The Integrator - ME

Cover Story - P-14

Editorial

The road to Unified storage

As clichéd as it sounds, the truth is that the role of IT as an enabler is unquestionable as of today. Appropriate IT solutions can enable Businesses unlock the horsepower within their structure to achieve greater speeds of growth.

Content

Map needs and deliver

Unifies storage is now winning over more customers who see the rationale of optimizing storage resources with a solution that can manage both SAN and NAS in one box

Regulars

News Bytes – P-5 Eytech- P-32 Stats &Trends – P-34 News in detail

Largest ever Cloud Confex at GITEX 2012 - P -9

Increasingly there are plenty of options for customers looking for the right tools and of the scale they require to meet the needs of their organisations, at prices they can afford. The outlook for the IT industry should continue to remain bright, as companies will continue to procure and upgrade hardware and software too. However, availability of cloud apps and virtualization is changing the paradigm considerably in terms of how organisations acquire additional capacity in their IT infrastructure. The trick for value-add resellers and integrators is to accordingly align their companies to make them capable of addressing those needs. In short, the value-add channel needs to constantly broaden their areas of competence.

EMC makes new Executive Appointments - P -10

For instance a recent survey by IDC suggests that more number of users maybe looking at deploying storage and/or data efficiency technologies including thin provisioning, storage virtualization, data deduplication etc. This comes at a time of great data growth that is compelling companies to either increase their storage capacities physically or optimise their current capacities.

Sherif M Al Ashery, General Manager - Tech Access, KSA speaks about the company’s partnership with Oracle

Further, a gameplan to target the burgeoning SMB market with considerable focus makes sense because they are an ambitious lot and want to leapfrog in terms of productivity and size up vis-à-vis larger competitors. Needless to add, they are numerous in emerging markets, which makes it a good target market. Some of the larger sized SMB customers could be ready customers for hosted business productivity suites. There could also be significant potential in offering Managed services that are accessible via notebooks, tablets and smartphones. In short, the valueadd channel needs to be nimble and capable to keep abreast with evolving customer needs.

R. Narayan Managing Editor Founder & CEO: Vivek Sharma Managing Editor: R. Narayan Assistant Editor: David Ndichu Art Director: Faiz Ahmed Sales Director: Alishan Zaidi Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Business Development Manager: Mallika Rego Sales Manager : Saad Zaidi Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh

In Focus

An AV specialist - P -12

Almoe has become a name to be reckoned with in distribution of AV solutions in the region

The Leading Edge - P-24

Green Edge recently gathered its partners for its three-year anniversary celebrations at a dinner

Point2Point

Geared for Growth/ Tech Access - P -20

Expertise to the fore / DVCOM - P -26

Renjan George, Marketing Manager at Datavoiz, a part of the Al Mashka group of companies, speaks to the Integrator about the company’s portfolio and focus

Techknow - P -24

Growing partner Business

Asli Aktasa, Channel Director CEE, ME, APAC , Enterasys Networks speaks to The Integrator about the company’s focus areas

Insight

Ubiquity in video collaboration - P -28

Video conferencing technology is not an unattainable solution or an exclusive management tool anymore, it is widely becoming accessible for any employee writes GARY RIDER, PRESIDENT EMEA, POLYCOM

Leveraging the Cloud as a Security Enabler - P-30

Marc Solomon, Chief Marketing Officer, Sourcefire writes that we should rather be looking at realizing the benefits of cloud as a security enabler.

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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.

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The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

News Bytes

Citrix adds MDX Technology to CloudGateway Citrix announced the immediate availability of Citrix CloudGateway 2, featuring its new MDX mobile experience technology. The addition of MDX gives CloudGateway a rich set of mobile app technologies that enable centralized management, security and control over native iOS, Android and HTML 5 apps across more than two billion mobile devices. The new CloudGateway release also adds integration with Citrix ShareFile, the company's cloud-based file sharing and sync service. With these new additions, CloudGateway becomes the first product in the industry to offer customers a single unified control point for all mobile, web, SaaS and Windows apps and data, across any mix of corporate and personal devices.

Sumit Dhawan, Group Vice President and General Manager, Receiver and Gateways said, ““The converged trends of BYO and mobile workstyles are here to stay, and are the key drivers forcing companies to re-think their enterprise mobility strategies. These enterprises need to look beyond managing the device to managing the apps and data. With MDX Technology in CloudGateway, Citrix gives these enterprises an end-to-end solution that securely manages the apps and data, leaving device freedom in the hands of users."

Cisco recognizes partner successes at Summit At its recent Partner Summit 2012, Cisco demonstrated its ongoing focus and commitment to its Channel Partners by recognizing the achievements of its top performing ones in the UAE for 2012.

The company used the event to launch its FY13 Partner Program - Partner Plus - a new global channel program targeting mid-sized customers.

Partner Plus is a key pillar of Cisco's Partner Led strategy, which is designed to empower and reward channel partners to lead the sale with small and mid-sized customers. This approach combines the power of the partner sales force and Cisco's sales force to go after these market segments. This is part of the $75 million investment that Cisco announced in 2011.

LogRhythm gets “Champion” rating in SIEM Landscape Report LogRhythm, the leader in cyber threat defense, detection and response has been listed as a “Champion” in Info-Tech Research Group’s Security Information and Event Management Vendor Landscape report. According to Info-Tech Research Group, LogRhythm is credited with having a comprehensive SIEM solution and was deemed “Exemplary” in management of security events, reduction of compliance complexity and enhancement of overall risk management.

Assessing vendors by the strength of their offering and their strategy for the enterprise, Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscapes pay tribute to the contribution of exceptional vendors in a particular category.

Info-Tech Research Group states that “Champions receive high scores for most evaluation criteria and offer excellent value. They have strong market presence and are usually the trend setters for the industry.”

"On the heels of being named a ‘Leader’ in Gartner’s SIEM Magic Quadrant, we’re thrilled that Info-Tech Research Group named LogRhythm as a ‘Champion’ because of our award-winning technology and market leadership,” said Andy Grolnick, president and CEO of LogRhythm.

Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

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News Bytes

Bytes launches storage unit in UAE Bytes Technology Group Emirates, a subsidiary of Bytes Technology Group, in itself a principal subsidiary of the multi-million dollar Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed Altron Group, has announced the launch of a storage business unit in the UAE based on NetApp products. Bytes is currently NetApp’s largest partner in Africa and has extensive experience in enterprise storage and data solutions.

“The market for storage is showing tremendous growth in this part of the world, and we are excited about leveraging our NetApp relationship to drive solutions in the UAE market” says Rodney Barrell, MD, Bytes Emirates. “We have developed a wide range of offerings in this space which add value to our customers."

Bytes will be supported in their go to market efforts by Aptec Distribution who has worked closely with NetApp for several years.

Comguard unveils wireless division Comguard has carved out a brand new division called ‘Comguard Wireless’ to extend its focus on wireless networking products and solutions in the Middle East region. Comguard Wireless has tied-up with leading wireless technology vendors like Meru Networks, AirLIVE, TP LINK, Altai Technologies, AirTight Networks, and Cambium Networks to offer an entire gamut of wireless networking products and solutions.

The new division will target wide range of industry verticals including, Internet Service Provider (ISP/WISP), Carrier Ethernet IP Services, Enterprise Wireless, Private Campus Networks, Municipal & Government Wireless Networks, and Security Systems & Wireless Surveillance.

Ajay Singh Chauhan, CEO, Comguard, said, “Wireless is the future of technology and we wish to play an important role in this segment as we did successfully in IT security marketplace. We intend to create a healthy channel for our wireless networking products in the MENA region.”

Comguard Wireless is currently in the process of identifying and recruiting new partners across the Middle East North Africa region,

Epicor appoints WorkLogix as VAR Epicor Software Corporation has announced the appointment of WorkLogix Middle East LLC as an Epicor Value Added Reseller (VAR) for the UAE. The partnership works to further expand the reach of Epicor across key growth markets while empowering more organizations with Epicor next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.

WorkLogix is a specialist business technology firm offering a comprehensive range of products such as CADD Engineering and AV, surveillance and security solutions across the Middle East. WorkLogix will now offer Epicor ERP to its clients across various industries with particular emphasis on the manufacturing and mechanical sectors.

“WorkLogix has achieved considerable success as a highly respected technology company in the region which complements our presence and market expansion initiatives across various regional markets. Our partnership with WorkLogix is testament to our commitment to establish strategic alliances that allow Epicor to reach out to more target audiences."

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The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

Sophos Announces Naizak as distributor Sophos has announced a distribution agreement with Naizak Global Engineering Systems, a leading VAD in the GCC region. The appointment comes at a time when Sophos has focused expansion plans in the region.

This new partnership will see Naizak distributing Sophos’ entire range of complete security solutions, including Endpoint Security, Encryption and Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Web and Email Protection, Mobile Control and Sophos Network Security and UTM. Naizak was already distributing UTM solutions from Astaro, which is now a Sophos company.

“Our strategic partnership with Naizak is not just an indication of our commitment to the region but it also reinforces our positive vision for local growth plans,” said Andre Scheffknecht, Regional VP of NEEMEA for Sophos. “The distribution agreement will help us deliver our technological innovations along with optimum value to our customers.”

The agreement will allow Naizak and Sophos to work closely together to provide comprehensive customer support, greater flexibility and immediacy in terms of access to the local team, as well as delivering broad access to Sophos solutions.

Comguard partners with Delphix Comguard has entered into a distribution agreement with Delphix, the leading database virtualization for agile data management software solution provider.

The new agreement enables Comguard to distribute Delphix products and solutions across the Middle East region.

Sanovi Technologies and GBM Partner Sanovi Technologies, a leader in disaster recovery management (DRM) software and Gulf Business Machines (GBM) have announced a partnership to resell Sanovi DR Management Suite to organizations throughout the GCC, excepting Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Sanovi DR Management Suite is a comprehensive family of enterprise class Disaster Recovery management software solutions designed for validating, monitoring, testing and automating recovery.

“In today’s volatile business environment, Disaster Recovery Management solutions are imperative for the smooth functioning of business. Sanovi solutions help customers reduce business exposure to IT outages, and increase confidence in their DR plans, while lowering total cost of ownership for DR solutions with its DR Automation platform,” said Cesare Cardone, CEO, GBM.

According to a study conducted by leading IT Advisory and Consulting Company, Enterprise Strategy Group, managing data growth and database size is the number one data management challenge for enterprises, with 51% of enterprises indicating that managing increases in database storage requirements is their top database application infrastructure challenge.

Jayadevan K, Senior VP, Value Business at Comguard, said, “The biggest challenge today is controlling the explosion of data growth. Delphix redefines virtualization for enterprises through the creation of a new virtualization layer for data. Comguard in association with Delphix will provide enterprises in the region a comprehensive database virtualization that can cut the cost of data management by 90%.”

Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

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News Bytes

Spectrami offers cash rewards for channel Spectrami, a VAD in association with Actifio, the pioneers in next-generation storage system announced cash rewards to generate qualified leads for channel partners spread across the selected countries in the Middle East region.

The program was categorized into two segments – Qualified Sales Lead and Qualified Pre-Sales Lead. Any channel partner, who is able to generate a Qualified Sales Lead, stands to gain US$ 100 of cash reward for every single lead, while Qualified Pre-Sales Lead will enrich the partner by US$ 50 for every single lead.

Anand Choudha, MD, Spectrami, said, “Next generation storage solutions from Actifio are need of the hour for enterprises in the region as it can resolve the issue of data management.. Our lead generation program as cash rewards will compensate the efforts of channel partners in the initial stage. ”

Almasa appoints Jeevan Bhingarkar to head Convergence business Almasa Value Distribution – an organization delivering Leading edge solutions and services to resellers keen to address regional Collaboration, Productivity , networking, communications and security challenges, has recently announced the appointment of its new Head of Convergence business , Mr. Jeevan Bhingarkar.

Having built his experience working for prestigious brands such as Imtac Technologies, Visionaire and Jumbo Electronics, Jeevan brings over 25+ years of knowledge in Enterprise Technology Solutions Distribution within the GCC and Indian markets. With a solid understanding of strategic marketing, business alliance management, convergence solutions, Jeevan’s primary responsibilities for Almasa Value Distribution will include augmenting the Products and Solutions Offering and create new channels for reaching out to end users in Industry Verticals and new geographies.

Kaspersky Lab and D-Link Extend Partnership to Provide ‘Multi-Layered Defense’ Kaspersky Lab extended its long-standing partnership agreement with D-Link combining D-Link’s NetDefend series of UTM Firewalls with Kaspersky’s most comprehensive, best-in-class endpoint security suite to provide customers with exceptional multi-layered protection.

D-Link’s NetDefend UTM Firewall customers will receive free licenses for Kaspersky Business Space Security as well as an option to buy additional licenses at a special D-Link program rate. The combination of these two products is expected to enable D-Link/Kaspersky Lab customers to deploy a reliable, multi-layered defense strategy to fight today’s ever evolving security threats.

D-Link’s UTM Firewalls have been relying on Kaspersky Lab’s signature analysis for several years to power the integral anti-malware solution on their gateway products to secure the entry point to corporate networks.

The addition of Kaspersky Business Space Security will enhance the level of protection even further by providing multiple layers of defense. This adds another level of protection to networks where D-Link NetDefend UTM Firewall is deployed. Kaspersky Business Space Security establishes a second perimeter of defense for critical network assets such as file servers, user workstations, and mobile devices, neutralizing any malware that eludes the gateway or bypasses it altogether.

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The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

News In-Detail

Cloud Confex slated to have bigger impact at GITEX 2012 As increasing numbers of organisations across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region prepare to embrace working without traditional infrastructural limitations, GITEX Technology Week 2012 is set to make its biggest impact in cloud computing to date.

Under the theme “Business Innovation through Cloud Computing – From Hype to a MustHave Service Model”, Cloud Confex is well-established as the largest and most influential conference and exhibition of its kind in the Middle East. It is on course to grow by 25% this year. The event takes place at GITEX Technology Week, which runs from October 14–18, 2012, at Dubai World Trade Centre.

The event’s ramp up in activity comes as high-growth companies and first-generation business-savvy chief information officers (CIOs) converge to drive wide-spread, cloud-driven change across multiple sectors.

According to The Five Faces of the Cloud study recently released by global business consulting firm Bain & Company, cloud computing product and service revenue is set to rise from approximately USD20 billion today to nearly USD150 billion by 2020, which will constitute around 8% of all technology spend. The study also notes that faster growing companies (greater than 10% per year) use 144% more cloud services than slower-growing companies.

An IDC report commissioned by GITEX participant Microsoft recently indicated that cloud computing will create nearly 14 million new jobs globally by 2015, including over two million in EMEA. In the MEA region itself, another IDC study notes that 73% of polled decision makers acknowledge that the cloud offers significant, tangible benefits, and anticipation at its sheer potential is mounting ahead of Cloud Confex’s ambitious agenda.

Cloud Confex will have a five-day cloud exhibition and two-day cloud conference. The event features insights on pressing issues, keynotes led by cloud computing thought leaders, panel discussions and exclusive networking break-out sessions.

Topics tackled will include the state of the cloud today, the next stages in its evolution, evolving market trends, dominant market player insight, privacy challenges and a spotlight on cloud computing technologies. Also up for discussion is the transition from a traditional or virtualised data centre to a private cloud architecture, seamless and automatic integration across cloud boundaries, how to improve business analytics performance using cloud-based environments, how to optimise the mix of hybrid clouds, cloud management business strategies, the on-going cloud computing standards dilemma and how cloud service brokers can act as the “glue” to bring together multiple services.

Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

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News In-Detail

our executive talent so that we can benefit from their exceptional professional strengths with the goal of further advantaging EMC and VMware to deliver long-term value to our respective shareholders.”

Among the key executive appointments, EMC announced that David Goulden, Executive Vice President and CFO, has been appointed President and COO of EMC Corporation, reporting to Tucci. Pat Gelsinger, EMC President and COO of Information Infrastructure Products, has been appointed CEO of VMware and also join the VMware Board of Directors.

Paul Maritz, VMware's present CEO, is joining EMC as Chief Strategist,

In joining EMC, Maritz will be driving our efforts in EMC's technology strategy with a particular focus in Big Data and the next generation of cloud-oriented applications. Maritz, who was one of the early leaders of Microsoft before becoming CEO of VMware, will also assume responsibility for EMC's CTO Office, M&A, strategic investments and emerging technologies.

Pat Gelsinger joined EMC in 2009 as President and COO of EMC Information Infrastructure Products.

Gelsinger has overseen the introduction of the largest product set in EMC history, accelerated EMC's push into unified storage

EMC makes new Executive Appointments Joe Tucci Chairman, CEO EMC

EMC announced a series of senior executive appointments to further position the company for its next phase of growth.

“EMC and VMware have delivered strong results over the past decade and have developed world-class management teams,” said Joe Tucci, EMC Chairman and CEO. “Today we are witnessing an extraordinary transformation in the IT industry unlike anything we have seen before – a major shift to Cloud Computing, Big Data applications and delivering IT-as-a-Service.

To capitalize on this tremendous opportunity we are positioning 10

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

reporting to Tucc. Maritz will remain on the VMware Board of Directors.

Goulden, a 10-year senior EMC veteran, will effective immediately assume full responsibility for EMC's Business Units, Sales and Customer Operations, Services, Marketing and G&A functions. Goulden will also continue to serve as EMC's CFO, a position he has held since 2006.

Goulden said, “EMC is very well positioned to benefit from almost every major trend in IT – flash storage, converged infrastructure, Big Data and cloud security to name just a few. I look forward to continuing to execute on EMC's strategy and working with such a talented team who embody EMC's high-performance culture. ”

and led EMC into new market segments including Big Data and flash storage.

“Pat Gelsinger's leadership and technology vision have both transformed and strengthened EMC's broad product portfolio since his arrival,” said Tucci. “Pat's unique experience in understanding how software can add value to standard hardware building blocks, as well as his deep understanding of the x86 partner ecosystem and his track record running large scale organizations make him the natural choice to further enhance VMware's competitive positioning and lead VMware through its next phase of growth.”

Indranil Bandyopadhyay - GM, Almoe

In Focus | ALMOE

An AV Specialist Almoe has become a name to be reckoned with in distribution of AV solutions in the region and it has built up considerable expertise including an in-house technical team that can step up when required to provide consultancy and solution implementations. The company continues to take stock of trends and add solutions and brands that will keep it apace with the demands of the market

It pays to have a diverse portfolio across several flourishing domains. That seems to be the line of thought pursued by Almoe Digital Solutions, a distributor representing more than a dozen brands in such diverse areas as POS systems to printing to video conferencing and learning technologies.

Almoe has been in business in the Middle East market as well as India for the last 18 years, providing products and

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The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

solutions to the education sector, hospitality and governmental sectors and retailers. Today the firm has warehouses in Jebel Ali and DIP backed by a logistics team to support the supply chain.

Almoe also maintains service centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

One of the company’s main domains is in projectors with a range of products for corporates, education, SMBs and home entertainment from

Epson. The company’s portfolio includes multi-media projectors with 8,000-10,000 lumens for corporate, education and home theatre. High end projectors with 20,000-30,000 lumens cater for large conference halls. All these can be integrated with audio systems from Almoe’s partner Bose.

Almoe provides independent consultancy in information management and compliance.

Services offered include electronics records archiving, design and review of electronic management processes and system and project management. “We are able to provide clients with back filing, mailroom digitizing projects and integration of record keeping with standard business processes,” says Indranil Bandyopadhyay, the company’s GM. Video conferencing continues to rise in the region as corporates realize it’s cost-saving, convenience and collaborative attributes.

Sony’s contribution in this growing field includes desktop video conferencing, multi-media conferencing for small groups as well as large convention halls. Sony has also introduced 3D projection conference technology giving participants an almost physical interaction. Konftel, a Swedish provider of audio conference solutions, manufactures one of the world’s first 3G/GSM conference phones among its range of wireless conference phones.

Although a distributor, Almoe will undertake some projects itself depending on complexity. The company has an in-house technical team that will implement projects from design to implementation, according to Indranil. “We have a technical team efficient in pre-

sales projects, service and installations. The team handles everything from site inspection to project design to final implementation of the assignment,” he said

Almoe the UAE market Although a distributor, Almoe will undertake accounts for some projects itself depending on complexity.

60%-65% of the company’s The company has an in-house technical team revenue with that will implement projects from design to exports to GCC implementation and African countries taking up the rest”, said Indranil. But Dubai’s hegemony and diagrams are transformed into visual displays for entire classrooms is being challenged by regional Dubai being a shopping Mecca, rivals like Saudi Arabia and Qatar to share. Promethean interactive digital signage and in-store who are coming up with their whiteboards allow lessons to be touch screen terminals are in delivered and manipulated on giant own distribution networks and high demand. Samsung offers infrastructure. Nonetheless, the screens. Research has shown that presentation video walls with local market will continue to grow students are more engaged in a narrow bezels ensuring almost in the future according to Indranil. digital classroom setting than they seamless displays. Content can be “For Almoe to be part of this would otherwise be in traditional controlled through LAN or WLAN. progress, the company will have to classes.

The company’s touch screen bring new brands and technologies terminals provide shoppers with that fit into our portfolio and The UAE IT industry benefits a interactive maps of the sometimes business strategy,” he said. lot from significant government intractable maze of shopping mall investments, says Indranil. outlets. Sony's Ziris Create digital Almoe seems to have found just the UAE Defense, Dubai Police, Dubai signage software can manage right mix of products and solutions Municipality, Ministry of Education media files, create and edit playto satisfy a very dynamic market. and Dubai Civil Aviation are some lists, schedule and deliver content Competition, both within and to play-out HD devices. The system of Almoe’s government and public without the UAE, is an increasing clients. is also scalable from single screens challenge for all IT players. But with to video walls in retail locations, strong brands, good infrastructure Dubai’s status as a MEA hub means lobbies, stadiums, museums and and a still vibrant market, Almoe that distributors benefit from a more. should be able to sustain its thriving re-export market. “For momentum for years to come.

Corporate offices and halls have followed modern minimalist home design ideas of having just what you need at the moment and concealing the equipment when you don’t. With the Draper range of projector lifts and mounted screens, equipment can be hidden behind walls or ceilings at the flick of a switch.

Like all other sectors of the economy, education is experiencing a major shift into digital content delivery, teacher/ student interaction and assessment.

With Aver Vision and Samsung digital presenters ordinary notes Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

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Cover Feature | Unified Storage

The road to Unified storage Unifies storage is now winning over more customers who see the rationale of optimizing storage resources with a solution that can manage both SAN and NAS in one box

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The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

While not a new technology, Unified Storage is increasingly a sought after storage option

by Businesses of all sizes to help address the complexities in managing the daily growing volumes of data. Unified storage is so called, because as a system it simultaneously supports both SAN and NAS storage protocols for block and file level data storage access respectively. It is now offered by several leading vendors such as EMC, Dell, Netgear etc while NetApp itself was seen to be the pioneer several years ago.

So, what exactly is Unified storage?

To start with, Basil Ayass, Enterprise Product Manager at Dell offers the most simplified definition when he says, “Unified computing is SAN and NAS in a box. While NAS has been used to store files, SAN runs high end databases and high end applications.”

He goes on to elaborate further that this is part of the ongoing evolution and consolidation in the industry.

consolidated into a storage pool.

Block data is usually transported to and from Unified Storage systems via Fibre Channel or iSCSI SAN protocols while files are transferred via NFS (in Linux environments) and CIFS (in Microsoft environments) protocols.”

By doing this consolidation, Unified storage provides a holistic solution for block or file data and for all needs such as storage, data access, snapshots, replication etc.

In short, it significantly simplifies the complex scenario that the mounting deluge of data across databases, different systems and servers etc can present. Managing different storage protocols in the background, Unified storage providers provide users with a seamless user experience.

Josua Braun, Storage Product manager, EMEA, Netgear says, "Unified storage refers to storage systems that can store and manage both file data in different file protocols such as SMB/CIFS, FTP, AFP or NFS as well as serve as a storage target for block I/O via iSCSI or Fibre Channel. So a unified storage system offers both file- and block-level access on a single storage platform. In the first case, the storage system acts like a NAS or file server, with Block I/O it acts like a Direct Attached Storage or Networked Storage in a SAN environment. NETGEAR unified

Basil Ayass Enterprise Product Manager Dell

storage systems support all relevant file protocols as well as iSCSI SAN. “

Choice for users, as EMC see it Basil says, “It started about 10 years Unified storage enables customers ago with physical consolidation to face the challenges imposed when people pulled in their IT by the ever increasing rates of systems into a computer room / data growth and application as data center. Then the industry well as infrastructure complexity moved into Virtualisation of at difficult times for the economy servers with the advent of Hyper-V where IT budgets are either fixed and VMware. The next phase or decreased. Unified storage in of evolution is Unified storage short increased and that is options for happening is users to choose the physical the best storage "Unified storage refers to storage systems that consolidation options for their of storage – can store and manage both file data in different needs. wherein SAN file protocols such as SMB/CIFS, FTP, AFP or NFS as (block level well as serve as a storage target for block I/O via Muhammad storage) and iSCSI or Fibre Channel. " Salama, NAS (File level Technology storage) is Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

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Cover Feature | Unified Storage

solutions. It recently introduced the new VNXe 3150 storage system, combining 50% more performance and capacity per rack unit. The VNX series has been expressly designed to take advantage of the latest innovation in Flash drive technology, maximizing storage system performance and efficiency while minimizing cost per GB. The EMC VMAX Family is a comprehensive lineup of enterprise storage arrays, all built upon the industry-leading Virtual Matrix Architecture first introduced in April 2009. Complementing the new EMC VMAX Family is a host of new software capabilities that streamline operations and extend the marketproven VMAX to new hosts and applications, while integrating customers' existing storage assets into an integrated and unified pool of storage resources.

Josua Braun Storage Product Manager EMEA Netgear

Consultant Team Lead, Middle East, EMC Corporation says, “Unified Storage means that a single device can seamlessly support all the different access protocols for networked storage including file-based/NAS, block-based/SAN as well as object-based content.

Customers will be able to choose the right interfaces and protocols that suit their specific application requirements including Fibre Channel, iSCSI, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), NFS and CIFS. The key success factor here is to offer the benefits that this unified architecture brings without having to compromise on performance, availability or functionality.”

EMC offers the EMC VNX series and the EMC VMAX family of 16

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

Netgear advances Netgear has made strong inroads in the segment with products that

Josua says, “Many unified storage solutions however come with unnecessary complexities in implementation and management.

Therefore for NETGEAR, in addition to the right performance and capacity, simplicity and ease of use play a crucial role as more and more SMBs use unified storage systems to support their virtual server environments as well as ever growing unstructured (file) data assets.”

According to a recent Gartner report, NETGEAR moved up two positions to become the sixth largest overall NAS vendor in worldwide revenue, advanced one position to number three in <$25,000 segment revenue and maintained its revenue leadership position in the $5,000 or less market segment. In addition, Gartner reports that NETGEAR’s revenue growth rate was more than double the market average in the <$25,000 unified storage segment and nearly

"The key success factor is to offer the benefits that the unified architecture brings without having to compromise on performance, availability or functionality."

offer performance but at a very attractive cost for the mid-segment customer. Its ReadyDATA platform is a unified storage system that is scalable up to 180 Terabyte of SATA storage, supports SATA, SAS and Solid State drives and comes with all the data management and performance features that are needed in a medium enterprise environment. (See EyeTech section)

twice the overall iSCSI market average.

Josua adds, “A versatile unified storage platform for midsized customer should provide all necessary features. What is particularely special about the NETGEAR ReadyDATA platform however is the combination of price-advantage – the system comes at a 10000 USD street

price with 12 TB SATA storage – in combination with the mentioned Enterprise-Class storage features and utmost simplicity, e.g. " There is no Command Line Interface programming necessary to set up replication between sites, creation of volumes / shares or LUNs is intuitive and simple. In addition to that, the customer does not have to purchase any extra licenses for 10 GE, replication or deduplication as the box comes with all features included.

He adds, "So at NETGEAR we think that we really re-define unified storage in a way that also the purchase and total solution setup is in a way unified saving tremendous cost and effort for the customer."

Dell’s comprehensive approach When customers opt for Unified storage solutions, they can choose from two different approaches depending on what scalability they are looking ahead to in terms of what their Businesses require. These are primarily scale up and scale out.

In scale up, you are adding more capacity in terms of additional drives to one NAS system while in the other option, you keep adding multiple NAS systems as you see added requirements. Dell offers both options to meet customer needs.

Basil says, “There are two kinds of approaches for unified storage – scale out and scale up. In scaleout, you buy a box and as requirement goes, you keep buying additional NAS boxes. This can scale from 8 to 16 boxes. Although they are physically different boxes, logically they appear as one unit of storage to the user. The other approach is scale-up when you buy one NAS

head and keep adding drives. We have boxes that can scale up to 960 hard drives.”

So which of these ways is more popular? What can be the decisive factors in choosing one option over the other? According to Basil, the scale out model seems poised for more demand because while Scaleout is cheaper but for longer term scalability and performance, scale up is better.

He says, “Scale-out appeals to SMB customers and strangely to real large sized enterprises which need great scalability. Mainstream enterprises go for scale-up which has been the traditional approach. In addition, there is also the approach of one box from some vendors apart from scale-up and scale-out. But when you want to upgrade NAS or SAN, you may need a forklift upgrade, when there is a Technology change.

This is a challenge when the box has all your data. We are offering modular solutions to avoid this. They offer NAS, SAN, disc, controller, cache as the main components that can be changed as per requirements.

Customers love that scalability. They cannot keep changing boxes every time there is a new one launched.

That is why we provide the perpetual modular storage.”

Dell offers a range of Unified storage solutions. Its Compellent Storage Center features unified SAN/NAS solutions that extend the benefits of storage consolidation across the enterprise. Built on a unique Fluid Data technology, it supports the continual adoption of new technologies without need for a forklift upgrade. Dell EqualLogic FS7500 and Dell Scalable File System are scale-out unified storage architecture optimized for

Muhammad Salama Technology Consultant Team Lead, ME EMC Corporation

midsize and smaller EqualLogic storage deployments and help expand block-and-file capacity and performance in live production environments. The PowerVault NX3500 is a unified storage solution for smaller scale deployments that provides integrated access to block and file data with built-in data protection features such as snapshots and replication. It's an excellent solution for customers who want to migrate from distributed file server environments to a consolidated file and database solution. The NX3500 is also ideal for user shares, Exchange and smaller virtualized environments that have increasing NFS storage requirements.

Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

17

Cover Feature | Unified Storage

Faster in this region adoption adopting the "With more and more customers in this region Unified storage transformation adopting the transformation to private and hybrid would be to private and cloud architectures, unified storage became an advisable for hybrid cloud users if they architectures, integral element in speeding up and enabling this unified storage already have transformation." became an SAN and NAS integral element in their storage in speeding up infrastructure. and enabling this transformation. as customers realize the need to Basil comments, “Today unified Additionally, customers are optimize their IT infrastructure storage is ideal for, small medium looking for integrated stacks of and large enterprises. For customers through deployments of cloud converged infrastructure platforms and virtualisation.

These are key who already have SAN and NAS, it that combine together proven requirements on the road to meet makes sense to use unified storage. technology layers from compute their business objectives in the Otherwise we don’t recommend. to storage to virtualization to longer run.

For customers, who want to start application and management, “says using, we do a performance review.

EMC’s Muhammad.

Josua says, “Virtualization is more and assess their requirements. We and more adapted also in the suggest the solutions they require As the IT industry continues to SMB-space and unified storage according to their budget which further evolve and consolidate, solutions are a much simpler way might be SAN, NAS or unified Unified storage is seen as an for SMBs to sadding the needs of storage and there are three levels of intermediate milestone. According their virtualized environments.

For each of these, SMB, mid range and to Basil Ayass, while Unified storage cloud computing, the way we see large enterprise which we offer. “ physically consolidates store, it, unified storage solutions will storage virtualisation is the further play a key role within hybrid cloud According to Netgear’s Josua Braun, objective. infrastructures, when it comes to Unified storage systems are perfect act as the “private” part of a hybrid solutions for many use scenarios He says, “I believe, the next step cloud infrastructure.” across all industries and application is more important than Unified environments. storage and that would be Netgear is also working heavily on a storage virtualization. When you solution whereby customers find for He elaborates, “It is one of the key instance a backup target of their local consolidate storage physically, it characteristics of unified storage saves costs. The next step would be unified storage system in the cloud that it is very flexible and adaptive virtualization of storage to enable it but in a way that it fully resembles to changing requirements – if you become more dynamic, flexible and their physical backup source. want to use it as a file server for a also be able to manage that storage small branch office or a primary etc.”

EMC has introduced VSPEX as target for an I/O-heave virtualized the next generation of virtualized storage environment or to establish infrastructure solutions for the Having said that, a recent a disaster recovery solution study found that around 70% private cloud in cooperation with with offsite replication – unified its partners. VSPEX solutions are pre- of enterprises have either storage systems offer solutions implemented or are planning to validated by EMC and integrated for a wide variety of use cases and implement unified storage. Unified

by EMC certified partners and storage is set to be a choice finding environments.” customers don’t have to hassle favour with more customers as they with configuration, test, troublelook to realise benefits of reduced What is ahead? shooting, and/or tuning. hardware costs and optimized Unified computing is certainly storage. gathering momentum in the region “With more and more customers 18

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

Point2point | Tech Access

for TechAccess Channel’. Our teams are focused at developing key partners with specialization focus on Oracle key offerings by running Partner Enablement bootcamps periodically across KSA and focusing on Marketing initiatives to steer Demand Generation for facilitating new and dormant partners with net new incremental business opportunities.

Which Oracle solutions show the strongest demand in KSA? Oracle Servers and data center show the strongest demand in the Kingdom, with increased focus on Oracle Engineered Solutions and Database as well. End Users

a key focus for 2013. We are also encouraging channel partners to evolve their portfolios around Big Data, Cloud and other key marketing solutions for their customers by taking advantage of Oracle App-to-Disk tested, integrated and embedded Red Stack technology.

Discuss how your operations in the Kingdom is geared to support Oracle?

Tech Access developed the relationship with Oracle from our legacy Sun Microsystems’ partnership. We were the only Sun Channel Development Partner in the Middle East and North Africa for more than a decade. Grasping

Geared up for growth Sherif M Al Ashery General Manager Tech Access, KSA

Discuss your market strategy in Saudi Arabia for your Oracle distribution business?

Our market strategy is very dynamic with focus at investments in dedicated resources and product portfolio for Oracle to steer expansion of Oracle channel and market footprint in KSA. Our investment radius from establishment of dedicated Oracle Channel Sales, Pre-Sales team and strengthening our solution offering capabilities for showcasing Oracle Hardware and Software-engineered solutions by acquiring best-ofbreed products. ‘The strategy is to leverage and capitalize Oracle strengths, by positioning it as only Vendor in the market to offer every thing from Apps to Disk as a USP 20

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

Tech Access has a strong team presence in KSA to help in its quest to offer partners great value proposition for brands including Oracle for which it is a designated distributor. Sherif M Al Ashery, General Manager - Tech Access, KSA speaks about the company’s partnership with Oracle and the trends in the market are really interested to opt Oracle end to end Solutions as they are unified, tested and integrated to deliver simplified, best in class experience. Exa- family products are dominating the demand & Tech Access is really proud for not only selling the highest number of Exaproducts but the first VAD in MEA to sell them.

Which are the key verticals?

Typically Middle East economies are considered as energy / oil driven, but now there is a radical shift in the paradigm in-terms of IT spending new verticals like Telco, education, healthcare etc. We are aggressively promoting these focused segments with our oracle channel partner community as

the need and dedicated focus for KSA as a priority market for Tech Access, we established a regional branch office in Riyadh We have a dedicated Technology Center (Oracle Authorized Solution Center) in Riyadh, KSA which have a fleet of demonstration equipment including the Oracle Exadata Database Machine, Oracle Exalytics Machine, Oracle Database Appliance, Oracle SPARK Servers and storage solutions. Technology center is available for partners and their customers to run POC's, Need Assessments and various executive briefing services. We also have mobil demo gear for partners to support t deployment at customer sites and remote connectivity options as well.

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

VAR MEA Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TechKnow | Enterasys

Growing partner business Asli Aktas Channel Director CEE, ME, APAC Enterasys Networks

Enterasys Networks, a premier global provider of wired and wireless network infrastructure and security solutions has been a pioneer in the switching and routing market, dating back to 1983 when the company was originally formed as Cabletron Systems. The company today offers full portfolio of wired/ wireless network infrastructure and security solutions. Asli Aktas, Channel Director CEE, ME, APAC , Enterasys Networks speaks to The Integrator about the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus areas.

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The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

Discuss in detail the verticals of focus for you in this region While Enterasys customers include enterprises organizations across industries, we have seen a great deal of traction in Government, Primary and Secondary Education, and Healthcare.

With virtualization and cloud services a growing trend, what does enterasys offer in those domains?

OneFabric from Enterasys is architected for the new consumption model: mobile, virtualized and cloud-based. These transformative technologies allow businesses to improve agility and responsiveness yet keep costs in-line. OneFabric is purpose built to help enterprises maintain an integrated end user experience while migrating towards public, hybrid, or private cloud-based services that leverage virtualization.

OneFabric allows organizations to reduce operational and capital expenses, improve security and

speed time-to-market, while predictably delivering applications to end users.

Is data centre consolidation a strong trend in the region currently? Please elaborate on the tools/solutions you offer for this Enterasys is currently seeing a strong data center consolidation with virtualization technologies increasingly being deployed in the data center because of their ability to drive the efficiency and effectiveness of computing and storage resources. However, the dynamic nature of virtualization along with the traditional organizational separation between server and network management teams can lead to management challenges.

In order to create an agile and automated operational model for the virtualized data center, IT administrators require a more comprehensive set of automation

capabilities, coupled with increased network visibility and more granular controls. Enterasys Data Center Manager (DCM) addresses these new operational requirements and provides functions that ensure consistent application performance and unified management across the physical and virtual network.

DCM provides IT administrators a transparent, cross-functional service provisioning process that bridges the divide among the server, networking and storage teams, ensuring each has an integrated view of virtual server and network environments. With a unique vendor agnostic approach, DCM supports a variety of virtualization, storage and server platforms, enabling the unification of the physical and virtual network and ensuring networks will have the high availability necessary for critical applications and business data.

In addition to server, storage and network virtualization, the VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructures) add-on enables standard desktops to be virtual machines. Users can access their virtual desktop from various devices like their physical desktops, laptops, thin clients, mobile devices, tablets, or smartphones. This provides a secure mechanism to support mobile devices and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) initiatives. There are many advantages to using VDI including improved service to the user and reduced operational cost for the support organization. Enterprise security is strengthened since the data is kept within the data center and is not stored on the device itself. Support costs decrease because patch management and recovery are centralized and the device accessing the desktop can easily be replaced with no configuration required. VDI also

turns the access control model upside down â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from client side enforcement to server/VM side enforcement. It is the key to keep the same controls in place in the data center as in a typical fat client environment. The VDI Integration based on DCM enables user based policy management in the VDI data center to address this requirement.

What is your go to market strategy in terms of value add distributors, systems integrators etc Enterasys does business through indirect sales with a focus on selecting a number of quality partners in our channel base. We have a two-tiered go to market strategy working with distributors

the growth been in terms of being part of turnkey projects executed by systems integrators?

Enterasys has spent two years in the region now and the results have been extraordinary satisfactory.

After a more than expected good result in the first year, we grew substantially again in the second year while competitors were downsizing their organizations due to a slow-down in the industry. Our growth has been primarily due to the efforts of our system integrators seeing value in integrating our solutions in their offerings to increase customer satisfaction as well as enhancing their margins as our solutions are not over-distributed. In addition

Our growth has been primarily due to the efforts of our system integrators seeing value in integrating our solutions in their offerings to increase customer satisfaction as well as enhancing their margins as our solutions are not over-distributed. and committed partners, trained and enabled to the highest level, and offer superior service to our mutual customers.

Discuss the scale of your regional operations and focus in strategic markets like KSA? We are serving the GCC countries as well as Egypt from our Dubai office with focused support out of our Central & Eastern European & Asia Pacific headquarter in Frankfurt, Germany. The focus in the past two years was on UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and KSA and we are currently looking at further investments in KSA as well as extending our staff to ensure a broader reach.

What has been the year on year growth for the region? How has

to this, the divisions of Siemens have contributed to our growth, not only because Enterasys is part of Siemens Enterprise Communications Group.

What are immediate objectives for the region by the end of the year?

Our primary objective for this year is to increase the number of our channel support staff and focus on our operations in KSA. We have an ambitious revenue target and plan to reach it through continued efforts to enable our partners, increase Marketing focus. We held the Super Drive 2012 Partner and User Conference in Berlin, where we launched new solutions that will help our partners grow their Enterasys business.

Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

23

In Focus | Green Edge

The Leading Edge

When Green Edge gathered its partners for a dinner at a hotel in Bur Dubai, there was an happy occasion to celebrate. The company was celebrating three successful years with partners and customers.

Having clients such as Axiom Telecom, Envac and Life Healthcare Group would be source of pride for any IT firm in the UAE. Having signed up these clients in just three years of operations is simply impressive. But that’s exactly what Green Edge Computers has managed, taking on competitors with decades of experience in the market.

Green Edge is a provider of networking, communications and software technologies catering for the SMB and enterprise segment in the UAE. The company’s products and services include software, storage, networking, servers, and data centre facilities. This allows Green Edge to design, plan, implement, and manage projects end to end, in partnership with global hardware and software vendors and distributors.

Green Edge offers structured cabling solutions, wiring homes and offices for communications, 24

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

audio, and entertainment. “Our system provides central control for high-tech systems, is customizable, and can grow as a customer’s technological needs change”, said Suresh Muthyala, business development manager at Green Edge Computers. “We provide cabling infrastructure systems, installation and design for projects as small as a single floor office or as complex as a multi-building campus environment added,” Suresh added.

Envac, an automated waste management company has partnered with Green Edge as its solutions provider. Envac has worked on ambitious waste management projects including at Yas Island, Palm Jumeirah and JBR backed by Green Edge’s IT support.

“We have benefitted from Green Edge’s cloud computing solutions as well as back up services,” said Himanchu Vyas, procurement manager at Envac. Green Edge also provides core networking, software,

as well as networking all Envac’s offices across Dubai, according to Vyas. “Green Edge has even provided IT services in our projects abroad in Saudi Arabia and India” added Vyas.

Green Edge provides both hardware and software and networking across the many branches and offices of the Life Healthcare Group. These include servers, telephones and CCTV surveillance cameras.

Apart from Envac and Life healthcare, Green Edge also counts Axiom telecom, for whom It supplies the hardware as well as servicing and equipment replacements, among its growing list of prestigious customers. In software, Green Edge provides management and software consultancy as well as implementing ERP solutions. The firm offers Orion Enterprise, an ERP platform, with built-in CRM and SCM capabilities. Green Edge also implements Google Business Apps whose cloud applications give customers remote access to email, calendar, documents, and sites and be able to work securely, anywhere in the world.

In telephony, Green Edge offers telephone PABX system solutions for businesses. “We design, supply, install and support telephone systems for small and medium businesses through to large corporations and public sector organizations.”, said Suresh.

In summary, Green Edge seems to have built focus around the faster growing technology domians. It is also rapidly building its reputation as an integrator with several successful installations to its credit.

For more information please contact,Meenu Raje at marketing@optimusdistribution.com or Call us at +971 552281560, +97142379005

Point2point | DVCOM

DVCOM Technology, a part of the Al Mashka group of Renjan George - Marketing Mananger, Datavoiz

companies is an established Open Source VoIP Telephony and Networking solutions company and the Authorized Distributor for several brands in the MENA region.

Renjan George, Marketing Manager at Datavoiz speaks to the Integrator about the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portfolio and focus

Expertise to the fore As a value add distributor, which are the domains that you cover in terms of solutions?

DVCOM is a one of the leading distributors of VOIP, IP Telephony, Networking and Video Conferencing products and solutions. We offer our clients a 360 degree solutions portfolio including Voice, Data and Video.

With a total solution product portfolio and other integrated IP related products, DVCOM has become a name to reckon with and has become the main competition against proprietary IP based communication products in the region.

In addition, we provide a full suite of consulting and professional services 26

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

and assisting organizations and companies with the assessment, design, and implementation of professional IP Communications solutions for ensuring high availability, reliability, performance, scalability, and manageability within their intranet environments.

We are also authorized training partners for all the solutions that we represent from our clients and offer comprehensive training to our channel partners to help them achieve solution and value optimization.

Elaborate on the solutions in your portfolio and the brands you partner with?

DVCOM is the exclusive authorized distributor of several brands in the

MENA region. We offer SME and SOHO solutions that give a new lease of life to existing networking and telephony environment, by seamlessly integrating inter office and intra office communications while offering high scalability.

Digium is one of the brands we are associated with. Digium is the creator of Asterisk, an open source framework for building communications applications which powers IP PBX systems, VoIP gateways, conference servers and is the most widely used open source telephony software.

We are distributors of DrayTek Vigor, an ISO9001 and ISO14001 certified vendor of enterprise-level Firewall Security, VPN facilities for

Teleworking and branch-linking, versatile xDSL CPE etc.

We have partnership with Snom , a leading brand in Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephones for business communication which are based on the open standard SIP and Media5, a vendor that offers a broad portfolio of technologies and standards at the heart of fixedmobile convergence including IPv6, IMS, RCS and MMTEL. Patton, another brand in our portfolio, is a leading manufacturer of network access and connectivity products including VoIP, G.SHDSL ipDSLAMs, broadband transmission, dial-up (V.90) and dedicated (xDSL) access servers, network termination units (NTUs), base-band and short-range modems, fiber-optic modems, interface converters and surge protectors.

We are associated with CyberData for its industry leading IP Endpoints for the VoIP marketplace, VoIP and POS (Point-of-Sale) connectivity solutions, and POS protocol conversion technologies. We include core technologies of network solutions, including access control, traffic monitoring, IP asset management and DHCP servers from ViaScope in our portfolio.

Completing our portfolio are cost effective, realistic high‑definition, multi‑party video conferencing and collaboration environment for companies of all sizes from VU TelePresence, VoIP products characterized by high costperformance, easy deployment and affordable price from Yealink and partnerships with D-Link and with Maipu Communication Technology, a professional supplier of IP network equipment and application solutions. Maipu products comprise

a full range of routers, switches, VoIP communications, security and integrated access equipment.

Discuss the verticals that are you are strong in with the various IPT and networking solutions you offer?

DVCOM offers complete range of solutions in IP Telephony which include Call Center solutions, IVR solutions, Music on Hold, GSM & VoIP gateways and IP PBX systems.

For our networking domain we offer our clients complete range of solutions including VPNs, Firewalls, Bandwidth Management, Network Management, 3G, Access points, etc. Our clients are primarily SME’s such as Banks, Airlines, Restaurants, Construction, IT, Security, Lawyers, Shipping Companies, Manufacturing units, etc.

Which verticals do you target with the video conferencing solutions you provide?

The Video TelePresence solutions which we offer are targeted towards the mid-market clientele who do not wish to Skype and are also not interested in investing a huge amount into Video Communications.

There is huge gap between the available video conferencing solutions and the users who are looking for a cost effective solution to save time and travel costs. Our solutions help bridge this gap.

Our clients primarily include Chartered Accountants, Schools, Educational and Training institutes, Universities, Jewelry companies, Doctors, Lawyers, etc. but the solutions available for corporates across other sectors as well, like Banking, Construction etc.

We offer solutions which work within the Local Area Network (LAN) as well as Wide Area Network (WAN) using internet and VPN. Elaborate on the initiatives that you have done of late for the channel?

We have developed a well educated professional reseller Partner network and provide in house education/training to the reseller market. We engage with our channel partners on regular basis by conducting roadshows, training sessions, partner meets and participating in various trade exhibitions like GITEX. To ensure a good business model DVCOM has structured its business with the resellers into a reseller Partner program business plan.

We therefore have active partner support plans to assist them in providing impeccable services and boost sales. Our highly qualified and technical department supports our Reseller Partners in all products and solutions which are distributed

by DVCOM. How has the growth been in the year so far?

DVCOM has experienced a tremendous growth ratio since its inception, and we have continuously added to our growing list of vendors to offer a one stop shop for products & solutions for Voice, Video and Data.

Are there any new vendors that you are discussing possible partnerships with?

We are constantly on the look for new products and brands to further the strength of our existing product and solutions offering. We are currently in touch with a few brands and will communicate once the agreements are in place.

Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

27

Insight | Polycom

Video collaboration is already recognised as a mission-critical capability for businesses and a solution that improves teamwork and organisational productivity, accelerates better decision-making and cuts costs. Video conferencing solutions make it easier for organisations to keep their employees and clients connected regardless of their location. Staff can make video calls to conduct faceto-face meetings easily with other people anywhere in the world, using any device.

But in the past HD business-grade video conferencing was limited to a few room-based solutions

Gary Rider President EMEA Polycom

Video conferencing technology is not an unattainable solution or an exclusive management tool anymore, it is widely becoming accessible for any employee writes Gary Rider, President EMEA, Polycom

28

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

of different countries I have observed some trends which have contributed to the expansion of video conferencing solutions around the world.

First of all, video is becoming part of daily life for many people, for both business activities and personal use. The generation entering the workforce now has been raised on video - currently 3 billion videos a day are being viewed on YouTube.

Many young people who rely on video in their private life expect to be able to use it in the business world as well.

Secondly, now more than ever, saving money and cutting costs is

Ubiquity in video collaboration that were typically reserved for scheduled meetings. As wireless network bandwidth has increased and mobile network connections expand to 3G and 4G capabilities, companies are now rolling out HD business-grade video collaboration solutions to more and more employees on smart phones, tablets and laptops.

Video conferencing is becoming ubiquitous and a standard technology in any company, even in small and medium-sized businesses as work forces become more and more mobile. Indeed, this new demand for video is bringing the technology to the top of the list of telecoms trends. According to Infonetics, the global enterprise videoconferencing market will hit $5 billion in 2015 compared with $2.2 billion in 2010.

Comparing the video markets

critical for businesses. Traditional costly business trips are no longer as popular as they were previously â&#x20AC;&#x201C; due to both financial and environmental reasons.

Modern life changes with the development of high technologies and so does business. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why one of the most effective tools for efficient communication between employees is video collaboration.

A company can save a lot of time and money on business trips per year using video conferencing as an alternative and use the resources saved for other business activities.

Another significant trend is the proliferation of mobile devices â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly smartphones and tablets. Gartner predicts that there will be 320 million tablets sold in 2015 and a growing number are being used within businesses. The

“bring your own device” (BYOD) movement has become extremely popular in recent months, with many employees entering the workforce expecting to be able to use their own smartphone or tablet for corporate purposes. A lot of companies today require mobile devices to be integrated with the corporate infrastructure which is a reason why corporate mobility is in demand. Bringing consumer devices into the business environment has a significant impact and allows mobile users to be online wherever they are and join a video session at any time.

Social networks and cloud services are also a great force for video conferencing solutions.

Some companies prefer to move all business communications, including video collaboration, onto social networks and social business platforms. Integrating social business with real-time video is the next logical step in improving how enterprise users communicate and collaborate.

Another important industry development which will ultimately serve to promote the technology is the availability of Video-as-aService (VaaS). Video collaboration delivered through the cloud is a revolutionary way for organisations to keep their employees connected and productive, cut costs and accelerate better decision making, without huge upfront investments.

This also means that organisations using VaaS do not have to upgrade to the latest software or hardware; their cloud provider will do that for them as part of their contract.

Some argue that a relatively low quality of 3G networks in some countries is preventing the wider spread of mobile video services. But from my point of view it depends

on the type of video collaboration solution used. If a company has deployed the necessary network infrastructure, it is easy to use mobile HD video everywhere over WiFi and 3G networks. Today it is possible to hold an HD multiperson video conference from a tablet or smart phone with as little bandwidth requirement as 500 kb. As soon as those countries invest and extend the reach of LTE technologies any potential connectivity problems will be eliminated on a mass scale.

In general, video is becoming much more widely used in all industries – from the enterprise to schools to healthcare industries that use

tool in achieving cost savings and improving learning. For example, video collaboration solutions from Polycom are enabling professors and students at The American University of Kuwait (AUK) to share knowledge and culture with overseas universities and increase collaboration between classrooms within the AUK campus. In addition, these new innovations and technologies have saved AUK tens of thousands of dollars on travel and maintenance costs, as well as $50,000 a year in interview costs alone, supporting the development of educational systems and providing real value to this sector.

"Video collaboration delivered through the cloud is a revolutionary way for organisations to keep their employees connected and productive, cut costs and accelerate better decision making, without huge upfront investments." video to extend their services, make decisions faster and enable flexible working while cutting costs.

A recent survey commissioned

by Polycom, which questioned business decision makers across EMEA, found that two thirds (66%) believe flexible working has a bigger impact on the business than cutting operational costs and that video is a crucial element to a flexible working strategy.

In healthcare, the use of videoconferencing in administering certain treatments is proving not only to save significant costs but also to provide a much better standard of care to patients.

In education too, video conferencing is beginning to gain recognition as a valuable

With high-quality video conferencing being increasingly relied upon, both by businesses and certain public sector departments, it cannot be long before the technology becomes truly ubiquitous. IDC estimates that the world’s video market will grow by a significant 18.7 percent this year. I predict that video collaboration will become a mainstream and important tool in business, healthcare and education departments. Over half of communication is visual.

Seeing is believing and video is going to become a mainstream communications tool that will be mission-critical for businesses. It is changing the way we work and communicate and will soon be the preferred form of communication.

Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

29

Insight | Sourcefire

Leveraging the Cloud as a Security Enabler While cloud computing deployments rise, the security threats from rolling out cloud deployments continues to be seen as a challenge as well. Marc Solomon, Chief Marketing Officer, Sourcefire writes that we should rather be looking at realizing the benefits of cloud as a security enabler.

Marc Solomon Chief Marketing Officer Sourcefire

We’re becoming programmed to think of the cloud as a security challenge. But the cloud can also be a tremendous security enabler.

There are three aspects of the cloud that can be leveraged to enhance and modernize today’s approach to security: (1) the massive computing power, (2) the vast amount of storage capacity and (3) the shared infrastructure. In combination, these three aspects can work together to transform traditional security practices and create significant benefits for IT security professionals and technology vendors alike, for example: • Enhanced performance with lightweight and compatible IT 30

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

security solutions. The cloud can be used for all the ‘heavy computational lifting’ typical in IT security solutions.. Freeing an enterprise’s network and devices from this burden also enables users to more effectively support a defense-in-depth strategy since it facilitates running multiple security offerings simultaneously. Offloading heavy-duty processing to the cloud becomes even more beneficial with mobile devices that can have significant computation constraints and even more stringent power consumption requirements.

• More informed security decision-making with centralized and up-to-date security information. The global and centralized approach eliminates the need for enterprises to manage and store vast amounts of information on their infrastructure, increasing productivity of the security software while ensuring that the latest, comprehensive security information is available as needed.

• Faster, better protection through the power of Big Data analytics. Today we see hundreds of thousands of security threats each day. Understanding the data and then translating this intelligence into protection can take days to months rendering

it virtually ineffective given the pace at which new threats are introduced and increasing the time of exposure. Leveraging the processing power and storage of the cloud along with intelligence gathered from the community of cloud users, large-scale data mining techniques can be applied to identify anomalous patterns across systems and create to new detections and protections more quickly. This environment also provides a more effective ‘test bed’ for better security.

• More efficient and economical protection against real threats with intelligent delivery.

The cloud can deliver only the protections that are relevant to an organization’s risk profile and do so much more quickly to protect against the threats that matter for their specific environment.

We’re still in the early stages of leveraging the cloud as a security enabler. There is more to come.

Just as hackers are accessing all available tools to accomplish their missions, so must we as defenders.

Leveraging the inherent strengths of the cloud to enhance security will enable us to more effectively stay ahead of attackers as we fight this relentless and increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity war.

eyetech

Allied Telesis’ AT-XEM-2XS SFP+ and AT-XEM-2XT 10G expansion modules Overview The AT-XEM-2XS SFP+ and AT-XEM-2XT Dual 10G Ethernet expansion modules for the x900 Series and SwitchBlade x908 switches complement the existing XEM series of expansion modules. They help in maintaining the same levels of functionality and resilience while offering customers the choice between a fiber transceiver and a low cost copper version based on a twinax cable with the XEM-2XS. The range is ideal for customers who have a legacy network based on copper cabling who wish to invest in new equipment without upgrading the entire network. Issues such as this often arise with older buildings and is relevant for customers with limited budget, such as schools, hospitals or the public sector.

Key features: • Compared to the XFP based XEM, which only supports fiber optic transceivers, the SFP+ XEM supports both fiber optic and twinax copper, the latter brings about cost savings, significant reductions in power consumption and lower latency.

• The AT-XEM-2XS SFP+ module, used with a twinax copper cable such as the AT-SP10TW1, AT-SP10TW3

Acer Veriton L series Overview The Veriton L series of desktop PCs does away with redundant components and peripherals to drive down initial asset investment and bring superior efficiency, enhanced manageability and even greater value for money to the modern business environment. The Acer Veriton L series comes in two models: Veriton L6 and Veriton L4, both designed to offer rock-solid performance, powerful manageability and, security.

Key features: • Compact in dimensions, the Veriton L series is designed to improve manageability, reliability and security in a space saving form factor of just 3 litres (physical volume).

• Paired with its complimentary Ergo-Stand, the

32

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

or AT-SP10TW7) give a cable distance of 1, 3, 7m respectively. For longer distances, the AT-XEM-2XS or SFP+ fiber transceiver allows for distances over 7m.

• For medium range distances, the AT-XEM-2XT module, copper connections can be made over high quality UTP cable up to 100m. While the twinax connector has limited cable length, 10G links can be used to connect to high performance switches or as inter-switch links to overcome this issue.

• An additional benefit of the AT-XEM range is that it allows more connectors to be physically mounted in a small space and all future Allied Telesis Gigabit products will be based on SFP+

Veriton L literally gives your business more room to expand.

• Versatile enough to accommodate up to 5kg (24” widescreen) monitors, the Ergo-Stand frees up space on your desk and avoids cable entanglement for a well organised workspace.

• Maximum productivity is guaranteed by a latest 3rd generation Intel Core processor, Intel HD graphics, up to ten USB ports (6x USB 2.0 and 4x USB 3.0) for quicker and easier data access and three digital video outputs that allows to support three independent displays through two built-in display ports and one DVI port.

Netgear ReadyDATA Overview ReadyDATA is enterprise-class storage that is less expensive and significantly easier to use than traditional offerings. This unified storage platform features native block level de-duplication, thin provisioning and unlimited snapshots, with support for SATA, SAS and SSD disk drives. ReadyDATA scales to 180TB, and includes 10GbE and data replication as standard features. The ReadyDATA 5200 is the first model in the ReadyDATA line.

It is a 12-bay, 2U system, with hotswappable power supplies, and expansion capabilities. It is the ideal solution for SMB backup to disk, virtualization, and disaster recovery deployments.

Key features: • NAS/SAN Capable – Create multiple NAS and SAN data sets at the same time. Easily create multiple SMB shares and iSCSI LUNs. • Instant Thick and Thin Provisioning & Expansion – Instantly

create new volumes and expand existing volumes with unutilized disks.

• Built-in Deduplication & Compression – Greatly increase storage utilization efficiency with ReadyDATA’s built-in block & file level Deduplication and compression.

• Unlimited Snapshots – Provides the ability to retrieve data from the past through an intuitive interface. Snapshots are taken at the block level and can be done on a schedule or taken manually.

• Hybrid SATA/SSD Volumes – Attach an SSD to existing volumes as either a read or write cache to boostperformance.

• Scalability – The ReadyDATA 5200 has the ability to greatly expand its storage capacity by adding up to two 24-bay 4U expansion chassis giving a maximum of 180TB worth

of storage in a single system.

• Cloud Managed Smart Blocklevel Replication – ReadyDATA comes standard with Replicate which is a cloud-based replication portal for multiple ReadyDATA systems. With ReadyDATA it is possible to replicate data at the block level between multiple ReadyDATA systems through a secure network connection, regardless of WAN or LAN. • Virtual Network Interfaces and 10 Gigabit Connectivity – ReadyDATA supports virtual network interfaces (VNICs) which allows greater flexibility in deployment.

ReadyDATA also comes standard with two Gigabit Ethernet ports as well as two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports., ideal for scenarios such as virtualization deployments.

Sophos’ New Wireless Access Point AP 5 Overview Sophos has announced the availability of the Sophos AP 5, its newest wireless access point. The latest addition to Sophos' wireless access point family acts as an accessory to the Sophos Remote Ethernet Device (RED), creating a secured wireless branch office solution that is easy to set up.

Key features: • Supporting up to 5 users, the AP 5 connects to the Sophos RED via a USB port and in minutes, secures wireless access for the branch office.

• Wireless security is then controlled through the Sophos UTM at the main office, ensuring the branch office’s wireless security complies with company policies.

• The Sophos AP 5 supports the 2.4 GHz frequency and is compliant to 802.11 b/g/n WLAN standards.

• It can transmit a single SSID and delivers data rates up to 150 Mbit/s.

than developing a RED device with internal wireless capabilities, existing RED customers can also take advantage of these capabilities.

• In the future, UTM appliance customers will be able to add WLAN capabilities by connecting the AP 5 device to the UTM, further extending the AP’s versatility.

• By offering a dedicated wireless access point that connects to the Sophos RED, rather

Aug-Sep 2012 | The Integrator

33

Stats & trends

Hype Cycle highlights "Tipping Point" Technologies

Any Channel, Any Device, Anywhere The technologies and trends featured on this Hype Cycle that are part of this scenario include BYOD, hosted virtual desktops, HTML5, the various forms of cloud computing, silicon anode batteries and media tablets.

Although all these technologies and trends need to mature for the scenario to become the norm, HTML 5, hosted virtual networks and silicon anode batteries are strong tipping point candidates.

Smarter Things On the 2012 Hype Cycle, Gartner has included autonomous vehicles, mobile robots, Internet of Things, big data, wireless power, complex-event processing, Internet TV, activity streams, machine-to-machine communication services, mesh networks: sensor, home health monitoring and consumer telematics. The technologies and trends that are the tipping points to success include machine-to-machine communication services, mesh networks: sensor, big data, complexevent processing and activity streams.

Big Data,Global Scale Computing at Small Prices The enabling technologies and trends on the 2012 Hype Cycle include quantum computing, the various forms of cloud computing, big data, complex-event processing, social analytics, in-memory database management systems, in-memory analytics, text analytics and predictive analytics. The tipping point technologies that will make this scenario accessible to enterprises, governments and consumers include cloud computing, big data and in-memory database management systems.

The Human Way to Interact With Technology The enabling technologies include human augmentation, volumetric and holographic displays, automatic content recognition, natural-language 34

The Integrator | Aug-Sep 2012

Source: Gartner

The Hype Cycle graphic has been used

by Gartner since 1995 to highlight the common pattern of overenthusiasm, disillusionment and eventual realism that accompanies each new technology and innovation. Some of the more significant scenarios, and the tipping point technologies, need to mature so that enterprises and governments can deliver new value and experiences to customers and citizens include:

question answering, speech-to-speech translation, big data, gamification, augmented reality, cloud computing, NFC, gesture control, virtual worlds, biometric authentication, speech recognition. etc.

What Payment Could Really Become This scenario envisions a cashless world in which every transaction is an electronic one. The technologies on the Hype Cycle that will enable parts of this scenario include NFC payment, mobile over the air (OTA) payment and biometric authentication methods. The tipping point will be surpassed when NFC payment and mobile OTA payment technologies mature.

The Voice of the Customer Is on File Humans are social by nature, which drives a need to share â&#x20AC;&#x201D; often publicly. This creates a future in which the "voice of customers" is stored somewhere in the cloud and can be accessed and analyzed to provide better insight into them. The 2012 Hype Cycle features the following enabling technologies and trends: automatic content recognition, crowdsourcing, big data, social analytics, activity streams, cloud computing, audio mining/speech analytics and text analytics.

Gartner believes that the tipping point technologies are privacy backlash and big data.

3D Print It at Home In this scenario, 3D printing allows consumers to print physical objects, such as toys or housewares, at home, just as they print digital photos today. Combined with 3D scanning, it may be possible to scan certain objects with a smartphone and print a near-duplicate. Analysts predict that 3D printing will take more than five years to mature beyond the niche market.

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