Upload
reseller-middle-east
View
250
Download
6
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
The Voice of the Channel
Citation preview
ISSUE 174 // JUNE 2011 // WWW.RESELLERME.COM
PUBLICATIONLICENSED BY IMPZ
WHAT WORKS?Bernard Biolchini, Leveraging Fusion partner programme, VP Sales & GM, AMDHesham Tantawi, Partnering with customers, VP Asbis
Vasant Menghani, High return for partners, CEO TouchmateSachin Gehani, Rebates work well, Director, Accent Office Supplies
I T Q A N P R E P A R I N G T O C R O S S B O R D E R SPROFILE
DCC 2011Retailers from the region voted their most favourite vendors and selected eleven winners. Turn to page 32 for more details.
PRP SuITES Construction projects across the Gulf need a special breed of project management applications. Read about latest entrant on page 29.
REVIEWPackard
Bell
REBATES, PROMOTIONS
APTEC DISTRIBUTION FZ LLCCall Aptec at Tel: (+9714) 3697111 Extn:154/155/356/493/496Fax: (+9714) 369 7110Visit : www.apteconline.com Email:[email protected]
Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
REBATES, PROMOTIONS
Rebates, promotions, loyalty, discountsWhat works?
COVER FEATURE
By any theory of channel
marketing these are established
instruments of “reward power”.
However with shorter life cycles
and new devices being launched
every week, both vendors and
channel players require other
measures to make “rewards”
deliver their power.
IN FOCUS
24 Packard Bell
The vendor is launching a new range of trendy laptops this summer to regain its market share
26 BenQ
The vendor brought in legendary gamers to custom design its new portfolio of gaming monitors
29 Epin
The region’s projects are attracting a new breed of project management suites
32 DCC 2011
“DCC is the ultimate networking event for senior executives from the retail channel”Interview with Farouk Hemraj, CEO of event organizer Distree
PROFILE
Preparing its second wave
Growing competition and increasing regional demand for its services are making it bullish to cross over
62 Products and technology
CONTENTSISSUE 174 // JUNE 2011
44
18
50
REGULARS
04 Editorial
06 Tie-ups
10 Announcements
16 Cloud
21 Movements
34 Connecting the consumer
A channel is being created to enhance excitement across its retail and consumer product portfolio
MICROSOFT
37 High-end SME and retail, key areas
With growth and product movements in these segments, Lenovo has made them a priority for this year
LENOVO
38 Enhanced VAR and retail programs
With sluggish corporate sales the vendor is enhancing it VAR programme and regional super retail strategy
TOSHIBA
41 Local base, regional focus
Starting up a component testing and packing line and entering the Indian market are targets for its UAE operations
INTEGRAL MEMORY
42 Bullish on memory products
Steady demand for memory related products has the company exporting most of its production into regional and far-away markets
TWINMOS
ITQAN
Fujitsu´s S700, S900 thin client series
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 3
The last quarter of 2011 is going to be fierce.
The retail community at Distree 2011 voted Microsoft as gaming vendor of the year, Kaspersky as software vendor and Apple as mobile and digital lifestyle vendor of the year.
With super retailers already seeing two smart phones in consumer hands the burning question is what “avatar”, will our familiar brands take up by year end.
Will their product and app launches in the remaining six months, reaching frenzy in the final quarter of the year be “cool” enough to get the third device into the consumer hands?
Corporate sales overall continue to be sluggish. The TCO approach is no longer a buzz word, it’s now lowest bid. Qatar is yet to release its master blueprint and big-ticket funds are not yet flowing into the multitude of players waiting on the sidelines.
Bahrain is trying to get a semblance of order in place to bring back its financial backbone. And leading regional channel players already expect growth to be flat this year around, with the UAE base doing a shade better.
Can anyone blame the brands for trying an “avatar”?
The channel community has challenges on its hands. All reports indicate that SME’s are still buying and will continue to buy at brisk pace for rest of the year. All leading vendors now want their channel partners to move in and focus on this opportunity—-of course capture and expand are built into the final rewards.
But the SME story has never been about relationships and sops. It’s always been price point. So channel players have their work cut out.
On another note, walk into any construction control room and you will find project management charts gathering dust on the wall. “Done once, forgotten after” is the motto of the present breed of such apps. Now PRP, a new project management workflow suite, especially for Gulf projects is “in” to make the difference. Read on in the magazine.
On a final note, a new face at the helm of the magazine, a successful annual conference and glittering awards are a good way to kick off the last half of the year!
Arun ShankarSenior Editor
If you’d like to receive your own copy of RME every
month, log on and request a subscription:
www.resellerme.com
EDITORIAL
PublisherDominic De Sousa
COONadeem Hood
Commercial DirectorRichard Judd
[email protected] +971 4 440 9126
Sales DirectorRaz Islam
[email protected] +971 4 440 9129
EDiTOriAl
Dave [email protected] +971 4 440 9106
Senior EditorArun Shankar
[email protected] +971 4 440 9142
ADVErTiSinG
Group Sales ManagerRajashree R Kumar
[email protected] +971 4 440 9131
Advertising ExecutiveMerle Carrasco
[email protected] +971 4 440 9134
CirCulATiOn
Database and Circulation ManagerRajeesh M
[email protected] +971 4 440 9147
PrODuCTiOn AnD DESiGn
Production ManagerJames P Tharian
[email protected] +971 4 440 9146
Art DirectorKamil Roxas
[email protected] +971 4 440 91112
DesignerAnalou Balbero
[email protected] +971 4 440 9104
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
Head OfficePO Box 13700
Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 4 440 9100Fax: +971 4 447 2409
Printed byPrintwell Printing Press LLC
© Copyright 2011 CPIAll rights reserved
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.
Avatars of 2011
4 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
IN THE BEGINNINGTie-ups
Maximiser, launched in 2003, is a
business telephone system, designed
and developed for companies requiring
between four and 100,000 or more IP or
analogue extensions. Vision Business
Management Application Suite is a
Web-based application that offers a
'business dashboard' for companies of
all sizes, delivering real-time information
and historical reports to those that need
it, irrespective of where they might be.
Vision Call Center, delivers a seamless
solution with SpliceCom's Maximiser unified
communications platform and combines
advanced call routing with reporting and
management to optimise inbound call
centre operation. SpliceCom's product line
also includes PCS business telephones, one
of the slimmest desktop IP phones and a
keyless IP Phone.
“We are very pleased to have been
signed on as distributors for SpliceCom.
The company has a world-class portfolio of
products and solutions, including the award
winning Maximiser product that can scale
up to hundreds of thousands IP or analogue
extensions”, explains Fadi AbuEkab, Chief
Executive Officer of SCOPE.
SpliceCom is the only British company
to design, develop and manufacture 'Pure
IP' next-generation communication systems.
Scope ME has regional tie-ups with vendors
like Blue Coat, Legrand, Kaspersky and and
Adenin Technologies.
Scope Middle East, a regional distributor
and technology solutions provider, has been
signed on by uK based iP communications
vendor SpliceCom. Scope will be
responsible for promoting and growing
the regional market-share for SpliceCom's
products which includes 'Pure iP' next-
generation communication systems.
The regional business opportunity for both
partners lies in medium and large companies
phasing out their traditional PBX and
PABX systems and moving towards unified
communications and IP telephony technology.
Scope will distribute the full range
of SpliceCom's products including
Maximiser telephony platforms, Proactive
Communication Station Business Phones,
Vision Business Management Application
Suite and Vision Call Center.
Scope to distribute SpliceCom´s products
Fadi AbuEkab, CEO, Scope ME
wi-tribe, a wireless broadband provider
and part of the Qatar based Qtel Group,
has signed an Mou with Symantec
Corporation. The Mou will cover providing
safety software for consumers and
businesses. The agreement will initially
focus on offering Symantec’s norton
Anti-Virus product to its user base in the
Philippines, Pakistan and Jordan, and will
soon be extended to include products
such as cloud backup and parental control
throughout the group.
Under the terms of the agreement,
wi-tribe will partner with Symantec to offer
products that help secure and reduce the
risk of information loss for consumers and
CommVault, NetApp enter OEM agreement
wi-tribe to provide cloud security for Symantec
To help customers improve the speed,
efficiency, and simplicity of their backup
and recovery operations, CommVault
announced that it has entered into a global
OEM agreement with netApp under which
netApp will integrate elements of CommVault’s
industry leading Simpana 9 software with
netApp SnapShot and replication technology,
under the netApp SnapProtect brand.
NetApp SnapProtect software, based
on an OEM version of Simpana software and
close integration with NetApp SnapVault
and SnapMirror transforms how companies
can efficiently protect, manage and access
enterprise data across all tiers of storage.
Under this expanded relationship between
NetApp and CommVault, NetApp will offer its
NetApp SnapProtect branded software, a unique
packaging of the Simpana snapshot copies,
replication and tape management software,
licensed on a per controller basis.
SnapProtect software is designed
specifically for customers that want to combine
efficient, high-speed NetApp Snapshot
technology and replication with tape in a single
backup solution that accelerates and simplifies
data protection.
According to Lauren Whitehouse, Senior
Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, “more than
one-third (38%) of ESG research respondents
identified improving the backup and recovery of
virtual machines as a key area of focus. As more
organisations deploy virtualisation in production
environments and expand the reach of the
technology, the inadequacies of non-optimised
backup and recovery solutions will continue to
be exposed.”
“As organisations move to cloud and
virtualised environments, a level of complexity
is introduced that is making it challenging for
IT professionals to meet backup and recovery
service levels. Enterprises need a backup
strategy that enables them to reliably meet
shorter backup windows and recovery point
objectives,” Dave Russell, Research Vice
President, Gartner.
With today’s OEM agreement, NetApp joins
a growing list of top-tier storage vendors that
have partnered with CommVault, including Dell,
Hitachi Data Systems, Bull and Fujitsu.
6 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
HP signs MoU with Jordan’s Ministry of ICT
The Ministry of information and
Communications Technology has signed a
strategic memorandum of understanding
with HP Jordan. The Mou involves
developing common programmes and
sharing of expertise and practices
around integrated technologies for the
government organisations, supporting
professional iT education and assisting in
fostering innovation.
The MoU was signed by Eng. Atef Al Tal,
Minister of Information and Communications
Technology and Eyad Shihabi, Managing
Director and Enterprise Business Lead, HP
Middle East.
As part of the MoU, HP will share its
expertise with the Ministry as it relates to
becoming an Instant-On Enterprise, an
organisation that embeds technology into
everything it does in order to better address the
growing needs of organisations and citizens.
“We are glad to deepen the
relationship with HP further on the heels of
the remarkable success of their operations
in Jordan,” said Eng. Atef Al Tal, Minister
of ICT.”
“We are honoured to have been chosen
by Jordan’s Ministry of ICT as a strategic
partner for technology innovations,” said
Eyad Shihabi, Managing Director and
Enterprise Business Lead, HP Middle East.
“This is the second MoU we have
signed with the government since opening
our fully owned subsidiary here last year
after the successful implementation of the
first agreement.”
HP launched its fully-owned subsidiary
in Jordan in January 2010. As part of an
agreement signed with the Government
of Jordan, HP has created a regional
Competency Centre that has hired university
graduates over a period of one year.
The signing of MoU between the Jordanian Ministry of ICT and HP Jordan
Polycom, HP alliance around unified communication
businesses. wi-tribe users will be able to
download software direct from the wi-
tribe site that will enable them to protect
precious data such as photos, music and
important documents stored on their hard
disk.
Commenting on the deal Sohail Qadri,
CEO of wi-tribe, said: “In an age where
cybercrime is rife and fear of data loss is
on the increase, the inclusion of tools like
anti-virus and cloud backup are becoming
necessities rather than luxuries. This deal
enables wi-tribe to protect our customers
and offer them peace of mind when using
the Web for surfing or communication.”
Wi-tribe is a focused consumer
broadband company, owned by the Qtel
Group. Headquartered in Qatar, Wi-
tribe operates WiMAX networks in the
Philippines, Jordan and Pakistan.
HP and Polycom, a global leader in unified
communications, announced they have entered
into an agreement under which Polycom will
acquire the assets of HP’s visual collaboration
business, including the Halo products and
managed services business.
In conjunction with this acquisition, HP and
Polycom have agreed to establish a strategic
relationship in which Polycom will serve as an
exclusive partner to HP for telepresence and certain
video UC solutions, including both resale and
internal HP deployments. The two companies have
also agreed to make available Polycom’s video
applications for HP’s WebOS platform.
The alliance extends Polycom’s leadership
in the unified communications and collaboration
market with HP’s installed base of visual
collaboration products and technology.
Azeti networks, a manufacturer of high-
performance monitoring solutions for iT
infrastructures and operational technologies, has
strengthened its presence in the Middle East with
the recent opening of a new office in Dubai.
Having only just recently signed a partnership
agreement with leading distributor Emitac, the
Dubai office is a further step towards building
Azeti’s presence in the Middle East region. Target
market segments include hospitality, telecom, retail,
healthcare and banking sectors.
Produced in Germany, Azeti’s solutions
supports a wide range of IT monitoring with
operational technology and environmental
monitoring that help businesses protect critical
technical infrastructures.
"The new branch office underlines the
importance of the vibrant Middle East region to
Azeti and our commitment to serving this fast
growing market as well as supporting our partners",
said José Bustamante, Vice President MEA at Azeti.
“We have seen significant interest in the Middle
East for enterprise monitoring solutions. Unlike
traditional network monitoring systems that mainly
focus on IP-based processes, our range of products
provides all-round monitoring service”.
Azeti, Emitac tie-up, opens office in Dubai
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 7
IN THE BEGINNINGTie-ups
Council in Saudi Arabia to participate in the
global launch of Ethical Hacker.
“We are delighted to be chosen and
recognised by EC-Council for our role in
helping them to deliver certified Ethical
Hacking v7 training into the technology
marketplace”, said Hesham Abdel Mohsen,
Regional Marketing Manager, MEA and
Emerging Market, Global Knowledge.
ComGuard provided all the necessary
support and kits for the successful delivery of
the first EC Council certified Ethical Hacker
training programme in Saudi Arabia. It also
enabled Global Knowledge-KSA to launch in
Saudi Arabia simultaneously with the global
launch CEH v7 by EC-Council.
The certified Ethical Hacker programme
certifies individuals in the specific network
security discipline of Ethical Hacking from
a vendor-neutral perspective. The certified
Ethical Hacker certification will improve
the application knowledge of security
officers, auditors, security professionals, site
administrators, and others concerned about
the integrity of the network infrastructure.
ComGuard, an iT security distributor and
sole distributor of EC Council in the Middle
East and north Africa region recently
delivered the first EC Council’s, Ethical
Hacker training in Saudi Arabia. This was
in association with Global Knowledge, KSA,
which was also part of the global launch.
Global Knowledge-KSA is one of the 35
EC-Council training partners in the world and
the sole authorised training centre for EC-
ComGuard launches ethical hacker training in Saudi
Hesham Abdel Mohsen, Regional Marketing Manager, Global Knowledge
infor, a provider of business application
software has appointed MiC (Middle East
investment Company) as a new channel
partner for the region. The reseller
agreement with MiC covers a number of
infor solutions including infor ErP ln and
infor Enterprise Asset Management. infor
now uses twenty sales and implementation
partners for its Middle East operations.
“Our channel strategy is not about the
quantity of partners. Instead we want to work
with a smaller number of quality, growth-
oriented partners who understand the value
Infor solutions can bring to their client base”,
says Paul Hammond, regional vice president
and general manager, Middle East, Infor.
Infor ERP LN has over 30 modules
and is meant for complex manufacturing,
distribution and service industries. This
includes engineering-based industries,
such as automotive, industrial equipment
and machinery, electronics, aerospace and
defence. The solution was recently deployed
at Metito Overseas in the UAE, which provides
water, wastewater treatment and desalination
systems.
MIC, a privately held boutique investment
company, operates across 13 countries
and has recently acquired eight regional
technology vendors in the last 18 months. One
of MIC’s key channel partners is its subsidiary
United Computer Company, Saudi Arabia
whose customer relationships extend across
manufacturing, retail, education, financial
services, energy, oil and gas.
“There is a significant opportunity to
leverage upon the existing Baan customer
base particularly in KSA which has been
established over many years. We also believe
mid-size and large manufacturing communities
are becoming more aware of the benefits of
acquiring and integrating Infor solutions”, said
Abdulaziz Sheikh, CEO UCC Saudi Arabia.
MIC will work with other established
Infor channel partners in the Middle East to
co-operate in the sale of Infor’s supply chain
management solutions. Another reason
for signing up with MIC is its long standing
expertise in Baan ERP across the region.
Infor appoints MIC for enterprise solution roll outs
Fujitsu Technology Solutions, a global iT
infrastructure provider, and redington
Value, the value added distribution
division of redington Gulf, have signed a
partnership agreement for the distribution
of Fujitsu´s Primergy servers and Eternus
storage solutions in the Middle East.
“This agreement is just another step
to fuel our consistent growth throughout
the Middle East, with products such as our
PRIMERGY line of x86 servers, where we
have witnessed growth above average
rates”, says Farid Al-Sabbagh, Managing
Director, Middle East, Fujitsu Technology
Solutions. Fujitsu, offers a complete
portfolio of IT products, solutions and
services. The ETERNUS storage systems
provide business-critical online storage for
enterprises of all sizes.
Redington Gulf’s value division was
set up to support the company’s horizontal
expansion with focus on networking
products and solutions. Within 4 years
the business now includes networking,
software, security, infrastructure, server
and storage products and solutions. It
offers products and services from 14
vendor including Avaya, Cisco, Checkpoint,
Juniper, Molex, Nortel, RedHat, SonicWall
and Trend Micro.
Redington to support Fujitsu´s storage and servers
8 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
TM
Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, UAE ● Tel: (+971) 4 8863300 ● Fax: (+971) 4 8863311 ● UAE Sales Center: (+971) 4 3555520 ● P.O. Box: 262221 ● Email: [email protected] ● Website: www.gse.ae
IN THE BEGINNINGAnnouncements
SoftAtHome, a software provider of home
operating platforms that help carrier service
providers deliver convergent applications has
announced it is opening a new office in Dubai.
The office will support current deployment of
its technology with Etisalat and address the
needs of other operators in the region.
SoftAtHome provides a software platform
that enables operators and third party
developers create convergent applications
for the digital home. It combines services
such as voice, video, content sharing, security,
broadband access, connectivity and deploys
them across different devices in the home. This
includes TV set top boxes, home gateways and
connected TVs.
SoftAtHome is a software company backed
by Orange, Etisalat and Sagemcom to deliver
convergence through an operating platform for
the digital home environment. It fosters a new
ecosystem made up of service providers, third
party application developers, integrators and
hardware vendors to accelerate the advent of
the digital home. The company is headquartered
in France with development and sales teams in
France and Belgium.
In 2010, Etisalat has selected SoftAtHome
to deploy their multiplay offering across the
UAE, including IPTV, video on demand, personal
video fecording, internet TV, OTT services, digital
content sharing, application store and broadband
access. The solution will be deployed across
the UAE first, followed by other countries in the
Middle East and where Etisalat as a presence.
In order to consolidate its strategic choice,
Etisalat has also taken a stake in SoftAtHome
to become shareholder of the company.
SoftAtHome selected Dubai as a strategic
place to address the needs of other operators
in the region as Dubai provides a complete
infrastructure and easy access to countries in the
Middle East.
Michel Degland, CEO of SoftAtHome said,
“We are very pleased to open our subsidiary
in Dubai and to deploy our solutions across
the UAE. It represents a key milestone in
the development of our company and in our
commitment to be successful in the Gulf region”.
SoftAtHome opens office in Dubai to support regional carriers
Sharp Middle East has announced
expansion of its business solutions division
(BSD). it is expanding its key focus markets
around the region for its BSD solutions, with
a greater breadth of coverage in the Middle
East and Africa.
Sharp Middle East’s BSD General
Manager, Tomoo Shimizu, said, “The
Sharp to expand office automation solutions
Sharp’s business solution, General Manager, Tomoo Shimizu
division is at the core of Sharp Middle East’s
operations. By growing our BSD team and
increasing the number of key markets it
operates in, we will work towards reaching
our targets outlined for this year, especially
in multi function printers and professional
displays”.
The core areas for the BSD in 2011
include professional displays, managed print
services and document management. The
focus is also on getting customers in the
region to make the switch from black and
white to colour machines. The BSD team has
expanded from six to 19 people, with a further
six to be recruited.
Sharp Middle East serves more than
60 countries. These key markets include
the GCC, countries in North Africa such as
Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, and the large
African markets of South Africa and Kenya.
Sharp’s primary business activities include
audio-visual and communication equipment,
health and environment equipment,
information equipment, and crystalline and
thin-film solar cells.
Fujairah Media Group, a Fujairah-based
broadcasting organisation founded as
a joint venture between the Fujairah
Cultural Authority and Arab international
Media Services, has announced that it
has granted the license to Melody Group
facilitating the latter to commence
operations in its Creative City media
free zone.
Across 2010-2011, Creative City has
issued around 1,400 permits varying from
media and consultancy to informatics and
technology.
Following the granting of license, the
regionally and internationally celebrated
Melody Group’s “Melody Arabia”,
“Melody Movies”, “Melody Drama” and
“Melody Hits” TV channels can utilise the
administrative services and other facilities
of Creative City.
Creative City is especially designed
to accommodate all media-related needs
within a comprehensive environment
encompassing all kinds of media, related
technologies and training organisations, as
well as support from freelance journalists.
In one year (2010-2011) Creative City
has so far issued around 1,400 permits
varying from media and consultancy to
informatics and technology.
Melody Group to operate from Fujairah’s Creative City
10 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
• NAS & iSCSI SAN• 10GBE NETWORK PORT• REDUNDANT POWER SUPPLIES• BUILT-IN REPLICATION• VIRTUALIZATION APPLICATIONS
SAFEGUARD YOUR WORLD OF DATA!
Share. Store. Protect.
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Safeguard ad2 for print.pdf 6/5/11 12:09:45 PM
Canon Middle East gathered key corporate
customers in Fes, Morocco to launch its runner
Advance C2020 office printer and Formula
P150, a portable scanner. Attendees were
introduced to Canon’s latest solutions aimed at
helping offices achieve tangible cost savings
and productivity.
“The launch of this range underlines our
commitment to Morocco’s office and SME
market, whilst providing our customers with
flexible colour and colour capable solutions.
With Moroccan businesses now making a strong
transition to colour solutions, we have a product
to match specific business need,” said Somesh
Adukia, Sales Manager, Canon Middle East.
Canon showcases new scanner, printer at Fes meet
BenQ, a digital lifestyle provider, recently
held its annual projector regional distributors
meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, where it
shared its vision to become number one
projector brand in the world.
Key channel partners from the Asia Pacific,
Middle East and Africa regions participated
in the three-day event which provided an
opportunity for BenQ’s senior management to
share insights into the trends and strategies
that are shaping its businesses as well as
showcase new product offerings.
In the Middle East, for the first quarter of
2011 BenQ projectors sales increased by 60%,
in terms of both revenue generated and units
sold, in comparison to the same period in
2010. According to the latest research report
released by Futuresource Consulting, at the
end of the first quarter of 2011, BenQ is the
number one projector brand in Saudi Arabia
with a 21% market share. In the UAE, BenQ’s
market share is over 16%, and it is the number
three brand in the market. With about 15%
total market share, BenQ is also the number
two projector brand in the Middle East and
Africa region.
Adrian Chang, President of BenQ Asia
Pacific said, “We are currently the number
two projector brand in the world and aim to
take the top spot in the near future with our
enhanced line-up of projectors.”
In the second half of 2011 BenQ will be
offering a range of new models catering to
every audio visual segment.
BenQ hosts annual partner meet in Thailand
QMF Global Consultants Wll,
an independent certification and
consultancy body has successfully
acquired a commercial registration to
deliver its services to businesses in
Bahrain as well as neighbouring GCC
countries.
Following this, QMF has set up an
office in Bahrain to provide services to
organisations across the region. QMF’s
primary products are certification, auditing,
consultancy and development services, in
the field of international quality standards. Its
customer target base is SME and NGOs.
The department for UK Trade and
Investment, welcomed the services provided
by QMF Global Consultants WLL. UK’s
ambassador to Bahrain Jamie Bowden
said: “UK products and services are well
known for their quality and consultancy
services of companies like QMF have
supported many UK companies to achieve
that high quality.”
Vivian Jamal, Director of Business
Development at the Bahrain Economic
Development Board, stated: “Within the Gulf
Co-operation Council, Bahrain is becoming
established as a service centre for the
region and we are pleased that QMF have
chosen to set up in Bahrain.”
UK based certification company sets up in Bahrain
The Runner Advance C2020 is equipped
with solutions to suit small and medium-sized
workgroups in office environments. Running
at 20 pages per minute, it provides a range
of options and functionality for networked
security, worker productivity, cost efficiency and
environmental benefits.
Attendees of the event were also shown
Canon’s ultra portable document scanner.
“As one of the smallest duplex A4 scanners
available, it is suitable for executives who are on
the road between client sites, such as architects,
marketing professionals or designers, so they
can transfer documents back to the office,”
commented Adukia.
IN THE BEGINNINGAnnouncements
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 13
nvidia has agreed to acquire icera, a
leading producer of baseband processors
for 3G and 4G cellular phones and tablets.
icera has more than 550 patents granted
or pending worldwide, and its high speed
wireless-modem products have been
approved by more than 50 carriers across
the globe.
The acquisition, for $367 million in cash,
has been approved by both companies´
boards of directors and is expected to be
completed, subject to customary closing
conditions, in approximately 30 days.
By offering the two main processors
used in smartphones--the application
processor and baseband processor,
the combined company will help OEM
customers improve their time to market and
deliver requirements of next-generation
mobile computing. Nvidia will also have
approximately doubled its revenue
opportunity within each product segment.
The market for baseband processors
is one of the fastest growing segments of
the technology industry, worth an estimated
$15billion a year. Icera will be able to leverage
Nvidia´s momentum in the smartphone and
tablet markets to capitalise on this growth.
Icera is a pioneer in next-generation,
multi-protocol wireless baseband processors
with RF components. Its technology scales
from 2G to 4G networks, using a custom-built,
ultra-low-power processor. The company´s
third-generation Livanto line of chipsets
delivers the industry´s fastest data rates,
has short user wait times, reduces battery
drain and supports multiple standards on the
same hardware. Its forthcoming Espresso450
and Espresso500 line of platforms is meant
for 2G, 3G and 4G networks, low-power
optimisation for voice and high-speed data,
and industry´s smallest form factor.
NVIDIA awakened the world to the power
of computer graphics when it invented the
GPU in 1999. Its expertise in programmable
GPUs has led to breakthroughs in parallel
processing which make supercomputing
inexpensive and widely accessible.
Nvidia to acquire baseband vendor Icera
Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
The Jumbo service centre, the largest of
its type in the region covering 70,000 sq
feet, completed one year of its operation in
the month of April 2011. The service centre
based in Jebel Ali, Dubai services 19 global
brands and has more than doubled the
volume of services and repairs for consumer
and professional electronics products.
“For over 30 years now, the most
important goal for us has been to build a
relationship with our customers both before
and after a sale,” says Deepak Khetrapal,
CEO, Jumbo Electronics.
Supporting the service centre is its
hotline 800 JUMBO, which receives over
10,000 phone calls a month. The 800 JUMBO
call-centre is located inside the Jebel Ali
service centre and calls from the hotline
are handled by trained Arabic and English
language speaking experts.
Of the 19 brands serviced at the centre,
Jumbo is the exclusive service provider for
Sony consumer electronics in the UAE. Other
features of the centre include a dedicated
service section for Sony broadcast equipment
and a Sony dark room for DSL camera
repairs, the only one of its kind in the Middle
East region.
In the retail area, other than Sony, Jumbo
also manages other brands including Apple,
HP, Blackberry, Acer, Nokia, Casio, Dyson,
Gorenje, Brother, Compaq, Dell, Ricoh, Epson,
HTC, Lenovo, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Packard-
Bell, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson, Toshiba, and
VAIO amongst others. Jumbo is also the
parent company of affordable electronics
major Supra.
Jumbo currently has over 35 stores
across UAE and Oman and is now focused
on expanding its retail presence in Qatar,
Bahrain and Kuwait. Along with its regional
expansion plans, Jumbo also plans to
continue growing business in non retails areas
such as IT solutions. The Jumbo Enterprise
Solutions division caters to various market
verticals including hospitality, retail, education,
healthcare and finance sectors. The services
offered by Enterprise Service Division include
design, building, network consulting and
innovative IT hardware and software solutions.
Jumbo´s service centre completes one year
Jumbo operates the largest consumer service centre in the region. Can it replicate its retail success in the IT Enterprise market space?
IN THE BEGINNINGAnnouncements
14 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
McAfee announced its Cloud Security Platform,
to help organisations safely take advantage of
cloud computing. The new platform achieves this
by securing all content and data traffic--including
e-mail, Web and identity traffic between an
organisation and the cloud.
“Once you move data or applications to the
cloud, you essentially lose most, if not all of your
security visibility, which most organisations find
unacceptable,” said Marc Olesen, Senior Vice
President and General Manager, Content and Cloud
Security at McAfee.
The McAfee Cloud Security Platform offers the
following modules:
- Web Security provides bi-directional protection
for both incoming and outgoing Web traffic through
proactive reputation- and intent-based protection.
- Web traffic generated by smart phones and
tablets can be directed through the McAfee Web
Gateway using standard device management.
- The Intel Expressway Cloud Access 360,
helps enable an enterprise or cloud provider to
provide access control for cloud applications using
enterprise identities.
- McAfee E-mail Security delivers e-mail
protection, integrating comprehensive inbound threat
protection with outbound data loss prevention.
- The Intel Expressway Service Gateway
off loads application level API security, data
transformation, REST to SOAP mediation, and
identity token exchange, to a high speed gateway at
the network edge or in the cloud.
Another key aspect of ensuring Cloud security
is making sure organisations identify data that
should or should not be moved to the Cloud.
With McAfee´s Data Loss Prevention solution,
organisations can understand where its data
resides, classify that data in terms of importance or
sensitivity, build policies to protect that data, and
then enforce those policies while data travels within
or outside the organisation to the Cloud.
Centralised management and reporting is
also provided through integration with the McAfee
ePolicy Orchestrator platform. The security
modules can be deployed as an on-premises
appliance, software-as-a-service solution or a hybrid
combination of both. Regardless of the deployment
form factor, the solutions can be centrally managed
through the ePolicy Orchestrator platform or the
McAfee SaaS Control Console.
Cyquent Technology Consultants
have launched their cloud based retail
application called Biretail. The product
which is also a business intelligence tool
covers retail functions including sales,
inventory, suppliers and customers as
well as reportingÇ analysisÇ dashboards,
alerting and monitoring. it is an easy-to-
use intuitive solution designed from the
“ground up” for retailers. it is a complete
“Bi in a box” solution and delivers all
components that make up a Bi solution
including data warehouse, ETl, OlAP,
reports, dashboards, KPis and others.
“It´s retail ready and it´s easy to start
since it is available on the cloud”, says
Cyquent launches cloud based retail solution
ClOUD SECURITy SUITE FROM MCAFEE
Juniper networks announced
Junosphere Classroom, a new cloud-
based service designed to enable
educational institutions, partners and
customers to cost-effectively educate
students and professionals on
networking fundamentals. Junosphere
Classroom is based on Junosphere, a
new cloud environment that enables
the creation and modeling of virtual
networks and elements running the
industry-leading Junos operating
system.
Providing the practical application
and hands-on experience required to
effectively learn networking requires
a physical lab and a significant
amount of equipment, which is costly
in terms of initial capital expense
and ongoing operational expenses.
Junosphere Classroom overcomes
drawbacks of traditional approaches
by allowing customers to create and
operate virtual Junos-based networks,
decoupling the educational process
from the requirement for physical
hardware and infrastructure.
“Junosphere Classroom brings the
power of Junos to the cloud, enabling
our customers to learn and experiment in
ways never before possible”, said Manoj
Leelanivas, executive vice president,
Junos Application Software Group,
Juniper Networks.
Juniper Networks hosts
Junosphere Classroom resources in
data centres, designed using Juniper´s
networking and security technologies,
which are accessible to students via
a secure Internet connection. This
“any-time, any-where” access to the
Junosphere environment can extend
individual study time, and is also ideal
for providing remote learning and
home-based education.
The three universities currently
using Junosphere Classroom training
applications include Georgia Institute
of Technology, Princeton University and
Queen Mary, University of London.
Juniper announces cloud based education platform
IN THE BEGINNING
• Operational intelligence: automated data
collection and translation, resource planning,
supplier analysis, inventory optimisation
• Customer intelligence: marketing
automation, marketing optimisation, market
basket analysis
• Inventory intelligence: inventory planning,
assortment, size, space, price, promotion,
markdown optimisation
Praveen Thawani, Director, Cyquent Technology
Consultants.
Cloud
INTELLIGENT FEATURES
16 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
Stamp out fraud.
Generated by BeQRious.com
With SAS® Analytics, you can score millions of transactions a day in real time – to detect fraud faster, reduce risk, streamline investigations and prevent losses. Decide with confidence.
ANALYTICS
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. S71487US.0411
Scan the QR code* with your mobile device to view a brief customer video or visit sas.com/bankfraud for the complete success story video.
*Requires reader app to be installed on your mobile device
EMC introduced the EMC Cloud
Tiering Appliance, enabling storage
administrators to effectively manage their
file-based unstructured data. The Cloud
Tiering Appliance delivers a cost-effective
solution for implementing a tiered storage
strategy that aligns the value of an
enterprise´s information with the most
appropriate tier.
Additionally, Cloud Tiering Appliance
integration with EMC VNX unified storage
extends the simplicity, efficiency and
power of VNX storage to clouds. The
Cloud Tiering Appliance enables EMC
VNX to automatically tier data to the
cloud based on IT established policies
while providing automated tiering within a
storage system.
The tiering strategy allows data to be
tiered directly to public, private, or hybrid
clouds; within a VNX unified storage
system with EMC´s Automated Storage
Tiering Suite; and between storage
systems.
“IT managers are still exploring how
to exploit the various cost and efficiency
benefits of the cloud. The potential
beauty of the cloud in its purest sense is
its flexible, cost-efficient and on-demand
nature,” said Mark Peters, Senior Analyst at
the Enterprise Strategy Group.
The solution enables customers to
reduce capital expenses by lowering
cost of ownership through automatic
movement of inactive data to lower
cost tiers of storage or the cloud. It also
provides transparency to the storage
administrator and end users with
automated, administrator-defined policies
that run on a defined schedule. It improves
performance by allowing organisations
to shorten backup windows. It does this
through complementing an organisation´s
backup strategy, removing inactive files
from backup process and freeing up space
on primary storage used better to optimise
primary storage performance.
EMC ANNOUNCES ClOUD-TIERING STORAGE SOlUTION
VMware announced its user-centric
management service for accessing cloud
applications called VMware Horizon App
Manager. The interface represents the
first component of the company´s “Project
Horizon” vision first previewed at VMworld
2010. Future releases of VMware Horizon will
broker user access to a variety of application
types, virtual Windows desktops and data
resources, while delivering security and
control required by businesses.
“The mobile and cloud era dictates
anywhere, any device access to applications
within and outside the firewall, and introduces
fundamental new challenges to the traditional
enterprise security and management model,”
said Brian Byun, Vice President and General
Manager, Cloud Applications, VMware.
More than ever, enterprises are dealing
with two fundamental client computing
pain points ñ providing secure access to an
increasingly mobile workforce; and managing
the burgeoning diversity of data, applications
and devices needed to run their business.
These challenges result from the transformative
nature of cloud computing and the post-PC era.
At its core, VMware Horizon App Manager
includes an identity as a service hub that
securely extends a user´s existing identity in
systems such as Microsoft Active Directory or
other directory options, into third-party public
cloud applications like Box.net, BroadVision,
Google, Salesforce.com, WebEx, Workday
and others. This dramatically simplifies the
management of multiple access credentials,
a necessity brought about by the growing
number of cloud applications now found in a
typical enterprise.
The benefits include easy, single sign-on
access to their cloud applications through
a “storefront like” application portal; control
entitlement and access to cloud applications
through a centralised application catalog;
and extension of existing on-premise identity
infrastructure.
The growing VMware End-User Computing
portfolio seeks to free end users and IT
organisations from more than two decades
of complex, device-centric computing and
deliver a more user-centric, consumer cloud
experience for the enterprise. This approach
to personal computing enables organisations
to leverage public cloud resources while
extending existing security models and
providing access to applications and data from
any device, where and when a user needs
it. Current pricing in the US and Asia pacific
region is $30.00 per user/per year.
VMware releases Cloud application interface
IN THE BEGINNINGCloud
18 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
A new iBM study of more than 3,000
global CiOs shows that 60% of
organisations are ready to embrace cloud
computing over the next five years as a
means of growing their businesses and
achieving competitive advantage. The
figure nearly doubles the number of CiOs
who said they would utilise cloud in iBM’s
2009 CiO study.
As demand for ever-growing amounts
of information continues to increase,
companies are seeking simple and direct
access to data and applications that cloud
computing delivers in a cost-efficient,
always-available manner. The use of cloud,
which began in supporting deployments
mainly inside companies, has now also
grown common between organisations and
their partners and customers.
In IBM’s 2009 CIO study, only a third
of CIOs said they planned to pursue cloud
to gain a competitive advantage. This
year´s study shows a dramatic increase in
the focus on cloud, particularly in media
and entertainment, which rose to 73%,
automotive (70%) and telecommunications
(69%).
From a country standpoint, seven out of
ten CIOs in the US, Japan and South Korea,
and 68% in China, now identify cloud as
a top priority. This is dramatically up from
2009, when CIO interest in cloud hovered
at about a third in each of these countries.
The study also found that more than
four out of five CIOs (83%) see business
intelligence and analytics as top priorities
for their businesses as they seek ways to
act upon the growing amounts of data that
are now at their disposal.
CIOs are also increasingly turning their
attention to mobile computing to keep
pace with the fast-changing marketplace.
As the proliferation of mobile devices
with enhanced functionality and mobile
applications continues to grow, mobile
computing and mobility solutions are now
seen by nearly three-quarters of CIOs as a
game-changer for their business--up from
68% in 2009.
IBM´s global CIO study confirms Cloud take-off
Web security and WAn solutions
vendor, Blue Coat Systems released its
CloudCaching Engine for its MACH5
WAn Optimisation appliances and Virtual
Appliances. The CloudCaching Engine,
which uses an asymmetric acceleration
technology, now allows traditional WAn
optimisation solutions to access the public
cloud. in a public cloud SaaS environment,
the infrastructure is not owned or managed
by the customer, so it is not possible to
co-locate a WAn optimisation solution in
such an environment. Blue Coat solves
this problem by using its CloudCaching
Engine to extend WAn optimisation for
acceleration of cloud-based applications,
including those using video, Web-based
interfaces and iPv6 content.
“Already a majority of companies (52.3%)
use SaaS, and the average number of such
applications per company is climbing sharply,
from fewer than two last year to more than
five this year,” said John Burke, principal
research analyst, Nemertes Research.
The Engine enables businesses to more
readily adopt cloud infrastructure to achieve
operational savings.
The CloudCaching Engine leverages new
developments from Blue Coat´s pioneering
content caching specifically designed
to accelerate and optimise new Web
applications, large video files and dynamic
Web 2.0 content.
As an example of accelerated
transactions that take place, the
CloudCaching Engine helps deliver an
average of 40x acceleration for Microsoft
SharePoint BPOS, without requiring
appliances or virtual appliances on Microsoft
cloud infrastructure. For cloud delivered
video applications, Blue Coat can deliver an
increase in over 500x bandwidth capacity
for on demand video, without dedicated
devices on cloud provider´s infrastructure.
With the ability to cache native on-demand
Adobe Flash video using the RTMP protocol,
users can get a high quality video experience
without consuming WAN or Internet gateway
bandwidth beyond that required to serve the
first viewer. The Flash caching capability was
developed in collaboration with Adobe.
Blue Coat WAN optimisation solutions
can also locally cache on-demand Web-
delivered HTML5 and Microsoft Silverlight
video content and perform stream-splitting
on live video. This allows a single stream
of video to serve hundreds of viewers in a
single location.
“WAN optimisation is an important
and proven technology for data centre
consolidation, but companies need a new
generation of WAN optimisation to address
the proliferation of video, Web content and
cloud-based services that are fundamentally
changing how businesses use and access
applications,” said Nigel Hawthorn, VP EMEA
Marketing at Blue Coat.
Pricing for Blue Coat MACH5 appliances
for WAN optimisation start at US$ 2,995.
Blue Coat makes cloud accessible to WAN
Blue Coat ProxySG 9000 MACH5 series appliance
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 19
Authorised distributors for the full range of Lexmark products:
Samih KhaddajLevant Regional ManagerMedmark - LebanonP.O.Box: 90-883, JdeidehTel.: +961-1-895 666Fax.: +961-1-873 558Mobile: +961-3-234 126Mobile: +961-3-234 126E-Mail: [email protected]
Nadim ElKhourySales ManagerMedmark - Saudi ArabiaP.O.Box: 30595, Al-Khobar 31952Tel : 00966 3 890 3753Fax : 00966 3 890 3743Mob : 00966 502706499Mob : 00966 502706499E-Mail: [email protected]
Georges SalibaGulf Regional ManagerMedmark- Dubai UAEP.O.Box 61065Tel : 0097148838448Fax : 0097148838608Mob : 00971506509910Mob : 00971506509910Mail : [email protected]
MEDMARK . Head OfficeP.O.Box 11862, Diplomatic AreaKingdom of BahrainTel: +97317535383 Fax: +97317533356Mail : [email protected]
Introducing Lexmark’s new laser printers and multifunction device...closer than ever to your needs
Great performance. Outstanding colors. Eco design
C925DE X466DE E260DN X792DE T656DNE X658DE
across the global marketing organisations
and management of outside resources.
Peter Kobs, who recently joined CommVault
from McAfee, has been promoted to vice
president of sales for the Americas. Formerly
CommVault´s area vice president for the US
Central region, Kobs will step into the lead
Americas sales role.
Alistair Clark joins CommVault in the newly
created role of vice president, worldwide
sales operations. He will be responsible
for initiatives to streamline and increase the
effectiveness of CommVault´s sales force
processes.
Clinton O´leary has
joined Citrix Systems
MEA as Senior Partner
Account Manager.
O´Leary joins Citrix
from Intralinks to focus
on the company´s
reseller relationship
and channel
enablement. In his
previous roles O´Leary has worked in the
Middle East with Microsoft and Emirates
Computers and in South Africa with Dell and
Dimension Data.
Christine Carey has
joined Citrix Systems
MEA as Enterprise
Sales Manager, UAE
Private Sector. Carey
leaves her role as
regional manager for
Middle East at Wyse
Technology with more
than 20 years in IT
sales. Carey has a track record of channel
and sales development.
audit account where he served as manager
for two years. James has worked extensively
throughout the Middle East and Africa.
Christopher Saul has
joined Hewlett-
Packard Personal
Systems Group Middle
East as Business
Development
Manager for Client
Virtualisation. He will
work with tier – one
partners such as
Microsoft, Citrix and VMware to provide thin
client, VDI and server based computing
solutions. Christopher brings with him over
12 years of experience in promoting,
architecting and selling thin client, server
based computing and Virtual Desktop
Infrastructure solutions, Christopher joins HP
from Sun Microsystems-Oracle.
ron Miiller, formerly vice president of sales
for the Americas and an 11-year CommVault
veteran, has been promoted to the newly
created role of senior vice president of
worldwide sales. In this role, Miiller will
ensure that the global sales organisation
leverages best practices andestablishes
greater consistency in sales and go-to-
market processes across CommVault´s
US, EMEA, APJ and China operations,
as well as its OEM sales organisation.
David West has been
promoted to senior
vice president of
marketing and
business development
and will continue to
drive worldwide
marketing, business
development and
strategic alliances. He
will focus on consistency of messaging
Samer Sayed has
been appointed as
Iomega´s B2B Regional
Sales Manager, Middle
East and Africa. Samer
Sayed brings more
than 15 years'
experience to Iomega,
most recently at EMC
where he was the
Regional Business Development Manager.
Prior to joining EMC, he worked at Fujitsu
Siemens Computers and Fujitsu Technology
Solutions, Toshiba Gulf FZE and at PSG
division, Hewlett-Packard.
Brian Gammage has
joined VMware in a
global role as chief
market technologist,
based out of UK. He
joins VMware from
Gartner, where he was
a research fellow and
regarded as an
influential global
analyst in the desktop virtualisation market.
Overall he has more than 25 years IT sector
experience, having also worked at HP,
Olivetti Systems and Acorn Computers.
James Caffrey has
joined Xerox Emirates
as its Chief Financial
Officer, reporting to
the General Manager.
James is an Irish
national with a
Bachelors Degree in
Economics and Politics
as well as a Masters
Degree in Economic Science from the
University College in Dublin. Prior to joining
Xerox Emirates, James worked for Glencore
International AG as well as Ernest and Young.
At Ernest and Young, James was appointed
to the delivery team on the Xerox internal
Corporate appointments
IN THE BEGINNINGMovements
Authorised distributors for the full range of Lexmark products:
Samih KhaddajLevant Regional ManagerMedmark - LebanonP.O.Box: 90-883, JdeidehTel.: +961-1-895 666Fax.: +961-1-873 558Mobile: +961-3-234 126Mobile: +961-3-234 126E-Mail: [email protected]
Nadim ElKhourySales ManagerMedmark - Saudi ArabiaP.O.Box: 30595, Al-Khobar 31952Tel : 00966 3 890 3753Fax : 00966 3 890 3743Mob : 00966 502706499Mob : 00966 502706499E-Mail: [email protected]
Georges SalibaGulf Regional ManagerMedmark- Dubai UAEP.O.Box 61065Tel : 0097148838448Fax : 0097148838608Mob : 00971506509910Mob : 00971506509910Mail : [email protected]
MEDMARK . Head OfficeP.O.Box 11862, Diplomatic AreaKingdom of BahrainTel: +97317535383 Fax: +97317533356Mail : [email protected]
Introducing Lexmark’s new laser printers and multifunction device...closer than ever to your needs
Great performance. Outstanding colors. Eco design
C925DE X466DE E260DN X792DE T656DNE X658DE
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 21
LAPTOPS WITH A STYLE
Packard Bell, owned
by the Acer group,
announced its range of
Easynote laptops with a
strong emotional sales
appeal in mid May.
Using eco-friendly
earthy colours and touch materials, the
appeal of the products is described as
“stylish and trendy” and is expected to do
well across the affluent GCC consumer
segment. The product range is segmented
into entry level, mainstream and high end.
The common factor across all the models is
the focus on social media, entertainment,
The vendor is launching a new range of trendy laptops this summer to regain its market share
Aggressive retail thrust in second half 2011, Packard Bell´s GM, Shashank Sharma
IN fOCUSPackard Bell
video chat, picture albums, data storage
and backup and other related accessories
and applications.
“The new Packard Bell range is a “100%
consumer brand”, comments Shashank
Sharma, Country Manager, Packard Bell
Middle East. The product range including
netbooks, desktops and stand alone
monitors is expected to be available across
retail outlets by July 2011. The brand has
been selling across GCC since 2009 and
was previously distributed by Redington,
which also distributes the Acer product
range. However the new Packard Bell range
will be exclusively marketed and distributed
in UAE to the retail segment by FDC
International.
Parallel to the development of the
new range of products, the feeling within
Packard Bell was to have an exclusive
distributor to focus
on the retail segment.
With the volume
market share falling
from 4% in 2009 to
the current level of
1% this has become
more urgent. The aim
is to bring this back to 4% using FDC as the
distributor and the new “emotive” appeal of
the products.
“If you are not managing your inventory
very well in the retail channel, some of
the things you work out on the desk don´t
work out in the field”, explains Sharma.
He intends to support FDC full time to get
the volume sales to their previous levels.
However as a group, “we continue to have
excellent relationship with Redington”, he
asserts.
Sharma´s list of marketing support
activities for FDC include print flyers in
leading newspapers; working with super
retailers to include the Packard Bell brand
in their own communications; availability
of promoters and point of sale materials
at super retail outlets. These marketing
support activities were not available last
year. The other side of activities include
“collect, repair, return”, maintenance
support through a toll free number during
the first year of the warranty and option of
additional two-year warranty.
FDC will be responsible for direct
import of the products into their warehouse
and outward movement to the super retail
outlets. FDC also supplies Acer to the
retail segment but Packard Bell and Acer
products will be managed by two separate
FDC teams. Other than Acer, FDC also
supplies high visibility and fast moving
brands Lenovo, Kaspersky, Sony, Western
Digital and Seagate amongst others, to the
retail segment. “We are very powerful in the
super retail segment because we have a lot
of products that we sell there”, comments
Alan Pourmirza, Infrastructure Manager,
FDC.
From distributor point of view, which
needs to equitably manage all its retail
facing brands, “selling IT products is
like selling ice”, an analogy referring to
the extremely short-term pull of today´s
consumer focused IT products. With
continuous onslaught of new products
almost every month, “time is also the
biggest enemy”. Both inventory at the
warehouse and inventory on the retail
shelves have to be closely managed.
There is another concern on the super
retail front. With limited space on the shop
front and a huge number of ICT brands
and products jostling for visibility, the
most critical parameter for Packard Bell´s
brand in the months of July onwards will
be the “return per square foot “, for super
retailers. No super retailer can afford to
“The new Packard Bell range is a 100% consumer brand”
24 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
have a product that doesn´t move sitting on
prime shelf space. “If a product comes and
doesn´t move, we have to quickly decide
what to do”, says Ashish Panjabi, CEO of
consumer wave to take it forward, it
would be like a new organisational setup
in parallel.
Behind the scenes, inside the
consolidated group, the Packard Bell
and Acer teams remain integrated. For
the product design, strategy and OEM
procurement team which contracts
with Intel, Microsoft, board, chipset and
monitor manufacturers, the two brands
are unified in terms of their combined
volumes, product segmentation and
market reach. The financial results of the
two brands are also consolidated. But at
the front end, the two brands face the
market separately.
When Packard Bell merged with Acer
in 2008, there were immediate synergies.
Acer´s strength in laptops helped Packard
Bell to surge ahead in the same segment.
Now when Packard Bell is racing to hit
the consumer market head-on, it remains
to be the same whether the favour will be
returned to Acer in the times ahead.
Watching inventory levels, FDC's Infrastructure Manager, Alan Pourmirza
Packard Bell´s Easy Note product map
“We are very powerful in the super retail segment because we have a lot of products that we sell there”
Jacky´s group.
And that could mean going back to
the drawing board and relooking at the
customer experience, the type of messages
in the communication, the amount of
investment in the media campaigns and
type of store-front promotion.
Will Packard Bell´s new product range
move to the corporate segment? Sharma
clarifies, “That is not the brand objective; as
soon as you go to the office environment
the equation changes”. The channel
partners, service levels, infrastructure
and communication, all need to change.
For Packard Bell, investing in the summer
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 25
Monitor made hands-on
For BenQ´s business manager
Mohammed Javeed, the late
night Counter-Strike tournament
involving legendary players,
Emil “Heaton” Christensen and Abdisamad
“Spawn” Mohamed, at Que Club Dubai on 21
May represents the culmination of the effort
by the parent company to roll out the most
advanced gaming monitor.
While carrying the corporate tag line,
“provider of networked digital lifestyle
devices”, the current promotional focus of the
company is the professional monitor segment.
This is the segment that caters to aspiring
gamers and entertainment users, and the
segment that Javed points out is the fastest
growing in the developed economies. Even
in the Gulf, the gaming market is expected to
play a vital role in BenQ´s regional growth. “In
the Middle East and Africa region, we see a
huge potential for technology that takes the
gaming experience to a new level”, clarifies
Manish Bakshi, General Manager of the region.
BenQ´s efforts to accelerate growth and
uptake of this product segment led them to
approach European game vendor, Zowie Gear
The vendor brought in legendary gamers to custom design its new portfolio of gaming monitors.
to help them develop the ultimate gaming
monitor. The Counter-Strike duo team of
“HeatoN” and “SpawN” worked with BenQ´s
prototype development team in Taiwan and
helped develop the near-perfect gaming
monitor. The rest can now go down in history.
“HeatoN” and “SpawN” can look back at their
early years when they spent close to half their
waking life playing Counter-Strike, culminating
in the final roll out of BenQ´s XL 2410T,
advanced gaming monitor.
The development of this advanced gaming
monitor could also have been done by BenQ´s
research and development department, “but it
was their experience that was translated into a
product”, asserts Javed.
Other than the professional monitor
segment for the gaming and lifestyle
community, BenQ segments the remaining
market opportunity into three other product
segments, The lowest end is the essential
monitor segment, which is directed at home
and small office users and is a price conscious
segment. The other two segments are the
corporate and high-end monitor segments,
the latter being used for medical, engineering,
industrial and graphic applications. While the
corporate market is dominated by laptops,
docking stations with large screen monitors
also proliferate in parallel and are reason for
the vendor´s optimism in this market segment.
In total, the regional market is segmented into
four product opportunities.
For sales and distribution across the UAE,
BenQ is using Trigon LLC, which also distributes
other leading consumer brands Viewsonic, LG,
Samsung and Creative. Business development
for the essential monitor series is done by
Trigon´s reseller partners. For the other three
segments namely professional, corporate and
high end monitors, vendor BenQ takes a more
proactive role. For the professional monitor
segment it takes the lead in organising gaming
road shows similar to the one at Que Club.
However engagements with power retailers
for supply of products and price-volume
negotiation, is left to Trigon, which is better
suited in this role than BenQ.
For the corporate and high-end monitor
products, BenQ´s role is in lead generation
and marketing. However once relationships
have been initiated the sales follow up is
handed over to Trigion. The distributor uses
its fifteen-odd channel partners to finalise
relationships with corporate and high-end
customers. With early success in the gaming
and lifestyle product segments, it remains to
be seen what BenQ´s next move will be in
other product segments.
Mohammed Javeed, Business Manager, BenQ Middle East and Africa
BenQ has used legendary Counter-Strike players “HeatoN” and “SpawN” to leapfrog into the gaming product market. Can it replicate this success in other market segments?
IN fOCUSBenQ
26 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
Most advanced gaming monitor: how it was done
Way back in 1999, Emil Christensen played the famous
desktop game, Counter Strike for eight hours a day. As
gaming technology improved, so did his intention to keep
winning and he turned professional. He played for 15 hours
at a stretch, every day for seven years.
Along with his workplace colleague Abdisamad Mohamed, they are
now Counter Strikes legendary players, “HeatoN” and “SpawN”. When
BenQ approached Zowie, their Swedish gaming accessory employer
to help develop the best gaming monitor that technology can provide,
“HeatoN and SpawN” were ideal choices to participate in its product
development. The list of parameters to be incorporated in BenQ´s
monitor rolled out pretty fast, when the duo and their friends sat down
to mull it over. “It was spot-on”, recalls Christensen. After BenQ´s factory
rolled out the prototype, the duo travelled to Taiwan to test the model. At
site they went through more iteration, during which they struggled with
bugs and balancing colour palettes. But their efforts have now paid off
for both vendor and gaming community. For Christensen who all along
preferred playing on his ancient CRT monitor and seldom played on a
LED monitor, BenQ´s latest gaming monitor is now his best.
Specifications: The shooting game mode of the 24.60 inch LED
monitor from BenQ was hands-on developed by “HeatoN” and “SpawN”.
A smart scaling, hot key button allows gamers to switch between four
viewing modes enhancing close ups or wide angle views. The backlit
LED screen has a refresh rate of 120 Hz or 120 times every second using
hyper speed video processing technology. Further each pixel has glow
duration of 2 milli seconds, implying there is no residual glow when the
refresh signal comes back. This makes for ultra-sharp movements
across the screen. The monitor allows two independent video
feeds to display at the same time and is Nvidia 3D vision ready.
The XL 2410T is priced at $490 across the UAE.
Counter-Strike legendary players “SpawN” and “HeatoN” facing BenQ´s LED XL 2410T monitor which they helped develop.
WHEN BLACK IS NOT BLACK!One of the key effort by the gaming duo was to ensure the enemy is visible in the shadows. In other words the enemy colour was calibrated as black while the shadows in which he lurks as near-black. As the enemy lunges out of the corner, “HeatoN” and “SpawN” made sure the rest of the gaming community can spot him.
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 27
PRP
IN fOCUS
Epin enters GCC
Qatar´s skyline
is being rebuilt.
Many localities of
yesterday are now
a five storey heap of rubble.
The new airport shimmers in
the distant haze, hanging in
its final stages. Many other
billion dollar projects are still
on the drawing board.
The recent availability
of a project management
application suite is expected
to help manage timelines
and costs in a more effective
manner. Speaking at the May session of
the CIO Summit Mena in Doha, QPMs IT
Manager, Christopher McDaniel, spelt it out
for consortium CIOs across the region. A
project resource planning application (PRP)
can cut down cost by 5-7% and manage risk
between 10-25% better than the current
The region´s projects are attracting a new breed of project suites
IN fOCUS
Eliminating the manual factor in projects, QPM´s, IT Manager, Christopher McDaneil
in a project. But when they do risk
management they do it in the beginning,
and never really look at the plan again.
They seldom examine if the risk actually
occurred or update it manually across
different projects”, says McDaniel speaking
from his years of experience.
Today everybody understands the
value of ERP. But twenty years ago it was
hard to convince users that is the right
way forward. “PRP today is where ERP
was two decades ago”, says McDaniel.
To extend the comparison, a PRP system
integrates scheduling, change, cost, risk
and document functions. And a typical ERP
system integrates manufacturing, supply
chain, finance, customer relationship and
human resources.
The real mindset change is about
moving away from Microsoft Projects way
of managing projects which is 95% manual
and 5% inbuilt, towards the PRP way--which
is as many generations ahead of older
suites as “sticks and stones to make fire”.
One such PRP application that is now
available in the GCC is from UK based Epin.
The application by the same name is being
used by McDaniel´s employer QPM in Doha
as well as globally by Nissan and Toyota to
manage their retail refurbishments.
Epin has made early gains in the region.
It is being rolled out in the real estate
division of Al Futtaim Group, Abu Dhabi´s
Urban Planning Council, Commercial Bank
of Qatar, and Gredco in Bahrain.
A key driver for adoption in GCC
according to Robin Shipston, Epins
MENA Director, “are problems that failed
document management and collaboration
have caused”. Not being able to identify
and communicate the core problem
appears to be a reason for breakdown in
workflow. Problems of translating technical
matters and work nuances into a second
language, appears another important factor.
PRP systems like Epin eliminate the
manual factor across complex projects,
since they use standard workflow templates
options.
For a multi-billion dollar roll out project,
spanning a couple of years, involving
multiple contractors with additional
unknowns of new green technology or
materials, an integrated project suite, that
eliminates the “guess work” element is the
logical way forward.
Most project management systems
are dominantly a manual process. Careful
planning and scheduling is done in the
beginning. Once the project is underway
it is difficult, time consuming and
cumbersome to keep updating the project
with changes. If the same parameter needs
to be updated in multiple projects and an
overall cost variation to be generated, it
can be days before the result emerges. And
when it comes, it is usually a best guess,
“something that may or may not actually be
there”.
PRP
represents
an integrated
approach to
managing
project
management.
The suite
does not
just provide
an updated
schedule of
time lines and
milestones,
but allows top management to see their
profit and loss in real time, across a
single project or multiple projects without
the ‘guess work’ element. Real-time
dashboards are available at multiple levels
of management for quick assessment.
“Most people don´t do risk management
"Most people don't do risk management in a project. But when they do risk management they do in the beginning, and never really look at the plan again."
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 29
QPM´s customer portfolio
CoMPonEnTS oF PRP SUITE
Barwa Financial district
includes office towers,
five-star business hotel,
restaurants, conference centre and
retail shopping area.
Barwa commercial avenue includes
eight kilometres of retail avenue, with
600 retail spaces and 850 residential
units and offices, food courts,
groceries stores, pharmacies.
and have modules across all faces of
project management.
At present Epin is in the process of
setting up offices across the GCC and does
not have any channel partners, system
integrators or consultants in the region.
The sales engagements are done at C-level
since PRP is a high end strategic and
commercial tool. The solution is available
as a hosted application or as system
resident.
The integration of Epin into an
organisations IT environment is usually
quite smooth. “We get support from IT
departments within organisations because
our systems have a light touch on their
activities and don't put a strain on tight
resources”, says Shipson.
This can be a make or break factor
for implementation of an enterprise
application. If the implementation process
is complicated and requires considerable
change management, the probability of
early success and predictable return on
investment reduces. IT departments are
usually under pressure to make back office
(QPM is wholly owned subsidiary of Doha based Barwa and Qatari Diar estate developers)
systems sitting on ERP support customer
facing projects. “A lot of time and money
can be wasted trying to make square
pegs fit round holes”, says Shipson.
Implementation of a PRP like Epin
usually takes about 30 days. Half of the
time is to get the base line in place and
the rest for setting up configurations
and training. A typical team will include
a project manager who is also the
super user with security access to
all levels. Others
include schedulers
and document
management
handlers. Schedulers
and handlers can be
interchanged between
projects. The project
manager remains
on board till the
project is closed. As
the demand for PRP
applications increases
in the region, Epin will need to scale its
go-to-market strategy accordingly.
IN fOCUSPRP
30 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
TOUCH SCREEN
MYTOUCH
WIRELESS
WIRELESS-N
GUARANTEE
GUARANTEE
3 SECOND SCAN 1
Introducing the new LexmarkGENESIS S815 ALL-IN-ONE PRINTERPRINT COPY SCAN FAX WEB
Printing with a touch of style
1. Scanning a one page document or photo on USB-connected, All-In-One Printer using a PC with the Lexmark Printer Home Interface’s PDF or Photo function. Actual scan timemay vary based on factors such as PC performance and operating system, use of wireless connections and use of document edit/character recognition function.
LIME_Genesis)207x270.indd 1 5/11/11 10:46 AM
IN fOCUSDCC
ME RETAIL ACAdEMY AWARdS 2011
Distree Events, the organisers of Digital
Consumer Channel, Middle East and Africa,
handed out vendor awards at the fourth
‘Middle East retail Academy 2011 Awards’.
A live electronic voting session determined
the winners in 11 product categories. in
addition, awards were handed out for
specialist and volume distributor categories.
Retailers evaluated vendors on a number
of criteria including partner engagement,
channel strategy, pricing, stock management,
product evolution, margin potential, channel
management and partner programme.
“The fact that there are so many different
winners underlines the variety that still exists
in the market,” said Farouk Hemraj, CEO of
Distree Events, the organisers of the awards.
“DCC MEA and MERA celebrate this
diversity, bringing retailers, distributors and
vendors together for a business-focused
three-day event each year.”
The nominations for each category
were determined using data extracted from
Monthly Monitor Report--a service that
provides regular snapshot of views, opinions
and the business climate in the region. DCC
MEA 2011 was partnered by Belkin and Intel
as its Platinum sponsors. Dell, Grand Stores,
Kaspersky and Lenovo supported as Gold
sponsors while Cisco, Pro Technology, Asbis,
ITE Distribution and NAVTEQ were Silver
sponsors.
Redington and Eros picked up the volume
and specialist distributor awards respectively.
Retailers vote on eleven vendor categories
Dell awarded desktop, notebook, netbook of the year
HP awarded printing vendor of the year
Kaspersky awarded vendor of the year
Microsoft awarded gaming vendor of the year
32 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
What is the primary objective of a Digital
Consumer Channel (DCC) event?
Hemraj: DCC is the ultimate networking
event for senior executives from the retail
channel in the Middle East and Africa region
focusing on consumer electronics, digital
devices and ICT products. It is a platform
where high-level retailers from around the
region are brought into productive contact
with vendors.
DCC is also about providing an
opportunity to network among peers, learn
about market data that will help retailers and
vendors better understand the region and
make informed decisions for their businesses.
How was this year’s DCC event different
from the previous?
Hemraj: This year saw the launch of
Gamestream11. Backed by Red Distribution,
Microsoft and Sony, Gamestream11 used the
DCC platform to inform the region’s retail
channel about the latest developments
in gaming technology. As well as share
go-to-market strategies and help them with
consumer engagement.
As a sign of economic recovery, we saw
a record turnout of visitors touching 500 on
the second day of the event. This also meant
a record number of one-on-one meetings
recorded at the event from a little more than
1,000 meetings booked before the event to a
final recorded number of close to 2,000.
What was the most significant feedback
from participants?
Hemraj: We always receive positive
feedback from our participants. Based on
their feedback from previous years, we have
added new industry segments this year as
well as added educational sessions like
workshops and panel discussions.
How does DCC vary from those in other
parts of the world?
Hemraj: The main concept is the same in
all the events but the audience is different
catering to the channel needs of the market.
The Middle East is the only place for Digital
Consumer Channel. Our main event is in
Monaco with DISTREE XXL that focuses
on the distributors for the EMEA region. In
Russia, we have a technology week that
not only has a retail segment but a separate
segment for VAR’s.
Are there are any planned changes to next
year’s DCC?
Hemraj: We can only make these changes
once we have had an opportunity to evaluate
feedback from this year’s event. This could
be the introduction of new segments, new
vendors and speakers, additional workshops
and market data.
Interview with Farouk Hemraj, CEo of event organiser Distree
A record number of 2,000 one-on-one meetings was the highlight of Digital Consumer Channel 2011 event at Fujairah, UAE.
Software vendor of the yearWINNER: KasperskyAlso nominated: Adobe, Microsoft, Sage, Symantec
TV vendor of the yearWINNER: SamsungAlso nominated: lG, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba
Mobile communications vendor of the yearWINNER: Apple Also nominated: BlackBerry, HTC, nokia, Samsung
Gaming vendor of the yearWINNER: MicrosoftAlso nominated: EA, logitech, nintendo, Sony
Home networking vendor of the year WINNER: linksys by CiscoAlso nominated: Belkin, D-link, Edimax, netgear
Storage vendor of the yearWINNER: SeagateAlso nominated: imation, iomega, Sandisk, WD
Printing vendor of the year WINNER: HPAlso nominated: Brother, Canon, Epson, Samsung
imaging vendor of the yearWINNER: nikonAlso nominated: Canon, Kodak, Samsung, Sony
Accessories vendor of the yearWINNER: PromateAlso nominated: Belkin, Genius, logitech, Microsoft
Digital lifestyle vendor of the yearWINNER: AppleAlso nominated: Canon, Merlin, Samsung, Sony
Desktop, notebook, netbook vendor of the yearWINNER: DellAlso nominated: Acer, HP, Samsung, Sony
Farouk Hemraj, CEO Distree Events
“DCC is the ultimate networking event for senior executives from the retail channel”
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 33
An exciting moment at DCC
2011, was the announcement of
Microsoft´s Consumer Channel
Group (CCG), still under formation but in
all probability ready to operate from July
2011. Amongst its immediate objectives: to
create more touch points with consumers,
better communication of what can be done
with Microsoft devices and to elevate the
experience to a “cool” level.
Looking further into the details, the
formation of the CCG is not expected to change
the product distribution structure for the retail
or super retail segments. But it´s expected
to work aggressively towards integrating
Microsoft´s portfolio of disparate products into
a more unified whole with improved consumer
experience and appeal.
The four product segments included as
part of the CCG are: gaming consoles including
Xbox and Kinect; experience accessories like
keyboard, mice, headsets, Webcam; finished
packaged products like Office and Windows;
and Windows Phone.
IN fOCUSMicrosoft
Connecting the consumerA channel is being created to enhance excitement accross its retail and consumer product portfolio
"The idea is not to increase any category
over the other. It´s all about how we create
excitement around our Windows platform",
says Ghassan El Hout, Sales Manager for
entertainment and devices, Microsoft Gulf.
On the engagement side, the CCG
is expected to improve cooperation with
OEM partners, telecom companies, power
retailers and work with them towards creating
“excitement”. "We are partnering with all OEMS
and we stand at an equal distance from them.
But we want the consumers to be picking the
right choice", says El Hout.
Microsoft´s immediate revamp of its
approach to the consumer
segment can also be
explained by what is
happening in the retail
segment. Ask any retail
major and the conclusion
is the same. The whole
consumer IT landscape is
changing-smart phones
have exploded and today
you find a second smart
phone in the hands of
the consumer. With high
product refresh rates from
many brands, consumers
are finding it hard not
to walk into retail outlets and experience the
product. Add to that the strong need to be
connected across social media sites with the
number of new applications to support this and
the pull becomes very strong.
“If you ask a consumer why they have
bought a tablet, most of them don´t have a
very strong answer”, says Jacky´s CEO, Ashish
Panjabi. “A lot of the footfalls in the retail outlets
are about self-justification”. Consumers know
the product has a utility but often find it difficult
to justify to themselves why they should buy
it. The need to be convinced varies from
consumer to consumer.
Today almost all consumer devices are
accessing applications and information through
the public cloud in some way--whether it is a
tablet, slate, windows phone, iPhone or iPad
and so on. The CCG intends to convince this
community of users that, “the Windows platform
is a cool platform, it´s beneficial to use it, and it
complements the total device ownership which
they already have”.
“It´s also to change the way people
purchase a PC-from a DOS based machine at a
rock bottom price deal towards a solution and
need fulfiller”, reflects El Hout.
On the product distribution side, Microsoft
Gulf is using ITE and Logicom for its Windows
and Office applications. For its gaming range it
is using distributors Al Futtaim Electronics and
Pluto Games. The channel community includes
around 90 retailers and 400 retail partners
across five GCC countries: UAE, Qatar, Kuwait,
Bahrain and Oman.
Update on Windows Phone More than 17,000 applications have been developed for this device since Windows Phone was announced. At a recent briefing the vendor announced the availability of Mango, a smartphone developer tool to help build better internet connectivity applications. This is expected to allow easier switching between applications and connections on a smartphone.
Working on the Microsoft consumer experience, Ghassan El Hout, sales manager for entertainment and devices
34 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
You slide,it scans.
Scan Books and Magazines, Anywhere, Without Computer!
Slide and scanBooks and magazinesAny documents
Convert and editText file creatorPDF creatorImage compressor (iHQC™)
for Windows® and Mac® www.irislink.com/iriscanbook
Simply slide it over your favorite magazine pages, books or personal documents!
The easiest mobile scanner solution to create compressed and editable documents on-the-go!
T110531-01
ISB2-ad-ResellerMe-uk.indd 1 31/05/11 10:13
Lenovo
IN fOCUS
High-end SME and retail, key areas
At DCC 2011, a key note
presentation by Howard Davies,
from the channel market research
company Context, showed
declining quarter-on-quarter notebook
volume sales from the corporate segment.
By contrast there was climbing demand
from the small and medium enterprise
(SME) segment.
One of the key drivers for SME growth is
the demand for technology that spans both
business and personal needs and provides
access from a range of devices. “SME
decision makers and employees are reaping
the benefits of social networking tools in
their personal lives and are asking how they
can derive same kind of benefits in their
businesses. They want to make information
easier to find, share and connect with people
they need”, says Lenovo´s Middle East and
With growth and product movement in these segments, Lenovo has made them a priority for this year
Africa, head Jack Lee.
So how does the SME segment fit into
Lenovo´s regional market segmentation?
Lenovo segments the market opportunity into
three: corporate, small and medium enterprise
and home segment. For the corporate
segment the distributors are categorised
under the CAB business and include IBM
stalwarts like GBM, EBM as well as C4 and
Jumbo Enterprise. In the CAB business,
Lenovo is fully engaged in the development of
relationships with potential customers.
For the CAB business, the sales cycles
are long and there are deals to be closed.
Hence it works closely with its partners for this
customer segment. Lenovo customers include
Etihad, Etisalat, Du, Abu Dhabi
University and others. The
company has 14% market
share in this segment, second
after HP, followed by Dell.
However Lenovo´s
current focus is the SME. In
the region, more than 90% of
the businesses are classified
as SME. Lenovo again
classifies the overall SME
market into low, medium and high end. It´s the
high-end SME segment that has got Lenovo
excited and where it sees the fastest return.
“The focus is to grow fast and build good
relationships and loyalty with this segment
of SME”, says Djillali Lahiani, Development
Manager, Lenovo Middle East.
So high is the channel priority that a
partner focussing on the high-end SME
segment for Lenovo channel, is actually a
corporate channel partner for HP.
To reach the home customer through
super retail outlets, Lenovo uses either a
fulfilment or value added partner. In the
UAE, Lenovo is using FDC International as
a value added partner. It also has a special
programme for super retail partners such
as Carrefour, Sharaf DG and Jumbo, where
it owns the relationship end to end. For any
promotion in this retail segment it is a joint
effort between
Lenovo, FDC
and the retailer.
“We like to be
involved in the
management of
the relationship.
We can add
value and we
can help by
presenting an
end to end solution for all parties”, says
Lahiani.
Lenovo is also optimistic on capitalising
in the upsurge of social networking devices
through its partner devices like Windows
Phone and its own Ideapad series of
notebooks. “Microsoft is taking the small
office-home office segment very seriously”,
comments Lahiani.
“For super retail promotions especially during festival times, replenishment is more challenging”
Continue on page 39
Focussing on the high end SME, Lenovo´s Djillali Lahiani
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 37
Enhanced VAR and retail programmes
The upheavals
of the region
have affected
business
sentiment and buying to
a certain extent. Couple
that with the lingering
recession of 2010 and you
come up with a sluggish
corporate buying pattern
now visible in the second
quarter of 2011. ”Our
Middle East markets are on fire right now.
So for the markets it´s like flat growth”, says
Hesham Tantawi, Vice President, Asbis
Enterprises.
Even for Toshiba with a wide range of
products, the corporate buying pattern for its
notebooks has changed. Toshiba operates in
three price bands and typically has not been
a price conscious brand. The first price band
With sluggish corporate sales the vendor is enhancing its VAR programme and regional super retail strategy
is the entry level, which is a price conscious
band and prone to discounts and price wars.
The price band starts at $500 upwards. The
second price band is the mid range and ends
at the $1,500 price point. This is the volume
segment and accounts for close to 40% of
Toshiba´s regional business.
The last is the high-end segment,
which is above the $1,500 price point and
which Santosh Varghese, Regional General
Manager, Toshiba Middle East admits is
not doing so well. “I think something has
completely changed in this segment”. For a
segment that seldom looked at the pricing
and focussed more on the total cost of
ownership, it´s moved towards lowest price
behaviour.
In order to
boost corporate
sales at the high-
end segment,
Toshiba is
focussing on value
added channel
players on the
lookout for last
minute deals and
pricing. The role
of a Toshiba VAR
manager would be to maintain relationships
with these players so they approached
Toshiba and not a competitor at the time of
final negotiations. Incentives for both SME
and enterprise facing VAR´s have been
announced as part of the recent initiative.
Along with the enhanced VAR
programme, Toshiba also has a rebate
incentive scheme called the “profit for
performance”. This is a rebate programme
Retail and VAR programme revamp, Toshiba´s Santosh Varghese
Toshiba´s notebook range
- Satellite Pro, affordable prices
- Tecra, professional on-the-go
- Portege, for style-conscious
which recognises the commitment of retailers
and dealers and rewards performers who
achieve volume and product mix targets. For
promoters, merchandisers, and other shop
floor sales staff, Toshiba has a “sell and win”
point system which can be converted into
“kind or cash rewards”.
Along with its corporate focus, Toshiba
is also revamping its regional super retail
strategy. It has brought in more direct and
indirect players to manage volumes in this
consumer facing channel segment. In UAE
and Bahrain it continues to use Al Futtaim
Electronics as an indirect channel partner to
manage super retailers.
In Saudi Arabia it has direct relationship
with Jarir Book stores with its 24 outlets
across the country, as well as Extra with its 17
outlets across the country. It uses separate
distributor partners for the corporate market
and reseller channel segments. Since Saudi
Arabia accounts for half of its regional sales
and is a captive market, the company has
IN fOCUSToshiba
For a segment that seldom looked at the pricing and focussed more on the total cost of ownership, it´s moved towards lowest price behaviour
38 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
VAR PROGRAMMERESELLER (SMB+SOHO) Support during sales
run-rate pricing
rebate programme
Product training every quarter
Demand generation
Periodic channel news
Access to Toshiba manager
RESELLER (LARGE ENTERPRISE) Support during sales
run-rate pricing
lower pricing for volume deals
rebate programme
Product training every quarter
Demand generation
Periodic channel news
Demo systems at discount
Advertising support
Participation in seminars
Supported service fee charges
Access to Toshiba manager
created a special channel structure and a local
warehouse to manage the growing volumes.
Across Qatar it also uses Jarir Bookstores
as a direct channel partner and is beginning
to engage with Carrefour. Across Oman it
uses Al Bhawan IT division for corporate sales
and Al Bhawan Electronics for its retail sales.
For both Qatar and Oman, it uses separate
distributor partners for the corporate market
and reseller channel segments.
With super retailers themselves
enhancing their regional focus and increasing
the number of outlets, Toshiba has created
its strategic retail partner programme. “Since
they are present in all the countries, it makes
sense to talk to one central point”, explains
Varghese. Under this programme the sales
strategy will be negotiated and finalised
centrally but implemented locally.
For super retail promotions across the
region, the targets are jointly managed by
Toshiba, the distributor and the super retail
partner. Since its strategic retail programme is
transparent to the distributor, Varghese rules
out any conflict of interest. And wherever
the distributor and the super retailer are
the same, as in Saudi Arabia, the model is
optimally suited.
While the market opportunity is
segmented into three categories, the
channel partners are also segmented based
on volume sales. From the highest to lowest
by volume are, diamond, platinum and gold
partners. The diamond partners are usually
the super retailers and sell more than
300 units per quarter. These partners are
managed directly by Lenovo. The platinum
partners usually sell between 100-300
units per quarter and are jointly managed
by Lenovo and the distributor. “The gold
partners who are the lowest in the rung only
because of the volume and not because of
importance”, stresses Lahiani, sell less than
100 units per quarter.
Similar to the priority focus on the high-
High-end SME and retail, key areas
end SME segment, increasing the number
of diamond partners for Lenovo is another
priority. Lenovo has created the Core Channel
programme to acquire specific resellers, roll
out specific promotions and offer special
incentives for achievement.
For the UAE, Lenovo maintains a
distribution centre for rapid and urgent
deployment of stocks. While channel
partners import regular or run-rate stocks
from Shanghai, the UAE office also maintains
stocks under its control. This is used to close
urgent deals where availability of stock may
be used in the final negotiation. It is also used
during promotions and events or for fast
moving products when stock replenishments
are required within 1-2 working days. The
Dubai based distribution centre can also
supply urgent stocks to Lebanon, Qatar,
Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
However for all stock ordering, there is
only one procurement system. Under normal
circumstances distributors receive goods
within 21-40 days, which is the usual lead time.
In other cases the vendor may use either the
Dubai distribution centre for partial fulfilment,
or may airlift stocks from Shanghai itself based
on the requirement and availability.
“For super retail promotions especially
during festival times, replenishment is more
challenging”, says Lahiani. A super retail
establishment like Carrefour will only buy-in
when it sees the value of the complete offer
and controls the deal end to end. Since stock
replenishments are accepted only twice
a week, holding stock at the partner is a
critical factor in going ahead with Lenovo´s
promotional offer. With the vendor talking
responsibility for all key relationships across
SME´s and super retailers, the next six months
will indicate whether these efforts are paying
off or not.
In order to set targets with its channel
partners, Toshiba uses a market sizing
approach. Data from IDC and GfK is used to
lock the current and projected base size of a
market segment. The target share from the
overall market as well as the target share
per price band is worked out from the base
size. Lastly the company reviews its channel
players operating per market and per price
band.
As per figures from GfK Retail and
Technology tracking, Toshiba had a market
share of 23% of the notebook volumes
shipped from July to December 2010. And
for mobile computers it had a share of 18% of
the volume shipped for the full year of 2010.
Overall Toshiba´s retail volumes grew by 9%
in 2010 over the previous year.
On the logistics side, all imports by
regional and local channel partners are first
shipped to Dubai as the central hub. From
here they are forwarded to the regional
channel players warehouses. Shipping orders
are placed on the basis of three month
forecast and inventory is managed at 30-45
order stock. With a robust product and brand,
regional growth appears to be next highlight
in this year´s calendar.
From page 37
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 39
Local base, regional focus
The uK based component
manufacturer is looking at setting
up a testing and packaging plant
in Dubai. At present integral
manufactures its products in Taiwan and
ships them to uK. At the plant in new
london each of its products is then quality
tested and shrink wrapped and sealed for
forwarding to 55 other countries.
The problem is you need volumes to
do that and we are trying to build volumes”,
says Integral Memory´s Sanjiv Kotecha,
speaking at DCC 2011. If the trading volumes
across the UAE and the region go up, the
products will be bulk shipped from Taiwan to
Dubai, loosely packed in trays. At Dubai the
products will be quality tested, repacked and
made available for re-export. Since Dubai
is better placed for re-export than London,
with cheaper labour costs, “that will be the
ultimate aim”, says Kotecha.
The Dubai plant investment is expected
to be around $0.2million. Similar to the UK
setup, Kotecha expects to use the spare
capacity of the proposed Dubai plant to pick
up local orders for component testing and
Starting up a component testing and packing line and entering the Indian market are targets for its UAE operations
packaging. “We are
always being asked
to do other peoples
stuff”, referring to the
testing and packaging
contracts, managed by
the 50 employee team
in New London.
Other than the Gulf, Kotecha has his eye
set on India as the next target destination.
“That is a fantastically growing market”, close
to Dubai and can also be serviced from Dubai.
Integral currently has offices in Spain,
France, Portugal and Netherlands as well as UK
and UAE. The current product range includes
memory cards, mobile memory, USB flash
drives, encrypted USB drives, card readers and
adapters and DRAM memory chips.
Integral expects its new solid state
drives (SSD), encrypted flash drives, USB 3.0
flash drives and micro SD to drive growth
in the region. The SSD are made from flash
layer technology using an additional linear
dimension. They have no moving parts,
consume less power and generate less
heat. At present however they are about 3-4
times more expensive than conventional
storage devices. “For people who understand
technology and the early adopters this
product has an immediate market”, says
Kotecha. As the price drops this product
segment is expected to compete and
overtake sales of conventional external and
internal storage devices. “The Ipad is all SSD”,
Kotecha points out.
The other differentiated product from
Integral is the encrypted USB. With corporate
data loss, a serious legal issue in UK, the
research and development team in the
country came up with a password protected
USB. “Research shows that most users lose
their flash within the first year of usage”. The
encrypted USB from Integral has a hardware
set password that cannot be deleted.
Incorrect entry more than six times triggers
erasing of the stored data.
About the other products, micros SD are
now used in tablets, smart phones, cameras
and other consumer devices. With the
exploding consumer market for smart-phones
and tablets in the region, the company is
bullish on its 32GB product in this segment.
The faster USB 3.0
is expected to be
available from middle
of 2011.
In the UAE, Integral
uses Touchmate as
its distributor. Holding
stocks for flash memory is usually the trickiest
amongst channel partners due to volatile
pricing and life cycle. But since Integral only
manufactures this product segment, it is
ready to take the risk and hold the stock for
its partners. “We are used to it” says Kotecha,
“and we can handle the risk of holding
the inventory”. It also has considerable
experience working on promotions with
European super retailers like Tesco and Asda
including two-for-one and bundled offers. If
Kotecha gets the UAE volumes to shoot up,
India and the rest of the region are logical
next steps.
Boosting UAE volumes, Integral´s Sanjiv Kotecha
“We are used to it and we can handle the risk of holding the inventory”
The encrypted USB from Integral has a hardware set password that cannot be deleted. Incorrect entry more than six times triggers erasing of the stored data.
Integral Memory
IN fOCUS
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 41
IN fOCUSTwinmos
For Dubai based Twinmos the
core business of the company is
memory related products. it has
contract manufacturing plants in Taiwan and
research and development for new products
is done out of Dubai. its product range
includes flash memory cards and drives,
memory modules, solid state drives, portable
drives, hi-speed hubs, micro SD chips, uSB
3.0 add-in cards, uSB 3.0 and 2.0 cables.
Historically it started as a manufacturer of
memory chips for system integrators. Even now
this remains an important part of its business.
System integrators who assemble desktops,
servers and workstations based on bulk orders
require memory chips. They also need memory
chips to upgrade older systems or for after
Bullish on memory productsSteady demand for memory related products has the company exporting most of its production into regional and far-away markets
sales and repair which is a smaller part of the
business. These are supplied by Twinmos.
Even large OEMs source memory chips
from Twinmos. Original memory chips for
established notebook brands are more
expensive than the chips supplied by
Twinmos. Memory upgrades prior to the final
sale is a common requirement for resellers of
established brands. Hence there is a demand
for memory upgrades from Twinmos even for
established brands.”We have a solution for
all branded PCs”, says Mohd Mazharul Islam,
Managing Director of Twinmos.
In the UAE, Twinmos acts as its own
distributor. The Dubai operations is the hub for
exports into Africa, rest of the gulf, Persian Gulf,
Levant, Eastern Europe, CIS and south Asia. In
other countries Twinmos uses a distributor to
manage its sales and business development.
Distributors in other countries are
expected to send in regular three-month
sales forecasts. Orders cycles start from
the third week of the month and goods are
shipped by the end of the month.
All goods are air shipped from the plant
in Taiwan to Dubai and from Dubai to other
countries. An inventory of 30 days stock is
maintained in Dubai. Form its plant in Taiwan
it receives goods in two types of packing.
For its channel community it receives goods
in bulk packing and for its retail business it
receives goods in smaller packs for retail
store shelves.
“There is back and forth information on
inventory”, says Mazharul, since its objective
is to maintain just in time stocks at its Dubai
warehouse hub.
Approximately 50% of the goods
imported into Dubai are re-exported by
Twinmos to other countries. Out of the
remaining 50% sold into the local market
through its reseller community, Mazharul
estimates another 30% moves out of the
country. That brings the net re-exported out
of Dubai to 80%. Any reduction to the 5%
local duty surcharge would greatly benefit the
local reseller community in their re-exports
since it would drop the price point.
With converging form factors across the
flash drive and solid state drives, Mazharul’s
medium term outlook is to focus on the micro
SD as the driver of Twinmos’ growth.
Exports major part of UAE sales, Mohd Mazharul Islam, Managing Director, Twinmos.
42 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
pROfILEItqan
When Feras Al-Jabi, General
Manager of itqan received
the Feigenbaum leadership
Excellence Award in early 2011, recognising
him as an accomplished leader, it was also
recognition of how itqan has repositioned
itself to meet the demands of its
customers.
The Abu Dhabi based systems
integration company has been in operation
since 1984. However it is only over the
last ten years that it has started offering
enterprise applications and solutions along
with its traditional offering of hardware and
infrastructure.
Being at the helm of the company since
1998, Al-Jabi has structured the company
to foster close engagement with its public
sector customers who have been with Itqan
since its origin. Rather than migrate away to
the multitude of other market opportunities
in the UAE and GCC, Al-Jabi has chosen to
offer newer and more varied technology
solutions to this portfolio of long term
customers. The approach has been to offer
new solutions to existing clients rather than
existing solutions to new clients.
Explaining this Al-Jabi says, “Maintaining
long term relationships with them, is more
healthier and profitable than to keep moving
outside the markets we have developed”.
Itqan defines its primary customers as
the government sector covering four areas
of defence, education, healthcare and
citizen centric departments. The last area
includes service intensive departments with
continuously scalable requirements and
accountability built around the customer´s
customer.
Preparing itssecond wave
The oil and gas market segment was
where Itqan historically started its business.
Today this remains more of a supporting
market after the government, rather than its
primary market. While the telecom segment
is an opportunity, ITqaan has not developed
any specific solution or internal practice for
this vertical. For this segment it offers its
standard practice engagements.
Inbuilt in Itqan´s previous five year
strategic planning is the continuing and
primary focus towards the public sector. This
is one of the reasons for Itqan´s long term
stability in the region. Business expansion
and growth of the sector, pro-technology
governance, migration, integration and
deployment of new technologies have
contributed to return Itqan´s time and cost
investment towards this segment.
Al-Jabi describes the return on
investment from this sector as, “fair, enough
and plenty”. And buzz words describing
its strategic approach to this market as
“focussed, responsive and nimble”.
Another possible reason for Itqan´s
long term stability is the careful selection
of technology platforms. Starting off with
only a hardware infrastructure service, the
company now has four mature practices
that it can offer its public sector customers.
The most recent solutions are built around
Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM platform
and Microsoft Sharepoint Portal. It also offers
SAP and Oracle enterprise applications
and implementation. However the return
on investment focus is around Microsoft
technologies and less on SAP and Oracle.
Itqan selects the technologies based on
business needs rather than the “latest and
greatest solution” available.
Facing the market is the current umbrella
of practices including hardware infrastructure,
enterprise applications, business intelligence
and scalable service support. “At any
particular time, we come across lots of
businesses which require at least two
portfolio of offerings to be delivered at once”,
says Al-Jabi. Most customer requirements are
covered by these four practices.
Considering the high profile and critical
nature of its public sector customers, the
challenge for Itqan has been to manage their
growing requirements using its established
practices. Till recently, it has neither found
“our structure has been simple and clear for years. our strategy is our core market, core offering and partnership”
Growing competition and increasing regional demand for its services are making it bullish to cross over
44 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
the need to venture into a vast portfolio of
technology offerings for each practice nor
stretch itself out by developing business
across adjacent geographical regions.
“Our structure has been simple and
clear for years. Our strategy is our core
market, core offering and partnership.
We have planned our capacity in terms of
these solutions without sacrificing quality of
service, nor the reach”, says Al-Jabi.
But the rapid regional economic
growth has also brought its share of foreign
competitors with a different basket of
strengths and solutions. One such bloc of
competitors that continue to penetrate the
local market is Indian system integrators. An
important difference between Itqan and this
bloc of players lies in the nature and origin of
their growth.
Itqan originated as a hardware services
company, and has gained expertise in
application and software development over
time. The Indian bloc have originated from the
realm of software development and have built
up application integration skills on multiple
hardware platforms over time. Both appear
to have the same goal but have progressed
through different streams of work.
Another key differentiator is the
vast factory of software developers
available to any India based systems
integrator. Perceiving this differentiator
as a weakness Itqan has tied up with the
India office of Capgemini to outsource
software development on a need basis.
Most of Itqan´s projects are now a hybrid
of onsite and offshore services, also called
mixed delivery, between the two partners.
Specifically Itqan has left the SAP and Oracle
development resources to its Indian partner
as well as other complex projects. However,
“CAP gemini is not involved in each and
every transaction of Itqan”, clarifies Al-Jabi.
While the Indian system integrator bloc
has relied extensively on the SEI certification
model for software quality assurance, Itqan
has used ISO standards to control internal
quality till date. Historically ISO standards at
Itqan are not a recent initiative and quality
assurance is part of its internal day-to-
COMPAriSOn OF BuSinESS MODEl
Home grown system integrator indian system integrators
Origin from datacentre, hardware Origin from software development
Country focussed Regional and global focus
Long term contractual engagement Varied pattern of contractual enagagement
Usually focussed on public sector or semi-government
Usually focussed across multiple vertical segments
Limited technology offerings based on customer requirement
Needs to carry broad pallet of technologies and skills
Limited investment in technical manpowerUsually vast investment in technical
manpower
Will scale using alliances and acquisitionWill scale with equity resources and
organically
Source: ResellerME
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 45
Knowledge Management
As the company repositioned
itself in the local market from
an infrastructure service provider to a
solutions provider in the late nineties, this
was one of the first practices to kick off. In
the initial stages this included document
management, imaging and archiving
solutions. With the launch of Microsoft´s
Share Point portal in 2002, the practice
expanded to a full portfolio adding
workflow, business process management
and Web based portals. Increasing
competency in this practice has led to
the development of a product known as
Ediwan, a trademark of Itqan, which is a
middle ware connecting to back office
legacy applications and single sign-on at
the front end.
Recent customer: Abu Dhabi
Educational Council (portal), Western
Region Development Council (portal),
Twofour54 (content management)
Application implementation
This covers the deployment of ERP
packaged solutions built around Oracle
suite, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics and
other solutions for healthcare and human
resources. The domain expertise for the
ERP applications is in the market segment
of government and oil and gas. Ekawader
is a human resources and payroll
application especially built for the regional
market that sits on top of Microsoft
Dynamics. For this enterprise portfolio
of applications there is less effort on
customisation and more emphasis on the
key features of the enterprise applications
allowing easy upgradability.
Recent customers: Farah Leisure
Parks, Gulf Allied Digital Media (partner
with Sumtotal Systems), Sharjah Museums
Department (eKawader), Securities and
Commodities Authority (ERP)
information infrastructure
When the company started its business in
1984, this was its main forte and continues
to this day to be its primary revenue
earner. All components that sit below the
application layer covering the operating
system, networking, storage, virtualisation,
connectivity falls in this practice. As
an active hardware player, Itqan has
relationships with Dell, HP, Cisco, Huawei,
EMC and Oracle-Sun. Years of competency
in this area allow Itqan to roll out an
integrated solution rather than multiple
boxes at the time of implementation.
Recent customers: Maritime Industrial
Services (unified platform based on
Microsoft technologies), Mafraq Hospital
(unified communication implementation),
Ministry of Health (Al-Nabed datacentre)
Outsourcing
This covers additional resources
deployed around customer infrastructure
to help them manage their support
functions including the help desk. The
focus of the managed services is looking
after the customer´s customer, rather than
an inward focussed approach.
Recent customers: Panasonic
(technical support)
Itqan´s four business practices
day operations and work culture. Itqan´s
ISO standards are also meant to gain the
confidence of prospective customers. It has a
trio of ISO certifications with the most recent
being in May 2011. Considering its relationship
with Capgemini, phasing in the SEI model is
also part of the quality initiative target.
How do Indian system integrators view
local players such as Itqan? They are rated
high because of their deep and long term
contractual engagements with the public
sector. Any Indian system integrator wanting
to enter this sector would probably be
more successful through a joint bid with
a local player. However for now Indian
system integrators don´t view their local
pROfILEItqan
2000GULF EXCELLENCE FORUM AWARD
2004, 2006 MICROSOFT WINNING CUSTOMER AWARD
2005 - 2006 SHEIKH KHALIFA APPRECIATION CERTIFICATE
2006 THE BEST ICT COMPANy: ARAB TECHNOLOGy AWARDS
2007 THE BEST SySTEM INTEGRATOR: ARAB TECHNOLOGy AWARDS
2008 CERTIFIED ISO 20000
2008 MICROSOFT DyNAMICS, PRESIDENT´S CLUB WINNER
2009 RECOGNISED AT MICROSOFT DyNAMICS WORLDWIDE PARTNER CONFERENCE
2011 CERTIFIED ISO 27001
Recent recognition
46 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
DISTRIBUTORS WANTED
LED
LCD
PLASMA
DVDPlayers
AudioSystems
Phones
One of the most prominent GCC based consumer electronics brand with over 2,500 products across 40+ categories is in the process of appointing distributors. Financially sound business with prior experience
in consumer electronics preferred. Interested companies may send in their details to:
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Oman Distributors 20.7x27cm_2.ai 5/2/11 6:30:06 PM
Direct outbound: It is a
sale made directly by the
manufacturer to the end user
through their sales force, agents, or
representative. This channel addresses
primarily large-size business customers
or corporate accounts. Sales in which the
vendor plays a significant role in developing
the business, but does not directly deliver
the product, are not considered direct
outbound sales.
Direct inbound: It is a sale made
directly by the manufacturer to the end user
via telesales or call centre methods. These
include vendor direct catalogues, and
typical vendor-direct companies.
internet direct: It is a sale that has
been initiated and completed via the world
wide Web. Payment must be received
via electronic means. Sales made via the
Web sites of dealers or retailers will not be
included here, but accounted for within the
dealer or retail channel itself.
Dealer/VAr/system integrators:
They are firms that offer value with the PC
sale beyond both price and availability.
Although most are local or regional, some
are multinational in scope. Dealer/VAR/SI's
tend to focus on sales to a smaller set of
customers, which purchase a higher volume
of PCs, generally ranging from small office
to Fortune 500 accounts. Examples of
Dealer/VAR/SI channel categories include
corporate account resellers, computer
specialty dealers, value-added resellers
including application VARs and network
integrators and systems integrators.
Sub-Channels
Corporate dealers: They are large
channel partners who have a national
coverage and address primarily medium
and large businesses. With a turnover of
more than $10 million, out of which more
than 50% will be made through large
accounts, they will usually represent the
largest dealers in a country or region. They
resell all IT products (PCs, portables, entry-
level servers, mid range systems, networks,
peripherals, software), and they usually
reference all major PC vendors.
Traditional dealers: They are
IT dedicated resellers, predominantly
IT product resellers, who sell standard
products. They would do more than 80%
of their business on standard hardware/
PC sales. Those dealers who add value to
the product through consulting or support
will be considered as VARs if this non-
hardware activity generates more than 40%
of their turn over. Traditional PC dealers/
resellers would address a large range of
customers, from home users to medium-
sized companies.
Value Added resellers: They are
channel partners that have a service or
application oriented business and "value-
added" expertise. They sell all IT products
but will do at least 40% outside hardware
sales, that is software and services. The
VAR channel includes many kinds of
partners, according to their expertise
and value-adding functions. Due to the
recent market evolution, many former
"dealers" have moved towards more
"service oriented business models" and
have developed "value adding" integration
expertise, thus leading to an increasing
number of VARs.
IDC includes the following categories
in the VAR channel: Hardware Platform/
Network VARs; Solution VARs; Application
VARs; Systems integrators/large systems
houses; Retail; Vendor store; Telco Channel;
Telecom Operators; Cable TV Operators;
Telecom Specialist Stores
IDC channel definitions for EMEA
pROfILEItqan
counterparts as a threat. MahindraSatyam´s,
regional Vice President Manojeet Choudhury
clarifies on the non competing nature of
local and Indian system integrators. “The
kind of projects they are doing, we are
not there. And the kind of projects we are
doing, they are not there”. The market is
large enough for both types of players and
everyone appears to have a distinct space
to operate for now.
However those dynamics may change
over the next five years. Internally Itqan has
announced it wants to be the leading systems
integrators player across the GCC in less
than five years. It has pulled out its “regional
player, acquisition game plan” shelved
since 2008 when the global meltdown took
place. As part of that plan it had earmarked
acquisition of two regional players allowing it
to advance outside UAE. Now it has decided
to go down that route once again.
Within UAE it has already stretched itself
to Al Ain and the western side of Abu Dhabi,
entrenching itself within oil and gas and
defence establishments. Now with foreign
player competition building up in UAE, it is
going to be a race on who sets up fastest
across GCC. “We have tremendous pressure
from certain customers in Saudi Arabia and
Qatar to come over”, says Al-Jabi. Add to
that vendor pressure from Itqan´s partners,
who anticipate the UAE success story
being replicated in other countries and it is
not difficult to understand Al-Jabi´s bullish
outlook to cross over.
However the road ahead is challenging
and one of the formidable challenges is to
build a large team to manage expansion
across GCC. “Technology skills cannot be
built overnight. It takes time and investment
and has to be a long term strategy”, says
Choudhury. Itqan will probably need to
follow the same model that its Indian peers
have done over the last two decades,
perhaps replacing India for Egypt. If Itqan´s
Al-Jabi pulls this off the next award five
years from now will definitely be bigger than
2011´s Feigenbaum recognition.
48 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
COVER fEATURE
REBATES, PROMOTIONS
WHAT WORKS?
Rebates, promotion, loyalty, discounts
50 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
corporate channel partners to start focussing
on the high-end SME segment. It is also actively
developing its diamond partner channel
segment, a status accorded to partners who
sell more than 300 units per quarter. It is doing
this through the Core Channel programme with
objectives of acquiring specific resellers into the
Lenovo relationship.
In the case of AMD, its recent
repositioning of OEM products has meant
equivalent work on channel development.
The product segments now include APU,
CPU, chipset and embedded, server, software
By any theory of channel marketing
these are established instruments of
“reward power”. However with shorter
life cycles and new devices being
launched every week, both vendors
and channel players require other measures
to make “rewards” deliver their power.
Channel rewards are generated at all
four levels of the distribution value chain.
Outwardly they may have the same form but
as we move down the chain from vendors
to distributors to resellers and retailers they
reflect unfinished business at those levels or
below them.
THE VEnDOr ViEW
At the vendor level, channel motivation
programmes can get initiated due to a
number of reasons. During the current
volatile market environment, vendor
activities are being adjusted to compensate
for sluggish activity across the traditional
corporate segment, contrasted by higher
rates of growth from others.
At Toshiba for example, sluggish
corporate sales has prompted it to recharge
its corporate VAR programme. In terms of
value additions these include access to a VAR
manager, demand generation, regular product
training, rebate schemes, and other sops
around discounts and volume pricing.
Combined with these tactical measures
Toshiba is also maintaining its rebate incentive
scheme called the “profit for performance” for
its channel community, and “sell and win” point
system for its shop floor executives.
For Lenovo the focus is to capture market
share in the top end of the SME market in
the region. It has pulled in its best performing
By ARUN SHANKAR
“This programme is still going strong since
its launch in 2009”, says Bernard Biolchini, VP
sales AMD, META regional office.
For security software major, Kaspersky,
it monitors the number of licenses sold to an
enterprise. When the number of licenses sold
reaches 500, it steps in for direct engagement
with the customer in parallel with channel
partner. “We need to be as close as possible
to the customer for this”, says Tarek Kuzbari,
Managing Director of Kaspersky Lab Middle East.
For memory manufacturer Twinmos, the
possibility of dead stocks is operationally
unlikely. “Whatever is going to be obsolete, we
This program is still going strong since its launch in 2009. Our partners’ success is our own, which is why it was important to design a program that
caters to local and regional partners and lets us equip them with the necessary tools”.- Bernard BiOlchini, VP SaleS aMd, MeTa
solutions. The new channel initiative has
materialised in the form of the Fusion partner
programme.
This is a global partner programme that
combines incentive and resource programmes
and is now available for partners reselling the
complete portfolio of products. The change is
towards more personalised resource availability
using three levels of performance differentiation
named as elite, premier and select. There are
also six tiers of channel segmentation named
as e-tailers, retailers, commercial solution
providers, consumer solution providers and
commercial volume resellers.
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 51
know it one year before”, says Mohd Mazharul
Islam, Managing Director, Twinmos. However
he acknowledges based on market conditions
stocks can become slow moving leading
to the possibility of dead stocks, because
of the volatile nature of the product. Under
these circumstances, Twinmos gives a rebate
to its channel partners on the next stock of
shipments to adjust for the lower giveaway
prices used to clear the existing stock.
Retail focussed promotions can be
driven by the brand, or by the distributor, or
by the brand and distributor. Any of these
combinations is possible and all are in active
use. Leading IT brands like Lenovo, Toshiba,
Kaspersky, Epson and Microsoft have made
direct contact with super retailers, in parallel
with their distributors a key priority in 2011.
With retail segments overflowing with
COVER fEATURERebates, promotion, loyalty, discounts
customers to catch the latest connected
devices and application devices on the
shelves, this is a key for retail promotions.
For Toshiba, it has brought in Jarir Book
Stores and Extra in Saudi Arabia as direct
channel partners. Since Saudi Arabia accounts
for more than half of its regional sales, this
move demonstrates the importance of the
segment and the region for the vendor. It
has also created a strategic retail partner
programme, where it negotiates the promotion
activities at the retailer’s central decision
making office.
For security software major, Kaspersky,
Sandisk across the region include embedded
and encrypted content on its devices, like
movies and songs that are user-accessible
on payment. As well as custom label OEM
products and merchandise for super retailers.
While this market segment is booming
for de Boer, he emphasises, “We are not
yet at a point where we are done with
developing this category.”
For Microsoft, it has created the consumer
channel group to revamp its consumer product
portfolio and visibility in the retail segment.
The new approach is to create more touch
points for the consumer, to raise excitement
levels in the segment and to strengthen brand
attributes to a “cool level”.
From a vendor perspective, Touchmate
is keen to offer its channel partners higher
margins above its competitors. “Along with
our rebate scheme the margins to our channel
partners is never less than 10%,” says Vasant
Menghani, CEO Touchmate. The company
always has aggressive promotion and rebate
scheme running with its partners and claims
that sales targets are tripled during such times
and achieved as well.
increasing the brand awareness at retailers is critical to boost the sales of renewal.”
- Tarek kuzBari, Managing direcTOr, kaSPerSky laB Middle eaST
almost every electronic device uses either an embedded
flash or has a slot for an add-on flash card. That makes our category attractive for distributors, resellers and retailers,”
- PaScal de BOer, VP reTail SaleS and MarkeTing, SandiSk eMea
the involvement with the super retailer is
part of its direct touch model. Distributor,
vendor and retail partner meet to discuss the
annual engagement and possible value-add
from the vendor and distributor. “Increasing
the brand awareness at retailers is critical to
boost the sales of renewal,” says Kaspersky’s
Kuzbari. For the vendor there is a direct link
with license renewals from the SME and small
office-home office segment, and the visibility
of the brand across the super-retail segment.
A product category like flash memory,
where Sandisk operates is also growing
rapidly. Almost every electronic device uses
either an embedded flash or has a slot for an
add-on flash card. “That makes our category
attractive for distributors, resellers and
retailers,” says Pascal de Boer, VP Retail Sales
and Marketing, Sandisk EMEA.
Since Sandisk products are used in
fast selling electronic goods like cameras,
smartphones, tablets, media players, there is
considerable opportunity to offer the add-on
Sandisk product along with the actual device
as “bundle promotions” across retailers.
Other upcoming retail opportunities from
52 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
THE CHAnnEl ViEW
From a channel partner point of view,
“reward power” takes on a different meaning.
Distributor and resellers can have their own set
of objectives and associated activities. If a certain
product has been impacted due to a parallel
activity run, or if there is a volume shortfall either
at the distributor or reseller end, then a more
focussed activity is usually planned.
The scale of this activity will depend
on shortfall in volume and availability of
marketing support. “Such limited time period
offers are successful and resellers know that
an investment today yields higher returns
tomorrow,” says Sachin Gehani, Director
Accent Office Supplies, a printing reseller.
“Incentives and rebates are an important
of the channel strategy and build a strong
relationship,” says Harprit Singh, Managing
Director, VIP Computers. However there are
two sides of such exchanges. On the one side
are the additional volumes generated and
the related exchanges of “Dollar and cents,
how much do you get?” On the other side is
the partnership effort that goes into the effort,
the transfer of knowledge and the vendor
know-how.
For a specialised component distributor
like VIP Computers, the most important factor
may not be the successful exchange of volume
and rebate. It has also to do with the channel
partners’ long term acceptance of the margins
offered, the commitment to the product range,
and the vision of growing the product in a
certain region or operational space.
at the time of arrival in its Dubai warehouse.
Anything that the partner wants should be
forecast and included in its sales orders.
“Normally we don’t have anything to sell
without a forecast,” explains Alan Pourmirza,
FDC’s Infrastructure Manager.
Asbis Enterprises, leading distributor for
Intel and AMD and operating across Europe,
Russia, CIS, Africa and the Gulf also has a
loyalty club based on sales performance of
its partners. It is called “Fusion Club” and
recognises top sales customers around a
selected vendor. At present “Fusion Club”
is being supported by AMD and hence the
quarterly getaways are for regional partners
who have topped AMD sales in the country or
region.
The last three quarterly getaways have
been to Slovakia, UAE and France. The
main highlight is networking with key AMD
and Asbis managers and team building in a
relaxing environment.
Says Hesham Tantawi, VP for META
region, explaining his vision of Asbis’
customers, “A partner is a customer who
focuses with you to develop his market, and
COVER fEATURE
distributors use many strategies to gain the loyalty of resellers, but at the end of the day, what matters most is the price point.”
- Sachin gehani, direcTOr accenT Office SuPPlieS
along with our rebate scheme the margins to our
channel partners is never less than 10%,”- VaSanT Menghani, ceO TOuchMaTe.
“This tells us the long term sustainability of
the relationship. Many customers come in for
short term, one-two deals. These are not our
best customers”, says Singh. Across the region
VIP Computers has chosen to pre-select its
partners and has a hundred on its list.
Rebates and marketing support are more
likely to flow when a channel partner has
worked their way towards a distributor’s top
rungs, usually a loyalty club. FDC International,
an extended chardware distributor managing
storage drives, memory, mother and display
boards, and laptops rates its customers on
the basis of “magic-four” parameters. These
include on-time payments within the credit
period; trading with at least four FDC product
categories; predictable sales cycles and
showcasing of the product range.
Out of a total base of 650 partners, only
fifty old partners are included in its “magic-
four” club. FDC extends preferential channel
support for them including longer term sales
contracts.
However incentives are not the primary
strategy that FDC wants to follow with its
partners. Close to 100% of its goods are sold
Rebates, promotion, loyalty, discounts
54 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
Pulsar series UPSs. The right UPS solution for your business.• From office networks to data centres
• Power range up to 20 kVA
• Advanced power management capabilities
• Unmatched reliability
www.eaton.com/powerquality
Authorised Distributor: PO Box 62757, Dubai, UAE • Tel: +971 4 3552270 • Fax: +971 4 3552131 • e-mail: [email protected] • www.alfalak.com
COVER fEATURE
you help him to develop and achieve this, then
its partnership.”
Managing customers doesn’t always need
a loyalty programme on the scale of Asbis’.
Modest inventory control, credit extensions
and channel protection by the distributors can
also help retain customers. For Medmark one
of Lexmark’s three distributors in the region,
protecting its market share of 85% and its
partner loyalty some of them extending back
eight years, is the most important.
Medmark doesn’t keep back-to-back
stocks for fast moving goods. It believes in
making goods available for its partners. It
receives two incoming shipments every week
and holds an average inventory of 60 days.
Out of this only 35-40% of the stock is sold
before arrival in the warehouse. Rest are kept
as ex-stock. “At any moment the partners don’t
need to buy a lot and block their capital,” says
George Saliba, Sales Manager, Medmark.
launches, limited shelf space and limited
inventory capacity create significant challenges
for the vendor, distributor and the retailer.
All brands and retailers follow the same
annual calendar across the region. New
product launches are timed with Gitex,
shopping festivals, back to school, Ramadan
and other special occasions. Some brands
share their activity plans well in advance with
the retailers. Others may arrive just a week
earlier. “The brands that miss out are the ones
that are slow, with wrong marketing push
or sitting stocks,” says Ashish Panjabi, CEO
Jacky’s group.
With multiple product segments like LCD
and plasma TVs, mobile and smart phones,
tablets, cameras, laptops, printers, gaming
software, devices, consumables and others
competing for shelf space—the most critical
factor is how much space to give a particular
brand in its product segment.
This is a tactical decision the retailer has
to take along with the brand. The shelf space
has an ROI– whether it is funded by a brand,
distributor or retailer or co-funded. All parties
are looking for a return on their investment.
incentives and rebates are an important of the
channel strategy and build a strong relationship,”- harPriT Singh, Managing direcTOr, ViP cOMPuTerS
Medmark also extends preferential credit
terms of 60 days to its partners and says that
profit margins are much higher on Lexmark
products in comparison to its competitors.
Existing channel partners are also protected
when prospective customers make a bid to
enter the network. “We don’t keep an open
market and keep adding channel players”,
says Saliba. It also runs an incentive loyalty
programme for its partners.
While FDC and Asbis may set the turf
for gaining partner loyalty, sometimes it may
not be enough. Says Accent Office Supplies’
Gehani, “Distributors use many strategies to
gain the loyalty of resellers, but at the end of
the day, what matters most is the price point.”
Gehani has his share of favourite distributors
based on operational matters like preferential
stock allocation, priority documentation,
priority delivery, higher rebate and other
related reasons.
However, even if a reseller shies away
from distributor loyalty they still remain
committed to high volume vendors. Gehani’s
favourite promotion scheme is anything to do
with HP. “Given the volume of HP sales today,
the rebates achieved by meeting targets
turn out to be a huge number and these
add considerably to the bottom line”. This is
especially important since profit margins based
on sales of HP products are marginal.
Similar programmes by Microsoft,
Lexmark, Brother and Canon although
generating less volume and reseller rebates
are useful in retaining channel loyalty.
THE rETAil ViEW
From a retailer point of view the sheer
number of brands, refresh rates of new
“a partner is a customer who focuses with you to develop his market, and you help him to develop and achieve this, then its partnership.”
- heShaM TanTawi, Vice PreSidenT, aSBiS MeTa
Rebates, promotion, loyalty, discounts
56 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
Our solutions + your customers = great business!
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, WAN optimisation to information security, we’re the leading VAD in MENA,supporting products with logistics, implementation and training. Let us be your partner of choice for tomorrow.
ASBIS’ FUSION CLUB
• Asbis’ customers who top AMD
sales get to meet key vendor and
distributor managers at offsite
locations.
• Indepth sales and technology
sessions, networking and team
building are the objectives of these
excursions.
• Asbis partners from UAE, Serbia,
romania, Croatia, Slovenia,
Bulgaria, Czech republic, Poland,
lithuania, Belarus, russia and
ukraine have participated in three
excursions so far.
COVER fEATURERebates, promotion, loyalty, discounts
Some brands have a stronger presence than
others, but if the product does not move some
very urgent decisions need to be taken. “All
of us are looking at what we are sacrificing in
return for what we are getting,” says Panjabi.
If the product does well and stocks move
the next challenge is to ensure sufficient
inventory has been planned and is available.
“When you have bigger events like Gitex,
planning needs to start months in advance,”
says Panjabi. “And the planning has to be
down to the T.”
If the product comes in one week late it
is of no use. At any other time of the year it
can be substituted with another brand. But
during Gitex if a fast moving product runs
out of stock the damage is considerable.
During such events, both the distributor and
the retailer plan for sufficient inventory with
backup stocks on both sides. Since a retailer
can only hold that much stock on the shelves,
they usually invest in off-site warehousing
under their control.
During prime shopping periods, retailers
also experience conflicting requests for
stretched brand targets. Excessively selling a
particular brand over another may help reach
58 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
www.iomega.com
©2011 Iomega Corporation, Iomega, ScreenPlay and the Stylized “i” are registered trademarks or trademarks of Iomega Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Certain other product names, brand names and company names or designations of their respective owners.
Access & stream Internet content on your TV!Non-stop entertainment is now yours with the Iomega® ScreenPlay® DX HD Media Players. Access videos, movies, photos and music on the Internet and enjoy it all on your own large screen TV in full 1080p high definition. With the ScreenPlay DX HD Media Player you can save up 2TB of digital content. The ScreenPlay TV Link DX is an easy and convenient way to view digital content stored on a USB drive and watch it on your TV.
• Crystal clear quality with 1080p HD
• Extensive audio and video format support
• DLNA Certified® for easy streaming
• WiFi adapter and full QWERTY remote included
ScreenPlay® DX HD Media Player
ScreenPlay DX Media Player ad_217x280.indd 1 2011-05-27 11.21
elements for their survival objectives.
Select iT products are entering
Africa after being re-tested as
“Ok”
Oversold and returned
products are being consolidated
by vendors across Europe and sent back
to production or testing factories for re-
certification.
Large channel
players who
have access
to hardware
testing plants
are part of the
vendor “re-
certification” or
“re-furbishment”
programmes. These products include
routers, switches, internal and external hard-
disk drives amongst others.
Worldwide about 35 vendors have
already initiated these programmes, out of
which 25 are from Europe. Channel players
who are supporting the re-certification
initiative point out that the testing of the
products at the labs are as stringent as the
original products. Their role is to consolidate
unsold components from the market, move
them to the labs for re-certification, repack
and distribute to selected regions.
From a reliability point of view, the re-
tested products are no different from their
Africa’s discount channel
first-run counterparts.
To boost the movement of these
products vendors have also launched
special incentive and rebate programmes.
However the singular most important factor
in this programme is the discounted price
offered by the distributor to its customers.
These products are priced 15% less than its
counterparts. The final differential price to
the end customer is not known.
Channel players are not shipping these
products into the Gulf. They are being
shipped out to most countries in Africa,
which accepts these products at a lower
price point.
we don’t keep an open market and keep adding
channel players.”- geOrge SaliBa, SaleS Manager, MedMark
its target but will also risk the retailer losing
support from the compromised brand. At this
stage the trade off needs to be evaluated. “It’s
like a chess game, which piece to move up
and which works better for you”, says Panjabi.
With so many factors to juggle why are
retailers moving up the brand complexity
ladder? The reason remains the same as
Gehani’s - the final bottom line.
With brands sold in UAE offering low
operating margins, for a retailer like Jacky’s
the rebate generated from the volumes of a
special launch is what sustains the business.
“In the end you need to supplement it with
whatever the brands can support you with” is
Panjabi’s summary of survival in the business.
While the elements of channel “reward
power” still play the same roles, today’s brand
dynamics require all players to adapt these
Rebates, promotion, loyalty, discounts
COVER fEATURE
Reseller Middle EastJUNE 2011 61
This is an ultra slim monitor with an asymmetric and eye-catching design. it has a transparent
frame with sleek black aluminium finish. The viewing frame area is in 16:9 proportion and
supports a maximum of 1920x1080 pixel resolution. it has a 12 million to 1.0 contrast ratio and
a 5ms fade out rate suitable for fast moving images. its materials are recyclable based on iSO
1043/11469 standards; it is Energy Star 5.0 compliant, and has a 68% power saving on stand-
by mode. it allows connectivity to a DVD player or gaming console using VGA or DVi port with
HDCP protection or digital HDMi interface. The monitor ships with VGA, DVi and HDMi cables.
pRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY
Available from July 2011
This is the latest version of Packard Bell´s
All-in-one entertainment combination
desktop. The size format has been
squeezed down to 20 inches and
features the Touch portal application
for complete social networking and
interactive sound and video multimedia
usage. This includes TouchMemo,
TouchFriends, TouchBrowser,
TouchMusic, TouchPhoto, TouchVideo,
TouchCam interfaces with uploads
into YouTube and other online sharing
portals. There is also a TV-tuner interface
with digital TV type of True studio-audio
of THX TruStudio PC.
The home desktop uses either a 2nd
Generation Intel Core processor or the
latest AMD processors up to Phenom II
X6. It has an option for NVIDIA or AMD
Radeon HD discrete graphic cards,
with full Microsoft DirectX 11 support to
enhance the display to a full gaming
experience as well as wireless keyboard
and mouse. It has an in-built Autobackup
suite for file backup and data duplication
giving the home-user a trouble free
usage style.
ONETWO-S
Packard Bell
STYLISH NEW RANGE FROM PACKARd BELL
MAESTRO 230 LEd MONITOR
62 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
Powered by 2nd
generation intel Core
processor family
with intel Turbo
Boost 2.0 Technology
ensures you get a
zippy multimedia and
entertainment run-
through. For 3D visual
effects, the ixtreme comes
fitted with new generation
nViDiA GeForce GT400
series graphics card and a
HDMi 1.4 port or new generation
AMD radeon HD 6000 series
graphics card.
For sharing and editing photos
on social media Web sites the system
comes loaded with CyberLink MediaShow
5 software and full version of Adobe
Photoshop Elements 8. An auto-backup
button on the top of the chassis allows
convenient overnight backup routines
to be triggered. There is also a device
deck with ports for inserting, stacking and
holding devices like USB, MP3, cameras,
camcorders and connecting cables. For
AMD loyalist, the system can also be
shipped with the latest AMD processors.
This laptop is designed to support quality entertainment for the
user. For high display graphic performance it uses 2nd generation
intel Core processors and nViDiA GeForce GT540M with 2 MB
VrAM or nViDiA GeForce GT520M with 1 MB VrAM. For high
sound fidelity the laptop has Dolby Home Theatre with premium
speakers and multimedia optical drive.
The HDMI output port allows viewing of high definition movies.
To enhance the social networking experience it has a 1.3 mega pixel
high definition Web cam and high definition audio/video recording
It is fitted with both USB 3.0 ports for rapid data transfer as well
as conventional USB ports, blue tooth and wifi connectivity. Internal
storage capacity is set at 750GB. The battery life provides 9 hours of
usage and uses Optimus technology for optimisation. Anti-virus and
MyBackup 2.0 are pre-installed on the system.
IxTREME dESKTOP EASYNOTE Tx
This tablet has a 10-inch multi-touch screen, optimised for wide angle viewing
and automatic light adjustment with 1280x800 pixel resolution. it uses Google
Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” operating system, which is Google´s new OS version
optimised for tablets. The operating system supports the latest version of Flash
improved browsing experiences. The tablet has an in-built GPS for real time tracking
using Google Maps. For gaming it has in-built sensors with nViDiA Tegra 2 processor for
high definition displays. The Dolby Mobile chipset fitted on board enhances the high quality
stereo sound. it has 2 and 5 megapixel cameras in the front and back for quick grabs during
social meetings. The battery has a 10-hour backup rating. For TV viewing it has an HDMi output
socket. it can accept additional 32GB capacity hike through a micro SD.
LIBERTY TABLET
Similar ta traditional desktop PC, and offering the same end-
user experience, thin clients are cheaper, easier to manage
and more reliable, since they contain no moving parts. Fujitsu
has brought in Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology for
its FuTurthin client product segment. Offering both power
and ethernet via a single cable for increased flexibility and
connectivity, PoE technology requires very low power
consumption, benefiting both the environment and
companies´ bottom lines. Thin clients can also be connected to
traditional electrical outlet if preferred.
Upto four displays can be connected to the FUTRS900 thanks to an additional graphics
card, making it ideal for environments where operators need multiple screens. System
performance is enhanced with twmemory slots for increased local performance, while both
models feature integrated WLAN for improved connectivity. The thin clients are able to provide
processing capabilities for performance-intensive 3D modelling. They are among the first to
introduce support for DirectX11 graphics technology. UAE pricing starts at $354 for the S700
and $435 for the S900.
Kingmax Waterproof SDXC Class 10 memory card has a
64GB storage capacity, with 65 MB/sec read speed and 40
MB/sec write speed. The memory card lineup includes SD
3.01 specifications, which add a new Ultra High Speed Bus
I interface structure that will enable transfer speeds of up
t104 MB/sec. When paired with a UHS-I device, Kingmax´s
Waterproof SDXC UHS-I and SDHC UHS-I memory cards
are designed for recording HD-resolution videos while
simultaneously performing other recording functions at high
speeds. The SDXC memory cards adopt the newest exFAT file system to store DVD
image files, HD films and any virtual machine hard-drive files over 4GB, resolving the
issue of the FAT32 format´s failure tsupport larger files. This also allows for more free
space after fragmentation and with the better utilisation of free-space allocation. The
Waterproof SDXC Class 10 supports built-in content protection for recordable media,
together with error correction code and wear-leveling features, which enhances the
reliability of the memory card. It alsincludes a write-protection switch, which keeps
your data even safer, preventing accidental data loss whilst in operation.
pRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY
TwinMOS has launched its A2 premium series of uSB
devices. This product range has a maximum capacity of
32GB. The devices are in-built with uSB 2.0 and have a
standard plug and play feature. it has an anodised and sand
blasted body in black, brown, blue and red colours.
Capacity: 2,4,8,16,32 GB; Interface: USB 2.0; Maximum
data transfer rates: 2GB-4GB: Read 15MB/s, Write 5MB/s;
8GB-16GB: Read 20MB/s, Write 10MB/s;
32GB: Read 30MB/s, Write 15MB/s;
Dimensions: 59mm X 17.7mm X
7.7mm; Weight: 10gm; Storage
life: More than 10 Years;
Warranty: As per product
lifetime; Operating
systems: Windows 2000,
XP, Vista7, Mac OS 10.4 or
later, Linux Kernel 2.4 or
later, Drivers required for
Windows 98SE
The DataTraveler product range uses a native
uSB 3.0 controller for better performance and
power management. it has a read speed of
100MB/s and a write speed of up to70 MB/s.
When plugged into a uSB 2.0 port, the read and
write speeds reduce to around 30MB/s. The
series is available in 16,32,64GB capacities. it
is backwards compatible with uSB 2.0 and is
backed by five-year warranty and support
OTHER SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 73.70mm x 22.20mm x 16.10mm;
Operating Temperature: 0∞C to 60∞C; Storage
temperature:-20∞C to 85∞C; durable casing with
a solid lanyard loop
ENHANCEd USB FROM TWINMOS
KINGSTON´S USB 3.0 FLASH
new Arrivals
FUjITSU´S S700, S900 THIN CLIENT SERIES
ENHANCEd CAPACITY ANd SPEEd CARd FOR VIdEO, PHOTOGRAHY
64 Reseller Middle East JUNE 2011
AWARDS2011
For more information please visit:www.resellerme.com/awards2011
Presents
For nomination enquiries please contact:
Richard JuddTel: +971 55 772 1519
Email: [email protected]
For sponsorship opportunities please contact:
Rajashree R KumarTel: +971 50 173 9987
Email: [email protected]
Arun ShankarTel: +971 50 141 3662
Email: [email protected]
Merle CarrascoTel: +971 50 922 5866
Email: [email protected]
Sunday, 12th June 2011The Westin, Dubai, UAE
Platinum Partner
Survey Partner
Silver Partners
Innovation Perfection Quality
Gold Partners
Networking Partner
Raffle Partner
The Fermi architecture-based product brings
new performance and enhanced features such
as NVIDIA PhysX, 3D Vision, SLI and Surround
technologies to this summer´s PC games. With
a starting price of $199, the GeForce GTX 560
now joins previously launched GTX 560 Ti GPU
in delivering top-rung gaming experience for its
price class.
NVIdIA´S GEFORCE GTx 560 GPU
NANO GAMING RAM FROM KINGMAx
Hd 6990 Dual GPU with 3072 Stream Cores Each; 830 MHz GPU Core
Clock; 5000 Mhz Memory Speed; 4 GB GDDR5 High Speed Memory;
AMD HD3D Technology; PCI-E 2.1 Bus Support; Microsoft DirectX 11 Support; AMD
Eyefinity Multi-Display Technology up t4 displays; AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU Support; 3rd
Generation TeraScale Engine; Accelerated VideTranscoding, Encoding, and Upscaling; AMD
PowerPlay Technology; Enhanced Unified VideDecoder (UVD 3); Enhanced Internet Browser
Application Support; Enhanced Microsoft Office 2010 Support; HDMI 1.4a with support for
stereoscopic 3D; Deep Color and xvyCC extended gamut
Hd 6790 840 MHz GPU Core Clock; 4200 Mhz Memory Speed; 1 GB GDDR5 High Speed Memory;
AMD HD3D Technology; PCI-E 2.1 Bus Support; Microsoft DirectX 11 Support; AMD Eyefinity
Multi-Display Technology up to 4 displays; AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU Support; 3rd
Generation TeraScale Engine; Accelerated VideTranscoding, Encoding, Upscaling; AMD
PowerPlay Technology; Enhanced Unified VideDecoder (UVD 3); Enhanced Internet Browser
Application Support; Enhanced Microsoft Office 2010 Support; HDMI 1.4a with support for
stereoscopic 3D, Deep Color and xvyCC extended gamut
Hd 64503rd Generation TeraScale Graphics Engine; 40nm Process Technology
GDDR5 Memory; AMD Eyefinity
Technology; AMD Advanced
Parallel Processing
Technology (APP); AMD
CrossFireX Technology; AMD
HD3D Technology; Accelerated
VideTranscoding; AMD PowerPlay
Technology; Built-in Mini-DisplayPort
1.2 and HDMI 1.4 Outputs; Microsoft
Windows 7 Support; Microsoft
DirectX 11 Support; OpenGL
3.2 Support; Enhanced Internet
Browser Applications.
AMds LATEST xFx GRAPHICS CARdS
Kingmax has released Nano Gaming Ram,
a 8GB dual-channel DDR3 2400MHz
overclocking module with nano thermal
dissipation technology and does not use a
thermal heat sink. This makes the module
lighter, more eco-friendly and cooling is
increased by 10% during overclocking. It
has also released the 64GB micro SD card
with an adapter thus making it suitable for
multiple devices and purposes and a good fit
for entertainment on-the-go.
pRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGYnew Arrivals
IBC PAGE
Golf ad 207x270mm.ai 1 6/2/11 3:02 PM