The Integrator East Africa - April-May 2013

Feature - P 8

Editorial

Staying Power

Elections in Kenya came and went with none of the feared acrimony that characterized the last election cycle five years ago, much to the relief of the regional IT industry.

With that resolved, the IT business community can thus go back to the business of investing and trading. A lot of investments had been put on hold as uncertainties over the elections spread far and wide. And being the region’s largest economy, the peace dividend in Kenya should spread beyond the country’s borders.

The tranquillity coincides with a period when much of the IT industry is increasingly looking towards Africa to save it from a laggard IT market in much of the developed world. Experts predict double digit growth in the ICT industry in East Africa for the next few years.

The IT industry has been one of the stronger drivers of the regional economy and with the political issue now in the back burner, the industry should ideally pick up from where it left off.

Incidentally, technology played a role in getting political opponents from playing out their ideological differences on the street. In the weeks before and after the elections, Kenyans took to the internet in their droves to express their true feelings towards the other side. While the online vitriol and hatred that poured forth from the online exchanges should not be encouraged, it could be argued that any damage done through the internet is relatively harmless compared to real bloodshed on the streets.

Rather morbidly, the widespread public’s decision to resort to internet feuds is evident of the pent-up demand for technology that exists in East Africa.

This energy can be harnessed for the good of all with the industry playing supplier of the equipment required to exploit this potential.

David Ndichu Assistant Editor

Content

After a lull, East Africa back in Business

With Tripp Lite back-up solutions, relief for businesses held back by unreliable power supply is at hand

News Feature - P 13

In Full Swing

Mitsumi is not sleeping on its laurels despite its position at the top of African IT distribution

Interview

WD’s African Pitch - P 14

WD is a global leader in storage, success the company hopes can be replicated in the African market

Back in the Game - P 15

After a long hiatus, Jurassic is back in E.A. with a bang

TechKnow

Africa on Aten’s Crosshairs - P18

KVM specialist ATEN is making a big push into Africa in partnership with top system integrator Wavetech

Africa Calling - P 19

Firmly established in the Middle East and Europe, Cursor has sights on Africa

Spotlight - P 20

A Tale of Two Cities

VAR conclaves hit the cities of Dar-es-Salaam and Kampala, rounding off a complete East African journey

Point2Point

First Mover Advantage - P 22

With base in Africa, Micro City is set to benefit from East Africa’s growing networking business

Path to Success - P 23

With a legacy of results in the Middle East behind it, Spantec is ready to embark on its African journey

Focus - P 24

Full Steam Ahead

NITI can look forward to a more predictable future after the industry overcame an uncertain recent past

Insight - P 26

Hotspot 2.0 and the Enterprise

Touted as the next big carrier thing, Hotspot 2.0 looks to have a major impact on enterprises everywhere

Product Review - P 28

The new BenQ W 1070 and W1080 Projectors Publisher: Vivek Sharma Managing Editor: R. Narayan Assistant Editor: David Ndichu Art Director: Faiz Ahmed Sales Director: Alishan Zaidi Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Business Development Manager: Mallika Rego Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh

Published by: JNS Media International MFZE

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.

April/May 2013 | The Integrator East Africa

3

News

KDN fibre connects East Africa

Samsung and Intel in joint African push

Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has extended its fibre network into Tanzania and will be the first operator to connect the East African capitals of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Kigali on a single fibre network.

Samsung Electronics Africa and Intel have entered into a strategic collaboration to explore codevelopment and joint market solutions designed for the African market.

This effort forms part of the Samsung Built For Africa outreach that sees the consumer electronics company develop products and programmes that meet the unique needs, resources, and conditions of Africa and aligns with Intel’s strategic focus on enabling education transformation with the help of technology on the continent.

“There are many obstacles to overcome in Africa. Connectivity and access to information are just some of them. This is impacting on the level and quality of education many learners across the continent have access to. Given that we live in a digital age, learners need to be equipped with the necessary employable skills for the future,” says Thierry Boulanger Director: IT Solutions and B2B for Samsung Electronics Africa.

organisations and enterprises.

The new 120km fibre link from Nairobi to Namanga on the border of Kenya and Tanzania will see an increase in capacity and reduce latency for KDN’s customers including ISPs, carriers, homes, government

KDN was recently acquired by Liquid Telecom which has built Africa’s largest fibre network spanning over 13,000km from the north of Uganda to Cape Town on a single thread.

“We believe that technology should be for everyone and completion of the Namanga fibre will be another major milestone in consolidating Liquid’s fibre coverage as the widest in Africa and confirming our position as the leading panAfrican communications connectivity provider,” said Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom.

FVC establishes direct presence in EA with new office in Kenya FVC, a leading Value Added Distributor in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), recently officially opened its office in Nairobi, Kenya, to better serve its partners and their customers in East Africa.

The new office offers sales and pre-sales support to FVC’s existing partners across East Africa including Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

At the opening of the new office, K. S. Parag, Managing Director at FVC said, “As a company, we believe in being close to our partners markets to be able to understand their needs better and ensure that we add value both them as well as their customers. The African continent is continuously embracing new technology and investing in infrastructure. This means that we need to be here providing the necessary technology and support to our channel partners to help them achieve their goals.”

4

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

News

Lenovo takes its African vision on the road

Channel awarded at colourful COC Awards Gala night The 7th VAR COC (Choice of Channel) Awards were announced and presented at the luxurious Meydan Hotel in Dubai. The Awards are an annual event organized by this magazine’s sister publication, VAR Middle East.

The COC Awards have become one of the most sought-after industry recognitions in the Middle East and Africa region. Unlike other awards in the regional IT market industry, the COCs are designed to reflect the vote of the channel. The voting for the awards was done offline as well as on www.varonline.com over the past couple of months and the shortlists of nominees was mostly drawn on the basis of historical data available with VAR from past surveys. Several new names were added as well based on market information.

The winners list was drawn on the basis of the brand or company which won the maximum votes polled.

There were some Editor’s choice categories as well and the winners were decided on the basis of consensus of applauding the most deserving names in these categories.

Graham Braum, the Lenovo Africa general manager based in Johannesburg, recently led a delegation to meet representatives from government, private organisations and business partners in Kenya as well as other countries in the continent.

The aim of the trip was “to reinforce Lenovo’s commitment to Africa and outline the company’s business and PC+ strategy in the continent”.The company recently secured the number two position in the market among PC manufacturers worldwide, and has now also taken the number two position in the EMEA region.

With the planned expansion in Africa, Lenovo aims for the number one spot on this continent.

“The African continent is one of Lenovo’s key growth markets and this Africa roadshow re-affirms our commitment to customers and partners in Africa,” said Braum.“The information and communications technology sector is continuously developing in Africa and technology plays a key role in the development and economic growth of countries; that is why it is important for Lenovo to bring innovative smart connected devices to Africa to empower businesses and consumers.”

Online security hot topic as EA networks come under threat Tanzania recently hosted a banking cyber security conference to tackle rising fraud that target banks’ information security systems.

The East Africa Banking and IT Security Summit, organised by UK-based IT and banking security provider Cyber Security Africa, was held in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania on April 24 and 25.The theme of the conference was ‘combating emerging threats in banking and payment transactions in East Africa’. Cyber Security Africa observed that security systems risks have been identified as the biggest challenge for many organisations in the region.

Cyber Security Africa is a UK based company and with offices in Nairobi, Kenya for the African Markets, with a mission to build a community of Information Security for Africa and a series of other e-commerce innovation live events.

Cyber Security Africa in partnership with other Industry stakeholders will also be hosting The Ethiopia Banking and ICT Summit in August 2nd, 2013 at the Sheraton Hotel, Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The one day summit is designed to highlight the key Investment opportunities especially in the ICT Sector. These events will culminate in the 2nd Annual East Africa IT and Cyber Security Convention 2013 that will bring together leading Cyber and IT Security experts who will provide key insights into critical cyber security issues surrounding cyber networks, mobile, and IT infrastructures in East Africa.

6

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

Feature

TrippLite

Staying Power Business downtime costs businesses dearly in East Africa as a result of unreliable power supply;With Tripp Lite back-up solutions, relief is at hand.

Bill DeCicco Executive VP, TrippLite

Ideally, data centres, desktops and other office equipment should receive constant power supply for normal business operations. In reality, businesses in much of Africa have to do with a few hours of power each day, while remote locations mean many are completely off-grid. To cope, businesses have come to rely on power back up systems with Tripp Lite among the top solution providers.

Africa is a very strategic growthoriented market for Tripp Lite with markets such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and Rwanda registering strong growth the company, according to Bill DeCicco, Executive VP at Tripp Lite. The company hasbeen in these markets for over a decade now.

Tripp Lite focuses on two key segments that include IT solutions and electrical

8

equipment. For the former, distribution partners in East Africa are Redington and Mitsumi. The electrical solutions go toEngineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and MEP contractors and consultants. Partners for the electrical equipment include Sang Yung in Kenya and Systems 2000 in Tanzania as well as Copy Cat in Uganda. “We have independent service centres related to our partners that take care of the warranties in support of our products in each country,” said DeCicco.

The need for power back-up is very clear in the underserved East African market, with major target segments being banking healthcare, education, telecom and the government. “We supply a complete range of solutions from 20 kilowatts single-phase UPSs to 500 kilo three-phase UPSs

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

powering different IT equipment. We also have modified inverters for long term back up,” said DeCicco. Tripp Lite’s infrastructure solutions in data centres include racks, KVMs, PDUs, infrastructure software: the complete gamut of power and cooling for the data centre, according to DeCicco.

“We have different vertical focus and then horizontal focus on each different product.”

In the telecom sector, cell site towers pose an important challenge to Tripp Lite because they are located all over the country including in some very remote areas. Some towers are fed by mainstream electrical supply while some use generator sets as there’s no grid power available.Yet, these towers have to be running continuously. “We have installations in some of these remote areas that useDC-AC converter

Feature

TrippLite

systems backed by battery banks that provide 2448 hours battery life back-up time to the towers,” explained DeCicco.

than cost considerations.

“We are "Lithium-ion battery technology, the most anticipating a advanced in battery technology today,has not time in the near future where yet become economically viable to be adopted Lithium-ion in netbooks across the board." batteries become competitive in And technology prices, probably The difference between inverters and advancement means these power in the next two or three years. Already, UPS system is the in-built chargers they equipment, despite being completely the price has dropped to about a third have. Inverters have a higher capacity off the beaten path, can be monitored of what it was 6-8 years ago. At Tripp charger so that when power comes and managed remotely. With an IP Lite, we have been doing extensive back on, they can do a quick recharge, address integrated within Tripp Lite testing with Lithium-ion and it would around 2-4 hours to recharge for 24 power equipment, telecom operators mark a dramatic change in the battery hours of run time, critical in areas with with a central pointfor managing all configurations for inverters and UPS limited availability of power. A UPS the cell sites has the ability to see what if this technology would become more required to run for 24 hours on the is happening with the temperature, prevalent.” other hand would need about 24 hours batterystatus, inverter conditions, etc. charge. in all the locations. “A lot of telecom Incidentally, electric cars could give carriers are employing hybrid power lithium-ion batteries the scale it needs “Our solutions we offer to the customer solutions by installing solar panels to become economically viable. When will depend on a customer’s needs. We for back up. Solar panels will kick in such a huge industry requires huge calculate the Load in Watts (LWA), to charge up the inverters when grid volumes of battery packs, technologies, and then we identify how much backpower goes out,” said DeCicco. availability and price points become up time the customer needs. We have attractive for every industry and the different kinds of inverters that that cut Another important segment for Tripp mass market through sheer economies across all segments, from our premium Lite is in the hospitality industry, in of scale, observed DeCicco. range to entry level solutions for SMBs” particular the resorts that dot East added DeCicco.

Africa’s game reserves. These do not The scalability aspect of the systems has have access to the grid electricity also improved significantly. “Today, IT experts have observed that battery supply but rely on solar and generators if you need 10 kilowatts UPS in the technology has often lagged behind to power their operations as well office and in the future your needs as the rest of the IT sector sprints as IT equipment. Many of these grow to 20 kilowatts, you do not need ahead. DeCicco opines there has establishments will use generators to buy a 20 KVA inverter; just add the been significant advancement in during the day and then switch over to 10 extra watts to the ones you have. So battery technology in the recent past. inverters at night when guests require customers are saving on their capital For one,the inverters have become some quiet time. “Our inverters have expenditure with this pay-as-you-grow much more compact and well much done a lot in this space. They are noisemodel,” explained DeCicco. more efficient as well. “Technology is less, fume-less and with automatic changing,” DeCicco observed, “but it’s switch-over. This is unlike a generator The small businesses that dominate the slow and steady and more of an organic which has to be physically engaged and East African business landscape have growth as opposed to the radical IT powered up in addition to the switchnot been left behind. The SMB sector side of the equation.” over time when loads are down during is where Tripp Lite has done a lot of the period. So our units are excellent business in, according to DeCicco.

Lithium-ion battery technology, the replacements for generators as a green These small firms still require business most advanced in battery technology technology available for our customers continuity though they may not afford today,has not yet become economically in East Africa,” said DeCicco. asubstantialfinancial outlay. “A lot of viable to be adopted in netbooks these SMBs were using small generators across the board. The segment with A customer deciding on a power of around 5-10 kilowatts which were widespread adoption of Lithium-ion system for their IT equipment will creating a lot of frequency problems batteries is in the medical field where choose either a UPS system or inverter. with the need for constant refuelling. performance is more important

10

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

Feature

TrippLite

So our solutions, with their automatic switchover, have become an integral part of their infrastructure solutions for their IT power needs,” said DeCicco.

For these small enterprises, Tripp Liteis selling power products like power strips available in East Africa through stores like regional retailer Nakumatt. Also available through retailers are laptop accessories like adaptors with surge protection against lightning and power surges as well as audio-visual cables like HDMI and DVI. With an increasingly competitive East African market, the successful vendor will have to go beyond the expected. “We have technologies and performances that provide performance that is equal to or greater that top competitors at lower prices providing a superior price-performance metric.

We also have a wider range of products than any other vendor with over 3,000 different products in various segments,” said DeCicco.

In East Africa,Tripp Lite’s partners are innovating in their own ways to suit market needs. An example is areseller in Uganda who partnered with a local bank to offer our solutions and then receive payments on monthly instalments. This is a modified version of the managed services model available in more mature Western markets.

availability of power and the quality of power. The consumption model remains same for us whether in Africa or the Middle East. The difference is: what kind of products do customers want to buy,” said DeCicco.

In the Middle East there’s more demand for data centre power products. In this region, organizations cannot afford even a millisecond of downtime, observed DeCicco. “An example is the Metro network in the UAE where even a minute downtime in the data centre would be unthinkable.”

Efficiency of power inverters and UPSs is crucial in a bid to stem energy wastage. The technology behind the UPS and the inverter then becomes critical in choosing a back-up device. A lot of older systems used to waste as much as 30% of the energy.“We have a lot of efficiency in the conversion from AC-DC as well as from DC-AC in the UPS systems with efficiency in the 97-98% range.

This means only a paltry 2-3% of energy gets wasted. In our cooling systems for our UPSs, we now usevariable frequency drives that save up to 30-40%

A lot of African countries are currently investing in their power infrastructure to improve electricity supply to their own citizenry a development that would seem to threaten Tripp Lite’s African business model moving forward. An example is Nigeria which recently signed multibillion dollar deals with private corporations to upgrade its power system. However, as DeCicco noted, the countries with the most reliable power supply are Tripp Lite’s best markets. “We focus on two areas:

12

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

Tripp Lite Smart Online 20kVA Three Phase UPS

of electricity in the data centre,” said DeCicco.

And back-up systems are getting smart. A Tripp Lite UPS will sense when a computer is switched offand automatically revert to stand-by mode.

When you put your computer on, the device detects that and puts all the other deviceslikeprinters, networking equipment, and servers on as well, explained DeCicco.

Power products were for a long time treated as non-IT products; not anymore. Power, cooling and IT products have now become converged data centre solutions. Secondly, these devices can now be managed remotely by putting an IP address in them allowing web access to thesegadgets.

Tripp Lite has introduced a new software called Access IT whichallows servers, storage devices, networking devices, UPSs and PDUs in the data centreto be managedthrough one common interface. “Tripp Lite has the solution where the data centre management software can manage all your IT devices in one window. This can even be done remotelyusing mobile devices,” DeCicco said.

Tripp Lite has over 200 products under development at any given time in the engineering department in Chicago under development, a list that includes new products as well as improvements in existing products. 20 to 30 new products a month are produced and go out into the market so as to keep abreast with the competition. “We are constantly upgrading our products and solutions which arekey to our success and we look forward to good partnerships. Africa is one of the specific markets that we are focused on as a growth market so we pay extra attention compared to more mature markets around the world,” DeCicco said.

News Feature

Mitsumi continues in its quest to entrench itself as one of the biggest names in IT distribution in Africa.

Towards this end, the company has been involved in a lot of initiatives in the last few months.

In February, Mitsumi and its partner WD engaged in a series of partner roadshows in West Africa. The first of these events took place on February 19 in Lagos, Nigeria. The road trip was expected to reach key cities in the Central and West African market in the following months.The events were meant to introduce Mitsumi Distribution as WD’s focus distributor in the Central and West African region to resellers.

Last year, WD appointed Mitsumi as

was keen to leverage Mitsumi’s position as one of the leading African distributors;the company’s experience of the broader African continent and its expertise having been in operation for 17 years across 19 African countries.

The agreement will enable Samsung to expend its logistical footprint on the back of an established African distributor and support network.

The partnership came into effect as of Friday, March 01, 2013 – where Mitsumi’s offices in 19 countries with in-country stock points will serve Samsung’s African distribution needs.

“We intricately understand how to cost-effectively support the technology needs of end users of all sizes, including small- and medium-

In Full Swing

Mitesh Shah Managing Director, Mitsumi Distribution

Despite its lofty position at the top of the African IT distribution pyramid, Mitsumi is not sleeping on its laurels as evidenced by a flurry of continent-wide activities in Q1. its distributor on the continent to cover the key markets of Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia, Congo and Algeria.

Commenting on the roadshows, Mitesh Shah, Managing Director at Mitsumi Distribution said: “We are very pleased to launch the WD product line in Nigeria. We have received tremendous interest from our customers. Nigeria is our home turf in West Africa and in the coming months Mitsumi plans to spruce up the Nigeria operations.”

Then in March, Mitsumi signed a partnership with Samsung to be an official distributor for all Samsung IT products across sub-Saharan Africa.

Through this partnership agreement, Mitsumi will deliver the full suite of Samsung IT consumer and business solutions to the market. Samsung

Mitsumi

modern Nigeria telecom to Eng. YomiBolarinwa, a renowned public servant, among others.

sized businesses, large enterprises, educational institutions, government agencies, and consumers and certainly see this partnership with Samsung as an opportunity to continue our growth across the continent,” Miteshsaid.

On April 20 Mitsumi was awarded the IT Distribution Company of the Year award at the 4th Beacon of ICT Awards (BoICT) Awards Nigeria. The BoICT Awards are an annual industry-wide celebration of talents, contributions and commitments to the growth of the ICT industry in Nigeria.A constellation of leading players in ICT and financial space were gathered for this year’s event.

The BoICTAwards is one of the biggest red carpet events in Nigeria and has hosted many of the leading lights in Nigeria’s ICT and public service, from Ernest Ndukwe, the father of

Ndukwe, former boss of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), was the special guest of honour.Rajiv Patel - Country Manager at Mitsumi received the award.

Mitesh said: “We are delighted that Nigerians have recognized us and we are proud to receive this honour.

Mitsumi has a long history in the Africa market and we always demonstrated our ability to diversify our business model and add value to partners.”

Mitsumi is the authorized distributors for leading global IT brands with a growing brand portfolio that includes HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, Samsung, Microsoft, Sandisk, Western Digital, BenQ, Tripplite and Huawei.

April/May 2013 | The Integrator East Africa

13

Interview

WD

Discuss the value that you hope to take to Africa in light of increased competition from major vendors in the continent The African market is one that has been traditionally underserved while the demand for IT products such as our range of storage products and solutions is healthy, and on an upward growth trajectory. It’s therefore the right time to put additional emphasis on business in the region as sustainable long term business is a definite possibility.

Presently WD is focusing its attention on the North, Central, East and West African markets These markets have a healthy demand for IT products and solutions and, as they have been underserved markets in the past, they present a great opportunity for long term business.WD has a wide range of products that target the consumer, SMB and enterprise segments. In

and customer care. This presents a real problem because customers are, in most cases, completely unaware that they are buying gray or parallel products, so if something goes wrong and they need support, they will have a tough time which in turn harms their perception of the brand. To tackle this issue we have been focusing on educating channel players on the dangers of selling gray or parallel import products and the benefits of going through the right channels. As part of this we are enrolling channel players into our myWD Partner Program, which offers benefits such as product training, special offers on products, cash incentives and much more.

Simultaneously we are also focusing on improving our channel breadth and reach as it will help us to better address these markets with products that are of interest to customers.

WD’s African Pitch WD is a true leader in storage, success Khwaja Saifuddin, Senior Sales Director, Middle East, Africa & South Asia at WD, hopes can be replicated in the evolving African market.

Khawaja Saifuddin Senior Sales Director, MEA & South Asia, WD Do you have a different approach for Africa or are you going in with your tried and tested strategy WD builds strong,mutually beneficial relationships with partners in every region it operates in to address the market, and we are employing the same strategy in Africa.This strategy is one that has proven itself time and again, so there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel in this case. To boost our presence in Africa we last year appointed Mitsumi Distribution to be a focused partner (in addition to our existing distribution partners). We also have staff on the ground in the region that monitor the market and interact with partners on a day-to-day basis. We will continue to focus on expanding our channel breadth and therefore our reach in Africa, so that we can take full advantage of the business opportunity Africa presents.

14

North Africa we’ve had success shifting products in each of these segments, whereas in the West and Central African region, we’ve been focusing on our component products i.e. internal drives such as our WD Blue, Green, Red and Black products. With the Eastern region we’ve been pushing our range of branded products, which includes the My Passport, My Book and WD Sentinel small business storage server.

Despite enhanced efforts from authorities in Africa, the continent still faces a large counterfeit and gray market. How do you hope to overcome this challenge?

One of the biggest challenges with African markets is the availability of products that are gray or parallel imports. As these products have entered these markets illegally they are not covered by our usual support systems

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

Discuss your current resale and distribution channels in the region WD has a network of partners in Africa ranging from distributors to resellers to retailers. As part of our focus on Africa we have been working on growing our channel breadth and reach by adding new partners. We follow this up by supporting them with in-depth product and concept training, which enables them to effectively address the market.

If a partner is unable to attend our on-ground training sessions or wants to train new staff, they also have the option of undergoing online training via our WD University training tool (www. wduniversity.com). The myWD partner program also offers product training as a benefit and partners also have the option of interacting directly with WD staff via phone or e-mail.

Interview

Discuss your market approach this time around We have all the brands in Kenya that we represent including Kensington, Energizer and Iris. We have a partner in place in Kenya who takes care of our business in the country. We are also now trying to expand our market base to Uganda and Tanzania. It is for that reason we partnered with VARMEA for their networking events in Uganda and Tanzania (see separate VAR Conclaves East Africa story). In

Jurassic

need portable power sources so they can charge their mobile phones on the go.

We are creating a market for portable power so consumers can be able to power theirsmartphones or laptops anywhere. So we are looking to provide energy solutions for those categories.

A lot other vendors and distributors are also expanding into Africa right now increasing competition and tightening margins not to mention a thriving gray market. Discuss

Back in the Game After a long hiatus, Jurassic Technologies is back in East Africa with a bang. M. Hariharasankar, Group CEO discusses how the company hopes to maintain the momentum.

Tanzania we have begun operations with a reseller base already in place whileUganda is next. Early indications point to potential for a lot of business in Tanzania. In Uganda, although the number of buyers is less, we found a very enthusiastic response for our products. The people we met during the Conclaves liked and understood the utility of the product.

Will you be having a direct presence in East Africa or work through partners?

Our approach in East Africa will be having a logistics partner through whom we’ll be selling or sell directly to the resellers. We have a dedicated team within our company to handle the African market. They visit the market quite regularly to meet the retailers and understand the needs of the market and how those needs can be met.

Discuss some specific solutions that you are hoping to provide to the market Some of our products like Energizer could do well in Africa due to the persistent power supply shortages in the continent as well as the rising number of mobile phone users. We are particularly focusing on those segments. Even those consumers with ready access to electric power, they still

Competition is severe due to cheaper but lower-quality products. With the support of our vendors however, we always tellcustomers our products are not the cheaper brand but what we provide is value for money. Consumers will simply get more benefits for the money they spend. We educate the public on the use of our products and the technology behind our products.

Jurassic stands for top-quality technology and we explain to them how it can help them in their day-today lives.To support our partners, we provide proficient marketing support of how they canpopularize the brand while providing the support they need including advertising. We also provide training on their behalf totheir staff as well as those customerswho may not understand the product fully. That way we are able to add value to the products we provide.

Do you offer any form of integration or are your solutions disparate components catering to different segments?

We market our products through a 360 degrees approach. A customer coming in with a laptop will receivea complete solution for their device.

From a Kensington lock to secure the laptop, a battery from Energizer

M. Hariharasankar Group CEO, Jurassic

to provide extra power for the same laptop and a secondary adapter if the customer needsto use their laptop at home. All the products we provide are complementary in nature when you consider our product range that includes locks, SD Cards, USBs, hard disk drives, additional batteries etc.

A laptop will ordinarily need 4-5 attachments and we are able to provide all these products in one integrated solution. We can bundle two or more of these solutions as well depending on customer requirements.

How is the Transcend brand that you represent keeping up with the rest of the industry In storage, we see that the typical USB market coming down and is now converging into USB 3.0 due to the needfor ever faster speeds. HDDs are also now giving way to SSDs. A lot of technological advancement is happening in storage. Our customers benefit more from all this technology.

In partnership with our vendors, we always keep abreast with the latest in technology. Our products are always changing as we approach the vendors and inform them what the market requires and where demand for certain products has gone down.

April/May 2013 | The Integrator East Africa

15

TechKnow

ATEN

Discuss your go-to market strategy in Africa ATEN has been a leading name in the KVM segment and connectivity solutions field for the past 34 years. We are the largest manufacturers of KVM switches in the world by volume. ATEN is a market leader in Asia, Middle East, Europe and USA in the KVM domain. For 2013, ATEN is focusing on the growing East and North African market for our solutions. We think that Africa is at the cusp of huge growth and we want to be a part of this growth. In our endeavor to penetrate the African market, we have teamed up with our Authorized Distributor for the Middle East, Wave Tech Computers Limited.

Wave Tech is a leading solution provider of connectivity solutions in the Middle East and ATEN has had a long and fruitful relationship with Wave Tech for the past 15 years.Wave Tech Computers will be appointing local partners in East Africa as an initial step and then be branching out to North African countries.

Why is your company focusing its efforts on the African continent at this time?

As mentioned earlier, Africa with its huge potential is the ideal choice for us to promote our products. Africa, in recent years, has seen a manifold increase in foreign investments with ripe opportunities for growth. Also East and North Africa has a huge untapped potential in terms of our solutions and we don’t want to miss this opportunity.

Which specific markets in Africa are you looking to target and why?

During the initial start we would be focusing on East African Countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda etc.

The second phase would involve North African countries like Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

Which segments are you looking to target in Africa?

ATEN has a wide portfolio of KVM, Data Center and Power related

18

Africa on Aten’s Crosshairs KVM specialist ATEN is making a big push into Africa in partnership with top distributor Wavetech.

Aten Sales Manager Karthik Narayanan, discusses the successes and challenges in their journey this far Karthik Narayanan Sales Manager, ATEN products catering to the Starting Range, Mid Range and Enterprise segments. We will concentrate our efforts on promoting the Starting Range and Mid Range products which includes a multitude of 2,4,8 and 16 Port KVM Switches, LCD Consoles, KVM Extenders and USB products.

Moving on, we hope to introduce our professional Audio Products which includes Video Splitters, Switches, Video Extenders and more.

What challenges do you face in your quest to penetrate the African market and how do you hope to overcome them?

The African market is still in the nascent stages with regards to infrastructure and technology development. ATEN has to make a concentrated effort to educate our customers in the African market with regards to use and applications of our products. We also will have a well focused marketing effort to have a 360 degree marketing campaign to promote

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

our products in the East and North African Market. We have planned regular training programs for our channel partners thatshould help them promote our solutions and products.

Which specific products in your portfolio have shown greater demand from African users?

As per initial estimates, our audio video solutions and introductory range 2, 4,8,16 port KVMs have shown a good response. Our Rack mount LCD KVMs also have received an encouraging feedback.

Discuss your current channel partnerships in the region: In association with Wave Tech, we have identified a few partners in the East African countries for promoting our products. These partners have a professional track record in their respective countries and we are sure to have a successful relationship with them in the coming years.

TechKnow

Africa Calling

products are doing very well in the market. We have a full range of speakers in all the sectors. We have very unique products and are very specialized with distinctive products as opposed to our competitors all of whom have very similar products.

We have an extensive range of more than 35 speakers, a variety no other company can muster.Our products are accepted in the GCC, CES, and Europe and next we are hoping to enter the American market in the near future.

Our quality is high and this will serve to attract the African buyer.

Firmly established in the Middle East and Europe, Cursor has sights set on the most exciting IT market in the world right now-Africa. MD Murali G. expounds.

Discuss your go-to market strategy as you plan to focus on the African market In Africa we have tied up with VAR, a division of this publication’s parent company VAR MEA, for marketing and business networking initiatives which has given us a lot of mileage in those markets. Our major selling point is that we do not bring products that are already common in the market.

We have an identity and a quality to protect. We’ll only sell the products for which we can protect our partners.

They are quality products that have been quality tested and we’ll take care to ensure that our partners will not lose any money as a result competition from other products.

You have positioned Cursor as a midmarket brand. Discuss the reasons behind this strategy We launched our brand specifically aimed at the mid-market. To do this we needed to maintain a very crucial price-to-quality metric. This we were able to achieve and our products have been enthusiastically accepted by that demographic. Cursor stands for high quality products while offering very good value for money. Evidence of this is the fact that our products are accepted in over 25 countries in the world where we have consistently been able to attract our target customer base in the markets.

Discuss your distribution partnerships and the level of support you provide to them We appoint distributors in all the countries who then will open their own channel markets to engage the

Discuss your short and medium-term plans as you look to raise your profile in the market We are looking to double business every year for the next few years in Africa. In terms of numbers, we hope to reach 5 million USD of business in about five years in Africa.Our tablets are also launching by June of next year.

We want to go where business takes us. Right now we are in the major economies in East Africa as well as Nigeria but we hope to continue and expand into other African markets as well.The economy has slowed down in many regions of the world-only in Africa do you have strongly growing economies.

Murali G. Managing Director, Cursor

local market and increase the market share.We look for a distributor that is strong and able to take care of the entire market including the very small resellers and who can be able to engage and take care of the entire market. The key for us is to protect our distributors.

Once we sign up with a distributor, we will not sell to anyone else. This will ensure loyalty and trust from our partners. This is the policy we follow in all the markets we operate in.

Which of your products have proved most popular and do you expect the same performance from the African market?

Our home theatre systems and UPS

Cursor

We currently have over 200 SKUs. We want to increase this by more than 50SKUs. By next year, we will be launching our own line of tablets before introducing Bluetooth speakers as well as a line of surveillance cameras and to provide even more enhanced services to our distributors.

We are already in operations in 25 countries where we have been able to expand in a very short time. Within one year, we hope to reach 50 countries, Next year; we will also be launching our products in the USA as well. Hopefully, Cursor will be a globally-recognized brand very soon.We would therefore like distributors to come on board and partner with us.

April/May 2013 | The Integrator East Africa

19

SpotLight VAR Conclave

A Tale of Two Cities VAR conclaves hit the cities of Dar and Kampala, rounding up a complete East African journey. The IT channel in those two countries were enthusiastic participants.

The East Africa leg of VAR Conclave moved to Tanzania and Uganda this past February ending an East Africa round trip after a series of Conclaves in Nairobi Kenya last year.

The Tanzania Conclave was held at the sea side Double Tree Hotel in Dares-Salaam and saw a big turnout of leading IT distributors and resellers in Tanzania attending. Two days later, it was Uganda’s turn with the Sheraton in downtown Kampala playing host to over a hundred IT players to learn and interact from top IT distributors in the MEA region.

VAR Conclaves are a series of networking platforms that seek to foster channel partnership and help clinch strategic business leads across the GCC and East Africa. The events include one-on-one focused meetings between participating exhibitors and leading resellers. The Conclavesalso 20

serveas ideal platforms to showcase products and technologies.

Sergey Bezruchenok from ASBIS was there to showcase one of the company’s brands, Prestigiosmartphones. At a time when smartphone sales are booming across East Africa, the timing could not have been perfect.

Prestigio’s range of Android dual-sim smartphones were a hit with attendees in both cities.

combining a broad geographical reach with a wide range of products distributed on a "one-stop-shop" basis.

The Group distributes IT components (to assemblers, system integrators, local brands and retail) as well as A-branded finished products like desktop PCs, laptops, servers, and networking (to SMB and retail). The product portfolio from ASBIS encompasses a wide range of IT components, blocks and peripherals, and mobile IT systems from leading international manufacturers, including Intel, AMD, Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, Microsoft, Toshiba, Dell, Acer, Hitachi and Apple in certain countries. In addition, the company sells IT and consumer electronic products under its private labels, Prestigio and Canyon.

ASBIS is one of the leading distributors of Information Technology products in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa Emerging Markets,

Jurassic Technologies was there to promote some of the products in its portfolio including Energizer power back-up systems, Iris handheld

At hand to introduce their products and technologies to the Ugandan and Tanzanian markets were distributors ASBIS, Jurassic Technologies, Wavetech, NITI and Al Shadawi. Also sponsoring the events were vendors Eurostar, WD and Cursor.

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

Al Shadawi has been a major fixture in IT distribution and sales in the Middle East for a while now. The company sees East Africa as the next growth frontier for the company. Savio Fernandes represented Al Shadawi, making the most recent of several trips he’s made to East Africa in the last few months. Specifically, Al Shadawi was there to introduce the latest addition to its product portfolio, the Hawk range of lifestyle accessories including sleeves, bags, and tablet cases for an increasingly trendy East African IT buying public.

scanners as well as Kensington locks.

Jurassic is keen to expand beyond Kenya where it already has a foothold and make its market presence felt across the rest of the East African market. Jurassic’s core business has been developed around distribution of the world's leading brands of Computer Components and accessories in the IT / CE / Telecom categories.

Its specialization has been in the segments of IT Education and System Integration, by providing complete business solutions and education to both individuals and corporate businesses.

WaveTechengages in systems integration, networking, and infrastructure as well as the implementation, operation, and support of innovative products, services, and solutions. The company is actively courting the African system integrator crowd. WaveTech represents ATEN, a brand that delivers the industry-leading KVM solutions and remote connectivity solutions to manage servers and other network devices. ATEN has developed over the years a broad range of solutions to

Eurostar tablets have been growing from strength to strength and challenging some top international brands in the process. Eurostar has somehow been able to find the right balance between quality and price with the Android tablets selling at reasonable prices without compromising on the specs. Interest in mobile devices meets the reality of low purchasing power in Africa and price sensitivity is crucial for any vendor looking to conquer the continent.

meet the needs of key market niches, including small - and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprise organizations through its ALTUSEN line of KVM products.

Already present in both Uganda and Tanzania, NITI was present to deepen its existing partnerships as well as seek out new ones. NITI is one of the leading IT distributors in Africa. From its offices in Dubai and Nairobi, NITI provides in-country product availability and services in Dubai, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic Congo and Burundi.The company has resale partnerships with over 1,500 resellers in these markets with strategic alliance agreements with Transcend, Acer, HCL and E-POS as a Tier 1 distributor. The company’s product range includes computers, servers, printers and consumable, software, UPS systems, computer components networking solutions among others. Other brands in NITI’s portfolio include HP, Samsung, Compact, Sony, Microsoft, Toshiba, APC and Kaspersky among others.

WD is one of the remaining triad of storage giants left after the great market cull of the last few years. The brand is now taking its battle with the other two to the next frontier market, Africa. In Kampala and Dar-es-Salaam, attendees were able to experience the latest technology in in HDDs and SSDs, with their promise of very high capacities and ultra-high speeds. East Africa is experiencing its own big data surge and large storage capacities are more than welcome.

Cursor, an emerging manufacturer of computer accessories has already made its market presence in 25 countries within a short period of existence.

Through the Conclaves, Cursor is in a good position to penetrate East Africa.

Again the key will be the friendly prices matched by good quality. Cursor speakers and headphones were a major draw at the two events.

April/May 2013 | The Integrator East Africa

21

Point2point

Micro City

Discuss Micro City’s operations in East Africa Micro City is a proudly African company with operations in Africa and the UAE. We have our main base of operations in the Ugandan capital Kampala where we maintain a warehouse as well as three showrooms.

We also operate in Mozambique in Southern Africa as well as Rwanda.

In the UAE, we have a showroom as well as a warehouse through which we distribute our products. We are looking to venture into Zambia soon. The move to Southern Africa is because we are already strong in East Africa while the South Africa region is also showing good growth patternsat the moment.

Discuss trends making waves in the networking industry at the moment Wireless routers are getting all the traction at the moment. We are selling a lot of wireless products right now.

In addition, customers want higher speeds and we have the 1Gigabit router

Firoz Rajabali Managing Director, Micro City

First Mover Advantage With feet firmly planted in Africa, Micro City is in a better position than most to benefit from East Africa’s growing networking market as Managing Director Firoz Rajabali explains in transit as we speak. But the Gigabit router is expensive at the moment but we expect prices to go down eventually.

Some of the brands we represent include leading networking vendors like TP-Link, Linksys by Cisco, and D-Link among others.

The East African market is getting increasingly competitive as more and more resellers pitch tent in the region.

How do you intend to stay ahead of the competition?

We have launched an online shop where our customers can order directly from the web. We have seen trends in Africa pointing towards rising popularity for online shopping.

The internet is growing more and more with recent studies pointing to around 20% internet connections in 22

Africa. On one hand, it shows that the e-commerce can be a viable option but also points to great room for growth in the continent.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in East Africa There’s a thriving counterfeit market in East Africa which negatively affects business for genuine traders. We are working, together with the rest of the IT industry, to create public awareness in Africa on the dangers of using counterfeit products. This includes potential damage to expensive equipment as well as voided warranties.

Discuss the outlook for the East African IT market moving forward The African market has matured and now we do simultaneous launches of

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

products in all the markets we operate in. Customers in Africa are on top of the latest trends in IT and demand the latest products as they appear in the rest of the world. Now we are about to launch the faster 802.11AC routers to our African markets.

What are you looking forward to in terms of growth moving forward?

MicroCity’s outlook on Africa in 2013 is positive and we look forward to capitalizing on the opportunities the market presents. The market has demonstrated a healthy appetite for IT products in recent times and is projected to grow further in the future.

The market, in its current state, does have a few challenges that need to be overcome but we believe the end result will be well worth the effort.

Point2point

Spantec

Path to Success As Spantec begins on its African journey, CEO Rajeev Pemmaiah discusses how the company hopes to find its way.

Rajeev Pemmaiah CEO, Spantec

Why are you targeting the African market at this time?

Africa has great potential for infrastructure growth which has resulted in the need for technology and hence integrators. According to the World Bank, the African continent as a whole is expanding by over 6% at a time when the rest of the world is hardly registering any growth at all.

This is resulting in a lot of demand for all types of products and services in general and ICT services in particular.

Governments in the continent are collectively spending hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrading their ICT infrastructure as well as increased spend in education and healthcare, two areas we are particularly strong at.

Which countries in particular are you looking to target initially and how do you plan scale out in the rest of the continent?

East Africa, like the rest of the continent is growing exponentially.

However, unlike other countries in the continent whose economic destiny is resource-driven, this part of the continent is counting on ICT to drive their economies forward. Countries like Kenya have made ICT central to their economic take off. The governments and the private sector there have made tremendous investments in ICT infrastructure. It is this momentum we hope to ride to grow our own market share in East Africa.

Discuss the products/solutions that you plan to put focus on in Africa IT Infrastructure solutions and Services-These include the networking solutions we have in our portfolio.

Internet is growing exponentially in the continent and with this comes the need for networking solutions including LAN, WAN, networking visibility and security. We have partnered with some of the biggest brands in this area including Cisco to deliver world class solutions to Africa. Wireless infrastructure is especially exciting.

Without legacy systems holding the continent back, businesses big and small in the continent are adopting the latest in wireless technology like few other regions of the world.

What’s your market go-to strategy in the continent?

Our strategy is to build an eco-system of partners who have the reach to source projects and we will provide the technical know-how. We understand that there are very strong distributors and system integrators already in place with the requisite resources and experience in Africa. What we can provide is superior technology and knowhow acquired through years of operating in a very competitive IT market here in the Middle East. Our clients include some of the biggest names in UAE’s market spanning a whole range of sectors including media, banking and hospitality industries.

The African market is at a different level of IT development than your home market in the Middle East. How do you plan to offer relevant solutions there?

We have the capability to identify business needs and position solutions that meets them. Our strengths have always been in the wide range of services we can provide. Our services range from networking and computing, to security and communications. Many of these we can integrate and offer our customers a customized 360 degrees based on customer requirement. The East African market is notable for the prevalence of small and medium enterprises. These may not have millions of dollars to spend but they still require quality IT services to move their business forward. All our solutions are also highly scalable so as these firms expand their businesses, they can grow with us.

Discuss the investments that you have already put in place in terms of personnel, infrastructure, etc.

We have the requisite infrastructure to meet current demand and have the capability to scale based on demand.

Our personnel include highly qualified IT technicians who can be able to handle all complex projects thrown our way. This will be our main pillar in our African market strategy: the ability to provide our partners in Africa with the technical expertise to push their projects to successful fruition.

April/May 2013 | The Integrator East Africa

23

Focus

NITI

Full Steam Ahead Top distributor NITI can look forward to a more successful future, after the industry overcame a nervous past few months in Kenya, as VP Sales and Marketing. Ponnin Selvan, explains With Q1 gone, discuss your performance in the first quarter and what that implies about the rest of the year Q1 has been slow since we had the Kenya elections. Many people were afraid of a repeat of the chaos of the last election and a lot of consumersweresceptical to make anypurchases, thus delaying the whole cycle. This had a ripple effect in the other East African countries where we operate. Having said that, we have managed to scrap through and reach our target. This will be left behind since most of the countries in East Africa will have left-over funds to spend before they go for their national budgets, hence we hope grow at 120% of our targeted figure.Q1 results only encourage us to work even harder to achieve the objectives set for the year and to serve our partners with greater commitment and dedication.

What trends and developments do you see in the current African IT distribution model?

IT distribution in Africa is still the traditional model but vendors are becoming more and more serious about African business and dedicating themselves to this market. This has seen an excitement created in the market for partners and consumers.

You continue to add brands into your portfolio. What is the overriding factor you use to decide to bring these brands into your fold?

We continue to add more brands to our portfolio.Our earlier business model complements our current business model, hence we have older contracts of differingnature which we need to honour for a period. After those contracts are over, however, we will be asking vendors to reconsider 24

distributors. The distributors are unable to make any money and eventually lose hope in the brand, invest less and defocus from the brand. Nonetheless, we are always thinking of new products and/or services we can bring to market.

We find new ways to engage the partners and keep prospects interested.

We have a good Tier-3 base of partners and breadth billing is the key to our success. Other distributors don’t want to take the risk, but we play all along that line because with higher risk comes higher returns.

Ponnin Selvan VP Sales & Marketing, NITI

the contractsso that we can enter into different onesthat suit our current model afterwhich there will be a consolidation of all the brands.

Exclusive distribution agreementsare usually seen with high end and luxury products. Ours is a case of low-end products whose goal should be for products to saturate the market and move units quickly. Therefore, there is a need for at least two distributors per country or region depending on the size of the market.

How do you intend to counter growing competition in E. Africa?

Consolidation of distributors is a given for all countries and regions. In certain countries we have excess distributors than actual performing partners, leading to a case of supply over-meeting demand as well as over-distribution. In this case, the partners take advantage of the situation and twist the arm the

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

You have a front row seat to observe Africa’s technology trends. How is Africa’s receptiveness to latest technology and gadgets?

New technologies like cloud computing and mobile computing and the latest gadgetryare all the rage in Africa right now. People in Africa are adaptive to new technologies and like to learn about anything new. Africa is very receptive to these new technologies, only spending power is not there. Emerging technology fields are fertile hunting grounds for new business opportunities, and corporate executives, investors, policymakers, and entrepreneurs across many industries look to these areas to drive growth.

What challenges are you facing particular to Africa and how do you overcome them?

Challenges are many and come in different forms and shapes including consumer awareness, consumer spending, pricing, etc. We do our best to overcome these challenges by partner education through channel events and programs meant to ease understanding.

We also have a strong relationship with our partners and this helps in getting the message right to the partner.

Educating and empowering the channel VAR Magazine is the leading B2B publication for the MEA IT channel with the widest readership among the region’s reseller community. With nearly 150 print issues to date, the publication plays a pivotal role in keeping the MEA IT channel well informed about the latest industry events and announcements that could potentially influence their business decisions.

VAR MEA Magazine

VAR Magazine also publishes a bilingual edition for the Saudi Market.

The Arabic /English edition brings out perspectives on the trends in the strategic market of KSA based on conversations with local industry spokespeople that augment further understanding of the market.

Pioneering training series for frontline sales Conceived by VAR Magazine, ‘In Search of a champion’ is a series of multi-brand training workshops for frontline IT salespeople and serves as a platform for sales talent development. The format enables interactive training in classroom environment where sales lessons are imbibed.

Participants are graded throughout their participation and champions receive grand prizes at the end of the year. Over the past couple of years, ‘In Search of a Champion’ has drawn wide appreciation from all participants and brands that have been associated with it. With its unique format and process, the event is trusted by leading Technology brands in the channel to keep the frontline sales staff abreast of product, Technology and market updates. It is currently organized in the UAE and KSA markets and is very soon expanding to other MEA markets.

IT Business Networking VAR Conclave is a series of networking platforms envisioned in several flexible formats as standalone events as well as in partnership with leading regional ICT expos across the GCC. VAR conclave fosters channel partnership opportunities and helps clinch strategic business leads across strategic markets. It includes one-on-one focused meetings between participating exhibitors and leading resellers. It is also an ideal platform to showcase products and technologies.

An essential read for the Value add IT channel The Integrator is a magazine that offers strategic insights to the systems integrator and the value add reseller channel. The magazine offers path breaking features and other content including case studies, expert columns, Round Table discussions that focuses on Industry trends which are opening up new frontiers of opportunities for the SI channel. The magazine has the intent of demystifying Technology trends for facilitating the channel’s learning of the same and empowering their decision making in Business. The magazine is distributed to an exclusive database of systems integrators and VARs in the region.

For sales queries, please email info@var-mea.com. or contact Tel: +971 4 3705022, Fax: +971 4 3706639

To read online log on to: www.VARonline.com

Insight

Hotspot 2.0

a web of interconnections, so users can seamlessly move between Wi-Fi networks from almost any location.

It achieves this through a truly revolutionary overhaul of the Wi-Fi connection procedure. Using the new IEEE 802.11u protocols, HS 2.0 allows the Wi-Fi client and infrastructure to have a pre-association “conversation” about the capabilities and AAA interconnects of a particular Wi-Fi network. The client then makes an automatic decision about whether to connect to this Wi-Fi network or not, or potentially to another that is also in range. The selection process can be

most often the network infrastructure inside. That somebody else is usually an enterprise. A more recent phenomenon is the widespread and growing use of Wi-Fi across public venues. Such venues include hotels, schools, malls, retail outlets, public transport, etc.

In these locations, service providers want to automatically connect their subscribers to their own “branded broadband” service using the venue’s available high-speed Wi-Fi network, which they neither own nor operate.

Hotspot 2.0 makes this possible by allowing user devices to automatically connect to any Wi-Fi network that

Hotspot 2.0 and the Enterprise Nader Baghdadi Regional Dir. ME, Ruckus Wireless

Touted as the next big carrier thing, Hotspot 2.0 looks to have a major impact on enterprises every where.

The most widely anticipated, but least understood, “next big thing” in the networked world is Hotspot 2.0 (HS 2.0).

influenced both by user preference and operator policy. Automating this manual configuration and decisionmaking process eliminates huge hassles for both users and network operators, and increases the use of Wi-Fi service.

Another important benefit of HS 2.0 is the implementation of advanced WPA2 airlink security and client isolation to effectively automate security.

A multi-industry initiative or framework for automating many of today’s manual Wi-Fi tasks, HS 2.0 is being driven by the Wi-Fi Alliance (for certification under the PasspointTM program) and organizations such as the Wireless Broadband Alliance (for interoperability). The shared vision for HS 2.0 is compelling: turn the Wi-Fi user experience into one that mirrors the cellular phone by establishing a WiFi connection experience that is secure, automated, and conforms to user/ operator policy.

With Hotspot 2.0, it's now possible to link a huge network of effectively random Wi-Fi access points through

26

But while HS 2.0 has been developed and promoted predominately by carriers and equipment suppliers, this new technology looks to have its greatest impact and appeal within the enterprise. Yes the enterprise. Here's why.

People use Wi-Fi mostly indoors. And when they are indoors they are in some building, somewhere. And somebody else typically owns that building and

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

has an interconnection with their “home” service provider. These backend connections might be direct, but more likely will be indirectly provided through third-party “hubbing” services.

This represents an unprecedented opportunity for any enterprise to wholesale their existing wireless LAN capacity to myriad operators by charging them recurring fees for Wi-Fi network access. Enterprises can effectively turn their WLANs, often burdened by large capital and operational expenses to begin with, into profit centres while underwriting the costs to build more industrial-strength wireless network the improves their own users’ experience.

Where it gets really interesting is when Google, Facebook and Amazon.com come into the picture at home provider,

using HS2.0 to authenticate users anywhere against their own databases.

non-SIM devices as well as operator policy for network selection.

Hotspot 2.0 in a Nutshell

Operator policy helps handsets select the best carrier network to choose based on a variety of options. For instance, the device will be able to select the “best” visited network, based on roaming agreements, service level agreements or any number of other criteria. The good news is that the enterprise is oblivious to all of this as the infrastructure is now smart enough to figure it all out.

The initial work done on HS2.0 (release 1) primarily focused on the foundational work of network discovery and automatic authentication, using a variety of credentials. Much attention has been given to the ability to use a smart phone SIM (subscriber identity module) as the HS 2.0 credential. HS 2.0 also supports client-side certificates or username/password pairs for authentication. Regardless of the specific credential used, HS 2.0 will eliminate the need for the user to fiddle with their device in order to associate to the hotspot. No more “SSID surfing” or having to ask the barista for the Wi-Fi passphrase.

The ability of the mobile device to “learn” about Wi-Fi network capabilities pre-association will completely transform the Wi-Fi user experience, making connecting to a Wi-Fi network effectively transparent.

It will also completely change the nature of a Wi-Fi SSID (Service Set IDentifier).

In the past, users and devices had to “remember” SSIDs that have provided connectivity in the past, so that they can be accessed again in the future.

These are typically SSIDs for which they have credentials or which provide open access.

With HS2.0 the importance of SSIDs is reduced. What really matters is if the visited AP has a roaming arrangement with the user’s “home” network provider. In fact the notion of having an AP advertise many different SSIDs for different purposes will also be greatly reduced in favour of Hotspot 2.0 based advertisements. This should also enhance the performance of mobile networks, as it reduces the airlink traffic associated with the beacons and probe responses generated by these additional SSIDs. Release 2.0, currently in the testing phases, incorporates online sign-up for

Hotspot 2.0 puts much more pressure on enterprises to build Wi-Fi networks that can stand an order of magnitude more user capacity. While carriers will see a triple bonus of offload, keeping customers on "their" networks and providing their customers with automatic access to the Wi-Fi networks they (the customers) want to be on.

As mobiles join the Wi-Fi network automatically, venue owners can realistically expect to see about a 10x increase in the number of sessions.

How Hotspot 2.0 Will Work in the Enterprise

Online signup targets Wi-Fi-only devices that don’t have SIM-cards such as laptops and tablets. Online signup allows the infrastructure to transparently place a credential (eg. x.509 PKI certificate) on the device, giving the user the option to “sign up” one time to register for a Wi-Fi service.

Equipment vendors are already supporting HS2.0 in software that can literally be turned on with new and existing equipment and most handset vendors supporting the technology within their operating systems. In other words, enabling Hotspot 2.0 will require only software upgrades to existing infrastructure and user devices.

What this means is that any enterprise venue will be able to use their existing WLAN network to offer capacity to carriers that are looking to give subscribers a seamless Wi-Fi experience – just like they have today with their cell phones but without broadcasting numerous Wi-Fi SSIDs. With HS 2.0, enterprises venue owners and operators can now begin to better monetize their Wi-Fi network investments through these roaming arrangements and the settlements that they entail.

Now the big question is when does all this become real? The answer is more muddy than clear. While the technical aspects of HS2.0 have been proven and demonstrated, the business models and framework for implementation still need to be fleshed out. Most expect that this will happen in late 2013 and early 2014. But get ready, with Hotspot 2.0, enterprise Wi-Fi will never be the same.

With HS 2.0, there looms a massive opportunity for enterprises to create agreements with carriers of all shapes and sizes to wholesale Wi-Fi capacity.

But doing this will dramatically change how enterprises need to build out their wireless LAN networks – driving new requirements for higher capacity and more industrial strength equipment.

HOTSPOT 2.0 AND THE ENTERPRISE ADVANTAGES • Recurring revenue from wholesaling WiFi capacity to service providers • Automated connection experience for users • Increased security for guest public Wi-Fi access • Reduced SSIDs (or single SSID) to support different types of users • More users are now visible and using the Wi-Fi network allowing advanced analytics to be gains and service to be offered

DISADVANTAGES • Potential 5 to 10x increase in client capacity/network usage • Need for higher grade Wi-Fi gear • Dealing with carriers that may require service agreements • Increased management requirements

April/May 2013 | The Integrator East Africa

27

Product Review

BenQ

BenQ W 1070 and W1080 Overview The W1070 and W1080ST are two similar entry-level projectors from Taiwanese electronics manufacturer BenQ, the only major difference between the two being the Short Throw capabilities of the 1080ST. Both the W1070 and W1080ST are 3D capable Full HD DLP projectors with a 16:9 aspect ratio. With majority of movies produced today having a native resolution of 1080p, you are able to watch these HD movies in their native resolution.

Both projectors have a 2,000 Lumens output. The number of lumens determines how bright the projector lamp is; the higher the number, the brighter the image on the screen. The W1070 and the W1080 are primarily home cinema projectors so a bright projector is crucial as one has to deal with a lot of ambient lighting at the home environment. With such high Lumens capabilities, one can comfortably watch movies using both these projectors even during daytime.

The W1070 and 1080ST have a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. Again for contrast ratio, the higher the better. The standard contrast ratio for projectors at this level is between 2,000 and 3,000:1, so having a projector with contrast ratio this high is a major plus. The two projectors will give you a 30-300" image size.

Key Features The W1080 Short Throw Projector is able to achieve a 65" image from 1 metre out, and you can comfortably place it on a coffee table in front of you in a sitting room like I did. This is ideal when space at home or office is at a premium or when trying to avoid

28

interrupting the show when people walk back and forth in front of the projector.

A unique feature in the W1070 as well is the Lens shift. This capability, achieved through a knob concealed on top of the lens, allows the image to be moved up or down without adjusting the position of the projector. This is a feature you find in higher end models, the only drawback here being the awkward placement and manoeuvrability.

Both the models are relatively portable weighing at around 2.8kgs and around 31Ă—24cms in dimension.Size is a major advantage for DLP projectors in that unlike LCD projectors that need 3 LCD panels, DLP employs a tiny chip and what you get is a more compact mechanism and device.

You get your regular VGA/RCA/USB/ Component connections with these two projectors. In addition there are dual HDMI connections meaning you do not need to be switching connections in and out when you have multiple devices.

The two models pack an in-built 10watts mono speaker enhancing the plug and play attributes of the projectors. While not exactly a home theatre experience, the audio is quite decent for average home viewing.

External output audio connections are available if connecting to a home theatre system is preferred.

Both models feature three viewing modes including Standard, Dynamic and Cinema. Dynamic would be useful when watching during daytime or in a well lit room as this mode pushes light output almost to the maximum.

However, you will notice some loss of

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

contrast as the projector compensates for the extra burst of energy. In Standard and Dynamic modes, the deep well-saturated colours are restored.

BenQ has included a 6-segment colour wheel adding Cyan, Magenta and Yellow to your regular RGB combination. This means that you get a truer representation of colours just as the director intended. Full Color Management System (CMS) allows the user some direct control of the colour by allowing one to calibrate colour according to their individual preferences.

Both these projectors are NVIDIA 3DTV Play certified making them bona fide gaming machines. My experience when playing games with these two projectors were generally superb when playing both 3D and 2D games. Lag time, a major annoyance for gamers, was minimal ensuring a smoother gaming experience.

BenQ has fully embraced Green and these two projectors offer what the company refers to SmartEco. In SmartEco, the projector power is reduced from the normal 296W to a more energy saving 163W.SmartEco also helps prolong lamp life over the long term.

Conclusion BenQ has managed to cram a lot of hi-tech features in what is an entrylevel device achieving an excellent performance to price ratio. For around USD1, 000, (USD1, 200 for the W1080ST) you get a projector with some very high contrast, long lamp life and what’s more, a 3D capable HD projector.

Eyetech

Epson WorkForce WF-3520

SanDisk Cruzer Force USB flash drive

The Epson WorkForce WF-3520 features a robust product design and a number of productivity boosting features, including a 250-sheet paper capacity, so you'll reload paper less often. Versatile paper handling capability includes a 30-sheet Auto Document Feeder, plus a rear paper feed to accommodate envelopes, labels, card stock and other specialty media. Use the 2.5" LCD with touch panel and built-in card slots to easily print, PC-free.

Thenew Cruzer Force USB flash drive from SanDisk, offers large storage capacities within a distinctive, stylish design. This USB flash drive features a durable metal casing that provides a dash of style.

With capacities up to 32GB, this secure, reliable flash drive can store even large files, including high-resolution images and HD video. It comes with SanDisk Secure Access software, which makes it easy to create an encrypted, password-protected folder. You'll be able to share the files you want--and keep sensitive files private.

Key Features: • Durable metal casing • Available in capacities up to 32GB • Stores large HD video, music, and photo files • Portable flash drive fits in a bag or pocket • Comes with SanDisk SecureAccess software

Key Features: • 250-sheet paper capacity-reload less often • Affordable business printing-up to 40% less printing costs vs. colour lasers • Automatic 2-sided printing plus a 30- page, duplex Auto Document Feeder • Epson Connect to print and scan from anywhere for mobile printing • Front tray plus rear feed for envelopes, labels, card stock and specialty media • Built-in wireless and Ethernet networking

Lenovo ThinkPad T431s With carbon fibre reinforcement for durability, a newly enhanced keyboard optimized for Windows 8, and with the new ThinkPad 5-point TrackPad, the T431s Ultrabook delivers premium features to small businesses. The T431s meets the MIL-SPEC 8 standard that validates ruggedness, durability and quality of ThinkPad. Key Features: • IntelvPro • 30-day standby mode • Roll-cage technology • ThinkPad Precision Keyboard with optional backlight • Integrated 720p HD webcam with face tracking for web conferencing and multi-tasking

Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Range Extender The new Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Range Extender -model RE2000 is ideal for extending wireless coverage in the home. Consumers often experience a weak wireless signal in some parts of their house caused by blocking elements such as walls or interference from other devices like baby monitors, microwaves or DECT phones. The RE2000helps maximize wireless coverage and eliminates “dead spots” in the Wi-Fi coveragethroughout the home.

Key Features: • Compatible with b/g/n Wi-Fi devices • Selectable band option for 2.4 or 5GHz use • Simple wireless set-up wizard • Easy connect using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)

April/May 2013 | The Integrator East Africa

29

Stats & trends

SATS market in tepid 2012 growth, Gartner Worldwide Semiconductor Assembly and Test Services Market Grew 2.1% in 2012, according to Final Results by Gartner

from the others in that the majority of its revenue comes from servicing the memory segment of the semiconductor market.

The worldwide semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS) market totalled $24.5 billion in 2012, a 2.1% increase from 2011, according to final results from Gartner, Inc.

Another factor for the slow growth in the market in 2012 was the overinvestment in both SATS and integrated device manufacturer (IDM) packaging capacity in 2010 and 2011.

This oversupply of both advanced and traditional packaging capability by many device makers created a weaker pricing environment for outsourcing services in 2012 and left the industry in an oversupply condition with lower factory utilization.

ASE remained No. 1, with revenue of $4.4 billion (see Table 1). Packaging accounted for 80.5% of the company's total assembly/test/materials (ATM) revenue. As the No. 2 vendor, Amkor Technologies' 2012 total revenue was down slightly (0.6%), at $2.8 billion, due partially to the aggressive strategy in the copper wire-bonding transition

by ASE, SPIL and others. Third-place SPIL was able to achieve revenue of $2.2 billion, with 90% of the revenue from packaging and 10% from test.

At No. 4, STATS ChipPAC is the last of the top four broad-based package supplier companies in Gartner's top five. In the fifth spot, Powertech Technology (PTI) is differentiated

Nevertheless, even in this slow-growth environment, the SATS market saw the continuation of the rapid transition from gold to copper wire bonding, resulting in lower-cost packaging processes. It was also a year in which flip-chip and wafer-level packaging (WLP) technologies continued to be an increasing part of the revenue contribution for the top companies in the SATS market.

Top 5 Worldwide SATS Companies Sales (Millions of U.S. Dollars) 2012 Rank 1 2 3 4 5

2011 Rank Company 1 ASE Amkor 2 Technologies 3 SPIL STATS 4 ChipPAC Powertech 5 Technology (PTI) Others Total Market

2012 Revenue 4,399

2012 2011 2011-2012 Market Share % Revenue Growth (%) 17.9 4,252 3.5

2,760

11.3

2,776

-0.6

2,186

8.9

2,024

8

1,702

6.9

1,707

-0.3

1,408

5.7

1,252

12.4

12,071

49.3

12,013

0.5

24,526

100

24,024

2.1

Source: Gartner (April 2013) 30

The Integrator East Africa | April/May 2013

MEA PC shipments in sharp decline in Q1 The Middle East and Africa PC market experienced a significant decline of 14.1% year on year during the first quarter of 2013, according to preliminary results

by International Data Corporation (IDC).

Total PC shipments in the region slowed down to 5.3 million units, with desktops declining 18.4% year on year to 2 million units, while notebook shipments declined 11.2% year on year to total 3.3 million units.

Microsoft’s recently launched operating system, Windows 8, which was primarily designed for a touch-enabled interface, has also been unable to spur incremental demand for PCs in the region.

Growing competition from tablets has caused all key markets in the Middle East and Africa region to decline year on year, with the exception of Turkey, which attained marginal growth, driven by an aggressive sell-in push from certain vendors, power retail campaigns, and public sector initiatives The shift towards demand for tablets was the key reason for the year-on-year declines in PC shipments seen in both Saudi Arabia and South Africa, while the worsening economic situation in the latter compounded the slowdown of its PC market. Two large PC deals were delivered into the education sectors of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan during the quarter, but these were unable to halt the regional decline. Political instability in Egyptcontinues to negatively affect the economy as well.

Why not offer your customers the complete infrastructure solution?

Let TRIPP LITE protect your profitability!

Call today

for a FREE power or Data Center audit!

You Need

Tripp Lite Offers

Power protection Power management IT management IT organization Energy efficiency

UPS (up to 3-Phase) PDU (up to 3-Phase) IP KVM & Console servers Racks & cables In-row cooling

• Protect your sales efforts with uncompromising channel loyalty — Tripp Lite doesn’t sell direct!

• Full Support for partners from training, collateral, through pre/ post sale tech support and free site survey • Offer a more attractive alternative — more premium features, over all better value and better margin!

• Multiple industries served — oil & mining, data center, telecom, education, healthcare & more

Manufacturing Excellence

Contact your local TRIPP LITE Representative today East Africa Nairobi, Kenya +254 731 137 202 naresh_kannabiran@tripplite.com

West Africa Lagos, Nigeria +234 813 281 5040 achumba_obinna@tripplite.com

Southern Africa Brakpan, South Africa +27 82 4149 615 andre_viljoen@tripplite.com

For more information, visit us online at www.tripplite.com.

Middle East Dubai, UAE +971 4 887 1633 salesint@tripplite.com