The Managed Services Route by Bhupinder Sharma

editorial

Focus on success

hat will make you successful in tough market dynamics? Look around you. The environment is grim with the scare of recession, pushing back of IT projects and customers demanding higher negotiation lever. Customers are evolving, SMBs are spending more on technology and adoption rate have dramatically increased. Are you evolving with these market dynamics? The one and only thing that will differentiate you and make you unique is a focus on the dynamic demands of the customer – a mantra for success. One of the biggest mistakes that channel partners, SIs and VARs make is to try and do everything for a select few customers, and then try to replicate this. The reality is that you end up being a nobody – a tag of nonfocused provider. The common argument to substantiate this unfocussed approach from most channel partners and solution providers is recession. While the recession has had its impact in the marketplace, this is not an excuse to do business poorly. Customer needs continue to increase and IT budgets are still growing – so this is only an excuse. Solution providers and channel partners looking at evolving to better business opportunities need to get more aggressive and focus on differentiating themselves from competition. You are

best placed today to instill higher value proposition with your customers. This issue will highlight some the nuances and opportunities in the area of managed services. While there is an emerging opportunity here, some of the fundamentals that you need to imbibe within you include discipline of financial value proposition to the customer, processes that will be the enablement engine, and smooth service delivery methodologies. As you dive deeper into this arena, you might get enamored by dazzling technologies. But a foot into the ground is important – the only thing that will set you apart is what value and tangible benefits you can bring to your customer – this is where business innovation plays a role. With employee retention becoming a daunting task, complexities in IT increasing constantly and demand on technology on the rise; several SMBs and large organisations have started outsourcing the management of their IT infrastructures to channels partners. Here again – time for you to focus on the emerging business opportunity…

sujay.nair@9dot9.in

The only thing that will differentiate you is a focus on the dynamic demands of the customer

SUJAY NAIR Editorial Director Digit Channel Connect

sounding board sounding board Keep up the good work In a short time, your magazine has gained a lot of respect from the channel community. My best wishes to the team.

Sanat Jain President Computer Association of Nashik

A knowledge source The content of the magazine is well researched. I regularly read Digit Channel Connect to keep myself updated on latest products released in the market. It has helped me increase my sales. Write to the Editor E-mail: editor@digitchannelconnect.com

Nishant Bhimani Proprietor Bhimani Computers

Snail Mail: The Editor, Channel Connect, KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400703

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

trends trends

D-link unveils Wireless 150 Router for high performance wireless network

-Link launched its Wireless 150 Router DIR-600, which delivers end-to-end wireless connectivity based on draft 802.11n technology. The DIR-600 provides wireless coverage with improved speeds over standard 802.11g1. Home users can upgrade their network to Wireless 150 to experience better wireless performance while sharing a broadband Internet connection with multiple computers over a secure wireless network. The DIR-600 extends wireless range and also works with your existing 802.11g wireless devices. The product includes an Installation Wizard CD-ROM5, which walks customers through an easy step-by-step installation process to set up the wireless network and Internet connection in minutes. Once the setup process is complete, customers can share a highspeed Internet connection, files, media, and more. The DIR-600 supports the latest wireless security features to prevent unauthorised access, be it from over the wireless network or from the Internet. Support for WPA and WPA2 ensure the usage of the best possible encryption available, regardless of your client devices. In addition, the DIR-600 utilises dual active firewalls (SPI and NAT) to prevent potential attacks from across the Internet. The product includes Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) with a push button feature that sets up and activates the network security functions. DIR-600 conserves energy by automatically powering down ports that have no link. It uses an Energy Star qualified power adapter and Complies with the European Union’s RoHS directive that restricts the use of certain hazardous materials. It is available in the market at an approximate price of Rs 2700 and comes with a three year warranty.

Top Notch to distribute MSI motherboards

op Notch Infotronix, the brand owners of Zebronics, announced their tie up with MSI (Micro-Star international), a brand for motherboards, graphic cards and laptops. Top Notch Infotronix first launched MSI laptops, then graphic cards in Indian market. Now it is going one more step ahead in the tie-up with MSI, by launching complete range of motherboards. All motherboards from MSI will be launched in India in a phased manner. The motherboards will be very well priced and offer very good value for money. With Top Notch Infotronix wide spread network and MSI high quality motherboards both companies will be at benefit, as well as the consumer to which the products will be made available. MSI offers one year warranty on laptops and three years on graphic cards and motherboards. Speaking on the occasion, Pradeep Doshi, Director Sales, Top Notch Infotronix said, “We thank MSI for their confidence in Top Notch and with this new tie up we are MSI‘s only partner in India to distribute all the three product line which includes graphic cards, laptops and motherboards. Top Notch would definitely give in its best efforts to ensure MSI motherboards are a huge success.”

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

Transcend launches 2.5” SATA SSD with DRAM Cache in India

ranscend Information has announced the availability of its latest Solid State Drive, a 2.5” SATA, equipped with 64MB of built-in DRAM cache in India. This new drive, the SSD25D, offers durability, power savings and reliability, while at the same time delivers faster transfer rates for those who demand the ultimate in data storage performance. A Transcend SSD25D is more responsive, boots-up faster, and launches software applications in a fraction of the time required with a standard hard drive. The increased speed potential gained from using a DRAM cache makes the SSD25D an apt upgrade for high-end gaming systems and workstations, providing a more enjoyable, lag-free computing experienceespecially when used with the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. Built with NAND flash memory that contains no moving parts, the SSD25D is rugged, remains cool and quiet while in operation, and is practically immune to mechanical failure caused by excess vibration, shock or heat. In addition, the SSD25D uses integrated ECC (Error Correction Code) to ensure accurate data transfer, and also features built-in wear leveling technology for consistent long-life operation that gives peace of mind to users who heavily rely on the data stored in their computers. Transcend’s new DRAM cache-equipped SSD25D features an industry-standard 3.0Gb/s SATA II interface and 2.5” form factor to allow easy and straightforward user installation in most notebook and desktop computers, just like a conventional hard drive. It is available in 60GB and 120GB capacities. It comes with a two year warranty. The 60 GB capacity is available for Rs 18000 and 120 GB for Rs 31000.

ViewSonic comes out with an All-In-One PC for India

he system, dubbed as VPC100, is an All-in-One PC that according to the company offers users a smart computing choice featuring a stylish design and offering superior performance increasing affordability, mobility and productivity. This All-In-One PC is one of the thinnest desktops available at just 35mm offering an attractive space saving profile in a 19” (18.5” viewable) LCD display with 16:9 aspect ratio. The PC comes loaded with a 1,366x768 resolution that allows users to watch HD movies, browse Internet, play games or view documents with crisp details. Powered by Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom processor and coupled with 1GB memory, the All-In-One PC provides plenty of power for day to day desktop computing and entertainment requirements. The All-In-One PC from ViewSonic also sports advanced multimedia capabilities with a built-in DVD/RW burner, 2x3-watt speakers, 1.3 megapixel webcam and a mic optimised to video-conference easily. ViewSonic VPC100, designed for Windows XP is well-equipped with four high-speed USB 2.0 ports offering versatile connectivity. Also the green energy-saving design makes VPC100 quieter than a notebook and offers the smallest heat dissipation among desktops. ViewSonic`s All-In-One PC will be available in India through ViewSonic`s authorised distributor Redington India from July 2009 at Rs 31 999.

trends trends

ATEN launches CC2000 Control Center Over the NET software

TEN International, a provider of communications solutions, introduced the CC2000 Control Center Over the NET management software as part of its Centralised IT Infrastructure Management Solution (CITIMS). CC2000 offers a single portal for centralised management of all devices managed through ALTUSEN Over the NET products, including KVM Over the NET, Serial Over the NET, and Power Over the NET. CC2000 has one master and up to 31 slave servers. All of the CC2000 servers on the installation can view and manage each other’s devices, providing 24-hour reliability all year long. The Master-Slave paradigm safeguards data transmissions through its built-in redundancy factors, which include automated database backup of Master, Slaves and devices; and real-time database updating. Redundancy ensures that should any of the CC2000 servers go down, the CC2000 management system keeps functioning since the redundant slave unit takes over to provide the required services until the downed units comes back up. This double redundancy feature, in which each slave server can have its own redundant slave, ensures smooth, uninterrupted access and management of all installed devices. In addition, the KVM port, serial port and power outlet of an IT device can be associated and presented in the same web page, which enables IT administrators to completely control an IT device from a single user interface. IT administrators can also power on/off/reboot multiple power outlets of an IT device via a single mouse click. The CC2000 offers powerful security features that include both internal and external authentication with security policies that permit user authorisation to be tightly configured-even down to a port-by-port basis.

Apacer brings out PH152 USB 2.0 Hub

pacer launched PH152 USB 2.0 Hub, bringing to its customers a product that is innovative and practical Apacer’s PH152 USB 2.0 Hub, features four USB ports on a hub of innovative and user-friendly design. With rotatable USB port design, PH152 allows users to easily connect up to four high-performance USB peripherals and large devices at once, including high-resolution video cameras, scanners, printers, storage devices, etc. The PH152 USB 2.0 Hub is designed with the users’ convenience in mind. The magic cube design allows users to easily manage and remember devices connected to the Hub. Also, the 2-port rotation design allows sliding or stacking of its USB ports, to suit users’ needs while ensuring data connection and transferring is effective and user friendly. The PH152 USB 2.0 Hub has four downstream USB ports, allowing users to add up to four USB peripherals simultaneously to a PC or laptop. The 2.0 Hub can extend 70 degrees and the three USB ports can rotate 90 degrees. The configuration and design gives users greater level of flexibility when connecting different devices. It is fully compliant with USB 2.0 specification and is backwards compatible with USB 1.1 as well. It provides up to 480 Mbps transfer rate, at 40 times faster than USB 1.1, allowing superior connection speed when connecting with laptop or PC. It supports bus-power (without power adapter) and self-power (with power adapter) modes. It is available for Rs 749.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

Fujifilm launches FinePix S1500 digital camera in India

ujifilm has announced the availability of its latest digital camera, Fujifilm FinePix S1500, a 10 megapixel compact camera in India. The camera is equipped with a wide-angle versatile Fujinon 12x optical zoom (33mm-396mm equivalent), face detection technology with automatic red-eye removal, dual image stabilisation (combining CCD-shift with high ISO), ISO levels of up to ISO 6400 (at 3MP), and a brand new tracking auto focus function. This, along with features such as panorama shooting mode and instant zoom, make the FinePix S1500 a camera that will suit every member of the family. It is also designed for lower power consumption with a 300 shot battery life using AA batteries and up to 700 shot battery life with AA lithium batteries. The FinePix S1500 features combined CCD-shift and image stabilisation to avoid the effects of camera shake at longer shutter speeds. The product’s new tracking auto focus function means that users can track a moving subject whilst ensuring focus is maintained, even when using the full eye-watering 12x zoom. The panorama shooting mode enables users to create panoramic pictures by seamlessly stitching together three separate photos. It is priced at Rs 15499

Cooler Master introduces HAF 922 Mid Tower Chassis

ollowing the release of the full tower HAF 932, Cooler Master extends the HAF (High Airflow Flow) line to a mid tower in the HAF 922. This machine comes with rugged looks, massive air flow cooling and the Cooler Master trademark interior. It supports up to seven fans in total, including three of those that support 200 mm fan (which are swappable for smaller 120mm or 140mm fans) for maximum airflow while maintaining a quiet environment. An independent air intake has been designed for a bottom-mounted PSU for easy installation and improved heat management. For overclockers, this chassis even supports liquid cooling set-ups with retaining holes in the back and room for an internally installed radiator. Starting with a CPU cooler retaining hole that was first introduced in the ATCS 840, it allows for quick installation of CPU cooler without removing the motherboard.

review Intel motherboard G31

peed has always been the pain point for customers as far as motherboards are concerned. However, the high speed and comfort level provided by Intel G31 has increased the demand of this product in the market. Replacement was also something that our customers had to deal with. But there is no such problem with this one. The services that is provided by Intel on this product is really good, which makes it even more desirable by the customers.

Manoj J Chowdhary, Proprietor, Om Technologies, Aurangabad

trends trends

Kingston Technology unveils a 256 GB USB flash drive

BenQ launches LCD monitor TV with free DTH connection

ingston Technology announced the launch of a first of its kind 256 GB USB flash drive, the Kingston DataTraveler 300. The Kingston DataTraveler 300 allows users to carry around a whole digital world, from thousands of image files to a whole database of documents. Users will also benefit from quick transfer rates and the option to password-protect their data. The Kingston DataTraveler 300 is ideal for netbook users who want to extend the limited capacity of their machines; it can also be used by business consumers who work with large databases, or even designers who need to transfer large design files from one place to another. “Users can also safeguard their data by initialising the Password Traveler software which will allow business users and consumers to password protect their data in a privacy zone without the need of administrator rights”, said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston. The Kingston DataTraveler 300 features a sleek cap-less design that will protect the USB connector when it is not in use and is enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost. The Kingston DataTraveler 300 is available only in 256 GB and is backed by a five-year warranty and free tech support. It is available through Kingston partners - HCL, Tech Pacific India, and Transtek Infoways.

APC launches programmes to align partner expertise with customers needs

PC by Schneider Electric has launched its Partner Engagement Program (PEP) for its authorised service partners to empower them with tools and technologies they need to address needs of different customer segments and markets in India. The Partner Engagement Program has been designed to equip authorised service partners with a broad array of benefits and resources so as to help them grow their business and support customers better. It is an endeavor to offer differentiated program levels to our partners that will leverage their core competency and areas of expertise.

review

HP cartridges LJ 1010

he demand for printers has increased in the last few years. This has directly affected the sale of cartridges as well. The one that is most in demand is HP cartridge, LJ 1010. It is what we can call, ‘value for money’. The cost of printing is minimal and the quality extremely good. It is extremely easy to refill, thus saving a lot of time and effort. The combined force of these factors has lead to the increased demand of this product.

Manoj Khanna, Director, Computer Accessories and Media Services, New Delhi

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

enQ announced the launch of its 22 inch LCD monitor TV-SE2231, targeting high-density urban markets, with an introductory offer of free DTH connection, installation and six months subscription. The newly launched LCD monitor TV displays all TV contents such as high definition broadcasts, blu-ray movies, camcorder videos, console games and PC applications like documents, games, web-browsing and picture viewing. The LCD monitor TV comes equipped with 10,000:1 Auto Contrast Enhancement (ACE), 5ms rapid response time and HDTV 1080p compatibility. Ideal for all TV and PC applications, BenQ SE2231 renders native 1920 X 1080 resolutions which enhance visuals to 1080p/ 24Hz, while increasing PC productivity and TV entertainment. The auto contrast enhancement optimises contrast levels through automatic adjustment of the display backlight for original black levels. Such contrast accurately amplifies dark detail definition to reveal never-noticed elements in the dark visual of games or movies. BenQ’s Senseye human vision technology, which is an image enhancement engine, produces life-like clarity for human eye. Four Senseye preset modes (cinema, dynamic, standard and custom) offer one-touch fine-tuning for both PC and TV content. Digital sound emitting from dual 3-watt speakers can be adjusted to classic, pop, rock and jazz with preset audio modes. Available in two colours, ebony and black, BenQ SE2231 is toned with a silver polish frame which reflects a unique elegance.

Abacus conducts a series of select partner meets with Nvidia

bacus Peripheralsbrand owner of Zion Memory Modules conducted a series of select p a r t n e r m e e t s at P u n e, Secunderabad and Kolkata in June and July this year. The meets were attended by more than 500 partners including distributors, resellers, system integrators and engineers. The agenda was to provide technical updates and a platform to interact with Abacus – Nvidia team. Taher Kagzi, Sales Manager – Nvidia, addressed the gathering and updated the audience on latest development in the product line. Meets witnessed demonstration of 3D compatible graphic cards running high end gaming applications. The capabilities and power of GPUs were illustrated with the help of ION PC, which is based on low cost Intel Atom CPU and housing high power GPU in it. The entire range of Abacus products including Zion RAM, Sparkle Graphic Cards, Biostar and Asrock Motherboards were showcased and complete technical presentation was given by Abacus Team. Features of premium quality Zion memory modules were highlighted and the advantages of using Zion RAM were discussed during the meets. Future technology roadmap of Graphic Cards and insights into memory technology added more attraction to these meets. Special interactive session at each of the meets helped the invitees to satisfy their product related queries. Overall the series of successful meets generated good response from the partners. Abacus plans to organise more technical meets in near future.

trends trends

ABBYY launches consumerfocused OCR software for Mac

BBYY, a provider of document recognition and linguistic software, announced the availability of FineReader Express Edition for Mac, its new optical character recognition (OCR) application that promises to deliver one-click conversion of paper documents and images into editable and searchable files. The application turns scanned paper documents, PDF files and camera images into popular electronic formats such as RTF documents, XLS spreadsheets, searchable PDFs, and HTML files. Combining the optimal set of one-click conversion functions with intuitive interface, ABBYY FineReader Express Edition for Mac has the potential to be an ideal OCR solution for individual users. ABBYY FineReader Express Edition for Mac delivers superior accuracy of text recognition in 171 languages and re-creates layout and formatting elements of the original document including tables, columns, graphics, bullets and numbering. It processes various document types including pages of magazines and books, spreadsheets, business documents and more, delivering accurate results even on the types of images that are typically difficult to OCR, such as faxes or digital photographs. By leveraging its digital camera OCR technology, users can extract printed text from digital photographs with the application, and use their cameras as alternative scanning devices. It also supports conversion of various types of PDF including image-only, or scanned, PDF that can be transformed into searchable PDF format ideal for archiving purposes. ABBYY FineReader Express Edition for Mac does not support scanners, cameras and fax modems that use emulated drivers. On the Intel platform, the application will only work with devices for which Intel drivers are installed.

GN Netcom launches Jabra GN1900 series of headsets

N Netcom has announced the launch of the Jabra GN1900 Series. It is designed for use in cost-conscious contact centres and is lightweight with sturdy design and professional quality. The Jabra GN1900 includes features such as a noisecanceling microphone, which filters out unwanted background noise, and PeakStopT Technology which protects users from harmful sounds. The multiple adjustment points make it adaptable to individual preferences and the lightweight design ensure all day comfort. The Jabra GN1900 QD variants have been designed for use with traditional desk telephones. However the future-proof design enables users to migrate to IP hard phones. The GN1900 USB variants meet the increasing demand for cost-effective quality professional VoIP headsets. “We recognised the need for an entry-level headset solution for contact centers particularly in outsourced markets where cost effectiveness is key”, comments Ralph Ede, Managing Director for South Asia, GN Netcom. “The Jabra GN1900 offers strong audio performance and is a good value headset investment designed specifically with Indian domestic call centres in mind” noted Ede. The Jabra GN1900 and Jabra GN1900 USB are available in mono and duo, with the Jabra GN1900 USB offering superb wideband sound quality. The Jabra GN1900 series will be available via GN’s National Distributor, Innova Telecom.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

Sterlite Technologies wins Rs 372 crore BSNL contract

terlite Technologies, a provider of transmission solutions announced that it has won a contract from BSNL, valued at Rs 372 Crores for enabling a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network based on Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology. BSNL plans to implement similar FTTH networks at 25 cities across India by year 2012, which would impact two million subscribers. This would provide subscribers access to bandwidth and speeds (in excess of 100 Mb/s) as well as multitude of applications ranging from utility applications such as high-definition video conferencing or entertainment applications as high-speed gaming. The current phase of the FTTH network would be capable of providing high-speed internet, IPTV solutions, VoIP, and other value added services to about 500,000 subscribers. BSNL will be the first telco in the country to deploy commercial scale Fiber-to-the-Home network. Sterlite has streamlined its efforts to ensure that the contract is executed within FY10. Kuldeep Goyal, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL, indicated that up to 5 percent of all Indian households could have FTTH by 2011 and IPTV would be one of the key drivers for uptake of FTTH.

IBM signs 10-year IT outsourcing deal with Innovation Auto Risk

BM announced that it has signed a 10-year IT outsourcing agreement with Innovation Auto Risk. As part of the agreement, IBM will deploy server, storage, networking and security IT infrastructure to be hosted at a datacentre in Delhi. IBM will provide 24x7 onsite infrastructure monitoring services from an onsite command centre. In addition, IBM will provide managed services and ongoing project management for infrastructure procurement, commissioning and configuration, as well as hardware refreshes after five years. Innovation Auto Risk was seeking an IT solution provider that could supply and manage its IT infrastructure in a resilient yet cost-effective fashion. IBM put together a customised end-to-end managed services package and introduced Innovation Auto Risk to an operating-expense driven model, rather than capital-expense driven model. This agreement aims to reduce Innovation Auto Risk’s capital expenditure on IT by 25 percent.

Genius launches mini notebook mouse

enius, a brand from KYE Systems, has launched the super mini notebook mouse—Micro Traveler. The new offering comes with incredible smooth tracking performance for cursor movement to let the user browse documents or Internet pages more efficiently. Micro Traveler is a super mini size 74mm mouse that has an easy to store retractable cable. The light weight design of the mouse provides more comfort than any mini notebook touch pad. With an advanced precision control with 1200 dpi optical engine, this high mobility notebook mouse comes with an easy plug and play USB interface functionality. It also has three buttons— left, right and middle button with a scroll. Weighing just 49 gm, this new offering works best on Windows Vista/XP/2000/Mac OS. Its ergonomic shape provides greater comfort for longer duration. It comes in four colours - milky white, silver, black and red. The mouse will be available in India through its distributors at Rs 575 and comes with a three years warranty.

trends trends

Cubix ties up with Peplink as exclusive national distributor in India

ubix Micro Systems announced its foray into new domain of link aggregation and link load balancing by establishing partnership with Peplink to become its national distributor in India. Peplink Balance routers enable the aggregation of multiple Internet connections to increase Internet reliability, get better performance, and cut costs. Peplink products have been deployed around the world to help businesses stay connected to the Internet. Peplink was established to focus on new product development initiatives and continues to bring innovation to the marketplace. “We are very excited to have Cubix in becoming our national distributor in India,” said Keith Chau, General Manager, Peplink. “India is a market full of opportunities, where our potential customers include the service providers, SMBs, and government sectors. With Cubix’s renowned reputation in India’s IT community, we are certain that customers will get the best service and support for our products. We look forward to working closely with Cubix to help businesses in achieving the maximum Internet reliability possible.”

Fujitsu offers SMEs comprehensive server hardware

ujitsu announced the Primergy TX100 S1, the successor of the Econel 100 S2. The TX100 S1 is an affordable Primergy server for SMEs that need an entry-level server to increase their operational efficiency, performance and security. Now SMEs can afford to move away from using a PC in combination with an external hard drive for storage and upgrade to a proper business class server. For SMEs that may be risking their data and losing efficiency by using a PC as their server, the Primergy TX100 S1 is a costeffective and dependable server solution. For the price of a PC, the Primergy TX100 S1 provides a reliable infrastructure with up to 4 TB of integrated storage, combined with the performance and data security of RAID 0/1. An optional tape drive for backup and archiving system enables customers to further increase data security and comply with governmental rules and regulations. With the Primergy TX100 S1, companies can improve operational efficiency and performance by centralising file storage, coordinating print jobs, supporting billing or purchasing applications, and supporting e-mail and Internet server applications. It is priced at Rs 51250 and is available as on demand.

Zicom introduces ‘Safe homes’

icom Electronic Security Systems has introduced ‘Safe homes’ - a unique value proposition that not only takes care of the consumer’s security and safety needs but also gives good returns on the investment made by the customers in terms of saving on repair charges of electrical and electronic appliances. The major components of Safe homes are include, Wireless Home Alarm System which consists of main panel, magnetic contact, remote control and hooter. The system detects and alarms any intrusion that happens while you are at home or away from home. Another feature, I-Alert (24/7 Central Monitoring Service) works 24 x 7, 365 days a year. It is connected to the main panel via a telephone line. In case of an emergency or break in or fire, Zicom’s well trained executives contact the emergency numbers within minutes of getting an alarm. It also provides insurance against theft, burglary, fire, earthquake, lightning, flood and inundation of up to Rs 2 lakh. Safe homes is priced at Rs 9990.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

Logitech launches Cooling Pad N100

ogitech introduced the Logitech Cooling Pad N100 that is the latest addition to the company’s range of notebook essentials. The product improves air flow around the notebook to protect customers from heat generated by it. The portability factor in notebooks brings along excessive heating of the notebooks due to the densely packed components. A recent consumer survey also revealed that more than 50 percent of them are concerned about notebook heat and 43 percent believe that excessive notebook heat can slow, or damage, their computer. Cooling Pad N100 features a slotted surface, which allows the USB-powered fan to distribute air quietly and evenly. To create a steady, unobstructed airflow, the Cooling Pad N100 uses rear air intake, unlike other cooling pads, which generate airflow from angles that are easily blocked by the laptop itself or loose articles of clothing. Plus, the enclosed, durable construction protects the internal fan from dust and damage. Cooling Pad N100 comes with a three year warranty and is distributed by Ingram Micro and Rashi Peripherals. It is priced at Rs 1995.

Transcend launches MP320R

ranscend has announced that its popular MP320 digital music player is now available in a stylish new pink version - MP320R in India. The MP320R operates just like a USB flash drive, making it easier to transfer music, clips, pictures, documents and other files from any computer. The MP320R boasts an array of useful functions, such as A-B repeat and variable playback speeds that can be excellent tools for reviewing important meetings, foreign language lessons, or academic lectures. Other value-added features include a recordable FM radio, voice recorder and a world clock. Above all, the MP320R is a great sounding music player with support for MP3, WMA, WAV, and even WMA-DRM10 protected music. As far as sound output is concerned, the MP320R offers superb audio playback quality and comes with 7 built-in equalizer modes, including a user-adjustable EQ mode for a more personalised listening experience. The MP320R is capable of displaying 13 different languages, and also comes bundled with a unique software application that allows users to temporarily lock their computers and password-protect personal files. Currently available with 4GB, capacity, the versatile MP320R is backed by a two-year warranty and the comprehensive support of Transcend’s industry-leading global service network. It is priced at Rs 4500.

review

Linksys-Cisco router WRT54GL Wireless-G broadband router

he growing demand of laptops has given a boost to the demand of this product. The connectivity is good, and is extremely secured as well.

Ashu Bansal, Manager, Digital Computech Services, Panchkula, Haryana

Q&A channel q a &

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Indian market has not matured for cloud computingâ&#x20AC;? Cloud computing has generated a lot of excitement and technology leaders are bullish about its potential. Pooja Gautam talks to Neeraj Mediratta, CEO, Ace Data Devices to find out if this model will provide any business value for the Indian channel community

DCC: SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) are already being hosted and maintained by various channel partners in India. How long will be before cloud computing model follows this trend?

I do not think that channel partners will be able to provide cloud services in the near future. A key bottleneck is the total cost infrastructure involved for the provider in this model. As the investment is higher than that involved in SaaS or PaaS model, the stakes for the infrastructure provider are higher than in any other solutions. The time and money involved in getting this solution in place is too high and vendors may not trust channel partners to execute it properly because of their lack of domain knowledge. Also, the complexity of the process makes it difficult for a channel partner to understand all the facets of the technology. The domain knowledge needed to deliver such a solution is extensive and not many channel partners have that kind of expertise. Therefore, until channel partners acquire the know-how about the technology, they cannot be included in the scheme of things. Another reason is that the market has not matured enough to demand this service. There arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t many who want to adopt this solution. DCC: Do you think it is necessary for vendors to engage channel partners in cloud computing to increase its penetration and awareness? Will this approach make customers feel more comfortable? Do you also think that this is the right time for customers to opt for cloud computing?

It will be a good idea for the vendors to include channel partners in the pre-sales and sales talk with the customers of course. Better

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

sales penetration happens by creating more awareness in the market. A customer deals with channel partners more than the vendor. Therefore, it will be easier to create the trust level better by a channel partner. But I would also like to mention here that the need of the hour is for applications to mature. The products that we are supposed to sell in the market need to be developed completely. Also, as mentioned earlier, markets need to mature. For example, business solutions like ERP, which have been the talk of the town, have just started picking up in the market. So, when we talk about ERP on cloud, it becomes so much more difficult for the customer to understand it and the channel partner to convince him. DCC: Do you agree that cloud computing is the future of IT?

the existing capabilities of the IT infrastructure and save money for the organisation. The various kinds of high-end technologies available in the market are a clear indication of an extremely complex IT environment, going forward. We will definitely need new economic business models like cloud computing to remain cost effective in the future. DCC: Going forward, would you incorporate cloud computing services in your portfolio? How will you ensure a competitive edge in that segment?

When we target any segment or user, the key is to offer the right business solution to that person. It is critical to deliver services, keeping in mind the business model and requirement of the customer. For our company specifically, delivering cloud services will not be very difficult as we have already implemented SAP and ERP for a number of customers. So, we know that the trick for successfully deploying a solution is to understand the customer need better than the customer, to have an in-depth knowledge of the solution and the right technical know-how of the same. n

Yes, I agree. This solution helps optimise resources, thus helping achieve higher RoI. There is no day-to-day maintenance required which helps a company concentrate on their core business. As far as the provider is concerned, he can cater to many customers through a single infrastructure. This increases his profitability and reduces the complexity in managing his infrastructure. Cloud computing helps to increase capacity or add capabilities, without providing new infrastructure, training new personnel, or he demand for pen drives in the market is growing by the day. The awarelicensing new softness of Transcend 4GB pen drive is quite high in the market and for many, ware. It includes any pen drives are synonyms to Transcend. The speed is extremely good and is subscription-based or easy to operate. pay-per-use service over the Internet. This S N Gowda, Proprietor, CNS Infotech, Bangalore def initely extends

review

Transcend pen drive 4 GB

Q&A association q a &

R Elango, President, Salem IT Association (SITA) in conversation with Charu Khera shares that SITA will be taking stringent actions against partners who use unethical business tactics and bring down the MOP (Market Operating Price). Excerpts:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Manufacturers and distributors are

indirect contributors

bringing down

MOPâ&#x20AC;?

DCC: A recent incident of Salem IT Association (SITA) banning its founder member, S Dinakaramoorthy for financial irregularities has brought the association into limelight across India. What stringent actions will the association adopt to prevent such unethical business tactics?

S Dinakaramoorthy of Sree Jeeva Computer Systems owed nearly Rs 24 lakh to dealers in Salem. He has even applied for insolvency petition in Salem Court. Hence, all members collectively decided to terminate his membership from the association. Prior to this case, we have terminated two more association members for financial irregularities. All these instances prove that we ensure to take stringent actions against all defaulters. In this particular case, the member was operating back-to-back on his orders. He was not a volume player and was selling at low prices with very little margin. Dealers from bigger cities are responsible for bringing down the MOP. In Salem, there are more than five dealers from bigger cities operating and they bring down the MOP in the Salem market. Any dealer will be forced to operate at the same MOP, otherwise his sales turnover is likely to come down. If one has to maintain his sales turnover, he has to operate at MOP, which is roughly less than one percent gross margin. It is really very sad that our founder member did not seek the help of the association. We would be taking stringent actions against people who use such unethical business tactics and partners who bring down the MOP of the market by seeking the help of Confederation of IT Associations (ConfedITA). Manufacturers and distributors are the indirect contributors in bringing down the MOP. We have even brought about regulations in terms of credit limits and payment terms within the association. DCC: Direct billing has been an issue of concern in Salem. Can you please explain why and what steps has SITA taken to address the matter?

Direct billing has existed for long now, but today it is taking a toll on our day-to-day business. There are many educational institutions in Salem and partners are dependent on those institutions for their business. But partners fail to close orders due to direct billing by vendors. Moreover, these vendors indulge in undercutting while billing directly. It even puts partners in a fix as they lose credibility with customers when vendors bill directly at discounts. We have taken up this issue with Confed-ITA and have included this in the Common Minimum Trade

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Terms (CMTT). We expect the partners to correct themselves by adapting to CMTT of Confed ITA. DCC: Salem partners have adopted an experimental approach by pooling in together to buy and distribute goods in the region. Can you please elaborate on the move? What has been the impact of this move on vendors?

This step was taken to stop infiltration of products of bigger city dealers in Salem. The partners and distributors usually adopt volume-centric prices and not retail-centric prices. Due to this, only bigger city volume players can get best prices and bring down MOP in the upcountry markets, thereby spoiling the market. If this situation continues, all upcountry partners will have to shut their shops. Thus, in order to protect our members, we decided to purchase in group and achieve the desired volume to get the best prices, which are at par with the bigger city dealers. This has worked very well for us and has increased our member volumes giving us recognition with partners and distributors. To our surprise, we have been able to meet the vendor executives and distributor executives very frequently in the past six months. Prior to this, we had not seen them for years. We contribute this change to the pool purchase scheme adopted by the association. DCC: CSCI India chapter has recently launched energy-saving program to drive energy-efficient computing and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Various leading companies and industry bodies have joined hands in this effort. Does SITA plan to take some steps to join this initiative?

We certainly want to be part of this Green initiative. We have already started collecting information through our members and will be joining hands with appropriate bodies to take this further. DCC: SITA in association with Confed-ITA has donated 50 coconut plants to celebrate World Environment Day. Can you brief us about more such activities that the association is involved in?

To celebrate World Environment Day, we donated these 50 plants to the Salem Central Open Prison campus and plan to donate 1,500 saplings soon. This activity was a part of our Pasumai Payanam (A Green Journey) project. We are already approaching all schools and colleges and we expect them to maintain the plants. We would like to involve students in such environmental and social activities. Moreover, we are working with many social service organisations, and plan to give one free sapling for each machine sold by every dealer to a customer. n

Q&A face-to-face MicroWorld has launched various programmes to reach out to its resellers. Anil Gupta, Head – National Sales, MicroWorld, in an interview with Charu Khera, asserts that MicroWorld’s channel policies are not governed by the current economic slowdown. Excerpts:

“We are not affected by the slowdown”

DCC: Can you please elaborate on your various channel strategies? How widespread is your existing channel network?

Our main channel strategy comprises providing training to our partner’s engineers in both sales and support as our partners are first line of contact with the end-users. We also continuously reward our loyal channel partners with schemes to help them grow their business. We currently have more than 2,000 active channel partners across India but we are targeting to increase our channel base to more than 3,000 active channel partners in FY 2009-2010. We are also looking at tapping the resellers and Value-Added Reseller (VAR) segment that mainly caters to the SoHo and SMB segment. We already have a presence in tier-two and tier-three cities across India. DCC: Has MicroWorld initiated any channel engagement programmes lately? Could you please brief us on the same?

We are attempting a road show with Digit Channel Champ to cover 32 cities across India in a span of two months. Around 50 resellers per city would be attending the same, which will help us increase our penetration in the Indian market. This road show is aimed at increasing our reseller network and addressing the concerns of our existing partners. Moreover, we will be providing demonstrations to all our resellers about the current

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information security issues and how our products are the best fit for the cur rent scenario. I n a d d i t i o n , we have also launched the Monsoon Bonanza scheme for resellers to earn rewards based on point system. This scheme offers many exciting prizes to our partners such as holidays to exotic locations, multimedia phones, refrigerators, digital cameras, etc. To be eligible for the scheme, resellers have to collect certain number of points through their sales. We have devised this scheme for our resellers to show our appreciation for their contribution and loyalty because they form important pillars of our distribution system by helping us in reaching our customers. This occasion will help us to strengthen our relation with resellers and will also aid in reaching out to new ones. DCC: Has the sale of your anti-virus software been affected by the market slowdown with many customers now using pirated software?

There are two areas in IT—security and storage —that are seeing tremendous growth. This is because they are considered OPEX (operational expenditure) and not CAPEX (capital expenditure). Especially, SoHo users have become more aware about data security. This is due to the increase in their dependence on online banking. Thus, they are now focusing more towards buying licensed anti-virus software, which provides them with regular updates to protect their systems. The sale of our anti-virus solutions is not directly affected by the recession. DCC: Are you looking at revamping your channel

policies in the wake of the current economic slowdown?

As said above, we proactively help our channel partners to increase their bottom line. There has been no effect on the sales performance due to the current economic slowdown. Thus, we are currently not looking at revamping our channel policies. But we plan to launch various incentive programmes for our partners in future. DCC: Increasingly tough competition has been forcing many channel partners to sell below the MRP (Maximum Retail Price). What, according to you, can vendors do to safeguard the interest of their channel partners in this regard?

Our products are one of the most competitive when compared to any product available in the same segment. Our products are more market-focused and come with value for money in both features and cost. Our partners give better post-sales service, so they have a better edge and are able to sell at MRP. One of the major reasons is the constant training we provide to our partners in both—post-sales services and support to customers. DCC: What are some of the challenges that you face in reaching and managing your remote smaller partners?

We do not face any difficulty in reaching to our partners in tier-two and tier-three cities. We regularly meet our partners via direct visits, phone calls and online medium. Our distribution model is structured in such a way that even remote partners are always informed on all the latest developments. This is one of the reasons that we are witnessing a surge in the number of channel partners signing up with us to sell our products even at remote locations. n

Q&A

face-to-face Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Regional Director, India and SAARC, Check Point Software Technologies, discusses the changing security landscape and his plans of extending the company’s channel reach with Pooja Gautam

Safeguarding the enterprise demands a security framework with sophisticated combination of technologies

DCC: How do you plan to exploit the emerging trends of managed services and SaaS?

Today’s market demands a practice of managed services as every organisation requires a strategic method to improve and enhance their operations at every level. We have been offering many of our security solution on the cloud to our customers through our Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs). These solutions on the cloud range from managed UTM to end point security. Specialised services like hosted secure VoIP protection are also provided on the cloud. These services enable a partner to pay as he grows without major investment. It also enables channel partners to add new services and provide support per user to their customers. We have recently launched our “Software Blade Architecture” that will revolutionise security by providing new levels of flexibility, simplicity and extensibility. The Software Blade architecture empowers businesses with the ability to select the exact security applications or “software blades” they need, such as firewall, Virtual Private Network (VPN), Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), anti-virus, etc. from a library of over 20 software blades. New software blades can be added without deploying new hardware, reducing deployment times and operational costs. Furthermore, the new architecture will allow customers to guarantee performance by allocating resources to specific software blades. DCC: How exactly has the security landscape changed in the past few years and what are the challenges being faced by you to day?

Organisations around the world have spent billions of dollars on their security infrastructure, yet are they any secure than they were before? Attacks now occur across multiple systems; hackers are now have better and faster modus operandi. The security infrastructure may deliver multi-layers of security; however, it has

hampered an organisation’s ability to co-ordinate and monitor its security solutions, or update them effectively. A perimeter around which one could build a firewall, ceases to exists. Organisations can no longer do away with traditional firewall or the up-to-date anti-virus. With invading-worms and reports flashing every other minute on malicious e-mails, safeguarding the enterprise demands a security framework with sophisticated combination of technologies. Our solutions secure the network infrastructure and address all needs of security, of small offices to large multinational organisations. Our security products offer advance security features such as integrated intrusion prevention, virtualisation, gateway antivirus, anti-spam, Web content filtering, as well as IPsec and SSL VPN remote access for computers and mobile devices. As part of its unified security architecture, Check Point also offers standalone intrusion prevention and SSL VPN solutions. With a unified architecture and centralised management capabilities, our network security solutions provide core technologies that enable our customers to deploy a consistent, high level of safety throughout their entire organisation. DCC: With computers and Internet penetrating the B and C class cities of the country, do you wish to increase your channel partner base in these cities?

We have a channel focused business strategy. Foraying into B and C class cities would mean working more closely with channel partners to make use of their penetration and reach. Check Point recently appointed Texonic Instrument as its distributor. Texonic Instruments, with over 3000 partners in the South, is a leading regional distributor in India. They have partnered with Artek in the North, Sejutronics in the west and Data Systems in Andhra Pradesh. We expect our presence in tier-two cities across the country to expand considerably with this partnership. DCC: Has the SMB segment woken up to the importance of security?

The SMBs in India are one the fastest growing

investors in the security market. The need of the hour is a comprehensive security solution from a single vendor that provides a simpler and quicker deployment experience for customers. Support in deployment and timely product updates are critical to SMB business. Simplifying the management of complex architectures found in high performance environments, a single interface for managing firewall, VPN, intrusion prevention, end point security and monitoring capabilities are the benefits, SMB segment always looks at. DCC: What is your channel strategy for the near future?

We have acquired 160 new clients in the year 2008 in India. With three offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, we will also open offices in Kolkatta and Chennai. Checkpoint sells through its distributors—M.Tech, Inflow Technologies, Texonic Instruments and WeP Solutions through a channel ecosystem of system integrators, VARs, resellers and MSPs (Managed Services Providers). At present we have an authorised channel force of six gold partners, 25 silver partners and over 150 designated bronze partners. Information security is one area that has shown tremendous potential even during this economic slowdown. With the heightened need for information security, organisations are looking at beefing up their security infrastructure without hindering the flow of information or functionality across the organisation. Check Point Pure Advantage channel partner program offers unique opportunities for our channel partners of all sizes, to further boost their security product and services offerings. We believe in investing in skilled sales force and technical resource. The competitive product discounts and guaranteed margins enable partners to take advantage of new business growth opportunities available in the burgeoning network and data security market. Check Point’s channel partner program is based on the concept of letting our partner grow with us. We enable them to consult and serve our customers better. We provide them the means to reach a stage where they are trusted advisors to our customers on security. n

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cover story cover story

The

d e g a n a m services route

Managed services hold significant potential for SMBs to save costs and reduce complexity of managing IT systems. Can the Indian channel community exploit and monetise this need? Pooja Gautam

etter management with less investment, is what every business house looks for. Managed services is one such tool, that can help business achieve this goal. Managed services, if loosely translated, refers to outsourcing the management of networks, systems, stor-

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age, applications or the entire IT infrastructure to a service provider. As aptly put by S Krishnan, Technical Director, Kaybee InfoTech, â&#x20AC;&#x153;A key benefit of managed services is that CIOs have someone to share the responsibility of the IT infrastructure. It is an extremely viable option for them.â&#x20AC;?

cover story

Outsourcing has come a long way in the past few years. Managed network services are becoming more common as well. “The scope is great for this line of business and more and more people are entering this field,” says Viren Reshamwala, CEO, Millennium Business. Slowdown has made businesses more conscious about their IT spending thus accelerating the growth of managed services. “Companies are now more cognizant about the way they spend on their IT infrastructure. The management of such an environment is quite expensive. This model makes business sense for start-ups with limited funds. If these start-ups have an option to spare the investment cost for particular technology needs, it will readily adopt managed services”, adds Reshamwala. These services also make a lot of sense for Small and Medium Business (SMBs) that lack the funding to create a high-end technological set-up. At times such businesses also lack the technical know-how to handle such complex environments. Also, if a company requires an IT set-up in another state or city where it does not have any kind of support, these services are a boon to them. These companies can now make use of managed services on a projectbased time frame. For example, if a company in Delhi needs to set-up a temporary base in Mumbai, then having a managed service provider take care of its infrastructure is a better and a more economic option. “Going forward we see increased adoption of managed services especially in the SMB segment”, adds Dipendra Bedi, Managing Director, Tulip Technologies. Small and medium-sized businesses often find that growing their business, using new technology, raising employee productivity, and improving responsiveness to customers all at the same time can be challenging. MSPs help solve these business challenges with a comprehensive managed services portfolio tailored for the small and mediumsized business.

“Although most companies are aware of managed services, many are do not know of the full potential and cost-savings such services can provide enterprises,” said Girish Trivedi, Deputy Director, ICT Practice, Frost and Sullivan, South Asia and Middle East. Managed services model is a new entrant in the market. Customers are a little skeptical about it. The mind-set of the business community to keep everything within the range where they themselves can monitor everything is yet to change. Especially with something that is so important for their business and an area that comprises major investments. Krishnan says, “Awareness about managed services is extremely low in the industry. People are still unaware about the facets of such services. Therefore they have a problem accepting it as a trustworthy solution to their IT management problems. Selling a new concept has always been an issue. This one is no different”. Agrees Jayesh Mehta, CEO, Future Businesstech, “People talk a lot about managed services. However, the fact that their knowledge about the service is extremely low, keeps them from stepping forward and applying it to their business”.

The brighter side However, as we all know, there are two sides of a coin. If there are inhibitors, then there are drivers of growth as well. In case of managed services, this side seems to be heavier than the other side. According to Joslyn Faust, SME market analyst at Gartner, IT departments at smaller companies are stretched thin, and as the infrastructure and applications become more complex, companies are finding

Road blocks For every line of business to grow and gain acceptance, it has to go through many trials. So, what are the challenges facing the growth of this industry? We interviewed a few system integrators and they unanimously agreed that changing the mindset of the customer and to convince him of the channel partner’s capability is a bottleneck. Second is the low availability of talent in the industry. “The in-depth knowledge of the technologies involved is extremely important for the people handling managed services. They should have the technical know-how and should be able to take decisions on their own. “To get people who will be skilled enough to take care of such complex environments are hard to find,” says Reshamwala. We all know that IT’s role in today’s business processes is extremely pivotal. Therefore, to convince someone to hand over the lifeline of their business can be a tricky job. “It is an extremely difficult job to persuade a customer to go for managed services. To create that level of trust and comfort with the customer is a delicate job and the most important one as well,” says Chetan Shah, CEO of Xpress Computers.

“To create the required level of trust and comfort with the customer is a delicate job” Chetan Shah CEO, Xpress Computers

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Remote Infrastructure Management The externally provided, annuitybased operations and manage-ment capabilities offered by RIM (Remote Infrastructure Management services may increase IT availability and systems performance, and reduce IT deployment risks. The SMB segment is the engine of growth for RIM services over traditional on-site services, according to a report by Gartner on RIM. However, it is said that a lot of channel partners make a mistake by packaging the entire service product in an off-site management suite, forgetting to include any onsite support. “The business culture in the country is such that the consumers still look for a face-toface interaction with the channel partners. So channel partners need to package their services as a hybrid model wherein there is an on-site person available all the time,” says Bedi of Tulip Technologies. The market is not as yet mature enough to take on the RIM and embrace it in all its possibilities. “We are trying to convince them that RIM does not require an on-site person at all. Also that it is quite as effective as the hybrid model that most of us are engaging into as of now. To prove this, when we engage into RIM we do deploy an on-site help and then after a while review his need with the customer, who by then would have realised the futility of such an arrangement,” explains Mehta.

it difficult to effectively manage them. Likewise, she notes that this lack of expertise in the staff means there may only be one person responsible for a critical piece of infrastructure such as networking, requiring that individual to be always on call in case of emergency. Such virtual house arrest can quickly lead to job burnout should a more complex environment create an onerous burden of after-hours calls. Businesses in this situation find outsourcing advantageous merely to gain access to all-hours support. Topping the list of the many plus points is the fact that managed services helps a company to reduce the total cost of ownership and increase the productivity as well. It helps customers to concentrate on their core business activity, taking the burden of the additional responsibility of managing the entire IT system, off their shoulders. “In today’s time the clocks in the office do not run only from nine to five. People work around the clock and therefore the systems need to be up and running every hour of the day. With managed services, higher availability of IT becomes much more feasible and cheaper, which helps with the 24/7 work culture demanded these days. The level of automation is also quite high,” adds Shah of Xpress Computers, giving further insight about the growing need of this service. “Businesses keep growing and so does the IT infrastructure. The management of the same takes a lot of time and money. With the help of managed services, a company can now direct those resources to better their core competencies,” says Mehta. Vikram Sharma, Head Managed Services, Cisco

“The aware of this model is extremely low in the market. There is still uneasiness about security and reliability of it. People are ready to talk about it but not adopt it themselves. However, we are moving towards business models where cost saving is given priority over everything else and in the next few years people will realise that RIM is more viable for this kind of costsaving business model”, says Ranjan Chopra, CEO, Team Computers

Jayesh Mehta CEO, Future Businesstech

Be cautious When a channel partner takes onto himself the responsibility of somebody else’s infrastructure, they better be cautious about the kind of environment they are entering into. So do channel partners actually do a background research before they take up the job? “Yes, we do a background check of the company. It is extremely necessary to have details of the environment that we are entering into. If the system is ready to break down at a moment’s notice, then the service provider will have to shoulder the responsibility of it” says Krishnan of Kaybee InfoTech. However, as the customers though good in numbers are not abundant, the channel partners do not really have a choice of choosing the kind of environment they would like to handle. The choice is limited and all that can be done is to tell the customer to improve their infrastructure before the responsibility is taken on. “The customers are mostly OK with the idea of upgrading or reviewing their infrastructure as and when suggested by the channel partners. They do not really create any problems as far as renewing their systems are concerned, because they themselves want it to work without any hitches” adds Shah.

Sector factor:

“Knowledge of managed services is extremely low in businesses. This keeps them from embracing this model” DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

India and SAARC says, “The emergence of new data technologies, the convergence of voice, video, and data, and the explosion of e-business across many industries, have resulted in corporate networks dramatically changing and becoming increasingly complex”. This trend has led to a complex spectrum of managed services offerings with managed network services (MNS) forming the foundation. Managed services also provide the operators with new revenue streams and strong growth opportunities. More and more business customers want service providers to deploy and manage their network solutions to reduce costs and improve reliability. Service providers can leverage existing network infrastructures and expertise while developing new revenue streams through managed services. “Managed services can also help service providers in customer retention, since customers are not likely to change operators managing their entire IT infrastructure”, adds Bedi of Tulip Technologies.

august 2009

There are always certain sectors that favor a technology or services more than others. The case with managed services is no different. This was yet another topic on which our systems integrators agreed undividedly. “ITES, telecom and manufacturing are the sectors that have been favoring the growth of managed services,” says Bedi. Apart from these sectors a positive response has been seen from banking and financial sector as well. Channel partners feel that managed services is here to stay. As aptly put by Bedi, “It is the best bet for companies to improve the management of IT systems.” n

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mitigate

fraud risks

In wake of the rising number of fraud instances, channel associations across India have come forward through collaborative efforts to address this issue Charu Khera

elhi-based proprietor cheated partners of over Rs 30 lakh; fraud in Mumbai amounting Rs 80 lakh; partner in Udaipur conned several dealers of Rs 14 lakh; after duping partners of Rs 65 lakh, Mumbai-based fraudsters absconded – all these headlines and many more fraud instances have shook the IT channel fraternity. Timely communication (read a cautionary note) to the members by association heads is the most effective medium to prevent this increase in frauds. By sharing information and best practices, associations can protect their members and save them from fraud losses. Most of the common cases of frauds are caused either by over trading or by a person who is not a regular player of the industry. Some of such cases are payment defaults by dealers who vanish, fraudulent purchases by strangers whose cheques bounce after delivery, products sold without MRP stickers; MRP stickers changed by dealers and much more. Explaining some of the repercussions of frauds in the market, Kaushik Pandya, Immediate Past President, Ahmedabad Computer Merchants Association (ACMA) and President, Federation of IT Associations of Gujarat (FITAG) said, “Partners normally buy material at ‘X’ price and sell the same at a lower cost. This leads to many problems because at one point of time, this cycle has to come to a standstill and somewhere the deficit is to be generated. The other consists people who are not regular players of the industry. They buy material from a local player for some time against the payment. Once the transactions are regularly established, they ask for the credit and then run away with the material.”

He further adds that every six-eight months such cases of various intensity surface in Ahmedabad. “Whenever we have any such information from channel partners, we inform the entire community about the activity and tell them to not encourage such cases. If partners are careful and stop entertaining such run-away buyers, there will definitely be less cases of frauds.” In another case, a new office is open by a partner, who then takes material from some dealers; pays for the first couple of transactions, takes more material, gives post dated cheques (which never get realised) and vanishes. In some cases, dealers give material only after accepting Demand Drafts (DDs) only to realise later that the DD is fake. Expressing his views on the increasing number of frauds, Saket Kapur, Secretary, Progressive Channels Association of Information Technology (PCAIT) said, “Most common cases of fraud being reported to us are non-payment as well as cheque bouncing issues by both resellers and end-customers. Besides this, there have been sporadic cases of consumer purchase using stolen credit cards and fake currency notes.” Adding to his views was Sunil Gugale, Member-Advisory Panel, Computer Media Dealer Association (CMDA-Pune) said, “There are many types of frauds such as frauds from end-users (who pay by stolen/ international credit card for payments); frauds from fly-by-night channel partners (those who open offices, order material and after taking the material run away); and frauds like absconding from the market (as a result of overtrading/some loss in stock market, partners get into financial crisis and flee).”

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“In earlier days when channel community was not as organised, fraudsters were in a better position to take undue advantage of lack of information, sharing among channel partners. But today, the community is alert and keeps a close watch on any malpractices and informs the association that nabs the culprit”, says Kirti Thakkar, President, Ahmedabad Computer Merchants Association (ACMA). While according to Kapur, cases of frauds are usually not reported owing to the fear among the channel partner of turning the receivable into bad debt, Gugale claims that at least one or two major cases of frauds in a year, which typically involve around 10 sub-distributors and wherein the amount varies from 20 lakh to 50 lakh, are reported to the association. “We try our best to take stringent actions against the fraudsters and solve the issue immediately,” adds Gugale. Further explaining measures that the association takes to prevent frauds in Pune, Gugale said, “Many a times, retailers offer end-users low prices but we immediately share data with all key distributors and ensure awareness that something is wrong somewhere. Those who have been involved in such practices in the past have been refused CMDA membership. Moreover, our membership process is also very stringent. Anyone who wishes to be a member should be in the business for minimum two years and we collect all his personal data like shop act, registration certificate, PAN number, references, etc. before we enrol him as our member.” CMDA Pune has also taken help of the police department and work with them closely. “We also give them one stall free in our IT expo to educate everyone on cyber crime,” he adds. Due to the current market conditions, the cases of frauds have certainly increased. Most cases of frauds occur in the redistribution channel rather than resellers who deal only with customers. Confederation of IT Association (Confed ITA) President PN Prasad says, “Channel partners bring to our notice frauds related to vanishing dealers and buyers. But they hesitate to share the problems with vendors and distis. There are many dealers who have not got their back-ends/service charges reimbursements from their vendors and often when they start demanding the dues, the vendors change the partners without paying their existing partners. This is where the role of associations becomes important. In one case at Pondicherry, due to association intervention, one of the top vendors could not appoint a new partner without settling the dues to their old partner.”

Steps taken by associations With rising number of fraud instances across India, associations are expected to take concrete actions to fight against all odds. They should share names of people who are involved in illegal activities, whose cheques bounce regularly, should notify defaulters, and also send e-mailers regularly to members updating them with various malpractices in the region. Associations should thus serve as a medium to propagate the message that today in thin margin businesses, avoiding frauds is not only important but proper payment discipline is also very critical. One such association is Confed ITA, who sends regular information about various frauds through e-mails to members; interact with vendors as soon as the problem is reported to avoid protracted litigations. Even Mumbai-based Trade Association of Information Technology (TAIT) recently organised a workshop on ‘How to Avoid Frauds’ with over 100 channel partners participating in the event. Thakkar explains that ACMA is a very friendly association. Even a small system integrator is free to call the president at any time during urgency. They have a dedicated committee that keeps track of any wrongdoings and addresses them. They try to trap the fraudster before he can cause much damage by passing information among ACMA members and keeping a close watch on the market operating prices. With associations across India becoming pro-active towards dealing with frauds, there has been some reduction in the number of cases. Moreover, with the Internet boom and technological advancements, the overall movement against frauds is expected to get better by the day.n charu.khera@9dot9.in

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Association heads across India suggested the following measures to avoid increasing fraud instances: Information sharing and the policy of “verify before you deal” should always be followed by channel partners.” saket kapur, secretary, progressive channels association of information technology (pcait).

“Careful distribution and market touch is critical. Moreover, in case of any abnormal buying or an extremely large order, one should get more details before issuing material; and any order with abnormal margins should be verified properly.” sunil gugale, member-advisory

panel, computer media dealer association (cmda-pune).

“Partners should be careful and not give material on credit/post dated cheques to any unknown/new customer without verifying their credibility.” naresh lalwani, president, computer

media dealer association (cmda-pune).

“If partners come across any person who is involved in some spurious activity, they should immediately inform the local association or trade body. This will certainly prevent any further cases of frauds in the region”

kaushik pandya, immediate past president, ahmedabad computer merchants association (acma) and president, federation of it associations of gujarat (fitag)

“We have formed a DRT (Dispute Redressal Team), which is a committee of major dealers, who share information on defaulters to caution about undercutting and other cases of frauds in the region.” rajnikanth, president, coimbatore it association (cita)

“At Confed-ITA, we send alerts through e-mails on a 24x7 basis that have helped save losses due to fraudsters.” p n prasad, president, confederation of it association (confed-ita)

Association should verify minute details like asset belongings, family background and the origin of a dealer before trading. We encourage members to conduct business with genuine ACMA members to avoid any disputes.” kirti thakkar, president, ahmedabad computer merchants association (acma)

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illustration: shrikrishna patkar

ta c k l i n g

Source: Quickheal Technologies

cyber crime

With the number of cyber threats doubling every year, organisations have to fasten their belts and deal with this challenge head-on Sanjay Katkar

iruses were the biggest and most dangerous threat to computers a decade ago. Today they are less than 10 percent of the total number of threats that a computer user can face. With the wide spread of Internet over the past decade, many other threats have emerged. Apart from viruses there are threats like worms, Trojans, backdoors, rootkits, spywares and adwares - collectively known as malware. The number of new emerging threats doubles every year and anti-virus vendors have to deal with this growing wave of malware by increasing their resources. Prominent cyber criminal activities include identity theft, banking frauds, credit card frauds, phishing attacks, DDOS attacks, ransom attacks and spamming. People use Internet for various services. The more we make use of the technology for newer kinds of services the more attack vectors are created by these groups of hackers. Internet services like online banking, online purchasing, social networking sites for personal data, online games and virtual characters on second life, stock exchange brokers and search engine users are targeted the most.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

Botnet - major source of crime To carry on these criminal activities online the hackers are making use of many commercial tools and services. They are constantly working on newer technologies that can help in keeping their activities untraceable by any security software like anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, etc. Among all the technology the most commonly used technology is “Botnet”. This the most successful technology and highly sophisticated in nature and is used in all most all the cyber criminal activities like spamming, identity theft, phishing, DDOS attack, etc. A bot is a computer program which once installed gives access to the computer from remote place. When a compromised computer falls pray to a malware like Trojan or a rootkit which has a bot agent, the computer is referred to as a “zombie computer”. A network of such zombie computers which is controlled remotely by a single hacker is called as Botnet. The person who controls such Botnet is called a Botherder. These Botherders are those hackers who make use of this Botnet tech-

features

Safety norms for your computer: Install complete PC security software for your computer. Software like anti-virus, anti-spyware and personal firewall is a must if you are going to connect your PC to the Internet While installing PC security software, always confirm that the security software that you are installing is genuine and has at least one certification like CheckMark or VB100 percent Configure your anti-virus and anti-spyware software to automatically update so that your protection is always up-to-date on latest threats. Regularly check that your anti-virus software is updated and continuously protecting your computer Use genuine and original operating system for your computer Configure proper security settings for your browser based on your surfing requirements While surfing on the Internet, always visit trusted Websites and Websites that you are aware of Always be careful while installing free software downloads. Free software like wall papers, screen savers, etc. are most likely to have some unwanted software in them

nology to achieve their criminal activity and remain un-notice. A typical Botnet has thousands or hundreds of thousands of computers under its control. A Botnet can have clients in different countries or continent. These computers are usually of innocent users who are unaware that their computer is compromised and is being used on-line by the Botherder for criminal activities. All the criminal activities that a Botherder is performing will now trace to this innocent users PC and thus the Botherder remains un-noticed.

How these Botnets are used for criminal activities Hackers rent their Botnets by the hour to spammers. Almost all ISPs (Internat Service Providers) donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow sending spam, but when millions of computers send few emails spam, it goes un-noticed. Furthermore, the spam sent through a Botnet tracks back to the compromised computer and not to the spammer. Phishing scam criminals also rent Botnet for sending emails that appear to come from legitimate financial institute, bank, ebay or PayPal. The email typically asks for sensitive personal information, which victims often provide. This information then goes to the cyber criminal. Hacker can also use a Botnet to launch a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack against a website. The computers in the Botnet are sent a command prompting them to contact a specific webpage simultaneously. This can cause the Website server to crash from an overload of traffic requests resulting in closing down of the server and eventually the business service. DDoS attacks are usually carried out against well known companies followed by a ransom call to avoid similar attacks again. To grow the size of Botnets, earlier the hackers used to keep on creating bots that keep on replicating by searching the computer to compromise and enter it. Apart from this they have found a new way of entering the widespread users on the Internet through Websites. The trend of these Web threats has been observed more prominently since 2007. It is rising very fast and has taken over all other means of propagation in very short time.

Web threats on the rise Earlier, malware writers relied on user downloading an infected file or user clicking on an infected attachment sent in the email. Today malwares like Trojan or a rootkit is placed on a Website and users are lured to the compromised Webpage via spammed email message. Once a user opens the compromised Website in his/her browser the system gets infected and the Botnet gets a new client. Any kind of Website can get infected. Social networking sites or a cookery sites are as much likely to be infected, as are gambling or pornography sites.

Why has this situation arrived? Answer lies in one important factor that has emerged in last four to five years. Previously the virus writers used to develop viruses for fun or to demonstrate their skills and to gain popularity to some extent. This trend has changed and taken over by cyber criminals. New breeds of hackers, who are commercially motivated, are driving this exponential growth in new malware generation. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attacks are organised and executed using sophisticated tools that are engineered by highly skilled hackers specially for stealing information and resources from computer of victims. There is only one motive - to make money. This has created a fertile ecosystem for darker side hackers over the Internet. This is a huge problem faced globally. Their primary victims are innocent computer users who are not highly computer literate. This has also grown enough to be a major threat for big corporations and can even put a nation at risk. Cyber criminals feel safe because legal authorities are not acting promptly. There are no laws on cyber crime in some countries and victims rarely inform police about the crime. There is less or no co-operation among countries to control cyber crime which is much global in nature. Today cyber crime is big business. There is no reason to believe that this situation will improve in near future. This is causing increase in number of new threats, new types of spam, new technologies, new file formats targeted (PDFs, JPGs, etc.) and new types of scam continue to place a heavy burden on individual as well as corporate user on the internet. There are more reasons that will keep growing over time and the threat landscape will remain challenging for years to come. However, if managed properly, the problem is not difficult to overcome. Up-to-date protection, sound security practices, user education and a commitment to always be informed can help defend business in these tough times. The best defense against all kinds of Internet threats would be to remain alert and be aware of the situation and follow safety norms mentioned below. These safety norms cannot guarantee that your computer can be 100 percent safe online but will certainly limit the harm from cyber crime. Bibliography: Botnet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Killer Web App by Craig A. Schiller, Jim Binkley, David Harley, Gadi Evron, Tony Bradley, Carsten Willems, Michael Cross n

The author is Technical Director and CTO, Quickheal Technologies

review Acer laptop 5738G

Safeguarding against online banking Never conduct online banking transactions on a shared or public computer. Also be aware of computers that are on unprotected wireless network Always confirm that all the security software is up-to-date Always type the Web address of your bank into the browser address space. Never click on a link in a suspicious email Make sure that the banking Website address starts with https. This means that the Website is SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protected and ensures encryption protected communications

eople prefer buying laptops than desktops these days. However, to get advance features on a laptop can be a tricky job. This product by Acer provides a host of rich features to the customer, while maintaining its speed at the same time. The long extended warranty period is another great factor.

Chirag Patel, Partner, Synergy Systems, Bharuch, Gujarat

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

leadership leadership

mastering the

art

Many of you, quite often, find yourself running out of time, and for those who feel that there’s just never enough time to complete the designated tasks, time management is the answer Charu Khera

o sustain and excel in this cut-throat competitive world, time management skills are a pre-requisite to success. According to Wikipedia, “Time management refers to a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage specific tasks, projects and goals.” The ability to be able to prioritise one thing over the other while keeping a track of the changing work environment is one of the most crucial requirements of today’s hectic lifestyle.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

One should always be careful as to what is important at a given time. And with recession being the catchphrase, organisations are turning their attention towards employees who can successfully manage time and churn out high levels of productivity. To take a simple test, if your e-mail inbox or your phone’s SMS inbox has a number of unread messages, and your explanation for those is that you just don’t have time to check them up, then you lack time

leadership leadership management skills. It is not difficult to learn time management, all that is required are some simple yet effective changes in day-to-day routine and habits.

Why manage time? There are numerous advantages of using time management tools in your life. To name a few…reduced stress levels, improved productivity, no missed deadlines and increased efficiency. Though some of these advantages may be noticed in the initial span of using time management; advantages like enhanced productivity and work satisfaction will only come to light after dedicatedly following the rules for a couple of months. With regards to an organisation, set goals and timelines make it much easier to track work and adapt to any sudden changes in the work environment.

Set your goals Most often, people tend to neglect goal-setting and fail to understand that a little time and effort put in setting right goals saves an enormous amount of time and effort in future. However, it is this process of setting goals that is most effective when it comes to time management. Once the goals are set, one has a proper time schedule ready with planning periods set in hours or days. These goals don’t just help in the work line but if implemented in a proper manner can be very beneficial in balancing work and personal life. In addition, one should also keep in mind that everything cannot be achieved in a single day. Therefore, the goals should be set in accordance that they can be achieved in the set time frame. Start with simple and easily achievable goals as that would provide the required motivation to accomplish remaining goals. One should always keep some spare time to make up for any contingencies in the planned activities.

Prioritise Prioritising what needs to be done when is crucial in achieving time management. Without it, you may end up working hard, but achieving very little as the project you are working on is not of strategic importance. Just setting goals and achieving them doesn’t correspond to time management. Time management is essentially distributing time in such a way that the important goals get prioritised. However, if two goals are set at equal priority, then one must take a judgement call after analysing the need and requirement of the situation. Even setting priorities is futile if they are not followed. Prioritising and following the plans to the T has the potential to increase efficiency and productivity. Although multi-tasking is a great way to finish up work quickly, it is best avoided when just starting time management exercise. Otherwise it leads to focus being distributed and the individual is back to square. Once you get comfortable in prioritising goals, then use multi-tasking.

Same time, more work As the targets are clear and the time period to achieve them defined, one can work towards a set goal with full determination. As in that given time one has to work only on a particular target, the work is done much more smoothly. One of the most basic steps to effectively distribute time is to figure out the areas your time is spent daily. If you can figure out your daily schedule, then it becomes easier to assign a set time for achieving your goals. By doing this one can easily estimate where and what amount of time was wasted in performing non-essential activities. You can then cut down on the same or just re-assign that time in doing something productive.

Avoid procrastination Procrastination is the root of all time management problems. How many times have you postponed a work simply because you don’t find it interesting or you think that you would not be able to do it, or simply chose to perform the easy tasks over the slightly difficult ones? All of us have

suffered from it one time or the other. People procrastinate due to various reasons. It is generally surround issues of anxiety, low sense of self-worth, and a self-defeating mentality. Deferment

Time management techniques n Do not fritter your time away with conflicting priorities. Set your goals right n Lay down your priorities. Perform the essential tasks first.This would enable you to figure out what exactly needs to be done and in what order n Acknowledge the type of goals to achieve and then consolidate them in similar task groups to be performed alongside n Share responsibility and work with others by delegating or sharing work. This way one has more time left to perform mission critical tasks n Avoid procrastination. Get started immediately on tasks without wasting time and thinking of ways to postpone the task n Do not get discouraged n Always keep time to take a break n Award yourself once the set task is completed.

of goals and tasks leads to further stress and unnecessary backlog. To avoid this, the best practice is to attend to things right away whenever possible. Motivate yourself through various means and if you think that there is a goal that is difficult to achieve, take help of your colleagues and seniors. It takes time but once you get used to it, it leads to a huge boost in performance and productivity of an individual.

A break from work For effective time management, one should always set aside time to rejuvenate during the entire day. The saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” isn’t there just for the sake of it. If one feels too overwhelmed with to-do lists and feels concentration lacking, it is best to take a break. These breaks help you de-stress. A break would leave you refreshed and maybe provide a fresh prospective for performing the set task in a better way.

Award yourself Once the goal is achieved in the said time, reward yourself for the achievement of the goal. This will motivate you and pave way for using time management in future. Don’t get discouraged if you are unable to achieve your targets. It may take some time to master time management skills. However, in the process of using time management as a tool, you will reap benefits such as diminished stress levels and boost in work efficiency. Time management is essential since it affects not just yourself, but everyone around you as well. One size does not fit all. Every individual has to prepare a blueprint for him to succeed in this. The idea isn’t to just perform as much task as possible during a day; rather it is knowing, understanding and then performing the important tasks first. Implementation of time management in your day-to-day schedule would help you and the people around you to function in a disciplined way and perform better. n

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

power of seven Collective wisdom Seven leading names in the domain of IT infrastructure management solutions, namely, APW President, Avocent, Eaton, Uniflair, Austin Hughes, Unite Technologies and Nlyte, came together to form ‘Power of seven’, in association with Digit Channel Champs

Pramod Agashe COO, APW President Systems

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

two-city event wherein, System Integrators (SI), Value Added Resellers (VARs) and customers were given a platform, to view and experience the features of the various datacentre technologies that the seven companies deal in. The aim of these seven companies was to come together and ensure a product that gave customers everything they needed in an integrated fashion. Pramod Agashe, Chief Operating Officer, APW President Systems said, “Datacentre projects are becoming very complex. Customers and channels are looking for ways to access an integrated range of ‘soft’ resources, ‘hard’ tools and integrated solutions needed for creating the right IT infrastructure. In this context, the ‘Power of Seven’ was conceptualised as a unique alliance of several leading names in the field of IT infrastructure management solutions”. “Unplanned expansion and un-utilised hardware coupled with inefficient storage solutions are some of the challenges that every business has to face,” said Neel Shah, Insight business Machine. As aptly put by Sujay Nair, Executive Director 9dot9 media, in a discussion about the increasing need of datacentres, “The endless explosion of data in today’s time, and the increasing dependence of business on IT, has augmented the need for better datacentres”. He further added that as time passes by, information is growing to grow and along with it the need for more servers and storage as well. “Green IT and virtualisation are the only ways to improve the efficiency of datacentres,” said Nair, receiving nods of agreement from those present. Joydeep Dutta, CTO, ICICI said that managing the datacentres is a challenge. “We have around 650 to 800 applications running every day on our systems. We have around 10,000 application changes coming in everyday. To tackle this problem we took help of virtualisation and consolidation of applications, bringing down the costs of our entire IT infrastructure. “The recent exposition and seminars held under the ‘Power of Seven’ banner at Mumbai and Bangalore served as a focal point for this alliance to reach customers and channel partners. For us, it has been an exciting and rewarding experience to be able to work together and provide a compelling value proposition. We are now in a better position to help our channel partners in IT infrastructure projects all the way from an early stage of the planning cycle through design, deployment and providing on-going services across the life-cycle. With the support of our alliance partners, we look forward to taking this vision ahead in the future,” said Agashe. n

august 2009

channel champs channel champs After its initial success, Channel Champs set out on its second leg to reach out to the nooks and corners of the country. The programme ran in the month of July and covered 10 cities. The principal sponsors were MicroWorld and Gigabyte cities

Nikhil Thakkar

Business Development Manager, Shani Peripherals

With tier-two and tier-three cities being engines of business growth in today’s times, Channel Champs graced Bhavnagar to educate channel partners on new developments

“I have attended many events in the past but I feel that Digit Channel Champs is the most effective platform for networking. The format is such that it is a win-win situation for the vendors and channel partners.”

Ketan Trivedi

Secretary, Association of Bhavnagar Computer Dealers

“We greatly appreciate this initiative. The format of the conference gave a chance for a lot of knowledge sharing among channel partners.”

Duttesh N C

Krishna Kumar

Technical Executive, Microworld

“Participating in this event was of great business value to us. I am looking forward to such programmes in the future.”

Senior Business Development Manager, Microworld

“It was a well conducted conference”

Channel Champ’s tour to this city proved to be very fruitful as partners were very active in their participation and said the event was an educative experience

Nishant Bhimani Proprietor, Bhimani Computers

“Digit Channel Connect magazine is very helpful to us. It keeps us abreast of information on latest products. It has been a catalyst to boost our sales. Digit Channel Champs, which is an extension of the magazine, has proved to be a great value-add for channel partners.”

Kirti Thakkar

President, Ahmedabad Computer Merchants Association (ACMA)

“Please highlight the problems faced by small partners in tier-two and tier-three cities in your magazine as they are the engines of growth today.”

Narendra Kumar

Area Manager Channel Sales, Gigabyte

“I think DCC is one of the top magazines in the channel space in India. We have greatly benefited from the Channel Champs initiative.”

Saumil Rami

rajkot

ahmedabad

jamnagar

Digit Channel Champs visited this beautiful city, with association heads and various channel partners networking and sharing knowledge with each other. All the stakeholders were impressed with the business benefits that this initiative brought on the table

bhavnagar

August 2009

A h m e d a b a d , B h av n a g a r , J a m n a g a r , Raj k o t , s u r a t , Va d o d a r a , A u r a n g a b a d , n a g p u r , Na s h i k , P u n e

This city of rich cultural heritage helped Channel Champs keep its pulse on the challenges faced by the channel community. Partners said that this initiative was a win-win situation for all the stakeholders involved Sindhu Nelson

Assistant General Manager, Microworld

“The programme was well organised and executed. It was a great experience for our partners. We would like to collaborate again with Digit Channel Champs.”

Proprietor, Saumil Computers

“This was the first time that I attended a channel champs event. I had a very pleasant experience and I am looking forward to more such events in the future.”

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

Paresh A Patel

Sanat Jain

“Digit Channel Connect magazine is effective mediatory to educate various stakeholders on the latest developments in IT.”

“Your magazine is deeply respected in the community. We request you to increase its distribution. Our association would like to extend its full support to the team.”

President, Baroda IT Association (BITA)

Nilesh Joshi, Secretary, Baroda IT Association (BITA)

“I find Digit Channel Connect more informative than any other IT magazine for the channel community.” Dilip Jasani

Director, Shani Peripherals

“This is a great platform to disseminate information to various partners. I think that giving advance information and keeping various partners updated is a crucial aspect of running a successful business.”

aurangabad

Partners from Nashik were encouraging and extended their full support to the team behind Channel Champs for further initiatives

Channel partners from Aurangabad gave us a warm welcome. They shared constructive feedback with us to better our efforts

Umarkar Aniruddha Jagannath Director, Bhakti Computers

“Your magazine addresses various issues of the channel partners. One element that stands out is the fact that you speak about specific challenges of different regions.”

Kiran Patel Branch Manager, Cache Technologies

“Such events are excellent for our community. They benefit the partners as well as the vendors.”

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

President, Computer Association of Nashik

nashik

The city of Vadodara was very hospitable and the partners were all praise for Digit Channel Connect magazine and the conference conducted

pune

vadodara

channel channel champs champs

Channel Champs visit to this city was very eventful. Partners were able to network and share knowledge with eminent dignitaries

Roopesh V K

Technical Support Engineer, Microworld

“This initiative was a great platform to collaborate with our partners. We would like to participate in the future too.”

money matters money matters

To save every single penny

Server virtualisation has evolved into a ‘recession-friendly’ technology that prepares enterprises to weather the economic slowdown by shedding excess technology and driving significant savings Achyuthanandan s

he current economic downturn has undoubtedly affected companies across diverse industry sectors. But the ways and means through which these affected companies dealt with the decreasing bottom line figures seem to show a lot of similarity. One of the most common and prominent victims of the companies’ cost cutting measures has been IT spending. Budgets for information technology (IT) assets have invariably been one of the first items to be cut down. According to a survey conducted by the National Computing Center, UK, nearly 30 percent of participants have decided to delay IT infrastructure upgrades until the economy improves. Similarly, US-based Goldman Sachs’ report on IT spending projected a nine percent decline in global IT spending. Consequently, cash conservation and optimal utilisation of existing IT resources have emerged as highpriority issues in the minds of cash-strapped IT heads and hence, there is a huge demand for technologies and solutions that could enable

them to achieve these goals. Server virtualisation technology has emerged as one of the most convincing technologies that could potentially benefit in the quest for optimal investments. Server virtualisation is capable of enabling IT administrators achieve the maximum performance out of enterprise server deployments in a cost-effective manner. It facilitates IT managers run multiple, independent virtual servers on a single physical server, with each virtual server behaving like a physical server with its own operating system. Typically, server utilisation in an enterprise is extremely low, ranging from 15 to 20 percent on an average. By virtualising servers, the utilisation could be bolstered to 75 to 80 percent on an average, thereby allowing to gain from a multitude of benefits. According to a recent survey conducted by US-based Association for Computer Operations Management (AFCOM), one of the leading industry associations for datacentre professionals, 86.2 percent of datacentre managers have expressed interest in increasing the use

of virtualisation at the datacentre. Evidently, server virtualisation is being seen as a smart investment in troubled times owing to the technology’s ability to cut operational costs and streamline IT processes.  Cost reduction and resource utilisation are the primary goals of any business. Server virtualisation technology can go a long way in reducing costs and improving resource utilisation. The technology allows enterprises to achieve optimal server performance from a lesser number of physical servers. In addition, the resource utilisation of virtualised server environments is four times higher than that of conventional servers on an average. These dual benefits directly translate into significant cost savings and improved business agility since the enterprise would be able to eliminate the expenditure required for procuring, installing, and maintaining new server hardware, as computing requirements increase. n The author is Research Analyst, ICT, Technical Insights, Frost & Sullivan

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

analyst analyst speak speak Opportunities in the credit crunch

MEs in India are highly price sensitive, less exposed to the global market, and confident about spending in the current economic climate, says Ovum. India has a broad diversity of suppliers and is a highly competitive market place. There is no single dominant player across the country for telecommunication services and the competition is greater than in most of the Asian markets. The number of options for mobile service is greater than on the fixed services. “As a result, in order to get the best of breed, the majority of SMEs prefers not to have single provider for multiple services”, says Claudio Castelli, Senior Analyst at Ovum. “The common strategy of bundling services, deployed by service providers in many other places, is less likely to be effective in this market,” Castelli adds, “71 percent of the companies

surveyed prefer to have a predictable monthly recurring charge per user for telecoms equipment and services”. The high interest in opex-based models for telecoms equipment and services in this market is reflected in the SMEs mature view on managed services. A few SMEs are already using managed services, and many others are planning to do so in the future. “They are most keen to adopt managed audio/ video conferencing, PBX / IP PBX, security

and specialist business software applications”, says Castelli. In addition, the share of mobile workers is growing; 43 percent of SMEs’ employees have some degree of mobility. Though, this is not reflected in the budget allocated for mobile services”, says Castelli.” Unsurprisingly, controlling the cost of mobility is a high priority amongst the SMEs”. Like in many other Asian countries, the majority of the companies do not provide wireless devices to employees needing mobility for business purposes. This is a clear indication that users are generally providing and supporting their own personal mobile devices when at work. Ovum believes this practice is dangerous and might result in business risks. For example, if a salesperson goes to a competitor, their customers will continue to contact him at that number. n

Printer OEMs could lose about $13 billion to third-party remanufacturers

rinter OEMs could lose more than $13 billion in the next 12 months, as procurement managers increasingly turn to remanufactured supplies to help them cut costs during the downturn, according to Gartner. “Because printer supplies produce a higher margin than the product itself, this trend is leading to lower profits for OEMs,” said Ken Weilerstein, Research Vice President, Gartner. “There is potential for damage to the printer OEMs’ brand because of poor quality and counterfeits. Gartner has identified three steps that marketing staffs can use to help their company win back market shares from supply remanufacturers in emerging markets and stop the remanufacturers from denting aftermarket profits. Step 1 Design a marketing campaign that begins with education — During the downturn, organisations, procurement managers, and print supply buyers are extremely cost-conscious. OEM marketers should create a campaign to educate buyers and users. It will explain why buyers should continue to choose its products, and why these products cost more than those of the remanufacturers. Step 2 Execute the campaign aggressively — In the minds of some buyers, remanufactured supplies are both less expensive and more environmentally friendly. Original supplies also have substantial cost savings and environmental benefits, and OEMS must present their side of the story effectively. Step 3 Utilise PR and legal successes judiciously — Some OEMs work hard to protect their patents and copyrights against remanufacturers, but then fail to explain their legal actions in a way that customers can understand and appreciate. Even a favorable verdict can damage the image of vendors that come across as bullies. Public relations teams should address the OEM’s efforts proactively and explain the context fairly. n

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

finalword final word

The social misfits Sooner or later social networking thefts will become the order of the day; secure your systems before they change priyashree andley Other networking sites are growing rapidly, such as Twitter. These sites are contributing to a rapid sharing of links and other information. However, are these shared links reliable, or could criminals inject malicious links into our system?

Lessons for corporate India

he present array of global threats ranging from terrorism to cyber crime has affected corporate security in a big way. Cyber and electronic warfare has become a popular and cheaper form of attack making it imperative for every industry to establish a secure framework for its information assets. The recent cyber attacks targeting government portals in the US and South Korea are apparent examples of such threats. These attacks are a possibility in India too, and it calls for an urgent action to de-risk corporate technology infrastructure. Information Technology is the lifeline of most businesses, and protecting Intellectual Property (IP) is also critical. Any attack on the communication infrastructure is bound to disrupt business operations with sinister implications for the company’s brand image and credibility in the market. Cisco, the US technology firm, encapsulated the current cyber threats stating that “hackers are increasingly operating like successful businesses.” Microsoft, the software giant has also warned that cybercriminals had attacked users of its Microsoft Office software for exploiting a programming flaw in July 2009. Such cyber attacks have exposed the obvious gaps in the current corporate technology setup.

Social networking perils The main challenge for the corporate is to keep its data secure, limiting access to trusted people, and being able to anticipate security threats ranging from virus attacks to cyber criminal activity. Identity theft is another imminent aspect of cyber crime. Cyber criminals exploit weaknesses in poorly configured Websites, especially social networking sites, wireless networks and web applications. For example, Facebook, a leading social networking website registered 175 million accounts in first half of 2009. However, with a larger audience it has become an attractive target to eCriminals.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

august 2009

The Indian IT giants and corporate need a holistic ‘corporate de-risking’ perspective to analyse the possibility of vector attacks. This will enable them to design proactive solutions that prevent technology risks, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of an organisation’s technology infrastructure. Competitive intelligence is a key risk area and corporates have to build their capability in it to overcome fraud and cyber crime. Just as it is imperative to protect business against theft and fraud, it’s also vital to share data and systems with trusted partners. This is increasingly vital when business depends on online services and collaborative relationships with customers. This calls for identity and access management services that can identify and authorise customers and employees. In the midst of these threats, assessing security standards, building layers of defences into networked IT and communication systems, and providing realtime security management, become the need of the hour. A technology security posture with periodic reviews during the implementation and sustenance phases can help avoid unexpected attacks on company Websites and other infrastructure. Evaluation of business dependence on technology enables building better security standards. The vulnerability of an organisation can be exploited internally and externally. In the former case, technology risks and gaps are found within the network perimeter. In the latter, these risks are found outside the network perimeter.

Emphasis on social engineering To avoid risks outside the network perimeter, enterprises need a good know-how of social engineering and learn how to control the flow of information to others. This includes securing information in the mail, caution in responding to telephone calls, educating employees and ensuring computer is malware safe. Each organisation should go through to repair their systems and enhance their security, in the wake of cyber attacks. In the US, a growing number of agencies have started to use red teams against their Websites. These trained hackers attack the sites and investigate their inherent weaknesses. Such a comprehensive assessment model will ensure that practically all technological risks are accurately measured. Tackling the growing threat of cyber crime requires increased cooperation between the technical staff and the entire office management. Hence, an interdependent risk model becomes an efficient way to protect business and critical information and communication infrastructure. n The author is Associate Consultant with MSSG