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Executive Address
A Refreshed Corporate Look
Cisco and Tech Data Knowledge Plus “One Step Ahead”
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Tech Data Employee Golf Tournament
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Business Builder Tour
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TechSelect Member Profile
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Saddled Up in Houston
– A Great Success!
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New York, New York!
Enjoying networking time on the course
Kicking off the second half in Calgary We catch up with Compu-SOLVE Technologies Annual HP and Tech Data Houston Experience
Inside a Cybercriminal’s Playbook
Team Tech Data supports local Children’s Hospital
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VMworld 2015
Making all of us proud!
Editor Jillian Cahill
Art Direction and Design Julie MacAulay
Contributing Writers and Editors Irene Buchan, Jillian Cahill, Jessica Chapman, Mary Bonnici, Robert Dutt Project Manager Monisha Sharma Tech Times is published and distributed six times per year to channel resellers across Canada.
Comments, suggestions? Tell us what you think! jillian.cahill@techdata.ca
©2015 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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ExecutiveAddress
Dear Valued Partners, You may have noticed Tech Data has a new and refreshed look! In September, our global organization took a very important step in the history of our company, one that represents a new era of growth beyond traditional distribution in the IT marketplace. We are excited about our refreshed corporate logo which brings us out of the box, illustrating the growing range of products and services that we offer. As you will see, we have maintained our traditional elements, such as the “TD,� which reflects Tech Data’s strong foundation that we are proud of and maintains a visual connection to how our brand has been recognized throughout our 40+ years of history. I am proud to say that we are still the same great organization which strives to be forthright and transparent, creating honest connections and providing you with the confidence you demand in an IT distributor. We continue to provide best-in-class service and support to each and every solution provider across the country every day.
corporate logo and those of our business units and communities across the globe more readily as we make changes to our marketing materials, digital presence and more. If you are using the Tech Data logo on any of your materials, please assist us with updating it and contact marketing@techdata.ca and we will provide you with our new artwork. Thank you for your continued support and partnership. Sincerely,
Greg Myers Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Over the years, Tech Data has continued to align our business development with key growth areas to capitalize on new innovation and ensure that we are providing you with the products and services that you need to effectively meet the demands of your end customers and accelerate your business. In the coming months, you will begin to see our refreshed
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Cisco & Tech Data Knowledge Plus ‘One Step Ahead’ Fifteen partners this past September had the opportunity to join Cisco and Tech Data for our 8th Annual One Step Ahead Executive Exchange in New York City, the most cosmopolitan city in the world! This year’s exchange provided leaders from our elite partners, Cisco and Tech Data an opportunity to generate some new ideas on how to grow their Cisco business while at the same time delivering a valuable experience to the group to network with their industry peers and foster some new business relationships. While in New York, One Step Ahead Canadian partners had the opportunity to visit Cisco’s Executive Briefing Centre to take part in some live demonstrations in both current and emerging technologies. Of course included in the exchange was a great mix of leisure activities that allowed the group to experience the New York City glamour. From Yankee Stadium, watching the Yankees play one of their final season games and move on to earn a wild card position, the delicious dinners in New York’s named districts, to a day in the city as true New Yorkers catching the subway and sighting known celebrities – from Ellie Kemper to The Naked Cowboy, this year’s group created many memorable New York minutes. Thank you for your continued partnership with Cisco and Tech Data. Stay tuned for new and exciting programs designed to enable you in the development of your strategic Cisco plans for 2016! Remember . . . you are always One Step Ahead in your Cisco business with Tech Data!
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Tech Data Employees Enjoy Networking Time at Annual Golf Tournament Golf season isn’t over yet! We may be back to work after a long, hot summer but there’s still time to fit in a round of golf for Tech Data employees. The group took part in a friendly competition that allowed for great team building and networking. Tech Data’s team is the difference in distribution. We know it’s important to spend valuable time together outside of the office to build upon the great relationships that allow us to work so well together in support of your business needs every day. Thank you to this year’s sponsoring vendor partners who helped make this event a success, Cisco, HP and Lenovo!
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Kicking Off the Second Half of AwardWinning Business Builder Tour in Calgary
More than 100 solution providers joined Tech Data in Calgary for its annual Business Builder Tour in September. The awardwinning event once again brought industry leaders together to showcase new and emerging technologies. Solution providers had the opportunity to discuss strategies and opportunities with 30 leading IT vendor partners and Tech Data Canada executives, participate in technology workshop sessions and build important business relationships. Tech Data’s Cloud and Mobility sessions were once again strongly attended demonstrating the need for solution providers to gain valuable industry knowledge of up and coming technologies. Each year, Tech Data’s Business Builder Tour makes stops in six cities across Canada. If you haven’t yet registered for our final two stops of 2015, there’s still time and we’d love to spend some time with you. We’ll stop in Vancouver and Ottawa in November. To register and find complete Business Builder Tour information, visit www.tdbusinessbuider.ca.
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In this issue of Tech Times, we catch up with Rob Megaw of Compu-SOLVE Technologies to find out how TechSelect membership has been instrumental in their success.
Tell us a little about your organization: Compu-SOLVE Technologies was established in 1994 in Midland, Ontario to provide local residents and small businesses with a one-stop shop for computer hardware, software and training. With the explosion of the Internet shortly thereafter, we began reselling Internet services for a local ISP, and in 1996 Compu-SOLVE Internet Services were born and grew to be the largest independent Internet Service Provider in Simcoe County. The past year has brought many exciting changes, including the acquisition of Compu-SOLVE by the Sudbury based Telecom company, Vianet in September of 2014. Vianet saw Compu-SOLVE as a leader in IT services in Simcoe County with a reputation for delivering excellent products and services. Joining forces has provided many new opportunities – we now have access to a much broader customer base that we can extend our Technologies division to, while at the same time offering Vianet’s extensive telecom product line to our existing customers.
CIO”. Compu-SOLVE is focusing on ways to deliver this need. We are creative in addressing customer concerns that are unique to their businesses.
What are your thoughts on the industry in general? Customers have the ability to spend their IT budgets virtually anywhere on the planet. They also have the know-how to research products and find answers to many of their problems. This has forced IT providers to transform or perish. We can’t just sell hardware and software, we must be true solution providers, offering managed services and guiding our customers on how to best spend their dollars. Customers, especially in the SMB, are looking for a “Virtual
What are your organization’s goals for the next five years? Our goal over the next five years is to transition Compu-SOLVE into a more complete Managed Service Provider. We have proactively begun monitoring and managing our customers, and positioning Cloud Services, both through our own infrastructure and other vendor offerings. We have made huge steps recently implementing the right systems, training staff and educating our customers on the importance of IT and ensuring assets are properly protected. Changing the
What challenges are you facing and how do you overcome them? Employee satisfaction and retention is one of the most important challenges for us. We strive to motivate a staff that are invested and excited to come in to work every day. Their pride in their work is our best form of advertising and sets us apart from the competition. To overcome this challenge, we encourage creativity and accountability- people and their ideas matter. Another huge challenge that we are facing is an ever-increasing shrinkage in IT spending and budgetary concerns. We have to be creative in finding hybrid solutions that bring the best return on our investment for our customers.
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mind set from break/fix to a managed environment is a challenge. How has the TechSelect program helped you? Or helped you meet your organization’s goals? TechSelect has been instrumental for Compu-SOLVE for many areas. Working with members to find out what has worked for them and what hasn’t, has greatly reduced the time we spend researching products and services, especially with respect to our Managed Service offerings. There is a good chance that at least one member has tried an idea, product or service that we are considering and being able to hear about those results is a great way to guide us in our decision making. TechSelect has also introduced us to key people in the vendor community that can, and have, helped our business. In this industry, it’s still about the people, and there is nothing like being able to reach out to someone with the ability to make critical decisions that directly influence your success. September/October 2015
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Tech Data’s Reserve Warehouse Program
The Tech Data Reserve Warehouse Program is a service designed to provide secure in-house storage of partner-owned and partner-supplied inventory for your end user customers.
Program Benefits • • • • • • • • • •
Secure product for time sensitive requirements Excellent for extended roll-out schedules Managing end of life product requirements Manage costs through usage based fees Access to incremental warehouse space Logistics built around your required delivery time lines Improvement to just-in-time product availability 24/7 security Reduced freight rates 250,000 square feet of total space in the Mississauga, ON Logistics Centre and 80,000 square feet in Richmond, BC.
Logistics Services • • • •
Receive/put-away Pick/pack Private label delivery Storage capacity
• • • •
Canada wide shipping capabilities Integration services Reverse logistics Reporting
Why Tech Data
Tech Data is the leader in logistics! Inbound carrier/vendor appointments – within 24 hours Inbound put away performance – within 12 hours dock to stock On time shipment performance Carrier to customer performance – on-time delivery
99.99% 99.99% 99.99% 98.99%
Reserve Warehouse Process Complete the Reserve Program Agreement Form in full and submit to your dedicated sales team with your purchase order. Tech Data’s Reserve Warehouse team takes care of the rest. We verify the information, create part numbers, request all required approvals and request a receiving PO. You will be notified of any issues or when the process is complete. Most requests will be completed within four hours.
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Contact your Tech2015 Data Sales representative today at 1-800-668-5588 September/October
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Annual HP and Tech Data Houston Experience - A Great Success! Twelve reseller partners from across Canada joined Tech Data Canada’s Greg Myers and Irene Buchan in Houston, Texas September 22 to 25 for an exclusive HP PC and Print training centre experience. The group visited HP’s leading-edge training facility and had the opportunity to engage in discussions with industry strategists. The event was a unique educational opportunity for all of the winning reseller partners as each of the attendees gained valuable insight on emerging technologies to help accelerate their business
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and were able to build upon key relationships with the HP and Tech Data team. A trip to Houston wouldn’t be complete without the chance to enjoy some down time at the range to allow the group to further network and get to know one another. They spent an afternoon at the Hot Wells Shooting Range where they took part in a fabulous training and shooting competition. Congratulations to this year’s winner of the shooting competition, Vince Marounian of 1order! We hope to see you next year when we will enjoy even more successful experiences in Houston.
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Jessica Chapman
Remember Mayberry? The warm and fuzzy fictional city where Sherriff Andy and cousin Barnie had life pretty easy on 1960s classic The Andy Griffith Show. Too bad life isn’t quite that simple anymore. As much as we might like to retreat to the good old days (literally), no one should be shocked that the rise in cybercrime would even put Mayberry at risk. The first step to putting an end to cybercriminals is to understand what common tactics they’re likely to use and how to combat them—so we did some digging and found the biggest culprits to watch. Take a look at what made our list:
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The watering hole isn’t just for chatter
Commonly referred to as the watering hole tactic, the trend highlights the more sophisticated attacks taking place today. As malware attackers develop more methods to trick unlucky users, they’re also becoming more selective—targeting specific websites, monitoring visitors and going after specific companies, according to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report released in April 2015. Let’s just hope that’s one selective group we’re not asked to join.
Caution: Mobile isn’t immune
Many business owners and IT managers often forget that mobile devices are just as susceptible to malware as their personal computers. And it’s becoming an increasingly dangerous thing to forget:
Regardless of the motivations, you should start thinking about ways to help customers avoid potentially harmful mistakes—be it education and awareness or a stronger IT solution.
Helen of Troy would be so proud
There’s nothing like taking a page from history to put us on the defensive. Trojanizing is a new cybercrime tactic in which attackers hide their malware inside software updates. Once the software is downloaded and installed, they attack, according to Symantec’s report. That means you’re basically infecting yourself, and you never saw it coming. Scary, isn’t it?
Traditional ransoms are a thing of the past
Now we know what you’re thinking— ransom letters aren’t that common. We hate to break it to you, but that’s just not so anymore. As with the rest of the world, ransom letters, too, have changed with the times. Cryptoransomware holds the victim’s files until a ransom is paid—usually anywhere from $300 to $500. Pay the ransom, and you get your files back. Of course, that’s in theory—malware attackers aren’t exactly the most ethical people on the block. “In 2014, crypto-ransomware was seen 45 times more frequently,” according to the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report. “While crypto-ransomware predominately attacks devices running Windows, Symantec has seen an increase in versions developed for other operating systems.” Better keep an eye out for lurking threats and nasty ransom letters. These guys aren’t the ones to tango with (especially when they’ve got your files on lock down!).
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A whopping 31 percent of Google Play apps have more than 50,000 downloads that contain remote exploitable vulnerabilities, according to Shining a Spotlight on Security Planning, an eBook by SC Magazine released in May 2015. The same eBook reported a 262 percent increase in iOS vulnerabilities since 2011. Android vulnerabilities increased 188 percent. An alarming 17 percent of all Android apps—that’s almost one million—were actually malware in disguise, according to Symantec’s Insider Threat Report, also released this year.
The good news is security solutions are advancing every day, and mobile opportunities are endless. Start thinking about ways you can jump on the mobile bandwagon if you’re not already on it, and be sure to educate your customers on the mobile security needs. Contact Tech Data’s Mobile Solutions team for more advice on finding the right mobile opportunities.
Insider threats aren’t confided to Hollywood movies
As much as we’d all like to believe insider threats are limited to far-off breaking news, Hollywood movies and the mafia, that’s just not true. The more sophisticated malware becomes, the easier it is for your employees to fall prey to seemingly harmless tactics. Or worse—for disgruntled and all-around-unethical employees to leverage illegal methods. Now before you go glass-half-empty on us, insider threats come in many varieties. It could be something as simple as forgetting to log out before you leave work for the day or losing a company-owned phone. Regardless of the motivations, you should start thinking about ways to help customers avoid potentially harmful mistakes—be it education and awareness or a stronger IT solution. Ensuring you’ve taken the right steps to avoid potential attacks is equally as important. If you’re not already, try thinking about automated patching solutions. Managing updates is time-consuming and error-prone. Automating your customers’ security audits gives you the peace of mind that the update was made—and the proof to prove it. Of course, this list is by no means a catchall for cybercrime tactics. In fact, it’s just a drop in the bucket. But the stronger you prepare your team, the better shape you’ll be in to beat cybercrime thieves at their own game. And maybe—just maybe—your business can rival Mayberry. After all, it’d be a crime to miss a slice Aunt Bee’s butterscotch pecan pie.
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Team Tech Data Supports Local Children’s Hospital
Tech Data Canada was proud to have a soccer squad of 12 employees join the Holland Bloorview Soccer Challenge in September. The 2015 Soccer Challenge took place at Downsview Park in Toronto with proceeds supporting the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. The Rehabilitation Hospital changes the world for kids with disabilities. As the largest children’s rehabilitation hospital and complex continuing care teaching hospital in Canada, Holland Bloorview is a global leader in care, education and research. It pioneers treatments, technologies, therapies and programs that change the lives of kids with disabilities and their families. Tech Data was joined by other large organizations and top business leaders for a day of fun and competition. Congratulations to the Tech Data squad for showing your support of this great initiative and making all of us proud!
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Rob Dutt
VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger presents his five imperatives for digital business
SAN FRANCISCO — VMware continued to expand its hyperconverged offerings at VMworld this year, formally introducing what it now calls EVO SDDC (Software-Defined Data Centre) Manager, its software stack for managing virtualized data centres. The idea for EVO SDDC was introduced at least year’s VMworld, then as a technology preview under the name EVO Rack. It was introduced alongside EVO Rail, the company’s first shipping hardware and software stack for the software-defined data centre, intended for smaller-scale deployments. “You’ve got EVO Rail for the midsize market – it’s an appliance, and it will continue along that way. But EVO SDDC is a data centre-wide solution,” said Raghu Raghuram, executive vice president of the software-defined data centre division at VMware. “It starts with vSphere and VSAN, but one of the most critical parts is NSX. You can’t build this without network virtualization.” Like EVO Rail, hardware for EVO SDDC configurations will come from thirdparty providers. In this case, Dell VCE, and Quanta have been announced as initial partners for the new stack, with products starting to come on the
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market sometime next year. Mark Chuang, chief of staff for the SDDC team at VMware, said that like Rail, EVO SDDC was built around the idea of “time to value,” with the promise being that end users can have a complete software defined data centre stack up and running in about two hours using the integrated technology. “The hardware and software are designed to work together. It’s built as scale-out architecture with a minimum block, and then you add additional servers or additional racks to grow,” Chuang said. “We’re really focusing on the components of what delivers time to value and what makes the the SDDC very compelling.” Chuang confirmed that EVO SDDC will be available through partners, although as with many solutions like this which essentially represent a stack of different offerings — the software coming from VMware and the hardware from a third party — exactly how that channel will be set up is yet to be seen. Chuang said the first plans are to engage partners who already work with both VMware and one of the hardware partners in a joint enablement model. Through it all, the company maintains that customer choice is a key criteria, offering a range of options from the
ability to use parts or all of existing infrastructure, through to third-party hyperconverged offerings, or the EVO family of hardware-and-software stacks. “Customers can go with something VMware has validated top to bottom, but build-your-own is always an option we’ll continue to support. We won’t change that,” Chuang said. Opening up reference architectures In all, the company offers there models to the SDDC in terms of hardware infrastructure: Build Your Own, use reference architectures, or buy converged infrastructure. All three have been routes for partners to build SDDCs for their customers, but with an announcement at VMworld, VMware has opened up a new avenue within that second route. Under the new VMware Validated Design program, VMware has opened up the opportunity for partners to have their own SDDC designs get a badge of approval from the vendor. The program now supports Certified Partner Architectures, which essentially takes partner-developed SDDC infrastructure stacks, compares the stack to VMware’s own reference architecture, and signs off on those that the software vendor believes meet the spec.
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“It’s a defined shift in the way we work with our partners,” said Shawn Rosemarin, executive director of architecture and professional services at VMware Canada. “We take that VMware Validated Design reference architecture, match it up to what our partners are doing, and then stand behind it.” Today, the company is making its first two reference architectures available to customers and partners, including a data centre foundation package, and a single-region IT automation cloud schematic. Both will be accompanied by “deployment walkthroughs” for customers building their own data centres or partners building them for customers. While VMWare has previously offered reference architectures for every major product release, the VVDs will be different in that they will look at “the entire SDDC stack, ensuring product version compatibility, continued testing with product releases, upgrade testing and validation to ensure what you deploy today can be upgraded to the next version,” the company writes, making it a much more “living” type of reference architectures. More resources for Canadian partners On the Canadian front, VMware’s move to more tightly integrate Canada into U.S. operations has already resulted in more results for the company’s Canadian partners, VMware Canada channel chief Donna Wittmann said. Last month, the virtualization giant announced plans to change to a more centralized North American model, with the commercial business reporting into the head of the U.S.-based commercial business, Brandon Sweeney, and enterprise sales reporting into U.S. West field operations boss Corey Hutchison. At the same time, the role of president of VMware Canada was eliminated, and Eric Gales, who had filled the role since 2012, and in that time had largely focused on building a strongly Canadian VMware Canada organization, left the company. Wittmann said the changes were about making sure the Canadian organization had access to more resources focused on the company’s emerging opportunities. “It was critical to have the right technical, sales, and even business unit access, and the best way to do that was an integrated North American operation,” Wittmann said. Partner operations in Canada continue to report
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“Customers can go with something VMware has validated top to bottom, but build-yourown is always an option we’ll continue to support. We won’t change that,” Chuang said. into Wittmann, who now reports into Sweeney, with a dotted line to Americas channel chief Frank Rauch. Wittmann said Canadian partners won’t see any difference in terms of day to day partner management as a result of the moves, but said the company was able to add partner-facing resources as a result. “We’ve already added an end user computingfocused partner-facing specialist, and a softwaredefined data centre-focused partner-facing specialist,” Wittmann said. “They’re seeing more resources and we’re better able to help them grow their practices in those important areas.” Those new resources came online in July, and fills what Wittmann described as a “void” in VMware’s ability to help partners build practices in those growth areas. Wittmann said those new staffers will be focused on helping the company’s specialized partner grow and build practices around two of VMware’s biggest focused areas, the SDDC market and its VDI lineup. The specialists will both be involved in educating and training specialized partners, and doing joint sales calls with partners. Among top priorities will be helping partners to set up labs and proofs of concept around areas like the company’s vRealize management tools and adoption of its NSX network virtualization offering. The goal, said Rosemarin, is to help partners move their services away from infrastructure-centric services and go “up the stack” to more complex, ad higher-value services. “These are services that require much more investment from the partner, but also bring a higher billing rate and result in greater intimacy with customers,” Rosemarin said.
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