Reseller Middle East March 2019 by Reseller Middle East

CONTENTS

STRATEGIC VAD PARTNER

ISSUE 266 // MARCH 2019

DATA 06 STRATEGISTS

HIGHLIGHTS

Maya Zakhour from NetApp, urges channel partners to optimise the opportunities that the firm offers as a data leader.

REVIEW

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

OPINION

LOGITECH GAMING KEYBOARD AND MOUSE

22 CHANNEL FINANCING

Help AG’s Frank Docot explains how channel partners can ensure they don’t find themselves in a financial crunch.

24 NEW YEAR, NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Mike Herman from Palo Alto Networks, elaborates on channel partner trends for 2019.

26 SHOULD BUSINESSES USE CHATBOTS?

Finesse’s Sunil Paul makes a case for using chatbots in the business environment.

FEATURE

32 DRIVING PRODUCTIVITY Paul Hardy from ServiceNow, explains how partners can help build new digital workflows and data models.

VENDOR FOCUS

HOT PRODUCTS

HUAWEI INTRODUCES 5G FOLDABLE PHONE

36 PROFITABLE ALLIANCES

Ravi Sudarshan from 2CRSI along with SNB ME’s Deepesh Pillai, discuss how channel partners can truly leverage their partnership.

40 REDEFINING SECURITY

Husni Hammoud from Ivanti Middle East, discusses how the firm aims to aid regional customers’ digital transformation journeys.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

REDEFINING technology transformation

+971 4 440 9100

@TahawulTech

info@cpimediagroup.com

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EDITORIAL Nominate now It’s once again that time of the year when you simply must hit pause to everything that you are doing and put together a compelling nomination for your company to compete in the upcoming TahawulTech.com and Reseller Middle East Partner Excellence Awards. The 2019 edition of the Awards marks a big milestone for us as we celebrate 10 years of commemorating channel excellence. Nothing makes me prouder to be a part of the team that presents and hosts it. Every year, not only do we honour exemplary work in the channel business but also outdo ourselves when it comes to entertainment and theme for the event. Taking place on 30th April at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, attendees will be treated to a fun Black & Whitethemed gala awards evening.

FOUNDER, CPI MEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015)

Nominations are currently open, and I urge you all to submit concise and relevant information matching the categories that you are entering for. Often, we see companies submitting the same details for all categories. Of course, while this saves time and is easier, I can safely say that if a form is customised as per category, it would definitely be appreciated by our judges. I like to also encourage you all to scour through our guidelines and contact me if you have any questions on the submission process. An ideal nomination should mention a firm’s successes, explain strategies and initiatives that helped it to increase revenues and the kind of support that was extended to its partners and customers. Innovative technologies and genuine value-add will be other criteria that the judges look out for. On that note, let the nominations flow in while we get back to being on a full-blown planning and organising mode, trying to keep our excitement at bay, till 30th April. Mark your calendars!

Publishing Director Natasha Pendleton natasha.pendleton@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9139 EDITORIAL Managing Editor Michael Jabri-Pickett mjp@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9158 Editor Janees Reghelini janees.reghelini@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9167 Online Editor Adelle Geronimo adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135 DESIGN Head of Design Froilan Cosgafa IV froilan.cosgafa@cpimediagroup.com Senior Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com Designer Marlou Delaben marlou.delaben@cpimediagroup.com ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130 Business Development Manager Youssef Hariz youssef.hariz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9111 Senior Sales Manager Sabita Miranda sabita.miranda@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9128 Sales Manager Nasir Bazaz nasir.bazaz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147 CIRCULATION Operations Manager Shweta Santosh shweta.santosh@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9107 DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developers Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh

Janees Reghelini Editor

Photographers Max Poriechkin Charls Thomas webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 DIGITAL www.tahawultech.com Printed by Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing LLC

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

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Registered at Dubai Production City, DCCA PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 © Copyright 2019 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.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

HIGHLIGHTS

INGRAM MICRO STRENGTHENS CYBERSECURITY SOLUTIONS OFFERINGS IN EMEA

Ali Baghdadi, Ingram Micro

ngram Micro has recently announced a significant expansion of its cybersecurity business in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Turkey and Africa. The distributor said it is making meaningful investments to “accelerate and reinforce its position as the go-to provider in EMEA for high value, speciality solutions”, with cybersecurity being one of its first target markets. The company boasts existing relationships with leading local and global vendors as well as emerging brands in the rapidly growing cybersecurity market. To ensure it is wellpositioned to support its customer and vendor partners throughout EMEA, Ingram Micro is establishing three cybersecurity centres of excellence (COE) covering the region, each providing specialised training, support, managed services, solution architecting and consulting. The current Dubai COE will be joined by facilities in Eastern Europe and the Netherlands. Dr.

Ali Baghdadi, Ingram Micro senior vice president and chief country executive META, will lead the company’s new EMEA-wide cybersecurity division. “Cybersecurity solutions are in high demand across EMEA and Ingram Micro is well-positioned to leverage our trusted relationships with our customer and vendor partners throughout the region to support their needs,” said Mark Snider, Ingram Micro executive vice president and group president EMEA. “We are making significant investments across the region, including in our go-to-market capabilities, to build out this business and we look forward to quickly becoming the solutions provider of choice for EMEA cybersecurity offerings.” “I look forward to leading our team as we build out this business across EMEA,” said Baghdadi. “We are fortunate to have successful cybersecurity businesses in many other regions across the globe and we will work closely with our colleagues to share best practices, including strategies on how to help our partners easily expand into this high-value market. We will also leverage Ingram Micro’s proprietary Cloud Marketplace, enabling our customers to obtain subscription-based security services, while opening up more than three million active subscribers to our cybersecurity vendor partners.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

VAD TECHNOLOGIES, INFRASCALE ANNOUNCE MIDDLE EAST PARTNERSHIP

Mario M. Veljovic, VAD Technologies

AE-headquartered regional IT and technology value-added distributor VAD Technologies has signed a distribution agreement for the Middle East with Infrascale, a leader in hybrid-cloud disaster recovery solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, VAD will distribute Infrascale’s disaster recovery solutions in the region, and the partnership is part of Infrascale’s global expansion strategy programme. “Partnering with leaders such as VAD Technologies in specific geographies is cornerstone to our global expansion strategy,” said Tom Paone, SVP, Sales, Infrascale. “VAD’s expertise in the market, and as a value-added distributor, will enable Infrascale to quickly reach VAD’s extensive partner ecosystem in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and North Africa, all the while enabling them with bestin-class, industry leading solutions.” “We are excited to partner with Infrascale and working with a Gartner “Leader” in the DRaaS Market,” said Mario M. Veljovic, general manager, VAD Technologies. “We are constantly looking for disruptive technologies to ensure that our resellers can offer the latest and greatest, high-performance enterprise solutions to their customers. Infrascale complements perfectly our mission.” Infrascale Disaster Recovery is a hybrid-cloud Disaster Recovery as a Service that helps mitigate the downtime caused by server crashes, ransomware attacks, or natural disasters. “Customers using Infrascale will be able to lower their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by keeping the most recent and most important backups on a local (on premise) appliance, with the remainder of the data securely archived to the cloud to stay always productive,” added Veljovic.

HIGHLIGHTS

FVC TO EXPLORE TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING CXO DECISIONS

egional value-added-distributor (VAD) FVC has announced that it will host its exclusive TechTalks across the GCC from 18th February to 4th March 2019. The primary aim of the TechTalks is to engage with partners and customers from across the region to explore how organisations are implementing various technologies, and the factors that will influence and drive CXO decisions in 2019. The TechTalks will host partners and customers in separate sessions to allow for targeted discussions and product demonstrations. The partners’ session will explore

FVC’s vendor technology portfolio, support, and market opportunities, while the customers’ session will look into learning about end-user challenges and their technology roadmap for 2019. Partners and customers will have the opportunity to interact with experts while exploring FVC’s vendor portfolio to better understand the synergy of various complementing solutions. “The road to digital transformation (DX) is a continuous process of implementing technologies to achieve agility and business efficiency,” said KS Parag, managing director, FVC. “Through our TechTalk sessions, we want

to understand the end-user roadmap for achieving technological efficiency, whether its DX driven or simply to achieve certain goals and to assess how we can help address the challenges they face. For partners, our aim is to arm them with tech-

KS Parag, FVC

nologies and know-how to help customers improve their investing decisions in technologies that drive business processes relating to communications, collaboration, network and security. The TechTalks will help us highlight solutions best suited for customers on the digital transformation path as well as those looking to gain efficiency and enhance productivity.” FVC will also brief attendees on the FVC services unit that offers support services for customers. FVC services brings across its domain expertise including cloud migration and managed service offering to customers.

SARIYA IT, 2CRSI HOST PARTNER EVENT IN DUBAI

egional VAD Sariya IT and 2CRSI, a France-based vendor of servers, rugged solutions, high performance computing, data centre, and customised solutions, have recently held its Partner meet in Dubai. 2CRSI channel manager Nirmal Menon highlighted that apart from the event being an important networking platform, the significance of updating channel partners on product and technology roadmaps, and outlining the channel strategy and benefits at the beginning of the year, gives partners the necessary tools to go after opportunities that are emerging in the market. “2CRSI would like to address the market needs in a very energy efficient and cost-effective way,” he said. “By bringing together UAE channel partners, the event created better opportunities for networking, partner enablement and provided insight into 2CRSI’s product portfolio and 2019

channel strategy for the region. In addition, the company’s regional manager Ravi Sudarshan noted that they are fully committed and focused of business growth in the Middle East in 2019 and channel partners taking its innovative solutions to market will benefit from the vendor’s enhanced focus. “We are supporter of Sustainable Development plans of UAE and believe we can contribute in this goal significantly.” Attendees engaged in a series of

presentations, live demos, looking at technical and sales aspects of 2CRSI’s solutions for partners in the Middle East. Amjad Al Omar, GM, Sariya-IT, said, “We are delighted to conduct this partner meet and excited to introduce 2CRSI products range which starts from IP rated rugged PC’s till HPC and data centre solutions with an immersion cooling system, to the channel business in the Middle East, next event is in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and follows.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

HIGHLIGHTS

BULWARK TO SHOWCASE COMPLETE SECURITY PORTFOLIO AT GISEC

AE-based value-added distributor Bulwark Technologies has announced an array of products lined up to be showcased at the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference (GISEC) 2019. Gearing up for the mega-event, the company has reiterated the importance of building a strong, integrated security infrastructure in the region and has also predicted market exigency & introduced apt technologies at the right time. Located in Hall 7, stand B-7, Bulwark will highlight its end-to-end security solutions and customer-centric distribution strategies during the show. “Bulwark, being a cybersecurity focused VAD operating for almost two decades, GISEC is a great platform for demonstrating our product portfolio to targeted partners and customers in the region. With the region’s huge demand for cyber security, we look forward to receiving excellent and evoking responses from our vendors, partners and customers during the event,” said Jose Thomas Menacherry, managing director, Bulwark. The VAD will join hands with its strong vendor portfolio consisting of Cyberbit, iStorage, Netwrix, ARCON,42Gears Mobility Systems and SendQuick for GISEC 2019. The company will be offering latest technologies and

new product launch spanning ICS/Scada Security, user behaviour analysis and risk mitigation, advanced malware threat protection, next-generation firewall, secure managed file transfer, encrypted flash drives and disc drives, mobile device management, email security and archival, PIM, enterprise messaging/alerts in addition to their other security technologies at the event.

SPIRE SOLUTIONS, ECLECTICIQ INK MIDDLE EAST PARTNERSHIP

egional cybersecurity VAD Spire Solutions and EclecticIQ, a provider of applied Cyber Threat Intelligence technology with an analyst-centric Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) and unique fusion center services, have announced a partnership to strengthen the security threat posture of organisations in the Middle East. EclecticIQ empowers threat analysts to perform faster, better, and deeper investigations while disseminating intelligence at machine-speed. EclecticIQ’s products will be showcased at the Spire Solutions stand CDS-B3

during the Cyber Defence Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 13th and 14th. “EclecticIQ is a unique threat intelligence platform that does not just aggregate threat feeds. But instead it is the only TIP that has a holistic approach built to consolidate, analyse, manage, action, collaborate and disseminate intelligence and reports. We are excited about complementing and augmenting our threat intelligence and digital risk protection story with EclecticIQ,” said Avinash Advani, CEO, Spire Solutions. “Threat intelligence is

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

(L-R) AVINASH ADVANI, CEO, SPIRE SOLUTIONS; JOOST VAN HEST, SVP SALES & SOLUTIONS AND HERRO ZOUTENDIJK, REGIONAL DIRECTOR MEA, ECLECTICIQ; SANJEEV WALIA, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, SPIRE SOLUTIONS

one of the fastest-growing areas in cybersecurity across multiple industries. But doing it right is the key. In partnership with Spire and their network with local trusted partners, we will provide customers in the Middle East with

a solution that takes care of the multi-source correlation of intelligence and performs in-depth analysis to derive real value in the simplest way,” said Herro Zoutendijk, regional director MEA, EclecticIQ.

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HIGHLIGHTS

INGRAM MICRO, CARBON BLACK SIGN DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT FOR META

Marc Kassis, Ingram Micro META

egional technology distributor Ingram Micro has joined the Carbon Black programme as a value-added distributor. Carbon Black provides endpoint security delivered via the cloud. The agreement will see Ingram Micro become one of Carbon Black’s solutions providers, enhancing its extensive cybersecurity offering with the vendor’s suite of next-generation endpoint security solutions. Ingram Micro will sell Carbon Black solutions in 11 countries across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region. As a value-added distributor, Ingram Micro will join a select group of resellers and distributors with access to Carbon Black’s solutions including: CB Defense, CB Response, CB Protection and CB Predictive Security Cloud. “Our cooperation with Carbon Black is opening a new era for the cybersecurity innovation in the META region. We are delighted to offer, together with Carbon Black, the next- gen endpoint protection and EDR solutions which are critical to companies who want to be at the cutting edge. Through our agreement with Carbon Black, we are excited to be able to enhance the value proposition we bring to our business partners with relevant vendor solutions and dedicated range of services and trainings. With Carbon Black, we are confident that we will remain in the front runner position as a Solution distributor of Cyber Security in the META region,” said Marc Kassis, director cybersecurity division, Ingram Micro META. www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

SPIRE SOLUTIONS, CYBERX PARTNER TO BOOST REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY

egional cybersecurity distributor Spire Solutions and CyberX, the IIoT and industrial control system (ICS) security company, have announced a partnership to strengthen industrial cybersecurity for industrial and critical infrastructure organisations in the Middle East. CyberX was demonstrated at the Spire Solutions stand CDS-B3 during the Cyber Defence Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 13th and 14th February. Recent cyberattacks such as WannaCry, NotPetya, and TRITON demonstrate that ICS and Operational Technology (OT) networks continue to be soft targets for adversaries — increasing the risk of costly production outages, safety failures, environmental incidents, and theft of sensitive intellectual property. With the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) driving the deployment of billions of new devices to monitor and control critical OT processes such as refining, distribution pipelines and robotics, OT environments are increasingly connected to enterprise IT networks and the internet — making them even more vulnerable to dangerous attacks. According to the firm, CyberX is the only industrial cybersecurity company to have been awarded a patent for its ICS-aware threat detection analytics and machine learning technology, and the only industrial cybersecurity company founded by blue-team cyber experts. Purpose-built for OT security, CyberX’s agentless, non-intrusive platform enables customers to answer critical questions such as: • What unmanaged devices do

Sapan Agarwal, Spire Solutions

•

we have, what is our network topology, and how are our OT devices communicating with each other? What are the critical vulnerabilities and risks to our most valuable OT assets, and how do we prioritise mitigation? Do we have any threats in our OT network, and how do we quickly investigate and respond to them? How can we leverage our existing IT security investments, people, training and tools (SIEMs, firewalls, ticketing and orchestration, etc.) to secure our OT infrastructure?

“Addressing OT security challenges require innovative solutions that are specifically designed for such environments. CyberX is a leader and pioneer in this domain and delivers in-depth security for industrial control systems. We are excited to take this best-ofbreed platform to our enterprise and government customers in the region, many of whom have large and complex ICS environments,” said Sapan Agarwal, deputy VP, Product Management at Spire Solutions.

MARGIN BUILDER FORUM Sustaining Business Profitability

NOMINATE NOW

30th April 2019

Jumeirah Emirates Towers Ballroom Sustaining profitability has become progressively more difficult as competition gets stiffer in the marketplace. Profitable partners are key to the success of a vendorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business in the region. However, declining margins have compelled many channel firms to adapt and diversify into newer avenues for growth. Reseller Middle Eastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Margin Builder Forum 2019 aims to shed light on the measures partners can adopt to ensure profitability. It delves into pertinent issues that the channel faces to discover tangible and immediate solutions. These issues range from shrinking margins, vendor pressures, credit challenges, optimising new technology opportunities, lack of resources and differentiation in their offerings. Through a host of notable speakers including industry stalwarts and professional consultants, Margin Builder Forum 2019 will help partners draw out effective strategies to thrive in the evolving digital era.

#MarginBuilderForum

www.tahawultech.com/marginbuilder/2019/ For sponsorship enquiries Kausar Syed Group Sales Director kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130 / +971 50 758 6672

Youssef Hariz Business Development Manager youssef.Hariz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9111 / +971 56 665 8683

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION

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Nasir Bazaz Sales Manager nasir.bazaz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147 / +971 50 101 2027

HIGHLIGHTS

TECHACCESS ANNOUNCES HITACHI VANTARA PARTNER PROMOTIONS

echAccess has announced two attractive incentive programmes for its Hitachi Vantara Partners in Gulf, Saudi Arabia, SAGE and LEVANT region. The two programmes are aimed at encouraging partners to target new customers and promote Hitachi Vantara’s new solutions. “We’re committed to increasing our vendors’ market presence and footprint across the region, and promotions are a part of our efforts to incentivise partners into rolling-out a

specific vendor’s solution and target new customers,” said Dimuth Wijeratne, GM, Hitachi Vantara, TechAccess. “There are opportunities for business growth in the markets we’ve targeted with this initiative and we want to ensure that every opportunity is addressed. Our aim is to ensure that our partners stay profitable, and benefit from their relationship with us, and the vendors we represent.” The first promotion is specific to Hitachi Vantara’s Virtual Storage Platform PRO solution. Hitachi’s VSP solution allows

organisations to focus on the tangible business benefits that enterprise environments have begun to experience with the storage virtualisation technology. As part of this incentive, partners who achieve their targets on their minimum order value, stand a chance to be rewarded so as to acknowledge their commitment and efforts to position and sell Hitachi Vantara’s VSP solution. The second promotion is valid across all Hitachi Vantara solutions portfolio and is aimed at encouraging partners to target new

Dimuth Wijeratne, TechAccess

customers. Both promotions run until 31st March 2019. Partners stand a chance to get handsome incentives on each net new customer.

PURE STORAGE TO HELP ENTERPRISES UNIFY CLOUD WITH NEW OFFERING

ll-flash storage firm Pure Storage has added a new DirectFlash Fabric capability for endto-end NVMe and NVMe-oF support in Purity 5.2, the software-defined engine of its FlashArray//X products. According to the company, this capability further extends its leadership in empowering customers to approach hybrid cloud with a new level of unified infrastructure – to run apps anywhere and protect data everywhere. DirectFlash Fabric allows customers to improve performance of enterprise mission-critical applications as well as new web-scale ones that traditionally have relied on direct attached storage. With this announcement, Pure becomes the first mainstream enterprise storage provider to widely support NVMe-oF RoCE, which enables enterprises to get flash media closer to applications for more real-time access and greater consolidation.

DirectFlash Fabric delivers optimisation between storage controllers and hosts over fast networking and makes Ethernet a first-class citizen in the data centre for storage. With the new capability, Pure said it is extending its DirectFlash technologies to Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) over Fabrics to enable increased efficiencies across the network, in particular with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and cloud-native, webscale applications such as MongoDB, Cassandra and MariaDB get the benefits and efficiencies of enterprise grade shared storage. Matthieu Brignone, head of emea channel and alliances, Pure Storage, said, “With NVMe-oF, partners can be assured that we’re arming them with a next-generation solution, giving their customers better and more reliable performance for mission critical apps. Data centricity is vital. This is why

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

Matthieu Brignone, Pure Storage

partners should be getting back in contact with their customers, showing them that they can indeed help them build a better world with data.” FlashArray//X supports end-toend NVMe on 25G and 50G Ethernet ports. Interoperability with NVMe-oF-capable NICs is available or planned from Broadcom, Cisco, Marvell and Mellanox.

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HIGHLIGHTS

BULWARK CELEBRATES TWO DECADES OF REGIONAL OPERATIONS

egional cybersecurity-specialised value-added distributor Bulwark is celebrating twenty years of successful operations in the region. Delivering a variety of products and solutions with excellent customer service and value addition has been at the very core of Bulwark’s operations since its inception in 1999, making the company grow multiple folds over the past years. Recently, Bulwark has expanded its operations in the Indian sub-continent region. The expansion plans are in response to the company’s growing business, robust partner network and strong demand for IT Security Solutions in India. Bulwark’s India office will help the company to better serve the needs of a robust partner network and its growing customer base in India. The VAD showcases and provides an integrated range of innovative and specialised security solutions and services for the IT Security industry including PIM/ PAM, Anti-Malware Threat Protection, SOC Automation, SCADA Security, DDOS, WAF, Cloud Email Security, HSM, Endpoint Security, Firewall & a wide array of cybersecurity solutions to customers across the region. Bulwark has excelled in providing and delivering value-added services to its partners, that include solutions pre-sales consulting, training, partner enablement

PALO ALTO NETWORKS ENHANCES PARTNER PROGRAMME TO FUEL CHANNEL GROWTH

Jose Thomas Menacherry, Bulwark Technologies

programmes, post-sales implementation and technical support, and adding value at every stage of sales life cycle. Partner Enablement and Reach into territories across Middle East & Africa has been our constant endeavor. Throughout the last fiscal year, Bulwark has demonstrated a tremendous commitment in its partner development by making significant contributions and investments in certified professionals, demonstration equipment and value-added services infrastructure which in turn has significantly helped in the go to market approach to the partners. “We act as the extended arm of our vendors in these markets with local resources to extend the support for customers. We have well-trained, certified staffs to support our partners and customers. At Bulwark, we cater to our partner’s and customer’s needs and introduce not just products but solutions that make the user’s life easier, faster and more secure,” said Jose Thomas Menacherry, managing director, Bulwark.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

alo Alto Networks has announced several enhancements to its NextWave Partner Program. The enhancements, according to the global cybersecurity firm, will boost programme flexibility, fuel long-term growth and enable the expansion of partner-led services. With the improved programme, Palo Alto Networks will introduce new options for partners to grow their businesses with streamlined program levels, tiered discount structures, and new partner incentives aimed at boosting margins and profitability. The company will also deliver new partner-led services opportunities and roll out a new dedicated Managed Services Program, providing partners a clear path for capitalising on the rapidly growing managed services opportunity. Finally, the company will also provide automated systems and processes to make doing business easier. These advancements simplify the quoting and approval process to accelerate the sales cycle and improve the overall partner experience. “Our continued growth and success are dependent on our ability to quickly adapt to changing customer, market, and business dynamics together with our partners,” said Karl Soderlund, senior vice president, Worldwide Channels at Palo Alto Networks. “The NextWave Partner Program enhancements unveiled today underscore our commitment to the channel by providing more opportunities to excel together and keep our mutual customers protected from successful cyber-attacks.”

NOMINATE NOW

30th April, 2019

Jumeirah Emirates Towers Ballroom (Theme and dress code: Black & White)

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Partner Excellence Awards, Reseller Middle East and TahawulTech.com is proud to present the 2019 edition on 30th April. The success of the Awards over the last decade is a testament to the triumphs of the regional channel industry. Every year, the event showcases and applauds partner accomplishments and business excellence.

#RMEAwards10

tahawultech.com/resellermeawards/2019/ For sponsorship enquiries Kausar Syed Group Sales Director kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130 / +971 50 758 6672

Youssef Hariz Business Development Manager youssef.Hariz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9111 / +971 56 665 8683

Sabita Miranda Senior Sales Manager sabita.miranda@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9128 / +971 50 778 2771

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HIGHLIGHTS

CAMBIUM NETWORKS ANNOUNCES NEW STANDARD FACTORY WARRANTY ON WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS

ambium Networks has announced that the standard factory warranty on selected equipment will be extended at no additional charge to customers. This warranty extension applies to the majority of wireless connectivity solutions in the Cambium Networks Wireless Fabric of Connectivity Solutions. “Network operators expect connectivity solutions that are cost-effective and reliable – we are giving them both,” said Scott Imhoff, senior vice president of Product Management and Marketing, Cambium Networks. “With a three-year standard warranty on outdoor equipment and a five-year warranty on enterprise indoor Wi-Fi solutions, Cambium Networks is

standing behind the performance and reliability of our technology.” In addition to the extended warranty, Cambium Networks said it is enhancing the value proposition of its Wireless Fabric with free cloudbased network management services; and for Wi-Fi, free Controller functionality; via cnMaestro. There are no annual license renewal or subscription fees for the extensive services available via cnMaestro; which allows customers to manage Cambium Network’s wireless fabric from node to NOC. “cnMaestro has been found particularly beneficial by Managed Service providers due to its ability to support multi-tenancy from a single account – allowing MSPs to efficiently and effectively manage their customers’ disparate networks

Scott Imhoff, Cambium Networks

through a single pane of glass,” said Rad Sethuraman, VP, Enterprise Product Management, Cambium Networks.

GLOBAL CYBERSECURITY FIRM EXPANDS DATA CENTRE FOOTPRINT IN UAE

orcepoint has opened a new data centre in Dubai, providing advanced web security and low latency benefits to customers in the Middle East. The data centre represents the latest investment in the region by Forcepoint, offering Forcepoint Cloud Web Security to organisations looking to utilise incountry secure cloud services locally. The Dubai data centre offers customers within and nearby the UAE the ability to receive web results more quickly. In addition, the new location addresses need from organisations

(public sector and enterprise) who handle sensitive information and prefer content to be in close proximity. The combination of minimal latency, localised access to data and support for all connectivities, such as Proxy Connect and Direct Connect, will reinforce Forcepoint’s security offering in the region. Mahmoud-Samy Ibrahim, area vice president, Emerging Region, Forcepoint, said, “The opening of this data centre represents a milestone for Forcepoint’s continued investment in the region, as its global footprint grows. The cybersecurity industry

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

in the Middle East is undergoing a period of drastic change and customer demands for security are shifting alongside it. It is imperative that Forcepoint is able to provide advanced security solutions that meet and exceed these demands and enable customers from different industries to defend against sophisticated attacks.” One of the key offerings available at the data centre, Forcepoint Cloud Web Security, will provide robust protection through content aware defences and cloud app discovery and monitoring, reducing risks to sensitive data

Mahmoud Samy, Forcepoint

for both on premise and mobile users. Forcepoint Web Security easily integrates with other Forcepoint solutions for single, consistent security controls that can protect against inbound and outbound threats with even the smallest of security teams.

The latest of who has moved where in the IT channel business.

APPOINTMENTS

DELL EMC ANNOUNCES HAVIER HADDAD AS GULF GM

ell EMC has announced that Havier Haddad has been appointed as the general manager for the Gulf region which includes Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. The challenges that the Gulf represents and the diversity of customer, coupled with the regional complexities, requires maturity, experience and strong leadership. In his new role, Haddad said his focus will be further strengthening the firm’s commitment to help customers and partners in these countries to unlock “new enterprise value,

develop national capabilities, pursue innovation and continue building the momentum” in these markets. As a veteran with 20 years of experience in the IT industry, and 11 years of tenure at Dell EMC, Haddad has successfully led and driven the channel and distribution organisations across Middle East, Turkey, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Haddad transitions in his new role from being a senior channel director, a position he has held since January 2015. He had joined EMC in 2008 as channel sales manager for the Gulf and Levant region, followed by a position as channel manager from 2010 to 2012.

Havier Haddad, Dell EMC

STARLINK NAMES NEW CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

egional value-added distributor StarLink has appointed Zaidoun Arbad in the capacity of chief operating officer. With extensive experience spanning nearly two decades in the META region, Arbad brings a combination of sales prowess, operational excellence, financial leadership and global go-to-market expertise, according to the firm. As COO, Arbad will lead channel, customer success, operations and direct the company’s finance and administrative functions. “StarLink is experiencing accelerated growth with the success of its unbeatable strategy. We disrupted the market 15 years ago by pioneering bestin-class value added distribution. It’s a tremendous pleasure to join StarLink’s team, and I am incredibly energised to help lead the company to the next level in its global dominance tied with operational excellence,” said Arbad.

Zaidoun Arbad, StarLink

Prior to joining StarLink, Arbad held various positions at Cisco and HP, starting with a successful career in finance and operations. Post which he progressed into a sales career as general manager for Cisco Kuwait, then as a regional channel head for Gulf and Levant. Most recently, Arbad has been the regional sales head and general manager for one of the niche cybersecurity VADs in MEA.

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Nidal Othman, managing director, StarLink, said, “We welcome Arbad to the StarLink executive team and are excited to have a steady hand at the operational helm as we move forward with major sales growth and global expansion plans. Under his able guidance, we look forward to make significant advancement in operational excellence.”

The latest of who has moved where in the IT channel business.

APPOINTMENTS

COMMVAULT APPOINTS NEW CEO

ommvault has announced the appointment of Sanjay Mirchandani as President and Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board, effective immediately. Mirchandani will be taking over from retiring President and CEO Bob Hammer. Hammer has led the company for more than two decades, growing it to a $3.1 billion market cap. The company has also announced the appointment of Nick Adamo as Chairman of the Board, replacing Hammer who will remain on the Board as Chairman Emeritus; both changes will become effective April 18, 2019. The appointment of Mirchandani concludes an extensive, global executive search initiated as part of a transformation initiative to drive sustained business performance and accelerate Commvault’s growth. Mirchandani has held senior leadership positions at VMware, EMC and Microsoft and has significant expertise in the transformation of IT. At Puppet, he grew the user base of Puppet’s open

source and commercial solutions to more than 40,000, including 75% of the Fortune 100. “Sanjay’s accomplishments at Puppet demonstrate a deep understanding of multi-cloud and cloud native applications,” said Commvault’s incoming Chairman, Nick Adamo. “We are confident he is the ideal person to build on Commvault’s current momentum and champion the rich heritage of combining innovation with unwavering focus on customer and partner success.” Mirchandani also brings a wealth of international business experience through his diverse, well-rounded background in technology having held senior global positions over his career. He also grew Puppet’s presence and partnerships across the globe and opened five new offices in Seattle, Singapore, Sydney, Timisoara and Tokyo. “I’m honoured to join the Commvault team with its respected reputation, industry-leading technology and services, and infectious company culture,” said Mirchandani.

Sanjay Mirchandani, Commvault

“Commvault’s partner-driven approach is closely aligned with my own. I look forward to being an advocate for our customer, channel and partner ecosystems to deliver complete solutions.” Al Bunte, who has served alongside Hammer for more than two decades, is stepping down from his role as Chief Operating Officer while maintaining his position as a member of the Board of Directors. Both Hammer and Bunte will remain with the company through a transitionary period, with Hammer stepping away from the transition effective March 31, 2019.

XEROX ANNOUNCES NEW GM FOR SAUDI ARABIA

erox has appointed Niyazi Mehmet Sezer as the general manager for Saudi Arabia. In his new role, Mehmet will drive new business, develop and execute regional business plans, and manage end-to-end business projects and finances, whilst growing and maintaining direct customer relationships. “The document management industry is continuously changing to keep up with the latest technological advancement and meet evolving customer needs. We are at the forefront and connecting customers’ physical and digital worlds,” said Mehmet. “I look forward to leading

Niyazi Mehmet Sezer, Xerox

a talented and devoted team to drive Xerox’s strategy in Saudi Arabia,

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helping businesses progress in their digital journey.” One of Mehmet’s goals is to grow Xerox’s equipment revenue, and focus on expanding the services portfolio. He will work to ensure Xerox is a benchmark from a customer service point of view and drive growth in KSA’s partner program. Mehmet is also keen to continue to drive environmental sustainability to help customers become more ecofriendly. Mehmet joined Xerox in 1997. Previously, he worked as a MEA distributor operations general manager in London, as a sales operational director in Turkey and as the Sub-Saharan Africa marketing director in South Africa.

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OPINION

CHANNEL FINANCING

FRANK DOCOT, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, HELP AG, EXPLAINS HOW CHANNEL PARTNERS CAN ENSURE THEY DON’T FIND THEMSELVES IN A FINANCIAL CRUNCH.

he fact that business expansion is driven by increased demand for products and services is fundamental. But ironically, a reason many businesses fail is because they cannot manage growth. This is especially true of the Middle East channel industry wherein all too often, although

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the initial offering is promising, business entrants fail due to challenges with cash-flow. A perennial bane for channel organisations, the prevailing economic situation in the region certainly hasn’t helped this situation improve. As we progress into 2019 then, how can channel players stay ‘in the green’ and ensure they’re cash-flow positive?

ACCELERATED AND AGGRESSIVE PROJECTIONS OFTEN LEAD TO RISKY DEALS AND OVEREXPOSURE.” RELATIONSHIPS MATTER For resellers and systems integrators, success isn’t only determined by internal factors. It is heavily influenced by relationships between customers, distributors and vendors. Despite the scale of the region, the technology community remains small and tight knit and vendors don’t just sell to anyone. And one of the criteria they’re most concerned with is the assurance that they will be paid on time. Plotting a course for gradual but steady growth is perhaps the most effective way to ensure your ability to achieve this. Accelerated and aggressive projections often lead to risky deals and overexposure. Instead, carefully evaluating every deal and making sure to continually reinvest in people is what pays dividends in the long run. Help AG has consistently posted double-digit year-on-year growth since its establishment over a decade ago and one of the key reasons for this is that we are completely transparent with our distributors and vendors. We have three major distributors with who we have negotiated payment terms. If due to some complexity, we can’t pay within the agreed time frame, we initiate the necessary conversations as soon as we have an indication of potential delay. Other channel players fail to proactively address

Frank Docot, Help AG

REVENUE IS VANITY, PROFIT IS SANITY AND CASH IS KING.”

this, choosing instead to remain quiet and give no indication of the causes for delay, leaving no room for negotiation once they have defaulted. STRIKING A GOOD MIX Consider a typical payment framework – channel organisations offer 30-day payment terms to their customers and in turn strike 60-day payment terms with their suppliers. In an ideal scenario, the money comes in within 30 days, and money goes out before the next 30 days. However, in the real world this such simplicity is seldom found. The complexity of IT projects means client payment often extend well beyond their due dates and as delays get closer to the deadlines you’ve promised your suppliers, risk is introduced. While there’s no easy fix, a helpful approach is to maintain a good mix of client profiles. This helps ensure that those with shorter payment terms can help accommodate those that overrun. CASH IS KING I have a simple principle for positive cashflow- revenue is vanity, profit is sanity and cash is king. It’s a cliché for a reason. Your revenue is your top line which sounds great. If you have a lot of new projects, this drives your top line and you can easily be convinced that your organisation is doing well. But the reality of the situation lies in the margins as these determine how much of that revenue is actually yours. So, profit takes precedence with an important caveat- profit on paper isn’t good enough. This then raises the final and most important question- when are you going to get the money? If you have the potential to make profit but have very lax payment terms, your business won’t work. This is because while the numbers may look good, you won’t be able to pay your suppliers and your payroll and that’s a recipe for disaster! Simply put, cash is king and it’s not a bad idea to make it your lighthouse when closing deals.

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OPINION

NEW YEAR, NEW OPPORTUNITIES MIKE HERMAN, VICE PRESIDENT, EMEA CHANNELS, PALO ALTO NETWORKS, ELABORATES ON CHANNEL PARTNER TRENDS THAT CAN BE EXPECTED DURING THE COURSE OF 2019.

s 2019 begins, we can expect changes, large and small, to take place within the channel partner ecosystem. Predicting what the year holds is hardly a science, not even one that artificial intelligence can foresee. However, when we listen to our customers, listen to our partner community, and observe shifting business dynamics, we can anticipate where the market is going and, more importantly, how our

Michael Herman, Palo Alto Networks

partners can maximise their success with us. Here are three trends that I expect to take off in 2019. EXPANSION OF SECURITY SERVICES-LED PRACTICES We can expect to see more channel partners focusing on the services component of their business. Some will strengthen existing services practices. Others will expand upon their services practices, adding new types of cybersecurity consultative, implementation, customisation, and optimisation services. Offering more services translates to greater profitability for channel partners, and there is a higher demand for services than ever. Several factors contribute to this growing need for cybersecurity services, including: CLOUD ADOPTION: Simply put, cloud adoption increases the risk of cyberattacks. Within a cloud or hybrid cloud environment, data is distributed across many locations within the network. All too often, IT teams lose visibility into their

assets and the traffic flowing among them. This creates inconsistent security policies and unknown vulnerabilities, leaving many organisations prime targets for an attack. Organisations need help securing every access point across the entire network: endpoints, servers, data centres, and the cloud. IT TALENT SHORTAGE: A shortage of IT talent compounds the challenges introduced by cloud adoption. More than half (51%) of organisations face a cybersecurity skills shortage, and the demand has reached a fever pitch. Globally, the projected demand will increase exponentially, with 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs needing to be filled by 2021. Compliance and regulations: Obtaining a good compliance posture can be difficult to achieve and undoubtedly complex when deciphering the various guidelines that differ based on local, national, or industry origin. Maintaining a good compliance posture becomes an even greater struggle as rules and regulations change and update quickly.

ORGANISATIONS REQUIRE THE HELP OF TRUSTED SECURITY ADVISORS TO SAFELY ENABLE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION VIA CLOUD ADOPTION, FILL IN THE CYBERSECURITY SKILLS SHORTAGE, AND HELP THEM GET AHEAD OF COMPLIANCE CHALLENGES.â&#x20AC;?

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Furthermore, it is no longer solely the IT department’s challenge to solve. Focus on responding to regulatory changes also comes from the boardroom. In early 2018, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance to public companies that places responsibility on board members for planning and responding to cybersecurity breaches. Organisations require the help of trusted security advisors to safely enable digital transformation via cloud adoption, fill in the cybersecurity skills shortage, and help them get ahead of compliance challenges. INCREASE IN MANAGED SECURITY Services Providers (MSSPs) Partners around the world are augmenting their business with managed services. We are seeing a rapid expansion into managed cloud and security services, plus an emergence of managed detection and response (MDR) services, an approach to identifying a breach and managing an incident through remediation. According to Gartner, “By 2021, at least half of small and midsize enterprises will use managed services to secure their infrastructure, up from less than 20% in 2018.” Factors driving adoption for managed security services, a few were already explained in my first prediction, include the growing complexity of enterprise IT infrastructure, IoT,

cloud and multi-cloud, the shortage of security talent, continuously evolving cyberthreats, and the OPEX benefit. IDC recently published their forecast that managed professional services around cloud adoption is the second largest cloud market opportunity that accounts for 31% of cloud-related spending through 2021. So almost a third of spending on the cloud will be used for managed professional services. Organisations want MSSPs to help them rapidly ramp up and scale their cloud environments while deploying security measures specifically designed to reduce the attack surface and secure critical applications and workloads. MSSPs that adapt to the new dynamics and offer a full cycle of security services have vast opportunities in front of them and stand to gain a significant competitive advantage. CHANGING CONSUMPTION HABITS Our industry, once dominated by hardware products, is dominated by software offerings today. Here at Palo Alto Networks, subscriptions and services make up 60% of our business, and this area is growing twice as fast as our hardware business. Software as a service (SaaS) shows the most significant growth among software segments projected at more

than 22% in 2019 compared to 6% for all other forms of software. In 2018, the average enterprise used 16 SaaS applications in their daily business. This will continue to increase exponentially, and 73% of organisations predict that nearly all their apps will be SaaS by 2020. This prolific preference for cloud and SaaS has created a shift in customer consumption habits for “everything as a service.” Organisations have widely accepted the simple, easy-toconsume experience of SaaS, and it has fundamentally changed their expectations for procuring and licensing software. Enterprises are shifting to pay-per-use models that offer flexibility and speed to add or reduce capacity. Our mutual customers are increasingly comfortable consuming mission-critical, cybersecurity SaaS offerings. This meets their preferences and brings many advantages to maintaining a strong security posture. SaaS cybersecurity products offer customers the ease and speed to which they have become accustomed. Plus, they enable vendors to automatically deploy updates and patches to protect against newly detected vulnerabilities. As consumption habits change, our partners have a major role to play, based on my first two predictions. Our mutual customers have an everexpanding need for partner services to successfully integrate cybersecurity offerings into a hybrid infrastructure, optimise security features, and secure the network from the endpoint to the cloud. Palo Alto Networks relies on our NextWave partners to serve this need and touch our more than 55,000 customers. Now we start an exciting new journey. 2019 promises vast services opportunities that offer significant profitability gains for channel partners. We are committed to helping our loyal NextWave partners build their services-based practices to grow the business and bring greater value to our mutual customers. Our New Year’s resolution is to seize this opportunity together, with our partners.

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OPINION

SHOULD BUSINESSES USE CHATBOTS? SUNIL PAUL, CO-FOUNDER AND COO, FINESSE, MAKES A CASE FOR USING CHATBOTS IN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT.

when you call your bank or when a chat box solicits your contact details on a travel website or the information you search for on a real estate broker’s listing page, irrespective of time of day, you are experiencing chatbots at work. If one parses the many definitions of chatbot over the Internet, they all broadly agree that it is a computer programme or software that engages with human users with pre-determined messages in a conversational format. Thanks to artificial intelligence and natural language processing

Sunil Paul, Finesse

FOR COMPANIES HAWKING CONSUMER FACING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, CHATBOTS CAN BOOST CONVERSION RATE AND INCREASE SALES.”

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THE BUSINESS CASE FOR CHATBOTS IS THAT THEY HELP AUTOMATE ROUTINE FUNCTIONS AND FREES UP THE COMPANY’S HUMAN RESOURCES TO DEAL WITH MORE COMPLEX AND VALUE-ADDED TASKS.”

capabilities, the current crop of chatbots are able to mimic human conversations. As a result, diverse sectors from banking to healthcare to industrial services are turning to chatbots to drive their customer service interactions and glean valuable intelligence on customer and market behaviour as a bonus. The business case for chatbots is that they help automate routine functions and frees up the company’s human resources to deal with more complex and value-added tasks. Most companies look to chatbots as a means to reduce overheads and, thus reduce operational costs. Chatbots are typically embedded in customer engagement channels like websites and apps or within chat platforms such as Facebook Messenger or SMS so that customers can enjoy 24x7 access to the company without waiting times. Chatbots sift through vast amounts of data to provide a customer with clear-cut and personalised information so that customers don’t have to undergo the tedious exercise of navigating websites or IVR menus or wait over the phone to be attended by a call centre agent. Where the querying

gets too complex, chatbots can escalate the case to a human agent. For companies hawking consumer facing products and services, chatbots can boost conversion rate and increase sales. Moreover, companies using such solutions are also perceived as innovative. Where companies have to deal with multi-cultural environments like the Gulf region, chatbots can help them listen to the needs and preferences of their customers better. Dealing with millennial generation that is growing up with Alexa and Siri, and accustomed to instant responses required companies to integrate virtual agents or artificial conversational entity (ACE) technologies like chatbots into their customer outreach strategies. And consumers are increasingly favouring chat over email for communication. Gartner has predicted that 25 percent of customer service operations will use virtual customer assistants by 2020.Organisations report a reduction of up to 70 percent in call, chat and/or email inquiries after implementing a VCA (Virtual Customer Assistance), according to Gartner research. They also report

increased customer satisfaction and a 33 percent saving per voice engagement. However, use of chatbots isn’t limited to customer facing operations. Companies could also be looking to use chatbots for internal operations – for example, they can be used as personal assistants for scheduling appointments or ordering office supplies. They can be also used in project management for automating team communications and reporting and tracking expenses. Platforms are aplenty for building both Artificial Intelligence-based and Command-based chatbots. But before jumping on the chatbot bandwagon, enterprises need to answer three basic questions: • What do you need a chatbot? • What problem or challenge will it solve? • Who are the target users? What value will it offer them? Once you have answered these questions, also spare some time to find successful use cases – only a consistent Return on Investment (ROI) can justify your investment.

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COVER STORY

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DATA STRATEGISTS Maya Zakhour, head of distribution and alliances, Middle East and Africa, NetApp, urges channel partners to optimise the opportunities that the firm offers as a data leader.

oday data is at the heart of most business decisions. Increasingly enterprises understand how they can leverage the power of data to enhance their daily operations and grow their business. However, in order to be able to extract actionable insights, customers need to first have adequate data management solutions in place. Hybrid cloud data services and data management company NetApp is enabling customers to modernise their data centres to today’s digital demands through its partner-led business in the region. According to Maya Zakhour, head of distribution and alliances, Middle East and Africa, NetApp, the priority at the firm is to communicate to its partner and customer ecosystem how it has evolved from a storage vendor to become an authority on data. She says, “We are doing this by having a clear vision that revolves around three main pillars – modernising the data centre, offering hybrid cloud architecture and providing cloud data services.” Tasked with growing NetApp’s partner base and leading the firm’s distribution strategy, Zakhour joined over a year ago and has made the three pillars her raison d’être. “We are strengthening our offerings for our partners and customers. With the first pillar, which is about modernising the data centre, we are empowering them to see how they can connect their data centre and storage to cloud.” NetApp’s ONTAP software unifies data

management across flask, disk and cloud to simplify a customer’s storage environment. “ONTAP is the foundation of the three pillars. It gives NetApp the strength of being not only a hardware storage provider but also a software one. We are creating a strong operating system that will help customers to be connected to the cloud.” The second pillar hybrid cloud architecture is where the company brings the architecture of the public cloud in a hybrid cloud format that can be on the customers’ premises. This is through converged and hyperconverged offerings. Zakhour says that the firm boasts strong alliances in the converged segment along with an extensive product portfolio. She urges partners to take advantage of the company’s end-to-end offerings. “It is important for partners to be acquainted with all our solutions and learn our success stories. Only then will they be able to put together customised offerings to help customers address their challenges. They will also be able to scale-up and do more business with NetApp.” NetApp’s third pillar, cloud data services, is realigning the company’s DNA and reshaping its future. The firm has created strong alliances with global leaders such as AWS, Google, Microsoft and the like, to offer cloud data services, whether from the edge or the core. It allows customers the flexibility and freedom on how they want to drive their data between clouds. “The data fabric is integrated into all the layers of our offerings,” she adds. Speaking about the channel strategy, Zakhour www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

COVER STORY

MIDDLE EAST DISTRIBUTORS INGRAM MICRO, LOGICOM

says reaching out to the firm’s existing partners and recruiting new ones who will be able to scale up with the firm on each pillar takes precedence over anything else. The company has also invested in resources to help manage and reach out to its growing network of partners. Post recruiting new partners, the next priority for NetApp is to enable its entire partner ecosystem. “We have a detailed enablement path through our partner programme, Unified Partner Programme. We are driving many activities through our partners from a marketing as well as creating a differentiation perspective. This is not only from a solution providers point of view but also through exposure through partners. “We are enabling partners from every angle, right from training to marketing. NetApp is known for many effective initiatives such as call-out days and other campaigns.

We always try to bring the fun quotient along with the pitch. We also have incentive programmes, which touches on the third aspect of our channel strategy – partner profitability.” Zakhour explains that the company goes above and beyond to help partners understand how “we can be together in the partnership.” She further emphasises that the company does not touch the upfront margins in any of the incentive programmes that it has for each of its main pillars. “Once partners secure an opportunity, we work in an ethical approach that is structured and straight forward. We have deal registrations in place. If we don’t follow this ethical approach, then we can be checked by the company internally. “We ensure not to squeeze our partners’ margins. Instead, through the incentive structures, programmes and our support, they

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IT IS IMPORTANT FOR PARTNERS TO BE ACQUAINTED WITH ALL OUR SOLUTIONS AND LEARN OUR SUCCESS STORIES. ONLY THEN WILL THEY BE ABLE TO PUT TOGETHER CUSTOMISED OFFERINGS TO HELP CUSTOMERS ADDRESS THEIR CHALLENGES. THEY WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO SCALE-UP AND DO MORE BUSINESS WITH NETAPP.”

have ample opportunities to make significant profits.” NetApp partners also stand to make an additional 20-30 percent margins if they are able to convert

NETAPP PARTNER PROGRAMME The NetApp Partner Program provides sales, marketing, and technical resources as well as services opportunities and a set of investments that empower partners to change the world with data. This profitable, easy-to-use program provides industry-leading education and enablement; rewards partners for growth; and leads with a partner-first, noncompeting services model. Figure 1

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a customer from competition’s offerings, which is known as ‘Run to NetApp’ programme; introduce net new accounts to the firm; sell converged or hyperconverged offerings and finally enable themselves by undertaking the right certifications for attaining converged or hybrid cloud offering skillsets. (Refer figure 1) “Also,” Maya adds, “increasing renewals per year is another avenue to earn more incentives.” From a distribution point of view, some partners are directly managed by NetApp while others work with the firm’s distributors. “The strategy for distribution is to make them as part of our team and award them accountable roles and responsibilities with the partners they manage. We also give rebates based on this criterion. For every opportunity that the distributor brings and helps partners to develop it, they receive extra rebates.

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WE ARE ENABLING PARTNERS FROM EVERY ANGLE, RIGHT FROM TRAINING TO MARKETING. NETAPP IS KNOWN FOR MANY EFFECTIVE INITIATIVES SUCH AS CALL-OUT DAYS AND OTHER CAMPAIGNS. WE ALWAYS TRY TO BRING THE FUN QUOTIENT ALONG WITH THE PITCH.”

“Even within our distribution strategy, similar to our partner one, the enablement pillar is crucial. We also drive many fun activities for our distributors.” According to Zakhour, 2019 is the ‘channel year’ for NetApp. She says

that despite having all the pillars in place, robust offerings, strong messaging, programmes and tools, “perhaps the company did not take it to market as effectively as we could have in 2018.” “Today, we promise our partners that all our initiatives and tools will not only be shared but we are going to do everything in our power to truly help them benefit from it. We will be having stronger channel structure to support more partners,” she says. 2019 is also the year of investments for NetApp. “We will be strengthening our presence in Abu Dhabi soon. We already have new offices in Saudi and a much bigger team. This gives the confidence to our partners that NetApp is becoming stronger and we will do everything to support them.” Zakhour’s message to partners is, “Don’t think of NetApp as a storage company but instead view it as a data authority vendor.”

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FEATURE

Driving productivity

Paul Hardy, chief innovation officer, ServiceNow, explains how customers and partners can help build new digital workflows and data models to impact business growth and profit positively.

lobal access to data is exploding. At the same time, our ability to categorise, classify and analyse this data is also expanding. As this new world of data unfolds, businesses are looking to create new data modelsand their supporting data analytics functions—to directly and positively impact growth, profit and expansion.

But let’s go back to first principles for a moment. We know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)-when correctly applied—can improve the way organisations work and operate. But do organisations know where to start as they look to create these new data models? Customers, vendors and partners alike, everybody basically—need to ask where to categorise and

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compartmentalise processes and functions to build new digital workflows. We need to examine which aspects of the business should be most directly ‘exposed’ to AI. We also need to know what is and isn’t possible in the short, medium and long term. In other words, we need to get smart about being smarter if we’re going to bring a new era of business forward. So, what does smart really mean in

WE KNOW THAT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AND MACHINE LEARNING (ML)WHEN CORRECTLY APPLIED— CAN IMPROVE THE WAY ORGANISATIONS WORK AND OPERATE. BUT DO ORGANISATIONS KNOW WHERE TO START AS THEY LOOK TO CREATE THESE NEW DATA MODELS?”

modern business terms? I think it is time to look at AI and digital workflows through the lens of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) objectives.

THE GOAL FOR ANY BUSINESS SHOULD BE TO GET TO THE POINT WHERE THEY CAN USE SMART DIGITAL WORKFLOWS TO DRIVE GREATER PRODUCTIVITY, GREATER QUALITY OF ALL SERVICES AND GREATER EXPERIENCES FOR ALL EMPLOYEES.”

Paul Hardy, Service Now

SPECIFICITY When we use the word ‘specific’ and demand a greater level of product or service specificity, we mean it in the most granular sense possible. We can’t just say we need more paperclips, more salespeople, more office air conditioning or more field sales automobiles. We need to ask what kind of paperclip shape we need, what colour, what build strength and perhaps even what level of ‘clippyness’ every clip needs to exhibit. When you are thinking about delivering AI and ML in the business you have to be really focused on what you are trying to achieve and by that I mean, you need to be able to tie down specific use cases for each and every paperclip. MEASURABILITY Getting smart with new digital workflows also requires measurability. If you can’t measure it and put it in your business plan and balance sheet (a process, a service, a workflow element, anything at all) then you need to step back and ask

whether you should really be doing it. The reality is that data is often captured and not ever used. It simply falls unmeasured, and unloved, into the data lake. The real cost of this is the ‘noise’ that is created throughout the business because for one, wasted data goes crashing into the lake and secondly, there is then the splashing that occurs afterwards when users do actually realise that they have to start diving into the lake to look for the data that they might actually need in order to make work experiences better! ATTAINABILITY AND RELEVANCY If an AI initiative is not attainable or achievable, then why has it formed a part of your current business strategy in the first place? Nowadays we can forecast how far AI will realistically be able to change any given business in real practical terms. Similarly, if an AI business initiative is not relevant to the business and not able to exist within the context of the organisation’s current and immediate goals, then it forms no sensible part of any smart business plan. TIMELINESS Lastly, we come to timeliness. In the not so distant past, business

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FEATURE

cycles and the general approach to commercial objectives were typically annual. In this post-millennial age, firms are measuring themselves in much smaller strategic increments. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and business targets used to change year-on-year. Today, they might be calibrated to change monthly, weekly or perhaps even on the basis of individual (tickets) activities relating to individual jobs. YOUR NEXT STEPS The goal for any business should be to get to the point where they can use smart digital workflows to drive greater productivity, greater quality of all services and greater experiences for all employees. We know that an increasing proportion of organisations are

CUSTOMERS, VENDORS AND PARTNERS ALIKE, NEED TO ASK WHERE TO CATEGORISE AND COMPARTMENTALISE PROCESSES AND FUNCTIONS TO BUILD NEW DIGITAL WORKFLOWS.”

already examining where they can bring AI to bear and create new value in their business. We also know that many are already on that road and creating new applications and new experiences.

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Factors that matter most now include service quality, cost reduction, speedy delivery and the need for geographical availability for all new products and services. These are all the defining trends that should be shaping the way we develop new digital workflows that leverage AI and ML. As vendors, we need to help businesses identify areas for improvement, not just before they start to lose profits and market share, but more significantly, before they start to actually lose contracts. There’s a new culture for predictive business strategy that we are underpinning and making possible. Smart is smarter if it is more productive and creates greater experiences for everybody inside and outside your organisation. It’s where the smart money is, believe me.

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the intended device and manufactured by the same supplier. OKI’s Original Consumables are designed and crafted alongside OKI devices to deliver the best possible performance. The harmonious compatibility between OKI devices and consumables cannot be replicated by thirdparty consumables introduced to printing operations, no matter what promises are made by the third-party supplier. This has been proven in tests by industry-leading independent research analyst and testing firm KeyPoint Intelligence Buyers Lab who compared the performance, image quality, reliability and yield of genuine OKI Original Consumables versus three third-party compatible cartridges. The testing concluded that devices using OKI Original toner cartridges performed flawlessly while devices using toner cartridges from a third-party supplier did not perform so well in comparison.

QUALITY IS THE KEY DRIVER FOR MILLENNIALS PREFERRING TO BUY PRODUCTS FROM RENOWNED BRANDS. THE SAME ETHOS CAN BE APPLIED TO PRINT CONSUMABLES.”

CLEAR OUTCOME During the testing, the device using third-party toner cartridges was susceptible to various error messages which impacted the device’s performance, requiring the device to be frequently turned off and on again. In a real-world business scenario, this device downtime would be detrimental to workplace productivity, delaying the printing, copying or scanning of documentation while distracting the user from their duties. Other issues experienced by technicians testing thirdparty consumables against OKI Originals included third-party cartridges found to be leaking and contaminating devices and the workspaces around them. In some cases, third-party consumables were also found to be ‘dead on arrival’, having

been shipped with a defect and found to be unusable when unpacked. In terms of print quality, the third-party consumables offered noticeably poor print quality with dull colouring, patchiness and dark blemishes evident on printed materials. In comparison, OKI Originals Consumables were found to deliver better print yields, higher and more consistent print colour and quality with absolutely no spillage on delivery and no damage caused to devices. INTO THE VOID It’s only natural that after investing in a new device, a business will want to protect its warranty. While the testing revealed that third party consumables are detrimental to the device’s functionality, this could potentially also void the OKI device’s warranty if the third-party consumable is found to be the cause of any damage. Businesses can ensure their warranty remains protected by purchasing the OKI Original consumables specially crafted for their devices. What’s more, businesses are becoming conscious of their carbon footprints in reaction to the growing consumer demand – especially among millennial consumers – for more brands to operate more sustainably. Third-party products are not guaranteed to be recyclable whereas OKI collects and recycles 98 percent of OKI Original Consumables. Whether working to ensure print costs are kept within or budget or protecting their green credentials, businesses can achieve both simply by ensuring they are purchasing consumables designed and crafted by the manufacturer of their chosen devices. To view the KeyPoint Intelligence Buyers Lab findings and to learn more about the benefits of Original Consumables visit www.okime.ae/ consumables.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

VENDOR FOCUS

Redefining security

In a detailed conversation, Husni Hammoud, GM, Ivanti Middle East, discusses how the IT software firm aims to play a crucial role in regional customers’ digital transformation journeys. WHAT IS THE CURRENT APPROACH IN THE REGION WHEN IT COMES TO CLOUD AND SECURITY SOLUTIONS? Recent market researches and visible trends indicate that organisations in general have identified that moving to cloud-based solutions will be more effective in running their business. Cloud solutions have matured over the years and are securer when working with compliant vendors. Additionally, the positives are immense when considering financial impact on costs, operational effectiveness, scalability, ROI and the overall availability of IT services. HOW SHOULD ORGANISATIONS PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM RANSOMWARE ATTACKS? Security experts say that if you try to adopt the ‘detect and respond’ approach, it’s too late and the systems would have already been compromised. The best approach would be to take preventive measures that provide complete protection against such threats. The following nine steps are crucial in securing the end-user environment: • Patch the critical operating systems and applications • Ensure that antivirus software is up-to-date and that regular scans are scheduled • Manage the use of privileged accounts • Implement access control that focuses on the data • Define, implement and enforce software rules • Disable macros from Microsoft Office files • Implement applications whitelisting • Restrict users to virtualised or containerised environments • Back up critical files frequently

IVANTI SECURITY CONTROLS PROVIDES ROBUST SECURITY MANAGEMENT ACROSS SERVERS AND ENDPOINTS.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

HOW DO YOU SEE THE REGION EVOLVING OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS IN THESE TWO SEGMENTS? Ivanti sees a huge potential in the market due to the digital transformation taking place all over the Middle East. Organisations are moving towards automated and effective processes, improving culture and striving to provide a better and secure experience. This is in turn creating immense opportunities for the firm as well as our partners.

“IVANTI HELP CUSTOMERS ACHIEVE THEIR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES AND PLAY A RESPONSIBLE ROLE IN HELPING DRIVE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TOWARDS A UNIFIED IT”

CAN YOU SHARE THE BIGGEST MILESTONES AT IVANTI OVER THE PAST SIX MONTHS? From a financial point of view, Ivanti has achieved consistent growth in revenue and sales targets. From a product perspective, Ivanti has built a strong and simple to use security platform called Ivanti Security Controls, which provides robust security management across servers and endpoints. The same platform will continue to expand with additional security fundamentals being added to it. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THE FEATURES FOR IVANTI SECURITY CONTROLS (ISEC)? ISEC or Ivanti Security Controls is a unified IT operational security management platform used for managing and protecting Windowsbased machines, Red Hat Enterprise Linux machines and VMware ESXi Hypervisors. Security controls provides you with one centralised and common interface that you can use to perform the following IT management functions: • Ability to scan and patch all Windows-based machines and third-party applications (without having any agents), RHEL Linuxbased machines and VMware ESXi

•

hypervisors in your network and assess the current patch status of those machines. Be able to import lists of CVE to create patch groups to perform scanning and patching as a baseline. The in-built Application Control functionality provides a powerful set of controls. A configuration is created to use any, or all, of the features; Executable Control, Privilege Management, Browser Control. You create a set of Rules to build your configuration. Executable Control is used to apply rules for trusted ownership, to restrict or not, using security levels and to allow or deny files, folder, drives, file hash. Use Privilege Management to enable elevation of privileges or restrict rights for users or user groups and enable Browser Control to redirect or allow specific URLs.

WHAT ARE THE NEW UPDATES FOR IVANTI CLOUD? Ivanti is offering the following cloud solutions: • Service Management • Asset Management • License Optimizer • Real time Intelligence • Smart Advisors

WHAT IS IVANTI’S BUSINESS OBJECTIVES FOR 2019? Ivanti has a strong focus on building customers for Life and making them part of our DNA. We aim to have a region-wide enablement on our vision for unified IT. We are working towards being a responsible driver in the market towards digital transformation. We will be doubling our market presence in the Middle East and ensuring we provide value-added solutions to new organisations. HOW DO CHANNEL PARTNERS PLAY A ROLE IN YOUR GROWTH STORY? Our channel ecosystem plays a colossal role in Ivanti’s growth story by contributing significantly to sales and delivery. We consider our partners as family and invest heavily in channel enablement. Moreover, Ivanti boasts a robust partner programme where partners are rewarded with rebates for performing specific technical activities matching their skillset. This has resulted in a pleasant phenomenon where our partners with skillsets are helping other partners who need help in their sale cycles. The trust and transparency between Ivanti and its partners are major achievements when conducting business. WHAT CAN THE REGIONAL MARKET EXPECT FROM IVANTI DURING THIS YEAR? Ivanti is here to make a lot of noise, help customers achieve their business objectives and play a responsible role in helping drive digital transformation towards a unified IT.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

REVIEW

AHEAD OF THE GAME AVID GAMING AFICIONADO AND CPI MEDIA GROUP’S WEB DEVELOPMENT MANAGER JEFF DE JOYA TESTS OUT LOGITECH’S LATEST LAUNCHES AND WAS DULY IMPRESSED.

LOGITECH G513 CARBON GAMING KEYBOARD Logitech’s high-performance gaming keyboard G513 features advanced Romer-G Tactile, Romer-G Linear and GX Blue mechanical switches. Powered with innovative gaming technology and aluminum-alloy construction make, the G513 stays true to its promise of being “simple, durable and full-featured”. Well, if I had to describe the keyboard in just a word, it would be ‘impressive’. In fact, I can go as far as to say I have a new favorite now. This keyboard can be effortlessly enjoyed for both gaming and everyday use. The keyboard sports a premium feel and build quality. The switches satisfy deeply not only the gamer in me but is just as great while typing or carrying out basic activities on the computer. The travel of the keys is a lot shorter

compared to competition and feels much smoother. When typing, it was almost inaudible, which was a welcome change and the palm rest was quite comfortable to use. I found the keyboard to be sturdy and seemed like it would be durable long-term. Donning a smooth aluminum carbon matte combination design, the spacing and height of the keys makes it comfortable to type on with reduced strain on your hands and fingers. This is all thanks to the premium G513 Palm Rest, which comes in the package. The key presses become smoother and more responsive as you use it. The RGB lighting of the keyboard is completely customisable and you can create your own animation or choose from a selection of preset effects. The LIGHTSYNC technology gives you an immersive experience as it synchronises while you play your favorite game. All in all, Logitech G513 Carbon Gaming Keyboard is a fantastic buy, especially since it has a solid feedback when typing and gaming; and the build quality is sturdy. In my opinion, it is one of the better ones available in the market today. If you still need

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

one more reason to seal the deal, here it is – in addition to all its great features, the keyboard is also easy to clean as there are no dips or trenches since the keys sit right above the metallic frame.

LOGITECH G502 HERO GAMING MOUSE Let me start off by saying that I’ve used plenty of gaming mice over the three decades of my life and the Logitech G502 Hero significantly stands out in terms of quality, performance and design. However, as a left-handed user, I was disappointed to see that the G502 Hero was designed for right-handed gamers. With only 10 percent of the world’s population being left-handed, this might not be a deal breaker for most customers. The setup time for the mouse was just five minutes or less. Although

you don’t need any drivers, you have to download the software from Logitech’s website. After that, all that the user has to do is plug it in and it is good to go. Customers can customise and create different profiles by using Logitech G HUB to program specific commands (such as build, crouch, melee and heal) and macros to each of the 11 buttons. Wrapped in plastic with a matte finish, the bottom of the G502 is tapered off and rounded, giving it a comfortable curve that is ideal for palm grip users. The thumb rest allows your thumb to stay in its groove. The grips on the thumb rest and the side are made of a textured rubber that improves the grip. The DPI switch was positioned

conveniently making it easy for me to instantly switch to my desired speed. One of my favourite features of the mouse is the dual-mode hyper-fast scroll wheel. It allowed me to effortlessly scroll through long pages quickly without forgoing the precision of the standard mouse wheel steps. To conclude, the G502 is a good quality gaming mouse, which I highly recommend for shooting gamers who need to shift from high-speed to accurate sniping abilities using the DPI shift button.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

SAVE THE DATE 16-18 April 2019

2019 BICSI Middle East & Africa District Conference & Exhibition Dubai World Trade Centre Sheikh Maktoum Hall | Dubai, UAE

bicsi.org/mea2019

From AI to Zettabytes:

A Connected Future!

R&M LAUNCHES NEW PRIME ODF SYSTEMS Globally active developer and provider of cabling systems for high-quality network infrastructures R&M has launched PRIME, a high-density cabling platform for Optical Distribution Frames (ODF). At maximum capacity, 5,376 optical fibres can be connected in an ODF with R&M’s PRIME modules, setting new density standards for the Fibreto-the-Home (FTTH) market, said the firm. Above-ground street cabinets and basements, main distributor frames, central offices and POP sites are some of the most important locations for the PRIME ODF racks. Here they can form the nodes of local broadband networks such as city rings and feeder networks. The platform is also suitable for fibre op-

tic distribution in data centres, and the backhaul networks of mobile communication providers. Key features include: • Modular PRIME distributors can be assembled, adapted and extended as separate blocks. • Up to 14 PRIME modules can fit in a 19-inch or ETSI rack and no tools are required for assembly in R&M ETSI racks. The PRIME modules can be assembled from the front or back in 19-inch racks. • The PRIME range contains fibre units for fibre optic termination, splice and breakout cabling as well as patch cord and overlength storage. • Drawer technology ensure the fibres remain in a guide and protects

EPSON ANNOUNCES NEW COMPACT DOCUMENT SCANNERS Epson has launched its fastest sheet-fed scanner range, the WorkForce DS-970 and DS-870, which are highly reliable devices for high pressure environments such as the healthcare, legal and financial sectors, said the firm. With market-leading capture speeds of 85ppm, or 170ipm, a high-capacity 100-sheet ADF and advanced job processing features, they prove invaluable in any business workflow. Both offer a new colour LCD panel to improve ease of use for device and job control functions, while onboard sensors and innovative software combine to boost productivity and image quality. The scanners now feature USB 3 for faster data transfer and an improved duty cycle, so users can scan up to 9000 pages per day on the DS-970 and 7000 pages per day on the DS-870. Both models offer Epson’s widest media handling from 27gsm to 413gsm and long paper scanning mode up to

the fibres during assembly, maintenance and cleaning, while a channel system protects the fibres on the way to the splice area. The connectors can be detected and operated when the drawer is pushed in and can be pulled into a service position for cleaning and inspection

WESTERN DIGITAL SHOWCASES 1TB UHS-I MICROSD CARD 6096mm. For documents that cannot be scanned via the ADF – customers can choose from three different flatbed solutions up to A3 in size. The optional network panel enables the DS-870 and DS-970 to be shared between users and departments. Both devices come with Document Capture Pro and Epson Scan software: Epson Scan software is designed for advanced imaging technology such as searchable PDFs, advanced colour dropout and automatic de-skew. Epson’s Document Capture Pro features job profile creation that enables individuals to scan, save and share information around the business effortlessly. Advanced features for naming, separating and routing documents make scanning simple and logical. Save and send files like PDF, jpeg, tiff and other formats.

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Western Digital has showcased its 1TB UHS-I microSD flash memory card, the 1TB SanDisk Extreme UHS-I microSDXC card. The new card features higher speed and capacity for capturing and moving massive amounts of high-quality photos and videos on smartphones, drones and action cameras. Designed to help move tons of high-quality content faster than ever, the 1TB SanDisk Extreme UHS-I microSD card reaches speeds up to 160MB/s. This new card allows consumers to transfer files in nearly half the time over standard UHS-I microSD cards currently on the market. The cards reach these record-breaking speeds by leveraging Western Digital’s proprietary flash technology, said the firm.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

HOT PRODUCTS

NOKIA 9 PUREVIEW NOW AVAILABLE

HUAWEI INTRODUCES 5G FOLDABLE PHONE At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019, Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) has unveiled its first 5G foldable phone, Huawei Mate X. The Huawei Mate X features the Falcon Wing Mechanical Hinge, 7nm multimode modem chipset Balong 5000, a high-capacity 4500mAh battery supporting 55W Huawei SuperCharge and the brand new Interstellar Blue finish. When folded, the device is a huge display smartphone with a 6.6-inch screen, and when opened, it turns into a slim tablet with an 8-inch screen. The new multiform factor revolutionises both productivity and entertainment experiences on a mobile device, said the firm. The 2-in-1 smartphone and tablet Huawei Mate X features a high strength flexible OLED panel and a falcon wing mechanical hinge. The 6.6-inch dual display panel equipped on the Huawei Mate X is a true FullView display. When unfolded, it transforms into an 8-inch tablet only 5.4mm thick. As light as it is appealing, the foldable smartphone comes in a new Interstellar Blue. The device’s flexible OLED foldable FullView display, falcon wing mechanical

hinge and 5G modem chipset Balong 5000 combine to deliver a “new mode of interfacing, in which the large-screen experience and portability co-exist in harmony.” Inside the smartphone’s slim body is the latest Leica cameras, supporting the most advanced imaging features to date. The foldable design makes it possible for the camera system to play the role of both front and rear cameras. When folded, the Huawei Mate X shows a view finder on both sides, so even the subjects in the frame can contribute to the creative process.

HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, has announced the world’s first smartphone with a unique five camera array, the Nokia 9 PureView. Nokia 9 PureView features the world’s first five camera array with ZEISS Optics to put next generation computational imaging technology into the hands of advanced photography enthusiasts. Every picture taken with a Nokia 9 PureView is in HDR, five cameras simultaneously capture the image and fuse it together into one 12MP photo with outstanding dynamic range and depth of field. Nokia 9 PureView also features the ability to capture images in uncompressed RAW “DNG” format and edit them directly on the phone yourself thanks to the firm’s partnership with Adobe Lightroom. Nokia 9 PureView’s two colour sensors and three monochromatic sensors give sharpness and detail. Nokia 9 PureView will be available in the UAE from March for a retail price of AED 2,299.

BARCO UNVEILS NEW CLICKSHARE MODELS Barco has announced the release of two new enterprise products: a dedicated huddle proposition and a 4K collaboration solution. With the addition of the ClickShare CS-100 Huddle and the ClickShare CSE-200+ to the portfolio, Barco ClickShare now has a complete offering of intuitive, IT-friendly collaborative experiences for every meeting room in the enterprise— shifting its focus from wireless presentation to interactive meeting collaboration, said the firm. The new models of ClickShare CSE-200+ and the CS-100 huddle are available in the Middle East and Africa markets through Barco’s value-added distributors. The ClickShare CS-100 Huddle,

designed for huddle and small meeting spaces, brings spontaneous, ad-hoc and swift content-sharing— ideal for short catch-ups or instant brainstorming with a limited group of employees. With the ClickShare CSE200+, new ways of meeting can be introduced in the current workplace. Brainstorming or more creative discussions are enabled by a wide set of features: annotation, blackboarding, touch back and 4K support with every type of device. The integrated HD switch in the CSE-200+ model takes away the hassle of having to switch manually between wired legacy sources (such as cameras) and the ClickShare

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

wirelessly presented content. The IT friendliness of the solution is also underlined by the seamless integration with existing company networks and legacy infrastructure. All ClickShare models function both standalone and in a network, and can be remotely managed by the easy-to-use ClickShare XMS.

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INTERVIEW

AOC RELEASES NEW SERIES OF SURVEILLANCE MONITORS Display specialist AOC has expanded its product portfolio with the introduction of its brand new E1 series of surveillance monitors. The E1 series consists of 4 models; 9E1H 18.5-inch (470mm), 20E1H 19.5-inch (494.2 mm), 22E1H 21.5inch (546.87 mm) and 27E1H 27-inch (685.9 mm). The new AOC monitors support the widest range of video cameras and are also compatible with the latest video surveillance and security applications. The new AOC E1 series is specially designed and built with components TN Panel to last long in harsh conditions and operate reliably for 24 hours a day displaying footage from CCTV camera. The monitor also features protection from overheating and display distortions while working for long hours. The company has also engineered the monitor to consume less energy as against similar size options of monitors in the market. The AOC 18.5-inch model consumes only 11w under operation mode as compared to 15w plus for other monitors in the same size segments. The E1 Series is equipped to split the screen into eight workspaces with Screen+ and also all the models

come with VESA wall mount that enables easy installation on walls or boards for easy view ability required for surveillance purpose. Other main key features include: • Detachable Stand with effective cable management for ease of access and connectivity (generally connecting with DVR for surveillance purpose). • High DCR 20,000,000:1 along with HDMI input makes resolution and viewing better. • Clear Vision function to make lower resolution pictures and text clearer and sharper. • DCB live color technology, 5 color enhancement modes; Eco Mode, 5 brightness scene modes. • Best in Class NTSC and color Gamut (NTSC 78% (CIE1976) / sRGB 100% (CIE1931). AOC offers a 3-year warranty for all AOC monitors products. The models come in end-user prices, 279 AED for 9E1H 18.5inch, 299 AED for 20E1H 19.5-inch, 349 AED for 22E1H 21.5-inch and 599 AED for 27E1H 27-inch.

OPTOMA ADDS COMPACT PROJECTORS TO DURACORE LASER RANGE Optoma has expanded its range of DuraCore laser ProScene projectors with the launch of two high-specification compact projectors – the ZU506 and ZH506. These cost-effective, feature-rich WUXGA and Full HD 1080p resolution projectors boast a brightness of 5,000 lumens and offer flexible installation with a generous zoom, vertical lens shift, four corner adjustment and portrait mode. The ZU506 and ZH506 deliver 30,000 hours in full brightness mode and continuous 24/7 operation. Additionally, IP5X certification ensures total reliability for peace of mind even in the most demanding of environments. Designed for large venues such as schools and colleges, museums and attractions, houses of worship and corpo-

rate meeting rooms, the new projectors’ vertical lens shift and 1.6x zoom ensure quick and accurate installation. Four corner geometric adjustment is also included for uneven walls or where a projector placement is awkward and needs to be installed at an angle. Once installed, these low-profile installation projectors can be managed and monitored easily over a network via the RJ45. Compatible Crestron RoomView software can be used to power on/ off, monitor, manage and control up to 250 projectors at the same time from any computer.

SHURE LAUNCHES MV88+ VIDEO KIT IN THE UAE Shure has launched the MV88+ Video Kit in the UAE, featuring a digital stereo condenser microphone that provides content creators with an all-in-one solution for capturing professional-quality recordings on-the-go. The kit also includes a Manfrotto PIXI tripod, phone clamp, and mount as well as iOS and USB-C cables for next-level compatibility and connectivity. Designed for podcasters, videographers, content creators, field recordists, and musicians looking to record immersive, rich, high-quality audio wherever, the MV88+ accentuates the power of flexibility, enabling users to transform their smartphone device into a professional-level mobile audio and video rig. Compatible with iOS and other selected devices, the MV88+ Video Kit equips users with a variety of new and improved accessories. To ensure real-time audio assessment, a headphone jack lets users record with confidence. A convenient phone clamp and tripod stand multiplies the sort of environments users can record in. The MV88+ can also be used for standalone audio capture, replacing the need for field recordists to carry a portable audio recorder. The MV88+ Video Kit is available on Souq.ae, Shure.eu and Melody House at a retail price of AED 999.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

LAST TAKE

YOUR IDEAL MORNING ROUTINE STARTS WITH… waking up bright and early. I get myself and my son ready for the day. I drop him off to the nursery before starting a long working day – this is usually accompanied with a lot of coffee and good music.

YOU ARE PROUD OF YOUR MOST RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENT, WHICH IS… increasing brand awareness for Lenovo Data Center group through PR, third Party participation, winning two awards within a quarter.

FIVE THINGS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT… coffee, phone, internet, my son and my family!

THE MOST UNDERRATED TECHNOLOGY TREND ACCORDING TO YOU IS… the increase in robot technology. With Artificial Intelligence (or Augmented Intelligence) being one of the top market technology trends, the next level in AI is intelligent machines.

Sandra

FIVE GOALS YOU AIM TO ACHIEVE IN 2019… proper mindset and balance, commitment to improved physical health, career passion and personal satisfaction, develop empathy and gentleness, service and social responsibility

MEHCHI

DATA CENTER MARKETING LEAD, META, LENOVO DCG

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // MARCH 2019

Smartly Tough We are in Middle East Now!

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