MicroScope | IT Channel and IT Reseller News

UK firms under cyber attack as criminals target financial data

2012-05-23T14:33:18Z

UK businesses are under attack from web criminals motivated by a desire to carry off financial fraud to line their own pockets.

Research from security vendor Check point in conjunction with the Ponemon Institute revealed that British firms were attacked on average 68 times a week with successful attacks costing around £150,000.

The most common forms of launching cybercrime efforts were through denial of service attacks and botnets aiming to get behind defences to steal intellectual property and trade secrets.

For resellers the findings of the Impact of Cybercrime on Business report should spur conversations about the need for more customers to defend themselves against targeted attacks that used a combination of techniques to get to their intended victim.

Although 75% of firms said they had the training and policies in place to fend off targeted attacks that left a significant quarter of the market fumbling in the dark when it came to finding the best method of securing their data.

"Cybercriminals are no longer isolated amateurs. They belong to well-structured organizations, often employing highly-skilled hackers to execute targeted attacks, many of whom receive significant amounts of money depending on the region and nature of the attack," said Tomer Teller, security evangelist and researcher at Check Point Software Technologies.

"Cybercrime has become a business. With bot toolkits for hackers selling today for just $500, it gives people insight into how big the problem has become, and the importance of implementing pre-emptive protections to safeguard critical assets," he added.

Bradford Networks finds seat on Zycko bench

2012-05-23T13:37:02Z

Network security and compliance specialist Bradford Networks has been signed up by Gloucestershire-based VAD Zycko to beef up its network management and BYOD offering.

The vendor's flagship Network Sentry product creates can be delivered through a hardware appliance, virtualised server or Bradford's cloud environment, BRADFORD.cloud, which Zycko's group sales director David Galton-Fenzi said fit nicely into the distie's model.

"BRADFORD.cloud continues to receive attention as it offers the benefits of secure network access in a Security-as-a-Service model," said Galton-Fenzi. "It is ideal for MSPs looking to help their customers realise PCI DSS and HIPAA compliance.

"[The] products are unique in Europe as they offer a full spectrum of visibility and control across networks. They reduce the IT workload and increase compliance and security across the board," he added.

The distie said it saw a particularly good fit with its existing portfolio of wireless vendors, and it intends to actively position Bradford in WLAN environments.

Bradford CEO Dan Haley added: "Zycko's solution-based channel approach combined with its emphasis one ducation and true value-add were important factors in our decision to form this partnership."

SAP bolsters cloud capabilities with Ariba acquisition

2012-05-23T11:09:29Z

SAP has moved to bolster its cloud credentials with the purchase of Ariba for £2.73bn in a deal that has been seen as an attempt to improve its position in the market by buying talent with knowledge of the hosted world.

The acquisition comes just a couple of weeks before its greatest rival Oracle launches its cloud strategy and has been seen by analysts as a move designed to push the business more towards a hosted environment.

Carter Lusher, chief IT analyst at Ovum, said that the move by SAP was talent grab to get expertise on cloud computing and technical issues.

"This acquisition has many other motivations as well. These include marketplace factors like acquiring customers and revenue stream and moving into adjacent markets in addition to building block factors like sales team headcount, technology R&D talent, and filling a product gap," he added.

"This is a logical step for SAP as it needs to accelerate its move into the cloud. This acquisition is consistent with SAP's overall M&A strategy and complements the SuccessFactors acquisition in December - providing greater depth of products, executives, and tech talent for the cloud," he said.

The deal got the unanimous backing of the Ariba board and should close in the third quarter.

"The cloud has profoundly changed the way people interact. The impact will be even greater as enterprises connect and collaborate in new ways with their global networks of customers and partners," said SAP Co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe.

"Cloud-based collaboration is redefining business network innovation, and we are catching this wave in the early stage of its evolution. The addition of Ariba will create the business network of the future, deliver immediate value to our customers and provide another solid engine for driving SAP's growth in the cloud," he added.

Lenovo growth outpaces PC market again

2012-05-23T11:07:52Z

Lenovo has proven once again that it seems to have hit on a secret formula for growing PC sales, after powering to record full-year numbers and booking quarterly sales growth of 54%, making it the fastest growing 'top four' PC vendor for the 10th quarter on the trot.

The firm booked full-year sales of $29.6bn (£18.8bn) and pre-tax profit of $582m, up 37% and 63% respectively on fiscal 2011, while fourth quarter sales came in at $7.5bn and pre-tax profit of $102m was up 69% year-on-year.

With shipments of its PCs up 34.9% for the full-year, compared to an overall industry growth rate of just 3% in the same period, Lenovo again talked up its 'protect and attack' strategy.

The firm reported strong marketshare gains, mostly thanks to its acquisition of German PC builder Medion last summer, in western Europe, which forms part of its Mature Markets segment. Overall, Mature Markets contributed $3.4bn to the company coffers during the last quarter of the year.

Broken out by product, Lenovo revealed its laptop PC business grew 41% in Q4 to $4.2bn, accounting for 56% of its overall sales. Desktop sales were up 45% to $2.4bn.

Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said the firm was focused on "leading the PC industry and building upon that leadership" as smartphones and tablet devices continue to build momentum in the mainstream market.

Michael Dell pins Windows 8 hopes on consumer upgrades

2012-05-23T10:00:00Z

Michael Dell has spoken of his hopes for the upcoming launch of Microsoft Windows 8, saying that although enterprise buyers were still in the process of upgrading to Windows 7 and would tend to hold off, there were early signs of a massive refresh in the consumer sector.

"We think [that] unlike other Windows transitions, this is a transition where you are generally going to need a new PC," said the eponymous CEO. "The addition of capacitive touch capability into Windows 8, we think, will be a welcome addition and [we] will have a full complement of products at the time of launch.

"The product refresh cycle associated with this release of Windows is likely to be very different," he said.

Dell was speaking to analysts on a conference call to mark the end of the first quarter of its fiscal 2013, during which the company revealed that its PC business contracted sharply, helping drive overall sales down by 4% year-on-year to $14.42bn (£9.17bn), while net profit fell 33% to $635m.

Brian Gladden, Dell CFO, explained: "Some of the tougher competitive environment can be attributed to channel inventory building, following the hard disk issues of the past two quarters. In addition we're seeing more consumer IT spending diverted to alternative mobile computing devices [and] these dynamics impacted both our revenue and margins for the quarter."

]]> Brian Gladden, Dell CFO, explained: "Some of the tougher competitive environment can be attributed to channel inventory building, following the hard disk issues of the past two quarters. In addition we're seeing more consumer IT spending diverted to alternative mobile computing devices [and] these dynamics impacted both our revenue and margins for the quarter."

However, the firm's sub-par performance was not solely down to the headwinds battering the PC market, and Dell's management were candid in their criticism of the business' sales organisation, where execution was "below expectations" and progress towards Dell's aim of becoming a solutions-led business was going slower than anticipated, according to COO Stephen Felice.

"We've moved sales resources to better optimise coverage within specific customer sets and geographies. In addition, we're increasing our focus on integrated solution offerings rather than overspecialising on specific products, and emphasising a strong focus on our servers, storage and notebook products," he said.

Dell revealed that its servers and networking business had grown slightly, with a strong pipeline heading into Q2, and particular traction around its Force10 lines. Sales of IP storage were up 24%, with Compellent and EqualLogic both turning in a solid performance, although total storage sales declined 8% as the firm continued to drive third-party storage options out of its business model.

Servcies were a particular highlight, up 4%, and security was up 31% thanks to the recent SecureWorks acquisition, but software and peripherals, however, were down 7%, and the firm predicted "pruning" of some non-strategic product lines here.

By business unit, Large Enterprise saw sales slip 3%, with many customers delaying spend, and Public saw similar declines. SMB saw sales up 4% driven by enterprise services and solutions growth, and Consumer dropped 12%.

Gladden conceded that Dell had not got the year off to a particularly auspicious start, but said it was too early to adjust its outlook, and said Q2 sales would probably be in line with normal seasonality, up around 3% sequentially.

"We're fully committed to our strategy and we'll continue to make investments in building end-to-end solutions capability," he said. "This is a long-term strategy, and [it] will take time."

Conference call transcript courtesy: Seeking Alpha

InTechnology extends health expertise

2012-05-23T09:54:11Z

InTechnology has boosted its credentials as a supplier to the heath sector after acquiring and investing in a telehealth and software firm.

The cloud specialist has picked up United Telehealth and taken a substantial stake in software producer Healthsolve.

The deals back up the moves InTechnology has already made in this area, with its accreditation to N3, the NHS network that links hospitals and GPs.

As part of the acquisition of United Telehealth InTechnology will add specialist scientific, technical and clinical staff to its payroll.

"Our investments will enable us to add a patient-led managed telehealth service to our existing suite of managed data and telephony services, while providing budget holders in the clinical community with a viable, cost-effective and independent solution.," said Bryn Sage, CEO at InTechnology.

KCOM profits swell despite group sales decline

2012-05-22T14:27:50Z

Unaudited annual pre-tax profit at KCOM Group has grown by more than 55% to £51.1m as a result of increased EBITDA and reductions in both exceptional costs and the overall cost of borrowing.

Group executive chairman Bill Halbert said this morning that the firm remained "focused on executing our growth strategy and we expect the performance of the Group to continue to reflect this during the current financial year."

KCOM booked a slight slip in overall sales, down 2% year-on-year to £387.3m, but said that it had anticipated this would happen as a result of residual decline in some areas.

In fact, the decline came entirely from its business comms division Kcom, which saw sales down 2.7% to £289.3m.

Though Kcom, which incorporates the Eclipse and Smart421 brands, saw plenty of growth in its pipeline and ended the year with a backlog of orders, a reduction in lower margin premium rate services and other non-core activities offset an otherwise strong performance.

The group's East Yorkshire-centric telephone and broadband services division KC grew sales 1.1% to £103.6m, reflecting growing demand for bandwidth from business customers and increased bundled services sales and upgrades on the consumer side.

Maverick signs Barco deal, welcomes back old colleague

2012-05-22T12:48:48Z

Audio-visual solutions distie Maverick has signed a European distribution agreement with Barco, designer of visualisation solutions and developer of ClickShare the'one-click' presentation and collaboration solution, writes Linda Endersby.

Jane Hammersley will rejoin the team at Maverick - after 10 years in roles elsewhere in the AV channel - to launch and support the new solution.

Maverick is embracing the technology shift from presentation to collaboration and substantial opportunities with new technologies are being offered to its resellers. Jon Sidwick from Maverick Europe claimed the initial channel response to Clickshare was unprecedented.

"We have been overwhelmed with the response. The Maverick European teams are busy supporting the launch with reseller recruitment and enablement events which are already oversubscribed," he said. 

The partnership will make best use of the Maverick's value added, specialist distribution model and continental footprint, which ti is hoped will provide an ideal platform to introduce new products.

Sidwick added: "With our European central supply chain model we can offer flexible stock availability, high-quality and scalable channel development, plus deep specialist touch, delivering immediate value added support, backed by our European marketing and logistics engine."

Hammersley's wealth of collaboration knowledge combined with extensive corporate and AV channel experience, makes her the ideal person for the launch responsibility.

"Jane is responsible for ensuring the delivery of a consistent pan-European approach with locally relevant development activity," said Sidwick. "Expect to see new, innovative solutions and services being offered by Maverick that will further increase the revenue and margin opportunity for our channel partners."

Comstor announces new Cisco UCS config tool

2012-05-22T11:29:39Z

Cisco specialist distie Comstor is further building its partner support for the Cisco UCS B-Series and C-Series Servers, writes Linda Endersby.

Comstor UCS Selector is an online configuration tool helping resellers build new revenue streams based on Cisco UCS. Partners will be able to easily choose the configuration type for the servers with requests submitted easily to a Comstor account manager. The representative then verifies the configuration and provides a pricing quote.

"Comstor's continued commitment to rolling out new and innovative solutions that support our data center UCS platform reinforces its strengths as a distribution partner," said Scott Brown, Vice President of Worldwide Distribution Sales at Cisco.

"The UCS Selector tool provides channel partners with an efficient and easy way to offer optimised solutions to meet unique customer needs."

The tool includes Executive Relevance Selling (ERS), focused on selling UCS to executives, offering training licenses for global partners using methodology assessment and ROI tools. It also makes use of Comstor's LEAP training facilities, each engineered to replicate a real-world data center to enable testing of scenarios customers face when deploying virtualisation and private cloud infrastructures.

The servers are critical building blocks in the Cisco Unified Computing System(TM), a data center platform that unites compute, network, storage access, and virtualization into one cohesive system. The servers are standalone systems, managed using Cisco UCS Manager, which offers unified management.

"We take pride in working collaboratively with partners, offering Cisco solutions that best meet customer needs. Our UCS Selector is perfectly aligned with this strategy," commented Jon Pritchard, president, Comstor.

"We're always looking to develop new tools for partners, making it easier to take Cisco's value proposition to customers in the fastest and most profitable ways possible," he added.

Intrinsic appoints new CEO as market heads for the cloud

2012-05-22T08:00:03Z

Insider Jarvis has been appointed CEO at networking reseller Intrinsic Technology as its market shifts to the cloud offering new opportunities for growth, writes Linda Endersby.

Intrinsic has built solid expertise in networking and unified communications (UC), helping organisations to operate and communicate more dynamically. The company has now enhanced these specialisms into the opportunities created by the cloud and continues seeking new partnerships to enhance the its offering. A recent strategic agreement with cloud networking firm Meraki has already bolstered Intrinsic's cloud expertise.

Jarvis has been a member of the senior management team since being recruited as sales and marketing director in 2005, when he spearheaded Intrinsic's entry to the voice and UC market. He has since taken the company into additional new markets and achieved impressive revenue growth.

"It's a privilege to be able to lead Intrinsic into its next phase; we're at a point of great opportunity," commented Jarvis. "As the enterprise environment moves into the cloud we're in a position to take control of IT provision for our clients, enabling them to get on with their day-to-day operations. Everything we do is focused on helping our clients take advantage of the efficiencies and opportunities created by technology. I'm very excited about what the future holds for the company."

Gordon Matthew, chairman at Intrinsic Technology commented: "Intrinsic has enjoyed great success since its inception, and much of the achievements of recent years are down to Adam's expertise, enthusiasm and strategy. He understands the company and has a clear vision for its future, shared by the rest of the team."

Jarvis previously held senior positions at companies including Nortel and Bay Networks, and has worked across the IT industry at distribution, manufacturing and VAR level.

Partners top the agenda on day one of EMC World 2012

2012-05-22T07:24:42Z

Following last month's launch of its midmarket cloud infrastructure product VSPEX, EMC used the first day of its EMC World 2012 conference in Las Vegas to launch two new cloud practices within its Velocity Solution Provider Programme, and unveil a channel exclusive unified storage platform.

The two new tracks, Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider, have been designed to recognise advanced levels of cloud capability within EMC's partner programme.

The Cloud Builder designation will enable partners to design, build and manage cloud infrastructures based on EMC technology, while Cloud Provider will take account of service providers offering EMC-based IT-as-a-service offerings. Partners achieving either status will be eligible for a raft of additional benefits.

]]> Additionally, EMC has launched its new VNXe 3150 unified storage platform, which offers substantial savings in both performance and capacity per rack unit, and will be made available exclusively through partners, said Mark Wheeler, EMC UK marketing director.

Wheeler told MicroScope this move reflected a desire within the firm to align itself more closely with resellers.

"We are scaling back the number of accounts that our direct sales organisation is allowed to engage with," he said.

EMC's channel announcements came amid a raft of new product launches - 42 of them in total -to a record 13,000 attendees at EMC World 2012. Among some of the highlights were the launch of a new enterprise storage array line, VMAX; the next iteration of Isilon's NAS OS, which has been beefed up with extra I/O capacity and new security features; new Data Domain and Avamar software and systems, and enhancements to its Atmos cloud platform to help partners and customers meet the challenge of big data.

It has also acquired privately-held enterprise file management service provider Syncplicity to enhance its Documentum software package with capabilities to take account of BYOD.

Tech Data reports mixed first quarter, sales down, profits up

2012-05-21T15:17:27Z

Quarterly sales at Computer 2000 parent Tech Data have fallen substantially short of expectations, dropping 7.9% to $5.8bn (£3.6bn) in a torrid macroeconomic environment, with weak foreign currency performance against the US dollar accounting for a good chunk of the decline.

North and Latin America accounted for $2.5bn or 42% of worldwide sales, down 6%, while European sales of $3.4bn, or 58% of global net, dropped 7%.

In the first quarter of its fiscal 2013, the Florida-based broadliner revealed it had also been tinkering behind the scenes with its presentation of sales of vendor warranty services and fulfilment contracts, which it now presents on an agency basis as net fees instead of net sales and cost of products, which wiped another $200m off the books, and sales would have ticked up slightly had it not made this change.

However, it was not all doom and gloom, as net profits rose just over 6% to $51.7m and CEO Bob Dutkosky reported a "solid start to fiscal 2013 with record first quarter operating income, net income and earnings per share.

"Our performance clearly demonstrates that despite volatile and uncertain markets, our strong operations, flexible business model and strategy of execution, diversification and innovation enable Tech Data to capture profitable market share and to deliver strong results to our shareholders," he added.

In Q2, the distie said it is expecting sales to be roughly flat on a sequential basis.

Security VARs Vioptim and Bridgeway to merge

2012-05-21T13:47:49Z

Specialist security resellers Bridgeway Security Solutions and Vioptim have merged in order to offer a broader portfolio of solutions and extend technical capabilities and support for their customers, writes Linda Endersby.

The pair have been collaborating for a year in delivering advanced encryption, compliance, information assurance and SaaS security solutions across the UK.

Under the Bridgeway brand they will continue to develop relationships with customers and vendors delivering a stronger support infrastructure.

Vioptim's managing director, John Howell, becomes a director of Bridgeway Security

"Our focus continues to be on ensuring customers' information remains available, confidential and trusted," he commented. "By combining the respective strengths of our companies' sales and support teams, we're better positioned to deliver both on-premise and cloud security solutions to organisations from SMEs to enterprises."

]]> Jason Holloway, founder of Bridgeway Security, continues as CEO.

"Having worked in partnership on a number of very successful projects, this merger is a natural progression for both businesses," said Holloway. "It's also a step forward in terms of service to our customers as it extends our reach across a wider range of solutions, enhances account management, and deepens our support capabilities."

Alistair Mutch, UK & Ireland director at MobileIron, a vendor partner of both VARs, said: "Bridgeway has a remarkable track record for customer satisfaction, and this merger will further extend the company's capabilities, giving them greater reach and resources to develop and realise customer opportunities.""

"We are seeing a strong rate of growth for our MDM and app control solutions in the market, continued Mutch. "I think the merger will consolidate Bridgeway's position as a key UK partner for MobileIron."

The new company also works with vendors including, MIMECast, LogLogic, ScanSafe, Outpost24 and MetaCompliance.

Image courtesy: Siri Stafford

Cloud Distribution hires northern sales boss

2012-05-21T13:21:01Z

Cloud Distribution has appointed Tracey Hannan from telecom company KCOM to head up its sales operations in the North, writes Linda Endersby. Tracey will draw on her 15 years' experience in the industry to help lead, drive and manage sales as Cloud Distribution continues to expand.

"I am delighted to be working with Cloud Distribution," said Hannan. "The company is renowned for bringing innovative and disruptive technologies to market and it is a fast paced, agile and exciting organisation to work for."

Hannan will be based in the company's York offices and will report to sales director and co-founder, Greg Harris.

Said Harris: "Tracey is an excellent addition to the team. Right now we are experiencing great traction in the market and rapidly expanding. This is because we deliver a highly specialised and streamlined service based on our deep knowledge of the products, challenges and opportunities that exist within the cloud.

"Tracey's previous security experience combined with her product management and technical knowledge will help to strengthen our capabilities and we are looking forward to working with her," he added.

Hannan was propositions manager for KCOM and has worked as product marketing manager for MIS Corporate Defence Solutions, where she was responsible for products and vendor relationships. She has also served time with InTechnology, Check Point, and a number of other systems integrators.

CIF to promote Code of Practice at World Forum

2012-05-21T10:06:42Z

The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) is to put the case forward for a Code of Practice at this year's Cloud Computing World Forum

The Forum feels that providers need to be clear in their cloud offerings to build trust with customers, who in turn need to understand more to asses and select a vendor.

"The Cloud Industry Forum was formed by organisations which recognise that end users are seeking help in sourcing suppliers, which was why we launched our Code of Practice over a year ago," explained Andy Burton, chair of CIF and CEO of Fasthosts,

"The Code itself is not intended to solve underlying technical issues or to guarantee the performance of cloud service providers. Rather, the objective was to create a more level playing field for organisations doing business in the cloud, to allow consumer organisations to make better-informed decisions about the choices available," he continued.

The Cloud Computing World Forum, taking place at Earls Court on 12 and 13 June, is set to be one of the biggest events in the Cloud computing calendar for both suppliers of services and end users.

The Cloud Industry Forum, industry partner to the event, will have a presence at the show including a keynote address and Burton will moderate at one of the main sessions.

"This event will bring together an industry that is rapidly transforming the provisioning of IT," said Burton. "At the same time end users are looking for guidance and advice on how to procure these services based on the clear, consistent and relevant provision of key information about the organisation, its capabilities and its operational commitments."

Burton explained how the code works through a process of self-certification of vendors requiring executive commitment and operational actions to ensure the provision of critical information through the contracting process.

"This Code of Practice, and the use of the related Certification Mark on participants' websites," Burton continued, "is intended to promote trust to businesses and individuals wishing to leverage the commercial, financial and agile operations capabilities that Cloud-based and hosted solutions can provide,"

Burton concluded: "Today we have a number of suppliers who have already attained Certification with over 50 other organisations in the pipeline. For end users seeking clarity in a new, dynamic and fast moving market, we firmly believe that the Code of Practice and associated Certification will deliver much needed transparency and trust to the market."