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  • Semiconductor sales expected to dip next year
    Semiconductor sales are expected to drop next year for the first time since the last time the industry hit the skids in 2001.
  • One Laptop per Child arrives in UK
    Although originally designed to be sold into the third world the $100 laptop that was designed for the one laptop per child scheme is to be sold in Europe.
  • Proving that the grass is greener
    The key to selling environmentally friendly IT is showing that it can bring far-reaching benefits to customers’ businesses, writes Dell UK channel director Andy Dow.
  • Sony hands Midwich and Imago premier status
    Midwich and Imago have come out of a distribution consolidation process being carried out by Sony unscathed but C2000/Maverick has lost its right to handle the vendors products.
  • Logitech looks to channel for growth
    Logitech is increasing the emphasis it puts on the channel after as it looks to ramp-up its activity in the business market.
  • Mini-notebook sales rise across Europe
    Shipments of mini notebooks in EMEA could almost double to 4 million in the final quarter if the phenomenal sales rate of netbooks continues after 2 million units were shipped in the third quarter.
  • The Apricot brand returns
    In an announcement that will spark a feeling of nostalgia for a generation of thirty something’s the brand of Apricot Computers is making a comeback.
  • Abacus falls to Avnet
    Components distributor Abacus has fallen to Avnet in a £42m cash deal after failure to execute on a planned acquisition strategy meant it put itself up for sale last month. Avnet had already been linked to a possible takeover bid after tough trading conditions lead to a rapid slide in Abacus’ stock and profits.
  • iSuppli warns of trouble for chips
    Technology market intelligence specialists iSuppli has adjusted its forecast for 2008 worldwide semiconductor growth downward slightly from 4% to 3.5% and is warning that the chip market could be in for a rough time if economic conditions continue to worsen.
  • Intel inside mobile internet devices?
    Silicon Valley firms are pushing mobile internet devices, but smartphones could already have taken their place
  • Logitech signs Enta as OEM distributor
    Enta Technologies has become an OEM distributor for Logitech handling the range of peripherals including keyboard and mice.
  • Oracle enters hardware market with HP assistance
    Oracle’s OpenWorld event is likely to be remembered for the moment that the CEO Larry Ellison announced that the vendor was entering the hardware market.
  • Logicalis backs mainframe apprenticeship scheme
    Logicalis has put its weight behind the Advanced IT Apprenticeship, as part of a move designed to plug the skills gap and develop mainframe expertise.
  • Acer talks up growth prospects
    Against a backdrop of turmoil in the global financial markets and the ubiquitous uncertainty it has created the PC market will continue to grow in double digits, the CEO and President at Acer has predicted.
  • Toshiba profits warning could scupper SanDisk approach
    Toshiba is looking less likely to make a rival bid for SanDisk to try and get the flash memory specialist in the place of Samsung.
  • Canon hands Midwich large format range
    Midwich has extended the products it carries by Canon after being given access to the vendor’s large format printer range.
  • BT offers hardware services
    BT has thrown down the gauntlet by stepping up the services it offers that compete with other resellers.
  • Fujitsu Siemens opts to keep pricing stable
    Fujitsu Siemens is resisting exchange rates pressure to put up prices but may scrutinise the cost of kit in upcoming large corporate tenders.
  • Acer confirms prices rises on laptops from Monday
    Acer has become the second vendor today to confirm that it will raise product prices from Monday in response to exchange rate pressures.
  • Simms strengthens management team
    Memory distributor Simms International has strengthened it management team after bringing in Jon Blows.
  • Samsung linked with SanDisk purchase
    Samsung is being linked with SanDisk after the vendor admitted that it is considering buying the flash memory specialist.
  • HP unveils recycling trial with Sainsbury's
    Hewlett-Packard has joined forces with Sainsbury’s to kick off a PC recycling scheme in London.
  • Desktop virtualisation pitched to green cost savers
    The move towards desktop virtualisation is going to be driven not just by the cost savings its produces but by the compelling green argument that using lower powered devices creates.
  • Brother targets education sector with A3 inkjet range
    Brother has entered into the A3 inkjet mutli-function market with a product aimed at breaking into the home office, education and construction markets.
  • x86 servers show strains of commoditisation in EMEA
    The EMEA server market has grown in the second quarter fuelled by activity in central and Eastern Europe.
  • FSC: where do we go from here?
    Sale of Siemens stake could make things difficult for Fujitsu Siemens Computers
  • Will netbooks blend with notebooks?
    One of the big debates these days here in Silicon Valley is whether products such as the Asus Eee PC, or netbooks in general, will actually take off and, if so, whether they will encroach on the low-end value laptop market where close to 50% of all notebooks sold today reside.
  • x86 growth slows to lowest rate for six years
    The Olympics may be over but the x86 servers segment is creating a number of its own world records as sales growth of the platform slowed to their lowest level for 23 quarters.
  • IBM leads global server market in Q2
    IBM maintained a stranglehold on worldwide server revenues in the second quarter while Hewlett-Packard grew slower than the market average and Sun and Fujitsu Siemens saw declines, according to market analyst Gartner.
  • UK printers sales decline says Gartner
    The UK printer market has suffered in the first six months of the year due to the economic downturn with sales falling nearly 8% and many of the major vendors posting significant declines.
  • Netbook market predicted to reach 50 million units by 2012
    The mini-notebook market is set to rack up major sales according to Gartner with worldwide volumes of up to 50 million units by 2012.
  • Is this green invention a wind-up?
    Portable charging system uses the movement of the wearer to provide energy for mobile phones and iPods
  • Selling to SMBs in a downturn
    The lack of consumer confidence in banking and borrowing is bound to have a knock-on effect in the business community, particularly among SMBs, who can feel very vulnerable during times of general economic unease. So how can resellers to SMBs maintain confidence and help customers overcome concerns about IT investment when fears over borrowing are high?
  • The word on unified communications
    Unified communication technologies offer big opportunities for resellers. Cath Everett looks at the benefits of convergence and asks how resellers should present it to customers
  • Flexibility boosts RAID revenues
    Supplying RAID should not just mean selling the box – switch storage selection from vendor to reseller to add value
  • Cloud helps to buoy the channel
    Despite the state of the economy, spirits in the channel have remained high, with hosted software showing particular growth. Halfway through the year, we look at how the market is shaping up
  • IT spending is still growing
    Those hoping that the IT sector will survive the economic downturn will be cheered by figures from analyst house GfK which show continued growth in IT spending.
  • LCD panel makers cut August production
    Faced with the prospect of large drops in market value some of the largest LCD panel manufacturers have moved to cut production by 10 per cent until the end of this month.
  • Canon adds marketing head to business division
    Canon’s marketing function is to get a lift after it named ex-Pfizer executive Clare Want as marketing director for the Business Solutions arm in the UK to create campaigns for both the direct and indirect sales channels.
  • Acer gets the message
    Dedicated distribution and sales out teams will balance stock entering the channel
  • Kyocera offers transactional managed print service to resellers
    Kyocera has claimed its first managed print service aimed at the IT channel is purely a transactional sale for resellers, who have the option of outsourcing paperwork, field engineers and everything post sale to the vendor.
  • Gateway abandons direct sales
    Gateway is to abandon its direct sales approach and sell exclusively through channel partners to mirror the strategy employed by parent company Acer.
  • Comment: The law according to satnav systems
    Does anyone out there know of an ethical satnav? It doesn't have to be a miniature wrist-top device, it doesn't have to come built in to a phone, although it does have to be portable and, given the nature of my lifestyle, it should certainly be splash-proof.
  • Insurer cuts credit cover for Bell Microproducts
    Bell Microproducts has had its cover withdrawn in Europe by credit insurer Euler Hermes as players in the indemnity market look to cut their exposure across all sectors.
  • PC sales soar as notebook prices collapse
    PC shipments in EMEA have soared to a five year high in the second quarter but analysts fear 15 per cent price erosion on notebooks is unsustainable for vendors and will lead to casualties.
  • Government needs to focus on more than energy
    Following the announcement by the government that it plans to be carbon neutral in terms of its ICT in four years others in the industry have called for a wider focus.
  • Government sets sights on IT carbon neutrality
    In a move that has the potential to put help make the green datacentre debate back under the spotlight the government has announced plans to make its IT carbon neutral.
  • Telcos set sights on notebook sector
    For a long time traditional retailers and online resellers have almost exclusively enjoyed the consumer notebook boom, with relatively little competition from other channels, but that is about to change
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Semiconductors put in strong May performance
    Demand drives healhty growth in seminconductors for the month of May
  • Saving money not the planet driving eco sales
    Resellers have to be wary of how they sell the environmental message
  • Bell Micro, FSC end deal
    Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) and Bell Micro have ended their distribution contract on servers and storage.
  • Thermal printer VARs sought
    TallyGenicom has marked its entrance into the thermal printer market with plans to recruit 30 ‘market maker’ VARs that will be supported by a distributor appointed to carry the range.
  • HP expected to rationalise client distributors
    The roadmap for Hewlett-Packard’s thin clients will be outlined in the summer. Sources expect it to rationalise distributors, having inherited two additional partners from the acquisition of Neoware.
  • Server sales boost from Windows 2008
    Microsoft’s OEM partners will be hoping that Windows Server 2008 provides a welcome boost to server sales, but resellers do not foresee a customer stampede, especially in light of the difficulties some had with Vista.
  • A leap in mobile computing
    How long before mobile phones become computers?
  • Server sales potential, but no stampede to Windows 2008
    Mixed views on how well Server 2008 will sell
  • HP expected to rationalise client distributors
    Roadmap for HP thin clients to be outlined this summer.
  • New VAT rules will not burden firms, says EC
    EC clamps down on carousel fraud
  • Dell looks to get into bed with John Lewis
    Dell in negotiations with high-street brand.
  • OGC adds managed print to procurement framework
    Aim to cut printing costs in public sector.
  • Midwich to sell high-end AV
    Midwich has launched a specialist division to cater for high-end audio-visual technology, which it claimed would have been in danger of faltering without a greater degree of market-making activities.
  • Samsung to target public sector
    Senior management at Samsung Electronics are preparing to expand the company’s horizons beyond commercial IT markets into the ultra price-sensitive public sector and the plan is to do it with partners.
  • AMD ends C2000 deal
    A rationalisation exercise to address over-distribution in the UK has seen AMD end its agreement with Computer 2000, its least performing partner in the region.
  • Dell urged to allow next-day delivery
    Resellers have called on Dell to enable them to offer next-day delivery, particularly on servers and options, so they can compete more effectively with rival vendors’ channels.
  • Desktop sales to falter
    Analysts have downgraded their forecasts for the UK PC market as corporate desktop customers delay refreshes due to concerns over the less than certain economic outlook and the instability of the Vista OS.
  • Notebook sales outstrip desktops
    For the first time notebooks outsold desktops in the UK last year and with vendors focusing more on the mobile platform, the gap will continue to widen in certain sectors in 2008, analysts have predicted.
  • Notebooks drive PC growth
    The EMEA PC market grew 12.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared with the year earlier, as notebook sales helped to offset a lacklustre performance in the desktop form factor.
  • Quad core shift buoys sales
    The impact of consolidation and virtualisation on the growth of x86 sales has yet to be felt acutely as enterprises moved to quad core systems more quickly than expected last quarter, helping to keep the market buoyant.
  • Lenovo delays launch
    Lenovo has promised that its consumer PCs will be on the shelves of UK retailers before the year is out following claims from partners that the boxes were originally due for launch in April.
  • Year-end PC sales slow
    It was a sluggish end to 2007 for some in the retail PC sector and economic uncertainty may impact consumer spending this year but corporate refresh cycles coming online could counter that slowdown.
  • FSC targets mid-market
    Ahead of a revamped channel programme to be launched next year, Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) is building its notebook portfolio with a number of PCs aimed at the mid-market, which it had not sufficiently targeted.
  • SMEs to drive blade sales
    Blade server sales rose in the third quarter, but analysts and vendors expect the raft of recently launched systems engineered for SMEs to significantly ramp volumes in 2008.
  • Dell rivals warn VARs
    As Dell begins the process of building channel account teams across EMEA, rivals have pointed towards their investments in partnering and warned resellers of the dangers in working with the company.
  • Sales defy gloomy forecast
    Despite the credit crunch in the US and similar ripples in the UK economy, the early signs for retailers this Christmas are positive if the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is to be believed.
  • C2000 custom server debut
    Computer 2000 has launched an online build-to-order system for Hewlett-Packard servers and storage designed to raise the competition with Dell, but resellers want faster delivery times than the ten working days quoted.
  • Hunter replaces Schelling
    Paul Hunter has been named as the UK and Ireland commercial category director for Hewlett-Packard’s personal systems group following the departure of Tim Schelling back to the Netherlands.
  • Q3 printer sales slow
    The printer market limped through the historically quietest quarter of the year, with summer holidays taking their toll on unit sales and some vendors taking a hit on shipments following the move to withdraw from the low end.
  • AMD woos resellers
    After a number of setbacks AMD is trying to sweeten local partners by giving them early access to the platform codenamed Spider, the first joint development to come out of its acquisition of GPU vendor ATI.
  • Factory blaze hits supply chain
    A fire that halted production of lithium-ion batteries at a factory in the Far East has resulted in supply chain delays to notebook shipments that will continue into the important run up to Christmas and possibly into the New Year.
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