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DECEMBER/JANUARY 2013
CHANNEL STANDARD
RODNEY FINNEY
Engaging with SMB customers is much more than selling a product PAGE 10
DR. PRASAD AKELLA
Four secrets of MSP success PAGE 22
CRITICAL INSIGHT FOR CHANNEL MANAGEMENT
COLLABORATION:
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Transitioning to an MSP model Standard SMB-ready technology: networking A downward trend in special-bid pricing Open source management software On location at Varnex
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13.01
FEATURED THIS ISSUE SMB-READY TECHNOLOGY: NETWORKING Kevin Priddle works with ten leading vendors to identify the networking products that will resonate with SMB customers
SMB-readY netWorKing prodUCtS HP, Dell, Cisco, NETGEAR, D-Link, Belkin, TRENDnet, ASUS, Buffalo and Barracuda nominate the best of their SMB-ready products
on loCation Kevin Priddle takes in Varnex and finds a community ready to ramp up its market presence
in the Middle
Six leaders from the Canadian channel share their thoughts on emerging collaborative IT solutions and their inherent business benefits
open SoUrCe ManageMent SoftWare ITMD’s Michael O’Neil connects with the leaders in open source management, to explore how you and your clients can take best advantage of best-cost software options
SpeCial Bid priCing
Tracker Networks’ Jason Doel identifies a contraction in special bid pricing, and discusses reasons why vendors and resellers should – and should not – take notice
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Collaboration – demonstrating channel value to both buyers and suppliers
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Trend Micro and McAfee investigate online threats and security, London Drugs expands online, Avaya recognizes Canadian partners, retailcommon expands overseas, Veeam finding growth in Canada
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How to successfully transition to the MSP model. Dr. Prasad Akella unveils four secrets of successful MSPs, and explores handling of conflicting requirements
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IBM injects $4 billion into channel financing, Incapsula launches a web hosting partner program, Gridstore accelerates, SAP targets discrete manufacturing, Astute Networks courts the channel
26 ContraCt CritiCal
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Six reasons to consider hiring Independent Professionals
December/Januar y 2013 | 3 | The Canadian Channel Standard
CCo VieW ConneCting With opportUnitY BY MICHAEL O’NEIL
Volume 2, Issue 1 EDITORIAL Michael O’Neil | Chief Content Officer michael.oneil@itincanada.ca
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elcome to 2013 – and to the SMB-ready networking section, the first full year of recognize the need for case-by-case The Canadian Channel implementation and support through Standard! We’ve reached out to many of their support for the channel. From both you since the inaugural Standard issue perspectives, we see recognition that last fall, and the feedback has been a trusted advisor is needed to connect consistent: there is a need for a highpeople and processes with technology, quality magazine combining Canadian to meet our growing demand for and global news and perspectives with ubiquitous connections; in 2013, we research and relevant product insight. expect that these kinds of engagements In response, we’ve established access to will fill the order books of many global news and perspectives through Canadian VARs. our partnership with ChannelPro SMB, If we expand our focus just a bit and tapped Canadian experts like Jason further, we start to see how many Doel and David Gammon to complement of the issues that are current in The Standard and other trade and business our core editorial activity and the media will begin to tie together this research we source from IT Market year. Collaborative systems reach out to Dynamics. Your feedback indicates that the edge of the network, to the mobile this is a winning combination – and devices highlighted in November’s we’re looking forward to continuing to SMB-ready technology feature. The core work with you through the course of technology provides for remote service the year! delivery, fueling the MSP activity that In this issue, we drill down into is central to many collaboration, VAR business which is a major plans in 2013, and area of opportunity “Collaboration is something people which provides the for the channel do, not something you can buy.” central theme for community. Our In James McNeill, Softchoice this month’s Global the Middle section Views feature. demonstrates And ultimately, collaboration enables that many different kinds of resellers seamless productivity across multiple are seeing demand for collaborative pools of capability – which in a local solutions, and Kevin Priddle’s extensive context, is the primary thesis of David examination of SMB-ready networking Gammon’s Contract Critical column, products shows that Canadian VARs and on a global basis, is the point of have a rich variety of options that they departure for this month’s research can deploy against those needs. feature, which examines open source Anyone who has either bought or software management options. sold a collaborative system knows that Reviewing these words, it seems the connection between devices and like collaboration is an ideal starting requirements is not automatic, though. point for The Standard’s 2013 calendar: As the quote from Softchoice’s McNeill it provides a perfect canvas on which illustrates, collaboration is human to blend research, product insights, interaction, not a product – we may and global and local perspectives, be continuously drawn deeper into spotlighting the ways in which the social and other environments where channel brings value to both buyers connections are technology-enabled, and product vendors. We’re proud that but the impact of these connections is you trust us to deliver the insights still experienced at an individual level. you need to guide your business, and Buyers express this idea by framing look forward to continuing to provide collaboration benefits in terms of you with the best of Canadian channel issues like productivity and workflow; coverage throughout 2013! vendors, as we see in the introduction
December/Januar y 2013 | 4 |
Kevin Priddle | Staff Writer kevin.priddle@itincanada.ca CONTRIBUTORS Jason Doel David Gammon Dr. Prasad Akella ART & PRODUCTION Elena Pankova | Senior Art Director elean.pankova@itincanada.ca David Potocki | Art Director davidp@precision-multimedia.com THE CANADIAN CHANNEL STANDARD - SALES Patricia Bush | National Account Manager trisha.bush@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 THE CANADIAN CHANNEL STANDARD 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 The Canadian Channel Standard in print, as a digital magazine – or to receive our daily e-newsletter – please visit us at www.itincanada. ca/registration
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Channel neWS neWS highlightS froM in and aroUnd the Canadian Channel BY KEVIN PRIDDLE
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Veeam’s Canadian growth tops 61%
Veeam Software may have only launched operations in Canada in 2009, but in three short years the provider of backup, replication and virtualization management solutions for VMware and Windows Server Hyper-V has made a big splash in the Canadian marketplace. Now with more than 2,000 Canadian customers, Veeam added nearly 250 new customers each quarter in 2012. The company also has a strong network of reseller partners that numbers approximately 500 across the country. In all, the Canadian region saw 61% organic growth through the first nine months of 2012 versus the same period in 2011. Veeam Canada started with a team of just two and has expanded to 19 full-time employees, a number that Dirk Vanderwal, Veeam’s regional sales director for Canada, said he expects to triple over the next year. “Our challenge has always been creating awareness in this country, “ Vanderwal told The Standard. But said that more and more companies are now recognizing Veeam and its technology as “the answer for the backup and virtualization space.” “We’ve brought on a lot of major resellers,” Vanderwal said. “A lot of work is being done and the channel is recognizing that we have a significant value proposition for them. They’re recognizing that the way we’ve put together the [channel] program offers really palatable margins to the partners – margins that are quite a bit better than what they’ll see from other vendors.” A major part of Veeam’s effort to build awareness and new leads is through the wide variety of events the company sponsors and takes part in. Vanderwal said Veeam participates in about 40 events across Canada each quarter including recent platinum sponsorships of The Windows Server 2012 Canadian Launch Dirk Vanderwal, Veeam’s regional Tour and VMware sales director for Canada Forum Toronto, the iTech Fall Series in Edmonton and Vancouver, GTEC 2012 in Ottawa and the Veeam Canada Annual Charity Golf Classic. Vanderwal said that there are about 7,000 new leads being generated from customers in the Canadian market
December/Januar y 2013 | 6 |
each quarter. Interest from the SMB market is expanding rapidly, but awareness in the mid to large-enterprise marketplace is growing as well. “Veeam’s investment in Canada has been incredible in the past year,” Vanderwal said. “We are ensuring that we have the best people, partners and are participating in the right local events to support our customers in Canada.” “We expect to continue this rapid growth throughout the rest of 2012 for the region and our partner community… and we expect 2013 to be even bigger.”
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Trend Micro reports Canadian businesses have high marks in online security
A new tool from Trend Micro helps businesses assess their current business security landscape and preparedness with respect to cloud adoption, consumerization and targeted attacks. Canadian businesses outranked global counterparts and shows they are more ready to meet online security challenges then their international counterparts according to a nine-country comparison through the new Trend Micro Online Security Assessment Tools for cloud, cyber and mobile security. Trend Micro recently assessed more than 2000 midsized companies (with 500 or more employees) across nine countries including Canada, the US, Germany, the UK, France, Brazil, Japan, India, and Australia. Canadian companies claimed high marks overall in expertise, protection, and responsiveness. “Judging from these results, when it comes to cyber security efforts, the world’s leading businesses can learn a lot from Canada,” Trend Micro Canada’s director of marketing, Laura Maio, said in a release. “By making this new assessment tool available to a wider audience, more Canadian businesses can plan and deploy security measures to manage both the continued growth in mobile device use and cloud computing as well as the apparent and unfortunate growth in targeted cyber-attacks they now face.” Trend Micro highlighted these points from their assessment: Advanced Persistent Threats: • For overall readiness against targeted attacks, organizations in Japan appear to be the least ready, while those in Canada appear to be the most ready 4.6 out of 5. • On average across these nine countries, approximately 84.7% of organizations reported a documented process for handling an attack, with Canada coming in at number one for readiness with 91.7% and Japan at the
The Canadian Channel Standard
lowest end of the range with 64.1% reporting having such a process. • Across these nine countries, 86.5% of organizations on average share their security policies regularly with employees, with 95.6% of Canadian sharing policies with employees regularly. • A smaller percentage of organizations, on average about 75.6%, educate their employees about targeted attacks, which tend to focus on individual employees, with UK leading the way with approximately 87.3% of British organizations and Japan at the back of the pack with about 51.8% of Japanese organizations being proactive about education. Canada scored 83.5% just behind the US at 85.5%. Ready for the Cloud: • Overall, Canadian and US organizations are the highest-ranked when it comes to having a cloud security policy shared regularly with employees. • According to these assessments, Canadian and U.S. organizations are the most cloud-ready and Japanese organizations are the least cloud-ready. • Approximately 87.9% of Canadian and 89% of US organizations encrypt their important data in the cloud, while only about 39.6% of Japanese organizations encrypting their cloud data. Using the Trend Micro Online Security Assessment Tools, companies can answer 25 yes/no questions and then begin to assess its current security posture, see how they compare against industry specific averages and receive suggestions on how to improve current security practices. Results are provided in five areas of security: protection, responsiveness, organization, expertise and visibility.
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London Drugs launches new website and e-commerce store
Following a year and a half of planning an investment, the Richmond, B.C.-based retailer, London Drugs, launched a new website and e-commerce store at the beginning of November. The main upgrades include a variety of navigational improvements as well as two key features that the Canadian retailer hopes will differentiate itself from competitors: the ability for customers to pick-up products ordered online at any London Drugs bricks and mortar location and a shopping ‘finder’ assistant “that asks the browser questions and in-turn offers back custom advice - matching a customer’s answers to specific products - in beauty, camera and computer [product categories],” a release stated. “The new www.londondrugs.com offers our customers better methods to find exactly what they’re looking for, with a secure and simple way to purchase and pick-up in the store, or have delivered anywhere in Canada by Canada Post or by courier, in a short amount of time,” Wynne Powell, president and CEO, London Drugs, said in a release. The new platform offers three new finder tools (Beauty Finder, Camera Finder and Computer Finder) to improve
customers’ search functionality and experience and has an e-store equipped to accept debit, PayPal and major credit cards. The new web presence aims to enable customers to engage in dialogue with other consumers and integrates London Drugs’ popular social media channels and Bazaarvoice ratings and reviews, where customers can look at a product and quickly share their thoughts on the product, ask questions and provide answers. “A customer can be on the London Drugs Nerd Blog or connecting with us and asking questions on Twitter about the launch of a much-anticipated technical gadget or hot new fragrance and then immediately click over, find it, purchase and pick-up or have it delivered with ease,” Powell said. The company says “the new e-store educates visitors with expert advice directly from the product buyers and experts from London Drugs, matching the in-store shopping experience and customer service at its bricks and mortar locations.”
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Avaya names Canadian Channel Partners of the Year
Avaya, a global provider of business communications and collaboration systems and services, recently announced its “Canadian Channel Partners of the Year” for 2012. The Avaya Connect Channel Partner Program is a global reseller program that aims to enable partners with fast access to Avaya resources and innovations. Six Avaya connect partners were recognized for achievements in sales growth, revenue and new customer acquisition at November’s Americas Executive Partner Forum 2013 in Cancun, Mexico. The partners were awarded in key categories including mid-market, customer acquisition, strategic win, and marketing. The Avaya Connect partners receiving awards at this year’s conference were: • Avaya Partner of the Year - Bell Canada • Avaya Mid-Market Partner of the Year - Bell Canada • Avaya Growth Partner of the Year Combat Networks • Avaya New Partner of the Year - Connex Telecommunications • Avaya New Wynne Powell, president and CEO, Customer Acquisitions London Drugs Digitcom • Strategic Win of the Year - TELUS • Top Partner: Marketing Innovation - Unity Telecom “We congratulate all of our Canadian Channel Partner award winners for 2012. They demonstrated leadership in delivering customer value, achieving growth in the
December/Januar y 2013 | 7 | The Canadian Channel Standard
Channel neWS markets they serve and maintaining a focused commitment to Avaya’s programs and strategies,” Renzo DiPasquale, VP of channels, Avaya Canada, said in a release. “The programs we put in place in Canada are driving very positive results and our partners are helping customers achieve the Vincent Weafer, SVP of McAfee full potential of real-time Labs collaboration. We look forward to continuing our channel enablement efforts and value-based program execution in 2013.”
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McAfee Q3 Threat Landscape
In November, McAfee released its Third Quarter 2012 Threats Report, and the results showed “a number of changes and reversals in threats this quarter.” According to the report, database breaches reached an all-time high, (surpassing the total number of 2011 breaches), while growth in overall malware numbers dropped slightly from Q2. Nonetheless, McAfee Labs tracked jumps in certain categories of malware like Ransomware and signed binaries. Rootkits, password-stealing Trojans, AutoRun malware, Mac malware and mobile malware all continued to increase as well. While at the McAfee FOCUS 2012 conference held in Las Vegas this past October, The Standard got the opportunity to speak with the SVP of McAfee Labs, Vincent Weafer, who highlighted mobile malware and advanced persistent threats as some of the biggest challenges facing IT security in recent months. “We’re moving away from very static desktop environments, well managed within the IT infrastructure, towards mobile devices,” Weafer said in an interview. “It’s a new platform and a new avenue of attack. Whether it’s personal or corporate, these devices keep a lot of sensitive information, so we’re seeing new attacks and new threats coming onto mobile devices.” The Q3 threat report shows that the Android platform continues to be the favoured target for mobile malware and spyware and highlighted the fact that after a slight dip at the beginning of the year, Android malware has bounced back with a vengeance and nearly doubled in amount this quarter compared to last. Malware across all platforms generally slowed this past quarter, but McAfee Labs still reports seeing an average of over 100,000 new samples of malware each day. “We continue to see advanced persistent threats, attacks which are targeted against individuals or organizations,” Weafer said. “A couple of years ago that was exclusively December/Januar y 2013 | 8 |
around government, defense contractors, or other very sensitive industries. Today we’re seeing it across all segments of industry.” Ransomware, a unique type of malware that takes a computer or its data hostage to extort money from its victims, has also continued to evolve in Q3. The number of new samples grew by 43%, making it “one of the fastestgrowing areas of cybercrime.” “Cybercrime exhibits few signs of slowing down,” Weafer said. “Though we tend to highlight the numbers, the fact is that we continue to see increased sophistication of attacks. Cybercrime, hacktivism, and cyberwarfare are in a continual state of evolution.”
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Canadian mobile marketing platform expanding relationships in Europe
The Canadian mobile marketing platform retailcommon recently announced that it will be expanding its relationship with Dutch asset management company Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance, which is one of the largest owners of shopping centres in the Netherlands. “Syntrus Achmea is one of the world’s leading asset management firms and the owner of a number of major retail centres. We are thrilled that they have decided to expand their relationship with retailcommon,” retailcommon CEO James Cunningham, said in a release. “After a successful pilot project in two of their shopping centers, we will now be offering our mobile promotional platform in all of Syntrus Achmea’s Netherlands shopping centre locations.” retailcommon, a leader in the mobile marketing industry, enables B2C companies to drive consumers to physical locations by providing them with a software service that delivers e-coupons to consumers’ mobile devices. The platform is attractive to consumers because there’s no requirement to download an app in order to access the coupon and it works across all operating platforms. retailcommon’s solution also provides client businesses with insight into the performance of social media platforms and supports Syntrus Achmea and their retail tenants by providing a mobile promotion tool to drive sales at their shopping centers. “retailcommon’s application has been hugely beneficial to our shopping centers,” René Vierkant, managing director of retail investments at Syntrus Achmea, said in a release. “It is unique in providing us with the ability to help our retailers pull traffic to their shops, and giving them access to all the advantages of mobile over traditional advertising in targeting and engaging their prime consumer audiences. It also helps our centres to be easily found by consumers on both the mobile and desktop internet and delivers fresh insights into consumer desires and behaviour.” The rollout to Syntrus Achmea’s roster of properties will begin January 1 and fully implemented by March of 2013.
The Canadian Channel Standard
on loCation
fall Varnex 2012 BY KEVIN PRIDDLE
Nick Jupp, president of the Varnex Canada Advisory Council
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he ‘Power of Three’ was in full force from November 11 to 14, 2012 as value-added resellers, vendors and distribution/ business solution provider SYNNEX joined together at the beautiful Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas for the Fall 2012 Varnex conference. Varnex is a peer-to-peer community of SYNNEX resellers that targets the SMB market across North America, with the goal of increasing market share and becoming “better at selling SMB solutions,” Mitchell Martin, president of SYNNEX Canada, told The Standard during an interview at the event. “Mission accomplished,” Martin said about the growth of membership for the Varnex Canada community, which launched three years ago with just 16 members, grew to about 32 by the time of the 2011 Fall conference, and has now reached 81 members across the country. “Geographically we’re balanced and in good shape,” Martin noted. “We had a little weakness in the West that we’ve addressed. We explicitly set out to get better coverage in the West and we’ve got that now.” The growth has outpaced the goal Martin set at Varnex 2011 to see the program grow to“ 70 or 80 members in Canada” by the end of 2012 and
he said that SYNNEX is “thrilled with the progress made in terms of driving membership up.” “We’re very pleased we’ve hit our target,” he said. “At this point the focus really is now to solidify relationships and really grow the SMB solutions business in Canada.” Sharing the same sense of enthusiasm was Nick Jupp, president of the Varnex Canada Advisory Panel and VP of operations at Halifax-based IT service and solution provider Dymaxion, as well as fellow board members Tim Lomax, president of the Toronto-based SmartPrint, and Sylvan Tremblay, executive VP of Quebec-based CPU. The first three years of the Varnex program in Canada focused mostly on recruitment of new members, while this year was the true “kick-off” of the program as Varnex Canada got more involved in the “content and education” side of things, organizing Canada-specific networking and breakout sessions, Jupp explained. “Until you’ve got the critical mass of the membership, it’s pretty hard to get anything else going and without the volume it’s hard to get the support of vendors,” Jupp said. “This is the first conference where we did get involved [and] the principal supporting vendors now know we’re active and that we exist.”
Benefits of Varnex membership Networking and community-building were two of the biggest value propositions members got out of the conference this year, according the Advisory Council members. “You meet very interesting and creative people [at Varnex],” Tremblay said. “They’re not in my region and they’re not a competitor of mine, so we can chat, they can give me some strategy, I can give them some strategy and we share. It’s a valuable exchange of knowledge.” Lomax said there’s also good interaction and sharing between the resellers and vendors through a program like Varnex, and that the conference provides some avenues of communication that wouldn’t have otherwise existed. “Most of the vendors that we deal with are US-based and the programs, policies, pricing and everything comes out of the US. Often they don’t understand the Canadian market or they just see it as an extension of the US market,” Lomax explained. “But being at Varnex, we get an opportunity to actually get face-to-face meetings with some of those vendors and their executives (not just the sales rep or the account manager as-
December/Januar y 2013 | 9 | The Canadian Channel Standard
Continued on page 21
SMB-readY teChnologY SMB readY: aligning With SMB needS BY KEVIN PRIDDLE
2013 is upon us and The Canadian Channel Standard is back with the third edition of our “SMB-ready technology” feature, where we look at the products that help VARs engage with customers and deliver the business-critical solutions that enhance long-term reseller/customer relationships. In the first two editions of the feature we looked at the top SMB-ready printer and display solutions, and best-inbiz tablets, notebooks and desktops available from some of the biggest OEMs in the IT market. This time around The Standard rounded up some of the top vendors producing solutions in the networking and connectivity space and had them offer up a healthy menu of networking solutions to feed the SMB diet. But before we get to the main course, we asked representatives from our lineup of vendors to comment on their strategy for designing products for the SMB market and how they work with the channel to satisfy SMB appetites.
Aligning with SMB needs Ben Thacker, Belkin’s global VP of enterprise business, pointed out that more and more hardware and software companies are – and should be – designing solutions specifically for the SMB space. “In years past there were less SMB-focused products and solutions. Instead, what was available were stripped-down versions of products developed for the large enterprise,” Thacker said. “I think that today, hardware and software companies see the growth of the SMB market and better understand that the challenges, requirements, and budgets are different for SMBs than large enterprise or consumer markets.” NETGEAR’s senior channel marketing manager, Garrick Lee, shared a similar sentiment stating: “Unlike enterprise vendors who are now dumbing down enterprise-class products for SMBs, we design and build our products with SMBs in mind in the first place.” Cisco understands that need for focus, and employs a strategy of “simplicity” when designing for its SMB customers. “That strategy is applied across the entire lifecycle of the product: simplicity of design, installation and maintenance,” Gary Isaacs, VP of mid-market and small business, Cisco Canada, said. “These are not enterprise-level products with features missing – these are sophisticated solutions geared at solving the complex problems of mid-market businesses,” Isaacs said. “Our mid-market strategy involves taking our products and making them fit the mid-market space through simplicity and affordability. Customers in this space are focused on core value and don’t want to pay for features they will not use.” Barracuda also approaches the market with a strategy December/Januar y 2013 | 10 |
of simplicity, according to Michael Hughes, SVP of worldwide sales at Barracuda Networks. “Some of the larger vendors are used to selling to people whose full-time job is the technology,” Hughes said. “Barracuda designs IT products that anyone can use. Each product is designed to offer the most rapid time-to-value. And, because most of our customers wear multiple hats and our products work consistently across the line, this often gives customers a head start when deploying and managing multiple Barracuda products.”
Ben Thacker, Belkin’s global VP of enterprise business
Importance of the channel “Dell understands that often SMB owners desire face-to-face Gary Isaacs, VP of interactions when making technolmidmarket and small ogy purchases,” David Gair, director business, Cisco Canada of SMB marketing, Dell Canada, said. “The largest route to market in Canada for information technology at organizations of up to 1000 employees is the channel.” Cisco’s Gary Isaacs shared a similar belief and said, “all the research in this space shows that SMB customers want to buy solutions from a partner.” Michael Hughes, SVP of worldwide sales at Barracuda Many of the vendors contacted Networks stressed the importance of the channel. TerryAnn Fitzgerald, HP’s SMB solutions marketing manager, described HP’s channel partners as “the backbone” of its success and as a strategic extension of its sales force, while Rodney Finney, TRENDnet’s director of North American sales, said the channel is integral and provides “the reach needed to engage with the SMB market.” “Engaging with SMB customers is much more than selling a product,” Finney said. “The channel has changed with the times to help brands such as TRENDnet develop relationships with customers through countless training and engagement activities. The channel understands that SMB solution providers are brand ambassadors and they play a key role in promoting a brand and their related solution.” Buffalo Technology works closely with its VAR partners to better understand “customers’ pain points,” Brian Verenkoff, director of marketing and business development at Buffalo told The Standard. “They’re able to share with us Continued on page 12 The Canadian Channel Standard
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SMB-readY teChnologY Continued from page 10
what solutions end customers need.” “Through our channel relationships, small businesses have immediate access to products,” Verenkoff said. “And our strong VAR Partner Program ensures that we provide our authorized partners with fair pricing that allows them to make good margin off of products so that they can compete effectively against online stores.” D-Link’s director of marketing, Pete Marino, said that single vendor networks are becoming a thing of the past and that by designing interoperable, open-standard products, D-Link offers solutions that reduce cost and complexity for channel partners and their customers. “What’s ‘best practice’ for some businesses doesn’t always translate to best fit for others,” Marino said. “D-Link offers a broad portfolio of products to choose from and a team of trusted local partners that make sure our customers gets just the right solution with scalability to grow over time.”
In Summary
SMB-readY teChnologY: ConneCtiVitY/netWorKing
It’s clear that more and more vendors are recognizing the niche needs of SMB customers and are beginning to tailor
IT solutions specifically for them – rather than “dumbing down” enterprise-class technology. Our lineup of vendors aims to deliver SMB solutions that have advanced and robust capabilities, yet remain easy-to-use and affordable for an SMB budget. All ten of the vendors we spoke to highlighted the desire SMB end users have for “face-to-face interactions” when buying IT solutions and emphasized the important role their channel partners play in penetrating the small and medium business market throughout Canada. With the appetizer out of the way, it’s time to pick through the “IT entrees” showcased over the next few pages and see what great SMB-ready networking and connectivity solutions our roster of vendors have to offer.
Rodney Finney, TRENDnet’s director of North American sales
Garrick Lee, NETGEAR’s senior channel marketing manager
Vendor description: The HP 1910 switch series is ideal for legacy network environments that are being crushed by the demands of the applications and technology that promise improved customer service and employee productivity. The HP 1910 Switch Series consists of Gigabit Ethernet switches with a “smartmanaged” Web-based management interface that is ideal for use in advanced small business networks. Its robust performance and security features, together with basic routing, allow small business networks to scale to handle the complexity and volume of network traffic from VoIP, mobility, cloud computing, and virtualization. The 2910 al Switch Series is a cost-effective, scalable solution for midsized enterprise customers who are building high performance networks. These switches can be deployed at midsized enterprise and remote branch offices. These standardsbased switches integrated easily into existing networks and easily scale as business needs change. The HP 2910 Switch Series includes scalable, cost-effective, gigabit-to-the-desktop switches with enterprise class features – which makes it ideal for building high-performance converged networks. Spec highlights: HP 1910 Switch Series: 8- 16-, 24- and 48-port 10/100/1000 non-PoE models and two 8-port and 24-port 10/100/1000 PoE models; four true Gigabit Ethernet SFP ports for fibre connectivity; web-managed control for security and scalability; ability to segment into virtual LANs or Layer 3 static routers and support PoE for wireless and voice applications; and a lifetime warranty Reseller sources: Canadian distributors include: Ingram Micro, Tech Data, SYNNEX, Hartco, Avnet and Arrow. HP 2910 al Switch Series: consists of four switches: the HP 2910-24G al and 2910-24G-PoE+ al Switches with 24 10/100/1000 ports, and the HP 2910-48G al and 2910-48G-PoE+ al Switches with 48 10/100/1000 ports; each switch has four dual-personality ports for 10/100/1000 or mini-GBIC connectivity; the 2910 al Switch Series supports up to four optional 10 Gigabit Ethernet (CX4 and/or SFP+) ports; static and RIP IPv4 routing; robust security and management; free lifetime warranty and software updates.
HP 2910 al Switch Series
Vendor description: Dell PowerConnect solutions offer best in class networking gear to meet the most simple or the most demanding IT environments. The PowerConnect family spans six series of models ranging from the PowerConnnect 2800 to 8000 series and has been historically known for it’s overall value and lower cost per port. Reseller sources: Contact your Dell representative or visit dell.ca/networking. December/Januar y 2013 | 12 |
The Canadian Channel Standard
Spec highlights: PowerConnect 2800: is perfect for customers who do not want layer 3 functionality such as routing and quality of service, but need a reliable switch for a small number of client devices like laptops and desktops. PowerConnect 3500: works well for customers who have a need for more ports than the 2800 Dell PowerConnect for client connectivity or for small power-over-Ethernet environments like Voice Over IP (VOIP) 2800 series phones or IP cameras. The 3500 series can be stacked with other 3500 series switches and can be managed as a single switch for a single user console. PowerConnect 5500: gives customers a layer 2 switch with ability to integrate with layer 3 switches. The 5500 series switches is layer 3 aware which means that it can read layer 3 information that comes from data from a layer 3 devices such as VLAN information. PowerConnect 6200: full layer 3 switches that can provide many options for stacking, routing and Power-OverEthernet (POE). They are also widely used in small EqualLogic and Compellent environments because they can automatically configure themselves when connected to an EqualLogic storage array. The PowerConnect 7000: full layer 3 but have a deeper packet buffer than the 6200 series. While the switching features are the same, the 7000 series better utilized in more demanding data environments such as higher I/O iSCSI storage and more demanding server environments. The PowerConnect 8000: series switches are 10GbE switches for use in small 10GbE environments such as 10GbE EqualLogic environments with one array, and small 10Gbe server connectivity.
SMB-readY teChnologY: ConneCtiVitY/netWorKing
Vendor description: The Cisco 500 Series Stackable Managed Switches address the common SMB challenge of how to scale your network cost-effectively as your business expands and grows, by helping to handle the complexity and management of the network. The 500 Series provides true stacking capability, allowing you to configure, manage and troubleshoot multiple physical switches as a single device. It also offers one of the industry’s first fanless designs for a stackable switch – thereby minimizing noise while delivering increased reliability and power efficiency. Keeping with the theme of simplicity, the ISA500 Series offering is a simple, all-in-one SMB solution. It combines Cisco’s Secured Routing and Remote Teleworker VPN, Realtime Network Security and Desktop Virus and Firewall cloud services integration. This appliance cuts down on complexity by offering a single, simple to use administration interface. Spec highlights: Cisco 500 Series Stackable Managed Switches: easy deployment and use; high reliability and resiliency; simplified IT operation; true stacking; strong security; network-wide automatic voice deployment; high-power Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+); IPv6 support; advanced layer 3 traffic management; power efficiency; expandability; peace of mind and investment protection; Cisco limited lifetime hardware warranty. Reseller sources: Reseller partners can source the products through Cisco’s distribution partners. ISA500 Series Integrated Routing Security and Wireless Appliance: cdual WAN; DMZ; zone-based firewall; site-to-site and remote access VPN (including IPsec Remote Access, Teleworker VPN Client, and SSL VPN) support and Internet threat protection; intrusion prevention (IPS); anti-virus; application control; web URL filtering; web reputation filtering; spam filter, and network reputation.
Cisco ISA570W Integrated Security Appliance
Vendor description: Our best SMB-ready networking solution is the Wireless Controller WC7520, which offers scalable, resilient wireless networking with a user friendly graphical interface to set-up, configure and deliver secure wireless connectivity for employees and guests alike. Our Smart Stackable switches marry some key fully managed functionality in a smart based footprint, but without the cost or complexity of an enterprise grade product. This resonates loudly for SMBs wanting to build more resilient and redundant networks, but who want to manage costs accordingly. They want stronger networks as they are becoming more reliant on technology for primary value creation activities as well as business front and back office support generally. As we move into 2013, IT backbone speeds will become more important as Gigabit networks see more wireless traffic on the LAN, driving increased productivity, speeds and storage demands, which in turn will drive increased network security and management investment. Reseller sources: In Canada, our Tier 1 Direct Distributors are Ingram Micro, Tech Data and D&H Distributing. Spec highlights: Wireless Controller WC7520: a flexible and scalable solution that support from 200 users up to 3000+; stackable wireless controller provides resilience for wireless users; deliver and manage mobility solutions at both core and remote sites.
NETGEAR Wireless Controller WC7520
December/Januar y 2013 | 13 | The Canadian Channel Standard
SMB-readY teChnologY Vendor description: For small businesses we have stand alone access points like the DAP-2310 Wireless N PoE Access Point with a limited lifetime warranty. For a growing SMB, scale with the DWL-6600AP Unified Dual Band Wireless N PoE Access Point that’s plenum rated, supports AP clustering, load balancing and a limited lifetime warranty. And for SMBs looking for the most robust wireless solution possible at an affordable price, we offer the DWC-1000 Unified Wireless Controller. It provides seamless roaming, load balancing, centralized management and guest access, plus fanless design. Reseller sources: Resellers can purchase D-Link products from major distributors such as Ingram Micro, Tech Data, SYNNEX, D&H, Supercom, and Tri-Ed. Spec highlights: DAP-2310 - Wireless N Access Point: 802.11n connectivity for increased network capacity; up to 300 Mbps wireless speeds; four products in one: Access Point, Wireless Client, WDS, WDS with AP; 1 Gigabit Ethernet port for the fastest wired speeds; multiple SSID for wireless D-Link DWL-6600AP Unified network segmentation; VLAN support; WMM (Wireless Multi Media) to prioritize audio, Dual Band Wireless N PoE video and voice applications; enhanced security with RADIUS support; and high power Access Point radio design. DWL-6600AP - Wireless N Dualband Unified Access Point: blazing fast wireless performance of up to 300 Mbps network throughput; Configuration Replicating Clusters reduce configuration complexity; up to 32 virtual access points may be created from a single device; automatic load-balancing among neighbouring access points; flexible QoS with WMM; trusted security; WPA/WPA2 Personal; WPA/WPA2 Enterprise; WEP Encryption; 802.1X user authentication; MAC address filtering; rogue AP detection; can be easily mounted on a wall or ceiling; and 802.3af power over Ethernet enables installation in hard-to-reach locations. DWL-DWC-1000 Unified Wireless Controller: manage up to 6 wireless APs, upgradable to 24 APs1 per controller - maximum 96 APs per Peer Group (up to 4 controllers); robust network security; Wireless Instruction Detection System (WIDS); and rogue AP detection and classification.
SMB-readY teChnologY: ConneCtiVitY/netWorKing
Vendor description: The Belkin HDBaseT AV Extender and Belkin USB to DVI-I Smart Cable are two great SMB-ready solutions available from Belkin. With the HDBaseT AV Extenders, Belkin’s goal is to facilitate the extension of HD content from the conference room table, the server room, or AV equipment cabinet to the HD display. Our extenders allow the installer to use standard CAT5e cable to extend the HD signal, instead of specialized expensive pre-terminated cables. In addition, our extenders allow the installer the flexibility to perform the installation in a healthcare facility, school, or government office using their commonly used plenum CAT5e cables. We understand the value of having a second monitor at the desktop: additional workspace increases computing flexibility and efficiency. Belkin’s Smart Cable connects to the USB port and to a second monitor to extend the PC’s desktop, without having to add an additional video card to the computer or without having to connect the laptop to a dual monitor docking station Reseller sources: Resellers can purchase directly from our authorized distribution partners that support our business division product lines: SYNNEX Canada & ASI Canada. Spec highlights: Belkin HDBaseT AV Extender: faster installation time with a single Cat5e or Cat6 (PVC, roser, or plenum) cable; longest lossless cable length on the market (up to 100m); choice of extender boxes or wall plates for convenient installation; backward-compatible; easily removable and relocatable; simplified HD solutions. Belkin HDBaseT AV Extender Belkin USB to DVI-I Smart Cable: easy to connect an additional display to computers, notebooks or Ultrabooks without the need of an extra video port using the latest USB graphics technology; provides best possible USB graphics quality, connecting high-resolution, 32-bit color graphics with smooth video playback via USB; no software installation required, simply connect USB to Display Smart Cable and in seconds, a new monitor is connected without upgrading the video card on the computer. Vendor description: With the explosion of PoE solutions, TRENDnet’s TPE-224WS, 24-Port 10/100Mbps Web Smart PoE Switch, is one of our most popular Web Smart switches. PoE saves installation costs and installation time. Most small and medium size businesses build a cohesive wireless network using multiple PoE access points. Many also provide security with PoE IP security cameras. The TPE-224WS is designed to network up to 24 PoE devices. The TPE-224WS has 24 Ethernet PoE ports to connect PoE devices; four Gigabit ports to maintain a high speed connection to your network core; and two SFP fiber slots to connect this switch with a network in another building. This switch offers advanced management capabilities designed for SMB needs, in an easy to use graphical interface. Reseller sources: Resellers can source these products from TRENDnet’s distribution partners: Ingram Micro Canada, D&H Canada, ASI Canada, Infologic EBM, ADI Canada, EECOL Electric, and Tri-Ed Distribution. Continued on page 20 December/Januar y 2013 | 14 |
The Canadian Channel Standard
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in the Middle
Jason McNeill, director of business development for networking and unified communications, Softchoice Dan Forbes,VP of Westcon Canada Paul Leroux, senior network engineer, Combat Networks Darryl Wilson, area practice director of Dimension Data Canada Paul Gragtmans, principal, ET Group Kyle Thorburn, business development manager, Imaginet
CollaBoration nation: leading VARs discuss strategies for connecting customers with profit BY KEVIN PRIDDLE
I
n last winter’s edition on Collaboration our panel focused on how hot IT trends like cloud, SaaS and BYOD were changing the way businesses collaborate, how it had moved beyond the travel reduction/cost savings story and how it was about “more than just video, calendar and email.” This year our experts are still talking about benefits beyond cost savings – they see productivity as a major driver – but it seems the conversation has returned to video. Our panel sees recent advances in video conferencing as finally bringing the technological expectations from 10-15 years ago in line with current capabilities. Video collaboration is no longer just a tool for the boardroom and employees from all levels of the company are now leveraging this tool from their desktops, tablets and mobile phones. Q: As businesses try to “do more with less,” collaboration has become an important area of focus. What technologies are “hot” with your customers today and what business benefits are they seeing?
Our experts are seeing a large uptake of mobile and videoenabled technologies. Productivity seems to be the main benefit as companies are enabled to “do more with less.” Dan Forbes, Westcon Canada: Video is definitely part of the conversation more often than it was in the recent past. We’re also having more conversations about mobility strategy and enablement, no doubt driven by BYOD. It’s interesting to see technology companies that would December/Januar y 2013 | 16 |
have considered themselves “telecom providers” having conversations about security and device management. The bottom line is productivity is the benefit. Paul Leroux, Combat Networks: There are the usual suspects that customers will ask about: IM, email, social media, document collaboration. But the hottest collaboration technology we are seeing picking up real speed and traction is video conferencing. We feel this is because the technology has finally caught up with the expectations that existed 10-15 years ago. Darryl Wilson, Dimension Data Canada: We are seeing uptake in the adoption of IM, presence and pervasive video (purpose-built boardrooms leveraging telepresence technologies, multi-purpose boardrooms leveraging highdefinition video and desktop/mobile video leveraging IM and a presence client). Having these solutions on the desktop is one thing, but when you can provide a seamless experience regardless of the user device, you have a winning combination. Paul Gragtmans, ET Group: Real-time collaboration technologies or conferencing technologies – audio, video, web and interactive whiteboard (IWB) – are all “hot” and getting “hotter”. The really interesting part is how the customers are using them and how they are not only helping businesses “do more with less”, but they are helping those same businesses to move to higher levels of business benefits - “productivity” and “strategic differentiation”. The Canadian Channel Standard
in the Middle
Kyle Thorburn, Imaginet: We have seen a tremendous amount of interest from our customers in collaboration portals with integrated instant messaging and presence. This allows users to collaborate concurrently on documents, see who is available inside their organization, and provide instant responses on short questions. A great example of this is Microsoft’s Office 365. It not only has all this functionality but also provides it via SaaS which is easy to set up and very cost effective to run. Q: One newer feature that we’ve observed is “media escalation,” where collaborative conversations escalate from one mode to another. What kinds of customers are demanding this today and how are they using it? Our panel sees customers of all types interested in the ability to escalate conversations from IM to voice or video, but the technology is becoming most useful for team-based projects and organizations that have employees spread over large geographic distances. Jason McNeill, Softchoice: Organizations that are open to change and “thinking outside the box” are at the leading edge of adopting technologies that support “media escalation”. The ability to move from IM to a call was the starting place for business adoption. We are now seeing a lot of companies that want to escalate to video as well. This is mainly being adopted by organizations with diverse geographic locations or highly mobile workforces. Organizations with a large customer service presence or that are active in social media will likely be on the cutting edge of adoption into this arena. Dan Forbes: That’s a good summary of what our communications internally and externally with the vendor community, or other IT companies looks like. But I think that view significantly changes when talking about end user organizations. There is still a lot of consulting work to be done in the user space around technology and the viable uses to increase productivity and customer service. I suggest
that a traditional phone conversation is still the number one way that communication is happening for the majority of non-enterprise end users in Canada Darryl Wilson: This is definitely crossing the chasm into widespread demand. We’ve talked about this for years, but clients are now starting to require this as part of their overall UC solution. Being able to leverage the IM and presence client to determine the status and preferred method of communication for someone you are trying to reach is the first real step in avoiding “telephone tag” or “voicemail jail”. Paul Gragtmans: “Media escalation” is being used in environments that have UC seamlessly implemented. But for media escalation to be effective, the technology must be woven together in a tapestry versus the patchwork that exists in many organizations. That is why a platform like Microsoft’s Lync or Cisco’s Jabber needs to be integrated into all the employees IT devices – enabling them to connect and escalate the media within the platform. Kyle Thorburn: Almost our entire customer base is interested in media escalation today. Phone and email are no longer enough. Most conversations now start as an instant message and are then escalated to a phone call to screen sharing and possibly into a full video teleconference. New products such as Microsoft Lync have created a seamless media escalation experience for organizations that are really driving new levels of productivity, especially across geographically dispersed teams. Almost all roles in an organization today require you to interact with a team. Teams are now often dynamic in nature and spread across offices or even continents. Screen sharing, co-authoring and multi-person video calls are of the most interest to our customers right now.
December/Januar y 2013 | 17 | The Canadian Channel Standard
Continued on page 18
in the Middle Continued from page 17 Q: Another current trend is the integration of social media into collaboration solutions for business, which can offer the security that public platforms may lack. Is this a key selling point for business systems, or are some customers content with more widespread, popular collaboration tools?
Social media and social collaboration is still in its infancy, but in general our experts see this as an area of major growth over the next few years. Jason McNeill: Social collaboration is the next big opportunity for business, and while it’s a relatively new market segment, we will no doubt see big growth over the next few years. For companies, the big challenge here is not only finding ways to share and store internal information, but extending this content to external customers just as easily. The winners in social collaboration will be vendors that incorporate ease of use (what end users demand), security (what businesses need) and complete integration with other collaboration technologies such as voice, video, IM, presence, and web meetings. Paul Leroux: It’s a case of driving down the importance of security from enterprise that either get it or are forced to look at corporate collaboration solutions in order to comply with their own governance rules to the mid-market. I think solutions like Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk and Skype will have a play in the SME for a while to come as the cost/ benefit remains the same as today. Combat Networks targets the Enterprise market with collaboration solutions like Flare, Avaya Live Engage and recently, Scopia. These solutions bring the interface and user experience to the business user while keeping essential security parameters in place some messaging alternatives lack. Darryl Wilson: Social media is definitely starting to get more attention in our conversations with clients. Many of the public collaboration platforms are second nature to users entering the workforce today. But public tools do raise security and compliance challenges, so we need to find a balance in determining how to safely bring these technologies into the enterprise. One mega-trend is the overwhelming use of video (content, recordings, streaming, etc.) The sheer magnitude of video is becoming very difficult to manage. Q: Looking forward to 2013 – what collaboration technologies will your customers be focused on and what will they need to connect to these technologies in order to support better collaboration inside and outside their organizations?
Our panel sees video as the collaborative tool of choice moving forward. As the technology becomes less expensive it will move beyond the boardroom (more than it already has) and into the toolbox of nearly every employee. Jason McNeill: Video, video, video! Collaboration is something people do, not something you can buy. So it makes sense that a technology that brings people faceDecember/Januar y 2013 | 18 |
to-face continues to lead in collaboration tool growth. Expensive multi-screen HD video boardrooms are just a small piece of the pie. One-to-one and one-to-many web video chats and meetings are where we’ll see the biggest growth over the coming year. Integration into presentation sharing and recording is also very important and we expect approaches that offer on premise, cloud, and hybrid to drive growth in this area. Dan Forbes: Pervasive desktop video is becoming mainstream, but it needs to take that “one button” approach where it’s easy to use and easy to launch. It also needs to power “any-to-any” communication, so that mobile users can be connected to any desktop user, and any room system user. I think that hosted/cloud solutions are going to have a big part in driving and delivering collaboration technologies at attractive price points. Paul Leroux: Video conferencing, IM, and document collaboration are three technologies we see our customers focusing on in 2013. To make it all work you need a scalable, agile and robust data network. To truly allow collaboration organizations need to have mobile enabled networks so their clients are not tied to one spot. Inside an organization this means a WiFi network with a Network Access Control solution like Avaya’s WLAN8100 and ID Engines. Guests and corporate users with mobile devices connect to the same wireless network for web browsing, email and conferencing but the NAC system dictates the level of access for the guests, contractors and employees thus adding a layer of security for the enterprise. Paul Gragtmans: Without a doubt customers are looking to implement and test the benefits of using social media tools to collaborate. I am seeing a big focus on the implementation (versus licensing) of technologies. Lync and other enterprise UC offerings (i.e. Jabber or Sametime) provide a common platform that incorporates many of the available collaboration technologies within a seamless architecture. The benefits this delivers are significant. Capturing those benefits will require not only the rollout and proper adoption of the technology, but organizations will also have to ensure that the UC platform can become a UC &C platform - the second ‘C’ standing for Collaboration. Kyle Thorburn: Our customer base is very focused on the Microsoft Office 2013 suite of products. SharePoint, Lync, Exchange and Office work together to provide a completely unified communications and collaboration platform. Special care and planning is needed as these collaboration technologies move to mobile devices including smart phones and tablets. The proliferation of BYOD, is forcing organizations to have a compromise between enterprise security and support for a variety of end user devices. Collaboration with external partners often means that organizations have to share information outside of their firewall or in a public cloud environment, a cohesive strategy for governance and agility is crucial.
The Canadian Channel Standard
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SMB-readY teChnologY Continued from page 14 Spec highlights: TPE-224WS: 24 x 10/100Mbps Auto-MDIX Fast Ethernet PoE RJ-45 ports; 4 x 10/100/1000Mbps Auto-MDIX Gigabit ports; 2 x 1000Base-SX/LX Mini-GBIC slots (shared TRENDnet TPE-224WS Web with Gigabit ports); 12.8Gbps switching capacity; IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) Smart PoE Switch compliant; PoE power of up to 15.4 watts for each PoE port; maximum PoE power of up to 170 watts for all PoE ports; IEEE 802.3x Full Duplex Flow Control and Back Pressure; IEEE 802.3ad Port Trunk; IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol IEEE 802.1p QoS; IEEE 802.1X Authentication and SNMP v1 support; supports port based IEEE 802.1Q VLAN Tag and Asymmetric VLAN; supports Auto-recognition of PoE Powered Device (PD) signature; full Wire-Speed Non-Blocking reception and transmission; store and forward switching method; integrated address look-up engine with an 8K absolute MAC address table; supports 128KBytes RAM for data buffering; easy configuration via Web browser; front panel diagnostic LEDs; standard 1U (19”) rackmount size (rackmount kit included); three-year limited warranty.
SMB-readY teChnologY: ConneCtiVitY/netWorKing
Vendor description: The RT-AC66U router and EA-N66 multipurpose networking bridge, access point, repeater are two great SMB-ready solutions available from ASUS. These are future proof networking technologies with an incredible, business class bandwidth, perfect for SMBs, providing intuitive network control, cloud data access, and expandability once the business grows in size. This is especially important for SMBs as RT-AC66U and EA-N66 will reduce network complexity and overall networking costs while increasing access to data, applications, and enable efficient teamwork, both internally and externally. ASUS networking products such as RT-AC66U are also IPv6 and 802.11ac standard compatible, as well as being compatible with current generation standards. RT-AC66U and EA-N66 provide leading bandwidth capability and network speeds, providing incredible performance now, and ensuring competitive performance for years to come. The award winning RT-AC66U router brings you into 5G, the fifth and newest generation of wireless connectivity with one of the best 802.11AC routers currently available on the market, while the multi-purpose EA-N66 adds flexibility and expandability to your network, enhancing range and signal strength, providing access point and bridge options, with high speed 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz dual-band wireless. Reseller sources: Resellers can source these products from ASUS’ distribution partners Supercom and ASI. Spec highlights: RT-AC66U: ultra-high-speed wireless performance with 5G Wi-Fi 802.11ac for transfer speeds up to 1.3 Gbps—three times faster than current wireless N; 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz concurrent dual-band transmissions for strong signal strength and compatibility; AiRadar for expanded wireless coverage throughout a multi-level building; IPv6 enabled for future proof Web surfing compatibility; ASUSWRT for easy two-step setup, signal monitoring, and network application control. EA-N66: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz concurrent dual-band multi-purpose Access Point/ Bridge/Repeater; orthogonal non-directional antenna design with enhanced range and signal strength.
ASUS RT-AC66U router and EA-N66 multipurpose networking bridge, access point, repeater.
Vendor description: Barracuda’s products are designed to be easy to deploy, use and manage, making it ideal for companies strapped for time or resources as many SMBs are today. The cloud deployment options are particularly interesting for SMB environments, looking to offload even more bandwidth and resources from their own networks. Two great examples that have been particularly well received in the SMB market are the Barracuda Email Security Service and the Barracuda Web Security Service. Both of these solutions give SMBs scalable email and Web security to block the latest spam and phishing attacks, and keep users safe as they browse the Web. Both are available with free 30-day trials like all Barracuda solutions, and there are no hassles with shipping or installing an appliance, it makes it an easy choice for SMBs looking to deploy quickly The Barracuda Email Security Service and Barracuda Web Security Service are ideal for SMBs because they’re both cost friendly, easy to use, scalable and quick to deploy, along with providing unmatched security for the intended environment. Reseller sources: Resellers can source Barracuda solutions direct or through SYNNEX. Spec highlights: Barracuda Email Security Service: anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-phishing and anti-spooling; encryption; Denial of Service protection; data loss prevention; attachment anti-spyware; affordable; easy to use and manage; highly scalable. Barracuda Web Security Service: URL and content filtering; mobile device security; advanced malware protection; centralized policy management, reporting and monitoring; and social media application control.
December/Januar y 2013 | 20 |
The Canadian Channel Standard
Barracuda Email Security Service and Barracuda Web Security Service
SMB-readY teChnologY Vendor description: Buffalo Technology’s AirStation wireless routers and wireless adapters provide reliable, high speed wireless networking with advanced features and options for the small office or home network. Our dual-band wireless router solutions include HighPower technology, DD-WRT firmware, high gain antennas and more. Buffalo was the first to demonstrate and ship 802.11ac wireless technology this year. The dual-band solution provides the SMB industry with blazing fast speeds, up to 3x over traditional Wi-Fi, and extended range. Along with gigabit speeds, Buffalo’s 802.11ac products with improved radios will feature improved reliability and produce better coverage for ultraportable devices such as tablets and smart phones. As 802.11ac Wi-Fi proliferates into phones and tablets, the WZR-D1800H will enable even better coverage as well as incredibly fast download times, improving the battery life of clients. In addition, by delivering a router that has both 802.11ac and 802.11n technology, Buffalo Technology has future-proofed wireless infrastructure while providing backward compatibility for legacy devices. The router has been priced to compete with the 11n routers in the market, so IT directors can get 802.11ac connectivity for no cost premium, providing future proofing. Buffalo provides consumers and the SMB industry with a no-compromise, future proofed wireless infrastructure for their digital world, and Buffalo wireless solutions are all backed by a limited three-year warranty that includes toll-free U.S.-based technical support available 24/7. Reseller sources: Buffalo Technology sources its products through Ingram Micro, SYNNEX, D&H, TechData and Supercom Canada. Spec highlights: AirStation AC1300 / N900 Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Router: supports wireless 802.11ac and 802.11n; 5 GHz Speeds up to 1300 Mbps; 2.4 GHz Speeds up to 450 Mbps; 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports; configure as an access point; guest access / multi SSID; deal for high speed data streaming; two wireless radios for extreme performance and backward compatibility; and ideal for the SMB industry.
Buffalo Airstation wireless router
Continued from page 9
showed me they want to work with us and bring us more educational information about how they can help us,” Jupp explained. “The vendors did a great job this time. They talked a lot more about higher-level business stuff – not just about which products are free or on sale this week.”
Plans for the future
Mitchell Martin, president of SYNNEX Canada
signed to the reseller) and an opportunity to explain what our situations are in Canada versus the US.” “The fundamental goal [of vendors and VARs] is the same - make more money and sell more - but we come at it from slightly different perspectives,” Jupp said. “At this conference [the vendors]
Now that membership has reached a stable level, Jupp said there will be more focus on having more regular meetings and events as well as expanding the support Varnex Canada can offer its membership. Some of Advisory Council members said they have past experience reseller programs from some of the other big distributors, but chose SYNNEX’s Varnex community because of the distributor’s focus on the SMB space and its solutions-oriented approach. Lomax said he’s been very happy with the PrintSOLV program that has been active for a number of years in Canada but said he hopes to see some more of the Solv programs and mar-
keting programs “that are available to the Varnex community in the US become available in Canada.” Martin said that Varnex Canada aims to be a little bit more focused in its solutions selections and doesn’t try and bring as many programs as the US – preferring to let new programs get ‘battle-tested’ and work out their growing pains State-side before launching in Canada. But he noted that there are plans migrate the CLOUDSolv and RENEWSolv programs north of the border in 2013. “I want to put a lot behind the programs that we do bring to Canada,” Martin said. “Given the size of the market I’m not able to invest to the extent that the US can, so I choose to focus in a sub-set of areas.” “The Varnex community is starting to feel pretty special and we’re promoting it very heavily with all the stakeholders,” Martin concluded. “We’re just thrilled with the progress and it’s going to continue to be a very important focus for SYNNEX moving forward.”
December/Januar y 2013 | 21 | The Canadian Channel Standard
gloBal VieWS
hoW to SUCCeSSfUllY tranSition to the MSp Model Why VARs make the move and the steps they take to ensure success BY DR. PRASAD AKELLA
With the advent of cloud computing, many of the 80,000 to 120,000 VARs in North America are looking to change their business models and transform into managed service providers (MSPs). Unfortunately, fewer than 10% of them will make the successful transition. But why are VARs looking to become MSPs, and how they can successfully make the transition?
strategic IT projects or used in other parts of their business. VARs typically sell and implement the aforementioned technologies, so hosting, supporting, and managing them is a natural extension to their business model. This customer-driven trend, according to MSP Mentor, has resulted in the top 100 MSP companies generating $1.04 billion in combined annual recurring revenue (ARR) for 2011, up 28 % from 2010.
THE MARCH TOWARD BECOMING AN MSP
2. Predictable business model. Unlike the VAR business model, where the service provider makes money only when he or she sells a product to a customer, the MSP model delivers a recurring revenue stream. Forward revenue visibility makes the business more predictable and attractive.
There are three main drivers motivating VARs to become MSPs: 1. Customer demand. Most organizations realize that they spend 80% of their IT budgets on keeping their basic infrastructure running, spent primarily on technology and resources for managing and upgrading hardware, software, security, and failover infrastructure for their email, website, and productivity/business applications. Since the spend doesn’t contribute to the growth of their businesses, CEOs (especially of cash and expertise strapped SMBs) see this as wasted money and are moving to reduce this spend by delegating tasks such as running their business/productivity applications and email service (including managing all the hardware, software, security and network required to run them) to MSPs who can perform these tasks more efficiently. Savings are ploughed back into more
3. Partner, rather than vendor. The expectation level of IT and its increased sophistication have driven IT complexity up significantly, putting SMBs at a disadvantage. Their IT budgets don’t have enough room for the expertise and resources needed to properly deploy, manage, and monitor the comprehensive IT infrastructure needed to compete in the market. MSPs provide a cost-efficient way for SMBs to afford the IT infrastructure that so far has traditionally been accessible only to larger companies. Additionally, they tend to work 24x7 building customers’ trust and developing relationships, ensuring that it is harder to displace them.
December/Januar y 2013 | 22 |
THE SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL MSPS While these drivers make it very compelling for a VAR to become an MSP, the obstacles can be daunting. But using the following four strategies increases the odds of joining that elusive 10% club. 1. Minimize your startup and running costs. Building and running your own data center, with world-class security, 24x7 remote monitoring, scalability and redundancy, performance, and uptime requires significant ongoing investment in hardware, software, and personnel—costs that can price you out of the market and/or reduce your margins if not amortized across a large installed base. Successful MSPs find a way to provide infrastructure with minimal upfront investment (so you can transition without needing to raise significant capital) and with minimal ongoing spend (so you can keep operating costs low). For example, a small VAR in the telecommunications space that wants to offer VOIP-as-a-service would have to buy upfront licenses of a PBX product and associated software; build a 24x7 infrastructure, and hire resources for a 24x7 support model. SMB VARs can become MSPs and offer VOIP-as-a-service without much upfront investment. 2. Sell multiple services. The entire premise of the MSP business model is to start a client relationship with
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gloBal VieWS one recurring service and then grow the revenue from that client over time by selling additional services. For example, customers are moving from having voice, data, and email running in different siloes to a unified communications model. So a client, who subscribes to hosted email services from an MSP today, would be interested in purchasing additional services from that MSP in the future, so they can integrate their email with voice and messaging. Successful MSPs simultaneously add new high-margin products and services to the portfolio and the back end to manage, support, and bill these clients. They focus on both, because a bad customer experience with the service or the support negatively impacts their brand. 3. Provide better SLAs. It is said that when you become an MSP you go from an 8x5 business to a 24x7 business. You will live and die by meeting the service levels you promise—service levels that continue to grow as established MSPs use their scale to consistently deliver high service levels at lower spend per customer. Successful MSPs find ways to offer high service levels without taking huge financial risks or dramatically increasing their cost structure. 4. Build your brand. This is the capstone, where all of your hard work, strategic thinking, and tactical execution come together. Your customers trust is reflected in your brand value. Your brand means more than cost to many of them, as they want their businesses to be running, worry-free. Successful MSPs focus their management team on building the customer experience and a trustworthy brand in the market. They often institute extensive customer feedback programs to measure how their brand is growing over time. Such programs also help them identify and proactively address issues, so they can continually improve their customer’s experience with their service. Satisfied customers not only become active promoters of the brand (a big plus in
the current social media age), but they also lead to high renewal rates—the lynchpin of the MSP business model.
HANDLING APPARENTLY CONFLICTING REQUIREMENTS At first glance, the above requirements seem to be in conflict. How do you commit to high service levels, design scalability, and invest in building a trusted brand identity while keeping your initial and ongoing costs low? The answer lies in making strategic choices. Do you want to be an end-to-end service provider or do you want to focus on the customer and on solving his business problems? Are you open to reselling a large partner’s services as your own? With the continued competition in the SaaS marketplace, the aggregation of customers around a few of the bigger players, and the associated compression in margins, outsourcing your back-end operations is a strategic choice. Doing so reduces your up-front investment in hardware/software; the need to provide a highly secure, remotely managed, scalable, and redundant environment; and eliminates the need to build the service provisioning, management, and billing infrastructure. It also opens up the range of services that your customers need, without you having to develop them. It’s your upsell and cross-sell strategy that grows your share of the customer’s wallet. If you go down this path, you will need to ensure that the critical ingredients to a successful long-term relationship are in place. Here are some attributes your service provider partner must have: • It white labels its services for you to market under your brand. • It has the scale to allow you to resell its services at a cost lower than what you would spend to build and offer them yourself. • It offers market-competitive service levels that are currently at the “five 9s” (99.999% uptime) level so you can, in turn, offer them to your customers and be competitive. • It allows you to white label
its billing service. And, the company’s billing models are sophisticated enough to support the market’s expectations of payment based on the elastic use of resources. This also enables you to use back-office functions to build your brand at all customer touch points. • It offers various services, preintegrated from technology, user experience, provisioning, and billing perspectives. Access to this portfolio of services should reduce your sales and marketing costs while increasing the lifetime value of the customer— metrics that positively impact your business! The path from VAR to MSP is a natural and appealing one. Since success is rather limited, however, be prepared to do some careful thinking, judicious decision making, and relentless execution. Focusing on your core skills, zeroing on your customer’s needs, and eliminating sources of risk are critical. Deciding to focus on becoming a trusted partner to the customer in their growth aspirations and outsourcing the risks and distractions that come with running the back-end operations is a promising approach. This frees you up to focus on managing and growing your customer relationships, providing excellent customer service, and growing your business while gaining access to a range of services at competitive prices that afford good margins. Enjoy your journey to the 10% club!
DR. PRASAD AKELLA is senior vice president of products and marketing at Intermedia, a provider of cloud services such as Exchange email, Lync Secure Instant Messaging, SharePoint, Hosted PBX, and Cloud Server, for SMBs and small MSPs. This feature is published with the permission of our U.S. partner, ChannelPro SMB. All rights reserved.
December/Januar y 2013 | 23 | The Canadian Channel Standard
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neWS iteMS froM Channelpro SMB BY CHANNELPRO SMB
IBM extends Financing to Global Partner IBM is providing IBM business partners worldwide with $4 billion in financing for credit-qualified clients over a period of 12 months. This financing, through IBM Global Financing, can make credit more accessible and easier to obtain, to enable IBM’s global partner ecosystem and their clients to acquire advanced technologies such as cloud, analytics, and PureSystems. As part of that effort, the Armonk, N.Y-based company has also launched a new mobile app to simplify the way IBM’s business partners can apply for and secure financing for their clients within minutes via any mobile device. The mobile app will be available in the United States this month and rolled out globally beginning in China in January 2013. The app is designed for contracts worth up to $500,000, depending on the country. This mobile app is based on IBM Global Financing’s Rapid Online Financing tool. IBM’s commitment of $4 billion in financing is designed to eliminate many of the cost barriers facing businesses today. According to the company, IBM Global Financing will offer simple, flexible lease and loan packages, some starting at as low as 0% for 12 months with no money down, allowing these businesses to acquire the technology and services they need from IBM and those developed by IBM business partners, while managing their cash flow more effectively. (Rates and availability are based on a client’s credit rating, financing terms, offering type, equipment and product type, and options, and may vary by country.)
This financing will be made available through IBM business partners, including managed service providers, resellers, ISVs, systems integrators, and distributors, from more than 50 countries. In addition, IBM Global Financing can help credit-qualified business partners run and expand their businesses by providing working capital for IT purchases, and improve their cash flow by offering financing for accounts receivable. This initiative builds on the $1 billion in financing that IBM Global Financing made available through IBM business partners for small and midsize businesses in 2011. For more information on IBM Global Financing, go to www.ibm.com/financing.
Incapsula Launches Web Hosting Partnership Program Incapsula Inc., Redwood Shores, Calif., a cloud-based website security and performance service, has introduced its Web Hosting Partner Program. In conjunction with the launch, Incapsula released a cPanel plugin, made available with its API, to enable hosting providers to easily integrate and provision Incapsula’s Website Protection and Acceleration service. Now web hosting providers and managed security service providers can offer their customers: • Simple Integration: Hosting providers can integrate Incapsula with their hosting platform, enabling one-click provisioning of Incapsula and single sign-on for customers interested in website protection and performance enhancement.
December/Januar y 2013 | 24 |
• Centralized Management: Hosting providers and customers can view security and performance stats, control account permissions, and manage settings and notifications from an integrated management console. • Multitenant Design: A multitenant reseller portal enables the creation of new customer accounts, remote management of customer security and performance settings, and consolidated billing reports. Find out more at www.incapsula. com.
Inaugural Program for Astute Networks Astute Networks Inc., a provider of high-performance flash-based virtual machine storage appliances, has unveiled the AstuteNET Partner Program, its first formal partner program. Astute’s ViSX Flash VM storage appliances enable channel partners to add a high-performance data store tier of networked flash to their customers’ performance-constrained environments. According to the San Diego-based company, ViSX is easily deployed in minutes with no changes to existing applications, servers, storage, and network infrastructures. The multidimensional program includes dedicated sales resources, assigned technical resources, promotional incentives, education and training, access to a set of sales tools, as well as joint marketing capabilities. The program is offered at three levels: Reference Partners do not typically sell Astute products, but receive compensation for referrals that result
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in product sales. Authorized Partners resell Astute ViSX solutions on a regional basis and receive sales and technology support. And Advantage Partners meet the required virtualization and storage certifications and have virtualization and storage practices. They receive greater discount margins, lead referrals, and sales support, and participate in market development funds distribution. For more information, visit www. astutenetworks.com.
Gridstore rolls Out Gridstore Accelerate Mountain View, Calif.-based Gridstore Inc., a provider of next-generation, scale-out grid storage solutions, has announced the Gridstore Accelerate Partner Program. Gridstore delivers an unlimited grid-based storage solution that scales dynamically with customer needs and offers a pay-asyou-go pricing model. The technology gives users up to 6TB of business-class features and delivers scalability, fault-tolerance, high performance, and re- source efficiencies, according to the company. For partners, the Grid- store solution can be sold over the phone for highvolume, short sales cycle deals. As a 100% channel-driven company, Gridstore has designed its Gridstore Accelerate Partner Program to deliver a 2x gross margin for registered partners. For assured opportunity management, Grid- store provides opportunity registration, as well as a suite of channel marketing tools including marketing collateral, quick selling guides, lead sharing, joint events, and collaborative marketing programs. Visit http://gridstore.com/partners
for additional details.
SAP helps manufacturers meet compliance regulations To help manufacturers in the SMB space comply with increasingly complex and varied environmental regulations, SAP AG has introduced two cloud-based solutions. The first solution, SAP Product Stewardship Network, enables manufacturers to collaborate with suppliers in collecting the detailed information about the substances that make up their products. The second solution, SAP EHS Regulatory Documentation OnDemand, is a content service to help manufacturers create regulatory documentation. To comply with such environmental regulations as Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances (REACH) and Restrictions of Hazardous Substances (ROHS), SMBs need to know exactly what chemical substances are in the raw materials, components, and products that they purchase from suppliers. They must also declare those substances and tell people how to handle them safely. SAP Product Stewardship Network and SAP EHS Regulatory Documentation OnDemand are designed to help address this issues. Both products leverage the power and flexibility of a hybrid cloud and on-premise model to collaborate, collect, analyze, and disseminate product information from disparate sources. Aimed at discrete manufacturers, the Product Stewardship Network enables customers to work with suppliers in the cloud to make sure banned substances are excluded from
products. Currently, to ensure products meet specific standards, it can take SMBs thousands of emails across the supply chain. In many cases, it remains a manual, time-consuming process. SAP Product Steward Network enables suppliers and manufacturers to collaborate via the cloud. They can work together to make the appropriate disclosures, find the right substitutes, or adapt product designs based on available, compliant materials. New product information can be uploaded once and updated across the cloud. The offering works with SAP Business Suite.
EHS Regulatory Documentation OnDemand Process industries, like chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturers, must remain compliant by, among other things, updating safety data sheets and labels. Each of these documents can take from days to weeks to develop, and a midsize chemical manufacturer can spend up to 3 million dollars yearly on this process. SAP EHS Regulatory Documentation OnDemand eliminates the need for manufacturers to author their own safety data sheets. By networking with the customer’s on-premise EHS solution, the content service from SAP takes the customers’ product data, generates country-specific data sheets and labels in the cloud, and delivers the documents back to the customer.
This feature is published with the permission of our U.S. partner, ChannelPro SMB (http://www.channelprosmb.com). All rights reserved.
December/Januar y 2013 | 25 | The Canadian Channel Standard
ContraCt CritiCal
Six reaSonS to ConSider hiring independent profeSSionalS IPs can help your business in many ways. Here are six...
David Gammon
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ore and more companies are taking advantage of contract hiring and embracing Independent Professionals (IPs) as an important part of their labour strategy. In fact, a recent Pulse Survey conducted by the HRPA states that 63% of HR professionals have seen an increase in contract hires employed by their companies and 41% expect their reliance on IPs to increase, with an additional 41% expecting their companies’ reliance on IPs to stay the same. Considering that HR is often not involved in contract hiring, the true rate of engagement for IPs is probably even larger. There are several circumstances where hiring on contract can be a wise decision. Here are six situations when engaging with IPs makes good business sense. 1. Responding to unexpected holes in the organization. If you have a small and/or lean business it can be quite painful when someone suddenly quits. The hiring cycle for IPs is generally (much) shorter than with full-time staff. If you need rapid results, it can
make more sense to turn to an IP than to engage in a longer (and potentially costly) search and onboarding process. IPs are used to short hiring cycles, can generally jump into a project quickly, and often bring a deep and relevant skill set to the table. 2. Support during busy times that you know won’t last. When the cycle or busy season ends, it is easy to terminate IPs, and your business doesn’t face severance costs. IPs expect to move from one project to the next – it is what we do. 3. Accessing scarce skills and/or skills in high demand. Here’s a situation that occurs frequently, and in many industries: you’ve just taken ownership of a new project, and need rapid access to scarce skills and/or skills in high demand. The “scarce skills” issue can be very challenging: it’s difficult for both an employer and an employee to establish a fair wage if the staff member brings unique skills that are not needed 100% of the work week. What is the “right price” for someone who spends some time on high-value activities, and other time on less-critical tasks? IPs can address this quandary by selling just the highvalue hours to your organization, and then marketing their remaining time to other potential employers. Similarly, IPs can help ‘bridge’ situations where projects require high-demand skills and full-time options are scarce 4. Wanting to say ‘yes’ to more projects. Talent needs can change drastically from project to project. Having to account for the skills necessary to fulfill multiple projects can force you
December/Januar y 2013 | 26 |
to carry a big bench or worse, to say no to some opportunities. Building a network of IPs allows you to more easily respond to emerging opportunities as they arise and with more accurate cost estimates. 5. Innovation. Familiarity doesn’t just breed contempt – it can also create a vacuum of new ideas. Bringing in specialized IPs can bring a fresh perspective not only to a project but also to your team. Managed properly, IPs can bring inspiration and knowledge capital into your company. 6. New market penetration. Have you considered going into a new market but are hesitant because you aren’t sure you have the skills available to do it properly? IPs are commonly used to provide flexible access – without fixed-cost penalties – to the capabilities needed for new market projects. Once you have secured initial contracts, you can decide if/ when you want to invest in full time employees. You may be surprised that the knowledge transfer from a few IPs may be all you need to grow into that new market. These are six common reasons for engaging IPs; most of you can probably think of several other scenarios. There are practices that can expand your success with a flexible workforce, too – such as finding the right IPs, and establishing best management practices around them. In the months to come, we’ll drill down into these and related issues. David Gammon is the founder of a new and transparent model for contract staffing: 4fmv.ca. You can connect with him on Twitter @DavidGammon
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ManageMent SoftWare: RIDING HERD ON COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION More than portals, ‘collaboration’ also applies to the open source creative process. What are the keys to managing these resources?
Barney Baldwin, head of risk management technology, RBC
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ith all due respect to UC systems, SharePoint and Facebook, by far the most common manifestation of collaboration in enterprise IT is the use of open source software. Products such as Linux, Firefox, and Apache aren’t just common, they’re ubiquitous: Gartner reports that “by 2016, at least 95% of IT organizations will leverage non-trivial elements of OSS technology in their mission-critical IT portfolios.”. There are several definitions of open source software, but they agree on some key points. One is that open source is developed collaboratively: many software developers can be involved in writing, modifying and reviewing code. Open source is generally free, so it is deployed by users looking to reduce the overall cost of their IT infrastructure. And open source distributions include source code, enabling developers to develop plug-in/add-on products or modules, and/or to modify code for other purposes. Open source software takes several forms. It serves as a platform technol-
ogy for critical systems, as in the case of Linux and Apache. It can be deployed in development tools or a development environment. Open source modules can be ‘plugged in’ to larger solutions to address specific functionality requirements. Or open source products can be used directly by end-users, as is the case with Firefox, OpenOffice and the Asterisk VoIP system. The diffusion of open source, and its appeal in specific technology areas, has led Canadian IT leaders to look at some of the business technology issues associated with open source use and deployment. Working with Barney Baldwin, head of risk technology at RBC, IT in Canada developed a series of questions about open source software management, and solicited feedback from four vendors in the open source management software space: Protecode, Black Duck Software, OpenLogic, Sonatype. We also received input from FOSSology, a project spawned by HP to analyze source code licenses. A summary of responses follows, and additional information on each company and its products can be found on IT in Canada by following the QR code or link contained in the “Want to learn more?” box below.
Building the business case: risk and security While capability is obviously important, IT management is paid to balance the ability to create cost-effective and feature-rich solutions with the need to mitigate the potential downside of technology adoption. In our survey, we asked suppliers to address questions of risk and security.
December/Januar y 2013 | 28 |
What lawsuits or licensing issues have resulted from use of open source? Protecode described 17 sample license infringement cases, and OpenLogic supplied a list of 14 lawsuits. Interestingly, there are only three cases common to both lists. The seminal case was a 2006 decision known as the “model train patent” case, which was said by one expert on Groklaw to “greatly bolster the efforts of the open source community to control the use of open source software according to the terms set out in open source licenses.” In a 2007 case, the Software Freedom Law Center filed suit against Monsoon Multimedia on behalf of the developers of BusyBox, a set of utilities used in embedded systems, charging that Monsoon failed to publish source code based on BusyBox, as required in the GNU license. In 2008, the SFLC, now acting on behalf of the Free Software Foundation, filed suit against Cisco for distribution of GNU-licensed code embedded in a Linksys router. In this case, the issue originated with work performed by a subcontractor for Linksys prior to its acquisition by Cisco. There is a common thread in the cases, and in their resolutions – that users of open source have an obligation to be aware of and to respect the open source license conditions. Black Duck’s response takes this discussion a step further, noting that open source has “evolved significantly from the early days…when the primary focus was on license compliance and legal issues.” Today, the company says, we have moved past these issues: the market is “more interested
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Mahshad Koohgoli, CEO, Protecode
Tim Yeaton, CEO and president, Black Duck Software
in maximizing the development benefits – speed, flexibility and cost – of open source.” What security issues with open source have been identified? Security is a critical consideration for enterprise software developers, and this question elicited correspondingly-passionate responses from firms responding to our survey. Sonatype explained that the security concern is real: according to a 2012 survey of more than 2,500 developers and industry experts conducted by the company, more than 80% of typical applications are comprised of/created with open-source components and frameworks, and security flaws that exist within core open source products are often echoed through other applications derived from the initial component. All of the firms contacted, though, were clear in their belief that open source is less, rather than more, prone to security problems than proprietary software. Protecode stated that “Open source software is not any more vulnerable than commercial software… with open source, more people can inspect the code to find and fix possible vulnerabilities.” Sonatype echoed this observation, noting that “Open source security libraries are roughly 20% more likely to have reported security vulnerabilities than other types of components. This is, at least in part, indicative of the effectiveness of broad community collaboration and active support.” Black Duck expanded on this, citing “objective studies [that] have shown that open source software is often more secure and of higher quality than commercial soft-
Jason van Zyl, founder and CTO, Sonatype
Steven Grandchamp, President and CEO, OpenLogic
ware…[its] defect density is 4X lower than the software industry average.” OpenLogic pointed out that “Proprietary software has been referred to as achieving ‘security through obscurity’ but this does not mean it is secure, rather that it has not been attacked.” How can open source management suites help users? With guidance from RBC’s Baldwin, IT in Canada’s research uncovered many ways that open source software management products help customers to identify and address a wide range of issues: identification of security holes, tracking of third party and open source licenses through a single interface, determining the levels (project, file, library, code cut/paste) at which open source code is incorporated into applications, modification and revision tracking, identifying the need for updates connected with operating system upgrades, locating functional overlaps between (and replacement options across) custom and open source code, and providing support for related management issues and objectives, such as software metrics. Specific vendor approaches to these issues can be accessed through the “Want to learn more?” article link. As a summary, though, each of the suppliers reviewed here offered a brief
Steven Grandchamp, President and CEO, OpenLogic
description of how they help customers to achieve specific benefits: • Protecode: “Protecode products and services are designed to help reduce development costs and accelerate market introduction through managed use of off-theshelf open source code. • Sonatype: “Sonatype’s products were designed to enable software development organizations to establish visibility and control in a complex and agile software supply chain.” • OpenLogic: “OpenLogic builds products and services to help enterprise customers successfully and safely deploy applications built using open source software.“ • Black Duck: “Black Duck helps developers build better software, faster and for less money.” Reviewing the responses of the four firms, one conclusion stands out: by capitalizing on collaboration at the software/software component level, IT management can deliver faster and more cost-effective support to business units that rely on IT/business collaboration to support business processes that enhance productivity within (and beyond) their organizations.
Want to learn more? Use the QR code or the link http://itincanada.ca/itc/nov/ to access detailed profiles on Protecode, Black Duck, Open Logic and Sonatype.
December/Januar y 2013 | 29 | The Canadian Channel Standard
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SpeCial Bid priCing Update More than portals, ‘collaboration’ also applies to the open source creative process. What are the keys to managing these resources? BY JASON DOEL
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racker Networks observed significant changes in bid activity in the fall of 2012, with a number of cyclical patterns being broken. For the first time in the three years that we have been tracking bid volumes, we did not see a spike in quarter-end bid volumes in September 2012. This is typically a busy period for bid activity, as manufacturers make last minute updates to bids or publish new discount letters in order to get deals closed for quarter end. Also, over the last few months, we have started seeing drops in year-over-year monthly bid volumes. This would seem to suggest that vendors are making less use of bids than they did a year ago. This is a significant development, as we have not observed this over a prolonged period in the three years that we have been tracking bids. Digging a little deeper into the numbers, we can see that these results are being driven by a handful of large vendors. In particular, three of the top five hardware vendors (from a bid volume perspective) have plateaued in bid volumes over the last six month. All of the top four vendors actually declined in bid volumes in September instead of the typical increase. This is not to say that the use of special bids is going away by any means. Looking at the numbers and trend lines, we can see that the number of vendors active in special bids is consistent and the overall volume of promotions in the channel is quite high. Software vendors, in particular, continue to grow in their use
of special bids and they continue to follow the expected quarterly patterns. The same is largely true for smaller and mid-volume hardware vendors. It is difficult to say what is affecting the behaviour of top hardware vendors. An optimistic view of the market would suggest that business was good this fall and hardware manufacturers did not need discounts to get deals closed. It has been our experience, however, that lower volumes often reflect lower overall business activity and transaction volumes. It is somewhat counter-intuitive, but lower volumes can also indicate lower profitability in previous months. This is because some vendors who are ahead on their profitability targets feel they can now afford to “buy market share” in subsequent months, by publishing more bids and more aggressive bids (averaging in their higher profit margins from earlier months). Following this logic, lower volumes would suggest that profit margins have been tight and hardware vendors do not have as much flexibility to discount further. Based on the anecdotal feedback we have received from channel contacts, a less rosy view may be warranted, but it is difficult for us to say with certainty. As an overall practice, the use of special bids continues to grow, with software vendors growing in their use of bids and new vendors being added into our system each month. We will continue to watch the volumes of the top hardware vendors closely and will report back on what we find in the coming months.
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