Reseller Middle East

ISSUE 180 // DECEMBER 2011 // WWW.RESELLERME.COM

PUBLICATIONLICENSED BY IMPZ

E D U C A T I O N C H A N N E L SFEATURE

HDD MELTDOWNOctober’s flooding of Thailand has knocked out quarter of the global hard disk manufacturing base. Normalcy will take another six months and a lot can change in the industry along the way. P22

DATA APPLIANCE FOR SMEsSAS and EMC Greenplum come together in the region to launch a power packed data management solution for SMEs. P26

OUTDOOR ENTERPRISE TAbLETMotorola has developed the rugged E1 tablet especially for industrial use and to support enterprise applications. P47

MohaMMed arifPartner strategy

and Program Lead

Yasir KhoKhar

Michael MansourdeveLoPer PLatform

evangeLIsm Lead

OFFICE 365

BusIness grouP Lead mICrosoft offICe

42 Volume and value jostle

Today’s IT education players need to

balance a mix of high value and high

volume training programmes. Demand

seasonality, mixed vendor fortunes, a new

breed of emerging technologies implies

there are no firm bets. A look at business

models of some leading players.

Office 365Microsoft rolls it out

COVER FEATUREIN FOCUS

CONTENTSISSUE 180 // DECEMBER 2011

55

58

36

05

06

09

18

57

Editorial

Speak out

Tie-ups

Events

Movements

SPEAK OUT

PRODUCTS

PEOPlE

FEATURE

Angelika Plate

A new paradigm of unified and remote computing, targeted at small and medium enterprises, is being rolled out across the region. So significant is the change that even the current channel structure will need to be revamped to accommodate the new approach to selling. This can be both an opportunity and threat for reseller partners. Read on!

47 Outdoor enterprise tablet

Motorola has developed the rugged E1

tablet especially for industrial use and

to support enterprise applications.

48 Quad Enterprise Social Software

Cisco’s thin client application allows a

user to work across business and social media feeds through one interface.

22 Washed out

October’s flooding of Thailand has

knocked out quarter of the global hard

disk manufacturing base. Normalcy will

take another six months and a lot can

change in the industry along the way.

26 Data appliance for SMEs

SAS and EMC Greenplum come

together in the region to launch a

power packed data management solution for SMEs.

32 “We are a supply chain services provider in the emerging markets”

Raj Shankar, Managing Director, Redington Gulf

A discussion on multiple facets of their

regional business model and vision.

Laimoon.com

Sherifa HadyHP’s aspiring inventor47

Reseller Middle Eastdecember 2011 3

©2011 Schneider Electric. All Rights Reserved. Schneider Electric, Smart-UPS, PowerChute, and APC are trademarks owned by Schneider Electric Industries SAS or its affiliated companies.Web: www.apc.com/support • Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai, 341057, UAE • 998-2194_ME-GB *Full details are available online.

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Reseller_ME_12235p.indd 1 2011-11-29 10:30:12

The Dubai air show

attracted half as

many visitors as

October’s, week

long, sprawling and

extravagant Gitex

— a good number

by any benchmark.

While most of the

airshow exhibitor

participants were

from supplies,

propulsion, aerodynamics and training, of interest

was the avionics and electronic support systems

mostly for military command and defence. Boeing’s

stall featured a simulator for its largest selling F15

tactical fighter. What caught my interest was the

headup, 180 degree simulation screen. Compared

to Panasonic’s 152 inch 3D screen solution

displayed at Gitex 2011, it appeared to be at least

ten years behind in technology prowess. A look

at the instrumentation inside the F15 cockpit and

at other instrumentation exhibitors also gave the

impression that they were considerably behind

today's technology life cycles. No sign of the high

contrast, touch screen, multi input interfaces, so

much a part of IT industry's CEO cockpit solutions.

Northrop Grumman’s airborne radar system

was however more in tune with IT technologies.

Its trio of data display panels had touch screen

interactivity, some amount of 3D data manipulation

and gave the impression that its output data stream

could probably interface well with any 3D display

device from our side of the fence. Its electronic

data detection system can resolve objects and

attribute them to graphical icons helping to

enhance command decision making. A much

needed support system for this region's vulnerable

coast line.

Another area of interest was the field support

networking devices either affixed to the body of

an aircraft or as a ground based portable system

with connect speeds from 50kbps upto 50 Mbps

and also supporting public internet connectivity. A

military grade version tablet demonstrated how it

could combine data and video feed channels, in

some ways more sophisticated than our unified

end point terminals. Interesting stuff all around!

Turn to page 18 for more.

And then there were the global burps. Wikileaks

named a hundred plus technology vendors, whose

solutions are being used by repressive regimes

for public surveillance. And this has created a

flurry in regional IT channels. And then there is the

European financial imbroglio, far away from this

region, yet closely connected in terms of ripple

effect, to lead rating agencies to warn of liquidity

concerns across regional banking systems into

2012. The double dip has finally come!

Thailand’s hard disk meltdown, following the floods

in October has a number of between the lines,

threat warnings and possible silver linings, spelled

out by IDC. Read more about this and what the

local industry is saying on page 22.

On a more operational level, Microsoft’s Office

365 gets rolling over the year end. Any business

user can sign up for 30 days free trial and for now

Microsoft is allowing some leeway on extending

the free trial period to more than 30 days. The

catch for the channel is to move into an advisory

role with the end user. Contrary to the packaged

software cycle, a Cloud reseller will find their

business opportunity actually begins after their

customer starts using the software. Make hay while

the cloud shines, is our story on page 36.

See you all next year.

EDITORIAL

Closing score

PublisherDominic De Sousa

COONadeem Hood

Managing DirectorRichard Judd

[email protected] +971 4 440 9126

EDitOrial

Senior EditorArun Shankar


aDvErtiSing

Commercial DirectorRajashree R Kumar


advertising ExecutiveMerle Carrasco


CirCulatiOn

Database and Circulation ManagerRajeesh M


PrODuCtiOn anD DESign

Production ManagerJames P Tharian


art DirectorKamil Roxas


DesignerAnalou Balbero


PhotographerCris Mejorada


Digitalwww.rwme.net

Digital SErviCES

Digital Services ManagerTristan Troy P Maagma

Web DevelopersJerus King Bation

Erik BrionesJefferson de Joya

Louie Alma

[email protected]+971 4 440 9100

Published by

1013 Centre Road, New Castle County,Wilmington, Delaware, USA

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Tel: +971 4 440 9100Fax: +971 4 447 2409

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While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all

information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

arun ShankarSenior [email protected]


Red Hat

SPEAK OUT

With virtualisation comes the potential to

reduce costs and enhance productivity,

realising savings across server count,

carbon footprint, power consumption

and cooling requirements. Whether a

CiO is looking to go green, for green’s

sake, enhance brand image or improve

competitiveness, virtualisation is an

attractive proposition.

At its core, virtualisation enables

organisations to make the most efficient

use of available system resources by

consolidating applications onto fewer

physical servers. As demands in data centre

infrastructure change, or in response to

traffic spikes, physical resources that are not

immediately required are automatically turned

off, enabling a more efficient, environmentally

friendly use of resources.

Vendor solutions can become the mother of all lock-ins says Red Hat’s Kananov. An open virtualisation platform is safer to gain productivity benefits during business scaling.

To execute a successful virtualisation

deployment, CIOs must first be clear

about what they wish to achieve and

determine if the technology is a good fit

for the business. Within any organisation,

disruptive or revolutionary initiatives have

the highest chance of failure. By approaching

virtualisation as a step-by-step evolution,

organisations can boost their success rate.

Virtualisation is becoming a commodity,

and should be treated accordingly. As the

market matures, CIOs are becoming more

savvy and waking up to the potentials and

limitations of the technology and what can

be expected from a vendor. It is a vendor’s

responsibility to offer guidance on best

practice and organisations should not be

afraid to ask tough questions and demand

answers.

Determining what percentage of an

organisation’s workload can realistically be

virtualised is a good first step. We seldom

see organisations immediately migrate the

majority of workloads to a virtual environment,

instead it is common practice to start with

less critical workloads, gain experience with

the platform and then increase workloads to

include mission-critical ones as well.

It is advisable for organisations to migrate

further workloads once they are confident with

the platform and support offered by a vendor.

Rather than view virtualisation as a

standalone project, organisations should

have a deeper look at the internal processes

which might be impacted by adopting

virtualisation technology adoption. This

could include provisioning and change

management considerations. Otherwise,

customers might find that expected benefits

of virtualisation, especially improving IT agility,

are not achievable. In other words, often the

biggest hurdle to the successful adoption of

virtualisation is not the technology itself, but

the processes that surround it.

Such processes include provisioning

and change management. Each application

involved might compete for computing

resources and it is important for organisations

to deploy software that grants greater visibility

into the IT architecture to determine how

Virtualisation with strings

It is a vendor’s responsibility to offer guidance on best

practice and organisations should not be afraid to ask tough questions and demand answers

6 Reseller Middle East december 2011

coupled with recouped floor space can often

see savings of up to 50%.

Administration of the virtual environment

is critical, but maintenance hours are vastly

reduced. Administrators will need to support

a smaller footprint of physical servers

and the virtual system allows them to add

additional applications remotely, while the

system is still running.

Deploying applications to a physical server

often takes a lot of time and resources. This

process can be reduced from days or hours

to minutes in a virtual environment, allowing

organisations to realise costs savings through

reduced administration time and travel costs,

and increased productivity. Virtualisation

reduces personnel costs as organisations no

longer need to support sprawling physical

hardware, allowing administrators to focus

their attention on more important tasks.

Virtualisation raises a new set of security

concerns. As organisations migrate further

workloads into a virtual environment, they

expand their technology footprint and the

amount of data exposed. In a non-virtual

environment, a hack might gain access to

just one server, but in a virtual environment, a

hacker has access to every application which

runs on a compromised server.

Security risks can arise from personnel

within an organisation or from third-party

attackers. With an increase in employees

wishing to connect personal devices to the

office network, it is imperative for enterprises

to ensure access to data from personal

devices is not abused. Vendors can enable

organisations to keep all data off their

desktops and end user devices to ensure

applications are running. Greater visibility

allows administrators to predict conflict

and monitor performance to ensure critical

applications receive priority and performance

levels are met.

Costs savings are the primary reason

that enterprises look to move to a virtual

environment. Reducing costs whilst driving

productivity is in-line with any business

objective and virtualisation is a budget-saving

technology. That is not to say there are no

upfront costs. Initial investment is necessary

and return on investment will result from a

reduction in data centre footprint, hardware,

maintenance, personnel and management

costs. Virtualisation technology alone may not

reduce operating expenses.

Going green not only enhances a brand’s

image but can also reap substantial cost

savings. By reducing the number of physical

servers, organisations can greatly reduce

the amount of rack space required which

equates to substantial savings, especially if

an organisation is renting space from a data

centre provider. In an organisation’s own

data centre, decreased power and cooling

For too long, vendors have offered closed proprietary

technology stacks, with little or no focus on interoperability with other market players.

aram Kananov is Product Marketing Manager EMEa, Platform and Cloud at red Hat. He is an experienced it consultant, it architect and team leader with specialisation in system management, high availability, virtualisation and migration.

data does not leave the virtual environment.

Employees will be able to view data on their

monitors but will be unable to copy or export

data from the virtual environment. In fact

this is a frequent scenario for deployment

of virtual desktop infrastructure. One way

to ensure security is to opt for a vendor

that offers kernel-based security policy

enforcement infrastructure.

For too long, vendors have offered

closed proprietary technology stacks, with

little or no focus on interoperability with other

market players. With no pre-defined open

standards, virtualisation can become the

mother of all lock-ins.

Vendor lock-ins can have a real impact

on IT and business efficiency. The inability to

move workloads across different platforms

and difficulty in extracting data from virtual

environments can restrict business.

With infrastructure defined in a way that is

friendly to IT vendors, rather than customers,

once users get stuck in one proprietary

technology it is hard for them to move. Some

of the leading vendors in this space are

moving towards stricter licensing models that

include significant charges for high density

workloads, thereby limiting the amount of

memory that can be allocated per CPU based

on the customer’s licence. This defies one of

the founding values of virtualisation: flexibility.

With fluctuating workloads, nobody can

predict future long-term requirements.

By opting for an open source and open

standards policy, focusing on interoperability

and portability to end vendor lock-ins,

enterprises can ensure they are in control.

Harnessing the flexibility offered by

virtualisation technology, organisations can

react to immediate business needs and

accelerate time to market of new initiatives.

Virtualisation is the perfect component

of a forward thinking IT strategy, offering

a natural progression to cloud computing

which allows organisations to take existing

virtualised workloads and move them into

a cloud environment. Virtualisation can be

seen as preparing businesses for a move to

the cloud and is platform to migrate mission-

critical workloads. //


Tie-ups

IN THE BEGINNING

adobe Systems MEna announced that

alfalak Distribution has been appointed as

distributor for the Saudi arabian market.

alfalak joins the company’s strategic

network of Middle East and north african

distributors which includes logicom,

Mindware, Disway and grapheast. alfalak

will be supporting the full range of adobe

products to ensure availability for business

users and retail outlets.

“During the past year, we have

been carefully reviewing our distribution

strategy in Saudi Arabia to ensure that we

understand the needs of channel partners

and customers, and have the ability to deliver

products efficiently and effectively across

the Kingdom,” said Abdallah Saqqa, General

Manager, Adobe Systems MENA. “Alfalak has

an extensive understanding and widespread

penetration of the market in the Kingdom

and we are pleased to welcome them to our

network.”

Ahmed Ashadawi, CEO and President,

Alfalak Electronic Equipment and Supplies

commented, “We are delighted to join the

Adobe network as an authorised distributor.

Through this partnership, we will be offering

our customers in Saudi Arabia with optimal

solutions, while complementing the growth

strategy of Adobe in the Kingdom.”

Adobe Systems signs up Alfalak for Saudi Arabia

Huawei and

Symantec have

announced

an agreement

where Huawei

will acquire

Symantec’s

49% stake

in Huawei

Symantec

technologies

for uS$ 530

million. upon

closing, the agreement will give Huawei full

ownership of Huawei Symantec.

Huawei Symantec is a Hong Kong-based

joint venture established by Huawei and

Symantec in 2008. The company provides

customers with security, storage and systems

management solutions. Over the past few

months, Huawei and Symantec have held

several rounds of discussions and negotiations

over the future of the joint venture. Huawei

and Symantec have mutually agreed that the

next stage of growth for the joint venture would

benefit from the direction of a single owner.

“I am thrilled that Huawei Symantec will

become a key pillar of Huawei’s ICT solutions.

The integration of Huawei Symantec’s

innovative security and storage technology

with Huawei’s enterprise products will reinforce

Huawei’s position in cloud computing,” said

Guo Ping, Deputy Chairman of Huawei.

“Symantec achieved the objectives

we set four years ago and exited the joint

venture with a good return on our investment,

increased penetration into China and a

growing appliance business,” said Enrique

Salem, President and Chief Executive Officer,

Symantec. “China is one of Symantec’s fastest

growing markets. It has grown 46 percent over

the last three fiscal years.

The agreement is subject to regulatory

approvals and other customary closing

conditions and is expected to close in the first

quarter of 2012.

Huawei acquires Symantec stake in Huawei Symantec

Guo Ping, Deputy Chairman of Huawei

Huawei head office


IN THE BEGINNINGTie-ups

interactive intelligence, a global vendor of

unified iP business communications solutions,

has signed a reseller agreement with

alnafitha international, a solution provider in

Saudi arabia. alnafitha international will serve

as the systems integrator and value-added

reseller of interactive intelligence,

and will offer customers in Saudi

arabia business communications

solutions for contact centre

automation, enterprise iP

telephony and business process

automation. it will also provide

consultation, implementation,

support and custom

development for the interactive

intelligence solutions.

“Saudi Arabia has a fast-

growing telecommunications

market and has recently witnessed

a tremendous demand for top-flight

unified business communications

solutions such as those provided by Interactive

Intelligence. Alnafitha International has

long been a systems integrator in Saudi

Arabia, familiar with leveraging cutting-edge

technologies for maximum market penetration.

As with Interactive Intelligence, Alnafitha

International too is committed to providing

software-only solutions, which is what makes

this partnership mutually beneficial”, said Abdul

Nasser Bangcola, country manager for Saudi

Arabia at Interactive Intelligence.

Commenting on the partnership, Othman

Alahdal, Regional Manager central region

at Alnafitha International said, “We firmly

believe that Interactive Intelligence’s unique

communications solution architecture will be

widely adopted by customers in Saudi Arabia.

We are confident that in providing customers

with value-added services such as consultation,

implementation, and after sales support,

together we will significantly increase our and

Interactive’s footprint in the region.”

Alnafitha offers IT consultancy, professional

services and support, business and office

automation, e-process and workflow, document

management and archiving, help desk

management and training systems, outsourcing

and hiring and customer relations management.

interactive intelligence has also signed a

reseller agreement with Malaz technology,

a provider of converged information and

communications technology solutions in

Saudi arabia. Malaz technology will offer

customers in Saudi arabia, solutions for

contact centre automation, enterprise

iP telephony, and business process

automation. Malaz technology will provide

consulting, implementation, support

and custom development for interactive

intelligence solutions.

“Malaz Technology is a systems

integrator and has been at the forefront of

implementing these technologies within

government and private sector enterprises.

We intend to penetrate the Saudi market by

leveraging Malaz Technology’s knowledge

of the local market, technical expertise and

strong customer base”, said Abdul Nasser

Bangcola, country manager for Saudi Arabia

at Interactive Intelligence.

“We are excited to be partnering with

Interactive Intelligence. The global evolution

of technology is moving towards software

solutions and their technology is in line

with this,” said Mohammad Munir Almulki,

Managing director at Malaz Technology.

“This is a key differentiator and advantage

compared to other competitor solutions

which consist of multiple systems with various

administration points that require complex

and costly

implementation

and

maintenance”.

Interactive

Intelligence

offers a solution

for all aspects

of a company’s

business

processes

through its

standards-

based, all-in-one

IP platform.

This platform

can be tailored

to suit the

requirements of a host of different industries

including insurance, banking, credit unions

and accounts receivable management,

government, and outsourcing. Their solutions

can be deployed on-premise or as a hosted

model, including vertical-specific applications

for insurance and collections.

(Left to right) Abdul Nasser Bangcola, Country Manager for Saudi Arabia at Interactive Intelligence with Othman Alahdal, Regional Manager central region at Alnafitha International

Interactive Intelligence signs up with Alnafitha, Malaz Technology

(Left to right) Mohammad Munir Almulki, Managing Director at Malaz Technology with Abdul Nasser Bangcola, Country Manager for Saudi Arabia at Interactive Intelligence


SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. © 2011 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved. S71591US.0411

ANALYTICS

sas.com/balance

Find the delicate balance.

Sharp skepticism and increased regulatory pressures call for a firmwide approach to managing risk. SAS® helps you integrate strategies throughout your business cycle and focus on long-term growth. Decide with confidence.


Cyberoam, a network security provider

has announced appointment of FDC

international as distributors for the Middle

East. FDC will handle Cyberoam products

with special attention to the newly launched

netgenie routers. FDC was chosen for their

channel partner base vital for a retail product

like netgenie with potential for a region with

high internet penetrations levels.

“Since the launch of NetGenie in

the region last month, we have received

extremely positive response to the product

and are certain that the appointment of FDC

International as our distributors will enhance

the potential that this revolutionary product

has to offer.” said Pradeesh VS, Regional Sales

Manager, Cyberoam NetGenie Middle East.

“Their strength lies in the wide network they

have for retail sales and we are confident of their

capability of building the NetGenie brand.”

Commenting on the partnership and the

overall Cyberoam business in the region,

Surender Kumar Bishnoi, General Manager,

Cyberoam Middle East said, “FDC International

has been chosen to distribute the entire range

of Cyberoam products and will strengthen

Cyberoam’s overall distribution network for the

region.”

Speaking on the market for Cyberoam,

Rohit Mathur, Business Unit Manager, Value

Cyberoam appoints FDC as distributorBusiness, FDC International, said, “We have

in-depth experience in IT distribution and have

a full suite of products. The increased market

demands will help us to cater to them with

Cyberoam appliances. Their comprehensive

network security features and next generation

identity based technology provided offers

robust security to networks in the region.”

Cyberoam and FDC International have

arranged a special gathering for all channel

partners to showcase the NetGenie range

this month. They have also worked out

promotional activities which include tie-ups

with some of the major retail outlets as well as

other marketing communication platforms.

Cyberoam UTM delivers the complete range

of security features such as stateful inspection

firewall, VPN, gateway anti-virus, gateway

anti-malware, gateway anti-spam, intrusion

prevention system, content filtering in addition

to bandwidth management and multiple link

management over a single platform.

FDC and Cyberoam tie up

visioglobe, a French company that

specialises in visualisation of map data on

smart phones, has entered into a strategic

partnership with Flagship Projects, a

Dubai-based mobile and web applications

provider, aimed at enhancing cooperation

in developing map data applications. the

agreement was signed by Eric Bernard

CEO, visioglobe and Shadi Hasan,

Managing Director, Flagship Projects.

“This agreement reflects the

importance of featuring maps on smart

mobile phone applications. The partnership

is designed to motivate businesses,

governments and end users to embrace

this technology which is in infancy in GCC.

We pride ourselves on developing world

class sensitive, real-time information and

communication solutions for smart phones,”

said Hasan.

“We have partnered with Visioglobe

because we believe in its thought

leadership in the global map data

visualisation industry. We expect

this partnership to facilitate the

dissemination of mobile application

technology on smart phones and

to enjoy Visioglobe technology

that provides outdoor and indoor

environments in 3D irrespective of

the operating systems.”

Bernard said, “Our automotive

and mobile developments on large urban

areas such as whole countries, cities have

enabled Visioglobe to gain extensive

expertise in 3D data processing. This is

now available to ordinary people to find

intuitively their positions or visit large cities

around the world.”

Flagship Projects is one of the earliest

providers of solutions for this rapidly

expanding smart phone market. It provides

high-end smart phone platforms and

develops applications for organisations

seeking to execute products on mobile

devices. Its applications target iOS,

Android, other devices available in the

market. Visioglobe technology can be used

for pedestrian navigation and automotive

navigation and even ski trails navigation.

Its advantages include added 3D content

and interactive elements to create rich

applications.

Visioglobe and Flagship tie up for map services

(Left to right) Eric Bernard CEO, Visioglobe and Shadi Hasan, Managing Director, Flagship Projects


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3M gulf and Etisalat tamdeed Projects,

under the stewardship of Etisalat

Services Holding have entered into a

strategic partnership to offer solutions for

structured cabling systems and fibre to

home networks across various sectors in

the uaE. the scope of the newly formed

alliance will witness 3M, a manufacturer

of specialised telecom products and

tamdeed Projects, provider of integrated

network solutions to offer a package of

end-to-end solutions to customers. the

new partnership will not only increase

mutual commitment between the two

organisations, but would also lead to the

penetration of key vertical markets under

the Etisalat-tamdeed umbrella.

Commenting on the association with

Tamdeed, Abdel Rehman Obaid, Area Business

Manager, Middle East and Africa Electro and

Communications Business said, “3M Electrical

and Telecommunications has been at the

forefront of developing innovative products for

the global and regional telecom industry. We

are proud of our partnership with Etisalat and

are confident that we will mutually benefit from

existing reputation, market share, customer

database and will offer preferred solution

packages for every industry in the UAE.”

Ali Al Sharid, CEO of Etisalat Services

Holding, said, “This partnership is a strategic

step for Tamdeed Projects towards actively

developing advanced networks and for

enabling fast and easy interconnectivity of fibre

optic systems. This addition to our portfolio

expands our ever growing ability to satisfy our

customers with innovative technology and

superior quality, value and service.”

Ali Alomari, General Manager of Tamdeed

Projects said, “In addition to offering turnkey

solutions for Indoor and Outdoor telecom

Etisalat’s Tamdeed Projects, 3M Gulf announce partnership

networks, Tamdeed Projects, a specialised

business unit part of Etisalat Services Holding,

has established itself in the UAE for service

delivery of fibre optic solutions.”

With in-house capabilities in fibre to home

and telecom infrastructure, Tamdeed offers

surveying, planning, designing, implementation,

maintenance and support, monitoring, auditing

and consulting services to the UAE market and

neighbouring countries. Prior to forging this

alliance, 3M and Tamdeed had jointly executed

a specialised project for the Abu Dhabi

Education Centre Schools.

(Left to right) Ali Alomari, General Manager of Tamdeed Projects, Irfan Malik, Vice President Middle East and Africa 3M Gulf, Ali Al Sharid, CEO, Etisalat Services Holding and Abdel Rehman Obaid, Area Business Manager, Middle East and Africa Electro and Communications Business

Zservices, the provider of local cloud

security services in the Middle East, has

signed a partnership agreement with

Zajil, provider of data communication

and internet services in Kuwait. as per

the agreement, Zajil will offer Zservices’

cloud-delivered web security solution as a

value-added service to its customers. this

service provides local traffic termination

and in-country privacy for the end user.

the Zservices web and email security SaaS

cloud will be physically present at

Zajil’s location.

Commenting on the

partnership, Khalifa I Al Soulah,

Managing Director and CEO at

Zajil Telecom said, “Most of our

customers use their internet

bandwidth for surfing and it is not

uncommon for them to face security

risks from web-based malware and other

malicious content. By offering Zservices’

cloud based web and email security service

to our customers, we can provide them with

complete protection

Zservices and Zajil Telecom sign agreement for Kuwait

Khalifa I Al Soulah, Managing Director and CEO at Zajil Telecom

Contuation on Page 16



BenQ, a provider of digital lifestyle, announced

their partnership with geekay Distribution

to distribute their gaming monitor range in

the region. geekay Distribution is one of the

subsidiaries of the geekay group, a major

business entity with independent profit

centres in retail and distribution across the

entertainment segment. apart from their

strong retail presence of 14 stores across

uaE, Bahrain and Oman the geekay group

distributes nintendo games software,

hardware and high quality accessories. they

exclusively represent Steelseries, gioteck,

licensed nintendo, licensed PlayStation,

Duracell gaming and the Ben 10 licensed

range.

Manish Bakshi, General Manager of

BenQ for the Middle East and Africa, said,

“The gaming market is a priority market for

BenQ and we continue to invest in strategic

resources to build upon our position as a

preferred brand in this segment.”

Added Bakshi: “Our partnership with

Geekay Distribution, a renowned gaming

distributor with strong presence across

channels in our target markets in UAE, Oman,

Bahrain and Kuwait, complements our strategic

expansion plans for the region.”

The partnership with Geekay Distribution

will initially focus on distributing BenQ’s latest

XL and RL Gaming Series. Included in the XL

series is BenQ’s best-seller, the new 23.6”

BenQ XL2410T LED Gaming Monitor, which

is a gamer’s tour-de-force, featuring a 120

Hz refresh rate, LED panel and backlighting,

3D-ready and 2ms response time. In addition,

the monitor is equipped with an extensive

range of gaming modes, the capacity to display

video from two sources at the same time and

the ability to be adjusted to just about any

angle. A new XL gaming monitor, the BenQ

XL2420T will be available in the market early

next year.

In the RL series, the world’s first Real-Time

Strategy gaming monitor BenQ RL2240H,

features the Black eQualiser, an exclusively

designed color engine technology that reveals

critical combat details with improved visibility

in darkened areas. The Black eQualiser allows

gamers to adjust the screen brightness without

over-exposing white levels, enabling them to

screen critical combat details speedily with

added gameplay comfort.

“Our partnership with BenQ will not only

expand Geekay Distribution’s portfolio of the

latest gaming hardware, but will also provide

gamers in the Middle East with easy and direct

access to BenQ’s award-winning and world-

class products that are used by professional

gamers from around the globe,” said Kishan

Deepak Palija, Managing Director, Geekay

Distribution.

BenQ partners with Geekay Distribution for gaming monitors

Manish Bakshi, General Manager for the Middle East and Africa, BenQ and Kishan Deepak Palija, Managing Director, Geekay Distribution

against internet security threats. The ultra-low

latency, high reliability and availability of the

Zservices cloud infrastructure means end-

users can enjoy a better browsing experience

with near-zero downtime”.

“The Zservices Cloud infrastructure is

the first cloud-based web and email security

service in the Middle East. The solution is

scalable and interacts with the Zscalar global

cloud infrastructure to protect users from web-

based security threats, enforce security and

policies and provide real-time reporting,” said

Nidal Taha, Managing Director, Zservices.

Zajil International Telecom is a regional

MPLS service provider in the MENA region.

Based in Kuwait, Zajil is also Kuwait’s first

Internet Service Provider. Zservices is

deploying, building and operating Middle East

local Zscaler cloud. Zservices has deployed

Zscaler cloud nodes at the most strategic

internet points in the Middle East region. This

enables the company to offer region-wide web

and email cloud services and logging, local

traffic termination and end-user data privacy.

The infrastructure is built to serve GCC and

Levant with local cloud equipment within each

country. Zscaler’s integrated, cloud-delivered

security services include web security, mobile

security, email security and DLP.

Contuation from Page 14

Zservices and Zajil Telecom sign agreement for Kuwait


IN THE BEGINNINGDubai Airshow 2011

at the Dubai airshow 2011, uS based northrop

grumman displayed its airborne surveillance

radar and display system. the airborne radar

system permanently affixed on a Hawkeye

E2D aircraft is capable of detecting targets

over the horizon to a range of 300 nautical

miles. the reflected images are consolidated

and displayed on multiple digital display

systems. Since the Hawkeye radar system is

airborne, the reflected data can be processed

to allow vector and spatial real time decision

making.

In today’s complex and dynamic

environment, responses of both civil and military

forces can be severely hampered by limited

data availability and communication. Branded

as Knowledge 360, the airborne Hawkeye

detection and processing system provides a

networking backbone architecture that allows

information flow throughout the control region

amongst aircraft, ships, soldiers, civilians, local

and remote authorities and local and remote

command centres.

The real time data processing systems

use high speed processors, massive memory

processing and tracking algorithms, open

architecture systems, fibre optic networks as

well as internet protocols to interoperate with

other command centres. The systems also

support multi channel inputs from satellites and

unmanned drones to allow the control space to

be viewed across multiple precision resolutions

other than what the steerable Hawkeye

Rotodome provides.

The airborne detection systems

extends across 360 degrees of space in any

environment and across any terrain while

providing enhanced detection in particular areas

of this aerial space. Other than combat offensive

management, the Hawkeye detection system

also has significant civilian applications including

disaster control management, humanitarian

assistance, search and rescue, air traffic control,

anti piracy, sea lane monitoring, anti drug

operations amongst others.

Grumman’s spatial data management

global count: 100 aircraft operational

Flight ceiling: 11,000M

range: 2,700 km

Fight time: 6 hours, non refuelled; 12

hours refuelled

incoming radar data refresh rate: 10-12

seconds

no of data reports: 3,000 per second

no of onboard operator manned

stations: 3

Communication and data links: HF,

VHF, UHF, Advanced UHF, SATCOM,

GPS, inertial navigation

Detection modes: friend or foe,

electronic emitter classification,

automatic radar correlation, automated

sensor systems

Specifications: The 7M fixed radar system onboard the Hawkeye E2D aircraft that can fly at 11,000M and has a range of close to 3,000 km

Touch based screen management gives superior operator control


The Hawkeye aerial detection system has three panel display station

The Haweye data processing system accepts independent satellite and remote drone feeds Electronic emitter classification associates the reflected radar data with user assigned graphical icons

A remote drone system that can feed the airborne Hawkeye data systems Data from the airborne radar can be presented in three dimensions with spatial and vector information.


IN THE BEGINNINGDubai Airshow 2011

Boeing’s F15 cockpit simulator: The panorama display technology appeared to be less advanced than those seen at Gitex 2011, for example Panasonic’s custom display solutions including 3D switched eye spectacles. The twin seat cockpit simulator allows the instructor to sit behind the pilot trainee and has a positive environmental impact by saving fuel costs, aircraft wear and tear by simulating rather than creating warfare and attack situations. Multiple simulator cockpits can be networked together so that in-formation training can also be simulated. Boeing supports simulation solutions with key products, including Visual Integrated Display System, Manned Combat Stations and Combat Environment Server. Lockheed Martin provides the instructor and operator stations, the non-combatant natural environment system, electro-optical infrared imaging system and geographic databases.

Airborne broadband connectivity modem: Boeing’s phased array antenna systems, provides wideband communications using a low profile antenna system supporting both satellite and line of sight communication. Phased array antenna systems can meet the bandwidth requirements of a diverse community of users and aircraft including internet connectivity. The antenna system is electronically scanned and has no moving parts.

Data link stations: Communication Systems West also provides wideband data link stations to deliver real time, full motion video and other data streaming requirements. The station can be place 1 km away from the local user and still provides Type 1 and AES encryption. The bit error rate is 10 minus 8 at maximum range limit and data link speeds range from 200 kbps to 45 Mbps. With built-in wide band router, standard network interfaces including Ethernet, RS232 and RS422, the station acts as a gateway into net-centric battle space.

Military grade tablets: The Rover 5i from US based Communication Systems West, is a small, lightweight, rugged radio that provides digital capability for full motion video, situational awareness, battle damage assessment and other situations where eyes on target are required. It is securely interoperable with other air to ground platforms and has robust IP networking capabilities. It supports RS422, RS232, Ethernet, USB2.0 interfaces and has data link capability from 50kbps to 5Mbps.

The Fast Lane Group ranks amongst the world’s leading independent Cisco training providers and is the only worldwide Learning Partner for NetApp. As an experienced Cisco Learning Partner of long standing, Fast Lane is there for you in 41 countries across all continents. More than 300 Fast Lane employees train and advise major companies in all industries, leading service providers, and government agencies in twelve languages.

Fast Lane… keeps you moving.

Fast Lane Computer ConsultancyKnowledge Village, Block 17, PO Box 53941, Dubai,

United Arab Emiratest: +971 (4) 42 89 440 f: +971 (4) 42 89 441

e: training@�ane.comwww.�ane.ae

Train with the GCC Market Leader*

Fast Lane prepares you today for the

technological challenges of tomorrow.

*Source: Cisco Internal Data

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The Fast Lane Group ranks amongst the world’s leading independent Cisco training providers and is the only worldwide Learning Partner for NetApp. As an experienced Cisco Learning Partner of long standing, Fast Lane is there for you in 41 countries across all continents. More than 300 Fast Lane employees train and advise major companies in all industries, leading service providers, and government agencies in twelve languages.

Fast Lane… keeps you moving.

Fast Lane Computer ConsultancyKnowledge Village, Block 17, PO Box 53941, Dubai,

United Arab Emiratest: +971 (4) 42 89 440 f: +971 (4) 42 89 441

e: training@�ane.comwww.�ane.ae

Train with the GCC Market Leader*

Fast Lane prepares you today for the

technological challenges of tomorrow.

*Source: Cisco Internal Data

Scan this code nowto know more aboutFast Lane

Hard disk drives

IN FOCUS

Washed outOctober’s flooding of Thailand has knocked out quarter of the global hard disk manufacturing base. Normalcy will take another six months and a lot can change in the industry along the way

the large scale flooding in

thailand in October 2011 has

affected 20% to 30% of the

global manufacturing capacity of

hard disk drives. in the first half of 2011,

thailand’s captive hard disk manufacturing

base accounted for 40% to 45% of global

production. With nearly half of the capacity

at the thailand’s twelve major plants

compromised, iDC released a statement

indicating, “Damage to the hard disk drive

industry is significant and this will have a

direct impact on worldwide PC shipments

through the first half of 2012.” iDC also

indicated that hard disk supply shortages

will start in november 2011 continue into Q1

2012. Other independent consultants have

stated that thailand’s flooding will be more

disruptive to global it supply chains than

Japan’s March 2011 tsunami.

Thailand’s industrial areas are home

to 60% of Western Digital’s global hard

disk manufacturing capacity. And with

compromised local industrial output, ”Our

outlook for the current quarter ending

in December is 22 to 26 million drives,

compared to 58 million shipped in the

September quarter”, says Daniel Mauerhofer,

Head of Public Relations, EMEA and India at

Western Digital Germany.

While Western Digital’s hard disk

production plants may have been directly

affected, it is also the production plants

of IT component suppliers that have been

compromised. Says Girish Kewalramani,

Deputy Vice President of FDC International:

“The flooding in Thailand has affected

production of IT components on a large scale.

And this has created a regional short supply

of hard disk drives against reasonably high

demand.”

Seagate’s two production plants at

Teparuk and Korat have not been directly

affected by the flooding. But Seagate’s

local component suppliers have been

compromised leading the vendor to

announce that its production of hard disk

drives in the last quarter of 2011 would be

affected. “Given the volatility of the situation

it is unclear what the magnitude of the supply

chain disruption will be to Seagate’s hard

disk drive output from its Thailand operations.

Seagate anticipates hard drive supply will be

constrained throughout the current quarter,”

was Seagate’s official statement.

Western Digital is also experiencing

similar competent shortages. “Many of

our component suppliers have been

impacted, as well, leaving material for hard

drive production and hard drive supply to

customers considerably constrained,” says

Mauerhofer.

Other significant component supplier

manufacturers who have been affected by

the floods to varying extents include Sanyo

Semiconductor, Toshiba Semiconductor

and Storage, Benchmark Electronics, Hana

Semiconductor, Avago, Nidec Corporation

and Emcore, amongst others. Electronic

equipment manufacturers Panasonic and

In the first half of 2011, Thailand’s captive hard disk

manufacturing base accounted for 40% to 45% of the global production

Price hikes are expected, Daniel Mauerhofer, Head of Public Relations, EMEA and India at Western Digital

Expecting hard disk volume shortfall in Q1 2012, Harprit Singh, Managing Director, VIP Computers


Sony have also been affected.

“The market started to suffer severe

shortages in supply and manufacturers

have revised their calculations to reflect this

shortage. FDC has received, in some cases,

letters from vendors with the Force Majeure

clause,” explains FDC’s Kewalramani.

However, as per IDC, “The severity of

hard disk shortages in the coming months

largely depends on the industry’s ability

to recover lost production capacity in

Thailand.” However in spite of the recovery

attempts by global vendors both hard disk

drive and component supplies will remain

compromised, and this will have varying

impacts in the channels and the parent PC

industry.

In the regional channel markets, resellers

have begun to see significant changes in

the hard disk sales dynamics. Soon after

the onset of the crises, vendors started

withdrawing stocks from distributors to

prioritise inventory holding patterns with

leading OEMs. This quickly led to partners

speculating on withholding hard disk stocks

leading to channel induced shortages.

Resellers also reported that distributor pricing

was slow and hesitant due to lack of clarity

from vendors around cancellation of their

orders, withdrawal of existing stocks and

removal of sales rebates. As the situation has

progressed into November 2011, partners

claim that vendors are increasing their prices

by 20-30% every week and the net resulting

selling price has shot up by 80% to 150% of

the pre-crises price.

In the region Western Digital is

distributed by Redington Gulf, Metra and

FDC International. Seagate is distributed by

Redington Gulf, FDC International, Asbis and

Almasa.

“Some vendors have already started

revising their prices upwards. This was

expected as supply has become short due to

the floods,” says FDC’s Kewalramani.

“Limited component availability

throughout the hard disk supply chain and

efforts by manufacturers to bring systems

back online as quickly as possible may have

the effect of raising hard drive prices. Market

forces along the distribution chain, which are

outside the control of manufacturers, could

Soon after the onset of the crises, vendors started withdrawing

stocks from distributors to prioritise inventory holding patterns with leading OEMs


also impact prices,” clarifies Western Digital’s

Mauerhofer.

While there has been volatility in the

availability and pricing of hard disk drives, these

are mostly from on-going channel recovery

operations, rather than any real shortage

related issues. Most of the price and product

swings are taking around the 30 to 45 days of

inventory that has existed in the sell-through

part of channel movements. “The full impact of

the loss of production will really be felt in the

next quarter”, says Harprit Singh, Managing

Director, VIP Computers. Since the opening

regional demand for hard disk drives in Q4 2011

was low, most of the vendor driven reverse

logistics has been fulfilled by existing unsold

stocks with resellers and where resellers did

not have the cash reserves to hold onto their

stocks into Q1 2012, at considerably elevated

price points. “Once these supplies dry out, the

situation will most likely worsen”, says Singh.

Vendors are briefing distributor partners to plan

for 40% to 55% of incoming hard disk units in

comparison to the previous quarter.

Regional channel players expect

hard disk supplies and prices to be tightly

controlled by vendors for at least next two

quarters until middle of 2012, after which

operations may return to normal. Price points

may remain elevated 30% to 40% higher than

pre-crises price points for most of 2012, along

with supply volumes

down by 20% to 25%

across most of 2012.

IDC expects

global hard disk

drive prices to

increase as demand

exceeds supply and

manufacturers face

increased costs

for components,

expedited shipments

and shifting of

production to new

locations. The hard

disk industry will

begin to recover in Q1

2012, with pricing stabilising by mid 2012 and

the industry running close to normal in the

second half of 2012.

The volatility of hard disk pricing and

availability of volume will also create a see-

saw effect on the global PC industry. With

most of the Q4 2011 PC production completed

either at warehouses or in the supply chain

or about to be completed with stockpiled

component inventories, IDC does not expect

the impact of the Thailand floods to be more

than 10% in this quarter. It is only in Q1 2012

onwards, that the compromised production

capacity will begin to show.

In the region, super retailers are still using

their previous price list for PCs and laptops.

“For now prices have remained stable but

we are expecting to get new price lists

from most brands once their model line-up

changes before Dubai Shopping Festival

in January 2012,” says Ashish Panjabi, CEO

Jacky’s Electronics. Panjabi also expects price

revisions to kick in with new PC stock lots.

With shortfall of hard disk volumes, large

PC vendors will put increasing pressure on

manufacturers to meet their requirement

quotas on priority even at increased price

points. “In response to the crisis, priority

will be given to the large PC manufacturers

that drive hard disk shipment volumes as

well as to the high-margin products used in

enterprise servers and storage,” says IDC. As

an example, Dell is engaging on a daily basis

with their hard disk suppliers to manage their

end to end supply chain. In its latest global

advisory, HP has downsized its next quarter

revenue performance citing a range of factors

including flooding in Thailand amongst other

macros economic factors.

Since medium and small PC vendors will

come under pressure, as well as low and entry

level PC products, there is an opportunity

to capture select enterprise accounts and

accelerate consolidation in fast growing

markets. Hard disk vendors can also look for

opportunities to leverage their position with PC

vendors through strategic partnerships.

The looming downside into 2012: Smaller

PC companies with limited supplier leverage

and resources, faced with escalating price

points may run out of both customers and

products to sell.

The possible silver lining in the cloud:

High prices for hard disk drives into 2012 may

bring them at parity with solid state memory

storage and make them a viable option for

PCs. Form factors for Ultrabooks may also get

kick started. //

Hard disk drives

IN FOCUS

The severity of hard disk shortages in the coming

months largely depends on the industry’s ability to recover lost production capacity in Thailand

No change in retail PC pricing for now, Ashish Panjabi, CEO Jacky’s Electronics


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Data appliance for SMEsSAS and EMC Greenplum come together in the region to launch a power packed data management solution for SMEs

in order to bring data

warehousing and data analytic

solutions into the small and

medium enterprise space, SaS

amd EMC greenplum have come together

at a regional level and are offering an

appliance solution for this market space.

Called D1 appliance, it combines the

hardware data warehousing platform from

EMC greenplum with data management

and business analytic applications from SaS

as a pre-configured, network ready, ready to

use device. the solution has an entry level

price point that has been chosen on the

basis of affordability for the market segment,

the possible return on investment and the

business benefits on a medium term basis.

the D1 appliance also has an upward

migration path, allowing end users to add on

additional SaS applications as the end user

progresses towards more demanding

business returns from the solution.

For a small and medium enterprise

wishing to implement a data warehousing

and data management solution there are

two primary hurdles. The first is the cost of

the application software and the second is

the capacity to execute systems integration,

knowledge transfer and data migration.

The D1 appliance has been set at a price

point that makes it affordable for a small

and medium business to consider investing

in such a solution. Moreover the hardware

and software combination comes fully

integrated, fully installed and ready to run

eliminating technology and cost hurdles of

SAS, EMC Greenplum

IN FOCUS

SAS CHAnnEL PARTnERS

Just two years ago SAS operated in the

region as a direct vendor. Today it has

more than twenty five regional partners.

As a channel partner with SAS, there is a

shift of engagement from the IT side of a

customer’s business to the management

side. A channel partner will find discussion

on selection and right sizing of SAS solutions

takes them into customer decision areas

they have not been able to go before. “If a

partner is looking at taking their business

to another level, to make sure they are

having the right discussions with business

then we are the right fit for them,” says

SAS' Sohrabi. “What we are looking for are

partners who can understand what they can

gain from us.” Other than the open space

left to reseller partners SAS also maintains

hard deck accounts, who demand direct

SAS involvement because of their IT and

business scale and complexity.

regional partners

• Altis, Dubai, UAE

• Bitek Verimlilik Cozumleri ve Danismanlik,

Istanbul, Turkey

• Data Gear, Cairo, Egypt

• Data Market, Maslak, ?stanbul, Turkey

• DirectCom, Kosuyolu, Instanbul, Turkey

• Diyar United Company, Hawalli, Kuwait

• Kafein Yazilim Ve Bilgisayar Hizmetleri San

Ve TIC, Istanbul, Turkey

• Likya Bilgi Teknolojileri Ve Iletisim

Hizmetleri, Istanbul, Turkey

• Maven Partners, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

• Optimiza, National Computer Co, Amman,

Jordan

• Online Modern Solutions, Cairo, Egypt

• Peppers and Rogers Group Pazarlama

Hizmetleri, Istanbul, Turkey

• Peppers and Rogers Group Turkey,

Istanbul, Turkey

• Philogica Bilisim Yazilim Sistemleri Ve

Hizmetleri Ticaret, Istanbul, Turkey

• Satvik, Dubai, UAE

• Ultima Bilgi Teknolojileri AS, Istanbul, Turkey

• YemenSoft Co, Sana’a, Yemen

• Zoofi Tech Co, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Consulting services partners

(partial global list)

• Accenture

• Amdocs

• Capgemini

• Computer Sciences Corporation

• Comsys

• Deloitte Consulting

• Elite Technology Solutions

• IBM Global Services

• Mainline Information Systems

• Modern Analytics

• Pinnacle Solutions

• Qualex

• Wipro Technologies

• Zencos


implementation and go-live activation.

Says Philip Roy, Director Data Computing

Division, EMC, ”This product is focussed on

small and medium enterprises, because it

breaks these two barriers of entry. Very large

enterprises have specialised IT teams who

can choose different products, integrate

them together and build their own business

intelligence solution. For small and medium

enterprises this is not possible.”

By avoiding the costly and time

consuming route of systems study and

custom implementation across a business is

the functionality of the D1 appliance restricted

in any way for the small and medium

enterprise end users?

“The functionality of the D1 appliance is

the same as in a telecom service provider

or at a large financial institution. The

limitation is not in terms of functionality, it

is in terms of storage space for data and

scalability of the appliance,” says Roy.

“Moreover any business that spends a lot of

time on Excel spreadsheets and builds them

manually can automate and make them

faster and more accurate by implementing

the D1 appliance.”

On a global scale, due to the strong

synergies between the two companies, there

are examples of such alliances. However, the

D1 appliance is a regional initiative and road

shows for UAE have just been concluded. The

next step is to make the solution available

across the Middle East. “The appetite of the

two companies to work together is so high

that there are local initiatives as well. D1 is

really the physical deliverable for this sort of

appetite of doing things and being of more

value to the market,” continues Roy.

“The launch of the new D1 offering

reflects the strategic relationship we have

with EMC Greenplum, says Amir Sohrabi,

Regional Alliance Manager, Middle East and

Africa at SAS Middle East.

The D1 appliance has been built from

the ground up taking into consideration

business benefits for the small and medium

business segment. However SAS and EMC

Greenplum operate their sales completely

through channel partners and both vendors

have also setup up their channel structure

to facilitate delay-free sell-through and sell-

out of the D1 appliance from the distributor

to the reseller and onwards into the end

customer. In fact as per the current channel

structure, the vendors, distributor, reseller and

end customer are connected by an almost

seamless pipe ensuring the solution reaches

the customer with minimum delay and

technology adaptation holdups.

UAE based Altis is the in-country

distributor for the D1 appliance for both SAS

and EMC Greenplum resellers. However

Altis is also the implementation and support

partner for the solution, thereby reducing

the need for the reseller community to either

ramp up their technology and product skills

or to plan for vendor certification training

For a reseller entering an account there is a path forward they

can actually follow with end users to move them up the food chain

(Left to right) SAS and EMC Greenplum go to market, Amir Sohrabi, Regional Alliance Manager, Middle East and Africa at SAS Middle East, Philip Roy, Director Data Computing Division, EMC


SAS, EMC Greenplum

IN FOCUS

SMB CUSTOMERAccess to affordable data

warehousing, business intelligence and analytics solution

RESELLEROpportunity to enter new

customer accounts, new product portfolio and new breed of

professional services

SAS, EMC GREENPLUMHardware and

software alliance targeted at SMB market segment and new breed of SMB reseller

channel partners

ALTISFocus on D1

appliance business, one stop shop for distribution, integration, training and

support, new breed of reseller channel partners

D1 APPLIANCE

FOUR PRONGED BENEFIT APPROACH

Source: Reseller ME

D1 APPLIAnCE

This appliance combines the best of

SAS and EMC Greenplum to provide an

entry level solution for the SMB market

segment

Specifications

• Hardware and software combination

appliance from EMC GreenPlum and

SAS with data warehousing, data

management and analytics capability

• Data warehousing features from EMC

Greenplum

• Extraction, transformation, loading and

in-Database processing from SAS Data

Management

• Data integration, extraction,

transformation and in-Database

processing from SAS Data Management

• Statistical data mining, forecasting and

scenario planning from SAS Advanced

Analytics

• Business intelligence capability to

easily add web development, Microsoft

Office, web-services and enriched

intelligence from company’s own

disparate data from SAS Business

Intelligence

• GreenPlum data warehouse solution

leverages SAS Analytics via InDatabase

Analytics

• Product portfolio stack: #1 Data

warehousing and data management #2

Data warehousing, data management

and business intelligence #3 Data

warehousing, data management and

analytics forecasting

• US$55,000 for Base Appliance, Data

Warehousing, SAS Data Management

Suite. Business Intelligence, Analytics

and Advanced Analytics Modules to be

added on

• Installation and annual support

provided by UAE based Altis


Source: Reseller ME

Conventional VAD model

• End user requirement and BOQ needs to be established

• Proof of concept required to establish performance

• Possible project delays during implementation

• Partner needs to get trained on enabling technology and solution

• Competitive pricing from multiple suppliers

SAS - EMC Greenplum - Altisappliance model

• Appliance entry level and upward migration path is predefined

• Ready to use appliance with predefined performance

• Appliance implementation project plan is predefined

• Fast track approach with Altis as single point of contact

• Entry level pricing defined based on end user ROI and business benefit

Why D1 appliance has a faster go to market?

programmes in the short term.

“Some resellers can do more presales

and they can keep that. Since the burden

of integration and design is taken care of

by Altis, it becomes simple for a reseller, no

matter what their speciality is to take this box

to the market if they have an end user who is

interested in it.”

By having Altis as the guaranteed

implementation and support partner,

resellers can focus on penetrating new

customer accounts with confidence as

well as expanding their current portfolio of

services with customers by upselling business

consulting services around the D1 appliance

and other SAS solutions.

“For the reseller entering an account with

entry level D1, there is a path forward that

they can actually follow to generate value for

end users to move them up the food chain

and generate business value around that.

The reseller only needs to be focussed on the

end customer and understand their needs,”

explains Roy.

The purpose of bringing in Altis as

a distributor partner and removing the

technology ramp up obstacle is meant to

allow resellers to rapidly and confidently

penetrate small and medium customer

accounts and generate sales volume around

the D1 appliance.

“Altis is focussed on D1. The idea is to

make this value available to the channel, so

that the channels can take this forward. Altis

takes care of the go to market and SAS and

EMC Greenplum take care of the technology

underneath by providing the product that Altis

can integrate.”

By generating volume growth, resellers

get an incentive for investing in further

business development; Altis gets access to

reseller partners and the growing product

base; while SAS and EMC Greenplum are

able to provide the best technology bundle

for potential market segments. A carefully

planned win-win for all! //

The functionality of the D1 appliance is the same as in a

telecom service provider. The limitation is not in terms of functionality, it is in terms of storage space for data

SAS, EMC Greenplum

IN FOCUS


Golf ad 207x270mm.ai 1 6/2/11 3:02 PM

Redington Gulf

SPEAK OUT

With rapidly changing business models

in the region and across technologies,

how would you describe redington gulf’s

forward looking vision?

Shankar: Redington would like to position

itself as an emerging markets supply chain

services provider, participating in different

verticals of the business. Of course IT has

been the predominant vertical of the past,

but may not necessarily be into the future.

Unlike conventional wisdom where in

aggregation you create value, we believe

that in disaggregating the supply chain you

can actually unlock greater value. This is our

vision statement.

What is your approach in the emerging

markets?

Shankar: We are a supply chain services

provider in the emerging markets. As a group

Redington is present in India, the Indian sub

continent including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,

Maldives operating out of Singapore and

METACIS or what is called Middle East,

Turkey, Africa and CIS countries. In India

we are a leading player by far with almost

equitable business between us and Ingram

Micro. For Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh,

it has been a three to four year journey but

we are definitely a strong up and coming

distributor.

For last five consecutive years we have

managed to keep leadership position in

Middle East and Africa. The acquisition of

Arena late last year, the second largest

distributor in Turkey, has definitely helped

us to cover a good part of our footprint.

This leaves us the largely untapped and

unexplored markets of North, Central and

Southern Africa and CIS countries. In terms

of priority, we are first addressing Africa and

over time CIS countries.

in your vision statement, you mentioned the

reverse disaggregation approach to supply

chain management. How does this generate

value for you?

Shankar: We have broken the supply chain

into four blocks: distribution, logistics and

warehouse services, financial services and

post sales support services. Hence we call

ourselves a supply chain services provider

and not just a supply chain manager.

“We are a supply chain services provider in the emerging markets”

Shankar heads the largest IT distribution business in the region. At close to Dollar two billion, Redington Gulf has the highest top line revenue, the largest number of vendor partners and the broadest geographical reach amongst all regional channel players. It operates in 14 country markets, offers channel partners products and solutions from over 30 vendors and has logistical facilities in over 10 countries. A discussion on multiple facets of their regional business model and vision.

Raj Shankar, Managing Director, Redington Gulf

Redington participates in the supply chain from end to end. In

a way of speaking, we are a DHL or FedEx and a GE Commercial Capital or a bank and a service provider all rolled into one


Redington participates in the supply chain

from end to end. In a way of speaking, we are

a DHL or FedEx and a GE Commercial Capital

or a bank and a service provider all rolled

into one. We are a three in one and this for a

customer is a good suite of services. Hence

we are a supply chain services provider

participating in emerging markets across

different verticals and by disaggregating we

try to create value.

You mentioned it is one of the vertical

market segments in your forward looking

business model. What are the other areas?

Shankar: While it is true that IT has been a big

vertical for us in the past, to some extent in

the Middle East and Africa, but today we are

in the telecom space in India. We distribute

the Blackberry in this part of the world and

in Africa we distribute Nokia. In India we are

going into consumer durables distribution,

we are into gaming and we distribute the

Xbox from Microsoft in India. We are into

distribution of lifestyle products largely Apple

- iPod, iPad, MacPC and we distribute the

digital printing press from Indigo.

We are an IT distributor, but we do not

want to be branded as an IT distributor. There

is nothing wrong or right about it, it is just that

our model is different.

Being a value added distributor has

become a fashionable term today. Yet

when redington created the division it was

not an established way of business. What

prompted you to go down the value route?

Shankar: In the past we started like any

trader or distributor dabbling with products

that have a good sales velocity and we

were on the volume side of business. Little

more than four to five years ago we said

to ourselves, for this company to evolve

and transform itself it is important for us to

become a value added distributor. This is

something we had already initiated in India in

the late nineties.

We told ourselves, five years ago, why

not look at the value added distribution

space. This is something where we see an

opportunity with not too many players. A

few system integrators and a few players

were focussed on pockets of opportunity like

security and networking. It was a struggle

for us. Many value vendors would look at us

and say: Hey, you are a broadliner! How do

we know you have the capacity to do value

added distribution?

Till we got the brand it was difficult

to prove and without proving yourself the

vendors would not give their brand. Finally

we did crack it to the full credit of Ram Kumar

and his team. Now we have built a portfolio of

brands in both the volume and value space.

In India we have ninety brands and here

in Middle East and Africa we are relatively

impoverished, with one third the number of

brands as in India.

What is the scale of your investment in

logistics and warehouse services?

Shankar: In Dubai we have a distribution

centre that is 100,000 sq feet with a stackable

height of 16 metres and 25 loading bays.

We have another automated centre in

Chennai in India with Calcutta, Delhi and

Mumbai to follow. Being in the supply

chain, it is important to have our factory and

warehousing. In India we have godowns but

not warehouses and in the Middle East we

have warehouses but not distribution centres.

By creating logistic centres, a good part

of which is used for captive consumption,

there is another portion with which we can

engage in third party logistics services. What

we can do for ourselves, we can also do for

vendors. This can be another income stream.

in current times of slow cash liquidity in

the channel, how do you manage large

government and corporate deals with

extended terms of credit?

VEnDOR PROFILE

Systems: Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, HP,

Lenovo, Packard Bell, Samsung, Sony,

Toshiba

Software and security: Checkpoint,

Symantec, Trend Micro, Red Hat,

SonicWall, HP

Peripherals and storage: Acer,

Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, HP, Imation,

LG, Samsung, Packard Bell, Sandisk,

Western Digital, Seagate, APC, HP

Servers and Storage, Fujitsu Storage,

Tripp-Lite

networking: Avaya, Aastra, Cisco,

LifeSize, HP Networking

accessories and consumables: Epson,

Canon, Samsung, HP

Services and training: Acer, Dell,

Canon, Fujitsu, IBM, HP, Nokia, Toshiba

Others: Molex, Nokia phones

Till we got the brand it was difficult to prove and without

proving yourself the vendors would not give you their brand. Finally we did crack it to the full credit of Ram Kumar and his team

We are an IT distributor, but we do not want to be

branded as an IT distributor. There is nothing wrong or right about it, it is just that our model is different


SPEAK OUT

Shankar: In India we have set up a non

banking finance company, where we do what

is called trade finance. The same partners

who want to buy products are constrained by

30 to 45 days of credit from Redington or any

other distributor. Sometimes when you are

selling to a large corporate or government,

they would have a longer capital working

cycle, however the partner’s balance sheet is

not bankable.

Banks are not willing to support them

with working capital, or if they give them they

would want many times the loan value as

collateral and they are not able to provide

the collateral. We thought to ourselves why

not try to get into this business. We know the

customer - who is credit worthy and for how

much. They could even buy the product from

competition, but we could do the financing.

But that is a business and we are not giving

the finance interest free.

We have been into this business for

three and half years and for three years we

have been profitable from day one. Our non

performing assets are zero. When you give

30 to 45 days credit you get zero percent

interest. But when you give cash they are

ready to pay interest because they get

working capital.

What is the scale of your investment in

support services?

Shankar: In India we have 350 repair service

centres and in Middle East and Africa we

have over 40 repair service centres. Our

ability to do warranty and out of warranty

support and annual maintenance contracts

gives us another opportunity to provide

services to the customer.

Your core team is spread across multiple

counties with different mind sets, cultures

and value system. How do keep them

cohesive?

Shankar: You will find this very different about

Redington. We are a very people driven

company. We have professionals who come

into the business and think and behave as

entrepreneurs. They think and behave as if

this was their own company and business.

Hence we call them as intrapreneurial.

What is your perception on the regional it

vendor dynamics and the need for channel

partners to adapt accordingly?

Shankar: Lots of vendors today are facing

huge pressures. There was a time when

business was in motion, but today there is

huge pressure. A few years ago the top five

vendors would have contributed north of

70% of the total PC business, with 25% to

30% coming out of all the remaining brands.

The same story today, my tummy tells me,

is about 50%. What has really happened?

There are too many brands in the fray and

not necessarily the ones who are leading the

pack are the ones continuing with big strides.

The ones who were otherwise called

tier-two brands are suddenly gaining traction,

because of their ability to take Middle East as

a focus market, price aggression, offering, I

don’t know! Initially some of the distributors

would prefer not to carry these brands. Now

these are the same distributors, Redington

included, who are saying: Hey we should

not shy away from signing up these guys,

because there is definitely a momentum.

is there a learning point here?

Shankar: It is not necessarily small is beautiful

and big is too big to fail. This is a classic case

where big is under pressure, not able to

grow and growth is all taken up by tier-two

guys who are now coming to the fore, in my

scheme of things. //

We have professionals who come into the

business and think and behave as entrepreneurs. Hence we call them as intrapreneurial. They think and behave as if this was their own company and business.

Redington Gulf


COVER FEATURE

Microsoft's CloudA new paradigm of unified and remote computing, targeted at small and medium enterprises, is being rolled out across the region. So significant is the change even current channel structures will need to be revamped to accommodate the new approach to selling.

Microsoft’s Office 365

represents an enterprise

grade of solutions made

available to all segments of

the market, who can pick

and choose solutions, which best fit their

business. the complete suite of solutions

covering Office, link, Sharepoint and

Exchange are usually beyond the

budgetary and technology resources of

most SMB companies. Office 365

therefore represents a platform in which a

complicated and sophisticated set of

applications is made simple and affordable

for the vast number of businesses

operating in this market segment.

An end user business signing up for

Office 365 gets multiple benefits, which

includes a guarantee of 99.9% availability,

full disaster recovery capability, storage

on demand, full administrator rights, latest

software version and 100% licensed software.

Microsoft’s channel partners are

encouraging end users to avail of the free trial

period to experience the capabilities of Office

365. “We are offering the free trial to potential

customer with the full range of features,” says

Jawwad Rehman, Managing Director, Live

Route, which has been selling Cloud solutions

in the region for the last two years. Office 365

offers businesses multiple plan options and

users can opt and pay for the features that

best suit them. When customers sign up with

Live Route for the free trial they are activated

with the full suite of products and features

allowing them to make more intelligent

decisions on what fits them best.

“Office 365 is a great proposition if people

really find out what it can do for you. All the

business in SME and mid market space will

move to Office 365 in terms of the value it

has and in terms of the capability. It is just that

people need to absorb this,” explains Rehman.

Also contrary to some perceptions there

is no lock-in of data with Office 365. An Office

365 customer receives administrative access

to manage user rights and “nothing stops

you from downloading data,” says Rehman.

But for end users looking at downsizing their

IT resources and management cost such

actions like localised data storage would be

counterproductive.

For Live Route a prospective Office

365 customer usually meets three criteria.

They usually work in distributed and mobile

computing environments and hence

appreciate the benefits of remote logins from

the public cloud. They have an inherent level

of IT maturity and are moving away from

additional IT infrastructure and operational

investments within their business. While

defining the profile of early adopter users,

Office 365 is also redefining the traditional

channel structure.

Resellers will find they are redundant if

they visualise their role as only selling Cloud

licenses. The web replaces the role of the

traditional transactional reseller. An end user

has the flexibility to purchase online Office

365 licenses for a period less than 12 months.

If the end user purchases licenses for a period

of three months for three users for example,

the size of the transaction is reduced in

comparison to what packaged software would

generate for the same number of users and

with twelve months validity. “The margins

at the end of the day, the way Microsoft will

collect and pay, are very marginal margins. You

cannot build the business on that. A few years

down the road, the snow ball effect will kick

in and you may be talking about something

more reasonable. But right now I cannot build

the business model on the basis of Office 365

license margins. It is small as a percentage

and it is percentage of a small number,”

explains Rehman.

Office 365

Large system integrators wanting to jump into the

mainstream of selling Office 365 solutions may find the value of transactions to be low in comparison to their established business.

transforming sales and support services for aptec’s Cloud resellers. Mario veljovic, Operations Director at aptec Holdings


So how should resellers operating in the

Cloud channel structure build their business

model? “Our delivery is a key differentiator

within the realm of smaller budgets and

tighter timelines. We have to and must add

value to a customer.”

Usually this means providing some level

of professional services around various

aspects of usage including what is the

business expectation from Office 365; what

are the user rights and requirements; is there

any level of customisation required; is any

data migration required; is end user training

required? Since the end user has already

invested in the software licenses, they would

usually prefer their reseller partner to also

play the role of advisor and assist them in the

implementation. A Cloud reseller would then

complete the above one-time tasks over a

period of a few days as an administrator and

at the end hand over control and disengage

from further support activities. A typical

professional services support of this nature

would range in 1:1 ratio or above against

software licensing costs, depending on the

complexity of the engagement and with a

minimum cost base.

Another reason for end users to engage

with resellers for professional and consulting

service support is because Office 365 is

inherently a complex suite of enterprise

applications managed by Microsoft at the

backend through a software as a service

model. “There is a right way to use it and

a potentially complicated way to use it,”

especially when the purpose is to downsize

running costs of IT administration. For

resellers, adding value for the end user

through professional services is the right way

forward but this does require experience and

the right set of tools.

Once the end user has begun to

use Office 365 and in the event the

implementation has run smoothly, the

reseller may find themselves called in to

support expansion of users, additional

training, additional customisation, help desk

provisioning and other ongoing support and

maintenance services. Managed services

for Office 365 end users is another possible

opportunity for Cloud channel players.

Says Santosh Kumar, Business Unit

Manager, Aptec Distribution and Microsoft’s

VAD partner for the region: “I do not think

any organisation will go for an end to end

public cloud. We are looking at a complex

integration scenario of on-premise and public

Clouds. We will bring in the synergy of hybrid

Cloud, managed services and hybrid cloud

integration.”

Live Route looks at it a little differently.

“What else can I do that helps me and

helps the end user. Nothing stops me from

capitalising on the relationship.”

“Another reason why customers like

to work with a Cloud partner is because

it is not their cup of tea and it is not their

core competency,” says Rehman. But he

claries there is no catch and there is nothing

mandatory in Office 365 that makes it

necessary for an end user to engage with

a reseller for professional and managed

services. Engagement with resellers for

this level of support depends on what their

expectations are from Office 365.

From VAD Aptec’s point of view,

Microsoft’s technical support for its channel

partners is still work in progress. Amongst

the queries unresolved are who will

provide the back end support for technical

troubleshooting with resellers during a

professional services engagement? What

is the go-to-market certification approach

for channel partners wanting to establish

competency in selected areas of Office 365,

like Link for example? Who will the end user

consult for higher levels of technical trouble

shooting in the absence of the reseller?

Another important aspect of the channel

transformation is the point of contact

for Cloud decision making at end user

organisations. “We are not selling anymore to

the IT manager or CIO. You need to get to the

CEO level and sell it there. This is different,”

says Mario Veljovic, Operations Director

at Aptec Holdings, who also manages

professional services support for reseller

partners. Veljovic believes Microsoft can help

out in sales training programmes especially

around how to help resellers reposition Cloud

consulting services.

Large system integrators wanting to jump

into the mainstream of selling Office 365

solutions may find the value of transactions

to be low in comparison to their established

business. And this is likely to deter a few.

“Nobody is going to jump into the Cloud

business, just because they want to be in the

Cloud business, unless they see an ROI in

the Cloud business and it takes time to build

the competence,” says Rehman. There is no

carrot in the distance and turning a big ship

around will take time as well. But the Cloud

will roll and time will tell. //

An end user business signing up for Office 365 gets multiple

benefits, which includes 99.9% availability, disaster recovery, latest software versions and 100% legal software

When customers sign up with Live Route for the free trial they are

activated with the full suite of products and features allowing them to make intelligent decisions on what fits them best.

an early lead over other Cloud solution providers, Jawwad rehman, Managing Director, live route


Return on experiencethe role of Microsoft’s developer partner evangelism

is to excite and make ready its developer communities

around the latest emerging technologies. last year the

focus was around Cloud and this year it includes Cloud, Surface and

Phone. another key focus with developer communities is to help get

their solutions to the market as fast as possible and accelerate them

through their software development life cycle. While the developer

partner is important so is the end customer. “We go in as brokers, to

facilitate knowledge transfer and partner engagement. We will typically

select the partner that can give the best value to the customer,” says

Michael Mansour, Developer Platform Evangelism lead, Microsoft gulf.

the underlying drive is to expose the customer to the latest solution

innovations from Microsoft.

Continues Mansour: “There is a new paradigm approach for

developer partners including system integrators and independent

software vendors, which is to first excite the end user community

here with mock-ups and aesthetics and then follow up with back end

integration.” Due to in country aspirations and the need to be different

from other markets, there is tremendous demand on developer content

and web experience. Microsoft’s C-level discussions indicate there is

a significant imbalance between business needs and the ability of the

technical team to deliver.

The gap between business and IT continues to widen because of two

reasons. The first is limited growth of skills to support quality innovation

and this leads to churn in human resources, when they are imported into

this market. And the second is ramping up of the delivery cycle to meet

the demand for innovation. “It is my view that investment made into IT is

insufficient to meet the demand required at the business level. There is a

sense of urgency and yet the gap is still there with IT,” Mansour explains.

The demand for immersive application experience fuelled by the

release of Surface, Cloud and the next generation of Windows continues

to grow in this market. While the cost of software development in the

UAE market is very close to western developed markets, certain breed of

end users are no longer interested in cost benefits. “They are looking for

agility, quality and brilliant return of experience. If those three are met they

are happy to spend premium dollars to have such a development house.”

Microsoft’s software development process whether for a Cloud based

application or any other platform like Phone, Surface or Slate is built on

two independent pillars. The first is to generate a compelling visual and

immersive experience and the second is to support back end software

development. These two pillars are heavily leveraged in the UAE and

less in other markets. While back-end software development may take

place anywhere in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and India, the

requirement of having back and forth discussions with customers requires

a high level creative team be based in UAE.

For the developer community, Windows Azure provides on-demand

compute, storage, networking and content delivery capabilities to host,

scale and manage web applications through Microsoft data centres.

Microsoft SQL Azure Database is a cloud-based relational database

service built on SQL Server technologies and provides a scalable, multi-

tenant database service hosted by Microsoft in the cloud.Michael Mansour, Developer Platform Evangelism Lead, Microsoft Gulf

COVER FEATUREOffice 365


Partner advisorOffice 365 represents Microsoft’s transition from selling

software as a product to selling software as a service.

this transition has not been created by Microsoft

and represents an industry shift with its share of compelling

benefits and entry barriers. an important factor to be understood

and recognised is that Microsoft will continue to sell packaged

software through its traditional channel partner network while in

parallel building the capability of its partners to sell software as a

service. this creates an opportunity rather than a threat. “a smart

reseller will jump onto the bandwagon of selling both traditional

software and services, explains Yasir Khokhar, Business group

lead Microsoft Office.

Office 365 will be commercially available sometime in the

first half of 2012. In the meantime, regional end users are being

encouraged to sign up for 30 day free trials and sometimes longer

through reseller partners. Acceptance of the Cloud based service,

with multiple levels of subscription based services, features and

pricing, is completed through a commercial SLA between the end

user and Microsoft directly. “If the service goes down at any time,

the privacy and security of the data that the customer entrusts us

with, can only be maintained if we have a direct relationship with the

customer,” explains Khokhar. For every financial transaction between

the end customer and Microsoft, both distributor and reseller partners

are rewarded by a percentage of the transaction.

In Microsoft’s services based channel, the role of a reseller

is upgraded from a trader harping on price and availability, to an

advisor for the end customer. By Microsoft’s scheme of things, a

reseller continues to advise their customers on Cloud based data

migration, user rights, CRM, ERP and is the first line of support that a

customer should approach. “We know the enterprise and we know

the SMB customers. We know they will need help in getting to the

Cloud. That is why we pay our channel partners,” clarifies Khokhar,

on why the reseller continues to play an important role even in the

new channel structure.

However for a reseller partner to be effective in the new Cloud

channel programme, they need to organise themselves to sell services

to the end user. A critical success factor in this new model is to have

an ongoing, strategic, consultative relationship with the customer. On

the other hand distributors are incentivized to increase the number

of Cloud partners who are transacting with them. “The model of

distributors as an engine to get us reach still holds very true.”

Office 365 has been launched in UAE, Kuwait and Qatar.

“Cloud is on the agenda of every CIO, we know that as a fact,” says

Khokhar. In Qatar and Kuwait, Microsoft has found demand in the

SMB segment, but in UAE there is pent-up demand. The need for

Cloud based services appears overdue for SMB’s in the UAE. For

the corporate segment, defined by Microsoft as between 250 and

1,000 users, they are experiencing pain with IT departments wanting

to scale back operations, move applications and large complex

workloads to the Cloud and save on data centre maintenance costs.Yasir Khokhar, Business Group Lead Microsoft Office


Microsoft manages all its partners under one broad programme

called the Partner network. globally it includes 640,000

partners and in the region it includes 1,500 partners excluding

Saudi arabia. it has four levels of partners, starting with

registered partners, subscription partners, silver and gold partners.

the last two levels are based on skill levels across 29 specialisations

including Digital Marketing, Distributor, OEM Hardware, Software asset

Management, Mobility, Hosting, learning, independent Software vendor,

CrM, ErP, Midmarket Solution Provider, Content Management, Portals

and Collaboration, Project and Portfolio Management, Search, unified

Communications, Desktop, identity and Security, Server Platform, Systems

Management, virtualization, Data Platform, application integration,

application lifecycle Management, Software Development, Web

Development, Business intelligence, volume licensing and Cloud.

Says Mohammed Arif, Partner Strategy and Program Lead: “Cloud is

the biggest story for us today and for many years to come. The two Cloud

partner programmes are connected to the Microsoft’s Partner Network

but are not melded into it. Moreover any partner who is on the leading

edge of technology change will benefit.” Since the early mover status will

prove decisive for a reseller wanting to actively adopt the role of a Cloud

strategic advisor for an end customer, the partner eco system is likely to be

democratised.

Smaller resellers may find themselves selling to larger end user

customers than those addressed by large scale system and infrastructure

integrators. This open up the possibility of smaller resellers with Cloud advisor

competence, partnering with system integrators used to managing enterprise

grade complexities for data migration into the Cloud and other related

opportunities.

ClOuD PartnEr PrOgraMMES

Cloud Essentials

license grant: Microsoft Office 365 250 licenses; Windows Intune

Subscription for 25 PCs; Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 250 licenses;

Windows Azure platform 750 hours of extra-small-compute instance, 25

hours of small-compute instance, 20 gigabytes of storage, and 250,000

storage transactions; Microsoft SQL Azure Web Edition database: 1 gigabyte;

Windows Azure AppFabric: 100,000 access control transactions and 2 service

bus connections; Data transfer: 25 gigabytes in and 25 gigabytes out

Benefits: Listing as Cloud Essentials partner on the Microsoft Pinpoint

online marketplace; Listing in the Microsoft Office 365 Marketplace;

Marketing resources; Online sales and financial modelling tools; Presales and

technical support

Cloud accelerate

license grant: Microsoft Office 365 250 licenses; Windows Intune Subscription

for 100 PCs; Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 250 licenses; Windows Azure

Platform; MSDN Premium subscription; PlatformPlus, all Cloud essentials Pack

benefits; All of the core benefits provided to members of the Microsoft Partner

Network that have earned a silver competency.

Benefits: Online sales and financial modelling tools; presales and

technical support; training platform specialized cloud training; additional

business benefits

Mohammed Arif, Partner Strategy and Programme Lead, Microsoft Gulf

Cloud and partner democracy

COVER FEATUREOffice 365


Josef Miskulnig worked in

iBM from 1977 to 1996. in

1997 he decided to set up

Fast lane as both a systems

consulting company and an

it training company. along the way as

business picked up speed, resource

priorities started clashing. Miskulnig

realised he would have to make a choice.

He decided to stick to training and has

never looked back since then. today he is

a preferred training partner for Cisco

across the region. Miskulnig’s Fast lane

operates in Kenya, nigeria, South africa,

Jordan and lebanon with operations

supported out of Dubai.

Right from the beginning Miskulnig

also had another choice. Either, go for

the volume type training with lower

profit margins and commodity type,

me-too training delivery. Or focus on the

specialised, higher value, higher profit

Partners look at the overall profitability of the project. Since

the training is outsourced by them we are under pressure all the time to be price competitive and to increase the partner’s total profit margin.

looking to add another vendor, Josef Miskulnig, CEO, Fast lane

FEATURE

Volume and value jostleToday’s IT education players need to balance a mix of high value and high volume training programmes. Demand seasonality, mixed vendor fortunes, a new breed of emerging technologies implies there are no firm bets. A look at business models of some leading players.

Education Channels

on training services? “Partners look at the

overall profitability of the project. Since

the training is outsourced by them we are

under pressure all the time to be price

competitive and to increase the partner’s

total profit margin”, says Miskulnig. In other

words for a partner’s bid to be competitive,

all components are driven to the minimum

price point and this includes the cost of

training from Fast Lane.

He reflects: “In the past partners used

to get away with quick fix and hands on

training delivery. Coming from systems

hardware and networking background

Miskulnig chose to align with Cisco rather

than align with an enterprise application

vendor like Microsoft.

networking master

Today Fast Lane focuses on partner

implementations of Cisco solutions. An

implementation driven by a tier-one Cisco

partner generates two opportunities

for Fast Lane. End customers need to

be trained and certified on the solution

being implemented. Market expansion

opportunities imply that new employees in

partner companies need to be trained and

certified. And existing employees need

to be promoted with new certifications or

recertified as required. Once end users

technical staff are brought into Fast Lane

training programmes, they usually continue

with their own certification road maps.

Approximately 33% of students are from

partners; 40% from end customers and

the balance are either Cisco employees or

from Cisco driven projects.

“We are not turning anybody away,

but our target market is Cisco channel

partners and business customers. Our

model is geared up for the high end

of the market and not so much for the

consumer,” explains Miskulnig. Payments

for such type of training programmes

are through tier-one partners and their

cost is usually in built within the turnkey

project bid. Do partners make a margin


training. Now customers are asking for

specific authorised training. We also have

a consultative approach on training. When

there is a big tender, partners ask us what

would be the right package and we mix

and match different training modules.

There are usually a mix of loyal partners

and also adhoc ones looking for the best

price.”

While tier-one partners may be the

primary segment for Fast Lane’s business

from a single supplier point of view,

tier-two partners are also important on

an aggregated scale. While they may

generate lower revenue per partner

in comparison to tier-one partners, on

an aggregated scale their business is

also significant. Since a large number of

tier-two partners are being brought into

the Cisco channel mainstream by value

added distributors, entry level certifications

are an important part of partner training

programmes.

Other than partner driven projects, Fast

Lane also thrives on technology life cycles.

Sometime back networking technology

was the need of the day, this progressed

to security, followed by unified computing

and wireless, leading to today’s demand

driver of data centres and unified cloud

computing. “Our business is surviving on

the change.”

Is Miskulnig looking at expansion of

Fast Lane’s portfolio of vendor solutions?

The condition for such an addition: it

should not be a direct competitor and

should be complementary to the current

portfolio. The current trio of vendor

customers, Cisco, Netapp and VMware

are closely integrated in the area of

unified computing, data centre and

cloud technology. “I strongly believe in

focussing on what you are good at and the

past 15 years has shown that I was quite

successful. Cisco and NetApp keeps us

very busy and on our toes.” He admits Fast

Lane is actively looking at vendor customer

expansion but alternatives that meet these

conditions seem hard to find.

vendor alignment

Global player New Horizons drives its

regional training business by aligning

closely with vendors. The Dubai based

franchise, along with its Qatar and Kuwait

operations are part of Human Soft Holding

Company listed under the Kuwait Stock

Exchange. Its primary training business is

built around courseware from Microsoft,

Oracle Solaris, Cisco, HP Education and

Citrix. “The training industry has evolved

a lot. We were the driving force on vendor

certifications and new product launches.

As we grew the demand for certification

courses has became less and changed to

knowledge driven technology know-how,”

reflects Mohammed Aslam, COO, New

Horizons.

New Horizons scans markets to track

the latest in demand technologies from

end users. Another driver, according

to Aslam, is the regions aspirations

to implement the latest technologies,

solutions and upgrades. “Lots of

new vendors come up, we see their

implementations, what they have done,

what is the market share and is there a

training demand.” Microsoft continues to

dominate the share of end user attention

and therefore also dominates New

Horizons’ training portfolio and services.

Vendor customers also suggest training

programmes to New Horizons based on

their assessment of end user application

usage and the need to upscale end users

to new applications or upgrades.

New Horizons also approaches end

users as a training consultant. Since it is

vendor neutral and has a rich portfolio of

vendor training programmes, end users

are open and receptive to discussions on

technology platform selection and suitable

training programmes.

Regional training operations of

New Horizons are able to generate a

gross operating profit of 30% to 40%.

Profitability depends on the strategy for seasonality and

offerings are not fixed

Scanning for end user opportunities, Mohammed aslam, COO, new Horizons

Regional operations of New Horizons are able to generate a

gross operating profit of 30% to 40%


While the business may set its target

of profit margins, the bigger challenge

is to generate these margins from the

seasonality of demand, rather than from

its own choice of courses and training

programmes. “Profitability depends on

the strategy for seasonality and offerings

are not fixed,” says Aslam. Every season

needs a combination of courses that meet

a volume demand and have a lower price

point and those that are more specialised

and can command a higher price point.

New Horizons’ profits are therefore an

average of the profitability of individual

training programmes. On site customer

driven solutions are also part of their

training portfolio.

What is New Horizons differentiator in

the market? The first is the recent adoption

of mentor led training, where students can

set the pace of their learning as well as the

subject of interest. The second is its ability

to launch training programmes around

latest vendor technologies for example

cloud computing, virtualisation, Microsoft

Link. Another variation is its capability

to offer specialised training courses like

Microsoft CRM, Great Plains and Dynamics.

And the third is its ability to deliver training

programmes anywhere in its geographical

area of operations.

Is New Horizons looking at expanding

its vendor portfolio? “There are so many

technologies within Microsoft itself that

are keeping us busy,” says Aslam. For the

same reason it does more of Cisco’s entry

level courses rather than high end ones.

two sides of a coin

The portfolio of vendor training

programmes from Dubai based Spectrum

is built around Microsoft, Juniper

Networks and EC Council. For Microsoft,

training programmes are limited to UAE

and India and for Juniper Networks

they are available across the Middle

East and Africa. While Microsoft and

Juniper Networks training programmes

are the primary drivers for Spectrum’s

business, their go to market activities are

considerably different.

Partner and end user certifications

are an important part of Juniper Networks

training programmes. A very small

component of the training is driven by

end customers approaching Spectrum

directly for certifications. Whenever a new

technology or product is released the

initial signs-ups are from Juniper Network’s

partners. Once the solution comes into

the sales cycle, the number of end user

sign-ups also starts to increase, while

the number of partner sign-ups begins to

decrease. Partners are usually responsible

for supporting the costs of the end user

training, and this is inbuilt into the deal

transaction. For skills upgrade of training

partners, Juniper Networks offers partners

a 50% discount when they sign up with

Spectrum.

On the flip side, for Microsoft training

programmes, 90% of the training is driven

by end user demand requirements. “End

user training is driven by IT managers and

attrition of skilled resources is an important

driver here,” says Sanjeev Singh, CTO,

Spectrum Group. Most of the end user

training is supported by training vouchers,

which end users receive at the time of

purchase of licensed software. “We do

considerable amount of training business

around vouchers, because it is from the

enterprise and we know the enterprise.”

Spectrum does not cater to certification

programmes for walk in independent

professionals.

Microsoft partner led training

programmes are limited in demand

and usually around the most recent

technologies. This includes Hyper-V,

Sharepoint 2010 and Link.

The primary applications driving

revenue in Microsoft training programmes

The primary applications driving revenue in Microsoft

training programmes are Unified Communication, Active Directory, Sharepoint, Link, Exchange and SQL Server

FEATUREEducation Channels

new developments in the next quarter, Sanjeev Singh, CtO, Spectrum group

In the past partners used to get away with quick fix and hands on

training. Now customers are asking for specific authorised training.


are Unified Communication, Active

Directory, Sharepoint, Link, Exchange and

SQL Server. In 2012, Link is expected to

be an important demand driver. Microsoft

Office is usually bundled as part of a bulk

corporate programme and yields a low

profit. It was in high demand during the

Office 2007 to Office 2010 migration. At

Spectrum, Microsoft courseware is offered

without the Prometric certification allowing

students to take up the certification exam

at a later time.

Juniper Networks training covers the

security, routing and switching product

portfolio as well as the four certification

levels of the partner programme.

Partners receive the schedule of training

programmes from Spectrum on a regular

basis.

For Spectrum, its volume of students

trained has been growing at 40% CAGR

for the last three years. However, admits

Singh: “Profit has not been growing at the

same rate.” A key dynamic is Spectrum’s

dependence on Juniper Network partners

to get them end user training registrations.

“We discount training services to our

key partners, so that they can bid at a

lower cost and get the deal to ensure we

get training students. Training is usually

5-7% of the total order.” Another flexibility

that Spectrum exercises in order to get

a partner deal is the unit of cost in a

particular training programme, whether per

man day or per batch of students or per

programme.

While training programmes for

Microsoft and Juniper Networks represent

two contrasts within Spectrum’s business

model, is there place for another entrant

into its portfolio? Singh admits that

Spectrum is seriously considering vendor

customer expansion in the next quarter.

“Adding an enterprise vendor is useful

for the bottom line since the customer

base will remain the same.” With Juniper

Networks solutions present in almost all

large enterprises, adding on an enterprise

application vendor, for example, would be

a complementary addition. He however

rules out expansion of the Microsoft

training portfolio into other countries,

where overcrowding of players would most

likely lead to further price erosion.

High touch

Pearson In Practice is a relatively new

player in the regional IT training space. It

has been in delivery mode for the last two

years and is now functioning in UAE. There

are plans to open seven more education

centres across the region. Its regional

business model is meant to replicate the

UK one. UK based certified instructors

would be responsible for teaching in

UAE. And the idea is to maintain the same

level of academic standard with student

certification being conducted through

Edexcel. “When we talk to corporate they

are impressed with the pedigree quality

of Pearson,” says Richard Firth, Regional

Director Middle East, Pearson In Practice.

“Even though there is a recession they

are still spending money on development

and there are still training budgets out

there. They are just choosing to spend it

more wisely,” is his observation. Pearson’s

portfolio currently includes an entry level

and an advanced level, full time programme

of 18 weeks each, as well as part time

vendor certification programmes.

Firth’s confidence is also based on

their previous experience. “This model has

worked well elsewhere and we found the

quality of delivery and pass rate is high.”

Replacement of visiting faculty with local

faculty is planned for the next year.

With so many factors at play,

ranging from business volatility to faster

technology cycles, IT training players will

need to use a new breed of marketing

and business development techniques to

keep their top and bottom lines margins

in the green. //

Pearson In Practice is a relatively new player in the

regional IT training space.

Pedigree offering, richard Firth, regional Director ME, Pearson in Practice

Microsoft partner led training programmes are limited in

demand and usually around the most recent technologies. This includes Hyper-V, Sharepoint 2010 and Link.


PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGYMotorola E1 Tablet

OUTDOOR ENTERPRISE TAblET

From an exterior appearance the ET1 tablet

looks the same as other Android based

tablets. Hold the tablet in your palm and you

feel the change in ergonomics. It is a shade

heavier, does not flex and slides into the

palm more securely. It has been designed

for industrial use and designed to support

enterprise applications with multi user access

levels. The current model only supports

access through Wifi LAN. Later releases

of models will support access via a carrier

network. The tablet has been designed

to withstand drops, extreme ranges of

temperature upto 50 degrees centigrade, and

an ultra strong and scratch proof Gorilla glass.

Data storage is encrypted ensuring it

complies with industrial and government

regulations. With multi user logins, each

user interface can be customised to suit

the job profile and access rights. The tablet

is blue tooth enabled and has external

ports to support bar and magnetic code

reading as well as pen based applications.

Development of applications uses a tool

called RhoElements that is operating

system and model agnostic. Hence once

an interface is developed it does not need

to be adapted for a different form factor or

operating system. The batteries can be hot

swapped even when the device is live.

the Motorola Et1 tablet is ergonomically developed to fit snugly in the hand. Meant for industrial applications handling and durability are key considerations in its design.

While current models are built on the android OS, the developer platform rhoElements allows the same user interface to be used across multiple operating systems and form factors.

Motorola has developed the rugged E1 tablet especially for industrial use and to support enterprise applications

The tablet has been designed to withstand drops, extreme

ranges of temperature upto 50 degrees centigrade, and an ultra strong and scratch proof Gorilla glass


PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGYReview

MANAgINg My COMMUNITIES

QUAD ENTERPRISE SOCIAl SOFTwARE

all Communities: This shows a list of all communities

within Cisco Quad to which you have at least read

access and allows name and keyword search; for each

community, there is a one-click Join option.

My Communities: Shows a list of communities of

which you are a member; for each community, there is

a one-click Leave option; for communities to which you

have owner role, there are one-click view membership

Global enterprise application vendors have

worked for the last two decades to build

productive and effective collaboration

software tools. In the late nineties, Lotus and

Microsoft used knowledge management as a

key driver and enabler for their collaboration

tools. In this decade with the advent of unified

communication technologies and the huge

number of one to many and many to one

exchanges via social media applications,

technology vendors are looking at this

scenario as another opportunity.

Cisco Quad is a next-generation

enterprise collaboration platform that

provides an integrated user experience.

Quad enables a user to be more productive

by finding and connecting with people,

communities and information from a

personalised dashboard. Users can

communicate and collaborate with colleagues

and share knowledge through a unified

posting model. Quad is representative

of the convergence of communication

tools and social software with enterprise

content management systems and line-of-

business applications. It has a key attributes

built around content posting and sharing,

people collaboration, social media feeds

and customisation and communication

interoperability.

request, assign members, assign user

roles, edit, manage pages, leave and

delete options.

Communities i Manage: Shows a list of

communities of which you are an owner;

for communities, there are one-click view

membership request, assign members,

assign user roles, edit, manage pages,

leave and delete options.

These features allow users to list communities of which they are members

Cisco’s thin client application allows a user to work across business and social media feeds through one interface.


My VIEw

Watch list: This feature enables easy

tracking of any content that you have

posted or commented on, sorted in reverse

chronological order based on your last

participation activity.

Social activities: This feature provides a

centralised stream of status messages and

activities from contacts and communities

associated with the user, allowing and

encouraging collaboration and interaction

among users.

add application: This feature allows

instant addition of blog aggregator,

bookmarks, calendar for Microsoft Exchange,

content publisher, dictionary, documents,

IFrame, images, My Communities, openSocial

app, RSS Feed, recent documents, social

activities, tag cloud, voice messages, watch

list, welcome, wiki and wiki link to any pages

within My View.

Open Social app Portlet: This feature

allows one or more Open Social-compliant

gadgets to be added to any pages within My

View.

library: This feature lists new posts, my

posts, favourites, videos and deleted items

that you have created or that has been

shared with you, sorted by title, last modified

date, number of changes, and author. It also

provides separate lists of documents, images,

A personalised dashboard for accessing and engaging people, communities, and information

and bookmarks. You can create custom views

to filter for a specific user, tag, or community.

user’s core profile attributes: Shows

name, presence, avatar or photo, job title,

latest status message, location, time zone,

mobile and work phone numbers, primary

and secondary email addresses, and instant

messaging (IM) addresses; attributes can

be imported and synchronised with any

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

Version 3 (LDAPv3)-compliant directory.

user’s blog: Shows your blog posts,

sorted in reverse chronological order.

user’s activities: Shows a centralised

stream of your public activities.

Expertise: Shows your expertise as

keywords.

interests: Shows your interests as

keywords.

Public Communities: Shows a list of

public communities of which you are a

member and that you have

selected to be shown.

Contacts: Shows a list

of contacts with whom you

have connected and whom

you have selected to be

shown.

Following: Shows a list

of people you are following

and who are following your

public activities.



COllAbORATION wIThIN A COMMUNITy

tYPES OF COllaBOratiOn • Open: Anyone can join; name and

content area are visible in search results

• Restricted: Only those allowed can join;

name is visible in search results; content is

visible in search results only for those who

are members

• Hidden: Only those allowed can join;

name is not visible in search results;

content is visible in search results only for

those who are members.

• Actions: List of one-click actions such

as create a post, create a Wiki, start a

discussion, add a blog entry, upload a

document, upload a video, upload an

image, invite members, edit community

and leave this c.

Users can add and manage communities based on their work and knowledge collaboration patterns

• Add Applications: Allows instant addition

of portlets like actions, activities, blog,

bookmarks, calendar, community members,

content publisher, dictionary, discussions,

documents, IFrame, images, OpenSocial

App, RSS Feed, recent documents, survey,

tag cloud, Wiki and Wiki Links to any pages

within the community.

• OpenSocial App Portlet: Allows you to

add one or more OpenSocial compliant

gadgets to any pages within the

community.

• Invite: Allows you to invite up to 20 users

at a time by email to join the community.

• Library: Lists all posts such as new posts,

my posts, favourites, videos, and deleted

items


Technology is short term, but partnership is long term

Global sourcing - local supportIn a world of technologies, focusing on the ones that deliver benefit is good for your business. That’s why FVC partners with global IT leaders to bring the most effective, most transformative products and technologies to you, our channel. From telepresence to network traffic management, security to WAN optimisation, we are the leading VAD in MENA, supporting products with logistics, implementation and training. Let us be your partner of choice for tomorrow.


PEOPlE

all: Shows a list of all users within Cisco

Quad and allows for name and keyword search;

for each user, options include one-click add

contact, IM chat, call and email.

My Contacts: Shows your list of contacts;

for each contact options include one-click

remove contact, IM chat, call and email.

Security trimmed Search results: Protects

sensitive information by showing only search

results for which a user has at least read

permission.

Faceted search results: Enables easy and

fast filtering of search results through facets

such as mine, people profiles and expertise,

communities, information types, file types and

date range.

This provides a directory for browsing and finding people and contacts

CompatibilityCisco Unified Communications Manager 7.0 or later Cisco Unified Presence 8.0 or later Cisco Unity Connection 8.0 Cisco WebEx Meeting Center 8.5 Cisco WebEx Connect Cloud Microsoft Exchange 2003 or later Microsoft Office Communications Server (Cisco IP Communicator Web access) 2007 R2 or later

ProtocolsHTTP, HTTP/SSL, NT LAN Manager, SSO, LDAP, OAuth, WebDAV, CMIS, WSRP, XMPP, BOSH

aPisAuthentication, OpenSocial, Notifications, Content Web Services

HardwareCisco Unified Computing System Vblock 0 (for +10,000 user environments) and Cisco UCS C-Series (2,500-10,000 user environments) Optional for enabling HTTP/Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): Cisco ACE Application Control Engine Module

Software Cisco Enterprise Policy Manager (included) Cisco Show and Share 5.2.1 (included)

TECHnICAL SPECIFICATIOnS

VMware ESXi 4.0 Oracle Database 10g

Browser support Microsoft Windows and Mac OSX platform support Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 Firefox 3.6 Safari 4.0 (Mac OS only) Chrome 8.0 (Windows)


PEOPLERecruitment

laimoon.com describes itself as a disruptive

online recruitment portal. its approach to

recruitment is definitely innovative and path

breaking. For every post that employers

upload they are expected to provide various

criteria for selection of the right candidates.

laimoon converts these employee specified

conditions into a set of 6 pairs of flash cards

that prospective candidates weave through

before arriving at a set of best-fit, suitable

job openings. Candidates then apply only

to laimoon accessible job openings. “the

workflow provides clear signals in the noisy

world of job search,” is how the portal

describes the process.

Unlike conventional online recruitment

Less means moreFewer but better screened applications from this recruitment portal can provide a higher ROI for would-be employers

portals, the complete mosaic of job openings

at Laimoon is not accessible to candidates on

entering the portal. “Candidates respond with

how their experience fits the job, almost like a

micro-interview.” To ensure there is sufficient

volume of job postings for candidates at the end

of its flash card navigation, Laimoon also displays

links to external job postings.

For Laimoon registered employers there

are no advance payment charges for uploading

job openings. As the number of pre-qualified

candidate application accumulates, employers can

then decide whether to complete the transaction

fee to access the candidate applications based on

a visible and well defined ROI. //

Employer customers can monitor the build up of responses at Laimoon.com without any payment and are assured that the numbers have already gone through a pre-qualification process. In comparison to other recruitment portals these numbers are fewer but employers have the assurance of better screened candidates. They are provided full access to the applications once they have completed the payment transaction to Laimoon.com.

Prospective employers need to specify the top most criteria for pre-qualification of candidates. Laimoon converts employer criteria into flash cards and progressively presents them to candidates thereby filtering down the numbers to the most suitable.

Registered candidates at Laimoon.com are presented a pair of six flash cards to shortlist whether their profiles fits the available job openings at the portal. Only after responding to the pre-qualification questions and meeting the criteria of the prospective employer does Laimoon allow them to submit their applications to a particular job opening.

Various employee postings available at Laimoon.com for candidates to apply for.


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Awards:

Eas

y to

use

Pow

erfu

l

Af

ford

able

Movements

PEOPLE

SAP has announced

appointment of Qais

gharaibeh to the role of

Managing Director for

UAE. In this role,

Gharaibeh will lead SAP’s

growth strategy and field

operations in the country,

and will report to Sam Alkharrat, Managing

Director, SAP Middle East and North Africa.

Gharaibeh is an IT veteran with more than 15

years of experience in the Middle East industry.

In the past ten years, he has served in various

management roles with EMC and HP. Last

year, Gharaibeh founded and led Encloud, an

IT Manager Service Provider focused on cloud

computing subscription-based services in the

Middle East.

Epson has announced the

appointment of Feras al

Sweilam as the new

Business Sales Manager

for Epson Middle East. Al

Sweilam, who rejoins the

company after starting his

career with Epson ten years ago, previously

worked at the Canadian Foreign Affairs and

International Trade since 2008 as a Trade

Commissioner within the diplomatic corps in the

UAE. In his new role, Al Sweilam will have the

opportunity to utilise his expertise in sales

management, as he leads the sales team and

oversees the company’s projects in the region.

Al Sweilam holds a degree in information

systems and post graduate studies in

international business. He has worked with

clients in telecommunication and IT, life science,

biomedical and ocean technologies sectors.

Al Sweilam has built a track record in business

development and sales management with global

companies such as RIM, Nortel, Bell Canada,

Etisalat, Du and Dubai Airports among others.

Muhammad awais

Sheikh joins SIT

Distribution as the

Independent Reseller

Manager for Kuwait

market as a part of its

expansion plans.

Muhammad brings with him experience and

insights into the industry. Muhammad believes

keeping abreast of industry trends and

requirements will be critical for developing

customer breadth.

Mastering Business Administration from

Lahore, Pakistan, Muhammad has more than

18 years of experience in IT and consumer

electronics. He will be responsible for developing

and implementing business plans and strategic

business relationships in the independent

channel space and ensuring closer working

relationships with key partners.

CommScope has named

Ciaran Forde, Vice

President of Enterprise

sales for the company’s

newly created Middle East

and Africa region. The

company created two

new regions from the former EMEA territory, one

for Europe and one for Middle East and Africa.

Forde will be responsible for leading sales and

customer relationship activities within MEA.

Forde reports to Anne Marie Kenneally, who

was promoted to Senior Vice President of Global

Enterprise Sales, where she leads CommScope’s

business enterprise sales activities around the

world. She previously served as Regional Vice

President of Enterprise sales for Europe, Middle

East and Africa.

Forde is based at CommScope’s Dubai office,

which opened in September. He has held several

management positions within CommScope

over the past 13 years. Most recently, he was

Managing Director of Sales, Enterprise, in the

Middle East and Africa. He began his career in

the telecommunications industry working for

British Telecom and Raychem.

VMware announced the hiring of Sam Tayan

as its new Regional Director for the Middle East

North Africa region. The appointment comes

at a time when organisations in the region are

increasingly looking to virtualisation and cloud

computing to control costs and become more

efficient.

Based out of Dubai, Tayan will be responsible

for delivering VMware’s sales strategy and

customer service operations in the region. With

over 20 years experience in the IT industry

across Europe and the Middle East, Tayan will

work closely with customers to drive VMware’s

solutions.

Tayan joins VMware from Getronics Middle

East, where he served as Regional Director

for six years. Prior to Getronics, Tayan held

management positions at Sun Microsystems,

EMC and Veritas Software.

Sharp has appointed

Hiroshi Sasaoka, 54, as

the new Chairman of

Sharp Middle East, Africa

and CIS. Sasaoka brings

with him the experience

of spearheading

expansion in the UK and Europe for Sharp

Corporation, in addition to familiarity with the

Middle East gained from the start of his time with

the corporation, where he was involved in the

sales division for the MEA region. He will lead the

operations from Sharp Middle East’s

headquarters in Jebel Ali, with Dubai acting as

the gateway to Sharp’s business in the region.

Foregenix has appointed

IT security expert, nick

Barratt to drive the sales

of its cardholder data

discovery suite across

EMEA. Barratt will also be

responsible for forming

technology and reseller partnerships with

companies across Europe to support Foregenix’s

direct sales efforts. He has been in the IT

security industry for more than twelve years.

His most recent positions include that of Sales

Manager at SafeNet and overseeing reseller and

security sales programmes at Equip Technology.

Nick has broad expertise in security technologies

including intrusion detection and prevention,

anti-virus and anti-spyware, content delivery and

protection and high speed internetworking.

Qatar Telecom announced that Yves Gaultier

is leaving his post as Chief Executive Officer of

Tunisiana, Tunisia. Gaultier will be succeeded by

Kenneth Campbell. Campbell, a veteran global

telecom executive, came from his most recent role

of CEO at Wind Mobile, Canada, and will report

to the Qtel Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr

Nasser Marafih. Gaultier assumed the role of Chief

Executive Officer of Tunisiana at start-up in 2007. //


PEOPLESherifa Hady

Sherifa Hady has been with HP imaging and Printing

group in the Middle East for more than eleven years now.

Within the iPg department she has managed channels

and marketing for the Middle East. today as Channel Sales

Manager, she is responsible for iPg’s partner ramp up across English

speaking africa. With an early English schooling in london she

completed her Bachelor of Engineering in Cairo and joined iCl, now

Fujitsu, in 1991 and has never looked back since then.

Hady loves challenges and believes, “You can make your role as

challenging as you like,” by adding to the level of expectations from

yourself. Along with personal challenges is the element of newness in

her job role, where she meets new people and new cultures. Extending

this further, she feels the best part of her job role is working towards

being part of a winning team. And in the process learns continuously

from her peers, colleagues, partners and even her two children. The

job rotation she has gone through during her long stint at HP has also

helped to enrich her learning and professional life.

In 2005 Hady was recognised at HP’s High Achievers Summit and

in 2006 was awarded the Women in ICT, Middle East Excellence Award.

She describes her professional drive as the ability to put down her

objectives and do the best to achieve them. Does she look for formal

recognitions for her efforts? “I always say, if you can look in the mirror

and feel proud of what you have achieved, that is as rewarding as any

external recognition or award.”

Hady describes herself as positive, energetic, creative and ready

to expect the unexpected. She loves IT, electronics and cars. Off work,

she unwinds by spending time at the gym or at the beach, running or

riding her new Harley Davidson motorbike. Her favourite day dream: to

fly a plane and visit all the countries in the world. Many years ago she

took up engineering to invent a product that would benefit everyone.

“Well that did not happen”, but today she works for a company that

wants it to happen.

HP’s aspiring inventor

Building teams, building winners


MON TUE WED THUR FRI

Five cities in five days?

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Telepresence 27 x 20.7 cm.pdf 1 11/14/2011 12:29:09 PM

Reseller Middle East

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