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Vendor News

  • Microsoft results miss Wall Street guidance
    Microsoft yesterday revealed annual revenues of over $60bn and operating income of $22.4bn, up 18% and 21% respectively.
  • Sophos reaches out to Symantec resellers
    In a rather predictable but understandable move Sophos has reacted to the unrest caused by reports of a change in strategy at Symantec by calling on resellers to shift allegiance.
  • Calls for more sustainable IT
    The channel has a long history of inventing and then widely adopting buzzwords and the latest “sustainability” is tapping into not just questions of efficiency and cost but also the green agenda.
  • Brace for the worst as crunch bites
    IT supplier closures are at a four-year high, amid warnings of the situation worsening in the second half of 2008.
  • Oracle enhances BI strategy
    Oracle has made a couple of moves to enhance its business intelligence offering after releasing the next generation of its management system as well as outlining the road map of post acquisition Hyperion products.
  • Avaya extends 0% offer
    Avaya has introduced a 0% financing offer on its IP-communications products in a move that it hopes will encourage end-users to lease Avaya kit with no interest charges or upfront costs.
  • Symantec causes unrest with direct strategy talk
    Symantec has outraged its US reseller partners after deciding to take business with large accounts direct.
  • Sony turns to resellers to fulfil VIAO buisness ambitions
    Sony has unveiled plans to increase its activity in the business laptop market after taking the wraps off three new models and launching a reseller programme.
  • Hitachi Data Systems hands rebate power to resellers
    Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has decentralised its global payment model and given local resellers more say on the mix of rebate and marketing funding they receive. But under the changes distributors will lose out on channel development compensation as deal registration moves online.
  • Notebook demand drives up Intel
    Intel's shares on the German markets were up this morning after it reported record-breaking second quarter results.
  • BT pumps billions into broadband
    BT has announced it is investing £1.5bn to roll out fibre-based, super-fast broadband to over 10 million homes by 2012.
  • Global grey markets reaches $58bn in 2008
    The size of the grey market globally in 2007 was valued at around $58bn and dented industry profits by up to $10bn according to the latest survey by KPMG and the Alliance for Grey Market and Counterfeit Abatement (AGMA).
  • AMD to pay $880m impairment charge
    AMD has revealed it will pay an $880m (£442m) impairment charge for the second quarter connected to ATI’s Consumer Technologies Business, according to a filing with the SEC in the US.
  • VMware axes CEO to get growth back on track
    The ousting of the CEO is seen as a sign that the vendor intends keeping its growth growing
  • Wistron to produce netbooks for tier vendors
    Taiwanese original design manufacturer Wistron says it is in negotiations with vendors with a view to manufacturing netbooks and will start production soon.
  • IBM faces EC anti-competition investigation
    IBM is facing an investigation by European competition regulators following allegations by smaller rivals in the mainframe market, despite buying one of the original complainants Platform Solutions Inc (PSI) this week.
  • Cisco unveils Wightman as new channel boss
    Bernadette Wightman has been officially appointed head of Cisco’s UK channels, replacing John Donovan.
  • Microsoft WPC announcements
    The main announcements from the vendor's Houston conference
  • Microsoft outlines Online Services model
    Microsoft has used its partner conference in Houston to push its Software plus Services approach to the channel outlining details of how its model will work.
  • BSA warns that UK channel piracy costs could be higher
    Following the publication of research indicating that resellers are losing out everytime pirate software is sold the Business Software Alliance has indicated it believes the situation in the UK could be worse than the global figures suggest.
  • Cisco on the warpath over mis-sold support packages
    Cisco has fired a shot across the bows of Shared Support partners that are flouting its guidelines by offering own-branded support services to non-accredited resellers
  • Microsoft puts a figures to channel piracy costs
    Microsoft has put a number to the amount of money that the channel loses as a result of software piracy.
  • Sugar walks away from plane crash
    Channel veteran Sir Alan Sugar had another lucky escape just a week after stepping down as Amstrad boss.
  • Avaya confirms Bayer appointment
    Avaya has confirmed the appointment of ex-Motorola and Symbol Technologies man Michael Bayer.
  • Maxdata to trade in the UK from Benelux
    Struggling European PC builder Maxdata is going to oversee sales in the UK from its Benelux operation as the administrator endeavours to keep parts of the business trading.
  • Notebook manufacturers predict growth in Q3
    Three of the world’s largest original design manufacturers (ODMs) Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Wistron have predicted 15 to 20 per cent growth in sales this quarter, defying gloomy predictions in the global economy.
  • Clearswift outlines channel plans
    With just one week under his belt in the position, Paul Turner CEO at Clearswift has outlined the input he intends to make to the content checking specialist’s channel.
  • IBM courts ISVs to enhance infrastructure solution play
    Following two years of intense reseller recruitment in the UK, IBM is again turning its attention to independent software vendors (ISVs) in the mid-market with the aim of building bridges between different partner types.
  • Brother launches SME leasing
    Brother has unveiled a leasing sales model to revitalise the printer market and tap into the current demand in the SME market for pay-as-you-go economic models.
  • Novell appoints Repton
    Novell has announced the first major addition to its reseller base as it starts to roll out a number of partners it has identified as being key to supporting its market ambitions.
  • Intact moves into Fast Lane
    Cisco services partners have teamed up to boost the advanced network skills market.
  • Seagate pumps cash into Derry plant
    Seagate has invested £120m in Northern Ireland to meet growing demand.
  • Microsoft ends outsourcer exemption
    Microsoft has withdrawn an exemption under the Outsourcer Enrolment scheme that allowed resellers to continue billing existing customers for software under Select licenses and all invoices must now be cut by LARs.
  • Freedom first in for BT channel scheme
    Voice and data integrator Freedom Communications has become one of two specialist resellers to join a newly defined BT channel partner category. Under the terms of the agreement the Watford-based comms provider will now resell fixed line minutes, SIP trunking, video-conferencing and other BT network services to its customer base.
  • Sugar steps down
    Apprentice star Alan Sugar has stepped down from his position as chairman of Amstrad.
  • Microsoft working on licence changes
    Microsoft is continuing to develop its approach to SME licensing, a development that was first revealed to be on the cards last month.
  • Lexmark returns to C2000 after six year break
    More than six years after splitting with Computer 2000 Lexmark has reprised the relationship giving the printer vendor access to the thousands of SME focused resellers that the broadline distributor deals with.
  • Cable and Wireless goes back to Thus
    Cable and Wireless has improved its cash offer for the assets of Thus.
  • SAP shuffles senior management pack
    SAP changes the CEO position in EMEA and Latin America
  • Overland Storage snaps up Adapteq NAS operation
    Overland buys Adapteq Snap Server NAS business
  • Semiconductors put in strong May performance
    Demand drives healhty growth in seminconductors for the month of May
  • Hewlett-Packard to appoint 150 Gold partners
    HP reveals plans for its Gold partner status
  • Maxdata goes bust
    Tough competition in the PC market has forced cash strapped Maxdata out of business, filing for insolvency proceedings in Germany.
  • Microsoft letter sets out XP demise dates
    Vendor writes to customers to spell out the timetable for the wind down of XP
  • Juniper changes welcomed
    Juniper Networks has revealed its move into the enterprise switching sector paid off during the first quarter of its fiscal 2008. Juniper’s UK revenues over the last three months were up 26 per cent compared to the same period in 2007.
  • Telco consolidation talk grows
    The consolidation battle in the British telecoms sector has ramped up as reports emerged of a rescue bid by UK-based business ISP Colt Telecom and US-based Global Crossing for Thus.
  • Blue Coat may face integration struggle
    Industry watchers have warned that last week’s acquisition of WAN application delivery specialist Packeteer by Blue Coat may be tough to integrate.
  • COLT collaborates with vc-net
    COLT Telecom SME head Andy Horn has urged SMEs to demand more from their ICT suppliers after signing a partnership agreement with collaboration specialist vc-net.
  • Will cloud computing kill off Windows?
    Microsoft’s Windows model has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of warnings that the traditional operating system could die a lingering death in the face of code-heavy platforms and increased confidence in cloud computing.
  • BT chief steps down
    BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen has stepped down from his position after six years behind the desk.
  • ProCurve ramps up partner scheme
    HP ProCurve resellers have welcomed a series of enhancements to the firm’s Select Partner Programme introduced last week.
  • HP reveals cloud strategy
    The concept of pushing services to customers on a hosted basis through the cloud has been around for the past year or so.
  • AMD ships Barcelona chips
    AMD finally started shipping its delayed ‘Barcelona’ quad core Opteron processors last week, nearly seven months after they were officially launched, with HP and a number of smaller vendors announcing products based on the chips.
  • Cisco to reward server farm drive
    Cisco is to reward resellers that drive its service-orientated network architecture (SONA) in server farms.
  • Avaya reveals distribution changes
    The long-awaited changes to Avaya’s distribution line-up have broadly been welcomed but insiders believe the firm’s largest distributor, Westcon, should be concerned.
  • Vendors hit by fire at Korean battery facility
    PC vendors left scrabbling to secure supplies of laptop batteries.
  • Infosecurity Europe: product preview
    a look at the new products to be seen at Infosecurity 2008.
  • Staggered product launches set to become familiar sight
    Influence of the internet is changing concept of launches.
  • Is vendor marketing ready for evolution?
    Marketing support that vendors give to resellers needs correcting.
  • Carphone Warehouse attacks BT
    Ofcom pulled into row over BT tariffs
  • Staff given boot as ITAC closes down
    Mystery surrounds collapse of distributor and reseller hybrid.
  • RSA to revamp programme
    RSA has overhauled its partner programme, lowering general discounts and raising rebates for new business but some have complained this could drive resellers to rival vendors.
  • Dell drops price support
    The additional pricing support resellers have received from Dell has been stopped as the vendor seeks to encourage trade customers to sign up to the Partner Direct channel scheme.
  • Vista patch gets mixed response
    The first service pack for Microsoft’s Windows Vista was released last week but partners remain divided over whether it will accelerate adoption of the operating system.
  • FSC to police accreditation
    Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) has shelved the Elite accreditation in favour of a pan-European scheme it said will boost channel marketing funds but will require entry-level partners to sell more to achieve it.
  • Mystery surrounds GSEC1
    Mystery surrounds security vendor GSEC1 after its sister firm ITAC fell into administration last week.
  • Cisco migration 'pain-free'
    Ahead of the April 1 deadline for compliance with Cisco’s Shared Support programme, the vendor has claimed migration to the new Ts&Cs has been “relatively pain-free”.
  • Foundry opens way for mixed networks
    As part of Foundry’s push into the enterprise switching sector, the firm has unveiled a technology alliance programme to allow its customers to implement multi-vendor, interoperable networks.
  • Halls quits Affiniti
    Peter Halls, executive director at KCOM-owned Affiniti, is to step down at the end of the month after 17 years with the firm, formerly known as Omnetica.
  • Doubts as Microsoft extends hosted services
    The decision by Microsoft to extend its hosted services model into the SME space has been met with a mixed response from the channel.
  • Lenovo ups ThinkPad margins
    Lenovo has kicked off an aggressive margin promotion on ThinkPad notebooks to drive sales in the SME market and aims to recruit up to 150 additional partners.
  • Fire hits LCD supply
    PC makers are seeking alternative routes of supply for LCDs after a fire at a Lite-On factory in the Far East effectively shut down the majority of production lines at its OEM plant.
  • VMware reveals OEM deals
    The trend to expand the virtualisation user base was given a shot in the arm after VMware unveiled OEM agreements with a number of server vendors.
  • Microsoft faces Vista lawsuit
    In a move with implications for resellers and PC vendors in the worldwide channel, a California judge last week ruled that Microsoft was open to a class-action lawsuit over its Vista-compatible marketing campaign.
  • Suitors line up for Evesham
    A number of suitors have made advances to the owner of Evesham Technology a week after it was put up for sale but some channel sources believe the brand has been tarnished since its administration.
  • Dell awaits 'hungry' resellers
    The channel account management and field sales teams should be in place at Dell by the end of this month and the UK partner director believes resellers are chomping at the bit to get started.
  • Cisco reacts to SMARTnet critics
    Cisco has reacted to channel criticisms of its SMARTnet quote system that were highlighted in MicroScope and moved to fix problems that have been the bugbear of resellers.
  • HP undercuts partners
    Resellers have voiced concerns that Hewlett-Packard is extending its direct sales aspirations beyond the corporate desktop market and into the server space, particularly on the blade platform.
  • 802.11n vendors hit by price cuts
    Cisco consumer arm Linksys among those hit by declining ASPs
  • Cisco SMARTnet woes
    Cisco SMB resellers are still losing substantial sums of money on misplaced or duplicated SMARTnet support contracts six months after the system was refreshed. In spite of repeated calls from the channel to simplify the quotation process, the networking giant again stands accused of failing to heed its partners’ concerns.
  • UC growth linked to SaaS
    The future of unified communications (UC) will be tied to the growing popularity of software as a service (SaaS) as more hosted offerings combine IP PBX, UC and conferencing facilities to run alongside applications.
  • Bleak winter for conglomerates
    If there was a theme to the markets last week it was around the areas of telecoms and networking, with both BT and Cisco reporting figures.
  • Firms still apathetic over piracy
    The result of the Business Software Alliance campaign in Glasgow has been to expose continuing levels of apathy towards the question of illegal software.
  • Vendors talk up next-gen networks
    Those operating in the networking channel can put aside fears of a recession and concentrate on enjoying a decade of financial security because of the deployment of next generation networks (NGNs).
  • IBM targets SMEs with SaaS
    IBM has raised its ambitions in the SME software arena after taking the wraps off several initatives to seize a slice of the Software as a Service (SaaS) market.
  • Governance to enter mainstream
    In the new age of Web 2.0, businesses need to keep a tighter grip on security and corporate policies or risk heavy fines, according to Logicalis, which has acquired specialist governance vendor Iconium.
  • Changes at the top
    Several major manufacturers have made, or are planning to make, changes to senior management in the UK before the year gets started in earnest.
  • Lenovo signs IBM server deal
    Lenovo will enter the volume server market inside 12 months after signing a licensing agreement with IBM to manufacture one and two-way rack and tower systems.
  • Cisco partners under fire
    Cisco partners have hit back at complaints from customers that they lack sufficient unified communications (UC) skills and are slowing adoption.
  • Red Hat hosts first partner event
    Open source specialist announces first EMEA partner event
  • HP thin client sees channel convergence
    Hewlett-Packard has announced its first thin client products after the acquisition of market specialist Neoware last year and revealed that it plans to bring together the two vendors’ channels in the second half of the year
  • Switch sales growth slows
    While unit sales growth on network switches remains healthy, the overall rate is beginning to slow
  • Cisco strengthens networking training
    Cisco responds to customer pressure by launching the CCDE networking design certification
  • The SaaS challenge is still in services
    Mention of hosted software makes the headlines after IBM's Lotusphere event
  • Rejection of software patent claims 'wrong'
    High court judge rules that patent appeals should be allowed
  • PC firms shuffle management deck
    PC manufacturers Acer and Lenovo are preparing significant changes to senior management in the UK
  • Sun separates software
    Sun Microsystems’ Sun Partner Advantage (SPA) programme is being extended to appeal more to software developers, by allowing them to reach top-level accreditations and accrue higher rebates without selling hardware.
  • Scepticism over green scheme
    While welcomed from an environmental standpoint, the latest green networking initiative may be flawed, according to those in the channel that have looked at the sales pitch.
  • HP reallocates funds
    Hewlett-Packard is to reduce partner marketing funds based on revenues and increase discretionary payments linked to the share of its products in a reseller’s portfolio, return on marketing investment and quality of plans.
  • Dell to woo resellers
    Assembling a channel team was always going to be relatively straightforward for Dell but now Andy Dow, its recently appointed channel director for the UK and Ireland, has the tough job of convincing resellers the firm can be their vendor partner of choice.
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