Crn march 2014

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contents

CRN Editorial

Editor Steven Kiernan skiernan@crn.com.au Online Editor William Maher wmaher@crn.com.au Editorial Advisor Andrew Birmingham abirmingham@crn.com.au Editor, iTnews Brett Winterford bwinterford@crn.com.au Art Director Andrew Bennett Contributors Nate Cochrane, Matthew JC Powell, Mathew Dickerson, Leon Gettler, Sholto Macpherson, Robert Faletra, David Hollingworth, John Gillooly Advertising Advertising Manager Matthew Child mchild@crn.com.au Campaign Co-ordinator Ellen de Vries edevries@nextmedia.com.au Subscriptions crn@subscribenow.com.au

40

Basic Elements

Published by nextmedia Pty Ltd (under licence from The Channel Company,LLC.) Level 6, Building A, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065, (02) 99016100 Locked Bag 5555 St Leonards NSW 1590 Chief Executive Officer David Gardiner Commercial Director Bruce Duncan CRN contains articles published under licence from The Channel Company, LLC Some articles appearing in this publication are reprinted by permission of US Computer Reseller News copyright (c) 2006 The Channel Company, LLC All rights reserved.

This magazine is published by nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805 970, Level 6, Building A, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065 © 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed by Webstar Sydney, distributed in Australia by Network Services. The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material submitted is at the owner’s risk and, while every care will be taken nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage.

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Please recycle this magazine

on the cover 28

Privacy Act With Australia’s privacy reforms upon us, the days of privacy as an afterthought are gone

21

Guest column One of the top AWS partners in Australia gives five top tips for succeeding in public cloud

36

Lenovo The Chinese vendor is now an odds-on favourite to lead in PCs, servers and mobile

22

Business column There are ways to boost staff morale that don’t cost the earth

40

Distribution Deals are still made and measured on the fundamentals

24

Cloud channel Disties are still struggling to make serious money out of cloud

48

Mining Miners may count revenues in billions, but they are fixated on getting the smallest savings

52

CRN Tech The latest reviews from our team in the lab. This month we look at PCs and storage

60

Out & about NextDC’s gala opening, the VMware user group hits Sydney and Tech Leaders 2014

62

On the move Big moves at Oakton, CSW-IT, iseek and Insight

in the mag 6

Threads Rounding up IT half-year results, Dicker’s next expansion step and schools buying big on tech

17

Under the wire Nadella has failed to get out from behind Bill Gates’ shadow

64

Accolades Data#3, eWay and Computer Merchants celebrate

18

From the coalface There are plenty of good excuses for poor service, but customers don’t want to hear them

66

Rabid Reseller Cutting corners in doggie microchipping had some unexpected consequences www.crn.com.au March 2014 3

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from the editor

the editorial team

Get the basics right

William Maher Online Editor

I

’d like to say we planned this month’s cover feature (p40) in rapid response to the mega-merger of two of the country’s biggest disties. In fact, it was just serendipitous timing – we’ve been planning the feature for months.

A whole lot more planning went into Dicker Data’s buyout of Express Data.

At least 10 months of negotiating went into the “deal of the century”, David Dicker told me. The deal is not expected to complete for a month, after which we’ll see months more of integration. The impact will be well into the future.

It’s an interesting – many would say challenging – period for distribution.

In this issue, Sholto Macpherson looks at the way disties are struggling to capitalise on the shift to the cloud (p25). In fact, he suggests Express Data’s downbeat financial performance could be seen as evidence of a failure to latch onto the shift from capital expenditure to opex.

But blaming the cloud for declining hardware revenues might be missing the full picture, especially if you look at Dicker’s results. In the same fiscal year that Express Data saw revenue fall 8 percent and income drop a winceinducing 72.8 percent, Dicker Data kept its revenue fall to just 1 percent while also growing profits by 11.7 percent. Dicker has since seen revenue grow 5.2 percent in the most recent half-year period (p9). While Dicker has made a few nods towards the cloud, hardware remains a central pillar.

Yes, software-as-a-service growth is hitting licensing revenues across the channel. Yes, the shift to hosted infrastructure is squeezing sales of servers and storage. But there is clearly life left yet in the two-tier channel model, as long as you get the basics right.

Another distie that seems to be making all the right moves is Synnex.

Local managing director Kee Ong tells me the firm has grown every year for the past seven years and is now five times larger in revenue – all through organic growth. Synnex has gone on to pump this cash back into the business, recently launching a new online portal and will soon cut the ribbon on its new Sydney logistics centre (p46).

There’s no rocket science here, it seems. It’s just a matter of getting the business fundamentals right: price, delivery, service, support, finance, credit, and, perhaps most importantly, relationships.

Andrew Birmingham Editorial Advisor

Brett Winterford Group Online Editor

Sholto Macpherson Contributing Editor

Robert Faletra US columnist

Steven Burke US columnist

Blaming the cloud for declining hardware revenues might be missing the full picture

Steven Kiernan, Editor, CRN skiernan@crn.com.au

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No one is doing it well. The opportunity is significant and whoever gets it right is going to do very well Danny Moore from Express Data on disties in the cloud ‘Swept away’ p24

the big deal

Melbourne IT buys Netregistry for $50m

Melbourne IT has acquired web hosting and domain name provider Netregistry for $50.4 million. The buyout of Netregistry, which on past performance should generate about $6 million in profit before tax per annum, came as Melbourne IT posts yet another year of revenue decline. Melbourne IT’s full-year results to 31 December 2013 revealed a five percent decline in revenue to $103.4 million, and a net profit of $6.2 million, down 29 percent year on year. The merger is expected to generate efficiencies worth about $5 million by 2015. Melbourne IT hopes the acquisition will help it arrest customer churn and start to boost customer acquisitions.

Netregistry’s 100 Ultimo-based staff are expected to be moved in with Melbourne IT’s Sydney offices.

6 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

Listed powerhouse RXP makes $5.4m buyout

By Will Maher

An Aussie ICT firm co-founded in Hobart 10 years ago by a then 23-year-old has been acquired for $5.4 million.

The cash and equity deal sees Hobart-based Insight4, a Microsoftcertified partner with 40 staff, acquired by RXP Services, a publicly listed, 301-staff services provider that counts the likes of Macquarie Bank, NAB, ANZ, Westpac, Energy Australia and the Queensland Government among its customers.

The acquisition follows Insight4’s move five years ago to concentrate on the Microsoft enterprise space, specialising in SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, .Net and SQL. The company has seen growing acceptance of Microsoft platforms as a competitor to the likes of Oracle and IBM, said co-founder Jared Hill.

“Back 10 to 15 years ago, [customers] would have had something from IBM and something from Oracle. Microsoft has gained more market share and we’ve been part of that,” he said.

Hill was 23 when he and three others started Insight4 in Hobart in 2003. The company attracted private investment in 2006 and two years later found a big break when it was listed on a preferred vendor panel in the education market in Tasmania, Hill said.

“From there we started to pick up most of the public sector agencies in Tasmania. Once you start to get that credibility it certainly opened up a lot of doors for us,” he said.

The Hobart company’s Microsoft development capabilities will add “significant depth” to RXP’s growing application development business, according to a statement from RXP. While RXP had Microsoft capabilities prior to the deal, “it was minimal”, according to RXP’s chief financial officer Chris Shearer.

“We were accredited as a partner, but this certainly strengthens our

Microsoft has gained more market share and we’ve been part of that

Jared Hill, Insight4 (above)

capabilities,” he said. “We’re obviously trying a lot more to specialise in a lot more of these [technology] verticals, that’s why [we’re making] these acquisitions,” added Shearer.

He also noted the geographic location and key clients as other reasons for the acquisitions.

This is the fifth acquisition since July last year for RXP Services, which competes with ASX-listed business such as SMS, DWS, UXC and Oakton.

The company is forecasting that revenues for the year will rise to $48 million, up from $30.1 million in the 2013 financial year.

RXP Services factfile January 2013 Acquires information management company Zenith Solutions July 2013 Acquires strategic advisory firm Transpire September 2013 Acquires business analysis firm MethodGroup October 2013 Acquires business intelligence specialist Integrated Value October 2013 Acquires IT service management firm Nobel Consulting December 2013 Raises $20m March Reports half-year revenue up 105% to $23.3m and post-tax profit up 158% to $2.2m

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threads Retailer’s ‘omni-channel’ success

Acquisition spree

Harvey Norman’s sales and profits up in first half

UXC dropped $50m on M&A

By Andrew Birmingham

Harvey Norman has seen sales and profits rise against a backdrop of “modest” spending growth.

The retailer posted a 36 percent rise in net profit after tax to $111.4 million, while its global revenues were up 3.6 percent to nearly $3 billion for the half year.

Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey said: “We achieved a strong increase in profit in an environment where consumer spending growth was modest.”

He said this showed that the group’s “omni-channel” strategy was bearing fruit.

According to the company’s presentation to investors, “Our omni-channel strategy continues to strengthen with further integration between stores and online.

“The increased product range online supported by live chat capability and a click-and-collect service from stores throughout Australia and New Zealand is driving digital revenue growth both in store and online.”

Our omnichannel strategy continues to strengthen with further integration between stores and online

Gerry Harvey, Harvey Norman

Comwire has the power

The number of Harvey Norman franchises was down but their profitability was up.

The number of franchised outlets in Australia dropped by nine compared with the corresponding period last year and the number of franchisees fell by 13. Companyowned stores were up by four.

The franchise component of the business actually grew its revenues by 1.4 percent. Company-owned stores, meanwhile, grew at a healthy 14.8 percent clip.

“Our franchising operations segment recorded improved profitability while Australian franchise sales showed strong momentum improving on gains recorded in the September quarter to increase 1.7 percent on a headline basis and 3.6 percent on a like for like basis in the December quarter.

That’s a pleasing set of numbers for the important Christmas trading period,” said Harvey.

“We continue to outperform a number of our competitors in the New Zealand market.”

UXC achieved record revenues of $292 million in the first half of the 2013 fiscal year, and expects three newly acquired companies to add $81 million to its top line on an annualised basis.

The publicly listed integration giant acquired North American Microsoft Dynamics specialist Tectura for $21 million, ServiceNow reseller Keystone for $27 million, and it also paid $2 million for Melbourne-based White Labelled.

The deals collectively added 295 staff to UXC’s headcount.

In its half-year results, UXC’s bottom line wasn’t so rosy.

Underlying EBITDA fell 17 percent to $12 million, while net profit after tax was cut by more than half – a result the company described as disappointing.

UXC expects the next six months to be better. “The second half will continue to be much stronger than the first and contribute disproportionately to the result for the year, particularly with respect to a full period of contribution from the three core acquisitions completed in the first half,” said the statement.

Slow start for merged group

Newest PLC hurt by patchy market

AFL fans among the workforce at South Australian reseller Comwire IT must be in seventh-heaven now that the company is the official technology partner for the Port Adelaide Football Club. Comwire will be strapping on its boots for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, during a period when the Power is moving into a new home ground at the Adelaide Oval.

8 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

PS&C will have to work hard to meet its full-year earnings forecast, after revealing normalised halfyearly revenues of $31 million.

The newly public firm said it was “pleased” with the result and said earnings were on track, though first-half earnings represented only 33 percent of its full-year forecast.

In its prospectus, PS&C forecast earnings would hit $75 million for the full year.

It’s a mixed result for the group, which was formed by the merging of four resellers – covering security, consulting and communications – in November last year.

The results were tempered by the “distraction” of the merger as well as a “patchy market” towards the end of the half.

The group’s security arm had a mixed first half, with delays to projects having an impact. This is the smallest segment of the PS&C revenues, pulling in $2.3 million, compared with $20.4 million from the group’s “people” segment.

The earnings announcement said the upcoming privacy changes could drive opportunities.

Earnings were above expectation for the company’s comms division, though a “big second half” will be required; the company said it was banking on some significant wins in the second half.

PS&C had more than 300 staff when created by the merger of Hacklabs, Securus, Allcom Networks, Allcom Consulting and Systems and People late last year.

threads number cruncher

Blockbuster distie merger

Dicker steps up Sydney expansion to welcome ED

5

Bulletproof’s Mark Randall outlines his five top tips for building a cloud-based business p21

By Andrew Birmingham

Dicker Data has entered into a contract to complete the last stage of its warehouse facility at Kurnell, adding another 5,000m2 to accommodate newly acquired Express Data.

The takeover, which is scheduled to complete on 1 April, will turn Dicker into “one of the largest distributors of IT products in the Australian market. The acquisition also includes a well-established operation in New Zealand presenting additional growth opportunities in the future,” according to the company’s halfyear announcement to the ASX. Chief executive David Dicker said: “The extension will provide a further 4,000m2 of warehouse and 1,000m2 of office space. This will allow the company to accommodate the integration of the Express Data business into the one location.”

Dicker Data recorded strong revenue and profit growth for the first half of the financial year despite a fall in PC sales.

Also driving our increase in revenues in the half year is the extension of our HP agreement to include the full range of HP printing and supply product

David Dicker, Dicker Data

16

Olikka boss makes a habit of meeting each of the firm’s 16 staff for a oneon-one every six weeks p23

David Dicker said: “Also driving our increase in revenues in the half year is the extension of our HP agreement to include the full range of HP printing and supply product at the beginning of FY14. This has more than offset our decline in revenues from some of our traditional PC vendors, including HP.” Revenue for the half increased 5.2 percent to $224.5 million, up from $213.5 million in the previous corresponding period. That fed into an 11.3 percent increase in net profit before tax of $5.2 million.

Net profit after tax also increased 12.8 percent to $3.7 million.

Next Byte down, Telstra Stores up

Vita Group falls $15m into red Vita Group has posted a net loss of $15.2 million for the first half due to impairment charges of $19 million and a three percent revenue decline.

It’s a major fall from last year, when the listed company, which is the parent of Apple Premium Reseller chain Next Byte and the biggest operator of Telstra Stores, posted a $2.7 million profit.

The bad news was partially offset by a 12.1 percent increase in EBITDA, fuelled by the strong Telstra performance; investors will also be happy with a 66 percent boost in interim dividends.

Vita Group said it achieved growth in areas it identified as strategically important, while non-strategic segments declined. “The telecommunications segment

recorded a one percent increase in revenues on the prior corresponding period, reflecting strong growth from the business segment and from Telstra-branded stores.”

Vita’s Telstra network stands at 167 points of presence, of which 98 are Telstra Stores and Telstra Business centres. The company said it expects to add another 12-14 Telstra Stores to its network during 2014 as it strengthens its alignment with the telco under a deal struck last year.

However, Next Byte remains a black spot in the results. Vita Group is remodelling its Next Byte stores to have the look and feel of Apple’s own retail temples, and while the new strategy seems to be paying off, overall computing revenues were down 15 percent.

98%

Volume of Express Data’s business written by its top 2,000 resellers, according to former marketing chief Peter Masters p24

$1.7m Maximum fine for breaches under the amended Privacy Act p28

7500

Staff moving from IBM to Lenovo as part of the x86 acquisition p36

$34m Synnex’s investment in a fully automated logistics centre p46

$5bn

Size of IT spending in the natural resources and materials sector, according to Gartner p48 www.crn.com.au March 2014 9

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threads Networked classrooms

Schools graded on student tech

By William Maher

Australian schools are proving to be standout adopters of networking technology, especially wireless solutions that meet the new 802.11ac standard.

Matrix CNI, which partners with Aruba Networks, said schools were using technology to woo prospective students and parents.

Andrew Ratcliff, director of the Sydney-based integrator, said: “This area has become very competitive recently where various educational sites are competing with each other for student registrations and see their technology infrastructure services as a key market differentiator.”

Ratcliff said wireless solutions are Matrix CNI’s fastest growing area.

He put the high level of interest down to device manufacturers being quick to offer 802.11ac.

Aruba is reporting “rapid take-up”

by K-12 and tertiary providers, including the University of New England, University of Technology

Wi-Fi timeline 1985

US Federal Communications Commission releases ISM band for unlicensed use

1991

NCR and AT&T invent precursor to 802.11, planning to apply it to cash registers

1992

The CSIRO obtains first patents, derived from the study of mini black holes

1993

First campus-wide wireless network deployed in Pittsburgh

2000

The term Wi-Fi is used commercially for the first time

2004

Jerusalem builds the first city-wide Wi-Fi network

2005

Sunnyvale California becomes the first US city to offer free Wi-Fi

Netgear’s Sam Burns with Invotec’s Anthony Fisher and Michael Fisher

Sydney, TAFE NSW, South Western Sydney Institute, as well as schools such as Mount Waverley Secondary College, Ravenswood School for Girls and Stuartholme School.

Ratcliff pointed out that because 802.11ac can co-exist on the same network as 802.11ac access points, customers are able to add the faster technology at their own pace.

Matrix CNI is not the only wireless integrator doing a roaring trade in education. Netgear reseller Invotec has reported strong sales to Catholic and Independent schools, helping it

Educational sites are competing with each other for registrations and see technology as a key differentiator

Andrew Ratcliff, Matrix CNI

to take the crown of Netgear’s managed wireless integrator of the year 2013. The specialist IT support company is based in Melbourne, where it has a strong pedigree in the education sector.

Invotec owner Anthony Fisher said it had been working with Netgear for nine years, adding that the vendor was a supplier of choice, particularly in private schools.

Fisher said: “We were well aware of Netgear’s position in the Catholic and Independent Schools systems from a switching point of view and a storage point of view, and we wanted to align with a vendor that we knew was well respected within that space.

“We wanted to deal with products that would sell themselves, particularly early on.”

Brad Little, vice president and managing director, Netgear ANZ, said: “The education sector has been an early adopter of technology and knows how to utilise it to get the best out of curriculums.”

Early Cisco Meraki partner

Brennan eyes Wi-Fi growth

By Steven Kiernan

Brennan IT is one of the first Australian resellers to take the Cisco Meraki Wi-Fi solution and wrap a comprehensive managed service around it to make it easy for businesses to offer corporate and guest Wi-Fi access.

Demand for centrally managed Wi-Fi services across business locations continues to grow as more workers use mobile devices and brands offer guest Wi-Fi access to improve customer service and increase brand loyalty.

Cisco Meraki is a secure wireless LAN/Wi-Fi solution for businesses operating in multiple locations.

The ability to manage it in the cloud allows Brennan IT to offer a comprehensive managed service around Cisco Meraki.

“It’s a natural extension of our managed data networking product,”

It’s a natural extension of our managed data networking product

Lyncoln De Mello, Brennan IT

Lyncoln De Mello, practice director of communications and security at Brennan IT said.

“Now we can offer a solution for our customers to extend the reach of their network right down to the wireless devices, and we can manage it all for them remotely.”

Meraki was founded by two MIT PhD students Sanjit Biswas and John Bicket, along with Hans Robertson. It was acquired by Cisco in December 2012 for an estimated $1.2 billion.

Cisco has reported strong traction in Australia, with early customers including Endeavour Foundation in Queensland.

Jason Brouwers, director of partner business group for Cisco ANZ, said Brennan’s service aims to meet mid-market’s demand for a highly secure, reliable and headache-free BYOD network. www.crn.com.au March 2014 11

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threads Web query windfall

From Com Tech to P2P finance

Sydney reseller nabs US client

Ex-disties push $32m crowdfunding platform

A small Sydney reseller can now count among its clients a US company that supplies radiation safety products to 80 percent of the US healthcare industry.

The 12-person Sydney Technology Solutions was selected following a web enquiry by Landauer to migrate the IT in its new Australian office and data centre in Canada Bay, NSW. Despite the physical distance between the parent company in Illinois and the Aussie reseller, the reseller not only won the project, but has since signed a fully managed services agreement this month.

Landauer CIO Dough King is quoted on the website Utilistic saying that the Sydney firm was one of the only in the area with the right mix of capabilities, According to that interview, these included “infrastructure as a service, remote incident management, backup services, server administration, cloud-based collaboration solution provisioning and support.”

By William Maher

The co-founders of the company that became part of one of the largest IT resellers in Australia are part of a push to expand an Israeli crowdfunding operation in Australia.

David Shein and Nathan Cher co-founded Com Tech Communications, which was established in Australia in 1987 and later bought by Dimension Data.

Both are now part of a team leading an Australian push

by OurCrowd, an “equity crowdfunding” site which selects startup investment opportunities for accredited investors to pick from. Investors must meet special criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal.

Cher said the company has raised $32 million for 34 different companies in 53 countries around the world.

Veteran hits the wall

Com Tech co-founder Nathan Cher

Cher’s role as a deal-maker and mentor follows years as a director and non-executive chairman in the technology and property industries.

After working as a systems architect and programmer at Wormald in 1987, he moved onto Com Tech, which started life in 1987 as what he describes as a value added distributor. The company eventually grew into a 1,400-person business at the time Dimension Data took full ownership in 2000.

CSG’s high-profile hire

Dataflex goes under as buyout fails

By Steven Kiernan

Dataflex appointed administrators after 27 years in business as a deal to sell to global giant Tech Mahindra fell at the final hurdle.

Frank Lo Pilato of RSM Bird Cameron Partners took over the company on 25 February, following some difficult years for Dataflex.

Dataflex has its head office in ACT and sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It generated around $35 million in sales and has 38 staff.

It had been negotiating a sale to Indian outsourcing behemoth Tech Mahindra, which seemingly fell through at the last minute, said Dataflex founder Brian Evans.

Lo Pilato said: “We have had to put off some staff to reduce overheads.

We have key staff there. They are in a holding pattern while we try to establish if there are people interested in buying the business.

Following the decision by Tech

Mahindra to pull out, Brian made the decision to look for the next steps to keep the company alive,” added Lo Pilato.

CRN had spoken to Evans in January about the impending deal with $2.6 billion-turnover Tech Mahindra. Just weeks ago, it seemed as if the sale was a done deal.

It would have saved Dataflex from its difficult financial position.

Evans revealed that he had been speaking to Tech Mahindra on and off for the past two years. The deal would have provided the best option to protect Dataflex’s staff and creditors, he added. “I wanted to be able to provide a future for the talented people who work with me as well as ensure my creditors are paid out.”

The size of the company’s debts is unclear, however, it seems the fallout could be in the millions.

CSG has appointed former AFL player and coach Paul Williams as regional general manager, Victoria. Julie-Ann Kerin, managing director of the listed company, said: “Paul was an extremely successful player for Collingwood and Sydney for 16 years... His ability to motivate teams, drive successful outcomes and deliver wins makes him a perfect fit for CSG.”

www.crn.com.au March 2014 13

threads Location, location, location

SaaS ambitions

Melbourne Data Centre plots next growth phase

MacTel boosts software hosting

By Steven Kiernan

The decision to build a data centre smack-bang in the centre of Melbourne’s CBD continues to pay off, with the site now opening its third stage, adding 80 racks.

Melbourne Data Centre (MDC), which is part owned by the directors of cloud provider Enspire, was established in March 2011 in what was once the ASX data centre.

According to Mark Eckert, a director of both MDC and Enspire, MDC is the most central data centre in Melbourne and one of the few anywhere in the country with a prime CBD location.

Eckert added that MDC started stage one in 2010-11 with 120 racks, grew to 240 for stage two and is now approaching 320, with no signs of slowing.

“Once we get halfway through stage three and our pipeline is strong, we will do stage four.”

With the third stage opening, the original move has paid off, but it was still a gamble in 2010. The initial cost was “north of $10 million – and that was on day one”, said

Eckert examines the beginnings of stage three of MDC

Australia’s newest Tier III DC

Eckert. “We bought 40 racks, $3,000 each, and we are now at about 190 racks. That is quite a scary number.”

The facility includes the racks that house Enspire’s own data centre, hosted on one of the first Vblock units in Australia. Vblock is built by VCE, a consortium of Cisco and EMC, with investments from VMware and Intel. Eckert called it a “data centre in a box”.

Fellow director Geoffrey Nicholas said: “It is a success story because it was done by entrepreneurs, not big corporates. We recognised the need in the CBD and picked a winner.”

Macquarie Telecom wants to be known as the country’s leading SaaS hosting company – an ambition boosted after winning the deal for BMC’s helpdesk tool.

According to BMC, users of its Remote product in Australia and New Zealand were calling for SaaS delivery that covered off high availability and data sovereignty.

Helpdesk files can contain sensitive data, such as confidential medical records or bank details, so rigorous security was also a must.

Previously hosted in the US, moving Remedy to MacTel’s data centres in Canberra and Macquarie Park, Sydney, boosted transaction speeds by up to 10 times.

MacTel sales and marketing director Luke Clifton said the BMC deal was evidence of its sharp focus on expanding in SaaS hosting, a business growing at “double digits”.

Three years ago, MacTel “discovered that we were the number one SaaS hosting provider and we didn’t even know it,” Clifton told CRN. It now has more than 100 SaaS clients in Australia, including Symantec, McAfee, Rubik and Micronet Systems.

“Importantly, we don’t sell SaaS, but we provide the infrastructure.”

Making a splash in the channel

$80 million NextDC opened its “P1” data centre in Perth on 25 February. The facility has space for 1,500 racks.

When fully fitted out, approximately $80 million will have been spent on the facility, which is one of only eight in Australia with the Uptime Institute’s Tier III certification.

14 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

Triple Olympian Libby Trickett has been appointed as Megaport’s new national channel and partner manager. The swimming champ said she is “thrilled to be taking up a new challenge in the corporate world. According to Megaport, Trickett is new to telecommunications; she will focus on “building and maintaining relationships for Megaport and our partners.” Megaport CEO Bevan Slattery said Trickett will be working to rollout Megaport’s Australian channel program.

Sponsored by McAfee THREAT OF THE MONTH

Stealthy threats to the enterprise

D

o you know the difference between advanced persistent threats and advanced evasion techniques? What you don’t know can kill your enterprise.

According to McAfee’s 2014 Threat Predictions, over the next year businesses will experience ‘stealth’ attacks that are hard to identify and stop as cyber criminals increasingly use advanced evasion techniques (AETs) to penetrate business networks.

Reporting of new, sophisticated threats can create definitions and acronyms that quickly become confusing. Recently, AETs and advanced persistent threats (APTs) have been in the news and probably need clarification for most readers.

Both can contribute to the downfall of your network or entire enterprise, but they are very different. An APT serves as the motivation for an attacker to infiltrate a network. An AET is the method the attacker uses to gain entry.

Confusion arises when people mix up the motivation with the method.

While distinctly different, AETs and APTs can work together to achieve a targeted and malicious attack that enters your network undetected and exploits valuable data for an extended period.

Advanced persistent threats

An APT is the name applied to a planned and organised attack that does not stop until it is successful.

The goal is to not only breach the security of the network, but to remain undiscovered while the attacker hunts for valuable data.

An APT is often described as the motivation that fuels the need for an AET or other means to infiltrate your network. Because it takes a significant amount of money and resources to launch an attack that uses advanced techniques over a long period, an APT is usually the result of a criminal organisation, nation-state or activist type entity as opposed to an individual.

Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated and an APT usually involves multiple approaches,

including finding vulnerable physical, social and online entry points to penetrate the network.

When these attacks are focused on a single target over an extended period of time, the likelihood for success increases. This persistence is part of the threat since even the best defences are vulnerable given enough time, resources and advanced tools.

An APT is not an automated, strike-once and run attack. It is an attack aimed at infiltrating your network and then remaining hidden inside for a prolonged period with the goal of stealing valuable data without being detected.

Advanced evasion techniques

AETs are the method that the attackers use to gain entry into your network. AETs are a means to disguise cyber-attacks so as to avoid detection and blocking by security systems. AETs enable cybercriminals to deliver malicious content to a vulnerable system without detection by a traditional firewall, which would normally identify and stop the threat.

AETs are particularly disturbing because they take advantage of generally agreed upon protocols and communication standards.

They break the trust that is required to establish communications over the internet by appearing to be compliant but actually disguise a malicious payload. By combining attacks using several protocol layers, these advanced evasions bypass most existing security solutions because the combination possibilities can be in the hundreds

of millions, far exceeding the ability to match using a database of known attacks.

AETs are beginning to receive widespread attention. Many security products are unable to detect AETs and, therefore, can’t prevent an APT infiltration due to fundamental flaw in their design.

Most security systems perform packet-based inspections using pattern or signature matching without performing full-stack normalisation. The result is that these security devices combine limited inspection techniques to focus on high throughput.

Defeating AETs requires reassembling the data stream for final analysis. This normalisation of the data across all layers of the OSI Model improves data integrity for inspection and detection.

The McAfee Next Generation Firewall analyses the normalized content in the data stream to protect against known and unknown evasion techniques, even when they are applied on multiple protocol levels, increasing your protection against advanced persistent threats and other undesirable traffic.

McAfee offers a free tool to test your network defences against AETs at evader.mcafee.com.

Find more information on AETs and McAfee’s Next Generation Firewall at www.mcafee.com/us/products/ next-generation-firewall.aspx

under the wire

threads

Matthew JC Powell

A dim move at Microsoft Satya Nadella had the opportunity to get out from behind Bill Gates’ shadow, but he has done exactly the opposite. The consequences could be dire

I

t’s hardly news to you that Microsoft is in a spot of bother.

Its rivals, in the form of Google and Apple, have well and truly drunk its milkshake by seizing opportunities in web search and mobile devices. The unimaginative and stagnant management in Redmond failed to see these opportunities until they were gone.

Apple makes more profit and more revenue and has a massively larger market capitalisation than its once-invulnerable rival. In the last quarter of 2013, Apple sold more devices running versions of OS X than all of Microsoft’s hardware partners combined.

Let me clarify what that means: all of the Windows PCs, all of the Windows tablets and all of the Windows Phone devices did not outnumber the Macs, iPads and iPhones sold by Apple. That is staggering. It turns on its head the received wisdom that Apple made a mistake by going it alone rather than licensing its OS. Little wonder, then, that Microsoft is busily revisiting its own thinking on the matter. Its Surface tablets and the outright acquisition of Nokia’s

handset business point to an increasing focus on controlling the product end-to-end, like Apple does.

So when incoming Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella says the company must focus on mobility and devices, the industry says “well duh” – though perhaps using more analyst-y jargon.

As I pointed out a few issues ago, a new Microsoft CEO needs to do more than “well duh”. This is a company that has led the industry, and I don’t simply mean in terms of market share. For all it its criticisms, Microsoft has been an innovator. Before Microsoft, there wasn’t really such a thing as “the software business”.

The notion that the biggest and most powerful company in the computer industry wouldn’t make computers was unthinkable before Microsoft.

For Microsoft to recover, it needs to do more than follow. It needs to lead.

Nadella needed to clear the decks of old minds in Redmond. He needed to ask Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to leave. He could still call them for advice if he wanted to, of course, but while they remain in official positions at Microsoft, Nadella’s authority would be reduced.

Matthew JC Powell is a technology commentator, philosopher and father of two, in no particular order

Apple makes more profit and more revenue than its onceinvulnerable rival, Microsoft

So I applauded when I read that Nadella had asked Gates to step down as chairman, but stopped abruptly when it was because he wants Gates to take a more hands-on role. That’s the opposite of what he needs. The exact opposite.

In 1997, Apple chief executive Dr Gilbert Amelio (remember him?) announced that not only was company co-founder Steve Jobs returning as “special advisor to the CEO” but the other co-founder Steve Wozniak was returning to take some woolly role regarding the education market. The idea was to have these two Apple icons back on board, to give the company some mojo or other.

It didn’t work, of course. The technology industry is ruthlessly anti-nostalgic. Looking to the past is never the way to find the future.

Within six months Amelio was gone, Jobs was running the joint and had fired the entire board of directors, and Wozniak had quietly retreated to his own things again.

Right now, Nadella looks like Amelio, thinking that having Bill Gates working hands-on at Microsoft will have a magical effect. But Gates looks like Wozniak – he’s moved on, he’s more interested in other things.

He’s made his contribution. It’s hard to see what he has to offer it now.

Nadella needed to take the reins and say “I’m the boss now, I have the ideas, and I’m going to lead us to the future”. Instead, he’s gone and said, “Hey, remember Bill? Good times, good times”.

A shaky start in a new job is not necessarily fatal, and Nadella may find his feet soon enough. But he’s sacrificed the momentum that he could have gained from a more authoritative beginning. Microsoft’s great strength was its sense of inevitability – the idea that whatever it did would eventually, one way or the other, be what the industry did. Right now, it doesn’t have that, and Nadella doesn’t look like getting it back. www.crn.com.au March 2014 17

threads

From the coal face

Mathew Dickerson

Rotate on this There are plenty of good excuses why service is not tip-top.

Sadly, most customers don’t want to hear any of them

M

y children are going against the Aussie trend and are not yet convinced that they need to eat, sleep and breathe cricket for the entire summer.

Through a series of compulsory incremental exposure dosages, I am going to make sure they grow up to be well-balanced Aussie kids (plus what better excuse for Dad to watch the cricket).

I like to take them to an occasional game so last year I took them down to game four of the ODI series against the West Indies. I had started to introduce some cricket to them to warm them up and they watched the previous two matches on TV. They all thought George Bailey was fantastic – he scored his maiden ODI century in game two of the series and then in game three played a cameo role of 44 off 22 balls. If nothing else, I had created some excitement around them seeing George Bailey bat.

On the day of the match they actually started talking about seeing Bailey hit some sixes! I was excited. The kids were looking forward to the cricket! We made our long trek to the SCG and found our seats. The excitement was building. Then the day collapsed for me. The team list that was displayed on the screen did not include Bailey’s name. What had happened? How could they leave out the saviour of my children’s cricketing future? How could they drop him after his previous two match-winning efforts?

Then the announcement was made. With the five-game series wrapped up at 3-0, Cricket Australia had decided to rest George Bailey! We felt robbed.

The one player the kids wanted to see more than anyone else was not playing – and this was a deliberate decision.

We had paid our money just like the people in Canberra and Perth did who saw Bailey bat.

18 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

Why were we being served up a second-string team? This was all part of the rotation policy or, as Cricket Australia called it, the ‘informed player management’ policy. I can vaguely understand the direction – when players are exhausted from playing too much, give them a rest. But this looks at the scenario from the wrong perspective – the perspective of the players. The players may be playing too much. They risk injury. They are exhausted. Forget the players.

The players would not be paid their salaries (to do what they love) if it weren’t for the fans.

But then you need to look at it from a different perspective. The paying fans are of much greater importance than the players.

Without the fans, it’s just a bunch of players having a game in a park.

The fans – directly or indirectly – pay for the entire industry that is the game of cricket. Some fans might only go to one game a year.

Or, in the case of my children, they may only go to one game every few years. For the team to not put their best foot forward on every single occasion is to show complete and utter contempt for the fans. For many fans, it is their one and only chance to see their team in action.

Make no excuses

And the point of all this? This isn’t just a whinge about the rotation policy (which has since been shelved). There is a lesson here for all resellers.

I have seen businesses apologise for poor service with a flippant, “We have a staff member sick today” or “Normally, it isn’t this busy at this time of day” or some other completely reasonable excuse.

But the client simply doesn’t care.

Give a client all the reasonable excuses under the sun and they still won’t care. Clients don’t care about staff health issues or rosters or how well your business

Mathew Dickerson is a technology professional who has started a total of six small businesses

is trading. They only care about someone giving them great service – every single time.

Pick and choose the times to give good service and you will soon find that your clients will become tired of being treated with contempt and find somewhere else to do their business. But if you focus on delivering exceptional service with every single interaction, you will find your clients will appreciate you more and stay.

In the same way as the fans are more important than the cricketers, the needs of the clients are of much greater importance than the needs of your staff. Without the clients, there is no income and no money to pay staff.

Tell me if your business has an ‘informed staff management’ policy at md@ smallbusinessrules.com

Sponsored by Mimecast

The clock is ticking for cloud migration

C

loud services are rapidly maturing around the globe.

In the near future, few people will manage their mailboxes on-premise. The leaders look like being Microsoft with Office 365 and Google with Google Apps, though of course others may emerge. No doubt most CIOs around the world have taken a look at these platforms and adopted a stance.

The stance may involve proactive planning with a rapid migration in mind. They might be keep things as they are until the technology matures further. There might be any number of interim steps. I doubt there’s any CIO that hasn’t started thinking about migrating email, in its entirety, to the cloud. The clock is ticking.

This represents a significant opportunity for channel partners looking to help their customers manage a successful migration to the cloud. It is also good news for progressive cloud vendors looking to offer products that build on the capabilities of these core cloud services.

For the last few years, Mimecast has positioned itself as the number one companion to Microsoft Exchange, optimising our cloud services to deliver maximum value to on-premise or hosted Exchange customers. We have around 8,500 customers globally on a mix of Exchange environments – onpremise, hybrid, hosted and cloud.

An increasing percentage are using Mimecast and Office 365 together.

With Office 365, we support very clear use cases that demonstrate how Mimecast and Office 365 work together to remove many of the well-established hurdles that exist in an email infrastructure; or perhaps more importantly, remove the barriers to total cloud adoption by completely de-risking cloud email.

Office 365 may be the eventual destination for a customer’s email platform, but that doesn’t guarantee

a crazy rush to migrate or that it is the only short to mid-term option. For example, we’re seeing the managed service provider (MSP) market booming, as smaller businesses offload their costly on-prem Exchange infrastructures and move to hosted suppliers to get into the cloud sooner. But let’s not kid ourselves. These other models – on-premise with cloud services, hybrid on-premise and hosted Exchange environments – are all interim measures, albeit very profitable for those organisations operating in the space for some years to come.

We’re all preparing for an Office 365 world. For Mimecast, we’re optimising our Office 365-specific portfolio so the additional use cases we support in archiving, security and continuity are crystal clear. Over time, we see ourselves becoming an accelerator or enabler for Office 365 adoption. For businesses that are taking cloud email seriously, we effectively give them additional options they need to make the move to Office 365 quicker.

We recognise that many in the channel have been concerned about how they can build cloud services into their value proposition, protect their margins or even build a new revenue stream with them. That’s why we are supporting partners with a high-value cloud service that significantly improves their customer’s experience. By adding Mimecast services to an Office 365 sale, channel partners can secure an additional long-term revenue

and margin opportunity.

As the Office 365 platform matures, more use cases will emerge just as happened with Exchange many years ago.

Microsoft will make sure that the common elements of customer need are properly served, but there will be plenty of room for third parties, both vendors and channel partners, to help customers with their initial cloud migration and build on this platform with additional services for the long term.

Matthew Ravden is chief strategy officer at Mimecast

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Toshiba, Together Commerce, TCxFlight and related logos are trademarks of Toshiba Corporation, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, Inc. (“TGCS”) or their affiliated companies in Japan, the United States and/or other countries, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Copyright © 2014 TGCS.

guest column

threads

Mark Randall

Five tips to succeed in the cloud Avoid public cloud slip-ups by following this guide from a top Australian AWS partner

C

loud computing services have rapidly increased in popularity over recent years – and so has the number of cloudbased products and services on the market. Providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) offer innovative, flexible, scalable and powerful cloud platforms. Here are some lessons that are relevant to any channel partner looking to capitalise on cloud demand.

New computing paradigm

A key benefit of cloud computing is the ability for organisations and consumers to ‘self-serve’. This is exceptionally powerful because it provides users with direct access and control to functionality in services such as AWS. The complexity is still there, however, so self-service can just mean it’s easier to make mistakes. Cloud surveys such as CloudCheckr’s show that many organisations are not managing their cloud environments correctly to ensure security, performance and availability.

A lack of skills, experience and understanding is to blame.

Many organisations looking to adopt or resell cloud do not fully appreciate that it is a new computing paradigm. Cloud requires new strategies, expertise and successful partnerships. This in turn can provide a huge windfall for channel partners. Investing in cloud architect, support and consulting skills, either directly or in partnership, will allow you to support customers through this transition.

Fosters innovation

Cost and flexibility first attracted customers to cloud. These customers were typically looking to host testing, development and web-facing environments more effectively. Now customers are thinking about how the cloud can support innovation within their businesses. Cloud offers infinite computing power on demand, enabling organisations to

Mark Randall is chief customer officer at Bulletproof, the first Amazon Web Services premier consulting partner in Australia

be more agile and innovative.

We are seeing more organisations using cloud to scale websites for critical digital campaigns. These sites typically have defined start and end times with extreme peaks and troughs in load. They need geographic high availability to support 100 percent uptime targets.

Organisations are using campaign hosting to provide auto-scaling and high availability, backed up by a dedicated support team to ensure the campaign runs seamlessly.

The key benefit is that once the peak load passes, IT costs scale down.

Rapid change, cost reduction

Competition is fierce in cloud computing. Technology is moving faster and faster and software is increasingly taking over from traditional hardware, with abstraction layers and automation accelerating technology development. At the same time, major providers are getting everincreasing efficiencies through scale.

In January this year, AWS announced its 41st proactive price cut, passing these efficiency gains onto customers. Rival providers, such as Microsoft with its Azure platform, followed suit.

With such downward pressure on unit computing costs, it is critical that you can demonstrate why customers should increase their use

of cloud-based services, because standing still means revenue erosion.

Changing the sales process

Because customers can self-serve, the traditional channel sales model of selling to the IT team is quickly fading. You have to build new relationships with functional leaders within client organisations.

While IT buyers are focused on features, costs, SLAs and migration plans, the head of marketing may be more concerned with deployment times, user experience, reliability and performance. The CEO and business leaders will have a vested interest in data recovery and agility, while the legal teams will be looking regulatory requirements.

The self-service model means customers can add, remove, update or cease their use of the services at any time. So you need to be constantly engaged and understand your customers’ changing requirements. Strong technical and strategic account management is needed to ensure customers stay and grow with your business.

Evolution of revenue model

Cloud offers pay-as-you-go, pay-ondemand or pay by subscription.

If you’re a cloud provider and you’re currently generating upfront hardware, software, and project revenues, the subscription model can negatively impact short-term revenues. If you are a consumer, unplanned spikes in consumption or business growth may push budgets out before you’ve realised it.

Revenues and costs can be harder to forecast. Fluctuating usage, different adoption cycles, vendor price cuts and even the number of days in a month will cause volatility in cloud revenues. To manage the transition, a thorough understanding of cloud revenue cycles is critical.

For client organisations, planning your cloud journey one workload at a time with your service provider can reduce risks. ww.crn.com.au March 2014 21

threads

business column

Leon Gettler

Being a great boss is about more than money Sure, everyone wants a pay rise, but there are other ways to boost staff morale and improve retention that don’t cost the earth

O

nce upon a time, good managers were expected to just provide employees with perks and generous pay packets.

But the world has changed.

Employees these days want more than just money; they want work that’s meaningful, that makes a difference. These days, companies need to work out ways of keeping staff without breaking the bank.

Smart companies set up systems that generate ideas. At the best companies, managers regularly talk to employees about their ideas. Too hard to do it in the office? Go to a nearby coffee shop instead. It shows your employees you think their insights are valued. This engages employees and makes them feel they are part of the business.

Another important tool is to set goals and measure them. Talk to every employee about why they want to come in to work every day.

Get into what they actually do and find out what their goals are. Then break this up into quarterly and monthly goals.

To do that, resellers have to get to the emotional core of what each employee is doing. For example, salespeople do more than just sell the product: they put together visuals and presentations that wow customers and win them over. The consultant works with clients and creates links between the reseller and their business. A receptionist doesn’t just answer the phones: he or she is the public face of the company. All this must be monitored. Regular feedback is critical to success.

Face-to-face contact works best.

Good leaders do not hide behind emails. While some emailing is inevitable, the best way to reach out to employees and motivate 22 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

Leon Gettler is a senior business journalist who writes for a range of newspapers and journals

them is face to face. If that means travelling from one city to the next, so be it. You can never do enough face-to-face communication with people. So many things get out of control and miscommunicated if you rely on paper and email.

Management specialists say that face-to-face communication is 10 times more productive and more influential than email or written communication.

The right direction

Good companies encourage entrepreneurialism among employees. Getting employees to act like entrepreneurs within the larger organisation and have them devoting time to specific projects also creates greater staff engagement. Great companies have done that.

Great companies also have policies that allow their people to

Takeaway Training is a good investment for recruitment and retention.

Most training in companies is done by giving employees challenging assignments. The key is to make it experiential. Mentoring is important too.

Resellers need to make sure the trainees are willing and motivated to learn. They can best do this by ensuring that the training is connected to the employee’s career ambitions.

Training is an ongoing process. Best practice is to provide recurring refresher courses and cross-training opportunities for existing employees and comprehensive starter training for new hires. And to make it permanent, it should be incorporated in the annual performance appraisal.

make mistakes. Targeting people who make mistakes is the worst thing you could do. When things go wrong, the company should analyse what happened and see how to improve it. Innovation requires a long-term willingness to experiment and experimentation involves some risks.

Keep the organisational structure as flat as possible. The good boss should keep it to direct reports, supervisors and people on the shop floor. Managers are responsible for their own people. It’s the manager’s people, he has to look after them. It can’t be delegated.

Also, if you involve everyone in what’s going on, they feel like a partner.

Such are the basics of what’s required. All common sense, easy enough to implement and, most importantly, it will not break the bank. It just takes goodwill from the boss to create it.

business column

threads

Olikka

We focus strongly on getting the right staff Co-founder Michael Pascoe says being a good boss is about establishing the best culture

O

ne of the things we try to do at Olikka is have a great culture. That means treating people like people and making sure you have the right people on board. We focus a lot on our hiring to make sure we get the right people with the right experience and attitude that aligns to some of our cultural ideals.

Then you can give them a fair bit of rope because you know they are good, you know that they’re responsible, you know that they’re passionate and driven,” Michael Pascoe, co-founder of systems integrator Olikka, says.

“I try to assume that people want to do the right thing and want to improve and want to contribute to the business, and I give them the opportunity to do just that. What you need on top of that is to foster an environment that is supportive.”

Olikka has a workforce of 16 and Pascoe keeps the structure flat to ensure he has a connection with everyone. “At the moment, it’s pretty simple. All of the staff directly report to myself, but in reality we have a fair bit of ‘dotted line’ operational support going on so when we’re in projects for customers, a consultant will be leading that and the staff working on that project will report to that person for that project.”

The consultant will then report to Pascoe. “That takes a fair bit of the load off me in terms of people management.”

As part of that flat structure, Pascoe has put in place simplified career paths. “We really have two project roles – an engineering role and a consulting role. We try to simplify it. Our consultants are true consultants, they really understand how to interpret IT department and business requirements and map it back to technology; they understand how to run projects, they have a very good commercial sensibility, they can write very well,

I meet with every person for breakfast every six weeks, all 16, one-on-one every six weeks

Michael Pascoe, Olikka

and they can present very well.

“It really is a very different job role to the technical specialists. We don’t see that role as a more junior role and we don’t see a natural career progression as moving from that to a consultant so, as a result, we include those people with a lot more influence in the business than some of our competitors would.”

It’s also a structure that allows him to talk to everyone. He is not one for email management.

“I meet with every person for breakfast every six weeks, all 16, one-on-one every six weeks,” he says.

“We have breakfast together. It’s a very informal chat but I endeavour in every meeting to give them some feedback. Sometimes it’s positive feedback and sometimes it is negative feedback. We discuss what they’re doing well, what I’d like to see more of, areas of improvement and techniques of how to do that. I try to connect people.

“I’m not very big on email.

Personally, I work better with face-to-face conversations. I don’t think email is a particularly great tool for people management.”

The company also uses technology

to generate ideas. “We have a tool, cloud-based software, that asks people every week a simple question such as how happy are you here, what’s one thing we do really well, what’s one thing we do really badly, do you feel you know what your job is?

“We get that feedback every week from staff. It only takes one minute, or even 30 seconds, to fill out.”

Pascoe says the aim is to create a workplace where everyone feels they are doing meaningful work.

“It’s absolutely about them doing satisfying, meaningful work, where they feel they truly have an influence, and they have an opportunity to actually raise good ideas and work on some of them, and are generally being empowered to do what they’re good at.

“We try to remove any roadblocks from that so that people are able to do really great work for our customers, and then just put enough process and systems around that.

By doing this, we have the right checks and balances so that it’s consistent and we reduce the risk for our customers.” www.crn.com.au March 2014 23

threads

cloud channel

Swept away Disties are still struggling to make serious money out of cloud. Will they sink or swim?

C

ould the cloud have driven Dimension Data out of distribution? Last month, CRN broke the news that Express Data, one of Australia’s largest IT distributors, had been sold to ASX-listed Dicker Data.

The sale came after a disastrous year for ED. In the year to 30 September, revenue had slumped 8 percent to $798.5 million. But the real concern was the dive in profits – from $9.9 million to $2.7 million.

Internal numbers at ED suggest that the fall in profitability could be due in part to the centralisation of IT hardware purchases. “We have gone from 15,000 resellers down to 2,000 when you look at who writes 98 percent of the business,” outgoing marketing executive Peter Masters told CRN when he quit in November.

It’s worth asking in this case whether the decline in hardware sales is due to the replacement of physical servers and equipment by virtual machines run by Amazon, Google and Rackspace.

Cloud computing has proven that it is more than a trend; it is a reorganisation of how computing products and services are supplied.

The internet has proven to be the most effective distributor of computing to businesses because the raw computing power can be delivered directly to where it is needed. No distributors required.

The ongoing conundrum enveloping distributors is what place

24 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

Sholto Macpherson is a journalist and commentator who covers emerging technology in cloud software and services

do they have in the world of cloud computing? How do you become a distributor of cloud services?

“No one is doing it well. The opportunity is significant and whoever gets it right is going to do very well,” says Danny Moore, chief executive of Express Online, the online arm of Express Data – soon to be part of Dicker Data.

Express Online has pioneered an experiment among the new breed of vendors and resellers at the frontline of the cloud software revolution. Express Online held a four-city roadshow last month that included several cloud software vendors and two hardware vendors, Apple and Cisco.

While cloud-focused distributors such as NewLease focus on the enterprise technologies, the rapidly evolving SMB landscape, driven largely by cloud accounting and productivity suite vendors, has caught Moore’s eye.

“Anyone establishing a small business must look at a subscription model for all their IT infrastructure and the services that roll on from that,” Moore says. “This SMB play is largely neglected [by distributors] and no one has got it right.”

Express Online’s Productivity Plus roadshow was built around two very strong brands: Apple and the highly successful cloud accounting program Xero. The latter has built up

an ecosystem of vendors in its own right that includes point of sale, field management and other verticalspecific applications.

The series of events was a success, Moore says. Some 30 to 40 principals showed up from traditional Express Online resellers, many of them Apple dealers, in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. The vendors included Apple, GeoOp, Vend, Xero, Cisco and Mobile Iron, who provided examples of solutions made up of bundled cloud apps and a tablet.

Attendees were highly supportive of the event, even if some weren’t fully across the concepts involved in cloud software. “The message was bang on, there is no doubt of that,” Moore says.

The goal of Productivity Plus was to bring together new opportunities for Express Online’s resellers.

But Moore freely admits that the roadshow was a “preliminary education piece”, for the distributor as much as for its partners.

“We didn’t have a clear distie strategy at that stage. It’s not just taking our hardware and software in a traditional reseller sense. It was to open the eyes of our resellers, where the cloud space is heading and set up relationships with those [vendor] partners,” Moore says.

The ultimate goal was to drive more sales of hardware and software through Express Online and Express

Disties look inward instead of outward Despite a lot of talk about the cloud, few resellers or disties seem to have developed viable business models. The industry is gripped by rounds of consolidations and cost control which is distracting players from focusing on developing a cloud strategy – and failing the resellers it is meant to support, says Danny Moore, CEO of Express Online.

“That’s where the channel has probably let down its reseller partners. We haven’t come up and provided those solutions. It’s not completely up to the reseller, it’s up to the distie channel to help with that,” Moore says. “There are some new players doing great stuff but a lot of the channel is still focused on short and medium-term objectives.”

The recent acquisition of Express Data will cause further navel gazing as Dicker Data attempts to merge the two cultures and draw the greatest synergies from the combined enterprise.

“There’s no doubt that whenever these major transactions take place or companies are not making profits it naturally drives you to a short to medium-term view rather than a growth phase,” Moore says.

While an acquisition is essentially a long-term play, “you know you’re going to be consumed for a while in integrating those businesses”.

cloud channel

Data. But the distributor hasn’t established commercial relationships with any of the vendors involved because it is still working on the correct model, Moore says.

One question is whether the event attracted the right type of reseller.

Moore says the event should have been broader than it was and targeted end users and customers.

Next time, Moore says he will market it through the vendors’ contacts rather than just Express Online’s database.

“If you look at Xero’s customer base, they are primarily accountants.

These guys are moving into advisory roles around IT, and when you’re talking about packaging solutions and this amazing customer base, it’s a natural extension to hardware and infrastructure,” Moore says.

Future channels of Express Online seem certain to expand beyond the typical ED reseller.

Moore expresses frustration that only a few seem to have grasped the potential and built a successful model for selling cloud services.

“Some small guys have done it right but they don’t have the breadth or the capital. You want to bundle up hardware, apps and services and deploy them,” he says.

The best advice Moore gives to resellers moving to cloud software is to look beyond SaaS as a primary revenue stream. The tiny margins make it unsustainable as a sole source of revenue, but that misses the point. “Even if you’re earning $2 a month from a customer, that customer is hooked into you. Then you’re getting the services and the annuity income, and the stickiness is

Margins in cloud software are tokenistic, which means the reseller has to rely wholly on services to make a profit

threads

there,” Moore says. The problem for distributors is that in the mix of selling hardware, software and services, there used to be enough margin to share in the first two.

Margins in cloud software are tokenistic, which means the reseller has to rely on services to make a profit. But the distie can’t take a cut of change management, training or set-up and installation services because it doesn’t supply them.

So how does the distie make any money? “I don’t have the answer,” Moore says. “I just don’t have it clearly in my mind yet how it can be done effectively, where all parties can make money. Or is it a completely new model where a distie can’t be involved? If there is an answer, we will come up with it before anyone else. But it’s damn interesting in working it out.” www.crn.com.au March 2014 25

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feature security

Protectors of privacy With Australia’s privacy reforms upon us, the days of privacy as an afterthought are gone. Data breaches will lead to huge fines and enforced public apologies. In all the chaos, there’s money to be made

By Darren Pauli

F

or many businesses, security and privacy is an afterthought. By mid-March, that could all change. Australia is set to endure a massive legal shake-up that could see the Federal Privacy Act become a formidable, prescriptive framework requiring scores of businesses to make security and privacy a priority.

The reforms to the Federal Privacy Act will consolidate and toughen Australia’s disparate privacy laws and give the Federal Privacy Commissioner greater powers of enforcement. The changes were recommended in a landmark 2008 report by the Australian Law Reform Commission. In 2011, the federal government announced it would adopt the reforms, which are

28 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

slated to come into force on 12 March this year.

There are potentially dramatic impacts on the technology sector which, up until now, has had little legal obligation to beef up security and privacy controls.

“Right now, organisations are beholden only onto the pressure from customers and partners to improve their security posture and prevent breaches,” says Bob Robson of Melbourne-based security reseller and consultancy IPSec. “And those organisations that are penetrated could simply sweep it under the carpet.”

The reformed Act introduces requirements and obligations for government agencies and organisations with revenues above $3 million

to better protect customer information. It demands that these organisations make clear to customers when their data will be collected, where it will be stored and how it will be used. Any changes to the use of data must be made clear to all affected customers.

It requires organisations take complete responsibility if their offshore cloud providers are breached, resulting in a compromise of customer data, unless those providers agree or are lawfully required to comply with the new requirements of the Australian Privacy Act.

security feature

Checkbox compliance could be a thing of the past; after March, organisations could be required to not only purchase security tools, but allocate resources to properly configure and monitor them for aberrations that indicate hackers are inside a corporate network.

At the extreme, we could see supermarket rewards schemes such as flybuys have short URLs printed on receipts that point shoppers to the program’s privacy schemes and checkbox to opt in or out.

Government guidance

The conservative federal government could opt to mandate the reform’s sister legislation, the shelved Privacy Alerts Bill 2013, which requires mandatory data

breach reporting. This would shine a light on cyber theft for all to see; if hacked, a business could be forced to apologise in national newspapers for not having invested enough in security – and fined up to $1.7 million for serious breaches.

Robson points out that the reforms may be less prescriptive if the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is more flexible in the new laws’ security requirements. There is lack of clarity on the interpretation of what are ‘reasonable steps’ to secure customer data.

Despite the release of the official guidance from the OAIC, the real-world impact remains vague.

Laureen Smith, Asia-Pacific vice-president at file sharing www.crn.com.au March 2014 29

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security feature software vendor Workshare, says one weakness of the legislation is that “unlike foreign policies regimes... there is no distinction between a ‘data controller’, one who controls and collects the information, and a ‘data processor’, one who holds and processes information on behalf of the ‘data controller’.

“In foreign privacy policies, limited obligations are placed on the ‘data processor’, while within the Australian legislation there still is an element of uncertainty in the allocation of risk. This makes it particularly challenging when selecting a cloud provider, as the extent of non-compliance risk that rests on the cloud provider and that passed back to the customer is unclear.”

While plenty of questions remain, it is clear that only a brave organisation would risk doing nothing to prepare for the reforms. And here is where opportunities for the channel exist. If the government takes a hard line, IPSec’s Robson says “there could be a flood of purchasing of security gear by organisations”.

Risks and opportunities

The Privacy Act has been dear to the heart of Nick Verykios for some time. Around 15 years ago, the managing director of Sydney-based Distribution Central (DC) published a white paper on Australia’s privacy laws. He sees the reforms as a great risk to organisations that collect large volumes of unstructured customer information for use in big data analytics.

But for the reseller market, the reforms could be a potential cash cow for those with the savvy to become trusted advisors and help their clients prepare for the changes.

“From a channel perspective, [the reforms] are an opportunity for our resellers to not just talk about the Privacy Act but to sell technology that is relevant to the changes of the Act,” Verykios says, adding that the “money will flow” into security technology once the reforms set in.

“And suddenly there’s an opportunity to sell services that keep those technologies legitimate.”

He sees organisations’ use of unstructured data as a big opportunity for the channel, particularly in the government sector. “Unstructured data tends not to be policed very well in organisations and the

The Privacy Act

government is capturing the largest amount of unstructured data.”

In the world of unstructured data, the conversation as it relates to the reforms has moved from a “battle of the minds” of compliance to a hard binary question: has the data been classified and can it be collected? DC’s partners are telling clients that not only do the reforms require policy reviews, but also the ability to demonstrate that an organisation knows where all its customer data resides. Conveniently, the distie supplies the Varonis data classification platform.

“In the security selling cycle, you can’t just come in after a customer has made a decision – you need to disrupt the cycle. What the resellers are saying is that you can’t hide behind the battle of the minds and dodge legislation that’s been going on for 14 years, the problem needs to be binary.”

With some two decades’ experience in the tech sector, Ronnie Altit is playing it cool. The managing director of Sydney-based Insentra says his company is advising clients on the reforms, but sides with Robson by saying that the channel must wait on advice from the privacy office. “We’re waiting on [commissioner Timothy Pilgrim] on how he will interpret the Act,” says Altit. “Like any legislation, we need to look at intent.”

Rather than spruik fear, uncertainty and doubt by inflating the worst-case scenarios for businesses under the reforms, Altit is educating end users about the importance of having the right policy in place and how they should investigate the possibility of data loss from their organisations. “The biggest opportunity for the channel is in data loss and what’s happening with customer information. Businesses need

The biggest opportunity for the channel is in data loss and customer information.

Businesses need to be cognisant of data storage

Ronnie Altit, Insentra

The facTs • The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) comes into force on 12 March this year.

• Under the reforms, the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) will replace the current National Privacy Principles.

• Important changes include new privacy policy requirements, procedures for dealing with unsolicited personal information, requirements for direct marketing, and an obligation to deploy compliant privacy practices.

• The APPs are a single set of privacy principles applicable to government agencies and organisations with a turnover of more than $3 million.

Organisations were defined as individuals, body corporate, partnership, unincorporated association or trust that is not a small business operator.

• Personal information is defined as information or an opinion about an identified individual, an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, regardless of how it is stored.

• Critical to this definition is whether the information, either alone or combined with other datasets, can reasonably be used to identify individuals.

• The reforms apply to all personal information held including that collected prior to 12 March this year.

The TeeTh The data breach notification is the teeth in the upcoming privacy amendments.

It forces organisations to own up to breaches. Formally known as the Privacy Amendments (Privacy Alerts) Bill 2013, the legislation was shelved last June ahead of the federal election.

It would force organisations defined in the Privacy Act to notify customers and the privacy office whenever their personal or financial information was compromised, and in severe cases require organisations to notify via national and state newspapers.

Not surprisingly, the bill received stiff opposition from industry groups, which said it would be too costly for businesses and that it lacked clarity around which breaches should be reported. But subsequent polls have found it has wide support in the general public and also received unconditional support from a parliamentary committee, which recommended it be passed by Senate.

www.crn.com.au March 2014 31

feature security to be cognisant of the data they store and that’s what we’re talking to them about.”

Varonis regional director Danny Bakos agrees that the channel should avoid selling on ‘FUD’ – fear, uncertainty and doubt. It is a dangerous strategy, as is a failure to preemptively respond to the reforms by advising clients. “The risk to the channel is if resellers don’t educate their customer base and their clients are breached,” Bakos says.

“If a customer’s trusted advisor isn’t giving them the education and uptake of new technology, then the business of the reseller could soon be lost.”

Meanwhile, in the upper floors of Sydney’s Chifley Towers, a small but experienced team of security boffins at HackLabs discuss recommendations for how clients should tackle the looming reforms.

“The introduction of the amendments is finally a tangible, real business impact to educate organisations,” director Chris Gatford says.

“Given that an incident can be investigated and there’s a threat of potential fines, this should be enough to get senior management’s attention focused back on security.”

Experienced channel professionals and security chiefs at Australia’s largest organisations agree that a major opportunity of the reforms will be the need for organisations to locate and consolidate customer

data and review and write new policies. McAfee Asia Pacific chief technology officer Sean Duca says: “There is definitely an opportunity for the channel to play the role as trusted advisor – they could preach the message of security and focus on awareness, which is more of a cascade effect than a straight focus on what are the core changes.”

Duca has put his channel professionals through three to four years of training to help teach clients good security practices, which includes material on how the reforms might affect different organisations.

Preparing for the reforms requires knowledge of the location of customer data and who has access to it, rather than simply buying new technology. “The data protection strategy is about more than just… buying a product and flicking on the switch.”

He echoes the comments of Varonis’ Bakos: “Australians don’t buy products based on pitches of fear, uncertainty and doubt.”

Sydney-based channel company Systemnet has already sent notices to its customers on how the reforms may impact them. Operations manager Bruno Janni says the move was part of becoming a trusted advisor. “We have sent notifications to all of our clients to let them know how the reforms may impact them, and we’ve also met with our product guys about a [burgeoning]

Opportunities for ‘trusted advisors’ The Privacy Act reforms represent an opportunity for channel professionals to serve as trusted advisors to their clients. With the complexities of the reforms understood, channel professionals can help their clients prepare for the uncertainty set to descend on Australian businesses after 12 March. While the reforms will likely require organisations to invest in new security technology, it is already a boon for security service providers.

Sydney-based penetration testing firm HackLabs has picked up additional business as a direct result of the reforms. Director Chris Gatford has fielded calls from concerned clients that requested additional penetration testing be done across their web and application platforms that were previously considered too hard and unnecessary.

“Most of them are long overdue testing of third parties that were always in the ‘too-hard basket’,” Gatford says. “Now with the threat of significant fines and media coverage, it seems to be suddenly more compelling, and several projects are starting to ramp up for testing of these outliers.”

Many more security architectures and technologies previously ignored will similarly be considered in scope as a result of the reforms. Some security experts posit that new fields managing customer data according to the new privacy principles may emerge as booming businesses. Meanwhile, other resellers, including Dimension Data, are working with clients to formulate specific or canned privacy policies for their clients to deploy to help keep the privacy commissioner and his auditors off their backs.

32 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

The channel could play the role as trusted advisor – they could preach the message of security and focus on awareness

Sean Duca, McAfee Asia Pacific

insurance policy to cover the risk to businesses.”

Notably, the discussion was driven by the channel to the client; enquiries in the other direction have yet to start. The channel professionals who were contacted by CRN said that, with the exception of their most curious clients, the pending Privacy Act reforms have brought limited enquiries. But that general lack of awareness among customers could be a boon.

Brave new world

Sophos sales director David Sykes says that while customers haven’t phoned in enquiries, the vendor’s channel partners have been planning seminars and programs to raise awareness – and hopefully demand for products and services.

“So our partners say ‘OK, we’ll raise awareness’ but then what is the call to action? If you want to sell, know the answer is not necessarily another [unified threat management box],” he says. “The conclusion I have come to is that the opportunity is to take the legislation as a warning bell; a wake-up call.”

That warning bell is sounding a new possible reality in which breached organisations face large losses in reputation, as well as sales and productivity, especially in the event that the Privacy Alerts Bill comes into play.

“Rather than get worked up about unclear requirements,” Sykes says, “let’s talk about what a data breach may mean to clients.”

He preaches against FUD, saying that any channel professional who pitches sales on the back of a reform scare campaign would be “skating on very thin ice.”

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The Pitch

What the new principles mean

The rubber hits the road

While many clients still need to be warmed up to the issues surrounding the privacy reforms, some of Australia’s largest organisations are already well into preparing for a shake-up.

At one major, critical Australian organisation, IT workers are rummaging through the binary in search of customer data. At the behest of top executives, they are undertaking a mission described by insiders as “mammoth” to identify where their prodigious customer data resides, and who of its many thousands of staff has access to it.

This expensive project – detailed to CRN on the condition the staffer and organisation not be named – is in part a response to the potential impact of the privacy reforms.

“It’s a massive privacy reform project,” the source says.

“We are coming to understand what we can and cannot do under the [pending] legislation.”

The project would help the organisation consolidate its vast data sets across channels to offer new services to the public. It would also help to produce a digestible document (“a quick response”) of the organisation’s preparatory works, detailing the state of security around customer data. The experienced security staffer considered this an easy win to appease energetic privacy auditors. “We want to know in terms of our data what’s ethical, moral, legal to do and so on.”

He suggests that the privacy office would lack the resources to conduct large numbers of audits and thus put the new powers under the reform to great effect. But the potential damage from an audit is enough to put fear in the hearts of

executives at one of Australia’s biggest retailers. A security staffer, also speaking on the condition he and his company would not be named, says executives feared the auditors while shrugging off the near two million dollar fines.

“The fines were never the issue,” he says. “The biggest fine [for a privacy breach] even in the EU is two million euros, and that’s a drop in the ocean to most of these big guys. The threat was the enforceable undertakings by the Commissioner – it always was.” He attended a function where commissioner Pilgrim stated that such undertakings were his “favourite approach”, possibly said with the knowledge that the costs of compliance could often be considerably higher than the financial penalties for a breach.

“Imagine 20 years of audits with a crew of hostile auditors... that threat holds real weight,” said the security staffer.

His employer, a household name, is one of many he says are conducting reviews into where client data resides, how it is accessed and by who. But despite the projects, he says the entire industry is failing to understand the affects of the reforms and has failed to have its questions into the implications answered by the Privacy Office.

He says the recent breach of more than 70 million customer records at Target stores in the US was a “big wake-up call” for the Australian industry, which he describes as being short-sighted.

“Businesses are motivated by making money, not by implementing best practice. We’ll have to wait and see what the Commissioner does, but no doubt there’s money to be made.” ■

The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) represent a significant shift in the privacy landscape of Australia, presenting government and business with a unified set of principals for the handling of personal information (PI). The principles require an understanding of the people, processes, and technology handling PI. With the advent of organisations moving towards the cloud and mobile channels for ease of use and scalability, the increased risk of information disclosure and fraudulent activity will mean that organisations will need to employ analytics to look into the use of PI within these new frontiers.

Written notification of the accidental disclosure of PI will dictate the need for an organisation to have rigorous procedures and technologies in place for breach notification. This includes understanding the scope of a breach, the information lost, persons affected, and the controls needed to prevent such a breach from reoccurring. As a recent example, advanced malware called ChewBacca breached a point of sales system in the United States recently, affecting users globally, crossing borders and leaking PI. To truly meet the APPs, organisations will need to understand where PI is used within the organisation, the sensitivity of it, and the risks faced by the business if PI is mishandled, lost, or a breach occurs.

The changes will require organisations to detail their processes on the collection and use of PI. Documenting, auditing and analysis of the details around people, process and technology will ensure a move towards meeting the AAPs.

Nicholas Bourke Security sales engineer

www.crn.com.au March 2014 35

feature Lenovo

Year of the dark horse Once an outsider, the Chinese vendor is now an odds-on favourite to lead in PCs, servers and mobile

By Tom Spring and Anthony Caruana

W

ith two back-to-back blockbuster deals, Lenovo, the Chinese PC juggernaut, hopes to forever change the IT landscape’s balance of power. Over the last two weeks Lenovo revealed its post-PC blueprint for IT domination that includes doubling down on mobile, client and the data centre.

Lenovo’s $2.91 billion purchase of Google’s Motorola Mobility smartphone business, following its $2.3 billion acquisition of IBM’s x86 server business the week before, opens the door to lucrative new opportunities to grow business, channel partners say.

Frank Triantafyllou, managing director of Complete PC Solutions in Melbourne, says it’s good news for the channel. “When a client goes for Lenovo, we can sell everything from one vendor: the servers, desktops, laptops – the whole infrastructure.

“I believe it’s going to benefit Lenovo because traditionally we have end-users that want to buy products from one vendor. In the past the only option was HP or Dell.

It was IBM until they sold off their PC division to Lenovo. By Lenovo buying the server division it puts them against HP and Dell in being able to offer every product – PCs, server, laptops,” adds Triantafyllou.

Lenovo is widely seen as extremely channel friendly. According to CRN US, more than 80 percent of its

36 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

$5.5 billion North American commercial sales are led by partners.

These resellers say Lenovo is lining up its IT ducks and is poised to be a channel giant empowering partners to go head-to-head with HP, Dell, Samsung and Apple.

A fortified Lenovo means trouble for its competitors, says Frank Gillett, an analyst at Forrester Research. “This is a critical step for Lenovo to make good on a promise to build an ecosystem and cloud platform with a complementary product portfolio. Lenovo is the first IT company to offer a full range of IT solutions from the smartphone, tablet, laptop and data centre. Dell is not there, HP is not there, and neither is Samsung,” Gillett says.

If both deals are approved, overnight the world’s No. 1 PC maker becomes the third largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung and Apple, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research, and the third largest x86 server maker, behind HP and Dell, according IDC. Maree Lowe, director of Sydneyheadquartered ASI Solutions, says, “This gives the channel more reason to sell to both enterprise and SMBs. It means more margin if resellers cross-sell. Lenovo’s strong channel model will allow resellers to offer more services. Many resellers know the Intel server platform and this relationship strengthens these ties.”

Lenovo is the first IT company to offer a full range of IT solutions from smartphones, tablets, laptops and data centres

Frank Gillett, Forrester Research

There’s an upside for partners selling Lenovo into the enterprise, says Lowe. “They will look for servers that are both robust and powerful so I think the IBMLenovo acquisition will bring a new group of clients to Lenovo.

“Culturally, there will be challenges as the server and mobility operations are very different beasts. The strategic areas that Lenovo has to be focused on would be product planning, R&D investment, clients’ roadmaps and inventory management,” she adds.

“Service capability and servicelevel contracts are key to success in the server sales area. Lenovo will need to promote and engage in other partner alliances. They should continue their partnering with IBM in software and application development and high/mid-range server promotion,” she adds.

Challenges aplenty

Lenovo partners also concede that the Chinese computer maker faces unique challenges. For starters, CRN US reports that Lenovo’s North American channel of 25,000 is comprised mostly of PC-oriented partners that are going to need to up their channel IQ to include mobility and servers. The same would be true locally.

As well as challenges with managing the channel and engaging customers, Lenovo faces the daunting task of integrating two new businesses.

Martin J Kosasih, operations & service delivery manager of Sydney-based Virtunet, says, “Managing two acquisitions at once can be a challenge, but Lenovo has

Lenovo feature

a tradition of success in taking well-known brand names to the next level. These acquisitions require a well-established brand name to complement their desktop business.”

Lenovo’s Chris Frey, vice president of commercial channel sales at Lenovo, North America, is bullish that the Lenovo channel will quickly adapt to new challenges and opportunities. “I don’t know what the exact channel partner profile is.

We have a lot of channel partners – both big and small. But nobody should ever underestimate Lenovo’s channel to deliver valuable solutions to the customer that complement today’s business needs for tomorrow.

We have innovated and grown IBM’s ThinkPad business to help us become the leading PC maker globally,” Frey says.

A long road ahead

Aside from channel challenges, Lenovo faces an uphill battle putting Google’s money-losing Motorola Mobility division into the black. According to Lenovo, Google’s Motorola Mobility division lost $928 million in 2013, compared with a loss of $616 million in 2012.

Additionally, both deals are expected to draw scrutiny from US regulators concerned about security issues that loom over technology acquisitions by Chinese companies.

That said Lenovo expects the deals to close in six to nine months.

Despite the long and bumpy path Lenovo faces to piece its empire together, partners say they are eager to grow their Lenovo business beyond laptops and PCs. As Lenovo reinvents itself as an end-to-end service provider, partners say their www.crn.com.au March 2014 37

feature Lenovo PC business will act as a springboard to selling other higher-margin products and services.

“Where there is a demand for extremely cost-effective servers to be used as part of either cloud and managed services, there will be an immediate take up of the Lenovo Server,” says ASI’s Lowe.

“As some clients experience spikes in their traffic due to their business needs, virtualised Lenovo servers will also be invaluable. These servers could form part of server subscriptions or IaaS-type service offered by service providers and data centres,” she adds.

The IBM x86 deal not only gives Lenovo IBM’s x86 server business but also gives Lenovo channel partners the ability to resell IBM’s Storwize disk storage systems, General Parallel File System software, SmartCloud Entry offering and elements of IBM’s system software portfolio, including Systems Director and Platform Computing solutions.

Along with IBM’s x86 line of servers, Lenovo acquires a deep bench of channel know-how from Big Blue. The deal includes the transfer of 7,500 employees including Adalio Sanchez, general manager of IBM’s System x business, IBM’s System x senior management team, the entire System x development team, and IBM’s System x sales and marketing operations, including channel managers and reps.

Stephen Leonard, general manager, sales, for IBM’s Systems and Technology Group, says: “This is a great opportunity for the channel to expand their capabilities and add value. Partners will be able to leverage and extend capabilities with IBM’s x86 server business and also leverage IBM’s portfolio of server, mainframe and storage products.

“We believe the combination of these three things will strengthen the channel and the power it has in the marketplace, giving Lenovo partners the ability to compete much more broadly and deeply,” adds Leonard, who will stay with IBM if the deal is approved.

Meanwhile, some partners say they are tempering their enthusiasm until they have a clearer picture on how Lenovo will be able to absorb IBM’s x86 channel partners without major hiccups and that many questions still need to be answered.

38 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

An IBM Premier partner, who asked not to be identified, says: “Lenovo just doesn’t have the channel tools and back-end systems to make this a seamless transition.

How do we sell IBM Flex with Lenovo chassis? Will this impact my business? Until I hear more granular details about what the transition path is, the jury is still out.”

When asked about overlap between IBM and Lenovo channel partners, and the number of x86 IBM partners that might join Lenovo’s channel after the sale, IBM and Lenovo declined to answer.

The last thing people use a phone for now seems to be to make a phone call.

It’s all about the apps and the user experience

Transforming for success

Since its founding in the 1980s, Lenovo has quickly evolved from a parochial Chinese electronics company based in Beijing to the world’s No. 1 PC maker with $33.9 billion in revenue. Perhaps its most pivotal moment in its rise came in 2005 when it purchased IBM’s ThinkPad business for $1.25 billion.

Since 2005, Lenovo has made a number of key acquisitions, including buying cloud-computing provider Stoneware in 2012. Also in 2012, Lenovo entered a joint server-storage pact with EMC to broaden EMC’s footprint in the x86-based server market and give Lenovo the ability to resell EMC networked storage solutions.

Over the last few years, Lenovo said it was committed to pushing what it called a “PC Plus Era” – where partners will start to see an emphasis put on Lenovo servers, services and mobile devices just as much as the PC. Lenovo says the proposed acquisition of IBM’s x86 business accelerates its data centre plans by an estimated five years. Forrester’s Gillett says the purchase of Motorola Mobility helps save Lenovo up to three years in its plan to break into the US smartphone market.

“Motorola gives Lenovo valuable wireless carrier relationships, a mobile development team, stronger patent protection through licensing agreements with Google, and, most importantly, a recognisable name,” says Gillett.

Lenovo says that it will retain all of Motorola’s 3,500 employees and acquire 2,000 mobile patents. Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo’s chairman and

Maree Lowe, ASI Solutions

CEO, has said he expects Lenovo to sell 100 million handsets in the year after it completes the Motorola deal.

The company made an important organisational change just days before it anted up $2.91 billion for Motorola Mobility. Lenovo said it would be reorganising into four distinct business groups based on specific technologies: thinkbranded PCs, mobile, cloud services and its burgeoning enterprise server business.

Gaining a mobile edge

According to ASI’s Lowe, “Mobility is the driver for everybody no matter what business we are in. So the acquisition of Motorola Mobility brings [Lenovo] to where the client is spending today. The mobile device

is becoming more important than the notebook-tablet. The last thing people use a phone for now seems to be to make a phone call. It’s all about the apps and the user experience.”

Although there are obvious synergies between the IBM and Lenovo brands, there will be some hurdles with Motorola Mobility as they will be facing off against some powerful competitors.

“The challenge will be the Motorola brand,” says Virtunet’s Kosasih. “IBM has a well-established product that has a market. You wouldn’t expect their users to mind the change in name from IBM to Lenovo. I dare say they will keep the Motorola brand for their products; companies have tried in the past to acquire mobile businesses and have failed to integrate or develop products to compete against Apple and Samsung.

“Developing good quality products is not the only challenge: the key is for Lenovo to develop products that can entice the market to swing away from the current mobile leaders,” he adds. ■

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feature Security

40 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

distribution feature

sic ements Distribution deals are still made and measured on the fundamentals: price, service and relationships

By Andrew Birmingham

F

or an industry at the nexus of some of the most significant trends disrupting the business world today, disties and channel players are remarkably relaxed about change and consistent in their views about what makes for good distribution. Essentially – get the basics right.

Today, as cloud infrastructure impacts storage and server sales, software-as-a-service rewrites rules around licensing and end users find it easier than ever to procure direct from vendors, some question the long-term health of the two-tier model. But so long as there is a need for basic physical stock processing and management, there will be a need for distributors, says Telsyte analyst Rodney Gedda.

“Vendors need channels to market and resellers need reliable suppliers of equipment. It simply isn’t feasible or desirable for an IT product vendor to build out its own supply chain infrastructure. Particularly with

products that need to be handled with care and tested before purchase.”

Gedda refutes the idea that trends such as the decline of PCs will necessarily have a big impact on the industry. “As some products become less desirable for customers, for example desktops, there will be other products, such as tablets, that will take their place.”

Express Data sales director David Peach suggests that at its core, distribution is about aggregation – both of solutions and of resellers.

From above and below, the distie is that ‘one throat to choke’.

“In the early days, resellers benefited by sourcing from aggregated local inventory, transacted via one account with a distributor rather than by multiple accounts with various vendors,” says Peach.

He says that initially, vendors benefited by accessing a diverse yet aggregated community of partners, while outsourcing the day-to-day transactional management of those

partners via a distributor. Essentially they were joining other vendors in leveraging a capability that they could never fund individually.

Distribution Central managing director Nick Verykios says that when you strip it back, distribution is the same the world over and across industries.”Your job is to freight bulk and find lots of people who want that one thing. Otherwise, you’re useless to a vendor. So that’s what it means for the manufacturer.

And the reseller wants you to be able to get that product to them at a price that’s appropriate and to take care of the logistics. It’s about being able to manage that line of logistics in the most efficient way possible.”

Verykios claims that a lot of distributors fail because they can’t source the right products or present the right value; too many of them forget that regardless of everything else, they are box shifters.

“How we shift the boxes at the logistics level, that’s the fundamentals of logistics and, therefore, the fundamentals of distribution. In order to have a decent business you need to come up with ways to shift lots of boxes to lots of people and that is where the differentiation lies.” Dicker Data founder David www.crn.com.au March 2014 41

feature distribution Dicker, sums up the core proposition neatly: “Having the correct inventory, getting it quickly to the customer, and having product knowledge and credit provision.”

According to Express Data’s Peach, the core functions of a distributor – “aggregation and leverage” – have not changed. “However, the activities undertaken by distributors today under both of these functions are very different.”

Peach says that resellers and vendors now have much greater expectations of their distributors.

“Providing some presales technical advice along with a quote no longer qualifies you as a value-added distributor.” He suggests that while the core functions of being able to transact an order and ship a box, or provision a service contract or software licence remain important functions of distribution, these are only a foundation on which to build a true value offering.

“Overlaid across the aggregation and leverage function must be great customer service. Unless you are responsive, accurate, predictable and generally offer a great partner-

ing experience, you will struggle in your relationships with both reseller and vendor partners. That will always be the cornerstone of a strong distributor.”

Of the resellers CRN spoke to, there was one common thread: it’s about the people. Relationships are the key.

Paradyne founder Loryan Strant has a simple test. “Treating us as partners as opposed to resellers is a big thing. We can’t just be seen as a channel or as resellers.

“If we are treated like partners who do business together then we generally have better long-term relationships because we fit into each other’s strategy as opposed to being simply a means to an ends to move kit.”

Strant experienced this first hand in the early days. “We went to Express Data, we went to Ingram, we went to Synnex when we started Paradyne and no one wanted to give us credit because we were brand new. But it was a bit different with Express Data. We had a personal relationship there; we filled out a credit form and the account manager vouched for us.

We got a decent line of credit and

Treating us as partners as opposed to resellers is a big thing. We can’t just be seen as a channel or as resellers

Loryan Strant, Paradyne

we haven’t reneged on it at all.”

It’s a bet that looks like it will pay off for the distributor: this year Paradyne joined the CRN Fast50.

Distributors will always favour organisations with credit history and a decent bank roll. When getting started, Strant’s tip is to leverage contacts from previous roles. This clearly demonstrates the value of relationships.

And this applies doubly when things go wrong. Strant describes a time before Paradyne where the service levels of one of his distributors dropped; he looked elsewhere even though the alternatives were more expensive and service levels were lower. But it still took months to come to that difficult decision because the relationship had been long and embedded.

Thomas Duryea chief executive Andrew Thomas echoes this sentiment. He recalls the support he was shown by Ingram Micro when he was first getting started. This was an important reason why Thomas Duryea stuck with the distie during its difficult period a few years ago.

Distie discourse – How to get the best results: Some of the channel’s top companies tell CRN how

John Walters

Matt Sanderson

Jacques Tesson

Scott Frew

MD, Nextgen Distribution

MD, Ingram Micro Australia

CEO, DPSA

Executive chairman, Distribution Central

The Best When working with enterprise technologies, understand the distributor’s value proposition and develop a solid relationship around that value proposition that drives a mutual exchange of investment, communication, resources and hence loyalty.

The Best Partners benefit the most when they work closely together with the distributor, remain transparent and value the service provided to them.

The Best Partners that engage us in the scoping or design phase get the best results for their clients. This usually uncovers hidden opportunities for the reseller and helps the client get the best solution for now and for future expansion.

The Worst Getting a reputation for buying on price alone, utilising a distributor’s resources then shopping around.

42 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

The Worst Poor outcomes eventuate when the partner makes commitments and the distributor then acts, but [the commitments] are not followed through with, leaving the distributor exposed.

The Worst Focusing purely on price in a data centre infrastructure project never gets a good result for the client.

The Best Do a gap analysis of your services then select a distributor that can fill in the services that you don’t have or can’t provide – and stay partnered even if the deal gets tough.

The Worst Use a distributor’s services to work an opportunity and then take it to another distributor that has not invested in you or the deal.

distribution feature Nik Devidas managing director of Rock IT Consulting, meanwhile, suggests the niche distributors are closer to their channel partners than the tier ones.

“We like dealing with some of the smaller providers. They offer different levels of support. With larger companies, you’re seen as more of just a number. The smaller disties are often also more specialised, although if you’re looking for commodity items, you tend to use the supermarket-style distributors.”

Smaller disties can differentiate themselves with personal service.

For instance, Devidas says it is more common for the smaller distributors to run seminars and training events. “But you don’t see that so much from the bigger ones.”

However, even if these value-adds are in place, “prices can’t vary that much,” says Devidas. “And the expectation on the distributor is that you should be able to ship it out and for it to be there on time.

So with all that being equal, it really comes down to the level of relationship and the value of the assistance they provide the resellers.”

The good news is that the despite the huge potential for things to go wrong, they rarely do.

“We have been pretty lucky,” says Devidas. “We haven’t had a lot of problems with lost stock – only once or twice in 10 years.“

The value of value-add

For an industry built on the basics, the value of value-add remains core.

Telsyte’s Gedda says it is possible for distributors to branch out from just “shipping tin” to be a more integral part of the support processes of resellers and vendors, including for non-physical products, such as cloud services.

Verykios, meanwhile, says that while the model of distribution doesn’t change, the ‘How You Do Distribution’ changes. “We came into the market and broke the model about 10 years ago when we said there’s no such thing as a distinction between value-add and time and place anymore. The distinction is throwing that away and looking a little bit differently at where you add value, and how value is defined.

partners can get the best – and the worst – outcomes when dealing with distributors

David Dicker

Darren Tan

Darren Adams

Danny Moore

CEO, Dicker Data

Product marketing director, Synnex

GM, Australia & New Zealand Avnet Technology Solutions

CEO, Express Online

The Best Resellers can get the best out of their distributors when they are loyal, open and honest with their opportunities. Our focus is to be an extension of your business. Let us help you through the entire sales process.

The Best Build trust and leverage resources provided by distributors for best results.

The Worst Resellers who take advantage of credit terms offered by a distributor and do not pay on time can have a negative long-term impact.

The Worst Transactional and opportunistic business that shows no added value may not get the desired results.

The Best Avnet derives favourable results by collaborating with our partners throughout the education, enablement and sales cycle.

The Worst Conversely, we see resellers that focus solely on product and price usually trail competitors offering holistic integrated solutions and services.

The Best Engage deeply with your distributor partner and the vendors they represent. There are significant opportunities to be uncovered.

The Worst There is a direct inverse correlation between price-deal shoppers and the success and strength of a reseller. Understand value and pay the appropriate price for it – as you would expect of your customers.

www.crn.com.au March 2014 43

feature distribution Is the model for distribution changing? “I don’t know about new models,” says Verykios. “I just know that we can’t predict the future.

That kind of thinking has cost people a lot of money.”

The hard heads in the game remain unconvinced of wholesale changes taking place. Dicker, for instance, made his skepticism clear.

Asked about the biggest changes he has seen in the distribution business in the last five years, he was succinct. “There has been a big increase in talk about changes.”

Cloud has the potential to shake up the whole vendordistributorresellercustomer relationship

It’s all in the cloud

The rise of the cloud and consumer IT products and services have been challenges for the distribution business over the past five years, says Gedda. “It’s important that distributors be agile and, even if they have not been impacted by the cloud, start thinking about how to diversify in the event of demand for physical, warehoused IT equipment falling rapidly.”

And they also need to keep an eye on their resellers who might abandon the multi-tier channel model in favour of more valueadded services, he says.

“Cloud has the potential to shake up the whole vendor-distributor-resellercustomer relationship.” Where once a vendor would ship a server to a distributor, which would then be purchased by a reseller for a customer requirement, the cloud enables vendors to sell direct to the customer and no physical server needs to be sent down the supply chain.

46 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

Rodney Gedda, Telsyte

“Speaking to many in the reseller community, this doesn’t mean they or distributors become irrelevant, it means they must adapt to the cloud model of value-added services.

Distributors can focus their attention on service providers [such as cloud providers and telcos] rather than traditional on-premise system integrators, and the SIs can become cloud providers or focus on cloud value-adds like integration, data protection, security and compliance,” says Gedda.

Peach says that Express Data is into its fifth year of providing cloud-based solutions. “For us, cloud is now less of a revolution and more of an evolution, with the ongoing expectation of regular inflection points along the way where we must shift quickly to seize an opportunity as it arises.”

He describes the imminent availability, from 2 April, of

Microsoft’s Office 365 via Express Data as an inflection point. “We have a strong sense of responsibility to ensure our partners benefit from our experience.”

Peach says another change is that vendors and resellers “expect us to do more for less”.

“We all operate within a highvolume, low-margin business model, and so it is a daily challenge to meet the expanded expectations of our vendor and reseller partners of the value we should provide, while constrained by the legacy of the old ‘pick, pack and ship’ model.”

Verykios says: “We are still a box mover. We are just coming up with more innovative ways to make sure those boxes move faster to more people. It’s about the strategy we use to do this. People want massive efficiencies and cost reductions and revenue-making opportunities.

That hasn’t changed.” ■

Synnex upgrades on-site and online This year marks a significant upgrading of Synnex’s operations both on the ground and online.

Synnex, which bills itself as the largest ICT distributor in Australia and boasts 7,000 resellers, is opening a new, fully automated logistics centre in western Sydney.

The 1,000m2 site, which sits on 20,000m2 of land in Lidcombe, not only upgrades the company’s Sydney operations but adds to its warehousing capacity around the country.

Synnex also has warehouses in Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. The company says it is Australia’s first fully automated logistics centre, and utilises the latest in robotics technology to improve capacity to help deliver highly efficient services.

The new logistics centre has been under development since 2012 and represents an investment of over $34 million.

Synnex has also completely overhauled its e-commerce site, with a strong emphasis put on customisation and personalisation.

The distie said it started building the online ordering site in September 2012 and that the portal features personalised content, secure customer login and account management, comprehensive product information and specifications and a comprehensive list of promotions and deals.

Synnex marketing manager Chi Wing Chan told CRN that the portal benefits partners.

“It helps partners to transact with us for much better efficiencies. It has improved the time for them to transact with us and also the relationships they have with us online. These are the key major benefits of this new portal.”

He added that it was just the starting point for Synnex’s online presence. “In the next three weeks, we will make an announcement to the new functions.”

Michael Tea, Synnex’s e-commerce manager, was brought on 18 months ago to oversee the project. He previously looked after online strategy for TV manufacturer Soniq.

Tea said that in the first week after launching the e-commerce platform, it had already received around 4,000 unique visitors – impressive, given Synnex has about 7,000 resellers in its database.

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mining feature

A big business of small savings Miners may count their revenues in the billions, but they are fixated on squeezing even the smallest savings out of operations. Efficient use of IT through outsourcing and cloud infrastructure is key

By Andrew Birmingham

A

t its firmament, the mining industry is built around the economics of moving rocks. Even with oil and gas, the challenge is to get those rocks out of the way. Unlike many other industries, miners don’t compete on product (although there are certainly grades of quality) and they don’t compete on marketing, since the buyers tend to be limited and well understood.

Instead, according to Gartner analyst Kristian Steenstrup, what sets miners apart is the value they can extract from their assets and the way that feeds into the price and delivery.

Steenstrup says the mining industry is heavily influenced by commodity prices and trends.

“Right now, they are coming off a boom period and, therefore, there will be some spending constraints.”

This is what integrators working in the mining sector are seeing, according to CRN interviews.

However, this is not necessarily bad news. As Steenstrup notes, “One of the characteristics of the mining industry is that it does spend up big on expansion when they are in these periods of growth, but when the growth stops the spending doesn’t. The focus just switches to using technology to contain costs. That makes it different to many other industries,” he says.

Indeed, Gartner’s own data suggests that over the next two years, IT spending in the natural resources and materials sector will grow by a little over five percent and be worth more than $5 billion as the emphasis switches from exploration to production.

Still, that adjustment can provide some short-term pain for resellers.

Peter Drummond, owner of small south-east Queensland integrator, Smile IT, says there was definitely a downturn last year, although he has more optimism among mining clients now than there was in October last year.

“We saw a big downturn in the last year-and-a-half, but we are still picking up.”

He gives the example of one Brisbane-based client with tenements in Canada, which is predicting massive growth. The impact, if the client is right, is that the Brisbane office could grow from five to 50 staff very rapidly.

Not all resellers are feeling the love though. One Fast50 reseller who CRN spoke to, who preferred not to be quoted in this report, says he has shifted the business away from mining clients in recent times because of the declining fortunes of smaller miners in particular.

For those resellers who remain engaged into the sector though, opportunity abounds. Jules Rum-

It’s a pleasure to deal with the miners.

The most important thing for them is the timeframes... rather than our costs

Greg Murkowski, Epic IT

sey, CEO of Cloud Plus, says mining is a growing part of his company’s portfolio and now accounts for more than 10 percent of business.

Part of building success in the mining sector is understanding how the industry differs to other verticals. “It’s definitely different,” says Rumsey.

“It’s a bit like construction. They have immediate short-term requirements and those requirements can be relatively challenging. Try getting fibre into regional Australia for instance. And while there can be some massive growth, it can be relatively short term.”

But, he says that unlike in other sectors, when there’s a job to be done, the miners are happy to pay a premium.

Greg Murkowski, managing director of Perth-based Epic IT, agrees. “It’s a pleasure to deal with the miners. The most important thing for them is the timeframes and you need to be mindful of that.

They are more interested in getting the solution on time and having it delivered than they are in quizzing us on our costs.

“That means we can always recommend our best solutions, which saves a lot of problems down the track compared with industries where clients are always chipping away at our recommendations in order to save money. www.crn.com.au March 2014 49

feature mining

“For example, we had a project get the go-ahead on 1 December. Most companies would be winding up but these guys said they wanted it working by Christmas Day. The attitude tends to be, ‘If we have to pay double, we will pay double’.”

Of course, it would be wrong to suggest the industry doesn't understand the value of a buck.

Quite the contrary. In fact the miners understand that even small efficiency gains over the 20- to 50-year life of a mine can translate into huge sums.

David Hattrick, business development manager, major capital projects, at Oracle’s Primavera business unit, says: “The early part of this century involved the expansion of existing mines, and the opening of new mines. Then there was the emergence of coal seam gas projects in Queensland and LNG projects in the west.”

This, says Hattrick, was the capex phase. “Now we are moving into the opex phase. This was always going to happen. The assets have been built and now they have to be operating so emphasis is shifting very much to operational efficiency.”

Factors such as falling commodity prices and the realisation by some of the bigger miners that they paid too much for acquisitions during the boom has sharpened this focus.

Among the technologies and trends that are evident in this new phase 50 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

are an increased reliance on sensing and detection capabilities, the further automation of mining, better use of analytics, particularly predictive analytics for maintenance, and of course cloud.

More outsourcing

David Hanrahan, general manager, cloud services at Dimension Data, has seen a shift among DiData’s mining clients. They have gone from having a “very inhouse-centric mindset” to become increasingly comfortable with outsourcing IT. “Up until now they have been very intent on having in-house capacity and capabilities and very aggressively built out very significant skills across the whole IT spectrum, from consulting to engineering. They have always assumed they would need to run the services piece themselves.”

While this is changing, two overriding features of mining companies that have not changed are that they’re heavily cost focused and very risk averse. If a resourceful IT solutions provider can prove ways to cut costs or to reduce risks, that will grab the attention of a mining client.

The combination of a focus on cost-reduction, a wariness about risk and a growing taste for outsourcing favours cloud, says Hanrahan.

“Historically, [mining clients] have always had a strong risk-review

If you lose a haul truck or a conveyer belt for a period of time, that’s money lost and a competitor could be filling the gap

Kristian Steenstrup, Gartner

process. They have always been very intelligent buyers. They have typically been able to run a very well-managed process for acquiring anything. They can drive the best market position, drive risk, and as they have adopted cloud they have managed that well, because they know how to mitigate the risks.”

Cloud means mining firms can avoid costly shipping of hardware to remote locations and instead buy infrastructure as a service.

For exploratory projects, miners can quickly ramp up capacity and scale back just as quickly if needs be.

“Mining is always looking at specific projects; they had always built infrastructure, shipped it out and dealt with the issue of remote support. The cost of failure is much less with cloud.

Previously they would put a project in, provision all the resources, and that project wasn’t allowed to fail due to the size of the investment,” says Hanrahan.

For DiData, having cloud presence in mining nations such as Australia, Brazil and its home country, South Africa, is a winning offer.

While cloud hosting could offer advantages for remote sites, the internet speeds often aren’t fast enough. Delivering the kinds of resource-heavy applications used by mining firms via a microwave or satellite link-up just wouldn’t be feasible.

The CIO of a global resources company, who asked not to be named, agrees that internet speed is the issue. “In many instances, the more remote you get, bandwidth significantly decreases.

“I think that as bandwidth increases around the world, we will see an increase in cloud adoption.”

There are currently hybrid approaches that can bridge the gap, he adds. Although bandwidth may limit the ability to cloud-host applications where high processing speeds and refresh rates are required, common applications, such as email, may suit a cloud environment.

For instance, in 2012, Fortescue Metals Group moved to Office 365 for its site in the Pilbara region of

mining feature Western Australia. It began with Lync Online for all 4,500 employees, followed by a migration to Exchange Online.

Making sense of it

There is a tremendous boom in sensing and detection systems, says Gartner’s Steenstrup. “Although mundane to some, this is of paramount importance to the mines because you are not differentiating on the product and you are not differentiating on the marketing or customer outreach.

“It’s all about the assets. Sensors detect changes in the physical consideration of assets and that provides tremendous opportunities for reducing costs and removing outages that can constrain production. Mining companies have a phrase called ‘unrecoverable lost production’. This means you can’t just do overtime the next day in order to catch up because you are already working 24 hours around the clock. If you lose a haul truck or a conveyer belt for a period of time, that’s money lost and potentially a competitor could be filling the gap if you’re late or your load doesn’t arrive.”

He says the avoidance of unrecoverable lost production and finding a more efficient way of attacking maintenance and reliability is the link between the sensors, the automation and the analytics.

According to Oracle’s Hattrick, the rapid development of mining

automation is another of the key trends in the mining industry and an important point of intersection with the IT industry.

“Basically, the mining industry extracted efficiency for a good 30 years by ‘bigger’. Everything just got bigger. Bigger trucks, bigger excavators, bigger trains and ports and bigger ships.”

But eventually, he jokes, the law of physics came into play and they couldn’t really make things much bigger any more. “That’s not to say that people won’t try, but really now it is much more about extracting greater efficiency.”

All of the major miners are well advanced in their deployment of automated trucks and trains. But deploying that sort of technology in their mines is difficult. “It’s an extremely complex and advanced environment. When you have a 250-tonne truck driving itself, the fact is that it requires a lot of technology to ensure it is safe, reliable and available.”

According to Steenstrup, “the more you get into mine automation, the more access to technology and information you have, then the more things you can analyse. It’s not so much analytics driving the automation as the automation enabling analytics.”

It’s important to realise that automation isn’t simply about removing people from the equation or improving safety. “It’s not just how many people are involved, but

Case study: Data#3 Data#3 has won a major project to provide infrastructure-as-a-service to oil and gas project engineering firm WorleyParsons. The project will support the firm’s use of Bentley Project Wise, a collaborative engineering application. The system will allow WorleyParsons and its client to logon simultaneously and change engineering specifications.

The win is “very, very significant” for Data#3, says managing director John Grant. He says the stop/start nature of mining projects is proving to be a natural fit for cloud services.

“If Worley took all their software to the cloud, it would be a huge job,” Grant says.

“The decision they’ve made is they’ll take this one application for this one project into the cloud.”

Data#3 now has “a lot” of clients in the mining and resources area, says Grant. “The workload has a sporadic nature, periods of very high use and periods of very low use… engineering and resources organisations have that in spades.”

He says businesses are moving more slowly to the cloud than people imagine. “The reality is that people still have very large chunks of their systems on-premise or in systems that they’ve outsourced to someone. Customers aren’t buying as fast as people think they are or would like them to.

Everyone’s cloud is underutilised.”

For 30 years, everything just got bigger.

Bigger trucks, bigger excavators, bigger trains and ports and bigger ships

David Hattrick, Oracle

you have to build an entire town to support the hole in the ground. It’s on a multiple scale way beyond any other industry,” says Steenstrup.

“This is about taking massive amounts of infrastructure away and the impact that has on the bottom line. It’s a tremendous opportunity.”

All of this automation helps not just with the mining of ore, but also provides the preconditions necessary for the mining of data. Think of those giant trucks and heavy duty rolling data generators.

“We see a lot of interest in analytics emerging,” says Steenstrup. “Miners are turning their attention to maximising the efficiency of their supply chain and their asset infrastructures. And data analytics will be a boom area.”

It’s also about more than just pre-emptive maintenance. Instead, being able to bring all the geo-data to bear in real time as the mining operations are happening allows for the real-timing monitoring of the ore body. And that, in turn, means the mining plan can change dynamically based on the analytics coming out of the data feeds, says Hattrick.

Of course, all this monitoring and analysis requires systems to support it. For capital-intensive companies like miners, if there is a way to divert precious dollars away from IT hardware and software, they will take it. That’s why cloud is becoming more important.

“With big cost-cutting underway in some quarters, the ability to consumerise charges in the cloud becomes very attractive,” says Smile IT’s Drummond.

Epic IT’s Murkowski agrees. “The licensing model works better for the miners. They can throttle up and down. This is an industry that changes so quickly, which is why it’s appealing to them: you don’t spend half-a-million on a service infrastructure and then have the plug pulled in the project.”

But the resellers CRN spoke to acknowledged that connectivity remains an inhibitor of cloud uptake among the miners, although it is improving. “If you have a remote site in the middle of Queensland sitting on satellite connections with [latency issues], that’s a battle in terms of connectivity to head office,” says Drummond. “So if they still need to sync files, they will still go with that [on-site] option.” ■ www.crn.com.au March 2014 51

CRNTech

Asus Zenbook UX301LA An attention-grabbing beauty

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lass isn’t the most obvious choice when it comes to crafting an Ultrabook, but Asus has thrown caution to the The touch-screen wind with the Zenbook UX301LA. display is protected by 2 plates of Stepping in at the top of the Gorilla Glass Zenbook range, the UX301LA sandwiches its 13.3in touchscreen between two plates of Gorilla Glass and partners a top-flight Haswell CPU with not one but two SSDs. Purpose-built to induce irrational, credit card-crushing desire, the Zenbook UX301LA sashays into view with its glass-clad lid shimmering in a deep, lustrous indigo blue.

The bottom half is formed from metal brushed to a silky, matte sheen, and the squared-off top half contrasts with the softer, more gently tapered curves of the base. Despite the makeover, it’s still unmistakably a Zenbook: concentric circles ripple Key Specs outwards from the gleaming, silver 1.8GHz Intel Core Asus logo on the lid. i7-4500U • 8GB The 1.44kg glass and metal chassis RAM • 2 x 128GB is beautifully constructed. There’s SSDs (RAIDO) • barely a millimeter or two of flex in 13.3in 1,920 x the base, and although the lid is more 1,080 touch pliant, the Gorilla Glass promises screen • 2xUSB 3 to do its best to protect the Full HD • SD card reader • display from harm. mini-Display Port Inside, Asus has partnered a potent • microHDMI • Haswell CPU, the 1.8GHz Core Gigabit Ethernet i7-4500U, with 8GB of RAM and a (via adapter) • pair of 128GB SSDs lashed together dual-band in a striped RAID0 array. It’s this 801.11ac Wi-Fi • RAID array that makes the Asus Bluetooth 4 • feel particularly fleet of foot, with Windows 8.1 heavyweight applications such as 64-bit • 1yr C&R Adobe Photoshop bounding into warranty • 325 x view in seconds.

226 x 16mm Remarkably, the Asus’ mSATA (WDH) • 1.44kg SSDs aren’t far behind the lightning(1.66kg with quick PCI Express SSD of the Apple charger) MacBook Air: with a sequential read P140226003_CRN_Synnex_eComm_Portal_strip_01_PRINT.pdf 1 speed of 798MB/sec and a write

52 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

speed of 523MB/sec in the AS SSD benchmark, the Asus’ storage is incredibly quick.

The Core i7 CPU provides a fine balance of speedy application performance and long-lasting battery life. In our Real World Benchmarks, the Zenbook UX301LA achieved a solid overall result of 0.67, which is performance enough for any application. Despite such a rapid turn of speed, the Asus has huge reserves of stamina, thanks to a 50Wh battery: it lasted 13hrs 25mins in our light-use battery test.

Admittedly, that’s with brightness dimmed down to 75cd/m2 and Wi-Fi off, so it won’t last as long in everyday use. Nonetheless, it puts this sleek Ultrabook out in front of its rivals, including the Dell XPS 12, which lasted 12hrs 41mins, and the MacBook Air, which lasted 11hrs 43mins.

While the range-topping model has a Retina-style, 2,560 x 1,440 touchscreen, the model we tested makes do with a less exotic Full HD panel. In some respects, though, that’s no bad thing: high-DPI displays aren’t always an asset, since few applications currently take full advantage of the extra pixel density.

It’s a technically competent screen, too, with brightness peaking at 400cd/ m2 and a high contrast ratio of 931:1. Closer inspection reveals notable weaknesses, however.

Dark greys are reproduced as black, leaving detail obscured in the darker corners of images and movies, and the lightest greys are 28/02/2014 11:49:51 AM indistinguishable from white.

Asus traditionally colour-calibrates its displays, but the Zenbook UX301LA’s panel isn’t up to scratch in this regard: we measured an average Delta E of 3.5, and while the panel covers most of the sRGB colour gamut, its tendency to oversaturate green tones left it with a wayward maximum Delta E of 10.4.

The Scrabble-tile keyboard gets the Zenbook UX301LA back on track, however. The square keys depress with a refined, cushioned stroke, and the layout is perfect, with no unduly shrunken keys and a highly usable cursor cluster.

It’s also LED-backlit, with the backlighting adjustable through three brightness levels.

Sasha Muller

Channel Angle

Distributors Synnex and Dicker Data Launched November 2013 RRP $1,799 The reviewers say “The Asus Zenbook UX301LA is undeniably an achingly desirable laptop. The display isn’t all it should be, but its stunning design, performance and features are all first class.”

How to pitch it The ASUS Zenbook combines a beautiful sleek design with premium specifications to deliver seemless multi-tasking performance and outstanding energy efficiency.

Its 10-point multi-touch screen is smooth, responsive and gives incredibly sharp images.

These Ultrabooks are an essential business tool offering ultra high-resolution displays, performance and style.

CRNTech

Lenovo ThinkCentre E93z All-In-One An all-in-one that packs the punch of a workstation

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e had to do a double-take when the performance numbers started coming in from the ThinkCentre E93z, Lenovo’s latest all-in-one PC. Granted, the tested system was sporting a 3.1GHz quad-core processor, but that an all-in-one would perform like a workstation wasn’t expected.

Lenovo’s replacement for the E92z all-in-one is equipped with Intel’s 4th-gen Core i3, i5 and i7 Haswell processors. The tested unit was built around a high-end Intel Core i7-4770S quad-core processor running at 3.1GHz, Intel’s HD Graphics 4600 and Nvidia GT720A graphics controllers.

Though Windows 7 is an option, Windows 8 Pro 64-bit was running on the system we received, but more on the performance details later.

Out of the box, testers were impressed with (and service providers and IT staff will appreciate) the tools-free assembly of the CPU’s VESA mount to Lenovo’s new ultra-flexible pedestal base. The unit connects in seconds and is ready to plug in with no power brick. After about 18 seconds to fire up, the unit displayed Windows 8 Pro’s “Metro” screen on a 21.5-inch, 1,920x1,080 pixel screen that’s bright and crisp.

Its responsive 10-point multi-touch panel sits behind edge-to-edge glass, lending style to the unit. The stand easily lowers the bottom edge of the display to desk level and up to as high as 5 inches (8 inches if measuring from the bottom of the Windows desktop). Once we discovered that handles on either side were there to help reposition the display, we stopped accidentally pressing the power button along the display’s right edge.

Also on the right edge are volume controls and an input button, which allows the E93z to be used as a monitor for laptop, tablet or other device through its HDMI input port.

There’s also an HDMI output port for adding a second display. On the left edge are two USB 3.0 input ports (one with standby power), a headset jack and a 7-in-1 multi-card reader. Four additional USB 2.0 ports and a gigabit Ethernet port are on the unit’s rear. A pair of down-firing speakers put out clear sound without distortion at high volume. An HD webcam includes a physical shut-off switch. The E93z has been optimized for Lync, which means that it’s approved by Microsoft for use as a video and/or audio telephony workstation using VoIP. To test overall speeds of the E93z, testers configured Windows properties for maximum performance, launched Geekbench 2.3 and conducted multiple test runs.

Its high score of 15,686 put the new ThinkCentre in fourth place on the Test Center’s all-time list for desktops, behind workstations from HewlettPackard and Dell. Of course, that tells only part of the performance story. In IOmeter tests, the E93z was able to sustain a maximum of about 4,500 small (512-byte) transactions per second and transfer sequential data at about 104 MB per second.

That’s not bad for a general-purpose PC, but it’s light years behind that of high-performance workstations – and that’s while consuming about 45 watts compared with an average of around 567 watts of similar (nonHaswell) systems we’ve tested.

The ThinkCentre E93z is a solid value for a small business looking for a PC for general productivity. For the higher-end user, the unit we tested

had a quad-core i7 processor, 450-GB hard drive, DVD-RAM drive, 4 GB of RAM, Windows 8 Pro. Edward J Correia

Channel Angle

Distributors Synnex, Ingram Micro, Dicker Data Launched August 2013 RRP Starting from $1269 (inc GST) Next product below in the range E73z AIO (20 inch) Next product above in the range M93z AIO (23 inch) The reviewers say “The ThinkCentre E93z is a solid value for a small business looking for a PC for general productivity.”

How to pitch it The E93z is the perfect space-saving, energy-saving, reliable all-in-one PC for SMBs. With the optional 10-pts multi-touch, the E93z is optimised for Windows 8. IT maintenance is performed through LSS (Lenovo Solutions for Small Business), which comes pre-installed, meaning the E93z is ideal for SMB users where IT support is limited.

Key Specs 3.1GHz Intel Core i7-4770S • 4GB RAM • 450GB HDD • 21.5inch 1,920x 1,080 touchscreen • 2 x USB 3 • 4 x USB 2 • Gigabit Ethernet port • Windows 8 64-bit • Bluetooth 4 • supports 801.11ac Wi-Fi • 534 x 49.6 x 374.5 mm (touch with frame stand) • 7.8kg

www.crn.com.au March 2014 53

CRNTech Storage Key Specs Desktop chassis • 10 x Gigabit Ethernet (8 x LAN, WAN, DMZ) • RJ45 serial port • 2 x USB 2 • SD slot • PCI-E slot • ADSL2+ modem (optional) • 802.11n Wi-Fi (optional) • external PSU • 1yr NBD exchange warranty

The Check Point 600 may be small, but it’s no security lightweight

Check Point 600 Appliance The 600 Appliance combines ease of use with enterprise-grade security

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MBs need just as tough network security as enterprises, but many unified threat-management solutions can be overly complex and expensive.

Check Point’s new 600 Appliance series avoids all of these problems, since it’s designed to be plug and play, and very affordable.

All models use the same compact, fanless desktop chassis and are licensed for different throughputs.

The 620 has Check Point’s full next generation threat prevention (NGTP) package, and is good for 10 users, while the 680 can serve up to 50. If you find your 620 is running out of steam, you can simply buy a new licence to upgrade it to a 640 or 680.

If you wish, you can lower costs even more by only purchasing the

CORRECTION In last month’s issue of CRN, the review of the HP Proliant MicroServer Gen8 incorrectly included specs from the HP ProLiant P140226003_CRN_Synnex_eComm_Portal_strip_02_PRINT.pdf DL320e Gen8 v2 rack server. We apologise for any inconvenience.1

54 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

firewall and VPN components.

Eight Gigabit ports handle LAN duties, with two more for WAN and DMZ functions. The appliances all come with an integral 802.11bgn wireless AP and ADSL2+ modem, each of which can be enabled by applying a licence.

Installation is a cinch: point a web browser at the appliance’s default address and follow its quick-start wizard. This runs through securing administrative access, setting up an internet connection and deciding what to do with the LAN ports.

These default to an eight-port switch, but you can break them out into individual ports, each with separate security policies.

In switch mode, DHCP is already configured, avoiding the problems of earlier Check Point appliances where this could only be created from a CLI sysconfig command. Management has also been simplified, and the appliances are now fully configured 28/02/2014 12:00:07 PM Check Point’s from a web browser.

higher-end appliances require its SmartConsole software suite, which is overkill for small businesses.

The 600 uses most of the same software blades as Check Point’s enterprise offerings. Along with an SPI firewall and VPNs, the full NGTP licence opens up IPS, application controls, URL filtering, antivirus, anti-spam, user awareness and QoS. The intuitive web interface makes it easy to locate the various security features. There isn’t much to do, though, since the appliance is set up out of the box with most of them already running.

A dashboard provides an ata-glance status view of each software blade, with quick links to configuration and performance graphs. There’s no need to mess about with firewall rules, since you can pick from Standard or Strict policies with a single click.

Application filtering has a predefined policy that blocks high security risks, torrents and other P2P

Storage

apps. A preset URL-filtering policy blocks inappropriate content such as gambling, and you can choose from an extensive list of other apps you may want to stop as well.

With two clicks, you can apply rate limits to bandwidth-hungry apps and decide whether to log all blocked traffic. Enable the QoS blade and it will automatically identify and prioritise traffic such as VoIP, and ensure VPN traffic gets a set percentage of bandwidth.

If enabled, the optional wireless AP is set up by the wizard to provide WPA2 protected access.

The hotspot option allows wireless internet access, but blocks clients from seeing any LAN systems. You can mix this with standard protected access for other users by using multiple virtual APs, each with their own encryption settings.

The user awareness blade links usernames to machines, allowing security policies to be applied to user identities. Support for remote workers is excellent: they can connect using Check Point’s mobile desktop client, a remote app for iOS and Android, SSL VPNs and L2TP. Most small businesses will be well protected using the default settings, but customisation is possible.

The 3D monitor and its hourly graphs keep you posted on all security events, along with the most popular apps and websites, and you can see all active computers and logged-in users.

You can’t export them, but the security reports provide a wealth of information for hourly, daily, weekly and monthly intervals. Dave Mitchell

Channel Angle

Distributor Westcon and Computerlinks Launched May 2013 RRP From AUD $449 The reviewers say “Check Point’s 600 Appliance may be small, but it’s no security lightweight. It’s very competitively priced, too.”

How to pitch it Protects small business with enterprise-leading security systems. It is easy to set up, comes at a low price and grows with your business

CRNTech

Synology RackStation RS814 A quick 1U rack NAS appliance with a heap of storage features at a low price

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Key Specs 1Urackchassis • 1.33GHz Marvell Armada XPCPU • 1GB DDR3 RAM • 4 x hot-swap 3.5in/2.5in SATAII/ IIIdrivebays • supports RAID0, 1, 5, 6, Hybrid, hot-spare and JBOD • 2 x USB 3 • eSATA • 2 x Gigabit Ethernet • internal power supply • Synology Assistant and Data Replicator 3 software

he Synology RS814 rack NAS appliance offers SMBs the same great-value package as its predecessor, the RS812, and now touts a significant hardware boost.

Its removable motherboard has been updated with a dual-core 1.33GHz Marvell Armada XP CPU and memory has doubled to a nonupgradeable 1GB. The CPU has a passive heatsink, and the PSU fan is barely audible.

Dual Gigabit and USB 3 ports are provided, and the eSATA port can be used to attach a four-bay RX410 1U expansion shelf. Synology’s discovery web portal finds the appliance and applies the latest firmware for you.

It offers to create a hybrid array, which lets users mix drives of different sizes and makes. We allowed it to do this with our trio of 3TB WD Red drives.

The RS814 shows how a wellcoded OS can make a big difference to performance. It has exactly the same CPU and memory as Buffalo’s TS3400D, but returned vastly superior speeds in our real-world tests. Write performance was also double that of its predecessor.

Drag-and-drop copies of a 2.52GB video clip returned read and write speeds of 99MB/sec and 96MB/sec.

Copying a 22.4GB mix of 10,500 small

files to the RS814 averaged write speeds of 77MB/sec – the TS3400D and Synology’s RS812 mustered only 38MB/sec and 34MB/sec, respectively.

Synology’s OS delivers a superb range of storage features. Free antivirus scanning is available courtesy of ClamAV, and bandwidthhungry users can be controlled by defining upload and download speed limits for specific applications.

Cloud services are excellent, too, and Synology has augmented its Amazon S3 support with a Glacier package, which worked fine with our Amazon Web Services account.

Dave Mitchell

Channel Angle

Distributors Bluechip Infotech, Multimedia Technology, Silicon Memory Technologies Launched November 2013 RRP $859 (inc GST) The reviewers say ”An excellent choice for small, but very busy businesses.”

How to pitch it The RS814 is designed to meet ever-increasing business requirements for their future data growth. Its optimal price/ performance ratio and expandability make the R814 a perfect fit for public sectors and workgroups with 30-50 employees, who have plans to expand its storage and seek to achieve a high return on investment

Upgraded internals push the RS814 ahead of its predecessor

www.crn.com.au March 2014 55

CRNTech Storage Key Specs 1U rack chassis • 2 x 1TB SATA hard disks in RAID1 mirror • Gigabit Ethernet • 4 x USB 2 • 1yr Energize Updates • Cloud Control management web portal

Barracuda Backup Server 390 Simple management of on-site backup, remote replication and cloud backup in one device

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or total data protection, We could then simply tick a box businesses must consider onto have everything backed up. The site, off-site and cloud backup agents let you browse file systems strategies, but the more complex and applications on each Windows these become, the more difficult system, so we could create jobs for they are to manage. Barracuda’s backing up drives, folders, files, Backup Server appliances are Hyper-V VMs, the Exchange data designed to deal with the whole store and messages. process, including site-to-site For Exchange message-level backup, replication and cloud backup, from you need to create a service account; a single web portal. guidance is clearly provided in online There are no hidden costs, since the help. For VMware, we only had to price includes support for Windows, provide root credentials and choose Unix, Linux, Mac, NetWare, Exchange which VMs we wanted to secure. and SQL. Server apps, plus VMware You can create backup schedules, and Hyper-V. You start with a local choosing whether to include all appliance, of which Barracuda offers a sources or selected ones, how often wide range with a choice of capacities. jobs should run, and whether to run We tested the Backup Server 390, them at selected times and dates. The which has a mirrored pair of 1TB “incremental forever” method runs SATA drives and a backup capacity one full backup followed by regular of 500GB. This may not seem much, incrementals. but the appliance performs variable The clever part comes next: tick block-level de-duplication, which can a box and all data is replicated seriously increase available capacity. to the off-site appliance. (It’s also Deployment was easy. We possible to declare multiple off-site connected it to the lab network and appliances and replicate to all of them used the local console to give it a simultaneously.) Cloud backup is static IP address. We linked it to our simple, too. account on Barracuda’s Cloud Control Data restoration isn’t taxing, either. portal by entering its serial number All you do is browse the local or and the unique code from the box. off-site appliance from the portal, and We found the portal easy to use, select the source and the data you and started testing by declaring want restored. You can even present our Windows Server 2008 R2 and restored data to remote workers by Hyper-V, Server 2012, Exchange selecting the Share option, which 2007, Windows 7 and 8 plus sends the files directly to Barracuda’s VMware ESX Server 5 systems as Copy.com hosted file-sharing service. sources. Windows systems require a For our Exchange server, we were small agent to be installed first, but able to restore the entire data store, nothing needed to be loaded on our or browse the MLB and choose P140226003_CRN_Synnex_eComm_Portal_strip_03_PRINT.pdf 1 28/02/2014 PM VMware server. mailboxes12:02:35 and individual messages.

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Making local and cloud backups is gloriously simple

Cloud storage is accessed by selecting Download and deciding where to put it.

We tested bare-metal restore on a Windows 7 system by booting it from the recovery CD image downloaded from the portal. We then selected a backup appliance and the machinerestore option from the portal, and it fully restored the system.

Performance for the 390 is similar to the Unitrends Recovery-312.

A 23GB folder copy averaged 21MB/ sec, while a Windows 8 full system backup ran at a more lowly 9MB/sec.

However, Unitrends was handling only a local backup, where the 390 was running local backup, and replication to the 490 and the cloud, at the same time. Dave Mitchell

Channel Angle

Distributors WhiteGold, Transition Systems Launched August 2013 RRP From AUD$1,699 plus annual subscription for 500Gb of storage capacity Next product below Backup Server 190 Next product above Backup Server 490 The reviewers say “Factoring in extra costs, such as Barracuda’s Instant Replacement service and cloud storage, initially makes the Backup Server 390 look expensive... but anything that can simplify on-site, off-site and cloud backup to this level gets our vote.”

How to pitch it Barracuda Backup is a powerful, “all-in-one” solution that includes software, backup agents and redundant storage needed for physical, virtual and hybrid environments.

Storage

Seagate Business Storage 8-Bay Rackmount NAS Seagate’s first rack NAS appliance fills its compact 1U chassis with eight drive bays

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eagate’s first foray into the world of rack-mountable NAS, the Business Storage 8-Bay Rackmount, is something special.

Not only does it cram eight 3.5in hard disks into a 1U chassis, but it’s also great value – the 32TB model on review costs far less than the competition.

Seagate has achieved this high storage density by opting for an Asus micro-ATX motherboard, which leaves room in the front of the chassis for two rows of four LFF SATA drives.

Installing and replacing drives is simple: the drive bay cover pops off easily, and you fit a carrier by flicking back the locking button, dropping it into a free bay, sliding it towards the combined SATA/power connector and pushing down the lock.

The Seagate is powered by a dual-core 2.3GHz Celeron G1610T CPU, and equipped with 4GB of DDR3 RAM. The motherboard’s four embedded SATA II and two SATA III ports provide six of the disk interfaces, while the other two are handled by a dual-port SATA II card fitted in a riser card.

At the rear, the pair of Gigabit ports can be teamed together, and there are three USB 2 ports for external devices. However, there are no USB 3 ports. Power redundancy is provided by a pair of 250W hotplug PSUs. Seagate also bundles sliding rack rails and a cable management arm.

Installation starts by pointing a web browser at the appliance and following a quick-start wizard. This

loads the latest firmware, asks for a system name and admin password and sets up a base set of shares.

The installation process creates a SimplyRAID array, which allows the user to mix drives of different sizes in the same array and provides single-drive redundancy. If necessary, you can delete this array and opt for SimplyRAID with dual redundancy, or create standard mirrors, stripes, RAID5 or RAID6 arrays instead.

The appliance’s web interface provides a clear status overview of all services. Shares are simple to create, and access can be controlled with local user and group lists, or by joining a Windows domain. Support covers SMB, NFS, AFP and FTP/ SFTP access, and a useful feature is the ability to enable each service on specific network ports. Multimedia features comprise an iTunes server and support for media streaming to UPnP/DLNA devices.

Seagate’s TappIn service allows shares to be accessed remotely over the internet via a web browser, or via dedicated Android and iOS apps.

From the web browser portal, you can view shares, create new folders and upload or download files, and the iOS app provides remote access to shares and the media server. It isn’t as advanced as the mobile apps from Synology or Qnap, though, which also provide status details on appliance utilisation, disk health and storage usage.

Workstation backup software isn’t included, but there’s no shortage of

options. The Seagate can act as a repository for third-party backup products; supports Apple’s Time Machine; and can replicate to other appliances compatible with rsync.

The appliance also ties in with LaCie’s hosted cloud backup service, Wuala. After installing the local Wuala app, you can link it with shares on the appliance and run scheduled backups, or opt for continuous syncing. The Wuala app maps its off-site drive to a local letter so you can restore files from its user interface, or by dragging and dropping.

Performance is good across the board. Drag-and-drop copies of a 2.52GB video over Gigabit delivered read and write speeds of 105MB/ sec and 101MB/sec respectively. FTP speeds using the FileZilla utility were respectable, too, with a 22.4GB folder filled with 10,500 small files copying across at 72MB/sec.

Dave Mitchell

CRNTech Key Specs 1U rack chassis • Asus P8B-M motherboard • 2.3GHz Intel Celeron G1610T • 4GB DDR3 RAM (max 32GB) • 8 x 4TB Seagate Constellation ES.3 SATA hot-swap drives • supports RAID0, 1, 5, 6, 10, SimplyRAID • 2 x Gigabit Ethernet • 3 x USB 2 • VGA • 2 x PS/2 • 2 x 250W hotplug PSUs • web browser management • Seagate Network Assistant software • rack rails and cable management arm included • 3yr limited warranty

Channel Angle

Distributors Synnex Australia, Ingram Micro Lau nched March 2013 RRP 8TB $3,999; 12TB $4,299; 16TB $4,699; 24TB $5,599; 32TB $6,599 Next product below in the range Seagate Business Storage 4-Bay Rackmount NAS The reviewers say “The 32TB model is competitively priced, offers unbeatable storage density, and is no slouch when it comes to performance.”

How to pitch it The 8-Bay Seagate Business Storage Rackmount NAS provides a secure and shared space accessible locally or remotely thanks to its integrated private cloud. It is an excellent storage option for businesses with up to 250 employees in need of higher performance and reliability. It’s also a perfect option for those who are space constrained, as it offers twice the storage in half the space.

The Seagate crams eight 3.5in hard disks into a 1U chassis

www.crn.com.au March 2014 57

JOIN THE FAST ACCESS CLUB With EonStor DS 3000 systems and automated storage tiering, get performance enhancement, buy less hardware, and have data move quicker and smarter!

Infortrend continuously develops and updates storage system firmware and software. Now all EonStor DS 3000 models ship with automated storage tiering supported: • Automatically assigns hot data to the fastest drives: more accessed and longer-tenured data goes to high speed drives, while archival content is assigned to standard drives • Perfect for making the most of investment in high speed SSD • Improves performance while extending drive lifespan and lowering energy draw • Automated based on smart algorithms and occurs in the background

Using storage tiering, just one EonStor DS 3000 RAID system with four 400GB SSDs and 12 4TB NL-SAS drives delivers 2.5X the capacity and 15/35X the read/write speeds of a non-tiering EonStor DS 3000 with an attached JBOD enclosure and total 32 600GB 10k RPM drives – for the same cost!

EonStor DS 3000 systems provide many advantages: • Powerful performance and flexible scalability (up to 1.3M IOPS/1440TB) • Host choice, incl. hybrids: 8Gbps/16Gbps FC, 1Gbps/10Gbps iSCSI, or 6Gbps SAS • Single and dual redundant controllers with modular and easily upgradable hardware in multiple form factors, 2U 12-bay to 4U 60-bay • Support for 2.5” and 3.5” disks enables SSD/HDD mix • Remote/local replication, thin provisioning, deduplication, snapshot, and more • Robust data integrity through smart media scanning • User friendly management via exclusive SANWatch 3.0 UI

Ul tra Hi gh Pe rfo rm an ce bu nd

le d pa ck ag e

B NL SA S HD D + 4T x 12 + D HD CIAL D SS B 0G E 40 x 4 + P GE 16 30 S ES DS ER ns e ce Li g in er Ti e ag or St ed at m OFF Au to Please refer to http://www.infortrend.com/au/Home or please ask local dealers for more details.

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infortrend@altech.com.au TEL: 02 8622 8000

sales@bluechipit.com.au TEL: 1300 72 74 74

DrayTek_Vigor2860_CRN.pdf 1 2014/1/29 上午9:36

channel life out & about

NextDC opens 1,500-rack $80m data centre

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Around 200 people, including the Western Australian Premier and “elite” of the state’s tech scene, converged on this scene in Perth last month for the official opening of NextDC’s data centre.

It’s a milestone for the company that once 3 described itself as the “Switzerland” of the data centre industry. The Perth facility is the fifth in its rollout and completes its push to establish a network of independent data centres across Australia.

All this from a company 4 that started in 2010 with three staff, as Chairman Ted Pretty once told iTnews.

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1. Plenty of action on the red carpet 2. Celebrations underway 3. Something you won’t always see on a data centre - the owner’s logo 4. Some visual flair to its buildings 5. NextDC’s Craig Scroggle and chairman Ted Pretty (left) and WA Premier Colin Barnett

Tech Leaders 2014

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Vendors sponsored this year’s Tech Leaders Forum on the Gold Coast, where they met with the country’s leading IT journalists 1. DiData’s Martin Aungle and Kenny McGilvary 2. Elly Glendenning with MYOB’s Ben Ross and Angela Grecia 3. Riverbed’s Damien Murphy and Ian Raper with CRN editor Steven Kiernan 4. BlinkMobile’s Darren Besgrove 5. NetSuite’s Vince Randall and Richelle Gillett

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60 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

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out & about

channel life

1

Spotted at the VMware User Group CRN dropped into VMUG Sydney on 6 February 2014.

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1. James Burgess and Luke Miller from Veeam 2. Tatiana Chelina, Paul Carapetis and Brandon Voight from HP 3. Robert Hammond and Martin Pladgeman from 10ZiG Technology 4. Melissa Abdallah, Amy Webb, Alex Vasilovski and Meg Wiseman from Nimble Storage 4

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Oakton breakfast The ASX-listed solutions provider hosted a breakfast seminar in Sydney on 6 February 2014.

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CA Technologies joins Cookoff In 2mid-February, the third annual CEO Cookoff saw the who’s who of Australian business and 40 celebrity chefs – including Neil Perry, Maggie Beer, Matt Moran – put their culinary skills to the test. Plating up a three-course meal, 133 business leaders prepared a feast for homeless or disadvantaged guests.

Bill McMurray, CA Technologies’ MD with celebrity chef Peter Gilmore

1. Steane Walsh from Walsh IT and Johan Nelis from Oakton; 2. Paul Voges, Oakton and Bryan Frew, Oracle; 3. Danielle Dreoni and Nicky Scott from Oakton; 4. Oakton’s Matt Freedman with Anthony Ashton from the Cancer Council

www.crn.com.au March 2014 61

channel life on the move

Oakton appoints ACT executive GM

CSW-IT lures major Telstra scalp

David Mathews is the new ACT executive general manager of consulting and technology firm Oakton, the company he joined in 2013 as director of services.

Previous ACT GM Bob Peebles will return to the Victorian headquarters; his new role is yet to be announced.

Mathews, a 25-year industry veteran, has extensive experience across both the public and private sector. In addition to his vendor experience with companies such as Praxa, and his end user experience at the Department of Health and Ageing, Mathews also has an entrepreneurial string to his bow. He co-founded Crystal Approach, a Canberra-based software solutions company that was sold in late 2012.

Mathews is also the chair of CollabIT, an ACT government and AIIA initiative to help drive growth in the ICT sector, and a member of the Innovation Taskforce of the Canberra Business Council.

Oakton chief executive Neil Wilson said: “David’s considerable track record of achievements in the ACT market are known and recognised by clients so we are delighted that a person of David’s calibre will be leading and managing this very important part of our business.”

A former Telstra manager who oversaw up to 3,500 internal and external staff across the telco’s business and consumer division has moved to eStore and CSW-IT to head up their sales operation.

Until late 2010, Paul Humphrey held significant management roles at Telstra, including general manager for contact centre sales and service – a division that had some 3,500 staff and revenues of $1.3 billion at the time, according to Humphrey.

Asked by CRN about his achievements at the telco, he said he “led the change” from telco kit and carriage selling to “consulting on solutions”.

“This was a big change at the time for Telstra who were looking to move from being a telco to becoming a full end-toend true ICT player,” he said.

Humphrey also pointed to his involvement in the initial review of Telstra’s offshore outsourcing plans, a project which he said led to the involvement of up to 2,000 workers in the Philippines.

Another achievement was introducing a sales methodology and framework across Telstra’s consumer division. At the telco’s consumer arm Humphrey managed Telstra’s digital customer channels including Telstra.com, BigPond.com, live chat and Twitter.

Former Optus exec Ian Porter becomes COO at iseek

Former Data#3 GM is new hire at Insight Asia Pacific

Ian Porter is the new chief operating officer of data centre and managed network services provider iseek Communications.

Porter has been general manager for the iseek-KDC Australia, a joint venture with Keppel Corporation, a leading service provider in South-east Asia and Europe. In fact, Porter started iseek-KDC and oversaw the building of the new iseek data centre in Gore Hill, under the new venture.

Porter will implement iseek’s strategic plan and as well as manage all operational aspects of iseek’s business across Australia.

He reports directly to CEO Jason Gomersall, who said: “Ian’s leadership skills and industry experience are great assets to the business, and I am delighted he is joining iseek at such an important time in both the company’s growth phase, and the industry’s increasing shift to the as-a-service business model.”

Porter is a 20-year telecommunications industry veteran having worked in operational, project management, pre-sales, and marketing roles during his career. He was formerly broadband products GM for Optus, where he looked after the fixed and mobile broadband products.

Pat Murphy has been appointed as the new general manager of consulting services for Insight Asia Pacific.

Murphy has more than two decades of IT industry experience under his belt.

He spent much of his career with Data#3, including a stint as a general manager, overseeing end-to-end operations from sales to delivery of outsourcing solutions, cloud solutions and people solutions.

Insight Enterprises senior vice president APAC Andrea Della Mattea said: “With Pat leading the team, Insight is in an excellent position to accelerate our services strategy to deliver leading IT solutions to our commercial and public sector clients.”

Murphy said he was looking forward to helping the team excel in current services and to expand Insight’s offerings “to ensure we continue to deliver solutions that meet the business challenges of our customers”.

Insight’s consulting services team offers expertise in planning, design and implementation solutions for the cloud, virtualisation, software asset management, data protection and unified communications.

62 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

on the move channel

Greg Barnes takes reins at network platform provider

Applications networking company A10 Networks has appointed Greg Barnes as its new managing director, ANZ. Barnes was HP’s general manager, enterprise security products, South Pacific. He has also spent five years as country manager for Aruba Networks.

According to Barnes, “The ANZ market is hungry for a new tech leader that is nimble and responsive.” He said A10 was well positioned to satisfy growing demand for cloud and security within the application networking space. “With increased focus on DDoS, CGN and IPv6 migration, A10 continues to become more important.”

Management reshuffle at Panasonic

Paul Reid will replace Steve Rust as managing director of Panasonic Australia. Rust retires after seven years.

As well as the promotion of plasma television sales, Rust oversaw the growth of the Lumix camera brand and helped to reframe the ruggedised computing market with the Panasonic Toughbook.

Reid is returning to Australia from his current role as the chief of Panasonic’s Nordic region.

Paradyne hires Telstra salesman

Paradyne has hired Paul Krasey as its business development manager, southern region, following a stellar year, which saw the company join the CRN Fast50 in 2013.

Loryan Strant, Paradyne founder and CEO, described Krasey as a subject matter expert, having consulted with more than 500 enterprises. His mission is to educate the company’s clients on the benefits of cloud computing.

Krasey has two decades of IT experience, including 11 years at Telstra where he was recognised as highestperforming specialist in Telstra Business Australia.

BigAir nabs DiData CTO

BigAir Group has hired Scott Atkinson as CTO of cloud and managed services.

Atkinson was previously Dimension Data’s midmarket chief technology officer. He founded Netforce Pty Ltd in 1994, which was acquired by DiData in 2010 and merged into another cloud acquisition, BlueFire.

OKI Data Australia appoints Victoria manager

David Varidel has been appointed as the new Victorian channel manager for OKI Data.

Varidel’s territory also includes Tasmania and South Australia. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry, with a background in management and support in distribution channels, sales and dealer networks.

life

Bravo hires Anthony Larratt

BravoSolution has hired 20-year Australian IT veteran Anthony Larratt. He said: “Expanding into Australia is key to BravoSolution’s growth plans for the region.

The company wanted to establish a local presence so customers can interact without language or time zone barriers.” Larratt will create a support centre of excellence to provide customers with ongoing help and advice.

Emerson Network Power loses MD

Data centre infrastructure vendor Emerson Network Power has parted with managing director, John Simpson, while promoting 20-year veteran Steve Shelley to oversee its burgeoning modular data centre division.

Ex-IBM exec to keep driving CRM vendor’s local growth

SugarCRM has appointed Wayne Goss as its new regional sales director for Asia-Pacific.

It comes as the CRM vendor revealed a 28 percent year-on-year increase in sales in the region.

Goss will take on a newly created, Sydney-based role with responsibility for increasing SugarCRM’s market share, cultivating sales opportunities with high-profile brands and supporting channel partners across the Asia-Pacific region.

He was previously at IBM, where we held the role of national competitive, strategy and engagement leader.

Former IDC man joins Cisco-EMC venture

Matthew Oostveen is the new AsiaPacific CTO for VCE, having previously been the director of research for IDC. Oostveen has been charged with driving business competitiveness and market share growth in the region and helping to broaden the VCE technical capabilities.

VCE is a partnership of Cisco and EMC, with investments from VMware and Intel, to build converged cloud infrastructure systems, in particular the Vblock data centre solution.

ANZ expansion head at Extreme Networks

Extreme Networks has appointed John Gonzalez as country manager for ANZ. Gonzalez joined the company through the acquisition of Enterasys Networks.

As Australian manager of Enterasys, he was previously sales director. Gonzalez joined the company in 2000 as a pre-sales engineer based in Perth, before moving to sales and managing the western territory. www.crn.com.au March 2014 63

channel life accolades

Data#3 named VMware’s top APJ solution provider

Data#3 has been named VMware’s solution provider partner of the year in the APJ region and a finalist in the global category.

Fujitsu and Datacom were also lauded at VMware’s recent annual partner event in San Francisco.

Brisbane-based Data#3’s was recognised for expertise across all aspects of VMware solutions.

Data#3 group general manager Laurence Baynham said the award reflected the company’s strategy to partner with global leaders. He said the goal of the

VMware’s Vicki Batka, Data#3’s David Barclay and VMware’s Laurie Evans

strategy was to “...consistently provide the best solutions to meet our customers’ needs in a hybrid IT environment.

“After many years of investment in VMware, it is pleasing to see that we have also been acknowledged as a global finalist for this award.

This recognition is testament to the strength and ongoing capability of our team in delivering VMware solutions to customers.”

VMware Australia & New Zealand managing director Duncan Bennet said the company was dedicated to educating and equipping its partners with the resources needed to master the new reality of the software defined enterprise.

“We are pleased to acknowledge the achievements made in 2013 by our partners within the region. We congratulate Data#3 on winning a VMware Partner Network Award and look forward to our continued mutual success in 2014.”

The awards were handed down at the vendor’s Partner Exchange, where another two Asia-Pacific gongs went to Australian resellers.

Fujitsu Australia was named VMware’s service provider partner of the year for Asia-Pacific, while Datacom Australia was celebrated as its renewals partner of the year.

Xero names eWay ‘Partner of the Year’ Accounting software outfit Xero has awarded payment services company, eWay, its ‘Partner of the Year’ following last year’s collaboration where the two companies partnered to introduce a single click, ’pay now’ option on invoices.

According to Xero founder and CEO Rod Drury: “The partner awards are an opportunity for us to acknowledge and celebrate organisations for the outstanding and innovative provision of services that support the Xero platform.”

CEO and founder of eWay Matt Bullock said the two companies shared a customer-focused approach to business. “And we’re committed to working together to ensure our respective and collective technologies assist customers to grow their businesses.” He described the integration of the 64 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

eWay and Xero solutions as a game changer as it enabled businesses to greatly reduce their receivable days through real time payments.

The company said that eWay’s services have helped the 250,000 Xero users to decrease debtor days from an average of 44 to 28 days. eWay said it has experienced a 20 percent increase in the value of online payment transactions in the past year and now processes $4 billion of cash receipts.

Matt Bullock, eWay CEO and founder

Luca Chiarito from IBM and Mark Loparow from Computer Merchants

Computer Merchants toasted in Las Vegas IBM has named Computer Merchants as the winner of its 2014 Choice Award for Marketing Excellence Asia Pacific.

The Queensland-based IT firm won the gong for a multi-platform promotion of IBM PureFlex Systems. It teamed with RAW Marketing Consulting to launch the series of innovative campaigns.

Computer Merchants director of marketing Mark Loparow accepted the award at a ceremony in Las Vegas.

Computer Merchants is the first Australian company to win the award, which is given annually to the IBM business partner in recognition of outstanding, inventive marketing campaigns.

“It is a tremendous honour to be recognised for our efforts.

The combination of Computer Merchants’ depth of customer knowledge and RAW’s creative excellence has led to a communications program we can be proud of. Our marketing campaigns have played an essential role in our business success,” said Loparow.

Anthony Grigson, managing director of RAW Marketing Consulting, said: “When addressing an audience that encounters a huge amount of marketing campaigns, it takes real innovation and insight to stand out from the crowd.

“Creating these high-performing campaigns is a real team effort between ourselves, Computer Merchants and IBM. Our long relationship with Computer Merchants contributes greatly to making a successful campaign and their willingness to innovate is reflected both in their marketing and in their customer solutions.”

index

NEXT MONTH

Microsoft’s mobile ambitions

How the mega-vendor is trying to compete with the likes of Apple and the ways in which partners can cash in

People Darren Adams 43 Anthony Ashton 61 Scott Atkinson 63 Martin Aungle 60 Danny Bakos 32 Greg Barnes 63 Darren Besgrove 60 John Burgess 61 Paul Carapetis 60 Tatiana Chelina 60 Nathan Cher 13 Nik Devidas 40 David Dicker 9, 41, 43 Daniel Dreonie 61 Peter Drummond 49, 51 Sean Duca 32 Mark Eckert 14 Matt Freedman 61 Brian Frew 61 Scott Frew 42 Rodney Gedda 41 Chris Gatford 32 Richelle Gillett 60 Elly Glendenning 60 Angela Grecia 60 John Gonzales 63 David Hanrahan 50 Gerry Harvey 8 David Hattrick 50 Paul Humphrey 62 Bruno Janni Paul Krasey 63 Doug King 13 Bill McMurray 61 Peter Masters 22 Danny Moore 22, 43 Greg Murkowski 49, 51 Damien Murphy 60 Pat Murphy 62 Matthew Oostveen 63 David Peach 41 Kenny McGilvary 60 Luke Miller 61 Ian Porter 62 Libby Tricket 14 Ian Raper 60

Paul Reid 63 David Shein 13 Laureen Smith 29 Kristian Steenstreep 49, 51 Andrew Radcliff 11 Mark Randall 21 Bob Robson 28, 29, 31 Jules Rumsey 49 Matt Sanderson 42 Craig Scroggie 60 Loryan Strant 42 David Sykes 32 Darren Tan 43 Jacques Tesson 42 Andrew Thomas 42 Darren Varidel 63 Alex Vasilovski 61 Nick Verykios 30, 41 Paul Voges 61 Steane Walsh 61 John Walters 42 Amy Webb Megg Wiseman 61

Companies A10 Networks 63 Apple 22 Avnet 43 Amazon Web Services 21 Blink Mobile 60 Brennan IT 11 BulletProof 21 Cisco 11, 22 ComwireIT CSG 13 CSW-IT 62 Dataflex 13 Data#3 64 Dicker Data 9, 22, 41 Dimension Data 22 Distribution Central 41 Enspire 14 Express Data 22, 23, 41, 42

Express Online 43 Extreme Networks 63 Distribution Central 30 EMC 39 Epic IT 49 Forrester 36 Gartner 49 Google 37 Harvey Norman 8 HP 36 Hacklabs 32 IBM 36, 38 Insight 62 IPec 28 iSeek 62 Lenovo 36, 37, 38 Macquarie Telecom 14 Matrix CNI 11 McAfee 32 MDC 14 Megaport 14 Meraki 11 Microsoft 17 Motorola Mobile 37 Netgear 11 Netsuite 60 NextDC 14, 60 Oakton 61 Olikka 23 Oracle 49 Panasonic 63 Paradyne 42, 63 PS&C 8 Samsung 36 Smile IT 49 Sophis 32 Synnex 43 SystemNet 32 Telsyte 41 Thomas Duryea 40 Varonis 32 VCE 63 Veeam 61 Vita Group 9 VMware 15 WorkShare 31 Xero 22 www.crn.com.au March 2014 65

channel life rabid reseller

Barking mad Cutting corners in doggie microchipping had some unexpected consequences

I

t all started the other day when Sk8er Boi, aka the nephew, came back from one of his delivery runs with a passenger. This passenger had four legs. Yes, it was a stray dog he’d picked up somewhere, and no, he didn’t know where. As usual, he just left the van door open, and luckily the dog jumped in rather than all the computer deliveries jumping out. But we don’t need a stray dog in the shop, so he was told to find its owner. This was also an exercise in teaching him some resourcefulness, since the pooch had no identity tag on its collar.

We didn’t have to wait long before he’d cracked the problem, but we had to wait quite a while to get the answer. Why he couldn’t just take the dog to the vet is beyond us. No, not to have it put to sleep. We might be rabid but the dog didn’t have rabies. To see if the pooch had a microchip, which the vet can check if they have a registered owner.

Anyway, the vet wanted to charge a fee for the chip-checking service.

So, Mr Resourceful, aka Sk8er Boi, decided to buy a microchip reader on eBay and check the pooch out himself. Yeah, the logic escaped us too, but Sk8er Boi claimed it would save time if any more stray dogs jumped into his delivery van.

66 March 2014 www.crn.com.au

WOOF! We figure it would save time and money if we had the nephew microchipped and then despatched to the South Pole, where they no longer allow dogs, so there’s little chance anybody would have a microchip reader. And even less chance of him darkening our doorway again any time soon.

So, after waiting a week for the eBay auction to end, then another week for the microchip reader to arrive, we finally discovered that, yes, the stray pooch has indeed got a microchip under the skin. Of course, boy wonder was way too cheap to pay the extra $10 the seller was asking for the decoding service.

Now all we knew was that the dog had an ID, but we had no idea what it meant. Sk8er Boi was convinced you should be able to get the decode information for free via a quick Google search.

All he discovered via Google was that he’d have to visit the local council so they could access the doggie database. Well, he’s out and about in the van all day anyway so a quick trip to the council shouldn’t take longer than, say, most of the next week. Yeah, the bloke who has the password to the doggie database was on a flexi-day and when he came back to work the computer he

The nephew decided to buy a microchip reader on eBay and check the pooch out himself

uses had been sent in for repairs.

That was the last straw. We rang the council and demanded to speak to their IT support people.

OK, it turns out that we are the council’s IT support people, and the busted PC was in the back room waiting for the nephew to fix it.

His excuse? You guessed it – too busy looking after the stray dog and trying to find its owner. So, a bit of prioritising, the PC gets fixed, delivered to the council and hey presto! Yeah, all right, tomorrow when the dude gets back from his next flexi-day – has it really been two weeks already? Finally, everything is in place, the PC is fixed, the dude is at his desk, and the nephew has the code. Let’s hope that the owners kept their address details up-to-date on the doggie database.

Now, who would have thought there were different code readers for different regions? We can’t think of any other reason why the microchip in the stray pooch claims he’s really a black cockatoo from Dubbo. Anyway, he’s been here for two months now and he’s a much better alarm system than the cheap and nasty CCTV we got from Uncle Tony. If only we could train him to bite the nephew.

Gotta go! Cockatoo barking again!

www.synnex.com.au

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