Editorial
The rules are changing
The stretch value
There is a constant challenge to extend the value proposition in winning the channel’s mindshare
News in detail - 12/14
I
t is a Brave new world empowered and transformed by Technologies and services where many of the buzzwords that emerged in recent years inspired new and firm directions for the industry. And yet a lot of work remains to be done in driving the momentum towards greater acceptance of many new Technologies. The deployments in terms of cloud solutions are yet to be achieved on a larger scale because customers are watchful of what they adopt and whether these would offer them the desired outcomes without performance bottlenecks or security compromises. They need to be assured of clear advantageous propositions. As companies come back this year and showcase their solutions at yet another edition of GITEX, it is set to be almost a continuum of from where we left off at the conclusion of last year’s event. Big Data, cloud services, BYOD, themes that have grabbed the headlines in recent years are still the dominant areas that hog the spotlight. Big Data Analytics investments across the region is expected to see 20% CAGR over the next five years according to IDC. Similarly BYOD’s continued momentum is reflected by the fact that 38 percent of companies are expected to stop providing devices to workers by 2017, according to a global survey of CIOs by Gartner. Growing Security concerns reading corporate data in the BYOD era may have a cascading effect on all around growth in IT security investments. In addition, there is also a lot of focus on Software defined networks, software defined datacenters etc. While customers would be keen on moving their networks to the next level of intelligence by making them SDN enabled, they will also be looking for solutions that can leverage existing network infrastructure. The systems integrator channel will continue to see a myriad of opportunities that they can pursue but with the level of specialization that is expected of in each domain, they will need to pick and choose.
R. Narayan Consulting Editor
Founder & CEO: Vivek Sharma Consulting Editor: R. Narayan Assistant Editor: David Ndichu Art Director: Faiz Ahmed Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh
Content
Cover story - 18
Microsoft showcase to focus on megatrends Avaya President meets customers and partners in region
News feature - 16
Veeam Software - Virtual leads Feature
Eaton - Keeping pace - 36 Techknow
Symantec - Leading from the front- 22 Dell - when small is big - 24
Honeywell - Sustaining IP’s Impressive Growth - 26 Manage Engine -All in real time - 30 Unitrends - A Strong Backup - 32
TSE Auto ID - Raising the Bar - 50 Point2Point
Comguard - Stairway to profitable growth - 33 Metra-Shifting to top gear - 34
GRENKE - A Pioneer in IT Leasing - 40 SNB Distribution - Firm strides - 42 Alpha Data - An alpha plot - 44
Paramount - A relentless focus - 46 Insight
No escape from BYOD - 52 Regulars
News Bytes Eyetech
Stats & Trends
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.
News Bytes
Dell focuses on key pillars Dell will unveil its latest array of end-to-end solutions at GITEX. Dell believes technology priorities can be categorized into four key pillars: Transform; Connect; Inform; and Protect, and will demonstrate how these pillars can be used to solve technology challenges. “Many of our Middle East customers and partners from the region travel to GITEX , and this is an opportunity for us to reach out to them and demonstrate Dell’s end-to-end integrated solutions,” said Dave Brooke, GM, Dell Middle East. “Dell has the technology and capabilities to help them solve their IT challenges, and Gitex is a good venue to showcase this.” New launches in 2013 that will be displayed for partners and end-users include PowerEdge VRTX and Active Infrastructure 1:1. PowerEdge VRTX is a converged IT solution designed specifically for remote and small office environments with enterprise-class capabilities. Active Infrastructure 1.1 is a solution that helps organisations accelerate the delivery of business applications and IT services, improve data center efficiency, and strengthen IT service quality.
4 | October 2013
ATEN to unveil new range of Enterprise Data Center Solutions ATEN is set to launch the latest KVM and PDU products during GITEX. Specifically designed for today's complex and ever-expanding data center environments, ATEN's Altusen and NRGence product lines provide enterprise-ready solutions that are flexible, affordable and energy-efficient. One of ATEN’s launches at Gitex will include the KN4124v, an Over IP KVM solution which allows up to 4 users to remotely access the servers in a data center at the touch of a button. Among the other launches are the CL6700N, a space saving KVM control unit featuring an integrated 19" DVI LCD panel, a full keyboard, and a touch pad in a 1U rackmountable sliding housing with audio support. ATEN will also unveil the PE1324B, PE1216G, and PE9324G that are part of ATEN'S NRGence product line. The PE9324, PE1324B and PE1216G Eco PDUs offer flexible, green, and space-saving power distribution solutions. "KVM and PDU solutions are integral to data center environments, both large and small," says Kevin Chen, CEO of ATEN. "ATEN's Altusen and NRGence product lines provide enterprise organizations with an array of versatile solutions that not only simplify IT management but also reduce energy consumption and improve overall data center efficiency." ATEN’s exclusive distributors for the Middle East “Wavetech Computers LLC” for the past 15 years has led ATEN’s regional successful penetration in the enterprise segment that includes many clients from from the government sector to the corporate sector.
NetApp maps Cloud Data Management strategy NetApp extended its strategy and commitment to provide seamless cloud management across any blend of private and public cloud resources. NetApp’s strategy is to use the world’s number-one branded storage operating system, Data ONTAP, as a universal data platform across cloud environments. Data ONTAP will enable dynamic data portability across all clouds and will support extensive customer choice for application, technology, and cloud partner options. Jay Kidd, Senior VP and CTO, NetApp said: “Regardless of the ultimate computing destination, the CIO will maintain ownership of the organization’s data. The introduction of new multicloud architectures makes data governance more complex because data is distributed, and not under direct control. Our vision is to create an enterprise data management solution, with the clustered Data ONTAP® operating system at its core, which will span the customers’ data storage landscape, irrespective of data type or location.” The formation of a universal data platform with NetApp Data ONTAP removes the control challenges of managing discrete cloud resources. . NetApp will leverage its universal data container to make it easier to move data and workloads across instances of Data ONTAP in a multicloud environment, boosting IT efficiency and enabling new, and innovative hybrid cloud architectures.
CLOUD TRANSFORMS IT
VISIT US @ GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK 2013 Authorized Value Added Distributor
StorIT Distribution fzco
P.O.Box 17417 Jebel Ali FreeZone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: +971 4 881 9690 | Fax: +971 4 887 1637 Email: info@storit.ae | www.storit.co
Hall 6 Stand CLD 17
News Bytes
Hitachi Data Systems Spurs Innovation Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) is attending GITEX 2013. This is HDS’ first appearance at GITEX, where they will looking to build on their strong customer relationships and five-year history developing their position in the region. HDS will be focusing on Private Cloud Solutions and technology for Maximized IT, at their booth in Hall 6, CLD-12. “Hitachi Data Systems has been building an investment in the Middle East that is aimed towards the unveiling of an information solutions portfolio that will compete with the best in the industry. It is marked by Private Cloud Solutions and File and Content Systems that help to establish Flash Storage as the future of data storage,” says Aaron White, General Manager HDS Middle East and Turkey. Joining Hitachi Data Systems at their booth are their Sales Partner MDS Dubai and Sandpiper Data Systems, a recognized leader in providing the expertise for navigating IT enterprise, who are HDS’ Technology Partner. HDS will showcase the virtualization and automation required for a Private Cloud. No matter how far along customers are in the transition process towards cloud implementation, HDS claims its solutions can modernize data centers. That includes the integration and automated provisioning of the server, storage, network, and hypervisor, under single, integrated management that are necessary.
6 | October 2013
Sophos Maintains Leadership Position in the 2013 Magic Quadrant Sophos announced it is once again positioned in the “Leaders” quadrant of Gartner, Inc’s 2013 "Magic Quadrant for Mobile Data Protection.” The quadrant is based on an assessment of a company’s market understanding, strategy and completeness of vision within the Mobile Data Protection (MDP) industry. MDP products are defined as products that protect access to secure data on storage systems in notebooks, removable media, desktops and servers. Buyers want common protection policies across multiple platforms, minimal support costs and proof of protection. According to Gartner, Leaders are at the forefront of making and selling mobile data protection products that are built for enterprise business environments. Vendors in this quadrant lead the market by making their competitors' sales staffs nervous and force competitors' technical staffs to follow their lead. Their MDP products are well-known to clients and are frequently found on RFP shortlists. “To be positioned as a leader for the past eight years is a testament to our product teams who continue to deliver innovative encryption and data protection products,” said John Shaw, Vice President for end user security products at Sophos. “An aggressive roadmap, coupled with our plans to make it even simpler for small and medium sized businesses to protect their data by encrypting drives, files, cloud storage and mobile files invisibly, positions us for even more success in the months and years ahead.”
Waseela focuses on showcasing high-end solutions Waseela, a leading ICT System Integrator and Managed Services provider in the MENA region, plans to demonstrate six technologies and solutions in collaboration with its vendors at GITEX 2013. These solutions include the latest technological advancement in wireless technologies and latest convergence trends of ICT technologies, which will be of interest to telecom operators, public safety organizations, oil and gas companies and large enterprises. These new technological demonstrations include LTE critical communication solutions, WiFi offloading and WiFi monetization solutions, including WiFi-based active RFID and location-based applications, in addition to high-capacity IP-based Microwave solutions. Additionally, among the key planned activities by Waseela at GITEX 2013 is the official introduction of Waseela’s Converged ICT/ELV Solutions, which will mark the official expansion of Waseela’s solutions and services to address the market segment of Smart Buildings and Automated Buildings. These converged ICT/ELV solutions cover a wide range of advanced technologies including wired and wireless in-building data networks, IPTV/CCTV systems, telephony systems, security systems, DAS systems, automation systems and structured cabling. Waseela will be exhibiting in Zabeel Hall during GITEX2013, occupying the Z-C30 booth.
News Bytes
Rittal to present innovations at Gitex Rittal, a leading manufacturer of IT Racks and Datacentre solutions is particpating at GITEX with a 108 SQM stand at A1-7 in Hall1. “Innovation defines Rittal and differentiates us from competition. Every year there are new products added catering to different verticals & market segments. Partners benefit from new product additions as it opens up new business avenues for them. Gitex is viewed as the launching pad for Innovations and this year we are geared up to showcase our latest innovations including the Liquid Cooling Package (LCP DX) and Enclosures (TS IT) & (ISR) Integrated Server Room solution," said Joseph Najjar, Managing Director at Rittal Middle East. Rittal is set to offer the channel an opportunity to grow through its products and innovations, opening up a wide customer base, segmented across different verticals and markets. Rittal attracted around 800 registrations at last GITEX and are expecting to exceed 1100 this year. Rittal Channel Community would join the Rittal team supporting engagements with the audience around GITEX.
8 | October 2013
HP, VMWare collaborate on federated network solution HP and VMware announced plans to collaborate to deliver the industry’s first federated network solution, designed to provide customers unified automation of, and visibility into, their physical and virtual data center networks, enabling business agility and improving business continuity. As companies embrace cloud and mobility, manual network configuration has proven time and resource intensive, as well as error prone. Network virtualization offers a centralized control plane, but does not automate configuration and provisioning of physical network devices. The new HP-VMware networking solution will federate the HP Virtual Application Networks SDN Controller with the VMware NSX™ network virtualization platform to provide customers with an integrated approach to automating their physical and virtual network infrastructure. The networking solution will provide a centralized view, unified automation, visibility and control of the complete data center network, improving agility, monitoring and troubleshooting. “Networks must be agile enough to enable the adoption of cloud and mobility while ensuring continuity,” said Gautam Raj, Networking Sales Director, HP Middle East.
StorIT adds SAS Visual Analytics StorIT has signed a distribution agreement with SAS, a global leader in business intelligence and analytics software, to promote and distribute SAS Visual Analytics through its extensive channel network in the region. With the addition of SAS Visual Analytics to its solid portfolio of data management and storage solutions, StorIT is now poised to offer cutting-edge Big Data solutions to its customers in the Middle East. “SAS Visual Analytics brings together analytics, reporting and visualization in one simple-to-use product, where companies will be able to use the speed of thought analysis and its capability to explore huge amounts of data to make quick business decisions. We are delighted to partner with SAS to bring this innovative solution to our customers in the region,” says Boby Joseph, CEO, StorIT Distribution fzco. SAS Visual Analytics is a high-performance, in-memory solution designed to quickly explore large amounts of data. It provides a robust set of BI capabilities and approachable analytics, enabling different types of users to gain insights from any size of data through data visualization and exploratory analysis with the option to deliver information to a wide variety of platforms including iPad and Android tablets. With SAS Visual Analytics, users can explore all data, execute analytic correlations on billions of rows of data in seconds and visually present results. It empowers users to uncover unexpected insights, find answers to complex problems, and quickly identify new and better courses of action.
News Bytes
Finesse selected as Red Herring Top 100 Asia Winner Finesse, a global IT system integration company providing Analytics, Big Data, Cloud, Mobile & Social Media solutions, has been selected as the Red Herring Top 100 Asia Winner. Red Herring announced its Top 100 award in recognition of the leading private companies from Asia, celebrating these startups’ innovations and technologies across their respective industries. “The Red Herring assessment is an endorsement of the path we have chosen to grow and vindicates the strategy evolved by the founders in terms of strategy & vision. It is always nice to get some external validation and measure with other business as too often we can get lost in the day to day pressures of growing a business,” said Raju Ramesh, CoFounder and CEO of Finesse. “We dedicate this award to the hard work and passion of our 130+ dedicated team and will definitely recognize the multidimensional responsibilities it brings to each one of us,” said Sunil Paul, Co-Founder & COO of Finesse.
10 | October 2013
Prologix to highlight RF, test and measurement solutions Prologix Distribution, a leading IT & telecom systems integrator in the Middle East and Africa, is set to demonstrate its RF capabilities, particularly in the area of RF testing and measurement, at the upcoming GITEX Technology Week 2013 in Dubai. The company will exhibit products from over 12 of its vendor partners and will also use the platform as an opportunity to highlight it service capabilities which include test equipment rental, benchmarking, in-building solutions, EMF testing, passive intermodulation testing, network synchronisation audits, transmission planning, professional telecom trainings and IT managed services. These services compliment the company's range of RF solutions for regional telcos. These include test and measurement equipments, high capacity microwave for back-haul, test equipments for optical and RF, protocol analysers, active and passive network monitoring, indoor wireless access, and outdoor wireless- point-to-point and point-to-multipoint wireless solutions in the frequency range starting from 400MHz and all the way up to 80GHz and RF drive test equipment. The brands that the company will highlight during GITEX are HP, Avaya, Agilent Technologies, Anite NEMO, Digital Lightwave, Empirix, Fluke, Trango Systems, Redline, Aztech and Totolink. Aditya Sahaya, Director- Sales, Prologix LLC said, “Over the last year, Prologix has signed a number of strategic partnerships with vendors such as Anite Finland, Agilent Technologies, Fluke Networks and Digital Lightwave. We are now strongly positioned to be a leader in the field of RF technologies, solutions and services and this is what we want to emphasise through our participation at GITEX.”
Internet of Everything Drives Cisco’s Focus for GITEX 2013 Cisco will be returning to GITEX this year to showcase its new solutions, product lines and services. Key focus for the company at this year’s show will around its robust and secure core routing, switching, mobility and services, Cisco’s immersive Collaboration solutions, Cisco’s unified and guaranteed Data Center/Virtualization/Cloud offerings, architectures for a world-class network and the company’s world class financing solutions. Over the next ten years, the Internet will provide phenomenal opportunities for businesses and individuals throughout the Middle East region and Cisco is at a very exciting, pivotal place being at forefront of Internet of Everything (IoE), an era where the Internet has the potential to dramatically improve the lives of everyone on our planet. Cisco’s presence at Gitex will be engineered to demonstrate how technology will and is already evolving to embrace the new opportunities.
Samer Abu Ltaif, Regional General Manager, Microsoft Gulf
News In-Detail
Microsoft showcase to be in line with megatrends A
t GITEX, Microsoft Gulf plans on providing visitors with access to its latest technology innovation in-line with the IT industry current disruptive trends. The next generation Microsoft innovation solutions will be available on interactive demonstration stations, with experts on hand to provide insight into the ways in which Microsoft is helping to empower businesses, educators, governments and individuals to do more of the activities they value the most. The highly anticipated Windows 8.1 update will be demonstrated on the stand, bringing to life the new features on a range of the latest Windows devices allowing users to rediscover cloud connectivity through the SkyDrive and the updated Windows Store. Promoting the true spirit of personalization, Windows 8.1 advances the vision set forward with Windows 8 and delivers the experiences that people want on the latest PCs, tablets and other devices running their favorite modern apps along with exclusive cloudconnected services. Microsoft Gulf will also be
showcasing the recently acquired Yammer, an Enterprise Social Network that brings together people, conversations, content, and business data in a single location. Over 20,000 organizations globally are using Yammer to connect to co-workers and information, collaborate with team members and make an impact at work. Microsoft Gulf will also present updates to its Cloud portfolio including Office 365, Azure and Windows Intune. Additionally, there will be demonstrations from its latest Line – of – Business and consumer applications designed specifically for the needs of users in the UAE looking to utilize the creativity, flexibility and mobility of the Microsoft interface. Commenting on Microsoft Gulf’s upcoming participation at GITEX, Samer Abu Ltaif, Regional General Manager at Microsoft Gulf said, “We are looking forward to participating at GITEX this year as it is an important technology event for the region and a unique platform to experience all the latest innovation from around the world. “IT spending in the Middle East
region is projected to total $192.9 billion in 2013, a 5.5 percent increase from 2012, according to Gartner and we know that GITEX is a significant opportunity for organizations to connect with and decide on their priorities for IT investments. The world of IT is evolving at a rapid pace and we continue to see disruption dominated by four main megatrends: mobility, cloud, big data and social networking. Microsoft will be presenting solutions that are in-line with these megatrends, enabling businesses and users to do more of activities they value the most, whether they are at home, at work or on-the-go.” In addition to experiencing to the latest Microsoft offerings, visitors will have the opportunity to interact with over 20 of the company’s solution partners to gain a better understanding of the way in they provide innovative solutions across a variety of sectors and markets. Microsoft works with over 1,500 partners across the Gulf region to deliver a range of solutions to empower businesses enhance their productivity and address their business requirements.
The Microsoft stand will be located at Hall 7 B10, Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre.
12 | October 2013
Experience Innovations Embrace growth.
Introducing...
LCP DX and ISR (Integrated Server Room) Rittal Integrated Server Room & Data Centre solutions at Gitex 2013… • Witness the new generation TS IT Racks, fully loaded with system accessories • Capture a live demo of Rittal’s new LCP DX, the Inline cooling system with DX technology • Chilled Water based LCP’s in an Aisle containment • Dynamic Rack Control & Live display of Rizone (Rittal DCIM software)
A visual treat with a testimony to innovative engineering & product development.
Win BIG with Rittal Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Participate & WIN with daily draws on Rittal stand
Visit us: Hall 1- Stand A1-7 20 - 24 October 2013
Rittal Middle East FZE Post Box 17599, Dubai, UAE I Tel: +971-4-3416855 I Email: info@rittal-middle-east.com
October 2013 | 13
Dr. Kevin Kennedy, Presedent & CEO, Avaya
News Feature | Avaya
Avaya President meets customers and partners in region U
nderlying the importance of the region to Avaya's vision, Dr. Kevin Kennedy, President and Chief Executive Officer at Avaya, the global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, made a recent visit to Dubai. During his visit to the regional hub offices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dr. Kennedy met with customers and partners from across a wide range of vertical industries to discuss the dynamic market landscape, its growth potential, and customers’ attitudes towards new and emerging technologies. Over the past ten years, Avaya has grown at a faster pace in the Middle East than in any other geography in the world. Its constant focus on bringing new solutions to market, on-boarding new and exciting customers, and strengthening its channel program to meet the growing needs and potential of the mid-market, has taken Avaya from strength to strength. Dr. Kennedy has heard first-
14 | October 2013
hand from customers that are leading the way in adopting advanced mobile and collaboration technologies; most recently, a video-enabled automated teller machine (ATM) was piloted by Emirates NBD; and Rotana Hotels’ deployed a video-enabled contact center to dramatically enhance the customer experience. Avaya’s channel program was also a key focus of the discussions. Avaya partners shared their views on how Avaya can best support them in harnessing the potential of the mid-market, and addressing the challenges and the opportunities that this growing market segment presents. Top of the agenda was the recent launch of Avaya’s first regional training center in Dubai. Since its opening in April 2013 it has provided full certification on Avaya solutions to 200 new engineers in the industry, and has further bolstered the strong relationships that Avaya has built with its regional channel of more than 900 partners.
“Speaking to customers and partners from across the region, I’ve experienced first-hand the hunger that businesses here have for advanced communications. From these discussions, two elements in particular came to the fore: the need for mobile solutions that drive productivity, especially among SMEs, and those that enable collaboration between employees and with their customers. These needs align ideally with the solutions that Avaya is developing, from unified communications and video, to networking and next generation contact center technologies,” said Dr. Kevin Kennedy, President and CEO at Avaya. Dr. Kennedy currently serves U.S. President Barack Obama as a member of the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. In 1987, he was a Congressional Fellow to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
V
eeam Software, a leading provider of backup, replication and virtualization management solutions for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V has several recent product launches that extend its portfolio for both enterprise and SMB markets. In addition, the company has been strengthening its investments in the region. “Veeam Software is more than doubling in size globally each year and we have grown by over 250% year on year over the past two and half years in the Middle East region. We have grown our channel base significantly with most of the major partners now on board as Veeam partners. Our presence in the region has also grown from just 1 in 2010 to over 20 people here today,” says Gregg Petersen - Regional Sales Manager, Middle East Veeam Software. Gregg adds, “This growth is a reflection of our growing market share and the number of customers we work with. It also reflects the rapid development of the Middle East region in terms of demand for innovative backup and data recovery solutions.” The vendor’s most recent releases include Veeam Backup and Replication v7 for Enterprise and SMB markets. Veeam Backup Essentials is Veeam Backup & Replication especially packaged and priced for small businesses (0 to 250 employees). It provides exactly the same functionality as Veeam Backup & Replication and is available in the same licensing editions: Standard, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus,
16 | October 2013
depending on the functionality. This edition, specially designed for SMBs will save them up to 33% in cost and is only available for virtual environments with 2, 4 or 6 CPU sockets. The company also had a major release of Veeam Backup Management Suite Enterprise. The Veeam Backup Management Suite installs prebuilt alerts and provides 24x7 real-time monitoring so users can be assured of being notified right away if problems occur. And when something does need immediate attention, intuitive dashboards, performance graphs and a complete knowledge base make sure that customers are ready with the data and information they need to resolve issues quickly. The company claims to be miles ahead when it comes to backups in the virtualized environments. Which is why the company says most of its installed base of customers adopt a dual backup strategy, opting for Veeam when it comes to the virtual part of their backup infrastructure. Gregg adds, “99.9% of the 73,000 Veeam customers globally and in the Middle East as well adopt a dual vendor strategy for their backup environments. The message is simple, if you can get the best for both physical and virtual from one vendor then it would be feasible, but those customers who have tested and bought Veeam will tell you there is no other vendor in the market that comes close to Veeam's functionality in virtual backup and data protection
Gregg Petersen, Regional Sales Manager, ME - Veeam Software
News Feature | Veeam Software
Virtual leads Veeam Software counts around 88 percent of the Fortune 500 among its customers. The year -over-year growth of the virtual machines is fueling the adoption of a new breed of backup solutions for critical applications and Veeam is ideally poised to meet these demands. space. In fact once customers adopt Veeam for virtual backup, they tend to speed up their physical to virtual migration projects as they see that not even their existing backup vendor for physical backup can provide a solution as powerful, easy-to-use and cost effective as Veeam.” Keeping pace with the growing interest for cloud services, Veeam Software also introduced the Veeam Cloud Provider (VCP) Program, last year, which targets cloud
solution providers who wish to offer various services to clients such as SaaS and BaaS. In this, the service provider signs up with the VCP program and then orders and pays through one of the chosen Distribution Aggregators each month or upfront as they choose. Veeam’s clients include some of the largest banks in the region, telcos, hospitals, oil and gas companies and government institutions. It has a partner program accessible via its ProPartner Portal.
Cover Feature | Distribution trends
The stretch value With more value add distributors in the fray, there is a constant challenge to extend the value proposition in winning the channel’s mindshare
O
ver the past few years, the industry’s emphatic, tectonic shifts away from product centric to solution centric strategies has meant a need for distributors to play along to meet the market’s expectations. And while niche specialist distributors have always existed, this journey took on a decisive turn in recent years with more and more distributors clamoring to hold credentials in the much vaunted space of what is known as Value Distribution. Today, there are perhaps as many or more distributors in this space compared to retail or volume distribution. However, this is also a very heterogeneous loosely categorized space and accommodates a wide range of profiles with companies specialized in different sets of domains. With cloud computing and virtualization setting the tempo of the industry in past few years, a large number of specialist and start-up vendors themselves have come calling and have
18 | October 2013
tied up with several of these emerging and in many instances fast growing distributors. So while the VAD universe continues to follow the expansion theory for now, is the VAD space likely to be inundated, sooner than later? Further, most established Broadline distributors have as well entered the VAD Business, seeing this as the greater future for their Business. With a surplus of distributors being present in the space, doesn’t it erode scenarios of profitable returns? Anand Choudha, Managing Director, Spectrami says, “In a way yes and no! We do see lot of people claiming to get into VAD business and claiming to provide “value”, but the question that begs to be asked is about the real value provided. Value for different people means different things, for some people it is about supply chain or logistics, for some it is about adding head count, appointing dedicated resources or being “compliant” since vendors are demanding it. “
He adds, “ But what you really see is very few people provide true “value.” The value essentially lies in bridging the deficit of providing a vendor like SLA to partners and customers, creating opportunities, providing pre sales support, marketing and Technical and enabling the channel. There is a lot which goes in here and going by what we see and hear in the market, there are by and large very less players providing real “value”. While that is a moot point, the fact that the Middle East is still an emerging markets region has encouraged the arrival of distributors from other markets as well as startups. The seeming potential in countries where the market is far from staurated provides more than a sniff of opportunity to the recent entrants in the market. Mohammad Mobasseri, the new CEO at EMT Distribution, itself a recent entrant to this region opines, “There many countries in the region that have yet to
reach the level of maturity in Technology invetsments. Some of the countries are sitting on a huge potential for Technology consumption and this will keep on fueling the demand . Moreover in the recent past, the market has also seen a few of the leading names in the business of value added distribution exiting the market leaving the space to be filled with other VADs. We believe that for next 5 years, this market will provide great opportunities for VADs to capitalize and grow at a decent pace.” The key to a successful strategy is in catering to a real gap in the market and executing to fulfil that at the earliest. Meera Kaul, MD at Optimus Technology and Communications says, “In the world of value added distribution, there can be only one model that works. It’s the model that the customer base buys. So whether as a distributor, your strategy is to become a specialist channel player or create a value arm spin off in a volume play, it has to be based on the acceptance by the customer base of the value proposition. In effect; more than the
Mohammed Mobasseri CEO EMT Distribution
strategy of being a ‘xyz” value distributor; what works a safer strategy is to fill in a perceivable gap that the channel experiences. As long as that happens, any value strategy is a good idea.” A lot of this intelligence comes from understanding what the channel needs and will of course only emerge from consistent engagement initiatives with them. There are no shortcuts on this path. “In today’s evolving market, offering Value added services is no longer a differentiator but the range & quality of these services surely plays a key role. Thus a key focus for a distributor is to constantly engage with the partners, understand their needs and then offer the services that meet those needs,” says Tushar Chawla, Channel Marketing Manager at Comstor Middle East. The industry’s relentless quest for better ways of enabling customers with simplified solutions has compelled the largest vendors to toe the line and adapt their visions to accommodate offerings in new domains that were not part of their earlier strategies. So the largest vendors have become more dominant and provide near end to end offerings. With converged infrastructural solutions now being offered by some of the top tier vendors, distributors not allied with those larger vendors may have challenges in their go to market strategies in scenarios where customers may prefer a one stop provider. Anand adds, “I guess from what we have seen and experienced, we still see vendors who have dedicated focus on certain areas of technologies still hold relevance in market and are good at what they do. As a matter of fact all the solutions we represent be Verdasys, LogRhythm, Tenable are rated by Gartner as leaders in DLP, SIEM and vulnerability management and Fidelis and Actifio who cater to areas of Advanced threat protection and Copy data management also rated very high by analysts, have been able
Anand Choudha Managing Director Spectrami
to create a name for themselves in the market, simply because they are good at what they do and they don’t do anything else. Which is why the rate at which they innovate and turn around is simply amazing and they are more agile then the larger “Tier 1” vendors in supporting customers more effectively, owing to their dedicated focus.” Mobasseri argues that there is room enough and in fact this space is continuing to grow. Further he believes that vendors who offer end to end options and are perhaps engaging directly with more accounts would always remain a select few and the market always needs an alternative or two. So niche solutions vendors and their distributors have a role to play. He says, “The market is big enough to accommodate a variety of solutions providers that include certain vendors who believe converged solutions may offer them a different route to market than distribution. Such players would always remain handful and will not be able to disturb the market dynamics as much.” October 2013 | 19
Cover Feature | Distribution trends
Meera Kaul Managing Director, Optimus
However, and integration these scenarios work opportunities "Most of us know that traditional hardware distribution could challenge since most cloud is used to see 1% to 2% margins on products, whereas the market solutions take effort cloud because of its delivery model, its bundled development or to deploy and need capabilities and its overall attraction in the market can market penetration to integrate with offer margins as high as 15% for distribution." attempts of vendors legacy systems.“ offering niche but He adds, “In next generation terms of solutions, strategies. This can work to their physical or virtualization solutions in it ranges from security to business advantage. different domains from security, storage applications to IaaS. However, SoftwareAnand says, “It actually turns out to Networking. It appears that indeed as-a-service (SaaS) with solutions like quite well. What we have realized specialist distributors count upon their Business Email and Collaboration is working in the market with our vendor specific areas of expertise to pilot currently one of the fastest growing extension model is these solutions have successful market developments for those segments in the cloud IT industry, if not specific market and specific set of skills Brands associated with them. the fastest. It is also one of the easiest are required from supporting them in Meera adds, “The distributors that are segments to serve if you are going the market. We are able to create a joint not aligned to the converged solutions to venture into the cloud with limited engagement model and successfully cater of the top tier vendors still get to do the knowledge and resources. Huge IT to the customer and partner ecosystem specialist business of niche nature. software companies such as Microsoft, around these next gen products and Specialist Adobe, Salesforce and SAP with leading services.” distributors then cloud distributor like Ingram Micro have rely on closer made it extremely simple for resellers The cloud clears engagement to deploy SaaS in less than 48 hours. The advent of cloud computing services with their I believe that resellers are very well was reckoned by some in the industry vendors positioned to take advantage of this to eclipse the value of the distribution and plan exceptional opportunity.” model as well as the channel. However, out Deployment of cloud services is it merely seems to be another way of believed to be at an early stage in the doing the Business with new rules. The region compared to perhaps the US or opportunities for both distributors and their Western Europe. The distributor’s role, channel seems to be considerable. it seems, is quite safe in the model of Pierre Descoteaux, General Manager, making these services available for the Cloud Solutions at Ingram Micro says, reseller to sell. “Cloud Computing has had positive impact Mobasseri says, “This region is still on the distribution business. Most of us at a nascent stage with respect to the know that traditional hardware distribution adoption of cloud and demand is very less is used to see 1% to 2% margins on compared to other countries in Europe products, whereas cloud because of its or US. However even in countries where delivery model, its bundled capabilities cloud has been adopted and continues to and its overall attraction in the market stay in high demand, it is being sold via can offer margins as high as 15% distribution network and their main role for distribution. Cloud computing is to aggregate. This region is witnessing has also attracted a new wave of a momentum building up especially resellers that are said to be born in services like, Mails, Mail security, in the cloud with new needs Vulnerability Assessments and few more and opportunities. Moreover for are being served to customers.” resellers there are increasing The cloud has reasonably matured as professional services, consultancy a business model in the channel and the
20 | October 2013
platform and infrastructure as a service are models that can be easily positioned through a distribution channel model, says Meera. She adds, “This service can be easily augmented by high availability of professional services resources to the partner base. This can be supplemented by proactive remote monitoring and support services which can be positioned by the reseller to its end customer. An ability for the resellers to white label these solutions as their offering to the customer base will make this proposition more interesting to the channel.” However, distributors have work to do, to stay on top and constantly reinvent their value in the cloud Business model.
Stretch and stretch
value added services. Distributors today understand that for a reseller to decide their distribution partner, price is no longer the only criteria. Tushar comments, “There is a growing focus on value added services such as Post sales implementation, marketing as a service (MaaS), credit as a service (CaaS) while a partner decides from among the distributors. Ultimately, in order to beat the competition it’s very important for a distributor to not only focus on the kind of value added offerings but also the quality of these services. “ It is easier said than done and the toughest part of the job remains the quest to win over trust and recall with resellers. The channel has more options today and the distributor needs to quantify and manage those rising expectations. Tushar adds, “Today with more and more distributors entering the value added distribution space, not only the partner community has become more demanding as they have relatively more options but also there is a greater opportunity for those value added distributors to stand out from the crowd who lead the channel by constantly strengthening their value added offerings to the channel.” Anand believes that it is about nurturing the rapport with the partner network. If one does it, there is very little else that would be needed. He adds, “The difference is in the services and the people. There is a gap which exists in terms of service delivery which channel and customers are asking for, and anybody who yearns and works
Tushar Chawla Channel Marketing Manager Comstor Middle East
Value distribution has been a much discussed and debated terminology but towards it is bound to succeed and in the the trick may seem to keep extending process win over the trust of resellers.” the value differentiation. A value add This is a toughening race as it gets distributor has to constantly beat the odds closer towards consolidation. When the to be relevant. new trends of computing have settled Anand says, “It again depends on into comfortable patterns of Technology what does one determine “value” and procurement by informed customers who what one puts in it. For us value is what are on top of what solutions they want we incorporate in our vendor extension and how, whether as a service or as an model, which honestly has resonated infrastructure, the advantage will shift very well with our customer, vendor and emphatically towards those distributors channel base that allows us to create who assiduously stretch the value they and provide a wholesome experience offer. This is a pursuit that will demand which includes but is not limited to the VADs to be relentless and have the creating opportunities, providing pre sales, stomach for the long haul ahead. It will marketing and Technical support as well also require them to be agile and smart as enabling channel pretty much in the in discerning what Best practices or same way one would expect a vendor to processes they operate.” must continue It is very to adopt or important today what previous for a distributor to "There is a growing focus on value added services practises or ways not only offer value such as Post sales implementation, marketing as a of transacting added services Business they need service (MaaS), credit as a service (CaaS) while a but to ensure that to perhaps give up they are offering partner decides from among the distributors" in order to be at the right set of the leading edge.
October 2013 | 21
TechKnow | Symantec
Gordon Love, Regional Director, META, Symantec
Leading from the front Symantec remains the internet security solutions provider of choice for the majority of organizations worldwide; a state of affairs newly appointed Regional Director for Middle East, Turkey and Africa Gordon Love wants to ensure is upheld
What are you looking forward to as you embark on your new role as Regional Director? The key for me is better enabling our partners across the region. We are a channel-oriented company so it’s essential that we help distributors and resale partners improve their expertise with the message of how we can better help our customers and businesses protect their digital information along with delivering a high level of security awareness. In three years’ time, we should have a highly committed and skilled partner base, highly enabled
22 | October 2013
and delivering solutions to consumers that delight them. With cloud, customers have a new model for accessing software and solutions. Discuss how Symantec has embraced this technology in delivering solutions to your customers The ways that customers make purchases are changing. Our objective here at Symantec is to delight our customers and in order to do that, we need to give our customers choice in how they want to buy software and solutions. Today there are multiple form factors of how to do that caused by a
major drive in increasing cloud adoption. There are customers who want to procure their own licences through the a perpetual model; there are customers who want to move into a more flexible model so that licensing scales with their businesses either by the number of devices or by data growth and also customers who want to purchase through the normal form factors. We are thus working with the channel to be able to put all these options on the table. Online sales are now a very big part of our business predominantly in the consumer business. We still deliver all
this through the channel and we will continue doing so. The goal is to give our customers choice and flexibility on how they want to procure. How serious is the issue of data security for organizations as threats proliferate? Security has now become a boardroom issue. Security was for a long time considered merely as a form of insurance. Now you have Chief Information Security Officers being appointed. You are seeing risk and compliance executives appointed into the board. Organizations
in solutions that are increasingly globally recognized understand and we can solve the value of "We work closely with our partners across the region bigger problems information and identifying opportunities for predictable and comfortable for them. As a the value of what growth by delivering ready-to-market leading solutions worldwide leader they are trying to in information protect. Security and make them more relevant to the customer." protection and the is definitely biggest security increasingly getting software vendor in more focus from business and your inherent skill the world, we have the tools, look after has 75 high growth executives. set-Partners can then choose the solutions and the skills and countries, a huge geographic With the explosion in the the Symantec specialization with our channel, we can go spread as well as being very number of mobile devices, program suited for then and deliver that value to our diverse. We work very closely online criminals have found whether in information customers. with our partners across the millions of fresh targets to exploit. Discuss the market and region identifying opportunities security, mobility, data centre As technology evolves, for predictable and comfortable optimization or information solutions for mobile platforms management. Granted, we please discuss some trends growth by delivering ready-toMobile malware increased have some partners who do that will be shaping internet market leading solutions and 58% in the last year with all of it because they have the security in the period to make them more relevant to a third of that designed skills, capability and market come specifically to steal information. the customer to reduce their opportunity. The rest are There were more tablets than overall risk to manage their In 2011, the market for the partners who are highly PCs shipped worldwide last critical business information. mobile security solutions was focused in one or two of year, according to analysts. Symantec has made significant around 682 million dollars and those areas which they use to We are also moving into investments in the region as a expected to grow to around differentiate themselves. an era of more connected company as well as with our 2.5 billion in 2016. Mobility equipment beyond the partners. We have invested in is becoming a great revenue What sets Symantec apart traditional computing devices, and grouped teams together opportunity for our partners from what has become a or what is called the Internet based on geographical focus as customers ask for more crowded security solutions of Things. When the internet areas by aligning sales, preintegrated solutions that help field? was originally created, it was sales, channel, marketing in them enable Bring Your Own Our main differentiator is designed to be anonymous. each of the regions across the Everything while protecting that Symantec is a global This is no longer the case. The META region. the identity and corporateorganization, a 7 billion dollar next wave in internet is around critical information. With our software company. We back trusted relationships, around A notable development Mobile Device Management up around 35% of the world’s identity, and the confidence within your channel and Mobile Application data. We have 1/3 of the that when you go online, programme is a Management the mobile you know you are who you specialization programme for world’s email or 8 billion of device itself is irrelevant. The think you are. So the future is issue is protecting your identity your partners. Please discuss. them, coming through our infrastructure. Our consumer around trust, protecting the There are a lot of unique and protecting access to products through the Norton Internet of Things and around opportunities across the region critical corporate information. brand protect about 350 organizations having a better that we are in, each with its The Symantec Mobility million users worldwide. In understanding of missionown dynamics. This is the Suite delivers this benefit terms of our security software critical data that they want to main reason in moving our to customers across all the market share, we currently protect and they understand channel and our partners to globally supported platforms, own 21.6% of the worldwide the associated risks. You’ve the specialization model. The all device-independent. security software market, got 20 million new malware message is-don’t try to sell about double the market share variants sent last year. Our each and every Symantec Discuss some partner of our biggest competitor. customers want trust and solution. Focus on your specific marketing and channel The value we take to our confidence in the connected skills and where you are able initiatives in the region customers through our partners world and that is what to deliver significant value to The Middle East, Turkey and is that we are a market leader Symantec can provide. the customer in terms of your Africa (META) territory that I
October 2013 | 23
TechKnow | Dell
Basil Ayass, Marketing Director, Dell Middle East
Dell is bringing enterprise-class converged technology to a whole new set of customers that include branch office companies and the small and medium business market. One of the recent launches include the PowerEdge VRTX, a simplified and scalable data center in a box. In this conversation, Basil Ayass, Marketing Director at Dell Middle East reveals the company’s focus and trends in the market
When small is big Do SMB organizations in the region now understand the need for as well as demand better, agile and scalable IT solutions? Discuss your recent lauch for this segment? Small and medium-sized businesses vary dramatically in size from just a handful of employees to several hundred people, but all are in a position to benefit from IT solutions that allow their organisations to be more reactive and scalable. There is a change in the outlook of regional SMBs these days as many now understand that a robust IT infrastructure is dependent on multiple facets,
24 | October 2013
including security, mobility, data storage and cloud services. Most SMBs consider access to technology as key to successful growth, however the Technology solutions often used in this market lack the flexibility, scalability and ease of management necessary to grow efficiently and compete with larger organizations. That is one of the reasons Dell recently launched the PowerEdge VRTX. It is the first converged IT solution designed specifically for remote and small office environments, with enterprise-class capabilities in a desk-side, space-saving design.
Mention some key verticals where SMB organizations are more IT enabled relative to others? You will find small and medium-sized businesses within all vertical market sectors and the majority of these companies will regard IT as central to their dayto-day operations, if not a strategic asset. Vertical sectors that stand out in the Middle East include finance, hospitality, education, retail, telecommunications, logistics and oil and gas. Technology solutions offer a platform for SMBs to act quickly in response to changing market conditions
and perform strongly in a competitive environment. Take Dell’s PowerEdge VRTX. It provides a simplified and scalable data center in a box, which solves the sprawl of disparate IT devices and multiple management tools. Customers can experience enhanced productivity with updates to Dell OpenManage Essentials for PowerEdge VRTX, which include comprehensive, remote, agent-free systems management capabilities with a new geographical view of distributed IT assets that can help save time and reduce potential for error. And with servers, storage, networking
owners need to focus on their products and "PowerEdge VRTX, for instance, will enable Dell customers - not on partners to really stand out from the competition by IT management. providing enterprise-class capabilities to customers Dell provides easy to use tool with remote and small office environments." to take care of the back-office IT functions, freeing IT needs, especially for our employees to focus on their invest more in technology, SMB customers, which will core business. and use technology for change rapidly, and we competitive advantage. Do you and partners focus have designed our cloud Discuss how your partners They are also much more strongly on this segment? offerings to grow and expand are playing a lead role in Dell has always embraced the likely to anticipate revenue along with the business ensuring SMB customers are gains than those with flat philosophy that technology needs of our customers. adopting best IT systems to or declining IT expenditure. should be available to Cloud computing enables support their growth? Research published this year everyone, and that it should companies of all sizes to Our partners remain the by the SMB Group shows be affordable and easy to effectively offload various trusted IT advisers for the that 85% of SMBs that plan use. Dell provides a huge parts of their IT operations, tens of thousands of SMBs to invest more in technology range of technology solutions leading to greater efficiencies that exist in the Middle anticipate annual revenue for SMBs, including PCs, and cost savings. East. Today, there is much increases, while only 42% of security, storage, networking more for SMBs to think those planning to decrease and virtualization solutions. Do they prioritize on about - from virtualization to IT spending - and 38% of The launch of the PowerEdge security / storage/ backup cloud to security – and they those planning for flat IT VRTX, which meets SMB and investments? are looking for their local investments - are expecting remote office demands for Each SMB organization will reseller to guide them in a growth. This gap is expected a consolidated, simplified number of areas and provide to widen as more SMBs make have different priorities, but infrastructure managed from clearly security, storage, access to a much broader the technology-business a centralised location, is one cloud and mobility are all spectrum of services and performance connection and of several new technologies areas where Middle East solutions. Our PartnerDirect see business benefit from it. that Dell has introduced in SMBs are making significant program is stronger than the Middle East this year. investments. This is certainly ever and we continue to Are your partners provide reseller partners approaching SMB customers what we hear from our Are they focusing on channel partners, which with the best technology and consulting them to refresh cycles of their IT work with such customers. solutions. PowerEdge VRTX, adopt new Technologies infrastructure as a priority The arrival of the cloud, for instance, will enable Dell that promise better or do they in general advent of consumerization partners to really stand out efficiency? continue to defer required and BYOD are huge boosts from the competition by Small businesses lack the IT investments? to the SMB sector, allowing providing enterprise-class resources to make capital Customers have traditionally them to operate with the capabilities to customers investments in IT the same focused on refresh cycles, same efficiency as a much with remote and small way that a large corporation but it is often quite difficult larger enterprise. Technology office environments. It also would, but that doesn’t for SMBs to keep to a preis helping small companies addresses a need among mean they can’t embrace determined investment plan channel partners for preconcepts such as mobility and to do big things. IT services if they are a fast-growing for example are making a configured, advanced cloud to maximum effect. In organization, as they will huge mark in the sector, with business solutions that can terms of cloud, Dell provides need to scale and adapt their scalability for its offerings and organizations suddenly having be enhanced with software IT operations to maintain and access to resources such as and services important customizes them specifically drive their growth. Studies 24/7 helpdesks or enterprise- to customers in vertical to meet the needs of our show that progressive SMBs class security. Small business industries. customers. We understand are more growth driven, and management converged into a single compact chassis, PowerEdge VRTX uses up to 86 percent fewer cables and can save customers time, compared to installing individual task-specific systems.
October 2013 | 25
Christopher Graham, Market Leader, Honeywell
TechKnow | Honeywell
Discuss the pervasiveness of IP based security solutions presently as well as Honeywell’s approach to IP security It’s difficult to pinpoint the precise moment, but at some stage in the last few years the use of IP solutions in the security industry graduated from ‘if’ and ‘when’, to here and now. Today IP enjoys irresistible momentum in the industry and is increasingly the first choice for security managers across a range of sites, sectors, and geographies. Rightly so. The benefits of IP when it’s done well - one unified view of a site’s security infrastructure, easy integration between access control, video and intruder alarm systems, remote web-based or mobile access, compatibility with building management systems
26 | October 2013
Sustaining IP’s Impressive Growth Honeywell Security is a leading manufacturer of complete analog and digital proximity access control systems. Its product lines cover all components required for integrating everything from a simple security system to highly customized, large systems with hundreds of CCTV cameras and sophisticated alarm monitoring devices. Christopher Graham, Market leader, Honeywell Security Group in this interview discusses the rapid growth in IP based security solutions and Honeywell’s focus.
and HR systems - mean that in a lot of scenarios it’s a total ‘no brainer’. Honeywell has been a long-time advocate of IP solutions adoption, and continues to drive IP technology as a key enabler so we are incredibly satisfied to see the market becoming larger and healthier than ever before. However, I firmly believe IP still faces challenges, some of which are self-inflicted while others are an inevitable result of technological evolution. As manufacturers – Honeywell and its peers – we have to take responsibility for confronting these challenges head on to ensure the IP market continues to flourish. How can the channel look at maximum sell out opportunities?
One of the best ways in business to delight customers is to ‘under promise, and over-deliver’. Over-selling the benefits of a product or service, then failing to meet the customer’s falsely inflated expectations negatively impacts an individual or company’s reputation, increases customer churn and, crucially, leads to lost revenue. In the past we have seen this with video analytics systems. This is now a trap installers and manufacturers risk falling into in today’s IP market. Yes, many IP product ranges on the market today are capable of incredible performance and packed full of cutting-edge features. However, there is a critical requirement to understand the customer’s unique set of requirements and the environment in which the
products will be used. How important is it to understand specific customer requirements? Let’s take a ‘for instance’. Honeywell recently completed a number of mega budget IP projects for organisations based in Qatar, Oman and Kuwait respectively. In each instance, the customer invested a large sum in designing a state-of-the-art IP security system from scratch with each component and the system network purchased to the highest specification possible – leveraging Honeywell products like equIP IP Cameras, MAXPRO Video Management System (VMS), MAXPRO Network Video Recorders (NVR) and Pro-Watch access control and security management system for a consistent approach
O Y D AKE
W
E L O H
STO
B EAKS L A T P DA
? A T A D R U
EFOR
Y HA E THE
PPEN
PROTECT YOUR COMPANY’S CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. VISIT WATCHGUARD AT GITEX - HALL 1 C1-6 Today, data-in-motion accounts for more than 80% of all data loss, and more often than not, it happens unknowingly and unintentionally. Without a data loss protection solution, sending work emails to a home computer and/or personal laptop is no longer a safe alternative to a late night at the office. Is Your Data Secure? The threats of leaks in your network are exponentially growing. And the financial repercussions are near impossible to recover from. Is your business doing everything to stay secure? WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention is the newest addition to WatchGuard’s Unified Threat Management (UTM) platform. Visit WatchGuard at GITEX for a free demo and more information. Or call today to learn how WatchGuard solutions deliver the security you really need. +971 55 882 9607 / email: mea@watchguard.com.
TechKnow | Honeywell
is dented. across the board. As you might expect, "At Honeywell, we’ve always taken a proactive stance Are solutions the high-definition on driving up standards, and set up the Honeywell across the IP cameras Open Technology Alliance, where a group of global industry Standards are capable of security manufacturers collaborate to increase based or are there delivering to their interoperability between IP systems." challenges? full specification They always crop since the whole up don’t they? No network is brand surprise that industry standards some installers, it’s tempting the perfect solution. Let’s take new, and both it and the are another important piece of to run from IP because of a small retail outlet with 10-15 system have been designed to the puzzle, and will play a big its perceived complexities. staff, a stockroom, staff room provide the end users’ security role in sustaining the demand Unlike a traditional closed and shop floor. In this context, staff with a ‘bells and whistles’ for IP. At Honeywell, we’ve circuit analogue solution – is it really in the best interests solution. always taken a proactive which installers have grown of the customer to rip out their But imagine a slightly stance on driving up standards, up with and instinctively existing system and replace different scenario; maybe a and set up the Honeywell Open feel comfortable with – an it with something ‘all singing, retail organisation in southern Technology Alliance, where IP solution requires both all dancing’ that requires Europe with a budget a tenth a group of global security a different technological network upgrades, integrates of the size, looking to upgrade manufacturers collaborate approach and far more with their (non-existent) HR its system and purchasing to increase interoperability interaction with end user IT and (non-existent) building a set of impressive-looking between IP systems. This departments as well as their management system, or IP cameras to plug into a collaboration ensures that security teams. Since the provides their security team (a legacy network and recording our products work effectively solution will interact with a security guard) with a forensic hardware from a different with other manufacturers’ company’s IT infrastructure capability he may not have supplier. The system might products, and makes it easier of servers and networks, the ability to use effectively? have an old hybrid DVR and for other manufacturers to implementing it can be a Possibly not. Specifying IP network limitations, rendering integrate with Honeywell daunting task. in the right circumstances is it incapable of getting 100 per products. We are also active Grasping the nettle is critical – specifying it every cent out of the IP cameras. in the ONVIF Working Groups important for a number of time will lead to many security Cue unhappy customer. The for video and access control. reasons; the most compelling managers questioning its message here is simple; Today, too many – often cheap is cold, hard cash. Installers value. providing an IP solution – or imports - are missing the mark. that don’t invest in educating any solution for that matter Compliance with ONVIF-S has their employees on how to Is there a need then to – isn’t a case of reading off pushed the industry a step install IP systems are missing educate the channel as well an impressive list of product forward, but lobbying groups out on pitching a potentially as end users? specifications. It’s about and industry bodies have more lucrative and rapidly growing At Honeywell one of our recognising the customer’s work to do. revenue stream to commercial biggest areas of focus is unique circumstances, In short, while the IP and public sector organisations. delivering bespoke training on understanding their challenges Equally, those that under-invest market is booming there are and limitations, and selling and IP solutions to installers across still challenges that lie in wait. risk sending out engineers our European and Middle East delivering a realistic vision for As an industry, selling solutions with under-developed skill markets from our training them. not spec sheets, investing in centres of excellence in the UK, sets to deploy solutions that training and development are outside of their comfort the Netherlands, Germany and In the case of customers across the board and pushing zone. This can lead to errors, Dubai, and putting feet-onlooking for inexpensive for better, more consistent constant call backs which kill the-street in the form of sales solutions and with smaller standards must be big priorities any profit on the job and – and technical support teams. set-up what works best? in the coming years. Retaining once again – a disappointed Why? Because we understand For customers with smaller end user support for IP and all customer whose faith in both that another big barrier to the budgets or straight-forward of the impressive benefits it the installer and in IP as the continued upward trajectory of objectives for their security delivers depends on it. appropriate solution for them, IP adoption is education. For system, analogue is still often
28 | October 2013
Pat Luby Consulting JLT Excellence in HR Online
• Hawk HR Software • HR Consulting Services • Recruitment Module • Payroll System
• Visa and Document Tracker • Time and Attendance • Health Insurance Software • Assessment and Skill Testing
Come and visit us at GITEX Dubai from 20 Oct to 24 Oct 2013 At the Microsoft Stand B7-10, Hall 7 Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Center Contact Us: PO Box 283059 Dubai - UAE Jumeirah Lake Towers Cluster X - X2 Tower - Office 709 Tel : +971 4 440 5173 / 174 / 175 /176 www.patlubyconsulting.com
TechKnow | ManageEngine
have over 75,000 customers across 200 countries of every size and type, which includes 3 out of 5 Fortune 500 companies.
Nirmal Manoharan, Regional Director, ManageEngine
Discuss your focus on MSP segment? We are very much focused on the MSP market and offer solutions that meet every need of a managed service provider. MSP's can choose between an Integrated MSP Platform or MSP Point Solution based on their business needs. Is the Unified IT product an alternative to the point products? Our unified IT product, ManageEngine IT360, addresses an entirely different need than our point products. IT360 caters to IT organizations that require an integrated view of their entire IT infrastructure. From a single pane of glass, IT360 provides insight on network, server, database and
ManageEngine does provide a BYOD solution that can help an enterprise perform deployment with respect to the BYOD program. Some of the features we support, applicable to both iOS and Android based devices include enrolling devices based on ownership, creating separate groups for BYOD and corporate devices, defining and applying separate policies for BYOD and corporate devices, facility to wipe corporate data when employees leave the organization but leaving user data untouched and performing Black and White listing of apps. Discuss the demand for these solutions in the region The IT divisions of enterprises, banks, financial institutions, construction firms, oil companies, telecom houses and educational institutions in the Middle-East are looking for software solutions that could improve productivity, reduce
All in real time ManageEngine has created products that enable real-time IT management and thus empowers an IT team to meet an organization’s need for real-time services and support. Nirmal Manoharan, Regional Director of Sales at ManageEngine discusses the company’s unique approach in a niche that is attracting more attention by the day. What is the defining vision for the company? Our vision is to enable IT teams to respond to the rapidlyevolving technology needs of enterprises in Real-Time! We have built a reputation for delivering easy-to-use, purpose-built, and affordable IT management products which challenges the status quo of existing players, who deliver complex, expensive
30 | October 2013
IT management products through high-overhead sales organizations with high-margin product portfolios. Are these solutions largely targeting enterprise users? ManageEngine products are thoughtfully built and can scale from the most basic to the most complex, multi-vendor, and hybrid (physical, virtual, and coud) infrastructure.We
application performance as well as end-user experience management for IT operations and an ITIL help desk for IT service management. Each of our ManageEngine point products, on the other hand, caters to IT organizations that require a dedicated tool to efficiently handle a single aspect of IT management. Discuss your BYOD strategy?
costs, bolster security, ensure reliability and eventually offer better service to their clientele. ManageEngine precisely brings in these benefits. ManageEngine's strong portfolio of IT Security Solutions have attracted the attention of organizations from the Middle East in a big way this year. We are looking to increase our customer base in the Middle East further.
Kevin Moreau, Managing Director, EMEA, Unitrends
TechKnow | Unitrends
Unitrends provides data protection solutions that offers backup, archiving, and disaster recovery for protecting physical, virtual, cloud environments, or any combination thereof. Kevin Moreau – Managing Director, EMEA, Unitrends discusses the company’s solutions and plans for market growth.
A Strong Backup Elaborate on your key focus? Unitrends has developed one of the fastest growing data protection solutions for the mid-market. Businesses and their IT staff need a proven and reliable all-in-one backup and recovery solution. Unitrends offers a shrink-wrapped enterprise class deployment and protection for any business environment. It’s data protection that’s simple, scalable and supported by a 98 percent or greater customer satisfaction rate. To date, Unitrends has proven very successful within the North American market and now has an opportunity to bring that same backup technology and support to the EMEA market. Discuss some key growth strategies at Unitrends ? Unitrends focuses on staying close to the IT mid-market and spends time anticipating the latest issues and challenges facing
32 | October 2013
end users and partners alike. Its roadmap is based on a combination of customer feature requests and industry trends that can impact IT environments and business expectations. For example, how does big data and virtualization impact organizational readiness in terms of disaster recovery requirements, how are backup environments becoming more complex and the growth of data impacting backup processes and recovery times. From a growth stand point, rewarding and incentivizing the channel and developing relationships with our partners through the UniRewardsprogramme has been key, especially as 100% of our EMEA sales are through the channel. What is your channel strategy? As we expand in EMEA, we’re leveraging the 100% model - these relationships are key to how we run our business. As the
channel is key to our growth, we have set up a rewards programme unlike any other: UniRewards. This is an incentivized programme with heavy rewards - for every new lead a reseller can get $100, and that’s before the deal is closed. If resellers are 'deal registered' they get impressive margins, for example VARs that provide services to customers get better margins. Discuss some trends in virtualization and data backup scene The market changes so regularly, but one point that has struck me recently is the fast growth of Hyper-V’s market share in the virtualization market. For years VMware has dominated the scene but we are beginning to see Microsoft make significant progress. We’re seeing a fast ramp up for Hyper-V in our core midrange market as companies with between 50 and 2,000 employees seem to be adopting Hyper-V faster than the Fortune 500 data centres. Our free fully-functional virtual appliance (Unitrends Enterprise Backup) works on Hyper-V and VMware vSphere. I’m interested to see what how the hypervisor market share will shift and further expand as more companies are able to leverage virtualization within their environments. Discuss Unitrends position in the data recovery and back-up space? Unitrends is quickly becoming the trusted provider of all-in-one backup and recovery solutions for small to mid-market customers. It creates and supplies unified, agile solutions that protect physical, virtual and cloud environments. The company delivers data protection for over 100 major operating platforms and applications providing affordable, scalable and easy to use solutions. We plan to continue our aggressive growth rate over the next five years. As our channel presence grows in EMEA, Unitrends reputation in EMEA and ROW will expand and customers will understand how solid, adaptable and scalable our solutions are.
Point2Point | Comguard
Ajay Chauhan, CEO, Comguard
vertically. We will also seek to add more products so that we will become a more broadbased distributor. We have been definitely missing out on growth opportunities in domains that we have not been present. For instance, we will look at voice and other key areas. Is the Virtualisation space a focus area for you? Among some of the products we sell also have versions for virtualized environment. However, we have not been aggressively seeking opportunities in the virtualization space. What is your take on
are doing well. What kind of events do you participate as a company? We are focused more on partner events and those that are vertical focused. We have been focusing on security, hospitality shows etc where we get to meet domain focused attendees and which helps meet objectives better. Those are cost effective as well. But we will also continue to use GITEX as a platform to meet vendors and partners. Elaborate on your plans to increase regional presence? We are looking to increase our presence in individual
Stairway to growth Comguard, of the Spectrum Group of companies is a leading VAD in the region. While it built up its credentials in its initial years as a security solutions VAD, it is now in the midst of a transition towards a more broad-based distributor profile. In this conversation, Ajay Chauhan, CEO of Comguard discusses some of the company’s plans ahead What are the recent initiatives at Comguard? We have been restructuring the company to make it process driven so that customers and vendors can benefit. These will include better CRM, centralized Marketing systems etc. There will be more centralized activities from the head office. We will also be introducing a team for quality control and alliance management in addition to sales and Product Management. This team will work with marketing to support the sales by driving
awareness of our complete portfolio specifically in instances where there is a possibility for customers to be interested in other products we carry. Further, sometime we are not aware of detailed feedbacks from vendors or partners. This independent function directly reporting to me will get us better feedback by probing the market. It also means we will be able to do more activities which will enable vendors with their go to market strategies. We have also been expanding geographically and
consolidation in the VAD space? Consolidation is good and we have seen a couple of large acquisitions recently. Eventually, either the smaller and medium sized distributors will get larger on their own or look to be bought out. We have ambitions of growing in size as a geographically spread out distributor and not be confined to being perceived as only a regional distributor. We have expanded into India and have a substantial operation there. We are replicating the successful model we already have here in India and it looks quite promising. We have covered North Africa as well. However currency volatility is a challenge but it could also give us an advantage when the currencies
countries. We will have local presence in places like Qatar and Kuwait so that we are closer to market to support or channel and also to tap project opportunities better. We have a full-ledged team in KSA as well. What has been a significant challenge for the company in recent times and what do you see as your strengths? One of the biggest challenges that we have been facing is retaining of talent. Being an organic company, we have invested considerably in training of resources. However, our training continues to be a differentiator and a key attribute of our success. We also have excellent POC facilities that partners can avail.
October 2013  |  33
Mushtaq Khot, Business Unit Head, VBG, METRA
TechKnow | METRA
Metra’s Value Business is now on the overdrive with new vendor alliances and significant investments. Mushtaq Khot, Business Unit Head- VBG at METRA discusses the company’s recent initiatives and the road ahead
Shifting to top gear What are the brands in value distribution that you carry? We currently carry Brands like IBM, Aruba, Autodesk, Tripp lite, Vision Solutions, Lenovo (Iomega). Our strategy and roadmap is very ambitious. As a leading Value Added Distributor in this region and in-order to fulfill gaps for future IT requirements in this region, we are adding vendors across Software, Technology, Hardware, Security and Virtualization arenas. We want to be a one stop shop for channel partners on all avenues weather traditional IT or trending cloud based advanced offerings i.e. IaaS, PaaS, Big Data, Analytics and Consolidation. Discuss your updates in terms of POC facilities, team technical resources added etc? Metra is very aggressively investing into setting-up multiple solution center facilities to provide channel partners services like POCs, Need Assessments, Solution Prototyping and Technology evaluation. We are calling it a future ready datacenter capable to showcase
34 | October 2013
traditional POC demos, yet designed in a way to run complete Application to Disk solution environments for their customers. It is named as Converged Infrastructure Solution Center – where best of breed cutting edge engineered systems and by stack IT hardware is accessible for our partners and customers. Our Dubai based first CISC will be ready in next few weeks. Centres for Riyadh and Cairo are also planned. Elaborate on the stronger focus areas for you in terms of current products you carry as well as the ones you may be adding soon? We are equally focused on the verticals of networking and Security, Compute and Infrastructure, Virtualisation and DR. We are aligning with vendors to build our offerings to the Partners, promoting Turnkey solutions for our partners to deliver entire IT stack to their customers by reducing cost of Infrastructure acquisition and increased output while lowering complexity to manage the datacenter.
Does the team here handle value distribution Business across the GCC excluding Saudi? We are operational across the Middle East including GCC and Saudi. In fact, we have observed a great growth in terms of channel development for our vendors in Saudi market. Elaborate on your channel partner network for the value Business. Are you looking to add more partners? We have a very dynamic and efficient channel network which is elastic and active. Our partner universe include different types of partners from regional strategic system integrators to very niche focused VARs and local ISVs across Enterprise, Mid-Market and SMB segments. Our business is growing so is the appetite and desire for cross functional partners is increasing. We are consistently growing our channel partner community which now surpasses 5,000 active accounts across the region. Our focus is to get on board new partners who have specializations in focused verticals and select markets.
GRENKE: For greater business flexibility Leasing made simple
With over 35 years’ experience in leasing, GRENKE is a knowledgeable and reliable leasing partner. GRENKE gives you and your customers greater flexibility for greater success. Your benefits of working with GRENKE are: :: Boost your sales with low leasing instalments :: Payment within 24 hours :: Personal, tailored service Just contact us: GC Leasing Middle East FZCO Dubai Branch – GRENKE Franchise – Bayswater Tower, Business Bay, Unit 2401 · Dubai, UAE Phone: +971 4 440 50-20 · Fax: +971 4 432 11-48 · E-mail: service@grenke.ae · Internet: www.grenke.ae
Feature | EATON
E
36 | October 2013
As a global leader in electrical control, power distribution, power protection and industrial
Rahul Sikka, Sales Director, EATON
aton has kept pace with the changes sweeping the datacenter and provides a broad swathe of infrastructure solutions to the datacenter through its Power Quality Solutions Operations. These include a complete range of Electrical Switchgear, from the entry to a Data Center facility to the last point in the network. Its UPS products, both Rackmount and freestanding power protection systems are suitable for applications from the simplest desktop to the largest government, healthcare or industrial facilities. It also provides secure and functional enclosures for data centers, wiring closets, office environments and warehouse spaces. The rackmount ePDUs that provides helps to streamline the distribution of power throughout a data center, rack or enclosure. Eaton also make available advanced battery technologies to provide backup power, paralleling gear to create redundant UPS configurations, power quality audits to assess and improve power conditions. In addition, it supports customers through comprehensive Maintenance plans and extended warranties, 24x7 support, remote monitoring and diagnostic services, turnkey project management and electrical contracting and system integration. In the backdrop of Virtualisation, the datacenter has been transforming and therefore requirements of power and cooling solutions in the modern data center require a lot of integration. “Our solutions integrate readily with virtual platforms with no additional requirements as the solutions are designed keeping such environments in mind. Eaton Intelligent Power software makes it easy to manage power devices in virtualized environments. It plugs into leading virtual machine management systems, including VMWare vCentre and XenCenter, and integrates power management functions so that all UPSs and ePDUs in the virtual network can be viewed in the same application, together with network, physical server and storage information,” says Rahul Sikka, Sales Director at the company’s regional operations.
automation products and services, Eaton has focused on key advancements, related to smaller footprints or rack-units, enhanced communication, interactive displays, ease of integration within all leading operating systems, higher efficiencies and output power factors.
Keeping pace If there is a local power failure, the Intelligent Power software triggers live migration of virtual machines to a back-up facility, ensuring data integrity and zero downtime. Intelligent Power software is ideal for controlled, graceful shutdown of hypervisors and their guests during prolonged power outages. It invokes shutdown or hibernation of virtual machines, signals the hypervisor to shut down and powers off the physical servers. Additionally, with the continued acceptance of open-source software in servers, handheld devices, mainframes, infrastructures and appliances, the importance of open-source software availability for power devices becomes critical. Eaton is constantly working with
partners like RedHat, Ubuntu/Canonical, Citrix, Network UPS Tools and Debian to generate greater compatibility between IT devices and its power devices. Eaton also offers industry-leading Airflow Management Solutions (AMS) that optimize power and cooling infrastructure, improve information processing density, create a greener data centre and increase spatial flexibility for the data centre manager and helping save money for its customers. Eaton’s AMS containment solutions will significantly lower data centre energy demands and associated energy costs. Eaton offers a wide range of partial and total containment solutions that can accommodate hot-aisle containment, cold aisle containment and rack-based
Feature | EATON
heat containment. Rahul adds, “Eaton takes a consultative approach to AMS solutions. Because each data centre has its own unique issues, especially in relation to energy management, we do not advocate one containment concept over another. Rather, we work with data centre professionals to audit current operations and then develop a comprehensive airflow management strategy that delivers the energy management control and savings that make the most sense for the facility in question. The solution may be heat containment at the rack level, hot-aisle or cold-aisle containment. It might also be a combination of more than one of these approaches, depending on the layout of the data centre. Whatever the need, Eaton has the expertise, flexibility and capacity to work with our customers, to not only provide them with a customized solution, but also to assist them in the stages leading up to total aisle containment. The result is improved data centre operations and reduced energy consumption.” The vendor provides project management solutions available to large and smaller data centers. Irrespective of the size of the datacenter. It includes Data center design and project management capabilities in-house to serve its customers better. “Whether a customer’s data center consists of a single IT rack or several hundred racks in a CoLo facility or their own dedicated data center, Eaton has complete critical facility solutions to suit their needs. Eaton provides worldleading efficient, reliable, scalable and uninterruptible power for its customers irrespective of the size of the installation,” adds Rahul. Eaton has launched several new modular double conversion three-phase UPSs that bridge the gap between energy efficiency and scalability. The new Eaton 93PM units, in power ratings from 30 to 200 kW, combine market-leading energy efficiency with scalability and vertical and horizontal redundancy. As a result, IT
38 | October 2013
professionals and data centre managers can simply and cost-effectively specify, scale and adapt their architecture to future changes in load demands or to new reliability requirements. The flexibility of the new 93PM UPSs is a result of the unit’s modular design. This makes it simple and cost-effective to scale the system as load demands change without increasing the footprint, enabling users to reduce CapEx and take a ‘pay-as-you-grow’ approach. The inclusion of Eaton’s patented Hot Sync® wireless paralleling technology also means a system can be designed, or is scalable, up to a power rating of 800 kw, maximizing availability without compromising resilience and reliability. “Along with our existing products, the new 93PM UPSs offer unmatched energy efficiency of up to 97% in double conversion mode as well as cost effective solutions to suit everything from the smallest server room to the largest data centre. We are ensuring scalability, reliability and resilience combined with exceptionally low total cost of ownership,” adds Rahul. The new UPSs allow users to take full advantage of the operational efficiency provided by Energy Saver System (ESS) mode. ESS automatically and continuously matches the operation of the UPS to the incoming power quality allowing an efficiency of 99% to be achieved. Eaton has strong operations in the Middle East providing its customers products and services that meet the needs of the data center, industrial, institutional, public sector, utility, commercial, residential, IT, mission critical, alternative energy and OEM markets. Through its PowerAdvantage channel partner program, it relies on its partners for go to market success and is extremely stringent while adding new partners. The process of recruitment is however ongoing and new partners, especially those that bring added value to address market segment gaps, are constantly being identified and evaluated prior to inclusion.
Eaton joins EMC program to develop Integrated Power Management Solutions
E
aton has joined the EMC Technology Partner Program. Eaton will apply the developmental resources provided by the program to design integrated power management solutions that help IT and data center professionals to enhance uptime and business continuity. “Joining the EMC Technology Partner Program builds upon Eaton’s continued commitment to developing integrated solutions, and industry-leading capabilities with virtual platforms, to provide customers and the IT channel with easy-to-deploy assets for enhancing business continuity,” said Hervé Tardy, vice president and general manager of Eaton’s Distributed Power Quality Division. Eaton is focused on further developing the integrated capabilities of its Intelligent Power Manager software, which has VMware Ready and Citrix Ready certifications and allows users to manage their entire power infrastructure remotely and directly through the VMware vSphere or Citrix XenCenter platforms. Today, customers can build on EMC’s integrated capabilities with VMware vCenter by utilizing Eaton’s Intelligent Power Manager software to automate disaster recovery and business continuity processes directly from the VMware platform, including the consolidation of non-critical workloads to extend battery runtime, automatic and transparent live migration of virtual machines and movement of critical workloads to a disaster recovery site to maintain business continuity in the event of an extended power outage. “EMC is pleased that Eaton has joined the EMC Technology Partner Program to demonstrate its commitment to excellence in technology innovation for storage, security, backup, big data and analytics” said Parmeet Chaddha, Vice President, Solutions, EMC Corporation “We look forward to working with Eaton to ensure that our mutual customers have the highest level of support possible for their information infrastructure initiatives.”
Point2Point | GRENKE
Thomas Sauerteig, MD, GC Leasing Middle East FZCO
Germany in 1978, has met with a positive response from the market. Luckily, with GRENKE’s demonstrably successful leasing model we don’t have to reinvent the wheel here in the Arab region either. Furthermore, we can always rely on the support of the franchisor, GRENKELEASING AG. But there are certainly differences. For example, GRENKE’s Dubai location has great market potential, as the small-ticket IT leasing market is still untapped to a large extent. This pioneering role brings us both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, standards firstly have to be created. On the other hand, we are in the comfortable position of not yet having any competitors. This means that we can help shape and develop the market.
A Pioneer in IT Leasing In a conversation with The Integrator, Thomas Sauerteig, Managing Director at GC Leasing Middle East FZCO -GRENKE Franchise discusses how the company is uniquely positioned in the small-ticket IT leasing market while his colleague Kunal Arora, Sales Director mentions how the company also offers a rewarding reseller program. Discuss your operations in the region? Thomas Sauerteig: We are a Franchise Company of GRENKE and we started our business in Dubai in February 2013. GRENKE our Franchisor have more than 30 years’ experience in Small-Ticket IT Leasing.
40 | October 2013
This is a unique Business model. Please elaborate on the feasibility of this in the region? Thomas Sauerteig: The financing model of offering small-ticket IT leasing for products such as PCs, notebooks, copiers and printers, which was developed by Wolfgang Grenke in
Discuss the target profile of customers who are likely to avail of leasing for their Technology and office equipment? Thomas Sauerteig: 95 % of the companies in Dubai are SME companies. And these are exactly our target customers. The situation in the
UAE is similar to Europe. They can safeguard their liquidity by leasing of IT and office systems. With our attractive leasing terms and leasing installments they protect their capital and give them a greater leverage and leeway when it comes to credit lines with banks and suppliers. The capital cost is spread across the leased item’s entire service life. But GRENKE offers even more for SME customers. With our trade-up option, they can replace your leased items with newer technology within the term of contract – without necessarily increasing your leasing payments. How are these IT products leased out? Are these purchased by Grenke or is this a Financing model? Thomas Sauerteig: It’s not a financing model. Our classic lease model is similar to a long term rental model. We close the leasing contract directly with the lessee and the supplier sends us the invoice. After receiving the invoice and the required documents, we guarantee the payment to the supplier within 24 hours. Leasing with GRENKE is available from a purchase price of 2,500.00 AED. Are these yearly leasing contracts? If customers want to exit a contract, what happens to the IT equipment that they have leased? Thomas Sauerteig: GRENKE offers different leasing terms from 15 months to 60 months in case of the leased equipment. For example, notebooks or PC’s have to be changed earlier than
securing your future
Big Performance, small price, no matter the size, trust Honeywell to deliver For every day security applications, we’ve expanded our Performance Series range of cameras to better meet your needs. With both analogue and IP solutions in the range, look no further for all your video requirements and support. Get more for your money with these video surveillance systems that are simple to operate and easy to manage. Using truly innovative recording technology with some of the world’s most robust camera options, the range includes indoor and outdoor cameras, bullet cameras, new ball and IR cameras as well as our best value ever 16-channel HRG DVR! We can help secure your future with Performance you need at the right price!
To secure your future with big performance and small prices Honeywell’s IP solutions call +971-4-454-1701 or visit www.honeywellperformance.com © 2013 Honeywell International Inc. All rights reserved.
Server Equipment or copiers. After the lease term, the customer have full flexibility. He can return the equipment to the lessor without any extra costs or a new investment, also it is possible to use the equipment beyond the base lease term with a smaller lease installment and he can take over the equipment at the residual book value or at the fair market value. What are the challenges in this model? Thomas Sauerteig: It’s a new model in the UAE, so we have to talk again and again with the customers to explain the advantages of IT leasing. And with over 30 years experience in small-ticket IT leasing in Germany, it helps us to understand the requirements of our customers very well. Our target is, we want GRENKE to become an established name on the market in the UAE and we want to move forward a step each day in improving our processes and gaining new partners and customers. How can resellers work with Grenke? Kunal Arora: With a unique proposition in this market along with liquidity crunch, the resellers are now more interested in the leasing possibility of their IT offerings in the market. Our Model is simple of targeting the channel partners who like to be a part of new concept in the market. Dealers, SI’s, VARS along with Printing industry experts would be a part of our reseller model. The partners will be linked to us via our online GFS solution to make it easy for them to derive a quote and start the credit check. Another important point is the GRENKE philosophy “One face to the customer”. A GRENKE sales manager is always available to do the lease support. We ensure the partner invoices are paid within 24 hours after receiving the required documents. This safeguards the partners liquidity also. Overall, our model helps partners and customers maintain their liquidity and have the desired I.T network upbeat with time.
42 | October 2013
Firm strides SNB is a new generation Value Added IT distributor with a specialization on storage & backup, networking, CCTV surveillance and IT security solutions. It is a first time exhibitor at GITEX this year and and will be located at Stand D1-30 in Hall 1. Abdul Rauf Chougle, Group General Manager at SNB IT Distribution discusses the company’s agenda for the show as well the strides it has made
Comment on the major focus for you at your GITEX showcase? This is the first time we are participating in GITEX and it is a great opportunity for SNB to showcase our capabilities in terms of the range of products and solutions we offer and the value additions we provide. We aim to interact with resellers from across the region and forge new relationships, as well as strengthen our existing relationship. We also look forward to meeting new vendors and potential partners.
Abdul Rauf Chougle, Group GM, SNB IT Distribution
Kunal Arora, Sales Director, GC Leasing EATON
Point2Point
As a VAD how do you ensure the success of the products you bring to market? The region has been receptive to new products as long as they are technically superior. We are confident about successfully promoting all our products, since all are best-in-class and are already popular worldwide. Elaborate on some of the Technologies you will showcase? We will be highlighting SNB’s focus on Security Surveillance, Data Storage, Networking and IT-Security products and solutions and make the market aware of the products we carry. We will use the forum to announce some of our recent tie-ups with some of the leading IT vendors like Nexsan, Enterasys, Proxim Wireless, Mobotix, Axxonsoft and Seclore.
Discuss your expansion plans? We have setup our offices in Doha and Nairobi and are on the verge of setting up operations in Saudi Arabia. We have also been expanding our vendor alliances over the year that has given us an extensive portfolio as a Value-Added Distributor focusing on Security Surveillance, Data Storage, Networking and ITSecurity products and solutions.
Point2Point | Alpha Data
Rajan T. N., Director Sales, Alpha Data
Alpha Data is one of the premier systems integrators in the region and partners with leading vendors including HP, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, Cisco, Avaya, Juniper, Polycom, VM Ware, Auto Desk etc. It has several accolades to its credit from vendors including HP, Juniper, Adobe and Symantec. Rajan. T. N., Director –Sales at Alpha data discusses the trends in the SI market as well as Alpha Data’s approach.
When you have multiple products from different vendors that maybe overlapping in terms of functionalities, how would you recommend one over the other in a project that you are implementing? As an SI we go by Best of breed Approach in our portfolio, but mostly we depend on Customer preferences in deployments. As an experienced SI for the last 30 years we have become sort of Technology Consultants to our esteemed customers and we as an SI would prefer to be a Product agnostic company and to be more known through our Services & Integration Skills. What has been the percentage wise growth for the company over the year? We have seen about 10-15 % growth Year on year both in the Top line and Bottom line revenues.
An alpha plot Are there a lot of cloud and virtualization based deployments happening in the region? In the Cloud services domain, actual deployments are yet to happen to happen in significant numbers but a lot of POCs are being done and there is lot of interest among SME clients for non-critical applications. Further, a lot of private Cloud initiatives are unfolding among enterprise customers and positively, there is going to be a lot of momentum happening with the support of Microsoft,
44 | October 2013
HP and other venders. There are a lot of deployments are happening in the area of Virtualization using VM ware and Hyper V technologies.
and are actively engaged in some of the HP Cloud Matrix solution deployments in the UAE. Of late our Main focus has been Infrastructure Services.
Discuss your strengths in these domains (cloud and Virtualisation) in terms of vendor alliances and technical expertise. Alpha Data is a certified cloud partner for Microsoft and done lot of POCs with SME customers with a few wins. We are also on the verge of getting certified with HP Cloud Matrix
Which are the major areas witnessing more number of turnkey solution requirements? The Market is witnessing more number of solution deployed in the domains of Data Centre , Mobility, Storage Consolidation, Server Virtualization, Microsoft based Cloud & Lync , BYOD, Wi- FI etc.
Is the SI market getting more competitive with new integrators coming up or entering the region? Yes very much. Indian SI are getting aggressive in UAE markets with a lot of credential from Indian market. Further, some of the tier-2 SIs are getting more aggressive greatly affecting our Margins. However I can see some of the UAE SIs are going away from Infrastructure Projects and focusing more on Services.
Point2Point | Paramount
Premchand Kurup, CEO, Paramount
Paramount is a leading end to end provider of security solutions that encompass Perimeter Security, Secure Content Management, Identity and Access Management, Vulnerability Assessment, Risk, Policy and Compliance Management. Premchand Kurup, CEO at Paramount who has been responsible for orchestrating the growth of the company into all regional markets and achieving recognition as a leading Information Security solutions provider discusses trends from the market as well as the company’s compelling focus in the domain
A relentless focus Are more medium and large sized enterprises in the region seeking to get their IT infrastructures more secured? You cannot protect yourself from an external threat environment that is dynamic with an internal process framework or security architecture that is static. You have to constantly assess your current security posture and make necessary changes in the controls and/or in the security architecture to enhance your current level of security. This
46 | October 2013
is a tremendous opportunity for Paramount as we have Technology Implementation Services; Security Process Consulting & Managed Services under one single umbrella. More importantly, it gives us an opportunity to constantly enhance the quality of our service delivery & build lifetime value relationships with our customers . What are the necessary security certifications that Businesses hoping to compete globally need to
have? Two Certifications in our view is critical; ISO 27001 which is the Information Security Standard & ISO 22301 which is the standard for Business Continuity. Being certified against these standards considerably enhances a client’s confidence in sharing vital information with the company and also in doing business with the firm. Globally these are well recognized standards. Paramount was the first IT Company in the Middle East to be BS7799 certified
way back in 2001 and when this British standard morphed into ISO 27001, the same was adopted by us. Do you try and engage with key accounts as end to end solution providers for security since you have a vast portfolio of security products? We believe we have a holistic understanding of security, we definitely are not a point product integrator or an Integrator of multiple technologies. Our
Point2Point | Paramount
differentiation lies in our strong Consulting Practice and our Risk based approach to Security. This is our Customer Value Proposition. There is no point in spending 100K$ to protect a 10K$ asset. If you want to protect your Information Assets, it can only be achieved by a prudent combination of People, Process & Technology (PPT). Technology alone is not the answer to the problem as the market in general assumes. Getting this combination (PPT) right is key and this is where Paramount can help. We have a 10 year plus track record helping key customers in the region across all verticals. Is BYOD a key focus? BYOD readiness assessment is a consulting engagement most large customers must consider; we have delivered on several such product agnostic assignments in the region. BYOD is a reality today and it is critical for customers to have Policies, Processes & Procedures for BYOD defined before adopting any technology. We currently provide this as a Consulting Service and then help clients identify the most appropriate Technology for their environment. How do you pick and choose a product that is being included as part of a turnkey solution? This is often very difficult but it is important to be vendor neutral and have the best interests of the customer in mind. Easily said than done, as in reality the sales force is under constant pressure
48 | October 2013
on sales & margins. Vendors directly interacting with customers muddies the picture further but this is a reality of the market place and the customer needs to be more discerning than ever before. Apart from functionality, we need to assess ease of configuring; ability to integrate into the client Network & Application infrastructure; client’s internal team knowledge & skills; ongoing support requirements; vendor support quality; stability of the technology and pricing & discounts available. As you see there are several criteria to be assessed before positioning a particular brand and it is pretty difficult on the ground; as an independent Integrator there is every possibility that we are misunderstood either by the Vendor or the customer. Ultimately you need to have Integrity in your client relationship and this takes precedence over everything else. Integrity for us is nonnegotiable; everything else in Paramount we are willing to negotiate. Is storage also a key practice along with security? We are currently offering Deduplication Appliances for Backup & Recovery; Backup consolidation Solutions; Cloud Backup & Recovery; Offshore Backup; Consulting for Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity. We have incubated a separate entity - CloudSafe to foray into this space in a focused manner. Cloud backup, we believe is ideal for SMEs and can be designed to provide for low cost DR.
How large is the Technical team at Paramount? Our only asset is our People. We have across the region over 70 Security Engineers & Consultants who are certified on multiple technologies and multiple Standards and are continuously refreshing their knowledge. This is probably the largest reservoir of security talent under a single umbrella in the Region. The security arena has become incredibly complex; all knowledge & skill can never be vested in one individual. Look at the complexity we have to deal with as a company - you need to understand APT & advanced malware; Big Data & the impact on security analytics; security for BYOD; cloud security; identity management; SCADA security; social media security and none of this was prevalent 2 years ago; at the same time you cant relegate to the background the host of next generation technologies – NG Firewall; NG Web gateways; NG Web Application Firewalls; NG – IPS; DLP; DRM; Forensic tools. It is no longer easy to create, build, grow and scale a Security System Integration & Consulting business. Security complexity will be a game changer; only the Paranoid will survive. As an individual or as an organization our speed of learning will be our most vital competitor differentiation. What are the new security disciplines that you have identified to include in your roadmap? Big Data Security Analytics; Identity & Access Management;
SCADA Security and DLP is what we see as areas of client focus and we are geared to deliver on this. We have several projects at different stages of implementation at the moment and each has got a significant consulting component. The future is promising. If we want to win the war against hackers it cannot be achieved by standing still; it cannot be achieved by a knowledge of the past. Companies that seek constant improvement in the form of excellence model are now also evaluating GRC (Governance, Risk Management & Compliance) products and solutions. The GRC adoption is seen as a maturity model and will soon become an imperative integral of large enterprises that seek compliance as a key performance area. In a dynamic threat environment compliance to Security policies is the best way of protection. The GRC provides confidence to the senior management and the CxO’s in such a situation. What has been the Year on Year growth? We have been cautious because we do not want to bite more than what we can chew. we have had a 15% growth. We continue to strive on our path towards excellence and are addressing several key challenges, both internal & external, to the organization. This takes precedence over sales growth, as far as management is concerned.
TechKnow | TSC Auto
Elaborate on your focus in label printing Label Printing is always in demand in almost all the market sectors. TSC Auto ID is a leading manufacturer of thermal label printers. We offer durable long-lasting label printers that can print on a large variety of materials with the lowest cost of ownership that are also affordably priced. Do you provide both thermal transfer and direct thermal printers across all product segments? TSC Auto ID Technology offers an extensive range of both Thermal and Direct Thermal Printers which meet market needs. These range from Desktop models to Industrial Maqdoom Mohammed Sales Manager ME TSC Auto ID Technology
Technology was awarded the Taiwan Excellence Award for 2 printers TTP 225 and ME 240. Elaborate on your distribution strategy in the region? We have a distributor and we also have direct partners with whom we have a long standing relationship. We work closely with partners towards win-win objectives. Comment on your year on year growth in the region? In the past three years, the company has been growing at 10 -15 % each year and we want to achieve a higher rate this year. This will be possible through having a larger number of partners and we are
Raising the Bar Barcodes and labels are pervasive in our lives with nearly all products in a grocery, department or mass merchandise store that bears a barcode. Maqdoom Mohammed, Sales Manager Middle East at TSC Auto ID Technology ME speaks to The Integrator about the continued demand and their specicalised solutions for different sectors.
Is the region a significant growth market for Auto ID solutions? TSC Auto ID Technology is a leading manufacturer of Barcode Printers that includes Desktop, Industrial and Mobile Printers. Our operations are focused on the Middle East and GCC regions where there is a major demand for Auto ID Solutions. Comment on demand across segments and your focus. The demand is across all segments for Auto ID Solutions. We provide specialized high
50  |  October 2013
performance printing solutions for different verticals including healthcare, Government, retail, entertainment & Hospitality, Logistics, Transportation etc. Discuss your retail focus? Retail Sector is indeed a huge sector, especially in this region, in terms of its potential for deploying Barcode solutions. This forms a significant percentage of our sales. TSC offers a line of bar code printers that are ideally suited for retail applications Is label printing on the rise?
and Mobile Printers that suit different requirements from customers. The information of all these printers is available on our website www. tscprinters.com. We offer our Printers with 2 years warranty out of the box. The performance is comparable with the best in technology with a vast range of choices offered when compared to competition and the prices are more competitive. Our manufacturing strength is recognized through industry accolades. TSC Auto ID
keen to sign on new partners at this GITEX. What would be the highlights of your showcase at GITEX? Our stand located at Booth C3-11 in Hall 3 will have a major focus on all printers which include desktop (2 inch to 4 inch), industrial (4 inch to 8 Inch ), both Direct Thermal and Thermal Transfer Printers, as well as Mobile Alpha 3R and Alpha 4L ( 3 inch to 4 Inch). Among the highlights would be the new Desktop Industrial printers.
InSight | Sophos
Ralf Haubrich, Vice President, Sophos
While mobile devices in the workplace are becoming the rule, not the exception, organizations need to look for MDM solutions offering a single license for each employee that will protect all devices writes Ralf Haubrich, Vice President, Sophos CEEMEA
It's clear that mobile devices in the workplace are becoming the rule, not the exception, and IT departments need to address the need to secure these devices with mobile device management (MDM) that is easy to deploy and straight forward to manage. But with mobile devices constantly changing and evolving, for IT departments it can mean countless hours spent provisioning, securing, locating, locking and updating these devices. We believe MDM should give you the ability to manage countless devices with a single solution, giving IT departments
the market is impressive, as is the desire of many people to have the latest upgrade. You only have to look at the speed with which the recent iOS7 update was adopted by users to see the challenge faced by IT departments in keeping pace with the rate of change of devices. So if employees are to be allowed to add new, even multiple devices to the network whenever they wish, IT won't be able to plan for security licensing expenses. To help combat this, organizations need to look for MDM solutions that secure individuals, rather than individual devices. By this, I mean offering a single
No escape from BYOD S
martphones and tablet devices are now a part of our everyday consumer lives. More than ever before, we are using multiple connected devices in our private lives and we want the convenience they bring to our communications to be part of our business lives as well. Consequently, IT departments at small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) throughout the Middle East, and indeed all over the world, are facing the challenge of how to integrate these devices safely into their business. The dilemma SMBs face is how to manage this ever changing array of devices that are showing up on their networks, while keeping their valuable company data safe. Understandable, many of these organizations are
52  |  October 2013
unsure how to create practical and effective mobile and BYOD (bring your own device) policies, while satisfying the communications needs of their employees. For many of these organizations, the answer has simply been to refuse to allow requests for BYOD. Without the security licenses to properly protect all the devices, many IT departments have opted for the easiest option of refusing to allow different devices at access their networks. However, pressure has been increasing as the devices have become more popular, and it has become evident that with or without permission, many personal devices are being used at access company information without their consent and, worse still, without security.
more time to address all of those other requests that were never in the job description. Simple to deploy mobile device management and security, covering all devices, will keep employees happy and productive, minimizing the workload for IT, and giving managers confidence that the company's data is protected. So whatever the choice of device - iOS, Android, Windows Phone - the company's valuable data will be protected. But this throws up another issue in that employees are constantly acquiring new smartphones, tablets and other devices, which they may want to use for work purposes. The speed with which new and updated mobile devices - and operating systems - are hitting
license for each employee that will protect all devices. This way, any new device is automatically able to be secured, and employees won't have to sneak their new devices on to the network because there aren't any security licenses left. SMB businesses everywhere are looking for a simple, secure way to enable employees to use mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, Android and Windows Phones, to get work done. This is the challenge of BYOD, but with the right polices and mobile device management solution in place, BYOD can create tremendous opportunities for businesses to ensure their employees not only remain productive but also increase their productivity.
eyetech
Cisco Network Convergence System 6000 (NCS 6000)
ATEN OVER IP KVM SOLUTIONS
Overview:
Overview Aten´s new generation of KVM over IP switches - KN series allows local and remote operators the ability to monitor and access their entire data center over the network using a web-based browser. In addition, they offer out-of-band access with external modem support for BIOS-level troubleshooting when the network is down. To help you manage and control an entire data center, these KVM over IP switches support blade servers and chassis.
Key features: • With powerful new features such as Power Association – KVM ports can be associated with ATEN PDU power outlets for power management of servers from the KVM over IP switches user interface. • KVM over IP switches now support the new Control Center Video Session Recorder (CCVSR) software. The CCVSR records all operations made on servers accessed through KVM over IP switches. • With dual on-board NICs and dual power supplies, the KVM over IP switches are built for reliability, to ensure 24/7 availability of remote access to all server room computers. • With Aten KVM over IP switches IT administrators can manage their server rooms and data centers from practically anywhere – minimizing travel costs and MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) – ensuring the highest availability of data center services possible.
54 | October 2013
Cisco has introduced the Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS), a network fabric family designed to serve as the foundation of a massively scalable, smarter and more adaptable Internet. A component of the Cisco NCS family, the Cisco Network Convergence System 6000 (NCS 6000) helps enable superior network agility, packet optical convergence, and petabits-per-second system scale. The series facilitates the Evolved Programmable Network to support virtualization and programmability at the lowest total cost of ownership, while delivering high-bandwidth mobile, video, and cloud services to end users.
Key features: •
With NCS 6000, your network can bring new levels of programmability and virtualization that have never before existed and at system-wide scale. You can enhance application service offerings, increase provisioning speed, and optimize your network economics.
•
Running the virtualized, Cisco IOS XR operating system, the Cisco NCS 6000 Series advances distributed routing and virtualization. This modularity provides a path to nonstop operations during software image upgrades or module changes.
•
With virtualized IOS-XR running on the NCS 6000, you can increase application service offerings, speed up provisioning velocity, and optimize network economics.
eyetech
Brocade ICX 6450-C PoE Switch
WD SE 3.5-inch hard drives Overview: The Se is best suited for bulk cloud storage, replicated environments, content delivery networks (CDNs), SMB network attached storage (NAS), backup and archiving
Key features: • Datacenter drives undergo at least 5 million
Overview The Brocade ICX 6450-C is an enterprise-class networking switch in a compact form factor, which further strengthens the company’s campus networking portfolio. It features the Brocade HyperEdge Architecture which supports mobility, security, and application agility and integrates innovative wired and wireless technologies to streamline application deployment, simplify network management, and reduce operating costs.
Key features • The Brocade ICX 6450-C offers an upgrade option to bring Layer 3 capabilities to the network edge, reducing complexity and enhancing the reliability of enterprise networks. • It is sFlow enabled delivering an "always-on" technology that operates with wire-speed performance. sFlow dramatically reduces implementation costs compared to traditional network monitoring solutions that rely on mirrored ports, probes, and line-tap technologies. The switch supports auto- configuration, simplifying deployment with a truly plug-and-play experience. • The PoE capability reduces the number of power receptacles and power adapters while increasing reliability and wiring flexibility. It can provide PoE power to all ports and PoE+ (30 watts) to all ports when an external power supply is deployed.
56 | October 2013
hours of functional testing, and over 20 million hours of comprehensive Interoperability testing in an extensive array of server and storage systems •
RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER) prevents drive fallout caused by the extended hard drive error-recovery processes common to desktop drives
• Multi-axis shock sensor automatically detects the subtlest shock events and compensates to protect the data. •
Enhanced Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFF) technology includes sophisticated electronics to monitor the drive and correct both linear and rotational vibration in real time. The result is a significant performance improvement in high vibration environments over the previous generation of drives.
•
The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations.
•
The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit
For deeper network security
look beyond the obvious.
Dell™ SonicWALL™ next-gen firewalls provide a deeper level of network security without slowing down performance. Not all next-generation firewalls are the same. To start, Dell SonicWALL next-generation firewalls scan every byte of every packet while maintaining the high performance and low latency that busy networks require. Additionally, Dell SonicWALL network security goes deeper than other firewalls by providing high-performance SSL decryption and inspection, an intrusion prevention system that features sophisticated anti-evasion technology, and network-based malware protection that leverages the power of the cloud. Now your organization can block sophisticated new threats that emerge on a daily basis. Go deeper at: www.sonicwall.com/deepernetsec
Come and visit Dell SonicWALL at Gitex, booth number D1-21
Copyright 2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell SonicWALL is a trademark of Dell Inc. and all other Dell SonicWALL product and service names and slogans are trademarks of Dell Inc.
October 2013 | 57
Stats & Trends
Large Enterprises move towards hybrid Clouds
Nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017, according to Gartner, Inc. In the past three years, private cloud computing has moved from an aspiration to a tentative reality for nearly half of large enterprises. Hybrid cloud computing is at the same place today that private cloud was three years ago; as actual deployments are low, but aspirations are high. When it comes to drivers of private cloud computing, while cost is always an important consideration, a business case for private cloud cannot rely on lower costs as the primary justification. Organizations that are well on their way with private cloud projects rarely consider technology the major issue. Certainly the technologies to deliver private cloud are relatively immature and evolving, and many enterprises find that custom work is required to meet their needs, but much more difficult are the transformational adjustments needed to use the technology. Cloud services require operational processes that are designed for speed and customized for the services offered. An ingrained IT culture focused on technical expertise doesn't fit a fully automated, self-service model that requires a service-oriented, team approach. Progress made with private cloud varies enormously, according to Gartner. Most deployments are starting small, with a limited scope of functionality. However, as those private cloud portfolios grow the resulting cloud infrastructures will likely be based on the technologies chosen for pilot projects. Gartner believes that in a market with a lot of vendors vying for market share, the winners and losers will be determined very quickly and because of the importance of integration throughout the cloud management platform, smaller players will likely be acquired or go out of business within the next few years. Where organizations do decide to deploy cloud services, the technology they choose matters tremendously. While pilot projects will tend to start small, with limited functionality, it's important to choose a technology foundation that offers room for expansion — both in terms of functionality richness, and in terms of hybrid cloud interoperability for the future. The other alternative is to choose a technology that provides a rapid return on investment — for example, two years — with the possibility of changing technologies in the future.
58 | October 2013
SDN market is expected to reach USD 3.52 billion by 2018 According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research," the global SDN market is expected to reach USD 3.52 billion by 2018, growing at a CAGR of 61.5% from 2012 to 2018 The global SDN market is primarily driven by factors such as increasing need for efficient infrastructure and mobility. The increasing demand for cloud services is also bolstering the growth of this market. Nowadays, many organizations are storing, computing, and networking through cloud-based infrastructure. They are doing this for more agility, flexibility, manageability, and programmability in their network infrastructure. The growing adoption of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy within an organization serves as an opportunity for this market. Of the three major end users, enterprises held more than 35% of the entire SDN market in 2012, due to the increasing need for agility, cost efficiency, and flexibility in the network infrastructure. The cloud service providers are expected to be the fastest growing end user segment in the coming years. The reason behind this is that, SDN technology helps cloud service providers in reducing their OPEX (Operating Expenses) and CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) and also helps them in delivering new services for revenue growth. In terms of solutions, cloud provisioning and orchestration dominates the global SDN market. It is also expected to be the fastest growing solution as it helps to design, optimize, secure, and monitor the network. SDN switching held the second largest revenue share of the SDN market in 2012. SDN switching is the first layer of SDN network infrastructure, and is growing due to the increasing demand from new entrants who want to set up SDN technology in their organization. The SDN industry is fragmented in nature, with presence of multiple players across different categories including hardware providers, software developers and service providers. Leading players in the global SDN industry include names such as Cisco, IBM, NEC, Juniper Networks among others. Other key players in the market include Alcatel-Lucent, VMware, HP, Google, Big Switch Networks, Arista Networks, Brocade Communications Systems, Verizon Communications, Intel Corporation and others. The global SDN market is primarily driven by the increasing need for mobility and efficient network infrastructure. The increasing demand for cloud services is also supporting the growth of the
Enjoy Greater Flexibility with D-Link IP-PBX and Video Telephony Solutions
www.dlinkmea.com
• Asterisk-Based IP-PBX • Up to 800 extensions with NO licences
Are you looking for cost-efficient ways to communicate with your business associates, maximize returns without risks? Does ease of maintenance and integration play an important role in your IT network set-up? D-Link has the appropriate solution for you.
DVX-2004
DVX-8000
DVX-9000
DPH-150SE
DPH-400SE
DPH-850SE
All-In-One DVX-2004 IP-PBX
Asterisk®-Based IP-PBX
Asterisk®-Based IP-PBX
Broadband Internet IP Phone
Broadband Internet IP Phone
Android IP Video Phone
Up to 30 users
Up to 300 users
Up to 800 users
AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR Aptec - an I ngram M icro Company P. O. Box 33550 Dubai Internet City, Dubai, UAE E-Mail: sdawda@aptecme.com
Tel.: (+971 4) 3697 111 Fax: (+971 4) 3697 110 www.apteconline.com
Eaton BladeUPS. A scalable solution for a greener data centre.
Eaton BladeUPS. Energy saving efficiency in a scalable format.
www.eaton.com/powerquality
The Eaton速 BladeUPS速 is in a class of its own when it comes to high power density in a small footprint. Delivering 12 kW of ultra efficient, reliable power in only 6U of rack space (including batteries), it expands in building block fashion to deliver 60 kW of redundant backup power. With both energy and cooling requirements reduced, this really is a UPS to build a data centre around.