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Executive Address Season’s Greetings!
Community Connection Fun times benefitting a great charity
2012 Business Builder Tour Takes Flight Highlights from Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto
TechSelect Member Profile We catch up with Ainsworth Inc.
TechSelect at the CDN Top 100 Gala Event We put the spotlight on outstanding TechSelect members
TechSelect Spring Conference Review A hootin’ good time in Calgary!
Reseller Adventure 2012 Presented Exclusively by IBM
A review of the highlights from Sonoma Valley
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Office Etiquette Gentle reminders for all the office workers among us
Voice of the Vendor Tech Times speaks with Celine Chranofsky of IBM Canada
Editor Irene Buchan Art Direction and Design Julie MacAulay Contributing Writers and Editors Irene Buchan, Andrew Gorski, Mary Bonnici Project Manager Ralitsa Naydenova Tech Times is published and distributed six times per year to channel resellers across Canada. ©2012 Tech Data Canada Corporation. Prices, promotions, offers & terms and conditions of sale subject to change without notice. Errors and omissions excepted. All manufacturers’ names are registered trademarks of their respective corporations. This publication comes to you free from Tech Data Canada Corporation. We received your mailing address from your Tech Data customer account information. To make changes or to unsubscribe, please contact your Tech Data sales team at (800) 668-5588 or notify us at emailcanada@techdata.ca. www.techtimesmagazine.ca
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Season’s Greetings! Can you believe it’s already summer? We seem to say it every year, but time really does fly by incredibly fast! Here at Tech Data Canada, we’ve been busy with a number of events and activities. We kicked off our Business Builder Tour in Ottawa on April 26, then headed to la belle province for tour stops in Quebec City and Montreal on May 8th and 10th, then stopped in Toronto on May 15th. In between all that BBT excitement we hosted our valued TechSelect members and vendor partners for a four-day conference in beautiful Calgary, Alberta and also held two Winner’s Circle events in Hamilton on April 12th and Halifax on June 21st. And on top of all that, we saw many of you at various vendor conferences around North America. These past few months have been busy, exhilarating and exciting, and like you, I’m certainly looking forward to taking some time to relax over the summer! But of course, while we’re travelling across the country catching up with all our friends throughout the industry, the broader Tech Data team is hard at work, striving to deliver an ever-increasing level of Value Added Services to our entire customer base. Most notably, we’ve expanded the products featured in our one-of-a-kind Advanced Technology Solutions Centre (ATSC), and are proud to be the only center of its kind in Canada to have two fully integrated HP Gen 8 servers. Additionally, we’re excited about the new direction of HP’s CTO strategy and encourage you to contact Michael Gagne at michael.gagne@techdata.ca for more information about how you can now partner with Tech Data and our industry-leading Technical Specialists for all your HP CTO needs. In addition to that, we’ve recently hired Dave McCorquodale, our new IBM PureFlex Program Manager. Dave has been with us for a short time only, but has a wealth of experience, and is here to help you navigate the wonderful world of IBM’s
new PureFlex program. Additionally, our IBM PureFlex system is ready and waiting to be to be demonstrated to you in our ATSC, and we have Flex System components available in inventory. You can learn more about Dave, his experience, and how he can help you in your business, by reading our AIS Employee Spotlight feature on page 15. And be sure to contact Dave at David. McCorquodale@techdata.ca for all your IBM PureFlex needs. As always, we value your business and your partnership. I hope our paths cross soon, and if they don’t, feel free to drop me a line at rick.reid@techdata.ca. Enjoy your summer!
D.R. Rick Reid President, Tech Data Canada
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What started as an annual Cisco summer partner and sales program focused at Tech Data to drive Cisco Networking sales to partners across Canada has evolved into an annual BBQ fund-raiser benefitting one of Tech Data’s favourite charities, Reach for the Rainbow.
Reach for the Rainbow is a not –for-profit organization that provides integration of children and youth with disabilities into the mainstream of society through summer camp programs. These programs not only help to provide environments of inclusion for kids but also provide much needed respite for parents. It has been said that “it takes a village to raise a child”. This adage holds particularly true when referring to children with disabilities. Prior to the 1970’s children with disabilities were segregated, undervalued, shunned, hidden and/ or institutionalized. Fortunately times have changed. Reach for the Rainbow has opened doors by advocating for legislative change for individuals with disabilities, promoting public awareness, developing a tangible model for effective integration and family respite and impacting hundreds of thousands of lives over the past 25 years. On Wednesday June 6, 2012, Tech Data and Cisco joined together to have some fun while also giving back to our community. The day offered a delicious BBQ lunch for all, a bucking bronco, fantastic weather and raffle ticket sales for a great assortment of fantastic prizes. Additionally, employees were able to buy a `casual dress day` for $2, contributing to over $4400 being raised for Reach for the Rainbow! Cisco’s willingness to partner with our employee community, and to invest in our community at large, is just one of the things that make them such a great vendor partner to all of us at Tech Data Todd Madgett, Director of Sales and Distribution for Cisco Systems Canada remarked that ``it`s an honour to work with such a fantastic team at Tech Data.`` Thanks to all the employees who participated, and to our valued friends at Cisco Systems Canada. We all had a lot of fun and collectively made a much-needed contribution to a very worthy cause.
small to medium business Cisco “Ready-for-Anything” Wireless Fast Track Promotion Cisco lets you offer highly secure, affordable, reliable and easy-to-use wireless. Through October 27, 2012 save up to an additional 11% off Fast Track pricing on select Cisco Wireless Solutions, and help customers embrace the “bring your own device” trend. For a list of eligible Cisco Fast Track Wireless SKUs be sure to call your Tech Data Sales Representative today at 800.668.5588.
There Has Never Been a Better Time to Sell Cisco Voice Solutions Help your customers connect the right people, at the right time, with the Cisco® SPA Series IP Phones. Between May 1 and June 30 you can get up to an additional 10% on standard Cisco Fast Track pricing on all SPA 300 and 500 series phones. Limit 100 phones per customer (combined). For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
Cisco Catalyst 2960-S Series Switches Cisco offers a family of reliable, high-performance managed switches designed specifically for your small or medium sized business. The Cisco® Catalyst® 2960-S Series Switch provides the security and performance that your business applications demand and are scalable to support your continually evolving network environment. By providing these capabilities in your network foundation, you can improve the availability of your critical applications, protect your business information, more easily accommodate expanding services, and optimize your network bandwidth to more effectively deliver information and applications. Eligible Tech Data Cisco 2960 SKUs 01286U, 01284U, 01285U, 01287U For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
Intel® Xeon® E5 Processor Family. The Heart of your Data Centre. IT organizations are driving higher value into their businesses by virtualizing their data centres to reduce cost and adding automation to improve service levels, efficiency, and agility. Intel Xeon processor-based servers provide the foundation for this innovation. They account for the majority of all servers in today’s virtualized data centres and clouds, and power many of today’s highest-performing work stations. Highlighted skus: Mfr. P/N TD P/N BX80621E52650 08936Y
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small to medium business NEC Projector Products & Promotions Your customers can Buy 7 projectors & get 1 free! Visit http://buy7promo.necdisplay.com! They can also create an interactive environment in classrooms and more with their NEC projector by using our new Interactive Software. www.necdisplay.com/interactive. For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
Symantec Backup Exec SBE Symantec Backup Exec replaces confusion with confidence. In less than 10 minutes and with three simple steps, your customer’s business critical data is covered. A complete solution for both system recovery and data retrieval, from any individual file to a full server, Backup Exec means total control, quick and complete. For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
Introducing an innovative self contained, row based datacenter cooling solution by Tripp Lite The new 33000btu, 42U cooling unit can be installed by IT staff, saving on installation costs. 33% less energy consumption, zero maintenance design and competitive pricing make Tripp Lite the easy choice. For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
Simplify and Automate your IT Management VMware vCenter Protect Essentials Plus provides centralized patch management, asset inventory, antivirus, power management, and configuration management for both virtual and legacy physical systems in an integrated solution. This includes centralized management for Windows operating systems and the most widely used Windows-hosted applications running on both virtual and physical servers and workstations. VMware P/N Tech Data P/N SH-PEPL-SV-P-TLSS-C SH-PEPL-SV-2P-TLSS-C SH-PEPL-SV-3P-TLSS-C
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For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
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HotSpots Receive an exclusive 5% instant rebate on Axiom Enterprise SSD’s throughout May and June 2012 Axiom hot-swap SSD’s deliver enterprise-class storage for businesses of all sizes. Whether your application, storage, or servers require faster input/output (I/O) acceleration, increased transaction processing, and critical server consolidation, we have the solution you need with the performance and reliability you demand. 2.5” Hot-Swap SATA III 6Gb SSD Drives – Enterprise Description Drives for Dell Poweredge 1900, 2900 & 6900 Drives for Dell Poweredge T, M & R Series Drives for HP Proliant BL, DL & ML Series Drives for IBM eServer xSeries & Blade Centers
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Ergotron’s Tablet Management Cart Your customers will be delighted with a cart that will simultaneously charge and sync up to 48 tablet devices such as the iPad, Lenovo ThinkPad and Kindle Fire. It’s lightweight, easy to maneuver and secure design comes in at a great price point. For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
Introducing 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processor Family.
The only thing more amazing than Intel technology is what you’ll do with it. Help your customers discover what a new computer can do for them. The 3rd gen Intel® Core™ processors family brings new features that enhance security, improve media performance and a renewed focus on small business. The latest Intel technologies provide customization options and new business opportunities for you. Mfr. P/N BX80637I73770S BX80637I53570K BX80637I53550 BX80637I53450
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Raritan’s Dominion LX Raritan’s Dominion LX - High-quality, cost-effective KVM-over-IP for your evolving small or midsize business – Dominion LX is the tool you need to cost-effectively manage a constantly changing network environment, provide consistent access to company data and information, expand service capabilities, and focus on strategic init7iatives. For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
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HotSpots Capture life at its fullest with the DSCW610 Sony Cyber-shot camera. Give your memories the superb contrast and clarity they deserve with the powerful 14.1-megapixel Super HAD™ CCD image sensor. A generous 2.7” Clear Photo LCD™ display makes it easy to review your photos and easily navigate the menu-even in bright sunlight. www.sonystyle.ca For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
Targus introduces the Revolution Collection! The new Revolution Collection takes travel to a higher standard by perfecting the balance of four key elements: comfort, organization, quality and protection. The patented SafePort Air Cushion and SafePort Suspension Systems provide industry leading protection against drop damage so your valuables stay safe and secure. For more details please contact your Tech Data Sales Representative at 800.668.5588.
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The first leg of our 2012 Business Builder Tour was a resounding success! Launched in Ottawa on April 26, we were not to be outdone by Game 7 of the Ottawa - NY Rangers series of the Stanley Cup playoffs! A few big screens and a rowdy team spirit brought the game’s energy to our midst. Unfortunately, the Senators didn’t make it through though we’re certainly proud of them for making it farther than any other Canadian team in the NHL! We then headed to Quebec City on May 8th and Montreal on May 10th followed by Toronto on May 15, and though we didn’t have our favourite pastime to pump up the energy this time around, our fantastic assortment of sponsoring vendors and reseller partners made for great times. With seminars from Cisco, D-Link, HP, IBM, Lenovo, and VMWare, a vendor fair buzzing with activity, a food and drink-filled reception and an incredible assortment of prizes, a good time was had by all! We look forward to seeing you at the next two stops on our tour! We’ll be in Calgary on Wednesday September 19th and Vancouver on Thursday October 4th. We’re bringing 30 industry-leading vendors with us and can’t wait to spend some time with many of our valued Western customers! www.techdata.ca
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TechSelect Member Profile Ainsworth Inc.
Tell us a little about your organization. Ainsworth Inc. was established in 1933 and Incorporated in 1945. With offices coast to coast, Ainsworth staffs over 1,100 employees and is an ISO 9001 registered company. We are an infrastructure service company, offering reliable services and solutions, including: • IT professional services, and managed support services • Structured Cabling • Energy Services • Design Build and project management • Mechanical and Electrical contracting • Mechanical and Electrical maintenance • Building automation • Drives and motors • Dispatch centre and service portal Outside of the more historic lines of business such a Mechanical and Electrical contracting and management, Ainsworth provides following IT services in the areas of Data Center, IT consulting, Structured Cabling and IT Infrastructure and Support Services. What are your thoughts on the industry in general? Our business strategy is to grow each of our business groups including Data & Technology Services; Energy Services; Building Services and Process/ Automation Services. This is expected to be realized by organic growth (sales) and strategic acquisitions. We believe our Canadian markets will see slow but steady growth over the next five years, helping us to achieve our goals. What challenges are you facing and how do you overcome them? It will be a challenge to manage our anticipated double digit growth every year. One aspect will be the management of a much larger employee
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base, particularly sales staff. We should be able to handle this staff increase by practicing management best practices. Another challenging aspect will be handling acquisitions. There is always a transition period while new firms to the Ainsworth Group of Companies acclimatize to our business processes What would you like to see from vendor partners? How effective are their channel programs? Certainly we would like to see vendor partners and their programs help our business grow through solid margins, reasonable inventory requirements and delivering on their promised financial rewards. We expect the vendor partners and their channel programs to be compatible with our core business. We also want a vendor that’s easy to do business with, residual revenue opportunities, a value-add proposition, and low risk and high return. Some vendors’ channel programs are easier to work with. Others, however, require strict monthly or quarterly reporting that are difficult to do. Still others have overly complicated partner websites or portals that require support phone calls in order to navigate. What are some of the goals for your organization for the next five years? Beyond our financial objective of
significant revenue growth, it is our goal to fortify each of our offices across Canada with all of our offerings so that customers can go to one location and receive any or all of our service offerings. Another key goal of our organization is to offer “Service You Can See”. This idea revolves around allowing our customers to see all parts of the service delivery. In other words, we want to make all aspects of the customer’s experience with Ainsworth transparent. How do you see the TechSelect program helping you? We see lots of value in our TechSelect membership including, in-person networking opportunities with our TechSelect community and relationship building with vendor and Tech Data executives. The opportunity to learn from industry peers through sharing of best practices is another great benefit, as is attending exclusive vendor sessions with our top industry manufacturers. What is your outlook for 2012? We see an increase in revenues from 2011 through the streamlining of our business units. We have diverted our focus away from low margin business and are strengthening our higher margin businesses.
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TechSelect Members well represented at CDN Top 100 Solution Provider Awards! The TechSelect community was well represented at this year’s CDN Top 100 Solution Providers Awards Gala which took place on May 16th, 2012 at the Paramount Conference and Event Venue in North Toronto. Over 250 representatives from solution provider organizations across Canada were recognized for meeting CDN’s criteria. Organizations must source products from leading Canadian distributors, possess at least one certification or authorization from an IT vendor and also be one of the highest revenue-generating solution providers with major operations in Canada. Adding a new flare to the evening event Computer Dealer News awarded regional prizes, honouring TechSelect members Triware Technologies Inc. for the Top Eastern Solution Provider of the Year. As well, TeraMach Technologies was recognized for the Top Central Solution Provider and Stoneworks Technologies for Best Mid Market Solution Provider. TechSelect newcomers to make their way on to the list were Graycon Group Ltd., Zycom Technology Inc., Caretek Integrated Business Solutions Inc., Compu-SOLVE Technologies Inc., FusionONE, and PureLogic IT Solutions. Tech Data and the TechSelect team would like to congratulate all the TechSelect winners!
Darlene Kelly of Teramach Technologies
Wally O’Neill of Triware Technologies Inc.
Top 100 list link: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/CDN/top100/ top100.asp David Chow of Stoneworks Technologies www.techdata.ca
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The TechSelect community Calgary for the TechSelect had a hootin’ good time!
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y recently took over downtown Spring Partner Conference and From April 30th – May 3rd over 40 TechSelect members and 30 TechSelect sponsoring vendors attendees moseyed to the Calgary Hyatt Regency and participated in several educational seminars. However, it wasn’t all work and no play. The agenda made time for ample peer-to-peer networking opportunities, a tour of Care Factor’s newest 40,000 sq ft Data Centre facility and a chance to explore Calgary’s majestic landscape. First time participant and newest TechSelect member Andrew Allin, president at ONE Information Technology, was eager to participate, “This event was a great opportunity to spend time with TechSelect members and discuss solutions to mutual challenges.” This was also the first TechSelect conference for John Altamira of Ainsworth Inc. and Altaf Goa of Executech Services Ltd. Tech Data and the TechSelect team look forward to seeing you in Puerto Rico for the North American Fall Partner Conference in November 2012.
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Tech Data and IBM executives, along with 19 winning reseller partners and their guests spent four days exploring this wine-growing region and natural wonder. Resellers from across Canada had the opportunity to strengthen their business partnerships with IBM and Tech Data through private exchange appointments, keynote presentations, reseller roundtables, product segment presentations and exciting group activities. This unique experience left us all with picture perfect memories. From IBM and Tech Data, thank you to our partners who not only participated in, but contributed to a truly exceptional adventure.
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MAKING EVERY DAY IN THE OFFICE A PLEASANT ONE! By Mary Bonnici
In 2011, the average work week for a Canadian was 36.4 hours. That’s a significant amount of time spent day in and day out with our coworkers. It’s also a substantial amount of time for us to unintentionally get on each other’s nerves. It’s easy to fall into the “comfort zone” at work when we’re busy sifting through emails and rushing to meetings. We tend to overlook common courtesies and mix social and business interactions within our corporate environments. We need to be reminded that daily niceties are not a concept of the past but tools to increase the flow of productivity To help everyone mind their Ps and Qs here are some guidelines we should all make daily practice. 36
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CUBICLE COMMON SENSE: The open-plan office, with partial height furniture panels is the most common workspace in North America. It’s estimated that over 40 million diligent employees spend their working lives in 6ft by 6ft cubicles. It’s not difficult to understand the correlation between a positive work space and job satisfaction which is why we need to be mindful of our actions. SIGHTS The “pop-in,” as easy as it is to do, is generally considered a no-no. If you have a tendency to visit unannounced, taking up much of your gracious coworker’s time, then STOP! It’s always best to email first or call and ask “Is this a good time?” Think of your desk or work area as an extension of yourself. What you choose to display, and your cleanliness levels, say a lot to those passing by. Try limiting your “flair” to tasteful small pictures, plants and desk accessories as opposed to questionable photos from Vegas and your collection of Star Wars memorabilia. SOUNDS Did you just hear that? Yes, yes we all did. Cubicles do help in developing connectedness and camaraderie but they also amplify everything we say to those in close proximity. As a general rule, speak
in your library voice, take personal calls outside and don’t hit the speakerphone. If everyone around you knows exactly what’s happening in your life and can tell the story better than you can, YOU’RE LOUD. Other quick tips to prevent noisy distractions: • Walk over to your coworker if you need to ask a quick question. Don’t yell over the wall. • Move the impromptu gathering of two or more people at your desk to a meeting room. • Turn your mobile device ringer to silent. No one wants to hear your “cool” ringtone. • And if you must listen to music, wear your headphones. SMELLS One of the biggest downfalls of cubicle living is the smell; last night’s leftovers, over-spritzed perfume or cologne, passed gas, and the lingering stench of cigarette smoke. We need to be a little kinder to our pod-mates’ sniffers, especially since certain smells can cause allergic reactions. When debating whether or not your odour is disruptive, err on the side of caution and just don’t take the risk. No one ever wants to be pegged as the person who dealt it.
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PHOTOCOPIER JAM UP We’ve all been on both sides of this office offense; jamming the photocopier and sneaking away so no one sees it was you, or you’re silently cursing when you get to it because once again someone stalled the printer and it’s utterly useless until the technician gets there. To avoid calling the “Paper Police” every time you hear the screeching siren of a service error, why not be a good work neighbor and follow these paper-pushing rules: Printing 100 copies of a document and leaving it there until the end of the day should be punishable in an office supply court. The printer is a communal office device and shouldn’t be treated as your personal property. Please be diligent and collect your stuff. If you get to the printer and notice the same copies have been sitting there for a while, don’t be “that” person and throw them out. Just move them to a general area near the photocopier where they can easily be recognized and picked up by the owner.
Did you just hear that? Yes, yes we all did. Thou shalt not jam the copier and flee. If you hear that irritating beep half-way through your print-job and the machine has come to a halt then you know there’s a problem. Try and actually attempt to solve the mystery of the temperamental machine by following the step by step instructions that are usually posted on the screen. If you can’t figure it out, don’t abandon the effort but call maintenance and make sure it will be repaired. (Extra courtesy points if you email your coworkers letting them know of the problem and that help is on its way).
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Very Important: NEVER, EVER LEAVE THE COPIER EMPTY. This rule speaks for itself. WHY BOTHER? The great thing about working in an office full of people is that you get to develop friendly and lasting relationships with many of them. The bad thing about working in an office full of people is also that you get to develop lasting relationships with them. Do everything you can to make those memories of working together positive ones. Remember to demonstrate common courtesies and to treat others the way you like to be treated. This old adage makes sense if every facet of our lives, and particularly in an office environment where we work in close quarters with the same group of people, day in and day out. See you at the coffee station! Sources: http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng. jsp?iid=19 http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/pubs/
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In this edition of Voice of the Vendor, we are pleased to bring you Celine Chranofsky, Channel Executive System X and Volume Storage, from IBM Canada Ltd. What are the responsibilities in your role? I am responsible for the distribution and channel sales of our System X family of servers, our volume storage offerings as well as our newly announced PureFlex solutions through our Business Partners. I am also responsible to drive growth in our Small to Mid Market segments through our Business Partners.
As a high profile woman in the industry, do you have any insights or advice for those women starting out? Keep your mind open to new ideas, listen and challenge yourself by pushing your comfort zone. Focus on your strengths and make them contagious through a positive attitude, collaboration and by taking initiative.
Channel Executive, System X and Volume Storage IBM Canada Ltd
Celine Chranofsky
How did you get started in the industry? Not to age myself too much, I started in sales with a national IBM Business Partner at the time, selling IBM typewriters and word processing equipment. Shortly after that, I joined IBM in 1988 and held several sales roles (Channel and customer facing) and management starting in Vancouver and Winnipeg and then Toronto. My industry experience spanned outside of IBM where I spent a few years at Lenovo and more recently completely outside of the IT Industry prior to coming back to IBM Jan 16th 2012.
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What challenges you? Listening to our Business Partners and our ability to implement programs and initiatives for them to do more business with IBM is a passion for me. In the past 10 years, we have invested more in marketing programs and in our dependency of the Channel. Reaping the rewards of these investments is what drives me to do more as we continue to work and invest in our Business Partner community. What are IBM’s priorities for the year? Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) have long been the engines of driving economic growth. It’s this group of entrepreneurial companies that are best positioned to help propel our economy. There is a clear advantage SMBs can have with the right technologies to not only bring day-to-day efficiency, but also transform businesses. Those that make smart investments in innovative technologies are the ones who will lead charge in spurring economic growth. What do you see as the biggest benefit to partnering with Tech Data? We have had a long standing business relationship with Tech Data and it continues to grow. Tech Data’s capabilities and engagement of their large network of Business Partners provides considerable value to us. Tech Data does business with IBM on a number of levels and we are significant to each other’s success.
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Cloud computing is believed to be the next big thing in our industry. The cloud can be defined categorically in many ways, but for the laymen it is best described as a way to access your data and applications from anywhere, with any device, via the internet. However, everyone from Forrester to Microsoft and Amazon has a different take on what cloud computing is in actuality. Cloud computing can be anything from an on-line document repository to an entire organization’s infrastructure; from unified communications to productivity applications. And this is all accomplished through minimal on-premise resources. Of course there are also consumer products that are entirely cloud-based, but the focus in this article will be cloud computing’s role in the business world.
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“Th In order for the cloud computing movement to grow, organizations small and large have to embrace it wholeheartedly.” end-user to work from virtually anywhere. Cloud computing provides end-users the freedom to access their email and data virtually anywhere at any time, as long as there is an internet connection available. Security always plays an important role in an organization’s IT health. What we are typically seeing within an IT environment is a scattered network. It is widely known that an organization is more susceptible to internal attacks than external attacks. The reason for this is the end-users and their limited knowledge of malware, viruses etc…. A company is simply much more secure when a trusted third party is hosting the infrastructure. The thinking behind this is that there are no end-users able
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The type of cloud computing that a business would potentially take advantage of requires a plethora of resources off-site and a fast network bandwidth. It also requires that companies hand over their information to a third-party cloud service provider. So why is it that we are seeing these companies invest their own infrastructure in the cloud? What features of the cloud attract them? One of the major contributors to the popularity of cloud computing is price. The investment is one that is an entirely different approach from a financial perspective. Now, organizations can move away from the large capital expenditures they make in hardware and software and move towards a more predictable model that would be better integrated as part of their operational expenses. With cloud computing, organizations no longer need to concern themselves with refreshing their infrastructure every couple of years, as Cloud Computing, or Software as a Service (SaaS) as it is eponymously known, manages the lifecycle of the organization’s product or application and is updated automatically on the back-end. Applications are becoming more demanding for processing power, which equates to an organization having to invest more in the infrastructure to support this application. With Cloud computing, the application is supported, and hosted by a cloud service provider. This also means that the local PC’s processing power does not have to be as strictly defined and can have more of a basic configuration. Another major issue an organization faces is that their infrastructure might not be standardized, meaning that the end-users are potentially using different versions of applications from one another. Cloud computing provides a single, amalgamated and centralized repository of applications and data. This means that the IT administrator will no longer need to maintain multiple management consoles in order to accomplish the same
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– Get Your Head in the Clouds
to go into the systems and accidentally open emails containing viruses. The majority of the cloud service providers have a service level agreement, typically upwards of a 99.9% up-time guarantee, and providers usually offer compensation for downtime or degradation in service. Private clouds provide even more control and regulation than a public cloud. Scalability is also a big factor that plays into cloud computing. From a developer’s perspective, often times it is difficult to drum up and test different applications’ functionality. Resources that would not necessarily be allocated for the developer are now prevalent in the cloud. This is executed through cloudbased development tools that aren’t relative to what native applications the developer uses, but more so how and in what capacity the developer uses the application. Cloud-based development tools are entirely based on usage, wherein the developer would be able to engage whichever resources they require and not be limited by the local and native tools that they so heavily rely upon today. It is important to realize the full potential of the cloud. In order for the cloud computing movement to grow, organizations small and large have to embrace it whole-heartedly. That’s not to say they have to invest their entire infrastructure in the cloud, but they should start experimenting with different services to get a sense of what these cloud providers are able to accomplish and how they can help their business stay competitive amongst the market. When it comes to the cost of doing business, cloud computing will enable organizations to move away from a traditional, servicing and maintenance relationship. By renting time, space, and software access from a public cloud the individual organization can manage and limit data expenses while continuing to operate as a full-fledged business. Even an organization that has a mandate to maintain an internal IT department can potentially scale back and reduce its size so that the dedicated IT staff can devote more time to value-added services. The cloud is the future; it is simply on us to realize its full potential.
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Why the Cloud?
routine tasks. By accomplishing this, an organization can ensure that everyone is on the same page and that there is minimal downtime, with reliability also increasing. IT administrators currently have to support multiple types of devices, mostly mobile and local gadgets. Cloud computing and hosted Exchange environments allow the IT administrator to easily manage and synchronize these devices without having to worry about cross-platform integration. It is not only the IT administrator’s role which becomes easier. Standardized communications via mobile devices have enabled the
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Back up Exec 3600 Appliance –Power up, configure and go! Business value There are several important problems associated with building, implementing, and supporting traditional server backup solutions. For many partners and customers, these problems make appliancebased solutions attractive. These problems include complexity, cost, and risk. Complexity of a traditional backup solution Building a traditional backup solution can involve many different parts and pieces. These parts and pieces include backup server hardware, the backup server operating system, backup software, backup software agents and options, and maintenance contracts. For some environments, it is also necessary to define and manage a backup storage strategy for remote offices, which can be complicated further if technical personnel resources are not available at remote offices. In addition, as IT environments continue to adopt virtualization, another layer of complexity is needed to implement a backup solution that matches the needs of virtualized server resources.
Cost of a traditional backup solution In addition to the problem of complexity, there are significant costs and time investments associated with creating a traditional backup solution. These might include backup software costs, backup software agent and option costs, backup server and storage hardware costs, costs associated with the time and effort needed to install the hardware and software components of the solution, as well as costs associated with managing removable media at remote offices. In some environments, costs are unnecessarily compounded if separate backup solutions are implemented for physical and virtual resources. In addition to these visible costs, there are hidden costs all along the way. All in all, the combined monetary and time cost of implementing a traditional backup solution can be significant. Risks of a traditional backup solution Finally, there’s the additional problem of risk that comes from constructing a backup solution made up of software and hardware
components from different vendors. These risks include: • Hardware and software component compatibility—Solutions built using different hardware and software components from different vendors may or may not work together properly. • Backup performance—Should the different components function together, performance may not be optimal. In order to achieve acceptable performance, it may be necessary to troubleshoot, reconfigure, or even replace one or more parts of the backup solution. • Technical support time to resolution— When dealing with a backup solution composed of hardware and software components from different vendors, troubleshooting and resolving problems can prove difficult. Vendors will each point the finger at another vendor, and issues can bounce back and forth before a solution is identified.
The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance mitigates the problems of complexity, cost, and risk associated with traditional backup solutions by delivering a combined hardware and software solution in a single package.
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AIS EmployeeSpotlight In this issue, we turn the AIS Employee Spotlight on David McCorquodale, IBM PureFlex Program Manager at Tech Data Canada. How long have you been with Tech Data? I am in my 4th week with Tech Data, but initially started my career at Tech Data 17 years ago. I moved around the industry a little bit, gained a ton of incredibly valuable experience, and am happy to be back!
“The one strength all of these organizations have is that they are innovators in their respective markets.”
What is your technical background? Before embarking on a career in sales, I was originally the RS/6000 (what IBM used to call their UNIX platform), pre-sales technical support specialist at Tech Data, supporting Tier 2 Business Partners across Canada. What do you like most about Tech Data? I most like the exuberance and energy of the entire company. From the Executive on down, it’s a very fun place to work. In one word, describe a typical day at Tech Data (to date!)? Not sure if I have had a typical day yet, but so far, I have been attempting to balance the new hire process, meeting internal resources and most importantly, meeting customers and articulating the Tech Data Value Proposition. What motivates you in your job? I am motivated by the success of my clients and peers. I also love new technologies and applying them to new business opportunities. Anything else you think we should know about you? I am hoping to be invited out to play hockey with the Tech Data team!
Dave’s 16+ years’ experience in the channel selling high end enterprise IBM Servers and Storage, will prove invaluable to support Tech Data’s PureFlex Partners. Dave’s Roles and responsibilities as it relates to Pureflex will include but are not limited to; -Partner Enablement -Product Updates -Training -Sales Guidance We encourage all our current and future PureFlex partners to get in touch with Dave to discuss how he can assist in growing your IBM PureFlex business. David McCorquodale IBM PureFlex Program Manager David.mccorquodale@techdata.ca 416-561-5260
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