Bell Micro Channel Voice 4

Channel ISSUE 4

VOICE The Enterprise Newsletter from Bell Micro

Putting all the IT pieces together means finding the ‘solution’ to new business.

Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0, a unified endpoint security solution

Solution Selling, customers often want to talk about technology in terms of business issues and drivers they face rather than hardware and software

Look out in this issue for: Hitachi Data Systems Solutions for storage consolidation – midsized organisations

An introduction to NetApp

The Bell Micro 2008 Charity – CLIC Sargent, the leading children’s cancer charity.

Plus important news on VMware virtualisation services from Hewlett-Packard, the latest server and storage technologies from Apple, an update on Infrastructure Management for the “Distributed IT” environment from Lantronix and the latest advancements in Virtualisation and Thin Provisioning from Datacore.

www.bellmicro.eu

www.bellmicro.eu

Expanding choices is the solution This edition of Channel Voice is all about solutions. As a business we are listening to each of our channel partners and what we hear is that a large slice of today’s new business opportunity lies in expanding the technology discussion. No element of IT exists in isolation and it is more important than ever to consider issues such as the broader business processes, each strand of integrating technology and the future plans and strategies of the organisation.

A key part of Bell Micro’s response to these issues is to provide our business partners with choices. Providing one place for you to access the many varied technologies that your customer IT environment demands. At the same time supplying you with the skills, expertise and business insight that is necessary to scope and deploy these elements accurately and without incident.

More vendors mean bigger, better, broader choices for you and your customers. Just recently we have signed agreements with leading vendors including HDS, NetApp & Apple, further enabling our partners to deliver an end to end solution using a range of complimentary vendors, and building on the marketleading offerings from our core vendor partners HP, IBM, Symantec, Secure Computing, RSA and Microsoft.

Bell Micro is also assisting partners at every step of the solution sales process. Our Account Support and Pre-sales teams are on hand to help partners to fully scope any IT opportunity and accurately quote the various elements of the solution. Bell Micro Partner Services are then on-hand to work alongside your team to deliver the solution. Their expertise means our partners can move into new areas of business or bigger projects, without having to invest heavily in technical resource before seeing a pipeline building.

The Bell Micro enterprise channel represents some of the leading vendors in the server, storage, security, software and services markets. We pride ourselves in providing first class sales tools, training and resources to our channel partners through a number of vendor-centric programmes displayed in this image: web portals, How to Sell Guides, reference sheets and partner programmes.

The diagram illustrates the campaigns we have developed to help resellers market whole IT solutions to their customers, rather than point product. This is where a key value add of Bell Micro lies – in being able to tie together different parts of an infrastructure enabling our channel partners to confidently address projects of greater value with their customers.

More recently we have created an online marketing resource campaignWORKS, launched November 2007, focusing on today’s business drivers including consolidation, virtualisation and Green IT. Bell Micro will continue to invest in developing these solutionsled programmes and building the key vendor relationships that support our partners in their own quest for better, bigger business.

John Toal, Director of Enterprise Channel

www.bellmicro.eu

The future looks promising for Europe’s IT business according to a recent report by IT Europa. Leading IT news source, The European Technology Survey (ETech) 2007, conducted the research, contacting over 20,000 directors in 8,000 companies to provide a thorough analysis of all aspects of the European IT Market and the channels that serve it.

Almost one third of respondents reported they felt much more confident about prospects for their business for the next 12 months. Whilst over 70% of respondents expected revenue, orders and profit to rise in the next 12 months.

The market research also investigated market trends to provide those in the channel with a strong insight into the issues, technologies and business drivers that will determine activity over the coming 12 months.

Value-add around services is the consistent theme emerging from the research. With big areas of growth identified as systems integration, consultancy, maintenance and support and enterprise software.

Respondents were specifically asked to provide an opinion on the storage market and listed storage management as the single biggest issue facing business followed by business continuity, data integrity and email management. There wasn’t much between these key issues with storage consolidation a close 5th.

Again it seems that resellers need to be able to talk and deliver broadly around this ever more important IT driver.

In terms of IT as a whole the key business drivers identified were cost led with improving ROI and reducing costs dominating the agenda. Security came third followed by IT as a source of competitive advantage and remote/flexible working also listed as a key driver. It will be critical for resellers to accommodate these messages during 2008.

Participants in the survey focussed their opinions on major vendors’ performance, in terms of quality of products, service, marketing effectiveness and partner programme activity. Perhaps of little surprise, HP, IBM and Microsoft rated well in all sectors – setting a benchmark for the rest to aspire to.

The survey certainly provides food for thought as it offers a collectively authoritative voice on where resellers need to focus sales and marketing activity and opportunities for growth.

www.bellmicro.eu

BIG News in Security We want to celebrate the fact that Bell Micro is one of the UK’s largest IT security distributors and we don’t mind who knows about it. That’s why we have recently invested in an extensive advertising campaign across the IT trade titles.

BIG is the theme of these adverts because not

business and develop better opportunities

only are we a sizeable value and volume

through security solutions. See what the vendors

distributor for security, Bell Micro is also very

are doing, find out about the Bell Micro Security

focussed on expanding our already extensive

Academy and follow the links through to our

vendor network. We are providing our reseller

detailed solutions guides – helping you to build

partners with access to the broadest portfolio

more profitable, secure business relationships.

of security solutions, each and every one backed up by our in-house expertise to ensure easy sales and implementation.

Because we are big, not just in the UK, but also globally – we are able to leverage real support from the vendor. This close vendor contact provides your customers with the very best expertise in pre-sales and account support as well as implementation.

Of course security does not exist in isolation as an IT business issue. That’s why our specialist

www.teambehindyourteam.com makes it easy

team has a broad knowledge of the vendor

for you to locate the right person in Bell Micro

technologies and IT skillsets that prevail across

to help you solve your customers’ IT security

our business, from the smallest SMB to

issues. Browse through the personal profiles

enterprise environments. This holistic view

of our specialist teams to quickly reach the

ensures that we provide sound, investment

expertise you require. We want our people to

friendly advice and can help you extend many

become part of your extended sales team,

deals into a wider solution sale.

always available to help you answer IT security queries, quickly and accurately scoping

Service is a big deal for Bell Micro Security.

To make it as simple as possible for you to gather information around vendors, products and solutions or simply to contact the right person inside our organisation, we have created two microsites.

At www.bellmicrosecurity.co.uk you access the latest information relating to our security vendor portfolio, see the latest promotions and get a clear picture of the services we can provide to help you win security based

opportunities to secure business.

www.bellmicro.eu

Security Soundbite – Phishing in social networking sites Cyber con artists looking to elicit sensitive information from web users is no new thing.

However the explosion in social networking sites has given the issue much greater prominence.

All web users, including an increasing number accessing profiles from their work environment are generating real risk for themselves and the network.

The problem stems from the ‘trusted’ nature of the invitations being received from both phishers and offline identity thieves. Our research shows that recipients are not only much more likely to respond to a message from a friend or known associate, but the likelihood of them passing on sensitive information, including credit card details, is also significantly greater in this situation.

Genuine users have so far been comfortable posting or distributing information such as name, address and postcode online. Phishers are harvesting this data from social networking sites enabling powerfully personalised messages to be sent to potential victims, so called spear phishing attacks. Fake profiles are also used to create false friendships, for misuse at a later stage.

Scammers can now purchase lists of users from social networking sites, with data broken down demographically for close targeting of users.

Some phishers are emailing invitations to associates, creating login screens that falsely represent the social site landing screen and using this opportunity to acquire genuine user names and passwords. Since many people use just one password for all their online activity, this knowledge can prove incredibly fruitful in the wrong hands.

For businesses the implications of staff using social networking sites are significant, not just in terms of lost productivity but also the real risk to the business. It is imperative that your customers take a strategic view on use of these sites, creating or updating their policies for users and investigating the emerging technologies that can contribute to safe, secure access for their employees, as well as their customers.

Talk to Bell Micro’s Security team about how we can help you approach this subject in more detail with your customers.

Telephone 0871 230 4670 or email security-uk@bellmicro.eu.

www.bellmicro.eu

A unified endpoint security solution‌

Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 Customers are demanding more from their security providers.

Keeping their mission-critical systems running efficiently, while facing a growing number of security threats to their business, is an issue that all customers face. The consequence of security breaches and the impact on their brand and reputation dictates a leading solution.

Your customers can now benefit from unified, fully integrated world-class technology. This solution is composed of a single agent and management console for anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, device control, intrusion prevention and network access control*. The innovative integration of these technologies results in a reduced footprint when compared to previous versions of Symantec AntiVirus.

Symantec™ Endpoint Protection 11.0 combines Symantec AntiVirus with advanced threat prevention in a single agent delivering unparalleled defence against malware for laptops, desktops and servers. It enables you to integrate and implement these unparalleled technologies into any size customer or environment. With the addition of Symantec™ Network Access Control 11.0*, you can

increase the protection for your customers without added complexity. One reporting tool providing status on all six protection technologies for any personal computer on the network means that administration is reduced for you and your customers. (*Symantec Network Access Control is an optional purchase and requires other servers) Bell Micro can provide a full range of technical education, sales, practical training and efficient logistics. Our skilled specialists are available to extend your own capabilities, ensuring that you can deliver everything your customer needs with a Symantec solution. For further information on Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 please visit www.protectionbeyondcompromise.com

To understand in detail how Bell Micro can help your Symantec business, contact your Account Manager, or call Jamie Farrelly on 07770 210293.

www.bellmicro.eu

Solution Selling At Bell Micro we understand that your customers often want to talk about technology in terms of the business issues and drivers they face rather than simply about the hardware, software and infrastructure elements. Much of the buzz they will see in the industry from vendors and trade titles will focus on these solutions issues such as consolidation, data management and green IT.

To view these guides, please see www.partner-services.co.uk/solutions_guides.aspx or for further information, please speak to your Bell Micro Account Manager. campaignWORKS is available to view at www.bellmicro.eu/campaignWORKS, again your account manager can provide you with access.

Similarly, solution selling is a proven method for expanding the scope and profitability of your hard-won existing accounts.

Very often the business needs already exist in your customer’s organisation, the skill for resellers to adopt is understanding and opportunity spotting the technologies and services that are complementary to the products that you are already successfully selling and delivering.

To help your sales team build these business arguments we have put together a range of ‘Solutions Guides’ covering the core needs of your customers including; server and storage consolidation, virtualisation, compliance & ILM, systems management, business continuity, high availability, data management and green IT. The guides illustrate the key issues behind these solutions, the

technology that is relevant to these areas and how Bell Micro and our vendor partners can support you in scoping and winning this business.

To help you market these solutions, Bell Micro has invested in a sophisticated online tool that we have called campaignWORKS. Simple to use, it enables even those with no marketing, design or copy skills to circumvent the agency and marketing process by simply building your own direct mail pieces and e-shots online.

Eliminate agency costs, forget long meetings discussing marketing strategy – you can quickly and cost-effectively produce, print and distribute solutions marketing campaigns in this one place.

www.bellmicro.eu

Putting VMware virtualisation to work HP VMware Capacity Planner Assessment Service This service offers your business an effective way to measure what it needs to make the most of your IT environment. The HP VMware Capacity Planner Assessment Service begins by automatically capturing and tracking data over a 30-day span. It then gives you a visual representation of historical use patterns in a form that’s easy to use.

It’s not surprising that virtualisation is rapidly becoming a vital, mainstream technology. By pooling and sharing resources, a virtualised server environment allows your server capacity to automatically expand and shrink to meet changing workload demands.

The assessment service also gives you a simple, practical way to test alternative scenarios in order to gauge the effects of changing workloads on critical applications, enabling you to plan the best way to implement a virtual environment and improve server use. Designed to reduce IT costs in several important ways, the service shows you how to increase the utilisation of your servers by consolidating and virtualising them. Then you can remove unnecessary equipment, reducing space requirements in your datacentre. Consolidation and virtualisation also reduce power and cooling requirements. In short, the HP VMware Capacity Planner Assessment Service can help you plan and implement a more efficient use of your IT infrastructure. HP will consult with you on the results of your assessment to make recommendations for IT consolidation and virtualisation. The goal is to give you clear, definitive answers to a number of key questions:

There are 3 levels of VMware Capacity Planner Assessment Service: 1. 50-Server 2. 200-Server 3. 1000-Server

• • • • • • • •

•

•

•

How many legacy servers do I have?

How many legacy servers can or should be retired?

How many can be consolidated?

What legacy servers should you consolidate from?

What target servers (from inventory or a catalogue) should you consolidate to?

What performance can we expect after consolidation?

What are the quantifiable benefits?

How can I identify potential opportunities to reduce costs?

– By managing less equipment – By reducing the space needed for your datacentre – By simplifying power and cooling requirements – By enabling more customer services per compute node How can I increase performance?

– By simplifying IT and reducing complexity – By improving quality of service to business How can I increase agility?

– By efficiently managing change – By increasing speed of implemention of new IT projects and making modifications How can I mitigate risk?

– By reducing risk of starting new IT projects – By minimising business downtime, or even eliminating it through the joint usage of HP Server management software (HP SIM and HP Virtual Machine Manager)

For further information, please see www.bellmicro.eu/goingreen/HP_Technical_Services.aspx or call the Partner Services Hotline on 0871 230 4999.

www.bellmicro.eu

Flexible storage is child’s play Bringing Virtualisation and Thin Provisioning to any storage Pioneers of storage virtualisation, DataCore Software, has recently set the stage to revolutionise the way that SANs and virtual storage are recommended.

With DataCore solutions, you can now have a virtualised and thinly-provisioned storage area network (SAN) in a total ‘virtual server’ and hardware independent environment, as DataCore has released SANmelody and SANsymphony as virtual storage solutions that can run hardware free.

All virtual server environments are supported including VMware, XenSource, Microsoft and Virtual Iron. Previously, SANmelody and SANsymphony ran as standard applications on physical servers, or were installed on dedicated virtual machines. But today running SANmelody allows users to cleverly turn a server into an IP SAN array - with the server acting as a storage controller. Importantly, the solutions feature thin provisioning to help save on redundant disk purchases – allowing companies of all sizes to dramatically save by virtualising and consolidating their available storage.

Thin provisioning works by presenting pre-defined virtual volumes from the central storage pool to the applications, while the capacity is allocated automatically and only when really needed. To support enterprise accounts, SANsymphony provides enterprise level functionality and supports both Fibre Channel and iSCSI. DataCore’s Traveller Continuous Data Protection solution can also run virtual, allowing roll backs to any given point in time.

DataCore’s storage virtualisation software works with nearly all storage hardware and O/S, including Windows, MacOS, Linux, UNIX, Solaris, AIX, and NetWare servers, whether physical or virtual.

What this means on the ground is that recommending a SAN infrastructure is now simpler and easier for partners, allowing their customers to standardise on a virtual server environment.

DataCore is so confident in its technology, that it has become the first vendor to offer thin provisioning on a free trial download, for both partners and end users.

Previously potential users have limited access to this technology because vendors restrict their thin provisioning solutions to work only with their own higher priced storage arrays and disks. DataCore has made thin provisioning an open network-

based service that works with nearly all storage brands and devices. By offering storage consolidation and thin provisioning as a complete solution, DataCore gives users the ability to irradicate inefficient, storage proliferation and its damaging consequences to their business and produce an immediate reduction in their carbon footprint.

Download thin provisioning via: www.datacore.com/download.asp MSRP pricing starts at around £500. Call your Bell Micro Account Manager for more details.

DataCore Software – allowing you to deploy a tactical approach to storage virtualisation that provides excellent product and service margins; enhances your consulting/services account penetration; and speeds-up your server consolidation implementations.

Visit www.datacore.com for case studies; white papers on the challenges confronting virtual server deployment; solutions and benefits; and find out more on the SANvantage margin-rich partner programme.

www.bellmicro.eu

Hitachi Data Systems Solutions for storage consolidation-midsized organisations

What problems are HDS solving?

•

Difficulty managing increasingly complex environments

take businesses to the next level. These proven pedigree

•

Poor utilisation of existing storage

solutions deliver enterprise functionality and easy-to-use

•

Poor backup and restore performance

management tools that unify cross-platform storage and

•

Difficulty in sharing data among applications

provide for future growth and change.

What are the HDS solutions for storage consolidation?

•

•

with powerful Hitachi Server Priority Manager software.

With the highest scalability, availability, and price

It reduces management complexity and operational cost

performance in the industry, Hitachi Adaptable Modular

by allowing storage pools to be managed centrally and

Storage and Workgroup Modular Storage systems

shared across applications

provide a solid foundation for consolidation in Midsized

•

organisations •

Simplify infrastructure and reduce cost. Consolidate

Consolidation makes storage more available and offers

HDS Solutions offer the functionality of enterprise-level systems but have been scaled to deliver precisely what

Improve backup and restore performance. more effective backup and restore procedures

•

Ensure data security. Advanced security functionality,

midsized companies need. Coupled with Hitachi

like authentication and role-based access, prevents

Resource Manager utility package they deliver ease of

unauthorised access to data

management, data mobility, advanced security and advanced performance

•

Align storage with application needs. Hitachi Device Manager software allows customers to track storage use by application for better management. Resource

What is the value proposition?

Manager utility packages advanced Modular Volume

HDS Solutions for Storage Consolidation will eliminate

Migration software enables online dynamic data

storage problems with totally reliable solutions that can

movement across storage tiers

www.bellmicro.eu

What are the ideal target opportunities?

•

Midsized organisations who have a dispersed or complex storage infrastructure and are challenged to keep the management costs down.

•

Customers who have experienced explosive data growth and have multiple server, DAS, SAN and NAS islands with low utilisation.

•

Customers who need to improve backup and recovery procedures to better meet compliance requirements.

Why partner with Hitachi Data Systems?

The Hitachi TrueNorth™ Channel Partner Program brings best-in-class solutions to your enterprise, midsized or small business customers.

Commitment – Growth through channels is a corporate strategy driven by Hitachi Data Systems’ Executive Management.

Profitability – Maximising partner revenue and reducing costs is a key differentiator in HDS’s partnering strategy.

Single-minded Objective – Providing customers with next-generation storage solutions through the development of partner relationships.

Technology – Hitachi Data Systems is the leading provider of storage solutions.

Programs – Hitachi Data Systems is committed to delivering formal, flexible, cutting-edge channel programs to its partners.

HDS TrueNorth Partner Programme Bell Micro are currently recruiting partners to the HDS TrueNorth™ Partner Programme.

Our HDS team will work with you to increase your sales by delivering value add at all stages of the sales cycle: •

campaignWORKS online marketing tool

•

Enterprise Solutions Centre (ESC) customer demo facility

•

Pre-Sales consultants

•

Partner Services Implementation

If you require any additional information please contact your Bell Micro Account Manager or Mike Fearon, HDS BDM on 07771 891974, e-mail mfearon@bellmicro.eu or Christopher Cuckow, HDS Pre-Sales on 07810 791774, e-mail ccuckow@bellmicro.eu

www.bellmicro.eu

Network Appliance (NetApp) is an industry-leading provider of storage and data management solutions. We bring unmatched simplicity to the complex world of data management through solutions for storing, managing, protecting, and retaining corporate data.

BIG OR SMALL, YOUR BUSINESS DESERVES A BEST-IN-CLASS STORAGE SOLUTION

An Introduction to NetApp Architectural Simplicity Through our innovative unified and virtual storage architecture, using a single set of software and processes across all tiers of storage, we provide the most flexible and scalable storage platform in the industry.

The simplicity of our approach helps lower cost and complexity to maximise the impact of every IT investment. While its flexibility makes it far easier for our customers to deploy new capabilities in response to changing business demands.

Data Storage The NetApp family of fabric-attached storage (FAS) systems includes primary and secondary storage solutions for a broad range of SAN and NAS network environments – from large corporate data centres to medium-sized businesses, departments and remote offices. Unified by the Data ONTAP® operating system, these systems deliver unmatched flexibility, scalability, administrative simplicity, and storage utilisation. Through V-Series storage virtualisation systems, NetApp extends these capabilities to heterogeneous storage networks.

NetApp data protection portfolio includes disk-to-disk, virtual tape, and heterogeneous solutions for high-performance backups and restores.

Additionally, NetApp industry-leading security and encryption solutions provide maximum protection for sensitive corporate data.

Data Retention Our unified archive and compliance solutions dramatically lower the cost and complexity of archival storage by combining archive and compliance capabilities on the same system.

Our information classification and management solution simplifies and automates the management of unstructured data for data classification, migration, permanence, and discovery.

Strategic Partnerships Through partnerships with industry leaders, NetApp delivers complete, best-ofbreed solutions that are tailored to meet the unique needs of each enterprise.

Applied Innovation Data Management NetApp offers a comprehensive software suite of management tools that are tightly integrated with Oracle®, SAP, and Microsoft® business applications to ensure high application availability and unparalleled administrator productivity.

Data Protection NetApp business continuity and disaster recovery solutions enable efficient mirroring and replication and help ensure maximum system availability. The

We are committed to delivering innovative solutions that help our customers improve business processes, reduce operating costs, and achieve competitive business advantages. Since inventing the network storage appliance in 1992, we have brought to market many significant advancements in storage and data management technologies that increase the efficiency, security, and reliability of enterprise storage systems.

www.bellmicro.eu

The Channel Guide – NetApp Products and Solutions This sales tool gives channel partners a short but comprehensive at-a-glance overview of NetApp products, solutions and services. There is a wealth of information in this guide that clearly explains and positions NetApp offerings and points you in the right direction for additional resources and tools to grow your NetApp business. To receive a copy of this guide please email uk-enquiries@netapp.com

Tech OnTap To keep up to date with technical trends and best practices in the storage and IT industry subscribe to Tech OnTap, at www.netapp.com/techontap

are well prepared for both selling and providing expert technical advice to customers.

Partners receive benefits that are designed to reward and recognise the commitment they have made to NetApp. These include: • • • • •

Partnership Advantage Sales and Marketing Programmes Financial Benefits Partner Events Training Programmes.

VIP Partner Programme NetApp’s Partner Programme is designed to support revenue growth with increased sales and marketing resources, while also maximising profitability. In addition, NetApp provides training and educational programmes to ensure that partners

More detailed information regarding NetApp VIP programme is available via your account manager.

For further information, please speak to your account manager or contact Matt Earle on 07767 243964 or email mearle@bellmicro.eu.

Meet the newest members of our family

Xserve RAID Up to 10.5TB in 14 hot-swap drives

The latest Apple server and storage technologies are now available from Bell Micro. With cross platform capability, legendary ease of use and unbelievable pricing giving you huge margin opportunities, NOW is the time to review what Apple are doing in the server and storage arena.

The Xserve packs phenomenal power and industry-leading capabilities into a high-density, 1U rackmount server that fits easily into any network environment.

Mac OS X Server Xsan Open Source made easy

All supported with state of the art UNIX based software solutions offering unbelievable value for unlimited client licences.

Xserve RAID features a breakthrough Apple-designed architecture that combines affordable, high-capacity Ultra ATA drive technology with an industry-standard 2GB Fibre Channel interface for reliable, and incredibly fast, data access.

For more information on Apple products please contact Karen Owen on 07771 772 968 or email kowen@bellmicro.eu

Xserve Quad Xeon 64-bit server

www.bellmicro.eu

Secure, Remote Infrastructure Management for the “Distributed IT” Environment

Branch offices often face unique challenges when it comes to managing IT equipment. It is critical that employees at the branch location have secure, 24/7 access to their information and applications, but the level of ongoing IT support required to keep systems running smoothly in this “distributed IT” environment does not require a dedicated IT person at the branch site.

To address this challenge, system administrators increasingly rely upon

routers, switches, telecom and building access equipment over the

remote management solutions that enable them to manage IT equipment

Internet. With built-in power management, administrators can also

over the Internet or dial-up connection. Unfortunately, the majority of

control the power individually to all IT equipment in the office to reboot

available IT management hardware is high-port-count equipment

systems remotely.

designed for the enterprise datacentre.

Lantronix now offers products specifically designed for the distributed IT environment. The SecureLinx™ Branch Office Manager (SLB) combines

Total Solution for the Branch Office – the Branch Office Solution Kit

Lantronix award-winning console server capabilities with remote power

To add KVM-over-IP access, SLB works seamlessly with the Lantronix

management and an integrated Ethernet switch into a compact, 1U

SecureLinx Spider™ for secure remote, non-blocked BIOS-level server

rack-mountable appliance.

management. A zero-U unit requiring no external power supply, Spider makes it easy and cost-effective to scale as additional servers are

With eight serial and four power-management ports, plus an 8-port

added. Spiders can be easily daisy-chained together in a cost-effective

10/100 unmanaged Ethernet switch, the SLB enables system

solution for environments where numerous cable drops and distance

administrators to securely remote manage small numbers of servers,

limitations can create a challenge when adding servers.

For more information about the SecureLinx Branch Office Solution Kit call your Bell Micro Account Manager on 020 8286 5000, visit www.bellmicro.eu or to buy visit www.myboris.com

The SecureLinx Branch Office Solution Kit is a must for any remote facility with important data and/or applications that require reliable network connectivity and consistent uptime. For more information visit www.lantronix.com/slb

www.bellmicro.eu

Case Study

Bank of London and the Middle East plc

In July 2007, the Bank of London and the Middle East plc (“BLME”) launched as a fully Sharia’a compliant wholesale bank, based in the City of London. BLME offers a range of high-quality Sharia’a compliant banking services and advice to businesses both in Europe and the Middle East and Northern Africa region which wish to access innovative Islamic financial products.

Before BLME began trading, it deployed a high-availability IBM-based solution to run specialist banking software. Thanks to Bell Micro Partner Services and Repton, the bank now has the computing power, resilience, and capacity needed for rapid business expansion.

‘‘

Having called in expertise to help configure our new systems and do the failover testing, the project went very well – to time and on budget.

’’

William Purdy, Head of Information Technology

For the Head of Information Technology, William Purdy, setting up the bank's new IT infrastructure has been a demanding exercise. Banking software is always considered a mission-critical application which requires high-availability hardware from proven vendors.

Compliance to stringent Financial Services Authority regulations alongside tight internal auditing control are also essential.

“We needed to have systems that were fit for purpose and demonstrated that control,” said Purdy. “It was necessary to identify an application that would give us the right facilities now and well into the future.”

Facing tight timescales from the launch date, the bank searched for an off-the-shelf application that supported Islamic banking practices. It quickly found Kuwait-based Path Solutions offered iMAL, an enterprise solution for banking, investment, Islamic financing, and treasury operations. iMAL used the Sybase database which supports high availability systems with failover procedures.

“Once you've identified the application software and database, then that is the main driver for the hardware requirements,” said Purdy. “We undertook a sizing exercise to see how capable the system actually needed to be, and then started on the actual hardware selection.”

All the technical objectives revolved around system processing power, capacity, reliability, and resilience. Like any new business, the bank based its initial sizing requirements on its plans for growth, allowing plenty of room for easy future expansion. UNIX-based platforms from HP, Sun and IBM soon topped the list for the three servers intended for production, high availability and disaster recovery.

The bank soon found that IBM offered the “most cost-effective solution” based on the total cost of ownership including the initial software outlay.

IBM then recommended Repton Computer Products Ltd, an IBM premier partner, to fulfil the project. To help provide professional services against a tight timetable, Repton turned to Bell Micro Partner Services for the installation and configuration work including system definition, sizing and systems software familiarisation.

IBM P52a clustered servers running AIX were selected to provide the processing power along with SAN storage, network switches, and a tape library. Bell Micro consultants installed the hardware and the AIX operating system including High Availability Cluster Multi-Processing (HACMP). One of the most important tasks of a well-managed implementation plan was testing the high availability failover routines.

Another key area of the project was security penetration testing, conducted by an independent company. This pinpointed some vulnerabilities associated with open logical ports in the AIX operating system which were then closed by Bell Micro consultants. Finally, Bell Micro ensured proper skills transfer and provided a “very good” configuration document for the final handover.

The bank’s new systems went live in July 2007 following the installation

by Path Solutions of the iMAL application software and its Sybase database. Running carefully worked-out daily housekeeping tasks will now help ensure the system's future stability with IBM’s three-year hardware warranty providing further reassurance. The close-working partnership between IBM, Repton, and Bell Micro has delivered a solution that's met all expectations and is ready for the future too.

www.bellmicro.eu

After the successful launch of Informix Dynamic Server v11(Cheetah), IBM has announced end of service dates for IDS 7, 9 and 10.

IDS 7.x will no longer be marketed or sold after 18th April 2008 IDS 9.x will no longer be marketed or sold after 19th September 2008 IDS 10.x will no longer be marketed or sold after 19th September 2009 Support will be available on these products for another 12 months after these dates.

To help you upgrade to IDS 11 there are a number of sales promotions running until the end of 2007. There are also incentives for Standard Engine and Online users too, so no matter which database you use, if you are considering changing your database in the future now is a great time to look at the latest IDS release.

Many Informix customers are running their applications on Informix software which has not been refreshed for a number of years, during which time the Informix products have moved on quite significantly. There are some great new features in IDS 11; particularly concerning high availability and disaster recovery and often moving to this release is a simple procedure.

Bell Micro can supply evaluation software so you can have a look at Cheetah and, to help you evaluate your options, we can provide a range of services; from simple remote healthchecks to a full architectural review.

If you migrate to Cheetah before the end of 2007 Bell Micro will support your applications on both IDS 11 and your current platform for 12 months. So if you do not plan to upgrade immediately you can still take advantage of these promotions. Even if your Informix support contract has expired, Bell Micro can offer a competitive upgrade package to help you get the most out of your investment in Informix.

To find out more about how IDS 11 can add even more to your solution please contact the IBM Software team at Bell Micro on 0871 230 4845 or email ibmsoftware-uk@bellmicro.eu.

Our dedicated team of Informix specialists will be happy to help.

Informix Dynamic Server v11 can add even more value to your systems and Bell Micro can help you leverage this. We can provide technical assistance and support to help you upgrade, as well as consultancy services just in case you need help during the migration. In addition to our regular technical support we can provide out of hours and weekend cover (either remotely or on-site) giving you peace of mind at all times - and we can even help with marketing activities to help promote your Informix solutions.

www.bellmicro.eu

Continued Investment delivers results Sales Team

The internal sales team have all renewed their IBM Certified Storage Sales Specialist certifications.

Bell Micro is pleased to update you on our continued investment in our people and our IBM channel.

Marketing

Pre-Sales

Another member of the marketing team joins the Chartered Institute of Marketing with the Professional Diploma.

All our pre-sales people in the IBM team are now certified to CATE level, Certified Advanced Technical Expert. We believe that we are the only company in the channel to hold these accreditations which demands the highest level of technical understanding and experience around Open Systems Storage solutions. Candidates have to prove that they have significant experience in architecting complex storage solutions including Disk, Tape, TPC, TSM, SVC and storage networking.

‘IBM wishes to recognise that the IBM Presales Team of Bell Microproducts Ltd are Certified Advanced Technical Experts (CATE) in IBM System Storage. This is a unique position for Bell Microproducts as they are the only UK IBM Storage Business Partner that hold these prestige certifications at this point in time.’

Phil Harrison, IBM Storage Products BP Technical Manager

Partner Services Skills As our professional services team continues to expand our capabilities, which are available solely to our partners, we have enhanced the following skills • • • • • • •

Brocade Certified Fabric Professionals (BCFP) Brocade Certified SAN Designer (BCSD) PRINCE2 certified practitioner VMware Certified Professionals (VCP) SNIA certifications ( various ) Symantec Enterprise Vault Tivoli Storage Manager.

For more information and to gain access to these skills please contact your Bell Micro IBM Account Manager on 0871 230 4500.

IBM System Storage™ N series Virtual File Manager® (VFM®) software is a comprehensive solution for managing unstructured file data across an organization for server and storage consolidation, migration, remote office data management and disaster recovery while avoiding disruption to users.

IBM announces VFM

It provides all of this functionality through automated policy-based data management leveraging a global namespace. For users, it is designed to provide simplified and consistent data access, even when the underlying storage infrastructure changes. VFM creates a global namespace that aggregates distributed files located on IBM N series storage systems to present a single logical ‘pool’ of storage. This helps enable you to easily and quickly change, add, migrate, or consolidate storage while avoiding impact to end users. VFM helps IT organisations simplify file system management, enhance data access, and reduce their data management costs. VFM helps enable administrators to increase data availability, minimise user downtime, optimize storage capacity, and dramatically simplify storage management; which can lead to a significant reduction in the total cost of ownership of enterprise data infrastructures.

Virtual File Manager—Enterprise Edition takes advantage of the deep integration London with IBM N series SnapMirror®, SnapLock® \\London\\Brochures and Snapshot™ software to provide its rich set of data management capabilities.

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To register your interest in Bell Micro’s F.O.C training please email Deborah Pilling, dpilling@bellmicro.eu Win a Porsche Track Day Experience Weekend in Hockenheim!

What do I need to do? Visit www.bellmicro.eu/files/DriveForSuccess.pdf For more information contact your Bell Micro IBM Account Manager on 0871 230 4500.

Virtual File Manager is designed to automate key data management tasks such as: • Data migration and consolidation • Business continuity • Remote site data management • Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) • Storage optimisation • Data classification and reporting

www.bellmicro.eu

A unified vision Life is complex for your customers. Constantly bombarded by details of new products, IT initiatives and a seemingly endless supply of new technology acronyms, is it any wonder they want someone to partner with who knows the score.

Managing burgeoning data, integrating diverse IT environments, scoping proliferating technology – all just a small part of the very busy picture for today’s IT administrator. On top of all that these days we’re also asking them to consider how ‘green’ their IT infrastructure really is.

Help is at hand. Both HP and Bell Micro are taking steps to make life simpler for you and your customers by removing the ‘silo’ mentality from IT thinking and replacing it with ‘solutions’ thinking.

We understand that IT decision makers today are overwhelmed managing IT estates that are by nature growing, evolved, complex and heterogeneous. So instead of engaging you and your customers in terms of just the server, storage and software flavour insitu we are putting in place the tools and the mindset that create a single vision for IT in the enterprise. Together these tools will ensure an integrated solutions approach to IT that mitigates risk, lowers costs and enables the customer to capitalise on change.

Solutions are driving new business Consolidation, virtualisation, disaster recovery and data management are just some of the high impact solutions driving new IT activity today and requiring the broad view of the business provided by Bell Micro and our channel partners. At the same time IT infrastructures are under pressure to enable remote operations and provide access to a wide range of stakeholders in distributed computing environments. All this means your customers increasingly need to work with partners possessing a wide perspective of IT across and beyond the organisation.

For some time now HP has been introducing products and services focused on bringing IT together. HP is unifying technology through programmes such as IT Lifecycle Management, IT Shared Services and the rapid development of management software solutions into the single HP Software proposition.

See the technology as one Bell Micro offers the full spectrum of HP Enterprise Server & Storage (ESS) products and services. We ensure each one of our specialists can advise on the entire HP portfolio from the latest ‘Shorty’ c3000 blade enclosure to the full spectrum of Integrity/Superdome and HP StorageWorks solutions.

Our Pre-sales, Account Support and Partner Services teams work together across the HP technology set to ensure the optimal solution is specified and deployed in your customer's environment.

Removing barriers Bell Micro is working internally to remove any barriers between our specialist teams. From Pre-sales and Account Support right through to Partner Services we are working hard to ensure that every single Bell Micro representative has the broadest possible understanding of the IT infrastructure and the fit for all products and services from HP, Bell Micro and an array of third-party solution providers.

Because it’s important that your customers see you as trusted partners in technology, capable of providing the best advice and trouble-free IT delivery, we are also concentrating on how our specialists deliver as part of your extended team.

In addition to plugging the IT skills gap, our specialists use their broad knowledge of the technology and business context to work with you to deliver solutions that help your customers reach new opportunities, enhance their service proposition and improve both their processes and productivity.

www.bellmicro.eu

We believe that the ability to talk solutions with your customers is critical to building and maintaining your customer base. Your first step might be our Enterprise Solutions Centre, equipped with a wide range of HP technologies for testing and proof of concept.

Please also take some time out to talk to your Bell Micro Account Manager about how we can help you to achieve this. Please also ask about Bell Micro’s latest ‘solutions selling guides’ www.partner-services.co.uk and our solution focused marketing tool campaignWORKS.

Houston No problem Always looking to make learning a little more interesting, Bell Micro recently teamed up with HP to take some of our partners to Houston, Texas on an HP BladeSystem study tour.

HP’s state-of-the-art Houston Executive Briefing Centre at the HP Houston campus was home for the four-day trip, the purpose of which was to provide some of our most Those attending found proactive blade partners the event extremely useful, with the latest insight Trevor Woolway, Global Wintel into this core HP Service Provision Manager of technology.

LogicaCMG commented

Speakers from ‘Big thanks again for last week….we all got a tremendous amount of information HP’s expert team in out of it which we are already exploring Houston and Bell to take forward. The structure of the two Micro’s own blade day programme was excellent and specialists provided really enjoyed the passion of delegates with a view the guys presenting.’ of emerging BladeSystem issues and business drivers including; blade led datacentre consolidation, dynamic smart cooling and power and indepth analysis of how HP BladeSystem stacks up against the opposition.

Ask your Bell Micro Account Manager about similar upcoming events.

www.bellmicro.eu

POSTAGE PAID HQ10408

In early summer 2008, 80 high to low handicap golfers will set out on a journey to complete 54 holes of golf in three countries within 24 hours. Playing 18 hole stableford team competitions at great golf courses in England, Scotland and Wales, the Challenge will provide a fantastic opportunity to share ideas with colleagues from the channel and network with senior vendor contacts.

The Challenge is being held to support the outstanding work of our chosen charity for 2008, CLIC Sargent, the leading children’s cancer charity. We hope to raise several thousands of pounds in the process. This will only be possible through the involvement of our reseller and vendor partners.

The challenge is easily within the scope of any regular golfer and doesn’t require any special training or preparation. It’s more important that you’re up for a challenge and can bring some colleagues to share in a unique experience.

The only real criterion is that you’re a golfer with a handicap of 28 or less and work for an IT vendor or reseller.

The cost for entering a team of 3 is just £1,200 +VAT, which includes all transportation between venues, green fees, accommodation and a donation to CLIC Sargent.

Visit www.bellmicro.eu/uk/charity/charitygolf for more information or to pledge your support.

New starters Natalie Bennett Emma Calver Chris Green Jean Guy Andrew Hunt Nick Pennington Debra Razel Samantha Tattersall Perry Warner

Temp Marketing Assistant Purchaser, Open Storage IBM Account Support PA/Office Manager HR Administrator Order Management Account Manager Temporary Receptionist Purchase Ledger Controller, Finance Apple Pre Sales Consultant

www.clicsargent.org.uk

How to get in touch Congratulations to Richard Lewis of LogicaCMG, the winner of a bottle of champagne for completing the electronic feedback form.

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