Channel Insider Canada March 2012

SUPPLIER POV

Ottawa’s Embotics takes on Europe PAGE 12

IN THE MIDDLE

Speaking out on security, social media PAGE 16

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contents

12.03

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FEATURED THIS ISSUE GETTING UP TO SPEED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

13

There’s a lot of “smoke” around social media. But how much real social “fire” is there in the Canadian workplace?

focus on socIal medIa Which social tools make the most sense for the channel? Plus, marrying “monetization” and “measurement” in the social sphere.

supplIer poV An Ottawa-based virtual-server software maker lands an agreement to reach 6,000 resellers with a European distributor.

In the mIddle Canadian channel participants consider the proliferation of social networks and the growing emphasis on data protection.

channel perspectIVe In a global survey Avanade finds that the majority of businesses embrace the consumerization of enterprise technology.

Industry Issues How does a distributor connect with partners while staying abreast of IT trends? D&H says the solution starts with focusing on the customer.

dIstractIons News you can’t use - but should know. This edition: Spray-on antennas

8 12 16 18 19 30

4 cco VIew 6 channel news 20 tracker networks

A 12% jump in special-bid volumes could be a good economic indicator, but it isn’t enough to budge the depressing annual trend line.

21 program updates

A new six-week course aims to arm Citrix partners with the ability to design and troubleshoot key products.

22 focus on publIc sector

The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance’s recent tele-forum put the feds’ technology plans into perspective.

25 on locatIon

It was clear during HP’s Global Partner Conference in Las Vegas that the company is committed to hardware – despite the recent past.

28 test bed

Motorola’s PRO+ may not have the latest Android operating system, but it’s still an impressive businessclass smartphone.

march 2012 | 3 | channel insider canada

cco VIew Var optIons In a socIal clImate

by MiChael o’neil

I

t seems as though the channel is constantly at an inflection point, trying to extract the value from a fading business proposition while ramping up a new approach that promises richer margins. Developing effective management strategies through these transitions would seem like a daunting task, if experienced owner/ operators hadn’t lived through it so many times before: trying to calibrate the cash flow implications behind a model shift (nearly always negative, as the highermargin alternatives to current operations seem generally to provide lower overall revenue), performing triage on the current staff to align skills with the changing demand profile, and – most importantly – knocking on doors to ensure that longtime customers will follow along through the transition, so that the new approach is backed by real, funded interest from the current base.

I think it’s clear that cloud is prompting the current transition; there are exceptions to every trend, but overall, a broad movement towards cloud will have the effect of moving solution integrators further from “resale” and closer to “providers of advisory services.” There is an important lesson that we can take from the resale model, though. In resale, “attach rate” was a key driver of profitability – VAR owners enhanced their core-system product portfolios with complementary items that led to increases in total customer revenues, and substantial increases in overall profitability. Can cloud provide a platform for a similar approach to services?

The VARs that thrive through the current transition will be those that not only find ways to engage their current customers with billable, cloud-related services, but also find areas in which they can layer on additional, billable services.

In this issue of Channel Insider Canada, we look at one potential source of these types of engagements – social business. Look at the rise in social media in the consumer (Facebook) and business (LinkedIn, Twitter) worlds, and the potential demand for

social solutions appear boundless; attend a presentation on the application of social technologies to business processes – as I did at Lotusphere in January, where TD Canada Trust described how it is using social within the enterprise – and the possibilities seem endless.

“Boundless” and “endless” are wonderful descriptions of business opportunity, but in reality, most organizations have no real idea of what it takes to engage with customers, and how to capture the value of that engagement: they don’t know which technologies to embrace, how to deploy them within (and/or beyond) their organizations, how to wed them to business processes to build better internal cohesion or business traction. In time, they will – if cloud is a wave cresting within IT, social is a tsunami shaping the boundaries of customer attention and interaction.

Your customers will “get” social at some point, because there is no real alternative, other than losing ground to competitors who “get it” faster or better.

When it comes to these kinds of major shifts in how technology is adopted by the business community, the channel is usually a follower rather than a leader: large enterprises (like TD) prove out the technology and the business case, and some time – usually, years – later, the midmarket begins to demand packaged solutions that deliver similar functionality, and the channel gears up to sell and support these solutions. In this case, though, it seems at least possible that the pattern will be somewhat altered. At the same time that the VAR business is impacted by a shift away from resale, your clients’ businesses are impacted by a shift in their customers’ use of technology to explore new ways of meeting personal and/ or business needs. For a change, it isn’t just your business that is in transition; your customers are facing a transition as well.

Channel leaders who can build social business advisory services, and help customers to find value in both these services and social business strategies, may find that the cloud looks much like a newera platform, around which attached offerings can blossom into profitable lines of incremental business.

march 2012 | 4 |

Volume 2, Issue 2 EDITORIAL Michael O’Neil | Chief Content Officer michael.oneil@itincanada.ca Stefan Dubowski | Editor stefan.dubowski@itincanada.ca Christopher Rogers | Senior Staff Writer chris.rogers@itincanada.ca CONTRIBUTORS Jason Doel ART & PRODUCTION Elena Pankova | Senior Art Director elean.pankova@itincanada.ca David Potocki | Art Director davidp@precision-multimedia.com CHANNEL INSIDER CANADA SALES Patricia Bush | National Account Manager trisha.bush@itincanada.ca ONLINE Michael Howe | CTO michael.howe@itincanada.ca EVENTS Sandra Service | Events Manager sandra.service@itincanada.ca CIRCULATION Denys Cruz | Circulation Director circulation@itincanada.ca CORPORATE INQUIRIES John R. Jones | Publisher john.jones@itincanada.ca HOW TO CONTACT CHANNEL INSIDER CANADA Telephone: 905-727-4091 Editorial issues: Michael O’Neil, Chief Content Officer, IT in Canada network michael.oneil@itincanada.ca Business issues: John Jones, Chief Operating Officer, IT in Canada network john.jones@itincanada.ca SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES For help with subscriptions, please contact circulation@itincanada.ca To subscribe to Channel Insider Canada in print, as a digital magazine – or to receive our daily e-newsletter – please visit us at www.itincanada. ca/registration Channel Insider Canada is published 10 times per year and is found on the web at www.channelinsider.ca One year subscription rates: One year subscription rates: Canada, $50, US $60 (US) and foreign $90 (US). Single copies $5.00. Please add HST where applicable. Complimentary subscriptions available to qualified Canadian readers.

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Please contact us by phone at 905-727-3875 x336 Canadian Publication Mail Agreement # 41382532 All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced without written consent; inquiries should be addressed to circulation@itincanada.ca

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channel news

1 Ingram Micro appoints new CEO Technology distribution giant Ingram Micro has named Alain Monie as CEO, effective Jan. 20, replacing Greg Spierkel who is leaving the role to spend more time with his family after helping with the management transition until April 15.

Monie, 61, joined Ingram Micro as executive VP in January 2003 and was named to head up the Asia-Pacific region a year later. He was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Ingram Micro in August 2007 and left the company three years later to become CEO of APRIL Management Pte., a multi-national industrial company based in Asia.

He returned to Ingram Micro in November 2011 to serve as president and chief operating officer once again.

“Ingram Micro has a solid strategy with a strong management team,” said Monie, in a prepared statement. “We will continue to execute this strategy. I look forward to leading the team toward delivering on our key initiatives, while providing best-in-class performance for our customers, vendors and shareholders.”

“Alain is uniquely positioned to guide the company,” said Dale Laurance, chairman of the board, in a statement. “He is an outstanding and worldly leader, fluent in three languages with first-hand global business experience. He has proven to be a strong executive with good strategic thinking.”

Retiring CEO Greg Spierkel expressed confidence in Monie’s abilities to take Ingram Micro forward.

“I’m confident the company is in capable and experienced hands. After serving as CEO for more than six years, it’s the right time to leave and spend more time with my family.”

Spierkel joined Ingram Micro in 1997, serving as president of the Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions before his promotions to corporate president in March 2004 and CEO in June 2005.

2 Avnet intros SolutionsPath Engagement Distributor Avnet’s latest SolutionsPath specialization, Engagement Services, operates as a consulting service for VARs looking to grow their businesses in specific verticals, according to Avnet representatives.

Introduced in January, Engagement Services includes a business analysis detailing the partner’s operations, with an eye towards determining the best path to success for the VAR, explained Gavin Miller, VP, solutions marketing and development at Avnet.

The business analysis informs a strategic plan, where the VAR’s technical competencies are matched with a viable sales plan. This phase includes milestones and quarterly checkpoints. Next comes training, including customized workshops. This feeds into demand creation, customized according to the partner’s chosen vertical and technological approach.

“The idea is to equip them with the right level of knowledge to have meaningful conversations from a business perspective with the business decision makers of their end users,” Miller said.

Engagement Services are not for every VAR. “The partner has to be committed to growth,” said Brian Aebig, VP and GM of Avnet Canada. “This is going to require investment on both our parts.”

The partner also has to be committed to a vertical approach to the market, he said. march 2012 | 6 |

Lenovo provides financing for products like the ThinkPad tablet.

Engagement Services builds on the other SolutionsPath methodologies that Avnet has introduced since 2006. The company offers systems for targeting the health care sector (HealthPath), the public sector (GovPath), and data centre operators (Data Center Lifecycle Services).

Engagement Services differs from the other SolutionsPath methodologies in that it is a more focused and defined partnership between Avnet and its partners, a chance for both to engage and grow their businesses, Avnet said.

3 Lenovo offers financing to small resellers Lenovo says it’s extending financing to small and mid-sized technology resellers in Canada. The Lenovo Partner Credit program offers eligible resellers up to 60 days of interest-free credit.

The program will operate through the computer maker’s distributors Supercom and Synnex. It follows the launch of a similar program in the U.S. last summer, and it complements Lenovo Financial Services’ existing end-user financing program, launched in 2010. Together, the financing products give resellers the ability to address their own and their customers’ credit requirements, Lenovo said in a press release.

The computer maker joined up with De Lage Landen, a global financing institution, for both the U.S. and the Canadian financing offers. SMB financing is “an underserved product offering in the channel,” said G. Peter Horan, president of De Lage Landen Canada.

Stefan Bockhop, director of channels, Lenovo Canada, said the Partner Credit program is a “direct response to feedback from our resellers who target SMB customers. These partners have told us they need working capital solutions to grow their business.”

4 N-able and Hartco sign agreement Remote monitoring and management (RMM) automation software developer N-able will now be distributed in Canada through Hartco, expanding the Ottawa-based company’s reach into the Canadian marketplace, including direct access to Hartco’s network of solution providers such as MicroAge and Metafore.

Forming the basis for the relationship are N-able’s N-central RMM platform and complementary technologies such as Security Manager Anti-Spam, and Backup Manager.

N-able will also be giving resellers and MSPs that purchase N-central access to its business transformation and technical channel insider canada

services, as well as its Partner Development Specialists and field sales team, including N-able’s Business e-Training Essentials, Technical e-Training Essentials, instructor-led product training, and professional services.

In a statement JP Jauvin, president and COO, N-able Technologies said, “Hartco is poised to play a pivotal role in N-able’s targeted growth within Canada. We have high expectations for strong adoption of N-central within the Hartco community and look forward to helping MicroAge and Metafore build and refine their managed services businesses to ensure greater profitability, higher levels of technician productivity and improved customer service.”

5 SAP awards for Canadian partners SAP’s Partner Impact Awards showcase partners that have helped extend the value of SAP applications, furthering SAP’s efforts in regional sales and pipeline-generation goals.

Canadian partners enjoy their own set of SAP Partner Impact Awards and the 2012 winners were recently announced.

SAP Business Objects partner of the year, Canada: The Createch Group SAP Business One Partner of the Year, Canada: Coastal Range Systems SAP Business All-in-One Partner of the Year, Canada: Ilumiti SAP Business ByDesign Partner of the Year, Canada: Forgestik

6 tech data launches accesstd app for iOS Partners looking to parse computer equipment on the go have a new option now that distributor Tech Data has launched its Canadian mobile app for iOS devices.

The application includes much of the functionality that Tech Data’s non-mobile website (www.techdata.ca) provides including product searches, pricing and availability information.

Tech Data partners are asked to log into the app using their techdata.ca credentials; once in the app, users are taken to a searchable database of currently priced products.

The app has been available to U.S. Tech Data customers but the newest version (1.1) of “accessTD” includes the Canadian market.

Other enhancements to the app include new order status reports, improved product information tools, quoting capabilities, and improved shopping cart functionality.

Partners seem to be pleased with the technology. “I often find myself in a situation when my customer is asking me for order information and of course I am not next to my computer,” read one user’s comment on the Canadian Apple App Store, giving accessTD five out of five stars. “Now I can go to the tool, enter my information and within seconds I have it. Rock on Tech Data.”

7 IBM expands mobility management, security IBM has unveiled software designed to help organizations secure and manage mobile devices, and give solution providers an opportunity to extend their reach and mobile business.

Tech Data’s accessTD app provides searches, pricing and availability information.

IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices gives organizations one solution to secure and manage smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop PCs, and servers. The software manages Apple iOS, Google Android, Nokia Symbian, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone devices.

On the security side, IBM’s software extends security intelligence to cope with the growing number and type of threats created by the “Bring Your Own Device” trend, in which employees use their own smartphones, tablets, or notebooks to access corporate data. Corporate IT can install Endpoint Manager, and remotely set policies; identify potential data compromises, and wipe data off devices if they are lost or stolen. In addition, the software helps IT professionals configure and enforce password policies, encryption, and virtual private network (VPN) settings.

In addition to this new software, IBM announced its acquisition of Worklight, a privately held Israeli-based provider of mobile software for smartphones and tablets. Financial terms were not disclosed. The move was part of IBM’s initiative to help organizations leverage the explosion of mobile devices and the resulting security concerns that arise from the mix of personallyand corporate-owned products.

The Worklight acquisition will provide IBM with an open platform that helps speed the delivery of existing and new mobile applications to multiple devices. It also helps enable secure connections between smartphone and tablet applications with enterprise IT systems. With Worklight, IBM is now able to deliver ubiquitous connectivity by allowing organizations to build and connect mobile applications; manage and secure mobile devices, and extend existing capabilities and capitalize on new business opportunities.

march 2012 | 7 | channel insider canada

Focus on Social media

Social media tools for the channel

There are so many tools to aggregate and dissect social networks. Which should the channel use?

S

by Christopher Rogers ocial Networks are good for connecting friends and family but they can also serve to connect the channel with partners and customers. Used properly, social media can be a powerful tool in the channel.

The abundance of social networks presents adopters with many decisions. It can be daunting to determine which websites and which tools are the best for connecting businesses with customers.

Which networks should I be on?

Although there are hundreds of social networks to connect through, the best way to choose one is to figure out which networks your customers and colleagues are using. Having a group of friends or colleagues to connect with immediately gives early days on social networks a sense of purpose and meaning.

Each social network has its own advantages and drawbacks, depending on the goals you’ve identified for your social networking foray. For example, LinkedIn is filled with professionals looking to make business connections but lacks the immediacy of Twitter or the website integration and sharing tools of Facebook; YouTube makes sharing technical knowledge easy through video but it is difficult to evangelize clips when not used in conjunction with other social networks; and Twitter limits updates to 140 characters.

One of the keys to any good social media feed is consistent updating so it is important not to overstretch. Choose a couple of networks that will work well together and make sure they are updated consistently before venturing out further.

Twitter Businesses in the channel would be wise to take advantage of Twitter. The brevity of the updates (each “tweet” is limited to 140 characters) makes it an easy way to stay connected with colleagues and customers. It’s also a good way to share interesting links and information relevant to a business, and to spread influence. Twitter is also easy to set up on most mobile devices making it perfect for connecting on the go.

Using “hashtags” (#), users can highlight important words or topics in tweets so they are easily searchable. This makes it easy to see what topics are popular or to weigh in on hot topics such as cloud or data centre.

LinkedIn LinkedIn is a network of professionals looking to make business contacts and connect in groups. LinkedIn has also become a strong network choice for job hunters and many companies routinely post openings to LinkedIn. Creating a LinkedIn account takes longer than other social networks (comparable to creating an online resume) but the end results can be impressive to other businesses.

Many LinkedIn users only update their profiles when they have an update to their resume but LinkedIn can be combined with Twitter to make profiles seem more active and relevant. march 2012 | 8 |

Hootsuite can display multiple feeds from different accounts as demonstrated here.

Channel businesses should consider creating a business page on LinkedIn so that employees and team members are easily searchable. Businesses should also consider joining groups and participating in discussions, which helps increase contacts and word-of-mouth about the business.

YouTube Businesses working in the IT channel are filled with expert technical knowledge and it can be difficult to communicate that expertise in a Twitter or LinkedIn profile. YouTube offers the chance for experts to share their knowledge verbally and visually. YouTube also offers a change of pace from the textheavy nature of other social networks.

The others Depending on which social networks a company’s customers are most engaged on, businesses might also consider networks such as Facebook Pages or Google+. Both of these networks have heavy user traffic and can provide excellent exposure, but they are also strongly consumer-oriented. Still, with the proper focus they can prove valuable in the right verticals.

What about blogs?

Blogging is another way to connect with customers and share more knowledge and industry expertise. Many vendors have multiple blogs written by employees from executives to developers on topics such as partner programs and product updates. Most popular blog platforms (such as Wordpress and Tumblr) include easy ways to integrate with other social networks, so companies looking for a way to share more content at once should consider this path. By leveraging a blog with another network such as Twitter, businesses can ensure posts are read by their target audience.

The major difference between blogging and other social networking tools is the length of the content being presented. Blog channel insider canada

Shown here running as a Google Chrome extension, SocialBro’s strong point is analytics. entries or “posts” can vary in length from a few lines to multiple paragraphs. For content that involves heavy use of images and video, blogs are perhaps the best platform.

Tools of the trade Understanding what each network offers is essential, but once businesses master the basics, chances are the next step will be making all of the networks work together and begin tracking outcomes. Fortunately there are many tools that offer comprehensive dashboards and analytics for social networkers, making management and tracking of multiple feeds easier. These tools range from free to premium offerings and require a bit of investigation before digging in.

Hootsuite Hootsuite is a social network aggregator that allows users to engage with contacts on multiple social networks all from a single user-interface. The tool has both a desktop and mobile version, but once it is set up on the desktop, users simply need to log into their Hootsuite account and settings are carried across to the mobile version.

Hootsuite allows users to manage Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare accounts while tracking some basic metrics.

There are also advanced options such as scheduling a Tweet for a specific time or date (options that are not available on the official Twitter applications). Scheduling messages helps users target their audience at the best possible time to maximize views and clicks.

Hootsuite is considered a social media aggregator because it presents all of a user’s accounts and networks in a single dashboard that is highly customizable. It is widely used. With all the new dashboards popping up (almost monthly), signing up with an established service is reassuring. Hootsuite offers both free and premium accounts with different features depending on the use-case scenario.

SocialBro Whether it’s updating customers on the latest products or getting news out to partners of a new incentive program, businesses will want to see who is reading, watching and clicking on their social feeds. There are hundreds of tools for

Just some of the over 220 social services Alternion can connect to. this but for Twitter, SocialBro delivers some uncomplicated dashboards with analytics that are easy to act on.

Users look at basic stats such as how many new followers they received over a period of time, analyze when followers are online, monitor hashtags, and discover new users. Social Bro provides comprehensive filter and search features to sort the data. Users can also customize their dashboards much like Hootsuite to display only the data they’re interested in.

SocialBro is still new but is already widely used; the only drawback is that it is specific to Twitter.

Alternion Another new social dashboard (recently out of private beta) is Alternion. Its biggest draw is the ability to manage over 220 different social services, including YouTube, Flickr, and Tumblr.

Some of these services such as Tumblr are limited to simply reading news feeds but many of the more popular services have full management capabilities.

Alternion is excellent at creating mashups of all the networks on which a business is active. It also allows users to quickly browse all their social networking contacts and break them out by network; an invaluable tool. The service is still in its infancy but already has excellent value as a single place to quickly browse multiple networks to see what everyone is talking about.

Klout In the end everything comes down to influence, and Klout is an easy way to measure a profile’s influence through social networks. The service takes a user’s participation on multiple services into consideration and then rates them on a scale of one to 100. The higher the Klout score, the more influential a user is.

Klout is also an easy way to track simple statistics over 90 days including Twitter retweets, mentions and followers; Google+ comments, +1s, and reshares; Facebook stats are coming soon.

Although it can be overly simplistic, Klout is an easy way to benchmark success and determine if a user’s efforts are properly targeted.

march 2012 | 9 | channel insider canada

Supplier POV Focus on Social media

Searching for the two M’s “Monetization” and “measurement” are the keys to corporate Canada’s success with social media.

by Mary Allen

S

ocial media is big, bold and ubiquitous, but is there a business case for introducing social tools to the workplace, and how does it operate?

While the social giants – the Facebooks of the world – after much wringing of hands have established workable models for monetization of the media, for many potential users, creating demonstrable value from use of these tools lingers in a mire of hopeful expectation. The notion that all organizations must become “social,” though, or risk relegation to the dustbin of irrelevance has begun to permeate business culture to the point where some observers argue we have reached a tipping point in adoption.

Research by the Portland-based Whitehorse Agency, for example, argued in 2010 that 82% of B2C and 86% of B2B firms are using social media, and that 93% of business buyers believe all companies should have a social media presence. Closer to home, however, it appears that widespread adoption of social media is not yet fait accompli: the latest poll from IT Market Dynamics has found that social media “is actively integrated into corporate communications and collaboration strategies” at only 13% of Canadian organizations, and that two-thirds either have no “corporate-wide strategy for social engagement” or “discourage use of social media as a forum for corporate communications.”

Market numbers can serve many masters, but this disparity in results begs the question: if everyone is rumoured to be doing it – what exactly are they doing?

Defining social media Questions about the definition of “social media” may cloud our understanding of the technology and its promise. While “social” usually brings to mind Facebook, Twitter or Google, James Burchill, founder and CEO of Business Fusion Marketing, offers a broader definition: “Social media is a methodology and a mindset. It’s two things. It is a suite of tools that are ever expanding and ever changing, which enable us to do what we are naturally talented at – and that is to connect, communicate and share stories.”

According to Burchill, social media is conducted via “multimodal messaging or video, audio, pictures and words,” and there are tools that are “predisposed to certain types of use and to certain segments of the marketplace.” Text-based Twitter, for example, is popular with users who are looking for rapid and direct sharing of information. Facebook, which integrates additional media such as picture and video, offers a “richer dimensionality,” while other specialty networks like Flickr or Google Plus are aimed at specialty channels.

Another way to look at social tools is to consider their application in business. In this context, social media may be divided into outward-facing tools used to build profile with prospects and customers, networks designed to facilitate communication within an organization or defined business community, and listening tools that companies may use to understand more about their own profile and markets. march 2012 | 10 |

According to Toronto-based social media consultant Sara Chi, many companies have been reluctant to embrace the outward-facing approach to digital media because it means relinquishing ownership of broadcast messaging as “the consumer’s voice takes control.” For Burchill, sluggish adoption of social technology as a way of building collaboration – at least until 2011 – resulted from perception that social media was “frivolous” or entailed a decrease in employee James Burchill, founder and CEO of productivity and IT security.

Business Fusion Marketing While some of these issues can be addressed through usage policies that train and incent employees to use social media in a productive manner, another approach is to use a new category of social solutions targeted largely at the enterprise customer, which address the security and productivity demands of the corporate world.

Examples include Cisco’s Quad, an internal or B2B network that enables social engagement but operates within the security parameters set by Cisco’s UC platform, and the social components of IBM’s Connections platform, which allows users to access all data contained in the Lotus communications suite. Secure within the “walled garden,” users of these tools have been empowered to find the right expert resources, create global communities of interest, and collaborate via a variety of media – to increase productivity by thinking social through what Burchill calls “the private label social network” that does not carry the same security risk as do networks in the public domain.

On the ‘listening’ side of the equation, vendors have developed a different set of tools that crawl the Internet, mining social networks, blogs and other forums for information on specific topics or brands.

Monetization and measurement Going forward, Burchill believes the “two M’s – monetization and measurement” will have a significant impact on social media adoption rates. If this is the case, listening tools may lead the way as the business case is more apparent – or at least more immediate – in this category of products. Examples include Radian6 (now part of the salesforce.com family), a pioneer in social media monitoring that now provides monitoring on behalf of a number of global brands, including Dell, which recently launched a Social Command Centre to support its call centre, marketing and product development divisions.

Continued on page 14... channel insider canada

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Supplier POV Embotics signs European distribution deal

Ottawa-based virtual-server software maker in agreement to reach 6,000 resellers

by Stefan Dubowski

O

ttawa-based Embotics is cracking into the European market with an agreement with Germany-based distributor Magirus, whereby 6,000 Magirus-related resellers will be able to offer Embotics’ V-Commander, a virtualization and private-cloud management solution geared towards mid-market businesses (organizations with at least 200 data centres).

“There is a huge market opportunity for European resellers to perform comprehensive assessments that show the reality of enterprises’ virtual estates, what infrastructure they own, what resources they are consuming and how to right-size and migrate to private cloud deployments,” said Martin Sajkowski, Embotics’ director, international operations, in a press release. “Magirus has an extensive continental footprint and deep expertise in virtualized data centres and cloud computing services. Its thousands of resellers and their customers will find that the return on investment in V-Commander can be measured in hours.”

V-Commander sits atop an organization’s VMware virtual-server infrastructure, allowing users to provision their own virtual machines. The software gives data-centre managers the ability to control CPUs, disks, memory and network configurations. Changemanagement features automatically discover and report on how virtual servers are configured and how they have changed over time. The system also enables chargeback and IT costing analysis.

Server sprawl Embotics positions its technology as a solution to “server sprawl,” where organizations have an over abundance of virtual servers running in the data centre.

“People are very good at coming to IT and asking for more and more,” said Jay Litkey, Embotics’ president and founder, in an interview from his Ottawa office. “Rarely does anyone come knocking on the door to say, ‘I don’t need this anymore. Why don’t you take it back?’”

Technology hoarding has always been an issue, but it’s even worse in virtual-server environments, where it’s so easy to create new servers that many of the processes and procedures that usually accompany physical server provisioning aren’t applied. “In the virtual world, it amplifies,” Litkey said.

He said V-Commander bests the competition because the software is quick to install and affordable. “We fully install and are operational in less than an hour,” while other products take “weeks to months” to install. And whereas competing products require teams of experts for configuration, V-Commander is most often installed by the customer.

“We are about 75% more affordable” than the competition as well, Litkey said.

The partner program for the Magirus resellers will be similar to the one Embotics offers North American partners: three tiers with higher margins for the higher tiers; deal registration to negate channel conflict. In Canada, resellers get “a little extra TLC” such

march 2012 | 12 |

Jay Litkey, founder, Embotics as sales-call support since Embotics is headquartered here, Litkey said.

Embotics has been focusing on growing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In 2011 it opened an office in London, England. The Magirus deal is the company’s first pan-European distribution agreement. With its customer base strong and growing in North America, EMEA was the next logical market for the firm to tackle, Litkey said.

Trusted channel “The channel operates with a different heartbeat in Europe,” he said. “The trusted status of the channel is higher.” He explained that in North America, where most of the technology manufacturers are based, end-user organizations can go straight to the software maker. In Europe that’s less common, so the channel has the chance to shine, positioned as the primary contact for the technology. “It becomes the role of the VAR to become the expert.”

While some people suggest that cloud computing offers little by way of opportunity for the channel, Litkey said that’s not the case.

He pointed out that resellers have been offering virtualization software and services for a few years, and since virtualization is the bedrock of cloud computing, partners have the expertise to advise end-user organizations on cloud deployments.

This could be particularly fruitful as customers grow weary of trying to figure out which of the many software makers in the market are actual cloud providers. It’s difficult to tell when every vendor says it’s the cloud company.

“Most enterprises will admit that they’re cloud confused or cloud fatigued,” Litkey said, adding that businesses need the channel’s help to separate the real players from the poseurs.

At the same time, the market has changed for resellers. While not so long ago a partner could set itself apart from competitors by offering virtualization expertise, it’s becoming a commodity, Litkey said. Embotics’ V-Commander could be the new differentiator, he said. channel insider canada

Research feature

Getting up to speed with social media There’s a lot of “smoke” around social media – and that leads to pressure on the tech department. But how much real social “fire” is there in the Canadian workplace?

by IT Market Dynamics

W

henever we hear about the “consumerization” of IT, we’re told that social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – has changed the way that Canadians approach the web, and that IT is under pressure to deliver systems and policies which can take advantage of social capabilities, without exposing management to the potential productivity nightmare of an office full of FarmVille players.

All of this buzz led IT Market Dynamics (the research organization of the IT in Canada network) to wonder, “How widespread is social media within the Canadian workplace?” To find out, we asked a sample of 346 business managers (members of Leger Marketing’s Business Panel) to give us some insight into how social media is used within their organizations.

Figure 1

Current approach to corporate use of social media sites

Figure 2

Policy towards employee use of social media during work hours

Don’t have a strategy in place?

You’re not alone The first question we asked was, “Which of the following best describes your approach to corporate use of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn?” Respondents were given four response options: • social media is actively integrated into our corporate communications and collaboration strategies – we connect with our stakeholders through social media; • social media serves a useful purpose as a source of input to our monitoring and analytics systems, helping us to understand what is being said about us; • we have some individuals who use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to connect with contacts in the market, but no corporate-wide strategy for social engagement; and

• we discourage use of social media as a forum for corporate communications and collaboration.

As Figure 1 shows, less than one-third of respondents report that they have active social media strategies. There is also relatively little variation across e-size categories, suggesting that this is less a matter of laggards failing to grasp the opportunity than of market-wide march 2012 | 13 | channel insider canada

indecision: for example, only 15% of small businesses, 10% of mid-sized organizations, and 13% of large enterprises report that “social media is actively integrated into our corporate communications and collaboration strategies.” With roughly one-third of respondents discouraging use of social media, it is clear that the wave of social media excitement found in the media Continued on page 14...

research feature Continued from page 13... is not universally shared by business managers.

facebook in the office – pro, con, agnostic?

Our second question asked business managers about policies towards use of social media sites during working hours. As Figure 2 illustrates, we see a difference between small businesses and (presumably more regimented) mid-sized and large enterprises: 46% of respondents from 1-99 employee organizations report that they either have no formal policy governing social media use or consider it to be positive for their business culture, versus just 27% of larger enterprises.

These larger organizations are nearly twice as likely (37% versus 20%) to prohibit use of social media sites during working hours.

social presence management The lack of enthusiasm shown by mid-sized and large enterprises for employee use of social media doesn’t necessarily mean that these organizations are not interested in affecting the perceptions shaped by these sites. ITMD asked respondents, “Does your organization have a formal budget for managing your social presence via sites like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn?” As Figure 3 shows, 30% of our 97 large enterprise management respondents report that their organizations are dedicating budget to developing their social presence.

Figure 3

FuNdINg FOr SOCIAL MEdIA PrESENCE MANAgEMENt

Small businesses, which are more laissez faire about employee use of these sites, apparently are less interested in formal participation – just 10% report having budgets for social presence management.

management upshot Combined, these three data points tell an interesting story. Respondents from all e-size categories have similar official policies with respect to corporate use of social media. However, execution varies widely: small businesses take a hands-off approach to both employee use and to corporate presence management, while larger organizations are more likely to try to channel social media tools away from

Continued from page 10...

Some of the larger vendors have also entered the social listening space: HP, for example, has just released a Social Intelligence tool that takes advantage of contextual interpretation and unstructured data management capabilities acquired through its purchase of U.K.-based Autonomy, while IBM offers Cognos Consumer Insight Analytics to help customers monitor, analyze and respond to changes in consumer sentiment.

How do these tools actually drive the “two Ms”? On this score, Meltwater’s Buzz offers some insight. Headquartered in Norway, Meltwater has grown rapidly over the past 11 years into a global firm with offices in 27 countries, including three in Canada, based on a social product portfolio aimed at providing business intelligence. According to Ric Pratte, architect and director of Meltwater Buzz, the monitoring tool was originally designed to provide a “simple” solution for gathering that intelligence from global social media sources, which could be refined through support from local sales/service consultants for regional relevance and delivered via SaaS, to help early adopters capture the opportunity to be “disruptive in their own markets.” Today, march 2012 | 14 |

staff, and towards achievement of corporate positioning goals. Over time, it’s likely that these points will start to converge – that large organizations will become less proscriptive against employee use, while smaller firms will become more proactive with respect to social management of their corporate presences.

In both cases – and throughout the journey – IT will be called upon to deliver support for these policies. Through use of data like this, IT can expand its role from execution to advice, helping management peers to understand how best to plot a social strategy.

Pratte noted, as use of social media has gone “more mainstream,” Meltwater has pushed its product to enable its 2,500 global clients to react to market change more quickly through a service that is accessible, easy to use, and that provides a “quick return.”

In Buzz, “return” flows from a speedy, customizable 24/7 search of web mentions across 260 million sources, sentiment analysis based on natural language processing to determine the tenor of these conversations, as well as a breakdown of responding media types. Armed with this information, a client may develop new strategies for market messaging and advertising vehicles.

While the ROI on this kind of activity may not be easily calculated, Pratte explains that the Meltwater SaaS model involves little investment in IT infrastructure, and that ultimately, social media is a communications medium that can be compared with the telephone: “There’s an ROI for the telephone, but measuring it is pretty tough.” And while it may be impossible to control conversations, it may be possible to lead them – in a positive way that extends beyond reputation management.

channel insider canada

SustainableIT_Ad_2011 new.pdf

1

9/13/2011

1:04:37 PM

Spring 2012, Hart House, U of T Information technology is one of the primary consumers of electricity in public and private sector organizations, accounting for as much as 5% of global power and emitting a comparable proportion of global carbon emissions.

However, responsible IT management and the intelligent application of information technology in business activities could reduce global carbon emissions by 15%. These practices are collectively known as sustainable IT. Executives and management in the 21st century will require an understanding of sustainable IT practices to reduce both their carbon footprint and overall operating costs.

The Centre for Environment, University of Toronto, in partnership with IT in Canada (publisher of the Sustainability Platform website), is presenting Sustainable IT, a 2-day workshop to provide both IT and business managers with the tools to plan and implement a decisive sustainable IT strategy.

Topics include: - IT power management - How IT & facilities can work together on sustainability - Reducing travel costs and carbon emissions with IT - Environmentally-responsible approaches to printing - E-waste management: best practices and compliance Workshop Rate: $1499 plus HST - apply now for early bird or volume discounts

For more information or to register, visit:

www.learn.environment.utoronto.ca Presented by

IN THE MIDDLE From left to right: Brian Bourne, CEO, CMS Consulting Mary Ann Yule, VP & GM, CDW Canada Ken Stewart, Root Cellar Technologies Stephen Perciballi, category leader, security, Softchoice Claudiu Popa, president, principal risk advisor, Informatica

Canada’s channel speaks out on security and social media

Considering the proliferation of social networks and the growing emphasis on data protection

A

by Christopher Rogers s social media continues to make inroads in the way we communicate 2012 promises to be filled with a continued emphasis on the benefits of the platforms.

However, as 2011 saw a number of high-profile security breaches companies are more cautious than ever to embrace technologies that will leave them more vulnerable to phishing and socially engineered attacks. Social media might present more advantages than ever but never has there been such risks for companies looking to embrace it. This month’s In The Middle looks at the proliferation of social media as a business tool while taking into consideration the growing emphasis on security that should continue to build after a turbulent 2011.

Q: It seems as if the range of potential threats continues to increase. Where do you expect your customers to focus their security energies and investments in 2012?

Brian Bourne, CEO, CMS Consulting: Certainly threats continue to evolve. As defences get better, so do the attackers, but where customers need to invest varies from customer to customer. It depends on both what investments they’ve made in the past and what assets they need to protect most. Managing and securing mobile devices, specifically Android and iOS are top of mind, but it doesn’t always sort to the top.

Mary Ann Yule, VP and GM, CDW Canada: One security challenge customers will face over the coming months will be driven by the concept of ubiquitous computing. With companies looking to make company information readily available through many medium and devices to ensure better decision making, the threat of information loss increases. One example of this is the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) movement which is garnering a significant amount of interest by companies. This concept is where organizations let their employees bring their personal smartphones, tablets and laptops into the corporate environment as business productivity devices.

The arrival of these devices on the enterprise scene will catapult march 2012 | 16 |

mobile device security straight to the top of our customers’ lists of security concerns.

Ken Stewart, Root Cellar Technologies: Many companies are looking for a better way to protect their VM environments and traditional methods for securing the physical have severe performance impacts in virtual environments. There is also lots of interest in VDI, and therefore the need to look closely at security in the data centre.

Stephen Perciballi, category leader for security solutions, Softchoice: This will be the year of mobile device management (MDM) and data loss prevention (DLP). Last year organizations realized the need for MDM solutions but were in the investigation phase. As organizations further embrace social media for business use of DLP technologies will be the most effective way to ensure sensitive data is contained.

Claudiu Popa, president and principal risk advisor, Informatica: This will be a year of standardization. Clients and industries as a whole have gained maturity and awareness over the past three years and they’re putting it to good use this year by creatively allocating budgets for a range of issues: improving security controls for key operational areas, such as physical controls, databases and communications (including third-party data sharing); employee awareness programs and new policies that aim to contain data leakage and improve compliance for savvy enterprises; the adoption of best practices from hiring experts to conducting internal risk assessments.

Q: Much has been made of the use of consumer PCs, smartphones and tablets and the need to apply corporate-grade security to these devices. Are there specific products and tactics that IT management should employ, to prevent malware from getting into the corporate environment and data from leaking out?

Yule: The best solution is a combination of clear usage policies and robust management tools and this is where the partner play comes in. A whole segment of new mobile device management channel insider canada

IN THE MIDDLE

technologies has cropped up to help organizations cope effectively with the BYOD phenomenon, so it is critical to align with an IT solution provider to assess needs and recommend mobile management products and solutions that suit companies’ unique environments.

Perciballi: The first step in a mobility strategy is to employ MDM. This will allow for self-service provisioning and centralized management of IT policies on mobile phones and tablets. Again, the goal is to prevent data from being lost, so DLP technologies at the network layer can help to mitigate loss by preventing certain types of data getting to these mobile devices.

Popa: We recommend standardizing on a single mobile platform for mobile communications that can be verifiably secured and we absolutely require all clients to have security and privacy awareness education before being allowed to take any devices (USB, mobile phones or laptops) out of the office environment. Recurring policy training is also an absolute must for today’s companies.

Q: Moving on to social media — there has been both positive and negative sentiment about how the use of social media impacts business operations. Do you have an example of how social media has benefitted, or has had a negative impact, on one of your clients? And how do you use (or avoid use of) social media within your own organization?

Perciballi: One of the biggest threats regarding social media is social engineering where someone can trick a user into providing information based on who they are (pretending to be). Preventing users from using social media is the same as preventing them from sending large files over email, they just use a USB key as a back channel. DLP solutions either in a web gateway, email gateway or dedicated appliance can help prevent certain information from making it, purposefully or not, to the social networks while still allowing users to generate content.

Popa: Social media is an operational part of business, so it’s absolutely imperative for organizations to understand it, secure it, control it and leverage it intelligently. We interact with clients, partners and the media through at least five channels and centralize our control of the overall social media strategy. This allows us to keep in touch with our clients while developing even better ways to deal with security and privacy challenges.

Yule: The proliferation of smartphones and tablets has meant that, more than ever, people connect to the Internet, social networking sites and their friends wherever and whenever they want. These new connections provide a rich new avenue for people to research suppliers and make decisions about whether they want to engage in business relationships. The relevance of the various social

media platforms in the realms of business-to-business (B2B) versus business-to-customer (B2C) is something we’ve considered. LinkedIn and Twitter may be more applicable to B2B scenarios, while Facebook might be relevant for B2C initiatives.

Q: Lastly, to tie our two subjects together — are there any security issues associated with business use of social media, and if so, what should businesses do to protect themselves?

Bourne: Certainly malware can spread through social media, but from a purely technical level, this usually falls into the categories of traditional web born malware and phishing. The bigger risk to the average business is that their social media account gets phished, or password compromised. This can create obvious public relation problems.

Popa: Countermeasures are specific to each organization; however, the preventive controls are shared by all clients. They are: strong but clear social media policies; continuous education through employee involvement in intranet and blogging activities; proper incident reporting and threat awareness. These are the three key elements of proper protection against security and privacy breaches arising from the corporate use of social media. Unfortunately, we expect to see some significant breaches affecting corporate reputations in 2012 and hope that they do not result in extensive amounts of trust erosion.

Yule: There are plenty of security issues associated with using social media in the business world from brand marketing risks such as public opinion and quality of messaging to the more traditional risks such as lost productivity and leakage of proprietary data which are associated with allowing employees to access social sites.

Often, employees can actually inadvertently contribute to a security issue by revealing information over social media that can be pieced together by a hacker with ill intentions. These unintended consequences can also arise when employees post sensitive information to a social site or blog using a personal social media account and referencing their employer. In fact, serious issues can arise even when the information being posted is not sensitive…But just as organizations worried in the past about employees using e-mail, instant messaging and the Internet, businesses now must face the reality that social media in the business world is here to stay.

Perciballi: Because this generation wants to communicate via social media it should be embraced. Users should be briefed on what is appropriate to share and who to share it with. A data protection strategy should be implemented to ensure certain data stays either on the PC or in the network.

march 2012 | 17 | channel insider canada

Channel Perspective ‘Bring your own device’ is status quo: Avanade In a global survey the Microsoft partner finds that the majority of businesses embrace the consumerization of enterprise technology.

S

by Stefan Dubowski eattle-based managed services provider Avanade has released a study indicating that the “consumerization” of enterprise IT isn’t just some concept – it’s actually happening.

In a global survey 88% of executives (87% of Canadian executives) reported that employees are using their own personal computing technologies for business purposes already.

The company presented the results according to six commonly held myths about consumerization, and the results suggest that not everything we’ve heard about this phenomenon holds true.

To provide additional context for these findings, we asked IT in Canada’s research arm, IT Market Dynamics (ITMD), to provide highlights from its own research in this area.

Myth 1: Businesses resist the consumerization of IT. At 87% it appears that at least within the Canadian executive suite, this myth is false.

Myth 2: Companies lack the IT resources to manage the consumerization of IT. Globally 91% of C-level executives and 75% of IT decision makers said their departments already have the staff and resources needed to manage the use of consumer technologies.

It bears mention, however, that in the opinion of ITMD, IT operations staff that are closer to deployment and support have a somewhat different perspective: they require policies spanning HR and IT regarding supported device types and corporate permissions to install applications and wipe data to successfully secure and support employee-owned devices. In a report based on 4Q11 surveys of 322 organizations reporting that they currently have employee-owned devices in use within their corporate environments, ITMD found less than 15% have these kinds of formal BYOD policies in force.

Myth 3: The need to attract and keep “millennial” employees is driving the consumerization of IT. Less than a quarter (20% globally, 24% in Canada) of business leaders said they believe that allowing personal-computing technologies in the organization will impact recruitment and retention efforts. More important, according to the survey respondents, are the ability to work from anywhere and the willingness of employees to work after hours.

Myth 4: Personal devices are used for checking email and Facebook.

In fact 45% of survey respondents globally and 42% in Canada said employees use personal devices to access customerrelationship management software; 44% globally and 42% in Canada cited time and expense-tracking applications; 38% globally and 32% in Canada pointed to ERP systems.

When questioned on this topic, ITMD added the observation that most employees likely check email (and many would check march 2012 | 18 |

Facebook) from any webconnected devices, regardless of whether it was initially purchased by the corporation or the employee.

Myth 5: Apple’s devices are at the forefront of the consumerization of IT. Avanade found that the most popular consumer-owned devices used in the enterprise Users access CRM and other business-related software via their own are (in order) Android smartphones, said Benoit Bertrand, smartphones, BlackBerry VP and CTO, Avanade Canada. smartphones and Apple laptops.

ITMD’s research is structured somewhat differently; however, it found that smartphones, followed by laptops and (distantly) by tablets are the most commonly-deployed mobile devices in Canadian business, and that BlackBerry smartphones are viewed as the “best fit” smartphones in this country, with iPads the most commonly-cited tablet device.

Myth 6: Consumer technologies with built-in security measures are safe for use in the enterprise More than half (55%) of global companies report having experienced security breaches as a result of personal technologies in the enterprise. Eighty-one per cent of IT decision makers report that their IT infrastructures need to be improved to address security concerns.

So what do Avenade’s results mean?

The findings generate a number of suggestions for end-user organizations, said Benoit Bertrand, VP and CTO, Avanade Canada.

First, companies need to figure out how to drive innovation, how to benefit from the consumerization trend. They also need to understand how employees are using the devices in their organizations today.

Next, extend existing applications to take advantage of employee-controlled mobile devices. And manage the change.

In the past, IT leaders maintained control of the technology, but that’s not the way it is anymore. At the same time, employees are expected to understand better how to use and control data on their devices.

Avanade’s global survey was conducted by Wakefield Research, an independent research firm, from October to November 2011, including 605 C-level executives, IT decision makers and businessunit leaders at companies in 17 countries across North America, Europe, South America and Asia.

IT Market Dynamics research focused exclusively on Canada, and is based on responses from 300 business users and 379 IT managers.

channel insider canada

INDUSTRY ISSUES

Insights on connecting with the channel: D&H Canada

Dedicated sales reps, credit vehicles, and events featuring tough questions for vendors help this distributor grow.

by Christopher Rogers

H

ow does a distributor make meaningful connections with its reseller partners while at the same time offing up every kind of technology, trying to cover all of the trends in IT? For D&H Canada it has come down to focusing on customers and treating everyone equally.

In December 2011 D&H Canada announced that it averaged between 50 and 70 new accounts per month in 2011 while also growing its fiscal year-to-date sales more than 33%. With these numbers it seems that D&H Canada certainly made a connection with the Canadian channel community in 2011. Greg Tobin, GM at D&H Canada, attributes much of the success to the company’s philosophy of giving each customer the same treatment, regardless of its size. One example is giving every customer a dedicated sales representative at D&H. “We want to make sure that we’re flexible,” Tobin said. “We want to make sure that we’re easy to do business with for all the new customers that are coming on board with us.”

Tobin expects to continue adding new reseller partners to the D&H program in abundance over the coming years. “Once we do that it’s all about giving them a good sense of relationship, followup, going above and beyond.”

There are a number of incentive programs D&H uses to drive that sense of relationship, such as the business assurance program where a reseller earns a point for every $10 in purchases. Those points can then be applied toward over 4,000 prizes.

Prizes are nice, but Tobin knows that credit is essential in the distributor/reseller relationship. In 2011 the distributor initiated credit increases of over $10 million total per month for resellers and it expects to maintain the program during 2012.

“If you give [resellers] credit, typically they are very appreciative and they want to buy. That’s how our growth comes about.”

According to D&H Canada, such increases have historically led to up to 20% increases in business from affected customers in certain markets.

Connecting though events Last summer at the D&H Technology Show in Mississauga, Ont., Channel Insider Canada saw first hand the different level of conversation that took place. Instead of detailing product specifications and features, resellers discussed business problems and solutions that could be addressed with the products.

“The small solution providers are very busy and we need to help them make profit,” Tobin said. “We need to give them new solutions of product and…we need to teach them the profit areas.”

Greg Tobin, GM of D&H Canada With time constraints in mind, D&H Canada will continue to provide online webinar-style events. Online events can be more expensive than in-person functions but Tobin said they attract attendees because there is less down-time associated with them.

During D&H events Tobin said one question trumps others for the vendors: “Is the product going to benefit the end-user?”

Ultimately that is what will sell the device for resellers.

Key trends for the coming year Beyond understanding what pain points a product addresses, targeting key growth areas is also important. In 2011, D&H Canada saw over 40% growth in mobility, networking and VoIP, peripherals and accessories, and network-attached storage (NAS).

Tobin said the “sweet spot” for D&H resellers are companies of less than 19 seats, and with plenty of new companies in Canada setting up – looking for essentials such as networking and VoIP products or desktops and notebooks – it plays directly to the distributor’s strengths. Tobin also believes the mobility trend will continue to be a strong growth area with advancements in the Ultrabook space and the sheer amount of tablets in the market.

He also believes Windows 8 and a new Microsoft Office suite will bring increased focus on change.

In keeping with its SMB focus D&H Canada announced six new vendors for 2012 that mirror its perceived growth areas and anchors the distributor strongly in the SMB market. The new vendors include: Archos, which offers Android-based tablets and e-readers; Jabra, which produces headsets; G-Tech external storage for Mac environments; CRU-Dataport makes portable and handheld storage devices including RAID systems; Ooma, which makes home VoIP systems; and Blue Microphones USB and XLR microphones for professional recording.

march 2012 | 19 | channel insider canada

tracker networks specIal bId prIcIng In the channel, january 2012

a 12% jump year oVer year could be a good economIc IndIcator.

J

by Jason Doel anuary is the start of a new calendar year and typically the start of a new fiscal quarter for many vendors, so this is often a trigger for vendors to refresh their pricing agreements. It was therefore not surprising to see the volume of bids in the channel increase again in January 18% over December volumes.

It is perhaps more noteworthy that the January 2012 volumes were up 12% on a year-over-year basis from January 2011. This indicates a return to growth in channel bid letters and special pricing agreements, although this change was not enough to significantly alter the sixmonth trendline, which remains modestly upward, or the 12-month trendline which remains modestly downward.

It will be interesting to watch bid volumes over the next two months as they typically grow to a peak with government year-end in March. If this current trend continues in 2012, growth should be more than enough to move both trendlines positive. It may also signal a general increase in business activity, which would be positive from an overall economic perspective.

At Tracker Networks we saw an increase in requests to cover new vendor programs, with support for more than 20 new vendors added to the PriceTracker system in January. While this has not yet resulted in a large increase in “active vendors� publishing bids (increased only by four in January), it does support our experience that the number of vendors leveraging special bids and promotions continues to grow.

VENdOr BId VOLuME By MONtH

Six month rolling trendline

VENdOr BId VOLuME By MONtH

Twelve month rolling trendline

VOLuME OF SPECIAL PrICINg AgrEEMENtS IN tHE CANAdIAN CHANNEL

march 2012 | 20 |

channel insider canada

Program Updates

New education options available to Citrix partners

Citrix Academy will create technical depth in partner teams.

by Christopher Rogers

C

itrix will be rolling out a new way to earn its top certification shortly. Partners looking to have their team members achieve the Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA) certification can now enrol employees in a six week in-class course that will cover basic design to troubleshooting with key Citrix products such as XenServer, XenDesktop, XenApp and Netscaler. The program also deals with complex integrations, optimization and scalability, best practices, framework and methodologies.

The new program, called Citrix Academy, was announced by recently appointed Citrix Americas channel chief, Mike Fouts in his January 2012 Channel Blog update. Founts also said in his post that it is the first of many enablement resources.

The Citrix Academy is only available to current Citrix partners, with the classroom work being conducted at the Citrix campus in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Santa Clara, Calif.

Prerequisites for the program include experience with Windows networking and Microsoft Active Directory, in addition to Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) on XenDesktop 5, XenApp 6 and XenServer 5 or 6. These certifications must be obtained two weeks prior to the first day of class.

The Citrix Academy website lists the cost of the training at US$8,000.

Fouts also announced in the same blog post that Citrix has released its 2012 Partner Enablement Calendar for the Americas region that includes over 120 events in every major Americas metro area. These events include single day workshops and cover sales, demand generation and technical topics. Technical content covers products from XenDesktop and Netscaler. These are all no-cost events for Citrix partners at any level.

Citrix will be offering sales training to partners for the first time through these programs. The sales training sessions will be 1.5 days long and are conducted by the same instructors that Citrix uses internally.

“This means partners will be able to utilize the sales language, sales techniques and sales tools that our sales reps use. I’m really looking forward to the alignment this will create between the two groups,” Fouts wrote.

Two questions for Mike Fouts, Citrix America’s channel chief Channel Insider Canada: Citrix already has a training website with much of the material delivered electronically — what is the reasoning for creating the in-person Citrix Academy program? What benefits does it offer over the traditional certification path?

Fouts: Our electronic training offerings are world class but we also believe firmly in the value of training delivered in person. For

example, there are a number of real-world experiences and anecdotes that a “live” instruction team can convey to attendees in a face-to-face setting. Creating that same interactive and collaborative environment of sharing and best practices is inherently challenging in an electronic format. Citrix Academy provides for an instructor-led training environment where attendees can actively participate and Mike Fouts, Citrix engage with their peers.

Americas channel chief Prior to attending Citrix Academy, we require attendees to complete the electronic training as a foundation, and believe strongly that the in-person training experience will add tremendous value to the overall training experience.

One of our key goals with Citrix Academy is to help our partners create technical depth on their teams. Given that strategy, we’re encouraging partners to not send their most senior, billable resource. Rather, we are recommending that partners send resources that can build additional Citrix talent on their team, and help partners create a staff that has a number of strong technical resources and increased depth. We’ll also provide the content to the attendees, which will allow them to be a Citrix technical expert when they return to their company.

Channel Insider Canada: How was sales training handled prior to these new events? Is this new program delivered online? What does the participant receive afterwards?

Fouts: This sales training initiative focuses on sales methodology and strategy that can be applied to any technology and service.

Historically, we’ve provided partners with content that centres on selling the features and functions of Citrix products. Our sales training this year shifts dramatically from that model to one where we teach our partners how to strategically sell a solution, regardless of what it is.

What really excites me about the sales training is the content.

We’ll be using the same organization that trains Citrix sales teams, and the same exact content we use to train our internal teams.

What’s truly different is that we’re focusing the training on the following: evolving from a technology salesperson to a business consultant; developing a better understanding of customers’ business problems; solving customers’ biggest problems by creating and positioning the best solutions for each opportunity.

Citrix Academy already has Canadian dates scheduled in Vancouver (March 20), Toronto (June 14) and Montreal (July 18).

march 2012 | 21 | channel insider canada

Focus on Public Sector

How technology fits into the government’s service puzzle

CATA tele-forum provides insight into feds’ way of thinking, and what that means for tech service providers

by Stefan Dubowski

C

anada’s federal government is one of this country’s largest IT buyers – and it’s getting ready for a big shift in the way it operates technology: Shared Services Canada will bring a number of disparate IT departments together, paving the way for cost savings and operational efficiencies.

It’s a big deal for technology service providers – especially those already selling into the government. How will Shared Services work? When will it be implemented? Who will the new multidepartment technology contracts go to? So far, there aren’t many details. This is what we know: • Small technology providers are expected to have a role to play, according to Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), which will oversee Shared Services.

Re the in

• The system will reduce the number of data centres from 300 to 20; more than 100 email systems will be replaced with one.

• The government will begin by transferring services in 44 of the more IT-intensive departments and agencies, beginning with organizations such as National Defence, the Canada Revenue Agency, and PWGSC.

VAR num the

• The Shared Services leadership team has been selected (Liseanne Forand, president, Benoit Long, assistant deputy minister of transformation, Greg Westcott in management).

Reg for eac

That still leaves a pile of questions unanswered.

So in preparation for the Shared Services era, the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) has been holding tele-forums for members who want to understand how the change will impact the way IT providers connect with the feds.

Last month, the discussion focused on understanding why Ottawa is making the switch, and what it all means for Canada’s high-tech industry.

The rese oth clu wh Mo

Continued on page 24... march 2012 | 22 |

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Focus on Public Sector Continued from page 22...

Aligning with government priorities It’s important to understand where the government is headed and why, said John Matheson, principal of StrategyCorp, a government-relations organization; he was the main presenter on the tele-forum.

“Success with government is achieved by understanding and aligning with its priorities. And it’s critical to understand how they got to thinking that all these things are necessary if you want to be able to intervene, either to maximize your chances and choices of participating in RFPs or to influence how they’re going to proceed on the implementation of some of them.”

Matheson outlined the government’s current thought processes. He explained that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government have been flexing their muscles lately, having finally achieved majority control of Parliament in 2011. Whereas the government had to mind the opposition when it had only minority control of the House of Commons, Harper’s team has just two main concerns now: what it can afford, and what might help – or hurt – its chances for re-election in 2015.

Majority governments are not new – yet this one is different, Matheson said. In the past, political parties would rampup their election campaigns some time before the election and wind down those efforts afterwards. With the current government, however, there seems to be little of the “settled” period between elections; politicians are campaigning all the time.

“The political executive in Canada has taken a turn that in some degree is a little more like it is in the United States,” Matheson said.

It’s no secret that politicians operate as a “thin veneer” atop a large public service, he said. Of note, however, is the way in which Harper’s team has formed a consensus with the bureaucracy, even as the government plans to cut public service spending to deal with a budget deficit. Matheson said the Conservatives created the consensus by focusing on prudent economic management – something that the federal public service generally supports.

Still, the deficit looms large in all of the government’s planning, Matheson said, pointing out that Treasury Board leader Tony Clement has suggested that the feds might aim to cut as much as $8 billion from the budget – a 10% chop. The government has a few target areas: pension reductions, reigning in the growth of health care spending, and re-engineering government (improved efficiencies via telecommute programs for federal employees and the grand IT consolidation that is Shared Services Canada).

“A key enabler of any of these things is making certain that we have a modern IT foundation for the delivering of these services,” Matheson said.

He said the government’s moves illustrate a new way of working in Ottawa. “The bottom line of all of this is that the world has changed. You had a government before that was treading water and trying to preserve itself. Now you have a government that has a four-year agenda, and a real, clear plan” to solve a structural problem with the way government operates and spends. march 2012 | 24 |

Q&A CATA members were invited to ask questions following Matheson’s presentation. Here are a few of the queries and responses: Q: The government has identified individuals to lead Shared Services Canada and it has a broad idea of which departments will be consolidated first. Has there been any news of a roadmap detailing how the feds plan to do this?

A: Michael Turner, VP, system strategies with Wesley Clover, the Ottawa-based technology investment company, was on the call. He said that he hasn’t heard of a roadmap yet, but it’s likely that the government plans to begin with data centre consolidations. Questions as to how the feds will do that (would it be an in-house team in charge, or will the government outsource the work, for instance) remain unanswered at this point. “From what I’ve seen, they’re talking about that process taking three to four years,” Turner said.

Q: Matheson mentioned in his presentation that the government’s procurement processes will remain important.

It’s difficult for small businesses to win government contracts now, because the procurement processes are so complicated. Does Matheson think this will improve with Shared Services?

A: No. “I regret to say I see no signs of that getting any better.

The obsession with process over outcome in procurement is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.”

Q: What is the government doing to learn from other governments that have consolidated IT services?

A: Matheson said the feds are pouring over the work that the Ontario government did to consolidate IT services, and they’re also studying Australia’s Centrelink system as a model.

Q: Since Shared Services will support a number of departments, it’s likely that IT service providers involved could be international companies with infrastructure around the world. Is the government considering the risks of housing Canadian data outside of Canada’s borders?

A: Turner said it’s already government policy to keep data in Canada. Matheson said the politics of housing information overseas would be too hot for most politicians to handle. “I wouldn’t want to be the minister explaining that one.”

One CATA member made clear her concern that since the government has provided so few details about Shared Services at this point, it’s possible that the feds will introduce a system lacking sufficient input from the IT sector – a system that will be difficult for IT service providers to work with.

“I’m afraid they’re going to come out with something and just lay it on us,” she said.

CATA president John Reid, operating as the tele-forum’s moderator, said CATA would bring that concern to the attention of the government.

channel insider canada

ON LOCATION HP Global Partner Conference 2012: Back to basics HP reaffirms its dedication to hardware, leaving little doubt about the company’s direction.

“I

by Christopher Rogers

wanted to get HP out of the headlines for the drama and into the headlines for our products,” remarked Meg Whitman, HP’s CEO, to the company’s global partner community. .

Although delivered on the final day of the event, Whitman’s words summed up the feelings of HP’s 2012 Global Partner Conference (GPC), that the company firmly believes in its hardware business and its strategy moving forward with partners will be to keep that hardware at the core of nearly every engagement.

On location in Las Vegas for GPC, the preeminent feeling among HP executives and partners was that, while the company’s shaky 2011 was still fresh in mind, everyone was ready to move on and get back to business.

Whitman’s closing keynote was perhaps the best piece for partners who were waiting to hear what HP’s newest CEO had in store for the channel in 2012.

“The thing I knew coming to HP was how important the channel is to HP,” she said. “You drive a very significant share of HP’s hardware and supplies revenue.” She added her thoughts were that HP’s number-one competitive advantage might be its relationship with partners.

Whitman also explained reasoning behind keeping HP’s Personal Systems Group (PSG), responsible for PCs. “It was an obvious decision,” she said, explaining that PSG, HP, and partners are better together than apart. “In the end, this is all about the products.”

HP is not a young company; it will soon celebrate its 75th anniversary (founded in 1939), and Whitman said one of her goals was to set the company up for the long term.

However, she also assured partners that she is concentrating on the short term as well.

Part of the company’s overall success over the decades has come from a clear understanding of what the company does.

With the turmoil in the boardroom, a slew of CEO changes, and varied acquisitions, it seems a good time to refocus the company on what matters most and reestablish itself to both partners and customers. HP, according to Whitman, delivers infrastructure, software, services and solutions for individuals and companies of all sizes.

“We are proud to be a hardware and infrastructure company,” she said. Her view is that everything else HP does builds upon that opportunity.

Focusing on Canada At GPC we met with key HP Canada business-unit leaders to discuss the key trends for the company in the Canadian channel.

They identified mobility, cloud computing and the SMB space as overarching areas the Canadian channel should focus on. But for each business unit within HP this means something different.

Perhaps the lowest hanging fruit is represented by the chances for HP partners in mobility; it applies well to all of HP’s business groups: the Imaging and Printing Group (IPG), Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN) and PSG. John Cammalleri, VP SMB

march 2012 | 25 |

David Donatelli EVP and GM, Enterprise Servers, Storage, Networking and Technology Services, for HP on stage at GPC.

Jeff Wood, VP WW marketing, Commercial Solutions Business Unit, HP, and Jim Zafarana, VP and GM, Commercial Solutions Business Unit, HP unveil the Z1 Workstation at GPC. and reseller sales, PSG for HP Canada, said that SMB is core to the Canadian economy, and that is significant to mobility because approximately 70% of Canadian SMBs have a mobile workforce and a further 40% have some type of work-at-home policy.

From a PSG standpoint, Cammalleri said the Ultrabook will be a strong mobility offering from HP. As well, Cammalleri said HP will continue to invest in the PC tablet space.

For IPG, wireless printing has never been hotter. From a partner perspective, understanding what HP is doing around ePrint and its new specializations in DSS (Document Solutions Specialist) and is a good place to invest.

Looking to the cloud, Sal Giulione, VP channels servers, storage and networking for HP Canada, said the adoption of cloud technology is higher in SMB than enterprise, which bodes well for Canadian partners. To capture those business opportunities, he said HP is creating an ecosystem using its business units. By Continued on page 26... channel insider canada

ON LOCATION Continued from page 25...

leveraging its breadth of expertise the company has a strong cloud solution for front and back office.

HP recently wrapped up a five-city tour in Canada called Master the Cloud. HP positioned it with keynotes and then presented attendees with an opportunity to find out how each HP business unit was relevant to the cloud. This was followed by job-title-specific information sessions on the cloud.

Trying it all together is the theme of moving the customer relationship from transactional to contractual. Most of the business units pushed this tactic but none more so than IPG. Partners looking to get into MPS (Managed Print Services) should investigate HPs MPAS (Managed Print Advanced Specialist) certifications and training.

Every level of HPs IPG was pushing the MPS strategy to capture recurring revenue.

Hardware takes the stage Whether it was Todd Bradley, EVP, PSG at HP, or Stephen DiFranco, SVP and GM, PSG Americas at HP, talking about new Ultrabook offerings or new workstations, or ESSN executives unveiling HP ProLiant Generation 8 servers (Project Voyager), or the IPG group reaffirming its commitment to R&D and innovation, hardware was centre stage at GPC 2012. Perhaps the most impressive piece of new hardware launched at the event was the industry’s first 27-inch all-in-one workstation, the Z1.

The workstation is the result of a collaboration with Intel and Nvidia to deliver workstation performance parts while retaining the form factor of an all-in-one. HP’s workstations incorporate details such as noise dampening and tool-less maintenance, and all these features are available on the Z1.

While the Z1 will be priced at $1,955 when it hits Canada in April, Joe Zafarana, VP and GM commercial systems business unit at HP, said the workstation devices fit best in verticals where the applications and tools are critical. Verticals such as software development, audio and video production, medical imaging and others are all users of HP workstations.

The 27-inch LED (2560 x 1440 pixels) can display 1 billion colours according to HP. Although the base Z1 unit comes equipped with an Intel Core i3-2120, it is upgradable to a number of Intel quad-core Xenon CPUs including the E3-1245 and E3-1280.

Standard RAM is 8 GB, but it can be upgraded to 32 GB. The Z1 can be equipped with SATA HDD up to 2TB in size. It has a plethora of inputs including two USB 3.0 ports and Firewire 1394a. Video options from Nvidia are plenty and are all heavily customized, the result of an ongoing HP/Nvidia collaboration. The base Z1 relies on Intel’s HD 3000 integrated graphics but upgrade options from Nvidia include the Quadro Q500M, Q1000M, Q3000M, and highend Q4000M. The Z1 should find good adoption in its target verticals as it greatly reduces the footprint and simplifies maintenance of workstation machines. march 2012 | 26 |

The theme at GPC 2012: Multiply the opportunity!

Autonomy acquisition starting to click Over the months following HP’s acquisition of Autonomy, there has been confusion around how Autonomy fits into HP’s larger strategy for growth. HP has acknowledged the potential in unstructured and big data, but since HP is a hardware-focused company, many wondered what the Autonomy deal could bring.

Addressing a lot of this at HP Global Partner Conference 2012 was Mike Lynch, Autonomy’s founder and now EVP information management at HP. Autonomy’s offering is all about data and information. And just as HP seems to be getting back to its hardware core at GPC, so did Lynch talk about partners needing to get back to “first principles” when thinking about information.

Getting down to basics, Lynch discussed the major trends in data. He highlighted social media, big data, cloud, governance and mobile as the market drivers. Many associate HP’s acquisition of Autonomy as coinciding with the explosion in big data and on that, Lynch said that the amount of data does not pose the problem, rather it is the inability to analyze it properly.

Information is evolving and for Autonomy, it is the unstructured data or human-friendly information that is the key to that information change. The database approach is becoming outdated, according to Lynch. In order to get real information and analytics for customers, Lynch said we need to move past this. The use of tags and other categorization methods are poor substitutes.

This is all important to partners because Lynch said 90% of the information from customers is in the unstructured form. In the analytics world, a large amount of weak information can be more important that a small amount of strong information, he said.

Partner opportunity lies where Autonomy is leveraging its new relationship with HP to deliver its solutions to customers. Lynch said popular ways of delivering Autonomy’s solution include over the cloud, on-premises, and a hybrid approach. And now, with HP, Autonomy’s solutions such as enterprise search and eDiscovery are starting to be delivered in a turn-key approach on HP appliances. channel insider canada

   Do your sales reps spend more time looking for special pricing approvals than talking to customers?

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Are your client entitlements lapsing, leaving your customers exposed and your accounts vulnerable to your competitors?

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

TEST BED

MOTOROLA PRO+

A business-first Gingerbread device with a full QWERTY keyboard. The PRO+ will surprise.

by Christopher Rogers Device: MOTOROLA PRO+ Price: $349.95 from Bell, available now OS: Android 2.3 CPU: 1GHz RAM: 512MB Display: 3.1” 640x480 LCD Storage: 4GB internal, 32GB microSD card compatible

M

otorola doesn’t do subtlety.

Its recent Android phones such as the RAZR and XT860 are among the most audacious designs in the smartphone market, pushing the limits of thickness, screen real estate, and general hardware innovation. The Motorola PRO+ is none of these things. That’s why it’s so surprising that the PRO+ might be one of the best Android 2.3 devices around and quite possibly the best choice for business users looking to ditch their BlackBerry smartphones.

Hardware The PRO+ sports a fairly basic setup on the hardware front. A 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM. It only carries 4GB of internal storage, but thankfully it is easily expandable using a microSD card up to 32GB. The display is a portrait-oriented 640x480 LCD touch screen coated in Gorilla Glass for scratch resistance. While the display is only 3.1 inches, it is very sharp and bright which makes for easy email reading and web browsing.

The PRO+ has a 5MP rear-facing camera only, so it is not a great phone for video calling, but thankfully, the camera is well implemented and even has an LED flash.

The images here demonstrate some of the camera’s prowess.

The most defining feature on the PRO+ is the full QWERTY keyboard below the

usual Android homerow keys. Like any hardware keyboard this one takes some getting used to, but once the learning curve has been conquered, it proves to be very capable. The only problem with the keyboard is the angle of the keys themselves makes the centre rows (“TGV” and “YHB”) awkward to press when typing quickly. The keys on these two rows angle towards each other instead of away.

While it is aesthetically pleasing the design simply hinders typing accuracy.

Rounding out the hardware are the standard 3.5mm headset jack and microUSB connector for charging and data transfer. Network connectivity is offered via Wi-Fi when available and supports up to HSPA+ connections for mobile.

Motorola says the battery on the PRO+ offers continuous talk time of up to 480 minutes and standby time of up to 325 hours. Daily use scenarios we put the PRO+ through saw the device last comfortably throughout the day and well into the evening.

With minimal use, the device was able to last two days without charging.

The PRO+ has a sturdy feel and rounded design.

The back of the PRO+ showing off its 5MP camera and LED flash. march 2012 | 28 |

channel insider canada

An image taken using the PRO+ 5MP camera.

Software With Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) now available on some smartphones, you’d think manufacturers would be eager to ditch the aging Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system and move to the updated version. In the case of the PRO+, the device suffers no Ice Cream Sandwich envy. Gingerbread runs just as smooth on the PRO+ as it does on either the XT860 or RAZR. Android 2.3 feels right at home with in the confines of the 640x480 display, while the 1GHz processor seems to be just enough power to eliminate any slowdown in the OS while maintaining suitable battery life.

As the hardware dictates, the PRO+ is a business-first device and as such comes pre-loaded with a few business productivity apps such as Quickoffice, Citrix, and GoToMeeting. Of course, users will want to download their favourite apps and the Android market is easily accessible and navigable thanks to the PRO+’s keyboard.

Since Motorola has positioned this phone at business users, it has included a slew of security features to the PRO+ that should help its acceptance in the enterprise. For example, the PRO+ has permission management features, encryption for data and the SD card, and password enforcement. IT can configure the Bluetooth for lockout control and the camera for lockout as well. There are also device lockout features and the ability

to wipe select parts of the phone or the entire device remotely.

If a user is on the road but IT needs to push a new application to the device, remote installs can be performed on the PRO+. Similarly, the device also supports remote uninstalls.

To help users track down the device, the PRO+ also has a device location tracking ability.

Design Unlike most of Motorola’s other smartphones, the Motorola PRO+ is about as unassuming a device as you could imagine. It won’t win any design awards but its functionality more than make up for its lack of flair.

Unlike the XT860 or RAZR which both carry sharp lines, the PRO+ has smooth, rounded corners and a general curviness.

The LCD display is coated with Gorilla Glass much like the other Motorola devices but the back cover is a rubbery plastic that feels cheaper than most devices (although it does make for quick and easy removal of the backing to reveal the battery, microSD and SIM cards).

The volume rocker located on the side of the device is by far the best one Channel Insider Canada has seen on a Motorola device. The same can be said for the lock button on the top. Both buttons are easy to press just on touch alone and offer good feedback. Test enough phones and these sorts of details become important, march 2012 | 29 | channel insider canada

as it is often the little features that phones do well that game the most difference.

The PRO+ is also not as big as other smartphones on the market. It fits in any jacket pocket, measuring 119.5mm x 62mm. It is 11.65mm thick. Keeping with its practicality, the PRO+ is fairly light as well, weighing 130 grams.

There are some questionable design choices on the device, such as a headphone jack that is centred on the top, and keyboard buttons that have an odd slant to them. I understand the keyboard design might have been meant to provide a tactile feel to the individual keys for better touch typing, but as mentioned above the design hinders productivity and should be revisited in future versions.

Overall, the PRO+ has a functional design but in a meeting full of BlackBerry devices, it will fit in well.

Final thoughts Android has long presented business users with a number of reasons to choose the platform, whether for a quality application ecosystem or multitasking that enables a different caliber of security application than competing iOS devices. With the PRO+ productivity is front and centre and the maturity of Gingerbread shows. It’s a device that should find strong adoption in businesses that are not standardized on BlackBerry. The native Gmail app on Gingerbread is very fast and rivals any competitor for ease of use. The screen is sharp and bright and the touch is fast and responsive.

The PRO+ is even HSPA+ compatible on the Bell network so users on the road can pull down their presentations and meeting minutes as fast as possible.

PROS: Many essential business features Gingerbread runs very fast Solid feel and build quality Full QWERTY keyboard HPSA+ CONS: Design is understated, especially for Motorola Takes time to warm to the keyboard No front-facing camera

Distractions

Distractions, March 2012:

Featuring news you can’t use – but should know. This edition: Spray-on antennas

M

by Channel Insider Staff

ilitary-IT company ChamTech has developed a spray-on substance that operates as a powerful wireless antenna. It’s “a technology that we did sort of stumble on,” said Anthony Sutera, presenting at Google’s Solve for X forum for new high-tech ideas. The nano spray-on material takes half as much power as traditional antennas, reducing electricity consumption and paving the way for long-range applications.

Sutera said the substance works on all sorts of surfaces; municipalities would be able to mix it into roadway lane markers, providing wireless connectivity for vehicles. “What we’d like to think about are ways we can enable wireless connectivity anywhere,” he said. In tests ChamTech found that by spraying the material on an RFID tag, the tag could be read up to 700 feet away – a far cry further than the few feet your typical RFID tag transmits.

Apple sues Samsung – again Apple is seeking an injunction that would bar rival Samsung from selling its Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the U.S. Apple claims Samsung is infringing patents covering elements of its popular iPhone smartphone, specifically around the operating system interface and the way users are able to interact with information on the touch screen. This isn’t the first time Apple has gone after Samsung in the courts. In Australia last October Apple won an injunction that kept Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet from store shelves; but the ruling was overturned in November. Last spring, Apple sued Samsung in the U.S. for allegedly copying the iPhone and the iPad. The companies have participated in legal tussles in various jurisdictions such as Germany and the Netherlands, each suing the other over patents. Whereas Apple’s U.S. lawsuit

from last spring covers Samsung tablets and phones, the most recent lawsuit targets the Galaxy Nexus smartphone specifically.

Nortel was hacked Nortel Networks had been hacked for a decade before the company effectively went out of business, according to the Wall Street Journal. In February the paper reported that hackers apparently operating out of China stole passwords of executives at the Ottawa-based telecommunications equipment provider.

The intruders accessed technical information, R&D details, business plans, and employee emails, said Brian Shields, a former Nortel employee conducting an internal investigation. According to the CBC, the internal report indicates that Nortel did nothing to stop the attacks, initially discovered in 2004.

IT tracks down diseases Toronto-based health technology company Infonaut has teamed up with George Brown College on a contract to test a realtime disease surveillance system. Dubbed

march 2012 | 30 |

channel insider canada

Hospital Watch Live, the system is being tested at Toronto General Hospital. It’s designed to help hospitals control and stop the spread of infectious diseases, based on a real-time location system developed by Infonaut and a team of applied research faculty and students from George Brown’s IT, Mechanical Engineering Design and Information Systems Business Analyst programs.

“Following the movement of infections as they travel between people and objects requires a highly sensitive locating system,” said Niall Wallace, CEO of Infonaut. “Over the course of 30 months, we were able to test the efficacy of the system in the Simulated Practice Centre of the George Brown College Nursing School, making the necessary modifications along the way to guarantee the utmost precision.” The system is currently undergoing final trials in Toronto General Hospital’s multi-organ transplant unit.

Following the analysis of the data, the information will be shared with all staff.

Data collection will be anonymous and UHN staff participation is voluntary.

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