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8/4/2019 The Value Plus Quarterly 2011
1/24
vpsh
quarterly
Aastra
TppnPnt
HP Srvr
CscNCmputn
Fujtsu
05
08
11
1417
20
May 201 1presents
A speciAl publicAtion from red ington gulf VAlue diVision
r a Va A d w a a m ea a Aa
COMMUNICATEFOR SUCCESS
HigHligHTS:
NComputings greenfuture?
Fujitsus changingchannel strategy
Cisco brings benefitsfor petrochem player
TippingPoint securesthe data centre
HP: Time to lookagain at blades?
8/4/2019 The Value Plus Quarterly 2011
2/24
8/4/2019 The Value Plus Quarterly 2011
3/24
signed partnership
agreements with Aastra,
NComputing, Fujitsu,
Tripplite and Symantec
to enable you to offer
more technologies and
a broader choice to your
customers.Feel free to share your
thoughts on how we can
improve our services, please
write to us on valueplus@
redingtongulf.com
Yours truly
Raj Shankar
Director, Redington Gulf
04 Ramkumars Blog
05 Cover Feature: Aastra08 Feature: TippingPoint11 Feature: HP Server14 Case Study: CISCO17 Feature: NComputing20 Interview: Fujitsu
from the director:
CoNTeNTS08
14
distributor and be more
relevant to your business,
we made some key
investments which have
begun to show positive
results.
Our continued focus
to invest in resourcesin-country has enabled
us to be present as a
Value Added Distributor
across 14 countries in the
Middle East and Africa.
Proof of Concept centres
in KSA and Nigeria
are operational where
you could brin g your
customers to experiencesome of the technologies
they plan to adopt.
We have recently
deArpArtners
We closed
yet
another
year of solid
growth for thevalue division
on March 31st
2011, thanks to
the tremendous
support received
from each one
of you who
trusted us with
your valuable
business. In ourevolution to
become a better
value added
05
8/4/2019 The Value Plus Quarterly 2011
4/24
T
his is a topic which
is a constant debate
in the minds of any
partner whether tobe aligned to just one vendor
or specific technology platform
or be brand agnostic and take
a customer centric approach.
As we see the landscape of
vendors evolving and more and
more vendors doing multiple
things away from their core
area of focus, this debate has
become even more heatedin the last few years. Frankly,
we dont see a one size fits all
kind of an environment has
a long lasting effect on his
ability to survive the highly
competitive market ahead.
Let us analyse the benefits
of being technology/brand
agnostic :
Allows you to have a moreopen conversation with
customers
As end customers perceive
the channel partner to be
giving the best of breed
solutions, they are in a
position to have a more
open conversation with their
customers.
Room for creativity in
suggesting solutions
The channel partner is
not constrained with the
limitations of a particular
technology platform which
allows more creativity in
suggesting different solutions
from different vendors.
Better trust with customers
This allows a level of building
better trust with their customers
as this form of an approach is
consultative selling.
The flip side of being
technology/brand agnostic :
Partnership status levelwith vendor (business may
be divided into different
RamkumaRS BLOG
Ramkumar B, Vice President, ValueAdded Business, Middle East & Africa,Redington Gulf
vendors thus losing a higher
partnership level with one
vendor)
This is the single biggest
flip side to being technology
agnostic. In most cases, the
channel partner is highly
supported and encouraged
by aligning with a particularvendor. This alignment lends
itself in terms of visibility, MDF
support, leads and several other
incentives from vendors which
the partner will be deprived of
in case there is a mis-match in
expectations from vendors.
More focus and specialisation
possible
The second critical factor is the
partner loses out on the ability
to be focused and specialised
on a particular platform and
spread themselves too thin
across different technology
platforms and hence losing the
edge in the market.
As I said when I opened thisdebate, there is no one size fits
all solution to this conundrum but
nevertheless, points to ponder !!!
Happy choosing!
Ramkumar B
Vice President Value Added
Business, Middle East &Africa, Redington Gulf
http://ram-valueplus.blogspot.com
The brand centric versuscustomer centric approach
solution to this paradox.
The technology is evolving
at a rapid pace and different
vendors are taking different
approaches to solve a common
problem. I am sure all of you
would be following the latest
announcements made bydifferent vendors on how to
approach the data centre.
We have at least five world
class vendors with end to end
solutions who have their own
approach to solutions ranging
from computing, virtualisation,
security, UC and the data centre
fabric. What does a channel
partner do in this fast changingenvironment? The choices the
channel partner makes in this
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Communication is keyAastra is a leading company at the forefront of the enterprise communication market around the world.It develops and delivers innovative communications products and applications for businesses. Aastrasoperations are truly global with more than 50 million installed lines around the world and a directand indirect presence in more than 100 countries. The company is entirely dedicated to enterprisecommunications and offers one of the most complete portfolios of UC solutions individually tailoredto satisfy its customers requirements, ranging from feature-rich call managers for SMBs and highlyscaleable ones for large enterprises, integrated mobility, call centre solutions to a wide selection ofterminals. Following their announcement of its new relationship with Redington Gulf Value, we speak toRoger Hage, VP of Aastra MENA.
AASTRA| COVER STORY
C
an you brieflyexplain why Aastrahas partnered with
Redington Value?Aastra is known as a multi-
national vendor for complete
Enterprise IP Telephony
and UC solutions, with
established (former Ericsson
Enterprise) and new channels
of system integrators. On
the other hand, Aastra also
has a wide portfolio of openstandards-based fixed and
wireless IP phones and Video
Conferencing terminals
(SIP) as well as special IP
Phones (Lync) which are
interoperable towards
third party vendors such
as Asterisk, Broadsoft and
Microsoft. These products
are unique and complementRedingtons offering towards
its reseller channels.
Whats the current state of themarket in the enterprise UC
space?
We do welcome and encourage
competition. We believe
that it in the end it is up
to the customer to choose
the best solution fitting
his needs concerning the
speed of migration to IP,
the requirements for open
standards and multi-vendor
sourcing, the functionalitytheir enterprise needs, the
quality of after sales service,
the TCOs and the optical design
of the terminals. All major
players in UC are our key
competitors - even Microsoft,
who has the newest platform
called Lync 2010, is our
competitor when it comes to
complete IPT & UC solutions,but we do also co-operate with
them and have developed Lync
Lync IP phones, as this would
represent a cost-effective
way of adding IPT and UC
to their Enterprise software
applications and unified
messaging solution based onMS Exchange.
optimised
Aastra IP phones which
exclusively work on the Lync
2010 platform. If a customer
has already made investments
in Microsoft Enterprise
Licenses, they might be infavour of taking their UC
solution together with Aastra
May 2011 The ValuePlus Quarterly 5
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COVER STORY | AASTRA
W d wcm and ncura cmpttn. Wbv that t n th nd t s up t th custmr t
chs th bst sutn fttn hs nds cncrnnth spd f mratn t iP, th rqurmnts fr pnstandards and mut-vndr surcn, th functnatythr ntrprs nds, th quaty f aftr sas srvc,th TCos and th ptca dsn f th trmnas.
What is the competitiveadvantage that Aastra has to
offer both channel partners andtheir end-user clients in the UC,
contact centre and IP telephonyspace?
We are a company dedicated
to enterprise communications,
meaning that IPT, UC,
contact centres and
videoconferencing are
our specialisation. This
translates into optimal
support, quality, innovation
and expertise towards the
channels and customers.
Aastras open standards
philosophy benefits equallychannels and customers
by not forcing them into
single vendor lock-in. Our
co-operation and alliances
with HP Networking and
Microsoft are clear signs of our
openness.
How is Aastra engaging with the
channel (both distributors andSIs) to ensure that both move
towards achieving the same goal- to grow their businesses and inturn grow Aastras market?
We have an extensive channel
partner programme for SIs and
distributors, which includes
training, certifications, co-
marketing and incentives.
From our history with Ericsson
(Enterprise), we directly
engage with service providers
and operators by creating
opportunities for IP terminal
sales benefiting the channels,
which is in line with Aastras
indirect go-to-market model.
The enterprise communicationsolutions market requires
partners in invest in training,
certification and on-going
partner education. How isAastra rolling out thesechannel training initiatives inthe Middle East?
We have offered since the
beginning of 2011, local
training for the channel
in our Training Academies
in Dubai and Istanbul, as
well as on-line training
(Weblearn) which makes it
easy and affordable for the
channels to acquire the right
certifications. Last year,
we launched a customised
Aastra ONE Partner Program
targeting HP Networking
partners and resellers,
which is a fast-track to offer
Aastra IP telephony and UCtogether with HP Networking
infrastructure.
Do you have a partner certification
programme? If so, how manypartner tiers do you have?
We have an extensive
certification programme for
distributors with certification
levels depending on sales
volume and specialisation:
Authorized, Advanced and
Premium. For 1st tier SIs we
have: Silver, Gold and Platimum
certifications; for 2nd-tier
SIs and resellers (purchasing
exclusively via distributors) we
offer Bronze certifications.
Specialisation has become a keycomponent of partner certification
and training. Is Aastraencouraging its channel partners
to specialise?Our partner programme
certifications include
specialisations in IP
telephony, mobility, and UC.
Which markets in the Middle
East are key for Aastraschannel growth?
We are covering some 33
countries in the Middle
East and North Africa and
are expanding our channels
in the whole region
especially in North Africa
and Pakistan.
What product solutions are
high on Aastras channel agendafor 2011 in the Middle East and
why?We have released the MX-
ONE 4.1 server-based IP
Telephony solution, which
can run standalone or
can be fully integrated
into HPs E8200 zl and
E5400 zl switches, which
is finding good traction
in the Middle East. This is
complemented with our
award winning multimedia
Contact Center solution,
Solidus eCare 7.0. In the
second half of 2011, we will
regionally launch the Aastra
BlueStar a SIP media phone
for video conferencing
and collaboration. More
information to be reveleaed
later.
Is there a specific product
set or technology that yourepushing strongly through thechannel in the Middle East?
We are pushing espeacially
the portfolio of SIP phones
and Microsoft Lync IP
phones through the 2-tierdistribution. We also
introduced a small all-in-one
6 The ValuePlus Quarterly May 2011
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plug-n-play SIP PBX called
AastraLink Pro 160, which is
ideal for 2-tier distribution.
With most enterprises movingswiftly to remove complexityin their company networks,
how is Aastra positioningitself as well as the partnerecosystem to ensure that
it plays a significant role inhelping data centre networksto transform and reduce costs
of managing next generationnetworks?
As the responsibility of
enterprise communications
is shifting towards the ITdepartment, we are making
it easier for IT staff to
manage and support the IPT
and UC by implementing
the following: server-based
communication managers,
light rack-mountablemedia gateways, Web-based
centralised management
(system and user), integration
with Microsoft Active
Directory and SNMP (like HP
Openview), open standards-
based protocols like SIP,
XML, CTSAv3, IEEE based
protocols for PoE, QoS and
LLDP-MSED and, finally,
a tight integration of the
Aastra IPT sofftware into HPs
switches.
How important is the SMB/SoHosegment to Aastras business inthe Middle East region?
In 2010 Aastra ranked
number one in the SMB
segment (less than 100 lines,according to Canalys EMEA
unified communications
call control market Q4
2010). This is mainly due to
our market leadership in
Europe. In MENA we are now
introducing new products
such as the AastraLink
Pro 160 and expanding or
distribution channels in
order to reach a similar
position.
If it is important, what SMB/SoHo solutions is Aastraoffering to this segment at the
moment?
AastraLink Pro 160 SIP PBX
What would you like to achievethis year as Aastra given yourpartnership with Redington?
Our target is to build-up a
regional reseller channel
network to carry the IP
terminals and Small SIP PBX.
Has Aastras business beenaffected by the political unrest
that has engulfed some partsof the Middle East region?In the MENA region, we
are used to cope with
challenging circumstances
in the past and this current
situation is no exception.
Aastra has been in the region
for a long time (as Ericsson
Enterprise) and we do invest
in longterm partnerships. We
firmly believe that there will
be an economic turnaround
in the troubled countries and
are ready to be part of it.
Where does Aastra see growth
coming from this year andbeyond?
We see growth in IPtelephony and UC especially
in videoconferencing.
H
adquartrd n ontar, Canada, Aastrahas an ntrnatna rach wth mr than2,000 mpys arund th wrd, a drct
prsnc n mr than 30 cuntrs as was thusands f sas partnrs and rsrs,ncudn a strn prsnc amn carrrs.
Aastra s a prftab and w manadcmpany: Q2 2010 was Aastras 49thcnscutv pstv quartr, rvnus rachdCAD$832.9 mn by th nd f FY 09 and thbaanc sht s strn wth a pstv ntcash baanc.
Wth mr than 50 mn ns nstadbay, Aastra has n f th arst custmrbass f any ba tphny prvdr andth yaty f ts custmrs s a tstmny tprduct and srvc quaty. Aastra has a ntm track rcrd f prtctn custmrsnvstmnts.
Aastra has a brad prtf f ntrprs
cmmuncatns sutns t satsfy ts vrycustmrs rqurmnts. offrns ran frm
Aastra at a glance
Roger Hage, VP of Aastra MENA
fatur-rch ca manars fr sma and mdumbusnsss t hhy scaab ns fr arntrprss, t ntratd mbty sutns,
unfd cmmuncatns appcatns and cacntr suts, cmpmntd by a wd array ftrmnas.
Aastra s 100% ddcatd t ntrprscmmuncatns and s numbr sx n th wrdfr th entrprs Tphny Patfrm andendpnts markt and n f th adn payrsn eMeA: numbr tw vra n eMeA and numbrn n th sub 100 xtnsn smnt n 2009.
Aastra mbracs pn standards t ffrstandan ntwrk mnts r cmptsystm sutns t ts custmrs. Aastra sth ny cmpany wth a cmpt prtff archtctur: iP-PBXs, sftwar basd camanars, pn surc patfrms, hstdsutns and Mcrsft basd archtctur (Rspns Pnt and oCS)
Aastra cntnus t nvst arssvy nR&D t b at th frfrnt f iP tchny
AASTRA| COVER STORY
May 2011 The ValuePlus Quarterly 7
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FEaTuRE | TiPPiNgPoiNT
Many organisations
are now migrating
their data centres
to virtualisation
in order to take advantage
of its promise of improvedefficiency and cost savings.
Some of these advantages
Securing the virtualTippingPoint security solutions are deployed by thousands of organisationsworldwide, including many Fortune 1000 and Global 1000 companies. The
combination of purpose-built intrusion prevention system (IPS) platforms,enterprise-class management and industry-leading threat research and securityfilter development has positioned TippingPoint as a trusted partner for securingthe largest data centers.
include: system consolidation
(including shared storage),
reduced space requirements,
reduced power and overall
hardware requirements,
quicker applicationdelivery, improved disaster
recovery and better overall
management flexibility.
These advantages cannot
be realised if the virtualised
infrastructure is at risk of
data compromise, does not
meet security regulatoryrequirements or is at risk of
downtime caused by cyber
threats. Furthermore,
enterprises want solutions
that are trusted and
have been proven to be
effective over time for large
enterprise protection.
After all, the virtualised
infrastructure and its
applications are subjected to
the same threats that impact
the traditional data centre.
So as organisations
accelerate the migration of
production workloads and
mission-critical assets to the
virtualised infrastructure,
security requirements
become a strategic element
of their migration plans.In response to this
need for trusted and
proven security solutions
specifically for virtualisation,
TippingPoint is expanding
its security and management
portfolio to address the
unique requirements
of the virtualised data
centre. The TippingPointSecure Virtualization
Framework (SVF) is
designed specifically for
implementing best-of-breed
threat protection for the
virtualised infrastructure. It
incorporates the advantages
of its trusted and proven
physical data centre solutions
into this new environment
and provides the following
benefits:
Extends TippingPoints
industry-leading threat
research capabilities, breadth
of protection, ease-of-use and
automation capabilities to
include virtual infrastructure
Enables TippingPointcustomers to extend
their existing processes,
8 The ValuePlus Quarterly May 2011
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TiPPiNgPoiNT| FEaTuRE
methodologies, tools and
knowledge to secure their
virtual infrastructure
Provides unmatched
management, visibility and
control on internal virtual
networks
Active threat blockingActive threat blocking means
that filters detect malicious
traffic and stop it before it
can compromise or damage
the virtualised data centre
infrastructure or its data
assets. Unlike detect and
alert models that require
manual intervention to
mitigate detected threats,TippingPoints solutions
enable virtualised traffic to
be thoroughly inspected up
to the application layer and
for malicious traffic to be
automatically blocked in real-
time without false positives.
The highest priority
for securing virtualised
environments is protectionof both the virtual hosts
and the virtual machines
(VMs) operating within the
hosts. TippingPoints modern
network security platform
and intrusion prevention
system (IPS) is purpose-built
to protect the virtualised data
centre from ever-evolving,
global security threats. These
threats target both the virtual
hosts and the VMs contained
within them. Together with
TippingPoint Digital Vaccine
Labs (DVLabs), its premier
research organisation for
vulnerability analysis and
discovery, TippingPoint
provides the best pre-emptiveprotection for vulnerabilities
and zero day attacks targeting
the operating system (OS),
application, services and
the most popular virtual
platforms including VMware
ESX/vSphere, Citrix XenServer
and Microsoft HyperV.
Optimised protectionFrom its many enterprise IPS
deployments, TippingPoint
has learned that no two
networks are alike and
that organisations need
solutions that can be
flexible enough to fit their
specific business and risk-
requirements. TippingPoint
has incorporated two uniqueapproaches into its Secure
Virtualization Framework
(SVF) to provide deployment
and configuration flexibility:
TippingPoint Virtual
Controller (vController)
takes advantage of the
performance characteristics
of the purposebuilt
TippingPoint N-Platform
(IPS), delivering the best
performance and accuracy
in its class for detecting
and stopping threats up to
the application layer. The
vController provides a direct
path to the TippingPoint
IPS Platform (appliance) toinspect and control VM-to-VM
communications. Using the
VMSafe API, the vController
efficiently directs appropriate
traffic to TippingPoints
appliance and its leading
threat suppression engine
(TSE) ensures the optimal
performance and control
required in the virtual data
centre. The vController and
IPS Platform also operate
in unison to support HA
capabilities, including fail over
of the vController when HA
requirements and configured
policy dictate.
TippingPoint Virtual
Intrusion Prevention System
(vIPS) builds upon thevController by providing
a purpose-built IPS virtual
appliance for deployments
where a physical IPS device
is not practical. Some
implementations where a
virtual IPS appliance may be
attractive include:
Office-in-a-box ROBO
deployments where all
workloads are virtualised
within a single, redundant
box
Disaster recovery (DR)
environments
Public cloud environments
where security is offloaded to
cloud along with production
workloadsPeak demand capacity due
to seasonality where cost
constraints dictate a lower
cost solution
Full VM isolationIn the physical data centre,
it is a common practice to
segment or isolate application
servers used in sensitive areas
such as HR applications, CRM
and their associated database
servers. Likewise in the DMZ,
systems are isolated, like
Web applications and their
associated database servers,
DNS, e-mail, etc. When these
systems are virtualised, the
need for isolation remains
- in fact, the need may be
greater since these machinesnow share the same hardware
resources.
TippingPoint enables
traditional networks to
be segmented by putting
physical appliances
between them and, with the
N-platform, allows hosts
to be segmented without
putting an appliance infront of every connection. By
utilising the VLAN translation
features of the new platform,
IPS inspection can be
consolidated for a number
of system segmentation
boundaries.
After enabling host
isolation centrally,
TippingPoint applies that
same isolation model to the
virtualised data centre. By
tapping into the VMSafe
API, TippingPoint is able to
isolate VMs within a host
or across hosts using either
the vController to offload
inspection and enforcement,
or vIPS for inspection in the virtualised infrastructure.
All three methods, including
Unk dtct and art mds that rqur manuantrvntn t mtat dtctd thrats, TppnPntssutns nab vrtuasd traffc t b thruhynspctd up t th appcatn ayr and fr macustraffc t b autmatcay bckd n ra-tm wthutfas pstvs.
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VLAN translation for hostsegmentation; VController
for off-loaded VM and host
segmentation; or vIPS for
locally executed VM and host
segmentation, provide the
benefits of stopping threat
cross-contamination among
data centre assets, enabling
enterprises to meet security
mandates and regulatory
requirements such as PCI-DSS.
Unmatched virtualisationvisibility
In addition to the security
challenges that virtualisation
presents, one of the greatest
challenges for administrators
deploying virtualisation ismanagement, visibility and
control of the virtualised
infrastructure. Considering the
ease of creating and moving
critical applications within a
virtualised environment, this
challenge is greatly magnified
in the virtualised data centre
compared to the physical
data centre.Recognising this need,
TippingPoint has partnered
with Reflex Systems to bring
customers the visibility
and control necessary to
effectively configure, manage
and control enterprise
security effectively within
the virtualised data centre.
This is in addition to the
TippingPoint Security
Management System (SMS),
which provides a valuable tool
for configuring security policy
management, monitoring
and reporting. TippingPoints
integration with VMwares
VMsafe APIs via Reflex
Systems vTrust and ReflexsVirtual Management Center
(VMC) provides many
advantages:Automatic discovery and
graphical mapping of virtual
infrastructure topology
Supports Separation
of Duties (SOD) between
operations and network/
security teams
Security teams can monitor
vSwitch and VM changes
to identify tampering or
disablement of security
controls
Upgradeable and
compatible with full Reflex
VMC
Complete visibility and
control over entire virtual
infrastructure
Consistent security policy and
enforcementThe TippingPoint SMS is an
enterpriseclass management
platform that provides
administration, configuration,
monitoring and reporting for
multiple TippingPoint IPS
platforms.
Because the TippingPointSMS provides a scaleable,
policy-based operational model,
it enables straightforward
management of large scale
IPS deployments across
both physical andvirtualised
infrastructure.
Additionally, SMS enables
separation of duties (SOD),
which is among the most
critical elements of ensuring
secure virtual infrastructure.
SOD is maintained by
providing a unified and
centralised IPS management
platform for enforcement of
security policies regardless of
infrastructure type.
The TippingPoint SMSprovides granular traffic
inspection policy profiles,
and enables inspection of any
traffic flows according to user
requirements, including VM to
VM, and Host to Host policy
configuration. It also
enables consistent policymanagement across physical
and virtualised deployments
from office-in-a-box security
policy configurations, where
remote sites are set up by
combining required apps
and other elements into
a virtualised package, to
virtualised Web apps, to core
network deployments that
have their own set of security
configuration requirements.
This granular security
management combined with
the integrated Reflex vCenter
and available Virtualisation
Management Center (VMC)
delivers optimal flexibility,
visibility and control forcomprehensive virtualization
security management.
Persistent mobile security
A key advantage of the vIPS
is the ability to maintain
the same security policy
and IPS enforcement for
VMs as they are moved fordisaster recovery or for
other business reasons to
other hardware resources.
By placing the IPS within
the virtual infrastructure,
there is no break in traffic
inspection or in active
blocking of threats and no
alteration of the security
policies that have been
established for a given VM,
even as VMs are relocated.
This persistent
protection and
configuration flexibility
enables liberal movement
of VMs in the most dynamic
virtualised data centres.
It also enables rapiddeployment of VMs into
new environments.
TippingPoints DVLabs teamis the premier securityresearch organisation
for vulnerability analysis anddiscovery. The team consistsof industry recognised security
researchers that apply theircutting-edge engineering, reverseengineering and analysis talentsin their daily operations.
Among IPS vendors,TippingPoint is the undisputedleader in vulnerability discoveries.
The by-product of these effortsfuels the creation of vulnerabilityfilters that are automatically
delivered to TippingPointcustomers IPS Platforms throughthe Digital Vaccine service. The
Proven, timely threat coverageDigital Vaccine Service ensuresevergreen (always up-to-date)protection against emergingthreats. Digital Vaccinesare delivered to customersat least twice a week, or
immediately when criticalvulnerabilities emerge and canbe deployed automatically withno IT interaction required.
Digital Vaccine filtersare created to not onlyaddress specific exploits,but also for potential attackpermutations, protectingcustomers from zero-day
threats to operating systems,services, applications andvirtual infrastructure.
FEaTuRE | TiPPiNgPoiNT
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Five things notwrong with bladesDespite their obvious advantages, blades have neverreally set the market alight. Vendors love them andanalysts have been enthusiastic, but users havebeen distinctly unimpressed. Kalyan Kommuru,Product Manager Servers and Storage, RedingtonGulf - Value Division, clears the air of some myths!
Figure 1: Magic Quadrant for Blade Servers Source: Gartner (January 2011)
Objection 1: Blades are a singlepoint of failure.In fact, theres no single
point of failure if blades are
configured correctly. For
example, connecting blade
enclosures to two different
power feeds removes power
supplies as a lynchpin. No,there are still single points
of failure in blades - they
just incur acceptably low
risk. For example, the sheet
metal side wall of a blade
enclosure has no redundant
backup, but sheet metal
doesnt often spontaneously
crack or disintegrate. And
if an enclosure wall cracks,
its unlikely to cause serverdowntime. Besides, single
point of failure isnt a
compelling reason not to builda business on a technology
platform - remember the single
mainframe?
Objection 2: Blades concentrate
network connections beyondmanageable limits.Blade neophytes picture the
rear of a blade enclosure as
a rats nest of cables. Nope,
its actually very clean.
Connections are trunked, with
network routing configured
via a management app that
scales well, like through Virtual
Connect Manager or vSphere.
Objection 3: Blade servers
generate more heat than rackservers.Sometimes, but rarely, this
is a valid concern. Per unit
of compute, blades generate
less heat than rack servers.
However, since blades are
concentrated into a smaller
space, they can generate more
heat per square foot. A 42U
rack of 64 c-Class blades willlikely produce more heat than
the same rack filled with 40traditional 1U pizza box
servers.
Objection 4: Blade servers
arent green.False! OK, theyre not built
entirely from rainbows and
butterflies, but blades do
consume less power, which
means a cleaner footprint.
One great example:
Scandinavian countries have
the highest adoption rate of
blade servers of any region
in the world. Why? Because
blades are green and those
countries are highly attuned
to that.
Objection 5: Blade servers costmore than rack servers.
It depends on how theyre
configured and whats
included in the cost. At some
point of around a dozen
servers, cost for blades are
often lower than 1U or 2U
rack-mounts, but its heavily
dependent on configurationand networking costs.
HP SeRVeR| FEaTuRE
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FEaTuRE | HP SeRVeR
The blade story
for organisations that
are weighing the choice
between deploying
a large number of
servers, TCO analysis favour
blade server systems over rack-
optimised server systems for
reductions in both capital and
operating expenses.
Blade server systems are
all about exploiting the
economies of scale when
deploying servers in volume.
Analysing data provided by HP,
IDC validated the nature of theexpected cost savings:
* From a capital expenditure
point of view, hundreds of
independent rack servers
require thousands of
repetitive parts. This need is
apparent when integrating
servers with LANs and,
particularly, SANS. Without
a shared backplane, each
standalone rack server
requires adapters, cables and
supporting switches - there
is no economy of scale as the
number of servers grows.
The blade server system, with
its integrated backplane,
consolidates LAN and SANaccess and thus requires far
fewer interconnecting cables
and devices.
* From an operating
expenditure point of view,
further economies of scale
emerge. Reductions in power,
cooling and data centre space
accumulate to lower facilities
cost by an estimated 25%. Mostimportantly, the cost of initial
system deployment drops
dramatically as the software
combines with the blade server
system to automate system
installation tasks. Moreover,
consolidated networking for
LANs and SANs reduces the
number of cable pulls. Thus,
installation tasks that once tooka few hours per server can be
accomplished in a few minutes
per blade. In addition, costly
tasks such as running hundreds
of cables disappear entirely.
In this context, IDC believes
that the HP BladeSystem c-Class
is an important platform for
IT organisations to evaluate
when weighing the relative
TCO associated with building
out server and infrastructure
resources. With next-generation
HP Thermal Logic technology toreduce energy consumption and
improve cooling efficiency, the
HP BladeSystem c-Class helps
to alleviate power consumption
limitations that are emerging
in some datacenters. HP
Virtual Connect architecture
streamlines LAN and SAN
connectivity and expedites the
provisioning process.Built-in HP Insight Control
management improves the
ability of system administrators
to deploy systems rapidly,
catalog blade system resources,
provision infrastructure and
monitor overall system health.
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HP SeRVeR| OFFER
P4300 OFFER
Whats insidE thE bOx:
May 2011 The ValuePlus Quarterly 13
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CaSE STuDY | CiSCo
The National
Industrialization
Company, also known
as TASNEE, is the
second largest petrochemical
producer in the Kingdomof Saudi Arabia. The
manufacturer converts
natural gas and crude
distillates into a variety of
petrochemical products,
which, in turn, are used to
make consumer goods.
IT and communications
play an important role in
supporting these operations
by enabling effective
collaboration between product
development, manufacturing,
sales and marketing and
distribution teams.
However, aging telephony
systems and networks were
struggling to keep pace
with a rapidly changingand expanding business.
This IT model was also
ImprovingmanufacturingagilityCisco Collaboration Solutions provides majorpetrochemical producer in Saudi with an oasis of
financial and operational advantages.
becoming difficult and
expensive to manage. The
company would often have
to spend money on extra
cabling and rely on third
parties to manage services,such as voice and video
conferencing.
Therefore, as
well as improving
communications and
access to information
for mobile workers, the
company needed a new
model that would help
accelerate growth and
the adoption of new
technologies. TASNEEs
vision was to create a
borderless organisation,
where employees could
see each others real-
time contact status, set
up a virtual meeting and
share their workspace,regardless of the users
device or location.
TASNEE used Cisco
Unified Workspace
Licensing to procure a
broad range of Cisco
Unified Communications
applications and services
on a pay-per-user basis.
This integrated suite of
solutions includes Cisco IPTelephony, Unity Unified
Messaging, Unified Presence,
IP Communicator, Mobile
Communicator and Contact
Center Express.
The project, implemented
by Cisco partner EBTTIKAR,
will provide 1,200 users with
the ability to communicate
using any device (desktop,
phone, or mobile device) andany method (voice, video,
e-mail, instant messaging,
Pacn cabratn and cmmuncatns at thhart f ur nw iT md mans w ar bttrpacd t rspnd t th chann rqurmnts fth busnss. - Abdulgader Al-Harthi, CIO, TASNEE
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CiSCo| CaSE STuDY
Customer Name: Th Natna industrazatn Cmpany (TASNee)
Industry: ManufacturnLocation: Kndm f Saud ArabaNumber of Employees: 1,200
Business Impacteasr t cabrat n ra tm acrss mutp wrkspacsFastr ransatna rspnsvnss and dcsn-makn
Mantnanc and mb ca savns
At a glance
quickly and easily. These
virtual meetings can be
used to share and edit
documents, demonstrate
products, deliver compelling
presentations or to support
training programmes. Unity
Unified Messaging hasstreamlined communications
further still by enabling
e-mail, voice and fax
messages to be accessed from
a single inbox, anytime,
anywhere.
Additional benefits
to TASNEE include the
elimination of the on-site
private branch exchange
maintenance costs and a
reduction in the companys
mobile phone expenses. The
latter as a result of Cisco
Mobile Communicator and
Wireless IP phones which
are being used to help drive
employee mobility and
flexibility throughout thecampus.
Short Message Service,
conferencing or fax).
This highly collaborative
environment makes full use
of the companys internal
network. For example,
with Unified MeetingPlace
Express employees canset up and attend voice,
video and Web conferences
May 2011 The ValuePlus Quarterly 15
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Cisco Collaboration Solutions.
Collaborate with Confidence.
Cisco collaboration solutions are changing the way
your customers communicate and collaborate.As a Cisco partner, you are uniquely
positioned to provide a broad range of industry
leading solutions to meet your customers
communication challenges.
Strengthen your role as a trusted advisor to your
customers, by introducing Ciscos collaboration
solutions today. Improve your customers
Interactions and enable them to connect,
communicate and collaborate like never before.
For more information, contact
8/4/2019 The Value Plus Quarterly 2011
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NCoMPUTiNg| GREEN iT
8
50 million PCs
consume an
immense amount
of electricity and
most of it is provided by
burning fossil fuels. This
process emits pollutants,
sulfur and carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere. These
emissions cause respiratory
disease, smog, acid rain and
global climate change.
From the largest scale -
the earth - to the smallestscale of a classroom or an
office, the environmental
Lowering the
environmentalimpactTodays PCs are far more powerful
than the earliest room-filling computers.They also use less electricity. Arguablythe first general-purpose computer,ENIAC drew roughly 150,000 watts ofelectricity. By comparison, todays PCsconsume about 110 watts. That seems
small. But there was only one ENIAC andthere are 850 million PCs in use today.
impact of todays PC
architecture is a huge
and growing problem.
Unfortunately, the impact
is largely unaddressed and
often unrecognised. In
addition to massive power
use, tens of millions of PCs
are disposed of in landfills
and garbage dumps around
the world contaminating
the soil with toxic e-waste
substances like mercury
and cadmium.NComputing is an
architecture that changes
the green equation.
NComputing systems are a
major leap forward in green
computing and, today, more
than 15,000 organisations inover 80 countries have used
NComputing to slash their
carbon footprint and electric
consumption.
The NComputing solution
is based on a simple fact:
todays PCs are so powerfulthat the vast majority of
applications only use a small
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GREEN iT | NCoMPUTiNg
fraction of the computers
capacity. NComputings
virtualisation software and
hardware tap this unused
capacity so that it can be
simultaneously shared by
multiple users.
The NComputingvirtualisation software
works on a standard
It also consumes very
little power - 90% less
energy per user.
PCs typically consume
between 110 to 200 watts
of electricity. In contrast,
NComputing access devices
consume next to nothing.
In fact, NComputings
L-series devices consume 5
watts per added user and
the X-series consume just
1 watt per added user. So,
if you replace seventy PCs
with ten PCs attached tosixty NComputing X-series
access devices, you would
save over 10,000 kilowatt-
hours (kWh), which
translates to over 1 metric
ton of CO2 emissions per
year.
However, air
conditioning is the hidden
environmental cost. A
single PC generates more
heat than a 100 watt
light bulb. A classroom,
computer lab, or office
with PCs warms up very
quickly. In fact, PC-filled
work areas almost always
have to be air conditioned,
which raises electricitycosts and requires large
capital expenditures to
buy, install and maintain
them. In comparison, a
room equipped with PCs and
NComputing access devices
generates 90% less heat and
does not require additional
air conditioning.
Electronic waste is a
large and growing problem
throughout the world.
People rarely think of their
PCs in the same way that
they think of other toxic
waste, but while electronic
waste represents only 2%of trash in landfills, it
represents 80% of the toxic
waste. NComputing greatly
reduces the magnitude of
this problem.
In sheer weight, PCs
generate much more waste
than virtual desktops. A
typical PC weighs about
21 pounds (9.5 kg); an
NComputing access device
weighs about 1/3 of a pound
(0.15 kg), for a 98% reduction
in electronic waste.
An NComputing access
device also has a much
longer useful life than a PC.
When a shared PC is replaced
with a newer one, the PCmay go to a landfill, but
the NComputing users can
Share 1PC with up to 30 users with NComputing virtual desktops
Windows or Linux1 PC.
Each users monitor,
keyboard and mouse
connect to the shared
PC through a small and
durable NComputing access
device. The device itself
has no CPU, memory, ormoving parts, so it is easy
to deploy and maintain.
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NCoMPUTiNg | GREEN iT
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NCoMPUTiNg| GREEN iT
keep their access devices
and enjoy the boost in
performance from the new
PC. So whereas PCs might
be upgraded every three
years or so, access devices
could easily last five yearsor more. With less frequent
turnover, less equipment
If NComputing systems
were used instead (at a
ratio of six access devices
to each PC) there would be
substantial immediate and
long-term environmental
benefits. The impact on the
environment of adopting
NComputing solutions
would be enormous. Energy
use would decline by over
120 billion kilowatt-hours
(kWh) per year, or about
83%. The electricity usage
decline would save nearly15 million metric tons of
coal each year and would
ends up in landfills.
NComputing access
devices are also compliant
with RoHS regulations,
which restrict the use of
lead and other harmful
metals.Over 850 million PCs
are turned on every day.
A majr cst f runnn an ransatn cms frmsupprtn th PC nfrastructur. Vrtua dsktpcmputn basd n NCmputn savs mny up
frnt and vr tm.
eliminate the need for 120
megawatts of coal power
capacity. CO2 emissions
would decrease by 96
million metric tons. This
is equivalent to planting
nearly 460 million trees.
Disposing of NComputing
devices (0.33 lb each), rather
than disposing of an equalnumber of PCs (21 lbs each)
would save over 6.7 million
metric tons of e-waste.
And that is just for the
PCs in use today. There are
another billion users who
will join the digital world in
the coming decade. So to get
a feel for the ultimate global
impact of NComputing, just
double all of the numbers
above.
You may not control
millions or even thousands
of seats. But even if you just
control a few hundred, you
can make an impact. For
example, 500 seats would
save over 70,000 kWh andreduce 9 metric tons of CO2
emissions per year. At the
end of the useful life, you
will have to dispose of only
one metric ton of e-waste
instead of five metric tons.
Using NComputing
is obviously globally
responsible. But it is also
locally responsible - to
your budget. Because of
the extreme reduction in
electrical consumption,
the devices can pay for
themselves just by lowering
your electricity bill in as
little as a year. To find
out how much you would
save, use the calculatorat ncomputing.com/
greenadvantage.
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iNTERViEW | FUJiTSU
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iNTERViEW | FUJiTSU
Firstly,can you give us
an update of the stepsyouve taken to enablebusiness development
by your channel across theMiddle East recenrly?
We have taken a series of
steps to ensure that our
partners have the
best possible
support
The channel strategyFarid Al-Sabbagh, MD at Fujitsu Technology Solutions ME, discusses recent changesin the companys support for its channel partners across the region.
structure to close deals.
Ill just mention a few of
our initiatives. Firstly,
we provide our partners
with on-line training and
certifications
most of
which
are completely free of
charge - this allows partners
to grow their business with
minimum investment from
their end. There has been
a substantial investment
in training face to face
as well and we have now
covered 100% of our
Enterprise Partners
with necessary
certifications for offering
Enterprise Solutions.
Any other practical steps?
Fujitsu has set up demo and
POC centres in both the UAE
and KSA, which will allow
customers
to preview
our range of
solutions,
as well as
partners
to conduct
trainings as
necessary.We have also
implemented
a new
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FUJiTSU | iNTERViEW
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FUJiTSU| iNTERViEW
communications programme
using a dedicated Partner
Portal as well as c-tec,
Fujitsus specialist technical
on-line community. And we
have invested in personnel,
bringing onboard dedicated
partner managers -
Enterprise Sales Managers
- in countries across the
region, who today are
helping resellers close deals.
What about your overallpartner programme offeringand commitment to the channel,
market development initiatives
and so on?In 2010, Fujitsu announced
the launch of its SELECT
Partner Program to the
Middle East market, with the
main aim to help partners
grow their business. Within
the programme, partners
are encouraged to acquire
the SELECT Partner
Certification types that suit
them best or even upgrade
to become a SELECT Expert
to benefit from even more
advantages and support.
How does it work?
The Partner level offers
a wide range of benefits
including on-line training
and privileged access to
price lists and marketing
tools. Partners simply have
to register themselves on
the Channel Partner Portal
and have sold at least
one of Fujitsu products
or solutions within the
last six months. Then
SELECT Partner level
gives partners access to
additional benefits such as
a dedicated SELECT Partner
Manager, sales incentivesand advanced technical
resources. It requires
certification in server and
storage and/or mobility
products and solutions, and
the completion of a business
profile. A SELECT Partner
can also apply to become a
SELECT Expert by specialising
in Server Infrastructures
(Server Certification (Expert)in advanced installation
and configuration of Fujitsu
servers and blade servers);
Storage Infrastructures (Storage
Certification (Expert) around
powerful Fujitsu storage
solutions); and Solution
Infrastructure (Data Solutions/
Office Solutions Certificationaround Fujitsu virtualisation
and automation technologies).
So SELECT Expert is Fujitsus
highest partnership level? Yes,
it offers a range of exclusive
resources including tailored
lead generation, additional sales
and technical resources, and
invitations to special events.
Any other important steps by you
for the channel over the last year?I would like to begin by saying
that our partnership with
Redington Value is an important
step towards our commitment
to the Middle East channel. We
expect resellers to have access to
the latest generation of serversand storage products which are
attractively priced. Importantly
for us, we now cover all
warranty calls on-site for servers
ourselves, in the UAE and KSA.
Hence partners can straightaway
commit direct company support
for the products they sell, on-
site. As an added incentive
to our partners, we have also
conducted several innovative
demo programmes that allow
partners to increase revenue by
providing potential customers
with a first-hand experience of
our products benefits. Increased
sales through our inventive
demo programmes for our
partners also means additionalincentives and bonuses from
Fujitsu.
i wud k t bn by sayn that ur partnrshpwth Rdntn Vau s an mprtant stp twards
ur cmmtmnt t th Mdd east chann.
May 2011 The ValuePlus Quarterly 21
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THE BiG CONNECT - SNaPSHOT
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THE BiG CONNECT SNaPSHOT
redington eVents:
THE BiG CONNECTfay 6-9 2011daa, s laka
Ths annua ducatna, markt stratsn, ntwrknand raxatn athrn f th rns tp HPNtwrkn chann partnrs saw 35 ky partnrs frm
acrss th rn (xcudn Saud Araba, whr partnrs hdthr wn B Cnnct ast octbr) t mt t undrstandHP Ntwrkns radmap fr th yar ahad, dscussth ntwrkn markt n vra trms and ca trnds,
dscuss what thy ndd n trms f supprt bth frm HPNtwrkn and Rdntn Vau and cmpar apprachs tth markt.
A wth n: ncrasn busnss and th quaty f srvct custmrs
Hwvr, thr was as tm t acqur crtca marktsks such as phant rdn and fr wakn!
22 The ValuePlus Quarterly May 2011
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For more information or to place an order for HP Networking
please write to [email protected]
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