAD). The reason I wanted to be a soldier was: I would get my own bed - I was sick of having to share with my brother.... we were poor in Newcastle in 1980.

What was your first job?

Cleaner, my family managed pubs in Newcastle so I was the bottle boy and the cleaner for my dad. I was 12 when I started this, I used to do it before I went to school.

72 | spring/summer 2013

What was your first job in IT & what year?

I was a Computer engineer fixing Tank IT systems, then fixing Cheftain Weapon guidance systems in the army, so early 1980’s.

What is your current job title?

Head of Alliance and Channels UK and Ireland.

In a nutshell what does your current job entail?

Managing 1500 registered Oracle partners via 4 Sales Directors who deliver $650million, over 60% of Oracle UK revenue. These Sales directors manage 32 Partner Managers who have the responsibility of delivering incremental revenue to Oracle from new territories driving Applications, Technology and Hardware revenues. I am a UK Board member and the only member of the board with a compensation plan for all 2346 Oracle products.

What do you think was the single biggest & most beneficial influence on IT in the last 20 years and why?

The Internet; it has transformed every vertical industry and has actually given IT a place in the Boardroom. Why? ...because of its ability to reduce cost or increase revenues through smarter and more agile business flow.

What do you think will be the next ‘big thing’ in IT & why?

Big Data – Because the “Internet of things” will be capturing Petabytes of data and the key to unlocking the commercial value from all this data will be through IT Analytics. The advent of social media will only increase the amount of data to be stored, it’s just growing and growing but how do we monetize it?

What piece of technology could you not live without & why?

My Motor home, I class it as technology because it has a flat screen telly. If I didn’t have this vehicle I would go mad. It’s my sanctuary and enables my wife and I to get away on the bikes and in the kayaks.

If you could have lunch with three famous people past or present who would you choose & why?

Sir Winston Churchill - In the darkest days of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain he had to make some tough decisions, like allowing the bombing of Coventry........ I would ask “how do you reconcile with the hard choices?”

Dave Brailsford – UK Cycling Director, the man responsible for managing Sir Bradley. How does he think, what does he say to motivate and inspire these world class athletes? What drives him?

Jesus Christ – Wow, how many questions would I have for him and his theories, like what’s his view on Darwinism? How was the earth created in 7 days? What was it like being the only person to come back from the dead?

What was the last book you read and what did you think of it?

1027 amazing facts from QI – I retain stupid facts and this book is amazing, did you know an octopus has 3 hearts?

Peter James Dead series, very interesting with good sub stories and its UK based so it’s easy to associate with the places and behaviours.

What is your favourite TV Programme?

Ringside, it’s a Boxing show at 7pm on Thursdays, it inspires and motivates me. It also makes me realise that I am not the only person in the world that gets punch drunk after a session at work, well that’s how I feel after 3 forecast calls in 4 hours sometimes.

What is your greatest achievement?

Delivering my three children to success in their lives. Two now work for Oracle and one is a director in a flooring company, they have all moved out and delivered two grandchildren......... my work here is done, I am spent.

What are your hobbies?

My Family. The Gym, I use Calorie counter to help me manage my exercise, I do on average 7,000Kcal in the gym or on my bike in a week.

I have just started Bikram Yoga, hot yoga, wow its tough!

Do you have a favourite saying or motto, if so what is it?

If you’re going through hell, keep going. – Sir Winston Churchill.

What is your favourite biscuit & why?

4 Finger KitKat – I bite the thick chocolate off the end and then dip it my tea and allow the chocolate to melt as I eat it. I have one every day in the afternoon.

If you were asking the questions for this piece, what single question would you ask?

What have you done today to inspire someone or make a difference to someone else’s life?

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional - with whom would it be and why?

My wife, just to see if I am as big a pain in the backside as she says I am.

Plus I could see if I really do snore, because I have never heard myself do it.

If you were given a month off and the money for the fares and accommodation, where in the world would you go and why?

I would spend the time in that well known holiday resort..... Reading! I would choose this so I could have my family around me, go for walks and take my grandchildren swimming. So I would take the money and stay at home - that is where I am happiest.

What would be your 8 ‘desert island discs’? (and which ONE track would you choose if only allowed one) Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin, And I love you so – Elvis, Insomnia – Faithless, Firestarter – Prodigy, Have I told you lately that I love you - Van Morrison, Mr Blue Sky – ELO, The fog on the Tyne is all mine – Gazza. If I was only allowed one track, it would be English Rose by the Jam, it’s just an amazing track - it resonates with my loving of home.

What and where is your favourite restaurant?

The Chinese at Woodley shops (Want Want Chinese). It’s easy, it’s close and it knows exactly what I like! Also, the people in there are real, unlike some of the “trendy” City places I frequent on a weekly basis.

....and what is your answer to the above question?

As a Samaritan (not in the slightest religious) I will be working with suicidal prisoners in Reading jail tonight.

They are not all bad lads and given guidance they will change.

www.bytes.co.uk | 73

regular

tryBefore YOUbuy Offers a broad range of products on a trial basis, to view the current selection visit: www.adobe.com/uk/downloads/

For a 30 day evaluation of Becrypt software, register your interest here: www.becrypt.com/evaluation-request

Offers various free trials on its site located at: www.checkpoint.com/products/trials/index.html

A comprehensive Trial centre, providing downloads of many Citrix products: www.citrix.com/downloads.html

Download a free 30 day trial of Good for Enterprise at: www.good.com/resources/trygood

Kaspersky offers 30 day trials for several of its products across the small office, business and corporate spectrum. www.kaspersky.co.uk/trials

Try LANDesk’s top selling products before you buy them or read what analysts have to say about LANDesk. www.landesk.com/downloads/

To trial a broad selection of Microsoft software and service packs visit: www.microsoft.com/downloads/en-us/default.aspx

Software vendors offer a huge range of products and solutions on a try before you buy basis, below is a small selection of some of the most popular:

A broad range of Oracle products available for educational and trial purposes are available free of charge at: www.oracle.com/technetwork/indexes/ downloads/index.html ‌If you already have a commercial license you should use the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud located here: https://edelivery.oracle.com/

To try RSA secureID for free visit: www.emc.com/security/index.htm

Put Sophos products to the test at: www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-trials.aspx

Offers a comprehensive range of trialware on its site: www.symantec.com/en/uk/business/products/ downloads/index.jsp

A good selection of Trend Micro products available to download here: http://downloadcenter.trendmicro.com/index. php?regs=uk

Offers a free download of Veeam ONE for VMware and Hyper V at: www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-reporter-free.html

Download and evaluate VMware Desktop and Datacenter products from: www.vmware.com/tryvmware/

Live and video online demos + evaluation products available at: www.websense.com/content/evaluations.aspx Trial versions of McAfee SaaS Endpoint Protection Suite & McAfee SaaS Total Protection + several others are available at: www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/downloads.aspx

74 | spring/summer 2013

BYTES SOFTWARE & LICENSING SERVICES UK and Global Software Licensing Experts “Bytes have helped Tesco make significant savings by effective and intelligent management of our licensing entitlements.

They manage our global requirements, are able to keep us abreast of new and relevant licensing changes and apply these to our requirements ensuring we are always licensed in the best way possible”.

James McNulty, Head of Tesco Group IT Procurement

Bytes Software Licensing Services With over 600 different vendors to choose from, and with over 20 years’ experience providing software solutions to businesses, Bytes is perfectly positioned to meet your software licensing needs.

Amongst other benefits, Bytes utilise their purchasing power and strong relationships with software vendors to negotiate the best possible rates, whether it’s volume licensing or specialist software.

But we’re not simply about maximising your procurement budget. All of our team are experts in software licensing which enables us to provide you a truly focussed level of software licensing knowledge and support. We provide information about current software enhancements and other announcements as they happen and can recommend the solutions from established and emerging technology vendors.

But of course, the key benefit to you is how much we can save you. By analysing and assessing your current software usage (see our TLC offer below) we can re-shape your license model to fit prevalent vendor discounting offers, and by using our intimate knowledge of vendor license agreements we can maximise the right deal for all parties.

Imagine a situation in which your software requirements are accurately predicted both

now and years into the future. Bytes can make this a reality by analysing your IT infrastructure and comparing it to growing trends in the market, allowing us to recommend licensing agreements that are both cost-efficient and flexible enough to grow with your business.

Bytes International Licensing International companies with a global software requirement will benefit from our specialist knowledge of international licensing. We are highly experienced in handling the myriad of different approaches to managing ICT systems internationally, helping you to overcome the technological and cultural barriers to local adoption. In order to gain you the best price possible, we can also use the foreign exchange markets to purchase the software in the most cost-effective currency.

The Bytes Portal Everything comes together through the Bytes Portal, including: The Service Desk – a quick and easy communication channel into Bytes.

Online Ordering – purchasing your software has never been easier, and the flexible system is entirely tailored towards your company’s needs.

Contract and Maintenance Management – existing licences are tracked with a traffic light system and warnings issued when the licence renewal dates are approaching. During each stage of the process the system feeds back information, which we can use to negotiate favourable rates for software renewals.

Mandi Nicholson Bytes Sales Director

learn more...

about Bytes Software & Licensing Services and SAM services, please speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 75

BYTES SAM SERVICES Software Asset Management isn’t just about compliance, it’s importance in large corporations for increasing performance and profits is becoming clear.

Software Asset Management has been a necessary consideration for large companies for the past ten years, and Bytes have been at the forefront of this industry since day one. Many companies claim to offer SAM, but very few prioritise it as a core service. We are a Microsoft Gold Partner for SAM and were instrumental in establishing the ISO19770 standard in 2007.

For companies that are using, or looking to use a Software Asset Management company, Bytes have three packages that will ensure your company is maximising the efficiency of its software estate.

Taking one package does not restrict you from utilising parts of another; in fact many of our clients will later pick and choose various products from within another service range because either their internal structure changes, or because they find they waste less time, resources and money by outsourcing some of their SAM requirements to us.

1. A Software License Review (SLR): The first package is a full software asset audit, which gives companies a clear picture of their current software portfolio status and a definitive account of software users. We can utilise your existing SAM software, such as Altiris, SCCM, LANdesk, to name but a few, or we can use our own system to conduct the review. Fundamentally this package is designed for customers that need to inventory their software assets either for compliancy reasons, or to ensure they are making full use of their software investment. In both instances it is imperative that a completely accurate picture is generated from the audit, and Bytes will provide you with exactly that.

76 | spring/summer 2013

2. Asset Management Platform (AMP): For a continual overview of your software portfolio, we can supply and implement one of the world’s most respected SAM platforms – Snow License Manager. Snow License Manager is fully ISO 19770 and ITIL compliant and comes highly recommend by us. This package principally involves supplying and implementing the software; however, we can also provide both technical support and assistance with system controls and data entry.

3. The Bytes Asset Management Service (AMS): For those who do not have the time or resources to manage their software portfolio, Bytes offer a fully managed SAM solution. From initial audit and installation of an Asset Management Platform, we can take total control over usage, licenses, vendor audits, procurement and end-of-life software. To augment this service we have created a bespoke online resource that allows you to monitor and control your software estate in real time. The Bytes Portal is easy to use, extremely practical and very cost-effective.

Chris Hibbert Bytes SAM General Manager

“ Throughout the SAM process, Bytes demonstrated a tremendous level of knowledge and provided us with an extraordinary service.

They’ve proved their value to the firm and have earned their place as one of our trusted business partners”.

Brian Lunnon, IT Manager, Martineau Johnson

BYTES LEARNING SERVICES Finding the right training course for you and your organisation just got easier!

In 2010 Bytes organised 2,786 courses across 400 companies, in both the UK and internationally. Our independent position, coupled with our extensive knowledge and close relationships with all major vendors, means that we can source the highest standard of courses covering all forms of software learning, management and personal development. We can cater for all requirements and budgets, utilising our buying power to offer our customers the best rates.

Our Learning Solutions team was established in 2000 and continues to grow as the importance of software and management learning becomes recognised. Our experience, systems and partners, means that whatever the course you’re looking for, we’re confident we can find it for you in less time and at lower cost.

The range of training courses offered: • Vendor specific courses including Microsoft, Oracle, Unix, VMware, Adobe, Citrix, Symantec, Cisco, Juniper, Novell, IBM, Lotus and many more.

• Management & Personal Development.

• Information Technology Areas including Virtualisation, Infrastructure, Networking, IT security, PC Maintenance, Software Licensing.

• Data & Telecommunications.

• Project, Programme & Service Management including Prince2 and ITIL. • Desktop Applications from Adobe, Lotus, Microsoft to bespoke.

Bytes have consistently provided us with an excellent service. It is invaluable for us to have a supplier with such impeccable professionalism” Brian Lunnon, IT Manager, Martineau Johnson

Bytes offer a range of learning services to meet our customer specific requirements:

Bespoke training

If you need something that’s not ‘off the shelf’, let us know what you are looking for and we can put together a training solution to fit. Whether it’s a mix of technologies and vendors or the need for tailored on-site or off-site courses we can help. eLearning The most cost and time effective method of on-line training available.

Whether it’s standalone or as part of a blended training solution, eLearning courses can provide the most flexible solution. All our eLearning courses are provided by our training solutions partner, Arc IT Training.

Bytes Licensing Academy

We offer two courses: ‘Licensing Essentials’ and ‘SAM Best Practice’. The Bytes Licensing Academy has been developed for our customers to help understand the complexities of software licensing and software asset management. These half day courses - vendor-specific or generic - are run by Bytes and they are for both the novice and experienced.

Training Budget Services

To help our customers maximise their training budgets, we offer a range of services designed to fit a variety of budgets and payment systems.

Prepayment discounting and price freezing along with prepayment budget management are some of the payment methods offered.

learn more...

about Bytes Learning Services, please speak to your Bytes account manager on 020 8786 1500.

www.bytes.co.uk | 77

awards

&

Key achievements

accred

A small selection of some of the awards we have

awards won recently:

• Microscope Innovative Reseller of the Year 2012 - Winner • CRN Enterprise Reseller of the Year 2012 - Winner • Microsoft Corporate Accounts LAR Partner of the Year 2012 - Finalist • National Business Awards 2012 – Rating: Excellent

CRN Enterprise Reseller of the Year 2012 Winner

• European Check Point Reseller of the Year 2011 - Winner • Xerox Premier Partner of the Year 2012 – Winner

Microscope Innovative Reseller of the Year 2012 Winner

Our vendor team is made up of a number of specialists who are dedicated to specific vendors and technology areas. Acting as an overlay to the account managers, they ensure that our customers receive the best advice on the solutions available and negotiate hard with vendors in order to receive the most competitive cost.

Security Partnerships has long been a key partner for Check Point, and the acquisition by Bytes Technology Group will further strengthen our relationship. The company adds real value in the solutions it delivers to customers, using Check Point technology to simplify complex security challenges.

National Business Awards 2012 Rating: Excellent

Xerox have been working with Bytes for 30 years. As our longest serving and largest partner across Europe and Africa they are always professional, dedicated and offer exceptional service, with customer satisfaction their number one priority.

Mark Duffelen Director & General Manager, UK Channels Group, Xerox

Terry Greer-King UK Managing Director, Check Point Adam Thornton Manager, Vendor Solutions Team, Bytes

78 | spring/summer 2013

accreditations

itations

Bytes are one of our most proactive and dynamic partners and work with us and our mutual clients to deliver very high levels of service. They have continually demonstrated a first class knowledge of the products and solutions to the clients with the customer’s business priorities at the forefront of their minds.

Jeremy Keefe Director ERM Sales and Marketing UK, Citrix

Strategic Partnerships Platinum Partner

Gold Partner

Gold solution Advisor

Gold Certified Partner (Volume Licensing & sAM)

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

Affiliate elite Partner

Platinum Partner

Authorised Partner

Premier Partner

Platinum Partner

Premier Partner

Strong Relationships enterprise Partner

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

Authorised Partner

Partner

Premier Partner

Gold Partner

silver Partner

solution Provider

Partner

Registered Partner

Authorised Partner

silver Partner

Authorised Partner

VAR Partner

silver Business Partner

Business Partner

silver Partner

Authorised Partner

Certified Partner

expert solutions Provider

Authorised Partner

Business Partner

Premier Partner

Platinum Partner

Approved service Corporate Provider Reseller

Gold Partner

Red Hat Ready

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

service PremierProvider Partner

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

Affinity One Partner

service silver Partner Provider

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

Gold Partner

Accredited Partner

www.bytes.co.uk | 79

Bytes has been

making software licensing clear since 1982 EA

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SELECTPLUS

bytes.co.uk

Since 1982