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Publisher's note
Kudos to the winners! This is a momentous year for our company as we achieve the 10 years Milestone. And therefore, it gives me added joy in presenting this year’s VAR COC Awards Handbook that details out the spectacular success of this year’s winners ceremony. Each year, we have deliberated on including new categories and revising as much as is necessary to keep pace with changing realities of the industry. For the first time ever, we included several telecom categories as the convergence across IT and telecom further comes into play. The first phase of the Awards included inviting nominations from different brands and companies in relevant categories. The nominees were included in an online poll that was widely communicated to the channel for voting. There was a significant number of votes from the channel and we concluded the online voting on the 15th of April. Further, for the first times ever, we included a panel of eminent Jury who took part in the voting as well at a special session of live voting held in our office. The Jury members who took part in the exercise included Mr. Krishnamoorthy, former MD of Acer; Mr. Philip Hughes, former GM of APC and Mr. Tareq Kuzbari, former MD of Kaspersky. My sincere Thanks to them for being part of the exercise. I would like to thank all sponsors of the day. Thank you all for the support extended and in contributing to the event’s success. Finally congratulations to all winners of the 9th VAR COC Awards. Your performances in 2014 were stellar and the channel has taken note of that as your wins suggest. Wishing you all greater success in future. Happy reading!
Contents Pg 4
Overview
Pg 10 Emphatic growth for D-Link Pg 12 Schneider is powering up the future Pg 16 Kaspersky Lab goes from strength to strength Pg 18 Linksys crosses milestones of innovation Pg 22 Prologix is expanding footprint Pg 24 Trigon seeks steady growth Pg 28 Asbis is rising with focus Pg 30 Display Magic by AOC Pg 32 Pioneering innovation by Samsung Pg 35 Kristall is a trend setter Pg 36 WD unveils a rewarding vision Pg 36 Snapshots
Vivek Sharma Founder & CEO JNS Media International MFZE
Publisher: Vivek Sharma Managing Editor: R. Narayan Art Director: Faiz Ahmed
Business Development Manager: Mallika Rego Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Sales Manager: Christopher David Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh
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P.O. Box: 121075, Montana Building 404, Zabeel Road, Near GPO, Karama, Dubai-UAE Tel: 04-3705022 Fax: 04-3706639 Disclaimer: While the publishers have made every attempt possible to get accurate information on published content in this handbook they cannot be held liable for any errors herein.
VAR COC 2015 Awards | Overview
Recognition for the industry’s best at
VAR COC 2015 Awards
The 9th edition of the prestigious VAR COC (Choice of Channel) Awards were presented to winners at a gala event held on 6th May at the Oberoi. The VAR COC awards recognized the outstanding performance of IT and Mobility Brands in the region over the past year across several categories. For the first time ever, the Awards introduced several
categories from the smartphone and Mobility segment, in recognition of the convergence that has gained further ground in the industry and go to market models between IT and Telecom. The Gala Awards were attended by a large number of dignitaries from the IT and Telecom industry of the region. The Awards process included a detailed process of
receiving online nominations from companies in relevant categories and this was followed subsequently by voting from the channel on www.varonline.com. The voters included members of IT and Telecom channels. The voting was concluded on 15th April 2015. For the time ever, the COC Awards had on board a three member neutral Jury panel comprising of eminent
VAR COC 2015 Winners List personalities who have held senior roles in the industry. There was a Jury vote as well before the final results were declared. Following that, the winners were finalized. Mr. Vivek Sharma, Founder and CEO of JNS Media International MFZE said, “I would like to congratulate all winners who truly deserve applause for their excellent work in the past year. As an organization, we are completing 10 years this year and have diversified to offering services like our very successful ‘Lead Gen’ - a partner acquisition program as well as ‘In Search of a Champion’, a training program for frontline sales. Further our publications now focus on the telecom IR channel as well in addition to IT.” The Awards also included a few editor’s choice categories that recognized some of the outstanding efforts by new entrants among Brands as well as some of the visionary initiatives.
Smartphone with Best Design Smartphone with Best Features Emerging Smartphone Brand of the Year Smartphone Brand of the Year Windows Tablet Brand ofthe Year Wearables Technology Brand of the Year Outstanding Mobile Technology Innovations Networking Brand of the Year Storage Brand of the Year Laptop Brand of the Year Power Solutions Brand of the Year Security Software Brand of the Year Innovative Printer Brand of the Year Best Display Brand of the Year Accessories Brand of the Year Home Automation Brand of the Year Projector Brand of the Year Regional Brand of the Year Brand of the Year Mobility Distributor of the Year Networking Distributor of the Year Broadline Distributor of the Year Champion Retailer of the Year ICT E-tailer of the Year Best After Sales by a Regional Brand Emerging Distributor of the Year Retail Distributor of the Year Channel Executive of the Year Innovations in Display Technologies Innovation with Android powered printers Smartphones with Best in Price -Performance Best in Product Care Empowering Channel Profitability Technology Visionary Brand of the Year Fastest Growing Monitor Brand of the Year Innovative Networking Brand of the Year Smartphone Brand with Fastest Growing Retail Reach
HTC One M8 Sony Xperia Z3 Dual Obi HTC Dell Sony Qualcomm D-Link Seagate Lenovo Schneider Electric Kaspersky Lab HP LG Belkin WEMO Epson Touchmate Dell Jumbo Electronics Prologix L.L.C Trigon LLC Sharaf DG Souq.com Quantum Musallam Trading Asbis Middle East FZE Sakkeer Hussain, Sales & Marketing Director, D-Link MEA AOC Samsung Fly Kristall WD Intel Dell Linksys Vsun
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VAR COC Awards 2015
Smartphone with Best Design
Smartphone with Best Features
Smartphone Brand of the Year
Wearables Technology Brand of the Year
HTC One M8 was the winner of the Smartphone with Best Design category and was recognized by the channel voter for the wow factor in terms of its design and for being a bestseller. HTC also won the Smartphone Brand of the Year Award with an extensive portfolio of models that fared well according to the channel vote.
Emerging Smartphone brand of the Year
Obi was recognized as the Emerging Smartphone Brand of the year. The category recognises a Brand that is a new entrant and has made significant inroads already in terms of retail visibility with a sizable portfolio of models that target a wide customer base
Sony Xperia Z3 Dualemerged as the winner of this category as a Smartphone model that has outstanding features / functionalities and has been successful in the region’s market since its introduction last year. Sony also won the Wearables technology Brand of the Year Award
Windows Tablet Brand of the Year
Dell came on top as the winner of the Windows Tablet brand of the Year. The manufacture offers multiple models of Windows based Tablets and has a significant retail presence in the region.
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VAR COC Awards 2015
Outstanding Mobile Technology Innovations
Qualcomm walked away with this award, a recognition for its influential role as innovator as well as in enabling Mobile Technology innovations and adoption.
Laptop Brand of the Year
Lenovo was voted the Laptop Brand of the Year, recognizing its focus in the category along with an exhaustive product range, great channel engagement, great pricing and strong sales growth across channel and retail.
Storage Brand of the Year
Seagate emerged as the Storage Brand of the Year, for its exhaustive product range, channel commitment as well as market performance
Innovative Printer Brand of the Year
HP was the winner of this category with maximum votes as it continues to make printing more affordable for everyone including consumers and small Businesses through breakthrough technologies in printers and inks .
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Networking Brand of the Year | D-Link
D-Link which has been consistently expanding its product range, has also been quite committed to its partners in the region. It won the Networking Brand of the Year at the VAR COC Awards 2015. Sakeer Hussain, Sales and Marketing Director at D-Link who also emerged as the Channel Executive of the Year discusses the company’s continued growth focus.
Networked future Discuss D-Link’s consolidation in the networking segment over the year in the region? D-Link as a brand stands for a wide array of networking equipment catering to nearly every requirement, starting from Structured Cabling Solutions to high-end switching devices, for low- and high-end requirements. Our broad product offering has helped us grow tremendously, since we are already a well-known brand in the consumer segment, but we are offering full-fledged networking solutions from entry-level and high-end solutions. Working mainly with System Integrators in the Enterprise segment, we are very keen on supporting
them with the needed trainings, rebates, promotions, incentives, and marketing activities etc. Especially helpful to them has been the fact that they can get the entire solution out of one hand. Over the year we have seen a strong increase in the demand from the GCC countries, but also from African countries. Are current trends favoring growth for demand of various networking products across soho, home and smb segments? The current trend is still social networking, this will continue to find ways to push consumers, SMB and even enterprise to be more connected than ever. Social networking creates a big impact
on connectivity thus boosting the market demands for all kinds of different networking products from consumer market to enterprise market. Everyone wants to stay connected even when they are mobile, thus impacting the growth of 4G/LTE. Another trend which is a side effect of social media is the booming of hosted video, like Youtube and Vimeo to name a few. Since videos nowadays are getting in the ultra-high definition stage, more bandwidth is required to get these things uploaded. For this reason Telco companies are giving high upload bandwidths even to home users which was not the case before. The same applies to video hosting providers
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who will need a lot of bandwidth to handle video streaming which requires high-end enterprise switches and routers to handle massive amount of data every second. What were the major highlights in terms of product launches, product sales etc? We recently launched the first ever 11AC Router, reaching a throughput of 5300Mbps. We also introduced our ‘Home connect’ series which would see more products using 802.11ah, Z-Wave and Zigbee-based technologies to have a complete smart home solution, which will feature remote connectivity and management using our cloud services. The increased Internet penetration through the use of 3G and 4G technologies and a growing demand for IP Surveillance, storage and switching solutions to answer to rising regional security concerns have allowed D-Link to grow by almost 30% in each of these segments. What were the changes you may have brought in to adjust to challenges in market demand? In the past six months, we revised our Channel partner programs in the consumer and SOHO segments to obtain partners more benefits in terms of
revenues and profitsto help them achieve their sales targets. We also launched many new products offering solutions to the current market requirements and had a great response from the partners and consumers. Which have been the product lines where you have steadily enhanced your focus? The demand for speed and coverage has made D-Link launch many more 11AC solutions in 2015. In the enterprise sector, we have been very successful with enterprise solutions such as 40G Connectivity, offering data center solutions. Discuss plans to increase regional footprint? As announced earlier, we are pushing forward strongly with our plans to expand our presence further in the GCC. We signed up partnerships with major retail outlets such as Jarir in KSA, x-cite in Kuwait, Carrefour in Qatar along with other leading retailers. We have a dedicated team at D-Link but also on the Distributor’s side to take care of our retail partners respectively. Outside UAE, do you see a need to enhance your channel reach in the other GCC markets? Sure, other markets remain part of our expansion plans, too – but for this coming period, we will
Sakeer Hussain, Sales & Marketing Director, D-Link Middle East emerged as the Channel Executive of the Year in the COC Awards 2015 survey. The award recognizes his contributions to his company's significant growth in a leadership role.
be focusing strongly on the GCC region.We reinforced our sales/ support teams in these countries to cater to the retail, channel and SOHO markets. Have you enhanced your partner benefits and tools over the year? Yes, we modified our partner program to benefit our customers. Through this modification we have been able to better target each segment, which has led to improved support of our partners helping them to achieve their objectives.
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Power Solutions Brand of the Year | Schneider Electric
and sustainability. From O&G, healthcare and hospitality to enterprises, most industries recognize the importance of UPS to business continuity and stability.
Powering up Schneider Electric was the winner of the Power Solutions Brand of the Year category being recognized for its extensive portfolio of power protection and connectivity products, accessories and strong channel engagement. Rajashri Kumar, MEA Transactional Director, IT Business, Schneider Electric discusses the company's focus Discuss demand in the UPS market regionally in the entry to medium level commercial segments? Energy consumption in the Middle East and North Africa is expected to rise by as much as 114 per cent from 2010 to 2050, according to a World Energy Council report. Global markets show a similar trend. According to a 2012 Datacentre Dynamics study, worldwide data centre energy consumption grew by 19% as compared to the previous year,
with the average power per rack at 4.0 kilowatt (kW). In light of this trend for increasing power and digitalisation, a Research and Markets study has predicted that the global market for UPS is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of about 8% during 2014-19. The Middle East and GCC UPS markets are expected to grow by over 9% in 2014 to USD 238 million (AED 876 million). This growth is impacted by the rising popularity of cloud, virtualization
Do you think home users in the GCC irrespective of the fact that there are hardly power failures need to invest in power backup solutions and surge protection solutions? Uninterruptible power supply is also important for homes and individual users as it acts as a protective measure in cases of power outage. Considering that all data and information has moved to the cloud (increasingly so in the region), any kind of downtime causes inconveniences. Right from online banking, stock market activity to business operationseverything is on the internet, and needs to be accessed round-theclock. UPS is not only a safety measure but also easy to install, configure and maintain; keeping people connected and preventing loss of data which powers their daily lives. The GCC commitment to sustainability also impacts the growing demand for UPS power; the focus on energy efficiency further prompts users to minimize waste by ensuring a better fit between infrastructure sizing and their load requirements. Schneider
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Electric’s high efficiency unity power factor UPS reduces waste during power protection. Discuss some of the products highlights from Schneider Electric for these segments Schneider Electric offers UPS solutions to meet every customer’s application, budgetary and operational needs. Made with the latest technology integrating quality with innovation, the UPS ranges provide protection against unexpected power surges, extended power outages and other events affecting downtime. Some of Schneider Electric’s main UPS offerings are: • In-Rack UPS: Intelligent and efficient server and network power protection from entry level to modular and scalable power, redundancy and runtime • Modular UPS: Redundant, scalable, power protection systems designed to cost effectively provide high levels of availability and seamlessly integrate into state-of-the-art data center designs • Adaptable UPS: Customized UPS required for products as well as any specific upgradable architecture need • Smart UPS On-Line:Offers efficient power quality and performance in a compact footprint. Its flexible design allows the units to be configured
Tushar Choudhury, Marketing Communication Manager - Gulf Countries & Pakistan at Schneider Electric on the extreme right received the Award from Arun Chawla, CEO of Trigon (on the left). for rack-mounted or free standing applications, making the new UPS easy to install, operate and service in almost any environment. The range is complete with an embedded network management card enabling further accessories and communication options to be conveniently added In 2014, Schneider Electric launched its 5 – 10kVA On-Line UPS range. The 6 – 10kVA units are the company’s first single-phase UPS range to feature unity power factor capability, while the 5kVA UPS have the industry standard 0.9 power factor. This can benefit a range of applications requiring a compact footprint, from network and server rooms to branch offices and facility/
plant secure power uses. Elaborate on your partner engagement strategy? Throughout APC’s history, we have worked with Channel Partners to develop the business. Our relationship with our channel partners has brought us the market leadership position. By leveraging our channel partner program and rewards program, we are able to increase the reseller engagement with our distribution channels. Additionally, we are constantly organizing workshops and communication related to products updates, to keep our channel partners aware on the latest industry innovations and how to leverage them for operational success in business.
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VAR COC Awards 2015
Best Display Brand of the Year
LG was the winner of the category as it continues to have a strong focus in the segment with innovations including the world’s first curved ultrawide monitor. It has also unveiled models that are utilitarian for specific verticals and has seen large sales growth in the region and globally.
Regional Brand of the Year
Touchmate was the winner of the award, being recognized for its wide range of IT products and accessories and with established widespread presence in the channel as well as retail
Projector Brand of the Year
The Projector Business is one of the dynamic segments in terms of innovations which cater to rising expectations from consumers and Business users. Epson, the winner of the Projector Brand of the Year category is recognized for its strong lead in the regional market and its commitment to the partners
Brand of the Year Fastest Growing Monitor Brand of the Year
Dell emerged as the Brand of the Year being recognized by voters for new products introductions, effective go to market execution and smart, consistent channel engagement Dell was also recognized as the Fastest Growing Monitor Brand of the Year.
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Security Software Brand of the Year | Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab continues to go from strength to strength in the endpoint security software segment for consumer and Business and was the winner yet again of the category ‘Security Software brand of the Year’. Ovanes Mikhaylov, Managing Director at Kaspersky Lab Middle East discusses the security trends outlook and the company’s focus
strategy given changes in their IT infrastructure. Small businesses also often put security solutions in place only after they face a security incident and spend time and money on restoring their data, devices and reputation. All this shows that there’s still a lot to improve. We believe education about the threats is important, as well as cooperation in fighting cybercrime between government agencies, non-governmental
Strength to strength Please discuss growth in the endpoint security software market for the region? IDC 2014 Security Content & Threat Management Tracking for 2013 forecasts the region’s biggest market (in UAE) to double in 5 years. Also IDC's 'Middle East IT Security End-User Survey' (released in January 2015) results show that organizations in the Middle East are increasingly deploying and will continue to deploy advanced security solutions in order to proactively mitigate the security issues that may arise from lack of user awareness, network traffic, and hacktivism. In addition, organizations have been implementing more expansive training and awareness initiatives to address the security challenges that exist within their corporate IT
environments. Endpoint security software market is also pushed by the choice of security platforms managed from one security console rather than separate solutions that require special approaches and knowledge from IT specialists. IDC 2012-2016 forecast for endpoint security reports one of the key trends being purchasing suites of multiple security tools, such as Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business. Businesses in the Middle East today are becoming better aware of the security threats and are more willing to invest and secure their networks. Sadly, cyber security is still often introduced in organizations unsystematically, without putting security policies in place or forming a security
organizations and businesses. Discuss how the vendor is placed globally as well as in the region in the endpoint security space? Firmly positioned as one of the top four leading vendors of security solutions for endpoint users, we continue to improve our market position. Our company is named a ‘Leader’ in endpoint protection by the ‘big three’ analyst agencies (Gartner, IDC and Forrester). In the Middle East Kaspersky Lab is leading with the share of a quarter (25%) of the market total. In United Arab Emirates KL is number 1 vendor with the share of 35% of the country’s market. This data is presented in IDC 2014 Security Content & Threat Management Tracking for 2013.
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The Mobile space has seen explosive growth. Discuss if the threat scenario for smartphone users from cybercriminals has been as intensive as has been seen in the PC landscape? Of course PC landscape is still a lot more intensive, while mobile cyber threats are just evolving (but very fast), and an important problem here is still loss or theft of a smartphone or tablet. Meanwhile most of mobile malware is designed to steal users’ money, these include SMS-Trojans and backdoors. Besides phishing is still as acute for smartphones as it is for PCs. According to our 2014 Global Corporate IT Security Risks survey conducted with B2B International, 25% of organizations in the GCC said they have experienced loss or theft of mobile devices by staff, 13% reported that information was leaked or inappropriately shared on a mobile device. Companies that see the benefits in mobile workforce and provide smartphones to their employees for work or adopt ‘bring your own device’ concept, start to understand the risks and pay attention to appropriate security software. We should also definitely see an investment in providing multilayered security and high level Fraud Prevention integrations for online and mobile banking to cover all the risks. We expected these
changes with our Kaspersky Fraud Prevention platform that prevents costly security incidents and helps banks to preserve their money and business reputation. Home users also start to understand the risks, as they carry a lot of information on their mobile devices, including auto-fill account passwords and banking applications. So we provide them with security for smartphones and tablets within such solutions as Kaspersky Internet Security multi-device. Are more users comfortable buying security software online or is there a good number of users who are still happy with buying packaged security off the retail shelves? There are still both parties, so we work actively with our partners to provide both options for buying our solutions – the way it is easier for a customer. Which of your products are witnessing strongest traction in the region? Among consumer products I’d name Kaspersky Internet Security - multi-device, effective solution for virtualization, and of course our complex security solution Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, that makes sure that whole IT infrastructure including endpoints is protected, and what is also important, easily managed
and monitored by IT specialists. What have been some outstanding features added in latest versions of your flagship products for the consumer market? Earlier this year, Kaspersky Lab launched its Kaspersky Total Security – multi device. A solution that safeguards your private information secures your online and banking transactions and simplifies your security management. For example, Password Manager in it helps you create, protect & manage passwords for all your online accounts and favorite websites. Furthermore, because your precious memories and documents all need to be safeguarded, we’ve included cloud-based backup – so you can keep online backup copies of your photos, videos, music, financial documents and more.
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Spotlight | Belkin
Milestones of innovation Linksys achieves milestone in routers; bolsters SMB focus Linksys, a brand owned by Belkin has achieved the distinction of having sold more than 100 Million wired and wireless routers globally. Linksys pioneered the home router back in 1999 when it shipped the first consumer grade router which revolutionized how consumers would share an internet connection in their home. Sixteen years later, Linksys has reached a rare milestone. Amanulla Khan, DirectorMEA of Belkin International said, “This milestones comes to us as no surprise. Linksys has continuously evolved and innovated in last 16 years to establish itself as a brand of choice in home and SME networking environments.” The router has evolved over the past 16 years from wired routers to the different wireless standards – Wireless-B, wireless-G, Wireless-N, and Wireless-AC with the latest technology enhancements with Triband and MU-MIMO technology. Throughout the history of network connections in
the home, Linksys has been a part of all if it. “The 100 million milestone of any product is something to celebrate,” said Mike Chen, vice president, product management, Linksys. “For a router to hit this accomplishment in the same company as smartphones, game consoles, MP3 players, tablets and e-readers, shows how crucial sharing an internet connection has become. When Linksys introduced the first consumer grade router at Comdex in 1999, we never would have imagined it would have such a critical role for
connecting the Internet of Things in the home.” Linksys strengthens SMB focus Linksys re-launched its SMB portfolio in 2013 with a goal to bring back the Linksys heritage of providing business-grade networking products to small and midsized businesses (SMBs). Since then the company has introduced to the market 34 new sku’s and the company is currently developing phase-2 of its SMB roadmap, which is the cloud management platform for its SMB portfolio.
It was triple joy for Belkin at COC Awards 2015 as Linksys won the Innovative Networking Brand of the Year, Belkin won the Accessories Brand of the Year and WEMO was awarded the Home Automation Brand of the Year.
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20
VAR COC Awards 2015
Mobility Distributor of the Year
Jumbo Electronics emerged the Mobility Distributor of the Year, a recognition of its growing clout as distributor who has a strong focus in Mobility as a domain and is associated with the Technology leaders in the space.
ICT E-tailer of the Year
Souq.com was chosen as the ICT E-tailer of the Year from among leading e-stores of the region that have end-to-end ICT product portfolios listed and are quite popular among consumers as popular destinations for online purchases of ICT products.
Champion Retailer of the Year
The recognition goes to Sharaf DG for having built a strong all around ICT retail portfolio, a widespread network of strategically located stores and as a top destination for prospective buyers of Technology products in the region.
Best After Sales by a Regional Brand
Quantum, a brand from the BDL group won the channel votes to be the winner of the Best After Sales by a Regional Brand.
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Networking Distributor of the Year | Prologix Distribution
Prologix specializes in value added distribution of products and solutions for wireless, RF & microwave, test & measurement, security & surveillance, telecom, mobility, vehicle tracking etc. Sarwan Singh,MD and Aditya Sahaya, Director discuss how the distributor is keeping pace with new technologies and expanding into new markets
Expanding footprint Discuss strong territories for the company’s distribution Business? Sarwan Singh (SS): A wellknown and leading VAD in the region, Prologix Distribution is the distribution arm of Prologix LLC, an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company. The company headquartered in Dubai, is in operation since 1998. It has its footprints all across UAE, GCC, and rest of the Middle East, Africa and SAARC countries. Prologix Distribution’s offices and warehouses are located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kenya, Nigeria, India and Sri Lanka. Prologix Distribution is an authorized distributor for world’s leading technology products. The top brands of the world in RF & Microwave, Wireless &
Networking, Test & Measurement, Telecommunications, Security Surveillance etc., feature in Prologix partner list. The strong territories of the company traditionally are Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kenya& Lagos. These continue to be the primary regional hubs for our business. We are present across the GCC and other larger MEA regions as well. Since, the company has seen several clusters of business that continue to be predominant even when the market is bearish, the above territories continues to be the main stake of the company. The company regularly identifies and introduces to the market technology solutions which help meet the specific IT needs of the region. The strong territories of the company
traditionally continues to be Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kenya & Lagos, the primary hubs for business in the region. We are vastly present across the GCC and other larger MEA regions, but we have seen that there are several clusters of business, which continue to be predominant even when the market is bearish. So the above territories continues to be the main stake of the company. Discuss broad areas of focus for the company in the distribution Business? Aditya Sahaya (AS): Prologix Distribution’s core business is focused on RF & Microwave, Wireless & Networking, Test & Measurement, Telecommunications, Security Surveillance featured in
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Prologix’s partner list. The Company augments its vast and unbeatable wireless product portfolio to deliver an advanced indoor and outdoor wireless with its expertise in pre-sales, installations, post-implementation support, powerful logistics that accelerate deliveries, 24/7 sales and technical support service and service calibration and support center.Prologix successfully added Zebra Technologies and Bosch toits basket in the successful journey of 2014-15 which enabled us to deliver best networking performance in wireless solution and also allowed us to expand our product portfolio in CCTV surveillance. The company regularly identifies and introduces to the market technology solutions which help to meet the specific channel and IT needs of the region. Comment on the networking distribution focus of Prologix? How has the growth been in the networking segment? SS: In the past 17 successful years Prologix has been the leading market rulers in networking distributionsegment.We constantly strive to understand the needs of the channel and help in implement complex projects. The networking segment has been growing year on year and we believe that this growth will
continue over the next decade. Prologix Distribution is highly experienced in networking products which allow us to elegantly provide complete solutions to various markets. We deliver the Products which are completely- managed service to help you conserve IT resources, Enhance customer experience, Keep employees connected, Fast and highly secured, Free roaming within the network, etc. The need for connectivity, higher speed communication and the rapid increase in demand of connected devices has added to the growth of this vertical. How extensive is your channel footprint? AS: A well-known and leading VAD in the region, Prologix Distribution’s offices and warehouses are located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kenya, Nigeria, India and Sri Lanka. Prologix has over 20 years of rich experience in the market. Prologix Distribution is the Master Distributor for many renowned brands in the UAE and also has the Authorized Service & Calibration centers for the customers. The company is committed to deliver service with unmatched quality and value to its broad network of channel partners which includes resellers, system integrators, ISPs and WISPs as well as end-users.
You offer Wi-Fi solutions from several vendors- do you see stronger demand for enhanced Wi-Fi deployments across key verticals you address? AS: We offer Wi-Fi solutions from brands who have made their footprints worldwide. We are the excellent source for all your coverage and connectivity needs. For IT industries, retailers, restaurants, and other businesses, Wi-Fi plays a crucial role in keeping in touch with customers and successfully go ahead in this huge competitive world. Wi-Fi has made a trademark which allows wireless access to provide video streams, voice and data without the requirement of any cable or wired connection. What have been your channel engagements in the year? SS: Prologix Distribution has undertaken numerous engagements in the past year and is keenly focused on delivering enriched service with unmatched quality and value. Prologix Distribution has made tremendous advancements by going on ground and meeting with its various reseller networks across the region. In this regard, we have organized multiple Events and Programs in different regions under its distribution umbrella.
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Broadline Distributor of the Year | Trigon
Trigon emerged as the Broadline Distributor of the Year at the COC Awards. Arun ChawlaCEO of Trigon speaks about the advances the company is making
Steady growth Discuss Trigon’s major initiatives in 2014? 2014 was a year of significant milestones. There was more focus on Retail Business and expanding our retail related product line. The company focused a lot on enhancing B2B Business in SME segment and expanded product lines related to vertical segments like Healthcare, Hospitality and the Financial Sector. Trigon invested in dedicated manpower for Abu Dhabi operations. There was expansion of Service Centre facilities. The company migrated to SAP as ERP System. The KSA Sales Office was setup and made operational. In 2014, Trigon floated a dedicated division to focus on Digital Signage business segment. The digital signage market is
expected to grow by 70% in the Middle East region and the demand from application areas such as retail and healthcare is expected to drive the market over the next five years. Trigon realized that creating and distributing content via digital signage serves as an effective marketing tool, which is expected to spur adoption in the corporate sector and hence a dedicated business unit was set-up. This resulted in a growth of 50% higher revenues during 2014 compared to 2013 from the SI / Corporate segment. During Q2-2014, Trigon signed distribution agreement with Philips displays as the authorised distributor for its entire range of monitors across GCC countries including UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In addition to Philips Displays,
we also distribute Dell Displays as well as Samsung & LG Large format / Digital Signage. Retail has been a strong focus for the company. Discuss what makes the company one of the leading players in this space? Retail has always been a strong forte and our passion and understanding of the retail business has helped us to remain a very focused retail oriented distributor We have done investment in Sales Team & Merchandisers for Better Customer Education. Between 2010 and 2013, we have grown in store promoters from 15 to a sales force of 40+ today and sales team from 12 to 15. Most of our Power Retail partners have aggressive expansion and growth plans during 2015 and we will partner with these plans at all levels. You have enhanced your focus in other GCC markets. Please mention growth from the markets outside UAE and your focus? Trigon emulated the success formula of UAE in Bahrain & Saudi Arabia and as a result the revenue growth in Bahrain was 30% whereas in Saudi Arabia it was 73% compared to 2013-14. Regional expansion plans are in place and the feasibility study is being concluded to identify the areas for expansion.
Data Center Projects: Growth Model
> Executive summary
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VAR COC Awards 2015
Emerging Distributor of the Year
Musallam Trading was the winner of the Emerging Distributor of the Year. The Awardrecognizes a distributor that is seen as fast rising in its profile and association with leading brands.
Technology Visionary Brand of the Year
The award goes to Intel as it continues to play an inspiration role for the industry and is successfully bringing to market several new innovations in form factors and technologies that can further drive industry growth.
Smartphones with Best in Price Performance
This award recognizes the contribution that Fly as a manufacturer, is making in the MEA’s fast growing mobility market with a focus on providing premium quality smartphones at reasonable prices.
Smartphone Brand with Fastest Growing Retail Reach
The awards recognizes Vsun as a fast emerging Brand that has launched multiple models of smartphones specifically targeting the Middle East, Africa and CIS markets and has set in motion aggressive expansion strategies across markets including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
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Empowering Channel Profitability | ASBIS
ASBIS has been able to execute consolidation in its distribution Business effectively and also grow Business for its Prestigo Brand.The distributor was awarded the Retail Distributor of the Year at the 9th VAR COC Awards. Hesham Tantawi, V-P META Region discusses how their unique strategies have kept pace with changing trends in market.
Rising with focus How do you see distribution changing? The market is shrinking. There has been a discernible decline in the PC, notebook and tablet market through the first half of the current year. There is pressure on the total market. As a result, many distributors are shifting focus to areas where they can achieve more profitable growth and sustain not just mere survival. There is a lot of consolidation happening. How has Asbis responded? We have been gearing up for
such changing scenarios since early last year. We were quite early to start consolidation of our Businesses and have executed that to plan. We stopped notebooks distribution two years ago in the UAE and end of last year in KSA, having realized there is little growth potential there. There is a lot of investment that it demands but marginal ROI which doesn’t meet our corporate objectives. We are growing our distribution Business to become the biggest components
distributor in the region. That is one of the main focus areas for the company.The component business is also changing. It is no longer focusing on assemblers as during the heyday of the desktop PC. The focus has shifted to system providers, datacenters etc. Efforts are ongoing to map new customer segments and new markets, serve and secure those new customer accounts. Discuss your major focus areas: We are focusing on three key pillars for our business-value
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products, our mobility brand as well as the component business. This is addressed by three different teams. The Prestigio team operates as a vendor with all the activities that are to be undertaken by a vendor. For instance, Prestigio recently announced a promotion campaign with Etisalat for our Prestigio phones. Under this, customers get free 250MB mobile data for three months on purchase of the new PrestigioMultiPhone 5454 DUO smartphone.Asbis takes care of logistics for Prestigio. In the components segment, we supply cpus, hard disk drives, Motherboards, VGA cards etc to system providers. As the biggest component distributors in MENA, we work with vendors such as AMD, Seagate, Hitachi and Toshiba Storage as well as many VGA vendors and offer a complete proposition for the market. While there is consolidation in this space, we are best placed to serve the needs of this market. The gaming segment has great potential in the region and this is why we are still selling CPUs and VGA cards aimed at the gaming community and market. While gamers always look for high-end specifications, professionals demand quality and reliable machines. And in the value segment, we also supply infrastructure
products, security software, network switches etc. This is a segment seeing good growth.
have representative office that focuses on channel partnerships for our components Business.
Discuss markets you cater to from Dubai and markets that you are likely to expand into? The Dubai office looks after MENA operations. Our Africa focus continues to develop as well. We have an international team focused on Africa for our brand Prestigio in addition to maintaining an ASBIS office in South Africa. We are now looking to expand operations in the Far East. These include Philippines as well as countries including Sri Lanka. In Saudi, we
How is retail distribution for Asbis shaping up? In retail distribution, we have seen good sales growth with all retailers that we are partnering with month on month. One of the products that we are excited about for supplying into retail channels is the Intel computing stick. We see huge potential for this product across user segments. We also have a growing smart home solutions Business under the Prestigio Brand.
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Innovations in Display Technologies | AOC
technology, Flicker free, MIRA Cast, Freesyn on Gaming and Curved Gaming monitors.
Display Magic While monitors in the past were mostly designed to exclusively display basic PC content, they have now become a multimedia hub for many users. Vineeth Sebastian, Regional Sales Director-MEA at MMD and AOC discusses how the manufacturer continues to pioneer innovations Discuss broad trends and shifts in the PC Monitor display space? We have witnesseda shift from small screen sizesto larger screen sizes. Customers are also demanding better resolutions, which is giving push to UHD and 4K is slowly gaining momentum in the market. In display panels, technology has also evolved over the years and up-till recently, the majority of displays used TN technology, as it is the least expensive panel to manufacture and offers superior motion-handling performance. But with Plane Switching (IPS) display panels becoming more affordable, we see IPS display monitors moving faster than ever before.
Touch is another technology that has been accepted well by the market and will continue to grow in times to come. Elaborate on some latest innovations and technology highlights from AOC in the display space? AOC is working hard in expanding market by investing heavily in R & D and is coming out with innovative products such as USB monitor, android and windows based All-in-one touch monitors, gaming monitor with NVIDIA G-SYNC, gaming monitor with AMD Freesync among others. We are also incorporating latest technology breakthroughs in our monitors such as Anti Blue
You have a focus on B2B and B2C segments- discuss you range for these segments? AOC has a broad range of products under its portfolio for both B2B and B2C marketplace. B2B products belong to our Pro Line range, which is designed for professionals and demanding users. It features the latest advances in display technology and ergonomics for ultimate performance and comfort. B2C is covered by our style line and Value line of products. Value Line offers cost effective value for money products that suit the pocket of every user, yet gives them an amazing experience. As the name suggests, Style Line makes a statement with unique and innovative concepts that feature state-of-the-art display technology. Gaming again is one of your key areas of focus- discuss the range of models you have on offer and the demand in the region? We have put more focus into Gaming with adding FreeSync technology to the existing G-Sync technology. Our focus is also to target the entry level gamers as this region has significant users there.
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Innovation with Android Powered Printers | Samsung
Samsung was the winner of Innovation with Android powered printers for creating powerful new solutions for A3 and A4 printing and offering a truly mobile printing experience with the world’s first Androidpowered printers that can work independent of a PC. Sherif Mohamed, Printer Sales Group Leader at Samsung Gulf Electronics discusses the technology and focus
Pioneering innovation Discuss your current portfolio of Android OS powered MultiXpress and ProXpress line of printershow many models do you offer? The Smart MultiXpress series MFP is comprised of ten models from four different printer categories, including: X4300 series of A3 Color MFPs, K4350 series of A3 Monochrome MFPs, and M4580 and M5370 series of A4 Monochrome MFPs. All models in the X4300 series are equipped with Samsung’s Rendering Engine for Clean Page technology and Polymerized Toner, providing sharp, vivid, professional color quality. The K4350 and M4580 series MFPs are equipped with Dual-Scan ADF technology, enabling them to scan double-
sided images per minute in vast numbers, in addition to an array of other unique printing capabilities. Which user scenarios do these address? Samsung designed the Androidpowered printers in response to strong consumer trends toward mobile printing, at home and at the office. Globally, the Intelligent Print Management market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.91% during 2015, according to CIO. Additionally, cloud computing is 40 times more cost-effective for SMBs, and that is what makes our MX4 series printers so relevant
to the needs of businesses, especially SMEs. The MultiXpress 4 X4300 and K4350 series, the A3 Printers range, are designed to meet the needs of small businesses, public institutions and governments in emerging markets. The MultiXpress X4300 and K450 series help businesses become more efficient and reach enhanced performance productivity by reducing the total cost of ownership and accommodating varying infrastructure environments. Besides the OS, what are some of the major technology highlights of these printers? Samsung is uniquely positioned to drive efficiency and productivity
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Innovation with Android Powered Printers | Samsung
in the workplace across mobile printing technology, so the MultiXpress and ProXpress lines of printers were designed with the aim of delivering the simplest and most efficient printing solutions of the highest quality. To that end, all models in the X4300 series are equipped with Samsung’s Rendering Engine for Clean Page technology and Polymerized Toner, providing sharp, vivid, professional color brilliance. In addition, users can enjoy fast double-sided scanning in record quantities when using the K4350 and M4580 series MFPs, thanks to Dual-Scan ADF technology. Furnished with a 1GHz Dual CPU processor, 4G memory, and 300GB HDD, the MultiXpress 4 X4300 and K4350 series printers offer high speed, high-volume printing, made easy with NFC technology. Our latest line supports Internet access, web searches, download capabilities and print preview, as well as quick print options from a mobile device. It allows the user to print-onthe-go and enable IT managers to manage costs and service remotely. In addition to the array of powerful performance features, the printers are userfriendly, with go-to apps visibly presented on the main screen, and offer seamless integration with the Samsung Mobile Print App and Samsung Business Core
Printing Solutions system. What are the current apps enabled? We are exploring possibilities of customized APP development. Currently, the MX4 printers are enabled with the Samsung Mobile Print App, giving users the ability to print, scan, and transfer files from any mobile Samsung device, eliminating the hassle of network configuration and downloading driver software to get the job done. Another on-the-go printing solution that works with the MX4 printer series is Samsung Cloud Print, which allows users to send documents and images to printers at home, at the office, or at a friend or relative’s house through the Cloud, making on-the-go mobile
printing easier and faster than ever before. These apps are ideal for both office and personal use. Discuss some of the other recent printing innovation across other printer product lines from Samsung? The MultiXpress&ProXpress series deliver the latest in printing innovations with Android based OS,10.1” Touch screen display, NFC Pro for Authentication & Security, Dual Scan for Ultra high speed scanning. Discuss Samsung’s share of the region’s printer market across the segments you focus on? Samsung A3+A4 Printers have seen a strong market share of 18% in Q1 2015 across the GCC ranking second in their category.
Best in Product care | Kristall
What have been the highlights of the year so far in your business? The Market has been slow but we were still able to capitalize and tap a few untapped areas and generate business. We have seen 100% Year on Year Growth as a unit. Overall there has been an exponential rate of growth. There is more and more convergence. What are the marketsthat the company currently focuses on? Deal Time is focusing mainly in the Middle East and African Territories and India and have been appointing sub-distributor for our Niche Product Kristall – A Nano Technology based Electronic Device Screen Protection product. We do not have any Office in other regions but Our widespread subdistribution network across Middle East and African countries will help our Distribution products to increase its footprint in the all the markets in the next Six Months How has the demand and growth been for Kristall? Kristall is growing at a slow & steady pace in Reseller, IR Channel & Power Retailers base and a satisfied End user base is increasing day by day. Kristall is more of a mass awareness product and hence it requires convincing the end user to give away with the traditional screen guard. We believe in giving time to our Partners to share the benefits
Trend setter Deal Time has brought innovative brands to market including Kristall that emerged as winner of the Best in Product care at the VAR COC Awards . Jack D’Costa, Director at Deal Time discusses how the distributor is consoldiating and Demo the Kristall benefits to the end user. We don’t believe in dumping stocks on our reseller. What have been your sellout and distribution strategies been? We are pursuing our presence in retail Channel, IR and Small kiosk selling Mobility Products. We are working on channel partner incentive schemes and will be announcing in more details shortly. We are selling online with souq. com, ezybuy and more Discuss any new partnerships? We are proud to announce new Distribution product Lines from Rapoo (Mobility Products) and Fondi( Power Banks). The portable battery packs
from Fondi can charge your smartphones, media players, cameras, and other mobile gear that charge over USB.Fondi is a brand of FondiVersal Technology. RAPOO offers excellent, cuttingedge wireless peripheral products to users around the world. The RAPOO range of wireless mice, wireless keyboards, wireless headsets and wireless speakers is tailored to meet the needs of PC users. Bluetooth headsets and Bluetooth keyboards for intelligent terminals, like mobile phones and tablet PCs, are further featured in RAPOO’s broad portfolio. Multimedia keyboards and Multi-Link (dandelion technology) product suites for the home theater round out the RAPOO range.
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Empowering Channel Profitability | WD
Along with great storage technology products, WD has also focused on steering partners towards profitable areas of growth. The manufacturer was awarded for ‘Empowering Channel Profitability’. KhwajaSaifudin, Senior Sales Director, Middle East, Africa and India, WD discusses the company’s focus
created, the demand for highstorage capacity will increase. To accommodate this exponential data storage demand, new technology and devices such as Cloud storage, personal cloud services, and other sophisticated storage solutions for faster storage & data retrieval, and better storage capacity will see more popularity. The market will keep on growing due to enormous data creation in the
A rewarding vision Please discuss some of the product highlights of the year? 2015 has proven to be an exciting year for WD, with us diversifying our array of offerings for our customers. The new My Passport Ultra was launched a few months ago, with the Middle Eastern launch slated for the coming months. We can’t wait for local customers to experience the newest iterant of our bestselling hard drive. My Cloud Big 4 series is another milestone in our My Cloud family. We have extended the My Cloud series with the inclusion of four more products for experts and SMBs. The My Cloud Expert Series includes the My Cloud EX2100 (twobay) and the My Cloud EX4100 (four-bay) high-performance
NAS systems. The My Cloud Business Series includes the My Cloud DL2100 (two-bay) and the My Cloud DL4100 (four-bay) high-performance NAS systems. Both series run on the acclaimed Linux-based WD My Cloud operating software (OS). Which have been key growth areas in terms of product segments? According to IDC, EMEA quarterly server and disk storage market was worth USD 522.9 million in the Oil & Gas, Telecom and Government sectors. 2015 is expected to draw in a larger investment as Western Digital adopts an aggressive approach, with many interesting products in the pipeline for the ME. As increasing volumes of data are
MEA region. We are looking at a huge opportunity for the storage market this year. Discuss demand for the WD Red SATA hard drives in region. WD RED drives are synonymous with the NAS (Network-Attached Storage) market. Though this particular market segment is in its infancy, it has great potential and its growth outlook is significant. As data grows exponentially in terms of volume, there is also the concurrent need to have it accessible to multiple users. WD currently leads the NAS segment. Elaborate on partner initiatives including your improved partner program. WD firmly believes in supporting its partners and is committed
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to their success – after all, the success of the partner leads to greater benefits for WD as well. We focus heavily on partner education where we train partner sales staff across our full spectrum of products. All of our partners have access to WD University (http://www. wduniversity.com/), our online product training tool and can also participate in the myWD partner program. The latter gives partners access to marketing collaterals, demos and product information and there’s also an incentive system that rewards sales successes. The myWD program has grown to over 25,000 partners worldwide, spanning 190 countries and is available in 17 languages. Is the portable hard drive market a lot more competitive with more brands in the fray? While many firms are involved in the production and distribution of hard drive products, WD’s products have set the benchmark for the industry. The WD My Passport is a global bestseller, and for good reason. Its fast rate of data transfer and large capacity, not to mention the built-in hardware encryption, password protection and data backup features, set it apart from the competition. With data creation in the region set to expand even more in the coming
years, the market standing of WD’s renowned hard drives will only go from strength to strength. Discuss how you have been focusing on surveillance? For modern digital surveillance systems to deliver the best results, they have to be paired with the right storage. This important choice falls to the end user, as most of these security systems are sold without storage. With this in mind, WD introduced the WD Purple hard drives, geared towards surveillance in specific. Offering up to 6 TB of capacity per drive and built for roundthe-clock operations, in addition to being designed for use in HD surveillance systems where up to 32 cameras may be used, WD Purple is the ideal choice for surveillance systems for homes and small to medium-sized businesses. WD’s teams are always
available to provide the required support and training to partners to help them thrive in a competitive market. WD participated at Intersec 2015 alongside its surveillance partners, including Watchnet, Nirsun, Iptec and Vanguard. Discuss how 'My Cloud consumer and business series' is faring in the region? As data is generated in everincreasing amounts, a substantial portion of personal and business computing is migrating to the cloud. This trend is set to define the future and is already picking up now. The My Cloud series, in both its consumer and business variants, is highly beneficial to its respective target markets. We can already see increasing adoption of both platforms in the region and are confident that this sustained growth will only grow in the years to come.
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VAR COC Awards 2015 | Snap Shots
Quality service every time. At Trigon service comes first. We service our partners - dealers, resellers, retailers and corporate clientele spreading across more than 15 countries – the Middle East, Africa and Asia providing them with distribution of world-class IT peripherals and services. At Trigon we continue to innovate in all areas, building on the strength of our people and the quality of our brands. Our warehouse and logistics network, backed by state-of-the-art software, after sales support ensure a seamless distribution process. Trigon is one of the first IT distributor in the UAE to be awarded the coveted ISO 9001:2008 certification. Dubai: P.O. Box: 32610, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 3426060, Fax: +971 4 3547779, E-mail: info@trigon-gulf.ae Bahrain: P.O. BOX 75149, Manama, Bahrain. Tel: +973 17292904, Fax: +973 1729 5183, Email: trigon@mylightspeedoffice.com KSA: Office 508, Al Rossais Commercial Center, Olaya Street, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tel: +966 11 460 2997, Fax: +966 11 460 3114
www.trigononline.com
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