Reseller Middle East November 2017 by Reseller Middle East

ISSUE 251 | NOVEMBER 2017 www.tahawultech.com

OPTIMISING MARKET DEVELOPMENT FUNDS

ENABLING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

SCANNING THE FUTURE Regional distributor Bulwark on offering dedicated solutions for evolving security needs

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 251 // NOVEMBER 2017

COVER FEATURE

SCANNING THE FUTURE

Jose Thomas Menacherry, managing director, Bulwark, discusses regional security demands and how the firm is in a strong position to cater to it.

30 MONEY TALKS

HIGHLIGHTS

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

FEATURES

26 ARE WE DIGITAL YET

Industry experts explore how partners can help with customers’ digital transformation frameworks.

Reseller ME examines how partners can secure vendors’ market development funds and use it efficiently.

INTERVIEWS

34 VPARTNERSHIPS ALUED

Khurram Majeed from TechVista Systems shares details on the firm’s strategies for 2018.

36 LOOKING BEYOND

BeyondTrust’s John Hathaway elaborates on the growing demand for Privileged Access Management (PAM) technologies.

HOT PRODUCTS

GOOGLE UNVEILS PIXEL 2 AND PIXEL 2 XL

41 REVIEW

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE8

HUAWEI LAUNCHES ROUTER NE9000 FOR 400G DCI SOLUTION

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

EDITORIAL Best of both worlds

Janees Reghelini Editor

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

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From Amazon’s entry into the Middle East with the Souq.com acquisition to the much-awaited launch of Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar’s Noon. com last month, 2017 has been an eventful year for the regional e-commerce business. These developments are set to transform the e-commerce landscape and showcase the region’s readiness to be considered as a lucrative marketplace by global entities. While physical retail stores will continue to be the primary way customers shop, there is no question about the rise of e-commerce within the region. However, I believe the age-old question of whether online can triumph brick-and-mortar stores will continue to not have any real consensus. The way forward, at least for a while, will have to be a healthy mix of both strategies. PwC’s report – Retail Disruptionwhat’s the outlook for the Middle East? – confirms that there is a notable increase in consumers who prefer to shop online for several reasons such as lower prices, product selection and convenience. According to the report, retailers are learning to steer, one of

the “most competitive landscapes in decades” as preferences move to online shopping. It further states that only those retailers who consider the market developments and invest in long-term strategies can emerge as a player to be reckoned with. According to PwC, the five key areas of investments that retailers can no longer ignore include mobile platforms, social customer engagement, secure platforms, loyalty and showroom experience. Retailers need to pay attention to the factors that make shopping experiences easier and seamless to win and retain customers in the long run. And this could mean investing in an online platform, but adequate care must be taken to ensure it is not simply replicating what’s in store. If the platform is able to offer genuine value, only then will it be effective to complement your in-store sales or function as a standalone site. The coming year will see increased pressure on local retailers to revolutionise and align their business to evolving customer demands.

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

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

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

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

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

Business Development Manager Youssef Hariz youssef.hariz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9111

DESIGN Senior Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com Designer Marlou Delaben marlou.delaben@cpimediagroup.com

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

PRODUCTION Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9159 Operations Manager Shweta Santosh shweta.santosh@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9107 DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developers Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh Photographers Max Poriechkin Charls Thomas webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 DIGITAL www.resellerme.com Printed by Printwell Printing Press

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

CPT announces Gold partnership status with Cisco

look forward to working omputer & with Cisco in enhancing Power our offerings to our Technology customers,” said Mohieddin (CPT) UAE, Kharnoub, senior division part of MDS manager, CPT. UAE Group, has achieved If a company is unable Gold channel partnership to protect the security status with Cisco, of its information then highlighting its corporate reputation can commitment to meet Cisco be damaged; which is customers’ evolving needs why choosing the right in today’s market. security solutions is “We are extremely critical. Operating across pleased to have obtained Mohieddin Kharnoub, CPT many verticals, with a our Gold status with Cisco. team comprising of qualified technical As a vendor, Cisco is a global leader professionals, CPT said it aims to in networking, solutions and services. provide the highest quality solutions at It made sense for our organisation the most cost effective and business to pursue this coveted achievement centric approach. in order to access the full range of The firm has partnered with many Cisco’s portfolio and, in turn, offer the well-known vendors in information best services to our key clients. We

It made sense for our organisation to pursue this coveted achievement in order to access the full range of Cisco’s portfolio and, in turn, offer the best services to our key clients.” security and sell solutions for endpoint security, perimeter security, data centre security, behavioural analytics, antivirus, and firewall among other aspects that are essential to protect customers from cyber-attacks. “We specialise in providing Cisco solutions for data centres, cybersecurity, collaboration and Cisco SDN-ACI. CPT has won an award from Cisco for being an outstanding partner,” he added.

Optoma signs up Redington for the Gulf region Optoma, a global projector brand has appointed Redington Gulf, the regional services and solution provider for manufacturers of IT, telecom and digital lifestyle products, as its authorised distributor in the Gulf region. Redington will distribute the vendor’s lightweight and portable business models. Optoma projectors use DLP technology, pioneered by Texas Instruments. According to the firm, this uses millions of mirrors to produce

With almost two decades’ experience, Redington has extensive knowledge of the local markets across these countries. The high quality global brands and ICT solutions that it supplies have real synergy with Optoma.” 4

high quality imagery, which does not suffer colour degradation over time, as sometimes experienced in other projector technologies. The new partnership will provide Optoma leverage to Redington Gulf’s “strong and extensive distribution network of IT resellers, supply chain facilities in the IT volume distribution segment.” Mohsin Abakhti, Optoma’s regional manager, said, “We are delighted to announce our new distribution partnership with Redington. With almost two decades’ experience, Redington has extensive knowledge of the local markets across these countries. The high quality global brands and ICT solutions that it supplies have real synergy with Optoma.” He added, “Working in partnership with Redington, we will raise the profile of our world-class projectors in these countries. Together, we can respond directly to the demands and needs of the dealers and resellers to provide a better, more responsive service for customers.” Rohit Hanspal, business manager, Redington Gulf Volume Division, said, “Optoma has a great reputation

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

for engineering high quality and reliable projectors. We are proud to announce this agreement and look forward to developing a strong partnership with Optoma. “Our new Optoma range complements the ICT products that we currently supply, enabling us to offer our business customers the complete solution.”

HIGHLIGHTS

Redington Value strengthens portfolio

edington Value has signed up global provider of wireless broadband solutions Cambium Networks to deliver wireless broadband, broadband backhaul, last-mile access, Wi-Fi, and narrowband SCADA solutions “to connect industrial, enterprise, urban and rural residential locations” across the Middle East and Africa. With wireless connectivity from two meters to 245 kilometers, cloud based end-to-end management, and data rates ranging from kbps to Gbps, these solutions provide affordable quality for connectivity, said the firm. The distributor has also signed a distribution agreement with MobileIron, a global player in the MDM and enterprise mobility space, to

deliver mobile security offerings to the Middle East region. Martín de la Serna, vice president, Sales, Cambium Networks, said, “This partnership is a great match and complementary for both organisations. Service providers and network operators are seeking high-performance connectivity at affordable prices. Redington Value’s reach across the Middle East and African markets will increase connectivity and business efficiency across the entire region.” “Mobile and cloud technologies have transformed enterprise computing, enabling new levels of productivity. MobileIron has a track record of delivering key innovations for enterprise data security, including data loss prevention (DLP) controls for

This partnership is a great match and complementary for both organisations. Service providers and network operators are seeking highperformance connectivity at affordable prices.” mobile apps, trusted access to cloud services, optimised data encryption, and multi-factor authentication. With Redington Value as a distributor in the region, we can ensure that enterprisegrade mobile security will be available to resellers across the Middle East,” said Peter Machat, vice president, EMEA Central and Middle East, MobileIron.

Aljammaz introduces cloud platform AlJammaz Distribution has unveiled a cloud platform, which enables channel partners to discover, purchase and manage cloud services via a custom branded marketplace at ease of click. Offering cloud services like Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SasS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) are more than technology delivery paradigms—they’re drivers of business transformation, said the company. According to the distributor, as the world becomes more digitally connected, and cloud replaces the main stream IT, resellers and service providers have the opportunity to lead this transformation and embrace cloud. Asim AlJammaz, CEO, AlJammaz Distribution, said, “To lead the market, service providers and channel partners need to transform to becoming Cloud Services Brokers. We are excited to announce Aljammaz cloud platform, to help our partner community to start transformation towards cloud journey

into the next decade of digital, cloud and automation landscapes. “Our platform will from today.” create a cohesive digital The company ecosystem transforming believes that with resellers’ business its experience by enhancing their and key cloud cloud experience and resources, it capability to discover, can help reseller purchase and manage community to cloud services via create a lasting their own branded competitive marketplace, as they advantage need for and on behalf with its cloud of end-users,” he added. Asim AlJammaz, AlJammaz Distribution offerings. “We believe in supporting He said, “We our partner community will help our partners adopt cloud to embrace cloud and start the digital to transform IT, scale and streamline distribution business, manage their operations and create new cloudcustomer levels, product availability based businesses opportunities to and provisioning of top selling deliver cloud services to their existing cloud applications within the cloud customers and attract a new customer marketplace that are tightly integrated base. Aljammaz cloud offers the with Aljammaz cloud. enabling technology that can be the key He added that partners can now to open the door to net new business.” also consolidate their own catalogue Aljammaz cloud will be providing services by the vendor of their choice an extensive range of cloud solutions with the Aljammaz cloud platform to help channel partners transform service manager API.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

Batelco partners with Amazon Web Services

Batelco has been announced as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Abderrahmane authorised Mounir. Batelco channel and public sector reseller. Earlier this year, Batelco became an AWS partner with the partnership permitting Batelco to deliver AWS products and services in Bahrain. The AWS Global Channel Reseller Programme enables qualified partners to resell AWS services to both commercial and public sector end customers. The programme is designed for APN Consulting Partners who have built their AWS practice to include professional services and management of end customer AWS deployments, such as: System Integrators (SIs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Digital Agencies, and Value-Added Resellers (VARs). As an authorised channel reseller, Batelco adds value to its customers through providing a number of benefits including, design, planning, implementation, system integration and management support. Batelco Bahrain chief operations officer Abderrahmane Mounir said that Batelco is focused on developing on its partnership with Amazon Web Services, and becoming an authorised channel and public sector reseller was a positive step that will allow Batelco to further support its customers’ needs. “Batelco continues with its commitment to provide innovative services that are relevant to its diverse range of clients’ businesses and the links with AWS support our efforts and our commitment to our customer, through our partnerships with companies such as Amazon Web Services, Batelco is enabled to offer the most in-demand services to its partners and clients. Our aim is to ensure that customers enjoy a consistent and best in class delivery of services,” he said.

StarLink adds new vendors to portfolio

tarLink has announced that it will join forces with Citrix in the Middle East, Egypt and Libya. It has also announced a distribution partnership with Nozomi Networks for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META). Eyad Al Shami, senior manager, Channel, META, Citrix said, “Citrix believes in fueling digital transformation by delivering the industry’s most comprehensive and integrated platform for secure app, data and network delivery as a service in the Citrix Cloud. With this onboarding of StarLink into our value-addeddistribution ecosystem, we would like to capitalise on StarLink’s unique ‘true VAD’ business model and expect a significant increase in Citrix’s market share for our products in the Middle East, Egypt and Libya.”

With a fully dedicated business unit for Citrix distribution, StarLink will help increase reseller expertise in Citrix solutions for desktop virtualisation, cloud networking, cloud platform, collaboration and data sharing. Chet Namboodri, vice president, Alliances and Business Development, Nozomi Networks said, “At Nozomi Networks we believe that real-time ICS cybersecurity and process monitoring go together to ensure operational resilience. With StarLink’s expertise and channel, we look forward to deploying our solution to organisations in the META region to help improve reliability, cybersecurity and operational efficiency.” StarLink will sell, install and support Nozomi Networks products and solutions through its extensive network of channel partners to enterprise and government customers in the region.

Ingram Micro signed as Kaspersky Lab’s ME training provider Ingram Micro Training MEA has partnered with Kaspersky Lab as a training provider for the Middle East region. With this partnership, Ingram Micro is now authorised to provide certified trainings for the vendor’s endpoint solutions. The distributor said it will deliver “best-inclass training services” to all Kaspersky Lab

customers and partners, further strengthening its training offerings for the channel community. “Training is a crucial element to the success of any organisation,” said Amir Kanaan, general manager, Middle East, Mohammad Sabry, Ingram Micro Kaspersky Lab. “Partnering with Ingram Micro Training MEA is the right move to ensure that Partnering with our customers in the region receive best-in-class training services on our Ingram Micro award-winning endpoint solutions.” Training MEA is “We are thrilled to bring Kaspersky the right move to ensure Lab training services to the region,” said Mohammad Sabry, head, that our customers in Services, Gulf and Near East region, the region receive best- Ingram Micro. “Kaspersky Lab is one of our strategic vendors and we in-class training look forward to continuing to expand our solutions portfolio to include services on our awardprofessional services offerings in the winning endpoint near future. This is an excellent start of a great partnership.” solutions.”

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

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HIGHLIGHTS

Evanssion signs distribution agreement with Cohesity

Cohesity delivers a webvanssion, a regional scale, hyperconverged value-added storage system that spans distributor (VAD) both private data centres for cloud and cloud. According to transformation and the vendor, its offering information security solutions, helps to make it easy for has signed a distribution organisations to incorporate agreement with Cohesity, the cloud storage into their provider of hyperconverged enterprise via archival, tiering secondary storage platform. Ashok Chakravarthi and replication to the cloud. According to the agreement, Arulmozhi, Evanssion “Cohesity is pleased to Evanssion will operate as a have Evanssion as our VAD for this VAD across the Middle East, Levant, region. With proven expertise in the North Africa and India, providing hyper converged solutions space with Cohesity’s complete suite of solutions. existing vendors such as Nutanix, Ashok Chakravarthi Arulmozhi, Evanssion is well positioned to expand managing director, Evanssion, said, “As Cohesity’s footprint across the region, a pioneer in introducing hyperconverged and take our solutions to organisations technology in secondary storage, we that are struggling to manage secondary believe Cohesity has the capability to data storage and backup,” said Vivek enable organisations to consolidate and Agarwal, head of corporate and business manage secondary data cost-effectively. development, Cohesity. “We believe Our partners are keen to introduce Evanssion will play a crucial role in taking Cohesity to their key customers and our solutions to customers across verticals we are committed to grow Cohesity’s and help us expand our market presence.” footprint across all major verticals.”

Redline partners with IT Max Global “Redline has a premium Redline Communications, brand reputation across a a provider of wide-area number of vertical markets wireless networks for and this is in line with the most challenging our commitment to our applications and locations, partners and customers has signed a distribution in Africa,” said Nicolas agreement with IT Max Elhage, CTO, IT Max Global to offer its complete Global. “We are very range of mission critical excited to leverage our communications solutions partner and customer across Africa. IT Max base with Redline’s Global helps customers portfolio to deliver design, plan, integrate, Guruprasad Padmanabhan, premium broadband deploy, and service all IT Redline Communications wireless networks for and Telecom environments IOT applications, service providers, – from physical to virtual and cloud. government applications, and energy Guruprasad Padmanabhan, vice markets throughout Africa.” president, Middle East and Africa (MEA), IT Max will be recruiting and Redline Communications, said, “We developing channel partners in Africa are at an exciting stage of expansion to create a sustainable channel across the MEA markets and this is a network for Redline and address the strategic alliance for us in Africa. IT Max needs of several sectors including Global brings a wealth of experience, Service providers and Telecoms, knowledge, tools and skills in recruiting organisations building and working and developing value-added reseller on Smart City, Public Safety, projects channels and, together, we will bring as well as the enterprise sector robust network options to customers addressing the digital divide. across the continent.”

Promethean signs up Taxan Gulf as UAE distributor

Ambrish Kapoor, Taxan Gulf

Global education technology company, Promethean has appointed Taxan Gulf as its lead distributor in the UAE. Promethean’s partnership with Taxan Gulf will now enhance the availability of the company’s solutions, training, and support. Taxan Gulf is a UAE-based distributor with a strong reseller network in the region. With the new partnership, the distributor’s resellers will now have access to Promethean’s range of education technology solutions, including ActivPanelTM and ClassFlowTM interactive lesson delivery software, training, and sales support. Jon McDermott, head, Central Asia and Middle East, Promethean, said, “As a global education technology company, teaching and learning are at the heart of every single product Promethean brings to the market. Taxan Gulf is a well-respected distributor in the region and partnering with them will enable Promethean to better support our resellers in the UAE.” Ambrish Kapoor, channel sales manager, Taxan Gulf, said,“I’ll be taking the lead on managing Promethean’s products, and I’m excited about the potential this partnership will have for the business. Our established portfolio has delivered benefits to education time and time again, but now that Promethean’s solutions are available as a key offering, we’ll be able to offer our customers so much more.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

Logicom emphasises on cloud offering

t GITEX 2017, Logicom has launched an array of new solutions, including the latest offerings from its key partners, ranging from client and server computing, storage, enterprise networking and wireless solutions as well as different software

We have introduced country specific Logicom Cloud Marketplaces through which our cloud vendors, partners, customers, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can acquire, provision and get daily billing information for cloud services.”

and security solutions. The distributor Additionally, the has made significant distributor is exhibiting investments in building cloud solutions and capabilities that allow services that are now it to deliver cloud available on the Logicom services to its channel Cloud Marketplace, such ecosystem. as annual billing scheme According to for Microsoft Cloud, Papaeracleous, the security and collaboration firm has embarked on solutions. a digital transformation Michael Papaeracleous, journey not only director of distribution, for itself but also Logicom, said, “GITEX was for its partners and an opportunity to bring customers. together all the technology “We are aiming Michael Papaeracleous, Logicom solutions we deliver to to provide a superb the market and all our vendors will be digital experience in the cloud represented on our stand.” solutions acquisition and support Expanding on the launch of the process. We have therefore created Logicom Cloud Marketplace during a platform-based ecosystem under last year’s event, the company also which we introduced country specific highlighted the latest developments to Logicom Cloud Marketplaces through the Marketplace. which our cloud vendors, partners, “Our team of cloud experts were customers, Independent Software available to deliver solution demos Vendors (ISVs) can acquire, provision and discuss cloud opportunities with and get daily billing information for partners and customers.” cloud services.”

HIGHLIGHTS

Distributor registration opens for DISTREE EMEA 2018 DISTREE Events has opened distributor registration for DISTREE Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) 2018, which takes place in Monaco from February 6-9th. DISTREE EMEA is a hosted buyer event, giving consumer tech brands access to an invited channel audience of 400 consumer tech distributors from 60-plus countries within the EMEA region. Aurore Verla-Friess, audience director, DISTREE Events, said, “We have increased the distributor quota to 400 for DISTREE EMEA 2018, reflecting the emergence of new and specialist consumer tech distributors across EMEA who focus on high-growth categories such as lifestyle products, smart home and gaming.” The 16th annual DISTREE EMEA will gather together senior executives and purchase directors from the region’s most influential consumer technology distributors. Exhibitors at DISTREE EMEA can pre-schedule a personalised

Sunil Paul, Finesse and Imad Bou Khouzam, Emirates Investment Bank

agenda of one-on-one meetings with distributors, allowing them to research and meet the channel partners most suited to their business needs. Verla-Friess added, “We have analysed market conditions in 60-plus countries across EMEA and adjusted our country quotas for distributors accordingly. As well as looking at growth rates, we also assess channel maturity and evaluate the number of new distributors that are launching in each country. The continuous updating and enrichment of the DISTREE EMEA database is intrinsically linked to the overall quality of the event.” “A projected total of 480 distribution agreements had been signed by exhibitors with distributors they met at the last DISTREE EMEA, according to research six months after the event. In addition, another 470 distribution agreements were under negotiation,” explained Verla-Friess.

Finesse enables HR transformation at Emirates Investment Bank

Regional IT systems integrator Finesse has announced that it will provide its human capital management (HCM) solution to Emirates Investment Bank (EIBank), an independent private bank based in Dubai. Finesse will act as EIBank’s strategic IT par tner, driving the bank’s human resources transformation over the coming months. To deliver EIBank’s holistic HCM solution, the systems integrator has par tnered with software provider Adrenalin. With Finesse and Adrenalin, Emirates Investment Bank is expecting to benefit from scalable and comprehensive HCM product, which would adapt to the growing business needs. The bank will be able to grant employees, a singlewindow web-based access to all HR processes, reducing time spent on administrative activities,

significantly enhancing organisational productivity. It can also take informed decisions through analytics and reporting tools that allow managers to review performance and other employee metrics. Imad Bou Khouzam, CFO, Emirates Investment Bank, said, “After a rigorous evaluation process, Finesse demonstrated its capabilities in enabling HR transformation and suppor t ser vices. Finesse will play a key role in developing and implementing a comprehensive human capital management solution, suppor ting our ongoing business expansion.” Sunil Paul, COO and co-founder, Finesse, said, “Finesse has been a trusted leader in enabling HR transformation for our enterprise clients. We are delighted that Emirates Investment Bank has chosen us to enable their strategic HR transformation programme.”

D-Link unveils business cloud solution

Sakkeer Hussain, D-Link Middle East

D-Link Corporation has launched D-Link Business Cloud Solution, which is a complete cloud-managed networking solution. According to the vendor, the new offering provides Wi-Fi coverage and capacity, which are provided by highperformance APs deployed on site with centralised cloud-based control and management. Sakkeer Hussain, director, Sales and Marketing, D-Link Middle East and Africa (MEA), said that the D-Link Business Cloud Service platform allows any organisation with any level of IT resources to quickly and easily setup, configure, monitor, troubleshoot, and manage a store or multi-site WLAN of any size remotely through web-based and iPad app based user interface. “D-Link currently has two models supported by the Business Cloud Solution,” he said. The Business Cloud Solution features include zero touch provisioning for rapid deployment, role-based administration and auditable change logs, and authentication method via a captive portal/802.1x/Radius server. In addition, the Business Cloud Solution features advanced traffic report analysis, social login for Wi-Fi access supported and Web-based and iPad app user interface. He recapped that it’s very important for channel partners and their end user customers to see new products first hand as this will help them to understand new market trends and the future of the IT networking landscape.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

Ingram Micro to host cloud and security summit

Rahul Bhavsar and Marc Kassis, Ingram Micro

ngram Micro will gather its cloud and security resellers, VARs and vendors under one roof at its second edition of Cloud and Security Summit, which will be held from 19th to 21st November in Abu Dhabi. Partners can expect to have dedicated discussions with over 250 cloud innovators and participate in more than 40 sales and technical educational

sessions across three days. Ingram Micro speakers include Renee Bergeron, SVP, Global Cloud Channel; Rahul Bhavsar, director, Cloud, META and Marc Kassis, director, Cyber Security, EMEA. Bhavsar says, “We are bringing together like-minded partners who are interested in cloud and security. While most partners understand that cloud is the future, not many know how to get started to build their business in the right way. At our summit, partners will have a chance to learn about the latest market trends and how they can best optimise the opportunities.” He adds that to sell cloud solutions successfully, partners have to be solution centric and focus on business applications, communication collaborations, infrastructure services and security solutions on cloud. He says, “Ingram Micro is focusing on these aspects, all our products and solutions are around these four categories.”

Kassis says, “Both SMEs and enterprises are still hesitant to move processes and workloads to the cloud, their primary concern continues to be around security. At the summit, we will speak about data security and integrity along with other cybersecurity topics such as ransomware, phishing and incident response, which have gained prominence in the recent past.” The distributor is looking to arm its channel community with resources and training, which will help partners to efficiently deliver both, cloud and security technologies, in an integrated solution. “We will examine how data can be securely migrated to the cloud. We hope our partners gain insights and participate in in-depth discussions around specific topics with our vendors at the summit.” In 2016, the event saw 130 plus partner attendees, 16 cloud vendors, 14 breakout sessions and several keynote sessions along with panel discussions.

Extreme Networks unveils a unified partner programme Extreme Networks has introduced a new unified partner programme, combining existing and acquired programmes and technologies to deliver “unmatched support for partners”. The unified programme, which is based on direct partner feedback, is designed to expand the end-user value proposition for global channel partners, enabling them to increase profitability and differentiation by leveraging a broader portfolio of solutions to sell and deliver. This announcement follows the firm’s recent acquisitions of Zebra Technologies’ WLAN business, Avaya’s networking business and its intent to acquire Brocade Communications Systems’ data centre networking business, which is expected to close by the end of October 2017. The programme offers a broadened solution set, and is designed to further enable and reward partners through new solution-selling by leading with software and delivering automation from the campus edge to the data center. Partners will be rewarded for their investments in software, access, campus and data center. By combining new and existing capabilities, Extreme said it is building on its proven channelfocused strategy of driving partner and company growth while strengthening its go-to-market initiatives in new and existing verticals.

Gordon Mackintosh, senior director, Worldwide Partner Programme and Sales Business Development, Extreme Networks, said, “We designed the new unified program in consultation with our partners by equipping them with leading solutions and incentives that make it rewarding to work with Extreme while helping them stay competitive within the market. Under our new unified program, we’re demonstrating our commitment to partner profitability and product innovation by helping our partners grow their businesses and expand their client bases.” According to the firm, designed in consultation with partners across industry verticals, the new unified partner programme delivers best-inclass solutions to more customers under one brand, comprised of Extreme’s high-performance enterprise technology, Zebra’s WLAN business, Avaya’s networking business and, post-acquisition, Brocade’s data centre networking business. New and existing partners can take advantage of an enhanced industry leading partner profitability programme, four new specialisation programmes to reward value and solution selling, and upfront discounts by partner level to improve ease of doing business. The programme also accepts existing certifications to ensure investment protection for partners.

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Extreme Partner Hub offers a new partner experience that provides a one-stop-shop for marketing leads, deal registration and global concierge, which enables partners to tailor and select marketing content based on their specific business needs. Partners also have access to Extreme Talk Tracks, which provides partners with a path to selling new technology by industry vertical, and the Extreme Bets Programme, which offers packaged and tailored enablement offerings. The vendor is offering a new invitation-only Black Diamond status, which allows partners to set customised growth goals and incentives to further personalise the experience. The updated Ultimate Warrior Programme provides incentives for partners looking to sell technologies across the portfolio and rewards the top achievers with Black Diamond status. The programme also offers new sales enablement packages, which will provide partners with the sales and technical services, tools and expertise needed to profitably grow. Extreme’s new Business Transformation Programme enables partners to develop unique approaches to help transform their businesses, along with new consumption models focused on how users consume specific applications based on need.

HIGHLIGHTS

Juniper Networks enhances Partner Advantage Programme

uniper Networks recent updates, to help has announced partners address current and updates to its upcoming industry trends, Juniper Partner and to enrich our rewards Advantage system so that they can grow programme for 2018. their business as profitably as Juniper Networks said possible. This is an exciting as it continues to innovate time, and we remain committed and create new solutions, to helping partners deliver it’s important that its partner best-in-class solutions tailored Kristian Kerr, programme continues to to customers’ needs, build Juniper Networks evolve, as well. The firm wants strong revenue growth and to ensure partners feel “empowered to reward them as they continue to invest, serve customers and are prepared for innovate and grow,” said Kristian Kerr, the industry changes ahead.” head, Channel, Alliances and Commercial According to the company, these for EMEA for Juniper Networks. updates will enable partners to address Effective from January 1, 2018, current and upcoming industry trends, partners will have access to the simplify the requirements of its current new features of the Juniper Partner programme and enrich its rewards Advantage programme. This includes programmes so that partners can grow two new cloud specialisations that will their business as profitably as possible. address the role cloud is playing in “At Juniper, we’re constantly looking driving IT adoption. The Cloud Integrator at ways to enhance the partner Specialisation is designed to support experience by evolving our award the firm’s existing partners to build winning programmes for ease of use, their cloud practices and support their and focusing our efforts on high growth customers’ deployments of private markets for revenue acceleration. and cloud solutions underpinned by This is why we’ve introduced these secure, high performance infrastructure.

The Cloud First Specialisation is for born-in-the-cloud partners wishing to expand their expertise in secure cloud infrastructure, along with public cloud deployments and relationships with cloud providers. These will join existing Cloud Service Partner specialisation, which has been supporting a growing number of cloud providers for over two years, said the firm. The enhanced programme will address new market opportunities through new partner specialisations based on emerging opportunities, including cloud, security, data centre and software development. According to Juniper, with these specialisations, partners can build modular options to tailor their programme to their specific business models. The company added that enriched rewards aligned to specialisations will elevate partner capability and ensure investments that are most relevant to their business and customers. These include enhanced specialisationbased rebates and tailored marketing programmes designed for business growth.

Linksys unveils partner programme across all channels Linksys has launched an integrated portal that gives its partners resources and structured training to help them sell its products more Amanullah Khan, Linksys effectively. The company said that smaller unmanaged partners will benefit hugely from the portal. This is a next step in the company’s continuous investments in channel partnerships. Linksys’ channel partner programme enables partners to monitor their growth and assess their progress through a structured scheme devised to develop their capabilities. “This fully integrated online platform is part of our continuous investment in channel partnerships. It

extends a helping hand to our smaller distributors, retailers and marketers,” said Amanullah Khan, managing director, Linksys, Middle East, Turkey and Africa. “Combining a wealth of information with a structured training scheme, it equips retailers and resellers with the skills, knowhow and confidence to operate more effectively and thus boost their profits.”

This fully integrated online platform is part of our continuous investment in channel partnerships.”

The centralised platform houses all the data partners may require, including product information, reference sites, white papers, and configurated tools and data. Helping to motivate partners to sell its solutions more effectively, it also manages their skill sets to deliver tailored training alongside an innovative incentive scheme. Partners are divided into managed and unmanaged categories under three tiers – gold, silver and bronze. The channel partner programme has a variety of loyalty programmes that are intended to reward partner’s efforts and motivate them to boost their profitability. The company aims to continue its investments in enhancing its SMB product portfolio, bringing technology innovation to the marketplace, making it easier for business to deploy and manage the network and thereby helping them to improve efficiency and reduce cost.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

PRESENTS

Tuesday, 28th November 2017 Privé Lounge, Nikki Beach Resort & Spa

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Over the last six years, Reseller Middle East’s Hot 50 Awards has grown to be one of the most coveted awards ceremony that the regional channel industry looks forward to annually. Hot 50 pays tribute to channel players who are steadfast in their approach to create value and mutually successful relationships for customers, partners and themselves.

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HIGHLIGHTS

TP-Link MEA, Areej Group ink distribution deal for Middle East

Denny Liang, TP-Link MEA and Sameer Alsayed Hussain, Areej Group

P-Link Technologies has announced that it has appointed Dubai headquartered Areej Group as its official distributor in the UAE market for the SMB products. The deal was signed between Denny Liang, vice president, TP-Link MEA and Sameer Alsayed Hussain, CEO and founder, Areej Group.

According to the vendor which makes a broad range of products to the consumer, SOHO and SMB markets, including wireless solution, ADSL, Routers, Switches, IP cameras, powerline adapters, print servers, media converters and network adapters, the agreement with Areej Group is aimed at developing and cementing its footprint in the SMB segment across the Middle East. “We are delighted to have Areej Group as the official and authorised distributor to the TP-Link assembly,” Liang said. “The SMB segment for TP-Link is showing great potential for growth and joining hands with a distributor that has a strong track record will strengthen the offerings we take to the regional channel.” He added that TP-link has selected to partner with Areej Group because of its solid track record in serving the

SMB sector in the UAE and the rest of the region. “We are poised to grow our SMB offerings with Areej Group and the company is a great fit for us and the channel partners serving the SMB market,” he said. Hussain added that, “The Areej story has been underpinned by robust growth over the past decade and today we employ 200 employees in 11 locations across four countries. We are well placed to service the market requirements across the retail, distribution and corporate segments.” He added that having a strong security portfolio within Areej Group, the company is looking forward to working with TP-Link with its comprehensive SMB networking solutions. “We both want to develop and grow the SMB business and the partnership between the two companies will help channel partners to enjoy the benefits of products and solutions from a global multinational networking vendor,” he said.

Help AG partners with Skybox Security to boost MSS offering Help AG has signed vulnerability and an agreement with threat management Skybox Security that and firewall and will allow the company security policy to integrate Skybox’s management security management “The partnership solutions into its Cyber with Skybox will Security Operations enable our MSS Centre (CSOC). customers to drive According to the firm even greater value this partnership adds from their existing “powerful new security cyber security analytics capabilities” investments with to its Managed Security threat management Services (MSS) offering. across the entire As a Skybox attack surface,” said Stephan Berner, Help AG Premier Partner, Stephan Berner, Help AG will also offer the Skybox CEO, Help AG. “As a reseller Security Suite for vulnerability and dedicated to IT security alone, we threat management, firewall change are keen to bundle our expertise management and compliance in consultancy, integration and monitoring within both IT and OT support around the solutions environments, to enterprises across offered by Skybox, thereby creating the Middle East. a truly differentiated offering.” The Skybox Security Suite is Initially leveraging Help AG’s a security management platform local presence in the UAE, Saudi with an attack surface visualisation Arabia and Qatar, the companies layer and a suite of five security will look to engage with leading management solutions for organisations from the oil and

gas, government, finance and utilities sectors in these countries. Customers will be able to either consume Skybox security management solutions as a part of Help AG’s MSS offering, or choose to have the reseller integrate the suite into their IT infrastructure. Help AG will also offer comprehensive Level 1 and Level 2 support services on behalf of the vendor and has created a ‘Skybox Security Lab’ environment to rapidly and reliably recreate any troubleshooting issues customers may face. “Our channel strategy has been key to helping us set a pace for record growth this year,” said Jono Clarke Storey, channel director, Skybox. “Partners like Help AG provide Skybox with efficient routes to market while complementing our sales teams as we increase our footprint, particularly in the Middle East. In turn, we enrich their offerings with a comprehensive security management platform that provides more solutions and greater visibility of the attack surface than any individual point product can.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

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HIGHLIGHTS

Landmark Group launches Apple Pay

andmark system that makes Group has shopping experiences announced easier across our that Apple stores, sites and apps. Pay is We’re encouraged by available across all the the global success Group’s retail stores Apple Pay has already and e-commerce sites achieved and look and apps in the UAE. forward to delighting Apple Pay is easy to our shoppers with it set up and users will regardless of channel.” continue to receive Security and all the rewards and privacy are at the beneﬁts offered by core of Apple Pay. Credit and Debit When you use a Cards. In stores, Apple Credit or Debit Card Savitar Jagtiani, Landmark Pay works with iPhone with Apple Pay, the SE, iPhone 6 and later, actual card numbers and Apple Watch. are not stored on the device, nor “We are thrilled to launch Apple Pay on Apple servers. Instead, a unique for the Landmark Group, our many Device Account Number is assigned, brands and millions of customers,” encrypted and securely stored in the said Savitar Jagtiani, chief digital Secure Element on your device. Each officer, Landmark Group. “Apple Pay transaction is authorised with a oneis a remarkably simple, convenient, time unique dynamic security code. secure and private mobile payment Apple Pay is available at all

Landmark retail stores, including Home Centre, Splash, Max, Babyshop, Lifestyle, Centrepoint, Shoe Mart, Shoe Express, Home Box, SportsOne, Emax and Iconic. It’s also available at all the Group’s international brands like New Look, Reiss, Lipsy, Koton, Steve Madden, Dune, Kurt Geiger, Yours, Blocco 31, Ecco, Kazar, Nose, Pablosky, Puket, Aerosoles and Carpisa. The digital payment method is also available on the Group’s eight e-commerce sites and apps including HomeCentre.com, SplashFashions.com, MaxFashion. com, BabyshopStores.com, ShoeMartStores.com, LifestyleShops. com, CentrepointStores.com and HomeBoxStores.com. The Group’s next step is to integrate Apple Pay with Shukran, its awardwinning loyalty programme. In stores, customers will be able to select their Credit or Debit Card, click on the virtual Shukran card and hold the device to a terminal to complete the process.

CEO Khalid: Noon KSA launch set for year-end Noon will launch in Saudi Arabia before the end of this year, chief executive Faraz Khalid has said. Khalid made the announcement while addressing a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative, organised by the Public Investment Fund in Riyadh, on ‘The World Next Door: What new Innovations are Reinventing

Noon is working not only with large Saudi retailers but also SMEs and start-ups so that we remain connected with our audience.”

E-Commerce.’ Launched earlier this month in the UAE, Noon has an initial capital outlay of $1 billion from the Public Investment Fund and a group of prominent Gulf investors including Kuwait’s M.H. Alshaya & Co. among others. The firm is headquartered in Riyadh, and has already put in place a dedicated distribution Faraz Khalid, Noon hub, distribution channels and a secure payment gateway for serving Saudi customers. Noon has a dedicated delivery fleet in Saudi Arabia, with professionals who know the market, and also offers flexible payment solutions, said Khalid. “Noon is working not only with large Saudi retailers but also SMEs and start-ups so that we remain connected with our audience – and deliver the personalised experience they seek.” He said the digital savvy youth population, and the high levels of

Internet and smartphone penetration are the drivers of growth for the e-commerce market. “But this only forms the infrastructural back-up for digital enterprises. The key to leveraging the digital opportunity is to know your consumers and understand their aspirations. Noon is bringing an exciting assortment of brands at great value which we believe will be received well by our customers in our key markets – Saudi Arabia and the UAE. With both web and app-based experiences, Noon delivers what our customers need, where they need and how they need.” Khalid said that Noon has created new jobs for Saudi talent, and will focus on building the Kingdom’s SME sector. “The region’s most valuable resource is its digital-native youth. We are working with them, for them and the community to drive our next era of growth.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

IST expands portfolio with PureCloud by Genesys

ALE introduces partner onboarding programme for Rainbow

Mohamed Fahmy, IST and Mohamed Afifi, Genesys

The customer experience technology specialists IST has announced that it has expanded its partnership with Genesys, the omnichannel customer experience and contact centre solutions provider with the addition of the PureCloud by Genesys to its solution offering. Designed to help businesses in the Middle East deliver a consistent, seamless and personalised next-generation customer experience, PureCloud is a unified, all-in-one customer engagement and employee collaboration solution that’s intuitive, easy to use and quick to deploy. “We are quite excited IST is now offering PureCloud in the Middle East Market. This cloud customer engagement solution is so powerful and easy to use, and provides businesses a scalable and flexible solution to meet their needs, both today and tomorrow,” said Mohamed Afifi, managing director, Middle East, Genesys. “We are proud of the work already done by the IST team with their OmniCloud digital customer engagement offering that was released earlier this year and believe that now, with PureCloud, we are positioned to meet all market needs.” Mohamed Fahmy, chief executive officer, IST, said, “Our Middle Eastern customers have shown a strong appetite for cloud solutions in an effort to lower capital expenditure costs. The scalability and flexibility of PureCloud can help organisations easily expand and shrink their contact centre based on fluctuating business demands.”

LE, operating under the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise brand, has announced strong momentum for its recently released Alcatel-Lucent Rainbow cloud collaboration platform. Rainbow offers users access to a secure, scalable, digital, collaborative platform with feature-rich capabilities such as contact management, presence, chat, audio/video calling, and screen and file sharing. With the Rainbow Business Partner onboarding process, partners can take a stepped approach to experiencing Rainbow’s features without any investment or contract and create their own community, internal tests and demonstrations before signing up customers, according to the company. With the new Rainbow Onboarding process, partners have access to specific marketing support, customer

success management resources Moussa Zaghdoud, ALE and specific incentives that support the digital workplace transformation enterprises are undergoing. Rainbow’s services can then be delivered either as a standalone solution or through a hybrid approach. Moussa Zaghdoud, head, Cloud Business Unit, ALE, said, “There is an ongoing shift in business communications toward cross-border collaboration and high levels of staff mobility. Rainbow provides the tools to improve how teams collaborate with their entire business community. Our partners can now benefit of the ALE onboarding programme that will help them to tap the immense and fast growing workstream collaboration market opportunity.”

Sophos unveils Cloud Security Provider programme Global player in network and endpoint security Sophos has announced that it has expanded its partner programme to now offer training, certification and financial incentives that will help channel partners support customers using or migrating to the public cloud. The programme is designed to help partners address this revenue growth opportunity and make the purchase of the firm’s products in Microsoft’s Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplaces channel-friendly. The firm also announced Sophos Server Protection is now available for Azure. When used with Sophos XG Firewall on Azure, Sophos Synchronised Security technology will coordinate defenses against cyber threats attacking multiple vectors, including Virtual Machines (VMs) running in Azure. “Partners in the Middle East and Africa see a big opportunity to help customers secure their public cloud deployments and they want to continue

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

to receive the same benefits that they get through traditional sales models set up with their vendor partner programs. Sophos is paving the way for this to happen and Harish Chib, Sophos created a new programme that delivers the same type of partner programme benefits to partners selling Sophos solutions into public cloud deployments,” said Harish Chib, vice president, Middle East and Africa, Sophos. “As a channelonly company, Sophos is committed to accelerating partner success and revenue growth with cloud security. This is a great opportunity for partners to become specialised as Sophos Cloud Security Providers and benefit from today’s growing billion-dollar cloud marketplace.”

APPOINTMENTS

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

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

Juniper Networks announces META head

SAS appoints new MD for Middle East Analytics software firm, SAS, has announced it has promoted Alaa Youssef to managing director for its Middle East operations. In this Alaa Youssef, SAS expanded role, he will have additional management responsibilities in the Middle East for the Gulf and Emerging Markets sales and operations teams, as well as his already existing management of sales and operations in SAS Saudi Arabia. Since he joined SAS in 2011, Youssef has served in a variety of leadership capacities within the professional services, sales and operations business units of Saudi Arabia. During his leadership, the Saudi Arabian sales team solidified SAS’ position in the banking and telco industries, and expanded SAS’ presence into utilities including oil and gas. “I am honoured to be appointed as the managing director for the Middle East region and I am excited to bring greater integration across our sales and operations teams that will benefit our customers”, said Youssef. “Together we will introduce innovative SAS solutions into companies throughout the region that will transform the way they do business.” “Alaa’s experience and expertise make him the perfect candidate to take on this new role. His technical acumen, coupled with his strategic business vision, will help us deliver increasing analytics value to our customers,” said Shukri Dabaghi, vice president, Middle East and Eastern Europe, SAS. Alaa has over 20 years’ experience of working in the ICT sector. He has held managing positions in several multinational technology companies.

Juniper Networks has announced the appointment of Yarob Sakhnini Yarob Sakhnini, as head of Juniper Networks Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META). In this role, Sakhnini is responsible for all aspects of sales strategy, planning and operations across Juniper’s META business. Prior to joining Juniper, Sakhnini held several senior management and technical posts at Brocade

I believe Juniper is ideally positioned to help realise this transformation across META.”

Communications. He previously worked for Foundry, 3Com and CNS, also in technical and sales roles. Throughout his career of more than 20 years in the high-tech industry, Sakhnini has focused on META and has thorough knowledge and understanding of the region’s market landscape across service providers, private enterprises and the public sector. “Digital transformation in this region continues to gain ground, with many smart cities and other leading-edge projects, such as Dubai’s Expo 2020, in ongoing development. Automated, scalable and secure networks are at the heart of these projects, enabling organisations across the region to achieve new business models and deliver innovative services,” said Yarob Sakhnini, head, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Juniper Networks. “I believe Juniper is ideally positioned to help realise this transformation across META, so I am pleased to be taking on the role at this time.”

Samsung Electronics shakes up leadership team Samsung Electronics has demands of the connected announced its new leadership world. They have proven team post the resignation of track records with extensive CEO Kwon Oh-hyun. The experience and outstanding company has promoted expertise in their fields.” three executives to coThe company also CEO roles as part of the announced that president management overhaul. Sang-Hoon Lee will step Presidents Kinam Kim will down from his role as CFO, head the Device Solutions effective immediately. Lee Kwon Oh-hyun, division while Hyunsuk Kim has been recommended by Samsung will oversee the Consumer outside Board members to Electronics division, and Dongjin Koh be Chairman of the Board and succeed will be in charge of the IT and Mobile Kwon next March. This would mark the Communications division, succeeding first time that Samsung will separate vice chairman Oh-Hyun Kwon, the Chairman of the Board and the presidents Boo-Keun Yoon and JongCEO roles. Kyun Shin respectively. At the next AGM in March 2018, The firm said that all new the three new division heads as well appointments will be effective immediately. as Lee will join the Board of Directors. Kwon said, “The next generation The firm said that Kwon, Yoon and Shin of leaders are well suited to accelerate will remain as members of the Board the pace of innovation and address the until then.

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

SPONSORED

BETTER TOGETHER Global enterprise software firm Micro Focus has completed its merger with Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) software business in September 2017. The company has partnered with the niche regional VAD Spectrami to deliver its solutions to the market. Micro Focus’ Marwan Shanti, director channel for Emerging Market and Neeti Rodrigues, regional director for Enterprise Security Products along with Spectrami’s Anand Choudha, president and CEO, and Anas Handous, director for Global Alliance, shed light on the vendor’s channel strategies for the Middle East region.

an you elaborate on Micro Focus’ channel strategy for the region? Marwan Shanti: Post the spin and merger of HPE’s Software Business, which was successfully completed under the Micro Focus umbrella, we are now in the process of integrating both channel programmes. We are keen at harnessing the investment of our partners and distributors from both sides. However, during FY 18, we will keep both programmes running from legacy Micro Focus and HPE Software. By November FY 18, we aim to have one consolidated programme for our combined partner community. In the meantime, we are encouraging partners from both sides to register on portfolios from either Micro Focus or legacy HPE Software. Our objective is to have a consolidated and synergized plan in place during 2018. What is the go-to-market strategy for Micro Focus? Neeti Rodrigues: Our go-to-market strategy will continue to stay focused on our niche offerings. We will be investing heavily in our partners and customers. We believe we are much stronger together as we now boast a broader portfolio from both security and the rest of Micro Focus’ offerings’ point of view. We are a 100 percent channel-focused company and we will continue to have better integration, support and professional services for the region. How does the addition of Micro Focus strengthen Spectrami’s existing portfolio? Anand Choudha: Micro Focus brings in the additional breadth into our product

(L-R) Marwan Shanti, Neeti Rodrigues, Anand Choudha, Michel Chahine, Anas Handous

portfolio. Spectrami has been known for several years for bringing in new and specialised technologies to this region. As we have developed a reputation for working as consultants with our partners and customers, they have always come back to us for more. With Micro Focus, we are able to build the portfolio of solutions across cybersecurity, information management and Internet of Things among others. Micro Focus is a valuable addition to our product portfolio and gives us more reasons to connect with our customers. How is Spectrami enabling partners to sell Micro Focus effectively? Anas Handous: We have already set in

motion a strategic plan and have started to enable our partners in terms of technologies across Micro Focus’ portfolio. We have events and roadshows running across the region to introduce Micro Focus’ offering to our channel partners. Do you have any message for your partners? Anand Choudha: Our portfolio of solutions will continue to be stronger and better. Partners who are looking to align with us have been requesting for a wider product portfolio and the addition of Micro Focus allows us to cater to that demand. We are certain that we will have more opportunities for our customers with new technologies.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

COVER STORY // BULWARK

SCANNING THE FUTURE UAE-based distributor Bulwark’s MD Jose Thomas Menacherry discusses regional security demands and how the firm is in a strong position to cater to it.

he dynamism of the security space is compelling organisations to be innovative and unique in their operations. As enterprises’ demand for connected and smart technologies gain prominence, the security associated with these solutions also need to be stronger and incorporated right at the beginning. Regional value-added distributor, Bulwark, with a dedicated focus in the security space over the last two decades, is in a strong position to cater to these demands. Over the last year, we have seen the distributor streamline its vendor partnerships between its two entities – Bulwark Technologies as a VAD for delivering high-end security solutions and Bulwark Distribution, which is a freezone company, dealing with fastmoving security products. The firm’s managing director Jose Thomas Menacherry says, “We have reinforced our sales and technical teams

with more personnel from security and distribution domains and with more focus on other GCC and Middle East countries. We have also signed up with major resellers and systems integration companies focused on security in the region during the last year.” Besides growing its regional presence within the Middle East, it has also commenced its India operations, headquartered out of Bangalore. The distributor has onboarded several niche security vendors such as Arcon, Lastline, Mimecast, Radware and Teramind. “All of these developments have strengthened our security offering further to address the security concerns of regional customers.” According to Menacherry, there are several factors for driving the security demand within the regional market. He says, “We see many interactions happening with the corporate and enterprise level customers for securing their data and network. Some of the

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

compliance requirements also enforce customers to implement adequate auditing and reporting of critical assets and user activities.” He adds that post the recent global and regional security breaches and threats, customers are becoming increasingly more aware about having robust security measures by deploying effective solutions in place. The distributor works closely with channel partners to deliver its security promise to customers. It conducts regular channel enablement initiatives throughout the year. “We believe that our success and growth are based on the success of our channel partners positioning our solutions with proper expertise to customers,” explains Menacherry. The regional channel market has its fair share of challenges. With fierce competition and profitability issues, only focused players can stand out and make a noteworthy mark. Admitting that the distributor too experiences the heat

AT A GLANCE Company: Bulwark MD: Jose Thomas Menacherry Year of establishment: 1999 Top vendors Bulwark Distribution – Sophos, iStorage, ESET, NetSupport, MailStore and EnGenius Bulwark Technologies – Arcon, Acunetix, Lastline, Netwrix, Mimecast, Radware, SendQuick, SecurEnvoy, Teramind, Varonis and Help Systems Total staff: 35+ Total resellers: 400 plus Focus markets for 2018: Egypt, GCC and other Middle East countries Business mantra: Stay focused in your area of expertise

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

COVER STORY // BULWARK

“We believe that our success and growth are based on the success of our channel partners positioning our solutions with proper expertise to customers.”

of market challenges, it tries to minimise the effects by adopting timely measures. He says, “The solution we carry offer a unique value proposition to the customers and partners. With our focus on ROI, we have been able to effectively demonstrate a pragmatic approach that clients need to adopt while choosing the right solution.” Bulwark’s success factor also includes developing and supporting a set of trusted partners while staying laser-focused on its offerings. “We have remained focused in the security space rather than putting our efforts outside our areas of expertise. This will also help to avoid unwanted competition and stretching our resources unnecessarily,” Menacherry says. The biggest challenge the distributor faces is guiding customers and partners to the “optimal solution” suiting customer’s environment and addressing specific concerns, considering the surfeit of solutions available in the market today. He says, “Enabling partners and providing the right tools would help to bring in better returns.” On enabling partners, the distributor carries out several initiatives from conducting product specific roadshows in coordination with vendors, generating potential leads

to sales and technical enablement sessions and assisting them in doing PoCs and implementation services. “We prefer partners to be fairly selfsufficient on the solution offerings to be able to manage the opportunity end-to-end. This is what would see a sustainability in their interest and help them translate their differentiation with their clients.” Menacherry believes “differentiation, speed of response and customer-centric approach to solution selling” will help its partners to make the transition to the digital environment. Over the course of 2018, we will see the security-focused value-added distributor continuing its growth path within the region and adding more strategic partners. It will increase its

OUTLOOK 2018 | TECHNOLOGIES EXPECTED TO DOMINATE “PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS COVERING ENDPOINT SECURITY, APT, IOT SECURITY, MACHINE LEARNING, USER BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS AND SECURITY AWARENESS.” focus on security in the cloud, mobility and IoT space. According to the MD, the firm will also strengthen its team with onsite presence in some of the countries it operates in at present. He says, “Being a security focused company, we have been regularly scanning the technology space for latest products addressing the new threats.” In the coming years, the MD expects VADs to take on more responsible roles when it comes to product specific activities during project execution. “Vendors involve the VAD for regionwise marketing and sales activities, timely revenue realisation and also for support services. We would continue to see more partners coming into the regional channel space as the barriers to entry in the cloud space is diminishing.”

“We prefer partners to be fairly selfsufficient on the solution offerings to be able to manage the opportunity end-toend. This is what would see a sustainability in their interest and help them translate their differentiation with their clients.”

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

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FEATURE // DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

ARE WE

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

digital yet Regional organisations are rapidly looking at transforming their daily operations and processes to be able to thrive in the digital era. Industry experts explore how channel partners can help in defining that digital transformation framework to help cater to customers’ evolving demands.

Jeroen Schlosser, Equinix MENA

“Preparing for delivery of IT at the edge will be the key to boosting business velocity, enabling dynamic business scaling, and ensuring greater business operational flexibility.”

aving a clearly laid-out digital transformation strategy is no longer an element regional organisations can ignore. The rise of digital technologies has made it imperative for firms to understand the implications of this on-going revolution. Research firm IDC predicts worldwide spending on digital transformation (DX) technologies to be over $1.2 trillion in 2017, an increase of 17.8 percent compared to 2016. According to the firm, DX spending will maintain this pace with a CAGR of 17.9 percent over the 2015-2020 forecast period and reaching $2.0 trillion in 2020. However, the challenge lies in the fact that most organisations lack the knowledge as to what are the first steps in creating a robust digital strategy. Mechelle Buys Du Plessis, managing director, Middle East, Dimension Data, says, “To thrive as a digital business, you need the flexibility to adapt to changes and stay ahead of the curve. But no two organisations’ technology journeys are the same. The services you need may change over time, or may vary across different areas of your environment. “Digital transformation today is no longer just about helping enterprises to gain an edge over their competitors but it has become a tool for survival in the market place.” Ossama Eldeeb, senior manager, MENA Partner Organisation, VMware, believes that Middle East organisations

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

FEATURE // DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

can begin by examining four key pillars in their digital transformation journey – mobility, cloud, data centre modernisation, and cybersecurity. He says, “By enabling mobile workforces, sending business applications to the cloud, adopting software-defined data centres, and ensuring their infrastructure is protected from cyber-threats from the inside-out, Middle East organisations can drive new digital business models and enhance their business competitiveness in the Internet of Things era and digital economy.” According to Vinod Krishnan, head, Commercial business, MEA, Amazon Web Services (AWS), a digitally transformed organisation is one that has cloud computing at the core of their technology and business strategies. “Cloud adoption presents several benefits, including increased speed and agility to scale as per organisational requirements, and reduction of capital expenses. The first thing that organisations should ensure is that their IT plans align with the organisational strategy.” Software vendor Veeam’s annual Availability Survey reveals that while 74 percent of CIOs in the Middle East said that becoming digital was critical to their future, 82 percent had a problem in executing this. “The key elements to embark on a successful digital transformation are willingness to adopt disruptive technology, allow business processes to be changed, a strong desire to transform their customer experience, operational processes and business

“The first thing that organisations should ensure is that their IT plans align with the organisational strategy.” Vinod Krishnan, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

models,” says TransSys’ executive director, Prabu Balasubramanyan. Channel partners can play a critical role in aiding customers’ digital transformation journey. Partners with their feet on ground are the first ones to detect market changes and can help guide customers. They should also look at transforming their own business to thrive in the digital era. “This is important too,” says Frida Kleimert, channel lead, Cisco Middle East and Africa. “Digital transformation is changing the go-to-market strategy for the channel. It requires rethinking of what role partners play and how vendors structure their entire channel strategy to accommodate the line of business customers and solving for business outcomes.” Havier Haddad, senior channel director, META, Dell EMC, says, “Partners are on the front-lines of enabling customers to shift the status quo and embrace a digital future. Customers today no longer need a

“Partners are on the frontlines of enabling customers to shift the status quo and embrace a digital future.” Havier Haddad, Dell EMC

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

product vendor, but are looking to engage with a solutions provider who can help them see IT in a whole new light, of that being an innovation hub and not a cost centre.” Balasubramanyan adds, “Partners have to play a consultative role to begin with, if they have to enable customers in the transformation journey. The depth of such role varies between organisations based on their maturity and understanding of the digital transformation happening around or in the region and industry.” Equinix MENA’s managing director, Jeroen Schlosser, believes that to expand a company’s offering in the interconnected era without extending overheads, it is important for partners to connect their customers to broad ecosystems of vendors, service providers and cloud companies. “Partners will also need address their customers’ resourcing strategies, skills development, investment decisions, operational model and go-tomarket approach,” he says. According to Schlosser a successful transformation amounts to converting IT from an enabler of internal business processes to “an engine powering digital business flows between people, things, and data, all elements that exist at the digital edge.” However, he points out that the major challenge within the core IT portfolio is that most organisations today need to address barriers to effective coordination. “Partners can actively contribute and become part of ecosystems that serve the digital transformation needs of enterprises across all industries,”

Mechelle Buys Du Plessis, Dimension Data

“To thrive as a digital business, you need the flexibility to adapt to changes and stay ahead of the curve. But no two organisations’ technology journeys are the same.”

he adds. “Preparing for delivery of IT at the edge will be the key to boosting business velocity, enabling dynamic business scaling, and ensuring greater business operational flexibility.” According to Dell EMC’s Haddad, adapting to this paradigm shift is something that the channel is grappling with. He adds, “Some partners are just embarking on their digital transformation journey, and others are much further along the road. But wherever they stand on this journey, those that haven’t started the transformation process will struggle to survive.” He also says that partners will need to build a talent pipeline that can adapt

to and support the changing direction of business. “For this to successfully come into fruition, partners need to have a long-term workforce view, one that encompasses continuous and strategic talent support and development programmes,” he explains. Agreeing with Haddad, Savitha Bhaskar, COO, Condo Protego, says that channel partners in the Middle East who are unable to transition from the pure reseller model will become irrelevant to customers on their digital transformation journeys. “In contrast, partners who build industry vertical knowledge, consulting capabilities and able to offer services

such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) will be able to establish a trusted valuebased relationship with their customers. Vendors have a huge role to play in encouraging, helping, and rewarding their channel partners in transforming themselves,” she adds. Cautioning, Rui Silva, distribution channel manager MEA, AlcatelLucent Enterprise, says that it’s hard for an organisation to undergo digital transformation if the culture is built around silos. “This requires everyone in the organisation to work in an open and transparent way,” he adds. “Digital is not a passing trend; it is a revolution that is happening right now and picking up speed every day. There is a pressing need for businesses to relook at their IT and communication infrastructure, strategies and business models.” Partners should play the role of trusted advisors to customers; however, they will be in a stronger position if they themselves have embarked on the digital transformation journey. While partners should make the effort to go beyond jargons and effectively guide the transition to the digital era, it is also the responsibility of the vendors to nudge their partners to take the initial drive.

POINTERS FOR DX SUCCESS

to channels where the solutions can be integrated and taken to market to enable differentiation.

Frida Kleimert, channel lead, Cisco Middle East and Africa, says, digital transformation (DX) provides opportunities for partners to derive greater value from networked connections among people, processes, data and things. Partners need to embrace digitisation now and accelerate their ability to thrive in the digital age.

Partners are enabled to deliver business outcomes: Partners can use new solutions to reach a broader set of customers and increase their relevance beyond IT. They can strengthen their role as trusted advisors and capitalise on new market opportunities with horizontal and vertical solutions and services resulting in higher revenues and profits.

Partners and their solutions get more visibility: By enabling to develop a vast array of market leading solutions spanning hardware, software and services, vendors can enable their solution partners to get access

Connect: Partners must connect with each other so that they can create a repository of solutions that enable improved business outcomes for the enterprise across applications, products and services.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

FEATURE // LEVERAGING MDFS

MONEY TALKS

Marketing is a vital aspect of operating any business, however, running regular campaigns can drain budgets resulting in channel firms not considering it as a priority. Reseller ME examines how partners can secure vendors’ market development funds and use it efficiently. artners have access to vendors’ Market Development Funds (MDFs) to, as the term suggests, grow the market and create demand generation. However, most often than not, these funds are not used as effectively as they should be and partners also grapple with understanding how to acquire a bigger share of the resources. A worldwide channel survey done by ZINFI Technologies, a Unified Channel Management (UCM) innovation provider, revealed that 60 percent of market development funds (MDF) are not used on a quarterly basis. According to the company, the 40 percent of the cases

where the funds are claimed, it is usually by the larger partners who possess the knowledge on navigating the MDF approval process. Graham Porter, head, Channels, Middle East, Veeam, says that in most schemes, vendors allocate a percentage of their revenues from the previous quarter to distributors, allowing them to do joint marketing with their resellers around a vendor’s offerings. “While some vendors spend their entire MDF in this manner, others have a two-tier approach where they sell directly to their largest partners and the smaller ones buy from distribution,” he says. “In this case, the majority of the MDF goes to big partners as it becomes

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

a simple reward for the revenue they generate and the training and marketing they are expected to do based on their status level.” Therefore, with direct access to the vendors and in-depth understanding of the schemes, big partners do get more than their fair share, he says. What about those smaller partners who liaise with distribution? According to Porter, “MDFs are viewed as a black art to many players in the channel.” Most partners believe that vendors have the funds available to jointly develop opportunities for their products. “However, it’s hard to see where it is and how you can get to it,” he adds.

“Alignment with vendors’ marketing strategy and emphasis on achieving business goals is important.” Jenice Bhatia, Centrify

Porter adds that those smaller partners who are buying from distribution should work with their distributors closely to create a plan that works for them. Partners, whether big or small, who take the time to understand the criteria that vendors look at before allocating the MDFs can stand a chance to win a share of it. But this is easier said than done, as each vendor might have different yardsticks. “Vendors look for effective ways to meet goals set for specific objectives, such as increase overall sales, acquire new customers, grow market share, increase brand value among many others. Alignment with vendors’ marketing strategy and emphasis on achieving business goals is important,” explains Jenice Bhatia, channel manager, META, Centrify. The key criteria for MDF allocation includes measurable ROI in terms of onboarding, recruitment, trainings or verifications completed, PoC sessions and leads generated, says Shankari Gnanadesikan, marketing manager, Ingram Micro. She adds, “Closure rate is another significant benchmark that partners should pay close attention to in order to claim the funds.” Agreeing, Porter urges partners to begin by understanding vendors’ priorities. He says, “Often, it is around promoting new products and services, so a partner who focuses on the new offerings will be more attractive.” He also cautions partners from proposing an event without any differentiation from the competition. “This is much less likely to be approved,” he says. “Especially when distributors have a long wish list of requests from their partners, which is sent to the vendor every quarter. This frequently has to be cut by 75 percent.”

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

FEATURE // LEVERAGING MDFS

By devising an effective plan early on and with an innovative approach, partners can ensure they receive a bigger share of the funds. They have to implement creative methods to aim for great results, says Bhatia “Partners are well experienced on solution selling and their value can be demonstrated by leveraging complimenting vendors to collaborate. By maintaining a track record of timely execution and demonstrating positive ROI results, partners could be granted a significant share of MDF funds,” she adds. Currently, there are quite a few frustrations that regional channel partners have when it comes to MDFs. Gnanadesikan says, “We have numerous limitations on usage of funds. Increasingly, vendors want to emphasis on demand generation and ROI from the activities, which can be realised only

Shankari Gnanadesikan, Ingram Micro

in the long term. Hence, it is difficult to justify investments in the short term.” Bhatia adds, “Vendors often roll out global programmes and campaigns and while these could be customised to suit regional dynamics, partners usually expect the vendor to support them with regional initiatives. When there are limitations from both sides from resources point of view, it could lead to frustration and lack of ownership. Extensive policies and process from vendors can deter partners from executing their plan effectively.” At the end of the day, Porter says, partners need to understand the vendor programme and their timescales. “Partners have to examine what gets vendors excited and then figure out who can help them propose a relevant plan around this to the vendor. Typically, it is via a distributor, therefore multiple people need to be influenced. Partners

“Closure rate is another significant benchmark that partners should pay close attention to in order to claim the funds.”

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

need to understand what will close the sale and not have their proposal rejected, which is where the current partner frustration is,” he explains. While understanding the vendors’ roadmap and aligning to their regional strategies will help partners gain a bigger share of the funds, it is also a responsibility from the vendors’ end to ensure the funds are utilised and done so effectively. Gnanadesikan adds, “By creating annual marketing plans closely aligned to business plans proactively and committing to the overall minimum ROI guaranteed from the investment secured can help resellers to use these funds effectively.” ZINFI Technologies’ survey indicates that vendors need to firstly focus on partners who are using the funds and help them with the process of applying for MDFs. They need to also invest in eliminating channel corruption, which is an issue that is not addressed often. Vendors can further help by automating the channel marketing platform so that it becomes easier for partners to search and execute campaigns. Lastly, according to the survey, vendors need to look at aiding their partners through dedicated concierge services, so that each partner receive customised support. Distributors and vendors together need to analyse the opportunities that MDFs can open up for channel partners and educate the resellers on how they can apply for these funds and utilise it efficiently.

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PARTNER WATCH // TECHVISTA SYSTEMS

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Khurram Majeed, TechVista Systems

Philippe de Mazieres, Gulf Software Distribution

Khurram Majeed, general manager, TechVista Systems, shares details on its partnership with regional VAD Gulf Software Distribution and strategies for 2018.

echVista Systems, a subsidiary of Systems Limited, headquartered out of Pakistan, began its UAE business in 2014. With operations in UAE, Qatar and Australia, the software services provider has been working with regional value-added distributor, Gulf Software Distribution (GSD) since its inception in 2016. Khurram Majeed, general manager, Tech Vista Systems, says, “Before partnering with GSD, we were working with GBM for IBM technologies. However, we were still growing our footprint in these areas. We used to work excessively with IBM in Pakistan. Over the last year, we have aggressively started working with GSD and non-IBM platforms.” As a software services company, the reseller also has a huge presence in the US with Fortune 500 companies as customers. The firm decided to bring in the same portfolio of offerings into the region to replicate the success. “We were working with IBM platforms and specific technologies in IBM, which are mainly towards business process automation, endto-end integration with different systems, newer areas such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and machine learning,” he says. “We are mainly involved in business process automation, reengineering and optimisation part of the technology. We are also working with other principles such as Microsoft and MicroStrategy on different enterprise agreements and providing services on those platforms.” Majority of the reseller’s customers are from government and retail verticals. “We provide end-to-end retail solutions based on different

“We are mainly involved in business process automation, reengineering and optimisation part of the technology.”

technologies. We are not bound to a single vendor and have varied skillsets where we offer services on different technology areas for our customer.” According to Majeed, as the technologies they dealt with were emerging and as they were new to the region, the biggest advantage of partnering with GSD was that the distributor helped them penetrate the market. “GSD assists us to create our value proposition around these products. They work as a bridge between IBM and our firm. They also help us in developing our expertise, expanding our footprint, generating leads and marketing our portfolio,” Majeed adds. Philippe de Mazieres, general manager, Gulf Software Distribution, says, “TechVista’s solutions are more specific to enterprise and high-value. It is more about presenting the solutions as a value proposition rather than mass marketing. TechVista brings the expertise and experience in this domain and they bring that value to

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

the customers.” Over the next few years, we will see the reseller increasing its focus on RPA solutions. Through artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, the software is able to carry out highvolume tasks that used to involve a human to complete it. “This technology is coming up and will make business processes much more efficient. We will be focusing on RPA in the future. This year, we are majorly focused on business process automation and building middleware solutions for big enterprises. And this year we have just begun our footprint with IBM and GSD,” Majeed says. “Next year we want to capitalise on that and extend our capabilities on the new things that are coming to the market. We will look at investing into these technologies and expand our footprint and our partnership with GSD and IBM with the new technologies.” Mazieres adds, “We will continue to invest in our channel to support them to bring the right value to the customers.”

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VENDOR FOCUS // BEYONDTRUST

Looking beyond John Hathaway, regional sales director, Middle East and India, BeyondTrust, elaborates on the growing demand for Privileged Access Management (PAM) technologies and the role of channel in driving the business.

rivileged Access Management (PAM) technologies allow organisations to offer secured privileged access to critical assets. Research firm Gartner anticipates that through the year 2020, more than 50 percent of the security breakdowns associated with IaaS and PaaS will be credited to significant security gaps caused by failure to adopt PAM technology and processes. According to John Hathaway, regional sales director, Middle East and India, BeyondTrust, PAM technologies have been gaining prominence over the last decade. He says, “We have observed a strong adoption of PAM outside of critical infrastructures such as banking, oil and gas. We have seen it grow seriously and holistically across the market over the last two to three years. Today, companies within the local space such as hotel and retail chains are looking into these technologies, which wasn’t the case five years ago.” Examining the opportunities present in the Middle East, the privileged identity and vulnerability management solutions provider, BeyondTrust has operated in the region with a significant presence over the years. Through a strategic partnership with regional IT solutions provider, Gulf Business Machines (GBM), the firm has been leveraging rapidly growing security opportunities. Hathaway explains, “From a strategic point of view, we have not only identified where the account opportunities exist but also where channel partners are. We understand the value channel partners can bring in. It is important for us to be specific and strategic with partners we can go to market with and form a strong relationship.” This is where GBM comes in, he adds. “Their great standing in the

John Hathaway, BeyondTrust

“It is important for us to be specific and strategic with partners we can go to market with and form a strong relationship.”

market, strong enterprise accounts across GCC and fast-growing security practices were some of the elements that attracted us to them. They have been our strategic partners from an early stage of the business.” Hasanian Layth Alkassab, regional security sales leader, GBM, says, “We have been a partner with BeyondTrust for the last two and half years. When we select a vendor, we look at a holistic integrated approach as a company. This means factors such as channel portal, easy access, sales resources and implementation support, which helps us to develop our expertise. BeyondTrust is the number one solution when it comes to PAM and the firm has a holistic integrated approach, which is in line with our business objectives.” The company has revamped its channel portal to make it a one-stopshop for partners. Hathaway says, “Self-sufficiency is key for partners. They need to have the right information at the right time. Our partners can take control of the opportunities and deliver professional services.” As a part of the enhanced portal, the vendor has also established a ‘BT University’ to enable partners to get certified on various proficiencies.

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

“This is a major change in our channel development programme. This gives our partners like GBM realistic abilities to be able to sit in front of the customer and talk about the sales perspective of the product, get involved in the technical PoCs and be able to run that from a post sales point of view to deliver services,” he says. The company’s channel programme is comprehensive and designed to support all phases of the sale for partners such as sales, pre-sales and post-sales enablement. According to Hathaway, the portal does more than that. He says, “After helping partners get enabled technically, there are resources within the channel portal such as white papers, sales collateral and marketing capabilities for them to run their own events. We also offer technical support, the ability to talk to our support team online.” When it comes to driving awareness about PAM solutions, Hathaway believes, partners will play a huge role here. “Partners will drive compliance and push the region’s demand for these kinds of solutions. We are also seeing a lot more awareness in terms of leads coming in from different channels.”

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NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

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REVIEW

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE8

RATING

With a big high-quality display, high-performing cameras, great software and responsive stylus, Samsung’s latest flagship just hits all the right notes. fter the fiasco of last’s year Galaxy Note 7, Samsung is looking to redeem itself and the decision to continue with the Note brand is a rather bold one. The Note 8, marks the company’s humble return to the phablet market and, in many ways, it has been a huge success. First things first, the Note8 is huge. The device has a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED screen, which is the biggest Samsung has ever squeezed into a Note. It has an 18.5:9 aspect ratio meaning screen is much taller than it is wide. The Note8 features the same ‘bezel-less’ Infinity Edge display as the latest Galaxy S series, where the left and right sides of the screen slope off to the side. Furthermore, the display is certified by the UHD Alliance for Mobile HDR Premium, meaning it can play 4K HDR content from video streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube. The Galaxy Note 8 has a premium look and feel. It sports a metal frame and all-glass design, with Corning’s Gorilla Glas 5 filling up the entire front and back. Of course, the biggest drawback with any phone made predominantly of glass or any shiny materials is how prone it is to fingerprints. However, it’s nothing that a phone case won’t be able to cover. On the right edge is the power button, and the left side houses the volume rocker and Bixby button. On the bottom, you’ll find the USB Type-C charging port next to a speaker grill, headphone jack, and S Pen. There’s no home button on the Note 8. As such, the fingerprint sensor is on the back next to the dualcamera setup. Under the hood, the phablet is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with 6GB of RAM. Despite Android 8.0 Oreo’s release in August this year, it comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat as its OS. In the UAE, it is

available at 64GB memory configuration, which can be expanded via a micro SD. Our favourite Note8 feature is the multi-tasking app. The device comes with an application called App Pair. This is accessed through the Edge Panel, which is a slide-out tray on the edge of the home screen that lets you add apps, contacts, or other items for quick access. App Pair lets you set two apps you can launch at the same time in split-screen mode. For example, you can set the calendar to launch above the email app with just one tap. The S Pen is, of course, one of the main highlights of the Note series. The latest iteration of stylus measures at 0.7mm and supports 4,096 points of pressure. Both the Note8 and the S Pen are IP68 water- and dust-resistant, so you can write notes underwater up to 1.5 metres for 30 minutes. With the S Pen and Samsung’s Always-On Display feature, you can easily make quick notes while on-thego. One of the newer features on the S Pen is Live Messages. This feature essentially lets you write message or draw on a background or a photo and turn it into a GIF, which you can post on social media or send to your friends. It’s quirky and quite gimmicky but it’s fun and interesting to use. As for the cameras, the Note8 sports a dual-camera setup on the rear. There are two 12MP cameras — both with optical image stabilisation (OIS). The primary lens is a wide-angle, with an f/1.7 aperture, and the telephoto lens has an f/2.4 aperture. The cameras make use of Samsung’s Live Focus feature, which blurs the background of a subject for a ‘bokeh’ effect.

What’s interesting though, is you can also adjust the amount of blur, before and after you take the photo. Meanwhile, the front-facing selfie camera is packed with 8MP, and comes with Snapchat-like face masks you can add to your face via the camera app. Both cameras come up with crisp and vivid images even at medium to low lighting. With a capacity of 3,300mAh, Note8’s battery is actually a little smaller than the one in the S8 Plus. However, the device’s battery life is quite good. We found that it can last up to at least eight hours of medium to heavy usage and can last up to a full day of normal usage. Samsung has also noted that the battery has undergone rigorous safety testing to ensure that the Note7 issue doesn’t happen again. Overall the Galaxy Note8 is a great premium phone. It has a speedy performance, responsive apps, useful features and S Pen, and it’s probably the smartphone with safest battery in the market to date. At AED 3,399, it might just be worth every dirham.

www.resellerme.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

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1MORE QUAD DRIVER IN-EAR HEADPHONES

RATING

Offering high-quality sound, the premium headphones are apt for audiophiles f you think you can’t get audiophile-quality sound in tiny earplugs, you haven’t heard of 1More’s new quad driver in-ear headphones. Said to be the world’s first THX certified headphone, the bullet-design ear plugs with an aluminium finish features four separate drivers – one carbon dynamic driver and three balanced armatures dedicated to different frequencies for impressive sound quality. Weighing 18.5 g, these headphones are tethered by 1.25 m long, anti-tangle copper wire.

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NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.resellerme.com

Compatible with both iOS and Android devices, you can control volume, change tracks and make crystal clear calls with built-in MEMS microphone. 1More quad driver headphones come in an excellent box, which includes leather carrying case, nine ear tips and airlines adaptors. With a high frequency range that extends to 40,000 Hz music takes life with transience, these are one of the premium-feeling headphones that we have handled and they offer you high-quality music without breaking the bank.

oogle has recently unveiled its Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. The two Pixel handsets are nearly identical, except for a few key differences in size and screen types. Aspects such as cameras, speakers, Qualcomm processors, and water resistance, are similar in both devices. The devices run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processors, offer 4GB of RAM. The Pixel 2, manufactured by HTC comes with 64GB of storage space and a 5-inch screen. Meanwhile, Pixel 2 XL, developed by LG, has a 6-inch screen and comes with in both 64GB and 128GB configurations. The Pixel 2 has a display density of 441 pixels per inch and the Pixel 2 XL has a plastic OLED display with 538 pixels per inch. A major change that some consumers may find controversial: Google has followed Apple’s lead and eliminated a dedicated headphone jack. Pixel 2 phones each have a 12.2MP rear camera with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization, beating the lenses on the previous generation of Pixel phones, which had f/2.0 apertures with electronic image stabilisation.

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HUAWEI LAUNCHES ROUTER NE9000 FOR 400G DCI SOLUTION Huawei has launched the 400G DCI solution and Petabit Router NE9000, which enables the rapid migration of massive amounts of data between data centres and eliminates bandwidth-related bottlenecks, improving bandwidth utilisation between data centres while reducing power consumption in equipment rooms. The company said it will greatly facilitate Middle East enterprises as they strive to smoothly evolve their data centre networks over the next 10 years. The 400G DCI solution features highspeed 400G interconnection technology in NE9000, along with intelligent global control based on the company’s Agile Controller. The solution enables the efficient operation of enterprise cloud services and supports the evolution of network bandwidth; it also brings services online quickly while monitoring and

adjusting network traffic in real time. According to the firm, customers that select its solution can enjoy globally adjustable and controllable networks, a 50 percent improvement in bandwidth utilisation, and a reduction in operating costs. The NE9000 is focused on high device density and energy efficiency, the defining characteristics of data centres. Its ultra-integrated industry first 4T router line cards offer energy savings of 50 percent, and the crucial issues of heat management for high-capacity boards and power consumption for devices are addressed through patented heat dissipation technologies including carbon nanotube thermal pads.

SONY INTRODUCES NEW 4K HDR HOME CINEMA PROJECTORS Sony has introduced three new models of home cinema projectors equipped with the company’s native SXRD panel, which according to the company, are capable of delivering high-contrast, detail-packed images for a truly immersive viewing experience. The three recently launched models include VPL-VW760ES, a laser light source projector in compact design that can reproduce stunning 4K HDR images; the VPL-VW360ES with adjustable function of image quality that is suited for various types of viewing contents; and the VPL-VW260ES that delivers immersive and authentic 4K HDR images with high level performance. Furthermore, in addition to HDR10 – the standard HDR format for UHD – the new projectors also support HLG for broadcast and online content. The VPL-VW760ES utilises a laser light sources with 2,000 lumens for

spectacular and long-lasting brightness. Furthermore, the projector can be easily installed in a shelf or hung from the ceiling because of its comparatively compact size of 496mm depth. Meanwhile, VPL-VW360ES on the other hand, allows viewers to experience 4K HDR with 1,500 lumens of brightness. In addition, it includes an Advanced Iris for 200,000:1 dynamic contrast and picture positioning memory to adjust to the aspect ratio of whatever content is being projected. Lastly, the VPL-VW260ES delivers a 4K HDR experience with high level performance. This 1,500 lumens projector includes many of the features of the other two projectors, including a native 4K SXRD panel, Reality Creation and TRILUMINOS, so users get precise and clear images at a cost-effective price point.

TECNO MOBILE UNVEILS PHANTOM 8 IN THE MIDDLE EAST Tecno has introduced its newest addition, the Phantom 8 in Middle East and Africa region. The regional launch took place in Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai in the presence of 200 guests. The newly-launched Androidoperated Phantom 8 features a “revolutionary camera, attractive design and high-speed experience” According to Google’s Consumer Barometer, in the UAE and KSA, 73 percent and 70 percent of smart phone users access their mobiles to takes photos or videos. Phantom 8 caters to this local demand and the firm claims its dual camera has the power to achieve 10 times super zoom and auto refocus. Tecno Mobile’s Phantom 8 comes with a front facing camera at 20 megapixels alongside a smart dual selfie flash. According to the company, the double front ring flash ensures taking photos even in a low light environment. The firm said that with 150 minutes of talk time with only 10 minutes of battery charge, the device is priced at AED 1399. Phantom 8’s diamond style design comes with a 3D Lighting, unibody metal edge and a 2.5 D Drip Screen-curved battery cover. It also possesses a 6 GB RAM plus 2.6 GHz CPU ultra-fast experience that supports 4G+ and download speed up to 300Mbps. It is compatible with Micro SIM or Nano SIM Card and supports up to 2TB (Terra Bytes) TF (Trans Flash) Card, and it holds 4 modules, 20 bands and covers more than 200 countries and zones.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

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HUAWEI ROLLS OUT MATE 10 SERIES

Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) has unveiled its AI-powered flagship smartphones – the Mate 10 series in the Middle East and Africa region. According to the firm, the new Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro and Porsche design Mate 10 devices are set to provide more comprehensive mobile intelligence through Mobile AI. Powered by the Kirin 970, Huawei’s new smartphone Systemon-a-Chip (SoC) which combines an 8-core CPU, a new generation 12-core GPU, and a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to power AI computing. Most importantly, the performance of the Kirin 970 NPU is unparalleled with 25 times that of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and with 50 times the efficiency of a CPU. The Huawei Mate 10 Series features a new Leica SUMMILUX-H camera with f/1.6 aperture to capture more light for low-light photography. Powered by Kirin 970’s dual ISP and Snapshot with AI Motion Detection, users can capture wonderful moments of children running or playing sports. AI-powered RealTime Scene and Object Recognition with Real-Time Auto Settings allows the camera to automatically adjusts and chooses settings to help users capture better photographs in a range of different environments The Huawei Mate 10 in 64 GB configuration and is available in Mocha Brown and Black colours at AED 2,299. Meanwhile Mate 10 Pro in 128 GB configuration will be available in Mocha Brown, Titanium Gray and Midnight Blue colours at AED 2,999 from end of November.

ACER INTRODUCES ASPIRE 7 LAPTOP Acer has launched a 17-inch Full HD laptop – Apire 7. The device has a 1080p resolution display, which according to the firm, allows true-to-life colors come alive. The Aspire 7 is designed to deliver the optimal user experience with a compelling look, said Acer. The laptop has a finely brushed pattern with an accented premium aluminum cover. It is also equipped wth features that support high quality video calls with the built-in HD camera and dual microphone system. The day or night backlit keyboard of the Aspire 7 enables customers to type comfortably anytime taking work productivity and entertainment experience.

Acer also highlighted that for those that have to juggle a more serious workload and conquer larger tasks the computer features a stronger CPU, immersive graphics with an extreme GPU. It sports Intel’s Kaby Lake processors, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, up to 32 GB of RAM. Storage wise, options include a HDD up to 2 TB or an SSD up to 512 GB. It also has a strong, consistent wireless signal with the strategically placed 802.11ac wireless antenna and 2x2 MIMO. It is currently available in the UAE starting at AED 5,599.

AMD RELEASES NEW RYZEN MOBILE PROCESSORS AMD has introduced Ryzen mobile processor, previously codenamed the ‘Raven Ridge’ mobile APU. designed to bring optimal efficiency for premium 2-in-1s, convertibles and ultrathin notebook computers. With a configurable 15-watt TDP, the AMD Ryzen 7 2700U and AMD Ryzen 5 2500U processors combine the architecture of “Zen” x86 cores-featuring AMD SenseMI Technology processor-level intelligence--with Radeon “Vega” graphics in a System-onChip design to achieve unprecedented ultrathin notebook performance. The AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, according to the firm, is the fastest processor for ultrathin notebooks, with up to 44 percent more multi-threaded CPU performance as well as up to 161 percent more graphics performance than the competition. Consisting of up to 4 cores and 8 threads, Ryzen mobile processors

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

include AMD SenseMI Technology and are designed for leadership performance in a sleek form factor. The AMD Ryzen™ 7 2700U processor also features a 15W nominal processor TDP. Ryzen mobile processors also introduce, for the first time, new Precision Boost 2 technology, which accelerates processor performance in workloads using from one to many CPU cores; and mobile Extended Frequency Range (mXFR) , which raises sustained performance in notebooks with great cooling solutions on notebooks certified for “Ultimate XFR Performance” The Ryzen Processor with Radeon Vega Graphics also provides impressive GPU performance, according to AMD. It delivers smooth and playable framerates at 1080p in popular eSports titles. In addition, it is ready to power the most advanced and beautiful displays including HDR, Radeon FreSync 2 , and 4K monitors.

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SAMSUNG ANNOUNCES GEAR SPORT Samsung has announced the arrival of its swim-ready Gear Sport smartwatch. The Gear Sport has a 1.2-inch Super AMOLED display, heart-rate monitor, water resistance, and a caffeine intake recorder. It is also equipped with the Samsung Pay feature, and comes in two colours black and blue. Samsung has opted for a 1GHz dual-core processor with 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. Samsung has collaborated with Speedo to develop the Speedo On-app, which enables users to monitor their swimming progress through synced strokes and lap records. Gear Sport has a water resistance rating of 50 meters under the ISO standard 22810:2010. It is not suitable for diving or high-pressure water activities.

The device runs Tizen instead of Android Wear, it is compatible with Android 4.4 or later and iPhone 5 or later running at least iOS 9. Users can change the look of the Gear Sport with a wide range of different straps and watch faces, which include Hybrid Sport, the Classic Leather, or the casual cool Premium Nato. The device’s resolution is 360x360 at 302ppi with Super AMOLED technology. The Gear Sport has NFC, GPS, an accelerometer, barometer, gyro and an ambient light sensor. With the tech inside, Samsung said the device can control control IoT (internet of things) devices via Samsung Connect. Users can also utilise it as a remote control for presentations or the Gear VR headset.

HP FLAUNTS ITS FIRST DETACHABLE PC WORKSTATION HP has unveiled the ZBook x2, which the company has dubbed as the “world’s most powerful detachable PC.” According to the company, the device has been designed to address the performance and mobility needs of artists, designers and digital imaging professionals who utilise Adobe Creative Cloud and other similar professional applications. The detachable PC comes with a quad-core i7 Intel Core processor with 4.2 GHz Intel Turbo Boost. The device also features HP Sure Start Gen311 for BIOS protection, TPM 2.0 for hardwarebased encryption to secure credentials, secure authentication methods through the Smart Card Reader and HP’s Client Security Suite Gen3 to protect data, device and identity, including facial recognition and fingerprint reader. The HP ZBook x2 embodies the intersection of mobility and performance in a fully-machined, aluminum and diecast magnesium body starting at just 1.6kg and 14.6 mm thin when in tablet mode, and 2.2kg and 20.3 mm in laptop mode. The HP ZBook x2 has a stunning 14-inch diagonal, 4K multi-touch display with an optional, 10-bit one-billion color

HP DreamColor display calibrated to 100 percent of Adobe RGB. It has an antiglare touchscreen and can power dual 4K displays from the HP ZBook Dock with Thunderbolt 3. This detachable PC has up to 10 hours of battery life for maximum productivity and ultra-fast recharge. The HP ZBook x2 offers up to 4.2 GHz of Intel Turbo Boost, 32 GB RAM over dual channels for more responsiveness under heavier workloads like complex layering in Photoshop. The HP ZBook x2 operates in four modes: laptop, detached, docked and tablet. Furthermore, with HP’s pen, users can create without interruption as the pen never needs to be charged. The battery-less, HP-designed pen based on Wacom EMR technology, responds instantly to every nuance of the artist’s hand for natural motion. The HP ZBook x2 offers 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity with multi-directional tilt capabilities and includes a dedicated eraser HP ZBook x2 is scheduled to be available in the UAE in December starting at AED 8,435.

WESTERN DIGITAL SHIPS 12TB WD GOLD HARD DRIVES

Western Digital Corporation has expanded its WD Gold hard drive lineup to include a 12TB capacity model. According to the firm, the new addition was designed to address demanding Big Data workloads. The new high-capacity hard drives provide for increased storage density in a range of enterprise and cloud storage applications. Whether data comes in the form of confidential consumer data, healthcare records or business intelligence, WD Gold hard drives provide a no-compromise storage solution that modern day IT managers need, according to the company. Designed for heavy-workload, high-vibration server environments, the new drives have a reliability rating (2.5 million hours MTBF) that is among the highest in WD’s hard drive portfolio. The drives utilise Western Digital’s 4th generation HelioSeal technology, which seals helium in the drive to help provide exceptional capacity, reliability and power efficiency. WD Gold 12TB hard drives (model number WD121KRYZ) feature a five-year limited warranty, and are available now through select distributors.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // NOVEMBER 2017

Tech talk Reseller Middle East's Online Editor Adelle Geronimo shares her views on the current tech scene.

Adelle Geronimo, Online Editor, Technology Division

A whole new world

ust before October ended, the Saudi Arabia government has made a huge announcement. How big? Let’s just say it spans 10,000 square miles and is worth $500 billion. The Kingdom’s Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defence, announced the country’s mega-city project NEOM. The city aspires to be the “safest, most efficient, most future-oriented” in the Kingdom. It sits adjacent to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and close to the maritime trade routes that use the Suez Canal. The project is the latest initiative aimed at fulfilling the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, where it plans to reduce dependence on oil and diversify its economy. The mega-city will focus on key industries such as food, entertainment, energy, water,

manufacturing and biotechnology sectors. The Saudi Prince envisions an AI-driven city, where drones hover above a thriving futuristic metropolis that utilises 3D and blockchain technologies, and where robots perform repetitive and arduous tasks instead of humans. He said that it is intended to inspire a “new generations of cities.” With services and processes within NEOM expected to be 100 percent fully automated and technology-focused, the city presents vast opportunities for businesses of all kinds from inside and outside the region. It will need services, technology, and infrastructure to connect it with the region. Most importantly, it will need human capital to make it all possible. However, there are key issues that will need to be addressed. Firstly, there are some who are skeptical of the project because of King Abdullah Economic City, which has lagged

NOVEMBER 2017 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

in fulfilling ambitions. Although the Crown Prince noted that the city will be independently operated, without any interference from “existing governmental framework,” the same degree of concern goes into future governance policies for NEOM. Culture is another potential bottleneck in the fruition of the project. Saudi Arabia is known to be an ultraconservative nation, which can be a hurdle in the city’s ambitions of bringing people from across the globe and offering them “a lifestyle that surpasses that of any other metropolis.” Nevertheless, a city of this size, built from nothing, will be a fascinating undertaking, however it turns out to be. There is no doubt this will further accelerate discussions around Smart Cities. Furthermore, it can push other initiatives for developing technologies related to enabling future-ready and connected societies.

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