The IT Reseller - Oct/Nov 2012

The magazine for resellers, distributors, system integrators and OEMs OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

Special Reports:

Big Data Mobile Payment

Also in this issue: Stepping up to the challenge No couch potato Outgrow paper dependency Biggest ever IP Expo

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Keeping safe in a BYOD world ecurity is one of the prevailing themes of this edition of IT Reseller. It is flagged as a continuing key concern within the world of Big Data (see our report beginning on page 6), and also features prominently in our Mobile Payment report (flick through to page 14). The theme of security also has its own section towards the back of this edition. And it seems as if the concept of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) can’t be discussed without this term we have become very familiar with rearing its head once again. There’s no getting away from the fact that employees within any business are also consumers in the wider marketplace. And with the ever wider use of consumer-grade mobile devices, it was only a matter of time before the sheer convenience and mobility of these devices meant they would be widely deployed within a work context as well as in the family and social milieu that they were originally intended for. Manish Sablok, head of marketing for CNE Europe at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, considers that BYOD is just scratching the surface of employee engagement. He believes it is all about letting the right people have the right access to the right applications at the right time, and that means managing information access and at the same time protecting corporate – and employee – assets.

Sablok maintains that enterprises are at the 'Bring Your Own' (BYO) crossroads – BYO device, BYO network, BYO App, BYO Cloud; and the list goes on. So, for any organisation looking to put into practice an enterprise BYOD programme, he recommends that the following questions get answered first:

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1. Who owns the devices – me, you or both of us?

The best option when deciding who owns the device is to partially subsidise employees' device purchases. This can significantly boost morale and can encourage BYOD practices. Clearly a full subsidy approach may not be cost effective for a company, and no subsidy will lead to employee disengagement as a work tool.

2. What is the right policy?

Enterprises must establish a clear policy limiting the choice of devices for employees.

But it's important to leave enough of a selection so that employees still feel like they have a choice. Equally, enterprises can produce a recipe for disaster if no policies are set in place when a BYOD adoption begins.

3. What is the employee's role?

Workshops are a great way to engage keen employees and educate those who aren't familiar with a BYOD policy. It can be helpful to provide BYOD guidelines to help employees make the right device selection for the role they do.

4. What is the impact on IT? The best option when implementing a BYOD policy is to minimise the involvement of IT departments, without abandoning the workforce. By setting specific hours when IT will be available for assistance, or creating an internal site with FAQs, users have the support available when required, while still maintaining a centralised management solution for multiple devices.

5. How about applications?

Enterprises should make a list of applications which are OK and not OK for the workplace. The ultimate objective is to make sure that employee productivity is improved, so the process should ensure that the right people on the right devices can get to the resources they need.

6. How do we tackle security?

Start with a network audit before any implementation of a BYOD policy and ensure your network access is protected by keeping BYOD and corporate-owned devices on separate virtual networks.

By building a new network strategy based on these criteria, enterprises can truly leverage the BYOD trend to build improved freedom and mobility for employees, while ensuring enterprise communications and information are secure at all times.

Ed Holden Editor »

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 – IT RESELLER

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

Editor: Ed Holden

CONTENTS

Contributors: Maurice Van Rijn, ScanSource Europe Ed Bateman, Avnet Technology Solutions Patrick Oliver Graf, NCP Engineering Paul Norgate, Eaton Power Quality

Publisher: David Lee Art Direction: Ian Curtis - First Sight Graphics Production: Christine Pateman Circulation: Sarah Schofield IT Manager: Peter West Accounts: Carolyn Pither Published by: Calvert Media Ltd, Latimer House 189 High Street, Potters Bar Herts EN6 5DA UK Tel: +44 (0) 1707 664200 Fax: +44 (0) 1707 664800 Email (publishing): info@itrportal.com Email (editorial): editor@itrportal.com Printed in the UK by: The Magazine Printing Company plc www.magprint.co.uk No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. No liability is accepted for any action arising from the contents of this publication; readers are advised to check any manufacturer’s or supplier’s claims for products. The publisher does not endorse opinions expressed in any article by an outside contributor. While every care is taken over photographs and illustrations, which are returned when requested,no liability can be assumes by the publisher for the loss of such material ISSN: 1369 - 88

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6 Special Big Data Report

14 Special Mobile Payment Report

18 Automatic Data Capture/Point of Sale Varlink Tablet Event a major success ScanSource Europe: Stepping up to the challenge Ergonomic Solutions: Stellar opportunity BlueStar EMEA Distribution appoints new vice president of sales for UK, DACH and Nordic region Avnet: Full solutions support GTS and ADD Batteries powering todayʼs mobile workforce Box Technologies introduces the Cielo Series of EPoS terminals Smartrac launches 6mm Smart-Mini-Tag Maxatec announces new partner search in EMEA 34 Printing & Labelling Datamax-OʼNeilʼs RL4 is no couch potato for Segmüller Sato launches new hand labelling starter kits Zetes ʻgreenʼ labelling system cuts power consumption by over 68 per cent 38 Document Management – Data Storage

C2C increases eMail archiving control with support for the hybrid Cloud GACAG: Outgrow dependency on paper documents 40 Security NCP Engineering: Safety-first approach needed to secure effective BYOD Sourcefire next-generation firewall sets high security standard Better manage BYOD with Rebasoftʼs Security Auditor v2.6 Quotium introduces new version of application security solution Seeker HP: Cybercrime costs rise nearly 40 per cent

44 UPS Eaton: The right choice for UPS 47 Networking Zebra Technologies: Global study shows Internet of Things solutions are ripe for adoption Magento unveils partner programme for web hosting providers Biggest ever IP Expo draws to a close

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

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Special Technology Report

Big Data

Go large The term Big Data is the phrase of the moment. But what does it really mean and what benefits does the concept afford todayʼs data-overloaded businesses? IT Reseller investigates.

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uring 2012, Big Data has attracted ever increasing amounts of coverage in the IT press. But what exactly does the term mean, and what are the benefits on the table? According to analysis institute Forrester, the term Big Data refers to “techniques and technologies which will make data handling in an extreme degree financially obtainable”. At the same time, Forrester says “Big Data is not like your traditional business intelligence (BI) tools; it will take new processes and will redefine your approach to data governance totally.” Yves de Montcheuil, VP marketing at Talend, makes the point that the term has historically been used to describe the voluminous and diverse amount of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data companies creates captures and store. “Today, many organisations are awash with data having amassed petabytes and even zettabytes of information,” he said. Indeed, industry analyst firm IDC recently released a worldwide Big Data technology and services forecast showing the market is expected to grow from US$3.2 billion in

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2010 to $16.9 billion in 2015. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40 per cent or about 7 times that of the overall information and communications technology (ICT) market.

Today, however, the debate around Big Data is moving forward. “Rather than just amassing Big Data, companies are increasingly ‘doing things’ with it,” said de Montcheuil. More specifically, he believes this involves finding ways to process, leverage, analyse and mine the data – anything else rather than just storing it. “In other words, they are increasingly realising the power they can derive from managing and manipulating that information,” added de Montcheuil.

Large and small And it is not just the large wealthy companies that are reaching this conclusion. Today, de Montcheuil observes that we are seeing a growing focus on the democratisation of Big Data, as smaller enterprises with fewer resources start to look to Big Data technologies as a means of levelling the playing field with their larger enterprise peers and using information

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

strategically to drive agility, business advantage and ultimately competitive edge. So what is the solution that will enable SMEs to turn their vision of the future into a practical reality that delivers the business benefits they are looking to achieve? de Montcheuil believes open source technology is the answer for SMEs. “From its onset, open source technology has been at the forefront of massive data management,” he remarked. “Today, open source provides the most effective way to address the large scale problem that Big Data presents and get the job done faster and more accurately at a fraction of the price of alternative solutions – a key benefit for all businesses but perhaps most especially for cash-strapped SMEs. de Montcheuil adds that, indeed, the emergence of new open source technologies that scale linearly (‘scale out’) and therefore significantly bring down the cost of Big Data initiatives is helping to democratise the whole Big Data arena.

“From the perspective of SMEs it is allowing them to gain a level of business intelligence that would have been completely out of their reach before,” he

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Big Data

Special Technology Report

said. de Montcheuil maintains that Hadoop and other open source technologies are helping to change all of that. “When coupled with open source data management, data quality and integration software solutions from vendors like Talend that help to lower the technical barrier, they are enabling even smaller enterprises to get to grips with their Big Data issues,” he considered. de Montcheuil added that the issues in question include answering complex operational questions costeffectively, improving decision-making capability and ultimately achieving the Holy Grail of competitive advantage over their larger business rivals.

In a sense, there is nothing new about Big Data, reflects de Montcheuil. Businesses have had Big Data all along,” he maintains, but in the past, using traditional architectures and tools de Montcheuil makes the point that they have struggled to process that data and turn it into actionable intelligence that enables them to gain an advantage without having to spend large sums of money to do so. “Historically, Big Data technology has been the preserve of large enterprises with vast IT budgets typically running into the tens of millions of pounds,” he said. “This is now all changing. The latest open source

(PAC) Market InSight report ‘Embracing the Big Data Opportunity 2012’, the Big Data hype is starting to be matched by reality.

Major suppliers are turning their attention to Big Data products and services that do not require the specialist knowledge needed today to exploit Big Data sources, while major system integrators (SIs) are building the skills to help their clients embrace the Big Data opportunity. PAC forecasts the global market for Big Data products and services to grow from around €3 billion in 2010 to almost €20 billion by 2016, a

“

Marketing and sales organisations are already feeling the effects of Big Data and are struggling to understand how to derive maximum value for the customer, while respecting customer privacy."

– Chris Fletcher, Gartner Research.

technology in the data management and data integration space is now giving any organisation including any SME, the ability to quickly deploy Big Data technology and start reaping the benefits in terms of reduced time to insight, enhanced decision-making capabilities and ultimately sharper competitive edge.”

compound growth rate of over 38 per cent.

Best seen as an extension to the traditional use of BI tools, PAC comments that Big Data analytics enable organisations to deal with large and fast-growing volumes of unstructured and structured data, across multiple sources. It adds that established methods and tools are generally not costeffective for Big Data information sets.

Entering the mainstream So, Big Data is entering the mainstream and has certainly turned out to be one of the hottest IT subjects of the year.

According to IT market analysis and consulting firm Pierre Audoin Consultants’

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Philip Carnelley, principal analyst – software, at PAC, said: "We see great interest from many companies, fuelled by a series of reports from consultants and magazines suggesting that major benefits

are to be had from Big Data analytics. But several factors have held back the market until today. Consumer-focused companies, such as banks, telecoms, and retailers, could gain particular advantage from improved capability to deal with the vast amounts of data generated through social networks relating to their businesses. But there are other Big Data use cases such as IT system log analysis, geophysical data and financial market data exploitation.

Supplier push meets market pull PAC adds that interest in Big Data has also been driven by vendor marketing, notably EMC, which was early to highlight this market, alongside the rapidly increasing group of Big Data start-ups and specialists, such as DataSift. But against that, PAC believes Big Data exploitation has been held back by the need to acquire new skills in arcane technologies. These, while often inexpensive open-source solutions, require rare knowledge sets, which often revolve around the Hadoop data analysis stack, using tools unfamiliar to mainstream developers, like Pig and Hive.

"This situation is changing fast, as the major database companies (analytic and transactional) and BI tool providers enter the Big Data market with tools and technologies linked to their existing offerings,” continued Carnelley. “There is something of a trade-off between cheap tools requiring expensive staff effort, and

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

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Special Technology Report more robust and easy-to-use tools which cost more to acquire - but in general the overall project deployment costs are going down.”

New tools and services will fuel the market The recent market entry of mainstream providers such as Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, SAP and Teradata promise to offer more packaged solutions – ‘Big Data in a Box’.

At the moment, they promote an evolutionary approach, building links to their platforms from Hadoop and elsewhere. "Their activity is helping to 'endorse' the market even for more conservative or technically less advanced users, to provide new options,” said Carnelley.

He continued that, even more importantly, there is a new class of offering emerging, which PAC calls 'data-as-a-service', from Google and others, which makes entering the world of Big Data far easier; both from a skills point of view and because of cost, as these are 'pay-as-you-go' services.

Big Data

Carnelley adds that, because of these developments, pilot studies are easier to justify. He therefore advises IT user companies to look beyond today's difficulties to understand the vendor roadmaps, and see how their developing offerings will intercept with the company in question’s emerging needs, and plan accordingly. Also, he recommends that companies discuss with their services partners as to exactly how they can help.

Recognising the value Further evidence of the further penetration of Big Data can be found in a recent report

by IBM and the Saïd School of Business at the University of Oxford, titled ‘Analytics:

Commenting on the report, Matin Jouzdani, strategy consultant at IBM Global Business Services, said: “One key reason for companies not collecting and analysing wider varieties of data lies in the veracity – or truthfulness – of insights generated from sources such as real-time data and social media. Striving for high data quality is an

“

…rather than shy away from the task of Big Data analytics, organisations must first understand the benefits that this intelligence can provide and then acknowledge that automation is the only way to effectively navigate the data labyrinth and truly optimise their IT networks.”

– Ross Brewer, LogRhythm.

The real-world use of Big Data’. The report – based on a global survey of 1144 business and IT professionals from more than 130 countries and 26 industries – points out that almost two thirds (63 per cent) of UK and Ireland businesses recognise the competitive advantage associated with Big Data. This marks a significant increase with just over a third (34 per cent) recognising its value back in 2010.

Despite this increased appreciation however, there are still key areas that UKI companies are failing to exploit Big Data potential. Less than half of companies (39 per cent) currently analyse data from social media (39 per

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cent), while similar volumes neglect external feeds (39 per cent) and geospatial data (37 per cent). Investigating the reasons behind the lack of uptake, the study found a ‘lack of understanding of how to use Big Data to impact business’ as the key primary obstacle, with 41 per cent of UKI respondents agreeing.

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

important Big Data requirement, and the survey respondents questioned the ability to trust rapidly growing forms of unstructured data, such as those generated from on-line consumer comments, reviews, Tweets and other forms of freely offered opinions.”

Jouzdani continued: “Another reason that such forms of data are being underutilised is due to the skills gap. Having the more advanced analytical capabilities for managing unstructured data – including geospatial location data, voice and video – as well as streaming data remains a top challenge for most organisations. Less than 25 per cent of the survey respondents say they have the required capabilities to analyse highly unstructured data – a major inhibitor to getting the most value from Big Data.”

Other sources of Big Data however are proving more popular with UKI business; with nine in ten (90 per cent) of UK companies gathering Big Data from business transactions. Elsewhere 72 per cent are engaging with log data, while 61 per cent are gathering Big Data from emails, and 56 per cent from events. When asked for the reasons behind Big Data use;

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Big Data

Special Technology Report

38 per cent of companies cited consumer centric outcomes as their primary reason, indicating an increased desire to understand and connect with consumers.

Other reasons include using it to optimise internal operations (25 per cent), developing new business models (18 per cent), and managing finances and risk levels (16 per cent).

The study also concluded that Big Data adoption occurs in four distinct phases, each with unique organisational behaviours and challenges. At present only 5 per cent are UKI companies are using Big Data in the fullest sense, whereby they innovate and drive value for business advantage, while 70 per cent still operate within the first two stages, identifying data requirements and developing their strategies. “The Saïd Business School is working with colleagues across the University of Oxford to develop and support courses and research programmes that will bring together world-class expertise on the analysis and application of Big Data,” said Janet Smart, fellow in management at Sa�d Business School.

Value in CRM PROS, the pricing and revenue management software provider, recently announced its newsletter featuring Gartner,

performance and lead management, to eCommerce, price optimisation, analytics, managing customer information and data management.

Gartner also identifies four major technology trends – the nexus of social, mobile, Cloud and information – that will drive technology planning, investment and usage in 2012. According to the report, "Enterprise organisations are being challenged to adapt as these technologies and the data that result from their adoption and deployment internally to the enterprise

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The Internet is overflowing with unstructured Big Data, while at the same time, computers that automatically send GPS locations deliver Big Data, but in a structured form. Management decisions based on Big Data pertains to handling an enormous stream of fast data. And this will challenge both the brain and the computer in an entirely new way.”

– Dr. Morten Middelfart, Targit.

Inc. that underscores the strategic importance of big data in customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives.

The featured research note, written via collaboration among 10 Gartner analysts, titled ‘Big Data Yields Big Results Through Sales & Pricing Effectiveness’, emphasises organisations that fail to leverage the insights found in Big Data will miss opportunities to address customer and market needs. The newsletter covers a broad range of topics, from sales

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and externally with customers, expands exponentially”.

Patrick Schneidau, vice president of product marketing at PROS, commented: "Companies are constantly looking for the next source of competitive advantage. We consistently hear from executives who believe that data can be an asset that allows them to outperform. With Big Data applications from PROS, business leaders are armed with the insights they need to

make more informed strategic decisions to better serve their markets. Big Data can also yield tremendous results for sales teams, who gain the confidence to compete and win, guided by insights and recommendations on how best to address their customers' requirements. With PROS, they're directed to opportunities that will close, products that will sell and prices that will win."

Chris Fletcher, Gartner Research vice president and lead analyst, added: "Marketing and sales organisations are already feeling the effects of Big Data and are struggling to understand how to derive maximum value for the customer, while respecting customer privacy. Price optimisation is one of the few CRM applications that has been able to – in reality, has almost been forced to – deal with large volumes of data from multiple sources. Most of the available price optimisation applications provide the deep analytic insight necessary to support the complex pricing analytics needed to support real-time pricing recommendations for direct and indirect sales channels."

Reducing cyber risks The Information Security Forum (ISF) recently released a report that recommends proactive, preventative Big Data analytics for businesses that want to increase business agility, improve information security and reduce cyber

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

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Special Technology Report

Big Data

thereof – that they underestimate the value of the information already held within their internal IT systems. As a result, this data is all too often ignored, processed in an inefficient manner or used solely for reactive, forensic purposes.

Ross Brewer, LogRhythm: “Essentially, the only way to ensure that cyber threats or network issues can be immediately identified is to have a 360 degree visibility into every piece of data being generated by IT systems – no matter how big or how complex they are.” risks. The report claims that the importance of Big Data analytics has never been greater – however few organisations recognise the benefits for information security.

Big Data is an issue rapidly working its way onto corporate agendas worldwide.

Unfortunately though, the focus often falls on how to limit the growth of Big Data.

While this is no doubt an area for concern, it causes many organisations to neglect the fact that the big data analytics can offer invaluable intelligence, and will actually help them greatly improve their IT security.

According to Brewer, the only way to ensure that cyber threats or network issues can be immediately identified is to have a 360 degree visibility into every piece of data being generated by IT systems – no matter how big or how complex they are.

“Generally speaking, the bigger the IT estate, the greater the need for a proactive, continuous and granular view of all network activity,” he said. “This helps organisations identify, isolate and remediate any issues as soon as they occur – making it essential to have centralised systems in place that can collect and analyse all IT data as and when it is generated. Security aside, this also offers the deep insight and actionable intelligence required to ensure networks are running optimally and without performance issues. So, rather than shy away from the task of Big Data analytics, organisations must first understand the benefits that this intelligence can provide and then acknowledge that automation is the only way to effectively navigate the data labyrinth and truly optimise their IT networks.”

Currently, only half of organisations surveyed by the ISF are using some form of analytics for fraud prevention, forensics and network traffic analysis, while less than Improved services and He continued: “Indeed, as the amount of 20 per cent are using it to identify data increases, so does the complexity of information related to subject matter performance IT systems. Throw in the fact that today’s requests, predict hardware failures, ensure cyber security landscape makes systems data integrity or check data classification.

A majority of organisations see the main so much easier to penetrate and you can ISF researchers believe the ability to benefits of Big Data as providing analyse large volumes of information to improve disparate and complex services and data can help senior and This phenomenon is an opportunity for organisations to fundamentally performance (56 per board level executives shift the balance of power within their industry by leveraging Big Data to cent), rather than better understand and marketing (22 per cent), deliver improved customer experience, better allocation of resources, manage their risk/reward finds a survey from the better investment decisions, better risk management and enhanced balance in cyberspace.

UK end-to-end infrastructure event, IP products and services.”

Ross Brewer, vice Expo. The survey, which – Mike Connaughton, Oracle. gathered the views of president and managing director, international markets at business leaders attending IP EXPO, also start to see the magnitude of the problem.

LogRhythm, commented: “I’m not surprised shows that nearly half of respondents (49 Unfortunately, organisations dealing with that the ISF report has concluded Big Data per cent) are either looking into how Big ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) or other analytics is ‘still immature and massively Data can help their organisations, are causes of data increases can get so under-used’. With data volumes growing at investigating a Big Data strategy or already distracted by security tools – or lack unprecedented rates, it makes sense that have one.

“

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IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

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Big Data

Special Technology Report

The three most important sources of Big Data are seen to be information generated by the customer, with transactions (30 per cent), interactions (18 per cent) and profiles (17 per cent) all believed to be key.

Allowing employees to use personal devices for work – known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) – is gaining momentum. Around seven in 10 (68 per cent) of business leaders are under more pressure than they were five years ago to introduce mobile and flexible working practices. This is up from six in 10 (62 per cent) from a similar survey at Unified Communications Expo earlier this year.

Also on the rise is the number of organisations that believe a majority of their employees want to use personal devices for work. The IP Expo survey found 69 per cent of employers said at least half of workers want BYOD, compared to 64 per cent at Unified Communications Expo. Business leaders consider the key advantages for implementing BYOD to be improving employee satisfaction (38 per cent), productivity (30 per cent) and reducing costs (19 per cent), but the greatest concern is security (77 per cent). On the question of security, 66 per cent of those polled strongly agreed with the statement: “Security concerns are a major barrier to our adoption of cloud solutions”. This caution is highlighted by the fact that 57 per cent of respondents have never had a serious breach of security and a further 21 per cent have not had one in the last year.

“What makes these results surprising is that businesses are using Big Data for more than just marketing purposes,” said Hugh Keeble, managing director of event organisers, Imago Techmedia. “It shows organisations want to use every tool at their disposal to improve efficiencies to help them survive and thrive in the current climate. The results also show that security remains a major concern. This needs to be addressed, as it could be holding companies back from using key technologies and solutions that have the potential to transform their business, offer a competitive differentiator or open up new revenue streams.”

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James Petter, EMC UK: “Given a context of austerity and recession, the recognition that there is potential for Big Data to drive growth and cost efficiency in the manufacturing sector is very positive news.”

The key to manufacturing on a global scale The manufacturing sector in Britain is increasingly coming under pressure to compete on a global scale. Getting to grips with Big Data analytics could offer huge opportunities, particularly in terms of realtime customer insight, targeted customer service, a smarter understanding of trends, and in prompting new ideas and innovation – all of which will add genuine support to business objectives and plans for growth.

Manufacturing business leaders are starting to take this opportunity seriously, with research from EMC revealing that 58 per cent believe ‘making better use of customer insights, trend data, and information in and around the business’ will be the key to unlocking growth and innovation, compared to traditional methods such as cost cutting, squeezing suppliers on margins or coming up with the next ‘big idea’.

The research, carried out by Vanson Bourne in June 2012, looked into attitudes towards, knowledge of, and buying plans around the use of Big Data in the UK. The study of 550 senior management

personnel, with 80 from the manufacturing sector, reveals that better analytics and use of data could unlock growth. Despite its importance, the study also revealed that only 46 per cent of manufacturing respondents were able to identify the accurate definition of the term ‘Big Data Analytics’ as a set of technologies and techniques that draws together insights from multiple data-sets to provide real-time insight on specific issues. Areas that could be supported by Big Data Analytics included: improving services to the customer (56 per cent); saving money (46 per cent); and achieving growth (43 per cent). Only 3 per cent of business leaders in the manufacturing sector consider big data to not be of use to their business.

James Petter, VP and managing director of EMC UK, commented: “Given a context of austerity and recession, the recognition that there is potential for Big Data to drive growth and cost efficiency in the manufacturing sector is very positive news.

This research reinforces the premise that Big Data could deliver a new wave of growth in the industry, ensuring that British manufacturing can continue to compete with businesses worldwide.”

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Special Technology Report

Big Data

where interpretation and decisions are more complex.

Synergy between man and computer In the future, Business Intelligence will become even more dependent on the synergy between man and computer. This is the opinion of Targit’s CTO, Dr. Morten Middelfart. ”Going from a time where you analysed data you owned or were in control of, you will, in the future, look even more into data that is beyond your control.

For instance, the data that comes to you via the Internet,” he said, referring to the concept of Big Data. He continued: “Today, Business Intelligence users know traditional BI very well. It is not about the quality of data as this is not an issue anymore. Big Data requires a totally different approach; an approach that takes its point of departure in the product philosophy that Targit is deploying when developing our BI software; the synergy between man and computer.”

Dr. Middelfart added: “Our brain is phenomenal when it comes to understanding and interpreting patterns, but it can only accommodate and handle small amounts of data. On the contrary, a computer can handle and present large amounts of data. Especially, in regards to Big Data, being rarely able to get a complete overview of all data, the human factor is extremely important. Therefore, as

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a human being, you need to use your common sense to evaluate which of the given data are important at the time and to relate to the quality of those given data and the information, it brings”.

When speaking of Big Data, Dr. Middelfart refers to all data types. ”The Internet is overflowing with unstructured Big Data, while at the same time, computers that automatically send GPS locations deliver Big Data, but in a structured form,” he said.

“Management decisions based on Big Data pertains to handling an enormous stream of fast data. And this will challenge both the brain and the computer in an entirely new way.”

Business Intelligence is about management After implementing a Business Intelligence tool, computers can help the employees get an overview of the organisation’s performance. More importantly, from a synergy point of view, the computer is capable of notifying the employees about challenges, problems or potential opportunities. It is then up to the individual employee to decide how to use these notifications. The idea is that the computer monitors the most trivial data - leaving us to use our human capabilities in situations

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

“Our product contains agents that are able to monitor different types of data. In this way, the software monitors the organisation’s operations while allowing the employees more time to focus on leading the organisation in the right direction,” said Dr. Middelfart. “It also means that the employees will have more time to focus on Big Data, which is primarily data beyond your company’s reach and control. This is the reason why bringing in other techniques to be able to use Big Data for business purposes plays an important role.

You need to dynamically relate to fragments, trends and quality of information to get knowledge of the behaviour that is beyond the control of your organisation.”

According to Dr. Middelfart, Big Data is really about a management mind-set rather than a technology. “You are rarely able to have control of all data or to analyse it entirely,” he remarked. “As a leader, you need to make some choices to stay focused on what is important to you in the wide sea of Big Data. Therefore, the synergy between man and computer becomes even more important for our future success.”

Solutions And what of some of the actual solutions themselves and the benefits they afford?

Kingston Digital, Inc. has announced the SSDNow E100 drive, the company’s new enterprise-class solid state drive (SSD). The new drive enables enterprises to accommodate the performance demands required in support of Big Data and virtualisation initiatives. The Kingston E100 SSD achieves up to 10X improvements in endurance and reliability over client SSDs. It also aids to drastically reduce the physical footprint of servers or storage arrays, as significantly fewer SSDs are needed to handle the tasks of many traditional hard-disk drives (HDD) arrayed for maximised IOPS performance. The performance and processing requirements demanded in the

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Big Data

rapid analysis of massive data sets and large collections of virtual systems have pushed many servers far beyond their breaking point.

The new E100 SSD provides vastly higher IOPS compared to HDDs, dramatically reducing processing bottlenecks, systems’ latency and physical dimensions.

In a recent virtualised database performance test that compared Kingston’s Enterprise SSD with traditional HDDs, the review “found that replacing a solution consisting of a server with an external chassis containing 24 HDDs with only six internal SSDs increased total database performance by up to 91.8 per cent.” The amount of power consumed “while idle and while running database workloads for both revealed that Kingston’s SSDs used up to 51 per cent less power than the HDDs, and increased performance per watt by a staggering 184.2 per cent.”

“Companies worldwide have come to depend on Kingston server memory for reliability and performance,” said Krystian Jaroszynski, European product manager – Flash & HyperX, Kingston Digital Europe.

“Now we are proud to introduce the SSDNow E100 enterprise-class SSD to help organizations handle such initiatives as big data and virtualised environments. This drive’s impressive IOPS performance, combined with high endurance, reliability and power fail support, make it an excellent choice for an integral part of a data centre where uninterrupted 24/7 operation is mission critical.” The new enterprise-class SSDNow E100 is shipping immediately and is available in 100GB, 200GB and 400GB capacities. It is backed by a three-year warranty and free technical support.

Tableau Software, the business intelligence (BI) software provider, has announced direct access to the MapR Distribution for Apache Hadoop for big data analytics.

Tableau’s MapR support is included in the general availability of Tableau 7.0.7, providing customers with the ability to instantly create reports, data visualisations and dashboards without any programming

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Special Technology Report

or coding. The product update also includes the availability ofTableau’s Desktop and Server products in Japanese.

With just a couple of clicks, Tableau natively connects to MapR’s open, enterprise-grade distribution for Apache Hadoop. Tableau and MapR together provide fast, easy and dependable access to big, unstructured data sets and the ability to see and understand them in realtime. “MapR’s advanced distribution for Apache Hadoop combined with Tableau’s visual analytics will help businesses across industries gain insights from their big data,” said Alan Geary, senior director of business development at MapR Technologies. “MapR is used by some of the world’s most reputable companies who will now be able to visualise and analyse complex, unstructured data in new ways.”

Chris Stolte, chief development officer, cofounder and inventor of Tableau Software, added: “The complexity and size of data can be overwhelming for many large enterprises.

The promise to see and understand data, no matter how large and complex, is made easier when Tableau and MapR bring it to life.” Tableau previously announced its support for Cloudera’s Distribution, including Apache Hadoop (CDH). Hadoop is fast becoming a preferred way to deal with huge or unstructured data. Examples of common uses for Hadoop include ecommerce data, web log data, XML objects and many other kinds of critical business data. With Tableau 7.0.7, Japanese customers will enjoy the ability to interact with data in their native language. Japanese is Tableau’s third localised delivery this year, as the company introduced Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese in the first half. French and German versions are also available.

At the recently held IP Expo Oracle showcased and demonstrated a variety of its latest technological developments and business solutions; including Big Data, Virtualisation, Cloud, Infrastructure and Security. During the show at London’s Earls Court 2, Oracle’s business and technical specialists demonstrated the company’s

ability to work with customers across the entire stack, from servers and storage to database and middleware, through to applications and the Cloud.

This year's IP Expo saw the debut of the Oracle Technology Demo Lab, which features interactive, technical demos of Oracle’s hardware and software solutions.

During these sessions, delegates had the opportunity to view Oracle's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Cloud, Security, Big Data, and SPARC systems in action, as well as take part in technological debates. On stand C56 during the two-day event, Oracle showcased products including Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure; Secure Global Desktop; Oracle Enterprise Manager 12C; SPARC server products; Solaris 11; Enterprise Manager Op Center Software; and Oracle Big Data.

Mike Connaughton, director of Big Data at Oracle EMEA, gave a keynote on day one of IP Expo in a joint session with Apache Lucene creator, Apache Hadoop cocreator and chief architect at Cloudera, Doug Cutting. The pair's keynote, ‘Unlocking the Power of Big Data with Hadoop’ examined how to derive real business value from Big Data and the technologies that can help businesses to succeed. “Big Data and the application of advanced business analytics to previously untapped data, represents a significant technological advancement," said Connaughton. "This phenomenon is an opportunity for organisations to fundamentally shift the balance of power within their industry by leveraging Big Data to deliver improved customer experience, better allocation of resources, better investment decisions, better risk management and enhanced products and services.” The Big Data debate has gathered much speed during 2012 and it is far too sizeable a concept with far too healthy adoption forecasts to lose any momentum as we rapidly approach 2013.

No doubt, this will remain of the key themes within IT Reseller as the story continues to unfold. n

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Mobile Payment

Make it quick ʻMobile paymentʼ is now a well-established concept, setting out to make the shopping experience faster and more convenient for the consumer. Meanwhile, this payment model is also proving highly profitable for the vendor community, while offering the channel an opportunity to generate attractive additional revenue streams. But is it this straightforward, and what concerns still remain? IT Reseller takes a closer look at this growing trend.

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he terms ‘mCommerce’ and ‘mobile payment’ usually refer to the practice of using a mobile device such as a smartphone to transfer funds for purchases, rather than the more traditional methods of payment such as cash, credit card or cheque. The end-customer can pay for goods or services by using wireless specifications such as SMS (short message service) transactional payment, direct mobile billing, WAP (wireless application protocol) or contactless NFC (near-field communication). At the retail end, mCommerce or mobile payment are can also refer to more traditional POS (point of sale) but in a mobile form – such as payment capture devices that can be used to take payment from the customer at, for example, a restaurant table rather than at the counter.

Mobile POS seems to be a logical approach here, according to Mark Thomson, director Retail Industry Solutions at Motorola Solutions. But he believes retailers need to address what that means to them and how they interact with customers. “mPOS could mean pure POS in mobile form, it could mean pay by mobile, or even a cart/mobile payment

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trolley – perhaps in the case of apparel retailers where bagging and de-tagging are still requirements,” he said. “Ideally retailers should look to maintain flexibility and even look to multi-task tools such as tablets in their mPOS solutions.” In terms of some of the key motivators behind this growing trend, Mark Thomson, director Retail Industry Solutions at Motorola Solutions, believes customers are increasingly fickle when it comes to the retail experience. “We have seen that they object to queuing and demand a faster more flexible approach to the transaction stage of their retail experience,” he remarked.

Demographic ‘sweet spots’ Returning to the payment devices used by the consumers themselves, where are the demographic ‘sweet spots’ in terms of age group and gender where the most eager mobile payment devotees are to be found?

A new customer survey conducted by Payair, the mobile commerce company, suggests that interest in mobile shopping is highest in the age groups 30 to 39 years and 40 to 49 years. "This result is very surprising and quite opposite to common belief that those who embrace this new technology are primarily of young age",

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

reflected Staffan Ljung, CEO of Payair. The Payair survey in Sweden, in which 483 consumers participated, shows that the interest in mobile shopping is highest in the age groups 30 to 49 years, but also shows a great interest in mobile shopping among middle-aged consumers as well as those of age 60 years and older.

The survey shows that among the consumers surveyed, 28 per cent of those aged 30 to 39 express an interest in shopping with their mobile phones today.

This is a higher percentage than any other age group. The 40 to 49 age group follows closely behind with a 25 per cent interest. And as many as 14 per cent of people aged between 50 and 59 are interested in mobile shopping; even older consumers (at least in Sweden) are interested in mobile shopping: some 8 per cent of those who signed up for Payair’s services are 60 years of age or older.

Interestingly, only 22 per cent of people aged 20 to 29 years show an interest in mobile shopping, and only 3.5 per cent of people under 19 years of age. There is also a difference in age groups between the genders as to those who expressed a great interest in mobile shopping through Payair. Men between 30 and 39 years of

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Mobile Payment

age are the largest group (28 per cent) among all the men who participated, while the 40 to 49 age group is the greatest among the women (32 per cent).

“The result is opposite to common belief that those who embrace new technology are primarily young people,” remarked Ljung. “It is very satisfying to find that mobile shopping attracts consumers in their middle ages and even older, and this is an important lesson for us and the entire industry to learn from in order to develop and market services and offerings accordingly.”

Security – the main issue The survey also found that for half of the consumers, security is the main issue, with consumers insisting that the mobile shopping service must be absolutely safe and secure. The survey indicates that security is a more critical issue for women than for men: 64 per cent of women said that security was vital while less than half of the men stated that security was important.

Continuing the security theme, Keith Brown, managing director of m-commerce payments platform provider, Paythru, makes the point that the Google Wallet for one has suffered in the past, when it was found its accounts could be hacked into within minutes. While companies race to launch their latest mobile payments solution, paythru urges them to ensure that security is watertight for the benefit of the whole industry. The company adds that adhering to industry standards like PCI DSS is essential and compliance to Level 1 will make mobile payments as secure as the banks.

Special Technology Report

According to KPMG, mobile payments are set to reach £591 billion by 2015.

Businesses have been quick to respond with Google Wallet, Barclays’ Pingit and PayPal’s InStore app coming into the fore. However, mobile payments platform provider paythru has warned that these varying solutions risk confusing consumers and hindering wide-

like the Payments Services Directive already provide the blueprint for mobile payments; it’s up to businesses to make sure they agree on a clear and coherent offering to customers. To maximise on emerging m-commerce channels, we need to provide open technology platforms that do not change existing behaviour or the

“

Customers are increasingly fickle when it comes to the retail experience.

We have seen that they object to queuing and demand a faster more flexible approach to the transaction stage of their retail experience.”

– Mark Thomson, Motorola Solutions.

scale adoption in the UK. As such, the firm is calling for mobile payments providers to align their offerings and meet existing standards that are in place; such as the Payment Cards Industry Data Security Standards. Google recently demonstrated the need for this when it showed how easy it was to hack into the phone and gain access to personal card details.

Paythru’s Keith Brown commented: “As it stands the mobile payments market is very fragmented: digital wallets, NFC and mobile apps are all designed to enable mcommerce. However, many of these have limitations. For example NFC is only really intended for low-cost purchases and requires the customer to be present within the store, which essentially means it isn’t mobile in its true sense. Industry standards

payment methods (credit cards, debit cards) for customers and merchants alike.

Above all, solutions need to be universal: available from any location, on any device (not just iPhone or Android), with any bank and over any network.”

Google recently criticised Project Oscar (the mobile payments initiative from O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere) for being anti-competitive, as it could prevent competing solutions from working in the UK. Brown continued, “It’s clear to see that companies have leapt on to the mobile payments band wagon without considering what’s most important: the customer. It seems every company is looking to become the dominant player in the market, resulting in too many offerings out there that lock out large groups of customers.

Back to the Payair survey findings, nearly a third of the consumers pointed out that they wanted the service to be simple and easy to use. A third of all men stated that it was important that the service be easy to use, but only one in five women thought that ease of use was important. Of the 483 consumers that participated in the survey, only 17 per cent stated that the speed of the service was important; with speed being more essential for men than for women.

Barriers to uptake

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IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

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Special Technology Report

Rather than launching restrictive payment methods, we need to agree on mobile payment channels that deliver the best benefits to the consumer that anyone can use in a simple and intuitive manner.

Mobile payments should also be open and based on existing purchasing behaviour to encourage as many consumers to adopt mobile payments as possible.”

Brown added that, above all, the industry needs to focus on providing the best user experience possible to encourage repeat purchases. “This will ultimately ensure the success of mobile payments,” he said. “If the industry fails to do so and continues to fight and undercut one another, mobile payments will never become mainstream technology. With retailers in particular facing the death of the high street, they need to maximise on all channels available to them in order to survive.”

Pushing the envelope The vendor community within the mobile payment space is fast changing and adapting to consumer demands.

Companies are constantly bringing safer, more user-friendly payment systems to market, while some of them are also partnering with each other to leverage each other’s strengths in this fastburgeoning and highly competitive technology space. For example, Cognizant and Monitise recently announced a global

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Mobile Payment

alliance that will help financial institutions embrace the mobile channel of interaction, and develop effective mobile banking, payments, and commerce solutions.

Combining Cognizant’s financial services and mobility background with Monitise’s mobile money platform, the alliance is aimed at helping global financial institutions speedily respond to the mobile money opportunity that is gathering significant momentum. The companies comment that by leveraging an interoperable platform instead of solutions from disparate products and mobile

institutions across the world in developing strategic, effective, and timely mobile services.”

True personalisation “Mobile technology has the potential to significantly change consumer-facing industries,” said Mahesh Venkateswaran, managing director, Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud at Cognizant. “As a route to market it reshapes the channel mix; as a computing and service platform it redraws the ways in which businesses engage with customers; and as a new technology architecture it creates opportunities for new products and revenues. The accent in this new world of consumer services is on true personalisation, context-aware systems, and real-time services.” Prasad Chintamaneni, senior vice president and global head of Cognizant’s Financial Services practice, added: “Mobile money

“

It is very satisfying to find that mobile shopping attracts consumers in their middle ages and even older, and this is an important lesson for us and the entire industry to learn from in order to develop and market services and offerings accordingly.”

– Staffan Ljung, Payair.

operating systems, financial institutions will be able to lower the total cost of ownership, and drive newer revenue streams through enhanced mobile adoption.

has arrived and is driving a disruptive shift in channel interaction with consumers, thereby accelerating the replacement of cash and bringing new products to consumers.”

“Mobile is, without question, the channel of the future,” said Alastair Lukies, chief executive of Monitise Group.

“Our strategy involves extending our Monitise Enterprise Platform to the world’s leading banks and payment companies to help them improve and expand their customer relationships.

As money becomes increasingly digitised amid exploding demand in the highly-competitive mobile money space, we look forward to collaborating closely with Cognizant to support financial

Another notable recent pairing has been that of SecureTrading, the UK independent payment processor, and MoPowered, the secure mobile payments and mobile web optimisation solutions provider. The companies have partnered to offer merchants a secure and convenient method for their customers to complete transactions via their smart phones.

With MoPowered providing the end-to-end, mobile-optimised customer journey, (including product inventory, checkout and secure payment) and SecureTrading

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

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Mobile Payment

Special Technology Report compliant Chip & PIN service, having focused on achieving a clutch of security certifications (EMV1, EMV2, sRed, PCi PED and PCi Level 1). The technology has five patents, some of which govern the features that make it a safe way to make payments.

Under the terms agreed with FNB, the bank will embed the mPowa tools and software into FNB’s own merchant services. It will enable them to tailor the look and identity of the card service while maintaining the sophisticated functionality that mPowa offers. mPowa works by using a free mobile phone app and a reader which connects to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth. It enables companies and individuals to accept card payments from their customers on the go in a quick and convenient way.

The mobile app is free to download on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and Blackberry devices and functions as the control centre that accepts the payment. It can be used by SMEs as well as larger firms, many of whom will take advantage of the white label opportunities available.

processing the payments, the partnership is aimed at giving SecureTrading's merchants access to a new mobile technology, enabling them to convert mobile browsers into mobile buyers.

extension to their multi-channel strategy and ultimately engage with their customers in a more mainstream way. It will allow us to continue to expand our alternative payment methods, giving our merchants and their customers greater payment flexibility.”

End-to-end customer experience “Mobile Commerce (mCommerce) is growing in popularity as more and more consumers are using mobile devices to make online purchases,” said Dominic Keen, founder and chief executive of MoPowered, who added that the new partnership is geared to ensuring merchants benefit from presenting customers with a full, end-to-end mobileoptimised experience coupled with the advantage of having mobile transactions processed, remitted and reported via SecureTrading.

Further evidence of the growth of the mobile payment model can be found in mobile payment service mPowa’s signing of a multimillion pound agreement with FNB, the

Justin Fraser, sales & marketing director at SecureTrading, added: “MoPowered have a comprehensive suite of mCommerce technologies that perfectly aligns with our philosophy to continually generate added value to our merchants. Partnering enables us as a company to offer our merchants an

second largest bank in South Africa. mPowa considers that its patented security features are one of the key reasons for its recent surge in business enquiries, adding that it is currently in talks with a number of other major corporations to help them roll out secure mobile payment. mPowa offers a fully

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Dan Wagner, CEO and chairman of mPowa, said: “It was very important to us from the outset to put security measures at the forefront of what we do, and Chip & PIN was a vital element of that. Our efforts to create a solution that is both mobile and secure has paid off as we are working with a major bank to introduce mobile payment to their merchant customers and are taking to others internationally to do the same at other institutions. The white label solution

“

Mobile technology has the potential to significantly change consumerfacing industries. As a route to market it reshapes the channel mix; as a computing and service platform it redraws the ways in which businesses engage with customers; and as a new technology architecture it creates opportunities for new products and revenues.”

– Mahesh Venkateswaran, Cognizant. we are deploying at FNB is an integral part of our strategy that will enable our cutting edge technology to be incorporated into sophisticated payment systems by market leading companies across a number of sectors such as financial services, telecommunications and logistics.” n

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COMPANY NEWS

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point of sale

Varlink Tablet Event a

major success Varlink, the York-based mobile computing and data capture hardware distributor, announced the launch of several brand new tablet products at its recent tablet-focused reseller event on 3 October. he Varlink Tablet Event was hosted at Banzai Corporate Events in Bicester, and gave eight tablet manufacturers the opportunity to showcase their products. Casio, who sponsored the event, attended alongside Fujitsu, Getac, Trimble, MioWORK, NEC,

T

T41 and announce the launch of the Yuma 2 Rugged Tablet Computer.

Marketed as a pseudo tablet the Juno T41 has a 4.3” sunlight readable Gorilla Glass display with accelerometer and electronic compass allows the device to be used as either a phone or a tablet like device.

“

The Open Day ran between 9am and 4pm and allowed attendees to combine business with pleasure and take part in quad bike trekking. The event was a major success as it allowed attendees to engage in first-hand conversations with manufacturers regarding their products and how it can fit in to their expanding product portfolio.”

PartnerTech and Opticon. Additional exhibitors included Brother and Zebra, and 2 software providers, CommonTime and GeoPal, also attended the event to demonstrate how tablets can be used alongside their products to provide the attendees a full solution.

Combining business with pleasure The Open Day ran between 9am and 4pm and allowed attendees to combine business with pleasure and take part in quad bike trekking. The event was a major success as it allowed attendees to engage in first-hand conversations with manufacturers regarding their products and how it can fit in to their expanding product portfolio.

Trimble attended the tablet event to show case the Juno

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Developer-friendly Launched in August this year the Juno T41 combines rugged mobile technology with smartphone capabilities to allow users to stay productive, informed and in touch at all times. As a developerfriendly computer the Juno T41 offers the option of Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 or Android 2.3.4 operating systems.

Trimble’s Juno T41 mobile device has an ingress protection option of either 65 or 68 to give users peace of mind, even in the harshest environments.

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

Unlike previous Trimble devices the Juno T41 offers features Voice, SMS text and 3.75G data transfer capabilities on GSM cellular networks worldwide, providing cellular communication to workers out in the field.

Jim Sheldon, general manager of Trimble's Mobile Computing Solutions Division, commented: "With the release of the Juno T41, we are providing a brand-new rugged handheld that delivers the capabilities and convenience of a smartphone. This meets specific demands we’ve heard from the marketplace and we’re pleased to launch it as the first of several new products in the next year from the Trimble MCS division, giving our customers improved functionality and more options in the handheld computer space.”

Quick and effective Built with the user in mind, this compact rugged PDA is equipped with a 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM ensuring any application runs quickly and effectively.

The integrated 8 megapixel camera allows users to capture

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point of sale

to order the variant that best suits their customer. The Juno T41 has an ingress protection option of either 65 or 68 to give users peace of mind, even in the harshest environments.

All-day battery life A prototype of the Yuma 2 was unveiled at the tablet event, highlighting to attendees the new sleek product range Trimble plans to bring to the market over the coming months. The device currently has no launch date; however this longawaited tablet will provide users with a modern rugged tablet suitable for any harsh outdoor environment requiring allday battery life.

imagery out in the field, while the accurate 2-4m GPS receiver automatically adds a time and location stamp. The option of integrated Bluetooth, Wi-Fi connectivity enables

any information to be uploaded to a central database in real-time.

This new smartphone has a variation of different options to ensure users are able

COMPANY NEWS

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Varlink became the UK distributor for Trimble’s Mobile Computing Solutions Division in September 2008, winning the award for the fastest growing distributor for 2009 accolade by Trimble. The current range is made up of 5 signature products: the Nomad, Ranger, Recon, Yuma and the latest addition, the Juno T41. n

The Trimble Juno T41, bringing rugged smartphone capabilities to the field

Looking for more than a rugged PDA? Built with the user in mind, the Juno T41 is a compact, rugged, handheld computer at home in any harsh outdoor environment.

• Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 or Android 2.3.4 • 4.3” high resolution capacitive touchscreen • 8 MP camera with dual LED flash and geo-tagging • WVGA Sunlight-readable Gorilla® Glass Display • 3.75G cellular data, text and voice capability • Accelerometer and Electronic Compass • Fully Rugged Design with IP65 or IP68

This exciting new addition to the Trimble range is now available to order from Varlink. For more information on the Juno T41, or any of the other devices in the Trimble range call the Varlink sales team on 01904 717180, email varlinksales@varlink.co.uk or visit www.varlink.co.uk

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IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

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OPINION

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point of sale

Stepping up to the challenge Speaking at a recent partner event, Maurice Van Rijn, managing director, ScanSource Europe, highlighted six challenges facing resellers today. He gives an overview of those challenges, which were identified based on conversations the distributor has with its customers.

Maurice Van Rijn: Six key challenges.

artner events are primarily a fantastic opportunity to meet customers face-to-face; after all, business is between people. By meeting at these events we can discuss the latest industry trends with partners and listen to what they need from their distributor and the manufacturers whose products they sell. “What are your challenges?”

It seems like a simple question but one to which every customer will give a different response. It’s then the distributor’s challenge to take those answers, address them, or even exceed expectations. What’s clear from the conversations we’ve been having throughout 2012 is that the challenges we’re hearing about can be broadly grouped in six areas. So let’s have a look at them.

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Operating systems There was a time where almost every device we sold was loaded with Windows Mobile. The advantages of having a single platform were primarily that software developers were only required to write programs for a single system. While there may be benefits for everyone of having more options, this simplicity has been lost.

So if you’re developing software, which 20

platform do you choose? What will happen to Windows Mobile and how many devices will manufacturers produce that run on Android? And then, on top of that, which operating system will be dominant in three to five years’ time and how should you be preparing? There’s a whole host of concerns surrounding this area but

around a smartphone, there’s still a role for our channel to play. It results in an increased demand for managing those now mobile workers – they need applications and maintenance and other services. We should also look at the positive: these workers using consumer devices are now mobile, they have entered our space, and

“

In the Configuration Centre we turn boxed products into an out of the box working solution. 300 resellers have used this service in 2012; we’ve configured more than 200 different products and in total worked on 15,000+ units.”

what we believe resellers should do is simply talk to their customers; find out what they’re thinking and what they want. At the other end we’re continually discussing trends with our vendor partners, some of which in turn have already worked on the issue by creating tools that enable development across platforms.

Consumer devices It seems like we’ve always been talking about the influx of consumer devices into the ruggedised enterprise space and maintaining the argument that the value of investing in a ruggedised device pays off in the longer term.

However, something arguably different is happening now, and this is surely down to the ‘Apple effect’. End customers are embracing today’s tablets and smartphones like never before and again we believe resellers should talk to their customers, give them both sides of the story and listen to what they need. Even if the customers opt for a solution based

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

many of them would not be using rugged devices and would not be mobile otherwise.

Predictability People in business like to forecast. We like to be able to anticipate what’s around the corner and what we’ll be doing next week, next month and next year. But right now, with ever-more rapid technological change, the economic climate and the vast range of options open to everyone, it’s more difficult than ever to predict.

What will the market do? What do I need to do to succeed? Am I doing the right thing? ScanSource doesn’t have a crystal ball of course, but we feel fortunate that in the ten years we’ve been in Europe, with all the changes we’ve seen, with all the companies in the channel that have consolidated, we’ve been a constant. This we feel has at least provided our reseller partners a level of stability. We also believe our partner networking events

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OPINION

automatic data capture

are crucial with regards to this challenge. They give us all a chance to discuss during one or more days about where we are and where we’re heading, and this we think is helping to make anticipating future occurrences more possible.

Expertise New operating systems, new technologies, new vendor partner programmes…the list of things we need to learn about and build expertise in might seem long, but we believe it’s the distributor’s role to make it all manageable. This year our training programme ScanSource University had over 200 participants in training sessions on topics such as 802.11, CWNA, Android and HTML5. Based on these levels of interest we’re planning to schedule even more sessions in the future in order to help resellers get the skills and knowledge they want to have and indeed might actually need.

Growth Particularly over the past few years, one of the biggest challenges we’re hearing about is not just how resellers can grow their business, but in some cases even just maintaining the previous year’s levels of activity is a challenge. We tell all our partners to make a plan. It really does work. An ISV had great success after building a business plan and in fact presented his case study at our recent partner event.

ScanSource business development managers are there to help customers with their business plans. The reseller and the distributor agree on a plan and take ownership of certain parts of it, with the reseller executing the plan and the distributor providing a range of tools to support: this is where the value adds become evident.

Margins We all feel pressure on margins in our industry: end users, resellers, distributors and vendors. The simple advice business professionals give

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“…by working in partnership we can potentially turn each other’s challenges into opportunities.”

anyone facing this challenge is to either remove costs from your business or start combining your low-margin business with higher-margin products.

We believe a genuine VAD has a responsibility to offer resellers options to do just this.

Step one is letting the distributor take care of holding stock and the logistics of a project: ScanSource tells resellers we can help them save them time and shipment costs by sending products direct to their customer for instance.

Our financial services team looks for payment methods and credit options to find the optimal way to finance a deal, and then our Configuration Services team works in our warehouse staging and configuring devices before they are shipped, taking away repetitive, time-consuming and cost-intensive tasks from the resellers. In the Configuration Centre we turn boxed

products into an out of the box working solution. A few hundred resellers have used this service in 2012; we’ve configured more than 200 different products and in total worked on 15,000+ units. It’s also helped one reseller win its largest ever deal which, by the end of the complete roll-out, will involve over 10,000 devices.

So in summary we can see that these challenges are very real and there are lots of questions to find the answers to, but also that by working in partnership we can potentially turn each other’s challenges into opportunities. And although I’ve outlined six areas above, resellers really have only one key challenge: choosing the right distribution partner to support them as they work through the rest. n

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INTERVIEW

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point of sale

Stellar opportunity IT Reseller spoke with Nicki Bond, Ergonomic Solutionsʼ channel marketing manager, about the companyʼs recently launched new channel programme and the benefits on offer to partners.

Nicki Bond: “Our go-to-market strategy relies on building a strong ecosystem and relationship with our partners, and so we are dedicated to providing our partners with all the support they need in order to ensure they are providing the very best solutions for their end customers.”

rgonomic Solutions – the designer and supplier of device mounting and security solutions within the retail, mass transit, banking and logistics sectors – recently launched its new dedicated channel partner programme. Titled the Space Programme, it is aimed at creating an eco-system of partners that supply technology mounting solutions as part of their overall customer offering. It has been designed to recognise and empower partners by combining their market knowledge and experience with Ergonomic Solutions’ industry background, sales and marketing resources.

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Ergonomic Solutions’ channel marketing manager, Nicki Bond, explained that by signing up to the Space Programme, partners have access to wide range of tools and support resources to help their business develop through the sale of Ergonomic Solutions’ range of modular device-mount offerings. The range of products includes: the SpacePole technology mounting solution;

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SpacePole ClickSafe technology for device mounting and physical security; the SafeGuard mounting solution for an increasing range of mobile tablet-based applications; and Telehook AV mounts.

Bond also pointed out that a design and development service is also available; offering work environment assessment, prototype design at the company’s Danish production facility, pilot design installation and training to the installation team if required.

Bond explained that the Space Programme has been structured to reward partners for the efforts they make in sustaining and developing their partner status. She added that the programme recognises partners based on their level of capability and commitment. Participation in the programme depends on the nature of the partner’s business and the products and services they take to market.

Traditional systems integrators, distributors, value-added resellers (VARs) and resellers are recognised within the programme, as are specialist companies such as shop fitters, installers and checkout manufacturers supplying associated services to end users. The Space Programme is open to any prospective partner that meets Ergonomic Solutions’ criteria according to the different partner types. These are:

Qualified Distributor A Qualified Distributor sells to resellers, value-added resellers (VARs), shop fitters, Installers and checkout manufacturers.

Qualified VAR An established VAR providing integrated products or turn-key solutions directly to end user customers.

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Qualified Reseller This status can be attained by any Member Reseller upon achieving the qualification requirements set out in the programme.

Approved Installer The Approved Installer programme has been designed specifically to support companies such as shop fitters, installers and checkout manufacturers supplying associated services to end users.

Technology Partner Technology Partners are providers of their own unique hardware solutions and services.

Bond pointed out that when partners ascend to higher levels within the programme they will gain access to higher-value benefits. “Whatever their business ambitions, we provide our partners with access to increasing support as they develop their status within the programme,” she said.

Benefits of the programme Bond added that other benefits of the programme include marketing, sales and technical resources; sales and technical training; plus collaboration with Ergonomic Solutions staff as and when required. “Our go-to-market strategy relies on building a strong ecosystem and relationship with our partners, and so we are dedicated to providing our partners with all the support they need in order to ensure they are providing the very best solutions for their end customers,” she said, adding: “By helping to develop our partners’ business through this support, coupled with the wide portfolio of other

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incentives offered by the Space Programme we can all mutually benefit.”

How to become a partner In order to join the Space Programme, prospective partners are requested to sign up on the partner portal by completing all of the required details on the registration form and submitting a request - this includes nominating the partner type. Once the sign-up form has been completed, the application will be reviewed and processed within 5 business days from the time the application was first submitted.

Successful applicants will receive an email containing a user name and password to access the partner portal.

New partners will then be able to view the complete Space Programme details, including the specific requirements and benefits of the individual partner types.

Additionally, as an approved programme member a company will have access to other areas of the portal, including marketing and support.

End-game Bond pointed out that, as well as developing sales opportunities for partners while further developing its

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own business reach, Ergonomic Solutions recognises that the real endgame is about providing effective, convenient, safe and time-saving solutions to the end customer.

“Ergonomics is extremely important within many everyday business environments,” she said. “In retail, for example, staff are often required to work a full shift operating a single EPoS device. It is therefore only right that this device be made as user-friendly and comfortable as possible. This can then have the knock-on benefit of increasing employee performance and productivity.” Therefore, added Bond, ergonomic checkout and cash desk layout and design is the great enabler; ensuring operators can scan

merchandise and process payments quickly, accurately and comfortably. “It can even reduce sickness absence and claims for compensation,” she said.

Mark Ryan, Ergonomic Solutions’ group sales director, concluded: “With all these benefits there is undoubtedly a golden opportunity for our partners to develop their business penetration into sectors such as retail and banking. And we are dedicated to providing them with our full support at every step of their journey.”

For more information on the Space Programme visit: www.thespaceprogramme.net

ERGONOMIC SOLUTIONS AT A GLANCE Founded in 1996, Ergonomic Solutions has grown rapidly to become a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of the most ergonomically advanced mounting and security solutions for a wide range of in-store, and mobile technology for markets including retail, banking, mass transit, and hospitality. The company’s suite of SpacePole, Telehook, ClickSafe and SafeGuard patented technology products are ergonomically designed to allow movement flexibility with rotation, tilting, elbow arm and height adjustable capabilities. The company comprises four regional sales and support companies; based in Denmark, France, Germany and the UK with authorised distributorships and technology partners worldwide.

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COMPANY NEWS

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BlueStar EMEA Distribution appoints new vice president of sales for UK, DACH and Nordic region managing director Albert Baranera.

"His management skills and leadership will accelerate Central Region

BlueStar team as they continue to grow in EMEA, adding new services and solutions to enable its partners to grow

“

[Keith Robinson’s] management skills and leadership will accelerate Central Region development and definitely contribute to the continuing success of this region." .”

– Albert Baranera, BlueStar.

development and definitely contribute to the continuing success of this region."

"This is an exciting time to join the

their business," said Robinson. "I look forward to working with the team in EMEA to continue this growth providing world-class support to our resellers and suppliers." n

Keith Robinson: "This is an exciting time to join the BlueStar team as they continue to grow in EMEA, adding new services and solutions to enable its partners to grow their business.”

lueStar, the global distributor of solutionsbased ADC, Mobility, Pointof-Sale, RFID, Digital Signage, and ID & Security technology, has appointed Keith Robinson to the position of vice president of sales for the BlueStar Central and Nordic region, which includes UK, DACH, and Scandinavian countries.

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Robinson will be responsible for the sales strategies and organisation in this region that has seen tremendous recent growth for BlueStar. He has substantial experience in the AIDC and POS industries, having worked in Distribution as well as Manufacturing for 15 years.

Sales growth and strategy development "Mr. Robinson has shown excellent results in developing sales growth and strategies throughout his career," said BlueStar's EMEA president and 24

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BLUESTAR AT A GLANCE BlueStar is a global distributor of solutions-based ADC, Mobility, Pointof-Sale, RFID, Digital Signage, and ID & Security technology. BlueStar works exclusively with value-added resellers, providing them with complete solutions, business development and marketing support.

The company offers award-winning technical support and is an authorised service centre for a growing number of manufacturers.

BlueStar is the exclusive distributor for the In-a-Box Solutions Series, delivering hardware, software and critical accessories in one bundle, with technology solutions across all industry verticals.

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OPINION

Full solutions support Todayʼs IT resellers are under more and more pressure to deliver true end-to-end solutions that address the customerʼs unique business requirements, which can involve a substantial investment in time and money.

Distributors have a responsibility to help resellers with this investment and to ensure that the right solutions are provided to the end customer, writes Ed Bateman, director of the storage, software and wireless mobility business in EMEA for Avnet Technology Solutions.

Ed Bateman: It is Avnet’s priority to ensure we are contributing value-added services to our partners.

he word ‘solution’ could well be the most frequently used, perhaps over-used, terms in the sale and marketing of IT products. At its simplest form, a solution is the act of solving a problem. However, solving the complex IT requirements of today’s organisations is a tough challenge, especially when business objectives and priorities can change at the drop of a hat.

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In the current economic climate, IT resellers are under more and more pressure to demonstrate to prospects that they have a good understanding of how their business works. In addition, there is an increasing demand to

meet these expectations resellers need to make a substantial investment of time and in some cases money. I believe that distribution has a responsibility to help resellers with this investment and to ensure that successful solutions can be delivered time and time again.

While ensuring that the right hardware is in stock is of paramount importance, it’s through the provisioning of value added services – including pre- and post-sales support, finance, logistics, integration, software and services – that distribution can add enormous value.

Deploy the right solution, every time The enterprise mobile computing market has grown rapidly over the past few years and as a result there is a range of products carefully tailored by

“

Delivering true end-to-end solutions requires a broad understanding of technology. With over 1200 accreditations from industry-leading manufacturers of a variety of IT products and solutions, Avnet is well-placed to help resellers provide more than one piece of the puzzle and therefore generate incremental revenue.

deliver true end-to-end solutions that address the customer’s unique business requirements. In order to

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the manufacturers to meet the demands of specific applications and solve precise business challenges.

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Now, more than ever, one device does not fit all. A good example of this variety is in Motorola Solutions’ portfolio for the field service market, where there are devices such as the ES400, ideally suited to white-collar workers in the organisation, all the way up to extremely rugged devices better suited to environments where devices are likely to get dropped and knocked on a regular basis. In addition to this, Motorola has just launched a WWAN version of its enterprise rugged tablet, ET1, which is optimised for applications where workers need access to a larger screen to view data or fill in forms that can be transferred to the back office.

Keeping up with new product launches and subsequent developments could almost be a full-time job, a job that in reality most resellers probably don’t have time to do. Of course, all resellers want their sales team to be knowledgeable about the products that they sell, however they should be able to lean on distribution as a second opinion.

Avnet’s approach to providing enhanced pre- and post-sales support for its wireless and mobility customers is through the deployment of a team of multi-lingual Motorola specialists. With a dedicated sales support team based centrally in Eindhoven, and local technical and business development resources, we can share knowledge and expertise to provide a better level

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programme, adding new technology and vertical practises on a regular basis to ensure that partners can immediately address the issues driving customer IT spend without having to make a massive upfront investment themselves.

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Leverage a range of complementary services, whenever you need them One of Avnet’s most significant assets that all partners can benefit from is our state-of-the-art integration and distribution centre in Tongeren, Belgium. With over 44,000 m2 of fully automated warehouse space, resellers can arrange shipment of hardware across Europe for next day delivery.

of service to all our customers across Europe.

therefore generate incremental revenue.

Thinking outside the box

There’s also support available for resellers who want to move into new markets through Avnet’s innovative SolutionsPath methodology. Using a dedicated team, SolutionsPath helps partners to identify growth opportunities and gain knowledge and skills to specialise and sell into highgrowth markets. Avnet is continually investing in the SolutionsPath

Delivering true end-to-end solutions requires a broad understanding of technology. With over 1200 accreditations from industry-leading

“

Avnet is continually investing in the SolutionsPath programme, adding new technology and vertical practises on a regular basis to ensure that partners can immediately address the issues driving customer IT spend without having to make a massive upfront investment themselves.”

In addition, the ISO certified integration centre offers a highly comprehensive range of services. Based in the same building as the warehouse, Avnet is able to save resellers considerable amounts of time and effort by coordinating shipments, charging batteries, pre-loading software and more. This ensures that the products shipped will be ready for use by the end user straight out of the box and relieving pressure on the reseller’s resources, especially for big roll-outs.

It’s hard to be all things to all men.

That’s why it is a priority for Avnet to ensure we are contributing valueadded services that can help partners to be more successful. n

manufacturers of a variety of IT products and solutions, Avnet is wellplaced to help resellers provide more than one piece of the puzzle and

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INTERVIEW

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GTS and ADD Batteries

powering today’s mobile workforce IT Reseller spoke with Annie Wilson, sales & marketing director at ADD Batteries, about the companyʼs status as the Preferred UK Partner of Global Technology Systems, Inc., and how the company is looking to expand its UK presence as a leading provider of Honeywell Batteries and the complete line of GTS batteries, chargers and mobile power technologies.

Annie Wilson: “A reliable battery is invaluable for the efficient running of a business.”

lobal Technology Systems, Inc. (GTS) is the exclusive worldwide designer and manufacturer of Honeywell Batteries for portable devices. The company is also a recognised leader in the design and manufacture of chargers and power management technology. GTS is now looking to increase its market share within the UK. GTS recently named ADD Batteries as a Preferred Partner supplying the complete range of GTS products, including Honeywell Batteries and all-new GTS Genius Batteries to both VARs and end users across the UK.

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ADD’s sales & marketing director Annie Wilson filled in the detail about the benefits that the GTS/ADD relationship affords VARs and end users. “Through our close ties with GTS we are able to offer highquality, high-capacity and low-cost OEM rechargeable replacement batteries for all our customers’ AIDC and printing requirements. Essentially, our main focus is on enabling customers using mobility devices to maximise their investment by optimising their productivity and reducing downtime often caused by power, charging and battery issues.”

Wilson describes batteries as the critical ‘engines’ that drive thousands of different portable devices. “These devices are 28

found in virtually in every facet of business; from security, transport & logistics and warehousing, to retail and field service,” she remarked. “Mobility devices stand at the front line of business, helping to manage a company’s supply chain and ensure that the enterprise is running as efficiently and cost effectively as possible.”

However, she adds that if an organisation’s device estate is not operating at its optimal level of performance, then a number of serious constraints can be suffered; including lost productivity and increased system downtime. “Power and battery issues are a very serious problem for manufacturers of portable devices and all the customers who use such devices,” said Wilson. “Indeed, depleted batteries are one of the most common cause of product failure. In many instances what might appear to be a malfunctioning product may just be poor performance caused by weak or worn battery cells.”

High quality With this in mind, Wilson explains that ADD Batteries only supplies batteries that feature the highest quality lithium, Li-ion, ni-mh and NEOCELL cells. According to Wilson, many of the batteries ADD provides have 20 per cent or more capacity than batteries provided by OEMs. “This is mainly achieved by providing batteries that comprise a NEOCELL lithium polymer solution rather than a nickel-based solution,” she said. “A NEOCELL battery can run 42 – 72 hours

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on a single charge under normal use while OEM nickel–based batteries only run 6 hours.”

Wilson added that ADD can offer cost savings of 10 to 30 per cent compared with most OEM battery sales price.

Moreover, she points out that ADD is a trusted second-source option for highquality batteries in that the company is often able to provide batteries when the OEM is not. “In fact, we can often supply batteries when the OEM has discontinued the particular line in question,” she said.

Although the reliability of AIDC devices has to be a core business focus all year round, it becomes even more critical during peak periods such as the lead-up to Christmas. In order for an organisation to be able to service its customers efficiently with little or no stock shortages, even during periods of increased demand, its mobile devices have to be capable of operating reliably during long shifts. “The last thing a company needs is for the batteries in its estate of mobile devices to perform at less than optimum efficiency – or even to fail entirely,” said Wilson. “A reliable battery is invaluable for the efficient running of a business. After all, by operating, for example, a highly efficient warehouse, logistics or retail operation, with little or no operational downtime, you enjoy the dual benefit of keeping your staff productive and your customers happy.”

To ensure the batteries are fit for purpose, particularly during such peak demand

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automatic data capture Additionally, GTS reports a particularly impressive return rate of a half a per cent compared with the industry standard for rechargeable batteries standing at 3-5 per cent. “Each month GTS tracks occurrences, assemblies shipped, percentage acceptance and PPM returned,” explained Wilson, “and GTS is particularly proud of currently having a 99.51 per cent acceptance rate on all 400+ SKU products.”

Attractive warranty GTS and ADD offer a12-month warranty on scanner batteries covering material and workmanship to maintain 80 per cent of the battery packs’ rated capacity. The companies also offer a full two-year warranty on all LMR and LMR LiP batteries covering materials and workmanship to maintain 80 per cent of its rated capacity along with material and workmanship.

VARS and end-customers receive a new battery if returned to GTS or ADD within the stated warranty period. “This is a better warranty package than that offered

by OEMs in the UK,” said Wilson, who added that GTS and ADD also offer a capacity rating that is equal to or greater than most AIDC OEMs, and all at a lower price – up to 30 per cent.

All ADD’s products are certified compatible with OEM equipment and do not void the original OEM device warranty.

“OEMs are in the business of selling devices, and after a period of time they will stop supporting their older devices,” said Wilson. “However, ADD Batteries & GTS continue supporting those devices together with their batteries, thus extending device life. Moreover, customers can delay capital expenditure for new devices and still maintain the performance of their devices. Recently we had customers come to us saying a particular OEM wasn’t able to deliver the required batteries in Europe. This problem was solved through GTS having a plentiful stock of the required batteries.”

Accessories GTS also offers an extensive range of device cradles, charging holsters and chargers. These accessories are made to support the devices of brands such as: Symbol, Motorola, Intermec, Telxon, Honeywell, Denso, Vocollect, Zebra, Tec, Datamax-O'Neil, Norand and Comtech.

“In the case of the Motorola MC9000 charger, our charger has 6 bays compared with the 4 bays offered by most OEMs,” explained Wilson. “Also, our charger has a particularly small footprint.”

INTERVIEW

periods, all of GTS Honeywell Batteries go through a rigorous testing including temperature, vibration, shock, drop, short circuit and overcharge. “For each new product we conduct a T Sample report and undertake UNDOT tests,” explained Wilson. “This is how we manage and verify battery safety, function and performance before mass production. We also conduct our own testing on all the criteria.”

Regarding GTS’s plans to increase its presence this side of the Atlantic, Larry Murray, GTS’s chairman, president & CEO, commented: “ADD Batteries is an ideal partner for GTS to expand our presence in the UK market. The ADD team have strong technical expertise and years of experience working closely with mobile users to solve their mobile power challenges. ADD exemplifies our ‘customer first’ philosophy and works closely with resellers and end users across the UK to demonstrate how our products can improve the productivity and performance of essential mobile devices and operations.” n

Greatrequire devices the power of

great batteries.

ADD Batteries in partnership with Honeywell® Batteries bringing you:

Better batteries.

Better power.

Better performance.

To see our full line of products go to

www.addbatteries.com A Powerful Difference GTS is the exclusive worldwide designer and manufacturer of Honeywell® Batteries.

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PRODUCT NEWS

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Box Technologies introduces

the Cielo Series of EPoS terminals ox Technologies, the UK provider of customer interface technology solutions, has announced the launch of the Cielo range of high-end EPoS terminals specifically designed to combine high performance with aesthetically pleasing looks aimed squarely at the fashion, pharmacy, hospitality and specialty retail sectors.

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Cielo is an attractive and powerful EPoS terminal endowed with an ultra-slim display, sleek chassis and small footprint design. Its bezel free design gives a tablet style look and combined with its smooth lines and elegant appearance, Cielo is ideal for high-end retail, fashion and specialty stores.

Vent-free frame Cielo is equally at home dealing with more mission critical applications.

Cleanliness at the point of sale within a pharmacy or hospitality environment, for example, is essential and Cielo provides design features

provides the additional benefit of reducing ingress of liquid, dust or food, which can have a detrimental effect on the lifespan of the touch screen.

Cielo is available in a choice of charcoal or white; whilst charcoal might find itself in a designer style operation, the latter is ideal in a pharmacy environment where any accumulation of dirt is easily visible enabling it to be wiped clean and kept clear of germs.

“

[The Cielo’s] tablet style lines bring the point-of-sale environment up to date whilst its design practicalities ensure that it is easy to keep clean with fewer moving parts for longer life and a low total cost of ownership. Cielo shows the beauty can be combined with practicality.”

– Richard Elmes, Box Technologies.

There are two models. Besides the standard Cielo, the Cielo-i is the high performance version for use in environments where transactions may be more complex and require a more system hungry software package. This PoS terminal can be supplied with either an i3 or i5 core bringing prodigious amounts of computing power. that address these important requirements. The Cielo boasts a vent-free frame which along with its bezel free construction ensures a cleaner, more hygienic terminal. This

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Tough but light aluminum chassis Operationally, Cielo boasts a bright image display which is backlit for ease of use. It is economic in its power consumption and has a tough but light

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Of its launch, Richard Elmes, marketing manager at Box Technologies, commented: “The introduction of Cielo addresses a need within the retail, pharmacy and hospitality sectors for a point-of-sale terminal that provides both performance and stunning good looks.

Its tablet style lines bring the point-of-sale environment up to date whilst its design practicalities ensure that it is easy to keep clean with fewer moving parts for longer life and a low total cost of ownership. Cielo shows the beauty can be combined with practicality.” n

Box Technologies at a glance Box Technologies is the UK provider of customer interface technology solutions, within six core market sectors: Retail, Hospitality, Finance, Public Sector, Utilities, Transportation & Logistics. Celebrating 20 years in business in June 2012, Box Technologies’ success over many years derives from its selling proposition of ‘Delivering the Customer Interface through Technology’. As an ISO 90001:2008accredited business, supported by direct relationship with leading manufacturers Box Technologies delivers total solutions across multiple product lines Digital Signage, EPoS, Mobile and Self-Service supported by inhouse Service delivery teams.

Smartrac launches 6mm Smart-Mini-Tag martrac, the developer, manufacturer, and supplier of RFID transponders and inlays, has added an even smaller version of the Smart-Mini-Tag to its standard product portfolio. The Smart-Mini6-Tag has a diameter of just 6mm and a thickness of only 0.8mm, which makes it an ideal solution for tagging small items. Due to its small footprint, the HF tag can easily be integrated into OEM equipment.

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The Smart-Mini6-Tag has been specifically developed for direct use on metallic surfaces. Smartrac comments that the excellent reading performance is achieved by means of an integrated absorber foil. Application fields include, for example, cable tagging in cable cabinets and cable harnesses (patch panels) and tool and tool trolley tagging, where every single tool is tagged with the Smart-Mini6-Tag. n

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Smartrac at a glance Smartrac is a developer, manufacturer, and supplier of RFID and NFC transponders and inlays. The company produces both ready-made and customised transponders and inlays used in access control, animal identification, automated fare collection, border control, RFID-based car immobilisers, contactless payment, electronic product identification, industry, libraries and media management, laundry, logistics, mobile and smart media, public transport, retail, and many more. Smartrac was founded in 2000, went public in July 2006, and trades as a stock corporation under Dutch law with its registered headquarters in Amsterdam. The company currently employs some 4000 employees and maintains a global research and development, production, and sales network.

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PRODUCT NEWS

aluminum chassis with a compact footprint that is perfect for point of service areas where space is at a premium.

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COMPANY NEWS

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Maxatec announces new partner search in EMEA Maxa Technologies (Maxatec), the value-added supplier of specialist IT hardware, is embarking on an aggressive search to expand its partner network. customers a portfolio that can deliver differentiation by way of limited competition, products not being made available through mainstream channels, and higher margins boosting profitability and longer term investment for growth.

Raising service levels Antoine Ngono: “We specialise in supplying advanced technological solutions and we believe that businesses can really differentiate themselves by offering our innovative and reliable product range. We’ve had plenty of success in Western Europe, now is the time for us to drive further afield and build new partnerships in new territories.”

Maxatec also stands behind its partners with an experienced technical team. Providing both pre and postsales support, the technical services department deliver a range of

professional services to customers.

Investment in new helpdesk software ensures easy tracking of enquiries, and close long-term relationships with all suppliers enable Maxatec to provide deeper and more knowledgeable technical support than would normally be available. Additionally, Maxatec’s flexible, communicative and responsive approach raises its service levels further.

Leading the search for new partners is export sales manager Antoine Ngono, who stated: “We are looking for new

stablished for over 40 years, Maxatec is on the hunt to expand its partner network in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company is keen to develop long lasting strategic partnerships in these territories. A dynamic, pan-European technology distribution company, the Maxatec portfolio includes receipt and label printers, mobile computing products and EPoS equipment.

Maxatec is hoping to attract new local country partners to take on its range of specialist equipment.

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Unlike many other distributors, Maxatec presents a range of highquality, high-performance products that are produced by lesser known manufacturers. The word ‘differentiation’ is often used but not always defined. Maxatec believes that the range of products it carries enables local country partners to offer their

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The soon-to-be-launched Catchwell CW31-3D-WM mobile device.

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partnerships in new territories. There are certain brand names available in the market today that have plenty of demand, but offer little return or margin to the reseller. We specialise in supplying advanced technological solutions and we believe that businesses can really differentiate themselves by offering our innovative and reliable product range. We’ve had plenty of success in Western Europe, now is the time for us to drive further afield and build new partnerships in new territories.”

Natural next step Maxatec’s managing director, Andrea Percival added: “We have been active in Western Europe for over 20 years. It is therefore the natural next step to also

“

There are certain brand names available in the market today that have plenty of demand, but offer little return or margin to the reseller. We specialise in supplying advanced technological solutions and we believe that businesses can really differentiate themselves by offering our innovative and reliable product range.”

– Antoine Ngono, Maxatec.

penetrate further afield into Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East and Africa by teaming-up with a select group of solutions partners in these territories. We are fully geared to support new partners through marketing support, technical backup and fast delivery etc. Our online helpdesks are on hand to provide all the assistance required, as are our highly knowledgeable foreign-speaking support staff. There are highly attractive margins to be had through the sale of the solutions we offer; such as mobile computers, specialist printers and EPoS systems etc.

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Maxatec is very much focused on providing partner support both preand post-sales; and this has proved to

be a highly successful strategy for a number of years. Look on our website and you can see the recommendations we have from partners that recognise the value in this full service model.

Maxatec is also committed to forming long-term working relationships with any new partner we recruit. We look forward to talking with prospective partners in these new territories over the coming weeks and months.” n

Maxatec at a glance Established for over 40 years, Maxa Technologies (Maxatec), is an ISO 9001:2008 certified value-added supplier of specialist IT hardware, software and services to the mobile enterprise, AIDC and EPOS market sectors. Maxatec supplies mobile computing devices from Bluebird ‘Pidion’ Catchwell, Smart Terminals, and Hoeft & Wessel ‘Skeye’, as well as Arbor rugged tablet PCs. The AIDC and specialist printer product set leads with CognitiveTPG receipt and barcode printers, TSC barcode printers, Sewoo and Datamax-O’Neil mobile receipt and label printers, and NCR terminals and kiosks. The company also offers a range of barcode scanners, touchscreen monitors, other peripheral devices, and own-branded products. Additionally, Maxatec supplies software, professional services, and a wide range of media, spare parts and in-house and on-site service capabilities.

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CASE STUDY

Datamax-O’Neil’s RL4 is no couch potato for Segmüller

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egmüller has a long tradition in the furniture business. It was back in 1925 that Hans Segmüller founded his business as an artisan manufacturing upholstered furniture in the Bavarian town of Friedberg. Today, Segmüller is one of the most successful and well-known furniture stores in Southern Germany with seven locations and more than 4000 employees.

The primary factor underlying the company’s strong growth is its extensive range of products that includes furnishings to match every budget.

Moreover, Segmüller has always had a strong focus on good service. This includes displaying the greatest possible selection of products in its exhibition areas and delivering the correct furniture to customers as quickly as possible as well as providing helpful in-store support.

Optimising the labelling process To provide this level of service while remaining profitable, it is vital for Segmüller to work productively and efficiently – and this is doubly true for warehouse processes. The process involved in labelling incoming goods offers significant scope for efficiency gains. For example, it is very time consuming to label all products using a central stationary printer, as employees have to walk regularly between the printer and the storage bays in order to collect the printed labels. In addition, the long walk from the printer creates an unnecessary source of potential mistakes, e.g. pre-printed labels can become mixed up – resulting in frustrating labelling errors. It was

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determined that a mobile printing solution could optimise the labelling process, maximise employee productivity, cut error rates and ultimately contribute to reduced costs.

The company has been using mobile printers successfully for many years, so when the time came to replace the existing system, a team led by Segmüller’s IT manager Gerhard

“

Datamax-O’Neil’s RL4 portable label printer offers emulations for a variety of printer languages and is compatible with Segmüller’s warehouse management software (WMS). Furthermore, Datamax-O’Neil designed the RL4 so that it can be worn easily on a belt or mounted on vehicles such as forklifts or order picking trolleys. The RL4 is also very practical and easy to operate thanks to its ergonomic design. In fact, the labelling material can be changed with just one hand.”

These are all good reasons why Segmüller deploys portable label printers for identifying products in its warehouse and incoming goods departments and increasing the productivity of its staff.

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Waschke decided to purchase a new generation of mobile printers. The company commissioned beic Ident GmbH, a long-standing partner and supplier of tailor-made hardware and software solutions in the area of

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CASE STUDY

identification systems. Its task was to implement a modern, efficient and rugged printer system that would increase productivity and efficiency in its warehouse operations to an even higher level. The RL4 portable label printer from Datamax-O’Neil was the successful candidate and 20 of the devices were put into operation in 4 warehouse locations in combination with MC9090 mobile computers from Motorola Solutions.

For use in challenging environments The RL4 is precisely the printer solution that Segmüller required. The 4-inch thermal printer from Datamax-O’Neil is one of the most rugged portable label printers on the market and was specially developed for use in challenging environments. It offers users maximum reliability and strength, continuing to print labels faultlessly even after serious incidents such as falling onto concrete.

The downtimes and delays experienced with the previous solution have now been reduced significantly. Moreover, the RL4 is a high performance printer with a maximum printing speed of 102 mm per second. Another key criterion specified by Segmüller was that the solution should be simple to integrate into the existing IT

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environment. The printer from DatamaxO’Neil met this requirement. It offers emulations for a variety of printer languages and is compatible with Segmüller’s warehouse management software (WMS). Furthermore, DatamaxO’Neil designed the RL4 so that it can be worn easily on a belt or mounted on vehicles such as forklifts or order picking trolleys. The RL4 is also very practical and easy to operate thanks to its ergonomic design. In fact, the labelling material can be changed with just one hand.

Greater efficiency gains The introduction of the RL4 mobile label printer from Datamax-O’Neil has allowed Segmüller to achieve even greater efficiency gains in its warehouse processes. Employees transporting goods to storage bays and shelves scan the EAN code on the packaging using the MC9090 from Motorola Solutions. This data is then transmitted to the portable label printer, which produces a label using the scanned information. The labels are self-adhesive so they can be attached to the goods immediately. This has a number of advantages. First, it virtually eliminates the risk of labelling errors.

Secondly, it means that colleagues collecting the goods from the warehouse

later for sale or dispatch will be able to find the items they need quickly.

The RL4’s high printing speed also allows employees to produce more labels per hour. As the printouts are highly accurate and very few need to be rejected, Segmüller has also been able to further increase its productivity, improve its material consumption and therefore reduce costs. With a long rechargeable battery life and high material capacity, the RL4 generally does not require recharging or refilling with labelling material during a shift. Segmüller profits from both the low acquisition cost of the RL4 and its significantly lower operating costs compared to the previous solution. The primary reason for this is the printer’s rugged design.

“We are totally satisfied with the performance of the RL4 from DatamaxO’Neil, so we are convinced that installing these printers was the correct decision,” says Gerhard Waschke. “Not only our warehouse processes are more productive and efficient but the employees who use the printers every day have been unanimously positive in their assessment of the RL4’s performance.” n

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

35

EWS PRODUCT N

Sato launches new hand labelling starter kits Sato, supplier of solutions for automatic identification and data acquisition, has launched two new starter packs for its Judo and Kendo handheld labellers. The ‘ready-to-use’ packs include a Judo or Kendo handheld labeller together with 12,000 labels so users can simply start labelling quickly and work efficiently.

I

deal for product identification and price marking in the retail, food and manufacturing industries, the labellers print high-quality labels, quickly, easily and economically. Kendo and Judo handheld labellers are user friendly, as well as being sturdy and lightweight devices that print one- and two-line labels respectively.

They have new features such as a larger font size of 5mm in height, making the labels easy to read, and their design of

products that will enable our customers to work more efficiently,” says Ikuo Dobashi, Chairman of Sato Corporation and Sato International Europe. “These new starter packs are a neat solution for retailers and manufacturers – they include everything needed to start labelling so users can simply ‘label and go’, allowing them to get the job done more quickly than before.” It is also easy to which assists in purchasing.

“

At Sato we’re continually developing products that will enable our customers to work more efficiently. These new starter packs are a neat solution for retailers and manufacturers – they include everything needed to start labelling so users can simply ‘label and go’, allowing them to get the job done more quickly than before.”

– Ikuo Dobashi, Sato.

print band mechanism is claimed to eliminate ink smudging. The labellers feature high effectiveness and long life, fast loading, easy ink cartridge replacement, and a broad range of character sets. This makes them ideal for supporting applications in price, stock and quality management, such as price and discount labelling, date coding, product coding or shipment coding. The Kendo starter pack comes with 12,000 26mm x 12mm labels for single line printing and the Judo pack comes with 12,000 26mm x 16mm labels for two line printing.

‘Label and go’

order as users basically specify the pack, rather than labeller and labels individually,

Fifty years ago Sato developed the Hand Labelling Systems (HLS), which has since become essential in many business areas in the merchandising and logistics sectors.

It still maintains an established position for goods labelling in merchandising as well as production and warehousing, despite the widespread use of electronic material management systems. Sato’s HLS product line has grown to include a broad range of devices for a wide variety of applications and requirements. n

Sato at a glance Sato is a global provider of integrated automatic identification and data collection solutions that leverage barcode and RFID technologies. Sato manufactures auto-identification systems and offers complete solutions to businesses by integrating hardware, software, media supplies and maintenance services. Customers rely on Sato for accuracy, labour and resource savings helping to preserve the environment. Founded in 1940, Sato is publicly listed on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan. It has sales and support offices in over 20 countries and is represented globally through a world-class network of partners. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012, it reported revenues of JPY 80,536 million (US$ 1.0187 billion). *Conversion is based on an average exchange rate of 1 US Dollar = 79.06 Japanese Yen.

“At Sato we’re continually developing

36

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

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EWS PRODUCT N

Zetes ‘green’ labelling system cuts power consumption by over 68 per cent Zetes has launched the environmentally designed ‘green’ print & apply system – the MD3000e. Designed to eliminate the use of compressed air, the MD3000e has been shown during product tests to offer the lowest possible cost of ownership.

F

itted with Zetes’ ‘Electric Tamp’, the new system is claimed to be able to cut energy utilisation levels by around 70 per cent and offer many additional cost savings when used with Zetes’ fully recyclable, ‘green’ media. The MD3000e was unveiled at ProLogistics Brussels, which took place in Belgium last month (September).

“Manufacturers are setting themselves ambitious targets for reducing their carbon footprints and need tools to help them achieve their environmental goals,” said Jean-Jacques Schormans, general manager, 3i Competence Centre, Print & Apply for Zetes. “The MD3000e is a unique labelling device, it is 38 per cent smaller than a typical print & apply system, majors on the use of recyclable materials in its construction, ultra-energy efficient and will cut operating costs by a big margin.”

speed labelling solutions, but also need to offset the increased environmental impact this brings through use of non-recyclable consumables,” added Schormans.

“Combined with its 100 per cent recyclable label liner and 28 per cent more label content, Zetes’ new MD3000e print & apply solution ticks all the boxes for its green credentials, potential cost savings and efficiency ratings.”

Ticking the right boxes “Increased demand for traceability means manufacturers are actively seeking high

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•

•

MD3000e gives users all the standard functionality expected of a Zetes print & apply solution; including high-speed labelling at item, box, bag and tray level. Added to this, the MD3000e is claimed to be able to lower manufacturing costs in seven ways: •

•

• •

68 per cent lower operational energy consumption.

28 per cent higher continuous operation per roll of labels before reloading is required.

Reduced label storage and transportation costs based on more labels per roll.

Meet companies’ green and environmental directives.

Fully recycle print and apply units at the end of asset lifespan.

Avoid landfill costs associated with disposing traditional label backing, the liner on MD3000e labels is fully recyclable.

Potential to further offset running costs with carbon credits.

Key ‘green’ features and benefits: •

Seven ways to lower manufacturing costs

• Zetes has a proven track record of delivering effective labelling solutions, particularly within the food & pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors. To maintain its standing within labelling and printing, Zetes Group operates a dedicated Print & Apply Competence Centre with extensive R&D and engineering capabilities in the field of marking and labelling, printing and process-control, PLC programming and ERP/SAP integration.

Zetes has already made significant investments in environmentally friendly labelling solutions and offers a green pallet labeller, the MD6000e, which was developed in collaboration with local print and apply experts at Zetes Spain.

•

•

•

•

High recyclable construction consisting of aluminium and stainless steel.

Physically smaller – so uses less raw materials.

68 per cent less energy consumption when compared to a traditional Print & Apply system.

Lowest in-class power consumption based on best in class Thermal Print & Transport Unit.

Contributes towards recycling goals and ISO 14001 accreditation.

Zetes manufactures a wide range of coding and labelling systems to allow customers to efficiently and reliably identify individual products, boxes, and pallets in line with industry regulations. Zetes’ solutions also support serialised coding and marking within high-speed production or packaging lines and secure integration with a central WMS/ERP system. n

Zetes at a glance Zetes is a provider of supply chain, identification and mobility solutions. By utilising automatic identification technologies in an intelligent way, the company links goods and people to new and existing IT systems. The result for Zetes customers is seamless information exchange, with data captured at every stage of the process and made available in real time. Zetes reports that its solutions provide companies, public institutions and governments with the desired control over their floor and field operations, allowing them to optimise overall performance, improve their bottom line and face the most demanding traceability challenges. The Zetes Group has its headquarters in Belgium and employs more than 1000 people across 16 countries in EMEA.

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

37

Document/Storage Management Product news

C2C increases eMail archiving control with support for the hybrid Cloud 2C, provider of email, file and messaging management solutions, has announced that its ArchiveOne Enterprise email archiving and management platform now provides centralised support for private and hybrid Cloud storage services. As a result, companies focused on optimised eDiscovery, data preservation, and disposition can benefit from a comprehensive email archiving solution that features dynamic and consistent policy enforcement for data that is live, residing in Exchange, or archived on premise as well as archived data stored in the Cloud.

C

“Archiving is an ideal application to benefit from the advantages of the hybrid Cloud, especially if policies can be uniformly enforced across all data sources, including live data, locally retained data and data that has been deployed to the cloud for lower cost management,” said Sheila Childs, managing vice president at Gartner. “When consistent policies and eDiscovery processes can be run across all data sources, then you achieve optimum benefits in flexibility, cost savings and control.”

Searches across all data sources ArchiveOne Enterprise centralises the management and control of all email data, regardless of whether it is retained on premise or in the Cloud. This enables IT to continue to manage data at the source to enforce retention and compliance without having to move it all to the Cloud to perform policy enforcement. The ArchiveOne Enterprise model minimises Cloud security concerns by giving IT control over the software implementation and access. Most importantly, ArchiveOne Enterprise enables comprehensive searches across all data sources and provides rapid response to discovery requests on live and archived data. This eliminates the need to discover across disparate environments, reducing both time and cost.

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When Chris D’Orazi of Central Garden and Pet needed to alleviate a storage burden on Exchange without sacrificing historical data, ArchiveOne Enterprise was able to solve his problem. Lacking the physical space to implement an on-premise email archiving solution, he considered a Cloud solution but did not want to be locked in.

“ArchiveOne Enterprise Cloud provides us with the best of both worlds – the elasticity of the Cloud with the freedom and flexibility of an on-premise solution,” said D’Orazi.

“The on-premise server provides policy control of live and archive data, while the Cloud storage options provide unlimited archive storage.” D’Orazi also notes that C2C has “a proven track record of success” where many of the Cloud providers are new and do not have the years of experience that C2C offers.

C2C’s ArchiveOne has been designed for the ‘real world’ where email data may reside on Exchange servers as well as network file servers and end user systems, and, where it is not feasible to archive all email data before enforcing retention or searching messages.

This ‘real world’ approach separates ArchiveOne Enterprise from the competition because it aligns with IT organisations and drives efficiency into their daily activities – rather than change them.

High scalability With its support for hybrid Cloud environments, ArchiveOne Enterprise allows users to maintain control of their email archive while leveraging their own Cloud accounts, such as Amazon’s S3, as their Cloud storage infrastructure without feature restrictions. “Hybrid Cloud environments can

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

deliver impressive advantages for achieving high scalability and reliability at a low cost,” said Dave Hunt, CEO of C2C. “ArchiveOne provides customers with the optimum set-up for on-premise data management that encompasses security, flexibility and ease-ofuse all behind the firewall and enables them to benefit from hybrid Cloud storage to achieve lower cost of storage. It’s ‘real world’ archiving using ‘new world’ technology in the Cloud.”

A live online demonstration, references from ArchiveOne users, and a 30-day trial are available at: http://uk.c2c.com/resources

C2C AT A GLANCE C2C Systems has earned the trust of its four million software users since 1992 by delivering high-value core messaging system enhancements. Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, and Windows File Server form the heart of C2C's commercial and governmental customers’ businesses worldwide. C2C’s ArchiveOne product family is a proven choice for email and file archiving, eDiscovery, compliance management, legal forensics and storage management tools to enhance these platforms.

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Issues

Document/Storage Management

Outgrow dependency on paper documents Members of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) should embrace and implement the principles of the Revised Kyoto Convention and shift from a dependency on paper documents to a full e-Customs environment, says the Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG).

Michael Steen: “…GACAG urges WCO members to embrace and implement the principles of the Revised Kyoto Convention and to shift from a dependency on paper to an e-Customs environment, which will stimulate economic development, remove inefficiencies and lead to much-needed productivity gains.”

n a new position paper, GACAG said harmonisation of global customs procedures will play a pivotal role in establishing e-Customs platforms and has pledged the support of the entire air cargo industry in this effort.

I

At a minimum, GACAG has highlighted processes that should be accomplished through electronic means: export and import goods declarations to Customs provided by exporters, importers and/or their forwarders or customs brokers; export, import and transit cargo declarations sent to Customs by airlines; release of shipments into free circulation following completion of Customs formalities; and recordkeeping and archiving for all participating parties.

Enhancing economic growth Michael Steen, chair of GACAG, said:

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“Harmonised Customs procedures facilitate the international transportation of air cargo and, more broadly, benefit all involved in global trade – including manufacturers, farmers, transportation companies involved in all modes, consumers, and nations themselves. In short, international trade promotes development and enhances economic growth, and harmonised Customs procedures promote international trade. Air cargo already transports goods worth in excess of US$5 trillion, representing roughly one-third of global international trade.

Specifically, GACAG urges WCO members to embrace and implement the principles of the Revised Kyoto Convention and to shift from a dependency on paper to an e-Customs environment, which will stimulate economic development, remove inefficiencies and lead to much-needed productivity gains.”

forwarders and airlines as well as all key commercial documents, such as commercial invoices, packing lists, hazardous materials documentation and certificates of origin.

Confidentiality Data transmission requirements should also not be duplicated between different programs, the Group says, and it calls on authorities to ensure that all proprietary data is kept confidential. These e-Customs procedures should be accomplished through the harmonised implementation of relevant WCO instruments, notably the Data Model, the Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (SAFE), the Unique Conference Reference (UCR) and the Global Networked Customs (GNC) Initiative, according to GACAG. The Group has sent its position paper recommendations to Mr Kunio Mikuriya, secretary general of the World Customs Organisation. n

In its recommendations, GACAG says it also believes that Customs should require supporting documents only on an exceptional basis for examination purposes and authorities should accept printouts of electronic records. These would include air waybill, house waybill and manifest transport documents exchanged between

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

39

SECURITY Research

Safety-first approach needed to secure effective BYOD With recent research revealing that one in five companies allow employees to use personal mobile devices for work purposes without having implemented an official BYOD policy, Patrick Oliver Graf, general manager of remote network access virtual private network solutions provider NCP Engineering, believes that CIOs need to address the risks associated with BYOD before grasping hastily at the benefits. he report, produced by Intrinsic Technology, suggests that CIOs are in fact aware of the challenges associated with keeping data safe while allowing employees to work on their smartphones or tablets, with 60 per cent naming security as their primary concern when it comes to implementing BYOD in their company.

T

But Graf maintains that in the changing workplace CIOs can no longer afford to neglect BYOD security: “Workforces in all corporate sectors and departments are becoming more dispersed – secure and convenient remote access to company networks is fast becoming a business essential rather than an optional extra, especially with the increasingly sophisticated functionality of mobile devices making it easier for employees to work effectively wherever they are,” he said.

of doing this is with a virtual private network (VPN), which provides a secure connection, encrypts data at the source, and delivers it safely.

VPN and personal firewall technologies also enables users to access data securely from a hotspot using personal mobile devices. As BYOD becomes more and more prevalent, the stakes will get higher and higher as nobody wants to be the first to suffer a

“

It is important that employees have total clarity on what devices they can use, what they can use them for, and who owns the contacts and other data stored on them. But the key to effective BYOD is enabling staff to access and share vital data securely across both corporate and external networks, whether in or out of the office.”

– Patrick Oliver Graf, NCP Engineering.

Total clarity While clear company policies on BYOD provide safeguards, the implementation of appropriate IT security tools is crucial to ensuring sensitive corporate data does not fall into the wrong hands, Graf said: “It is important that employees have total clarity on what devices they can use, what they can use them for, and who owns the contacts and other data stored on them. But the key to effective BYOD is enabling staff to access and share vital data securely across both corporate and external networks, whether in or out of the office.”

He continued: “The most straightforward way

40

major iPad-induced security breach – but on the flipside, companies that get BYOD

security right will reap the benefits of increased flexibility and efficiency.” n

NCP ENGINEERING AT A GLANCE Since its inception in 1986, NCP Engineering has delivered innovative software that allows enterprises to rethink their remote access, and overcome the complexities of creating, managing and maintaining secure network access for staff. NCP’s product line spans the spectrum of remote access, from IPsec/SSL VPNs to endpoint firewalls and network access control (NAC) functions. The company’s products support organisations with complex remote user needs, and that want to leverage the latest end-devices to increase staff productivity, reduce network administration and adapt policy changes on-the-fly. Each solution is interoperable with existing third-party software or hardware. With global headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany and North American headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company serves 30,000-plus customers worldwide.

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

www.itrportal.com

SECURITY Product news

Sourcefire next-generation firewall sets high security standard ourcefire, Inc., the intelligent cybersecurity solutions provider, has announced that its FirePower appliance excelled in the most recent NSS Labs independent Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) product analysis. The FirePower 8250 NGFW is claimed to set a high standard for security effectiveness, protecting against 99 per cent of all attacks and demonstrating impressive performance and total cost of ownership.

S

Solid contender Bob Walder, chief research officer of NSS Labs, commented: “To meet today’s security challenges, firewalls need to evolve into ‘next-generation’ firewalls that combine legacy firewall capabilities with intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and incorporate advanced application and user awareness and control to enable the creation of granular security policies capable of operating in a Web 2.0 world.” Also according to NSS Labs, “Networks looking to update their defences with a next-generation firewall would do well to consider Sourcefire's entry into the NGFW market as a solid contender.”

Highlights of the NSS Labs independent NGFW product analysis of the FirePower 8250 NGFW include: • • • • • •

99 per cent protection against all attacks.

99 per cent protection against attacks on client applications.

100 per cent firewall enforcement.

100 per cent application control.

100 per cent identity/user awareness.

10 Gbps for real-world traffic throughput (100 per cent of vendor-stated performance).

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•

•

15M concurrent connections, the maximum allowed by NSS Labs testing equipment.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of US$33 per Mbps protected.

Sourcefire FirePower network security appliances are the foundation for Sourcefire’s entire portfolio of network security solutions.

Sourcefire’s consistent delivery of the best protection, while meeting or exceeding performance expectations, and validate our innovative, powerful platform approach to network security,” said Martin Roesch, founder, CTO and interim CEO of Sourcefire.

“By pioneering the most effective security protection available, we’ve enabled our customers to see, control and protect all of

“

Networks looking to update their defences with a nextgeneration firewall would do well to consider Sourcefire's entry into the NGFW market as a solid contender.”

– Bob Walder, NSS Labs.

This universal platform enables customers to seamlessly transition from a Next-Generation IPS (NGIPS) to NGIPS with Application Control to a NGFW. Building on its industryleading NGIPS (based on NSS Labs’ April 2012 independent IPS tests and 2012 Security Value Map for IPS), Sourcefire offers the only NGFW with integrated NGIPS. “These test results further demonstrate

their assets in their dynamic threat and IT environments, all while being mindful of budget and resource constraints.”

Report now available The Sourcefire Product Analysis Report (PAR) from NSS Labs on the FirePower 8250 NGFW can be downloaded at http://www.sourcefire.com/FirePOWER/NGFW

SOURCEFIRE AT A GLANCE Sourcefire, Inc., the intelligent cybersecurity solutions provider, helps the way global large- to mid-size organisations and government agencies manage and minimise network security risks. With solutions from a nextgeneration network security platform to advanced malware protection, Sourcefire provides customers with Agile Security that is claimed to be as dynamic as the real world it protects and the attackers against which it defends.

NSS LABS NSS Labs, Inc. is a completely independent research and analyst organisation with world-class, in-house testing capabilities. Through its subscription-based security intelligence services, NSS Labs provides the information enterprises need to be secure. Founded in 1991, the company is located in Austin, Texas.

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

41

SECURITY Product news

Better manage BYOD with Rebasoft’s Security Auditor v2.6

W

2) Categorising end-devices so

while gaining the financial benefits offered by

3) Automatically generating alerts

ith the number of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

that both BYOD and company

initiatives in the workplace

provided devices can be

on the rise, organisations

effectively managed and

of all sizes are struggling

authorised.

to keep adequate security controls in place BYOD. Rebasoft, the network and security

in real-time to security

monitoring company, has delivered its latest

breaches eg new devices on

version of Security Auditor to help overcome

the network, a device being

these security problems.

where it shouldn’t be or unauthorised network changes.

network security it is crucial that BYOD are

Philip Harragan, chief executive officer at

confined to parts of the network where

Rebasoft, said: “The challenges presented by

security controls can be applied and that

BYODs are dominating the headlines and it is

organisations be alerted if a device is

more important than ever for businesses to

accessing areas it shouldn’t. Security Auditor

know who and what is using your network. But

supports BYOD initiatives by:

if organisations get the right systems in place then these challenges need not be a

1) Maintaining a real-time record of what

Security Auditor is immediately available through Rebasoft’s worldwide partners. n

Rebasoft maintains that in order to protect

headache. Our software gives security

end-devices are connected and, more

professionals the information and intelligence

importantly, where they are connecting

they need to identify devices and determine

ensuring that they are not bypassing

where there are risks enabling them to act

network access controls and other

quickly and effectively to mitigate any

security measures.

potential breach of security.”

Rebasoft at a glance Rebasoft delivers next-generation software solutions to enable network and security operations to become more effective. The company was built by network and security professionals who know how to run and secure networks, as well as recognise the limitations in today's systems that many of Rebasoft’s clients use. The company continuously develops its products based on best practice and customer need.

Quotium introduces new version of application security solution Seeker uotium Technologies, a

“A security bug shouldn’t be treated differently

is a challenge for existing security technologies.

solutions developer in the

from a functional bug.” said Michel Tiberini,

IAST technology offers a potential for higher-

application security and

president of Quotium. “With this new version of

accuracy vulnerability analysis." n

performance markets, has

Seeker, any project manager can integrate the

introduced a new release of its

identification and correction of security

Q

application security solution, Seeker. In addition

vulnerabilities within its web applications directly

to its capacity to accurately and quickly detect

into the enterprise’s development lifecycle.

the most prevalent and most pertinent

Security becomes the part of every developer’s

vulnerabilities within Java and .NET applications,

daily job.” Ofer Maor, CTO of Quotium and

Seeker is now said to be capable of analysing

chairman of OWASP Israel, added: “Thanks to

vulnerabilities within PHP applications. Quotium

its underlying IAST technology (Interactive

comments that Seeker’s ease of use for all

Application Security Testing), this new version of

stakeholders of the web and mobile application

Seeker allows for accurate detection of

development lifecycle, allows for a seamless

vulnerabilities while eliminating false positives for

integration into every enterprise’s business

all Java, .NET, and PHP applications.” Joseph

software development process, turning it into a

Feiman from Gartner, commented: "Analysis of

truly secured software factory.

dynamic programming languages, such as PHP

42

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

Quotium at a glance Quotium Technologies is a software vendor, headquartered in Paris La Défense, with subsidiaries in London, New York and Tel Aviv. Quotium manages business applications in terms of security, performance and availability.

Quotium’s products answer the needs of enterprise customers, with over 200 active references (including 15 from the CAC-40). The company is strongly oriented towards innovation with 50 per cent of its staffing allocated to R&D.

www.itrportal.com

SECURITY Analysis

Cybercrime costs rise nearly 40 per cent HP has unveiled new research indicating that the cost and frequency of cybercrime have both continued to rise for the third straight year. ccording to the third annual

A

•

Information theft and business disruption

study of US companies, the

continue to represent the highest external

occurrence of cyberattacks has

costs. On an annual basis, information

more than doubled over a

theft accounts for 44 per cent of total

three-year period, while the

external costs, up 4 per cent from 2011.

financial impact has increased by nearly 40

Disruption to business or lost productivity

per cent.

accounted for 30 per cent of external costs, up 1 per cent from 2011.

Conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by HP, the 2012 Cost of Cyber

•

Deploying advanced security intelligence

Crime Study found that the average

solutions can mitigate the impact of

Ponemon Institute. “We believe a better

annualised cost of cybercrime incurred by a

cyberattacks. Organisations that deployed

understanding of the cost of cybercrime will

benchmark sample of US organisations was

security information and event

assist organisations in determining the

US$8.9 million. This represents a 6 per cent

management (SIEM) solutions realised a

appropriate amount of investment and

increase over the average cost reported in

cost savings of nearly $1.6 million per

resources needed to prevent or mitigate the

2011, and a 38 per cent increase over 2010.

year. As a result, these organisations

devastating consequences of an attack.”

The 2012 study also revealed a 42 per cent

experienced a substantially lower cost of

increase in the number of cyberattacks, with

recovery, detection and containment than

In conjunction with this third annual study of

organisations experiencing an average of 102

organisations that had not deployed SIEM

US companies, cybercrime cost studies also

successful attacks per week, compared to 72

solutions.

were conducted in the UK, Australia, Germany and Japan. HP is hosting a series of

attacks per week in 2011 and 50 attacks per Cyberattacks can be costly if not resolved

webinars highlighting the findings from these

quickly. The average time to resolve a

studies, with the US-focused webinar taking

“Organisations are spending increasing

cyberattack is 24 days, but it can take up

place 7 November. Additional information

amounts of time, money and energy

to 50 days according to this year’s study.

about this webinar, and those taking place in

responding to cyberattacks at levels that will

The average cost incurred during this 24-

other regions, is available at

soon become unsustainable,” said Michael

day period was $591,780, representing a

www.hpenterprisesecurity.com/ponemon-

Callahan, vice president, worldwide product

42 per cent increase over last year’s

cost-of-cyber-crime/.

and solution marketing, enterprise security

estimated average cost of $415,748 during

products, HP. “There is clear evidence to

an 18-day average resolution period.

week in 2010.

•

security intelligence solutions helps to

HP’s premier Europe, Middle East and Africa client event, HP Discover, takes place from 4

show that the deployment of advanced •

Recovery and detection remain the most

substantially reduce the cost, frequency and

costly internal activities associated with

impact of these attacks.”

cybercrime. On an annual basis, these

to 6 December in Frankfurt, Germany. n

activities account for almost half of the total The most costly cybercrimes continue to be

internal cost, with operating expenses and

those caused by malicious code, denial of

labour representing the majority of the

service, stolen or hijacked devices, and

total.

malevolent insiders. When combined, these account for more than 78 per cent of annual

“The purpose of this benchmark research is to

cybercrime costs per organisation. Additional

quantify the economic impact of cyberattacks

key findings include:

and observe cost trends over time,” said Dr.

HP at a glance HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The company brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems.

Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder,

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IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

43

UPS Opinion

The right choice for UPS When specifying or purchasing an uninterruptible power supply, it’s essential to choose the right topology, as getting it wrong can have a big impact on both performance and costs. However, there’s no one topology that’s right for every application, says Paul Norgate of Eaton Power Quality, who examines the three main options and provides useful guidance on how to decide between them.

term overvoltage on the mains supply;

applications. They are not, however, generally

eliminating electrical noise on the mains

considered suitable for more demanding

supply; compensating for supply frequency

applications.

variations; eliminating switching transients (notches) and dealing with harmonic distortion

This is partly because they provide only three

of the supply.

of the nine possible protection functions (power failure, power sag and power surge)

Paul Norgate: Choosing the right topology is an essential first step in specifying a UPS installation.

Not all of these functions are required in every

and partly because under brownout

application, of course, and choosing a UPS

conditions they will use battery power, which

that offers only those functions that are

will be exhausted after the planned back-up

actually needed, instead of notionally playing safe by

ith only a very few

specifying a UPS that does

exceptions, currently,

everything, can be the key to

UPSs are based on one of

making very useful savings.

three topologies: passive

With this in mind, let’s take a

standby, which is

close look at the three UPS

W

sometimes called off-line; line interactive; and

topologies.

double conversion which is also referred to as on-line. The essential elements of each of

In a passive standby UPS,

these are shown in the accompanying

when mains power is

diagram and we will shortly examine them in a

available, it is filtered to

little more detail. Before doing so, however, it

minimise power surges and

is useful to look at the functions a UPS may

supplied directly to the load,

be required to perform.

without any form of active conversion. At the same

Maintaining power

time, the battery is charged.

The most obvious function of a UPS is to

If the mains power is

maintain power to connected equipment when

interrupted, the UPS delivers

power from the mains is interrupted. However,

stable power to the load from

there are no fewer than eight other power

the battery, via the inverter.

problems that a UPS may be called upon to

UPSs of this type are

perform. These are compensating for short-

inexpensive and can be a

term, low-voltage conditions (power sag);

good choice for protecting,

eliminating supply transients (power surges);

for example, individual PCs

compensating for medium-term low voltage

in SOHO (Small Office Home

conditions (brownouts); dealing with medium-

Office) and non-critical

44

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

UPS topologies.

www.itrportal.com

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The new Eaton 9PX UPS makes it possible.

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UPS Opinion

period. By contrast, other topologies will compensate for the low mains voltage without calling on power from the batteries and can therefore continue to operate indefinitely during a brownout.

Choice between line interactive and double conversion For these reasons, the choice of UPS topology for critical applications such as data centres and other medium to large scale IT installations is invariably between line interactive and double conversion. At first sight, the line interactive topology looks very similar to the passive standby technology.

The key difference, however, is the inclusion of circuitry that can either increase or reduce the supply voltage before delivering it to the

A selection of Eaton UPS.

load, without needing to call on battery power.

In modern line interactive UPSs, the incoming

Double-conversion topology very effectively

than two milliseconds, thereby ensuring that

mains voltage is continuously monitored by a

isolates the load from anything untoward that

there is no disturbance to even the most

microprocessor-based system and, if this

may be going on with the mains power, and a

sensitive of loads.

voltage moves outside of a pre-determined

double-conversion UPS can, therefore,

range, compensation is applied instantly and

provide all nine of the possible protection

As we’ve seen, choosing the right topology is

automatically. This type of UPS can, therefore,

functions discussed earlier. In the most

an essential first step in specifying a UPS

provide not only the three protection functions

critical of applications, therefore, double-

installation. Making that choice is, however,

available from passive standby systems, but

conversion is a natural choice, but that is not

not always as straightforward as it may at first

also protection against undervoltage and

to say that it has no drawbacks. It is, for

appear. For this reason, there is much to be

overvoltage conditions.

example, the most expensive of the three

said for seeking advice from an experience

topologies and because power is converted

UPS supplier that can offer all three

Line interactive UPSs are typically priced

twice on its way to the load, it is inherently

technologies and that will not, therefore, be

somewhere between passive standby

less efficient than the other two topologies

swayed by commercial bias but will offer

systems and double-conversion systems, and

when operating with the mains supply

dependable guidance based on the

are certainly worth considering for most

present.

requirements of the application alone. n

applications, provided that the frequency of the mains supply will be reasonably stable,

More innovative solutions

Eaton Corporation

and that the supply is not unduly

It is worth noting, however, that leading UPS

contaminated with transients.

suppliers are now addressing this efficiency

Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with more than 100 years’ experience providing energyefficient solutions that help our customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power. With 2011 sales of US$16.0 billion, Eaton is a global technology provider of electrical components, systems and services for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics components, systems and services for industrial and mobile equipment; aerospace fuel, hydraulics and pneumatic systems for commercial and military use; and truck and automotive drivetrain and powertrain systems for performance, fuel economy and safety. Eaton has approximately 73,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 150 countries.

issue. Part of the solution, of course, is to

Top-of-the-range option

improve the efficiency of the converter and

UPSs based on double-conversion topology

inverter, but there is a limit to the gains that

are usually seen as the top-of-the-range

can be made in this way. This has led to the

option and, in many respects, this is true.

development of more innovative solutions,

They comprise of a rectifier that takes power

such as a system that effectively bypasses

from the mains and converts it to DC. This is

the UPS and feeds power direct from the

used to charge the batteries and to supply

mains to the load when the mains is healthy,

the output inverter, which converts the DC

but instantly reverts to full double-conversion

back to clean AC to supply the critical

mode should any problem occur.

equipment. If the mains fail, the battery takes over the duty of feeding power to the inverter

The best systems of this type efficiencies of

without any gap in the voltage during

around 99 per cent when in bypass mode,

changeover.

and switch to double-conversion mode in less

46

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

www.itrportal.com

NETWORKING Analysis

Global study shows Internet of Things solutions are ripe for adoption ebra Technologies Corporation

opportunity to use IoT technologies

has issued survey results that

to illuminate operational events

show the Internet of Things (IoT) is

occurring throughout their value

no longer a concept, but a reality

chain so they can act upon them to

that is improving the operations of

make smarter decisions and inspire

Z

global enterprises. Companies across multiple

innovation.”

industries are already using Internet of Things technologies to track and manage physical

Nearly 15 years ago, RFID

assets, improve the customer experience,

technology pioneer Kevin Ashton

enhance supply chain visibility and more.

used the term Internet of Things. He believed that the Internet of Things

The global commissioned study conducted by

had the potential to change the

Forrester Consulting. ‘Building Value from

world “if we had computers that

Visibility: 2012 Enterprise Internet of Things

knew everything there was to know

Adoption Outlook’, showed the following results:

about things” – where is it, how cold is it, what condition is it in. While we

•

•

According to the study, a variety of forces are aligning to drive increased enterprise demand for Internet of Things solutions, including declining device costs and widely deployed IP networks.

There is a positive perception of the

are still in the early stages of broad

term Internet of Things, and 85 per

IoT implementation, enterprises

cent of respondents agree with a

positively view a more

common definition provided of what

interconnected world, with some

IoT solutions are.

already seeing the benefits, such as retailers

can generate insights and business

employing item-level tracking to streamline

intelligence that drive breakthrough ideas in

Momentum appears strong, as 15 per

inventory management and reduce costs. As

organisations and in the world. We envision

cent of surveyed organisations across

organisations continue to build on barcode and

making even bigger strides in addressing

the globe already have an Internet of

active RFID technologies with real-time locating

business challenges, such as: patient

Things solution in place, 53 per cent

systems, Internet of Things has the potential to

identification, which enables healthcare

plan to implement one within the next

generate data never before possible, spurring

providers access to tracking technologies that

24 months, and another 14 per cent in

new insights, ideas and innovation.

help protect patients from medical errors and support electronic health records; inventory

the next two to five years.

Based on the definition shared in the survey,

management, in which retailers use

cent of transportation and logistics

Internet of Things solutions are smart

technologies to improve inventory tracking and

respondents noted they already have

interconnected devices that provide more

enhance the shopper experience; and food

Internet of Things solutions in place.

visibility into the organisation’s operational

traceability where food suppliers and

Only three per cent of healthcare

events. The study shows that many

distributors have access to electronic

organisations have them in place.

organisations are using technologies such as

traceability to capture information in the event

barcoding, RFID and GPS to gain greater

of a major food recall.”

In looking at adoption by industry, 21 per

•

Around the globe, the majority of IT

visibility into the location, condition, timing and

decision-makers are turning to

accuracy of the events occurring in their value

According to the study, a variety of forces are

Internet of Things solutions to provide

chains. These key technologies enable the

aligning to drive increased enterprise demand

more visibility in the supply chain and

Internet of Things.

for Internet of Things solutions, including declining device costs and widely deployed IP

improve customer interactions.

“Organisations are struggling to do more with

More effective deployment and management of assets

networks. While supply chain visibility and asset tracking are the top issues organisations hope to address with these solutions, the top

less, to be more productive. They actively seek not only smarter ways to track and manage

“A new generation of solutions, supported by

benefits for surveyed EMEA enterprises include

assets, but also insights that can drive new,

the power of the Internet of Things, is enabling

loss prevention, cost efficiencies and supply

breakthrough ideas for their organisation,” said

more effective deployment and management of

chain. For more information on the study:

Anders Gustafsson, CEO at Zebra Technologies.

assets including inventories,” said Gustafsson.

http://www.zebra.com/content/dam/zebra/white

“At Zebra, we believe every organisation has an

“By connecting the physical to the digital, we

-papers/en-us/zebra-iot-report-en-us.pdf

www.itrportal.com

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

47

NETWORKING Company news

Magento unveils partner programme for web hosting providers agento, the eCommerce

M

platform provider and a division of X.commerce, Inc., an eBay Inc. company, has announced details of a

programme extending Magento’s partnership benefits to web hosting providers. The Magento Hosting Partner Programme helps ensure close strategic alliances and joint commitments for hosting partners. Magento established the programme to make it easier for merchants to get their sites up and running in a world-class environment. The multi-level programme also offers training, expanded visibility and promotion opportunities across the eBay Inc. family of products; including PayPal, MarketPlaces and X.commerce. managed hosting company founded in 2000,

Support. Peer 1 Hosting’s portfolio includes

Annette Merriman business development

with wholly-owned data centres located in

Managed Hosting, Dedicated Servers,

manager at X.commerce, said: “By jointly

Dearborn and Southfield, Michigan. Nexcess

Colocation and Cloud Services.

addressing the needs of merchants and other

offers a variety of hosting services ranging from

partners and contributors to our ecosystem, we

entry-level packages to custom

Jay Newman, SVP of sales & marketing for

can work to drive better experiences for all our

clustered/complex hosting configurations, with

Peer 1 Hosting, commented: "We could not be

merchants.” The Hosting Partner Programme

an emphasis on mission-critical hosting for high-

more pleased to be entering into a hosting

consists of three tiers with different levels of

profile eCommerce web sites.

partnership with Magento/X.commerce as one of its charter Platinum partners. Over the last

commitment, including Platinum (listed below), Gold (Simple Helix) and Silver (Neoverve). The

“We are gratified to continue on our place as a

two years we have been able to work hand-in-

X.commerce open ecosystem, in which Magento

Platinum-tier Magento Hosting Partner,”

hand with the dedicated teams and leadership

plays a key role, empowers all participants to

commented Chris Wells, president and CEO of

inside Magento. This partnership is the

take advantage of the wide choice of

Nexcess, “We consider a close relationship with

culmination of tireless efforts on both sides to

technologies needed for end-to-end commerce –

the organisations that develop the software that

create a uniquely optimised hosting solution for

shopping carts, payment services, inventory

we build our hosting solutions on to be a vital

Magento users. This allows the customers

management, marketplace integration, SEO, tax

part of providing the best value to our clients.

installing and using the Magento platform to

guidance and more – all in one location.

Those relationships help nurture and strengthen

build successful businesses. We look forward

the developing Magento ecosystem, and greatly

to continued alignment with Magento to deliver

benefit Magento users, hosts, and developers.”

a best-in-class hosting infrastructure for

Magento reports that it is committed to working

eCommerce businesses for years to come."

to provide the best possible support, performance and experience for its merchants

Peer 1 Hosting

by guiding them to long-time partners focused

Peer 1 Hosting is built on two ‘obsessions’:

X.commerce and Magento complete their

on successful Magento implementations. While

‘Ping’ & ‘People’. ‘ Ping represents its

eCommerce platform with a full suite of world-

Magento sites can be hosted anywhere, hosting

commitment to best-in-breed technology,

class consulting, training and certification

providers signed on to the programme have a

founded on a high-performance 10Gbps

offerings. Developed and delivered by experts

level of familiarity with Magento products as most

FastFiber Network connected by 20 state-of-

who know the product from a development and

of them have hosted numerous sites on the

the-art data centres, 22 points-of-presence and

deployment standpoint, these experts can

platform.

10 colocation facilities throughout North

ensure merchants, developers, and partners

America and Europe. People represents its

efficiently and effectively leverage the platform

commitment to delivering outstanding

for their business needs. To learn more about

customer service to its more than 13,000

the Hosting Partner Programme, visit:

Nexcess

customers worldwide, backed by a 100 per

www.MagentoCommerce.com/partners and

Nexcess is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based

cent uptime guarantee and 24x7x365 FirstCall

www.x.com/partners

The newly signed Platinum Partners include:

48

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

www.itrportal.com

NETWORKING Event news

Biggest ever IP Expo draws to a close reported record number of

A

visitors, together with 260 seminars and 240 exhibitors, comprised the recently held IP Expo to learn about, and share

knowledge regarding, the latest and greatest solutions for business IT. The event’s closing day saw a live mobile hack by Oracle, NEC demonstrating elite facial recognition and a joint keynote from SEGA Europe and VMware about how the Cloud is transforming businesses and the online gaming industry.

Inspiring delegates from the outset was ARM Holdings CEO Warren East, who’s opening keynote focused on how the mobile market ecosystem has grown and evolved in ways unimaginable several years ago, reshaping both the consumer and enterprise space. [subhead] Redefining ways of working

virtualised infrastructures, Kaspersky Security

for and against BYOD schemes, the

for Virtualisation, as it continues to expand

opportunities and potential threats.

beyond the traditional security arena.

“The closing day of IP Expo further highlights

The enabling technologies offered by the mobile communications market are redefining

DiskShred gave a physical demonstration of

why it is the UK’s number one end-to-end IT

ways of working,” said East. “Open business

security by completely destroying old hard

infrastructure event,” said Hugh Keeble,

models are allowing greater collaboration and partnerships to drive innovation across the board. This is increasingly providing new opportunities to meet business demands in an era of disruptive trends.”

The theme of Security had a strong grip on attendees with a keynote from Bromium’s

“

Open business models are allowing greater collaboration and partnerships to drive innovation across the board. This is increasingly providing new opportunities to meet business demands in an era of disruptive trends.”

– Warren East, ARM Holdings.

CTO and Co-Founder, Simon Crosby, which examined dealing with risks in an increasingly

drives, to stop them from falling into the

managing director of event organiser, Imago

consumerised environment and the need for

wrong hands, using its shredding solution.

Techmedia. “We are delighted with the number of delegates, exhibitors and seminars

trustworthy systems.

Hands-on experience

at this year’s show. Top tech companies see

Insight

Among those demonstrating new products in

this event as a platform to unveil new

A fascinating insight into how governments

the exhibition hall was Fujitsu, which gave

products and services, making it the one

are opening up the information held on

attendees a hands-on experience of its Stylistic

place for delegates to learn about and

citizens was presented by Home Office

Q702 tablet, reshaping the way organisations

purchase systems and solutions to enhance

consultant and FlyingBinary CEO, Jacqui

approach IT networking and infrastructure.

their IT departments and provide a real

Taylor, in the event’s closing keynote.

competitive differentiator.”

A lively panel debate with various thought

Elsewhere, Kaspersky Lab showcased its

leaders, including Barclays and the London

For more information on exhibitor news and

award winning anti-malware solution for

Borough of Lambeth, explored the arguments

show highlights, visit www.ipexpo.co.uk

www.itrportal.com

IT RESELLER – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012

49

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