Reseller Middle East November 2014

ISSUE 215

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november 2014

THE MIDAS TOUCH WWW.RESELLERME.COM

MDS UAE acquires eHosting Data Fort and reveals plans to expand its offerings.

How to profit from MPS Partner prospects in cloud PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

CONTENTS ISSUE 215 // NOVEMBER 2014

cover feature Review

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64

ZenFone 5

The Midas Touch

hot products

Sami Abi Esber, President, Board Member, Midis Group, speaks to Reseller ME on the recent acquisition of eHosting DataFort and the evolving role of a systems integrator in a virtualised environment.

Highlights 6

News

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

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Fine print

Reseller ME finds out how channel partners can make the most of MPS to increase their profitability.

Opinion

Partner watch

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Prosper with IoT

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Chris Gray from Red Hat, shares insights into how to optimise the opportunities in Internet of Things.

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Expanding horizons

Riverbed’s Taj ElKhayat explains how to overcome challenges of locationindependent computing.

Data defence Suni Munshani, CEO, Protegrity, discusses the evolution of data security in an evolving business landscape.

Ahsan Ali from Tech Access on channel strategy and latest developments.

Vendor focus 56

Retail power

58

Cloud calling Reseller ME investigates how channel partners can be more relevant in a cloud-enabled market and how the transition can be made.

Ayman Al-Ajouz, Sales Manager MEA, Seagate Download, elaborates on the latest trends in the retail market.

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Sony brings Xperia Z3 Series to UAE

Continuing the conversation

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Feature 43

Lumia 730 now available

Leading with partners

Interview 34

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Sean Tang from Laserfiche International, explains plans for the region.

Monitoring growth

BenQ’s Manish Bakshi details market strategies for the coming year.

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Identifying growth avenues

Pratik Kajaria from Zebra Technologies, discusses channel strategy and opportunities in healthcare sector.

70

Linksys launches 4X4 Wireless AC Router

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Reseller Middle East november 2014

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*Based on internal Dell analysis in July 2013 based on Dell Compellent flash-optimised vs.spinning disk arrays and an internal test performed by Dell in March 2013 with Storage v6.310 on dual SC8000 controllers running OLIP type workloads using IOmeter with a 100% random, 70/30 read/wirte mix and 8K sector transfer size achieved this IOPS performance.

Actual performance/latency will vary based on configuration, usage and manufacturing variability **Based on internal Dell analysis performed in May 2013, comparing similar Dell Compellent offerings to EMC VNX Family, HP 3PAR StoreServ, HP EVA, IMB V7000, IBM XIV, Hitachi Data Systems HUS 100 Family,and Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Family and competitive US list pricing from Gartner Inc, Cp Storage, as of June 2013. Š 2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial GROUP Chairman and founder

Dominic De Sousa Group CEO

Nadeem Hood Group COO

Georgina O’Hara

Publishing Director Rajashree Rammohan raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9131

Internet of Things and your business

Editorial Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9133 Assistant Editor Janees Reghelini Contributing Editor Anna Bricker Online Editor James Dartnell Advertising Sales Manager Merle Carrasco merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9161 Circulation Database and Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9142 Production and Design Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9136 Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9132 Digital www.resellerme.com DIGITAL SERVICES Digital Services Manager Tristan Troy P Maagma Web Developers Jefferson de Joya

Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor Talk to us: E-mail: jeevan.thankappan@ cpimediagroup.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ ResellerME Twitter: @ResellerME

The Middle East channel is no stranger to hype and buzzwords in the technology industry. The latest hype, which seems to have reached a crescendo is Internet of Things (IoT). It is being touted as a USD 19 trillion opportunity over the next ten years and many vendors predict there will be 50 billion devices connected by 2020. Should the channel be excited?

According to IDC, a big chunk of the IoT pie is in the software and application that take data from the devices, analyse it and trigger actions. Before understanding the opportunities in this space, it is important for the channel to get a handle on what IoT really is; it’s not a product though networking and connectivity play a major role. IoT dovetails cloud, Big Data, social media and mobility together and play the role of aggregators of existing technologies and business models.

As the networking behemoth Cisco puts it, the role of the channel is to enable their customers to understand the value of IoT to their business and define the value proposition in terms of services and solutions. If you look around, M2M solutions and sensors have already made deep inroads into industries such as logistics, utilities, healthcare and retail. IoT also powers 21st century smart cities, a hot topic currently being discussed widely in the Middle East. The UAE is already leading the charge, where connected homes, hospitals, utilities and supermarkets are becoming a reality.

So where is the opportunity for the channel to rake in the moola?

For IoT to kick off, it requires great infrastructure deployments, which typically involve integrating network of sensors with software that can glean and analyse resulting quantities of data for business benefits.

And this why experts say, channel is uniquely positioned with its expertise in both hardware and software to manage these projects and find a new revenue stream. Some of the big vendors such as IBM and Google are already piloting projects and require new channel suppliers. It is indeed a golden opportunity for the channel to partner with these vendors, and upskill into new avenues such as sensor deployment and integration.

Photographer and Social Media Co-ordinator Jay Colina webmaster@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 Printed by Printwell Printing Press © Copyright 2014 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

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Reseller Middle East NOVEMBER 2014

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highlights

DCG unveils 2015 plans at semi AGM

Shailendra Rughwani, Director, DCG Dubai Computer Group (DCG) held its semi Annual General Meet (AGM) last evening at Grand Excelsior Hotel. Sponsored by AIG Insurance, reseller partners and members of DCG came together to discuss plans for 2015.

Over the years, DCG has achieved many success stories, including exemption of custom duties on IT products and has now increased its member count. Shailendra Rughwani, Director, DCG, said “2014 was an excellent year, we had several team-building activities

such as sports, trade show and today we have the semi AGM. Next year, we plan to host a five-day B2C event at World Trade Centre during Dubai Shopping Festival 2015. The membership has gone up by about 30 percent.

We expect to have about 250 members by the B2C expo. Tonight’s event was sponsored by AIG and they have come up with a new credit insurance structure for IT companies.” The B2C event could potentially be called DCG Shopper.

Post an informative presentation by AIG, the DCG members had the opportunity to discuss any trade credit related questions to the AIG team.

Going forward, members can expect events such as blood donation drive and indoor sport activities.

KU Shankri, Owner, Lucky Star Computers and a DCG member said, “It is good to have a unified platform to voice concerns about the business. Here, we can talk about issues and spread the awareness. DCG is now in a position to approach Government departments on any industry related issues.

This event has been arranged in an extremely professional manner. And the B2C event sounds interesting and I’m looking forward to

be a part of it.”

“Within the GCC region, the extension of credit from suppliers to buyers is an ever-increasing problem. Suppliers’ credit insurance offers suppliers the opportunity to deal with the buyers on open credit terms.

Thereby giving them terms of payment of 30 or 60 or even longer such as 90 days, which helps with the cash flow of companies within the area. And in the event of one of the suppliers’ customers not paying them, credit insurance will step in and replace the bad debt that they have experienced by paying them in the form of a credit insurance claim,” said Marius Wolmarans, Manager Mutlinational EMEA, Trade Credit, AIG Property Casualty.

“Tonight was a very good event for DCG members to experience first-hand what the product can do for them and to expand their horizons and realise that credit insurance is not only there to protect them against bad debts but also afford them the opportunity to expand their sales by having the chance to insure more clients for higher amounts.”

DCG also unveiled a refreshed website, www.dcgdubai.com, which also offers members a page that can be maintained and designed to give the individual company information in the manner they choose.

TP-LINK to increase Africa visibility Networking and wireless solutions provider, TP-LINK has announced it is increasing its efforts to grow its channel business in Africa.

The company manufactures a range of products in the Middle East North Africa region, including including ADSL, Switches, IP Cameras, Powerline Adapters and Print Servers.

TP-LINK has already started working with in-country partners in East, West and Southern Africa.

Will Liu, General Manager, Africa, at TPLINK Middle East, said, “Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa are markets that are shaping up well for the company in terms of channel business and market development initiatives.

We already have partners on the ground that are taking out product to the market through retail and traditional reseller channel.”

Liu pointed out that the company already has in-country partners supplying solutions in the three countries with plans

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to further enhance operations next year.

“With our increased focus on visibility, brand awareness and business development, we are aiming to have an enhanced region presence in many countries in East, West and Southern Africa,” he said. “We are already working with channel partners in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. Our 3G and 4G range of networking and wireless products have continued to grow and have been well received in all the countries we have introduced these solutions,” he remarked.

He added that TP-LINK is pleased to see its products gaining rapid acceptance in Africa. Liu pointed out that part of the strategy to raise visibility is focusing on opening offices in-country to better provide local support to channel partners and their customers. “We believe this is the best way to develop our business as local after-sales support is crucial in any market,” he said.

Liu explained that in 2015, TP-LINK

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Will Liu, General Manager, Africa, at TP-LINK will be aiming to identify markets where it will have people on the ground to nurture partner alliances and develop the business further. “We will be supporting our distribution and reseller partners with training and channel roadshows,” he said. “Through the roadshows, we will be able to give technology updates and channel partners to understand some of the trends happening in the market in real time.”

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highlights

Logicom named official distributor of Cisco Meraki for UAE & KSA

stats For the top 10 malware detections alone in each country, KSA counted

11.01M 10.26M

instances, and U.A.E. counted

instances, from June 2013 to May 2014.

(source: Trend Micro: The Mobile Landscape Roundup report)

Datwyler Group signs up Global Distribution Nicholas Argyrides, Director of Sales & Marketing, Logicom Logicom, the regional distributor of technology solutions and services, has expanded its vendor portfolio with a new agreement with Cisco Meraki, where it was named as the official distributor for the vendor in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Cisco Meraki cloud-managed edge and branch networking solutions simplify enterprise-class networks.

Wireless, switching, security, and devices are centrally managed from the cloud, and Meraki gives network administrators visibility and control, without the cost and complexity of traditional architectures.

The agreement came into effect on October 10th 2014.The new range of Cisco Meraki products and their capabilities were demonstrated completely at Logicom’s stand during GITEX Technology Week at the World Trade Center in Dubai this month.

Nicholas Argyrides, Director of Sales & Marketing,Logicom, said: “We are proud to have both the honor and opportunity to be the first technology

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distributor to introduce the Cisco Meraki technologies into the Middle East. Having observed the mounting demand for Cisco Meraki technology solutions we’ve been eager to do our part to replicate their huge success seen in other regions. Our aim is simple; we plan to passionately grow this vertical, hand-in-hand with our dedicated Cisco channel partners.”

“Cisco continues to solve our customers’ business challenges by delivering architectures and services on the intelligent network platform, including cloud. The acquisition of Meraki addressed the rapidly occurring shift to cloud networking as a key part of Cisco’s overall strategy to accelerate our adoption of software based business models that provide new consumption options for our customers and revenue opportunities for our partners. We are delighted to be strategically partnering with Logicom to deliver Cisco Meraki technology solutions to customers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” said Den Sullivan, Head of Architectures, Cisco, Emerging Markets.

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Datwyler Group, provider of structured cabling products, system solutions and services for electrical and ICT infrastructures in public and commercial buildings and data centres, has recently signed up Global Distribution to deliver the company’s ICT Infrastructure solutions to its resellers in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

“Partnering with Datwyler is a key milestone for ‘Global’ and will ensure we are able to support our resellers across the region with best-in-class solutions that addresses the ‘Layer Zero’ of any reliable IT infrastructure.

Our newly formed Business Unit for ‘IT Infrastructure and Physical Security’ will build upon this partnership with Datwyler and add further complementing Solutions to ultimately address all requirements for smart data centres of all sizes,” said Mario M. Veljovic, VP Solutions MENA, Global Distribution.

Datwyler has evolved from a family-owned Swiss company into an international group serving a vast array of customers in more than 100 countries.

highlights

Cyberoam introduces CR10iNG UTM appliance

Network security appliance provider Cyberoam has launched its Unified Threat Management appliance CR10iNG. The appliance aims to extend enterprise level network security to small and branch offices, and features Firewall throughput of 400 Mbps and UTM throughput of 60 Mbps.

Built on the same CyberoamOS that powers other NG series UTM appliances, CR10iNG features the company’s flagship Layer 8 Security, is centrally manageable via Cyberoam Central Console (CCC) and Cyberoam’s on-Cloud Management Service and is compatible with iView – Cyberoam’s Open Source

logging and reporting solution.

“Several organisations have paid the price for lax security at their branch offices,” said Abhilash Sonwane, Sr. Vice President- Technology & Products, Cyberoam. “While they deploy best security at their main office, hackers find their way into the networks by breaking the security at smaller offices.

This is becoming even more frequent as the work-from-home culture is gaining greater acceptance; home office locations are rarely ready for modern day security challenges.”

Ingram Micro offers IBM Middle East training

Ali Baghdadi, President, Technology Solutions, Middle East, Turkey and Africa region, Ingram Micro Ingram Micro has commenced its delivery of authorised IBM systems and software training in the Middle East, effective from this month. Already available in Africa, this training delivery is in line with the company’s plans to build on its global technical services and training expertise.

As an authorised IBM Global Training Provider (GTP), Ingram Micro is one of five companies authorised to provide a

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broad selection of systems and software courses from IBM Training.

“Training and certification of our channel partners is a cornerstone of Ingram Micro’s value-added services.

Our commitment and growth in training centres and resources has enabled us to accelerate our roll-out of IBM Training as an IBM authorised GTP in Africa, while preparing for our imminent rollout of IBM training in the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia and rest of the Gulf region,” said Ali Baghdadi, President, Technology Solutions, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Ingram Micro. “We are pleased to expand on our long-standing relationship with IBM and play an integral role in the delivery of IBM Training. Together, we will help our worldwide channel partners to serve better and earn better by advancing their skills and differentiating their value and expertise.”

Ingram Micro Training and IBM Training will work closely to enhance the distributor’s value proposition and provide a superior training experience globally. A complete listing of the IBM Systems and Software courses now available from Ingram Micro Training can be found online at www.ingrammicro. com/training.

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Training and certification of our channel partners is a cornerstone of Ingram Micro’s valueadded services. Our commitment and growth in training centres and resources has enabled us to accelerate our rollout of IBM Training as an IBM authorised GTP in Africa, while preparing for our imminent roll-out of IBM training in the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia and rest of the Gulf region.”

highlights

Mayflex inks UAE BCDVideo distribution deal Mayflex has signed an agreement to distribute the BCDVideo family of recording, directory and access control servers, client viewing stations, and networking products to their customers in the United Arab Emirates.

Founded in 1999, BCDVideo provides built IP security storage and network solutions for the security integrator community.

All storage products are backed with lifetime telephone support and an unprecedented, worldwide five-year global on-site warranty.

“Establishing the relationship with Mayflex benefits BCDVideo on a number of counts,” said Jeff Burgess, President, BCDVideo. “First and foremost, the ability to expand our product offerings through such

Andrew Percival, Managing Director, Mayflex Cabling infrastructure, networking and electronic security solutions distributor

EMW joins Catavolt partner programme

Serjios El-Hage, CEO, EMW EMW has joined announced its entry to enterprise application mobility firm Catavolt’s partner programme.

The announcement means that telecoms, ICT, engineering and project management supplier of services and products EMW has become Catavolt’s commercial and consulting arm in United Arab Emirates, providing both EMW and Catavolt’s customers in the region with mobile application delivery.

Combining EMW’s 20-plus years of software and consulting experience with Catavolt’s enterprise mobility, enables

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businesses to easily develop mobile applications that “improve internal operations and business performance outcomes”. ‘’The Middle East is currently overseeing a huge uptake in mobile application development,” Serjios ElHage, CEO, EMW, said. “Both the private and public sectors understand the benefits of offering a mobile solution that improves the overall customer experience and we believe that demand will continue for the foreseeable future.

Catavolt’s unique platform can help EMW ME provide existing and new customers the correct solution at the correct price.”

“We are pleased to have EMW join the Partner programme,” said Francisco Daffre, Vice President, Business Development, Catavolt. “EMW’s excellence and unique market position takes Catavolt to a new level in the Middle East. This partnership provides our customers in the region with the best service available and enables us to deliver fast, secure and personalised mobile app development to the region with meaningful business outcomes in 60 days or less.”

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an established and respected organisation certainly is consistent with our corporate standards. We look forward to growing incremental revenue with Mayflex and their integrator base as we deliver best-practice solutions for their projects.” “’Mayflex are delighted to be able to offer the BCDVideo product and believe it is an excellent addition to our existing brands,” said Andrew Percival, Managing Director, Mayflex. “By adding this leading solution to our already strong product portfolio reaffirms Mayflex’s commitment to growing our presence not just in the United Arab Emirates but across this important region.’’

BCD Video products are available immediately from Mayflex in the UAE.

stats

The public cloud services market in the MENA region is on pace to grow

21% $747M $616M in 2014 to total

up from an estimated

in 2013

(source: Gartner)

highlights

Promise Technology appoints Musallam Trading as MENA disti

Scope ME signs VSS distribution deal

Promise Technology has announced its appointment of Musallam Trading as a distributor of its storage solutions for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Promise is expanding its presence in the region and Musallam Trading will help market Promise’s solutions to channel customers in addition to providing a technical team to assist customers with product demonstrations and after-sales support.

Promise is a developer of storage solutions for the cloud/IT, video surveillance and rich media markets.

Musallam Trading is a Value Added Distributor who has experience in a range of vertical markets, including CCTV, media and entertainment, cloud and data centres.

“We are excited to enter into an agreement with a global leader like Promise to bring the best IT storage solutions to the market,” Omar Musallam, Director, Musallam Trading, said. “Storage is a critical factor in today’s business world, and there is a need for reliable and robust storage solutions in huge markets like the Middle East and North Africa.

We believe the line of Promise’s storage solutions, including fully redundant SAS/ SATA RAID subsystems, will help address the demand.”

John van den Elzen, Managing Director, Promise Technology EMEA, said, “The Middle East and North Africa are dynamic markets and the agreement between Musallam Trading and Promise will open new opportunities for both companies as part of a mutually beneficial partnership. With Promise recently opening a new regional office in Dubai, we believe the partnership with Musallam Trading is an important step to becoming the leading provider of storage solutions for vertical markets throughout the region.”

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Distributor and technology solutions provider Scope Middle East has announced that it has been signed on as a distributor for VSS Monitoring in the Middle East.

As per the agreement, Scope will be responsible for promoting and distributing VSS Monitoring’s family of network packet brokers.

“Our partnership brings together Scope’s expertise of operations in the Middle East and portfolio of security tools with VSS Monitoring’s leading network packet broker (NPB) solutions, providing large enterprises and service providers with the visibility and scalability to optimise their network performance and security tools,” said Firas Ghanem, Regional Sales Director, Middle East, VSS Monitoring.

“Our investment in Scope reflects our commitment to our partners’ success, through programmes, training and support to accelerate their business growth.”

As part of its channel enablement programme, VSS Monitoring will provide Scope and its resellers with channel partner support through its partner portal, including access to technical pre and postsales support and marketing resources.

Regular training and certification programmes will be held to train partners, and VSS Monitoring and Scope will collaborate to develop a network visibility practice.

Scope will focus its efforts on large enterprise companies and service providers that have security tools and require high performance and massive scaling capabilities.

“VSS Monitoring is a great addition to our portfolio considering the vendor is a world leader in network packet brokers,” said Fadi AbuEkab, CEO, Scope ME. “The Middle East has great business potential for VSS as regional organisations are in the process of upgrading and modernising their existing data centres and network infrastructure and are looking to implement the latest network performance monitoring tools and security solutions. We see a very healthy uptake of the company’s solutions as we make concerted efforts to increase brand awareness.”

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Firas Ghanem, Regional Sales Director, Middle East, VSS Monitoring

Our partnership brings together Scope’s expertise of operations in the Middle East and portfolio of security tools with VSS Monitoring’s leading network packet broker (NPB) solutions, providing large enterprises and service providers with the visibility and scalability to optimise their network performance and security tools.”

highlights

Trigon named ME distributor for Singapore’s Strontium Singaporean digital storage firm Strontium Technology has signed a distribution agreement with Dubai-based distributor Trigon.

Under the agreement, Trigon will distribute all Strontium products and expand Strontium’s global reach in the Middle East.

“With Trigon’s extensive customer base and Strontium’s expertise in memory, this new partnership will prove to be a win-win for both,” Vivian Singh, President and CEO, Strontium Technology said. “Trigon is working with all the key

Arun Chawla, CEO, Trigon

Posiflex launches new product and aims to open regional office Taiwan-based manufacturer of POS touch screen terminals and peripherals, Posiflex, has launched a new mobile POS called MT-4008W at the recently concluded GITEX Technology Week 2014.

The company has been participating at the ICT event for the last seven years and considers the Middle East region as one of its biggest markets. Present globally, the company will also open its office in the UAE by early next year.

Gareth Omar Cornish, Vice President, Global Sales and Managing Director, Posiflex Middle East & North Africa, says, “We are having the worldwide launch of MT-4008W at this event.

With this product, users have an option of 1D or 2D scanner. It is one of the first tablets designed specifically for POS.” “We have a presence in almost all countries in the Gulf and we focus largely in the hospitality and retail verticals. The UAE is a business hub for the Middle East and North Africa.

By having an office, it will enable us to expand our business further, not just within the Gulf but also in North Africa,” he adds.

The company has partnered with Pixel Digital in the UAE for its distribution

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channel partners, national retailers, corporate and export customers, and is well regarded for providing excellent support. They will play a pivotal role in driving Strontium’s business further in UAE and GCC through these channels.”

“We believe that the opportunity of growing Strontium’s business in the region is tremendous for both companies and is a perfect fit,” said Arun Chawla, CEO, Trigon. “We look forward to bringing Strontium quality memory products, including the NITRO series, to the local market.”

stats

Tablet sales worldwide will reach 229 million units in 2014, an

Gareth Omar Cornish, Vice President, Global Sales and Managing Director, Posiflex MENA of its products in the country. And is currently looking at signing up partners for other parts of the region. “We are hoping to meet and finalise some partners for the region besides UAE at GITEX. We are looking at partners who will not have conflict of interest as far as verticals are considered.”

The 30-year-old company expects to close the financial year with 30 percent growth year-on year across the Middle East region.

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11% 9.5% 55%

increase from 2013, representing

of total worldwide sales of devices in 2014. In 2013, tablet sales grew

(source: Gartner)

P.O.Box: 17543, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 870 3333 Fax: +971 4 870 3330 www.fdcinternational.com

highlights

StarLink unveils security framework and solutions lifecycle

Nidal Othman, Managing Director, StarLink Security- specialised VAD, StarLink has unveiled its security framework and solutions lifecycle.

All organisations strive to have their IT security infrastructure designed effectively, to enable key business activities, while simultaneously ensuring

the highest levels of reliability and accessibility. In most cases a bottomup approach is taken, predominantly due to the large number of vendors in this space, creating a focus on trying to protect against every conceivable threat. Organisations are rarely able to visualise the key IT security technology domains, and where they fit into an environment in order to achieve optimal governance, minimal risk and adherence to compliance.

“Our innovative defense-in-depth security framework helps customers define their IT security vision and subsequently their strategic objectives, top-down. Customers and partners can now be confident that they can comprehensively cover their IT security needs, end-to-end, from the User to the Network to the Application and finally to the Data,” said Nidal Othman, Managing Director, StarLink.

Achieving compliance and protecting against cyber-attacks still continue to be the primary two IT Security drivers that shape the industry, and over the last few

years significant vendor consolidation has taken place, both in terms of acquisitions and mergers, as well as, development of strategic partners and alliances. This has created an ecosystem of out-of-the-box integration, as well as, a landscape where IT security requirements cannot be addressed with point products, but instead multiple technologies that work side-by-side.

Othman further added, “StarLink’s portfolio has evolved into a uniquely structured Solutions Lifecycle consisting of access control, vulnerability management, Advanced Threat Protection and secure mobility.

Each of these solutions comprise of multiple vendors’ core competencies, and feed into each other giving customers the ability to quickly understand their IT Security gaps, and set priorities accordingly, starting from implementing critical controls, to verification of those controls, to zeroday malware protection, to sensitive data consumption, and then back around again.”

Redington Value partners with Adeo IT

Ramkumar Balakrishnan, President, Redington Value

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november 2014 Reseller Middle East

Redington Value, the value-added distribution arm of Redington Gulf, has partnered with Adeo IT Consulting, which was announced during GITEX 2014.

According to the company, the strategic partnership will position it as the region’s first value-added distributor to offer both consulting and training services.

Adeo is a consulting and training focused firm, offering IT consulting and training services in IT security, virtualisation, network, business continuity, server, and storage services.

Through this partnership, Redington Value aims to take the model of valueadded distribution to the next level by offering end-to-end solutions and services to its Middle Eastern customers and vendor partners.

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Ramkumar Balakrishnan, President, Redington Value, said, “Redington Value has redefined the value-added distributor model in the Middle East.

We want to build a robust relationship with our customers by catering to the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) segment across the region as well as having an active relationship with our vendors by being a value added distributor that can offer turnkey endto-end solutions. We foresee a huge demand for IT consultancy and training services from our channel partners and our partnership with Adeo will enable us to offer professional services in IT security, virtualization, network, business continuity, server and storage services to our customers in the Middle East.”

highlights

FVC announces new partnership and product launch

Dharmendra Parmar, General Manager Marketing, FVC FVC, a regional distributor has signed up with Ashton Bentley, a company that manufacturers environments for video conferencing, at the recently concluded GITEX 2014. Dharmendra Parmar, General Manager Marketing, FVC says, “We have Polycom in our portfolio, which makes video conferencing technology and Ashton Bentley complements it by giving you professional displays along with the right

video conferencing furniture and all the electronics to make the whole experience much richer and easier to use, while at the same time allowing partners to give one complete solution to the customer.”

The company has recently extended the partnership with Barco to cover meeting room projectors series, which was showcased at the event. The company had over 10 vendors sharing its stand at the show. Parmar says, “There are multiple things we look forward to such as awareness as a key player in the industry and it is a good platform for us to meet up with all our vendors and key partners in the same arena. As a VAD, the relationship with all our partners is very important and the key executives of our partners are visiting us, which makes it easier.”

The distributor is focusing on segments such as Unified Communications, information security and advanced networking. “We have launched the new Polycom Immersive Studio, which was the latest telepresence solution at the show. This is the first time it is being launched in the region,” says Parmar.

stats

75% Through 2015, more than

of mobile applications will fail basic security tests

(source: Gartner)

We have Polycom in our portfolio, which makes video conferencing technology and Ashton Bentley complements it by giving you professional displays along with the right video conferencing furniture and all the electronics to make the whole experience much richer and easier to use, while at the same time allowing partners to give one complete solution to the customer.”

Spectrami highlights Xceedium partnership

Anand Choudha, MD, Spectrami

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november 2014 Reseller Middle East

Spectrami, the regional niche and specialised distributor, focused on its partnership with Xceedium, a network security software company and a provider of hybrid cloud solutions at GITEX 2014. The company had signed the deal in September and it was one of its major highlights at the ICT event this year.

A participant at GITEX for the third consecutive year, Anand Choudha, MD, Spectrami said, “The first year, our message was to tell the market that we had arrived.

Second GITEX was about communicating to the market that we are here to stay and is a serious player in this segment. And finally this year, our message is to tell people that we mean business.”

Growing at a 30 to 40 percent on a year-on-year basis, the distributor has

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already crossed last year’s numbers as of September end. “We are looking at a healthy growth for 2014. We are expecting another 30 to 40 percent growth happening this year as well.”

According to Choudha, these five days of the event offers an immense opportunity for the company to also connect with the senior management from the vendors. “Our stand is 35 percent bigger than last year and we have many of our vendors showcasing their solutions with us. Spectrami is all about vendor partnerships. We are all about the business platforms we are able to create to connect the vendors with our vendor extension model to the set of channel partners and customers across the region,” Choudha adds.

highlights

Synology showcases surveillance solutions

Derek Tu, Account Sales Manager, Synology Derek Tu, Account Sales Manager, Synology, said the company came to GITEX this year to highlight three main focuses in the regional business. The primary focus was to showcase products and solutions in the surveillance sector, which is one of its main market verticals. The vendor also communicated its business and multimedia features to the market at the event.

“In our business features, we are also covering our cloud solutions for our business customers. And in the multimedia

stats

segment, we are focusing on mobile trends for our products,” explained Tu. A second-time participant at GITEX, the company found the event useful in terms of meeting new customers and creating effective leads for the business.

“Most important of all, the event helps us to learn more from the market and helps us interact with our channel and end customers. This gives us an idea of how our products can fit in this market and how we can improve our offering and add new features for the Middle East market.”

The company’s main strategy going forward is to educate the channel. “As compared to our other major markets, we find that there is less awareness about NAS solutions and products here. Being the leader in NAS manufacturing, it is our responsibility to educate the market on how useful NAS products are. This will be our first strategy.”

Over and above this, the company plans to create more awareness about its offering to tap the potential regionally.

“We will also have channel programmes that will enable reseller partners to make decent margins, which is a key issue in the regional channel,” adds Tu.

20% By year-end 2017, over

of enterprises will have digital security services devoted to protecting business initiatives using devices and services in the Internet of Things.

(source: Gartner)

In our business features, we are also covering our cloud solutions for our business customers.

And in the multimedia segment, we are focusing on mobile trends for our products.”

Bit9 urges businesses to protect endpoints

Aquib Aftab, Regional Director, Bit9+Carbon Black

Bit 9 + Carbon Black promoted the company’s tagline, ‘arm your endpoints’ at this year’s ICT event, GITEX Technology Week 2014.

Aquib Aftab, Regional Director, Bit9+Carbon Black said the regional security landscape is evolving as businesses implement new and emerging technologies.

Aftab said, “From IT security perspective, there has been a lot of investments being done by customers on the network side of the business but very little done on the end points and server.

Most customers believe that antivirus will take care of these security threats, however, antivirus is fighting a lost battle. There are dedicated zero day, targeted and malware attacks which are happening across the globe and these antivirus solutions are not

good enough.”

“GITEX is a huge PR exercise for the entire region as everyone comes here. We have grown to a certain level and we are expanding people in the region by placing people in certain potential countries. We are doing couple of partnerships with certain resellers. It is a great platform to be present at.”

The company is trying to educate the customers about emerging threats and claims it has been successful in doing so.

According to Aftab, today customers are aware about how the market dynamics are transforming and understand the paradigm shift in terms of traditional approach to security solutions.

The company is looking to grow by 100 percent by the end of this year.

www.resellerme.com

Reseller Middle East november 2014

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highlights

Fluke Networks signs up SNB ME as official KSA distributor SNB Middle East has been signed up as Fluke Networks’ official distributor for Saudi Arabia, which was one of the main announcements from the company at GITEX 2014. The second biggest announcement that the company is emphasising on at the event is the distribution partnership with Cyberoam for the Middle East region.

Rauf Chougle, Group General Manager, SNB Middle East, says, “Our focus this year is on all the four segments - security surveillance, data storage, networking and IT security.

Compared to last year, our IT security portfolio has grown, which has been one of our business focuses. This is our

Rauf Chougle, Group General Manager, SNB

Cisco shapes the future with IoT

Rabih Dabboussi, Managing Director and General Manager, UAE, Cisco Cisco’s main theme at the ICT event, GITEX Technology Week 2014 is around Internet of Everything (IoE).

Rabih Dabboussi, Managing Director and General Manager, UAE, Cisco, said, “We have seen that this year the focus at the event is more towards smart solutions, smart cities and IoE. Although this might be driven by the needs of Dubai and the leadership of the country, there is quite a bit of synergy and alignment across the region about transforming cities and nations using

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november 2014 Reseller Middle East

technology as a foundational element.”

According to Dabboussi, the company is beginning to see a number of tangible solutions around IoT as opposed to the early stage technologies of last year. “The Internet will go through its third transformation in its lifecycle.

As of now, it was about connecting people and their devices, and the next few years will be about connecting things. Automation and orchestration will be key.”

Dabboussi added, “We believe in the value of GITEX, having the community come here together for one week, which includes many decision makers and technology and government leadership and also customers. As they all are available at one place, it is an opportunity to reconnect and forge new relationships. It gives us a chance to reconvene as a community once a year and agree what are the next steps to create more value out of those relationships.”

Cisco has made a number of announcements this week which showcases how daily lives can be transformed through solutions in IoT.

www.resellerme.com

second time at GITEX and the event has proved to be very beneficial for us. We have had some good meetings and also a chance to meet up with customers and partners.”

The company is also focusing on the KSA market and in line with this, has opened up an office in Riyadh, earlier this year. “We see immense potential in the KSA market and is positive about it. Apart from that, our focus areas in terms of locations have been Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait to some extent.

And now we are getting into Muscat and actively working in Bahrain,” he adds.

In terms of technologies, the distributor expects the growth from surveillance, networking and storage in the coming few months.

“We aim to increase our product portfolio and offer end-to-end solutions to the regional market,” Chougle says.

stats The MEA handset market grew to its largest size in ten quarters in Q2 2014, expanding

27% 64M year on year to total

units.

(source: IDC)

The Internet will go through its third transformation in its lifecycle. As of now, it was about connecting people and their devices, and the next few years will be about connecting things.

Automation and orchestration will be key.”

highlights

Arbor highlights STC partnership

Mahmoud Samy, Regional Director, ME, CIS and Russia, Arbor Networks

Arbor Networks had announced the partnership with a major operator in the region, STC, at GITEX Technology Week 2014. The company also took the opportunities present at the event to connect with their partners and end customers.

Mahmoud Samy, Regional Director, ME, CIS and Russia, Arbor Networks, said, “GITEX is an important exhibition for us. This is our third year at the event. It is a great opportunity to meet up with our channel, distributors, our existing and potential customers as well. We take the opportunity to share with our business ecosystem on what is new from Arbor and how we can take the business relationship to the next level.”

STC has implemented the company’s products to protect their

networks and take their service to their customers. “This has been one of our main focuses at this year’s event.

Going forward, we will be investing more and more directly with our channel and our managed service partners such as STC and Etisalat because we have a vast majority of the operators in the region.”

The company offers solutions to customers in verticals such as banking and public sector within the region. It has been growing steadily and hopes to close the year with double-digit revenues.

“There is a big demand in security in general and the investment in MENA is reaching over $1 billion, security is a big part of it and DDoS is a bigger part, which means there are tremendous prospects in the region,” Samy adds.

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Analysis

The runaway saga continues Dubai-based Miraj Electronics goes absconding leaving behind a huge debt trail, which has affected regional channel players.

Miraj Electronics, a ten-year-old company that was located on the Computer Street “disappeared” overnight about three weeks ago with debts to the tunes of AED 9 million. Several channel players have suffered losses including a few large distributors, according to sources close to the matter.

The reseller used to deal largely with power retailers and about eight IT trade companies have suffered losses with this

28

incident. Sources say that the reseller had about AED 3.5 million stock before fleeing the market and the products are yet to be seen, though the channel players are keeping a close watch.

While low margins and over credit continues to be the two main issues that are plaguing the channel, partners must look at taking preventive measures.

According to Shailendra Rughwani, Director, DCG, the industry needs to work

november 2014 Reseller Middle East

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together and stay united to prevent such incidents.

“Industry is going through some tough times. The only way forward is to get insurance and make sure your business is protected. We need to be more careful and not work on a credit basis. It should be undertaken by everyone in the market, only a joint effort can help. Though, this will take time as the UAE market is credit-oriented.”

Marius Wolmarans, Manager Mutlinational EMEA,

Trade Credit, AIG Property Casualty, said, “In many geographies in the world, many companies do abscond and not meet their obligations to the suppliers. This is an everincreasing problem especially in the GCC. Credit insurance is a product that insures customers against that because in the event of a supplier’s customer running away overnight, credit insurance will step in and pay the claim for the bad debts.”

“Channel partners should look at insurance as then we will also be able to share a database of information with our customers. Therefore, not only will we indemnify the customer in an absconding case but we also try to warn them beforehand, if we suspect any potential fraudulent action in the industry. Our database provides us with detailed information about our customers so we are able to foresee the problem in many cases,” Wolmarans added.

This is the second reported absconding case in 2014, earlier in the year another Dubai reseller, NSK, fled the market, unable to meet its debt obligations. Although the incidents have reduced compared to a few years ago, channel players continue to grapple with this challenge.

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opinion

Red hat

Prosper with IoT Chris Gray, Director, Embedded and Intelligent Systems, Red Hat, shares insights into how to optimise the opportunities in Internet of Things.

If you’ve been reading about the Internet of Things (IoT) market, you’re probably wondering why all the buzz is about consumer products - wearables for health improvement, smart home technologies, smart vehicles for safer driving.

Consumer products being hyped right now are provoking thoughtful discussions in boardrooms and lots of investments by venture firms.

The reason for this is that the world has always been fascinated by ways to use technology to improve lives.

The interest in futuristic technology gives us hope that we can find solutions to complex problems and daily challenges.

Being able to adjust your thermostat from your smartphone, however, does not fully embody the opportunity that the IoT represents. The truth is that the full range of possibilities created by the IoT continues to

30

grow and is now being realised by enterprises across the world. The impact of these technologies are fundamentally revolutionising the way enterprises do business and are allowing for advancements in productivity which compare with the advent of computing itself.

Just imagine the transformation taking place on railways across the country. Where once a conductor manually applied the brakes when he saw a locomotive that was a little too close, rail companies are now operating with centralised systems that know the exact locations and actions of every locomotive in their network. Train speed is automatically adjusted to not only avoid collisions, but to optimise fuel consumption and improve overall efficiency, with the potential to drive an estimated USD 200m in profit for each 1 mph increase in average fleet speed.

So while smart phones, smart TVs, smart appliances and smart cars may continue to capture the imagination of consumers, you can see there is much to be gained with enterprise implementations. However, there is a fundamental difference when deploying IoT initiatives in enterprises. Let’s explore why.

Consumer driven IoT use cases have typically been built on a two-tier architecture in which the device connects directly back to a cloud/data centre-based service. In this model, the device transmits all data to a data centre where analysis occurs and, if action is required, the

november 2014 Reseller Middle East

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action is then communicated back to the edge device.

Fundamentally, this architecture works for consumer use cases for two reasons: availability of bandwidth and a lack of timecritical decision-making.

In a consumer application, the consumer is paying for the bandwidth, so creating an application that is relatively bandwidth intensive does not impact the application vendor.

Not so in the enterprise. Every byte counts. In fact, shaving a single byte from a message can save an enterprise millions of dollars in transmission costs in industrial IoT use cases.

Therefore, it has become crucial for enterprise IoT architects to consider bandwidth implications in their designs.

Secondly, consumers are not overly concerned about the amount of time that it takes for decisions to be made. For example, when you tell your Nest thermometer to turn up your air conditioning by three degrees, it’s probably okay if it takes a couple minutes to do so. Again, not so in the enterprise. In a mission-critical enterprise environment, decisions are measured in fractions of a second. Imagine if the under voltage sensor on your electrical grid waited three minutes to bring an additional capacity online when voltage started to drop.

Entire power grids could go down and billions of dollars’ worth of equipment could be lost.

These considerations ultimately leave us realising that a two-tier architecture is too

slow for important data and too expensive for unimportant data.

Instead, a three-tier architecture built around a new, functionally capable middle (or controller) tier has emerged. This controller tier essentially acts as a frontline data centre; collecting, analysing, and taking action upon data from its connected sensors and devices. These controllers are smart enough to take required action quickly, while sending only the most important summary data back to the data centre. This concept of Near Field Processing allows for decisions to be made as close as possible to the edge of the network, and requires less data to travel all the way to the data centre. Taking action close to the edge ultimately minimises transmission costs and reduces decision time horizons, enabling you to go from data to decision faster and making the Internet of Things a reality for the enterprise.

In the past, only companies with deep pockets were able to benefit from gathering data from distributed devices to drive better decision-making and realise additional revenue. Today, the economics of the IoT architecture: the hardware, the ubiquitous nature of connectivity, Big Data and analysis, and customer expectations are dramatically expanding the IoT and making it possible for every enterprise – and not just consumers - to benefit.

It is important for organisations to build innovative, perhaps even futuristic, IoT solutions for customers if they want to be successful.

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opinion

Riverbed

Expanding horizons

Taj ElKhayat, Managing Director, Middle East, Turkey, North, West, and Central Africa at Riverbed Technology, explains how to overcome challenges of location-independent computing.

The explosion of mobile, cloud and social technologies has dramatically changed the business landscape. Today, distance is no longer a barrier to business success. An organisation’s applications, data centre and offices can be opposite sides of the world, yet the business can still achieve the same reliability and performance that it has come to expect.

This is the definition of location-independent computing. The ability to turn distance and location into a competitive advantage by hosting applications and data in optimal locations, while ensuring flawless application performance and the best user experience. MENA’s appetite for applications and services being delivered to devices irrespective of geographic location is evident from the region’s growing interest in cloud computing – which enables precisely this.

Gartner has, in fact, predicted that from 2013 through 2017, USD 3.8 billion will be spent on cloud services in the region.

Achieving true locationindependent computing requires an application performance platform that maintains visibility no matter where or when the applications

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are located or accessed. But IT leaders are faced with challenges that include the increasing popularity of BYOD and business critical applications, the need to extend virtualisation beyond servers, the shift to ubiquitous wireless networks and of course stagnant or at best marginally incremental IT budgets.

Providing visibility into critical services in the face of all these challenges is a daunting task. Organisations must be nimble and invest in monitoring solutions that can adapt to the new world of location-independent computing. So, what are some of the requirements to consider when evaluating monitoring solutions? Here are a few things to take into account when choosing a visibility solution.

Measure performance where it matters An end-user’s experience with an application can mean the difference between success and failure. So, whenever possible, measuring the actual performance as experienced by the end-user on their system from their browser is the best determinant of the quality of their experience.

A measurement tool that includes very detailed data about individual transactions

november 2014 Reseller Middle East

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and also shows high level data for all users by country or by type of browser is ideal. This helps address one of the most important issues faced by IT because they can now examine how well the application is performing regardless of the end user’s location or platform.

Visibility across the enterprise As applications are shifted around the data centre or to the cloud as a result of consolidation, cost savings or virtualisation, it’s not always practical to quickly relocate the monitoring tools to avoid loss of visibility. Therefore, organisations should leverage monitoring solutions that are an embedded part of the infrastructure. For example, solutions that use flow data such as NetFlow collected throughout the environment will provide the much needed application insight no matter where the application is moved.

Flexible deployment With applications increasingly virtualised and run in the cloud, appliance-based performance management solutions aren’t always practical. That’s why it is critical to implement a visibility solution that is as flexible as the application itself. If a virtualised application is migrated to a different set of servers, the monitoring components must be easy to relocate as well without loss of visibility. In fact, many organisations include the virtual monitoring solutions as part of the overall application deployment definition to insure that visibility is always available and not an afterthought.

Performance matters Quickly resolving complex application problems requires access to a lot of detailed metrics. So, having a solution that can efficiently store and retrieve the relevant data quickly can make the difference between solving a problem in minutes versus hours or even days. The product must have user friendly workflows that enable IT team to quickly drill down from summary level views to low level metrics. A solution should be evaluated in scenarios that are as close to production as possible. Only by simulating real world scenarios can an IT organisation be confident that the monitoring solution will hold up when it really matters.

“As network virtualisation becomes more commonplace, having tools that understand both the logical network and how that relates to the physical infrastructure is critically Measuring performance into the code important.”

Being able to instrument and

measure the performance of a running application is an important aspect of any performance management solution. For modern applications, this involves supporting development environments, like Java and .NET that are commonly used to build enterprise applications. It also means having instrumentation that provides comprehensive metrics, measured each second, with low overhead so as not to introduce performance problems.

A high performance, Big Data repository is a must. This repository must be coupled with a powerful user interface that facilitates quickly pivoting from a high level view of all transactions to examine problematic areas of the code. Once a developer spots a transaction of interest, they must be able to view all of the source code in context by jumping directly into their development environment at the exact place where a problem was detected. Finally, the flexibility to monitor applications both in development and in production using the same solution is essential.

Testing critical application capabilities One of the best ways to insure a critical application function is working is to test it frequently.

Implementing automated tests to validate an application either in pre-production (test) or in production will ensure applications are operating as expected. These tests can be simple or arbitrarily complex and if a test fails, IT can address the problem ideally before endusers notice the failure.

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Scalability and analytics As you might expect, collecting detailed data about transactions in a running application or capturing all of the network traffic for that same application requires highly scalable data repositories that can be searched quickly. Unfortunately, too many organisations identify the cause of a problem by blindly searching large amounts of data thereby engaging in a mostly hopeless process that is not efficient at solving the problem. Instead, comprehensive analytics that are always monitoring the incoming data for signs of trouble provide the needed visibility and scalability.

Support for SDN Software Defined Networks is a rapidly emerging trend.

As network virtualisation becomes more commonplace, having tools that understand both the logical network and how that relates to the physical infrastructure is critically important.

Mobility has brought tremendous freedom to today’s worker and the businesses they serve with the flexibility to access applications from anywhere.

We are seeing similar freedom in the network via cloud platforms and virtualisation and in applications with SaaS applications and new development platforms that spin up apps almost dynamically. To drive success in this new landscape, CIOs need to have full visibility and control across an application performance infrastructure that is also location-independent.

Reseller Middle East november 2014

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interview

Protegrity

Data defence Suni Munshani, CEO, Protegrity, discusses the evolution of data security in an evolving business environment. provide enterprise-class data protection solutions for their platforms.

Do you have Middle East operations or a presence?

Protegrity does not currently have a direct Middle East presence, however we are headquartered in Stamford, CT with offices in UK, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, India, and China.

Protegrity, a global provider of data-centric enterprise data security solutions, including advanced tokenisation and encryption solutions for databases, applications, Big Data, and the cloud, was one of the participating exhibitors at Partners 2014, an annual event for Teradata’s customers and technology partners, which was held at Nashville, Tennessee this year. Driven by a committee of Teradata’s customers who sets the agenda and

34

programme, the key theme for the week-long event was around data driven businesses. Reseller ME catches up with Suni Munshani, CEO, Protegrity, to discuss the evolution of data security.

“We’ve expanded our partnerships with major players in data systems, such as Teradata, Pivotal and Hortonworks to provide enterprise-class data protection solutions for their platforms.”

What have been some of the highlights for the company last quarter?

The last quarter has seen a surge in company growth, including employees, new products, and new

november 2014 Reseller Middle East

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What role does Teradata play in your business operations? Can you discuss the partnership?

We have been Teradata’s premier data security partner for over 10 years, providing co-engineered and optimised data-centric security solutions for all Teradata products. As part of the partnership, Teradata account representatives are authorised to resell Protegrity products to Teradata customers.

customers. We’ve also expanded our partnerships with major players in data systems, such as Teradata, Pivotal and Hortonworks to

How long has the company been participating at Partners 2014? What was your theme at the event?

We have participated as a Platinum sponsor for the past 7 years. Our theme

interview

Protegrity

this year was to demonstrate how Teradata solutions (UDA, IMM, Appliances, Cloud) are powered by Protegrity data security. Think ‘Protegrity Inside’. The event allows us to interface with our mutual customers and prospects. As one of our key resellers, it is a great venue for us to interact with Teradata sales and services on a global basis.

How has data security evolved over the years?

Data security is becoming much more focused on the sensitive data itself. Whereas just a few years ago, coarsegrained solutions such as volume or file encryption were the norm, now the goal is to protect only the sensitive data at the column or even cell-level. In addition, there is a growing demand for security methods such as

tokenisation, which protect data while preserving the type and length, and can expose parts of the original data. This allows secure data to be much more easily used in processes without modifications, and in some cases, even allows analytics on protected data.

Why is securing data critical to business operations?

Collecting and leveraging data – including sensitive data on customers or employees, healthcare or financial data, etc. – has not only become commonplace, but a business imperative.

Those organisations that do not leverage such data will inevitably fall behind the competition, not to mention the societal benefits that may be lost through lack of research. However, beyond the regulatory

“Data security is increasingly focusing beyond payments data to data privacy – protecting the information of individuals including consumers, employees, patients, and the public at large.”

36

november 2014 Reseller Middle East

requirements of protecting data, in the wrong hands, this data can do significant harm to individuals and the business itself. Therefore it is critical to find a way to balance the ability to collect and leverage this data for better insights on customers and operations, with responsible data protection.

What are some of the trends present in this space?

Data security is increasingly focusing beyond payments data to data privacy – protecting the information of individuals including consumers, employees, patients, and the public at large. We are witnessing the beginnings of a revolutionary wave of consumers and individuals demanding vendors protect the data itself. The rapid increase in data generation and need for elastic, highly scalable infrastructure has led to a boom in Big Data platforms as well as cloud services.

However, both of these environments introduce significant challenges to data security, and therefore have fueled the conversation.

Can you give an overview of the approximate investments required for data security for a business?

It is a question of what companies should be spending their IT budgets on. Silo-based data security (for example secure an app or a database or

a new Hadoop cluster) is costly to implement and manage.

Investments and ROI are in centralised, heterogeneous data-centric security platforms.

With data exploding at an exponential rate, how can businesses better leverage the information from the collected data?

The exponential growth of data generation is leading to a more central role for Big Data platforms, such as Hadoop.

These platforms are designed to analyse massive data sets for transformative insights, and are uniquely capable of consuming data very rapidly.

As much of this data is or will soon be considered sensitive according to internal or external regulations, modern businesses will increasingly require a highly transparent data security solution that can protect the data without obstructing business operations or analysis. Protect the data itself and it is free to be used and useless to nonauthorised users.

What message can you give to organisations when it comes to securing or protecting data?

Centralised, data-centric security is a competitive advantage. Consumers are demanding guaranteed protection of PII/PHI data or you will not win their business.

Don’t assume that compliance equals security.

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MDS

november 2014 Reseller Middle East

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The Midas touch In an exclusive interview, Sami Abi Esber, President, Board Member, Midis Group, speaks to Reseller ME on the recently acquired managed services company, eHosting DataFort and the evolving role of a systems integrator in a virtualised environment

The role of a systems integrator is evolving as technologies become more complex and disruptive in a highly dynamic environment.

MDS UAE, part of Midis Group, has witnessed for more than three decades the technological transformation that the region has experienced. And keeping in line with the evolving times, the company has been focusing on adapting itself from a reseller to a contemporary systems integrator.

Sami Abi Esber, President, Board Member, Midis Group, says that this has been one of the main focuses for the company. The SI has executed big and prestigious projects

We have transformed MDS UAE from a reseller to a true systems integrator over the years.”

in the region over the last few years. It provides software applications and turnkey solutions to its customers, right from site preparations of a data centre to its infrastructure, including hardware, network and software.

“We have transformed MDS UAE from a reseller to a true systems integrator over the years,” says Esber. “It is really a big change because if you take our role as a reseller four or five years ago, we were mainly providing installation and services of hardware and software. Now our role has totally changed, we have complex projects where we have to provide a complete solution including consultancy, implementation of infrastructure for our customers. Also instead of reselling only hardware, we are now offering a complete solution here. And this solution can be on-premise, hosted or even hybrid. This is a big change for us.”

The systems integrator has acquired the regional managed IT services provider, eHosting DataFort, in order to give the systems integrator’s customers a full portfolio of solutions.

www.resellerme.com

“eHosting DataFort will be able to help us in providing hybrid solutions to our customers.

We can build and host private and public cloud; and simultaneously we can continue doing on-premise installation and implementation for our customers. And this is within our role as a SI, we don’t want to be a co-location only or just hosting, we want to have a full IT service provider capabilities along with systems integration.”

Over the next couple of months, the SI plans to integrate the newly acquired business to provide complete hybrid solutions to the customers seamlessly.

Managed services is an important avenue of growth for systems integrators. “Some of our customers prefer someone to take over the IT infrastructure and manage it, so that they can focus more and more on the core business. They outsource all the IT infrastructure and this is what we are doing now through eHosting DataFort – we are managing the hardware, storage, managing the full IT infrastructure for many of our customers,” he explains.

MDS UAE has entities in

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MDS

UAE, Qatar, Oman and it has most recently opened up office in Kuwait two months ago. According to Esber, the company is seeing an impressive growth in Qatar and Oman.

“We have just started operations in Kuwait and we are hoping it will be a good market for us. We have experienced a good growth from Saudi Arabia as well, we are one of the major IT players in that market. However, the biggest growth for us will be from Qatar.”

The systems integrator’s technology partners include most of the major IT vendors in the market and it has recently signed a new partnership with Dell software.

As a part of a concept with the parent company, it acts as a major distributor where it presents a company in the region. “We are doing this for Dell Software for Middle East, Africa, Central and East Europe out of Dubai Internet City.

There will be a company called D Software, and it will be the port of contact for Dell Software distributors and partners. And D Software is a part of the Midis group,” explains Esber. The SI works closely with its vendor

QUICK TAKE Name: MDS UAE President: Sami Abi Esber Year of start:up: 1981 Total staff: 1000 Parent company: Midis Group Sector: Information Technology Operations in: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait Recent acquisition: eHosting Data Fort Vendor partners: All major IT vendors including HP, Dell, Apple, Oracle, IBM, EMC, Juniper, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft and Symantec Year-on-year growth for 2014: 17% Vertical focus: Government, telecom, oil and gas, finance and hospitality

partners to provide a full profile of services and also customises the solutions depending on which vendor it is.

As is seen in global markets such as US and Europe, Esber believes the region will embrace the third platform technologies even more strongly.

“This is the main transformation that is happening in the market right now. We are seeing an

eHosting DataFort will be able to help us in providing hybrid solutions to our customers.

We can build and host private and public cloud; and simultaneously we can continue doing on-premise installation and implementation for our customers.”

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november 2014 Reseller Middle East

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increase in requests from our customers to consolidate storage, to understand Big Data better and to undertake more security projects.

Foreseeing this, we have acquired a security company called Netcure, two years ago.

This is also based in Dubai Internet City, and it provides only security services to customers.”

One of the main challenges for the SI is to find talented professionals in the third platform and in other emerging technologies.

“There is a shortage of qualified professionals in this area. This is where I encourage young people and universities to put more focus on,” Esber says.

The company has grown by over 17 percent this year and is targeting for a similar growth in 2015.

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cloud

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Cloud calling Reseller ME investigates how channel partners can be more relevant in a cloud-enabled market and how the transition can be made.

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CLOUD

Cloud solutions have transformed business operations all across the globe and with markets such as North America reaching a saturation point, the Middle East is being seen as a prospective market for cloud spending. It’s no longer a new concept for sure, however the regional channel partners are still trying to find ways to make the most out of this technology.

According to the research firm, Gartner’s report earlier in the year, USD 4.7 billion will be spent on cloud services in the MENA region from 2014 to 2018. Also, Cisco Global Cloud Index predicted that the Middle East and Africa will have the highest cloud workload growth rate from 2012 to 2017 with a CAGR of 45 percent. These reports give a glimpse of the prospects present in the region with the technology.

Tapping into these opportunities, major cloud vendors are boosting up their solutions to cater to the increasing demand. However, in such a scenario, what also needs to be considered is that IT resellers will have to abandon traditional ways to make themselves relevant in a cloud environment.

Resellers must shift their focus from setting up and managing their customers’ data centres hardware and software, to providing them unified third-platform cost-efficient solutions, says

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Savitha Bhaskar, General Manager, Condo Protego.

“Cloud computing is certainly at the top of the priority list with the numerous benefits it offers, including instant access to information, mobility and reduced costs.”

But, as is the case with most emerging technologies, regional organisations are moving to a cloud-enabled platform only gradually, and most might not go beyond a private or hybrid cloud model.

“Therefore, a complete transformation of all IT to a public cloud is not something that is on the horizon. The role of a traditional reseller naturally has to shift from one that resells on-premise products to one that takes on a wider and deeper advisory role,” explains Bhaskar.

“This is key to guide and facilitate the organisation’s journey, ensuring that the execution is smooth, without compromise to the required SLAs, while continuing to help organisations manage their cloud IT efficiently.

There is always the need for specialised local partners, this is not going to change.”

Besides the services, supply change too needs to undergo a transformation.

Clarissa Bartram-Gent, International Manager, Channel, RackSpace, says, “Resellers can no longer, pick, pack and ship tin through their supply chain so they need to invest in future proofing their legacy systems.

It’s impossible for resellers to

november 2014 Reseller Middle East

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Quick take Vendors play a key role as the ‘cloud noise’ is the loudest at both ends of the spectrum, the vendors and the end-user organisations. It is critical that vendors offer partners technologies that integrate smoothly and easily with third-party solutions, and package and market them well.

In addition, they must train and educate their partners and help them transition into the new role. Vendors need to build offerings from the Savitha Bhaskar, GM, ground-up, keeping the partner and Condo Protego the channel in mind. Selling a cloudbased solution is fundamentally different from the on-premise business. Everything, from discount structures to partner programmes, need to be revamped. Currently, partner programmes incent on upfront revenue generation, whereas the shift to cloud computing requires a long-term strategy, and thus a recurring revenue over a longer period needs to be incented.

Technology vendors need to leverage the value of their distributors to achieve this. The bottom-line is, vendors who do not see the need to encourage their resellers to transition are not only failing their partners, but also themselves and ultimately, their customers.

USD 4.7B

will be spent on cloud services in MENA region from 2014 to 2018.

fully commit themselves to the cloud era without having the necessary tools to do so.”

Most experts agree that one of the most profitable ways for a partners is through skills and expertise.

As customers demand a consultative approach to challenges in business operations, partners can excel by being that guide to the industry.

Bartram-Gent adds, “Resellers need to invest in technical training and their engineering and support services to deliver this. The sales team also needs to support the business in

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CLOUD

different ways.” However the problem today is that as IT buyers have become more educated and demand the consumption of IT on a utility basis, the traditional reseller sales team still operate from a compensation plan that rewards them more in the short term for selling traditional IT. “When you’re moving to a model that is an ongoing stream of payment instead of one large upfront payment, you have to realise that the method of compensating sales people will have to change.”

The fact that resellers need to look at cloud selling from a new and innovative perspective is known. But with cloud computing being an extensive expanse of technology, which are some of the areas where partners can thrive?

From what we can see today, vendors are developing cloud-based solutions in all areas of cloud and it is also a highly dynamic space, with change being the only constant.

“Therefore, the first step for

45%

The growth rate of cloud workload in MEA from 2012 to 2017.

a reseller is to keep updating himself and being abreast of all the new trends in the market to be in a positon to cross-sell, up-sell, and build on existing technologies,” says Bhaskar.

Agreeing, Bartram-Gent says, “Resellers should look to add value by consolidating services offered by vendors into packaged solutions that are simple to use and deploy.

This could involve anything from selling a hosted Office 365 bundle with support services to a hybrid cloud platform from multiple cloud vendors. If resellers have the technical expertise in-house to understand the diverse needs of their customer, then they can play a critical role in sourcing those requirements from vendors and presenting a holistic solution.”

Another opportunity for resellers exist in building managed services on top of standard cloud service provider platforms.

“End customers are demanding IT services that lie increasingly further up the application stack

It’s also a good idea for resellers to convert their organisation to the cloud before expecting customers to do it.”

Clarissa Bartram-Gent, International Manager, Channel, RackSpace

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and resellers are uniquely positioned to provide those services if they can build out their service desk/technical resources. This gives resellers the opportunity to build margin back into their solution portfolio.”

It’s also a good idea for resellers to convert their organisation to the cloud before expecting customers to do it, Bartram-Gent adds. “Take every piece of infrastructure, server and component of its business from the database to the mail server, move it into the private cloud offering on the exact same hardware and data centre that clients will move to. Once it has been running for six months and any issues have been ironed out, you can move clients across to it with confidence.

This provides first-hand experience of what the client is going to see and feel.”

The transition for resellers to deliver cloud solutions is not one without other challenges as well.

From staffing, identifying the right vendors partners, setting up virtual contact centres to reinventing their role by adding more value are some issues that partners are grappling with today. However, by adequate planning and spending enough time conversing with customers to understand their demands better and ensuring adequate training and skills upgradation and assessing partnerships, the road ahead can be one of massive opportunities.

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MPS

The regional channel is identifying the opportunities that services bring to the table. Managed Print Services (MPS) is one such opportunity where businesses are able to reduce printing costs and improve productivity significantly, among other aspects. Reseller ME finds out how channel partners can make the most of this to increase their profitability.

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Anything that can reduce cost and increase efficiency for the business is accepted and adopted faster.

Solutions in printing have climbed to a new benchmark with Managed Print Services (MPS). It enables organisations to focus on their core business while having its print services managed by a capable third party. Analysts have forecasted a robust double digit growth for this segment regionally. And large players in this field are showing keen interest in moving away from traditional business models to introduce MPS in their portfolios according to a report from IDC. Partners therefore have a huge opportunity, provided they consider it a point to train themselves in this space.

According to Naji Kazak, Director of Channels, Lexmark Middle East, organisations must link both digital and physical worlds to be able to manage unstructured information.

“Capturing content needs to be done in a way that is seamless and simple, not just from a scanner, but also from other sources such as online forms, fax and email, and mobile devices. And, it must then be managed in a smart way that allows users to easily locate, access, and process that content for the good of the business and its customers.”

Kazak encourages organisations to cut paper waste and improve efficiency.

Currently, businesses in the Middle East are striving to bridge paper to the digital world, this is where MPS plays a significant role.

Another reason why this technology has a huge

Channel partners that possess expertise in the MPS arena have significant opportunities to augment their business and enhance their offerings.”

Naji Kazak, Director of Channels, Lexmark Middle East

Market leaders in MPS Xerox, HP, Ricoh, Lexmark, Canon Source: Quocirca MPS Landscape, 2014

potential for channel partners and vendors is because the penetration of print services remain low in the Middle East as compared to Western Europe.

Ashwin Venkatchari, Senior Program Manager, Imaging Printing & Document Solutions, IDC MEA, says, the number of implementations of managed services in both the public and private sector across the Middle East has increased substantially over the last few years, which is in line with increased adoption of cloudcomputing and SaaS models in the region. “As a result of the improved awareness in managed services, the number of MPS implementations in the Middle East has grown considerably. MPS providers have also integrated features such as cloud print into their hardcopy devices, recognising the trend towards mobility of the business environment.

The ability to print wirelessly from a smartphone or tablet, while still ensuring that security and sensitive documents are protected has become a requirement in most business environments.”

Partners’ scope And those partners that have the proficiency to roll out

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successful MPS solutions will be able to reap the benefits of being an early mover to this technology. “Channel partners that possess expertise in the MPS arena have significant opportunities to augment their business and enhance their offerings,” Kazak adds.

Although Dr. Sassan Dieter Khatib-Shahidi, CEO and Executive Director, Board of Directors, German Imaging Technologies, agrees that there are significant opportunities for the channel partner in MPS, he says the market scope is limited. This is because MPS is often advertised as a cost saving solution. “However, the cost saving only lies if businesses reduce their print volumes as you pay as per the page cost. In a managed print environment, there are various other aspects to it, which makes it an expensive solution for the consumer, it is not something that fits the requirement of all users and more than SMEs, the larger businesses are prospective customers.” With SMEs forming almost 95 percent of businesses in the region, it leaves only the remaining 5 percent as a potential market for this technology, which includes the larger entities such as government and financial institutions. Out of this 5

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MPS

percent, not all companies will be interested in MPS, therefore the potential customers reduces to about 2 percent of the market size. And almost all major OEM vendors are competing in this space. “Any independent partner coming along must realise that in most cases, they are directly competing with the large vendors as they offer solutions directly as well,” explains KhatibShahidi. “Partners definitely have a large opportunity but not one without challenges.

They need to invest time and resources and train themselves to be experts in this field.”

Countering this point, Kazak from Lexmark adds that the company has specific solutions for different segments of the market, including small businesses.

“The definition of MPS differs from person to person. A small business might use one part of the solution and term it as MPS. We cater to all the market segments, adapt according to customer demand and have specialised tools to cater to those demands. From a partner point of view – we have fully-equipped partners and even those who have limited or no capabilities at all.

We work together to enable

MPS providers have also integrated features such as cloud print into their hardcopy devices, recognising the trend towards mobility of the business environment.”

Ashwin Venkatchari, Senior Program Manager, Imaging Printing & Document Solutions, IDC MEA

them to better serve their customers with MPS solutions.

We complement rather than compete with them.”

MPS might seem like a big investment but it is a onetime investment which helps customers save on the longer run. If customers are hesitant to deploy it, we are also willing to do pilot projects and proof of concept and show the areas for actual savings. This way he can be completely sure of his investment.”

Venkatchari says while the transactional hardware and consumables markets can be volatile, and are often dependent on prevailing economic conditions, the print services market provides channel partners with higher revenue certainty with multi-year contracts.

Currently, the channel in the Middle East region implements the complete print service contracts. The level of support offered to print services partners differs significantly from vendor to vendor. As a result partners are often required to manage the entire life cycle, from client engagement to service fulfillment, he adds. “Through continuous analysis, MPS providers are able to estimate page volumes for clients with a high degree of accuracy. MPS contracts are also an effective means of securing consumables revenue, preventing unwanted competition from aftermarket options such as counterfeit and refillers.”

Future path The way forward for channel

Partners definitely have a large opportunity but not one without challenges. They need to invest time and resources and train themselves to be experts in this field.”

Dr. Sassan Dieter Khatib-Shahidi, CEO and Executive Director, Board of Directors, GIT

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partners may not be crystal clear at this point of time but the significant opportunities present in MPS cannot be discounted. Partners should look at investing in developing print services capabilities and strategies aimed at partnering with local providers to meet customer demand, says Venkatchari. “Going forward, partners need to promote device ability to be integrated into document workflows and business intelligence solutions, starting with paper to digital document management.”

“As you are aware technology is constantly evolving for the better. To stay ahead of the curve, we urge partners to take regular training sessions and be in tune with the current trends and customer pain points so that they are well-versed with the issues that may arise. It is an intrinsic part of the business and allows them to remain competitive and deliver valueadded services,” Kazak adds.

“The main motivation is to win new business and provide the best service to their end customers. The more training and certifications they have the better poised they are to keep up-to-date with the trends and technology advancements that we are applying.”

partner watch

Mindware

Fresh mindset Mindware introduces a fresh new logo and discusses recent partnership with Riverbed.

Regional distributor Mindware has recently announced its rebranding, new vendor partnerships and the launch of the company’s mobile app to its partners and customers in the region.

The brand new and fresh corporate logo is a reflection of the distributor’s expertise.

The company’s GM, Mario Gay says, “After 23 years of doing business in the region, this is the most dramatic change we have had. I believe it was time to change to stay with the colours of the times and create a symbol that showcases the company with modern reality.

In the rebranding, we have introduced a new logo and new colours for our brand while simultaneously staying true to our roots.”

According to the company, the blue colour serves as a mnemonic, which defines its corporate strength and emphasises on its forward thinking mindset and objective to achieve strong growth, drive innovation and focus on sustainability in the IT market. “The new logo delivers and connects visually to both ends of the spectrum to the channel and vendors on our commitment, loyalty, and success.”

Mindware held an exclusive cocktail event at Armani Hotel, Dubai, during the week-long

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ICT event, GITEX 2014 to announce its rebranding and to welcome its latest vendor partner, Riverbed Technology to its vendor portfolio. The distribution partnership caters to all the markets within the region.

Gay says, “Mindware brings a large impressive portfolio to the table and which is quite segmented, making it easier to approach each segment separately. We are also bringing our partner base and technical competencies to the table and we are in the process of finalising a dedicated team to help in the growth of Riverbed’s business. We will have activities such as presales, training, channel development and enablement and marketing.”

Taj El-khayat, Managing

november 2014 Reseller Middle East

Director, METNA, Riverbed, says, “This partnership is an important stepping stone into Riverbed’s growth strategy, simply because we strongly believe in Mindware’s capabilities in their coverage model. And more importantly we believe in their product portfolio that complements our location independent computing.

This partnership comes at a perfect time for us as we start combining the different components of our application performance platform that utilises some of our technology alliances such as Microsoft and

“After 23 years of doing business in the region, this is the most dramatic change we have had. I believe it was time to change to stay with the colours of the times and create a symbol that showcases the company with modern reality.”

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EMC, which are also very strong partners of Mindware today. For us, both EMC and Microsoft play a major role in terms of how we truly take our location independent computing, whether we look at it from the application acceleration mode or if we look at it from the storage delivery perspective as well. We are honoured and privileged to get this opportunity to partner with Mindware.”

Apart from the Riverbed partnership, the distributor has also announced the sign-up with Atlantis Computing, a provider of software-defined storage this week.

The distributor has also launched the ‘Mindware App’ for Android and iOS platforms and plans to launch one for Windows soon. “It is a friendly app which has been created to help partners be updated on the latest in terms of trainings, events through geolocation features and to apply for jobs.

It is also meant for anyone who wants to know information from the company,” adds Gay.

partner watch

Tech Access

Leading with partners Ahsan Ali, Senior Vice President, Business Planning and Marketing, Tech Access, elaborates on the distributor’s channel strategy and latest developments.

The regional value-added distributor, Tech Access delivers solutions from global vendors such as Oracle, Hitachi Data Systems and Symantec. The distributor has been looking at expanding its network of 250 plus enterprise resellers and partners across the Middle East, Levant and North Africa region.

With the addition of four new vendors – Extreme, Unify, NetScout and iVEDiX – the company aims to take this focus to the next level.

Ahsan Ali, Senior Vice President, Business Planning and Marketing, Tech Access, says, “Our focus is to achieve success as the best VAD in the region by constantly adding in new solutions and services to our portfolio in order to develop our channel.”

A regional player for the last 13 years, its strategy is to offer an enhanced portfolio of solutions with complementing vendors to the channel.

“We hope to achieve this by introducing four new vendors who are leaders in their respective segments. Extreme is now a global player within the network arena and will help us complete our stack as we did not have a network player on board. We are enhancing this proposition by adding network monitoring capability through Netscout and a strong Unified communications proposition through Unify, formerly known as Siemens Communications, to our portfolio,” Ali explains.

“We believe that with the introduction of these new vendors with their own channel ecosystems on top of our

“Our focus is to achieve success as the best VAD in the region by constantly adding in new solutions and services to our portfolio in order to develop our channel.”

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existing offering of the Oracle stack, Symantec and HDS solutions, will result in a highly diversified and well developed channel.”

For a successful distribution business, the first step is to establish a robust channel ecosystem. And Ali says for that, the primary aspect is to analyse if the partners fit strategically to the business model. “We review the channel eco system to evaluate where the partners stand on our IT solution stack and also align their business requirements with the services we offer. We on-board resellers, systems integrators and ISVs seeking opportunities to expand in the MENA region.”

The distributor works closely with its current channel partners and is putting plans in place to make the existing partnerships stronger by trying to understand their operational difficulties. “Then we align our vendors’ products and solutions to meet their business requirements. We

try to understand their focus areas and position them with our solution centre, technical support and services team with a view to help them develop competencies in selling solutions,” adds Ali. 2014 has been a good year for the company. “Business across all vendors has been good and we have recorded excellent growth within our Hitachi Data Systems and Oracle portfolio this year. KSA has delivered breakthrough sales with GCC markets like UAE and Qatar showing growth as well. Egypt and other Levant territories have provided good business despite the political turbulence in that part of the world,” Ali adds. Over the next few months, the company will focus on the development of its HDS storage and Oracle software businesses. It also intends to leverage its enhanced stack for cross-sell opportunities within its existing channel base.”

Vendor focus

Seagate

Retail power Ayman Al-Ajouz, Sales Manager MEA, Seagate Download, shares the latest trends in the retail market and how the company meets customer demands. example, remains the slimmest 2TB portable drive in the market.

We are also the only vendor offering a USB 3 powered 4TB portable drive—the Backup Plus Fast—and also is the only vendor offering a massive 5TB singledrive capacity on our Backup Plus Desk range. This is just a glimpse of what we have lined up over the coming months.

Can you share the latest developments at Seagate from a retail point of view?

Seagate retail products include the external hard drives that you find on retail shelves and also products for the channel and SMB segment. In terms of these retail products, Seagate is constantly working to develop and bring to market new innovations that meet the demands of individuals and businesses in the region.

We have also launched our Seagate NAS and NAS Pro product lines, which targets

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the SMB market. Sporting a compact and sleek design, Seagate NAS Pro 2-bay, 4-bay or 6-bay options are perfect assets for any business with increasing storage demands. The NAS Pro also comes with an upgraded Seagate NAS OS 4, providing quick, anywhere access to your private cloud and all of your centralised files, along with third-party apps and other easyto-use storage features.

In addition, we have also seen a great appetite from retailers and consumers for personal storage devices. Our Backup Plus Slim drive, for

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What is your retail strategy in the region?

Our strategy has always been to engage directly with our customers and listen to their needs. We understand that the retail business is competitive and moves quickly, so we try to be as flexible as we can to cater to the large number of retail partners that we have in the MEA region. We don’t have one rigged strategy that everyone should follow. Rather, we try to offer tailored and individual support to our retail partners while helping them achieve business success.

Who are your distribution partners for the retail segment?

Currently we have two regional distributors serving retailers and the channel – FDC and Asbis. We also have one regional distributor serving only retailers – ITE. And we have a dedicated local distributor in Egypt.

What are the trends in this segment? Which are some of your fast-selling retail products today?

One of the most significant trends we are seeing today is the need for higher storage capacitates and more connected storage that can be accessed across mobile devices, wirelessly, and while on the go. Given the limited IT budgets that many smaller businesses and institutions are challenged with, we have also found that the market for Networked Attached Storage (NAS) solutions is a quickly growing segment in the Middle East today.

In terms of capacity, today the 1TB portable is the ‘hero capacity’, and the 2TB portable is growing much faster than what was seen just a year or two ago. Our Seagate Central personal cloud offering and Seagate Wireless Plus drive allows users to easily backup and stream multimedia content across many devices from anywhere at any time without a wired connection. Consumers can also use these devices to wirelessly stream their media to gaming consoles, media players, Smart TVs, and other connected devices through our free Seagate Media app.

How do you see the storage space evolving in the next year?

The Middle East is an incredibly important and lucrative market for Seagate. Today we are making strategic investments in emerging storage frontiers such as more power-efficient drive technology, easy-to-use media applications and software, as well as new cloud and flashbased storage products. We recognise the challenges of technology transitions and are committed to supporting our retail and channel partners to step confidently into these digital frontiers.

Vendor focus

Laserfiche

Continuing the conversation Sean Tang, VP of International Business, Laserfiche International, says the vendor continues to work closely with users and partners in the region.

Present regionally for over the last 15 years, Laserfiche International aims to continue its focus on improving and growing its product suite. One of the main highlights for the company at this year’s GITEX Technology Week was its social business process management platform called Laserfiche Answers, which combines social media with enterprise content management.

Through this solution, users can create Laserfiche accounts and create their own avatar and profiles, also have the

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opportunity to chat with each other.

“Social business process management has been started within the Laserfiche community. We previewed this solution at GITEX this year. We look at how social media can actually integrate enterprise content management.

The relationship between the two is something we are

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highlighting,” says Sean Tang, VP of International Business, Laserfiche International. This year the software manufacturer had its sole distributor for the MENA region, BMB Distribution and other reseller partners displaying their product portfolios at its stand.

Over the years, the vendor has built a robust customer profile and has developed a strong community. According to Tang, the company, in addition to focusing on the products, has also been emphasising on its involvement with the community. In the beginning of the year, it hosted regional conferences for users and partners to converse about the company and exchange ideas and views. “It is really about how to use the tools and how to use our solutions

“We are actively looking at promoting and growing the Laserfiche community in the Gulf region. Over the past 15 years, we have seen immense opportunities and we continue to see a huge potential in this market.”

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in businesses. We have been gathering our users, promoting communication between them on how to use our products and solutions and we have been hosting training seminars.

These events were directly organised along with our partners in the region. We are also planning to do one in Saudi Arabia and another in Bahrain later in the year. We want to as a community get more and more involved locally working with our users.”

He adds that the company is constantly on the lookout for new trends and also analyses how those trends can fit into its existing product suite. It also looks at how it can bring value to organisations and help people work and collaborate on a daily basis with content.

“From a company perspective, we are actively looking at promoting and growing the Laserfiche community in the Gulf region.

Over the past 15 years, we have seen immense opportunities and we continue to see a huge potential in this market,” adds Tang. “As the market is opening up and as technologies become more and more friendly, more opportunities will arise for companies to add a solution like Laserfiche to their product portfolio so that they can add a new value to their customers.”

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Vendor focus

BenQ

Monitoring growth Manish Bakshi, MD, BenQ, explains the company’s market strategies for the coming year.

Can you discuss some of the highlights for BenQ in the last quarter?

We have had several highlights in the last quarter in terms of both products and market growth.

Under the gaming monitor segment, the growth has been approximately 150 percent year-to-date (Ytd) as compared to last year. There has been a tremendous increase in sales of 27-inch gaming monitor XL2720Z, which is one of our offerings in this segment.

We also offer XL2420Z and RL2455HM, both 24-inch and 22-inch RL2240HE. BenQ has also introduced HDMI with speaker models.

The video projector segment has grown by 120 percent Ytd, when compared to 2013. We offer a wide range of projectors

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for the Home Cinema segment such as W1070+, W1080ST+.

Other projector segments that have experienced growth in this year are professional AV segment with models such as SX916 and education segment with models such as MW853USTi, which is an interactive device with finger-touch technology.

We have also introduced Public Information Displays (PID) in 2013 and currently offer Video Walls in 55-inch, 46-inch and 42-inch, Interactive Flat Panels in 84-inch, 70-inch and 65-inch, Cloud Monitor in 22-inch.

We have also increased our market share over the last year. Our monitors are currently available with leading Large Format Retailers (LFR), e-tailers and various gaming resellers. Our projectors are available through leading LFRs and e-tailers. PID products are available through BenQ authorised project partners.

These displays are required by ministries, Government departments, education institutions and control rooms among others.

Currently, our market share is 38 percent for projectors in KSA, making us the number one projector brand in the country. While in the Middle East, we enjoy a market share of 12.5 percent and we are the second biggest projector brand in the region.

What is your business focus for 2015?

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Our major focus for 2015 is to concentrate on a profitable growth. Next year, we are expecting a growth of 15 to 20 percent in revenue and approximately 25 percent growth in profits. Our aim is also to increase the market share for BenQ. With the aim of enhancing market penetration, the product segments that we will continue to cater to include monitors, projectors and Public Information Displays. We will also be introducing QisDesign Lighting products and BenQ Bluetooth speakers. E-tailer segment penetration will also be one of our key focuses for the coming year. Our focus will be on growing in countries such as South Africa and Egypt. These markets have great potential and we look forward to increasing our growth for our product segments here.

Going forward, from which division do you expect the most business to come from?

We have a clear strategy in mind. Our business growth and expectations for 2015 cover the monitor, projector and PID segments. We are looking at a 20 percent increase in revenue and a 30 percent increase in profits under the monitor segment.

While we are expecting a 15 to 20 percent increase in revenue and profits in the projector segment. In the PID segment, we are working towards a 50 percent increase in revenue and profits.

Which are the main verticals that the company will be focusing on?

We will be largely focusing on the gaming monitor, corporate, video projector, professional AV and education segments.

What have been some trends in the display space which is driving the way forward?

Trends driving the way forward in the monitor market are mobile device connectivity, wide viewing angle, higher resolutions such as FHD, QHD and UHD, wide colour gamut, value-added software and unique monitor designs.

The market is seeing a considerable growth in the movement of the vertical segments. BenQ currently caters to the following monitor segments; gaming, graphic design, CAD/CAM monitors, prosumer and medical monitors What is your retail strategy for the region?

We currently sell our gaming monitors and video projectors through Large Format Retailers in the region. We focus heavily on online shopping communities.

Our strategy for e-commerce channels is to sell corporate models through specialised channels and concentrate on volume business through online shopping sites that do more volume sales.

Which are the main partners you work with for the region?

We work mainly with channel partners and distributors in the region. These channel partners further co-op with direct importers and second tier namely retailers, e-tailers, systems integrators and valueadded resellers, dealers and larger corporates.

Vendor focus

Zebra Technologies

Identifying growth avenues Pratik Kajaria, Territory Manager, Zebra Technologies, discusses the company’s channel strategy and opportunities in healthcare sector.

The regional healthcare sector has grown significantly over the last few years. According to a report from Gartner, the Middle East and African healthcare providers will spend $2.8 billion on IT products and services in 2014.

Identifying the potential present, vendors are beefing up its offerings in this

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segment and also encouraging its channel ecosystem to follow suit.

Zebra Technologies, a manufacturer of marking and printing technologies, has recently introduced its range of healthcare mobile printing solutions. Targeting the healthcare sector in the region, the company has launched QLn Healthcare, a mobile printer designed

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specifically for the segment.

“We are focusing on healthcare solutions. We not only have specialised printers designed for this segment but also supplies,” says Pratik Kajaria, Territory Manager, Zebra Technologies.

“And more than 70 percent of government entities are our customers and this is one of our largest vertical focuses in the region. Globally, more

than 80 percent from the Fortune 500 companies are using our technologies. This indicates our reach and quality of solutions.”

The company’s channel strategy involves operating 50 percent of its business through systems integrators, which are its tier-1 channel partners. And the vendor’s tier-2 partners buy from its sole distributor in the region, Westcon Middle East.

According to Kajaria, Internet of Things (IoT) is definitely going to be the next game-changer in the technology world.

Understanding this, the company has also launched Link-OS, which is an operating system where users can effortlessly integrate and manage their devices with printing solutions. The operating system and other healthcare offerings were on display at GITEX Technology Week this year.

“Zebra is committed to providing innovative technologies from smart printers to real-time tracking technologies to help organisations gain better visibility into their operations, in the Middle East,” says Kajaria. “Through Link-OS, we are providing to the region the means to integrate our printers into a rapidly evolving cloud-based wireless world with an ever increasing number of smart devices.”

The company has been growing in the region at a steady rate of 15 percent year-on-year and expects to close with the same figures at the end of this year. The company continues to focus on healthcare and government sectors going forward.

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Asus

ZenFone 5 The latest smartphone from Asus, ZenFone 5 is a dual-SIM device that meets the needs of an average user.

Retailed at around AED 800 in most stores, Asus’ latest launch, ZenFone 5 is not exorbitantly priced and delivers adequately to meet the expectations of an average user.

The device’s sleek and stylish design grabs the attention in a crowd. It features a large 5-inch display with 720p resolution and runs on Android 4.4.2 operating system with a dual-core Atom Z2560 processor. Thanks to the scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 3 feature, the device can sustain rough use and it survived the drop test. However, it is not very comfortable to use single-handedly.

The 64-bit memory was more than adequate for storing images and other media content. But it doesn’t rate all that well in terms of performance. Many apps, including basic ones such as camera and Whatsapp, often stopped functioning and crashed while in use and this was not resolved even after restarting the device. While this could be a defect pertaining to the particular

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piece, reviews reveal that this is a regular occurrence with other users as well.

Another disappointing feature is the keyboard. To put it simply, it wasn’t very user-friendly when compared to other makes. It is not ideal to walk and type on, it is also a bit slow and unresponsive. Having said that, the smartphone was able to run multiple applications simultaneously and streamed videos continuously for long hours.

The 2MP front camera delivers decent quality images and is great for video calls. The 8MP rear camera delivers good quality images in different environments. The smartphone has several different modes such as miniature, panorama, beautification, depth of field and HDR, which gives the user a number of options to capture the images in. Features like smart remove automatically detects removable objects in the frame and eliminates it to enhance the final image further. However, the colour quality could be better, users might find it differing slightly from the actual colours of the image.

Battery is another reason why users can opt for this model. It does not consume a lot of battery and the user can depend on it without thinking of charging it for an entire day.

The Asus ZenFone 5 is perfect for those users looking to purchase a mid-range device that can deliver well enough for everyday uses, however it does take time to get used to it and if the user is someone who likes his technology, then he might move on from this device fairly quickly. All in all, it does pack functional features while also being quite affordable.

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BenQ launches XL2720Z

Lumia 730 now available The Lumia 730 Dual SIM is available in the UAE for AED 949. With a wide angle front-facing camera, affordable price tag featured alongside integrated Microsoft experiences, the Lumia device allows users to capture and share more of what they want.

The Lumia 730 with a 4.7inch HD OLED display is designed in a slim and vibrant style with powerful performance to create an uncompromised smartphone experience for the users, said the company. Users can video call with the wide-angle front-facing camera. The Full HD 5MP front facing camera also enables easy and quick selfies.

The Qualcomm processor supports a fast and smooth user experience with the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1, including one swipe notifications from Action Centre and the fast Word Flow keyboard. The device is integrated with Microsoft services such as Skype and Microsoft Office, with Outlook, Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint available out of the box for leading productivity on the go. The Lumia 730 is available in a range of colours including bright orange, bright green and neutrals such as dark grey and white.

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Built for competitive First Person Shooter (FPS) game play, BenQ’s XL2720Z comes in a 27-inch screen. The monitor is equipped with the latest Motion Blur Reduction technology, Low Blue Light, Gaming-comfort Flicker-free, Gaming Refresh rate Optimisation Management (GROM), and Display Pilot feature to deliver

agile performance, viewing comfort and convenience all at once, says the company.

Developed in collaboration with pro gamers, the XL2720Z has been upgraded to eliminate flickering at all brightness levels. This reduces eye fatigue and elevates gaming performance through extreme visual comfort. The newly upgraded Display Pilot function allows users to make all the on-screen display adjustments. The Black eQualizer colour engine technology is designed to offer a high level of control and visibility. Dark scenes are brightened without overexposing the bright areas to preserve vital details, enabling gamers to spot their enemies easily in critical combat and react quickly in any situation, the company explains. Fast-moving action and dramatic transitions will be rendered smoothly without the effects of smearing or ghosting.

BenQ’s new XL2720Z is available for AED 1999 in the UAE.

Synology introduces NAS server DS415+ Synology DS415+ is a powerful 4-bay NAS server designed for small and mediumsized businesses to centralise data storage, backup, and file sharing.

The DS415+ features an Intel Atom 2.4Ghz quad-core processor with an AES-NI hardware encryption engine, a floating-point unit, as well as 2GB DDR3 RAM. The four drive bays accommodate huge amounts of storage capacity, while the USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and eSATA ports allow users to connect and access various external storage devices. Dual LAN ports support failover and link aggregation, thus improving resiliency and potential throughput according to the company. With link aggregation enabled, the DS415+ provides average reading and writing speeds that exceed 228 MB/s and 233 MB/s respectively, while encrypted file transfers retain a similar level of

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performance, exceeding 232 MB/s reading and 206 MB/s writing.

The DS415+ is well-suited for small and medium-sized business users who care about high performance throughput and safety for data sharing and backup. DSM provides a myriad of features to let business users build a multifunctional server, such as FTP server, web server, VPN server, DHCP server, proxy server etc. It also supports Windows AD and LDAP to allow users integrate the DS415+ easily into their existing IT environment for account and privilege management.

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Brocade showcases 7840 Extension Switch

Sony brings Xperia Z3 Series to UAE The Xperia Z3 series brings the best Sony innovations and applies them to three brand new products – the Xperia Z3 Dual and the Xperia Z3 Compact, according to the company.

The Xperia Z3 Series features the company’s TRILUMINOS Display for mobile with Live Colour LED, X-Reality for mobile and intuitive contrast enhancement for Z3 Dual’s 5.2-inch Full HD display and Z3 Compact’s 4.6-inch HD display. The series feature PS4 Remote Play capabilities.

And thanks to the fully integrated Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 2.5 GHz quad-core CPU with 4G LTE modem, the devices delivers good performance. Waterproof and dust-tight, the devices’ optimal battery performance push the capabilities of power to give users a long-lasting battery life of up to two days and get even longer with Sony’s Battery STAMINA Mode. The Xperia Z3 Dual is available for AED 2,999 and the Xperia Z3 Compact is available for AED 2,499 in the UAE.

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Brocade’s 7840 Data Centre Extension Switch with Fabric Vision technology delivers decent performance, continuous availability, and simplified management to handle unrelenting growth of data traffic between data centres. The company’s purpose-built data centre extension solution maximises performance and scalability for large, complex environments allowing IT organisations to future proof storage extension infrastructure by adding more throughput capacity as their needs grow. It can move more storage data

between data centres to meet increasing disaster recovery and business continuity objectives. It encrypts storage data flows over distance without a performance penalty.

It mproves load balancing and network resilience with extension trunking to increase WAN utilisation and protect against WAN link failures. It extend proactive monitoring between data centres to automatically detect WAN anomalies and avoid unplanned downtime. It enables ‘pay-as-you-grow’ scalability with capacity on demand upgrades.

Xerox launches WorkCentre 4265 Xerox’ latest multifunction printer, WorkCentre 4265 helps businesses collaborate more effectively across the office or across the globe with solutions that streamline everyday office communications and workflows.

For businesses with document-heavy workloads, the new printer delivers copy and print speeds up to 55 pages per minute and scan speeds as fast as 70 impressions per minute, with first page output in as little as eight seconds. In addition, the A3-sized device is equipped with a paper capacity of up to 3,240 sheets.

This highly-efficient device is equipped with solutions that can be customised to automate the print and content sharing process, such as scan to email or scan to cloud – with just a single touch of a

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button. In addition, intuitive features such as Print Around enable the device to hold any job missing resources, such as a different paper size, and allows the device to process all other jobs in queue – maximising time and minimising disruption.

The 4265’s compact size also helps save space, while features such as automatic two-sided copy and print, and separate toner and imaging cartridges help reduce overall supply costs – without compromising power or performance.

In addition, nextgeneration security features enable users to print, fax and email documents on a secure network that ensures data and documents always remain in the right hands.

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Aruba Networks launches outdoor wireless AP

Linksys launches 4X4 Wireless AC Router Linksys has announced its first 4x4 Wireless AC router aimed at households with multiple internet users as well as single users that use the internet for high bandwidth applications such as gaming or video streaming. The new Linksys AC2400 Dual Band Wi-Fi Router (E8350) is equipped with 4 external antennae and provides wireless network speeds up to 2.4 Gbps. It provides the best technical specifications available today and is therefore ideal for consumers that require increased wireless performance and range at home.

The new router offers the fastest Wi-Fi technology for a seamless entertainment experience. This 4x4 AC router is the latest in Wireless-AC, delivering four simultaneous, independent data streams to devices on the network for speeds of up to 2.4 Gbps. The AC2400 helps provide the best overall performance to single devices that require high band such as video streaming or online gaming. The AC2400 features a 1.4 GHz CPU, four Gigabit ports, and an eSATA port with data transfer speeds of up to 3 Gbps. The wall-mountable router also features concurrent dual-band wireless operation (600 + 1733 Mbps), data transfer rates of up to 600 Mbps on 2.4GHz (3 spatial streams with 256QAM), data transfer rates of up to 1733 Mbps on 5GHz (4 spatial streams), 4 Removable and adjustable antennas, 4-Port Gigabit Switch/1-Gigabit WAN Port, USB 3.0 / 2.0 / eSATA Ports among others.

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Innovative and aesthetically-designed 270 series outdoor wireless access points (APs) from Aruba Networks deliver gigabit Wi-Fi performance to 802.11ac mobile devices under any weather conditions. The 270 series also enables 802.11n customers to operate up to three-times faster at the same distance from the AP. Purpose-built to survive in the harshest outdoor environments, 270 series APs withstand exposure to extreme high and

low temperatures, persistent moisture and precipitation, and are fully sealed to keep out airborne contaminants. All electrical interfaces include industrial-strength surge protection. It eliminates installation complexity.

The 270 series of outdoor APs offers a choice of operating modes to meet the user’s unique management and deployment requirements - Controller-Managed AP Or Remote AP (Rap) Running Arubaos Or Aruba Instant AP Running Instantos.

Nexans launches ‘LANactive’ Fibre-to-the-Office solution Nexans has launched LANactive, a Fibreto-the-Office (FttO) solution in the Middle East. The new LANactive solution offers customers a new alternative approach to office networking by using passive fibre cabling and components together with locally distributed active micro-switches to provide Ethernet services via standard copper based RJ45 technology to the device.

Nexans’ LANactive solution offers significant cost savings and benefits in specific types of environment such as hospitals, universities and airports where long transmission distances within the building are required, space or cost restrictions limit the

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use of floor distributors, cable containment has limited capacity, refurbishment is required with minimum disruption and redundancy at user level is required.

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Canon launches imageFORMULA DR-F120 Canon Middle East has launched the imageFORMULA DR-F120, a versatile document scanner. The compact device helps offices to productively capture a wider range of different business documents for improved file storage and management efficiency.

The new imageFORMULA DR-F120 document scanner provides users with exceptional value for performance, according to the company. Incorporating both, an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) and flatbed scanner unit, the DR-F120 offers flexibility for organisations that require a dedicated business scanner to handle the digitisation of a wide range of business documents.

Largely positioned for small office environments and corporate departments, it features a compact and sleek design From an easy to use ‘one touch’ control panel to scanning speeds of up to 20ppm,

the scanner reliably handles up to 800 documents a day, and features a robust feeder mechanism for smooth feeding and separation of mixed documents types.

The imageFORMULA DR-F120 has the capability to scan batches of various documents in a single operation, including thin and thick papers, business cards and even long documents up to 1m in length, while the device’s flatbed scanner allows organisations to handle the vast array of other documents that need to be scanned individually, from books, passports, magazines to photos. The scanner is also capable of supporting larger legal sized documents. With Canon’s scanning software CaptureOnTouch 3, it provides users with quick scanning modes and automatic processing tools that result in optimal image quality with little effort or setup required.

HTC introduces Android Lollipop Nexus tablet HTC and Google have launched the first Android Lollipop tablet, Nexus 9, which combines HTC’s cutting-edge technology with Google’s excellence in intuitive software, for a premium tablet experience, said the company.

Encased in a brushed aluminum frame that seamlessly connects the screen to a softgrip back, the Nexus 9 features an 8.9-inch display and weighs 436g, making it lightweight and easily portable.

The tablet is equipped with Nvidia Tegra K1 64-bit dual-core processor that makes switching between tasks both simple and fast, while its Keppler GPU delivers desktop grade performance and graphics in tablet form.

It features a front camera of 1.6MP and a rear camera of 8MP, which allow users to capture good quality images effortlessly.

The Nexus 9 tablet’s 2K screen (2048x1536) resolution delivers sharp detail and vibrant colours when viewing photos, browsing the

web or watching videos. Dual front facing speakers feature a dedicated smart amp and HTC BoomSound profile for speaker mode, to enable stereo sound from the front of the device, ideal for music and gaming fans.

The Nexus 9 comes packed with features that make multi-tasking a breeze, while allowing for a high level of personalisation and security through a range of secure login functions. Its extended battery life allows the user to spend more time playing and less time charging. The Nexus 9 comes in 16GB, 32GB and 32GB LTE models.

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Seagate empowers SME with new portfolio Seagate has unveiled a new portfolio of Networked Attached Storage (NAS) solutions that are easy for businesses to set up and manage without dedicated IT staff. The new portfolio includes five products suited for the home office or small businesses with up to 50 employees, and is the biggest product launch the company has ever mounted in the business NAS space.

The Seagate NAS and Seagate NAS Pro lines set the standard for easeof-use by introducing a new intuitive operating system, NAS OS 4, together with hardware specifically designed for small businesses. The latest products come in a range of storage capacities from 2TB to 30TB. With a redesigned Device Manager, users can manage preferences and configure settings from a single location. It also includes features such as App Manager and Seagate Sdrive for remote access. The NAS device management is effortless from a desktop, laptop, tablet, or even a smartphone. Seagate NAS OS 4 is designed to keep projects accessible, secure and always available.

Seagate NAS and NAS Pro provide secure access to files by creating a private cloud, also enabling access to files from a centralised location, while providing shared access for clients and partners through Seagate Sdrive software – a private cloud that physically resides on Seagate NAS. With Sdrive, access to private cloud is as seamless as saving files to an external drive. Files on Sdrive are also accessible from a smartphone or tablet with free mobile apps.

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Reseller Middle East’s assistant editor offers her thoughts on the Middle Eastern technology channel.

Channel surfing

Column

Big Data buoyancy Last month, right after GITEX, I went away to ‘music city’, Nashville, Tennessee to attend Partners 2014, an annual Teradata conference for customers and technology partners. It’s my first trip to the States and Nashville was inspiring to say the least.

While the event was one of the better organised ones I’ve come across, it also proved to be quite enlightening.

At the event, Kathy Koontz, Associate Vice President, Customer Information Management, Nationwide Insurance, urged everyone present at the conference to be data-driven.“Data that is not actionable is just data,” she added. And that couldn’t be truer. Many businesses are aware that data is important and that they need to collect it. But what comes after is the most important aspect – analysing and using the collected information to make the business more efficient. How many organisations in the region are using effective tools to better the business?

The takeaways I’ve got from Partners 2014 will resonate with the regional channel. With increased awareness and education, data is gradually being considered as one of the crown jewels for an organisation here. The opportunity for the channel lies in unstructured data.

With the explosion of social media and mobile devices, the amount of data generated is unimaginable. IDC said in 2011, 1.8 zettabytes of information was created, this went up to 2.8 zettabytes in 2012 and now the research firm predicts 40 zettabytes will be generated by 2020. Channel partners need to factor in and really understand the potential that exists and come up with a long-term plan that can leverage this opportunity.

In a way, the strategy is pretty straightforward. Learn the advantages of the Big Data analytical tools and related solutions for unstructured data along with storage technologies that can transform day-to-day functions in an organisation. Then upgrade yourself to be in a position to counsel businesses. What is lacking today is the initiative from partners to become the driver. Comfortable with the way things have been, very few resellers want to take the first step to change, lest it disrupts routine. But that initial initiation is what is required. Vendors can play a more active role in building the momentum to this change. Educational and training events around a specific technology and how it can be profitable for the channel partners are the need of the hour. It’s not that vendors are not doing it, but the way it is put forward to resellers need to be vendor agnostic and seen from their point of view.

The trick is to offer the technology even before the customer demands it.

That’s where the regional channel should eventually aspire to be at.

It has been one very frenzied October for me and although they say things get a bit quieter after GITEX madness, we are now getting busy with our end of the year activities, one big highlight being our upcoming Hot 50 Awards. But this energy and enthusiasm is what keeps us going from one goal to another.

Janees Reghelini, Assistant Editor, Reseller ME

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