Reseller Middle East October 2016 by Reseller Middle East

ISSUE 238 | OCTOBER 2016 www.resellerme.com

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 238 // OCTOBER 2016

37 CHANNEL ELITE 2016

COVER FEATURE The Annual Industry Survey 2016 offers insights into the dynamics of the reginal IT market and the top 50 channel firms’ rankings.

106 REVIEW

HP SPECTRE 13

109 HOT PRODUCT

APPLE LAUNCHES IPHONE 7 AND IPHONE 7 PLUS

HIGHLIGHTS

NEWS

We help you catch up on all the major news and announcements in the regional channel community.

GITEX PREVIEW

22 DIGITAL VISIONS

30 TOP DISTIES @ GITEX

FLASH ON Ben Savage from Pure Storage on how all-flash storage is transforming partner programmes.

A list of top-notch regional distributors to meet and greet at this year’s ICT trade show.

94 MANAGE PROFITS

A round-up of some of the big players taking part at GITEX Technology Week 2016.

OPINION

FEATURES

Reseller ME explores market prospects for managed service providers in the region.

98 MOBILITY MATTERS

Reseller ME speaks to industry experts to identify how VARs can maximise prospects in the MDM space.

EDITORIAL Market tides

Janees Reghelini Editor

E-mail: janees.reghelini@ cpimediagroup.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ ResellerME Twitter: @ResellerME

FOUNDER, CPI MEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) Publishing Director Rajashree Rammohan raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100

Published by

Registered at IMPZ PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 © Copyright 2016 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will notbe held responsible for any errors therein.

Welcome to Reseller Middle East’s sixth annual industry survey results. Over the next couple of pages, we have ranked 50 channel companies according to their revenues of 2015, spanning across distributors, systems integrators and resellers. Over the last two years the regional IT channel has been grappling with some unfavourable market conditions, a fact which is echoed in most of my conversations with the industry stakeholders. Our industry survey results for 2015 validates this, as it indicates close to 10 percent decline in the overall industry revenues as compared to the previous year. Post a doubledigit growth in 2013, the survey recorded a slowdown in the market in 2014; and it has only gone downhill since then. However, most of the top-ranking distributors have grown their business quite substantially, with only certain volume-focused firms being impacted negatively. One of the primary reasons behind this is the consolidation in the hardware and components market in 2015. We have seen several value-added distributors increasing their investments in services, cloud and virtualisation markets over the course of last year, contributing to their

total revenues.The systems integration market has registered almost a 20 percent growth as compared to 2014. Most of the region’s largest systems integrators have flourished by investing in managed services, cloud solutions and infrastructure projects. The segment that has been adversely affected to no one’s surprise is reselling. With the sector witnessing more than a 20 percent drop, resellers have had a taxing year. And what’s worse is, it may not get any better any time soon. Recent developments indicate another rough year ahead, especially with several firms fleeing the market leaving behind huge debts, which creates a negative trickle-down effect. Over the coming months, we will see the industry continuing to move towards and invest more in technologies such as IoT and related applications, cloud solutions, data centre along with virtualisation and networking solutions to name a few. While the current market tides may look pretty grim, the chance of it looking up also remain equally high as the opportunities in the market are varied and many. Channel organisations need to identify and chase the opportunity that is best suited to their expertise and capabilities.

EDITORIAL Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9129

ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130

Editor Janees Reghelini janees.reghelini@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9167

Sales Manager Merle Carrasco merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147

Online Editor Adelle Geronimo adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135

CIRCULATION Database and Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com +971 4440 9119

DESIGN Senior Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com Designer Neha Kalvani neha.kalvani@cpimediagroup.com

PRODUCTION Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9159

Operations Manager Shweta Santosh shweta.santosh@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9107 DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developers Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh Photographers Max Poriechkin Charls Thomas webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 DIGITAL www.resellerme.com Printed by Printwell Printing Press

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

HIGHLIGHTS

StarLink, Recorded Future sign distribution deal StarLink has announced that it signed a distribution agreement with Recorded Future, a Avinash Advani, StarLink real-time threat intelligence company. As part of the agreement, StarLink will sell, install and support Recorded Future’s products through its network of channel partners to enterprise and government customers in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. Dan Buckley, Director, Sales EMEA, Recorded Future, said, “We see huge potential to apply real-time threat intelligence to security operations centres in the region by delivering our innovative technology alongside an industry leading distributor like StarLink. Through their reseller network, customer SOCs can now expect easier access to real-time threat intelligence that blends web sources with network security sources and malware analysis, driving faster security actions with greater confidence.” Avinash Advani, SVP Strategic Alliances and International Markets, StarLink, said, “We are excited to partner with Recorded Future as they naturally complement the Incident Response unit of StarLink’s Solutions Lifecycle. Their OMNI Operations Partners, OMNI Intelligence Partners and OMNI Quick Connect Partners highlight their integration capabilities with the leading SIEM, next-generation security and operational intelligence platforms respectively, many of whom are already a part of StarLink’s portfolio offering.”

NEC signs distribution deal with Redington Volume

edington Volume, the IT volume distribution arm of Redington Gulf, has recently signed a distribution partnership with NEC Display Solutions Middle East and Africa. Under the agreement, Redington Volume will distribute NEC’s entry-level display technologies across all product lines – projectors, large format displays and desktop monitors among others – at a volume level. The distribution deal spans the entire GCC region except for Saudi Arabia Adarsh Nair, Business Development Manager, NEC MEA, said a lot of IT companies are now also investing in AV

products. “Traditionally, IT companies take up turnkey projects and outsource their AV needs,” he said. “What we are now seeing is that there is a big shift in the way IT companies are operating in that aspect. They are beginning to buy AV products and have started implementing it themselves. So, what we needed was a distributor who has a wide reach to IT resellers and systems integrators. We believe that Redington is very strong in the market as a volume distributor for IT products. This USP of Redington is what we want to leverage on through the partnership.”

66%

Y-O-Y (482,000 UNITS PER QUARTER) GROWTH IN WEARABLES MARKET IN MEA REGION

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

CMY

SOURCE: IDC

Ingram Micro, Cradlepoint sign distribution agreement Ingram Micro has recently announced a strategic channel alliance with Cradlepoint, a company specialising in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places Dr. Ali Baghdadi, Ingram Micro and things over wired and wireless broadband. Under the agreement, Ingram Micro will help to accelerate the rapid growth that Cradlepoint has achieved and extend their regional market share in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. Dr. Ali Baghdadi, Chief Executive, Ingram Micro, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said, “Cradlepoint’s networking

technology is world-class and fits perfectly within our portfolio. We will leverage our combined technical capabilities and expertise to build value-added solutions for tactical customer segments and vertical markets that require remote connectivity and strong interoperability.” Cradlepoint offers solutions for cloudmanaged business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT. George Mulhern, CEO, Cradlepoint, said, “Ingram Micro’s dedicated excellence in serving the channel has set the pace for a great partnership and Cradlepoint’s further geographic expansion.”

RME_Oct_LF_greenvalley.pdf 1 19/9/2016 2:51:04 PM

CMY

HIGHLIGHTS

Darktrace partners with ixtel

information to strengthen arktrace has their overall security announced its posture,” said Mehdi partnership Quraishi, Chief Executive with managed Officer, ixtel. security services provider, Modern criminal and ixtel, to deliver a new nation state cyber-attacks cyber threat detection can side step traditional solution. Mehdi Quraishi, ixtel defenses in multiple ways. ixtel technologies For an insider, it is often even is joining Darktrace’s partner simpler, as they already have keys programme with aims to extend its proactive, self-learning cyber defence to the locks. ixtel highlighted that it recognises the cyber defense capabilities across its client base. challenges its customers face “Darktrace’s unique capabilities and has selected Darktrace for its complement ixtel Proactive Security machine learning and analytical cyber Intelligence Platform, so we can threat detection. now enable our customer with real“Darktrace’s Enterprise Immune time visibility into network security System technology is transforming infrastructure, policy effectiveness the way organisations defend against and underlying IT risk, arming today’s increasingly sophisticated organisations with actionable

threats by using advanced maths and machine learning,” said Nick Trim, Managing Director, Darktrace. “We are looking forward to collaborating with ixtel to deliver best-in-class cyber solutions that respond to this challenging threat landscape.”

0.8% DECLINE IN WORLDWIDE SERVER REVENUE DURING Q2 2016

SOURCE: GARTNER

Dell completes EMC acquisition Dell has announced completion of the acquisition of EMC Corporation. According to Dell, this Michael Dell, Dell combination creates a $74 billion expansive technology portfolio that aims to solve complex problems for customers in the industry’s fast-growing areas of hybrid cloud, software-defined data centre, converged infrastructure, platform-asa-Service, data analytics, mobility and cybersecurity. Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, Dell Technologies, said, “We are at the dawn of the next industrial revolution. Our world is becoming more intelligent and more connected by the minute, and ultimately will become intertwined with a vast Internet of Things, paving the way for our customers to do

incredible things. This is why we created Dell Technologies. We have the products, services, talent and global scale to be a catalyst for change and guide customers, large and small, on their digital journey.”

We have the products, services, talent and global scale to be a catalyst for change and guide customers, large and small, on their digital journey.”

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Dell Technologies’ scale will enable it to deliver more innovation and investment in R&D, sales and marketing, services and support, and deliver more efficient and costeffective solutions for customers. Furthermore, while the company will publicly report its financial results, it is privately controlled, enabling it to “better focus investments on its customer and partner ecosystem over the long term.” Tim McGrath, President and CEO, PC Connection, said, “As partners of Dell, EMC, VMware and RSA, we are able to provide customers with innovative, value driven, and secure end-to-end IT solutions. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Dell Technologies to ensure that our customers have the technical support, guidance, and product selection needed to help solve their business challenges with IT.”

HIGHLIGHTS

Samsung Gulf begins Galaxy Note7 exchange programme

Samsung Gulf Electronics has begun the Galaxy Note7 Exchange Programme in the UAE, where customers can begin to exchange their existing device for a brand new Galaxy Note7. Customers can visit selected Samsung brand shops in the UAE to exchange their device until 31st December 2016. The start of the Galaxy Note7 Exchange Programme follows Samsung’s decision on 2nd September to immediately stop sales and shipments of the Galaxy Note7, after an investigation revealed an issue related to an isolated battery cell. Since this initial investigation, Samsung noted that it has worked hard to ensure the highest quality manufacturing and quality assurance processes are in place. Based on a thorough inspection, Samsung is fully confident that the battery issue has been completely resolved in the replacement Galaxy Note7 devices that will be available to customers in the UAE from today. Samsung issued new software to all Galaxy Note7 devices in the Gulf region that limits the battery charge to 60 percent. This software was rolled out to existing customers’ devices on 25th September 2016.

TechAccess receives Huawei CSP status

the investments we’ve made echAccess has so far demonstrate our gained Certified promise to the business, Service Partner our partners and to the (CSP) status vendor. The CSP status will from Huawei for the UAE. help us build incremental TechAccess began its business value for ourselves relationship with Huawei Masood Salem, as well as our vendors and earlier in the year, and is TechAccess partners.” the vendor’s only GCCAs a Certified Service Partner for wide distributor. The distributor Huawei, TechAccess can now sign has assigned a dedicated team to direct service contracts with endcover several countries including the customers, and provide 24/7 support UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, services. TechAccess will provide Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan and its CSP services under its dedicated Afghanistan. brand TechCare. “Becoming a CSP is a matter of pride for TechAccess, and we’re extremely happy that we were able to achieve this status so quickly,” said Masood Salem, General Manager for Huawei at TechAccess. “It reflects the trust that Huawei has in our expertise and our commitment to EXPECTED VALUE OF GLOBAL CLOUD being a true valued-added distributor, COMPUTING MARKET BY 2020 that is dedicated to growing its market share across the region, and SOURCE: FORRESTER simultaneously taking care of its partners’ requirements. We believe

$241B

Gemalto names StarLink as its authorised training centre StarLink has announced that it is now a Gemalto Authorised Training Centre (ATC) for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. The distributor will offer certified instructor-led training for Gemalto’s SafeNet products and services, including SafeNet Hardware Security Module (HSM) and SafeNet Authentication Service (SAS). StarLink will deliver the trainings through its labs and training facilities at its offices across the region. Khaled T. Kokhon, Director of Services, Customer Success Unit, StarLink, said, “In 2016, StarLink

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

being a ‘true’ value-added distributor (VAD) has further strengthened its partnership with Gemalto SafeNet by becoming the region’s selected Approved Training Centre (ATC). Over the past six months we have conducted over five sessions resulting in enabling both partners / customers using effective product training methods. StarLink is heavily investing in training services as we believe it is a core pillar in achieving customer success. The Gemalto partnership is a key step in our roadmap to providing superior training services to our customers.”

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HIGHLIGHTS

Nuvias acquires SCD SCD, a distributor operating in Dubai, has announced that it has been acquired by Nuvias. Paul Eccleston, Nuvias As part of Nuvias Group, the company’s Dubai office will now act as a hub for Nuvias’ MEA activities, covering all parts of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) area, Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to Nuvias, it is currently building an EMEA-wide distribution business, with a common proposition and consistent delivery. The strategy is to redefine value distribution to the channel, enabling the channel and vendor community to deliver exceptional business value to their customers and creating new standards of channel success. Nuvias has already recruited several new staff member for the MEA office bringing the current total up to 16. These include recent recruit Muneeb Anjum, the new Sales Director. Paul Eccleston, Head of Nuvias Group, said, “We are delighted to be announcing today the opening of our Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, completing our regional coverage of EMEA. MEA is a very important part of the region and a significant opportunity for us, our vendor partners and our customers. We have been working hard to bring the cybersecurity, advanced networking and unified communications capabilities to this region. With the acquisition of the business in Dubai, operating across the region, and the recruitment of Muneeb Anjum, which will be followed by further additions to the team very soon, this is an exciting development for Nuvias and we look forward to bringing more capability and vendors to the region quickly.”

Acunetix signs Bulwark as Middle East distributor

technical training sessions along cunetix has with various marketing initiatives signed a to boost sales in the Middle East. distribution Bulwark will also provide technical agreement support to the channel community with Bulwark through its team of technical Technologies. Jose Thomas, Bulwark experts. Under this agreement, Technologies Christina Nicole Woodward, Bulwark’s channel VP Sales, Acunetix, said, “Our partners will offer the technologies are second-to-none, vendor’s web application security providing cutting-edge vulnerability solutions to enterprise customers detection and the only product on across the Middle East. Jose Thomas Menacherry, Managing the market able to detect out-ofband vulnerabilities automatically. Director, Bulwark Technologies, said, We are confident that by partnering “Bulwark is a focused and specialised with Bulwark, we will continue to distributor in the cybersecurity area. increase awareness in the Middle There is a perfect synergy between our Eastern region. Bulwark consists of companies. The addition of Acunetix an impressive portfolio of customers in our product portfolio complements covering different verticals in the our current offering of security solutions region, has a wide network of partners and would provide Bulwark with new and houses a competent team of avenues for growth and revenue technical, sales and marketing experts. opportunities for both of us.’’ All these attributes make Bulwark a Further into the agreement, the valued partner.’’ distributor will also organise sales and

Rittal, IBM expand strategic alliance for data centres

Rittal and IBM have signed a global alliance agreement, which had previously only applied for the EMEA region. Under the extended partnership, IBM will supply Rittal with IT infrastructure components for its data centre projects across the globe. These include products such as IT racks, climate control solutions,

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

power supply and monitoring systems, and security solutions and services. “With this agreement, customers all over the world will now be able to rely on our common and innovative portfolio of services for constructing and modernising energy-efficient data centres,” said Hans Sondermann, Managing Director Sales and Marketing, Rittal. “Nowadays, companies want to build fail-safe IT infrastructures at costs that are clearly calculable. Together with IBM, we are supporting the fast and easy development of modern and sustainable data centres with modular and pre-defined container solutions.”

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HIGHLIGHTS

FireEye hosts conference for KSA partners

bolder by the day, our partner ireEye has conference in Saudi Arabia could recently not have come at a better time. held a The role played by our partners conference in preparing the organisations for its partners in the of tomorrow to face a new Kingdom of Saudi generation of cyberattacks is Arabia. invaluable,” said Mohammed The FireEye Partner Mohammed Abukhater, FireEye MENA Abukhater, Regional Director Conference, KSA, saw for the Middle East and North FireEye executives Africa, FireEye. “As the Kingdom introduces discussing how both public and private a wave of reforms and initiatives to sector entities can counter the challenges drive the national economy, in line with of a steadily evolving cyber landscape to the aspirations of Saudi Vision 2030, better protect information assets. Aimed at organisations in the country need to be further building on the strong relationship with partners in the country, the conference aware of modern-day threats and the brought together over a hundred delegates potential danger they pose to everyday business operations. Now more than from 25 partners in the Kingdom. Over ever, they will find themselves in need of a the course of the event, partners were solutions provider that can help them go briefed on recent acquisitions by FireEye, from detection to fix in the shortest amount such as iSight Partners, developments in of time possible. With the help of our its platform and the company’s partner partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, strategy for 2016. With the acquisition of FireEye aims to bolster organisational iSight Partners. readiness, thus cutting costs and driving “As a wide spectrum of cyberthreat business growth.” players step up their attacks, getting

Symantec introduces new security solution for SMBs Symantec has introduced Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud, a new solution for small and mid-sized businesses to protect them from targeted attacks and ransomware. According to the latest Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, 65 percent of all targeted attacks struck small and mid-sized organisations in 2015 to steal valuable company information. Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud gives small business owners enterprise-grade protection in a solution that can be set up in less than five minutes and operated by someone with general IT knowledge.

“Attackers no longer aim just for the Fortune 500. Small and mid-sized business owners must adopt the same vigilance against advanced attacks and deploy the same modern defense capabilities found in enterprise solutions like machine learning to protect their businesses,” said Javed Hasan, VP of Engineering, Symantec. “With Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud, we’re providing a cloudbased solution with all the features necessary to keep our SMB customers’ information secure without over-taxing already stretched IT departments.”

ISYX Technologies announces new offerings

Sharoon Shamshuddin, ISYX Technologies

ISYX Technologies has announced its new offerings in applications, information security consulting and

managed services. According to the company, these offerings will help business balance the needs to protect against threats, propel transformation and pursue growth. By incorporating tactical knowledge and experience gathered from multiple projects across industries, geographies, programmes and technologies, ISYX can create and execute holistic startto-finish plans to achieve business transformations goals in an ever changing environment. Sharoon Shamshuddin, CEO, ISYX Technologies said, “Strategic planning, decisive implementation and ongoing adaptability are the building blocks of smart technology investments. With expertise in range of services spanning across strategy and enterprise architecture, GRC, information management, IT infrastructure and business applications, ISYX bring deep knowledge and experience to most complex IT challenges. We believe that we are more than a systems integrator. We are business integrators.” According to the company it is committed to addressing the complete life cycle of its vendors solutions. “Our post-implementation service excellence has helped us establish long standing relationship with key enterprise and government customers. This year we have invested in a Managed Services division, to deliver best quality of service and experience. These services will build, manage, maintain and run the customer infrastructure, whether on premise or on cloud,” he said.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

HIGHLIGHTS

A10 Networks joins Cisco Solution Partner Programme

A10 Networks is able to quickly 10 Networks create and deploy solutions has to enhance the capabilities, announced performance and management that it joined of the network to capture value the Cisco Solution in the IoE. Partner Programme as a “Having worked with Cisco Solution Provider. in the past to deliver dynamic The Internet of Raj Jalan, A10 Networks application networking services, Everything (IoE) continues to bring together people, processes, data which integrated the A10 Thunder Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) and things to enhance the relevancy of with Cisco’s Application Centric network connections. As a member of Infrastructure (ACI) fabric, we look the Cisco Solution Partner Programme,

Our customers should continue to expect that A10 leads the pack in offering a new generation of application networking technologies.”

forward to expanding our relationship through the company’s Solution Partner Program,” said Raj Jalan, CTO, A10 Networks. “Our customers should continue to expect that A10 leads the pack in offering a new generation of application networking technologies.” The Cisco Solution Partner Programme, part of the Cisco Partner Ecosystem, unites Cisco with thirdparty independent hardware and software vendors to deliver integrated solutions to joint customers. As a Solution Partner, A10 Networks will offer complementary product offering and will collaborate with Cisco to meet the needs of joint customers.

$3.52M UNIT VALUE OF WORLDWIDE TABLET MARKET DURING Q2 2016

SOURCE: IDC

NSFOCUS introduces STAR Partner Programme NSFOCUS has announced the launch of its global partner programme – the NSFOCUS STAR Partner Programme. The programme covers partners at the regional and national levels including resellers, distributors, consulting partners, technology and solution providers, systems integrators and managed security service providers. NSFOCUS noted that it is committed to providing win-win relationships that enables channel partners to develop new market opportunities through the STAR Partner Programme. According to the company, the STAR Partner Programme provides its global partners with a significant opportunity to grow their business

through security solutions with proven track records. STAR partners will receive the sales enablement, technical guidance, Marketing Development Fund programme, and aggressive financial rewards needed to be the expert consultants to their customers. NSFOCUS noted that among the benefits that channel partners can get from participating in the STAR Partner Programme include having a dedicated channel team to assist partners through every stage of sales; a deal registration programme to protect qualified opportunities; and higher margins that foster stronger positions for partners to win new business. “For years, organisations have followed the pattern of investing

in several stand-alone solutions that each focus on a specific security problem, but the threat landscape is evolving and modern attacks are multi-faceted – originating from both the cloud and from inside the network,” said Allan Thompson, COO, NSFOCUS. “Enterprises today need to implement an intelligent hybrid approach using actionable threat intelligence to get ahead of the modern attacks. Powered by unmatched threat intelligence, NSFOCUS offers partners access to an intelligent hybrid security model using both cloud and on-premise solutions, which will enable them to defend against advanced attacks that threaten their customers’ networks.”

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

HIGHLIGHTS

TechAccess completes one year as HDS Authorised Training Centre TechAccess has announced that it successfully completed one year as a Dimuth Wijeratne, Hitachi Data TechAccess Systems’ (HDS) Authorised Training Centre. In the past year TechAccess has conducted numerous training at its Solutions Centre in Dubai for HDS partners and customers across the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, North Africa and Pakistan. Dimuth Wijeratne, General Manager, HDS Products, TechAccess said, “Our aim is to be a strong partner for every vendor that we work with, and we believe that training is an essential component in this business – it helps to maintain mindshare with the partner, and gives partners the tools and information they need to properly engage with their customers. To date we have invested more than $1 million into equipment and resources for the training centre, and we are very pleased with what we have been able to achieve for HDS in the past year.” As part of its training services, TechAccess’ ‘Test before you Invest’ model allows partners and customers to conduct proof of concept, executive briefings, need assessment, and solution prototyping. Under this model partners and end users are welcome to try out a solutions or product before they implement it, to ensure that it actually fits their requirements. Partners are also encouraged to use the training center to validate their skills after completing the training and certification process.

IFS expands partner network in Sub-Saharan Africa

FS has appointed Kgosi Informatics of Botswana and iNENSA Limited of Uganda as business partners in order to expand its reach in the Sub-Saharan Africa. IFS will collaborate with the two companies to provide customers with enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) and enterprise service management (ESM) solutions in its target markets. Greater Africa IFS customers will benefit from the industry expertise and technical skills on offer from Kgosi Informatics and iNENSA. iNENSA is a systems integrator with experience in implementing business solutions that help companies in the manufacturing, service provider, utility, retail, education and financial services sectors to streamline their business processes and enhance their agility. The company operates in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi. Meanwhile, Kgosi Informatics is a Botswana-based software and solutions

company that helps organisations in the public and private sectors to drive efficiencies in their businesses. It will focus on the defense vertical in partnership with IFS. Consultants from both companies joining the IFS Partner Network will be certified through IFS Academy—the official IFS training and certification programme. They will be equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to ensure customers realise the most value from IFS Applications. Gawie van der Merwe, MD, IFS Africa, said, “It is a pleasure to welcome Kgosi and iNENSA to our growing network of Greater Africa business partners as our momentum throughout the continent grows and our business reaches new territories. They both have excellent track records in helping their clients run more efficient and agile businesses. Our software capabilities, paired with our new partners’ skills base, can help clients drive rapid return on investment as they modernise their business systems.”

Sabre expands operations in Qatar Sabre Corporation has announced the expansion of its Sabre Travel Network Middle East (STNME) presence with a new office in Doha. This follows the recent appointment of Ghassan Abu Khalaf to country manager, Qatar. STNME has long-standing strategic relationships with some of the region’s largest travel agencies including Kanoo, ITL, and Dnata. As primary technology provider, Sabre has supported the growth and success of its agency customers by providing industry-leading technology and tailor-made solutions to enable agents to shop, book and manage travel for its clients. STNME also recently opened offices in Iraq and Palestine, and expanded its presence in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where its focus on training and customer service

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

has helped the company grow its customer base. Daniel Naoumovitch, CEO, STNME, said, “Now is the right time for the travel industry to invest in global technology and solutions that will enable the region to compete even more effectively on a global scale. Sabre’s industryleading solutions such as Sabre Red Workspace, and mobile, data, retailing and personalisation technology positions the industry for success.”

HIGHLIGHTS

ThreatQuotient, Help AG partner for Middle East expansion cause the loss of sensitive Help AG has announced company data that ultimately the signing of a reseller results in irreparable damage to agreement with their brand. This makes threat ThreatQuotient. intelligence a critical element of As the vendor’s first a business’s security posture,” regional partner, Help AG said Stephan Berner, CEO, has achieved the Gold Help AG. “The benefits of threat Partner status under Stephan Berner, Help AG intelligence are widely backed ThreatQuotient’s Threat by the IT security community. As Alliance Program (TAP) and a case in point, recent research by the will offer the ThreatQ threat intelligence platform to enterprises looking to augment Ponemon Institute found that 80 percent of IT decision-makers whose organisations their Security Intelligence and Event suffered data breaches believe having Management (SIEM) capabilities or build threat intelligence at the time of the breach their own Security Operations Centers. could have prevented or minimised the Help AG will also utilise the platform for consequences of the attack. its own 24×7 Managed Security Services The focus of the agreement is on (MSS) offering. enterprise-sized customers and Help AG “In recent years, even large intends to offer ThreatQ to organisations organisations with significant IT security from the banking and finance, government, investments have been falling victim to oil and gas, retail, telco, and media sectors. data breaches that disrupt business,

STME broadens corporate profile in Saudi Arabia STME has announced its acquisition of three companies in Saudi Arabia which will operate under the STME Ayman AlBayaa, STME umbrella (called STCOM) to broaden the company’s portfolio of services, solutions, and products. The three companies acquired are Integrated Security Solutions (ISS), which has over 12 years of experience, mainly operating in the physical security domain (CCTV and IP camera systems, surveillance, detectors and scanning machines, and communications equipment); MEST, which is focused on cybersecurity (encryption, antieavesdropping, and electromagnetic

By acquiring ISS, MEST and JAWA, we have expanded our portfolio of services and products, and profile by adding on over 50 specialists.” shielding); and JAWA, which has over 12 years of experience in infrastructure solutions. “By acquiring ISS, MEST and JAWA, we have expanded our portfolio of services and products, and profile by adding on over 50 specialists. We are delighted of the outcome of our negotiations and look forward to serving our clients, both existing and new, with our expanded range and expertise,” said Ayman Al Bayaa, CEO, STME. The acquisitions in Saudi Arabia will assist STME in achieving its corporate mission of being a full system integrator with a SSS focus – security, storage and systems integration.

Gartner names Pure Storage as ‘leader’ for SSAs Pure Storage has announced that it has retained its position in Scott Dietzen, the Leaders Pure Storage Quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Solid State Arrays (SSAs). According to the company, for the third straight year, it has been positioned furthest along the ‘Completeness of Vision’ axis in the Leaders Quadrant. The vendor highlighted that the Evergreen Storage is its pledge to enable customers to take advantage of the latest flash technology as it becomes available, via non-disruptive upgrades – avoiding the forklift upgrade that typically dominated their old purchasing cycles. In 2016, Pure Storage continued to open new markets with the unveiling of FlashBlade, the first all-flash array for unstructured data. “It has been an action-packed 12 months for Pure Storage– starting with the IPO, continuing on through the revolution of FlashBlade and culminating with this most recent recognition from Gartner,” said Scott Dietzen, CEO, Pure Storage. “In order to best serve our customers as a long-term partner, it’s crucial that we continue to execute at the pace we have while building a sustainable business for the future. We believe to be positioned in the Leaders Quadrant for three straight years validates our technology differentiation continues to be very real.”

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

APPOINTMENTS

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS Cisco Middle East names new MD for East region Cisco Middle East has announced that Shukri Eid has been appointed Managing Director of its Shukri Eid, Cisco ME East Region. In his new role, Eid will lead the Cisco’s business in the UAE, Oman, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen and work closely with partners to support private and public sector customers in their efforts to digitise and transform their operations. Eid is a Cisco veteran of nearly 10 years and has worked in multiple leadership capacities across the organisation. Over his 20-year career he has led high-profile strategy, business and technology transformational engagements, working with senior officials and executives across emerging markets. “I look forward to my new role during what is an exciting time for Cisco and the region. The time is ripe to harness the power of digitisation and there is greater need from our partners, customers and governments across our markets to help accelerate their journeys towards becoming smarter, more competitive and more connected in the new economy,” said Shukri Eid, Managing Director, East Region, Cisco Middle East. “Our talented team and expanding portfolio of solutions place us at the forefront of their efforts to capture this immense potential.”

Riverbed appoints new Regional Channel Sales Director been to help partners expand Riverbed Technology has across three key areas: appointed Ramzi Itani as its building an embedded solution Regional Channel Sales Director and services programme, for the Middle East, Turkey and driving joint engagement, Africa (META) region. and accelerating repeatable In this new role, Itani will revenue. As it adopts a 100 focus on the development and percent channel driven model enablement of the company’s Ramzi Itani, Riverbed in the META region, Itani’s regional channel, in-line with work will play a pivotal role to helping the the company’s global channel strategy. company achieve success in this aspect. He will report to Giovanni Di Filippo, Vice Itani said, “As organisations President, Channels, for Europe, Middle begin to embark on their digital East and Africa (EMEA) at Riverbed with a transformation journey, Riverbed is dotted line to Taj Elkhayat, Regional Vice very well-placed to address the key President, META. application performance challenges Elkhayat noted that with the rapid they face. I intend to further develop evolution of Riverbed’s product portfolio our community of ‘focused’ channel and the constant enhancement to partners that leverage the Riverbed feature sets, their close engagement Application Performance Platform to with the channel community is crucial deliver comprehensive networking to ensuring that these technological solutions, and help customers realise benefits translate to implementations the true potential of their IT investments that result in tangible business benefits through their expertly delivered valuefor their customers. According to add services.” Riverbed, in recent years its focus has

Equinix announces changes in top management team Equinix has promoted Brian Lillie to Chief Customer Officer (CCO) and EVP of Technology Services. In his newly Brian Lillie, Equinix expanded role, Lillie will directly lead the Global Customer Success organisation to holistically and consistently drive the customer journey across the entire company while enabling greater growth and success for Equinix’s more than 8,000 customers worldwide. Lillie has served as the

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Global CIO of Equinix for the past eight years. The company also announced that it has appointed Milind Wagle as the new Global CIO reporting to the Customer Success Organisation. Formerly the Vice President of Global IT in the CIO organisation, Wagle will lead the global IT team and oversee the solution delivery for enterprise applications, information security, and end-user technology infrastructure support for Equinix’s more than 5,600 employees worldwide. Wagle has been with Equinix for six years and previously held leadership positions at VeriSign, KPMG Consulting and BearingPoint.

An overview of the latest people movement within the IT channel business.

Polycom names new Sales Director for Gulf region for Polycom in the Gulf and Polycom has announced nurturing strong relationships that Murtuza Viramgamwala with our customers and has joined the company as partners,” he said. “Polycom’s Regional Sales Director for leadership position in the Gulf region. video, voice and content In his new role, collaboration solutions Viramgamwala will report to Daniel Schmeirer, the Murtuza Viramgamwala, is unparalleled, and I am Polycom committed to capitalising on company’s Area Sales our refreshed portfolio that Vice President for the will provide our customers the ideal Middle East and Africa. He will be collaboration platform to succeed.” focusing on strengthening Polycom’s Viramgamwala joins Polycom channel and direct sales initiatives in from Zebra Technologies where the region and will be based in the he held the position of Territory firm’s Dubai office. Leader, leading the team in sales In addition, he will develop and business development and the channel community through channel management. Prior to this customised trainings and the new generation of ‘Polycom Ambassadors’ role, he also held positions in channel management at Motorola Solutions programme that is currently being and product management at Westcon rolled out in the region. “I look Middle East. forward to driving business growth

ALE announces executive leadership changes ALE, operating under the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise brand, has announced changes in the senior leadership team with the Matthieu Destot, ALE appointment of Matthieu Destot to lead global Sales and Marketing, while Nicholas Brunel will head up the Communications Business Division. Destot will take over as Executive Vice President for Global Sales and Marketing, effective immediately. He has an extensive background in both sales and marketing and business line management. Most recently he lead the transformation of the Communication Business Division, placing a focus on specific market segments for growth and accelerating the shift to

new business models. In prior roles, he delivered significant revenue and marketshare growth achievements as sales leader of the Asia-Pacific and France sales regions for ALE. Destot will replace Jan Zuurbier, who will continue with the company as an Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise board member. Zuurbier will focus his responsibilities on strategic planning to steer the future of ALE. Nicolas Brunel, who previously lead the Medium, Large and Vertical (MLV) Business Unit within the Communications Business Division, is now Executive Vice President of the Communications Business Division, taking over from Destot. Both Destot and Brunel will be members of the Executive Management Team, reporting to the CEO, Jack Chen.

OKI appoints new Sales and Marketing Director for MEA OKI Europe has announced the appointment of Naji Kazak to the role of Sales and Marketing Naji Kazak, OKI MEA Director for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region with immediate effect. Kazak has over 13 years of experience in technology and services leadership positions. His most recent role was with Lexmark International Middle East as a Regional Channel Sales Manager (Middle East). OKI has brought in Kazak to achieve its significant growth targets and broaden OKI’s regional market share. The appointment is part of the organisation’s ongoing commitment to deliver business development in the Office Solutions, Professional Print and Vertical Industry segments across the globe. In his new role, Kazak will lead Sales and Marketing for both hardware and consumables in the region. OKI highlighted that he will drive the new unified channel partner programme across MEA to strengthen and grow relationships with existing and new partners. The Shinrai initiative is a comprehensive partner programme which includes targeted sales, loyalty rewards, marketing support and training. “I am excited to join OKI as the Sales and Marketing Director (MEA) and take on the challenges this role will bring. I look forward to leveraging my regional industry experience to drive the company’s ambitious growth strategy,” said Kazak.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

GITEX PREVIEW

DIGITAL VISIONS

Spanning more than one million square feet of exhibition space, GITEX Technology Week will return to the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from 16th to 20th October 2016. The 36th edition of the show is expected to gather over 100,000 visitors hailing from across 150 countries, 4,000 exhibiting companies, 230 speakers and provide visitors with 130 conference hours. Take a look at what some of the tech giants have in store.

ARUBA TO LAUNCH ‘MOBILEFIRST PLATFORM’

Ammar Enaya, Aruba, an HPE company Aruba will exhibit its integrated wired and wireless access layer portfolio, secure IoT support, and advancements in network management and security solutions which will enable customers to get ready for the mobile-cloud world. “We have been consistently participating at GITEX for many years due to the importance of this regional event where many of our customers and partners attend,” said Ammar Enaya, Regional Director, Aruba, an HPE company, Middle East and Turkey. “Aruba’s senior leadership from US and Europe will be at the show together with the company’s regional leadership in order to drive key discussions, close business deals and announce major business initiatives. Our objective is also to reach out to new potential clients and grow our regional business across key verticals such as education, hospitality, healthcare, government, retail and oil and gas.” The company also noted that senior executives will also be present at the show to educate partners about its new ‘Partner Ready for Networking’ programme. “To

position partners to be highly competitive in the rapidly changing mobility networking market, Aruba is introducing the Partner Ready for Networking programme,” said Enaya. “This new channel programme takes the best elements of the Aruba PartnerEdge and HPE Partner Ready programmes to create a new programme that enables partners to capitalise on the burgeoning enterprise mobility market opportunity.” Visit them at: Hall 7, Stand CLD-6

AVAYA TO SHOWCASE MULTITOUCH COMMUNICATION OFFERINGS

Mohammed Areff, Vice President, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, Avaya, says, “Avaya is committed to helping organizations achieve their digital transformation goals, and enabling them to respond to changing customer demand. Speed is the new currency for business transformation – businesses need to understand, predict and map the customer journey in real time. GITEX Technology Week 2016 is the perfect platform for us to demonstrate Avaya’s ability to collect information and unleash its full potential, so we are very excited to participate yet again in this important event.” Among the solutions the vendor will highlight at the show are Avaya Breeze, Avaya Oceana, and Zang, a cloud communications platform and communication application-as-a-service for enabling customers connect with customers and employees. Visit them at: Za’abeel Hall, Stand Z-C20

Mohammed Areff, Avaya Avaya will showcase its latest innovations designed to enable companies to meet customer and employee expectations with true multi-touch communication capabilities. Along with customers and partners, the company will demonstrate real-world use cases for its latest solutions, highlighting how it can help organisations in the Middle East and beyond achieve their digital transformation objectives.

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

CISCO TO DEMO ‘REAL LIFE’ SMART CITY SCENARIOS

Mike Weston, Cisco Inviting GITEX visitors to “Reimagine a Digital Reality,” Cisco will showcase ‘real life’ Smart

City scenarios and demonstrate its digital solutions and technology across multiple verticals including security, aviation, education, and public sector among others. The company will also showcase its key business architectures and solutions that enable digital transformation, including security, cloud, data centre and analytics, mobility, application centric infrastructure and collaboration. “As the region’s premier ICT exhibition, GITEX offers an ideal platform for Cisco to demonstrate how digitisation has the potential to create sustainable and positive impact for every area of society. Through demos at our stand, we plan to highlight real-life, industry relevant scenarios that demonstrate how our technology solutions can help accelerate our clients’ digital transformation journey, help them re-imagine their businesses and identify what’s possible when technology and business strategies come together seamlessly,” said Mike Weston, Vice President, Cisco Middle East. Senior executives from Cisco and its partners will also be present at the Security and Network Hall where the company plans to put focus on its ‘Threat–centric Security’ approach. The vendor will demonstrate how an integrated threat defense architecture can help businesses see 100 percent of their extended networks and defend it faster.

of the industry including hybrid cloud, software-defined data centre, converged infrastructure, platform-as-a-service, data analytics, mobility and cybersecurity. In addition, the company also plans to use the event as a platform to speak to its partners and customers present at the show. “GITEX provides one of the strongest avenues for us to reach out to a broad range of META customers and partners. It’s also an excellent annual platform to showcase the complete solutions portfolio of Dell EMC. We want to demonstrate our strategy and capabilities, and how the Dell Technologies family of businesses can help customers meet their IT challenges in an evolving business environment,” says Shams Hasan, Enterprise Product Manager, Dell EMC. Subject matter experts and solution leaders from Dell EMC will showcase a variety of solutions in three key areas crucial to business’ Digital Transformation strategies: IT transformation, workforce transformation, and security transformation.

Shams Hasan, Dell EMC Dell EMC will showcase its strong capabilities in the fastest-growing areas

Visit them at: Hall 7, Stand B7-35

FOCUS SOFTNET TO FLAUNT PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Visit them at: Hall 2, Stand G2-1 Ali Hyder, Focus Softnet

EPICOR TO SHOWCASE ERP SOLUTIONS

Visit them at: Zabeel Hall, Stand Z-B40 and Hall 1, Stand B1-1

DELL EMC TO SHOWCASE SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES

principles – collaboration, mobility, choice, responsiveness and simplicity. Hesham El Komy, Senior Director, Channel, Epicor Software, said “At Epicor, we are committed to helping our customers grow and offering them a choice of deployment is central to this commitment. GITEX gives us an unparalleled platform to continue to build our brand, showcase our latest solutions, create mind-share with partners and our industry peers and most importantly, help customers choose an ERP solution that will serve as the backbone of their business processes and a platform for growth.”

Hesham El Komy, Epicor Software Following the successful roll-out of its cloud-first strategy in the Middle East, Epicor Software Corporation will showcase its flagship ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution at GITEX Technology Week 2016. According to the company, available in the cloud and hosted or on-premises its cloud ERP solution is built on five

Focus Softnet has announced that it will be showcasing its next generation ERP-incloud product – Focus 8 Ready for Cloud at GITEX Technology Week 2016. As part of its participation at the event, the company will also be presenting the latest versions of Focus 8 incorporating WMS (Warehouse Management System) and MRP (Material Requirement Planning) modules. Visitors can meet with consultants and sales advisors from the company to understand the full portfolio of products and services. “Traditionally visitors during GITEX have been found to inquire about services and this year’s event is not expected to be any different. Our team will be available at our stand to discuss our portfolio of solutions and services including managed services, HR and recruitment services, business

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

GITEX PREVIEW

process consulting, implementations services, amongst others available across the region,” said Ali Hyder, Group CEO, Focus Softnet.

new digital economy, they need a wellcoordinated security solution like the Security Fabric.

INFINET WIRELESS TO UNVEIL LATEST PRODUCTS

Visit them at: Hall 1, Stand E1-10

Visit them at: Hall 7, Stand E8-10

FORTINET TO HIGHLIGHT ‘SECURITY FABRIC’

HUAWEI TO FLAUNT ‘NEW ICT’ SOLUTIONS

Charles Yang, Huawei Middle East

Alain Penel, Fortinet This year, Fortinet’s participation at GITEX will focus on the Fortinet Security Fabric. The company will demonstrate how enterprises can protect themselves from the most sophisticated cybersecurity threats with its Security Fabric architecture. “GITEX brings together technologies and vendors from across the ICT world on a single platform. From networking, to security, software, cloud, and new technological innovations, all have a common platform to connect with each other,” said Alain Penel, Regional Vice President, Fortinet. “The show has been an important avenue for us to showcase our latest solutions and demonstrate why we are the leaders in what we do. No technology exhibition can be complete without the critical component of network security, which has become the center of an organisation’s IT infrastructure today.” Fortinet also noted that the event is instrumental in connecting the right partners with customers. Moreover, another one of the company’s aims at GITEX this year is to educate organisations and show customers that in order to successfully compete in this

Huawei, during its participation at the upcoming GITEX Technology Week, will be showcasing its ‘new ICT’ solutions that are aimed at “shaping the future in a connected world.” Charles Yang, President, Huawei Middle East, said, “The need of the hour is for infrastructure networks in the Middle East to connect cities – creating information-sharing platforms that carry smart applications for happier and safer communities. At GITEX 2016, Huawei brings the latest technologies, innovations and best practices that redefine the way organisations operate in a Smart City environment.” According to the company, it will highlight a variety of its offerings during the event including various solutions it has developed together with its technology partners, that are designed specifically for government, education, hospitality, real estate, banking and transportation sectors in the Middle East.

Visit them at: Zabeel Hall, Stands Z-B12 and Z-B20

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Kamal Mokrani, InfiNet Wireless

InfiNet Wireless will unveil the InfiLINK XG 1000, its latest addition to its product portfolio. According to the company, the product is designed specifically to meet the backhauling needs of wireless internet service providers (WISPs) and enterprise backhauls for applications like digital oilfields, the InfiLINK XG 1000 is able to provide throughputs of up to 1 Gigabit per second over the air in 5 GHz licensefree frequency bands, effectively doubling the capacity of InfiNet’s previous highest performing product, the InfiLINK XG. Kamal Mokrani, Global Vice President, InfiNet Wireless, said, “InfiNet is committed to staying at the forefront of the global wireless industry, continuing its close partnership with various channel partners in the Middle East region and bringing to its customers the very latest wireless technologies to not only satisfy their growing demand for high-bandwidth connectivity but to also add significant value to their own business models. Our innovative product portfolio and flexible business approach have earned us a reputation second-to-none and contributed to our company becoming the de-facto choice for many service providers from all sectors of the industry.”

Visit them at: Zabeel Hall, Stand Z-J10

MANAGEENGINE TO SHOWCASE ANALYTICS PLUS

Nirmal Manoharan, ManageEngine ManageEngine will be exhibiting its Analytics Plus, its recently launched, self-service IT analytics platform. “ManageEngine’s products have been instrumental in running IT and business in sync across the world. The world converges at GITEX to share and discuss fresh ideas, so we’re eager to share our new products and engage with customers to help them manage IT better. Given our breadth of products, we’re becoming the go-tocompany for IT management needs in the Middle East,” said Nirmal Manoharan, Regional Sales Director, ManageEngine. “Given the growing need for IT collaboration and unified IT management, our Middle East partners will find it easy to address the imminent needs of their customers using our state-of-the-art products.” The company will also be exhibiting products for network and applications management, IT helpdesk, active directory and log management, security management and IT analytics. Senior executives from the company will be available to interact and share our global success stories with both customers and partners in the Middle East.

Visit them at: Hall 7, Stand A7–10

MIMECAST TO CONDUCT LIVE HACKING SESSIONS

Brandon Bekker, Mimecast MEA Mimecast will showcase its full-range of email and data security solutions and services, and demonstrate how it can protect customers against advanced spear-phishing and whaling attacks with its Targeted Threat Protection service. Brandon Bekker, Managing Director, Mimecast MEA, said, “At GITEX 2016, our security experts will discuss the top email attack strategies being used by cybercriminals and demonstrate how these work by performing a series of live hacks for visitors at our stand. We plan to highlight how our cloud-based email security services and our capabilities on Targeted Threat Protection can help reduce the risk, complexity and costs traditionally associated with protecting email. We look forward to meeting our existing and prospective customers and partners and scout for new partners in countries where we do not have a strong presence.” Exhibiting along with its distributor Bulwark Technologies, the company will also promote its Email Security solution, which protects against malware, spam, advanced phishing and other emerging attacks, while preventing data leaks. It will also showcase its Mailbox Continuity, and Enterprise Information Archiving offerings.

Visit them at: Hall 1, Stand C1-20

PALO ALTO NETWORKS TO SHOWCASE SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES

Saeed Agha, Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks will put the spotlight on how its security platform can help businesses in the region prevent cyber breaches. Participating with the theme ‘Prevent and Empower’, the company will showcase its threat prevention, advanced end-point, and nextgeneration firewalls offerings – all key components of the platform. “In order to thrive in a rapidly changing digital environment, companies in the Middle East need to have a robust cybersecurity and risk management strategy in place. Before that can happen, there needs to be a change in mindset where cybersecurity is viewed as a business enabler rather than another cost consideration,” said Saeed Agha, General Manager, Middle East, Palo Alto Networks. Visitors will also get a chance to have a firsthand experience of how cyber threat is prevented through product demonstration from Unit 42, the company’s threat and intelligence research team. The team will also offer consultation to help companies enhance their security postures.

Visit them at: Hall 2, Stand G2-40

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

GITEX PREVIEW

PLUSSH TO LAUNCH PLUSSH PRO APP AT GITEX

PURE STORAGE TO DEMO ALLFLASH STORAGE SOLUTIONS

Christian Putz, Pure Storage EEMEA

Dimitri Moulins, Plussh According to the company, Plussh Pro is a live video application that features various functions for professionals such as adaptive bitrate streaming, Full HD, photo capture, and physical recording during live filming among others. In addition to these basic features, Plussh noted that customers can get tailored functions and options. Plussh Pro will be available in the App Store and Google Play, in both English and French, by GITEX Technology Week. “For Plussh, being at the GITEX is essential. The Middle East and Indian markets are crucial to us. The professional solutions we offer cater perfectly for the external and internal communication needs of major groups. Our offerings can address the requirements of emergency services providers like having real-time view of the situation on the ground, improving decisionmaking during a crisis, and the need to incorporate live video into Smart Cities. In countries whose economies and urban centres are developing rapidly, the professional solutions offered by Plussh will be of great interest to key account clients and investors,” said Dimitri Moulins, CEO, Plussh.

Visit them at: Zabeel Hall, Stand SU-284

Pure Storage will showcase its recently launched FlashArray//m10 and FlashBlade solutions at GITEX Technology Week 2016. According to the company, the latest addition to the FlashArray//m family, the FlashArray//m10 is a complete storage solution for mid-sized IT, as well as an affordable entry point to flash for larger enterprises looking to flash-enable a first key business application. FlashBlade is an elastic scale-out, all flash storage platform that delivers all-flash performance to multipetabyte-scale data sets at economics of less than $1/GB usable of data. “Our All Flash Arrays (AFAs) are now at a lower price point than Tier 1 Disk. Couple this with our Evergreen Business Model and the fact that our solutions offer 10x the performance of Tier 1 Disk, are 10x more efficient and 10x denser and massively simpler to deploy and manage, and there is now simply no logical reason for enterprises in the region to purchase Legacy Disk Based systems for Tier 1 and Tier 2 workflows such as Databases, Server Virtualisation and VDI,” said Christian Putz, Director, EEMEA, Pure Storage. “We look forward to using GITEX 2016 as a platform to continue educate enterprises on how migrating to all-flash storage can help them reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO), realise operational efficiencies and gain a competitive advantage.” In addition to showcasing their new solutions, Pure Storage will also be using GITEX as a platform showcase ‘Evergreen Storage’ business model.

Visit them at: Cloud Hall, Stand CLD-15

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

RIVERBED TO UNVEIL LATEST NETWORKING OFFERINGS

Taj Elkhayat, Riverbed

Taking part under the theme ‘Experience the future of networking,’ Riverbed plans to introduce its latest SteelConnect and SteelCentral, and SteelFusion solutions. In addition, the company highlighted that it aims to help GITEX attendees understand how the Riverbed Application Performance Platform helps simplify, optimise, protect, and orchestrate applications and data across the hybrid enterprise by delivering optimisation, visibility and control. Taj ElKhayat, Regional Vice President, Middle East and Africa, Riverbed, said, “Riverbed is at the forefront of this technology revolution and we will use GITEX as a platform to educate attendees on how this approach can solve the complexity in hybrid clouds and networks, improve efficiency and flexibility and enable them to easily shift workloads and deploy new applications and services. GITEX is by far the biggest trade show of its kind in the region and we will make every effort to foster fruitful engagements with customers and partners that lead to mutually beneficial partnerships through the rest of the year,” Apart from its own stand at GITEX, Riverbed will also have a presence at Microsoft’s booth as a platinum level sponsor, where it will showcase its solutions for optimisation and visibility for Office 365, SharePoint and Azure platforms.

Visit them at: Hall 4, Stand CLD-16 and at the Microsoft stand

SOPHOS TO PROMOTE NEW PARTNER PROGRAMME

Harish Chib, Sophos

Sophos will highlight its vision of ‘Synchronised Security’, showcase its portfolio of endpoint, network and encryption security solutions, and conduct product demonstrations. The company also plans to put the spotlight on its broad portfolio of security solutions including Sophos Intercept – its next-generation endpoint technology to boost protection against unknown exploits, the most updated versions of Sophos Clean and SG UTM, its recently launched synchronised encryption solution – SafeGuard Encryption8, and the Sophos Mobile Control 6.0. “With the increase in sophisticated attacks across the region, companies are looking for smarter and simpler IT security solutions. GITEX, being the region’s largest ICT exhibition, is a perfect platform for Sophos to reach out to these companies and communicate our vision of ‘Synchronised Security’ with them,” said Harish Chib, Vice President, Middle East and Africa, Sophos. In addition, Sophos will promote its newly launched partner programme for the Middle East and Africa region, which has been designed to address the needs of different partners and their engagement levels with the company.

Visit them at: Hall 1, Stand D1-10

TP-LINK TO CELEBRATE 20TH ANNIVERSARY AT GITEX

THINK&GO TO DEBUT CONNECTED SCREEN TECHNOLOGIES

Vincent Berge, Think&Go French start-up Think&Go has announced its participation at GITEX Technology Week where it aims to present its connected screen technologies. According to the company, these screens are able to interact with all connected objects like smartphones, contactless cards, smartwatches and passports. It also allows users to retrieve information or services, to buy or order a product, simply by using a contactless card or a smartphone on the screen. “For 30 years, the screens have not changed significantly: they show more beautiful images but remain passive. Today, they are able to transmit their content and carry out transactions, thus, opening a new dimension: the Screen Commerce, which allows customers to purchase goods everywhere at any time. Our breakthrough technology allows development of new digital services, essential to reboost the trade. This new sales channel opens big opportunities for brands. We have begun the marketing of our screens in France and in Asia. GITEX Technology Week is a fabulous opportunity to meet the industrial and important groups in the Middle East where the NFC technology is already very developed and the mutation of digital signage is underway. The connected screens can contribute to this fantastic evolution” said Vincent Berge, Founder and CEO, Think&GO

Denny Liang, TP-Link

Networking solutions vendor TP-Link Technologies will use its participation at GITEX Technology Week to commemorate its 20th anniversary. The vendor said its appearance at the show this year is special because the company recently rebranded. Denny Liang, Vice President, TP-Link Middle East, said that during GITEX the company will celebrate its 20th anniversary with channel partners, end-user customers and visitors that will visit the booth. Liang said as the company has rebranded and taken a different direction to focus on the smart home segment to complement its networking, wireless and mobile devices business, special focus will be on communicating the new direction the company is taking as part of offering a holistic experience to consumers. “We are delighted with the direction we have taken to provide integrated holistic solutions from networking, wireless, smartphones and smart home solutions,” he said. “During GITEX, we will be conveying this message to our partner ecosystem and end-user customers in the region, and the trade show is the perfect platform as it accords the company the opportunity to reach out to a broader client base.” According to TP-Link, the most important objective it has at GITEX is explaining and outlining its new corporate direction, product roadmap and strategies for and cementing its support and visibility in the regional channel.

Visit them at: Zabeel Hall, Stand Z-D30

Visit them at: Zabeel Hall, Stand CU-282

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

OPINION // JUNIPER NETWORKS

FLASH ON

Ben Savage, EMEA Head of Channels and Alliances, Pure Storage, on why all-flash storage is transforming partner programmes.

he key technologies today that are enabling digital business are greatly influencing the composition of the data centre. Inside the data centre the challenges of data management continue to grow exponentially. The task of managing the cost of storage, providing the right platform for workloads, and ensuring the path forward is simple and predictable has become a critical success factor. This challenge is alike for the end user, the channel partners, and storage vendors. Trends like digital transformation, mobility, analytics and cloud, require the right selection of storage platforms to match the workload. Should data be onpremise or off-premise; public cloud or hybrid cloud; can workloads be moved easily from one platform to another; can platforms be easily upgraded over time; are the costs of platforms predictable and manageable; can costs be reduced on traditional platforms? These are the challenges that end customers are facing and are looking for answers from their strategic solution partners and vendors. Solution partners are looking to make sense of the transformation that is taking place across storage solutions and data platforms. They also need to be able to understand their customer requirements at present, and into the future. Partners want to engage with vendors who can offer

storage roadmaps that are simple, predictable, repeatable, scalable and profitable. They need their vendor partners to be innovative at every stage of development for the long run. On top of all that, solution partners need to be able to add their layer of value, personalised for their customers. Neither the partner nor the customer can deal with additional complexity or cost unpredictability at this stage. The increasing importance of simplicity and cost management around storage has drawn attention to the limitations of traditional storage solutions. With rapid expansion in the requirement of data capacity, traditional storage solutions fast reach their performance limitations dictated by the initial controller and architecture technology. While storage capacity can be added, the solution is limited by a performance lock. To get to the next level of performance is usually complicated, expensive and cumbersome.

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Typically, the upgrade is a new solution and a new purchase. Data needs to be migrated and there is downtime for the end customer due to slow transfer speeds. Some of the older data structures and libraries may get affected during migration. The migration of data can be complex, and require external professional services. And finally the maintenance contract renewal is often more expensive than the previous one - a good reason for solutions partners and end customers to look at other alternatives. Enter all-flash arrays. These are built on solid-state technologies and have near zero latency times to access and transfer data. Recent all-flash storage solutions from select vendors are also helping solution partners avoid the murky waters created by complex and expensive ‘forklift upgrades’ from traditional storage vendors. All-flash maintenance and service programmes involve incorporating contractual costs to the initial performance metric unit of

“To ensure a smooth transition towards a data centre network, it’s imperative that businesses work with trusted and experienced channel partners.”

the solution - that is IOPS per GB. As the end-user solution scales in storage capacity over time, the per unit cost remains constant and even reduces, ensuing from benefits of Moore’s law applied to all-flash storage. This predictability of maintenance and service costs around all-flash solutions helps partners to have confidence in the profitability of engagements with customers and the underlying partnership with the vendor. For customers, predictable maintenance and services costs around all-flash storage is a simplification and positive alternative to traditional storage solutions. Another benefit for customers created by all-flash storage solutions is the ability to jump the technology cycle by upgrading the controllers of the array. Many all-flash vendors are including an upgrade of the controllers at fixed intervals of time under their maintenance programmes. However, if the customer wishes to initiate the upgrade earlier, innovative vendor trade-in programmes may also exist to facilitate the seamless migration into denser capacity solutions. Migration of data in an all-flash environment, unlike traditional storage solutions, can be much faster and without downtime. These all-flash vendors have raised the bar by innovating on the underlying storage architectures and their associated programmes. For the solution partner, the ability to manage customer requirements through a built-in upgrade programme allows customers to deploy storage once and keep expanding and improving it for 10 years or more, all without any downtime, performance impact, or data migrations and this becomes the basis

of a win-win relationship. While managing technology growth requirements and providing financial gains to the customer are made possible by such programmes from all-flash vendors, vendors also gain by increased loyalty from solutions partners. In line with what is happening globally, there is a tsunami of disruption that is engulfing the storage industry – we have seen a collapse in ‘big ticket’ enterprise disk storage and this will accelerate in the next 12-18 months with the widespread adoption of all-flash arrays and converged infrastructure. For partners looking to build a competitive advantage and break into new accounts, this presents an incredible opportunity. In today’s fast changing marketplace increased partner loyalty remains a key differentiator for all-flash storage vendors versus traditional storage vendors.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

FEATURE // GITEX 2016

TOP DISTIES TO WATCH AT GITEX 2016

PROMISING TO BE BIGGER AND BETTER, GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. RESELLER ME HAS PUT TOGETHER THE LIST OF TOP DISTRIBUTORS YOU SHOULD NOT MISS AT THIS YEAR’S ICT TRADE SHOW.

ALJAMMAZ DISTRIBUTION Saudi-based AlJammaz Distribution’s primary focus at this year’s trade show, GITEX 2016 is to meet up with its current resellers and vendor partners and look for new expansion opportunities and investments.

Meet them at Dell EMC, Linksys, APC, Cisco & Rittal stands

Asim S. AlJammaz, Vice President, says,

“Partners need to focus on technologies such as cloud services, security, hyperconverged technologies, data centres and IoT for specific industries. Virtual reality is an important technology that will transform many industries. “Today most application of the technology is related to the consumer space such as gaming but there is a lot of work being done from companies to use it in different business applications such as logistics and contracting. IoT can be used in remote driving machines and trucks in dangerous places or to centralise your drivers in one location to utilise them to the maximum and drive the trucks and machines remotely, we will see many great ideas in the future.”

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

HEADS UP The distributor will make several announcements around partnerships at the show. Partners can also look forward to general product demonstrations on the company’s vendor stands.

APTEC - AN INGRAM MICRO COMPANY Aptec – an Ingram Micro Company, one of the largest value-added distributors in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey and a leading technology sales, marketing and logistics company, aims to use GITEX Technology Week 2016 as a platform to focus on cloud computing, cybersecurity, Big Data and analytics and advanced solutions. From its offices and warehouses in seven countries and with more than 370 specialised staff, Aptec serves over 70 countries in the region. Aptec was acquired by Ingram Micro in 2012 and now is a part of the global Fortune 100 Company. Aptec Ingram Micro offers a multitude of solutions with products supplied by more than 30 IT vendors. These include infrastructure solutions such as security, data centre, storage, virtualisation, private and public clouds, networking and others, applications like database engines, data analytics, CRM and UC. The company is an authorised distributor for a number of vendors including 3M, A10, Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Veritas and Symantec to name a few.

Meet them at Hall 4, C4-1

HEADS UP

The distributor plans to make a host of announcements during the trade show, visit the stand to stay clued-up.

Svetlana Sorokina, Marketing Director, META, says,

“GITEX is an excellent platform that allows a regional distribution house like ours to showcase some of the latest technological offerings from our vendors as well as network with our partners from across the region.”

ARROW ELECTRONICS Arrow Electronics will showcase a range of next-generation hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), flash storage, software-defined infrastructure, and advanced security solutions from leading technology vendors at the upcoming edition of the GITEX Technology Week. Among the technology solutions on display at the distributor’s booth will be Dell EMC VxRail hyper-converged infrastructure appliance and its flash products. Over 30 technology specialists from Check Point, Dell EMC, F5, Forcepoint, Intel Security, Netscout, RSA, and Trend Micro will join a team of Arrow’s business solution consultants at the trade show to provide insights to solution providers and enterprises on emerging trends including cybersecurity and software-driven infrastructures.

Vimal Kocher, Managing Director, says,

“We provide authorised training courses with real-world experienced certified training i nstructors using hands-on lab facilities, including our official IBM Systems and Software training courses as well as certified training from RSA, Dell EMC and Forcepoint.”

Meet them at Hall 1, G2-1

HEADS UP

The company will also launch a study to help enterprises evaluate their current data centre capability, and assess which HCI solutions and best practices can help them transform their data centres to meet complex business needs in the digital economy.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

FEATURE // GITEX 2016

BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES Value-added distributor of IT security solutions, Bulwark Technologies, is all set to offer the latest technologies spanning enterprise information archival, advanced malware protection, managed file transfer and two-factor authentication, in addition to its other security technologies. As a part of the organisation’s growth strategy, the company is currently in talks with multiple vendors to take up products through its established channels. We can look forward to the distributor showcasing two new partnerships at the show.

Jose Thomas Menacherry, Managing Director, says,

“At GITEX, where we have been showcasing for over a decade now, we employ a two-pronged approach. We not only showcase optimum technologies catching pace in this region, but also introduce newer technologies that are gaining acceleration for their ease of use across the world. Our approach this year has been driven based on a strong demand in the security distribution market.”

Meet them at Hall 1, C1-20

HEADS UP Attendees have a chance to interact with the distributor’s security experts and vendor representatives to discuss their pain areas and look upon a solution to address that. Its new vendors will showcase their products to create brand awareness and visibility.

EXCLUSIVE NETWORKS ME Exclusive Networks will showcase real solutions and new technologies at this year’s GITEX. The distributor will have over 10 vendors showcasing their offerings as part of its Cyber Attacks Remediation and Mitigation (CARM) portfolio. Vendors such as Fortinet, F5, Gemalto, Ixia, Logrhythm, Carbon Black along with the recently signed Certes and SentinelOne will be present with the distributor’s team. Additionally, the group will also be unveiling its new data centre distribution arm, BigTec, which will be featuring solutions such as Nutanix, Nuage or Varmour and the newly renamed, Tubonomic (formally VM Turbo) and launching their latest vendor, Rubrik. Visitors are invited to attend sessions in the ‘Security Room’ at its stand. Audience will gain insight on best practices within the security industry while understanding how each solution distributed by the company can support them. The agenda will also include sessions from the BigTec vendors.

Nathan Clements, Managing Director, says,

“We will be exhibiting two ‘eco systems’ at GITEX 2016. With Exclusive Networks, we will be exhibiting our ‘CARM’ ecosystem. Vendors in this portfolio constitute the component parts of CARM, to work as one unified solution when tackling cybersecurity. Under BigTec, we will be exhibiting our ecosystem known as the ‘Reference Architecture’, which showcases how vendors collaborate to build the component parts of a next-generation data centre.”

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Meet them at Hall 1, D1-20

HEADS UP The company is hosting a cocktail party held in a private location during GITEX and by invitation only. For more information, and eligibility details, visit Exclusive Networks stand at GITEX 2016.

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION Global Distribution’s primary focus at GITEX 2016 is to network with its business partners, such as vendors and resellers, as well as connect its strategic partners with each other. The distributor believes flash has proven to be the next big thing and if partners are not yet on it, “they better hurry up.” The company is also betting on other emerging technologies, such as Hyper Converged Infrastructure and Software Defined Perimeter Protection. IP-based CCTV solutions are also a great opportunity for ICT resellers over the next few years, according to the company.

Mario M. Veljovic, Vice President, Solutions MENA, says,

“Our focus is on strengthening our existing partnership, especially as we expect all senior executives from our key business partners to be in town for the show. We are proud to see our strategic vendor Pure Storage make its debut this year with a great stand, Booth CLD-15. Pure Storage will showcase its leading flash technology and we will have a busy schedule for the week to introduce our key partners and their end customers to Pure’s worldwide executive team.”

LOGICOM DISTRIBUTION Logicom Distribution’s activities include the distribution of technology products and services, the provision of integrated IT networking, telecom and business software solutions, and the execution of large infrastructure projects. The distributor has physical presence in more than 16 countries, employs over 700 professionals, and serves more than 10,000 customers in 30 countries in Europe, Middle East, Gulf, North Africa, and Asia. In the last year, the company has focused on expansion, where it has recently signed up with ALSO to form the Logicom Cloud Marketplace and to bring a wide range of local and global cloud-based software services to customers in Southern Europe and the Middle East. Earlier this year, it also expanded its vendor portfolio, and extended its distribution relationship with Microsoft to include the UAE and Gulf countries, added Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, and extended its contracts with HP Inc and APC.

Michael Papaeracleous, Director of Distribution, says,

“GITEX provides excellent opportunities to strengthen and build our connections across different industry verticals, regions, and between the public and private sectors. Logicom will be present at GITEX this year with the aim of connecting with our existing customers, increase our customer breadth, bring awareness of our product portfolio, and cement our position as a leading regional distributor of technology solutions and services.”

Meet them at Pure Storage - Cloud Hall, CLD-15

HEADS UP

Other than looking at new technologies during GITEX, the company is keen to help its partners to embrace alternative financing solutions, such as leasing. This will help businesses to achieve faster Return of Investment.

Meet them at Hall 4, A4-1

HEADS UP

The distributor is also participating in the Microsoft Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Programme, expected to roll out in certain regions in time for GITEX 2016.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

FEATURE // GITEX 2016

MINDWARE Mindware’s extensive portfolio boasts a selection of hardware, networking, security and storage solution leading brands. As a part of its value-added distribution strategy, the company also offers services to its resellers and partners, which include pre-sales consultancy, marketing, implementation services and regional technical support. At GITEX 2016, the distributor will showcase top brands including, Intel, Microsoft, Dell and Veritas among other products and solutions. Additionally, the company also plans to highlight its customer-focused distribution strategies and growing IT infrastructure to participants and visitors at the show. The distributor will focus on marketplace definition and strengthen back-office by adjusting and tuning existing tools while also implementing new ones. It will work towards better alignment with vendors’ strategies and priorities.

Gilbert Lacroix, General Manager, says,

“Our objective at GITEX this year is to create awareness about our newly-added services and products to our portfolio, highlight our commitment to the Middle East market as a VAD recognised for maintaining leading IT distributor position, embrace the latest IT brands, emphasise on our ongoing achievements till date and further strengthen our long-term plans with partners.”

Meet them at Hall 3, D3-01

HEADS UP Over the past year, the company has expanded both horizontally and vertically. It has expanded to new geographies and added several new vendors. Projects such as Cloud Marketplace and Client Services are also running in parallel.

OXYGEN MIDDLE EAST Oxygen will be announcing new vendor partnerships and extending the technologies to its partner network. It aims to showcase its technologies spanning across “innovative security solution, monetising Wi-Fi services, latest technology in mobility solution and cyber warriors.” Visit the company’s stand to learn more on its new brands and solutions. Partners will also be treated to ongoing knowledge sessions for security and mobility solutions by the distributor’s qualified engineers.

Khalid Laban, Chief Executive Officer, says,

“Oxygen aims to help partners innovate their security systems so it can allow them to maximise their position with their own end-users in order to ensure that they are safe and secure from all sort of attacks. And with technologies we have, we are steadily getting there by positioning integrated solutions instead of products only. Partners should focus on innovative security solutions, NSS Labs, cyber wall solution, nextgeneration firewalls, cloud security base and IoT.”

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Meet them at Hall 1, C1-30

HEADS UP The company also offers solutions that find the base to deploy augmented and virtual reality technologies for its partners and customers. According to Laban, the high speed and stable infrastructure will allow the easy deployment of such technologies in the market.

REDINGTON VALUE

Meet them at Hall 3, C3-1

Redington Value, the value-added distribution arm of Redington Gulf, will showcase the region’s first multi-vendor solutions centre, Red Vault, at GITEX 2016, later this month. According to the company, Red Vault will be a unique training and testing facility providing hands-on experience of the functioning of mainstream IT solutions. The centre fully integrates more than 40 different solutions from numerous vendors, thereby making it the only such facility in the region with a multi-vendor environment. The new solutions centre will create a platform for existing and new partners and customers to get trained in vendor-authorised training centres, according to the company. The solutions centre is currently operational at the Redington Value headquarters in Dubai, UAE.

Ramkumar Balakrishnan, President, says,

HEADS UP

“We want to play a critical role in training and facilitating transformation among our partners. The key milestone that we have for ourselves is to elevate Red Vault to the mainstream. The idea is to attempt to help our partners and end customers in the transformation journey. So being a catalyst in transformation of the channel and its enablement is really at the core of what we do at Redington Value.”

STARLINK StarLink exhibits at GITEX each year to develop partner, customer and vendor relationships. Attendees at this year’s show have an opportunity to meet the distributor’s management team and learn more about its security framework, solutions lifecycle and business strategy; and recently launched StarLink Vertical Security Trend Matrix. The StarLink Vertical Security Trend Matrix provides security leaders in the government, telco, oil and gas and banking verticals, insights into how the latest IT security trends cater to their respective industries, in order to address today’s compliance and next-generation threat protection requirements. The distributor aims to present a more consultative approach through its participating vendors’ best-of-breed enterprise security technologies and support delivery capabilities backed by a robust in-house technical team and a strong bandwidth of strategic partners from across the region thus helping customers reduce cyber risks and improve cybersecurity programmes.

Nidal Othman, Managing Director, says,

“We have been participating at GITEX Technology for the last five years and we see great potential in this event. In fact, this is our most sought-after event as we get a chance to engage our vendors with customers and partners to help in further fortification of enterprise networks. We also get a chance to present what’s new about StarLink Security Framework, Solutions Lifecycle and business strategy.”

Other key highlights include the announcement of new vendors for RedCloud, an integrated cloud solutions platform, launched at GITEX 2015, and the distributor’s expansion into new markets.

Meet them at Hall 1, D1-1

HEADS UP

The distributor’s vendors will be covering solution areas such as encryption, threat intelligence, behavioural analytics, nextgeneration firewalls, secure mobility, advanced threat protection against DDoS, DNS, persistent threats and other malwares.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

FEATURE // GITEX 2016

STORIT DISTRIBUTION StorIT Distribution, specialist IT distributor of enterprise data management solutions, is geared up to promote its full-range of data management and data protection solutions at the 36th edition of GITEX Technology Week. The distributor will showcase its turnkey solutions for converged infrastructure, cloud computing, virtualisation, business continuity and disaster recovery, high performance computing, archiving, data analytics and data centre solutions from partners such as EMC, Commvault, Tintri, Quantum, QLogic, Mellanox, Unitrends, SAS, ATTO and Supermicro.

Manju Mathew, Marketing Manager, says,

“At GITEX 2016, we plan on demonstrating our cutting-edge flash storage and backup and recovery solutions, showcase our extensive portfolio of data management solutions and promote our wide range of professional services, managed services and training programmes. Technology experts from some of our key vendors will be present at our stand to address customers’ and partners’ queries.”

Meet them at Hall 6, CLD-16

HEADS UP Attendees can visit the distributor’s stand to learn more about its valueadded services such as Business Need Assessment, Architecture and Proof of Design and its managed services. StorIT’s vendors will focus on the latest innovations in the IT space through its presentations.

WESTCON-COMSTOR Value-added distributor Westcon-Comstor participates at GITEX every year by hosting a hospitality suite at the ‘Sublime Bar’ at IBIS Hotel. According to the company this has been consistently rated as the smartest idea to facilitate B2B meetings at the region’s largest ICT trade show. The distributor will have a three-day presence at the show, from 17th to 19th October, 2016. Through the hospitality suite, the company’s vendor partners also have opportunities for branding and setting up meetings over coffee.

Steve Lockie, Group Managing Director, MENA, says,

“This is a unique annual opportunity to network with all the key Middle East partners and engage in a true B2B environment. We have been actively transforming our business globally and the recent transition to SAP with a single consolidated supply chain and new legal entity structures while internally facing create a fantastic platform for growth and new opportunities.”

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Meet them at Sublime Bar, IBIS Hotel

HEADS UP Visitors will have an opportunity to network with the company’s EMEA level executives and have access to ME and EMEA Westcon Group management.

KNOWLEDGE PARTNER

Reseller MEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Annual Industry Survey 2016 offers insights into the dynamics of the regional IT channel and records the growth story of some of the leading players in this space. The report, with intelligence from our Knowledge Partner, Coface, examines the nitty-gritty of the evolving market landscape.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

RANKING OF CHANNEL PARTNERS TOP 10 RANKING INDUSTRY RANK

TOP EXECUTIVE

NAME

OVERALL RANK

Redington Gulf

Distribution

Raj Shankar

MDS Gulf Group

Systems Integration

Global Distribution

Distribution

BDL Group

Logicom

CATEGORY

REVENUE ($M)

TITLE 2015

2014

Change %

34.2

Suren Vedantham

Group MD

*45

*40

12.5

Ramesh Belani

-10.8

Systems Integration

Sharoon Shamshuddin

CEO

New entrant

Systems Integration

SM Hussaini

*35+

*37+

-5.4

Systems Integration

Jude Pereira

emt Distribution

Distribution

Mohammad Mobasseri

CEO

33.5

1.49

Lucky Star Computers

Reselling

KU Shankari

9.09

Credence Security

Distribution

Vivian Gevers

21.2

New entrant

Spectrami

Distribution

Anand Choudha

100

Synergix International

Distribution

Alan Pourmirza

Business DNA

Systems Integration

Tarek El Goweiny

CEO & Co-founder

33.3

DataCare

Reselling

Suresh Shetty

18.57

EMW ME

Systems Integration

Serjios Hage

18.7

24.6

Bulwark Technologies

Distribution

Jose T Menacherry

*18

*15

Others (41-50) Fujisoft

Systems Integration

Albert Raj

13.3

Granteq Distribution

Distribution

Girish Narayanan

12.5

New entrant

DataTAAG Technologies

Systems Integration

Najaf Ali

CEO

12+

New entrant

Finesse

Systems Integration

Sunil Paul

COO

11.2

7.1

57.7

ixtel Technologies

Systems Integration

Mehdi Quraishi

CEO

9.7

5.3

Tech Forte

Systems Integration

Nadeem Khan

8.5

7.3

16.4

TNC Middle East

Distribution

Nabeel Ahmed

CEO

New entrant

Fast Lane

Training

Josef Miskulnig

Founder & CEO

Nivan Tech

Reselling

Farshad Bidram

2.5

New entrant

Siemcom

Systems Integration

Ram Meravala

1.6

New entrant

Key to rankings: Companies have been ranked on the basis of the latest revenue figure ($M) provided by the channel partner. Overall rank refers to the rank of the player across all 50 submissions received. Industry rank refers to the rank of the player within the appropriate category. Categories include distribution, systems integration, reselling and training. *RME Estimate

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

TOP VALUE-ADDED DISTRIBUTORS

TOP SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS

TOP DISTRIBUTORS

MDS

Redington Gulf BDL Group

GBM

Metra Computer Group

Alpha Data

Global Distribution

Mitsumi Distribution

Emitac Enterprise Solutions

Logicom

FDC International

AGC

Mindware

Almasa IT Distribution

ATC

Westcon-Comstor

Asbis Middle East

Intertec Systems

Aljammaz Distribution

Trigon

Help AG

StarLink

Fujisoft Technology

Exclusive Networks ME

ISYX Technologies

Oxygen ME

Maxxcom Group

Almoayyed Computers

Sariya IT

Nanjgel Solutions

StorIT Distribution

TOP RESELLERS

Business DNA

emt Distribution

EMW ME

Credence Security

DataTAAG Technologies

Spectrami

Lucky Star Computers

Finesse

Bulwark Technologies

DataCare

ixtel Technologies

Granteq Distribution

Nivan Tech

Tech Forte

Synergix International

Siemcom

TNC Middle East

Experts Computers

CHANNEL SEGMENTATION 76.85%

21.91%

1.19%

0.05%

DISTRIBUTION

SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

RESELLERS

TRAINING

INDUSTRY GROWTH $7.67 B

2010

$8.3 B

2011

$12.53 B $8.23 B

2012

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

BASE - $11.28BN 50 companies

$11.28 B

$10.78 B

2013

2014

2015

CHANNEL ELITE // KNOWLEDGE PARTNER REPORT

CHANNEL BEAT

Reseller ME’s Annual Industry Survey 2016 knowledge partner - Coface, trade credit insurance firm, reports that the electronics industry accounts for 17 percent of payment defaults across various key sectors among other insights.

he information technology (IT) industry in the Middle East is projected to post a growth of 3.7 percent in 2016 over the previous year, reaching an estimated $212.9 billion. The IT sector has become an essential part of the region’s economic diversification. In the case of UAE, the strategy of being a global and regional trading hub has led to the adoption and development of new technologies. The business and social development, in line with a sustainable growth, bring along the need for acquiring up-to-date IT solutions. This resulted to an increased interest in the IT sector’s development. However, the electronics industry, a major sub-sector of IT, has the second highest rate of payment defaults next to metals and construction based on the data gathered in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE by Coface Emirates Services the regional arm of the global trade credit and risk management company. The electronics industries in KSA and UAE accounted for 17 percent of payment defaults across various key sectors. The data gathered by Coface in the first quarter of 2016 revealed that the IT and electronics sector is among those suffering payment delays. The average payment terms of companies operating in this sector have increased by more than three times from one month (30 days) to nearly four months (105 days). Massimo Falcioni, CEO Middle East Countries, Coface, said, “Taking KSA and UAE as a snapshot for the region, the payment delay and defaults in the IT and electronics sector are occurring for the same factors that are affecting

other industries. This include liquidity crunch, lack of trade credit insurance and inadequate risk management policies. Also, as IT serves as support system to other industries, it is affected when the other industries experience difficulties.” Amid this, positive growth in the region’s IT sector is expected. The substantial industrial refocusing to generate new economic development beyond the oil industry, with deepening Smart Cities initiatives and adoption of the Internet of Things, is of utmost importance in this

Massimo Falcioni, CEO Middle East Countries, Coface

“Taking KSA and UAE as a snapshot for the region, the payment delay and defaults in the IT and electronics sector are occurring for the same factors that are affecting other industries.”

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

region according to Gartner, an IT research and advisory agency. Based on the Q3 2016 data published by Business Monitor International, the overall outlook for the telecommunications and consumer electronics sectors in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are positive. As both the markets are mature with very high penetration rates, growth will be based on product innovation and infrastructure enhancement rather than an increase in the number of users. The major factors boosting market growth in these sectors are healthy competition, business demand and government expenditure on digital infrastructure. On the other hand, major challenges facing these sectors include high levels of market saturation, restrictions on digital content affecting sales of smart devices, piracy and parallel imports, and general economic uncertainties arising from the oil price slump. “To fully utilise the opportunities presented by the fast shifts in IT trends, businesses would need a solid understanding of trade fundamentals. For the fittest, there is room for growth. Yet, the extreme inter-dependence of businesses operating within the umbrella of information and communications technologies means that a weak link can affect several businesses down the chain. There are thousands of players in this sector that are operating on narrow margins of profit and have very little cushion against payment defaults. Even as they innovate, they are well advised to protect their financial base with appropriate trade credit and risk management measures,” Falcioni said.

INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

01 REDINGTON GULF

$2.84 BN

Redington Gulf, once again maintaining its position in the ranking, is a clear market leader in the distribution space. The company has grown by 8.45 percent compared to the previous financial year. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s volume division has expanded its product line to include wearables and smartphones in the past year and represents leading brands in the market such as Apple, Lenovo and Samsung. The distributor has also expanded support to over 800 independent retailers in telecom across UAE through distribution of smartphones based on iOS and Android OS. It offers its channel partners across the Middle East and Africa markets, over 60 product categories from 28 global IT vendors. Boasting in-country availability of stock through 26 warehouses, it offers multiple finance options to structure credit for partners. Additionally, it also provides regular online and offline channel engagement programmes. The value arm of the distributor, Redington Value, offers solutions spanning across technology domains such as networking, voice, servers, storage, software, security and infrastructure. In the last year, it has carried out over 400 channel enablement and awareness events across the region. It has provided certification trainings for channel pre-sales and technical resources. Earlier this year, it has also launched Red Vault, a comprehensive solution centre integrating more than 40 different solutions from numerous vendors, making it the only such facility in the region with a multi-vendor environment, according to the company. It provides the channel community the opportunity to experience live demos and witness technology in action.

Top vendors by revenue Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung

Top vendors by relationship Acer, Canon, Cisco, HP, Samsung

Raj Shankar, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2000 Financial year: April 2015 - March 2016 Number of sales offices: 26 across MENA, Turkey and CIS Number of warehouses: 26 across 14 countries Total staff: 1900 plus Total engineers: 450 plus Total resellers: 16100 plus Total vendor partnerships: 103 plus Distribution model: Telecom, value, volume

TOP EXECUTIVES

*in alphabetical order

2011

REVENUE CHART

2012

Ashish Bharti, President, Volume Division, ME, Redington Gulf

2013 2014

2015 1.5 BN

2.0 BN

2.5 BN

3.0 BN

Ramkumar B, President, Redington Gulf, Value Division

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

02 MDS GULF GROUP

$900 M

The largest regional systems integrator, MDS Gulf has moved up the overall ranking by one position and has clocked in a 5.88 percent increase in its revenues in 2015, as compared to the previous year. Part of the Midis Group, the SI has been operational in the region for over 30 years and boasts a robust presence across markets such as UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. Besides systems integration, the company also offers expertise in data centre and critical infrastructure consultancy, integration and operation. It provides software solutions and professional services along with solutions in computer systems and networking. In the last year, the company has consolidated different MDS entities in the region under one umbrella – MDS Gulf, making it a stronger force in the market. The company’s President, Sami Esber, says, “We are now one of the largest regional systems integrators with a workforce of more than 1200 employees. We have been named the number one IT service provider in UAE by research firm IDC for the 11th consecutive year.” Over the last year, Esber has played a key role in finalising the acquisition of eHosting DataFort – a major player in cloud and hosting services in the region, and Netcure – a managed security service provider. MDS Gulf has strengthened its commitment in the cloud and security segments with these two acquisitions. Esber adds that the primary challenge CEOs face today is to begin the transformation of the business from a traditional reseller model to a true systems integration and service provider model. “This can be done by investing in human and technical resources and providing a regional alternative to our customers compared to international players,” he adds.

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION OUTSIDE UAE

UAE

70%

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

30%

Sami Esber, President Year of start-up: 1981 Financial year: June 2015 – June 2016 Total staff: 1200 Total engineers/technical staff: 700 Primary verticals: Oil and gas, telecom, government, healthcare Location of support office: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware:

REVENUE CHART

HP, Dell, Apple, Oracle, Lenovo 900 M

Software and security:

600 M

Networking:

300 M

Peripherals and storage:

IBM, Maximo, Microsoft, Symantec HP, Juniper Networks, Avaya, Cisco

0 2013

2014

2015

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Systems & hardware: 35% Software & security: 15% Peripherals & storage: 15% Networking: 10% Services and training: 25%

HP, Dell, EMC, HDS

Services and training: HP, Dell, EMC, eHDF

03 GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

$835 M

With close to 40 percent growth, Global Distribution is third in the overall industry ranking this year, and has scaled up by two places. The Dubai-based valueadded distributor provides solutions and products in enterprise storage, servers, networking and mobility across Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and India. The company has improved its Return on Investments made and maintained its annual growth expectations despite tough market conditions. MD and CEO VM Chandrasekar, says, “Currently the market is lacking financial backing. A reason why we have teamed up with ‘Grenke Leasing’ to offer alternative financing options for our partners. We have also optimised the product portfolio and expanded across all the core divisions in 2015.” Over the course of last year, the distributor has moved its offices to JLT, Dubai, which has enabled it to further optimise and centralise its operations and improve synergies between the company’s various divisions. Chandrasekar believes branded mobility distribution business and solutions distribution business will drive the organisation’s growth over the next year. “Both divisions have continued to show strong growth,” he adds. Global Solutions Network, the solutions distribution arm of the company, has established a solutions-centric distribution model and has introduced technologies such as IP-based Decentralised CCTV, All-Flash-Arrays and Software Defined Perimeter (SDP) Security to the region. “While solutions distribution and new geographies, such as Africa, have shown strong growth, traditional markets have also offered interesting opportunities for us,” says Chandrasekar.

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION Top vendors by revenue Fujitsu, Solarwinds, Tandberg Data/ Overland Storage/V3 VDI, Pure Storage

Top vendors by relationship Fujitsu, Lenovo, Tandberg Data/ Overland Storage, Solarwinds, Pure Storage

UAE

37% TOP EXECUTIVES

OUTSIDE UAE

63%

Sethuraman Ramaseshan, Group CFO Parvez Ahmed, Group VP Amit Kohli, Group Executive Director Laurent Journoud, VP Sales and Marketing Mario Michael Veljovic, VP Solutions MENA

VM Chandrasekar, MD and CEO Year of start-up: 2001 Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 102 Total engineers / technical staff: 39

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware: Fujitsu, Lenovo, Brother

Software and security: Solarwinds, Kaspersky Lab, Cryptzone

Peripherals and storage: Pure Storage, Overland Storage, Tandberg Data, V3 VDI, QNAP, Synology, LaCie, Optoma

Networking: HP, TP-

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

REVENUE CHART

1 BN

500 M

0 2013

2014

2015

Systems & Hardware: 15% Software & Security: 10% Peripherals & Storage: 20% Networking: 10% Accessories and consumables: 5% Components: 25% Services and training: 5% Others: 10%

Link, ZyXel

Accessories and consumables: TP-Link, LINKCOMN, Datwyler, Mobotix, Fluke Networks

Components:

SanDisk, Seagate

Mobile phones: LG, Samsung, I-onik

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

04 BDL GROUP

$722.4 M

BDL Group’s revenues for 2015 has plummeted by 20 percent as compared to the previous year. This has resulted in the regional distributor ranking fourth from the overall industry and a decent third position in the distribution space. The distributor has focused on its mobility division and expanded its core business over the course of last year. One of the company’s recent highlights include the sale of BDL Gulf to Al Sudais Group, earlier this year. CEO Tamer Ismail says, “Post the tactical and timely sale of BDL Gulf, we look forward to making our IT business the most profitable division for the company.” According to the distributor the biggest growth drivers for the company in 2015 came from telecoms as it witnessed a 25 percent hike in its revenues from this segment. Ismail shares that the market was indeed challenging in 2015, attributing it to factors such as regional political instability, currency fluctuations and declining oil prices. But the distributor has also managed to “strengthen its partner network” in spite of harsh market circumstances. Going forward, we will see the distributor ramping up its operations and building on its portfolio. Ismail says the success of the organisation is largely due to its “dedicated team” and believes the basics are in place for the company to grow and develop into a larger entity.

Tamer Ismail, CEO

Year of start-up

1998

1 BN

Total staff

160 500 M

Location of regional offices: KSA, Jordan, Bahrain and Egypt

Top brands: HP, Asus, Acer, MSI, Fujitsu

0 2012

2013

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

2014

2015

Visit Ingram Micro Booth at 36th Gitex Technology Week Join us to know the latest technology updates and network with our leading vendors in the industry #ingramgitex2016

Where to Find Us Hall 4, Stand C4-1 | Dubai World Trade Center United Arab Emirates Aptec - an Ingram Micro Company P.O.BOX: 33550 | Dubai Internet City - UAE Tel: +9714 3697111 | Fax: +9714 3697110 | Website: www.apteconline.com

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

05 LOGICOM

$ 667.7 M

Logicom has ascended in the ranking by two positions, having locked in a 16 percent growth from the last financial year. The distributor has expanded its reach geographically and strengthened its portfolio over the past year. With operations across UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, it has also enhanced its investments and partnerships in the Middle East and Gulf regions with the addition of a number of new partnerships, including a new agreement to represent IBM in key markets. The company has also extended its distribution agreements with Autodesk to include Qatar and Kuwait markets, after a successful partnership in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Pakistan. It has also expanded its Microsoft partnership to now cover Qatar, making Logicom Qatar the official distributor for the vendor’s OEM and FPP contracts. In 2015, the distributor has invested heavily into local resources in markets such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. This additional investment has enabled the company to expand its sales and pre-sales teams, secure local entities and significantly increase its local inventory in these markets. According to the distributor, its highly qualified and technically certified system engineers work closely with resellers’ technical teams to provide them with new technology trends and advanced information strategies. Post-sales support is currently provided through its vendors’ packaged services offerings, and the system engineers can support partners with PoCs and product demos. The company is constantly upgrading its services with multi-location operational hubs in the Middle East to support growing market demands.

Michael Papaeracleous, Director of Distribution Year of start-up: 1987 Middle East operations: 2000 Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 789 Total resellers: 7185 Top executive: : Varnavas Irinarchos, Group MD

VENDOR PROFILE

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

Top vendors by revenue Microsoft – 8% HP – 39% Kingston – 4% Cisco – 23% Intel – 11%

UAE

41%

OUTSIDE UAE

59%

Systems and hardware: HP, Intel, Acer, Dell

Software and security:

Top vendors by relationship Kingston, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, HP

Value-added services Presales support, solutions sizing and BoQ, Proof of Concept, demonstration, after-sales support

Microsoft, Autodesk, Commvault, NetApp, QNAP, WatchGuard, Symantec

Peripherals and storage: Kingston, WD, SanDisk, Philips

Networking: Cisco, Linksys

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

REVENUE CHART

1 BN

500 M

0 2013

2014

2015

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Systems & Hardware: 52% Software & Security: 8% Peripherals & Storage: 6% Networking: 23% Accessories and consumables: 6% Services and training: 1% Components: 4%

Accessories and consumables: HP Supplies, HP, Microsoft devices

Services and training: Micrososft, Cisco

Components: Intel Others: Veeam, Solarwinds,

Supermicro, Crucial, Gigabyte, Corsair, Jabra, Citrix

06 METRA COMPUTER GROUP

Metra Computer Group, has been operational in the region for more than three decades and has remained in the top ten of the ranking each year. With a 21 percent drop in its revenues in 2015, the company is now the fifth largest distributor according to this ranking. The firm boasts operations through a well-thought out sales and distribution network throughout the Middle East region and carries more than 30 brands within its volume and value divisions. Mohamed Amer, the company’s Executive VP, says commercial, enterprise and corporate businesses have been key elements for Metra in 2015. Leveraging the opportunities in the mobility space, the distributor has on boarded Injoo’s mobile line in its portfolio. He says, “Mobility is a segment where we are focusing to drive growth. We have also signed up Panasonic distribution for KSA and plan to expand that in other regions as well.” The distributor is looking to build its partnership with retailers and online resellers as a part of its channel strategy. Understanding the intricacies of the regional market is no easy task and being one of the longest-serving regional distributors, Metra has mastered that to remain as a strong player in this space. Amer adds, “In the last two years, the on-going political unrest in many Arab countries is having a negative impact on business - credit insurance companies are limiting market exposure, there is a significant slowdown in consumer demand and government spending on IT projects.” Over the coming months, we will see the distributor strengthening its portfolio and boosting its offering in key markets.

Top vendors by revenue Intel – 10.61% HP – 34.32% Lenovo - 2.64% Dell – 20.45% Apple – 13.13%

OUTSIDE UAE

46.8%

53.2%

Mohammed Eissa, EVP Year of start-up: 1982 Active resellers: 3000 Financial year: January – December 2015

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware:

Acer, Asus, BenQ, Dell, HP, Apple, Lenovo, Toshiba, Samsung

Peripherals and storage:

TOP EXECUTIVE

Apple, HP, WD, Toshiba, Transcend, APC, Epson, Lexmark

Mohamed Amer, EVP

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

$650 M

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Networking: Cisco, Ubiquity, Aruba, Intel, HP, Apple, Huawei, 3M Accessories and consumables: Apple, BenQ, Dell, HP, Samsung, Lenovo, Tripp Lite, Ubiquity

Services and training: Cisco, HP, Apple, Acer, Asus, Samsung, Fujitsu

REVENUE CHART

800 M

600 M

400 M 2013

2014

2015

Systems & Hardware: 49.71% Peripherals & Storage: 15.55% Networking: 4.95% Accessories and consumables: 15.22%

Services and training: 0.58% Components: 13.63% Mobility: 0.36%

Components: Intel, Gigabyte, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Huawei, Acer, Asus, Creative, MSI, SanDisk, Kingston Mobility: Injoo, Panasonic

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

07 GULF BUSINESS MACHINES

Gulf Business Machines (GBM), founded and operational in the region since 1990, is a leading provider of IT solutions. It is the sole distributor for IBM, excluding selected IBM products and services, throughout the GCC, apart from KSA. The company strengthened its offering when it secured the Cisco portfolio in 1999. The company, with an estimated 20 percent increase in its revenues, has maintained its position in the systems integration category within this year’s ranking. Having completed more than 25 years in the region, the SI continues to garner a large market share. It offers an extensive range of IT infrastructure, solutions and services ranging from consulting, resource deployment and integration to after-sales support. The company has offices in the UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Pakistan. The company’s recent highlights include being recognised by its vendors – IBM as its Top Business Partner and by Cisco as its Middle East Partner of the Year, and Channel Customer Satisfaction Excellence, which is the highest distinction a partner can achieve within the Cisco Channel Partner Program, according to the company. Earlier this year, GBM also became the first Apple authorised systems integrator in the region. It will offer Apple enterprise solutions in the region with a full suite of hardware, software, services and support that will bolster the mobility capabilities of organisations.

$ 600+ M*

Philippe Jarre, CEO Year of start-up: 1990 Total staff: 1200 Primary vertical focus: Banking and financial services, defense and police, retail and distribution, trading and services, government, oil and gas, telecommunications, travel and transportation

TOTAL NUMBER OF VENDOR CERTIFICATIONS Top vendors by revenue IBM, Cisco

Top vendors by relationship IBM, Cisco

REVENUE CHART

600 M

500 M

0 2014

2015

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

850

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware: IBM, Lenovo, Toshiba

Software and security: IBM, Cisco

SOLUTIONS PROVIDED Business Analytics, Business Process Management, Correspondence Management System, Data Virtualisation Solution, Engineering and Intelligence Solutions, Enterprise and Data Centre Networking, Enterprise Marketing Management, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Healthcare Performance Management, High Performance Computing, Information Management, Mobility and Wireless Solutions, Performance Management, Physical Security and Audio Visuals, Private and Hybrid Cloud, Retail Banking Data Warehousing, Retail Solutions, Security Solutions, Social Program Management Platform, Software Defined Infrastructure, Storage Infrastructure Optimisation, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Peripherals and storage: IBM, Cisco

Networking: Cisco, F5, Schneider Electric

Accessories and consumables: Lenovo

Services and training: all vendors

Others: Citrix. VMware

08 MITSUMI DISTRIBUTION

$475 M

Mitsumi Distribution has sustained its growth rate by 21 percent to climb up the ranking by three positions and has made it to the coveted top ten. CEO Jagat Shah says, although 2015 has been a tough year for most players in the industry, the distributor has managed to maintain its growth each year at the same pace. The company’s growth driver has been largely due to the opportunities in the African market. He says, “We are growing in this market quite well. We are seeing East Africa growing strongly. Some countries such as Nigeria do have challenges due to exchange and the instability in the region, however, we see it as a high potential market.” The CEO also attributes its success to the fact that it has always been a “micro distributor.” He adds, “We have never relied on any sub-distribution model to do our business. We have in-country stocking and people on the ground in all the markets where we are present in. And we cater to the whole market and not depend on any single person. This is why our margins have always been slightly better compared to the par distribution model.” The distributor aims to consolidate through acquisitions in the near future, once the market stabilises further. “In the last two years, we have been trying to look at acquisitions, but nothing has worked out yet. We are also trying to work with new vendors. You will hear more from us on this front, when we feel the market conditions have become more secure,” he adds.

Jagat Shah, Chairman & CEO Year of start-up: 1996 Financial year: April 2015 – March 2016 Total staff: 195 Total engineers/technical staff: 21 Total resellers: 2836

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware:

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

Top vendors by revenue Samsung – 45% Toshiba – 2% Hitachi - 5% HP- 20% Dell – 27%

UAE

35%

Top vendors by relationship Dell, Toshiba, HP, Samsung, Hitachi

65%

350 M

300 M 2013

2014

2015

Peripherals and storage:

Hitachi

Networking: HP Enterprise, HP Networking, and Polycom Accessories and consumables: HP,

TOP EXECUTIVE

Samsung, Canon

Mitesh Shah, MD

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

400 M

REVENUE CHART

OUTSIDE UAE

HP, Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, iSurf

Services and training:

Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, Hitachi, Intel

Components: Toshiba Telco: Samsung, Wiko and Transsion Group

Systems & Hardware: 40% Software and security: 3% Peripherals & Storage: 4% Networking: 3% Accessories and consumables: 5% Services and training: 2% Components: 3% Telco: 40%

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

20160907_Resller ME Ad_ok.pdf 1 2016/9/14 下午3:55

CMY

INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

09 FDC INTERNATIONAL

$ 401 M

FDC International, has been operating in the regional IT channel space for close to three decades. Almost every player in the industry has been impacted by the turbulent market conditions in the past year. And the distributor too has suffered a 30 percent decline in its revenue as compared to the previous financial year. However, it has managed to remain within the top ten positions in the ranking. With many years of experience in the volume distribution space, the company believes in the PC space, the form factor is reducing towards tablets, switch products and ultra books. COO and VP Marissa Safe, says, “Machines are becoming lighter, powerful and have extended battery life. Smartphones and smartphone-based solutions and products are also increasing in popularity. Another area of focus is the end-to-end solutions and networking products, which we are addressing through our separate value division – ProValue.” She says as the Middle East market evolves along with the infrastructure improvement, more and more organisations and MNCs are setting up regional offices, which has given rise to various verticals such as education, medical, oil and gas, banking, government/corporate sector and manufacturing. “Channel has evolved from box moving to more solution-based offerings. It has also evolved to specialise in specific products rather than offering all products,” says Safe. “As the overall market is becoming more challenging, business development distributors and solution providers are becoming more valuable to both the manufacturers and end-users.”

Marissa Safe, COO and VP Year of start-up: 1989 Financial year: January – December 2015 Location of support offices: Algeria, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, CIS Location of sales offices: UAE, KSA, Jordan, Kuwait Total staff: 153 Total engineers/technical staff: 25 Total resellers: 1000 active accounts and 240 preferred partners

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

Top vendors by revenue Lenovo, WD, Seagate, Acer, Asus

76%

OUTSIDE UAE

24%

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware:

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Top vendors by relationship XFX, Seagate, Liteon, Lenovo, Apacer

Lenovo, Acer, Asus

Software and security: Sophos, Cyberoam

Peripherals and storage: WD, Seagate, Synology

Networking: TP-Link, Huawei

1 BN

REVENUE CHART

Components: Intel, AMD, XFX, Asrock, Liteon, Apacer, Geil, Ricoh, ECS

500 M

0 2013

2014

2015

Notebooks: 51% Tablets: 12% Storage: 24% ProValue: 6% Components: 7%

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

10 ALMASA IT DISTRIBUTION

$390 M

Industry veteran, Almasa IT, has retained its position in this year’s ranking, although its revenues dipped slightly. The 20-year-old distributor has a robust presence across Middle East and Africa and features global names such as HP, Intel, Dell and LG in its vendor portfolio. The company has the local and regional experience to deliver high level of service, support, logistics and competitive pricing to the marketplace. It services all businesses in the IT industry including OEM, wholesalers, small and medium retailers, value-added resellers, systems integrators, power retailers and corporate resellers. Last year, the distributor reinforced its positioning in the mobility market, having set up a separate mobile division and service centres. It continues to have a big focus on in-country mobile business in GCC and ROME regions. It has also enhanced its in-country business developments in these regions. The distributor will continue to prioritise on mobility along with networking and security over the following months. In terms of product lines, it will focus on mobiles and tablets, high-end mobility laptop and networking and security products. The distributor provides value-added services such as presales, PoCs, implementation, training, knowledge transfer and after-sales support for Avaya and select services for other vendors. Speaking about the evolution in the regional channel, Mahdi Amjad, Chairman and CEO, says, “Regional channel partners are getting closer to vendors and interacting more closely. Direct interaction between the channel and vendor has created more clarity. This has enabled the channel to be focused on a specific product line rather than trading and also focus better with the channel programmes.”

Mahdi Amjad, Chairman and CEO Year of start-up: 1995 Financial year: July 2015- June 2016 Location of sales offices: UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and KSA Location of support offices: UAE, Kuwait, Iraq and KSA, Jordan, Egypt Total resellers: 1000 active accounts Total staff: 200 Total engineers/ technical staff: 8

TOP EXECUTIVES

Top vendors by revenue Asus, Apple, Lenovo, Intel, Avaya, Seagate

Top vendors by relationship Asus, Avaya, Intel, Seagate, Lenovo, Apple

Omar Baktash, Sales Director and Product Management Manoj Kumar, Sales Manager, UAE & GCC Satjeet Sangha, Sales Director, Export Somkant Misra, General Manager, Components Mahmoud Tawfiq, Sales Director, Mobility

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware: Asus, Lenovo, HP, Dell

Software and security: Cradlepoint

Peripherals and storage: Seagate, WD

Networking: Avaya, LG,

REVENUE CHART

2013

Cradlepoint

Components: Intel, Asus, 2014

Nvidia, MSI

2015

Asus

Mobility: Apple, Lenovo,

300 M

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

350 M

400 M

11 MINDWARE

$324 M

Regional value-added distributor, Mindware, has held its industry ranking as the ninth largest player in the distribution space, even though its revenues have fallen marginally. The distributor has several initiatives invested across different organisational functions and has added several key features to its business model to improve performance and overcome market challenges. Over the course of last year, the distributor has added EMC to its extensive portfolio of vendors, which include but is not limited to Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Symantec, Citrix, McAfee, Juniper, Riverbed, Lenovo, and Veritas. The company has undergone several significant management changes this year. Appointed as the company’s new Managing Director, Gilbert Lacroix, says, “In 2015, we have had a deeper partner selection based on credit, especially in the Saudi market. We have increased our focus on marketplace definition, objectives and choice of solution and start of implementation. We have reinforced back-office by adjusting, tuning existing tools and implementing new ones. We have worked towards becoming better aligned with our vendors’ strategies and priorities.” The distributor has built its credibility with 25 years of operation, partnering with some of the most prominent IT vendors in the industry and serving reseller partners mainly across the Middle East and North Africa. The distributor’s recently appointed Chief of Sales and Marketing, and Deputy General Manager, Nicholas Argyrides, adds, “Resellers should keep themselves updated and capitalise on the opportunities in the market today. We constantly advise our partners to explore new options, be it commercially or technologically. We all are, after all, part of the most dynamic of industries out there.”

Top vendors by revenue Symantec (Veritas)– 10% Dell - 25% Citrix: 7% Intel – 17% Microsoft - 10%

Year of start-up: 1991 Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 142 Total resellers: 2050 Total engineers/technical staff: 15 Location of sales offices: UAE Primary market focus: Security, storage and mobility Total resellers: 2050

Nicholas Argyrides, Chief of Sales and Marketing, and Deputy GM

TOP EXECUTIVE

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION Top vendors by relationship Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Symantec, Citrix

Gilbert Lacroix, Managing Director

UAE

44%

OUTSIDE UAE

56%

VENDOR PROFILE Systems & Hardware: Dell (Commercial), Lenovo, Avocent (Emerson)

Software and security: Microsoft, Citrix, McAfee, Symantec (Veritas)

Peripherals and storage:

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

REVENUE CHART

300 M

250 M

200 M 2013

2014

2015

Systems & Hardware: 27% Software & Security: 36% Peripherals & Storage: 7% Networking: 8% Accessories and consumables: 2% Services and training: 3% Components: 17%

EMC

Networking: Juniper Networks, Riverbed Accessories and consumables: Dell

(Consumer)

Services and training: Citrix, McAfee, Microsoft, Juniper

Components: Intel,

Biostar

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

12 ALPHA DATA

$300 M

With a proven track record of over thirty years in the market, Alpha Data has grown significantly with a 28 percent increase over the previous financial year. It has maintained its position as the third largest systems integrator in the regional market. The company draws from the expertise of its over 700-strong workforce to deliver ICT solutions for thousands of organisations in the Middle East. The company’s business approach is to establish long-term partnerships that encourage success through mutual benefit. Over the past year, the company became one of the first local private systems integrators to launch a public cloud with the introduction of its Alpha Cloud service. Fayez Ibbini, Founder and CEO, says, “We also added integrated solutions for Internet of Things (IoT) to our portfolio and did a Big Data project for cloud and security as well. We are focusing on gradually giving way to new technologies supporting the new connected economy, which is based more on cloud computing, mobility, security, Big Data, and IoT. We believe these five pillars will drive the new economy. “The IT industry has grown remarkably over the last two years, branching out into new opportunities, which are being driven by the UAE’s encouraging environment. The country is becoming even more daring and willing to try out new IT strategies and tools, and we have to deliver these in a smart way.”

Fayez Ibbini, Founder and CEO Year of start-up: 1981 Total staff: 900 plus Total engineers/technical staff: 400 Locations of sales offices: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha Primary vertical focus: Public, government, enterprise, SMB

TOP VENDORS BY REVENUE

VENDOR PROFILE HP: 20% Microsof: 15% Cisco: 10% Juniper: 10% Belden: 5% Others: 40%

Systems and hardware: HP, Cisco, Juniper Networks

Software and security: VMware, Microsoft, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Citrix, Fortinet, F5 Networks

Peripherals and storage: HP, Epson, Canon

Networking:

300 M

REVENUE CHART

Cisco, HP, Juniper

Accessories and consumables:

250 M

Top vendors by relationship HP, Microsoft, Cisco, Juniper, Belden

Services and training: all partners

200 M 2013

HP, Canon, Epson

2014

2015

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

13 WESTCON-COMSTOR

$250 M

Westcon-Comstor, the value-added distributor of security, Cisco centric and Unified Communication and collaboration solutions in the Middle East, carry a portfolio of products, services and solutions from global vendors that interoperate and complement each other. It is active across verticals such as critical infrastructure, finance, defence and security, healthcare, hospitality and education. The distributor has grown substantially over the last year, having achieved a 20 percent growth and maintained its place in the ranking. It has been actively transforming its business on a global level. According to Group Managing Director, Steve Lockie, its recent transition to SAP with a single consolidated supply chain and new legal entity structures while internally facing create a “fantastic platform for growth and new opportunities.” He adds, “It was a tough year but we have come out of it much stronger and now better able to support our partners in growth and new markets. We continue to see fantastic growth in all areas of security and with ever more mobile workforces and hybrid cloud applications, this continues to offer the most challenging opportunities.” Lockie says over the last two years the telco segment has grown and impacted the market and the distributor sees more ‘as-a-service’ offerings on the rise. He adds, “This will continue to be a key focus area. It is still sadly rare to see successful multi-country channels and the role of the prime contractor is specifically a challenge and opportunity over the last 12-18 months.”

Year of start-up: 1993 Financial year: March 2015 – February 2016 Total staff: 153 Total active resellers: 1800 Primary business units: Comstor, Westcon Security, Westcon UCC Total engineers/technical staff: 25 Location of sales offices: UAE, KSA, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq Location of support offices: Dubai, UAE and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION Top vendors by relationship Zebra, Juniper, Cisco, Avaya, APC

Steve Lockie, Group Managing Director

OUTSIDE UAE

UAE

30%

70%

VENDOR PROFILE Systems & Hardware: APC,

Value-added services Presales support, solutions sizing, BoQ, proof of concept, demonstration, implementation, training, documentation, knowledge transfer, after-sales support, Marketing-as-a-Service (MaaS), Credit-as-a-Service (CaaS), Westcon works

Avocent, Cisco, Datalogic, Panduit, Zebra, Extreme, Brocade, Tely Labs

Software and security: Arbor,

Bluecoat, Cisco, Dell, F5, ForeScout, Firemon, HP, Juniper, Kaspersky, Palo Alto Networks, Ruckus

REVENUE CHART

2013

Peripherals and storage: Flexpod and Expresspod, Honeywell, NEC, Pelco, Zebra

2014

Networking: APC, Avaya, NEC,

Juniper, Oracle Acme Packet, Plantronics, Polycom, Ruckus, Smart, Sonus, Zebra

2015

Services and training: Westcon

150 M

200 M

250 M

300 M

Group Services

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

14 ASBIS MIDDLE EAST

$240 M

Asbis Middle East, the volume distributor has climbed up the ranking by three places with a whopping 33 percent growth in its revenues over last year. In 2015, the company invested heavily into channel and business development initiatives in the regional market. In the Middle East region, the company has been distributing brands that include Intel, Seagate, AMD, Lenovo, Toshiba, Prestigio, Patriot Memory, Dell, Acronis in the PC, server, security and components segments. With 40 percent of its total revenues coming from the components segment, the distributor has been working towards moving its focus from selling notebooks to its core business – selling tablets. Hesham Tantawi, VP, MENA, says, “We aim to enhance our tablet sales to become number one in the market. We will launch a network division, and focus more on servers. We are also concentrating on smartboards, tablet PCs and PC accessories segments and on developing our solutions division, which has matured as a VAD. The company ensures that reseller companies are trained to develop sound IT selling knowledge beyond just product specs, feeds and speed. He adds, “At the end of the day, we believe that a healthy regional channel is what is needed in this region and that is our philosophy when doing business with all the various channels.”

Hesham Tantawi, VP, MENA Year of start-up: 1998 Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 68 Total technical staff: 8 Locations of support offices: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria Location of sales office: UAE Distribution model: volume Primary vertical focus: Components, public, education, retailers and resellers

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION Top vendors by revenue Intel, Seagate, AMD, Lexmark, Ubiquiti

VENDOR PROFILE

OUTSIDE UAE

UAE

55%

45%

Systems and hardware: Intel, Toshiba, Acer, Lenovo

Top vendors by relationship Intel, Seagate, AMD, HGST, Lenovo

REVENUE CHART

Karim Zoghli, MEA Sales Director

250 M

0 2013

2014

2015

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Symantec, ESET, Netgear, Cisco, Dell

Peripherals and storage:

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

300 M

Software and security:

TOP EXECUTIVE

Systems & Hardware: 15% Software & Security: 10% Peripherals & Storage: 10% Networking: 15% Accessories and consumables: 10% Components: 40%

Lexmark, Samsung, Sapphire, Seagate, SanDisk, Toshiba, HGST, Netgear

Networking: HGST, Netgear, Promise, Supermicro, TPLink, Ubiquiti, Tripp lite

Accessories and consumables: Canon, Prestigio

Components: Intel, AMD, SanDisk

Tablet PCs: Prestigio

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

15 ALJAMMAZ DISTRIBUTION

The KSA-headquartered value-added distributor, AlJammaz Distribution, has maintained its revenues over the last year, ranking 15th in this year’s results. The company has been quite active in the regional channel space over the last year. It has built its security department and developed its cloud services, creating a compelling demand generation foundation, which vendors and VARs can leverage. The company’s Vice President, Asim S. AlJammaz, says, “Ultimately, we need to help VARs build demand around multi-vendor offerings that combine a group of non-competing vendors. AlJammaz plays a vital role in achieving this.” While Saudi Arabia has always been its focus market, the distributor is now expanding that to include the Gulf region. “We aim to replicate our business model and concept ‘in-country value-added distribution’ to other Gulf countries such as UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. We have also opened an office and began operations in Dubai end of last year.” Over the next few months, we will see the distributor continuing its focus on adding value to its partners and building on its strategy of ‘in-country VAD’ in other Gulf countries. AlJammaz adds, “We believe security is an important area to invest in and this is something partners too should look at. Going forward, cloud services will continue to be an important part of our strategy for the region.”

$189 M

Asim S. AlJammaz, Vice President Year of start-up: 1998 Financial year: January – December 2015 Distribution model: Valueadded distribution Total staff: 215 Total resellers: 1360 Total engineers/technical staff: 35

Top vendors by revenue EMC, VCE, Cisco, APC, Technicolor

Top vendors by relationship Linksys, Technicolor, APC, Cisco, EMC

Location of support offices: Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, Qassim, Tabuk, Sajer, Wadi Aldwaser, Najran Location of sales offices: Riyadh, Dubai, Jeddah, Khobar, Qassim, Tabuk, Sajer, Wadi Aldwaser, Najran

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

TOP EXECUTIVES

OUTSIDE UAE

96%

Adel Qahwash, General Manager Mohammad Hala, Country Sales Manager, System Integrator Channel Sohail Altaweel, Country Sales Manager, Retail Channel Waleed Bakar, Networking Business Unit Manager Mohammad Marwan, Infrastructure Business Unit Manager

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware: APC, Cisco, EMC, Rittal

Software and security: Symantec, EMC, Veritas

Peripherals and storage:

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

REVENUE CHART

200 M

150 M

Systems & Hardware: 15% Software & Security: 15% Peripherals & Storage: 30% Networking: 30% Services and training: 10%

0 2014

2015

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

EMC, VCE, Lenovo, Honeywell

Networking: Cisco, Linksys, Ruckus, Fluke Networks, Panduit, Technicolor

Services and training: EMC, Cisco, VCE, Fluke Network

EMITAC ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS

Emitac Enterprise Solutions, part of Bukhatir Group of Companies, has had a consistent growth rate of over 20 percent in the last two years. The systems integrator’s newly-appointed CEO, Tony Alam, says the vision is to be a regional infrastructure service provider. The company’s growth in the last year came largely from verticals such as government, private and to some extent telco as well. Having set up its managed services portfolio towards the end of 2014, the SI now boasts a full-fledged operation with on-premise and remote support. It has also added DR-as-a-Service and Backup-as-a-Service to its portfolio. Alam adds, “We are looking to manage everything around security for our customers.”

VENDOR PROFILE

Asset, Juniper, Symantec, McAfee, Aruba, Cisco, SafeNet, HP Networks, Kony Peripherals and storage: HP, EMC, Oracle, Veeam Networking: HP Networks, Juniper, Symantec, McAfee, Cisco, Aruba Services and training: Services and training is provided to all the products it represents. Full project implementation and management, 24x7 support for IT Infrastructure, system management and monitoring and business applications. Healthcare: Phillips, Hill-Rom, Conmed, HOEHLEmedical, Masimo, Zonare, BabySentry and Shimadzu

75%

Top vendors by relationship: HP, Hill-Rom, Microsoft, Oracle, Phillips, Symantec

Location of support and sales offices: UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia Primary vertical focus: Government, telcos, banking and private

Vendor certifications: HP, Microsoft, EMC, Juniper, Symantec, Oracle, Asset, VMware, HP Software, HP Networking, Cisco, ORSYP, Nexthink, Sanovi, HP Services, Veeam, Kony, Phillips, Hill-Rom, Conmed, HOEHLE-medical, Masimo, Zonare, BabySentry and Shimadzu

$140 M

Trigon might have suffered a margin loss in revenues as compared to the previous financial year, however, it has climbed up the ranking and continues to focus on building its bottom line. Over the last year it has increased its focus on the retail business and has expanded retailrelated product line. It has also grown its B2B business in the SME segment while also expanding its service centre. The distributor has invested in dedicated manpower for its Abu Dhabi operations and has set up a KSA sales office. The company also launched a division solely for digital signage business, having identified opportunities in the space over the course of last year. It has also signed up a distribution agreement with Phillips displays as the vendor’s authorised distributor for its entire range of monitors across GCC in 2015.

Samsung: Laser and Multi laser printers,

VENDOR PROFILE

25%

TRIGON

LCD/LED monitors, Large Format Displays LG: LCD/LED monitors, ODD, projectors ViewSonic: LCD/LED monitors, projectors, digital signage Creative: Speakers, headphones and headsets D-Link: Networking and wireless Products Netgear: Networking and wireless Products Elo Touch: LCD touch monitors and touch kiosks, digital signage BenQ: Projectors Ergotron: Mounting solutions (desktop & wall mounts), EMR Carts Transcend: Storage devices

Year of star-up: 1976

Total engineers/ technical staff: 100

OUTSIDE UAE

UAE

Tony Alam, Chief Executive Officer

Total staff: 220

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

Systems and hardware: HP Software and security: Microsoft, HP Software, Oracle,

$163.3 M

REVENUE BREAKUP BY VENDORS

Arun Chawla, Chief Executive Officer Year of start-up: 1997 Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 106 Total technical staff: 12 Total resellers: 420 plus

Top vendors by revenue: Samsung, LG, D-Link, Transcend, Netgear

Samsung: 30% LG: 15% DELL: 10%

D-Link: 8% Creative: 7% ViewSonic: 5%

Elo Touch: 5% Ergotron: 5% Others: 15%

Top vendors by relationship: Viewsonic, Creative, D-Link, Elo Touch, BenQ, Samsung, AVM, PenPower, Mustek, LG

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

AGC NETWORKS

$139 M

AGC Networks (AGC), global solution integrator, provides the latest technology in UC, network infrastructure, data centre and cybersecurity from big brands such as Avaya, Cisco, HP, Juniper, Polycom among others. It has ascended the ranking by two positions and remains a large systems integrator in the region. Over the course of 2015, it has been awarded as the ‘Unified Communication Partner of the Year’ and ‘Partner in Customer Excellence’ from Avaya and has bagged the ‘Innovation’ award at the Emirates NBD Innovation Olympics, held in UAE.

Sanjay Ahuja, Vice President, MEA

VENDOR PROFILE

Year of start-up: 1986 Systems and hardware: HPE, Cisco Software and security: Cisco, Fortinet, Juniper Networks, HPE, Imperva, VMware, Veeam Peripherals and storage: HPE, NetApp Networking: HPE, Avaya, Cisco Systems, Fortinet, Juniper Networks, Arista Networks, Extreme Networks, Polycom Services and training: AGC Networks, F5, Juniper Networks, HPE AV: Polycom, PRYSM, Barco, Netscout, Creston, AMX, LG, NEC, Sharp

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Systems and hardware: 10% Software and security: 10% Peripherals and storage: 10% Networking: 50% Services and training: 15% AV: 5%

Top vendors by revenue: Avaya, HPE, Fortinet, Cisco, Veeam

Top vendors by relationship: Avaya, HPE, Fortinet, Cisco, Polycom

MEA operations: 2011 Financial year: April 2015 – March 2016 Total staff: 700 plus Total engineers/technical staff: 450 plus Primary vertical focus: Government, BFSI, IT/ ITES, travel and hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, telecom Vendor certifications: MASE, ASE, ATP, ACA, ACIS, ACE, ACSA, ACS, CCIE, CCNP, CCDA, CCNA, JNCP, JNCS, JNCIE, JNCSP, VCA, VCP, VMCE

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INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

EXCLUSIVE NETWORKS ME

$100+ M

Exclusive Networks Middle East has grown marginally over the course of last year to surpass the $100 M mark. Taking a conscious decision to stay focused and enhance the business with its existing portfolio, it did not add any new vendors in 2015, according to the company’s new MD, Nathan Clements, who came on board earlier this year. At the beginning of 2016, the company launched a value-added distribution company for data centre transformation, BigTec, which it expects to be a major growth driver in this year. The objective for this year is to add “fresh, innovative and disruptive” vendors to its portfolio.

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

45%

VENDOR PROFILE

OUTSIDE UAE

55%

Systems and hardware:

Software and security:

Top vendors by revenue: Fortinet, F5, Infoblox, FE, LR

VENDOR PROFILE

LogRhythm, FireEye, Gemalto, SentinelOne

Networking: F5, Fortinet, Infoblox, FireEye

Top vendors by relationship: Fortinet, F5, Infoblox, FE, LR

STARLINK

IBM, Gemalto, Infoblox, Ixia, Riverbed, Tripwire, CoreSecurity, Forcepoint, BlueCoat, Attivo Networks, Darktrace, Veracode, TrendMicro, Hexis, Nutanix, Recorded Future, ForesScout, Venafi, Ipswitch, TITUS, Kingston, MobileIron, AirPatrol, Arbor Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Splunk Networking: Ixia, Infoblox and Riverbed Services and training: Dell Software, FireEye, IBM, Gemalto, Infoblox, Ixia, Riverbed, Tripwire, CoreSecurity, Forcepoint, BlueCoat, Attivo Networks, Darktrace, Veracode, Trend Micro, Hexis, Nutanix, Venafi, Ipswitch, TITUS, Kingston, MobileIron, AirPatrol, Arbor Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Splunk

Financial year: January – December 2015

Total engineers: 17 Location of support offices: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, UK, France Total resellers: 1000

$100 M

StarLink, value-added IT security distributor, has managed to scale up despite unfavourable market circumstances over 2015. Over the course of last year, it has accelerated expansion in North America and doubled its footprint in KSA. The company has also extended EMEA coverage into Europe. Over the last 12 months, the distributor has been recognised by a number of its vendor partners such as MobileIron, IBM and Forcepoint. It has also extended its vendor portfolio with new partnerships with Veracode, Trend Micro, Darktrace, Nutanix and Ixia. Going forward, we will see the distributor betting on technologies such as behavioral analytics, incident responses and cloud.

Software and security : Dell Software, FireEye,

Year of start-up: 2005

Total staff: 64 F5, Fortinet, Infoblox, LogRhythm, FireEye

Systems and hardware: 60% Software and security: 20% Services and training: 20%

Nathan Clements, Managing Director

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Software and security: 80% Networking: 15% Services and training: 5%

Top vendors by revenue: FireEye, Dell Software, IBM Software, Blue Coat, Palo Alto Networks Top vendors by relationship: Dell Software, IBM Software Group, Ixia, SafeNet + Gemalto, FireEye

Nidal Othman, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2005 Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 250 Total engineers/ technical staff: 90 No. of active resellers: 100 plus Value-added services: pre-sales support, solution sizing and BoQ, PoCs, demonstration, implementation, training, documentation, knowledge transfer, after-sales support

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

EXPERTS COMPUTER

$88 M

Experts Computer, one of the longest serving resellers, based in Dubai, has preserved its position in this year’s ranking, although its revenues declined slightly. The company is a distributor for Sony Projectors, Matrox Graphics, Canon IP Cameras, Cametron CCTV and IP cameras. It carries global brands such as HP, Dell and Lenovo in its portfolio and has been catering to the reseller market over the last 22 years. Even with the regional IT market experiencing a number of issues, largely credit challenges, the reseller has managed to sustain its business over the years. The reseller moved to a larger office earlier this year to accommodate its increased headcount.

Shailendra Rughwani, Managing Director Year of start-up: 1993

VENDOR PROFILE

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Systems and hardware: 50% Peripherals and storage: 15% Accessories and consumables: 20% Services and training: 5% Components: 10%

Systems and hardware: HP, Dell Software and security: HP Peripherals and storage: QSAN Networking: Cisco Accessories and consumables: HP Services and training: Cametron Components: Epro

40%

Total staff: 150 Total engineers/ technical staff: 14

Top vendors by revenue: HP, Sony, Dell, Cametron, QSAN

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

Financial year: January – December 2015

OUTSIDE UAE

60%

Top vendors by relationship: Cametron, Sony, Canon, HP, Virdi

OXYGEN

$60 M

Oxygen, the value-added secure mobility distributor, has grown consistently with over 25 percent increase in its revenues over the last two consecutive years. Over the last year the company has recruited more than 20 site survey engineers to provide free and guaranteed site survey at customer sites. It has also unveiled an innovative tool, ‘Access point on Stick’ initiative to develop and help channel partners with 100 percent accurate wireless site survey, capacity planning with secured, speed and scalable WiFi, Smart Air Design, removing guessing work and predictive design. Providing full heat maps and professional site survey, the initiative is offered free of charge to channel partners and their customers. According to the company, it has been developed as part of its broader value-added offerings.

TOP VENDORS BY REVENUE

Khalid Laban, Chief Executive Officer Year of start-up: 2004 Financial year: January – December 2015 Distribution model: Value-added distribution

VENDOR PROFILE

Total staff: 80 plus

Total engineers: 25 plus

Software and security: Fortinet, Barracuda, Bitdefender, Certes, Hillstone, Trustwave Networking: HPE Services and training: Exceed

Total resellers: 800 HPE-Aruba: 47% Fortinet – 18% Hillstone: 15% Bitdefender: 11% Certes: 9%

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

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CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

SARIYA IT

$56 M

The KSA-based distributor has grown by 12 percent over the last year, moving up the ranking by three places. The company has been able to expand not only in terms of turnover but also geographically. Over the last year, it has focused on making its Dubai office fully functional and is preparing to open the Qatar office soon. The distributor has signed up with three new vendors in 2015. The company’s GM Amjad Al-Omar, says, “We are slowly expanding to North Africa to understand the challenges and to increase turnover.” The company offers value-added services such as pre-and after-sales support, PoCs, solution sizing, training and implementation.

Amjad Al-Omar, General Manager Year of start-up: 2002 Distribution model: Value-added distribution

60 M

Total staff: 43

Top vendors by revenue: Kaspersky Lab, Cyberoam, Bullguard, Moshi, Unitrends

Total engineers/ technical staff: 12 Total resellers: 475

50 M

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION OUTSIDE UAE

UAE

30%

70%

REVENUE CHART

40 M 2014

ATC

Location of sales offices: Dammam, Riyadh, Jeddah and Dubai Primary vertical focus: Government, enterprise, hospitality

2015

$ 55 M

ATC, better known as ITQAN in the region, is positioned as one of the top ten systems integrators in this year’s ranking. The solution provider has been operating in UAE for more than thirty years, providing expertise in enterprise computing, storage implementation, virtualisation, enterprise network routing switching and security, structured cabling, total solution and service provision for data centre. It is a tier-one partner for many of its vendors. The company’s Senior VP, Feras Al Jabi, says, post the merger of Dell and EMC, the company has begun working with Dell Technologies at a ‘preferred partner’ level. He adds, “We have also signed a partnership with Nutanix and has become its premier partner. We have also partnered with Riverbed in the field of WAN optimisation over the last year.”

Feras Al Jabi, Senior VP Year of start-up: 1984 Total staff: 2000 plus Location of support offices: Abu Dhabi, Dubai

Value-added services Pre sales technology, pre sales audit, pre sales consulting, solution sizing, BoQ, PoCs, implementation, Training, documentation, knowledge transfer, after-sales support, post-sales audit.

Top vendors by relationship Dell, EMC, Cisco, Capgemini, HP

REVENUE CHART

Top vendors by revenue Cisco, HP, EMC, Riverbed, Dell

Total engineers / technical staff: 250 plus

2011

2015 50M

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

55 M

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INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

INTERTEC SYSTEMS

$54.4 M

Intertec Systems, established over two decades ago, has grown by 7 percent over the last year. The solutions provider offers managed services, application services, IT infrastructure, networks and security solutions across verticals such as government, BFSI, retail, healthcare and pharma, manufacturing, education and hospitality. In 2015, the SI has had several high points - it helped a leady pharma company to reduce cost of invoice processing by 55 percent and helped MAF reduce its operational cost using the company’s managed IT services by 15 percent. It has also offered over 1000 licenses of Enterprise ERP for Syros ERP customers as an upgrade in 2015 as their businesses have grown and has also enabled cloud migration projects.

VENDOR PROFILE Software and security: Fortinet, Palo Alto, F5, Symantec, Trend Micro, Oracle, Microsoft Peripherals and storage: HPE, EMC Networking: Cisco, HPE Accessories and consumables: HPE Services and training: LANDesk, CosmoCom Others: Infor, Oracle, Veeam, Vienna

Total engineers/ technical staff: 200

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Systems and hardware: 30% Software and security: 15% Peripherals and storage: 5% Networking: 10% Accessories and consumables: 5% Services and training: 10% Others: 25%

Top vendors by revenue HPE, Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto, F5

HELP AG

$51 M

Help AG has earned a 34 percent increase in its revenues over last year. It has been a busy 2015 for the company. It has established its Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) and positioned itself as one of the leading local Managed Security Services (MSS) providers with 12 customer wins in the first six months alone. The systems integrator has set up a new office in Riyadh, strengthening its presence in KSA and grew its Cyber Security Consulting team. According to the company’s MD, Stephan Berner, this year-on-year growth was achieved primarily through incremental business with existing customers.

VENDOR PROFILE Software and security: BeyondTrust, Carbon Black, Blue Coat, Cisco, F5 Networks, Gemalto, Infoblox, Ixia, Opswat, Palo Alto Networks, Pulse Secure, Resilient, Riverbed, RSA, Splunk, Symantec, Tenable, VMware Services and training: Blue Coat, Cisco Security, F5 Networks, Infoblox, Palo Alto Networks

Year of start-up: 1991 Total staff: 334

Systems and hardware: HPE, Cisco, Nutanix, EMC

Naresh Kothari, Managing Director

Top vendors by relationship F5 Networks, Blue Coat, Symantec, Palo Alto Networks, Infoblox

Top vendors by revenue F5 Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Blue Coat, Symantec, Cisco

Support services: Presales technology, presales audit, presales consulting, solution sizing, BoQ, proof of concept, demonstration, implementation, training, documentation, knowledge transfer, after-sales support, post-sales audit, remote monitoring and support

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Software and security

70%

Services and training

Stephan Berner, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2004 Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 130 Total engineers / technical staff: 90 Primary vertical focus: Government, finance, oil and gas, education, healthcare, aviation, telco

30%

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

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INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

$45 M*

StorIT Distribution has grown notably over the last year with more than 12 percent increase in its estimated revenue figures. In 2015, the specialist distributor of enterprise data storage, data protection and data management solutions, has introduced managed services to its reseller network. The company’s Group MD, Suren Vedantham, Group Managing Director, says, “This was not only a unique initiative but also a game changer in the value distribution business in the Middle East.” The distributor plans to continue its focus on addressing high growth opportunities in cloud solutions and managed services over the next year.

Systems and hardware: SuperMicro Software and security: EMC, Tintri, Unitrends, Commvault, Arcserve, SAS, Quantum, Cumulus Peripherals and storage: EMC, Tintri, Arcserve Quantum, Qlogic, Mellanox, ATTO Networking: Mellanox, Qlogic Services and training: EMC, Tintri, Commvault, SAS, Cumulus, Mellanox

Top vendors by relationship: EMC, Qlogic, Quantum, Emulex, Mellanox

Value-added services Presales support, solution sizing, BoQ, proof of concept, demonstration, implementation, training, documentation, knowledge transfer, after-sales support

45 M 40 M

Total staff: 37 Total engineers/ technical staff: 7

2015

$41 M

The regional IT channel market has been experiencing a number of challenges, ranging from over credit issues to currency destabilisation, over the last few years. These challenges have impacted SMB solutions provider and IT distributor, Maxxcom Group. That being said, the company has sustained its business over the years. The company’s MD, Ramesh Belani, believes going forward, technologies such as mobility solutions for smart devices, virtualisation and cloud computing will transform the regional IT channel industry. The firm’s focus for 2016 is, “value-added distribution with specialisation on verticalbased solutions.”

REVENUE CHART

VENDOR PROFILE

Distribution model: Value-added distribution

35 M

MAXXCOM GROUP

Systems and hardware: ViewSonic, Liteon, HP, Dell ,Lenovo Software and security: Fortinet, Cyberoam Peripherals and storage: QNAP, Synerlogic Networking: Cisco, HP, Aruba. TP-Link Accessories and consumables: JSD, Vsonic, HP, Samsung Components: Liteon, HP, Asus, LG, Samsung

Year of start-up: 2002

Primary vertical focus: Oil and gas, banking and finance, telecoms, education and research, airline, retail, media and broadcasting 2014

Suren Vedantham, Group Managing Director

Location of sales offices: UAE, KSA

REVENUE CHART

VENDOR PROFILE

STORIT DISTRIBUTION

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

45%

OUTSIDE UAE

55%

Ramesh Belani, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2003 Total staff: 47 Total engineers/ technical staff: 14 Location of sales offices: Dubai, Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi, Kenya

45 M 40 M 35 M 2014

2015

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Systems and hardware: 56% Software and security: 4% Peripherals and storage: 3% Networking: 11% Accessories and consumables: 5% Components: 21%

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INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

ISYX TECHNOLOGIES

A new entrant in this year’s ranking, ISYX Technologies, part of Sands Group, is a fast-growing IT solutions and managed services provider in Middle East and Asia. The company is focused on value-added services such as design of ICT infrastructure, information security, IT consulting, business process consulting, Disaster Recovery, ERP, analytics, enterprise mobility and enterprise management, managed services. Over the course of last year, the company has acquired LS2 Consulting Microsoft Gold partner. We will see the company continuing to deliver major projects in UAE and Qatar for large organisations and government entities.

VENDOR PROFILE

IAM: Sailpoint, Arcos, PingIdentity, Imprivata Software: SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, Java, Microsoft Dynamics, Laserfiche, VICIsoft, IBM Security: HP Software (Arcsight, Fortify, Tipping Point), F5, Fortinet, Websense, Logrhythm, Splunk, Imperva, Entrust, Cyphort, Tenable, Sailpoint, Actifio Networking: Cisco, Microsoft Hyper V, Nutanix, Cisco Meraki Infosec consulting: SABSA, RSA Archer GRC, SecureAware, Recovery Planner Enterprise management: HPE, Nexthink, Symphony Summit, Automic, Microsoft

$40 M

60%

OUTSIDE UAE

Total staff: 300 plus

40%

Top vendors by revenue Cisco, HP, SAP, Microsoft, Oracle

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Infra and security: 20% Software: 20% Services: 30% Networking: 10% Infosec consulting: 10% Enterprise management: 5% IAM: 5%

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Systems and hardware: 19% Software and security: 41% Peripherals and storage: 5% Networking: 17% Services and training: 18%

REVENUE CHART

VENDOR PROFILE

Location of sales offices: Dubai, Abu dhabi, Qatar, Riyadh, Kenya, London, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Trivandrum, Cochin

$35+ M *

Almoayyed Computers has witnessed a slight decline in its revenues over the last year. In 2015 the company increased its focus on cloud where the initial business took place through its existing relationships. The firm was recognised several times as the top SI over the course of last year and was named Microsoft’s ‘Country Partner of the year’. “Despite tough market conditions, we continued to win key projects. Our focus on services has helped us retain customers as well as maintain profitable operations,” says SM Hussaini, General Manager. Over the next year, we will see the company catching up with the cloud momentum.

Associates, ONS, IBM Maximo, Microsoft, Oracle, Sanako, Symantec, VMware, SmartServiceDesk, Ducont, e2e, Palo Alto Networks Peripherals and storage: EMC, HP, Oracle, Add Master, Itronix, NCR, Olivetti Networking: Avaya, Cisco, HPE Accessories and consumables: HPI Services and training: Cloud, Managed, AMC

Total engineers / technical staff: 200

Primary vertical focus: Government, banking and financial, education, healthcare, oil and gas, automotive, manufacturing, hospitality, telecom, engineering

ALMOAYYED COMPUTERS

Systems and hardware: HPE, HPI, Oracle, EMC, Cisco, Nutanix Software and security: Informatique, Citrix, Computer

Year of start-up: 2012 Financial year: JanuaryDecember 2015

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

Sharoon Shamshuddin, CEO

SM Hussaini, General Manager Year of start-up: 1979 Total staff: 170 Total engineers/ technical staff: 85 Vendor certifications: Microsoft - LSP, CSP, Gold, HP Gold, HP/ Microsoft Frontline, Cisco Gold, Oracle Gold, EMC, VMware, Symantec, Avaya

40 M

Top vendors by relationship: Microsoft, Cisco, HPE, Oracle, Symantec

35 M 30 M 2014

2015

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

NANJGEL SOLUTIONS

$35 M

Nanjgel Solutions offer a centrally-managed cybersecurity framework and a variety of valueadded services including maintenance plans, design consulting, security training, monitoring, security analyst placement services for various security operation centre related positions. Over the past year, the company has streamlined its business by letting go of non-performing vendors and adding next-generation security solution vendors such as Easy Solutions, Digital Guardian, SentinelOne, Deep Identity and Teramind. The systems integrator has expanded geographically to the Indian markets and has opened offices in Mumbai and a training centre in Goa. According to the company’s MD, Jude Pereira, the company has been able to triple its customer base and double its revenues within its existing clients.

VENDOR PROFILE

Jude Pereira, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2007 Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 42

Value-added services Presales technology, presales audit, presales consulting, solution sizing, BoQ, PoCs, implementation, training, knowledge transfer, after-sales support, post-sales audit, remote monitoring and support

Systems and hardware: IBM, Dell, HP

Total engineers / technical staff: 26 Name of vendor certifications: IBM, ForeScout, Looking Glass, Lieberman Software, ObserveIT, Digital Guardian, Easy Solutions, Seclore, Gemalto, Citrix, Efficient IP, OpenText

Software and security: IBM, ForeScout, Digital Guardian, Easy Solutions, Looking Glass, Lieberman Software, ObserveIT, Seclore, Gemalto, Citrix, Efficient IP, OpenText

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Systems and hardware: 10% Software and security: 70% Services and training: 20%

Services and training:

Nanjgel’s own team

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

60% OUTSIDE UAE

40%

EMT DISTRIBUTION

$ 34 M

emt Distribution, the security distributor has seen a marginal growth over the previous year and has scaled the ranking by two positions. It has enhanced its product portfolio to include brands such as Avira, WhatsUp Gold, BlackStratus, DenyAll and Kaspersky Fraud Prevention Solutions. In the last three years, the company has worked towards growing its partner and customer base across verticals. It has also doubled its workforce in 2015. Through ‘emt Academy’, partners can educate their staff on product related and general vendor-neutral training. It is an Authorised Training Center for Kaspersky Lab, EC Council and Authorised Test Center for Pearson VUE.

VENDOR PROFILE

Mohammad Mobasseri, CEO Year of start-up: 2013

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

32%

OUTSIDE UAE

68%

Total staff: 30 Top vendors by revenue Flexera Software, Kaspersky Lab, WhatsUp Gold, 2X(Parallels)

Total engineers/ technical staff: 15

Software and security: FlexeraSoftware, WhatsUp Gold, Kaspersky Lab, BlackStratus, Parallels, Endpoint Protector by Cososys, Deny All, Avira,

Services and training:

emt Academy, Pearson VUE, EC Council, Logical Operations

Total resellers: 425

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Software and security: 75% Services and training: 25%

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

35 M

REVENUE CHART

30 M 2014

2015

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CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

LUCKY STAR COMPUTERS

$24 M

Lucky Star Computers, Dubai-based IT reseller, has grown its revenues by 9 percent in 2015. It has improved focus on B2B and corporate business to optimise the market trends. The company’s success factor is because of its strong sales and support team that delivers exceptional services to customers. According to KU Shankari, Managing Director, its focus on corporate business has enabled it to enlist 100 new clients over the past year. “Our retail business was also in line with the past year. We have invested our resources to focus and improve our business on gaming PCs in the retail division, which is a new product line introduced this year,” she adds. Some of the reseller’s top vendors include HP, Lenovo, MSI, Dell and Acer.

KU Shankari, Managing Director Year of start-up: 1998 Total staff: 37

Location of sales and support offices: Dubai, UAE and Bangalore, India Name of vendor certifications: HP, Lenovo, Dell

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

25 M

Systems and hardware: 70% Software and security: 10% Peripherals and storage: 5% Networking: 5% Accessories and consumables: 5% Services and training: 10%

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

20 M

REVENUE CHART

UAE

80%

15 M 2014

Total engineer/technical staff: 6

Top vendors by revenue HP – 30% Dell – 10% Lenovo – 45% Acer – 10% MSI – 5%

Top vendors by relationship: HP, Lenovo, MSI, Dell, Acer

OUTSIDE UAE

20%

2015

CREDENCE SECURITY

$ 21.2 M

Credence Security, previously known as ARM, is a regional speciality distributor and delivers solutions in IT security, forensics and incident response across the Middle East, Africa and India markets. A new entrant in this year’s ranking, the company has had quite a few highlights in 2015. From just one vendor, Access Data, in 2013, the distributor has grown its vendor portfolio to boast 14 global names today. It has also been certified as the only Access Data Authorised Training Centre (ATC) in the region and has doubled its growth year-on-year. Going forward, we will see the company betting on solutions from RedSeal, Digital Guardian, Fidelis Cybersecurity and Popcorn Training to drive organisational growth.

Vivian Gevers, Managing Director Year of start-up: 1999 Total resellers: 140

VENDOR PROFILE

Software and security: Access Data Group, Beachhead,

TOP EXECUTIVE

Digital Guardian, eSentire, Everbridge, Experian, Fidelis Cybersecurity, NetClean, RedSeal, Redstor, RiskVision, Solus, Trustwave Services and training: Access Data, Popcorn Training

Garreth Scott, Director of Sales

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Software and security: 90% Services and training: 10%

Top vendors by revenue Access Data, Digital Guardian, Fidelis Cybersecurity, RedSeal, eSentire

Location of sales offices: UAE, South Africa Distribution model: Specialised VAD Value-added services: Presales support, solution sizing, BoQ, PoCs, demonstration, implementation, training and knowledge transfer and after-sales support

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CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

SPECTRAMI

$ 20 M

Spectrami, operational in the region since the last five years, has grown its business by a whopping 100 percent in 2015. It has been able to create a successful ecosystem of partners and has introduced new vendors into the region. It has signed up with specialised vendors such as Red Hat, Pure Storage and Exabeam over the last year. The company’s MD, Anand Choudha, says, “Technologies such as Tenable, Logrhythm and Fidelis have gone mainstream and invested in dedicated teams in the region. This is a testament to our efforts as these brands were unknown to the region before we introduced them. We are committed towards our vision of continuing to bring new and niche technologies to the region.”

Top vendors by relationship: Logrhythm, Tenable, Fidelis, BlackBerry, CA

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

100%

VENDOR PROFILE

REVENUE CHART

5M 2014

SYNERGIX INTERNATIONAL

Systems and hardware: Infilink Software and security: Ekahau Networking: Fluke Networks, NetScout Services and training: Fluke Networks Others: INNO Instrument, Fiber splicing machine and Fluke Industrial

UAE

60% REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

2015

$ 20 M

A new entrant to the ranking this year, Synergix International and its associated group of companies were established in 2000 and have been continuously striving towards networking technology advancement in the Middle East and North Africa for the past 15 years. The group become a leading and major turnkey network solution provider within the Middle East and North Africa regions and is expanding aggressively in all aspects of networking sales within this market, said Managing Director, Alan Pourmirza.

VENDOR PROFILE

OUTSIDE UAE

40%

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Total resellers: 97

Value-added services: Presales support, solution sizing, BoQ, PoCs, implementation, training, knowledge transfer, after-sales support

15 M

Fidelis, Packet Ninjas, CA, Black Berry, Exabeam, Red Hat, A10, Galaxkey, NSFocus, TrapX, Pure Storage, Anomali, AttackIQ

Total staff: 28

Total engineers / technical staff: 9

25 M

Software and security: Tenable, Logrhythm,

Year of start-up: 2011 Financial year: April 2015 – March 2016

Software and security: 100%

Top vendors by revenue Fidelis Security Systems, Tenable Network Security, LogRhythm, A10 Networks, BlackBerry

Anand Choudha, Managing Director

Alan Pourmirza, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2000 Distribution model: Value-added distribution model Location of sales and support office: UAE

BUSINESS DNA

$20 M

The regional technology solutions provider, Business DNA, a subsidiary of NCC Group, has grown significantly in the last year. With over 30 percent increase in its revenues, the three-year old company has had an eventful 2015. It has implemented Sage CRM and also expanded partnership with vendors such as Samsung, Sage, Cisco and Dell SonicWall. The systems integrator also initiated several partner network events in Dubai and has focused on SAAS model cloud development products and participated in major regional technology events such as GITEX 2015. The company caters to verticals such as facility management, food retail, hospitality and IT product and services.

VENDOR PROFILE

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Top vendors by revenue Dell, HP, SonicWALL, ZebraMotorola, VMware

Systems and hardware: HP, Dell

Financial year: January – December 2015 Total staff: 50 Total engineers/ technical staff: 50

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION OUTSIDE UAE

UAE

80%

Year of start-up: 2013

Location of support services: Dubai, Abu Dhabi

Software and security: Dell SonicWALL, Microsoft, VMware Peripherals and storage: HP Networking: Zebra, HP, iNet, Schneider, Motorola

Tarek El Goweiny, Managing Director

20%

Systems and hardware: 50% Software and security: 10% Peripherals and storage: 10% Networking: 30%

DATACARE

$ 19 M

The regional channel player, DataCare has clocked in a revenue growth of over 18 percent in the last year and has moved up the ranking. In 2015, the company was tasked with managing credit rather than sales in order to maintain its steady growth. Declining margins have been a constant challenge for the regional IT channel industry. According to Suresh Shetty, the company’s MD, the two technologies that will continue to grow in the next few years are cloud and virtualisation. He adds, “We have been associated with top vendors and are offering solutions for both technologies since the last four years.” Under virtualisation the reseller offers VDI solutions from NComputing and Atrust. It also delivers private and public cloud offering from QNAP and Synology.

VENDOR PROFILE

70% Systems and hardware: HP, IBM, QNAP, Synology Software and security: 3M Peripherals and storage: HP, IBM, Quantum Accessories and consumables: Printronix,Tally Components: WD, Seagate

Year of start-up: 2003 Total staff: 20 Total engineers/ technical staff: 3

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

Suresh Shetty, Managing Director

OUTSIDE UAE

30%

Top vendors by revenue HP, IBM, Printronix, QNAP, Synology

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Systems and hardware: 15% Software and security: 5% Peripherals and storage: 70% Accessories and consumables: 5% Services and training: 5%

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

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27.09.16 11:05

INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

EMW MIDDLE EAST

The regional systems integrator, EMW Middle East, has grown its business notably in the last year by over 24 percent. The company says new vendor alliances and customers along with the delivery of increased client satisfaction in 2015 have contributed to its revenues. The company carries global brands in its vendor portfolio, such as Red Hat, Juniper Networks, NetApp, Cisco, Riverbed and Huawei. It caters primarily to verticals such as BFSI, government, education and hospitality. Over the next few months, we will see the SI investing more in reliable wireless technology, networking and security solutions.

Top vendors by revenue Cisco, Juniper Networks, Aruba, Brocade, AirWatch

Systems and hardware: HP, Cisco, Dell, Unify, Mitel

Software and security: Airwatch, Interactive Intelligence, Metelco, Palo Alto, Riverbed, Tiger TMS, VMware Peripherals and storage: Dell, NetApp, Nutanix Networking: Aruba, Brocade, Cisco, Juniper, Riverbed Services and training: All

Serjios Hage, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2003 Total staff: 35

VENDOR PROFILE

is me ss

$18.7 M

Top vendors by relationship Brocade, Juniper, Cisco, ININ, AirWatch

95%

Location of sales offices: Abu Dhabi, Dubai

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION UAE

Total engineers/ technical staff: 20

Systems and hardware: 5% Software and security: 10% Peripherals and storage: 5% Networking: 70% Services and training: 10%

OUTSIDE UAE

BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES

$18 M*

The specialised value-added distributor, Bulwark Technologies, has increased its revenues significantly over the last year. The company continues to focus on providing high-end corporate security solutions through prominent systems integrators in the region. It has added several new security vendors in the last year and has built a compelling information security product and solutions portfolio. Some of its new partnerships include Varonis, Arcon and File cloud. The company’s MD, Jose Thomas Menacherry says, “Our constant endeavour is to work in a highly efficient manner to create mutual growth for our vendors, partners and customers and strive towards improving the security landscape in the region.”

Jose Thomas Menacherry, Managing Director Year of start-up: 1999

VENDOR PROFILE

Top vendors by revenue Sophos/Cyberoam, ESET, Linoma, Netwrix, Kerio

SendQuick (Talariax)

Mailstore, Netwrix, Sophos, Varonis, Mimecast, Lastline, Kerio Technologies, ARCON, Linoma, SecurEnvoy Peripherals and storage: iStorage Networking: EnGenius, Jacarta

Total engineers / technical staff: 12 Total resellers: 350

Systems and hardware: Cyberoam, Sophos, Software and security: ESET, Netsupport,

Total staff: 35

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Location of sales office: UAE

Systems and hardware: 25% Software and security: 60% Peripherals and storage: 2% Networking: 8% Services and training: 5%

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

27.09.16 11:05

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

FUJISOFT TECHNOLOGY

Established in 2002, Fujisoft has seen a notable growth over the last year with more than 10 percent increase in its revenues. The systems integrator caters to verticals such as education, hospitality, technology, finance and manufacturing. The company has worked towards flourishing its business in a challenging market environment and has grown in stature through its satisfied customer base. Over the years, the SI has expanded its workforce to 100 plus employees and grown its regional presence to include Abu Dhabi, Ghana, Canada and India. Managing Director, Albert Raj, says, “We provide our clients with cost-effective IT solutions that cater to their needs and ensure delivering the highest quality. We assist our clients achieve their competitive advantage in today’s volatile and technological advanced environment.”

VENDOR PROFILE

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

$ 17 M

UAE

80%

Systems and hardware: Cisco, Panasonic, Avaya, HP, Fujitsu, Dell Software and security: Microsoft, VMware, Citrix, Oracle, Arcserve Peripherals and storage: Pure Storage, HP, Fujitsu Networking: Cisco, HP, Fortinet

GRANTEQ DISTRIBUTION

OUTSIDE UAE

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Total staff: 100 plus Total engineers / technical staff: 40

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Systems and hardware: 30% Software and security: 20% Peripherals and storage: 30% Networking: 20%

$12.5 M Girish Narayanan, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2004 Total staff: 100 plus Total technical staff: 30 plus Location of sales and support offices: Middle East, Africa

VENDOR PROFILE Top vendors by revenue CTOUCH, Vidyo, AMD Telemedicine, Brightlines, Wolfvision

Year of start-up: 2002

20%

The specialised distributor of AV, Control and IT technologies has debuted in this year’s ranking. In 2015, the company has worked towards bringing in promising opportunities in terms of gaining a larger market reach in Africa, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It has also signed up with several new systems integrators and resellers in the GCC region over the last year. The company’s MD, Girish Narayanan, says, “We have incorporated a focused effort in our business model to closely collaborate with systems integrators and IT resellers because we see a lot of value that we can add together on key projects. “We bring a specific industry focus, namely telehealth and telemedicine for the healthcare industry, mobile and display solutions for retail and hospitality, collaboration tools for the enterprise level and computer-aided language learning labs and intelligible audio offerings for the education sector.”

CTOUCH, Vidyo, Brightlines, Wolfvision, Qwizdom, Neets, Sound Control, Phoenix, Smeets, Lightspeed, Robotel

Albert Raj, Managing Director

Top vendors by relationship CTOUCH, Vidyo, Vivitek, Lightspeed, Brightlines

Middle East & Africa HQs now in Dubai

INDUSTRY RANKING // CHANNEL ELITE

DATATAAG TECHNOLOGIES

$12+ M

DataTAAG Technologies Middle East is an information technology consulting firm that delivers enterprise-level IT infrastructure solutions across the UAE. The SI enables organisations in SMB, mid-market and enterprise sectors to automate, streamline and manage their business processes to improve productivity, performance and profitability. The firm’s CEO, Najaf Ali, says, “As a systems integrator and a professional services provider, we add value to our clients’ ICT environment by enabling them to introduce the latest ICT technologies into their environment by leveraging their existing investments and infrastructure.”

Najaf Ali, Chief Executive Officer Year of start-up: 2013

VENDOR PROFILE

Total staff: 25

Top vendors by revenue Nexcom, HPE, Fujitsu, Silver Peak, Red Hat

Total engineers / technical staff: 15

Systems and hardware: HPE, Fujitsu,

Name of vendor certifications: HPE, Fujitsu, EMC, VMware, Red Hat, Microsoft, Globalscape, Veeam, Cisco

EMC

Software and security: VMware,

Veeam, Globalscape, Automic, Red Hat, Microsoft Peripherals and storage: HPE, EMC Networking: HPE, Cisco, Avaya, Silver Peak IoT: Libelium, Nexcom, Korenix, SenseFields, Aisle411, Estimote, CalAmp

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Systems and hardware: 39% Software and security: 10% Peripherals and storage: 26% Networking: 10% IoT: 15%

FINESSE

$11.2 M

Finesse has grown its business more than 50 percent in the last year. It continues its focus on expanding its portfolio with one client each month and delivers its expertise across verticals such as healthcare, retail and services. Some of its achievements include several deployments in business intelligence and analytics solutions, CPM solutions, GRC, management information system solutions and enterprise process management solutions. The SI has also won a number of awards for ‘innovation’, ‘process efficiency’, risk management’ over the last year. It was also recognised as ‘Best Partners’ by its principal vendors – Tagetik and Software AG. The company has a strong presence in Oman, Bahrain and Qatar besides UAE. It has also recently begun its KSA operations. The company is working towards the $100 M mark over the next five years.

VENDOR PROFILE

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Systems and hardware: 5% Software and security: 30% Services and training: 65%

Sunil Paul, Chief Operating Officer Year of start-up: 2010 Total staff: 300 Total engineers / technical staff: 260 Primary vertical focus: BFSI, education, energy, healthcare, hospitality

Systems and hardware: Dell, IBM Software and security: Qlik, Tagetik, EMC, IBM, Salesforce, Softlayer, CustomerXps, MetricStream, Software AG, Misys Services and training: in-house

Top vendors by revenue Qlik, Tagetik, Customer XPS, EMC, Software AG

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

Top vendors by relationship Qlik, Tagetik, EMC, Software AG, Oracle

UAE

80%

OUTSIDE UAE

20%

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

IXTEL TECHNOLOGIES

Managed IT service provider, ixtel Technologies offers ICT services to customers across the UAE, KSA, Oman and Qatar markets. It has grown by over 80 percent in the last year and has 100 percent customer retention rate. The SI was also recognised in the top 25 SME companies in Dubai. The company has achieved ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications over the last year. It has established Oman and Bahrain offices as a part of its growth and expansion strategy. At a time when most SIs focus on products and win on price by shifting, the SI has changed the game by introducing SLAs and value culture. The company’s CEO, Mehdi Quraishi, says, “We have introduced the concept of Proof of Value – before a customer buys, we implement our technology and let the customer see the value and experience both, ixtel capabilities and the technology, before they make a decision.”

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION VENDOR PROFILE

$9.7 M

OUTSIDE UAE

UAE

90%

10%

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Fortinet, Qualys, VMware

TECH FORTE

Year of start-up: 2010 Total staff: 68 Total engineers / technical staff: 40 Primary vertical focus: Financial services, government, retail, airlines Vendor certifications: Cisco, Fortinet, AlgoSec, Zenoss, LANDesk, Nexthink, EMC, VMware, Huawei

Systems and hardware: Lenovo Software and security: Zenoss, LANDesk, Nexthink, AlgoSec, Peripherals and storage: EMC Networking: Cisco, Huawei Services and training: ISO, ITIL, COBIT Platforms: HardCAT, RetailNext, ODC Smartmessaging

Mehdi Quraishi, CEO

Systems and hardware: 5% Software and security: 50% Peripherals and storage: 5% Networking: 20% Services and training: 10% Platforms: 10%

Top vendors by revenue: LANDesk, Nexthink, AlgoSec, Huawei, Cisco

$8.5 M

Tech Forte has grown significantly in the last year with 16 percent increase in its revenues. The company has maintained a consistent growth since its inception in 2012. It offers end-to-end enterprise-class IT solutions such as infrastructure solutions, managed services, application management, professional services, IT hardware and top tier data centres support. The SI’s GM, Nadeem Khan says, “ Given the fact that we are a relatively young company and over the last two years we could manage to associate with many leading and major vendors from our industry is itself an achievement for us.”

Nadeem Khan, General Manager Year of start-up: 2012

VENDOR PROFILE

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Systems and hardware: Fujitsu, HP, Dell, Oracle

Top vendors by revenue Asus, Pure Storage, Fujitsu, Huawei, HP

Software and security: ESET, Dell SonicWALL

Peripherals and storage: Pure Storage, HP, Fujitsu, Huawei

Networking: HP, Cisco, Huawei

Accessories and consumables: Datwyler

Systems and hardware: 60% Software and security: 5% Peripherals and storage: 5% Networking: 5% Accessories and consumables: 15% Services and training: 10%

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Top vendors by relationship HP, Pure Storage, Fujitsu, Huawei, Asus

Location of sales office: Dubai, UAE Total staff: 25 Total engineers / technical staff: 9 Primary vertical focus: Computer software trading, computer and data processing requisites, computer equipment requisites and trading

CHANNEL ELITE // INDUSTRY RANKING

TNC MIDDLE EAST

$7 M

TNC Middle East, an emerging distributor, has recorded a revenue of $7 M within just two years of its establishment in the region. It offers testing, visibility and training solutions along with consulting services to the regional market. In 2015, the distributor has bagged major testing projects with service providers and also provided end-to-end performance testing for a leading airport in the region. It has expanded its distribution portfolio with the addition of Ixia visibility solutions. Over the next year, we will see the company focusing more on SDN and NFV technologies, which it believes will drive the growth ahead.

Nabeel Ahmed, CEO Year of start-up: 2014 Total staff: 10

VENDOR PROFILE

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

UAE

40%

Total engineers / technical staff: 5

OUTSIDE UAE

60%

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY

Systems and hardware: Ixia, Viavi, Neotys Software and security: Ixia, Neotys Services and training: Extreme Networks, Check Point, Dell

Location of support offices: Dubai, UAE; Nairobi, Kenya; Sydney, Australia Primary vertical focus: Service providers, government, enterprise

Systems and hardware: 40% Software and security: 35% Services and training: 25%

Top vendors by revenue Ixia, Extreme Networks, Neotys, Viavi, Check Point

Distribution model: Value-added distribution

FAST LANE

$6 M

Training provider, Fast Lane MEA has sustained its business in 2015. According to the company’s CEO, the key issue with high-end technical training is the availability of real life lab facilities for the customer to have the practical learning experience, which under normal circumstances is expensive for smaller locations. He says, “To overcome the problem, Fast Lane invested many years of know-how and a significant amount of money into remote lab facilities. These facilities can be used at any place at any time through the internet, giving the students the real life experience on actual equipment. “With this approach it was possible to get the training closer to the customer, increase the number of students and get smaller locations faster developed.”

Josef Miskulnig, Founder and CEO Year of start-up: 1996 Total staff: 30 Total technical staff: 15

Top vendors by revenue Cisco, NetApp, Palo Alto Networks, Aruba, Citrix

Top vendors by relationship Cisco, NetApp, Palo Alto Networks, Aruba Networks, Citrix

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Vendor certification programmes: All certifications from Cisco, NetApp, Palo Alto Networks, Aruba, Citrix, Fortinet

REVENUE BREAKUP BY REGION

UAE

37%

Primary vertical focus: Enterprises, SMBs, government, service providers

OUTSIDE UAE

63%

NIVAN TECH (NVC)

$2.5 M

Nivan Tech has over five years of operations in Dubai and has been providing comprehensive solutions for small medium businesses. In 2015, the SMB reseller has enabled cloud offerings such as SaaS, IaaS and Security-as-a-Service. It has launched its remote support assistance for its annual maintenance contracts. The company has also won Jumeirah Group Vulnerability Assessment and Patch Management projects. Farshad Bidram, Managing Director of the firm, says, “In the upcoming months, we will be focusing on technologies around vulnerability assessment, SIEM, DLP and MDM. We believe these are huge growth areas for us.”

Top vendors Axis Communications, Fortinet, Avira, Kaspersky Lab, Symantec, ESET, Parallels, Acronis, Veritas, Arcserve, VMware, Microsoft, WhatsUp Gold, Solarwinds, ManageEngine

VENDOR CERTIFICATIONS • Kaspersky Certified Engineer • Sales Specialist of Kaspersky Lab Corporate Solutions • MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) • Microsoft Certified Specialist • WhatsUp Gold Network Monitoring Certified Engineer • Fortinet Associate and Fortinet Certified Professional • GFI Certified product security Specialist • 2X Software Solution Expert • VASCO Certified Sales • Security+ Certified Professional

Farshad Bidram, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2011 Total staff: 20+ Total technical staff: 6 Location of sales offices: UAE, Canada Region consolidated in group revenue: Middle East

REVENUE BREAKUP BY CATEGORY Security: 60% AMC: 30% Others: 10%

SIEMCOM

$1.6 M

A new entrant in this year’s ranking, Siemcom is focused on its goal of delivering superior service and results in the high-end residential and commercial market places. It has won several accolades in the last year – Premier Inn – Qatar, Best Western and Viceroy. The company believes going forward technologies around cloud solutions will drive the growth for the SI. According to the Managing Director, Ram Meravala, the company has a proven track record in delivering end-to-end ICT Solutions across verticals such as hospitality, healthcare and government.

Ram Meravala, Managing Director Year of start-up: 2009 Total staff: 15

VENDOR PROFILE Systems and hardware: Unify/Alcatel Software and security: Symantec Peripherals and storage: Lenovo Networking: Extreme Accessories and consumables: Unify Services and training: ASC Components: Unify, Alcatel

Total engineers / technical staff: 14 Location of sales office: Dubai, UAE

TOP VENDORS BY REVENUE Unify: 40% Extreme: 40% Alcatel-Lucent: 10% Lifesize: 5% ASC: 5%

Value-added services: Presales support, solution sizing, BoQ, PoCs, implementation, training, knowledge transfer, after-sales support

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

MANAGE PROFITS Managed Service Providers are faced with an infinite number of prospects as firms embrace the IT-enabled era. Reseller ME explains how MSPs can identify relevant opportunities keeping in line with their business objectives.

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

MSP // FEATURE

egional organisations, especially small and medium businesses, are increasingly seeing the value of managed services. Reinforcing this is an IDC report, which states that the managed and data centre service markets in the UAE are expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.8 percent between 2013 and 2018 to reach a total of $971.8 million by 2018. According to the report, data centre hosting makes up approximately 18 percent of the managed services market revenue in the UAE. As business environments are progressively digitalising in all aspects, firms are seeking for cost-effective ways to meet IT requirements innovatively. Shadi Salama, Channel Leader, Middle East Theatre, Cisco, says, “Organisations are being pushed to reduce their operating expenses and increase efficiency at the same time, and many are finding it very difficult to improve their processes with in-house IT resources. “In addition, intensifying competition and increasingly demanding customers are driving them to outsource their ‘peripheral’ activities and focus more on their core business. Customers want value, innovative functionality, and reliability, and Managed Service Providers (MSP) seek to meet these needs at the lowest cost possible.” Stephan Berner, CEO, Help AG says it is only in the last two years or so that organisations in the region have really opened up to the idea of managed services. According to the

market research the systems integrator conducted in 2014, prior to launching its own Managed Security Services (MSS) offering, concerns regarding data confidentiality, integrity and location of data, and SLAs were among top limiting factors. He says, “As mature players have entered the market with convincing offerings, a lot of these perceived risks have been addressed and I believe that the managed services market in Middle East will evolve continuously in the years to come.” According to Salama, the MSP model was limited to large enterprises earlier, however now there is an increased interest from SMBs for their data centre and infrastructure requirements. “Businesses from verticals such as retail, healthcare, banking and finance, telecoms, government to name some are potential customers,” he adds. MSPs are gaining popularity because right from network and data centre management services to disaster recovery, storage and backup, server management, security and IT support, it is possible to offload the day-to-day provision of significant chunks of the IT function, liberating financial and human resources to focus on productivity and efficiency – the core objectives of an organisation. Sajid Mulla, CEO, Buzinessware, says, “Today’s MSPs offer businesses secure, flexible and scalable solutions— complementing the emergence of SMEs choosing to work with MSPs

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

FEATURE // MSP

Shadi Salama, Channel Leader, Middle East Theatre, Cisco

“Organisations are being pushed to reduce their operating expenses and increase efficiency at the same time, and many are finding it very difficult to improve their processes with inhouse IT resources.”

for their data centre and infrastructure management requirements.” He adds that the continued growth of the MSP segment can be attributed to factors such as the need to adopt new technologies in order to expand operations, improve productivity and customer experience, the presence of a strong IT infrastructure to support the growth and a dedicated in-house IT team that can address key challenges. Although a high demand exists in the market for MSPs, it is not without challenges. Yasser Zeineldin, CEO, eHosting DataFort, says, “Security is one of the biggest concerns because of which companies show resistance to MSPs. To overcome this, MSPs should ensure that they have the best and latest security systems and practices in place, offer round-the-clock monitoring and management of the IT infrastructure and comprehensive customised managed services – all with a guaranteed Service Level Agreement (SLA) that meets international industry standards.” “By leveraging real-time IT analytics, MSPs can add an additional layer of security protection to their customers’ infrastructure and endpoints,” explains Yassine Zaied, EVP Middle East and Emerging Markets, Nexthink. “Many organisations lack appropriate skills

and in-house expertise to define and implement sufficient levels of endpoint security, and therefore they seek the assistance of MSS providers. Leading analysts recognise this trend and Gartner predicts that by 2018, more than half of regional organisations will turn to security services providers to enhance their security postures.” While most firms understand the importance and necessity to outsource IT, many lack a strategic IT outlay in place for both current and future requirements, says Niranj Sangal, Group CEO, OMA Emirates Group. “This impacts the service providers as more often there are knee-jerk solutions implemented, which have long-term ramifications. Also, as cloudbased technologies and services are increasingly being used, the challenge is in the choice of working with legacy infrastructure or implementing new technology application and processes. Therefore, MSPs must play a consultative role and be prepared to provide customised solutions to fulfil customer requirements.” The dearth of skillsets and talent in the region is another setback most MSPs face and is usually addressed by outsourcing resources. Amit Roy, Executive Vice President and Regional Head for EMEA, Paladion,

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

says, “As the pioneers for Managed Security Services, we still feel there is a lack of awareness. So we believe educating businesses and industry leaders is the key. As a global company with multi-locational presence, we are not affected much with the skills shortage but it is definitely a big challenge for smaller or local players who struggle to plug this gap.” How can MSPs remain profitable and how do they narrow down the technologies to go after? The end-user experience is becoming more and more important today as the end-user productivity determines the effectiveness of the organisation in meeting its goals. “As IT is not averse to investing resources to ensure that their endusers receive the best support, MSPs can leverage this facet of IT to employ technologies that allow them to provide a superior user experience to endusers,” says Zaied from Nexthink. MSPs have a tremendous opportunity in managed security services space to generate more revenue from new services in their portfolio. “Managed security services enhanced with IT analytics solutions can assist in allocating the right resources against the most dangerous threats, and provide consistency in handling threats and policies across an enterprise − delivering one consistent view of the security posture across geographies,” he adds. “Managed security services can help enterprise customers control costs, improve risk insight, enhance decision-making, and drive fast remediation for day-today IT security.” Cisco believes that managed services must be geared to address

specific business needs with simple and consistent services across four key technology areas: collaboration, security, data centre, and enterprise networks. Salama says, “These services must employ software-based analytics, diagnostic, and remediation tools, as well as ITIL-based processes that deliver efficiencies, mitigate risk, and make sure that customers’ IT services are aligned to their business needs.” According to Roy, there is a direct correlation between efficiency and profitability especially for MSPs. “The more efficient an MSP becomes, the more likely they are going to be more profitable. MSPs have a recurring revenue stream and built-in SLAs, hence they are aware about their margins and they can further enhance their margins increasing their efficiency that will enable to bring down the delivery cost of their services, allowing them to become more profitable.” Over the next few years, MSPs will have to ensure they are ahead of the market trends. This can be done by constantly looking out for new developments and technologies. As per Berner from Help AG, adaptability is key in this fluid market. He says, “With a plethora of MSPs out in the market delivering a variety of services and with the outburst of cloud-based offerings, the way MSPs change the modus operandi will dictate their relevance.” Sangal adds, “What we envision is that MSPs will have to continuously change their compliance strategies and set up easy System Operating Processes (SOP) for customers. More and more customers will have increasing amounts of data that will be saved, analysed and processed, MSPs will need to be quick to suggest

Stephan Berner, CEO, Help AG

“As mature players have entered the market with convincing offerings, a lot of these perceived risks have been addressed and I believe that the managed services market in Middle East will evolve continuously in the years to come.”

and provide technology changes for future use bearing in mind the likely infrastructure requirements in a costeffective manner. Most importantly, it will also be necessary to adhere to all security requirements.” With more MSP players coming in the market, competition will increase and organisations in the next three years will be more educated in terms of limiting their capacity of hiring staff to rather take on more return oriented projects, says Girish Narayanan, Managing Director, Granteq. “These organisations will witness cost cutting and benefits yielding from productivity by freeing up your in-house team – including programmers and technical staff – to work on more valuable and strategic projects. Specially with so much agility round the corner, enterprises will have to rely on MSPs to make sure other business areas are not compromised upon. As per the emerging trends related to increased collaboration, MSPs will be seen as a major platform in ensuring it is carried out.” Zeineldin assures that regional MSPs are definitely not ditching managed services to turn into pure cloud providers any time soon, despite customers deploying more and more applications on various types of cloud infrastructure. “However,” he says, “the managed services portions of their portfolios will have to evolve to reflect a new reality cloud computing has created. While it would be easier and potentially less expensive for a provider to operate as solely a cloudservices provider, getting rid of traditional managed services is not recommended. The sweet spot is to have a hybrid option, as customers will increasingly prefer to mix and match in the future.”

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

FEATURE // MDM

MOBILITY MATTERS 98

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Reseller ME speaks to experts to identify the opportunities for value-added resellers in the Mobile Device Management (MDM) market and how they can help in easing the complexities that organisations face.

s mobile devices become ubiquitous, the way we work and play have transformed greatly. Most organisations now have to cater to their workforce, most of them millennials, restructuring the workplace. This means firms have to deploy robust Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions to secure, monitor, integrate and manage the mobile devices in the workplace. MDM comes into play when

enterprises are tasked with separating an employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal and work information from a single device without compromising it. According to the GCC Mobile Markets research, smartphone penetration in the region is at 126 percent as compared to 71 percent in selected developed economies. Khalid Khan, Mid-Market Director, Asia, Middle East and Africa, Avaya, says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Regional organisations are increasingly moving towards mobility

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

FEATURE // MDM

Khalid Khan, Mid-Market Director, Asia, Middle East and Africa, Avaya

“Regional organisations are increasingly moving towards mobility solutions, with the recognition that countries here have among the highest mobile penetration rates in the world.”

solutions, with the recognition that countries here have among the highest mobile penetration rates in the world. Increasingly, employees are using their mobile devices for business, compelling organisations to implement Bring-YourOwn-Device (BYOD) policies, to ensure ease and security of work. He says, “We are also seeing here in the region that companies are increasingly using social media applications for business and require them to work seamlessly with existing solutions.” More employees are working away from their home offices and having this freedom is key when it comes to hiring, developing and retaining talent. Enterprise mobility is not a new concept in itself. However, the BYOD trend has driven organisations to pay more attention to enterprise mobility, explains Mathivanan V, Director, Product Management, ManageEngine. “Many enterprises still struggle with leveraging enterprise mobility in the right way. Enterprise mobility solutions are not just about device security or management—they’re more about enabling businesses to integrate and deliver new and innovative business solutions and services quickly. Regional organisations have slowly realised this and are starting to take steps in the right direction,” he adds. Serjios El-Hage, CEO, EMW ME, says the company is seeing government

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and semi-government organisations along with firms in the banking sector moving towards adopting BYOD and MDM solutions to enhance workplace productivity and leverage existing IT infrastructure investments. He says, “We also see a huge potential within retail and education verticals but perhaps factors such as budget and implementation timelines are restricting them from adopting this technology.” The opportunity for the channel partners within the MDM space is around the value aspect. Resellers need to do the groundwork in understanding the solution thoroughly and being in a position to advise customers on how this technology can add to their overall business objectives. Khan says, “Today, channel partners are asked to secure BYOD,

Mathivanan V, Director, Product Management, ManageEngine

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

build omnichannel solutions, and drive digital transformation of industries – be that education, healthcare or hospitality. Resellers who understand what drives their customers’ business and give solid recommendations based on specific outcomes and, hence, acquiring better technical skills in this area would be key to unlocking value for the customer.” Resellers could also look at offering OPEX-based cloud services, designed to help organisations achieve their mobility objectives more cost-effectively. They can also take advantage of the increasing demand of cloud services and bundle multiple services to give the customer a comprehensive value offering. “Localised apps further enhance value, with quick access to mobility solutions, and customised creative ways to engage with customers and colleagues in newer and easier ways,” says Khan. “The channel needs to recognise this as a directional trend, and build the ability to source or create innovative apps that can help companies in their digital transformation. The experience and reputation that the channel partner has built will enhance their trustworthiness, and will lead to additional opportunity to plug-and-play business apps among a progressive customer base.”

“Enterprise mobility solutions are not just about device security or management—they’re more about enabling businesses to integrate and deliver new and innovative business solutions and services quickly.”

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FEATURE // MDM

Serjios El-Hage, CEO, EMW ME

“The company is seeing government and semi-government organisations along with firms in the banking sector moving towards adopting BYOD and MDM solutions to enhance workplace productivity and leverage existing IT infrastructure. investments.” 102

EMW is the mobility partner for AirWatch, an enterprise mobility management solutions provider; and what differentiates them according to El-Hage is that the company provides “exceptional local support, professional and consultancy services.” He says, “Any MDM deployment requires a good project management team to deploy the system successfully and train the employees so that they can use all the functions available. We ensure that our clients and their requirements are well taken care of.” Mathivanan says the mobility management market is comparatively new, which means that not many enterprises have realised the importance of a mobile management solution. “This is a great opportunity for resellers,” he says. “Currently, there’s a lot of heterogeneity in the market with regards to mobile device platforms (Android, iOS and Windows). Each platform keeps adding new features, and this is another opportunity for resellers to help customers utilise these updates.” Also, as most enterprises lack expertise in this area, Mathivanan points out that resellers have a huge opportunity in additional services such as providing on-site deployment, training, all-around support, regional language support, and even solutions for bundling software suites. “The reseller ecosystem is changing and realising the value of specialisation and advanced skills, training and certification. With a fast-changing environment, and with new disruptive trends in the industry, the reseller community cannot have enough training and support,” says Khan.

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

126%

Smartphone penetration in the region Source: GCC Mobile Markets research

El-Hage adds, “Once the organisation has decided to go ahead with adopting MDM solution, it is all about how precisely the systems integrator understands their existing IT infrastructure and deploys the solution. Post implementation, there is always a very good scope of business from additional licensing as more number of employees wish to enroll, support, support renewals, professional services and many more.” The mobile device market is constantly evolving, with new features added on regularly. “Resellers should consider investing more in educating their staff with regards to MDM technology and products related to mobility management,” Mathivanan adds. “Improving customer awareness for mobility management should be a priority for resellers, and can be easily done through events such as seminars and conferences.” Channel partners should ensure that they are grooming themselves to be the customer’s trusted advisor. They should always keep themselves updated on the latest market developments and have in-depth knowledge of the solutions they are offering to end-users, in order to stay differentiated in the MDM space.

ADVERTORIAL

STRENGTH TO STRENGTH KHALID LABAN, CEO, OXYGEN MIDDLE EAST, SPEAKS ABOUT THE COMPANY’S FRUITFUL DEALINGS OVER THE LAST FEW QUARTERS AND HOW IT IS CONTINUOUSLY EMPOWERING ITS REGIONAL PARTNERS WITH THE LATEST SOLUTIONS AND CAPABILITIES. Can you share the company’s highlights in the last quarter? During the last quarter, Oxygen managed to support a number of its partners in the region in developing state-of-the-art solutions by leveraging on our vendor’s database to provide mobility and security solutions to their end-customers. Can you elaborate on recent vendor partnerships? Among our most recent partnerships are with HP Networking solutions, which was added to our portfolio to expand our wired and wireless networks offerings to our partners and customers; and Armor, a company that provides centralised security SOC concept and services to large enterprise allowing multi-vendor support to enhance security monitoring and reporting and managed services. Another one is with Bitdefender, which has more than 500 R&D teams and is known for developing data centre and end-point security solutions. The partnership with Bitdefender complements our vendor profile to cover end-to-end security solutions to our customers. How do these partnerships build on Oxygen’s existing portfolio? We mainly focused on mobility and security solutions covering end-to-end products and services starting from end-users to application management. Oxygen believes that each network segment should be provided with a specific solution that best fits its requirement. How can your partners best leverage these partnerships? Oxygen conducts partner enablement sessions to allow them to understand the latest technology trends. In addition, we educate

them on proper product positioning to enable them to extend their offering profile in such a way that they can maximise their revenues and put forth new niche solutions to end-customers. How is the company strengthening its position as a secure mobility VAD in the region? We have an extensive number of engineers working under our wing as compared to other VADs in the market. This allows us to effectively equip our partners with the best know-how and capabilities from our vendors. Moreover, this also positions our partners at the forefront of developing their resources and competencies to better address a wider range of end-customer demands requirements. Can you share plans for GITEX 2016? Oxygen will be hosting numerous activities for our partners. Activities that will not only bring them top insights about the latest solutions and their features but also fun and entertainment. What can partners look forward to from the company in the following months? Partners can look forward to more dedicated and shared channel enablement sessions. These sessions will help enhance their sales and pre-sales skills on the new solutions offered by Oxygen. Through these activities, they will attain the necessary knowledge and capabilities to pitch into new market segments and upsell to existing customers, which could further increase their revenues and reach in the local market.

VENDOR FOCUS // NETSCOUT

PARTNER CONNECT Abhishek Hajra, Regional Director, MEA, NetScout Systems, discusses what partners can expect from the company, post its acquisition of Danaher’s communication business last year.

lobal application and network performance management products and solutions provider, NetScout Systems, is looking to integrate and strengthen its channel operations in the region, post its acquisition of Danaher Corporation’s communication business, comprising of Arbor Networks, Tektronix Communications, VSS Monitoring and certain parts of Fluke Networks. Abhishek Hajra, the Regional Director for the company’s enterprise business in MEA, says the firm is undergoing a massive rebranding process to ensure the integration happens smoothly and at a fast-pace. He says, “Our constant message to our existing and new customers is that the technologies and products from all the four firms essentially remain the same, while getting enhanced and rebranded as NetScout.” One of the biggest challenges the company faced was around combining the channel business of all the four firms. “It’s easier to merge customers as the products and technologies don’t change,” adds Hajra. “But when it comes to the channel, there is a lot more variations as each of these acquired companies had a separate partner ecosystem and go-to-market strategy.” Over the past several months, the company has worked on this aspect

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and unveiled its partner programme, Connect360, in April this year. But the company ensured all partners were prepared and informed about what to expect well in advance. “We are really proud of the fact that we did not see any disruptions in the channel. And integrating five companies is not an easy task. The only reason we managed that was because we ensured partners knew what to expect and prepared them for the transition. We also launched the programme in a phased manner. We didn’t want to lose any of the brand traction that was built with the partners and customers in the market. Marketing has done a great job here,” he adds. The company’s objective was to make sure it served the common goal of the individual companies and encompass its channel strategies. “It is necessary to ensure channel partners, who are our representatives in the market, are absolutely sure of what we, as a vendor, are looking to achieve. We have selected partners based on performance and their commitment to the business. We are looking to grow quality-wise rather than quantity. For us, it is not only about the dollar value.” The vendor’s progamme is clearly defined as to what it expects from partners. According to Hajra, this leaves no room for confusion.

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

“Partners are impressed with our revamped offering as they can see that we have a long term strategy. In this regard, we have also got Shiboo Baby on board as the Regional Channel Manager for the MEA region. His experience and expertise will greatly enable the channel business further.” With 35 percent of the company’s workforce in R&D, partners can be sure that it will always be at the front-end of technology, according to Hajra. It is a high-margin business, making it attractive for partners. But this also means, they need to be highly skilled and knowledgeable about the company’s offerings. He says, “Our solutions require intensive engagement with customers. We want to ensure partners’ sales teams are equal to that of our own sales team. We are providing partners with business assurance, which is an important aspect.” Over the next few months, we will see the vendor amplifying its regional channel operations and working towards increasing its brand awareness. “We don’t want to remain as the best-kept secret in the industry. People don’t realise how much we are entwined with customer business. We aim to develop and build on that,” he adds.

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REVIEW

SPECTRE 13

RATING

If you’re looking for a new work or personal premium laptop that performs well is lightweight and edgy then HP’s Spectre could just be the device for you.

ubbed by HP as the ‘world’s thinnest laptop,’ the device is only 10.4mm thin and weighs at 1.1 kilograms. The build and design of the laptop is definitely noteworthy. It has a svelte look, black matte casing and has a shiny gold detailing on the hinge and back edge. However, some might be disappointed that the hinge prevents the screen from tilting back more than 120 degrees. The back also houses the USB-C ports and headphone jack. It has a 13.3-inch 1080p, nontouch, FHD screen with a .04-inch layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on top of it, which brings a very clear and vibrant display. The vendor noted that despite being one of its

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high-end computing product, Spectre was not made into a touchscreen device because it would only make the display thicker, so it was omitted in the pursuit of thinness. It sports speakers from Bang & Olufsen, which disappointingly produces an underwhelming audio playback for a premium device. Nevertheless, the device’s traditional functions hit the right marks. The keyboard gives really tactile responses, comfortable to use, and if needed, it also has backlighting. The trackpad is smooth and tracks very well. In terms of performance, the laptop is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. The device is very snappy and powerful enough to handle

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Price: AED 5,499

productivity work. It can easily multitask between a number of apps – Word, Excel, web browsers and so on – it can even handle image editing with Photoshop without any issues. However, when work gets intensive the bottom of the laptop gets uncomfortably warm. Fortunately, Spectre has been designed with a hyperbaric cooling system, which draws in cool air and directs it to the processors letting the machine continue to function at peak performance while preventing it from overheating. The fans in the hyperbaric system can be loud at times but that’s not necessarily a deal breaker. The Spectre relies on USB-C for all of its wired connectivity. HP has installed three USB-C ports on the device. Having three ports is definitely a plus point but because USB-C is still so new, one needs to bring along adapters to plug anything into the machine. The machine has a modest battery-life lasting up to around seven hours of full usage – video and audio playback and other activities. With its impressive performance, quality display and aesthetically pleasing design the laptop has a lot going for it. Despite a few minor flaws, Spectre is still a solid choice for anyone who wants a premium and portable machine.

THE FRENCH TECH PAVILION @ GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK 16-20 OCTOBER 2016

Come and meet the most promising software & hardware French companies in Hall 4 & New Zabeel Hall For more information, contact : Fayssal MAJID Project Manager fayssal.majid@businessfrance.fr Christelle PEYRAN Trade advisor christelle.peyran@businessfrance.fr Miryem OUKAS-MESSIDI Communication Manager miryem.oukasmessidi@businessfrance.fr

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APPLE LAUNCHES IPHONE 7 AND 7 PLUS

Apple has introduced the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which claim to be “the best, most advanced iPhones ever, packed with unique innovations that improve all the ways iPhone is used every day.” The 12-megapixel camera on both iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus includes optical image stabilisation, a larger ƒ/1.8 aperture and 6-element lens hoping to enable brighter, more detailed photos and videos. According to the company, it has a custom-designed Apple A10 Fusion chip has four cores, integrating two high-performance cores that run up to two times faster than iPhone 6, and two

high-efficiency cores that are capable of running at just one-fifth the power of the high-performance cores. Both phones include support for up to 25 LTE bands and LTE Advanced for three times faster data rates than iPhone 6 at up to 450 Mbps. The new iPhone comes with EarPods with Lightning connector, as well as a 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter that allows customers to use old headphones and accessories. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus come in two all-new black finishes, as well as silver, gold and rose gold. An entirely re-engineered enclosure results in a water resistant iPhone offering protection against spills, splashes and dust. An all-new, solid-state Home button is designed to be durable and responsive, and working in tandem with the new Taptic Engine, provides more “precise and customisable” tactile feedback.

HTC UNVEILS DESIRE 10 PRO AND LIFESTYLE HTC Corporation has unveiled the HTC Desire 10 pro and the HTC Desire 10 lifestyle. According to the vendor, both smartphones bring the latest design and flagship-level features to HTC’s widely praised Desire family of smartphones. The Desire 10 pro is equipped with highresolution cameras on both front and back, including a brand new Selfie Panorama mode that captures extreme wide-angle pictures, and top-of-the-line features such as an ultra-fast fingerprint sensor. The HTC Desire 10 lifestyle sports BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition, made popular on the flagship HTC 10, plus 24-bit Hi-Res audio on both the external speakers and headphones. Both the HTC Desire 10 pro and HTC Desire 10 lifestyle share the same design,

which comprises of a high-contrast metallic gold contour. The bold, polished outline distinctively wraps the edges of the device, encasing the HTC Desire 10 pro’s 5.5-inch Full HD (1080p) display or the HTC Desire 10 lifestyle’s 5.5-inch HD (720p) screen, and contrasting with the eye-catching body in one of four distinct colour themes for both models: Stone Black, Polar White, Royal Blue and Valentine Lux. Sitting on the back of the Desire 10 pro is a fingerprint sensor that recognises your fingerprint from almost every angle and position, and even lets users utilize it as a camera shutter for taking selfies.

BROCADE INTRODUCES SLX 9850

Brocade has recently announced the launch of Brocade SLX 9850, an open and extensible data centre routing solution featuring pervasive network visibility and DevOpsstyle automation. According to the company, the router is designed to deliver the cost-effective density, scale, and performance needed to address the ongoing explosion of network bandwidth, devices and services today and in the future. This flexible platform powered by the Brocade SLX- OS provides carrier-class advanced features leveraging proven Brocade routing technology that is used in data centres, service providers, and enterprise networks today. The extensible architecture of the SLX 9850, according to Brocade, is designed for investment protection to readily support future needs for greater bandwidth, scale and forwarding capabilities. The device runs the SLX-OS, a virtualised Linux-based operating system that delivers process- level resiliency and fault isolation.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

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AXIS INTRODUCES Q6155-E PTZ SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS Axis Q6155-E PTZ Dome Network Camera features a built-in laser that measures the distance between the camera and the object of interest. According to the vendor, this allows the camera to focus much faster and to greater accuracy, capturing clear images at all times. The camera features Sharpdome, a technology which allows for monitoring of objects as much as 20-degrees above the camera horizon. It also offers HDTV 1080p resolution and 30x optical zoom and is equipped with the Axis Lightfinder technology and Speed Dry function. Axis highlighted that its sleek design, compact size and re-paintable casing allows the camera to blend in with its

HONEYWELL LAUNCHES SCANPAL EDA50 MOBILE DEVICE

surroundings. It offers quick and precise pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) and high scene fidelity at all angles of view. The AXIS Q6155-E is supported by the industry’s largest base of video management software through the Axis Application Development Partner (ADP) Programme and AXIS Camera Station. Third-party video analytics applications can be installed via AXIS Camera Application Platform. ONVIF support allows for easy integration into existing video surveillance systems.

SONY ANNOUNCES FDR-X3000R 4K ACTION CAM Sony Electronics has introduced its first POV cameras to feature the Balanced Optical SteadyShot (B.O.SS) image stabilisation technology, the FDR-X3000R 4K model and HDR-AS300R Full HD model. The versatile new FDR-X3000R and HDR-AS300R Action Cam feature a new ZEISS Tessar lens. They are also equipped with a new back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor with large pixels designed for 16:9 aspect ratio video plus a BIONZ X processor, ensuring that video quality remains consistently strong across all settings. The new cameras utilise full pixel readout without pixel binning technology to produce high resolution and accurate colours in both 4K (FDR-X3000R only) and

Full HD videos. The FDR-X3000R can also shoot 120p in Full HD and HDR-AS300R can shoot 120p in HD for impressive slowmotion footage. Both cameras offer a new angle of view adjustment, with a 3x smooth zoom or preset “wide”, “medium” and “narrow” settings. This allows shooters to get even closer to the action during movie recording, and reducing barrel distortion common with wide view POV cameras. FDR-X3000R and HDR-AS300R each have a built-in stereo mic with wind noise reduction to reduce the impact of wind interference on overall audio quality, and are equipped with stereo microphone input for advanced recording.

Honeywell has announced the new ScanPal EDA50 mobile computer, an enterprise mobile device that “combines reliability and usability” to connect workers in the Middle East to the data they need. With the familiar design of a smartphone and running the Android operating system, Honeywell noted that the ScanPal EDA50 is easy for users to learn and operate while providing the rugged design needed to perform in challenging environments such as delivery trucks. The device is designed to be used by workers across the region in sectors such as retail, logistics, and healthcare environments where mobility, customer interaction and data collection are critical. ScanPal EDA50 features a 5.5-inch multi-colour touch screen that is also receptive to wet fingers or gloved hands. It has a 4000mAH Lithiumion smart battery that lasts for more than 12 hours. The device weighs just 270 grams and can fit comfortably in workers’ pockets. It is also powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor with a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU that enables fast access to business-critical applications. The device can read both 1D and 2D barcodes, compound codes and postal codes. Equipped with Bluetooth and 3G technology, the ScanPal EDA50 can connect to multiple devices to support additional use cases and applications.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

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TP-LINK FLAUNTS NEW NEFFOS SMARTPHONES TP-Link has recently launched the Neffos X1 and the Neffos X1 smartphones. The Neffos X1 and X1 Max share the same metal unibody exterior, which according to the company, was inspired by the rocks found in streams. The design also features a dual-curved back that tapers towards the sides and allows for a more ergonomic fit. The screen makes use of full in-cell technology with “touch and display driver integration” or TDDI, which is light and 0.2mm thinner than the usual lamination used on other smartphones. A 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass sits on top of the X1 Max’s 5.5-inch display. The smartphones come with a rear camera backed by a 13-megapixel Sony sensor with backside illumination, 5P lens, and DAF (phase-detection auto-focus) of just 0.2 seconds. It also features an f/2.0

NEC LAUNCHES NEXT GENERATION DIGITAL CINEMA PROJECTOR aperture lens for taking clearer shots in low light and providing a shallow of depth of field. Powering the Neffos X1 and X1 Max is the octacore MediaTek Helio P10 chipset with up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which can be expanded with a microSD card up to 128GB. The phone supports dual-band Wi-Fi and multiple LTE bands for fast Internet access where available. Both the Neffos X1 and X1 Max run on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow software and is equipped with 3,000mAh battery.

SAMSUNG UNVEILS NEW SUHD TV LINE Samsung’s SUHD TV line launch was headlined by the KS9500 SUHD TV. With no bezel that normally functions as the border, the company the said users of the new screen can be focused purely on captivating content on the screen. In keeping with this design ethos, Samsung has sought to eliminate all unnecessary elements, even removing screws from the rear of the TV, to create an “elegant product that is beautiful from every angle.” Built on the Tizen operating system (OS), the SUHD TVs make it easier for consumers to discover and access all their favorite content and services, from broadcast TV and

movies to games and programme information, all in one place. This year’s Samsung SUHD line up meets the UHD Alliance’s Premium UHD certification programme, which ensures consumers are getting the most premium experience from their UHD TV. The 78-inch, 65-inch and 55-inch models of the KS9500 are priced at AED 34,999, AED 14,999 and AED 9,999 respectively.

NEC Display Solutions Europe has launched the NC1000C, its secondgeneration digital cinema projector using NSH lamp technology. According to the vendor, the technology offers an enhanced cinema experience at theatres with smaller screens or small projection booths. Space-saving, silent in operation and transportation friendly, it also matches the specific demands of mobile cinema applications and theatres without dedicated projection booths. The NC1000C is an all-in-one solution that builds on NEC’s expertise in the digital cinema industry. The projector also features the latest generation Integrated Media Server (IMS), a high performance server that offers the highest flexibility for content management whilst reducing the number of peripheral devices required. NEC noted that the digital projector offers a unique movie experience with exceptional image quality thanks to crisp and Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) compliant 2K image display combined with natural colours resulting from a cinema Digital Light Processing (DLP) engine and 3D capabilities.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // OCTOBER 2016

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CANON ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF XEED 4K501ST

Canon Middle East has announced the launch of the Canon XEED 4K501ST, the latest addition to its 4K installation projector range and an upgrade to the XEED 4K500ST model. According to the company, the XEED 4K501ST benefits from advanced imaging technology to deliver outstanding resolution and image quality, in a compact and lightweight design ideal for simulation, design and exhibition environments. The new model also offers improved functionality with the addition of HDMI 2.0, which enables seamless and beautiful 4K video playback via a single cable. With a brightness of 5,000 lumens across the entire zoom range, the HD 4,096 x 2,400 LCOS panel in the XEED 4K501ST also enables content to be projected at a resolution that exceeds 4K digital cinema. Canon’s AISYS (Aspectual Illumination System) optical system delivers deep, pure colours and true reproduction of black areas, with an increased contrast ratio for an enhanced viewing experience. The XEED 4K501ST is also supported by Canon’s ‘three-year Lamp Warranty,’ which according to the vendor, substantially lowers the running cost of the device making it an attractive choice for a wide range of installations.

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FAMOCO RELEASES FX200 AND FX300 DEVICES FAMOCO has announced the worldwide release of the FX200 and FX300 devices to complement the existing FX100+. According to the company, the FX200 has a larger 4.5-inch screen suited to advanced applications while the FX300 is a ruggedised device with integrated barcode scanner. The FX200 device has a large display with front and back autofocus cameras, which is designed for workers who use advanced applications and are required to enter significant amounts of data. It has a slim design that makes it lightweight at just 137g. Other features include NFC, Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, 2G and 3G connections as well as a Secure Access Module to secure sensitive data. In the meantime, the FX300

is a “ruggedised” device that integrates a barcode scanner and NFC antenna. Its sturdy format and easy grip has been designed for continuous use by field workers. According to FAMOCO, the device is tamper resistant and lightweight for its category, the FX300 weighs just 260g.

BELL & WYSON FLAUNTS BW BZZZ LED BULB Bell & Wyson has announced its participation at the upcoming GITEX Technology Week where it plans to unveil its BW Bzzz LED bulb. After the launch of the BW PIX+, an LED bulb with integrated camera and microphone, Bell & Wyson has announced that the BW Bzzz will be on sale as beginning of 2017. The BW Bzzz is the first LED bulb to include a system that traps and kills insects. The company plans to launch the product in every continent over the next 12 months, with priority placed on the markets of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “We chose to launch the BW Bzzz bulb during the GITEX, because this

is one of the region’s leading fairs. Selecting the right commercial partners is a crucial factor for the optimisation of sales and our commercial success. Several versions will be available on the market to cater for all types of clientele and all budgets,” said Carol Issa, President, Bell & Wyson. According to Bell & Wyson, they are focused on creating energy-efficient, innovative, practical and beautifully designed connected objects.

OCTOBER 2016 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

2016-04

INTRODUCING THE OPTIVIEW XG NETSCOUT EDITION

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