Reseller Middle East August 2013 Issue

ISSUE 200 // AUGUST 2013 WWW.RESELLERME.COM

VAD’LL DO NICELY Picking out the players of value-addition

vendor focus: flying tp-link opts for longevity as it commits to the region head-to-head: hp takes the fight to lenovo in battle of the detachables forensics: how access data and arm plan to give back to the little guys

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 200 // august 2013

Highlights 6

cover feature

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

analysis 16 Kaspersky shake-up

Last month, Kaspersky’s long-serving regional managing director, Tarek Kuzbari, announced he was stepping down from his post. Reseller Middle East got the exclusive interview.

interview 20 Giving back to the little guy

Access Data specialises in IT forensics; isolating and analysing specific data sets for security. The company is making a move on the region, and has started by acquiring the distribution services of Advanced Risk Mitigation (ARM).

vendor focus 25 The Chinese invasion

The Middle East is renowned for producing impressive results in relatively short time frames, but TP-Link believes that longevity and commitment are in demand in the region.

Feature

28 Calculating value-add Long gone are the days of traditional distribution, with an ever increasing landscape of specialised technologies. Is providing additional value to vendors and partners the only way to get ahead?

32 Unified communications: Chances for channel

UC is changing the business landscape by enabling collaboration, while reducing expenses by combining multiple applications. The opportunities for vendors are obvious. But can the channel cash in on this snowballing technology?

Hot products BenQ Classroom IQ

WD Passport Ultra

head-to-head 42 Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Vs.

HP Envy X2

The surge of Windows 8 detachable laptops continues to rise, and HP fancies itself as a competitor for Lenovo.

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editorial Publisher Dominic De Sousa Group COO Nadeem Hood

Editorial Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 4409109

The way ahead

Assistant Editor Joe Lipscombe Contributing Editor Ben Rossi Online Editor Tom Paye

Advertising Commercial Director Rajashree R Kumar raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9131 Key Account Manager Merle Carrasco merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9134 Sales Manager Nasir Bazaz nasir.bazaz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9144

Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor

Circulation Database and Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147 Production and Design Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9146 Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9104 Digital www.resellerme.com DIGITAL SERVICES Digital Services Manager Tristan Troy P Maagma Web Developers Erik Briones Jefferson de Joya

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

Summer is usually a quiet period in this part of the world when business slows down. However, it’s a good time for the channel partners to take stock, reflect on what went right and wrong in the past six months, and come up with strategies to boost business going forward. Contrary to predictions, IT budgets remain flat and the economy wobbly. The channel was plagued by issues such as declining margins, credit, and increased competition. For resellers, shifting away from a product-dominated business model to a service-led one has become the basic tenet of survival. The distribution business model based on just logistics and finance is also fading away fast, and moving upstream seems to be the only option left before them to stay in business.

The ongoing slump in the PC market has taken the wind out of the sails of many channel partners but other bright spots have emerged on the horizon. Mobility business is thriving in the Middle East and a spate of recent breaches has brought security to the fore. System integrators and specialised value-added resellers have been able to capitalise on the demand for security solutions, while network upgrades have opened up new vistas of opportunities to those who are focused on this domain.

Though there is still a market for broadline distribution in the Middle East, we are seeing value-added distribution becoming more and more in demand, where the margins are still healthy. Probably, very unique to the Middle East, we are also witnessing the emergence of hybrid distribution models – broadliners getting into the value game and vice versa. Though most distributors have been talking about value-added services for a while now, it is becoming increasingly difficult to define what it really means as different disties have their own unique business models and ways of adding value. This is what our cover story for this month is all about, where we have delved deep and spoken to most of the key value players in the region to remove the veneer and pin down exactly what the term means. Flip the pages to learn from the leaders of the pack.

Photographer and Social Media Co-ordinator Jay Colina webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 Published by

Registered at IMPZ PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 Printed by Printwell Printing Press © Copyright 2013 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

august 2013

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highlights

News

Epson sees success in Saudi counterfeit campaign

Condo Protego bags partner excellence award from Symantec

Epson has pledged to build on its tough campaign against non-genuine goods after news that its success in protecting customers from counterfeit inks and printer ribbons is boosting confidence amongst resellers.

Strategic ICT Partner Epson had been working with the Technology Partners Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Commerce, the police and other local authorities during 2012, resulting in the seizure and destruction of counterfeit ink and ribbon cartridges from 57 resellers.

Fines of up to SAR 150,000 were levied on these companies and many were FOLLOW US @computernewsme removed from the commercial register making it very difficult for them to trade.

Data storage channel partner Condo Protego Mark Karsey, Epson’s Marketing was recognised by Symantec at its Symposium Services Manager for the Middle East, said: 2013 event with the “Opportunity Creation” “We work hard to protect Epson’s intellectual award within the Partner Excellence category property and brand and our uncompromising for the Middle East Gulf region. It is the fifth stance means that our channel partners and consecutive ai World Trade Centre | AT GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK | Exhibition hours: 11amyear -7pmCondo Protego received an customers are to a large degree protected accolade from Symantec. from counterfeit goods.

“Condo Protego stands out in the market with a unique approach, discussing issues and

Mins

sing in value

objectives with customers before coming up with a design-led solution and complementing it with the best post-implementation support around. We are proud to receive this award and will continue to invest heavily in supporting Symantec’s goals in the region,” said Savitha Bhaskar, General Manager, Condo Protego.

The company has achieved Symantec Master Specialization in all four Availability specialization areas, namely Archiving and e-Discovery, Storage Management, Data Protection Plus and High Availability. Condo Protego says it was the first partner in the region to have passed the rigorous quality control processes and trainings to achieve Master Specialization and currently is the only partner in the United Arab Emirates that has achieved Master Specialization.

Symantec Master Specializations recognise partners who exhibit consultative and technical support expertise. Through these specialisations, Condo Protego is well positioned to meet the evolving professional services needs of its customers and to provide its customers with a broad range of flexible service offerings on Symantec’s product portfolio.

Prologix signs up Anite Finland

operators, system integrators, and contractors in the region has given us a comprehensive understanding of the typical problems that they 14 -16 MAY 2013, QATAR are battling with today,” said Aditya Sahaya, Director, Sales, Prologix. “The tools that Anite PICTURE OFthese organisations NEMO provides will help THE dive deep intoHOUR their network to root out the core issues that hamper performance. Through our support in identifying and addressing these, our clients will be able to optimise the quality of their wireless voice and data services and maximise their revenue streams.”

According to the terms of the agreement, Aditya Sahaya, Director of Sales, Prologix Prologix will grow Anite NEMO business in GCC by catering to the network optimisation, Anite Finland has signed Prologix Distribution benchmarking and monitoring needs of ditya Sahaya, as Director, Business Development at Prologixpartner Distribution mobile operators, network equipment an authorised distribution for manufacturers, service contractors and its NEMO range of network management vest in training our partners and been the best GITEX yet, with a regulatory bodies in the country. Anite’s solutions in GCC. eeping them constantly updated on concrete set of visitors who are NEMO brand of products enables mobile “Our relationship with leading telecom

ur portfolio,” he said. qualified to do business. We have Sahaya believes that GITEX offers especially seen and met a lot of valuable platforms for distributors leads from KSA, West Africa and 6 august 2013 Reseller Middle East uch as Prologix to touch base Nigeria in particular in addition to th existing partners while actively Pakistan and the CIS countries,” eeting new prospects. “This has Sahaya concluded.

network operators and manufacturers to measure the coverage and quality of their networks. These tools provide information on a number of key metrics including call quality, data download and upload speeds, signal reliability, interaction with neighbouring cells, and efficiency of connectivity ‘hand-off’ for devices on the move.

Tuomas Laukka, Director, Anite Finland, Middle East said, “We are very happy to enter into the partnership with Prologix as they are committed to delivering the highest performing networking solutions to their customers. They have demonstrated a deep understanding of RF technologies and possess a technical skill set that places them among an elite group of regional specialists. This knowledge and experience coupled with our market leading technologies is sure to bring even greater success to both our organisations.”

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highlights

News

Westcon trains Avaya channel partners

Westcon Group claims to have advanced the enablement of its channel through the successful delivery of Avaya Professional Sales Specialist trainings and certifications to 18 of its reseller and system integrator partners.

These trainings which have bolstered participating partners’ knowledge and capabilities in Avaya SME-IP office and enterprise unified communications technologies were provided free of charge as a value-add by Westcon.

Commenting on Westcon’s abilities that extend beyond the scope of traditional distribution, Tanya Lobo, Channel Director, MEA & Turkey at Avaya said, “Having a partner with capabilities and dedication that Westcon

repeatedly demonstrates greatly enhances the value through the entire distribution chain. The trainings they have provided will enable their partners to approach customers with a watertight business case for the implementation of Avaya’s technologies.

This in turn will result in customer wins and benefits for every party involved.”

Manoj Panchal, Divisional Manager, Westcon Convergence said, “Our distribution model and award winning ‘Westcon Way’ recruit, enable & grow- methodology goes well beyond simply providing IT products to the channel. Having highly skilled reseller and SI partners is an invaluable and fundamental asset to our organisation as

it helps us deliver the best solutions and the greatest value right down to the end customer. This is why we lay a great deal of emphasis on our value add services.”

Westcon conducted the trainings - Avaya Professional Sales Specialist, UC Fast Track and Avaya Professional Sales Specialist, SME Fast Track which were attended by 25 and 20 executives from partner organisations respectively. The training credentials validate that the candidate has basic-to-intermediary knowledge in selling Avaya products and customer focused solutions using best practices in selling and competitive sales techniques.

The courseware focuses on how to craft probing questions that help identify problems that form the basis of the proposed solution.

Candidates are then taught how to leverage these insights in order to communicate the value of associated software, applications, and hardware and software-based service offerings, as applicable. The Avaya Professional Sales Specialist credentials are valid for one year and are reserved exclusively for Avaya channel partners and associates.

Logicom signs distribution pact with Qnap Systems

Demetris Demetriou & Richard Lee, Chairman of Qnap Logicom has recently signed a partnership agreement with QNAP Systems, which provides network attached storage (NAS) and network video recorder (NVR) solutions. The agreement names Logicom as the official distributor of QNAP storage products and solutions across a range of countries in EMEA including Cyprus, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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Logicom will be distributing QNAP’s recently launched Turbo NAS TS-x21 and TS-x20 series for home users and home offices. Both series deliver superior performance for daily file storage, sharing, and data backup, and serve as ideal media centres for storing and sharing large multimedia files.

According to QNAP representative Tony Chou, “We are pleased to strengthen our distribution network with Logicom and we will be offering QNAP NAS, the new Turbo NAS operating system QTS4.0 to the Middle East

market. Logicom is a well-known VAD for IT products in EMEA region and we believe we will be able to offer a wider product range of QNAP NAS . Logicom will be able to deliver to home, SMB and the SME market a new experience for data storage, backup and sharing.”

With this agreement, Logicom further builds on its value added division which offers its partners technical support and presales assistance, technology training and education, as well as logistics and financial services. The addition of QNAP to its portfolio complements the company’s existing partnership with Western Digital, a longtime leader in hard drive technology design and manufacturing, as QNAP’s storage solutions support the WD Network Attach Storage Hard drives.

Demetris Demetriou, General Manager of Logicom Dubai has stated that “NAS products are well received both from the home users as well as from the SMBs. QNAP is one of the leading brands in this segment and we anticipate that this move will augment our offering to the market with new technologies that can assist in the lifestyle of the high tech individual that can download videos, photographs, files and data.”

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highlights

News

Spectrami scoops Actifio accolade

Anand Choudha, MD, Spectrami Spectrami, the value added distributor for Actifio’s copy data storage solutions in the Middle East, has scooped the Best Performer of the Year award from the vendor. The award was presented to Spectrami at Actifio’s first Bootcamp event, recently held in Barcelona, Spain, to celebrate the success of Actifio in the EMEA region.

Through its partnership with Spectrami, Actifio have been able to develop an effective value proposition for its copy data storage solutions to enterprises in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

Anand Choudha, Managing Director, Spectrami, said: “Winning this award is an incredible achievement for us, as it shows the strength, skills, commitment and integrity of team Spectrami to produce the best performance all across the EMEA region.”

“This has been a great year for us, having won three prestigious industry awards recently, this recoginsation from Actifio reflects our efforts at the market place and faith of our partners in us to grow together. We would like to thank every single member of the Actifio team for extending their support to make this performance possible.”

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FVC certifies for new Polycom training programme Polycom has announced that FVC has been certified for its new Authorised Training Partner (ATP) programme.

The ATP programme, an enhancement to the retired partner programme that FVC previously had with Polycom, empowers select Polycom distributor partners, with a demonstrated expertise in Polycom RealPresence solutions and RealPresence Service specialisation, to offer classes and training to certify reseller partners on Polycom RealPresence solutions. Through this designation, FVC is able to rapidly expand its education and training offering for Polycom solutions throughout the regional markets in which they operate.

The ATP programme is a key initiative for FVC, which focuses on the creation and implementation of unique and custom value-added support programmes and services for its reseller partners.

As an ATP, FVC can provide easy access to training and greater flexibility on scheduling and locations for resellers. These certifications are important for resellers looking to implement and support the Polycom solutions they sell.

“We are very excited to continue to serve as a Polycom Authorised Training Partner in

Dharmendra Parmar, GM of Marketing at FVC

the region. The programme reinforces our commitment to Polycom, and also allows us to provide our resellers with the training and support required for them to deliver more comprehensive Polycom solutions to their end-user customers,” said Dharmendra Parmar, GM of Marketing at FVC. “This level of support allows resellers to strengthen their relationships and enhance their service offering.”

FVC’s Polycom certified instructors taught their first class on 9th June 2013 covering RMX and HDX product specific training.The Q3 course schedule includes multiple offerings of the Polycom RealPresence Platform installation, configuration and troubleshooting training, as well as RMX and HDX product specific training.

Comguard’s Senior VP to depart

Mohammad Mobasseri, Senior Vice President, Comguard Mohammad Mobasseri, Senior Vice President, Comguard, is set to leave the distributor at the end of August 2013.

The announcement was made via a personal email from Mobasseri sent to members of the regional channel community and the press. Though he did not give any

specific reasons for leaving Comguard, he said that he found the decision “irresistible”.

“After six years of exciting, challenging and very eventful time in Comguard [sic], it is with mixed emotions that I am leaving the company by end of August 2013,” he wrote.

Speaking briefly to Reseller Middle East via email, Mobasseri said that the decision to leave Comguard was based on personal discussions but would not elaborate. However, he said that he was not going to depart on a sour note.

“I had six years [of a] great time with Comguard, and still we have a great relation,” he told us.

Mobasseri is widely credited with advancing Comguard’s standing as a valueadded security distributor over the past few years. He nabbed sole distribution rights with vendors such as GFI Software, and, according to that vendor at least, has been instrumental in growing sales despite tough market conditions.

www.resellerme.com

highlights

News

CompuMe rebrands as tecbuy

Dikran Tchablakian, CEO, tecbuy CompuMe UAE has revealed a rebranding initiative that includes the launch of a new name and logo, and will now be called ‘tecbuy.’ According to the company’s senior executives, the firm has served the region’s IT industry over the last 15 years and after successfully selling the operation outside of the UAE, has now decided to rebrand to a new name, which further builds on the connection between the strength of its commitment to their consumers for excellent service and its diverse portfolio of IT products. The rebranding is part of the company’s continuing move to strenghten its market presence and reach out to a wider customer base in the UAE. “These are exciting times for the region’s IT and digital electronics segments—which have seen the growing popularity of mobility based devices like tablets, smartphones, cameras and laptops. This increasing preference for all things digital represents a successful fusion between the IT and electronics industry,” said Dikran Tchablakian, CEO, tecbuy. “Looking to play a major part in this growth, we have decided to rebrand as ‘tecbuy,’ ushering forth a new phase in our company’s continuing development as a retail management enabler. With a new name and a new logo, ‘tecbuy’ is expected to drive in stronger market presence throughout the region via our signature ‘store-in-store’ concept of leveraging world class high quality technology products and services.”

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Citrix names new VP for Midlde East Citrix has announced the appointment of Johnny Karam as its new vice president for Middle East and Africa.

Karam brings extensive sales experience to Citrix and will be focused on driving awareness and adoption of mobile workstyles across MEA, as customers in the region increase adoption of mobility, desktop virtualisation and cloud computing technologies.

Reporting to Carlos Sartorius, Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, Karam will be responsible for the growth and development of Citrix operation across the Middle East and Africa, generating new business opportunities and cultivating the company’s valued partner ecosystem.

“Mobile workstyles are at a tipping point in countries across MEA. The consumerisation of IT has begun to heavily influence the enterprise, driving demand for a more cost effective and flexible way of working,” says Johnny Karam, Vice President, MEA, Citrix.

“There is a significant opportunity for these technologies to help businesses in the Middle

Johnny Karam, Vice President, MEA, Citrix East and Africa embrace flexible working, foster self-service and create more agile IT environments. The prospects open to me by joining the company were clear from the outset; Citrix leads in the enterprise mobility space.”

Prior to joining Citrix Karam held the position of Managing Director, Middle East and French speaking Africa at Symantec.

Based in Dubai, Karam has also worked for NavLink and Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie in Paris.

Matco wins EMC award

For the second year in a row, Saudi-based MATCO came out a big winner at the 2013 EMC Europe, Middle East and Africa Velocity Solution Provider Breakout awards.

MATCO was recognised as the Best Reseller of the Year. The event, which was held as part of EMC’s Global Partner Summit at EMC World, was attended by more than 750 EMC Channel Partners from EMEA and was held from May 6-9, 2013 at The Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada.

MATCO ICT Managing Director, Toni Prince, who was present to receive the award

commented, “MATCO is highly recognised by receiving such prestigious awards; a TEAM region award in 2012 and an EMEA award in 2013 showing our continuous commitment and dedication to this valuable partnership. This is also great news to add to the fact that MATCO has been appointed as the first EMC Signature Solution Center Partner in Saudi Arabia. We now look forward to the coming year to introduce and increase sales of more of our products and services to the Saudi market.”

Award winners were selected based on their relationship and commitment to EMC, as well as their ability to extend EMC’s reach into the marketplace and add value to its information infrastructure solution offerings.

www.resellerme.com

highlights

News

Jumbo Electronics selects Alcatel-Lucent for IT refresh

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Alcatel-Lucent has signed a unique deal with Jumbo Electronics to refresh and renovate its data centre, LAN infrastructure and Wi-Fi services, the vendor revealed.

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V. Suresh, Head of the Management Services Division at Jumbo Electronics

innovative technologies especially in the data centre space.”

Adding to the importance of the announcement V. Suresh, Head of the Management Services Division at Jumbo Electronics stated, “It has been an absolute pleasure to have been associated with Alcatel-Lucent. Their frequent customer visits to the Jumbo offices and focused commitment into training our staff easily makes them our ideal IT partners. Their support will indeed add great value to Jumbo’s IT networks; and we look forward to a long standing and successful relationship.”

Alcatel-Lucent has implemented the 9702e core switch into their data centre, which has all the servers available, The Omniswitch 6900 has been used as the TOR Switch (Top of Rack) to which the servers are connected. In addition there are 6450 switches in the LAN to which the users are connected and a AP105 with a 6000 series Wireless LAN controller, along with an Omnivista Network Management system.

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Alcatel-Lucent believes the announcement is significant, as it provides these services to one of the leading electronics retailers in the region.

The agreement will have Alcatel-Lucent upgrade and refresh Jumbo Electronics data centres, LAN infrastructure and add Wi-Fi services at their Dubai Headquarters. To complete this end-to-end solutions delivery, Alcatel-Lucent’s Premium business partner, Al Futtaim Technologies, was chosen for deployment and maintenance of this network.

The agreement is believed to be a major boost for Jumbo Electronics data centre, and will contribute to reduced costs, lower energy consumption and improved workflow.

The agreement is a major steppingstone for Alcatel-Lucent’s presence in the region. Commenting on the announcement, Vikram Dhar, Enterprise Sales Manager of Alcatel-Lucent stated, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Jumbo Electronics here in the region. It gives ALUE the ideal opportunity to showcase our

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Value added distributor for award winning security and storage products in the Middle East.

1207 Indigo Icon, Cluster F3 JLT Dubai, UAE, P.O. Box 487840 Tel :- +971 4 4357209 Fax :- +971 4 4357216

analysis

Kaspersky

Tarek Kuzbari, Former Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab MENA

Khalid Abu Baker, Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab MENA

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Kaspersky shake-up Last month, Kaspersky Lab’s long-serving regional managing director, Tarek Kuzbari, announced he was resigning from his post and that corporate sales manager, Khalid Abu Baker, would replace him with immediate effect.

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In an exclusive interview with Reseller, Kuzbari explained that he will be moving to England to continue ongoing studies and believes he would be unable to adequately fulfil his role as managing director of the security firm. However, Abu Baker claimed that he is perfectly poised to step up and help Kaspersky tackle Symantec for the enterprise security crown.

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analysis

Kaspersky

And with the hint of another major distribution partnership on the verge of being signed, the future may look bright for Kaspersky.

“In the last year I have found it very difficult to balance my time between the two. There is a lot to be done here which I won’t be able to commit to, therefore I have decided to take the next step and finish my MBA, going a separate way from the company,” said Kuzbari.

The widely-recognised MD, who has been with Kaspersky since 2008, remained coy about whether or not he would return once his studies had been completed.

“I’ve learned many key skills here; business development, turnaround operations, and leadership and management. These are the three key areas and I’m still working on these in my class. I believe these have given me more of an advantage to move into a senior position. [In another company?] I don’t know, I’m really focused much more on the course right now, and not the job.”

A new man for new heights?

Kaspersky Lab is currently market leader in the consumer space, regionally, but the company has its sights set on taking the corporate

“To gain great success here is hard, but we did it, and the decision to move on was a very hard one.”

“There is a lot of discussion about me coming back, but who knows? It’s a big family here, there’s been great things done, but let’s see,” he explained.

“When I started here, we were almost unknown, now we’re leading in the consumer business. To gain great success here is hard, but we did it, and the decision to move on was a very hard one.”

However, Kuzbari hinted that he might seek a more senior position at a new company, suggesting that he had learned all he could from Kaspersky.

“For sure, I’ve learned all I can here. To grow over 100 percent yearon-year is very challenging, these things you cannot learn from books.

The current relationship with the customers, the success stories, it’s been an amazing journey.

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crown, something that Kuzbari claimed his successor is ideally placed to do. Has this move come at the right time for Abu Baker?

“Our strategy over the last year has changed. We’re number one in consumer, now we need to grow on the enterprise side. The difference in our value to Symantec is very small, and Khalid is very good in this area.

The difference is around $150,000, if we close this, then we’re number one.

We can do this.”

Khalid Abu Baker added: “Maybe this has come at the right time, I have this experience. It’s the company’s new focus on B2B business, and it’s my role to grow the market share.

Tarek was one of the best managers I’ve ever seen. He knows how to delegate responsibilities and taking over will be very challenging for me.”

“I’m comfortable, the management is good, the people are good, and we know where we want to go. I’ve been a part of this company for the past four years, it’s not a new world to me. I want to step up and help us drive in the right direction,” he said.

Busy first term Abu Baker looks to have his work cut out, Kaspersky signed a major distribution deal with Westcon in order to grow the enterprise business not eight months ago, and the company claimed that it hasn’t stopped there.

“The past eight month’s we’ve been in deep discussion with Westcon as well as one other that we’ve got coming in. It’s another distributor, a new one, but we can’t discuss that yet. It’ll be a couple of weeks.”

Sources are suggesting that the distributor will be none other than Aptec, which could be a KO blow for Symantec in the enterprise security chain.

Bowing out on good terms Though Kuzbari claimed it would be tough to see Kaspersky gain the enterprise crown without being there to help, he believes that the team most certainly has the ability to complete the task, and that it has been very understanding during the talks of his resignation.

“Our COO also studied at the London Business School, so when everyone was surprised by my announcement, he understood how much time and commitment the programme needs.

Still, there are opportunities in the company, but I’m focusing on the course for now. Eugene has been great too, he’s passionate and amazing. He’s allowed us to have lots of opportunities and we’ll definitely stay in touch,” he concluded. //

www.resellerme.com

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analysis

ARM

Giving back to the little guy Advancements in cyber-crime has forced the industry to be more vigilant than ever. Companies are now needing to take more advanced and detailed accounts of their data in order to present better analysis of activity.

In step AccessData, specialising in digital investigation software, capable of isolating specific memories. The company has recently made an effort to increase its visibility in the region by acquiring the services of Advanced Risk Mitigation (ARM), which has just setup-shop in Dubai.

What is your business strategy in the Middle East, and why can you be successful here?

We have been working in Dubai now for just two months, distributing with AccessData only.

Our strategy is all about gaining resellers – that’s where the success lies. We won’t ever work directly in the market, our plan is to reinvest our money into our resellers and for them to reinvest their money into our technology.

It is challenging here because it’s a niche technology, but I like a challenge.

This region is now our main focus, it’s about trying to get out there and get people to spend some money. The challenge is that a lot of security vendors will be telling customers that they don’t need us.

But there has been some breaches here, and that’s good for the region, it’s made people see that they need to get protected.

It’s important that we’re here because when you have big problems, it’s always the man on the street that suffers. Take the financial crisis in Cyprus, it wasn’t the big guy who suffered, they got the call and

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pulled their money out. It was the little guy that suffered, because they were unaware of what was happening. Had we got the call, we could have blown the whistle on these people and told them to put their money back in and support the economy. It’s time to give back to the little guy.

Are people aware of AccessData, and why this technology is important?

AccessData was born out of Forensic Tool Kits (FTK) and has grown phenomenally. People want to be a part of the solution now, instead of running around trying to find out what happened when something goes wrong. It’s not about security alerts and sounding the alarm now, it’s about real-time analysis of true information in order to lay out exactly what is going on and why.

One thing it does, for example, is real-time recording. You can’t present logs in court, you can’t explain data logs and records to a judge, but show people a real-time picture and they’ll get it. That’s where this becomes so important. For example, use this magazine, if you wanted to take a new issue to market, but your competition

sees what you’re doing, and beats you to print with a story, people will buy their issue, not yours. So you want to look over the network and see who has had access to it, what they’re looking at, when, why and what they’re doing with that information.

What importance does your role hold?

Like anything, you need to bring in people from the outside to do a high level of analysis for you. You can teach your own guys, but eventually you’ll need an outsider to help with advice and guidance in order to deal with this kind of analysis. Why is this important? Take the BP spill for example; they would need a lot of information to defend their case to Wall Street. They would need expert help in locating and gathering this information in order to have a good view of what happened.

We’ve been able to educate people to the required level to benefit from this technology in Africa, and the education level is a little higher here, so hopefully we will be able to reach a whole new level here. I mean, in Africa we did an installation in a place which had a hole in the roof. // www.resellerme.com

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Condo Protego

Fix Up, Look Sharp

There’s no success without the blood, sweat and tears of a proper training regime, says Condo Protego CEO Andrew Calthorpe

Andrew Calthrope, CEO, Condo Protego

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This summer has been packed with immense sporting drama.

Andy Murray smashed his way into tennis history, the imperious British Lions rampaged on tour and Chris Froome pedaled away with Great Britain’s second consecutive Yellow Jersey in the Tour De France.

At the time of writing, Australia was even getting schooled in the Ashes.

But, as a life-long Manchester United fan, I’d be lying if all of that won’t pale in comparison to what will

Reseller Middle East

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transpire from 17 August when the Red Devils kick off their first post-Fergie Premiership.

Thinking about new boss David Moyes’s challenge ahead – and indeed the remarkable aforementioned sporting glories – it struck me how critical training and preparation will always be to achieving the desired result. Freaks of nature aside, it clearly takes endless, evolving and intense fine-tuning to be the best – not to mention plenty of drilling of the basics.

I’d like to think the same applies to us VARs. Personally, I am totally obsessed with training that can improve our prospects in the market.

And I’m a firm believer that this attitude isn’t just important for us - it is vital for our entire industry.

Resellers, retailers, VARs and SIs alike must invest in training to consistently ramp up the quality of service offered across the region.

This is one of the most tech-hungry parts of the world, and its ability to scale and do business in the most efficient and profitable manner will be hamstrung without access to worldclass project enablers.

From the outset, we have been strong advocates of going the extra mile in terms of training, particularly when it comes to seeking certifications that enable us to stand out from the crowd.

For example, we have pulled out all the stops to become one of the Middle East’s most experienced and capable

Symantec partners, one of the main companies we work with.

In 2011, we achieved Master Specialisation in all four Availability specialisation areas, namely Archiving and e-Discovery, Storage Management, Data Protection Plus and High Availability. We were the first partner in the region – and are currently the only one in the UAE – to pass the rigorous quality control processes and training steps to achieve Master Specialisation.

Condo Protego is also a Signature EMC Velocity Partner, the highest possible tier of accreditation.

The reason we do this is simple: our clients demand it.

Increasingly, businesses and organisations are willing to pay for quality, and that means VARs that are trained and certified to the gills.

Projects are becoming ever more complex and issues like data storage and protection are now integral to day-to-day operations. Quick fixes and corner cutting are, thankfully, starting to become history.

Of course, a hugely positive corollary to training at full pelt – beyond the enhanced ability to do the job and turn a profit – is that it contributes to the long-term sustainability of our industry.

The region’s skill shortage is well-known, so companies like Condo Protego and, indeed, our partners need to be world class 24/7 in order to attract and retain the best talent out there, as well as be ready and able to nurture the workforce(s) of the future. All great teams need to be constantly refreshed with new talent; ‘players’ that are tactically appropriate and able to deliver for the customer when called upon.

Making everything click is undoubtedly hard work, but somebody has got to do it; you’re either fit for purpose, competitive and hungry for success or you’re irrelevant. Hopefully, Moysey agrees with me! //

www.resellerme.com

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TP-Link

The Chinese invasion The Middle East is renowned for producing impressive results in relatively short time frames, but TP-Link believes that longevity and a commitment to an innovative roadmap are in demand in the region. Is TP the missing link for the Middle East?

Vendor focus

What do we already know about TP-Link? The Chinese company has grappled 37.3 percent market share since 1996 in wireless LAN products, it has shown an annual average growth rate of 45.5 percent year-on-year, it holds a 110 million units sales volume, it does business with around 395 distributors worldwide, 164 of which reside in the Middle East, and is racing towards 15,000 employees.

But what we didn’t realise was that TP-Link, though number one in WLAN

Vendor focus

products globally, according to IDC, is on an aggressive mission to ambush the Middle East market.

Jason Xu, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, during a visit to the region claimed that TP-Link is ready to pounce on the Middle East market, following Cisco’s exit from the consumer arena with the sale of Linksys to Belkin at the start of the year, and the apparent lack of balance between brand, image and quality of D-Link.

“They don’t know how to balance image, brand and margins,” Xu said.

“We spend as much time on quality as we do on design. These are fantastic products, and that’s the customers speaking, not us.”

TP-Link claims to be putting 8 percent of revenues into R&D, and firmly believes that its investment into its own manufacturing factory, which boasts 326,000 square meters of floor space, is the ideal setting for it to produce a portfolio of products which can stand the test of time, design wise, as well as offer market leading quality.

Mud sticks But one main issue it faces here, according to its VP, is that many people associate Chinese companies with poor quality products, something which can brandish the reputation of a decent Chinese business.

“People look at our brand and assume, because it’s from China, that it’s low quality, therefore the emphasis for us to increase our brand awareness is very important,” he said.

“We do believe that quality is number one, D-Link doesn’t provide as good quality. People trust your brand because they know it can provide such

TP-Link

Jason Xu, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, TP-Link

quality. If they have one bad experience then they will never trust you again.”

Know your target market TP-Link openly admits that its awareness of the Middle East market, as well as the Middle East market’s awareness of itself, has been fairly limited up until this point. Building the brand remains number one priority.

“We were like a blind man at the start, we didn’t know the market, so we set some people down here, brought in some local people, and now our hub is in Dubai,” said Xu. “We are actively trying to increase our partner and distribution eco-system.

There are hundreds of resellers here, so

“We spend as much time on quality as we do on design.

These are fantastic products, and that’s the customers speaking, not us.”

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it’s very difficult for us to get around to meet them all face-to-face, and so we want to build a partner base that can then extend our portfolio to that market.”

The problem with the Middle East market, Xu believes, is that many companies cannot sustain themselves here, leaving the resellers in a very uncomfortable position. TP-Link claims its mission to provide long-term roadmaps in order to avoid plunging its resellers into difficult territories.

“If someone buys a product from a reseller, and then the company dies, and there is an issue with the product six months down the line, the reseller is going to be in some trouble. Because once the customer has an issue with a product which isn’t being stocked anymore, the reseller has to deal with the consequences, “We can provide top quality products, on top of a sustainable roadmap for support and confidence,” he concluded. //

www.resellerme.com

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feature

VAD

Calculating value-add Long gone are the days of traditional distribution. With an ever increasing landscape of specialised technologies, distributors are finding themselves locked in heavier competition than ever before. Is providing additional value to vendors and partners the only way to get ahead?

Over the past few years, the argument about whether or not distributors need to add value to stay competitive has been fierce. Before 2013, most distributors agreed that it was in fact a myth, and most said that they didn’t provide any value adding services at all. However, now it’s a different story, and most, if not all, of the distributors that Reseller has spoken to have, or plan to add, value added services.

So what is the game, and how do you play it?

The channel business hasn’t always been this way, but Khaled Kamel, Regional Channel Manager, Brocade, says that a major change in the way that the market works dramatically influenced how competition in the region targets its vendors.

“The market is now wide open, and this comes down to an old story about Emitac. It had a 30-year-old HP agreement that anything with the HP logo on it, in the Middle East, had to be distributed by Emitac. But then a change happened and this was to open up the exclusivities. This was game changing for the distribution industry,” he recalls.

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Optimus technology & telecom “Ironically, the term “value added distributor” has long been misused for want of differentiation in the region. The benchmark for the market to distinguish between “value” and “non-value” players is to establish the following parameters: Is the distributor operating in a model of long term reseller and end-customer engagement? What part of the distributor’s business is project based?

What involvement does the distributor have in developing the capabilities of value added reseller apart from vendor certification enablement? Does the VAD/VAR have a recurring revenue model? Does the VAD have higher end customer retention within his channel? And how efficiently has the working capital of the VAD been used?

The final benchmark indication of the nature of a distributor’s business is indeed the type of products that the distributor has in his portfolio.

Value distributors essentially provide solution and services to their channel and standalone product sales does not classify itself in the “value” definition.

Optimus is one of the few companies in the region that has innovated its channel approach, services portfolio, and value added service offerings by continuously being ahead of the curve. Optimus has proven that a pure play value model is indeed successful, even in a market where success is determined by volume parameters.”

Meera Kaul, MD, Optimus Technology & Telecom

www.resellerme.com

“Vendors now want far more value.

They want distributors to compliment what they do.”

Sarwan Singh, Managing Director, Prologix Distribution

“Previously, this was a dangerous game for distributors; if you’re on credit-based conditions and some of your distributors aren’t making margin, or perhaps find themselves in trouble, then their business could be paralysed, leaving you in a spot of trouble. But having multiple distributors means you still have the opportunity to grow your business regardless.”

However, VADs believe that this hasn’t caused a shift in power – it’s the vendors who hold the cards.

That’s not to say that distributors aren’t having more and more influence on vendor’s business decisions, as well as adapting more and more to what vendors are asking for.

“Vendors now want far more value.

They want distributors to compliment what they do,” says Sarwan Singh, Managing Director, Prologix.

“Vendors with capabilities in the region are limited for niche services, that’s why we are, and can be so important – because of our niche approach. Vendors are looking for distributors that act like an extended arm of them. We have to perform as a vendor for our partners and ensure the complete delivery of the product and services attached to it.”

But of course this availability in the market does create the stern competition which complicates deals between vendor and distributor. K.S. Parag, Managing Director, FVC, says that his business tries its level best

John Andrews, Director of Marketing MEA & APAC, Computerlinks

computerlinks “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to both define and identify with this label. Computerlinks has in fact opted for a more appropriate “Next Generation Distribution” tag line as we felt it was more suited to the reality of life after value add.

With so many niche and boutique distributors opening their doors in the region and labelling themselves “value add” based on their technical expertise, or a certain selective portfolio of smaller vendors, it’s rapidly become a blurred line in the sand as to what truly represents value add.

Some of the more recognised names in the market would say that credit, finance, logistics and product dedicated sales teams offer value and that’s entirely true but by that standard I think we can agree that everyone qualifies as “value add”.

Our view on the subject is much clearer. Value add is the benchmark for a minimum level of market excellence. It’s what you do beyond these traditional aspects which will really define your status in the market Distributors have become a more and more essential cog in the day to day process and hence the development of additional services and complimentary offerings to deliver on that unwritten promise.

It’s a fairly diverse market now and I think that’s a healthy situation. At Computerlinks we try to offer value based on what we hear from our partners, vendors and channel, what they ask us to deliver and also what we see the market demanding in the future. It’s a constantly changing landscape, and it’s challenging to stay ahead of the curve.”

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VAD

Mindware “There is new concept floating about; next generation or new generation distributor. Mindware is focusing on VAD for our partners because we believe that the value of the distributor is a key role in growing the business in the market. The distributor has more exposure on different kinds of partners and verticals in the region and our expertise helps grows the market for the vendors. We can do things for them like make marketing decisions and do proof of concepts – last year we did more than 100 channel workshops. We aspire to be one of the best value-add distributors in the Middle East.

We’re based out of Lebanon, and so we have regional expertise, that’s definitely helpful. Regional breadth is one of our strengths.

We have offices all over the region, but our main hub is here in Dubai, because of the business value of its location. This is all part of the value-add. Usually the distributor who is involved with the local partners will always be a step ahead of the vendor in terms of knowing where the market is and where their deals can go.”

Eyad Al-Eriksousi, Business Unit Manager, Mindware

Jose Thomas, MD, Bulwark Technologies

Bulwark technologies “We are dealing in technology products, so it is important to provide services along with the products in today’s market. End customers are looking for full utilisation of the solution they purchase, and trouble free working while concentrating on their business area. We cannot just push products anymore.

One of the key advantages vendors have found working with us is that they do not have to be on the ground for every question raised in the market. We are like the regional office of any vendor.

Vendors trust us to be there when the customers call. Resellers can trust us to ensure proper services to their customers – so they can provide value as well.

The Middle East market is unique in various ways. Different work days and cultural differences pose challenges to vendors from the Western world. As a value-added distributor, we understand the local market and are able to deliver on behalf of the vendors.”

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“As a VAD, we’ve always done our best not to bring competing products into our portfolio. For us, it’s do or die.

Either we win with a solution or we lose, we don’t bring in another competitive product in that place. We believe in the products we select, so if they lose, we lose. We would turn people away who want to partner with us in an area where we’re already selling – and we have done.”

KS Parag, MD, FVC

www.resellerme.com

We consider these demands from a vendor as an opportunity to differentiate from competition whose models are more driven by “earns and turns” Sajith Raj, Regional Distribution Manager, Logicom

Steve Lockie, MD, Westcon Group

Westcon Group “Westcon Group has continuously played at key role in growing the role of value-added distributors in the Middle East. Our entire value based offering revolves around understanding the requirements of the channel and helping the partners through our focus on recruit, enable and grow.

It is very important today for a distributor to not only offer value added services but to ensure that they are offering the right set of value added services. With the evolution of the IT channel landscape, the true role of a value added distributor is to support the partners and help them grow.

Distributors are in fact today playing a key role in helping the vendors by not only recruiting the right set of partners but also ensuring that these partners grow through demo investments, specialisations, etc.”

to not distribute competing products, which could lead to vulnerabilities for the business.

“As a VAD, we’ve always done our best not to bring competing products into our portfolio. For us, it’s do or die. Either we win with a solution or we lose, we don’t bring in another competitive product in that place. We believe in the products we select, so if they lose, we lose. We would turn people away who want to partner with us in an area where we’re already selling – and we have done.”

But there is opportunity to be clenched. Sajith Raj, Regional Distribution Manager, Logicom, believes that the more demanding that vendors become, the more chances the distributors have in order to show their worth.

“Vendors are more demanding and their objective is to lend the right solution to the end customer.

This is the key for a successful value business development model, as well as making sure the updated technology is delivered at the right time. We consider these demands from a vendor as an opportunity to differentiate from competition whose models are more driven by “earns and turns”.” //

august 2013

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feature

Unified communications

Unified communications: chances for channel Unified communications (UC) is changing the business landscape – enabling improved collaboration between individuals, organisations, and countries, while reducing expenses by combining multiple communication applications. The opportunities for vendors and end-users are therefore obvious, but how can the channel cash in on this snowballing technology?

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www.resellerme.com

Growing work demands have led to a fairly decent adoption rate of UC solutions. Although the initial uptake wasn’t as strong as some analysts had predicted, last year, over 32 percent of Fortune 500 companies were deploying UC technologies, and ABI said that by 2016 the UC market will have made in excess of $2 billion.

However, in the channel chain, locating the opportunities can get a little tricky once you’ve had the obligatory “selling makes money” conversation. One of the simple reasons as to why this technology hasn’t picked up and taken off in this industry could be because many analysts have seen the adoption rate coincide with the size of business. According to researchers, larger organisations have adopted UC solutions is fairly quick timeframes, whereas the

smaller and medium sized businesses have played it cool.

But there is hope for UC in channel, according to experts across the region who believe that taking advantage of intelligently intertwining streams of communications is a fairly full-proof business move. But it’s a fierce market place – competitive and active, according to Weal Abdulal, Collaboration Manager, Cisco, UAE. “The UC market has experienced significant growth in the Middle East and according to analyst firm Frost and Sullivan, this segment is expected to reach $235 million by 2014 in the region,” he claims.

“Companies across all business segments and verticals are investing in unified communications, along with video solutions, to reduce costs and increase staff productivity. As businesses strive to do more with fewer resources and to better serve customers, collaboration has become more critical than ever and nextgeneration unified communications solutions make it possible for businesses to build borderless enterprises and work effectively from anywhere, with anyone.”

And K.S Parag, MD of FVC certainly shares Weal’s enthusiasm, claiming that migration from simple video technologies to full UC solutions has been in effect for the last couple of years.

“We think that the future of business communications lies in software-based solutions. Hardware is rigid, inflexible, expensive, and severely limiting.”

Mohammed Areff, Managing Director, Gulf and Pakistan, Avaya

“It’s a much more cost effective tool, it gives you presence as well as instant communication across your space,” he says.

“We don’t just use UC, we exploit it. We couldn’t live if we didn’t have it. If our unified communications cut out for one day, we couldn’t live – that’s how important it is.”

Ahmed Rushdy, Senior Technical Consultant, Comstor, adds: “Today UC is a major pillar for a profitable business as any successful business relies on customer service satisfaction and accomplishing tasks securely any time anywhere and this exactly what UC is offering.”

So how can the channel really utlise this technology?

“One way that the channel can utilise UC and gain a competitive edge is through implementing the actual technology into its own business,” says Syed Mafuzur, Regional UC&C Solutions Manager, Huawei.

“Not only would it serve as a real live scenario, but it would also serve as a reference to customers, giving them the confidence that the technology is live in action as business engagement takes place. Channel players — like any other end-user — would also benefit from improved working efficiency and a reduction of communication costs.

A laptop based video-conferencing solution can for example, offer sales partners an easier way to stay in touch through their personal devices for instance, while working remotely.”

Mohammed Areff, Managing Director, Gulf and Pakistan, Avaya, takes a similar view, claiming that Avaya’s channel partners need to use UC and video technologies in order to be able to sell them.

“We see customers buying this technology as soon as they experience it, and so we all need to be capable of

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feature

Unified communications

speaking from experience of sharing this innovation with customers, not just showing it to them. UC and Video can be very helpful in keeping us all competitive,” he says.

“As an example, most of our business partners serve our customers as the first tier of support; and UC allows their staff to be connected whether they are at home, in the office, or on the road, in case there is a customer issue. And sales and technical staff can be a lot more responsive using it – in most cases the staff who work for our partners are travelling a huge portion of the time, possibly serving the whole of the GCC. With the need for that kind of mobility comes all of the roaming and telecoms costs – but if they use UC they can be connected to their office communications using free WiFi or 3G/LTE data packages.”

Gaining the competitive edge For smaller organisations, such as those working among the Middle East channel, deploying, distributing, or implementing a new technology in the hope that it will benefit you is a financial risk. Mikael Hansson, Head of Delivery Management, Ericsson, believes that the key is to ensure your processes are aligned with your tools, so you can be confident that you’ve the necessary tools for your business plan.

“Many businesses are embracing UC tools to adapt to growing market demands. Because there is a wide variety of applications and tools being offered, each enterprise needs to assess what UC tools will work best with its ISIT infrastructure. To gain a competitive edge in the market, processes should be aligned with tools.”

Weal Abdulal, Cisco, firmly believes, however, that the adoption of UC is a far simpler business move.

“The UC market has experienced significant growth in the Middle East and according to analyst firm Frost and Sullivan, this segment is expected to reach $235 million by 2014 in the region.”

Weal Abdulal, Collaboration Manager, Cisco, UAE

“UC is a catalyst for evolving from merely using technology to rethinking business, changing process, and adapting culture. In a post-PC world, collaboration is more critical than ever,” he says.

“It means getting the right information to the right people at the right time to make the right decision. In turn, these well-informed and quicker decisions help organisations get work done, fostering productivity, innovation, and growth.”

Quashing concerns Of course, with all fairly hyped solutions, concerns arise which keep organisations asking questions, and UC is no different. A technology which is claiming to evolve the way we communicate and collaborate will have repercussions for current technologies.

How does the landscape appear?

“We think that the future of business communications lies in software-based solutions. Hardware is rigid, inflexible, expensive, and severely limiting,” says Areff of Avaya.

“Solutions that work hard behind the scenes to generate context, making things appear simpler to the end-user, are software-based and they present benefits that vastly overshadow those of hardware upgrades in cost-benefit.”

Moreover, not only will hardware vendors be affected by this transition to

“It’s a much more cost effective tool, it gives you presence and instant communication across your space.

We don’t just use UC, we exploit it. We couldn’t live if we didn’t have it. If our unified communications cut out for one day, we couldn’t live – that’s how important it is.”

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software and cloud-based communication services, but also companies such as telcos and integrators who implement individual communication services. With larger vendors bundling UC solutions, competition increases for service providers and telcos who offer the capabilities for end-users to utilise these.

“For suppliers and the people who do business with them, using UC gives them the chance to use better and bigger services in far reach places, which will hinder some of these limited organisations,” says Taj Elkhayat, General Manager, Middle East & North Africa, Riverbed.

“So now, telcos are adopting video conferencing and providing managed services so that more companies can do this – they’re getting on board. It did create a shock to telco services at first, but you’ll see them moving more toward UC in future. For them it’s about offering the right amount of connectivity to let people leverage these technologies. It is a technology that is growing, it’s emerging quickly, and what was once a strain on telcos is now a way for them to monotise that service. In the past they were losing money due to people having options, but now they can monotise these services and make new revenue streams.”

Motorola’s regional sales manager of wireless network services, Tariq Hasan, supports this point.

“For Service Providers there can be some concern as certain implementations will see their revenue decline especially in areas where IP based communication can be achieved at a fraction of traditional communication.

Local regulations plays an important role in determining how and to what extent any service can be deployed,” he says. // www.resellerme.com

vendor focus

Sage

Sage advice Sage has big plans for the Middle East.

Whilst it has already enjoyed large growth in the region this year, a big channel drive is being prepared to take it to the next level.

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Sage is ready to drastically increase its Middle East channel, with plans to treble the existing partner base on its flagship ERP product, revealed the Senior VP Sales, MEA, Sage ERP, Keith Fenner.

The business management vendor, which continues to lead the mid-market, has witnessed strong growth in the Middle East in 2013, following the big sales and marketing push it commenced at the beginning of the year.

At the centre of the push was a Middle East road show where the company showed off an updated strategy and new product launches of Sage ERP X3, the global enterprise suite which Kenner refers to as the “big boy” of the company’s offerings.

www.resellerme.com

vendor focus

Sage

“The road show really fuelled this really strong growth in the region,” Fenner said. “When I say strong growth, I mean very strong growth. In the last quarter, we’ve had very, very strong growth.”

Sage’s biggest regional focus is Saudi Arabia, where it has recently appointment a sales head. “We’ve got existing partners there,” Fenner said.

“But judging from the road show, we need more. The interest levels around the X3 product were vast, and across all the products there were interest.”

Asides from the marketing and sales push, the channel is a “huge part” of Sage’s growth plan in the region, confirmed Fenner, who is currently

for Sage right now. Whilst it does not break down figures for the Middle East, Fenner’s extremely positive comments regarding the growth in the region highlights it as a very important area for the company today.

That’s not forgetting Africa, which Sage recently put the Middle East in line with due to the similarities between the regions. Sage has recently grown Africa to 200 partners.

The Middle East previously reporting into Asia, but that was not deemed to be making sense due to things like time zones and languages.

“The reason we’ve combined the Middle East with Africa is because

Sage has over 200 products, but the Middle East and Africa only focus on the global ones. On top of Sage X3, those products include Sage 50 for small businesses, Sage 300 for the growing business, and a CRM platform wrapped around these three ERP products. putting plans in place to increase its current X3 partner base of 10, to around 30 in the next 24 months.

“I’m going to be aggressive around that,” he said. “There are certain territories where we don’t have a partner presence on X3. We have them on Sage 300 and Sage CRM, but not every Sage 300 partner is an X3 partner — that’s a different world, so we have to find the right partner.”

He also revealed that part of the strategy is to go to “newer territories”, including Oman, Jordan and Kuwait, to find those partners.

Sage’s total revenue in AAMEA (Asia, Australia, Middle East and Africa) grew by 10 percent in 2012 to £152.7m, compared to £138.2m in 2011. Organic revenue grew 12 percent, compared to 10 percent growth in 2011.

Furthermore, according to Fenner, EMEA is the biggest growth region

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they are so similar that it made complete sense,” Fenner said. “We have disparate countries with different languages and cultures in Africa, exactly the same as the Middle East.”

Asides from the emerging nature of both the Middle East and Africa, the regions also share exactly the same product portfolio.

Sage has over 200 products, but the Middle East and Africa only focus on the global ones. On top of Sage X3, those products include Sage 50 for small businesses, Sage 300 for the growing business, and a CRM platform wrapped around these three ERP products.

Sage 300 may be more familiar to readers as Accpac, as it was previously known until an extensive product rebranding campaign last year.

According to Fenner, after an initial hesitation from partners, the transition has been a success.

“There was a lot of attention that came from the partners because after 20 years of calling something Accpac, it became Sage 300. I think if Sage hadn’t had a global rebranding strategy at the same time, it may have been a challenge.

“What’s happened actually, is it’s been incredibly smooth. That hesitation from our partners actually fell away so quickly. By having Accpac renamed as a number, like the other products, apart from the X3, you can identify quite quickly and easily where it fits in the market. So it made perfect sense.

Ultimately, it certainly hasn’t affected anything in a negative way — we’re still getting great growth out of the product.”

It isn’t just the channel where Sage is growing in the Middle East, with internal expansions also taking effect.

August sees the company’s regional headquarters in Dubai move to a larger space to facilitate the planned influx of new resources.

“We’re moving to another office in DIC (Dubai Internet City), but I’ve had to treble the size of the office in Dubai,” Fenner said. “One reason for that is to fuel the expansion, so the first thing you have to do is put people in a nice office, give them room, and have lots of space for that expansion, because you don’t want to keep moving every few years.

“We’ve also seen that our profile of customer requires more of an interaction with Sage, so as I move up the food chain and you start talking enterprise deals and X3, people want to be seeing us, and as a business we need to create an environment that lets that happen.”

But it is the channel which remains the most important ingredient for Sage going forward. “You’ve got to build your sandwich correctly,” Fenner concluded. “We’ve got to put the first piece of bread in, as I say, and that’s got to be the partner channel. In the middle is the product, and then the last bit is the support, which comes back to channel again.” //

www.resellerme.com

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Interview

Fujitsu

Scanning for potential The rise of mobility and BYOD has changed the way we work with traditional devices day-to-day. With this in mind, companies doing business in the peripherals market have had to reinvent themselves in order provide products which coincide with this BYODto PartnerFortinet Technology PartnerHP new mobile environment. Klaus Schulz, Manager of Product Marketing for Fujitsu in VAD PartnerOptimus EMEA, tells Reseller that the potential for the scanner market is still strong, so long as Partners – Redington, Cyberoam, Roverbed businesses can adapt to a new modelEvent of development.

Klaus Schulz, Manager of Product Marketing, Fujitsu.

How does Fujitsu value the Middle East market, and what market share does it currently hold?

The Middle East is an important region for Fujitsu document scanners and we continue to invest in and focus on this market. We have recruited personnel in the region, rolled out the Assurance Program service support and warranty offering, and for the first time this year we will be attending GITEX with our own stand. All of this focus has helped solidify Fujitsu’s position as market leader in the High Speed Document Scanner market. In 2012 Fujitsu had 42 percent share in the High Speed Document Scanner Market in the Middle East and almost 46 percent in the overall Europe, Africa and Middle East market.

How has the market changed with the advent of mobility and BYOD? Increasing mobility is a mega trend.

Functionalities and tools that users

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are familiar with from their office environments are becoming available in mobile environments. This trend is amplified by the fact that people have technological possibilities at their fingertips with their smart devices that they do not want to miss at work. BYOD is the logical consequence. These trends are changing the way we work.

With our latest ScanSnap models users can transfer paper scans wirelessly to their mobile devices. Integration into cloud apps like Evernote or Dropbox ensure that access is guaranteed for all authorised users, even when they are on the move. Manufactures must face these trends, otherwise they lose customers.

Enterprises need to capitalise on the benefits that these new technologies offer for efficient information access in order to stay competitive.

Is the traditional scanning market drawing toward an end?

In previous years the main markets in the Middle East have tended to be in government and banking, but recently we have started to see many more corporate and small and mediumsized businesses adopt this type of technology and benefit from the savings and efficiencies that it brings. The arrival of new technologies like document capture with mobile phones and the widespread use of multifunctional printers, that include a scanner, have actually contributed to an increase in the demand for scanning technology.

We will definitely break with one

tradition, and that is the dominance of Scan-to-Archive, with documents being scanned only at the end of a business process. Instead we will see more Scanto-Process, with scanned documents being integrated early in the business process and the image then used throughout the organisation, rather than the piece of paper. This helps drive cost savings and more efficient work practices for early integration into business processes.

Is Fujitsu moving or planning to move into the 3D scanning and printing market?

Within the scanning market what is referred to as 3D scanning, the scanning of objects as well as just paper will open up a whole new world of applications that go well beyond traditional document scanning offerings. This is an area that Fujitsu is considering carefully as the need is for more than just hardware, it must also encompass the flexibility and ease of use that is seen with traditional document scanners.

Where will the market be headed in the next 18 to 24 months?

The market potential is actually growing here and is set for more rapid growth. In the Middle East region, the overall market for high-speed document scanners purchased in 2012 was 38.3 percent higher than the previous year and Fujitsu believes that this growth will continue throughout 2013 and into the foreseeable future. //

www.resellerme.com

ORGANISED BY

A NEW DAWN OF SECURITY? 18TH SEPTEMBER 2013 EMPIRE ROOM, H HOTEL, DUBAI, UAE

For general and agenda-related enquiries Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor-CPI Technology Division jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 55 1053774

For sponsorship enquiries Rajashree R Kumar Commercial Director raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 55 105 3782 Merle Carrasco Key Account Manager merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 55 105 3768 Nasir Bazaz Sales Manager nasir.bazaz@cpimediagroup.com +971 50 875 0437

For registration enquiries CPI Events Team bitevents@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 368 6900

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Hot products

Review

Head-to-head: Lenovo ThinkPad Helix vs. HP Envyx2 Since the release of Windows 8 last year, a string of detachable notebooks running on the Microsoft operating system have been launched into market. Lenovo has stood strong amidst the ever-changing laptop landscape, and lately, PC giant HP has made its way onto the scene.

Reseller puts two of the latest detachable devices head-to-head.

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www.resellerme.com

First set

Detachable screen

Lenovo: The crux of the detachable is that it obviously needs to nail the notebook device, while making sure the detached tablet is just as strong as a standalone piece of technology. The Lenovo ThinkPad has fast become recognised as a sure thing for IT businesspersons who require decent storage, and a sturdy device. Unfortunately, once detached, compared with the Envyx2, the Helix becomes a little unstable. The design is so that it appears quite literally as a screen which is missing its body, something that the HP hides well. On top of this, the hinge of the base locks when the screen is not attached. However, what the Lenovo does do is reattach to the dock in the reverse position, creating a stronger, more solid tablet, with the added auxiliary battery built into the dock – a fairly attractive feature. Measuring at around 11.75 by 7.5 by 0.46 inches (HWD) and weighing 1.81 pounds, it’s a good piece of kit, but feels better when docked. The resolution cannot be bargained with though; a 1920 x 1080 full HD screen with 10-point touch capability + stylus pen makes up for all of the feel concerns. Enough work has gone into the details to make this a decent tablet.

HP: When the Envyx2 is detached from the dock, this machine comes alive. Its aluminium brushed, chrome finish is solid and sleek and feels extremely tough. What HP has done is produce half of a notebook which disguises itself perfectly as a tablet. Sporting Beats Audio, as well as a fantastic connector, the tablet half of this device is a triumph. However, displaying on 1366 x 768 resolution, it loses out to other hybrid laptops.

Take the Dell XPS 12 for example, which offers a 1920 x 1080 HD resolution – that’s a shame. But the fact remains that the designers have thought hard about the performance and usability of this model when detached, and a multi-touch detection screens allows the creative types among us to go a bit crazy too.

First set: Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Performance

second set

third set

Desirability

Lenovo: The Lenovo is solid all round when looking at its specs. Though starting around $1600, for the corporate buyer, it’s worth every penny. The Intel Core i5-3337U processor, 8GB memory, and 128GB SSD make this look desirable from the back of the box. A battery test when docked gave 7 hours and 35 minutes of life – class-leading, which is huge benefit for Lenovo, and with smooth and fast on-screen browsing, it makes this device ideal for presentations and demonstrations.

Lenovo: Relatively little competition. The Lenovo is the complete package when fully docked and when sat on a lap it appears just as solid and smooth as a regular notebook. Combine this with a very strong tablet model that can be detached, as well as docked in reverse, you’ve fairly little to frown at. The strong battery life and high resolution screen options make this ideal for the creative businessperson. If you can afford it, buy it.

HP: The Envyx2 doesn’t nearly compare, performance wise, to the Helix, however, it starts on the market at around half the price. So for the consumer it’s a very well-priced device in any scenario. Intel Atom Z2760, with 2G B memory and 64GB SSD, the Envyx2 carries an integrated 2.1MP front-facing camera and an 8.0MP rear-facing camera – comparative to Lenovo’s 5MP rear-facing camera. Where the Envyx2 gets interesting is that although we were told that the Helix ranked as class-leading for battery in the notebook area, the more netbook style HP managed to rack up nearly 11 hours and 30 minutes. It boasts two separate batteries, one in the screen and one in the dock, and is actually extremely efficient. Therefore, although performance wise it cannot compare to the specs of the Helix, for the price and class of the Envyx2, relatively, it takes the second set.

HP: For all of the Envyx2’s hang-ups, it’s actually a very charming little piece of kit. Though the keyboard and touchpad leave rather a lot to be desired (the touchpad is like sandpaper and extremely uncomfortable to use), the detached tablet is a consumer’s dream. The Beats Audio, style, solidity, and finish are all elements which make it a well-groomed device.

However, when attached to the keyboard, it’s not nearly strong enough to compete with other leading notebooks.

Third and final set: Lenovo ThinkPad Helix

Second set: HP Envyx2 august 2013

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HOT products

Smart Badge from Motorola

Targeted at the retail environment, Motorola Solutions’ SB1 Smart Badge is a brand new category of mobile computer. SB1 can be worn around the neck, on a belt or arm and not only allows shoppers to identify staff, but also

enables staff to scan bar codes and to answer customer questions in price or inventory.

The SB1, says the company, is a true enterprise product, built to handle everyday use, including drops, spills, exposure to dust, heat and cold. The three-inch E Ink Pearly display is easy to read in virtually in every lighting condition and finger-style navigation eliminates the needs for a stylus and supports a gloved hand. It also supports HTML 5 thin client apps where the data resides on servers instead of the device, simplifying application development and eliminating the risk of data theft if the device is lost or stolen.

The low-power E Ink display enables multi-shift operation with over 14 hours of battery life from a single charge. In badge mode, the screen can display an associate’s picture and name or advertise a promotion — yet the display draws virtually no power at all.

WD unveils My Passport Ultra WD has rolled out its My Passport Ultra line of portable hard drives, which combine additional layers of data protection with super-fast USB 3.0 connectivity, a slim, compact design and four colour choices to offer mobile consumers the safest and easiest way to protect their digital content while travelling.

Available in 500 GB, 1 TB and new 2 TB capacities, My Passport Ultra portable hard drives have built-in WD SmartWare Pro backup software with Dropbox integration, hardware encryption and password protection to safeguard against unauthorised drive access. A protective pouch is included with

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the My Passport Ultra to help shield it from the daily knocks encountered by today’s mobile consumer.

Canon launches new XEED Compact Installation projector series Canon Middle East has launched a new range of compact installation projectors that provide market-leading image quality and represent a new category of projector solutions. The new Canon XEED Compact Installation series will enable system integrators to provide customers with outstanding image quality from a compact projector, while retaining the features and performance normally only found on full-size installation models.

The new series consists of two standard (the XEED WUX450 and XEED WX520) and two short-throw models (the XEED WUX400ST and XEED WX450ST).

The XEED WUX450 and XEED WX520 both have a 1.8x zoom projection lens that delivers virtually the same brightness throughout the entire zoom range. The all-new projection lens has a constant aperture of F2.8, resulting in almost no loss of brightness at the telephoto end of the zoom range (maximum 5% drop). This outstanding performance is a direct result of Canon’s expertise in lens design, coupled with the fifth-generation AISYS optical system, which maximises the performance of the LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) panels. LCOS technology produces fine, detailed images without the lattice effect sometimes seen on other projectors.

www.resellerme.com

AirLive beam forming router

Allied Telesis debuts new Gigabit switches with PoE+ Allied Telesis has announced the expansion of the Allied Telesis x510 Series of stackable Gigabit switches, which includes a full range of security and resiliency features, coupled with easy management.

Two new Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) models, the AT-x510-28GPX and AT-x510-52GPX, each deliver enough PoE+ to support the requirements of enterprise networks, including retail, government, education and healthcare.

With a choice of 24- or 48-Gigabit ports, and 10 Gigabit uplink ports, both PoE+ models can provide up to 370 Watts of power. PoE+ supplies up to 30 Watts per port, to support highpowered devices such as Pan/Tilt/Zoom video surveillance cameras and other PoE-powered devices such as Wireless Access Points and IP phones. PoE eliminates the need for power rewiring when moving or installing powered devices, and minimizes the clutter of separate power supplies and adapters, for a more efficient and cost-effective work environment.

The x510 Series supports Allied Telesis Virtual Chassis Stacking (VCStack) of up to four units with 40Gbps stacking bandwidth.

VCStack provides a resilient network solution with no single point of failure for maximum uptime, supporting critical applications with uninterrupted service.

The x510 Series also supports VCStack LD (Long Distance), which enables stacks to be created over long-distance fiber links, making them the perfect choice for distributed network environments.

It delivers direction sensing which increases the wireless signal strength by focus the transmission signal towards that direction.

The new router could reach the dead spot which is not covered by most of router available in the market. It also reduces installation number of APs and repeaters, and router signal can be transmitted to multi-angle of a space by bouncing the frequency which will extend the wireless coverage.

In fact, the beam forming is the new wireless technology to expand the coverage in the multi-angle homes and offices. Beam forming is a signal processing technique used to control the directionality of the transmission and reception of radio signals.

BenQ Classroom IQ

BenQ Classroom IQ features technology to increase interaction between teachers and students in classrooms. The BenQ Classroom IQ uses developed tools designed to support classroom instruction and management with multiple electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. Among these tools include the QDraw 3.0 Interactive Software and App that enable teachers to present and annotate on any teaching materials ranging from Word, PowerPoint, PDF or webpages, working across all platforms including Windows, Mac and Linux.

Apart from many advantageous features, AirLive N450R has some unique features like it is Beam Forming Dual Band 11n Router, posses 450Mbps 3T3R and 11 a/b/g/n Concurrent Dual Band Technology; Gigabit NAT Performance; 196MBps Real TCP Throughput;IPv6; Gigabit LAN/WAN Ports; USB for NAS application; it cover every corner of your office and home and last but not the least it has Bandwidth Control.

It is also powered with the new Presenter Mode that allows teachers to present from anywhere in the room, or access and control from the desktop. The new Collaboration Mode also enables collaborative learning by connecting all devices to share annotations, view another’s screen or pass control to different participants.

Through the BenQ Classroom IQ, students and teachers are offered with another way to share various files through the QPresenter 2.0 software and App. The new version supports a wide range of document and image files and enables virtual keypad control on tablets for ease of use.

Built-in cameras in smart phones and tablets can also be used as document cameras to project images captured onto the projection screen.

The inclusion of USB reader and Office Viewer allows for PC-less presentation possible by simply presenting the files with simple plug and play.

august 2013

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Second-quarter results

Reseller Middle East’s online editor offers his thoughts on the Middle Eastern technology channel.

Channel surfing

column

The cut-throat world of consumer tech The second-quarter results are out for a number of big consumer tech vendors, and, in many cases, the results don’t look good.

Apple, for example, posted a 22-percent profit drop due to slowing iPad sales. And, at the time of writing, phonemaker HTC is bracing for its first operating loss due to rising costs and competition from rivals. Meanwhile, BlackBerry continues to limp on in a sort of Wall Street limbo – too big to fail but too unsuccessful to carry on.

As evidenced by these results, the consumer electronics market is a cut-throat world, and few manage to navigate it without getting a few nicks along the way. Just ask Microsoft, which forayed into the tablet market in October 2012 with the Surface RT, and has since taken a $900 million charge to pay for the experiment.

Indeed, compared to Microsoft, everything looks rather rosy over at the aforementioned vendors. The Redmondbased tech giant missed Wall Street’s revenue and profit expectations, despite improving greatly on last year’s results. That improvement doesn’t say much, though – it just shows how woeful things were in the same period last year.

Yes, Microsoft is looking to have a better 2013 than 2012, and CEO Steve Ballmer’s executive re-shuffle has largely been met with praise. But the vendor’s decision to enter the tablet market hasn’t served it well at all. Indeed, the decision annoyed Microsoft OEM-partners from the start – they always saw Microsoft as a software developer and never thought they’d actually have to compete with it.

It’s difficult to know what Microsoft was thinking with the Surface tablet. Was the vendor going after the enterprise or straightup consumers? Was the Surface meant to kick-start a tablet version of the Mac-versus-PC debate? We’ll never know, thanks to the woeful marketing of the device.

What we do know is that, during the first quarter of this year, Microsoft shipped about 900,000 Surface tablets, which sounds good.

That’s until you find out that Apple shipped 19.5 million iPads during the same period. Microsoft managed to capture just 1.8 percent of the market, compared to Apple’s 40 percent, Samsung’s 18 percent and Asus’ 5.5 percent. Even Microsoft’s Windows platforms – the touch-friendly ones supposedly designed for tablets – failed to perform. Only 1.8 million Windows RT or Windows 8 tablets were shipped in that quarter – and that’s counting all of the vendors that make them.

Even in the gaming world, Microsoft has come under fire. Its launch of the new Xbox One might have generated initial fanfare, but under closer scrutiny, the console attracted plenty of criticism. Will the Kinect camera be on 24/7 even when it’s not in use – effectively turning it into a surveillance device for homes? Will friends be allowed to swap games or else buy pre-owned ones? Why does the device have to sign in to an online server every 24 hours?

These are all questions that Microsoft failed to answer properly, and they’re the same kinds of questions that came about when the Surface tablet was launched. Over the past year, the vendor has shown poor planning and a lack of respect for the tumultuous consumer market, which can sink or float a company within months. Hopefully, next year, Microsoft won’t make the same mistakes.

Tom Paye, Online Editor, CPI Technology

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www.resellerme.com

2013

The Fastest Way from Point A to Point B

When your office is a hive of activity, it’s easy for documents to get lost in the shuffle. For that, there’s enterprise content management from Laserfiche. With powerful capture, distribution, search and automation tools, you have the control and flexibility necessary to get up and running quickly, reduce operating costs and keep business buzzing.

Laserfiche mimicked the flow we have been using for years, so day-to-day business was not affected in the rollout phase. We had the control to design the process and the flexibility to re-engineer it when necessary.

Haitham M.N. Ahmed,

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Deputy Director General (Operations) Aspire Logistics

Demand more!

The Z-Generation

Production level functionality in a compact desktop scanner is available today with the new Z-Generation of Fujitsu Desktop scanners.

IT-Managers appreciate the new Centralized Administration module – operators love the ScanSnap Productivity mode for ad-hoc one-button-scanning.

Demand more! Demand the Z-Generation scanners from Fujitsu.

ScandAll PRO V2 software included

Have a look at http://emea.fujitsu.com/Z-generation

All names, manufacturer names, brand and product designations are subject to special trademark rights and are manufacturer‘s trademarks and/or registered brands of their respective owners. All indications are non-binding. Technical data is subject to change without prior notication.